The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[StarWarsGirl]

@StarWarsGirl : If you ever see these chip and dale figures.. pleeeaseee.. buy them for me and Ill pay you via paypal? XD




time stamp at 2:41

Cute.

 

[Cesar R M]

Loving Archive 81 so far (Netflix horror occult series) :O

 

[Goofyernmost]

Winter is a good excuse to leave the state.

I didn't know there was a bad excuse to leave Maryland! (Just kidding)

 

[FutureCEO]

For those who have Prime, the price increases start the end of March.

 

[Goofyernmost]

There was a couple sitting next to me on the plane watching Encanto together on a phone. Glad I'm not the only childless millennial in love with that movie.

I liked the movie itself and thought it was fun (and weird), I even like "no one talks about Bruno", but for it to be liked that much leaves me wondering why? Cute song, yes! Number one Disney song? You've got to be kidding me.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I liked the movie itself and thought it was fun (and weird), I even like "no one talks about Bruno", but for it to be liked that much leaves me wondering why? Cute song, yes! Number one Disney song? You've got to be kidding me.

My middle school students love it. Most of them
Know every word and even some of the kids that think Disney is for little kids bop along to it.

 

[MinnieM123]

My middle school students love it. Most of them
Know every word and even some of the kids that think Disney is for little kids bop along to it.

I've never see the movie either.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I've never see the movie either.

I can't remember, do you have Disney+? It is on there. The movie is good, I can't say it is my favorite but it is worth a watch. I do think the animation is very beautiful. Not as good a film as Tangled though.

 

[Figgy1]

We're still iced in and it's colder today but at least we still have power knock wood. I see a hot bath in my future and a groundhog in the chili with cornbread

 

[donaldtoo]

It becomes second nature! Hubby laughs because he taught me how to drive a stick, but I'm actually better at it than he is, lol.

Yea, I taught DWifey how to drive stick, right after we bought the ‘88 Hyundai Excel. It was rough going at first, but, once she got it, it became second nature to her, too.
Her Pop was a career military man, and thought that women really didn’t need to be driving anyway, much less a manual tranny.
When she told him she was now driving stick, his reaction was literally “WTH…?!?!?!”…!!!!!
She went from the lowly Excel to the much more powerful ‘90 Cherokee, pretty much, without a hitch…!!!

 

[Goofyernmost]

I taught my wife how to drive stick and three of the longest weeks in the history of the world, near divorce and one new clutch later, she figured it out.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I didn't know there was a bad excuse to leave Maryland! (Just kidding)

Ouch. Them's fightin' words.

 

[donaldtoo]

When I first started driving an automatic transmission my late father taught me in the winter time to switch from drive to either gear 1 or 2 . As a young guy the car clearly maintained a slower steady speed going down a hill or just driving on a two lane road in bad conditions. Hitting a deer head on is another story. Luckily I was going slow but the big Bambi decided to dart across right in front of my car when I was young. I think someone picked up the deer off the road and cut it up for future venison meals.

I’ve “hit” deer exactly twice…so far.
The first time, a deer started to step out of the grass and into the road at night just as we reached that spot. As it put one leg into the road it then saw my headlights and turned its head and the right side of its rack smacked the passenger side mirror against the window. Made such a horrible noise, but, when we found a parking lot to pull into down the road, all I saw was a small scratch on the hood near the mirror, and the mirror snapped right back into place.
The second time was on a winding back road down by the lake. I was driving at a slow speed around a curve at night and it darted out in front of me. I caught it’s left rear on the front drivers side and spun it around…really not much of a hit at the speed I was driving, but, when I pulled over down the road, my drivers side quarter panel had a nice wrinkle in it…!!!!!
Others have not been so lucky…
I was on my way to work one morning about 25 years ago, and just the other side of this bridge was just this huge, splattered, unrecognizable, bloody mess all over the highway.
It came up that weekend when I was talking with my youngest bro. Turns out the guy who hit the deer was one of his good buds. Completely totaled his car.
My Pop also had a neighbor back on the farm that hit a horse. Clipped its legs, but, the high up body came through the windshield and killed him.

