Pedestrian phasing is where all cars are held at red lights while pedestrians cross. It can be quite annoying if there aren't any and everyone sits there for up to 90 secs twiddling their thumbs. I don't have LEDs on my old 1996 Peugeot but all the latest Euro models have 'em, Beemers and Mercs especially.
whitebread 20-somethings that think they are 'multicultural' or 'diverse' or something just because they took some class on gangs in college or, more often, live in a shitty neighborhood.
whitebread 20-somethings that think they are 'multicultural' or 'diverse' or something just because they took some class on gangs in college or, more often, live in a shitty neighborhood.
I for one am a whitebread 20-something that thinks i am cultural because i can culture most of the stuff that grows on my walls... badudum...
People who freeze up and get in my way when I'm trying to bike. Don't worry, I'm a controlled biker, if you just keep moving in the same direction and speed you were moving before you saw me, I'll avoid you. Of course, most people freeze like a deer in the headlights the moment they see me approaching on my bike. I use the streets as much as possible, but sometimes I have to bike on the sidewalk.
I was jogging one night and had to cross a little-used road. A car coming toward me from up the road saw me in their headlights from a 'considerable' distance away, and then turned on their brights to see me even *better* - as if normal headlights weren't enough. As a result, they blinded me and I fell, getting a hairline fracture and massive ligament damage in my ankle. I thought I was going to have to crawl home (literally) on my hands and knees because I couldn't put any weight on that foot; but someone in the next car saw what had happened and stopped to give me a ride home. I'm sure the first car saw me fall; but they just drove blithely on. Probably didn't want to "get involved".
Quote:
Drivers who go well under the limit (usually 5-10 under, or more) and acquire a huge line of cars behind them, but never pull over and let people around for any reason.
In some states (Oregon?) it's illegal for the front car to do that. They are required by law to pull over once three or four cars are stacked up behind them. What a sensible law. It's safer, because it decreases the chance for road rage on those twisty coastal highways.
Quote:
People who drive while severely distracted - not just cell phones, but also having a conversation with the passenger while constantly gesturing and looking at them. My dad does this - when we have conversations in the car, and I'm the passenger, I always fix my gaze straight ahead, hoping to encourage him to do the same. It only sometimes works though. Many times, he'll look at me even though I'm not looking back at him.
Haha. I remember doing the same thing as you, with someone I used to drive with. Can't remember who it was though. And you're right - it didn't work very well. (Sounds like 'you' should be the dad, and 'he' should be the son. )
Quote:
Teachers who give me really, really vague assignments. Like, "Write a paper that relates to something we've been talking about in class in the past three weeks." Come on, tell me what I need to write about. I'm not a creative writer, I'm more technically oriented. I can crank out high-quality papers fairly quickly, but I have to have a very specific task to accomplish.
Well, Luca, I think your teacher is actually trying to do you a favor. She wants to provide an opportunity for *you* to develop some of the thoughts you've had about any of the material you choose. Rather than seeing the assignment as vague, you might regard it as a chance to really think about 'your' own personal reaction to specific material.
Well, Luca, I think your teacher is actually trying to do you a favor. She wants to provide an opportunity for *you* to develop some of the thoughts you've had about any of the material you choose. Rather than seeing the assignment as vague, you might regard it as a chance to really think about 'your' own personal reaction to specific material.
By the way, you write VERY well.
Thank you very much Carol! I'm new in my current major (it's my first semester of Scientific And Technical Communications) but I've already received many complements on my writing. I was uncertain at first but each one gives me more motivation and drive to stick with this major and really work hard at it.
Anyway, I see what you mean by saying my teacher wants me to come up with something. That doesn't mean it isn't annoying . That's just not my style. Also, the stuff we had been doing in class recently was very boring and I didn't pay much attention to it . Ever read A Sand County Almanac? It's cute at first, and it has a good message, but it gets very tiresome, very quickly. I wanted to try to avoid writing a paper about it.
when i'm stopped at a light, someone honks me literally one second after it turn green impatient a-holes
litter
walking past someone who is smoking right outside the entrance to a building, they can't walk away, say 50ft from the entrance?
people who cough and don't cover their mouths, especially when they are obviously sick
lights on cars/trucks/suvs in the middle of the day. i always thought this was considered a no no and bad edicate. someone told me that lights come on automatically on a lot of models ow, is this true? how annoying...
driving at night with huge suvs or pickups blinding me with their lights because they are too high. i hate suvs and pick-ups. baaaaaah.
