Dumbest Inventions EVER

Jonathan_S wrote:

MaxxQ wrote:Thank (insert your favorite deity name here) I moved to South Carolina from Ohio. Now all I have to deal with are people that have never learned to drive in the snow or on ice. At least THEY have an excuse, and frankly, most of them are pretty smart and just stay home, since 1/2 inch of snow is the coming of the apocalypse down here I've quite literally seen stores cleared out of milk, water, bread, and toilet paper if the weather predicts 1/2 inch of snow.

I don't disagree with any of your points on many SUV drivers (so I snipped that part of your post) - but I would point out in South Carolina's defense (and this applies somewhat less so in Virginia where I am) that not only do they rarely see snow but when they get it its more likely to be nastly heavy snow / icy / slushy winter mix than the kind of snow you get when it's really cold out. I'd much rather drive through 6 inches of relatively lighter powder than a 1/2" of likely to refreeze heavy winter mix. Roads turning into sheets of ice overnight from melt & freeze isn't fun.

I'll second that, Jonathan. It's really not fun when the temperature oscillates between, say, five degrees C and minus five C. The solution, pardon the pun, seems to be to dump large amounts of salt all over the roads - necessary not just to maintain driveability, but also to preserve the roads from the constant refreezing of melted water in cracks and crevices.

Otherwise: http://community.caithness.org/image_cache/na4530.jpg

The downside, of course, is saltwater has a corrosive effect on road vehicles. Probably isn't environmentally friendly either. Also, it's filthy.

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t83/ ... 375758.jpg

munroburton wrote:
I'll second that, Jonathan. It's really not fun when the temperature oscillates between, say, five degrees C and minus five C.

That actually describes the last 4-6 weeks here far too well.

40cm of snow came down over a couple of days 2 weeks ago, and almost none of it is left now, but ice? Oh it´s not nearly as bad as it could have been and often is, but you either tread carefully or end up on the ground.

The solution, pardon the pun, seems to be to dump large amounts of salt all over the roads - necessary not just to maintain driveability, but also to preserve the roads from the constant refreezing of melted water in cracks and crevices.

Salt, NO THANK YOU! And it´s heading more and more towards not using salt at all here.
Most areas have already made it standard to only use salt when the temps are around zero along with badly iced streets.

Road salt is evil. I lived in rural Michigan where there are fields on both sides of the road. The first few rows of crops are stunted and nearly worthless because of salt runoff. Have they never heard the expression 'sowing the fields with salt', or do they think it's a good thing?

Here in San Diego they think a quarter inch of rain is the apocalypse. They think the sky is falling, but do not connect that to any possibility that they might consider changing their driving habits when it does.

I was driving down a moderate hill in light rain at a little under 60 MPH when a pickup truck zoomed past on the right at over 70. (This was one of those pickups that has never been driven off pavement or hauled anything but groceries. I could just tell.)

The pickup got about 50 feet ahead, then started slowly spinning counterclockwise while crossing in front of me from right to left.

I took my foot off the gas, got a good grip on the wheel, and said 'Now there's something you don't see every day'.

Mr. Pickup ended up against the center barrier, facing the wrong way.

As I passed, I said 'Well, bub, I hope you packed a spare pair of shorts this morning'.
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Imaginos1892 wrote:Road salt is evil. I lived in rural Michigan where there are fields on both sides of the road. The first few rows of crops are stunted and nearly worthless because of salt runoff. Have they never heard the expression 'sowing the fields with salt', or do they think it's a good thing?

That would be because the idiots who made the roads didn't think to put in a ditch to collect the run-off and prevent the salt from running into the fields, and the farmers never thought to dig a ditch along that edge of their field to prevent the salt from running into their fields. The salt is no more evil than the gravel on the road, it's the thoughtless stupidity of those who use it, like the thieves who take large paychecks to properly dispose of dangerous chemicals (like DDT) and instead mix it with oil to spread it over the roads in dusty areas like West Texas.

Imaginos1892 wrote:Road salt is evil. I lived in rural Michigan where there are fields on both sides of the road. The first few rows of crops are stunted and nearly worthless because of salt runoff. Have they never heard the expression 'sowing the fields with salt', or do they think it's a good thing?

That would be because the idiots who made the roads didn't think to put in a ditch to collect the run-off and prevent the salt from running into the fields, and the farmers never thought to dig a ditch along that edge of their field to prevent the salt from running into their fields. The salt is no more evil than the gravel on the road, it's the thoughtless stupidity of those who use it, like the thieves who take large paychecks to properly dispose of dangerous chemicals (like DDT) and instead mix it with oil to spread it over the roads in dusty areas like West Texas.

Sorry, an error at the Library wouldn't show the previous post complete.

Tenshinai wrote:

Senior Chief wrote:Dumbest inventions bought by the dumbest of buyers:

In my mind that would be a person who lives over 8 hours away from the nearest elevation change (up or down) and buys a 4x4 monster vehicle (the dumb invention bought by city folks)that gets less than 15 MPG and takes up two parking places in the flatland city they live in.

You´ve clearly never seen what muddy roads and wet meadows can do to cars. Elevation is irrelevant when you can easily get wheels spinning on flat ground.
Oh, and add desert areas to that, sand can be as bad as mud.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btKmt4pbrSI
4WD jeeps/cars and how well, or not, they manage mud.

Amusingly though, when i did the youtube search i really did not expect the first hit to be a vid old enough that at least in theory might actually include myself or my oldest brother.


Tell me the car that gets through the mudhole around 7 minutes on this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpbQeSGBR10

The dumb ones around me use these monsters to drive from home to work with an occasional stop for shopping. Just blacktop pavement, no mud, no sand, no morass to get stuck in....

What leads you to believe there are no ditches? They're full of slushy, salty snow all winter long. Some of the salt runs down the ditch to contaminate local streams, but most of it leaches into the ground.
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Senior Chief wrote:The dumb ones around me use these monsters to drive from home to work with an occasional stop for shopping. Just blacktop pavement, no mud, no sand, no morass to get stuck in....

None in the DFW metro-plex either, but you can't turn a corner without an SUV blocking it.

another one, the laptop touchpad! What idiot thought it was a good idea to have something that just continually click-click-click-click-click! Can't type anything without it constantly clicking somewhere else, PoS! If I want it to click I'll tell it to click, DA!

Along with that the stupid auto-arrange in the new windows. Again - if I want it full screen I'll click the full-screen button!