Random Thoughts....

Went to ship a package and eat some lunch at a local shopping center with Mrs. CraigB today. After we got out of the car and started our way towards our first stop a guy hanging halfway out of the passenger window on full size GM SUV pulling a trailer full of junk, yells "Really? And on a Monday?". No idea who he was telling it at, but they were leaving a multi lane roundabout that no one understands.
 
^Don't worry, when I hop into France, they also struggle with the concept of multi-lane roundabouts.

Today I learned that windshield wipers were so rare in the Soviet Union that people would take them off their cars when it wasn't raining and most of the time, only install them when they were needed.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uus6qy0HroY
There's a NYT article but since I don't for their news, I can't read the story. Thankfully a youtube channel talks about it.
 
93Flareside said:
^Don't worry, when I hop into France, they also struggle with the concept of multi-lane roundabouts.

Today I learned that windshield wipers were so rare in the Soviet Union that people would take them off their cars when it wasn't raining and most of the time, only install them when they were needed.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uus6qy0HroY
There's a NYT article but since I don't for their news, I can't read the story. Thankfully a youtube channel talks about it.
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I remember seeing a scene in a movie where a man pulled them off his car in the rain and stuck them in his briefcase. That lead me to an article online about this idiosyncrasy.
 
Not sure I like the idea of making such an important thing easily removable. Even if it's as idiot-proof as possible, someone will out-idiot them and break something or get it wrong so they are driving without wipers. Yes, that happens anyway but it's somewhat controlled.

If headlights were also made removable I think it would be seen differently, but it's not much different in terms of safety. :p

CraigB said:
Honestly, it's not a horrible idea. Why let them bake in the sun when not needed?
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I thought that's why manufacturers started concealing them under the scuttle panel, weirdly that trend has been very hit and miss throughout the years. I suppose it's a pain to maintain something that lives under a cover, even if it's removable.
 
Matt2000 said:
Not sure I like the idea of making such an important thing easily removable. Even if it's as idiot-proof as possible, someone will out-idiot them and break something or get it wrong so they are driving without wipers. Yes, that happens anyway but it's somewhat controlled.

If headlights were also made removable I think it would be seen differently, but it's not much different in terms of safety. :p


I thought that's why manufacturers started concealing them under the scuttle panel, weirdly that trend has been very hit and miss throughout the years. I suppose it's a pain to maintain something that lives under a cover, even if it's removable.
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Having to put the wipers in a service position to change the blades is beyond some people. My car has marks from the PO banging the arms against the hood and damaging the paint.
 
93Flareside said:
Having to put the wipers in a service position to change the blades is beyond some people. My car has marks from the PO banging the arms against the hood and damaging the paint.
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I was thinking of that as I wrote it. Can you imagine the same person trying to correctly install and remove wipers regularly? I wouldn't want to be driving towards them if it was raining.
 
My previous project at work celebrated success with a "virtual cocktail evening" due to being remote and located all over the country. So we all got a box with ingredients and had a video conference with a barkeeper teaching us on how to mix them.
Result: four cocktails on a Tuesday evening, before dinner.
I am quite tipsy and very thankful for auto-correct.
 
DanRoM said:
My previous project at work celebrated success with a "virtual cocktail evening" due to being remote and located all over the country. So we all got a box with ingredients and had a video conference with a barkeeper teaching us on how to mix them.
Result: four cocktails on a Tuesday evening, before dinner.
I am quite tipsy and very thankful for auto-correct.
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Your drunk autocorrect is better than my sober autocorrect. Let’s trade!
 
Philosophical thought for the day - why are the G and T on a keyboard beside each other when accidentally typing 'retards' instead of 'regards' at the end of an email is such a toe-curlingly embarrassing thing to do? :hmm:
 
Matt2000 said:
Philosophical thought for the day - why are the G and T on a keyboard beside each other when accidentally typing 'retards' instead of 'regards' at the end of an email is such a toe-curlingly embarrassing thing to do? :hmm:
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they just want you to have a quick way to find out what kind of person the recipient really are. if they get all outraged and pissy: typo. if they think it's the funniest shit in the world: more shenanigans!
 