I hate tourists. They clog up the sidewalk, gawk at the buildings, and block the entrances to the subway while they fumble with the MetroCard.
As an ex (and still part-time) New Yorker, I'm hearing you. Here's the LA Version:
Some advice for those people thinking of coming to Los Angeles and not wanting to feel the wrath of pissed off Angelenos:
If you are in Beverly Hills on the weekend:
A) Do not walk more than two people across. I have somewhere to go and you're keeping me from getting there.
Do not Jaywalk. When the red light that looks like a hand is on, stay where you are. Besides opening yourself up to a hefty fine, you are again in my way.
C) Stick to Rodeo Drive. Do not go onto Beverly Or Canon. There's nothing to see but a Gap, a Banana Republic, a Crate and Barrel, some parking lots and a Whole Foods. Unless you are visiting from Mars, you have most of these at home.
Do not rent a car and try to study the map in traffic. Figure out what lane you want to be in and be there. Don't decide that you really wanted to make a left onto Westwood from Wilshire and try to do it. You will die trying.
Do not stop in the middle of the street because you have found Madonna's house. She's already moved. This holds true for all celebrities. All of them have moved. Trust me. (Special dispensation if you are looking at the architecure, but there will be a pop quiz, so you better know a Wallace Neff from a Paul Williams.)
Do not park your car and stand in the middle of Beachwood Canyon drive to take a picture of the Hollywood Sign. You are getting between me and a Ruben sandwich. People have died for less.
Do not ask me if there's a way to the Hollywood sign and then not believe me when I say no. Those big signs reading "NO ACCESS TO HOLLYWOOD SIGN" don't lie.
Do not complain that Hollywood is dirty. It's been dirty since Day of the Locust. I know you saw "Pretty Woman", so you should have been warned. That hotel Julia lived in on Cherokee didn't look like the Beverly Wilshire, did it?
If you have moved here and have not been to the Getty, LACMA, MOCA, The Huntington, The Norton Simon, or any of the dozens of other theaters, museums or cultural venues in the greater Los Angeles area, don't give me the crap about LA having no culture. YOU have no culture, and you aren't going to find any sucking down a latte at Starbucks on the Third Street Promenade.
If you have moved here and don't like it, feel free not to share why. If home was so much better, move home. We need your parking space.
When taking the London Underground, please don't stand at the bottom of the stairs leading to the platforms reading the map. I can't get to the platform. I am not a violent man but at times like this I wish I was armed.
lights on cars/trucks/suvs in the middle of the day. i always thought this was considered a no no and bad edicate. someone told me that lights come on automatically on a lot of models ow, is this true? how annoying...
This is actually mandatory in a big part, if not all, of Europe. (keeping your lights on, I mean - not how they're activated)
Okay, here's the deal. I love all animals, and I love to hear birds singing in the morning.
BUT...there is a bird who sits in the tree outside my bedroom window and starts singing at around midnight. This bird sings FULL BLAST(!!!) for hours! I mean, REALLY, REALLY loudly. And he doesn't sing just *one* simple tune that a person might get accustomed to hearing, but countless different tunes...jarringly different; so that the unwilling listener becomes fixated in a grim fascination, wondering what variation in melodies will come up next.
I presume this bird is a mockingbird, because of the unbelievable variety in his repertoire; but I know very little about birds, so he could be anything.
If the tune stayed the same, I would probably be able to sleep; but with it constantly changing, sleep becomes impossible for me. I get up at 2:30 A.M., desperate for sleep, and go into the kitchen for a stiff drink to send me into unconsciousness, bird or no bird. I just hate doing that however; but I am SO ****ing tired of getting by on only 3 hours of sleep!
