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Joined: February 03 2007
Location: The Heartland
Status: Offline
Points: 16913
Posted: April 12 2013 at 14:36
Dean wrote:
Finnforest wrote:
Light polution is a problem here too for general stargazing, but a few hours north...incredible, even with the naked eye. Getting a decent to good telescope is on my bucket list for someday, one of several hobbies I'd like to pursue to get me away from computer monitors...theoretically....
I made the mistake of getting too ambitious too soon - the bigger and more complicated the telescope the less you'll use it because it's such a faff getting it out and setting it up. I use a small pair of binos more than my small telescope and I use my small telescope more than my larger newtonian reflector. A small spec of light 40 light years away still looks like a small spec of light when magnified 400 times and the Orion nebula looks like a tiny smudge on every amateur telescope no matter how much you spend. Unfortunately we're spoilt by quality professional photographs, Hubble and the wonders of Sci-Fi cgi images so our expectations can be bigger than the reality of what we can achieve in our own backyards with a $300 telescope.
What I should have bought first was a good pair of astronomical binoculars.
Mmm....thanks for the tip, makes sense. And yes, watching my Hubble DVD along with Stargate probably has inflated my expectations...
Joined: October 16 2006
Location: FL, USA
Status: Offline
Points: 17493
Posted: April 12 2013 at 14:47
People park and drive like idiots here in FL. I can bet all my wealth (not that the winner will get out of poverty anyway) that the worst drivers in the world were sent here to the personality-less state.
Joined: June 23 2005
Location: The Tardis
Status: Offline
Points: 8543
Posted: April 12 2013 at 15:52
Here everyone drives around as if they are stoned (which I'm guessing they often are - this is Austin after all) or are mentally in a dimension where there are no other cars around. And whoever times the traffic lights here should be strung up by their ........... after being told they will be let down once the light changes to green. And then it never changes to green.
I can understand your anger at me, but what did the horse I rode in on ever do to you?
Special Collaborator
Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout
Joined: May 13 2007
Location: Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 37575
Posted: April 12 2013 at 16:57
The Doctor wrote:
Here everyone drives around as if they are stoned (which I'm guessing they often are - this is Austin after all) or are mentally in a dimension where there are no other cars around. And whoever times the traffic lights here should be strung up by their ........... after being told they will be let down once the light changes to green. And then it never changes to green.
The American love affair with traffic lights are the one reason why a manual gearbox would be pointless option on an American car - lights change to green, into 1st gear, pull away, about to shift into 2nd and ah, no, another set of lights and they're red, slow down to a dead stop, handbrake on, knock it into neutral and sit back watch your fingernails grow while waiting for them to change to green, and so on ad infinitum until you've traversed the 10 blocks from your hotel to Pappasito's Cantina in a demented game of traffic light leapfrog, bt which time you're no longer hungry because you've gnawed through most of the foam & plastic off the dashboard facia. What you guys need to do is invent the roundabout, however to avoid confusion I guess you'd need to call it the Trunk Road Automotive Gyaratory Interchange Carousel or somesuch.
Forum & Site Admin Group
RIO/Avant/Zeuhl & Eclectic Team
Joined: March 16 2007
Location: Boston
Status: Offline
Points: 20914
Posted: April 12 2013 at 17:30
The T wrote:
People park and drive like idiots here in FL. I can bet all my wealth (not that the winner will get out of poverty anyway) that the worst drivers in the world were sent here to the personality-less state.
I've driven in Florida and while they are bad by US standards they have nothing on Greeks, Tunisian, Italians and Parisians.
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com
Joined: April 27 2004
Location: Peru
Status: Offline
Points: 19552
Posted: April 12 2013 at 17:50
Nogbad_The_Bad wrote:
The T wrote:
People park and drive like idiots here in FL. I can bet all my wealth (not that the winner will get out of poverty anyway) that the worst drivers in the world were sent here to the personality-less state.
I've driven in Florida and while they are bad by US standards they have nothing on Greeks, Tunisian, Italians and Parisians.
