pet peeve thread

[blackshoe]

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street,

If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat.

If you get too cold I'll tax the heat,

If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.

 

Don't ask me what I want it for

If you don't want to pay some more

'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

 

"The Taxman", George Harrison

[Elianna]

Israel also has a tax on TV owners, ostensibly to pay for public broadcasting. It doesn't matter if you never watch it - unless you can prove you physically took the tuner part out, you have to pay.

 

Funny thing: While my Dad lived there, he refused to pay the TV tax. At the time, brother was in the financial unit of Channel 1.

[Antrax]

There's no way to translate, but כשיש קשרים, לא צריך קומבינה :)

(or was this some sort of "Breaking Bad"-style situation?)

[Foxx]

When I'm on the road, and my three favorite radio stations are all on commercial. All at the same time.

[blackshoe]

Heh. I have that problem when I'm surfing TV channels. If one is on commercial, they're all on commercial.

[Phil]

I like to back in to parking spaces, and I admit that it's harder to stay between the lines, since you can't see the lines as easily. But if I notice I'm over the line when I open the door, I correct it.

 

I like to back in because I think there's more danger of backing into a pedestrian when pulling out backwards. And in some parking lots, it's pretty tight backing out and turning to get into the lane.

 

I don't know how I missed this before and agree.

 

My daughter got a ticket at her junior college for backing in to a space. The campus gestapo's justification was that they have the regulation because its easier for their ticket police to make the rounds and look for placards. In the end, its simply a way to justify their existence and raise revenue for the school that has been hammered by budget cuts.

 

At the Exxon refinery in Wilmington near Long Beach, they tell their employees to back in, because if there is a fire its easier for the cars to get out of the lot if everyone isn't backing out into the drive aisle, which still seems like an odd policy to me.

 

Backing in to a really tight space seems to work better than pulling in forward. I have no idea why, but it just does. Probably all in my head this one.

[dwar0123]

Heh. I have that problem when I'm surfing TV channels. If one is on commercial, they're all on commercial.

I swear it's a conspiracy!

[mike777]

I swear it's a conspiracy!

 

 

It is ...it seems there are commercials that come on at an exact time during the hour as the computer takes over.

 

These are called "hard breaks"

[barmar]

Backing in to a really tight space seems to work better than pulling in forward. I have no idea why, but it just does. Probably all in my head this one.

I find this, too. When you pull in forward, you have to come in at an angle, and you have to keep going back and forth to get straight; but when you back in, you do the first two parts of a 3-part turn, and then back straight into the spot. Also, you can use the side mirrors to see how close you are to the adjacent cars.

 

Best can be to alternate. This way you have passenger's side doors facing each other, and you can get them very close together, so that there's plenty of room to open the driver's doors (you can always pull out of the spot to let passengers get in).

[Bbradley62]

Best can be to alternate. This way you have passenger's side doors facing each other, and you can get them very close together, so that there's plenty of room to open the driver's doors (you can always pull out of the spot to let passengers get in).

I remember there being a parking lot at St. John's U where this was required. Each alternating parking space was designated "front in" or "back in".

[Fluffy]

You don't need to be angry. Look at your remote control - there should be an "off" button. Sometimes it lies and "off" really means standby, but even in standby mode there are no pictures and no words.

 

There is no off button when people are talking, nor when I see commercials on web pages, the #$@%& thing being shown is the least of my worries.

[kenberg]

 

 

At the Exxon refinery in Wilmington near Long Beach, they tell their employees to back in, because if there is a fire its easier for the cars to get out of the lot if everyone isn't backing out into the drive aisle, which still seems like an odd policy to me.

 

 

Now myself, I think I would try running. To each his own.

 

I was probably stretching a bit by listing backing in as a pet peeve. Truth is, I don't get worked up much by minor things like this. Mostly I see backing in as an exercise in how to make a very quick and simple operation into a complex and time consuming one. Yesterday, as I was about to pull out, a car appeared in back of me going back and forth and back etc . I never did figure out what he was trying to do. I stayed calm, but I'm thinking buddy, we drive into the parking lot and then we park. Could we get on with it please?

[blackshoe]

That's probably the same guy who yesterday, as I was backing out of a parking space and about halfway out, came zooming up, slammed on his brakes stopping directly behind me, and then leaned on the horn.

 

BTW, when did the meaning of a turn signal on the freeway change to "I'm changing lanes, GTFO of my way"?

[jillybean]

Heh. I have that problem when I'm surfing TV channels. If one is on commercial, they're all on commercial.

What commercials? That's what PVR's are for. We rarely watch live TV other than sport but rather watch a recorded version and zip through the commercials. Starting to watch the 6pm news at 6:20pm and missing all of the commercials is fabulous.