I could never possibly hurt any animal, but I've been thinking of using a super-soaker-type water gun on this bird, to dampen his enthusiasm....to make my tree a less than hospitable place. Anybody have any other ideas to suggest for getting rid of LOUD night birds, without hurting them???? Thanks for any suggestions.
Okay, here's the deal. I love all animals, and I love to hear birds singing in the morning.
BUT...there is a bird who sits in the tree outside my bedroom window and starts singing at around midnight. This bird sings FULL BLAST(!!!) for hours! I mean, REALLY, REALLY loudly. And he doesn't sing just *one* simple tune that a person might get accustomed to hearing, but countless different tunes...jarringly different; so that the unwilling listener becomes fixated in a grim fascination, wondering what variation in melodies will come up next.
I presume this bird is a mockingbird, because of the unbelievable variety in his repertoire; but I know very little about birds, so he could be anything.
If the tune stayed the same, I would probably be able to sleep; but with it constantly changing, sleep becomes impossible for me. I get up at 2:30 A.M., desperate for sleep, and go into the kitchen for a stiff drink to send me into unconsciousness, bird or no bird. I just hate doing that however; but I am SO ****ing tired of getting by on only 3 hours of sleep!
I could never possibly hurt any animal, but I've been thinking of using a super-soaker-type water gun on this bird, to dampen his enthusiasm....to make my tree a less than hospitable place. Anybody have any other ideas to suggest for getting rid of LOUD night birds, without hurting them???? Thanks for any suggestions.
Carol
The Supersoaker sounds good to me
Oh, and I hate stupid people. And hippies. And stupid people.
lol, that bird story brought back bad memories carol.
for years when i was in middle school/ high school every summer vacation i ran into the same problem. at my parents house, right outside my bedroom window in the neighbor's yard was a HUGE elm tree.
on the top of this tree there sat, every friggin day starting at 4:00 AM the biggest, loudest crow you can imagine.
for 5 hours this damn thing would caw at the top of its lungs. i would shut my windows, put pillows over my head and i could still hear the damn thing.
this wouldn't have been as big of a deal, but i normally didn't go to sleep until 3 or 4 AM back in those days. so i'd just be dropping off to sleep and this damn bird would start up. honest to god just about drove me to insanity. i'd be so tired i wouldn't want to try and find a place in the basement where i couldn't hear it, so i'd just sit for what seemed like a lifetime hoping to finally drop off to sleep or hope it would fly off.
many times i had asked to get a pellet gun to clean out the yard of crows and grackles as they had overrun the area and started to wipe out the song birds. my mother, however was dead set against guns, always had been and would have nothing to do with it. (for example my GI Joe's had their guns taken away before i ever got them).
so, after 10 years of this i hated that bird more than i'd hated any animal in my life.
then one summer everything changed. my mom had some hanging plants on the front porch. one spring some purple finches made a nest in one of her hanging plants. every day she'd go out there, watch the mother and father build the nest. eventually the mom laid eggs and would sit there every day, even though people would be coming in and out of the house. finally the eggs hatched, and mother bird started taking care of the baby birds. of course, my mom (also a teacher) was loving every second of this and thought it was fascinating.
so she's in the back yard and hears the mother finch going nuts in the front yard. she comes around to the front yard and there's the crow that's been driving me nuts for years. ripping the heads off of all the baby finches.
i came home, and my mom handed me $100 and told me to go buy a pellet gun and kill that crow. of course, i headed straight over there, picked up the best one i could with the money she gave me, some ammo and came home. as fate would have it, there was this bastard son of a bitch crow sitting at the top of this huge elm. no scope, never sighted the thing in, no idea what kind of range it has, but i figure one shot just for kicks. so i'm in the back yard, and the damn bird is in the front yard of my neighbor's house at the top of this tree. my dad figures there's no way i'll hit it, so he says to go ahead.
i take one shot, and sure enough i nailed it. the lord himself must have guided that shot.
in any case, it was a beautiful moment, and don't underestimate the wonderful power of the pellet gun.
lights on cars/trucks/suvs in the middle of the day. i always thought this was considered a no no and bad edicate. someone told me that lights come on automatically on a lot of models ow, is this true? how annoying...
driving at night with huge suvs or pickups blinding me with their lights because they are too high. i hate suvs and pick-ups. baaaaaah.
