Humor Random Comments Thread

[Andy44]

It's not even Nannymobile, more like the Distractor Tractor - some of the stuff is downright distracting and dumb. I figured out the Bluetooth is to basically get my phone to talk to the car so I could take and receive calls while driving. Uhh...how about we NOT introduce blinky random distractions like calls and texts to the cockpit and just focus on driving the car, hmm? The thing has a back-up camera, but I rarely see it because I turn my head and shoulders to put my eyeballs out the back window. I read that all new cars from 2018 need to have these cameras. Great...a safety related item that will probably cost a few kilobucks to fix for inspection.

I'm tempted to look through the fuse box to pull the ones related to the touchscreen/Bluetooth crap but that would probably brick the car or lock the doors and drive me automatically to the dealership for a $1000 fuse box "service" or "re-education". Maybe I should cover everything with lots of black electrical tape.

I still drive my 2005 Civic to work and local trips and now I really want to keep her for a while. It's going to take a *long* time to get cozy with the new blinky car.

I'm with you on wanting things like that to be optional rather than mandatory. I've often thought that my next truck will be a mid-80s Ford, preferably from a southern state.

But some of those gadgets I like. My current truck is a 2005. It has automatic headlights (like), automatic dimming mirrors (love), side view mirrors that pitch down in reverse so I can see the curb while parking (like), power windows and locks (like), and zone air conditioning (okay).

None of those things was a requirement for me; they came with this trim option. The next option down was a bare bones "contractor" truck that has manual everything and no carpet, for use on filthy worksites. Now that I have that stuff I'm addicted to most of it!

I really wish the stock radio had Blue Tooth so I could play my phone's music through it. If you don't like Blue Tooth or talking on your phone, turn off your phone's BT control.

Backup cameras? Nice as an addon; but I'd prefer to have a simple proximity sensor. Sometimes it's hard to see how close my rear bumper is to light poles or short railings.

What I did NOT want was OnStar or equivalent. I don't need to be tracked, and my phone has a variety of GPS apps to choose from, all of which get updated frequently. I do NOT want a vehicle that has to connect to the internet for any reason. Fortunately, my vehicle has pretty much just the right mix of new tech and old. It's been coast to coast more than once and I dread the day I have to replace it.

My other gripe with modern cars is that even things that used to work perfectly fine and were easy to fix/replace now have to be computerized or otherwise made more complicated than they need to be. I have a light out in my instrument panel; the only way to replace it is to replace the entire circuit card for a few hundred bucks...so I guess I will live with the out lamp for a while. On my old Volkswagen Sirocco I would've bought a new lamp for about 50 cents and replaced it in about 5 minutes.

 

[Urwumpe]

The "Landshut" is back in Germany, a An-124 with the fuselage and the wings of the historic 737-200 has landed at the Bodensee-Airport Friedrichshafen today. A second aircraft with the smaller parts of the aircraft will arrive later today.

This graphic shows the odyssey of the aircraft during its kidnapping in 1977:

The German government has bought the historic aircraft for a scrap value of 20,000€, it will be presented at the Dornier museum from Fall 2019 on, after restoring it back to its 1977 state.

 

[Andy44]

The "Landshut" is back in Germany, a An-124 with the fuselage and the wings of the historic 737-200 has landed at the Bodensee-Airport Friedrichshafen today. A second aircraft with the smaller parts of the aircraft will arrive later today.

This graphic shows the odyssey of the aircraft during its kidnapping in 1977:

The German government has bought the historic aircraft for a scrap value of 20,000€, it will be presented at the Dornier museum from Fall 2019 on, after restoring it back to its 1977 state.

It took me a moment to figure out what you were saying; at first I thought you were talking about an An-124 with the wings of a 737 installed on it, which to me sounded extremely odd...:lol:

Then I realized: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lufthansa_Flight_181

 

[Thunder Chicken]

It took me a moment to figure out what you were saying; at first I thought you were talking about an An-124 with the wings of a 737 installed on it, which to me sounded extremely odd...:lol:

I initially parsed it the same way. I couldn't help but to be horrified when I thought of how much runway that underpowered / high wing loading combination would need to get off the ground.

 

[Urwumpe]

OK ok ok... commas and some verbs might save lives...

 

[n122vu]

OK ok ok... commas and some verbs might save lives...

The classic story of the wild-west telegram from the governor pardoning a murderer.

