Using computers to estimate an irrational number to as many places as you possibly can is in no way pure mathematics.

Indeed, it’s all a bit dirty, isn’t it? Still – it looks like the digits are random. Allegedly there is no proof that they are or should be – so let’s find out.
As for the necessity of this level of precision, pi in double precision is 3.1415926535897930 where bold is the accurate bit (puntastic). That’s 16 dp, and is what most computer simulations will use.
Edit: Cheeky fix

Why does anyone want/need to know any more then 15 digits or so?

You must bow down to the persuit of pure mathematics for the sake of mathematics; otherwise the Maths undergrads will sneer at you behind your back.
Pffft, who am I kidding? Maths undergrads in a social situation?!
😉

those who attended the ride did not see why they should obey what they believed to be an unreasonable request.

That’s the crux. Either they heed the request and stay away, or ignore the request. Like I said, I’m not arguing the legality of CM or the Police’s actions; I’m already convinced that the Met were heavy handed (Justified, legally, or otherwise, this isn’t my beef).
It is clear however, that CM chose to act in the manner the Police didn’t want them to. Once again, this is fine and legal. However, I feel that this action dilutes the message behind CM. Instead of being a bike ride, it became about politics, rights and liberties. Is this really what CM is about?
Instead of having a group to rally behind which is solely concerned with raising the profile of cycling, potential supporters see a wealth of political ideologies within CM which they can potentially disagree with. This weakens CMs support.
Whatcha reckon?

And for this reason, i am done with this discussion other than with those who are capable of behaving in a respectful and intelligent manner.

Mike,
Why did CM act against a polite police ruling? I am not discussing the legality of their ruling. ‘Because we can’ is a good enough answer – but why did CM act in defiance of the Police instead of working with the Police? What did they gain?

^ That’s classic.

If, despite the advice above, you don’t want to touch windows:
Find the files*, delete, use CCleaner with a secure file deletion (multiple passes) turned on in the advanced tab to empty to recycle bin, and tick ‘wipe free space’ to clear the rest of the disk.

*This step is the troublesome bit.

Every single study shows that segregated paths either make no difference to safety, or make it worse.

There are an awful lot of conclusions which say ‘There were more casualties after segregation’ without addressing whether there were more cyclists. That’s poor stats, that.

Just different “hazards”, that’s all.
You have that a massive group of school kids standing around, mothers pushing pushchairs three abreast…. I have a few peds, some dog walkers and the odd gate.

It’s the “I want to go fast, they’re in my way” attitude. It’s exactly the same attitude many drivers have concerning cyclists.
Fair enough, the roads are there for you. But the roads aren’t safe for all.

On most cyclepaths, there are usually pedestrians wandering all over the place, and even standing around chatting. I think if I tried the same thing on the roads on my bike it would not be fair, would it?

Your analogy fails because the path is not a road. It’s a shared use path. A quick ring of the bell, a cheery hello… Y’know, nice human interaction.

Isn’t that the sort of attitude that causes friction in the first place, people not wanting to be held up in their cars etc? Aren’t cyclists supposed to be a bit more laid back about it all?

Exactly this.
It’s frankly disgusting that some people here don’t want pedestrians getting in their way on ‘their cyclepaths’.
This is the same as motorists not wanting cyclists getting in their way on ‘their roads’.
Stop being so selfish.

Is he proficient in sports and other forms of physical excercise?
Yes?
Then he’s an athlete.

Tucker – it’s a bit of fun.

Black Merc van size people carrier type thing. Dark tinted windows. Massive wheels. Numberplate M1B. Overtook and had a look in – a couple of guys wearing dark suits with black ties and black oakleys.

Best approach is feedback in the original thread such that a quick search turns up information.
Other than that, someone can make a dedicated stw-classifieds gmail with an open to view google doc spreadsheet of names to avoid which they update periodically.

I’d do it right now but gmail is blocked.

There’s a wedding?