I totally agree on the large trucks with the lights so high up that even with their "low beams" they still blind you. I hate those. I also hate those super-bright blue lights they have on luxury cars. Not only are they blinding, but their blue light is distracting as it attracts my eyes to it.
Anyway, about a week ago I had an experience that made me think just the opposite of you about the lights during the day thing. I've always thought lights on during the day was a good idea, and I've made it a habit in my driving since day one. It was early in the morning, around sunrise, and I'm on a road going south and I'm going to turn right onto an east-west road. With the sun rising off to my left, I'm nearly blinded by it. I can only see oncoming traffic when they have their headlights on. And sure enough, about half of the cars did not have their headlights on. It was completely IMPOSSIBLE to see any trace of the actual car because of the awful glare. I pulled out and nearly got into an accident because someone didn't have their lights on.
It's not like having your lights on is going to blind someone. During the day, your pupils are small and used to bright light, so turning your lights on only makes you more visible in situations like that. That's why many countries (Canada, for instance) require your headlights to be on at all times. I wouldn't consider it rude to not have them on, but if you choose not to, it should be clear, during the middle of the day. If it's dawn, dusk, raining, cloudy, snowing, or anything else like that, there will be at least a few situations where it will be very difficult to see other cars if they don't have their lights on.
EDIT: Carol, squirting the bird should help. It might come back a few times (birds are really, really stupid) but hopefully you'll scare it off. Another option might be to find something like a large mylar balloon to wave around in the window. My pet birds are terrified of anything that is large, shiny, or flying. They go absolutely nuts whenever they see a mylar balloon.
Hey Luca, that idea about the balloon is definitely worth a try. How about if I put the balloon *in* the tree? Then it would act like a scarecrow. Or would the bird figure out that it's harmless if it's there permanently?
Alcimedes, thanks for the story about the crow. Makes me feel like I'm not the only one with weird problems like this.
That is SO awful about the baby finches. Crows must really be *scum* birds. Those babies must have been SO teensy.
Yeah, poor baby finches. It's just evolution at work. Crows are intelligent (among birds) and are not scum, even if they may seem like it. Of course, Alcimedes shooting it was also evolution at work. That crow should have learned not to piss you off.
Comments
FYI, the newest car I drive is a 1997 Mercury Villager, and it certainly does not have those bright red LEDs on the back.
Originally posted by shetline
That, and being tailgated when I'm already doing the speed limit or faster. That's really annoying too.
Absolutely, especially when all you can see in your rearview mirror is a huge chrome grille with the Cadillac logo emblazoned on it.
Originally posted by ipodandimac
women at 4 way stops
(I can laugh, because I don't do what they do.
(Honest!)
Originally posted by giant
whitebread 20-somethings that think they are 'multicultural' or 'diverse' or something just because they took some class on gangs in college or, more often, live in a shitty neighborhood.
I for one am a whitebread 20-something that thinks i am cultural because i can culture most of the stuff that grows on my walls... badudum...
Originally posted by Luca Rescigno
Screeching brakes.
People who freeze up and get in my way when I'm trying to bike. Don't worry, I'm a controlled biker, if you just keep moving in the same direction and speed you were moving before you saw me, I'll avoid you. Of course, most people freeze like a deer in the headlights the moment they see me approaching on my bike. I use the streets as much as possible, but sometimes I have to bike on the sidewalk.
I was jogging one night and had to cross a little-used road. A car coming toward me from up the road saw me in their headlights from a 'considerable' distance away, and then turned on their brights to see me even *better* - as if normal headlights weren't enough. As a result, they blinded me and I fell, getting a hairline fracture and massive ligament damage in my ankle. I thought I was going to have to crawl home (literally) on my hands and knees because I couldn't put any weight on that foot; but someone in the next car saw what had happened and stopped to give me a ride home.
Drivers who go well under the limit (usually 5-10 under, or more) and acquire a huge line of cars behind them, but never pull over and let people around for any reason.
