Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

driver100

Does this help?
1901
While the period 1900-1999 is of course a century, as is any period of 100 years, it is incorrect to label it the 20th century, which began January 1, 1901, and will end on December 31, 2000. Only then will the third millennium of our era begin.
Or this;
Illustration image
Fireworks in Sydney, Australia.


The 21st Century Started in 2001
In 1999, the world was preparing for the New Year's party of a lifetime. The year number in the Gregorian calendar was about to tick over to 2000, supposedly ushering in not only the 21st century but also the 3rd millennium AD.

However, the party was held one year too early—it should have been on January 1, 2001.

I am too confused to figure it out!

driver100

abacomike said:

After driving this new E Class sedan for a few days, I can honestly say that Mercedes has “cheapened” it since I had an E Class Sedan in 2015.  More use of plastics inside; stiffer riding and handling to a fault; smaller and less comfortable seating; poorer rear visibility.

I do like the wider main dash screen for better GPS visibility as well as the larger brake discs and calipers.  The vehicle is very responsive to driver steering and braking input, but as I mentioned previously, the engine is slow to respond to driver input and very underpowered @ 240 hp for a 4000 pound car.  

Highway friving is quite good in terms of road feedback to the steering wheel and smooth responsiveness once you’ve attained highway speed.  Fuel economy is actually lower than my S450 which is 600 pounds heavier.  I would suspect that the new E450 is a much better option over the E300.  I drove an E450 last month and boy is it fast and responsive.

Mike, I also had a 2015 E and a 2017 E. What you are saying could be true of the 4 cylinder E300. I find my E400 6 cylinder is superior. It has a longer wheelbase so the ride is smoother. Engine is more powerful. Much more comfortable seating and the digital instrument panel is stunning.

The only negatives I can think of are smaller windows, especially the rear window. Also, I like the squarer styling and the larger side windows in the 2015 model. I sense the extra engineering that makes the 2017 model a better car than the 2015. Your S may have spoiled you. I wouldn't consider an S, I would consider a C since it is unlikely we will be driving to Florida again.....just flying.

driver100

It is about 60F this morning....but all that cold weather is coming down from nasty Canada and it is only going to be 52 by 4 p.m. I think you should build a Northern wall that keeps cold air from reaching us.

Back around Toronto they have about 6 inches of snow....Mrs D, Trixie and I are glad to be here even if it will be 52!.

snakeweasel

qbrozen said:

The calendars I “use” have never displayed days prior to my birth year. Just how old are you?
My calendars also don’t state they are Gregorian.
And, no, since there are multiple answers and you can find people on both sides of the topic, one of us does not have to be wrong.  

So since you know so much about that particular calendar, I have always beem curious about some details maybe you can clear up. 
1. Why does “Before Christ” end 358 days before his birth?
2. Why doesn’t each new year start with his birthday?

How old am I? Well I am older than my next door neighbors the Hills so I am older than the hills.

The calendar we use today was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in the late 16th century which was an improvement of the Julian calendar introduced by julius ceasar. The difference is that the Julian calendar has a leap year every 4 years and the Gregorian calendar eliminates leap years at the end of the century unless the year is divisible by 400. So 2000 was a leap year but 2100, 2200 and 2300 will not be.

As for the Christs birth issue it could be that "before Christ" could end 7 days after his birth. The real issue is that we don't actually know what year Christ was born or even the day. The start of the year was determined by Rome long before Christs birth. The year of Christs birth was determined by a monk in th 5th century and is generally considered now to be wrong. The best estimates of his birth put it at between 3 and 5 BC.

ab348

Geez, the Y2K bickering takes me back. The discussion reminds me of this:

Newman's Millenium Party

abacomike

driver100 said:

It is about 60F this morning....but all that cold weather is coming down from nasty Canada and it is only going to be 52 by 4 p.m. I think you should build a Northern wall that keeps cold air from reaching us. Back around Toronto they have about 6 inches of snow....Mrs D, Trixie and I are glad to be here even if it will be 52!.

Lows tomorrow morning are expected to be in the mid to low 40’s down in South Florida accompanied by strong NW winds (15-25 mph) which means wind factor temps in the 30’s.  Thank goodness for heated seats in the car.

snakeweasel

bwia said:

snakeweasel said:

oldfarmer50 said:

snakeweasel said:

dino001 said:

Void

Then God said "Let their be light" but God forgot to register that light with BMW so the light didn't work.

