Stuff you thought everyone knew, but apparently not

[eric42434224]

What is this "Decaf" you speak of?  I am sure you cant mean coffee with no caffiene.  I mean what is the purpose of that?
Its like watching porn with no nudity or sex.   

[Orbert]

I agree.  Warm, brown water.  Yuck.

Sometimes when we're on the road and stop for drinks at a gas station or 7-Eleven, my wife will ask me to grab her a Caffeine-free Diet Coke.  Are you kidding?  Artificially flavored brown fizzy water.  I usually just grab a bottle of water and tell her they didn't have it.

[jingle.boy]

*Orbert's rant*

You are my fucking hero.  THAT is the spirit.  If I see opposing cars continuing to proceed, I immediately lay on the horn and stay on it all the way through the intersection.

I sometimes wish I drove a clunker that I didn't give a shit about, or the time to get it fixed... I swear if I was in Bob's position I would ram those fuckers head on.  Gawd I wish I could do that.  What's worse is when, instead of having to go straight, you're a ways back in the left/advanced left lane.  Because so much of the perpendicular traffic is making their left after it's turned red, the people now with the advanced green can't go.  If I'm 5-6 cars back, I get stopped when the advanced green expires, and have to wait another 4-5 minutes 'cuz I didn't make it thru.   

Wait, did this turn into the 'things that piss you off thread' just now?

[Prog Snob]

What is this "Decaf" you speak of?  I am sure you cant mean coffee with no caffiene.  I mean what is the purpose of that?
Its like watching porn with no nudity or sex.   

It's like GoodFellas on broadcast TV.... so fucking pointless.

[Grizz]

Sometimes when we're on the road and stop for drinks at a gas station or 7-Eleven, my wife will ask me to grab her a Caffeine-free Diet Coke.  Are you kidding?  Artificially flavored brown fizzy water.  I usually just grab a bottle of water and tell her they didn't have it.

Regular Diet Coke is artificially flavored brown fizzy water with caffeine additive, as is virtually all soda. And what is the point of not buying her the soda she asked for?

[Orbert]

Because it's just a bunch of carbohydrates.  Soda pop is bad enough for you as it is, but if it's caffeinated, your metabolism is at least amped a little bit to burn off some of the carbs.  If she's thirsty, water will quench her thirst better anyway.  Why drink water with a bunch of chemical additives?

[ishak540m]

There's actually an interesting psychological concept behind it. In just about all aspects of life, people on average overestimate their standing as compared to the general public. So, unless they got it somehow certified that they're below average, people think they're smarter than average. And even if, I'm sure everybody has heard the "street smarts" stuff, which is just another way for the brain to convince yourself you're above average at "what counts".

Just look at the Tea Party.

[Laich21DT]

What should everybody know?  When the big light goes from red to green, you step on the pedal on the right.

I simply cannot tell you how much more of my life I have spent sitting at traffic lights because of people who clearly aren't paying attention.  Just this morning, I'm at a light.  Second in line.  Light turns green.  it took about 5-6 seconds for the lady to realize "Oh, it's green, I suppose I should go."  Sure, 5-6 seconds isn't a lot when you're the second car.  It IS a lot, when you're WAY back in a line of cars.  Because of the other thing that happens - when the person finally engages their brain and hits the gas, they eeeeeaaase on out into the intersection, as does everybody behind them who can't just GO.  Because of this, left turning vehicles from the opposing side of the road, who get a green arrow that reverts to a green light are enabled to get another 4-5 cars through their now green light, since it's still clear and all.

So when I'm the LEAD car at a red light, I try to think of those behind me.  As soon as the light turns green, I'm making freakin' tracks.  I'm well into the intersection in 2 seconds.  If opposing turners keep trying to strongarm their way throught the now green light, I lay on the horn and keep coming.  This allows everybody backed up behind me to move ass and get through the intersection.  More people through means that the guy in the back doesn't wait as long.

 

When you're the first in line at a light, you have a responsibility to the drivers behind you. As someone else mentioned, I have also noticed a growing trend of people sitting at lights that have just turned green since they are most likely texting.

