So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[scottyrocks]

I learned early in my driving career that more important than how fast a car went was how well it stopped.

Even more critical with motorcycles.

 

[tonyb]

Even more critical with motorcycles.

That’s among the reasons I no longer have a motorcycle. I maintain the endorsement on my license, but I’ve crashed hard a couple of times (and had so many minor mishaps wherein my bike and I went separate directions that I couldn’t recall them all if I tried) and I fear the third time would be the, um, charm.

Heard a stat recently that as measured per passenger mile travelled, a motorcyclist (or motorcycle passenger) is 28 times likelier to suffer a fatal injury than are operators of or passengers in vehicles with four or more wheels. Not 28 percent likelier, 28 times likelier.

I mention this not because I dislike motorcycles or motorcyclists. Quite to the contrary. And I am well aware that waaaay too often in collisions between motorcycles and cars it’s the car operator who failed to yield the right of way or in some other way was the proximate cause of the mishap.

No, I mention this because I wish for those motorcyclists to dance on their 103rd birthdays and the chances of that happening are much improved if they never lose sight of JUST HOW F***ING DANGEROUS motorcycling can be. Oh, and if they wear helmets, too.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've seen -- as in eyewitnessed -- enough fatal motorcycle accidents in our "let those who ride decide" state that I give them a very wide berth on the road. Losing half a minute off when I end up where I'm going is less important than not having to see, again, some guy's brains laid out on the pavement like a blob of warm oatmeal.

Meanwhile, my gripe of the evening is this: now that the smoking of dope, excuse me, "recreational use of cannabis," is legal in our fine state it seems that the thing to do on a lovely Friday night is for a couple of shambling chuckleheads to fumigate the entire sidewalk out front with the repulsive eye-watering stench of their favorite intoxicant, to the point where customers are complaining about it. Do us a favor, Jay and Silent Bob, if you must macerate your frontal lobes with that stuff, kindly put a plastic bag over your heads first.

 

[tonyb]

..,

Meanwhile, my gripe of the evening is this: now that the smoking of dope, excuse me, "recreational use of cannabis," is legal in our fine state it seems that the thing to do on a lovely Friday night is for a couple of shambling chuckleheads to fumigate the entire sidewalk out front with the repulsive eye-watering stench of their favorite intoxicant, to the point where customers are complaining about it. Do us a favor, Jay and Silent Bob, if you must macerate your frontal lobes with that stuff, kindly put a plastic bag over your heads first.

Here in the Several Mile High City, where the devil weed has been legal for a few years now, I occasionally catch a whiff of it out in public, but not nearly as frequently as I did back in Seattle in the late 1960s and all though the ’70s and well into the ’80s.

I attribute this in part to less tolerance of public smoking of ANYTHING (we smoked in the office then, and in restaurants, and ...) and part in pot being more of a social signifier then. It was something of a tribal identity thing.

Public consumption is illegal here, as I suspect it is in Maine. I urge advocates of legal weed to police their own, because rampant open consumption juices the opposition’s argument. As do “edibles,” which are essentially cannabis-infused candy, so of course they appeal to kids. Recommended dosage is no more than 10 mgs of THC, while a typical cannabis chocolate bar contains 100 mgs. And they’re small, as chocolate bars go.

Small wonder, then, the numbers of ER admissions for overconsumption of cannabis edibles among the pre-pubescent demographic, eh? No one dies of it, but it’s a decidedly unpleasant experience, even for grown people toughened up through long histories of marijuana use. A kid weighing a third as much would be quite freaked out, I’d think.

I’ve long supported legalization, which is not to say I advocate use. I wouldn’t criminalize alcohol, either, and I gave up the sauce myself a dozen years ago.

 

[vitanola]

I learned early in my driving career that more important than how fast a car went was how well it stopped.

Oh, so you drove a Ford Car too?

To this day nothing frightens me as much as the memory of the sound of the gears in my differential ratcheting against each other after the soft babbit thrust washer disintegrated, sending me flying nameless down a rather steep hill into a busy intersection. Amazed that I made it past 19.

 

[tonyb]

Oh, so you drove a Ford Car too?

To this day nothing frightens me as much as the memory of the sound of the gears in my differential ratcheting against each other after the soft babbit thrust washer disintegrated, sending me flying nameless down a rather steep hill into a busy intersection. Amazed that I made it past 19.

I’ve lost brakes entirely a few times, once in a ’64 MGB (blown rear wheel cylinder in a single circuit braking system) just as I was turning westbound on James Street off northbound Ninth Avenue. Anyone who has done much driving in Seattle could tell you that’s not where you wanna be without brakes. But it’s amazing how such circumstances sharpen one’s focus.

 

[GHT]

I’ve lost brakes entirely a few times, once in a ’64 MGB (blown rear wheel cylinder in a single circuit braking system) just as I was turning westbound on James Street off northbound Ninth Avenue. Anyone who has done much driving in Seattle could tell you that’s not where you wanna be without brakes. But it’s amazing how such circumstances sharpen one’s focus.

