Random Thoughts About Thoughts Random

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Sun Apr 23, 2017 12:59 pm

Sharks eliminated
My sports landscape now barren
When does football start

Bumgarner injured
stupid redneck thing to do
the Giants may be fucked

Football draft is pending
Many fans get so excited
I say whoop di doo

L-Jam3 · Post by **L-Jam3** » Sun Apr 23, 2017 1:10 pm

You know, there's a pretty good basketball team in your area.

DSafetyGuy · Post by **DSafetyGuy** » Sun Apr 23, 2017 5:44 pm

DSafetyGuy wrote:It feels like the next time my wife boils water without it boiling over, it will be the first.

Still perfect.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Sun Apr 23, 2017 6:12 pm

You mean with pasta or something right?

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Sun Apr 23, 2017 7:10 pm

Maybe this should be it own thread, but I don't think I'd get enough responses.

So, ignore the Google Maps cars, this was my situation earlier, sitting at a red light:

I'm the blue square. The fire engine responding to an emergency is the red square. There's a guy in front of me (green) and a guy in the left of the two turning lanes (black). There are 6 total lanes. The far right is a right turn only. The left two are left turn only.

So...the fire engine could be heard well before it was seen. It screamed in from the west and turned left, now going north. It cut across multiple lanes south of this screenshot so I couldn't gauge whether it wanted to turn or go straight. I'm stuck. That firetruck ended up in the lane I colored far too late. And when I realized that he wanted to turn left I cut the wheel hard right and barreled into the lane to my right. Thankfully the guy in front of me didn't do the same. The firetruck almost clipped me.

What was I supposed to do here? I honestly don't know. Back when I learned about driving and an emergency vehicle is coming, "GET TO THE RIGHT!" is ingrained in your head. If I did that, I was worried I'd get T-boned. I was secretly hoping he'd pick one of the three open lanes with zero cars, and then make a huge left. That didn't happen.

Basically, emergency vehicles need large fucking arrows on them to go with their flashing lights to let people know what to do.

Post by **Sabo** » Sun Apr 23, 2017 9:04 pm

DSafetyGuy wrote:
DSafetyGuy wrote:It feels like the next time my wife boils water without it boiling over, it will be the first.
Still perfect.

A friend commented recently that his wife burns popcorn every time she makes it. This comment was made when we both noticed an acrid smell coming from the kitchen.

DSafetyGuy · Post by **DSafetyGuy** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 11:34 am

A_B wrote:You mean with pasta or something right?

Yes. In this case, kielbasa.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 12:15 pm

Why would you boil kielbasa?

rass · Post by **rass** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 12:17 pm

That's how my Polish grandfather prepared it. And my mom, before she quit eating pork and beef.

Post by **brian** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 12:27 pm

rass wrote:That's how my Polish grandfather prepared it. And my mom, before she quit eating pork and beef.

Yep, same.

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 12:35 pm

Johnnie wrote:Maybe this should be it own thread, but I don't think I'd get enough responses.

So, ignore the Google Maps cars, this was my situation earlier, sitting at a red light:

I'm the blue square. The fire engine responding to an emergency is the red square. There's a guy in front of me (green) and a guy in the left of the two turning lanes (black). There are 6 total lanes. The far right is a right turn only. The left two are left turn only.

So...the fire engine could be heard well before it was seen. It screamed in from the west and turned left, now going north. It cut across multiple lanes south of this screenshot so I couldn't gauge whether it wanted to turn or go straight. I'm stuck. That firetruck ended up in the lane I colored far too late. And when I realized that he wanted to turn left I cut the wheel hard right and barreled into the lane to my right. Thankfully the guy in front of me didn't do the same. The firetruck almost clipped me.

What was I supposed to do here? I honestly don't know. Back when I learned about driving and an emergency vehicle is coming, "GET TO THE RIGHT!" is ingrained in your head. If I did that, I was worried I'd get T-boned. I was secretly hoping he'd pick one of the three open lanes with zero cars, and then make a huge left. That didn't happen.

Basically, emergency vehicles need large fucking arrows on them to go with their flashing lights to let people know what to do.

I think with the green square in front of you and the firetruck right behind, you stay where you are. The firetruck can get past you on the right, or in the lane immediately left, or it can cut into the oncoming lanes. The general rule is to get to the right, but once the firetruck is there, you want to stay put unless you are actually blocking it. Otherwise, you switch lanes at the same time the fire truck is doing the same thing, and everyone is fucked.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 2:54 pm

Steve of phpBB wrote:
Johnnie wrote:Maybe this should be it own thread, but I don't think I'd get enough responses.

So, ignore the Google Maps cars, this was my situation earlier, sitting at a red light:

I'm the blue square. The fire engine responding to an emergency is the red square. There's a guy in front of me (green) and a guy in the left of the two turning lanes (black). There are 6 total lanes. The far right is a right turn only. The left two are left turn only.