The governor sent: HANG HIM NOT STOP LET HIM GO STOP

The telegrapher on the receiving end transcribed: HANG HIM STOP NOT LET HIM GO STOP

Punctuation really changes a sentence.

 

[jedidia]

Punctuation really changes a sentence.

Pun intended, I assume :lol:

 

[Thunder Chicken]

The classic story of the wild-west telegram from the governor pardoning a murderer.

The governor sent: HANG HIM NOT STOP LET HIM GO STOP

The telegrapher on the receiving end transcribed: HANG HIM STOP NOT LET HIM GO STOP

Punctuation really changes a sentence.

I really have to wonder what mayhem a hurried German telegram could inspire? One forty-seven-letter word (that, if one letter is mis-transcribed, would mean something completely else) followed by HALT?

 

[Andy44]

Oh, by the way, the world is supposed to be destroyed sometime today when Nibiru crashes into us.

Just a note. Back to surfing the web...

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Uh-huh. Sure. Maybe if it's smaller than projected, it could just hit, I dunno, DC? That'd be one way to drain the "swamp" real quick. :lol:

 

[jedidia]

I thought that was supposed to happen back in 2012?

 

[Andy44]

I thought that was supposed to happen back in 2012?

You're getting your end of world conspiracy theories mixed up. It's hard to keep track, there being so many to choose from.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Oh, by the way, the world is supposed to be destroyed sometime today when Nibiru crashes into us.

I can't help but wonder - when we get hit by a world-destroying asteroid, how many people will be recording the spectacle on their cell phones? :huh:

 

[Andy44]

I can't help but wonder - when we get hit by a world-destroying asteroid, how many people will be recording the spectacle on their cell phones? :huh:

And thus the philosophical question: since the "universe" is just a concept modeled in the human mind, after the asteroid wipes us all out along with out cell phones and videocameras, did the event actually really happen?

 

[steph]

And thus the philosophical question: since the "universe" is just a concept modeled in the human mind, after the asteroid wipes us all out along with out cell phones and videocameras, did the event actually really happen?

On the bright side (the blindingly, searingly bright one ), we might get to see an atmospheric nuclear blast in the Pacific soon. With a bit of luck (or bad luck, if the missile fails and it falls close to populated areas) , there will be smartphones to see it. At least satellites. They're bragging about doing the biggest nuclear detonation the Pacific has ever seen, but I'm not sure how to take it. Their biggest so far was a few dozens kilotons, IIRC. Do they even have the resources to pull of something akin to Tsar Bomba, only mounted on a sub?

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Two words: Castle Bravo.

 

[Notebook]

North Korea could always ask Australia to use their test site:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_nuclear_tests_at_Maralinga

We did, and I think we got away with it.

N.

 

[Fabri91]

Italian Eurofighter Typhoon Crashes During Terracina Airshow Killing Test Pilot.

 

[Urwumpe]

Italian Eurofighter Typhoon Crashes During Terracina Airshow Killing Test Pilot.

Anything known what went wrong there? The videos look like he was getting far too low at the end of the looping, making it a sad pilot error.

 

[Andy44]

I have always loved airshows. But videos like those make me take pause.

I went to an airshow in Delaware about 10 years ago at a smaller airfield. No big jet fighters; this was more of a cropduster and barnstorming kind of show. A few WWII warbirds were the biggest things there.

There was one act that consisted of a farmer stealing a Piper Cub and flying it like an idiot. He was mowing the grass next to the runway when the Piper Cub rolls up and the announcer starts yelling at "Farmer Joe" that he is not supposed to be mowing today due to the airshow, and Farmer Joe gets angry and steals the plane. The farmer, of course, was the real stunt pilot and this was all part of the act. He proceeds to put the aircraft through a bunch of crazy maneuvers, several of which less than a wingspan above the ground. At one point he dipped down behind a nearby hill and vanished from sight just as the airfield fired a signal cannon to "shoot him down". When I heard the bang, for a moment, I thought he had hit something beyond the hill.

That made me think. I've seen lots of airshows, and a lot of near misses. Once when I was little I saw a plane clip a power line in the distance. Nobody got hurt and the plane landed safely at the end of his routine. But that could've ended much worse.

The day before, at that same airshow, a ten year old boy climbed into the cockpit of a Navy jet that was on display, and because some idiot forgot to disarm the ejection seat, shot himself through the canopy into the sky and down onto the pavement. He later died from his injuries IIRC.

Aviation is serious business folks. Always remember that.