Apropos of Nothing *4*

Mad Grad Student · 2005-06-02 23:54:20

Well this is post 1000 for me.
You get another gold star.

Great, and here I am with a mere four stars. Maybe I should lurk less, post more. Nah, like that's gonna happen. Sorry for disturbing everyone.

Palomar · 2005-06-04 15:29:36

*Yay, we're going out of town overnight. Will consider it our 5th mini-honeymoon or something like that, ha! 75 miles north. Will get a room by the lake. That small town boasts the best steakhouse in the State...and I mean those steaks are juicy, tender and succulent. Will get a big butter and sour cream loaded baked potato with it. :up:

Am looking forward to the long, late-afternoon drive. My mother-in-law is in a nursing home there; we visit her once every 3 weeks, so of course will stop by for an extended visit.

We're doing this "spur of the moment"...always the best way, IMO.

Cya!

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-06-06 10:22:36

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/people_crowe … PUCUl]*Tsk, tsk, tsk...

*Not very nice of you, Mr. Crowe. Did you forget where you came from (obscurity, middle class)? Did you forget that you came to this nation to get opportunities you couldn't elsewhere (including your homeland) and that the working class (i.e. the guy you threw the phone at) is the class which keeps your party boat afloat? Do you feel fortunate you were merely arrested and that guy didn't retaliate by picking the phone back up and smashing it against your skull? Show a bit of respect to the American worker, please. If it weren't for us (the American taxpayer), you'd be a two-bit player in Australia.

--Cindy

Trebuchet · 2005-06-06 21:27:58

Roundabouts, the latest fetish of our local traffic planners. A perfectly good intersection gets ripped up and replaced by this round, multi-laned abomination which of course no one has the slightest idea how to approach. Note to Department of Transportation, Americans don't do roundabouts. We have a hard enough time with the last stupid idea you guys came up with, the four way stop.

Roundabouts are one of the few cases of a legitimate use for off-road capabilities - they turn roundabouts into 4-way stops, if you just drive across the grassy circle.

The only roundabout I can think of around here is one on Clearwater Beach, which takes up about an acre of absurdly valuable real estate for no reason other than to confuse the hell out of tourists.

At least its not the newest stupid idea, which is roads without any signals, lines, signs, or clear boundaries between 'street' and 'sidewalk', which was barfed out of the brain of some allegedly brilliant transportation engineer in Europe.

dicktice · 2005-06-07 06:23:37

Roundabouts work beautifully, and have for decades in Scandinavia, merely by (1) adding dotted lines where streets intersect the circle to denote where to yield before entering, and (2) reversing the normal direction rule to give right-of-way to those already inside the circle to keep traffic moving. No signs, no backups, no hassle: just common sense.

Cobra Commander · 2005-06-07 06:41:42

Roundabouts work beautifully, and have for decades in Scandinavia . . . . . . No signs, no backups, no hassle: just common sense.

We're talking about Americans driving, common sense does not apply.

Most of the time when some over-degreed traffic engineer comes up with a way to improve traffic flow it ends up causing headaches, bent fenders, traffic delays and profuse swearing.

But Trebuchet's suggestion of driving across the roundabouts has merit, I may well try that sometime. It's no worse than what some people try on them.

Edited By Cobra Commander on 1118148114

Palomar · 2005-06-07 07:21:39

Roundabouts are one of the few cases of a legitimate use for off-road capabilities - they turn roundabouts into 4-way stops, if you just drive across the grassy circle.
The only roundabout I can think of around here is one on Clearwater Beach, which takes up about an acre of absurdly valuable real estate for no reason other than to confuse the hell out of tourists.
At least its not the newest stupid idea, which is roads without any signals, lines, signs, or clear boundaries between 'street' and 'sidewalk', which was barfed out of the brain of some allegedly brilliant transportation engineer in Europe.

*LOL! I needed that laugh this morning, Trebuchet.

http://www.cityofshawnee.org/publicwork … tm]Shawnee, Kansas has one.

I had to Google for "roundabout traffic" because I couldn't get a clear image of it in my mind.

I hope to god they never install one around here. Yield right-of-way, huh? Even the cops around here seldom yield right-of-way. Most folks don't use their blinkers, etc.

Then we have frequent visitors from a nearby state who can't drive worth a damn, most of them. If you see someone doing something really boneheaded in traffic, check the license plate: 9 times out of 10 they're our out-of-state "visitors."

It looks like a recipe for accidents and flared-up tempers.

I can imagine tourists in FL being (pardon the pun) thrown for a loop on encountering a roundabout. I've seen them in movies shot on location in foreign countries. Hopefully I'll be smart enough to remember to yield right-of-way in the event of encountering one.

But I'm a bit surprised this is becoming "popular" here in the U.S.? Not sure change is always good. Guess we'll find out.

--Cindy

Grypd · 2005-06-07 16:32:48

Hmm in Scotland we have a lot of roundabouts but what really should be fun for you is Single Tracked roads to get past people you have to use the passing places every 100 metres or so.

And for the most part as they do not have anything like a kerb go off the road and your in a moor and needing to get dug out.

http://www.morrice.info/wallpaper/great … tml]Single tracked roads

Palomar · 2005-06-08 12:38:21

*And so it begins. The great renovation project. We're having every window in our home replaced, the trim and walls repainted...walls need a bit of repair work too.