Another similar thing that pisses me off, is when you're approaching a red light, but the right turn lane has a protected green arrow, and people STOP at it!! Anyone who is paying attention would notice that the light is green, and would turn normally. But no, these fucktards come to a complete stop as if the light was red.

[TioJorge]

Cozmo, that line of thought is all fine and dandy until some cocksucker who doesn't care that the light has been red for a second or two (at which point the light is green and your happy ass is RIGHT in the middle of the intersection, as you said), barrels through, hitting you right on the driver's side door and instantly killing you, who is thinking of the guy behind you.

Granted, nine times out of ten, I'm right there with you. But with the area I live in, all the dumbfuck teenagers, driving daddy's Porsche, not giving a single shit about anything but how cool they can look, are just about everywhere you look...you do take a second or two (certainly not six...) to make sure there's no asshole about to plow into you going 50-some-odd MPH...(in a 35/40 MPH zone).

Just a thought...but yeah I agree with the concept and either way it boils down to not having your head up your ass; and yeah I also hate the people who tend to come to a complete and utter stop when it's clear there's no one coming, and the light is green....just turn...just do it.

P.S. Also people who never turn their blinker on when actually moving across lanes...and then turn their blinker on when in a turn-only lane... I would rape their earholes if I could. Those fucking fuckers. Kdone. Either way fuck 90% of drivers and the teeny-bopper mofos who think they have the mental capacity to driver safely and responsibly with their eyes glued to their phone. KILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILL.

[JayOctavarium]

Another similar thing that pisses me off, is when you're approaching a red light, but the right turn lane has a protected green arrow, and people STOP at it!! Anyone who is paying attention would notice that the light is green, and would turn normally. But no, these fucktards come to a complete stop as if the light was red.

There are 2 lights on my drive to work that I Right Turn Arrows... and usually at least 3 times a week I encounter someone sitting there at a green arrow with their blinker on. GO MOTHERFUCKER GO!

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Cozmo, that line of thought is all fine and dandy until some cocksucker who doesn't care that the light has been red for a second or two (at which point the light is green and your happy ass is RIGHT in the middle of the intersection, as you said), barrels through, hitting you right on the driver's side door and instantly killing you, who is thinking of the guy behind you.

Granted, nine times out of ten, I'm right there with you. But with the area I live in, all the dumbfuck teenagers, driving daddy's Porsche, not giving a single shit about anything but how cool they can look, are just about everywhere you look...you do take a second or two (certainly not six...) to make sure there's no asshole about to plow into you going 50-some-odd MPH...(in a 35/40 MPH zone).

Just a thought...but yeah I agree with the concept and either way it boils down to not having your head up your ass; and yeah I also hate the people who tend to come to a complete and utter stop when it's clear there's no one coming, and the light is green....just turn...just do it.

P.S. Also people who never turn their blinker on when actually moving across lanes...and then turn their blinker on when in a turn-only lane... I would rape their earholes if I could. Those fucking fuckers. Kdone. Either way fuck 90% of drivers and the teeny-bopper mofos who think they have the mental capacity to driver safely and responsibly with their eyes glued to their phone. KILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILL.

Don't get me wrong, it's calculated.  I'm paying 1000x more attention to them than they are to anything, guaranteed.  I'm ready to stop immediately, if I can see someone's going to try to play chicken with me.

[hefdaddy42]

Sometimes when we're on the road and stop for drinks at a gas station or 7-Eleven, my wife will ask me to grab her a Caffeine-free Diet Coke.  Are you kidding?  Artificially flavored brown fizzy water.  I usually just grab a bottle of water and tell her they didn't have it.

[El Barto]

The big intersection by my house always has a line of left turns each way, and people seem to think it's okay to just keep going even after it turns red for them.  Not just the one person who might've argued that it was still yellow, but two, three, sometimes four people.  They'll just keep going, long after it's red for them.  What are you gonna do?