That’s great!🤣

Well I am at my tax job right now and its to early in the season so I am very bored.
To make matters worse they stuck me at a Wal Mart.

@snakeweasel, I would expect the Tax Cut and Jobs Act will make your work must easier this year. The IRS estimates that 12% of households will itemize leaving a whopping 88% who will take the increased standard deduction. So I would expect you to charge much less per Federal return. Fat chance. Not sure if the new law simplifies State taxes though.

It won't make it easier as we have to explain all of it. But we do expect to lose clients as many who are now are doing a standard 1040EZ or 1040A will do it themselves.

Tax work is charged by form, each form has a fee and that determines the whole fee. So if you are going from itemizing to taking the standard deduction your fees will go down if everything else stays the same.

imidazol97

abacomike said:

Lows tomorrow morning are expected to be in the mid to low 40’s down in South Florida accompanied by strong NW winds (15-25 mph) which means wind factor temps in the 30’s.  Thank goodness for heated seats in the car.

Are you wanting sympathy from those of us in the North?

explorerx4

Spent 2 hours without a break cleaning snow this morning.
It was in the mid 20's and it felt good to be out there.
Just need to shovel the walkway to the front door and clear off some of the deck.
Probably won't do much the rest of the day, though.

Michaell

explorerx4 said:

Spent 2 hours without a break cleaning snow this morning.
It was in the mid 20's and it felt good to be out there.
Just need to shovel the walkway to the front door and clear off some of the deck.
Probably won't do much the rest of the day, though.

Clearing snow is one of those oddly satisfying chores. Though I'll admit I bought a small snowblower a week or two back.

roadburner

When my mother died I found some very old dollar bills in a box(she was a borderline hoarder). A few days later I used one of the bills at a fast food drive through. The manager was apparently a frustrated Secret Service wannabe and told me that it was a counterfeit bill. I took it to my local bank and the staff got a big laugh out of it; the bill was legitimate of course.

jmonroe1

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe1 said:

driver100 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

I would like to remind everyone here to be very conscious of making comments that could be construed as personal attacks on other members--no matter how tampered down those comments might appear after being lathered up with emoticons.
Shifty

Does that include any derogatory comments about me wearing a horizontal striped T-shirt?

There are exceptions to every rule.

jmonroe

Come on, you know that every one of you guys who teased driver100 about that shirt ran right out and bought a couple for himself. You were just jealous that driver wore it so well.

Just the opposite. When I saw that shirt on him I immediately went to my closet and burned the four I had. No, make that 3, I kept one for waxing the Genny.

jmonroe

berri

I believe there will only be a 1040, no more -A or - EZ. The 1040 will be shorter, BUT will have more backup worksheets to fill out. Middle working class will get relatively small decrease in taxes, except those who had many dependents personal exemptions. Wealthy will do well. Same story as usual really.

explorerx4

For 2017, our combined state income tax/property tax/mortgage interest was over 25k, so I'm not getting a good feeling about how 2018 is going to turn out.

explorerx4

@michaell,
Using a snow blower can still be strenuous, but it does save you from having to lift the snow.

driver100

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

jmonroe1 said:

driver100 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

I would like to remind everyone here to be very conscious of making comments that could be construed as personal attacks on other members--no matter how tampered down those comments might appear after being lathered up with emoticons.
Shifty

Does that include any derogatory comments about me wearing a horizontal striped T-shirt?

There are exceptions to every rule.

jmonroe

Come on, you know that every one of you guys who teased driver100 about that shirt ran right out and bought a couple for himself. You were just jealous that driver wore it so well.

Just the opposite. When I saw that shirt on him I immediately went to my closet and burned the four I had. No, make that 3, I kept one for waxing the Genny.

jmonroe

Can't blame you.....it must have been discouraging after you saw the way those shirts looked on me.

driver100

explorerx4 said:

@michaell,
Using a snow blower can still be strenuous, but it does save you from having to lift the snow.

Also, it isn't a solution for the bone chilling cold.

driver100

on a brighter note (so to speak), off to Venice (FL) today to see Always Patsy Cline.

driver100

imidazol97 said:

abacomike said:

Lows tomorrow morning are expected to be in the mid to low 40’s down in South Florida accompanied by strong NW winds (15-25 mph) which means wind factor temps in the 30’s.  Thank goodness for heated seats in the car.