So...the fire engine could be heard well before it was seen. It screamed in from the west and turned left, now going north. It cut across multiple lanes south of this screenshot so I couldn't gauge whether it wanted to turn or go straight. I'm stuck. That firetruck ended up in the lane I colored far too late. And when I realized that he wanted to turn left I cut the wheel hard right and barreled into the lane to my right. Thankfully the guy in front of me didn't do the same. The firetruck almost clipped me.

What was I supposed to do here? I honestly don't know. Back when I learned about driving and an emergency vehicle is coming, "GET TO THE RIGHT!" is ingrained in your head. If I did that, I was worried I'd get T-boned. I was secretly hoping he'd pick one of the three open lanes with zero cars, and then make a huge left. That didn't happen.

Basically, emergency vehicles need large fucking arrows on them to go with their flashing lights to let people know what to do.
I think with the green square in front of you and the firetruck right behind, you stay where you are. The firetruck can get past you on the right, or in the lane immediately left, or it can cut into the oncoming lanes. The general rule is to get to the right, but once the firetruck is there, you want to stay put unless you are actually blocking it. Otherwise, you switch lanes at the same time the fire truck is doing the same thing, and everyone is fucked.

Yep, get right and if that's not possible make a hole for the emergency vehicle and stay the fuck out of it's way. I would have maybe cut to the left and pointed the car that way to show you're trying to stay out of it's way to the big hole on the right.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 3:29 pm

Well, with the benefit of hindsight, had I cut left I would have been impeding the firetruck. Had I cut right I would have cut off another lane. With 6 lanes and being completely unaware until it was too late where he wanted to go, I froze. That just wasn't fun.

Albuquerque needs to do what Tucson did. Install sensors in the traffic lights that change red to green and green to red out of its cycle so that traffic knows to move when emergency vehicles are coming.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 3:35 pm

People have been getting out of the way of emergency vehicles forever. You're overthinking this. Just get the fuck out of the way dude.

Post by **Sabo** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 3:37 pm

A_B wrote:People have been getting out of the way of emergency vehicles forever.

This isn't true.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 3:37 pm

Sabo wrote:
A_B wrote:People have been getting out of the way of emergency vehicles forever.
This isn't true.

Shut up.

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 3:42 pm

Johnnie wrote: Albuquerque needs to do what Tucson did. Install sensors in the traffic lights that change red to green and green to red out of its cycle so that traffic knows to move when emergency vehicles are coming.

Potentially dumb question, but how do those work?

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 3:50 pm

The emergency vehicles are tied into the traffic communication so they send signals as they approach an intersection. Although they never go green around here, just all reds

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 3:51 pm

Giff wrote:
Johnnie wrote: Albuquerque needs to do what Tucson did. Install sensors in the traffic lights that change red to green and green to red out of its cycle so that traffic knows to move when emergency vehicles are coming.
Potentially dumb question, but how do those work?

I assume a transponder in the emergency vehicles and a corresponding receiver on the traffic light/panel. When going lights and sirens, transponder turns on and gives the emergency vehicle a tunnel.

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 3:54 pm

Cool. I want to be a transponster!!

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 4:05 pm

What Ryan and BSF said. I'd like to add that in addition to the senators there are high beam lights on the top of traffic light that flicker bright enough to be seen in the daytime giving everyone a heads up in advance. Those will go off before you hear the sirens too.

A_B wrote:People have been getting out of the way of emergency vehicles forever. You're overthinking this. Just get the fuck out of the way dude.

K.

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Tue Apr 25, 2017 8:09 am

BSF21 wrote:
Giff wrote:
Johnnie wrote: Albuquerque needs to do what Tucson did. Install sensors in the traffic lights that change red to green and green to red out of its cycle so that traffic knows to move when emergency vehicles are coming.
Potentially dumb question, but how do those work?
I assume a transponder in the emergency vehicles and a corresponding receiver on the traffic light/panel. When going lights and sirens, transponder turns on and gives the emergency vehicle a tunnel.

Well kinda. Most common is audible but they also have Line-of-sight, radio signal, and GPS versions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_signal_preemption

oh and yeah you can buy products that trigger some of these...which is illegal in most places. I have seen articles in the local newspaper talking about how municipalities caught folks using these. Apparently their is surviellance/reporting on when lights are triggered by these devices. So folks who turn this on got busted becuase most people drive the same way to work/school/etc on a pretty regular schedule. I am guessing this is why audible is more popular than the visual ones. Harder for a random donk to drive around with a siren on.

http://www.caranddriver.com/columns/how ... lly-trying

https://www.wired.com/2005/08/traffic-h ... red-light/

Post by **Shirley** » Tue Apr 25, 2017 8:40 am

I got an email this morning from the old bug report/tracking system I used for BrightCar. That means someone out there is still using it and hit a bug. The last one of those I got was about 4.5 years ago!

Post by **brian** » Tue Apr 25, 2017 10:05 am

Shirley wrote:I got an email this morning from the old bug report/tracking system I used for BrightCar. That means someone out there is still using it and hit a bug. The last one of those I got was about 4.5 years ago!