Thinking things through is one of the reasons I ride, but the technical bits usually wipe any of these thoughts away.
I usually force a really annoying song to get stuck in my head and sing it at the top of my voice while descending.
That or repeating a mantra to yourself could help. Something like ‘slow is smooth smooth is fast’ or ‘deathgrip deathgrip deathdeathdeathgrip’

I suppose I just have mild hyperactivity issues.

with no doubt strict orders from whitehall to come down ‘ard on troublemakers

Don’t be silly, no one actually talks to each other 😉

Which is whats happened here, despite the cloud-cuckoo-land, paranoid delusional, tin-foil-hatted conspiracy theorists think about their civil rigths being trampled on

They need to get a sense of perspective
While I agree with your point, this just makes you sound like an old man. You’ll be argued with out of youthful principle 😉

at least by being planned and legal, the Police can put in place measures and diversions to minimise disruption.

This is the key, in my mind at least.
If you work with the police, you minimise disruption. If you work against the police, you are deliberately causing disruption.
Which of these is the nicest thing to do?

Yes, there are arguments about morality and the legal system and how the world is broken, the police are corrupt, cars are evil and capitalism isn’t working etc. Many people will disagree with whatever views you have on this. Because of all the potential disagreements over finer moral points, opinion will be divided – some will agree, some will disagree. This is not the best course of action if you want support. You are literally breaking your support into tiny pieces. This results in fewer people listening to, or agreeing with you.

If Critical Mass want support, they need to stick to being a bunch of people riding bikes. Inclusive, lowest common denominator stuff. Be like the peaceful protesters sitting in a university courtyard. Many many people had sympathy for them when they got pepper sprayed because they had done nothing to provoke it.

If you fully support provoking the police, you have to question if you really want mass support, or whether you just like provoking the police.

The answer to this question would harm my enigmatic charm. I’m ever so important.

Are there any on here who will declare their occupation or lack of ??

It’s all gone a bit IRC here…

Out of interest, what demographic do I fit into?

Worrying what to wear? No need. Take an escort!

rudebwoy – this thread is dialogue. Your meta analysis isn’t. What’s your point?

uselesshippy – this thread also contains other people’s experiences with various CM groups. Take a look, have a read.

yossarian – you’ve started insulting everybody while preaching tolerance and assumed everyone here is a conservative middleaged mountainbiker while preaching not to generalise. Dude, What’s up with that?

Peace and love.

Me?

The horse, that is.
(in reality, I’m actually most like a bunch of girls)

Aye, I remember you saying you used to sit in a bar and watch them ride by. If you mentioned anywhere that you actually talked to them then sorry I missed that.

Haterz gonna hate 😀

That’s good but I just had a quick scan over the first page this thread to see what people’s immediate reaction to the news that it was a CM ride and straight away people were calling them hippies, new agers, and putting up Young Ones clips. As well as all the other insults.

What do you think the point of the thread was? It’s been an open space to discuss the ins and outs of it. If it were as simple as reactionary insults, the thread would have died days ago. For the record, I was the person who said Hippies first (posed as a question). Look how much I’ve learned 😉

I’d rather judge people’s motives based on their actions as well as meeting and talking to them rather than making assumptions about their motives based on their actions and their appearance.

I agree, I would too. However, the people CM are trying to reach will not meet them and have nothing but CMs actions (important) and appearances (trivial and irrelevant in my mind, but hey) to judge them by.
It’s a sad fact that we can’t meet everyone (in a community, with bongs while weaving hemp rugs optional).
Therefore, CM have to be careful about their actions and image and ensure it is conducive to the point they are trying to make. I am unlikely to see eye to eye with a group of people with a culture that promotes the behaviour documented on Twitter and this thread.

And you’ve come to that conclusion without having actually met any of them?

This is a bit silly. You realise juries never meet defendants, right?

Okay here – latest Firefox on Debian

>Keep the Police on your side. They are your friends.