Are you wanting sympathy from those of us in the North?

I don't think of using bum warmers unless it is under 28F........even then low power is fine. Don't want 3rd degree burns.

stickguy

just rain down by Philly (the NJ side). and warm. Went out about 10 this morning to wash the RDX since it was salty from all the pre-treats this week on the roads. Not looking forward though to the 40 degree temp drop predicted into tonight.

better off than the family in upstate NY (Oldfarmer-ville). they sent pictures of the 12-18" of snow they were dealing with. We sent a picture of the wet deck. Suckers.

every summer the wife tries to convince me to move back up there, and I almost bite. Then winter comes and I realize I dodged a bullet. People should be trying to leave that area, not move back. Only way I would agree to it is if she is hiding a couple million dollars I don't know about, so we can buy a place in the south and snowbird.

ab348

explorerx4 said:

For 2017, our combined state income tax/property tax/mortgage interest was over 25k, so I'm not getting a good feeling about how 2018 is going to turn out.

I read an article yesterday referring to a study on the Canadian tax system. It reported that the study found that the average Canadian remits 42% of their income to governments (federal, provincial, municipal) in taxes in one form or another - income tax, sales tax, property tax, etc. When you consider that there is a segment of society that remits very little except sales tax on things they buy, it means a typical employed person doing reasonably well likely pays a lot more than the 42% number. The media here usually announces that "Tax Freedom Day", that is the day when the average person has worked long enough since the start of the year to earn enough to cover all their taxation for the year, is sometime in June IIRC.

ab348

abacomike said:

Lows tomorrow morning are expected to be in the mid to low 40’s down in South Florida accompanied by strong NW winds (15-25 mph) which means wind factor temps in the 30’s.  Thank goodness for heated seats in the car.

Thoughts and prayers for the Floridians freezing in the 40 degree icebox.

ab348

With the talk here about dashcams recently, this is interesting and something I never really thought of before:

Turn an old phone into a dashcam for $20

stickguy

ab, you do have to put that into context of what you get for it. Are you satisfied? Free healthcare of course is a huge part of it. In the US, you would need to add what people pay for that to their "official" taxes to get a reasonably comparable %.

and do you have good quality roads, and safe bridges? especially in my area (NJ) we pay through the nose state/local, but our infrastructure would embarrass a 3rd world country or one that has been war-torn for decades. I don't mind paying as much if I feel like I get something tangible back for the money.

stickguy

wow. sun just started to come out. That should help dry everything up before the freeze!

oldfarmer50

driver100 said:

It is about 60F this morning....but all that cold weather is coming down from nasty Canada and it is only going to be 52 by 4 p.m. I think you should build a Northern wall that keeps cold air from reaching us.

Back around Toronto they have about 6 inches of snow....Mrs D, Trixie and I are glad to be here even if it will be 52!.

Ha ha, funny to hear you complaining about that cold “Canadian” air trying to spoil paradise for you.

If it makes you feel better we have afoot of snow with more expected followed by 50 below F windchills tomorrow. When I’m chipping ice off rental cars watching my fingers turn blue I’ll find solace in the fact that you’re suffering in a 100 degree warmer environment.

ab348

Our healthcare system is in a continual state of crisis. It is heavily rationed by the degree of funding so you wait a very long time for specialist appointments or big procedures. Where I live at least, not a lot of people can find a family doctor either. I would not recommend the Canadian system as a model because it is hugely bureaucratic and seems to waste a lot of money. But I don't have a solution.

Here in NS our infrastructure is insanely bad. I can almost guarantee it is worse than NJ. A big part of the reason for that is that half of the provincial budget goes to health care, so dollars are scarce. But we pay a 15% retail sales tax on everything we buy already, so they can't realistically raise it much more.