I'll tell you what.  I was first at the green to go straight, so after the person in the intersection cleared, I started going.  I'm calling your bluff, old man.  I made eye contact with him and I was coming.  He knew he was blowing the red and I stared him down.  Then what does he do?  He stops right there in the intersection!  The line behind him was still coming and all of them had to slam on their brakes.  Now he's in the middle of the intersection, can't back up, I swerve around him and keep going, and the line behind me follows me.

Behind me, I can hear horns honking.  Okay yeah, a traffic jam, and I caused it.  But I had green, he had red, I went, he stopped, so sue me.

I had something quite similar happen to me just the other day. The guy across from us started to pull out after his light turned red but our two lanes didn't give him an opportunity to get through, so he froze. He had about 15% of his car in our lane and couldn't go anywhere so he just sat there. The lane on our right was moving right along and couldn't see what was happening, but our lane was blocked by this idiot. Personally, I blamed the first guy in our lane for allowing the situation to occur in the first place. He had an opportunity to wave the guy on through, but opted to take the hardass approach and caused a big meltdown.

I'll say again, a big part of the problem with driving in this country is that for every one idiot who's too timid or distracted to drive properly, there's another person who wants to be Dirty Harry and insists on being the alpha-male enforcer. The guy turning left after the light is being an asshole, but impeding him only creates far more problems. Wave him on and then call him a stupid dumb idiot moron when he passes by.

[snapple]

Sometimes when we're on the road and stop for drinks at a gas station or 7-Eleven, my wife will ask me to grab her a Caffeine-free Diet Coke.  Are you kidding?  Artificially flavored brown fizzy water.  I usually just grab a bottle of water and tell her they didn't have it.

How I felt reading it haha

[Perpetual Change]

I'll say again, a big part of the problem with driving in this country is that for every one idiot who's too timid or distracted to drive properly, there's another person who wants to be Dirty Harry and insists on being the alpha-male enforcer. The guy turning left after the light is being an asshole, but impeding him only creates far more problems. Wave him on and then call him a stupid dumb idiot moron when he passes by.

The timid ones aren't always in the wrong.

One thing I think everyone should know is that, there should always been about a 2-3 second distance between you and the car in front of you, so you can avoid a collision if someone up ahead needs to slam on their brakes.

But, lo and behold, everyone tailgates you, and if you don't tailgate someone else, everyone cuts you off.  It amazes me. Even when I'm on the highway going a good 5-7 miles over the speed limit, there's a decent chance I can look in my review mirror and find I'm being tailgated by someone visibly frustrated that I'm not puting the pedal to the metal, and tailgating whoever the next guy in line is.

[El Barto]

Like I said, driving is insane. I can't think of any other thing that alters people's personality quicker and more assuredly than getting on a road with others. Normal, decent people turn into raging, alpha-male psychos as soon as they start driving. Others turn into sheep.

[Implode]

i was taught in school not to put the word "and" after a comma

How do you write compound sentences with an and relationship?

Give me an example.

Like this: I was browsing DTF, and the site promised me bacon.

There are two complete sentences here, each with their own subject and verb. I was browsing DTF. The site promised me bacon. You can connect the two together if you use a comma and a coordinating conjunction. This is separate from the dilemma of the Oxford comma. That has to do with lists. Like rumby said in his example, you wouldn't use a comma when the list is only two items. (Apples and bananas) When you have a list of three or more, you put a comma after every item in the list (besides the last one) and an "and" before the last item. The Oxford comma is the comma after the second to last item and before the "and". (Apples, bananas, and oranges) I was always taught to use the Oxford comma, and a friend in journalism told me the only place the Oxford comma was "optional" is in journalistic writing where you are trying to save space, e.g. a newspaper article.

[Orbert]

The big intersection by my house always has a line of left turns each way, and people seem to think it's okay to just keep going even after it turns red for them.  Not just the one person who might've argued that it was still yellow, but two, three, sometimes four people.  They'll just keep going, long after it's red for them.  What are you gonna do?