Are you for real, they are paid servants of the state, they do as their masters wish, they are purely instruments of control, i know there are some naive people about, but that takes some topping.
Yes, that’s right, there’s a big plan which the Masters are executing. It’s a very meticulous one with all the possible outcomes covered for. There is zero chance that the people in charge are a disparate group of individuals all fighting for their own personal power to change matters which are important to them. There is zero chance that the Police are a group of individuals each with a brain and their own personal approach, morality, agenda and families.
I’m afraid that, to me at least, your comment simply comes across as ignorant and overly simplistic.
Don’t ever forget that everyone in this world has a brain, just like you.

_______________________________________________
Don’t forget, Page 8 for the poll!

and the group did pull into a garage where the OP then confronted them…..

Indeed, but I recall the OP stating there were a couple of other places where they could have done similar, too.

Seems there’s a signal for ‘slow down’ – perfectly applicable for pulling into an area to allow drivers to pass, perhaps?

__________________________________________
Critical Mass Poll on Page 8 of the Kettling thread – make your voice heard!

Ok, A Poll!

Do you think Critical Mass is a Protest movement?
Click if you think Yes Click if you think No

Does Critical Mass harm Cyclists’ public image?
Click if you think Yes Click if you think No

Get voting guys, Democracy wins!
I’m off to get more beer… Back soon 😉

I thought Apple of all people would appreciate 16:10 over 16:9, but there you go. 🙁

Oh, am i being ‘trolled’ or whatever it’s called? Ah. Maybe time to just ignore certain people then, and go and do something more productive, like fit new lights to my bike; can’t be riding around without lights at night now, can we? Because that would be illegal.

Well, I was mainly suggesting you reply to some others, this discourse is much needed by the sounds of it.
Be careful without lights in the dark, people won’t be able to see you as easily and they might knock you off your bike by mistake.

Mike, you’re just replying to the people who are the most inflammatory. Be careful; they’re veterans of this sort of thing 😉

What surprises me most of all about this thread, is that Cougar hasn’t posted anything.

He usually pops along with a few pertinent questions, and I’m surprised he hasn’t asked the CM press guy anything.

Perhaps he’s on holiday?
Oh he’s up there, waiting for a satisfactory response to his pertinent question 😉

Fair enough.

And the 99% of us are not wiki lawyers, haven’t read up on the exact intricacies of police powers, the full extents of the road traffic and rights of way acts, the acts and specific legislation for London covering gatherings and protests, etc. etc.

And I’d wager that if CM really is just a group of cyclists meeting for a ride with no agenda, then a significant portion of them won’t have read up on those exact applicable bits of legislation either.
I know of them and I’m not even in CM, what does that make me? The most anti-establishment thing I have done today is eat a microwave chicken korma, if that counts 😀

I often find when Hippy/anarchists/pothead types have run out of rational argument they appeal to me to be open minded whether talking about ley lines, druidhs, aliens or any other guff they are spouting. it is never convincing

JY, you’re not helping our cause here 😉

OP here. I started this thread with no knowledge of Critical Mass (hence the title, it could well have been ‘Asshat hipsters on fixies punch policeman’ or ‘democracy in tatters; the story of a gentle bikeride’ by the sounds of it. I hope this demonstrates that not all (if any) of STW are reactionary bigots)
Mike, thanks for coming along.
I don’t want this thread closed, let’s keep it civil.

One thing though – It seems CM are trying to change some perceptions. I don’t understand why they are getting rolled up in the (forgive my airquotes) ‘pro-democracy’, ‘anti-police telling us what to do’ scene. It’s all very anti-establishment. Surely the best course of action would be to work with the establishment (including complying with coppers’ reasonable, polite requests) such to bring about change quickly, instead of seemingly rallying against authority. Yes I appreciate the arguments that CM is not organised, that it HAS contributed to change in an establishment friendly way. But why has this anti-establishment incident occurred, unless there is some culture inherent to the bikeride that permits it?