Even if it didn't take off like you wanted, that's still gotta be pretty cool. (not the bug)

bfj · Post by **bfj** » Tue Apr 25, 2017 11:37 am

Giff wrote:Cool. I want to be a transponster!!

That's not even a word!! {that was a Friends reference, right?}

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Tue Apr 25, 2017 11:46 am

bfj wrote:
Giff wrote:Cool. I want to be a transponster!!

That's not even a word!! {that was a Friends reference, right?}

It was!

Post by **Shirley** » Tue Apr 25, 2017 12:05 pm

brian wrote:
Shirley wrote:I got an email this morning from the old bug report/tracking system I used for BrightCar. That means someone out there is still using it and hit a bug. The last one of those I got was about 4.5 years ago!
Even if it didn't take off like you wanted, that's still gotta be pretty cool. (not the bug)

Definitely. Kinda bittersweet, actually.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Tue Apr 25, 2017 12:32 pm

I can't in good conscience respond to a text that says "Have I told you yet how much cooler I think you are now that you no longer find it necessary to respond to texts?" Right?

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Tue Apr 25, 2017 12:33 pm

Jerloma wrote:I can't in good conscience respond to a text that says "Have I told you yet how much cooler I think you are now that you no longer find it necessary to respond to texts?" Right?

Call, say thanks, hang up.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Tue Apr 25, 2017 12:37 pm

Oh, that's good.

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Tue Apr 25, 2017 12:49 pm

Shirley wrote:I got an email this morning from the old bug report/tracking system I used for BrightCar. That means someone out there is still using it and hit a bug. The last one of those I got was about 4.5 years ago!

4.5 years! It usually takes about 4.5 seconds for my code to throw an error....

blundercrush · Post by **blundercrush** » Tue Apr 25, 2017 12:53 pm

voice text

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Tue Apr 25, 2017 4:13 pm

Came home to a basement tainted by explosive dog diarrhea. (Izzy and her pals in the dog park were feasting on grass this morning)

Smelled as bad as you can imagine.

Makes me think about what life back in "the good old days" smelled like. Horses shitting everywhere. Chamber pots. Outhouses etc.

Just think - would any of us have even shaken our forefathers' hands without having purell at the ready?

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Wed Apr 26, 2017 9:23 pm

I was just writing my officiant's address for this wedding in a few weeks and I practically subconsciously dropped a rigor mortis joke about Snow White in there. I've since seen the error of my ways and rectified the transgression accordingly.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Wed Apr 26, 2017 9:52 pm

Jerloma wrote:I was just writing my officiant's address for this wedding in a few weeks and I practically subconsciously dropped a rigor mortis joke about Snow White in there. I've since seen the error of my ways and rectified the transgression accordingly.

That would be hilarious, but dude, remember that it's about them.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Wed Apr 26, 2017 10:53 pm

I know. That's the thing.

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Thu Apr 27, 2017 2:19 pm

This close to just completely cutting my parents out of my life. They care not at all about my family, so why should I even keep up the pretense? Not to mention my mom sounds like the stupidest version of a Trump voter ever on Facebook and it's embarrassing.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Thu Apr 27, 2017 2:37 pm

Giff wrote:This close to just completely cutting my parents out of my life. They care not at all about my family, so why should I even keep up the pretense? Not to mention my mom sounds like the stupidest version of a Trump voter ever on Facebook and it's embarrassing.

I would never presume to speak to your feelings or your issues with your parents.

But I have for all intents and purposes cut my father out of my life. Back when I was feeling miserable and torn about his behaviour, a cousin of mine said that we can never control the way other people act - we can only control how we react.

Trite? Maybe, but it's 100% true. If certain people are constantly causing you anguish, than you owe it to yourself to do what will make you happier.

Post by **brian** » Thu Apr 27, 2017 2:50 pm

Giff wrote:This close to just completely cutting my parents out of my life. They care not at all about my family, so why should I even keep up the pretense? Not to mention my mom sounds like the stupidest version of a Trump voter ever on Facebook and it's embarrassing.

Not an argument for or against, but at this point in your life you don't owe your parents shit.

Personally I made the decision about six months ago to alienate myself from a segment of my family and I'm happier for it. Shit, maybe they're happier too, but I don't really care.

DSafetyGuy · Post by **DSafetyGuy** » Thu Apr 27, 2017 2:52 pm

My mother and father will be visiting this weekend. They divorced in 1985.

Things get underway with the two of them sharing about seven or eight hours driving here. They've always been civil, but I wonder what they will chat about to pass the time for about 400 miles.

I look forward to telling them after they arrive that it's going to be weird for me at times to have them here together.

(My stepmother passed away in April 2013 and my stepfather passed away on the most recent Valentine's Day - both were remarried for longer than they were married to each other. My dad came to the memorial service for my stepfather and offered to pick her up if she ever wanted to come along when he was coming for a visit - he normally would take a bypass around the town where she lives when coming directly here, anyway. He knew he was coming up this weekend for a month or so and just called her out of the blue a couple weeks ago to see if she wanted to come.)