In some states (Oregon?) it's illegal for the front car to do that. They are required by law to pull over once three or four cars are stacked up behind them. What a sensible law. It's safer, because it decreases the chance for road rage on those twisty coastal highways.
People who drive while severely distracted - not just cell phones, but also having a conversation with the passenger while constantly gesturing and looking at them. My dad does this - when we have conversations in the car, and I'm the passenger, I always fix my gaze straight ahead, hoping to encourage him to do the same. It only sometimes works though. Many times, he'll look at me even though I'm not looking back at him.
Haha. I remember doing the same thing as you, with someone I used to drive with. Can't remember who it was though. And you're right - it didn't work very well.
Teachers who give me really, really vague assignments. Like, "Write a paper that relates to something we've been talking about in class in the past three weeks." Come on, tell me what I need to write about. I'm not a creative writer, I'm more technically oriented. I can crank out high-quality papers fairly quickly, but I have to have a very specific task to accomplish.
Well, Luca, I think your teacher is actually trying to do you a favor. She wants to provide an opportunity for *you* to develop some of the thoughts you've had about any of the material you choose. Rather than seeing the assignment as vague, you might regard it as a chance to really think about 'your' own personal reaction to specific material.
By the way, you write VERY well.
Originally posted by Carol A
Well, Luca, I think your teacher is actually trying to do you a favor. She wants to provide an opportunity for *you* to develop some of the thoughts you've had about any of the material you choose. Rather than seeing the assignment as vague, you might regard it as a chance to really think about 'your' own personal reaction to specific material.
By the way, you write VERY well.
Thank you very much Carol! I'm new in my current major (it's my first semester of Scientific And Technical Communications) but I've already received many complements on my writing. I was uncertain at first but each one gives me more motivation and drive to stick with this major and really work hard at it.
Anyway, I see what you mean by saying my teacher wants me to come up with something. That doesn't mean it isn't annoying
litter
walking past someone who is smoking right outside the entrance to a building, they can't walk away, say 50ft from the entrance?
people who cough and don't cover their mouths, especially when they are obviously sick
lights on cars/trucks/suvs in the middle of the day. i always thought this was considered a no no and bad edicate. someone told me that lights come on automatically on a lot of models ow, is this true? how annoying...
driving at night with huge suvs or pickups blinding me with their lights because they are too high. i hate suvs and pick-ups. baaaaaah.
too many others, maybe more later
Originally posted by HOM
I hate tourists. They clog up the sidewalk, gawk at the buildings, and block the entrances to the subway while they fumble with the MetroCard.
As an ex (and still part-time) New Yorker, I'm hearing you. Here's the LA Version:
Some advice for those people thinking of coming to Los Angeles and not wanting to feel the wrath of pissed off Angelenos:
If you are in Beverly Hills on the weekend:
A) Do not walk more than two people across. I have somewhere to go and you're keeping me from getting there.
C) Stick to Rodeo Drive. Do not go onto Beverly Or Canon. There's nothing to see but a Gap, a Banana Republic, a Crate and Barrel, some parking lots and a Whole Foods. Unless you are visiting from Mars, you have most of these at home.
Do not rent a car and try to study the map in traffic. Figure out what lane you want to be in and be there. Don't decide that you really wanted to make a left onto Westwood from Wilshire and try to do it. You will die trying.
Do not stop in the middle of the street because you have found Madonna's house. She's already moved. This holds true for all celebrities. All of them have moved. Trust me. (Special dispensation if you are looking at the architecure, but there will be a pop quiz, so you better know a Wallace Neff from a Paul Williams.)
Do not park your car and stand in the middle of Beachwood Canyon drive to take a picture of the Hollywood Sign. You are getting between me and a Ruben sandwich. People have died for less.
Do not ask me if there's a way to the Hollywood sign and then not believe me when I say no. Those big signs reading "NO ACCESS TO HOLLYWOOD SIGN" don't lie.
Do not complain that Hollywood is dirty. It's been dirty since Day of the Locust. I know you saw "Pretty Woman", so you should have been warned. That hotel Julia lived in on Cherokee didn't look like the Beverly Wilshire, did it?