Joined: June 10 2011
Location: Colorado, USA
Status: Offline
Points: 4671
Posted: April 12 2013 at 23:52
Dean wrote:
The Doctor wrote:
Here everyone drives around as if they are stoned (which I'm guessing they often are - this is Austin after all) or are mentally in a dimension where there are no other cars around. And whoever times the traffic lights here should be strung up by their ........... after being told they will be let down once the light changes to green. And then it never changes to green.
The American love affair with traffic lights are the one reason why a manual gearbox would be pointless option on an American car - lights change to green, into 1st gear, pull away, about to shift into 2nd and ah, no, another set of lights and they're red, slow down to a dead stop, handbrake on, knock it into neutral and sit back watch your fingernails grow while waiting for them to change to green, and so on ad infinitum until you've traversed the 10 blocks from your hotel to Pappasito's Cantina in a demented game of traffic light leapfrog, bt which time you're no longer hungry because you've gnawed through most of the foam & plastic off the dashboard facia. What you guys need to do is invent the roundabout, however to avoid confusion I guess you'd need to call it the Trunk Road Automotive Gyaratory Interchange Carousel or somesuch.
I'm fairly certain that very few Americans would know half of the words in that phrase.
Special Collaborator
Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout
Joined: May 13 2007
Location: Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 37575
Posted: April 13 2013 at 03:59
infocat wrote:
Dean wrote:
The Doctor wrote:
Here everyone drives around as if they are stoned (which I'm guessing they often are - this is Austin after all) or are mentally in a dimension where there are no other cars around. And whoever times the traffic lights here should be strung up by their ........... after being told they will be let down once the light changes to green. And then it never changes to green.
The American love affair with traffic lights are the one reason why a manual gearbox would be pointless option on an American car - lights change to green, into 1st gear, pull away, about to shift into 2nd and ah, no, another set of lights and they're red, slow down to a dead stop, handbrake on, knock it into neutral and sit back watch your fingernails grow while waiting for them to change to green, and so on ad infinitum until you've traversed the 10 blocks from your hotel to Pappasito's Cantina in a demented game of traffic light leapfrog, bt which time you're no longer hungry because you've gnawed through most of the foam & plastic off the dashboard facia. What you guys need to do is invent the roundabout, however to avoid confusion I guess you'd need to call it the Trunk Road Automotive Gyaratory Interchange Carousel or somesuch.
I'm fairly certain that very few Americans would know half of the words in that phrase.
Oh, okay, 'spose you could call it a Car Operated Circular Knoll (Upstate Priority) instead..
I guess this has been aired before in this very thread so dip me in sedatives and suffocate me in gaffer tape but that internet riposte of haters gonna hate really rips my rodent knitting big style. What does this smug 'shrug of the shoulders' really mean anyways?: those who express a heartfelt opinion contrary to my own that involves polemic or invective cannot be sincere but are merely driven by the hidden agenda of hate. I'm reminded of the definition provided by the FBI for satanism here i.e. it's every religion apart from your own.....
Joined: April 04 2013
Location: Scotland
Status: Offline
Points: 27
Posted: April 13 2013 at 19:00
ExittheLemming wrote:
I guess this has been aired before in this very
thread so dip me in sedatives and suffocate me in gaffer tape but that
internet riposte of haters gonna hate really rips my rodent knitting big style.
"Why r u being so negative? Stop hating man! Your just jealous cos their famous while your still in ur moms basement!!"
Joined: February 03 2007
Location: The Heartland
Status: Offline
Points: 16913
Posted: April 13 2013 at 19:36
Ok, since we were being too peaceful the other day I owe the thread a rant....and man will this feel good.
I f**king hate people who drive slow on the freeways......now hold on......I'll give old people a pass, I'm not ripping Grandma. I'm talking about middle aged people, usually in a piece of sh*t minivan, or some self absorbed buttmunch on a smart phone.... Hear me, if you don't want to drive at least the posted speed, then take the goddamn secondary roads and get the hell outta the way.