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

Geez, the Y2K bickering takes me back. The discussion reminds me of this:

Newman's Millenium Party

It’s NEWMANIUM!

suydam

Now that I live in California I keep very quiet about temps here in January, because when I lived in Ohio and people did that I did not think happy thoughts about them.

qbrozen

driver100 said:

Does this help? 1901 While the period 1900-1999 is of course a century, as is any period of 100 years, it is incorrect to label it the 20th century, which began January 1, 1901, and will end on December 31, 2000. Only then will the third millennium of our era begin. Or this; Illustration image Fireworks in Sydney, Australia. The 21st Century Started in 2001 In 1999, the world was preparing for the New Year's party of a lifetime. The year number in the Gregorian calendar was about to tick over to 2000, supposedly ushering in not only the 21st century but also the 3rd millennium AD. However, the party was held one year too early—it should have been on January 1, 2001. I am too confused to figure it out!

Sorry, no help. I’ve found plenty of musings on both sides. You want to be thoroughly and irreparably confused?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_zero

berri

Y2K - remember all that overblown panic about computer systems and turning of year to 2000? Actually, many of the old software systems ended 999, so if there was going to be a major melt down it would have occurred in Sep '99.

stickguy

I got a pin from my company for being part of the Y2K team. I tossed it.

I actually wondered how much was overblown hype, and how much was fixing a lot of the problems through all the updates. There must have been legit potential problems in some systems to get everyone that excited. So maybe, instead of all the Y2K work being silliness, it really did what it was supposed to so mostly no one noticed!

ab348

The silly part I remember most about the Y2K business was that sometime in 1999 some legal eagle got the bright idea to send letters to all of the companies they dealt with or depended on, demanding their assurance that their systems were Y2K compliant. Within weeks those letters were flying around everywhere. And of course the responses were all meaningless. The post office must have liked it though.

explorerx4

Our company put a hack in some components because they still wanted to support something from 1915. It bit them is 2015.

abacomike

I know you northern folks kid us about our “cold” (35-45 degrees F) weather when it comes through as a cold front 8-10 times every winter.  But you need to understand it’s much like when you guys have temps in single digits or even below zero - you are used to temps in the 25-40 degree F range and then the temps drop 25-30 degrees.  We are used to winter daytime temps in the low to mid 70’s and nighttime temps in the mid 50’s to mid 60’s.  When temp drop 20-30 degrees, we suffer as well.  Besides, our heating systems are not designed or engineered to warm our homes or apartments quickly like your’s are.  Our insulation is less appropriate for cold weather and we have more windows and terraces with glass doors which are great spring and summer features but poor features in winter.

I have jalousy windows in several places - not great in cold climates.

henryn

We spent a lot of money on the Y2K issue. We set up a dedicated lab, with it's own subnet and it's own time server, and tested the h___ out of every piece of software we could lay our hands on. And yes, we did find and fix a number of problems.

And it was the final push for us to to get rid of our last IBM mainframe. No one wanted to pay to fix the problems there, and so everyone involved finally admitted they could live without it. It's funny how the various business units absolutely have to have, cannot do without, a certain piece of software until you present them with a bill, a very large bill, and they suddenly realize, "Yeah, I guess we can live without it."

Mr_Shiftright

Coastal California has what we call a "Mediterranean climate". Winters can be brisk and wet, but rarely dip below 30 degrees and are more likely to sit in the 45-65 range. Spring, Summer and Fall are rather idyllic unless you burn to death or an earthquake crushes you.

tjc78

henryn said:

We spent a lot of money on the Y2K issue. We set up a dedicated lab, with it's own subnet and it's own time server, and tested the h___ out of every piece of software we could lay our hands on. And yes, we did find and fix a number of problems. And it was the final push for us to to get rid of our last IBM mainframe. No one wanted to pay to fix the problems there, and so everyone involved finally admitted they could live without it. It's funny how the various business units absolutely have to have, cannot do without, a certain piece of software until you present them with a bill, a very large bill, and they suddenly realize, "Yeah, I guess we can live without it."

Systems, systems, systems.... our office has so many.  It’s beyond ridiculous.  Over the years new systems are added but then there is one thing that the new one can’t do so the old is kept up and running.  

pensfan83

I can handle that. Looking forward to a break from 20s and 30s next week when I'm in Palo Alto.

stickguy

my company does recordkeeping work, and has been put together through a series of acquisitions, and each one came with their own clients and systems. So we ended up with many different platforms to do the same work. I gave up ranting about needing to standardize for quality (and ongoing cost) reasons. The top brass would see the benefit, look at the cost (money and man hours) and ignore it instead. The current iteration of the company finally decided that we have to consolidate, and last year and this year are heavy on that. Might kill off all the client teams that have to deal with their regular work while changing every tool on them (and not all at the same time). If we survive this year and get to the end, will be in better shape. Assuming we survive.

minor issue, the platforms they picked are still old and inefficient, but I guess it was the best of the current options. I would have bit the bullet and spent the time moving it all (since it was moving anyway) to something new and state of the art, but I guess being on 1 set of old tools is better than 4.

imidazol97

abacomike said:

I

I have jalousy windows in several places - not great in cold climates.