If you have moved here and have not been to the Getty, LACMA, MOCA, The Huntington, The Norton Simon, or any of the dozens of other theaters, museums or cultural venues in the greater Los Angeles area, don't give me the crap about LA having no culture. YOU have no culture, and you aren't going to find any sucking down a latte at Starbucks on the Third Street Promenade.
If you have moved here and don't like it, feel free not to share why. If home was so much better, move home. We need your parking space.
Otherwise, welcome to LA.
When taking the London Underground, please don't stand at the bottom of the stairs leading to the platforms reading the map. I can't get to the platform. I am not a violent man but at times like this I wish I was armed.
Originally posted by burningwheel
lights on cars/trucks/suvs in the middle of the day. i always thought this was considered a no no and bad edicate. someone told me that lights come on automatically on a lot of models ow, is this true? how annoying...
This is actually mandatory in a big part, if not all, of Europe. (keeping your lights on, I mean - not how they're activated)
BUT...there is a bird who sits in the tree outside my bedroom window and starts singing at around midnight. This bird sings FULL BLAST(!!!) for hours! I mean, REALLY, REALLY loudly. And he doesn't sing just *one* simple tune that a person might get accustomed to hearing, but countless different tunes...jarringly different; so that the unwilling listener becomes fixated in a grim fascination, wondering what variation in melodies will come up next.
I presume this bird is a mockingbird, because of the unbelievable variety in his repertoire; but I know very little about birds, so he could be anything.
If the tune stayed the same, I would probably be able to sleep; but with it constantly changing, sleep becomes impossible for me. I get up at 2:30 A.M., desperate for sleep, and go into the kitchen for a stiff drink to send me into unconsciousness, bird or no bird. I just hate doing that however; but I am SO ****ing tired of getting by on only 3 hours of sleep!
I could never possibly hurt any animal, but I've been thinking of using a super-soaker-type water gun on this bird, to dampen his enthusiasm....to make my tree a less than hospitable place. Anybody have any other ideas to suggest for getting rid of LOUD night birds, without hurting them???? Thanks for any suggestions.
Carol
Originally posted by Carol A
Okay, here's the deal. I love all animals, and I love to hear birds singing in the morning.
BUT...there is a bird who sits in the tree outside my bedroom window and starts singing at around midnight. This bird sings FULL BLAST(!!!) for hours! I mean, REALLY, REALLY loudly. And he doesn't sing just *one* simple tune that a person might get accustomed to hearing, but countless different tunes...jarringly different; so that the unwilling listener becomes fixated in a grim fascination, wondering what variation in melodies will come up next.
I presume this bird is a mockingbird, because of the unbelievable variety in his repertoire; but I know very little about birds, so he could be anything.
If the tune stayed the same, I would probably be able to sleep; but with it constantly changing, sleep becomes impossible for me. I get up at 2:30 A.M., desperate for sleep, and go into the kitchen for a stiff drink to send me into unconsciousness, bird or no bird. I just hate doing that however; but I am SO ****ing tired of getting by on only 3 hours of sleep!
I could never possibly hurt any animal, but I've been thinking of using a super-soaker-type water gun on this bird, to dampen his enthusiasm....to make my tree a less than hospitable place. Anybody have any other ideas to suggest for getting rid of LOUD night birds, without hurting them???? Thanks for any suggestions.
Carol
The Supersoaker sounds good to me
Oh, and I hate stupid people. And hippies. And stupid people.
for years when i was in middle school/ high school every summer vacation i ran into the same problem. at my parents house, right outside my bedroom window in the neighbor's yard was a HUGE elm tree.
on the top of this tree there sat, every friggin day starting at 4:00 AM the biggest, loudest crow you can imagine.
for 5 hours this damn thing would caw at the top of its lungs. i would shut my windows, put pillows over my head and i could still hear the damn thing.
this wouldn't have been as big of a deal, but i normally didn't go to sleep until 3 or 4 AM back in those days. so i'd just be dropping off to sleep and this damn bird would start up. honest to god just about drove me to insanity. i'd be so tired i wouldn't want to try and find a place in the basement where i couldn't hear it, so i'd just sit for what seemed like a lifetime hoping to finally drop off to sleep or hope it would fly off.
