<story><title>North Carolina tells retired engineer he can&apos;t talk about engineering</title><url>https://ij.org/press-release/north-carolina-board-tells-retired-engineer-he-cant-talk-about-engineering/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>tablespoon</author><text>&amp;gt; Just the concept of “jaywalking” as a punishable offense is revolting to me.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s a required compromise to allow pedestrians and high-speed automobile traffic to coexist.  This unfairly-dead comment has a good discussion: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=27561530&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=27561530&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get rid of it, and you&amp;#x27;ll either have more pedestrians getting run over (e.g. some distracted guy on his cell phone accidentially rushing out in front of some car, getting killed in the process and traumatizing some driver) or you&amp;#x27;ll have to lower speed limits, which would make longer-distance travel more inefficient and inconvenient.</text></item><item><author>Swenrekcah</author><text>Just the concept of “jaywalking” as a punishable offense is revolting to me.</text></item><item><author>dotancohen</author><text>&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  &amp;gt; It’s like the 10’s of thousands of people jaywalking without
  &amp;gt; issue and then the homeless guy that gets arrested for jaw walking.
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
I&amp;#x27;ll take the opportunity to branch OT. This selective enforcement has always been such a problem, has there ever been any attempt - anywhere - to address it? Such that if a citizen can demonstrate selective enforcement he can also be absolved of the same crimes that the rest of the population is absolved of?</text></item><item><author>the_lonely_road</author><text>What a fascinating case. There are so many details in such a short articles that is each worth its own discussion!&lt;p&gt;Let’s start with my personally theory that hopefully won’t color all of the conversation about the individual points. This guy pissed off some people and those people are using their petty power to make his life hell. It’s like the 10’s of thousands of people jaywalking without issue and then the homeless guy that gets arrested for jaw walking. We all know that’s not why he was arrested but the law is clear, he was breaking the law, and they enforced it. So the individual incident dots it’s I’s and crosses it’s t’s as long as you don’t bring up the dreaded ‘uneven enforcement’ issue which is at the heart of everything wrong with the law in America. I have no evidence for the theory but it makes sense with the multiple issues involving this guy mentioned in such a short article.&lt;p&gt;Next interesting point. Is giving a speech about how to treat a broken bone considered ‘practicing medicine’? Who gets to decide the answer. Is a PHD candidate writing an exploration of the efficacy of the various methods for treating a migraine practicing medicine? What if he’s selling copies of his paper on the checkout counter at the drug store? I use medicine instead of engineering because I think it’s easier to discuss but the point should hold the same regardless of which licensed profession we are discussing.&lt;p&gt;Shit I have to run but hope to return to this conversation to discuss the other fun questions raised.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Swenrekcah</author><text>&amp;gt; e.g. some distracted guy on his cell phone accidentially rushing out in front of some car, getting killed in the process and traumatizing some driver&lt;p&gt;I think this comment demonstrates the perverse value system I’m commenting against. I don’t mean this as an insult to you, merely to point out how people have been programmed to think people shouldn’t be able to live in a city without being terrified of their lives so we don’t mildly annoy drivers.&lt;p&gt;The scenario that would actually be likely to happen is the exact opposite. A distracted driver running over and killing a pedestrian that’s crossing on a green light or a zebra crossing. That happens very regularly.&lt;p&gt;Cars have no business driving faster than 15-20mph on a city steet.</text></comment>
<story><title>North Carolina tells retired engineer he can&apos;t talk about engineering</title><url>https://ij.org/press-release/north-carolina-board-tells-retired-engineer-he-cant-talk-about-engineering/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>tablespoon</author><text>&amp;gt; Just the concept of “jaywalking” as a punishable offense is revolting to me.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s a required compromise to allow pedestrians and high-speed automobile traffic to coexist.  This unfairly-dead comment has a good discussion: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=27561530&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=27561530&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Get rid of it, and you&amp;#x27;ll either have more pedestrians getting run over (e.g. some distracted guy on his cell phone accidentially rushing out in front of some car, getting killed in the process and traumatizing some driver) or you&amp;#x27;ll have to lower speed limits, which would make longer-distance travel more inefficient and inconvenient.</text></item><item><author>Swenrekcah</author><text>Just the concept of “jaywalking” as a punishable offense is revolting to me.</text></item><item><author>dotancohen</author><text>&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  &amp;gt; It’s like the 10’s of thousands of people jaywalking without
  &amp;gt; issue and then the homeless guy that gets arrested for jaw walking.
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
I&amp;#x27;ll take the opportunity to branch OT. This selective enforcement has always been such a problem, has there ever been any attempt - anywhere - to address it? Such that if a citizen can demonstrate selective enforcement he can also be absolved of the same crimes that the rest of the population is absolved of?</text></item><item><author>the_lonely_road</author><text>What a fascinating case. There are so many details in such a short articles that is each worth its own discussion!&lt;p&gt;Let’s start with my personally theory that hopefully won’t color all of the conversation about the individual points. This guy pissed off some people and those people are using their petty power to make his life hell. It’s like the 10’s of thousands of people jaywalking without issue and then the homeless guy that gets arrested for jaw walking. We all know that’s not why he was arrested but the law is clear, he was breaking the law, and they enforced it. So the individual incident dots it’s I’s and crosses it’s t’s as long as you don’t bring up the dreaded ‘uneven enforcement’ issue which is at the heart of everything wrong with the law in America. I have no evidence for the theory but it makes sense with the multiple issues involving this guy mentioned in such a short article.&lt;p&gt;Next interesting point. Is giving a speech about how to treat a broken bone considered ‘practicing medicine’? Who gets to decide the answer. Is a PHD candidate writing an exploration of the efficacy of the various methods for treating a migraine practicing medicine? What if he’s selling copies of his paper on the checkout counter at the drug store? I use medicine instead of engineering because I think it’s easier to discuss but the point should hold the same regardless of which licensed profession we are discussing.&lt;p&gt;Shit I have to run but hope to return to this conversation to discuss the other fun questions raised.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>lozenge</author><text>I always thought it was my desire to live that keeps me from walking into traffic despite any &amp;quot;distractions&amp;quot;, but now I learn from you it was the threat of a $250 fine all along.</text></comment>