I'll tell you what.  I was first at the green to go straight, so after the person in the intersection cleared, I started going.  I'm calling your bluff, old man.  I made eye contact with him and I was coming.  He knew he was blowing the red and I stared him down.  Then what does he do?  He stops right there in the intersection!  The line behind him was still coming and all of them had to slam on their brakes.  Now he's in the middle of the intersection, can't back up, I swerve around him and keep going, and the line behind me follows me.

Behind me, I can hear horns honking.  Okay yeah, a traffic jam, and I caused it.  But I had green, he had red, I went, he stopped, so sue me.

I had something quite similar happen to me just the other day. The guy across from us started to pull out after his light turned red but our two lanes didn't give him an opportunity to get through, so he froze. He had about 15% of his car in our lane and couldn't go anywhere so he just sat there. The lane on our right was moving right along and couldn't see what was happening, but our lane was blocked by this idiot. Personally, I blamed the first guy in our lane for allowing the situation to occur in the first place. He had an opportunity to wave the guy on through, but opted to take the hardass approach and caused a big meltdown.

I'll say again, a big part of the problem with driving in this country is that for every one idiot who's too timid or distracted to drive properly, there's another person who wants to be Dirty Harry and insists on being the alpha-male enforcer. The guy turning left after the light is being an asshole, but impeding him only creates far more problems. Wave him on and then call him a stupid dumb idiot moron when he passes by.

You could argue that I was legally right, but technically "wrong" for doing what I did, and on some days I'd agree with you, but I have to stand by this one.  For some reason, people where I live, and at this intersection in particular, just keep going.  The unwritten rule apparently is "Yes, the light is red, and has been for a while now, but just keep going because really, there's nothing they can do."  I've been third of fourth at a light and should easily have gotten through on the green, but didn't because the neverending line of left turns used up most of my green.

Fuck that.  If it's just the one old man who'll never try that shit again, I've made the world a better place, and it was worth all the idiots behind him getting mad, because they were all wrong, too.  The people in my lane were fine, we just swerved around him.  The people with green went, the people with red stopped.  The system works better when people follow the fucking rules.

[Perpetual Change]

You can't change how old people drive, Orbert. They just get more stubborn about the way they drive being the "right" way as they age.

[El Barto]

You could argue that I was legally right, but technically "wrong" for doing what I did, and on some days I'd agree with you, but I have to stand by this one.  For some reason, people where I live, and at this intersection in particular, just keep going.  The unwritten rule apparently is "Yes, the light is red, and has been for a while now, but just keep going because really, there's nothing they can do."  I've been third of fourth at a light and should easily have gotten through on the green, but didn't because the neverending line of left turns used up most of my green.

Fuck that.  If it's just the one old man who'll never try that shit again, I've made the world a better place, and it was worth all the idiots behind him getting mad, because they were all wrong, too.  The people in my lane were fine, we just swerved around him.  The people with green went, the people with red stopped.  The system works better when people follow the fucking rules.

And on some days I'd not only approve of what you did but do far worse. I've been known to punch it steering straight at them just to make them panic briefly. To be honest, though, we're both wrong. While it certainly feels good to show other people what's right, the truth is we're compounding the problem and adding significant risk to everybody. And I'm not just referring to the scenario we're discussing, but the attitude overall. This is no different than the people who drive 65 in the left lane, indignantly hollering "if you want to drive faster go the fuck around!"

[Perpetual Change]

This is no different than the people who drive 65 in the left lane, indignantly hollering "if you want to drive faster go the fuck around!"

Isn't the speed limit 65 in all the lanes?

I mean, on a nice day I'll cruise at 72 in the left lane, sure. But I don't think you can get mad at someone for doing the speed limit.

EDIT: My rule of thumb is, if someone's going faster than you, yield to them. Whether you're at a left and they're trucking forward through a yellow, on the freeway in the left lane, or leaving a parking lot. However, sometimes you can't yield. Normally, if I'm in the left lane doing a comfortable 70, and someone's hauling ass behind me, I'll move over and let them pass before getting back into the left lane. But I don't think doing the speed limit should keep anyone out of the left lane.