Special Collaborator
Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout
Joined: May 13 2007
Location: Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 37575
Posted: April 13 2013 at 20:13
Finnforest wrote:
Ok, since we were being too peaceful the other day I owe the thread a rant....and man will this feel good.
I f**king hate people who drive slow on the freeways......now hold on......I'll give old people a pass, I'm not ripping Grandma. I'm talking about middle aged people, usually in a piece of sh*t minivan, or some self absorbed buttmunch on a smart phone.... Hear me, if you don't want to drive at least the posted speed, then take the goddamn secondary roads and get the hell outta the way.
You're right guys. That did feel good.
for you:
Over here we have a breed of driver that truck drivers call Centre Lane Only Drivers (Clods), though sometimes they are referred to as Middle Lane Morons. These clods are characterised by their insistence on driving in the centre lane of a three-lane carriageway at all times, usually at 7mph below the national speed limit to ensure they stay "legal". Since all speedometers are accurate to ±10% they naturally assume that their speedo is under-reading by 10%, while the rest of humanity naturally assumes that their speedo's are over-reading by 10% (and that's the defence we're going to use with Mr Plod when he pulls us over for speeding).... of course what that means is when we're both driving at the legal speed limit there is a 14mph difference in our relative speeds. This lane-hogging practice dates back to the days before our motorways had national speed limits and the lanes were designated "slow", "driving" and "fast" in the Highway Code and while that lane-naming convention only lasted a few years officially, the concept of "slow lane" (for trucks and lorries) and "fast lane" (for BMWs and Audi's) has remained ingrained in the British consciousness so that even new drivers, whose parents weren't old enough to drive in the 1960s, seem to think that the middle lane is where they should be... even when the inside lane is completely empty of all traffic (except for me ... doing 70mph + 10% ... [honest officer]).
Joined: August 11 2012
Location: Toadstool
Status: Offline
Points: 1787
Posted: April 13 2013 at 20:37
^^ That was awesome...
Have not seen the ranting room before....funny how much of this is revolving around driving. My peave, I cannot stand the idiots who blast that supposed stuff called music, Rap or hip hop, so lound at stop lights that my vehicle is rattling and vibrating from their million watt car stereo system. With that low frequency blasting in their ears, they should be deaf within a couple of years. I think I will invest in hearing aides.....
Special Collaborator
Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout
Joined: May 13 2007
Location: Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 37575
Posted: April 13 2013 at 20:57
I like loud music in the car - it drowns out the rattling of the engine and any passing kiddies in Peugeots and Hondas playing their rap music.
When I owned this car (10 ot 15 years ago):
I kitted it out with a 150W (RMS) per channel 5-way ICE system, two 10" speakers and a 12" sub in the "trunk" (and door speakers with magnets so powerful they physically distorted the door panels) - the play-list was normally Metallica or Fields Of The Nephilim played so loud the windscreen would vibrate.
Joined: February 03 2007
Location: The Heartland
Status: Offline
Points: 16913
Posted: April 13 2013 at 21:01
I'm a honda guy.....
i had a bright red 95 integra that was a blast....no real power of course, but such damn fun in corners....i used to hit this really sharp curve area and you could just corner like crazy, huge fun
Joined: May 25 2011
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Status: Offline
Points: 10970
Posted: April 13 2013 at 21:09
^ Doesn't sound like you hate it.
AEProgman wrote:
My peave, I cannot stand the idiots who blast that supposed stuff called music, Rap or hip hop, so lound at stop lights that my vehicle is rattling and vibrating from their million watt car stereo system. With that low frequency blasting in their ears, they should be deaf within a couple of years. I think I will invest in hearing aides.....
Well, who doesn't hate those cts? This is a big problem here in the Sparks/Reno area. They just don't give a st about the community. I must act. I must walk around with a carton of eggs and throw them at every single ddo on wheels!
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Dean wrote:
ts? This is a big problem here in the Sparks/Reno area. They just don't give a s