[Antrax]

BTW, when did the meaning of a turn signal on the freeway change to "I'm changing lanes, GTFO of my way"?

Strange. Here it means "Beware! If you don't accelerate until your front bumper touches the rear bumper of the driver ahead of you, I might get in traffic AHEAD OF YOU".

[billw55]

Speaking of traffic, what bugs me is when people refuse to take their proper turn at a four-way stop. I can't count how many times I have pulled up to the line last of the four directions, and had to go first because nobody would budge. No, don't wave me to go ahead of you, just take your own dang turn, it is better for everybody.

 

It's even more annoying when I am a car or two back and they are doing it up there. For the love of god somebody just go!

[barmar]

It might be silly, but at least their heart is in the right place. I find it similarly silly when someone at a 2-way intersection stops to let me make a left turn, even though there's no one behind them. I'm all prepared to turn as soon as they pull through, I'm not actively watching their gestures. But it's hard to get mad at them, since it means they would do the same thing if there were actually a line of cars behind them.

[barmar]

My real traffic peeve is when there's a long line of cars exiting the highway, and someone waits until the last few seconds to merge into the exit lane. It just seems extremely selfish -- they think they're more important than the rest of us, and shouldn't have to wait in line like we did.

 

I once had a coworker try to justify it, saying that he drives up expecting to find a gap in the line and slip into it. But if you don't find a gap, you have to cut in.

[blackshoe]

What commercials? That's what PVR's are for. We rarely watch live TV other than sport but rather watch a recorded version and zip through the commercials. Starting to watch the 6pm news at 6:20pm and missing all of the commercials is fabulous.

 

The other day, I was watching a DVR recording. Tried to fast forward through the commercials. It wouldn't do it. It'd go backwards just fine, it wouldn't go fast forward at all. I had to reset the DVR. My first thought though, was "damn! they've killed the usefulness of this damn thing!"

 

That reminds me, I have a couple of months worth of recordings to watch.

[Fluffy]

My real traffic peeve is when there's a long line of cars exiting the highway, and someone waits until the last few seconds to merge into the exit lane. It just seems extremely selfish -- they think they're more important than the rest of us, and shouldn't have to wait in line like we did.

 

I once had a coworker try to justify it, saying that he drives up expecting to find a gap in the line and slip into it. But if you don't find a gap, you have to cut in.

 

Much worse is when they even block the lane that has nothing to do with the exit and jsut wants to go through, it is extremelly frustrating when you just want to go straight but can´t. One place near my home gets about a 1km block of cards on the wrong lane.

[Gerardo]

An American is an inhabitant of the United States. A North American is an inhabitant of the United States, Canada, or (except, as I understand it, in Mexico) Mexico. Mexicans refer to Americans as Norte Americanos, ("North Americans").

 

So no, Canadians are not Americans.

 

American_(word)

[Vampyr]

Can't find blackshoe's post; anyway there are about two dozen countries in North America.

[helene_t]

So to denote America as distinct from USA I could say something like:

 

Amerind and Na-dene are groups of American languages languages spoken in the Americas

 

It is a bit awkward that there is no adjective that really means "American", as opposed to narrowly "US-ian"

[Gerardo]

Can't find blackshoe's post; anyway there are about two dozen countries in North America.

 

It is on the RIP thread.

 

I answered here because it was off topic there, and on topic here.

[kenberg]

Speaking of traffic, what bugs me is when people refuse to take their proper turn at a four-way stop. I can't count how many times I have pulled up to the line last of the four directions, and had to go first because nobody would budge. No, don't wave me to go ahead of you, just take your own dang turn, it is better for everybody.

 

It's even more annoying when I am a car or two back and they are doing it up there. For the love of god somebody just go!

 

There are a fair number of things that people do, intending the best, that I would just as soon they wouldn't do. One is holding a door open. OK, if I am right there, fine. But people do it when I am a dozen steps or so back. I feel a bit of an obligation to pick up my pace so they are not stuck standing there like a doorman. Really I am not yet at the stage where I cannot open my own door. If I am laden down with stuff, of course it is different and I appreciate the help.

 

Another example is people who decide to help me remove my cards from the card holder by picking it up and shoving it toward me. Leave the thing on the table. I can get my cards out in one quick movement. It's really not a two person operation.

 

By the way, I have found the following useful in these traffic situations: Suppose I am arriving at a four way stop, and I see another guy arriving on the crossing street a little ahead of me. Of course he can move on through first but he might be one of these "Oh no, please, you go first" types. I stop a tad, maybe 4 feet, short of the usual stopping place. This seems to communicate. He goes through, I go through.