 

[donaldtoo]

Totally unfair...even Texas gets snow and we don't? I demand a recount!

Seriously though, I'm sorry you guys are dealing with it, because I know you aren't equipped to. I just want snow.

Actually, we didn’t get any snow down here, short of a few flurries. Just freezing rain and sleet.
They did get snow further to the west and north in Texas, though. West and north Texas get some amount of snow every winter.

And, it really wasn’t all that bad, especially compared to…wait…for…it…………………
“SNOWMAGEDDON 2021…!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”…!!!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

That's just bizarre, such cold temps in TX, and when I was there in the Texas summers visiting my ex back in the day I could have fried eggs on the sidewalk with 100 degree plus temps that seemed on a daily basis. Drinking margaritas outside at San Antonio Riverwalk was downright oppressive temps.

We’re used to the heat and humidididididity, this kinda’ cold, not so much.
Personally, I can’t wait for my beloved “oppressive” Texas summer heat to return…!!!

 

[ImperfectPixie]

I’ve “hit” deer exactly twice…so far.
The first time, a deer started to step out of the grass and into the road at night just as we reached that spot. As it put one leg into the road it then saw my headlights and turned its head and the right side of its rack smacked the passenger side mirror against the window. Made such a horrible noise, but, when we found a parking lot to pull into down the road, all I saw was a small scratch on the hood near the mirror, and the mirror snapped right back into place.
The second time was on a winding back road down by the lake. I was driving at a slow speed around a curve at night and it darted out in front of me. I caught it’s left rear on the front drivers side and spun it around…really not much of a hit at the speed I was driving, but, when I pulled over down the road, my drivers side quarter panel had a nice wrinkle in it…!!!!!
Others have not been so lucky…
I was on my way to work one morning about 25 years ago, and just the other side of this bridge was just this huge, splattered, unrecognizable, bloody mess all over the highway.
It came up that weekend when I was talking with my youngest bro. Turns out the guy who hit the deer was one of his good buds. Completely totaled his car.
My Pop also had a neighbor back on the farm that hit a horse. Clipped its legs, but, the high up body came through the windshield and killed him.

We have tons of deer where we live, but there's so much undeveloped land in this area (the huge state forest is 1/4 mile from our front door as the crow flies, and we're surrounded by woods) that hearing of someone hitting one with their car is a rarity (thankfully).

Wild turkeys on the other hand...it's as if they WANT me to cook them for Thanksgiving dinner! Seriously though, they're an issue every fall, especially on the highway - they can do some serious damage to your car and basically explode when you hit them at high speed. On our busy through-street (speed limit ranges from 35-45mph), they've almost caused accidents more than a few times when a flock decides to cross and causes someone to slam on their brakes.

 

[donaldtoo]

You pretty much have to here. That's why I had to take lessons to get my license here. I never learned stick, but automatics are few and far between here. They are getting more popular, but there still aren't many. Here, if you take your driving test with a manual, you can drive either, but if you take it on an automatic, you can only drive automatic, which means you'll have a problem because almost no one has an automatic. I was talking to the examinor when I did my test the 2nd time and she said she actually drives an automatic now and she doesn't know why they aren't more prominent, because they are so much easier and it makes it safer because you don't have to focus on both the road AND what you're doing. I said I had heard that manuals were more energy efficient, and she said that MAY be, but only IF the driver shifts at the exact right time every time and is perfect with braking, shifting, etc. And that's not possible. There's probably not much difference between the two just because of human error. I personally hate driving stick...I feel like my mind is so divided and I have to pay too much attention to what I'm doing....plus, I have to take a hand off the wheel to shift, and when I'm turning, I need that hand to steer. I feel like I don't have enough hands. Blinker, gear shift, steering wheel....plus I have to keep an eye out for idiots who run the light, and be ready to push in the clutch if I have to slam on my brakes. In an automatic, it's so much safer....just hit the brakes, done. It's reflex. And I've never once killed the engine at a stoplight in an automatic. We got our new car a month ago, and it's easier than our old one. In our old one, I killed the engine about half the time because you had to give it a lot more gas while you let the clutch up. I stalled it 3 times at one light one of the first times I drove it to work once I got my license. I just couldn't get it to go. It was so embarassing and it created a really unsafe driving situation because the people in back of me were really frustrated. There had been an accident and they had the lane blocked just before the light, so I had to go around that and immediately stop at the light. Traffic was already backed up and such because of that accident, and then I couldn't get my car to move. The light wouldn't stay green long enough for me to get it going, so I'd stall it, and then before I got it started, it would turn red again, so I'd have to wait. Then it turned green and I'd try again, and stall it and it would turn red again. It was awful. Believe me, it's so much more trouble than it's worth. If I'd been in an automatic, none of that would have ever happened. Manual requires so much more coordination and multitasking ability. It's a necessary skill here because of the lack of automatics, but if I didn't have to do it, I wouldn't bother. I'm thinking our next car should be an automatic if we get one. Now that I'm driving every day, I don't want to have to deal with a stupid stick!