DanRoM said:
My previous project at work celebrated success with a "virtual cocktail evening" due to being remote and located all over the country.
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To follow up on that: Due to that event I missed out on the bi-weekly pubquiz. At least two of my friends who did attend brought home some Covid.
I dodged a bullet there... :)
 
I see that I completely missed the connection between me mentioning G & T and your cocktail evening. That sounds like a great idea and an even better way to avoid Covid, I'd ask if you were sharing the recipes at the next FG meet but I suspect you can only remember the first one or two if that. :p

Also is a bit sad that autocorrect has gotten so good you can seem completely coherent even when you're teahte tbungafloed.
 
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I did use some backspace. :D
SwiftKey has a mind of its own. But it's easier to spot typos when they lead to completely different words.
 
Slightly interesting moment yesterday.

Walking my dog back from the park, I saw an older couple who looked like typical empty-nester type riding bikes looking for a restaurant. Thankfully where I live it's just apartments mostly, a Turkish bar on one street, and kebab on another. But there's this restaurant" that since I've been living here has had stacks of things inside, and never seems to be planned to become a business. But this couple stops and I overhear the strong american accent as they discuss which place to go. I pipe up and say "oh that bar is drinks only and that hasn't been open since I moved here in August." Slightly confused looks as they ask where theres a place to eat, to which I explain where.

I wish I could be on the other side as this is the second time I've helped english speaking tourists as the town I live in is a stop for a tourist boating company. Mostly like "why the fuck is this man walking his dog speak english so fluently?" I imagine people think being a smaller town like this that it's just gerrrrrman.

Maybe I'm thinking too much into this.
 
You're not just speaking fluent English, it is your mother tongue. That is instantly recognisable, you have the accent, speed, vocabulary and natural grammatical security to go with it.

It is just unexpected to randomly meet an American living there in any non-American town, and even more so in such a small place in rural Germany.
 
DanRoM said:
You're not just speaking fluent English, it is your mother tongue. That is instantly recognisable, you have the accent, speed, vocabulary and natural grammatical security to go with it.

It is just unexpected to randomly meet an American living there in any non-American town, and even more so in such a small place in rural Germany.
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It's nothing exciting, but I'm more so curious how far it goes in the thinking of "wtf?"
 
93Flareside said:
I wish I could be on the other side as this is the second time I've helped english speaking tourists as the town I live in is a stop for a tourist boating company. Mostly like "why the fuck is this man walking his dog speak english so fluently?" I imagine people think being a smaller town like this that it's just gerrrrrman.
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Imagine going on vacation anywhere in Europe during peak tourist season when you speak Dutch and because we had it in school understand (and speak some) English, French and German. Understanding 75% of the people who are quite sure no one understands what they are saying can sometimes be quite funny too 😅.
 
kalf said:
Imagine going on vacation anywhere in Europe during peak tourist season when you speak Dutch and because we had it in school understand (and speak some) English, French and German. Understanding 75% of the people who are quite sure no one understands what they are saying can sometimes be quite funny too 😅.
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I imagine it would be.

But I go through my days assuming everyone can understand some level of English and so, like the stories you hear about with foriengers who think nobody can understand them, I do not insult people I'm right in front of. Already heard a coworker say to another guy on a job last week. "oh, the foreigner can do that job." bit disappointing to hear from the guy I enjoy working with. If I'm honest it kind of hurt, or disappointed me I guess.
 
93Flareside said:
I imagine it would be.

But I go through my days assuming everyone can understand some level of English and so, like the stories you hear about with foriengers who think nobody can understand them, I do not insult people I'm right in front of. Already heard a coworker say to another guy on a job last week. "oh, the foreigner can do that job." bit disappointing to hear from the guy I enjoy working with. If I'm honest it kind of hurt, or disappointed me I guess.
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Yeah I imagine there is a big difference between being on vacation and around people you don't know and pretty much hearing people you do know insult you in your face because they think you don't understand what they are saying. It's like hearing colleagues gossip about you because they didn't know you are in the same room but even worse because 1. they know you are there and 2. they underestimate how well you speak there language. Part of me would be angry and hurt but the introvert and overthinking part of me would prevent me from confronting them.
 
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