Basic concepts that seem to escape the grasp of most people

[Ruptga]

If there is any indicision on the part of other drivers, I wave them through. It is much better to be behind accelerating morons than in front of them.

Except then you're stuck behind an idiot for the next half hour, or whatever.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Exercise and nutrition (guidelines).

"If getting 30 minutes of aerobic exercise three times a week is good for you, then getting 60 minutes seven days a week must be really good for you."

"If drinking 64oz of water daily is good for you, then drinking 128oz must be even better."

"If the adult daily recommendation is <n> mcg of vitamin <whatever> then a pill with 100 times <n> must be really good for you."

 

[sphenodont]

Just seen a Liberty mutual commercial, they said they won't raise your rates if you get into accident or get a ticket (or some BS).

Meanwhile, here I am, Liberty mutual costumer and they raised my rates last year. No accidents OR tickets..

They aren't saying they won't raise your rates FULL STOP. They are saying that they won't assess you the penalty for getting into an accident. (Keep in mind, that only applies to your first accident and that's only if you qualify for this perk in the first place, which probably means you've been accident free for at least five years and have an above-average credit rating.)

ioni is thinking of Allstate, I think. LM doesn't charge for accident forgiveness.

 

[stlc8tr]

Exercise and nutrition (guidelines).

"If getting 30 minutes of aerobic exercise three times a week is good for you, then getting 60 minutes seven days a week must be really good for you."

I have no problem believing that an hour of exercise a day is better.

Why do you think otherwise?

 

[veri745]

People that drive in the left lane.

People that drive like assholes and don't let people around them merge (or close the gap when you turn on your blinker).

You're slowing the entire highway down.

 

[OutHouse]

my wife will never understand how a house thermostat works.

I have mine programmed to turn on at 5am and set to 75 to heat up the house while we get ready for work and the kids get ready for school. at 8am it have it set to go back down to 68.

yesterday the outside temp got up to 70 degrees and my house gets HOT at 70 higher. so this morning i get up and the house is freezing, like 61 degrees. so I check the thermostat and its turned off.... wtf

i know the criminal who did it because i have had this conversation many times. so i asked my wife,
me: did you turn off the heat yesterday?
her: yes
me: why
her: because the house was hot and the heater was on....
me: slits wrist.

I am going to buy a NEST. that may be complicated enough that she wont touch it anymore and i can control it from my phone.

 

[Scarpozzi]

my wife will never understand how a house thermostat works.

I have mine programmed to turn on at 5am and set to 75 to heat up the house while we get ready for work and the kids get ready for school. at 8am it have it set to go back down to 68.

yesterday the outside temp got up to 70 degrees and my house gets HOT at 70 higher. so this morning i get up and the house is freezing, like 61 degrees. so I check the thermostat and its turned off.... wtf

i know the criminal who did it because i have had this conversation many times. so i asked my wife,
me: did you turn off the heat yesterday?
her: yes
me: why
her: because the house was hot and the heater was on....
me: slits wrist.

I am going to buy a NEST. that may be complicated enough that she wont touch it anymore and i can control it from my phone.

This is my wife in the car.

She either turns the AC on full blast, turns it off, or turns the heat on full blast. Fan speed varies, but she doesn't grasp that you can set the heat/cold settings to a medium and not have to constantly turn it on and off.

My car has a digital thermostat (which makes it easier to see the same settings you get on a dial because it actually switches between heat and cold depending on outside air temp and inside air temp differentials....). She doesn't understand that either...

 

[Belegost]

my wife will never understand how a house thermostat works.

I have mine programmed to turn on at 5am and set to 75 to heat up the house while we get ready for work and the kids get ready for school. at 8am it have it set to go back down to 68.

yesterday the outside temp got up to 70 degrees and my house gets HOT at 70 higher. so this morning i get up and the house is freezing, like 61 degrees. so I check the thermostat and its turned off.... wtf

i know the criminal who did it because i have had this conversation many times. so i asked my wife,
me: did you turn off the heat yesterday?
her: yes
me: why
her: because the house was hot and the heater was on....
me: slits wrist.

I am going to buy a NEST. that may be complicated enough that she wont touch it anymore and i can control it from my phone.