Two guys work as a team. One of them looks like a Klingon candidate. No kidding, just a bit of makeup and a costume and a goatee and viola! He has the facial bone structure for it.

This is going to get hectic. Already there's scraping and pounding at the walls, them filing in and out of the house with my husband in the lead...

Better turn up the volume on this headset.

--Cindy

dicktice · 2005-06-08 14:09:53

The Great Renovation Project? I'd like to apply for the the job of adobe stomper without pay except bed & breakfast, from January until Spring, whenever that comes next year to Nova Scotia. P.S. I don't wash dishes.

BWhite · 2005-06-09 11:04:29

Any opinion on towns offering free municpal wi-fi?

As a public utility like water and streets?

clark · 2005-06-09 11:19:34

You get what you pay for.

with wi-fi and a pc, you can essentially make free phone calls, watch free cable, and listen to free music- anonymously.
I don't make a living on selling any of those things, but many others do. [shrug]

Palomar · 2005-06-09 19:32:09

*Okay, this could get interesting. A "full-time Goth" from London joined my http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ageofvolt … 143237]Age of Voltaire group today. Methinks this guy has my group confused with the Goth band "Voltaire." :laugh:

Oh well, maybe he really is into 18th century stuff.

-*-

On an entirely different note: So that's what the "Tegmeyer Surprise" is (at a mom & pop restaurant we eat at once a month): Every bit of dessert which wasn't taken off the dessert bar the evening before, smushed all up with vanilla pudding, topped with whipping cream and sprinkled with chopped salted peanuts. :laugh: Even apple cobbler is finely chopped up and tossed in with bits of chocolate cake and blueberry muffin and maraschino cherries...

::shakes head::

--Cindy

Grypd · 2005-06-10 04:25:44

Is it me or do spammers seem to be on the increase. Is this the result of the various companies making spam mail harder to post and to be able to get rid of it faster. Certainly it seems there is another just came on this forum look at our latest member sexmaniac. And tell me this is not a spammer :angry:

Cobra Commander · 2005-06-10 05:58:17

Certainly it seems there is another just came on this forum look at our latest member sexmaniac. And tell me this is not a spammer

So ready to ban.

clark · 2005-06-10 06:13:28

Across from the wrecked remains of the WTC, on Liberty Street, in a window on the highest floor, a peace sign is hung with the words, "Dissent is Patriotic."

Cobra Commander · 2005-06-10 06:20:07

"Dissent is Patriotic."

Depends on the object and motive of dissent, I would say. the mere assertion "Dissent is Patriotic" is as silly as "they hate our freedoms".

Is hating freedom patriotic if you're dissenting?

clark · 2005-06-10 06:26:36

Is hating freedom patriotic if you're dissenting?

Granted, this question dosen't make much sense...

But, yes. Silly, but patriotic.

Palomar · 2005-06-20 07:58:18

*Aw, poor Tom Cruise! He agrees to give an interview to four Londoners posing as reporters, and one of them squirts water in his face. A deliberate prank, of course. Just saw it now on TV; one of them looks a lot like him. ::shakes head::

Then another insult: The TV segment refers to Cruise's latest romantic engagement with Katie Holmes as a May-December relationship. What??! He's only turning 42 in July! They're only 15 years apart in age.

They didn't call Ashton and Demi a "May-December relationship" (same difference).

Okay, I rarely follow celebrity stuff, but I am a fan of Tom Cruise. Shame on those guys for squirting water in his face AND on those TV reporters making it sound like Tom is some decrepit old goat for proposing marriage to a gal in her mid-20s. Sheesh. My aunt and uncle were 13 years apart in age and they had a wonderful, 30+ year marriage before they were parted in death.

And I'm not even going to -think- what considering Hayden Christensen as attractive might mean...Geez. (Even if I do mostly go for actors in their 40s and 50s).

Anyway, be nice to Tom!

And finally -- just saw the first ad for Johnny Depp's new movie, the Willie Wonka remake. He looks SO funky and sexy; can't wait to see that movie. He and Tom are the ultimate. :up:

--Cindy

Cobra Commander · 2005-06-20 11:15:56

I've always despised oompa loompas. Don't know why.

Does that count as racism? :laugh:

clark · 2005-06-20 11:18:05

No, just one more sign of your latent inferiority complex.

Cobra Commander · 2005-06-20 11:31:20

Doompadee doo.

They're all illegals I assume, INS needs to check out that Wonka place.

clark · 2005-06-20 11:32:44

Dude, they are refugee's. And they work in England. Eat something, you're all over the place.

Cobra Commander · 2005-06-20 11:38:30

Dude, they are refugee's. And they work in England. Eat something, you're all over the place.

So my experiment in the effects of sleep deprivation and under-nourishment on cognitive ability is progressing well. Almost time to try driving at high speed around obstacles.

Is an oompa loompa a refugee or a slave? I mean, where else can they go, really?

Palomar · 2005-06-20 11:46:42

I've always despised oompa loompas. Don't know why.
Does that count as racism? :laugh:

*No, considering they're fictional characters.

I remember in the 1970s, Willy Wonka candies were rather popular. Always at least 5 varieties for sale at any candy counter. There was one particular chocolate bar, which was similar to another type (different company)...but I can't remember the names of either off-hand.

--Cindy

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