I think some of us in the north have those jealous windows too when we look through those jealousy windows at the temperatures in FL while we're cold, Brrrr.. LOL

oldfarmer50

berri said:

Y2K - remember all that overblown panic about computer systems and turning of year to 2000? Actually, many of the old software systems ended 999, so if there was going to be a major melt down it would have occurred in Sep '99.

It was only the dot.com businesses that crashed and burned.

imidazol97

Mr_Shiftright said:

Coastal California has what we call a "Mediterranean climate". Winters can be brisk and wet, but rarely dip below 30 degrees and are more likely to sit in the 45-65 range. Spring, Summer and Fall are rather idyllic unless you burn to death or an earthquake crushes you.

Forest Fire. Earthquakes. Hurricanes. Foreign submarines off our coast. I guess there's a good side to
8 deg F and -4 below tonight here in Midwest country for the things we don't have. LOL

Well we did have hurricane Ike several years back with high winds and lots of powerline damage from tree limbs cutting off power for 10 days for some rural folk.

suydam

Hurricanes in California? Umm, no.

abacomike

suydam said:

Hurricanes in California? Umm, no.

They have been known to move up the west coast of Mexico toward San Diego, but it is rare due to the cold Pacific Ocean.

imidazol97

abacomike said:

suydam said:

Hurricanes in California? Umm, no.

They have been known to move up the west coast of Mexico toward San Diego, but it is rare due to the cold Pacific Ocean.

I was including Florida with its hurricanes as well as California in places I'd rather be than in -4 deg F tonight with a high tomorrow I can count on my fingers (and thumbs). But Tuesday high of 39 deg F.

imidazol97

abacomike said:

They have been known to move up the west coast of Mexico toward San Diego, but it is rare due to the cold Pacific Ocean.

I was including Florida with its hurricanes as well as California in places I'd rather be than in -4 deg F tonight with a high tomorrow I can count on my fingers (and thumbs). But Tuesday high of 39 deg F.

imidazol97

We've been experimenting with our Eufy since Christmas. I like that it has a setting to just clean around the edge of the room. The auto vacuum does all kinds of wandering zig zag across the room randomly hitting all the spots supposedly. But one button on remote starts it bumping its way along the perimeter.

It also has a button to just do a room. I'll have to find the manual and see what it's actually supposed to do. Otherwise the Eufy gets dirt off the floor. I has a max speed for the suction that pulls dirt from the carpet a little harder. But eventually we'll have to get the Hoover out.

I found the Eufy based on reviews on Amazon and on Eufy's own site to help me decide I wanted one of their offered models. I did not use the magazine that does reviews. Theirs were outdated models.

imidazol97

We've been experimenting with our Eufy since Christmas. I like that it has a setting to just clean around the edge of the room. The auto vacuum does all kinds of wandering zig zag across the room randomly hitting all the spots supposedly. But one button on remote starts it bumping its way along the perimeter.

It also has a button to just do a room. I'll have to find the manual and see what it's actually supposed to do. Otherwise the Eufy gets dirt off the floor. I has a max speed for the suction that pulls dirt from the carpet a little harder. But eventually we'll have to get the Hoover out.

I found the Eufy based on reviews on Amazon and on Eufy's own site to help me decide I wanted one of their offered models. I did not use the magazine that does reviews. Theirs were outdated models.

driver100

ab348 said:

abacomike said:

Lows tomorrow morning are expected to be in the mid to low 40’s down in South Florida accompanied by strong NW winds (15-25 mph) which means wind factor temps in the 30’s.  Thank goodness for heated seats in the car.

Thoughts and prayers for the Floridians freezing in the 40 degree icebox.

Thanks, it is easy for you because you are used to those temps....we aren't.
btw....tax freedom day is now in July.