Did you steal my morning yesterday?

That's the exact thing that happened to me (though my thermostat is set to 64.) I got up, and it was frigging cold, look at the thermostat - 56 inside, and the heat was off. Ask my wife about it - "It was warm yesterday so I didn't want to waste money heating the house."

I applaud her thinking of frugality, but trying to explain that when the house is warm enough on it's own the heater just won't turn on was an exercise in frustration. The compromise is that she would try to remember to turn it back on at night...

 

[drebo]

Not unless it had VStol capability, or possibly flying into major hurricane force winds att for lift.

Erm. No.

It would take off as normal. Lift is generated by forward motion and forward motion of a plane is not depending upon ground speed (it's generated by the propeller).

So, the ground could be moving 1000 MPH in the wrong direction and the plane would still be able to take off because it's the propeller that generates its forward motion. The wheels would just spin faster.

 

[Ns1]

are we really having the plane on a treadmill discussion AGAIN?

 

[Aikouka]

I applaud her thinking of frugality, but trying to explain that when the house is warm enough on it's own the heater just won't turn on was an exercise in frustration. The compromise is that she would try to remember to turn it back on at night...

I think some people work better with physical examples. What I mean is that you could point out that air isn't always coming out of the vents. You can then go to explain that the system will only push air when it needs to, and it determines that based upon the current temperature. One thing I would definitely avoid is making a complicated example. Definitely don't toss out acronyms like HVAC.

 

[drebo]

are we really having the plane on a treadmill discussion AGAIN?

Too lazy to read the last 4 pages.

Sorry if it was already discussed in this thread.

 

[NoCreativity]

I do this all the time, but I try to be cognizant of people around me, because I can't just be slowing down people unnecessarily. That doesn't really apply to something like slowing down from 55 to 45, but if I'm going to be turning soon, and no one is behind me, I'll just let my car coast earlier. There are some times when I can be on a 55 MPH road and never touch the brake prior to taking a sharp turn simply because I bled off enough speed.

I do the same but only if I'm not impeding traffic. I was more referring to people on the freeway who will be going a couple mph faster than someone, get a few car lengths away and hit the brake to match speeds.

Wait ...what? Am I understanding you correctly? If someone has been at a 4-way stop for longer that means they got there first. 4-way stops are no different than normal stops as in the first person that gets there goes.

I'll try and explain a bit better. Let's just use a 2 way stop. There are 3 cars lined up across from you (all there before you arrive). You pull up and stop as car #1 goes through. Now it's either your turn or Car #2 depending on who got to the stop sign first. More often than not if car #2 goes before me car #3 will ride his tail through the intersection (i.e. run the stop sign and give themselves right-of-way because they were waiting longer).

I try to time my stopping at multi-stop intersections so there is no confusion about who has right-of-way.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I think some people work better with physical examples. What I mean is that you could point out that air isn't always coming out of the vents. You can then go to explain that the system will only push air when it needs to, and it determines that based upon the current temperature. One thing I would definitely avoid is making a complicated example. Definitely don't toss out acronyms like HVAC.

Haha. I'm trying to think of the easiest way to explain a thermostat controlled central heating/cooling system.

"Set the temperature to something comfortable for you. That means that if the air isn't that temperature, you will become uncomfortable. The system will then try to keep the air at the temperature that is comfortable. If you are hot, make the numbers on the thermostat go lower. If you are cold make them go higher".

If I have to explain that, I start wondering what other things I need to be explaining though:

"Do not eat rat poison or drink bleach. Even though you can see through glass, you cannot walk through it. If you drop a pen in the grand canyon, do not jump in to retrieve it". Etc...

 

[Carson Dyle]

I'll try and explain a bit better. Let's just use a 2 way stop. There are 3 cars lined up across from you (all there before you arrive). You pull up and stop as car #1 goes through. Now it's either your turn or Car #2 depending on who got to the stop sign first. More often than not if car #2 goes before me car #3 will ride his tail through the intersection (i.e. run the stop sign and give themselves right-of-way because they were waiting longer).

I see that, but only rarely.

I try to time my stopping at multi-stop intersections so there is no confusion about who has right-of-way.