[El Barto]

I'm not getting mad at anybody for driving the speed limit. I'm saying that the safe, customary and respected way is to yield to the right for faster traffic. Having people switch lanes back and forth to pass various drivers is far more dangerous than just driving over the speed limit (and that danger applies to everybody on the road. Yes, cranky old bastard has every right to drive 55 in the left hand lane, but courtesy and common sense suggest that being a team player is the best way for everybody.

[jingle.boy]

I applaud you Bob.    Otherwise, what?  We're breeding the next generation to drive like they do in India



Traffic lights are merely a suggestion.

[Orbert]

That reminds me of the time we visited a friend of mine in Paris.  We grew up together, but he'd been there nine years at the time and was "acclimated" to the Parisian style of driving.  Lanes and traffic lights really are just suggestions.  Go where you need to, and just don't hit anyone else.  We drove an entire block, in reverse, the wrong way on a one-way street (at a higher rate of speed than you might think safe), because it was easier than going around the block and someone else might've gotten the parking spot we saw.  We went for crepes at midnight and there were no spots anywhere near his favorite place, so we parked on the sidewalk.  It was nuts.  But apparently normal there.

[TioJorge]

Holy hell.

[ZirconBlue]

There's actually an interesting psychological concept behind it. In just about all aspects of life, people on average overestimate their standing as compared to the general public. So, unless they got it somehow certified that they're below average, people think they're smarter than average. And even if, I'm sure everybody has heard the "street smarts" stuff, which is just another way for the brain to convince yourself you're above average at "what counts".

The Dunning-Kruger Effect.

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly rating their ability much higher than is accurate. This bias is attributed to a metacognitive inability of the unskilled to recognize their ineptitude.^[1] Actual competence may weaken self-confidence, as competent individuals may falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding.
David Dunning and Justin Kruger of Cornell University conclude, "the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others".^[2]

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I have always equated the term "street smarts" with the term "common sense".  Same way with "book smarts" and "knowing principles of science and math and shit".  Mrs. C. is the street smarts out of the two of us.  I have next to zero common sense.

[Jaffa]

The Dunning-Kruger Effect.

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly rating their ability much higher than is accurate. This bias is attributed to a metacognitive inability of the unskilled to recognize their ineptitude.^[1] Actual competence may weaken self-confidence, as competent individuals may falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding.
David Dunning and Justin Kruger of Cornell University conclude, "the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others".^[2]

Interesting stuff.

Seeing as I have very low self-confidence, I sincerely hope I'm suffering from this miscalibration.   

[Cool Chris]

[Kotowboy]

Full Fat Caffeinated Coca Cola or GTFO.

Aspartame is worse for you than sugar anyway.

[Grizz]

Full Fat Caffeinated Dr Pepper or GTFO.

FTFY
*Prepares for imminent soda flame war

[Kotowboy]

IMO Dr Pepper Zero doesn't taste that different to Dr Pepper but Coke Zero just tastes watered down.

But yeah I like Dr. Pepper.

[The King in Crimson]

Full Fat Caffeinated Coca Cola or GTFO.

As a diabetic, I guess I'll just have to GTFO then.

Aspartame is worse for you than sugar anyway.

In the long run, this is likely very true, but I love my soda. You can pry it from cold, dead hands.

[Grizz]

Full Fat Caffeinated Coca Cola or GTFO.

As a diabetic, I guess I'll just have to GTFO then.

Aspartame is worse for you than sugar anyway.

In the long run, this is likely very true, but I love my soda. You can pry it from cold, dead hands.

Too bad. GTFO.

[black_biff_stadler]

Full Fat Caffeinated Coca Cola or GTFO.

As a diabetic, I guess I'll just have to GTFO then.

Aspartame is worse for you than sugar anyway.

In the long run, this is likely very true, but I love my soda. You can pry it from cold, dead hands.

Well, considering our established understanding that aspartame is less healthy than sugar plus the temperature of a can of sodie, this should be a quick and convenient task.