many times i had asked to get a pellet gun to clean out the yard of crows and grackles as they had overrun the area and started to wipe out the song birds. my mother, however was dead set against guns, always had been and would have nothing to do with it. (for example my GI Joe's had their guns taken away before i ever got them).
so, after 10 years of this i hated that bird more than i'd hated any animal in my life.
then one summer everything changed. my mom had some hanging plants on the front porch. one spring some purple finches made a nest in one of her hanging plants. every day she'd go out there, watch the mother and father build the nest. eventually the mom laid eggs and would sit there every day, even though people would be coming in and out of the house. finally the eggs hatched, and mother bird started taking care of the baby birds. of course, my mom (also a teacher) was loving every second of this and thought it was fascinating.
so she's in the back yard and hears the mother finch going nuts in the front yard. she comes around to the front yard and there's the crow that's been driving me nuts for years. ripping the heads off of all the baby finches.
i came home, and my mom handed me $100 and told me to go buy a pellet gun and kill that crow. of course, i headed straight over there, picked up the best one i could with the money she gave me, some ammo and came home. as fate would have it, there was this bastard son of a bitch crow sitting at the top of this huge elm. no scope, never sighted the thing in, no idea what kind of range it has, but i figure one shot just for kicks. so i'm in the back yard, and the damn bird is in the front yard of my neighbor's house at the top of this tree. my dad figures there's no way i'll hit it, so he says to go ahead.
i take one shot, and sure enough i nailed it. the lord himself must have guided that shot.
in any case, it was a beautiful moment, and don't underestimate the wonderful power of the pellet gun.
Originally posted by burningwheel
lights on cars/trucks/suvs in the middle of the day. i always thought this was considered a no no and bad edicate. someone told me that lights come on automatically on a lot of models ow, is this true? how annoying...
driving at night with huge suvs or pickups blinding me with their lights because they are too high. i hate suvs and pick-ups. baaaaaah.
I totally agree on the large trucks with the lights so high up that even with their "low beams" they still blind you. I hate those. I also hate those super-bright blue lights they have on luxury cars. Not only are they blinding, but their blue light is distracting as it attracts my eyes to it.
Anyway, about a week ago I had an experience that made me think just the opposite of you about the lights during the day thing. I've always thought lights on during the day was a good idea, and I've made it a habit in my driving since day one. It was early in the morning, around sunrise, and I'm on a road going south and I'm going to turn right onto an east-west road. With the sun rising off to my left, I'm nearly blinded by it. I can only see oncoming traffic when they have their headlights on. And sure enough, about half of the cars did not have their headlights on. It was completely IMPOSSIBLE to see any trace of the actual car because of the awful glare. I pulled out and nearly got into an accident because someone didn't have their lights on.
It's not like having your lights on is going to blind someone. During the day, your pupils are small and used to bright light, so turning your lights on only makes you more visible in situations like that. That's why many countries (Canada, for instance) require your headlights to be on at all times. I wouldn't consider it rude to not have them on, but if you choose not to, it should be clear, during the middle of the day. If it's dawn, dusk, raining, cloudy, snowing, or anything else like that, there will be at least a few situations where it will be very difficult to see other cars if they don't have their lights on.
EDIT: Carol, squirting the bird should help. It might come back a few times (birds are really, really stupid) but hopefully you'll scare it off. Another option might be to find something like a large mylar balloon to wave around in the window. My pet birds are terrified of anything that is large, shiny, or flying. They go absolutely nuts whenever they see a mylar balloon.
Thanks!
Carol
That is SO awful about the baby finches. Crows must really be *scum* birds. Those babies must have been SO teensy.
Originally posted by Carol A
Alcimedes, thanks for the story about the crow. Makes me feel like I'm not the only one with weird problems like this.
That is SO awful about the baby finches. Crows must really be *scum* birds. Those babies must have been SO teensy.
Yeah, poor baby finches. It's just evolution at work. Crows are intelligent (among birds) and are not scum, even if they may seem like it. Of course, Alcimedes shooting it was also evolution at work. That crow should have learned not to piss you off.