The Potkin Method...

I mentioned this in the last post but see that I have been extremely remiss in actually telling you about the different methods of playing Traffic. I may claim to have invented the game, or at least originally classified it as a true sport, but many people have contributed to it over time.

The Potkin Method:

This is the method described by Noah Potkin. My best friend since 6th grade, he is always quick to point out more difficult ways of doing things. This is truly his method and I have to say it has saved my life (maybe literally) many times. I believe he first developed this method in his VW bug.

1. You must be driving a clutched vehicle
2. You must not use the clutch
3. To change gears you must increase or decrease the speed of the engine so that the gears easily slide into the next gear (up or down)

Note: Breaks are always optional, but in strict Potkin method they should not be used.

The Theory: The way clutch works is that the engine is being driven by a series of gears (discs). To change gears the clutch disengages the current gear and lets them spin in a "free state" so that the gears are all moving at the same speed. In this way it is easy to then switch the gears. In the Potkin method the accelerator replaces the clutch in so far as the driver manually matches the different gear speeds by increasing or decreasing the revolutions of the engine to match the idling gear that is to be switched to. This speed can be easily ascertained as the gears will shift very easily when the speeds match even without the clutch.

Potkin Method + Sleeping Baby

Ok, so last night Minya was a bit grumpy. She'd had a full day, and for some reason she's been going to bed really early the last couple of days. So the wife says, let's go for a drive. Music to my ears, dear listeners... music to my ears.

Now it isn't very often that I get the go ahead from my wife to "just drive," but there are few things that I am better at. I know I've been living in this neighborhood for 5 years, but there's this stretch of alleys West of Lac Long Quan that I keep getting lost in, so that is where I headed. Last time I went this way with my partner we got lost in a tropical downpour and arrived at our sales call absolutely soaked. So I need to know these alleys better.

Unfortunately in not more than 10 minutes Minya was already asleep. So I obviously am not going to get my alleys clear tonight. Then to complicate matters as I try to find the alternate route home I find myself in a dead end alley. Ok. Fine. So it is time to head home. Ready to turn back on to Au Co when I feel the clutch cable going. Ugh.

Happily I got really lucky. Yes, the clutch cable snapped, which leaves me driving the 8pm traffic on Au Co and Lac Long Quan Potkin style, but was actually able to drive all the way home (once I got going) without stopping. So we made it home with a broken clutch cable and the baby still sleeping. Top that Noah!

30th anniversary of the re-unification of Vietnam Traffic

The waves were beautiful tonight. Aside from the odd hot dogger randomly jobbing in front of me there beatiful stretches of open curl. While some 250 thousand individuals crammed into downtown Saigon for the second night of fireworks and festivities, the contributing arterial channels were a delight.

Fantastic waves, occasional flack. Wonderful riding tonight.

Pythagorean Philosophy

Going in a straight line means that the road stretches on forever, unchanging.

Going at an angle provides for an infinite number of probabilities that all have the ability to reach the same point, albeit some times more slowly.

Where Pythagoras was wrong was in believing that the straight line was always the quickest way.

Alice Donut

A cockroach's body can live separated from it's head for 7 days and you're worried about a broken clutch cable?

The Beginning

I grew up in Albany California. This meant when I first got my car I used to brave the Nimitz freeway. This was starting back in 1986. It took me several years before I dicovered Traffic.

Normally people think of traffic as troublesome. I wish to disagree. Traffic is fun.

Fun you say? Fun.

There are many kinds of fun. One kind of fun is laughing at a good joke. Another kind of fun is making a challenge out of something simple. Yet another kind of fun is causing a nuisance and watching other peoples reactions. Traffic fulfills 2 out of 3 of these. (I'll give you a hint ... it ain't no joke)

Cross: The Fourth Dimension

I have finally realized what the fourth dimension is!

Point: A single point (red light)
1st Dimension: A line (open road - X)
2nd Dimension: Length by Width (Traffic - X by Y)
3rd Dimension: Length by Width by Height (Traffic with pot holes and curbs - X by Y by Z)
4th Dimension: Cross (God I wish it would rain)

Simplification 1

I have been trying to find the simplest way to define the rules of the game...

I have been abled to reduce it down to one sentence...

"Drive the fastest constant reasonably safe speed possible given the conditions."

I'm sure that I shall be able to make this reasonably more complex in the future. Don't worry.

Some notes:

Safe

Safe means that you never (ever) have or cause an accident. Accidents disqualify you from ever playing the game again in your life time. The only way to be requalified to play Traffic is to never (ever) have or cause an accident.

Constant Speed

Certain wave forms and conditions make a constant speed impossible. A perfect example of a good constant speed environment is East San Francisco California Bay Area traffic. In this traffic it is possible to maintain a constant 5mph at almost any time of the day, even in the worst traffic. Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam has some periods where a constant speed is not only impossible, it simply wouldn't be fun!!!

Conditions

Conditions are very variable. For example in Vietnam there are no stretches of highway that aren't also a potential resting point for children, chickens, dogs, pot holes, etc. that allow for a reasonable safe speed of more than approximately 80km/hr.

An introduction to my new physics

I’ve got my keyboard low, just like I’m leaned back and cruising with the handlebars near my knees.

I’m developing a crystalline view of the universe now. I’ve discovered a few more of the rules. I call my system PoLR or Path of Least Resistance. That’s why I’m writing, that’s why we’re here.

Rules:

The path of least resistance = the shortest distance between two points + resistance

Where there is resistance there is “clot”

Clot attracts mass and therefore has gravity

This explains a lot about mass psychology, man!

Where I always see it is out surfing the masses. Traffic! Saigon’s got some crazy waves.

If you’re not into surfing, I apologize. For me, surfing traffic is epiphanous (fun). If you are into surfing, I apologize as well. As much as I enjoy ocean waves I have never learned the lingo of, well, say the Oceanus Californian Homo Surpien. (- author: struggling to say that 5 times, fast) I have endeavoured, as all human children will, to create my own language to describe surfing, and therefore my own slang.

“What is the difference between a" - snobby sneer in voice - "language and a slang or creole?” A drum roll please…. “An army and a navy.”

Was I coming to a point? Oh, yeah.

There are an infinite variety of waves surrounding us completely at all times. We are bathed in rippling pools of light. Carry on our bodies waves of stench and decay, perfume and red lace. There are ways of enjoying many of these waves as do the Oceanus Fijian Homo Surpien.

I, I surf traffic.