If driven properly, a stick will definitely be more efficient than an automatic. It’s a direct drive v. a fluid drive (“slush box”).
Also, a stick is generally less expensive than its automatic counterpart.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

If driven properly, a stick will definitely be more efficient than an automatic. It’s a direct drive v. a fluid drive (“slush box”).
Also, a stick is generally less expensive than its automatic counterpart.

Less wear and tear on the brakes, too.

 

[donaldtoo]

As @Lilofan said, it definitely takes practice. However, having driven roughly half automatics and half manuals in my 50 years of life, a manual transmission is far safer for a number of reasons.

1) you can downshift or disengage the transmission to stop in an emergency, which results in much faster stopping
2) you have much more control over your speed without the need of using the brakes, which is important in inclement weather
3) automatic transmissions may free up your hands, but also create optimum circumstances for people to be doing things they shouldn't while driving (shaving, reading - yes...seen people reading the newspaper while driving, putting on makeup)
4) dozing off behind the wheel is far more likely in an automatic because of the lack of driver involvement
5) automatic transmissions create a false sense of security and drivers are more likely to get "lost in their heads"
6) DOOMSDAY SCENARIO - you can keep the RPMs high and get through a flooded area without the engine stalling out provided that the water isn't as high enough to drown the engine itself (Storrow Drive through Boston...done it more than a few times...water was above the exhaust pipe and higher than the bottom of the doors on the car)

Many newer manual transmission cars have a light that comes on to tell you when to shift. That being said, I would never drive a manual transmission car that didn't also have an RPM gauge, because that's truly the best way to know when it's time to shift. Manual transmissions also last longer than automatic transmissions (unless you're constantly stripping the gears), and they do definitely get better gas mileage. I currently drive an automatic (bought it when we decided it was time to start a family after driving a manual for years), but my next car will be a manual.

I DO understand where you're coming from - there's definitely a learning curve involved in driving a stick, and driving one only for the length of time it takes to learn to drive just isn't enough for it to become second nature.

Yep, a tachometer can come in handy, but, I’ve generally found that most cars let you know (sound/feel) when it’s time to shift, dependin’ on how tame or hard your drivin’ it…!!!
Never heard of the light shift indicator, but, I guess it makes sense these days…!!!!!

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Yep, a tachometer can come in handy, but, I’ve generally found that most cars let you know (sound/feel) when it’s time to shift, dependin’ on how tame or hard your drivin’ it…!!!
Never heard of the light shift indicator, but, I guess it makes sense these days…!!!!!

Yep...my 99 Amigo had it, but the light was timed to come on as if you're driving like an old lady (I really DO NOT drive like an old lady, lol...people have told me for years that I should have been either a precision or stunt driver...I've had to pull my side mirrors in a few times to squeeze through spots with my F150). I generally go by sound...but if I'm in a mad hurry and driving like a maniac, the RPM gauge is helpful.