The one and only time that I have had such a buttock clenching moment was when descending a steep one in four hill and the hydraulic hosed perished, sending fluid between the brake and the drum. How thankful I was to know how to double declutch.

 

[Zombie_61]

I was doing a bit of reading about the freeway flyer tranny.

My car, a stock 1200, does not sound or feel at all strained at 65 (indicated 70) mph on the highway. But that's as fast as I'll drive it (most people are still whipping by me, anyway), though, mainly because of the 4-wheel drums. And I leave lots of space.

I much prefer side roads at 45-50 mph.

I replaced the 1200cc engine in my first Beetle with a 1600cc dual port that I had built up to 1835cc. That one had no problems getting up to freeway speeds (and then some ). But in my '63 with it's stock 1200cc engine and my '66 with it's 1300cc engine, it always felt like the engines were working too hard at 65 mph and it made me uncomfortable. So, yeah, if I had a choice and the extra time, side roads and surface streets were preferred. And since you mentioned it, I don't miss those drum brakes that didn't work 5-10% of those times when you really needed them. I know of at least one chain link fence that I would have driven straight through if my emergency/parking brake hadn't been properly adjusted; missed it by >< that much. I haven't experienced that level of "pucker factor" in any other vehicle I've driven.

 

[LizzieMaine]

My mother drove a '61 Chevy into the side of a house one day, with five-year-old me and my year-old sister rolling around in the front seat, after the brakes let go. Miraculously, nobody was hurt seriously. Except the car. And the house.

My own life-before-the-eyes moment came in my Beetle, the day an empty Coke bottle on the floor rolled under the pedals so I could depress neither the clutch nor the brake, as I approached an intersection. After weighing my options I swerved to the side of hte road, took my foot off the gas, and stalled out. They didn't cover that in driver's ed.

 

[GHT]

My own life-before-the-eyes moment came in my Beetle, the day an empty Coke bottle on the floor rolled under the pedals so I could depress neither the clutch nor the brake, as I approached an intersection. After weighing my options I swerved to the side of hte road, took my foot off the gas, and stalled out. They didn't cover that in driver's ed.

Do you have Sod's Law in The States, or an equivilent? Meaning if it can go wrong it will, with added sh*t on top. In Sod's Law, the coke bottle would have been full, in your panic to kick it clear it would have shaken up, forcing the cap off, drenching your feet and legs and probably frothing up enough to obscure your vision.

 

[tonyb]

Do you have Sod's Law in The States, or an equivilent? Meaning if it can go wrong it will, with added sh*t on top. In Sod's Law, the coke bottle would have been full, in your panic to kick it clear it would have shaken up, forcing the cap off, drenching your feet and legs and probably frothing up enough to obscure your vision.

I’m reminded of a few fine folks of my acquaintance who seem to operate on the “everything will work out provided everything works out” principle.

You know, they’ll be on time provided the kid gets out of school on time to catch the 3:17 and the missus’s hair appointment goes as scheduled and the car battery he should have replaced last month is holding enough charge to start the engine and if the dog doesn’t escape on account of that faulty gate latch he also should have replaced last month and if traffic is lighter than is usual for that time of day.

In other words, they’ll be late if they show up at all. Nice people, with whom you’ll get along just fine provided you don’t invest much in their being where they say they’ll be when they say they’ll be there.

 

[GHT]

I use the acronym ICE (internal combustion engine). No confusion here (I understand IC).

Actually ICE of old predates the current ICE, nether of which refer to the blocks of cold water that chill our drinks. ICE of yesteryear meant In Car Entertainment which means: what flash sound system do you have in your car?

 

[LizzieMaine]

ICE in the US right now has a rather hot-button meaning.

 

[GHT]

ICE in the US right now has a rather hot-button meaning.

Crystal methamphetamine? In Case of Emergency? I Can Empathise?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

 

[Zombie_61]

Do you have Sod's Law in The States, or an equivilent? Meaning if it can go wrong it will, with added sh*t on top. In Sod's Law, the coke bottle would have been full, in your panic to kick it clear it would have shaken up, forcing the cap off, drenching your feet and legs and probably frothing up enough to obscure your vision.

On this side of the pond that's commonly referred to as Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong, will." The "added sh*t on top" is implied by use of the word "anything".

 

[ChiTownScion]

On this side of the pond that's commonly referred to as Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong, will." The "added sh*t on top" is implied by use of the word "anything".

And my corollary: Murphy was an optimist.

 

[Trenchfriend]

That's a curious thing!

"Murphy's law" is such a popular phrase, worldwide. And the Germans of my generation surely heared of it. But when you would interview people here on the streets, in general, they wouldn't know the phrase, mostly.

So much for german general education.

 

[Zombie_61]

That's a curious thing!

"Murphy's law" is such a popular phrase, worldwide. And the Germans of my generation surely heared of it. But when you would interview people here on the streets, in general, they wouldn't know the phrase, mostly.

So much for german general education.

Based on some of the "man/woman on the street" interviews I've seen on You Tube, I'd bet most Americans below a certain age wouldn't know the phrase these days either.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

And then there's its corolary, Parkinson's Law: "Work expands to fill the time available for its completion."