Seriously?? Like sometimes you hurry to the stop sign to get there first, and sometimes you go very slowly so that the other guy is clearly there before you? If so, that's nuts.

I do this funny thing where I actually make eye contact with the other driver and wave him through with a hand signal. Doesn't always apply, if they have tinted windows or there are multiple cars at the stop, but at most stops it works wonders.

 

[cbrunny]

I dunno. It never fails that I get a knock seconds after ripping one.

happens to me all the time. I just assume they know that I have my own office and I can fart when I want to.

 

[Aikouka]

I'll try and explain a bit better. Let's just use a 2 way stop. There are 3 cars lined up across from you (all there before you arrive). You pull up and stop as car #1 goes through. Now it's either your turn or Car #2 depending on who got to the stop sign first. More often than not if car #2 goes before me car #3 will ride his tail through the intersection (i.e. run the stop sign and give themselves right-of-way because they were waiting longer).

Oh, I see what you mean now. It was a bit ambiguous before, so I assumed you meant people waiting at the line.

 

[CZroe]

Warranties.

"Oh I got different rims so I cant warranty anything."

"My radio broke and I have to get an aftermarket one because the dealership said my lift voids the warranty."

Not sure what you mean. They are stupid for thinking that their car stereo warranty is void because of some unrelated modification? Well, their car stereo probably wasn't covered in the first place.

My radio's backlight went out on my 2000 Hyundai Elantra within the first year and they said it wasn't covered under warranty. They had the undisputed best warranty in the business at the time. In 2009 my neighbor in San Diego had a CD jam in her new Hyundai Santa Fe the first time she used it and they wouldn't cover it under warranty. Looks like the stereo isn't typically covered.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

are we really having the plane on a treadmill discussion AGAIN?

If the plane moves forward 1 m/sec and the treadmill moves back 1 m/sec, the net motion is 0 m/sec. No speed, no lift.

 

[TheSlamma]

I do this but not because of the "bigger tax return" I simply don't care about missing out on the 10$ id profit if I did it a different way. its simply easier to mark it zero and never having to worry about owing the IRS money

I changed my w2 claim simply because I hated paying the government money for 1099 work at the end of the year. I know they get the same amount either way, but it somehow hurts more when I'm writing the check vs it magically not being deposited in my bank account.

This is exactly my point.

You guys are giving the government a free loan. I would rather have that money in my hands where I can make interest on it or make payments on interest accounts so I pay less in the long run. Government is not going to pay you interest.

 

[Gunbuster]

If the plane moves forward 1 m/sec and the treadmill moves back 1 m/sec, the net motion is 0 m/sec. No speed, no lift.

Except for the part about the plane wheels not having any drive train. They free wheel, a treadmill will not transfer that 1 m/sec to the plane.

 

[stlc8tr]

This is exactly my point.

You guys are giving the government a free loan. I would rather have that money in my hands where I can make interest on it or make payments on interest accounts so I pay less in the long run. Government is not going to pay you interest.

Meh. Interest rates are so low that I can't get worked up about this anymore.

If anything, I think I would prefer a refund (albeit a very small one) so I can procrastinate and file my return way late.

 

[OutHouse]

Did you steal my morning yesterday?

That's the exact thing that happened to me (though my thermostat is set to 64.) I got up, and it was frigging cold, look at the thermostat - 56 inside, and the heat was off. Ask my wife about it - "It was warm yesterday so I didn't want to waste money heating the house."

I applaud her thinking of frugality, but trying to explain that when the house is warm enough on it's own the heater just won't turn on was an exercise in frustration. The compromise is that she would try to remember to turn it back on at night...

lol

 

[jlee]

Except for the part about the plane wheels not having any drive train. They free wheel, a treadmill will not transfer that 1 m/sec to the plane.

But if you increase the speed of the treadmill to be fast enough, you could potentially overheat and seize the wheel bearings on the aircraft, thus transferring treadmill movement directly to the airframe. :awe:

 

[Tweak155]

Except for the part about the plane wheels not having any drive train. They free wheel, a treadmill will not transfer that 1 m/sec to the plane.

Pretty sure CT is smart enough that he is trolling. Otherwise it is pretty concerning.