Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

andres3

abacomike said:

I agree that there is a point at which our right to privacy comes into question.  If you go outside, get into your car, then drive your car on public streets, it is my opinion you have given up your right to privacy in this situation.  Same is true if you hit someone on a bike and leave the scene.  Once you choose to go out into public view, you have given up your right to privacy.

If you leave your house and walk a few blocks, pick up some wine and/or beer at a liquor store and then return home using public sidewalks, you have also given up your right to privacy - especially is you are under the drinking age and are later arrested for underage purchase of alcohol.

But when you are in your home and someone takes pictures of you while you are in your living room from outside, you have an expectation of privacy and even though you are visible in your house from the street, you have a right to privacy.

So if you are out in public, you have no right to privacy, in my opinion.  So if you are caught on camera while out in public, your right to privacy was not invaded.

I'm of the opinion it's none of the gov'ts business who I call on the phone, what websites I want to browse, or all the places I visit in my vehicle. And even worse; why should they waste my tax payer money in such tracking endeavors!

oldfarmer50

Speaking of idiots.

I was passed by one of these this morning. It was driving on heavily salted roads in light freezing rain.

Either the driver was an idiot or he just won the powerball.

abacomike

@andres3 said:

"And even worse; why should they waste my tax payer money in such tracking endeavors!"

Don't worry, they are spending "my" tax dollars on tracking endeavors!  They're spending "your" tax dollars on Red Light Cameras!   

snakeweasel

I was there in January, 1967, when that blizzard hit.  Couldn't find my car for 3-4 days on the street where I parked it.  Yep, jumping out a window was about the only way you get get out of my apartment in the city.

It took my dad three days to get home after that snow, even then he had to abandon his car and walk the least few miles.

A few years ago we had one that was less than two inches shy of 1967 and the city and surrounding area was dug out within 8 hours of the snow ending.

snakeweasel

stever said:

I used to shovel the roof on my ranch house in Anchorage once or twice a winter. Ladder up, step off. Got a pic somewhere of me standing on top of a light pole in the UP where the lake drifted up every winter. Fun times.

I like to tell people that when I lived in Alaska I rarely saw snow unless it was up in the mountains.

explorerx4

I have a bunch of German books.
Looking for ideas about donating or selling them.
They are hard cover books.

snakeweasel

abacomike said:

That's one thing we don't have here - salt on the roads and badly rusted cars.  The only cars that get rusty down here are the ones parked near the ocean or by Biscayne Bay (Miami).  That's why you see so many 10-15 year old cars down here, especially Marquis's.

I thought you had so many 10-15 year old cars was that the retirees didn't drive as much.

abacomike

explorerx4 said:

I have a bunch of German books. Looking for ideas about donating or selling them. They are hard cover books.

I am sure a university would love to have them in their library.  Depends on their relative value.  You can also take a deduction for tax purposes.

abacomike

snakeweasel said:

That's one thing we don't have here - salt on the roads and badly rusted cars.  The only cars that get rusty down here are the ones parked near the ocean or by Biscayne Bay (Miami).  That's why you see so many 10-15 year old cars down here, especially Marquis's.

I thought you had so many 10-15 year old cars was that the retirees didn't drive as much.

For both reasons.

suydam

No, they are too dated. You can donate them to a local library and get a tax deduction.

carnaught

You can always "donate" them to your paper recycling pick-up.

snakeweasel

abacomike said:

All my electric power went out about 20 minutes ago.  I reported it to Florida Power and Light - the Sao it's a main line that went down affecting 33,000 residences and businesses.  I guess I won't be able to turn on the heat until power is restored.  No TV, Internet, and when my phone needs recharging (pretty soon) I'll have to go down to the car to recharge it.

Always something! 

I have a rechargeable power pack that's fully charged sitting in my room. It's the size of a small flashlight and can take my phone from 20% power to over 90% power in under an hour with juice to spare. If I get low during a power outage I can fall back on that.

snakeweasel

oldfarmer50 said:

graphicguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

graphicguy said:

abacomike said:

@graphicguy:

I thought they push all the cars in and out of the auction because of the emissions and fumes from the engines.  I don't think they want to exfixiate their potential buyers.  I could be wrong, but I see guys pushing the cars all the time.  Yes? 

Mike....I don't know. Usually, there's open garaged doors on both ends of the auctions for ventilation. Also, some they drive in, some they push in (assume they don't run). I could be wrong.

On one episode of Fast&Loud they had to turn the motor off due to fire regulations.

Vaguely remember that, OF. What were they trying to sell at auction? I remember Rawlings saying you always get more money at auction of you can drive the car on the podium vs pushing it.

There were actually two if IRC. One was a 1917 Reo that wouldn't start and the other was a custom 1976 C 10 with a dead battery.

Why did they do that to that poor truck? If you tried to drive over an ant you would bottom out.

abacomike

@snakeweasel:

Powerpack sounds like something I should look into.  Because of all the lightning and Thunderstorms we get, our power goes off frequently in the summer.

Our power was out for a while - I hate having to light candles or take out the hurricane lights.  But it was just before sundown so I had no choice.

stever

Something like this? (Sometimes I get some fun swag).

snakeweasel

abacomike said:

@snakeweasel:

Powerpack sounds like something I should look into.  Because of all the lightning and Thunderstorms we get, our power goes off frequently in the summer.

Our power was out for a while - I hate having to light candles or take out the hurricane lights.  But it was just before sundown so I had no choice.

I mostly use mine during my long bike rides, I use a app that uses GPS to record my ride. On rides up to 100 miles I usually have enough battery power to do the job but if I go longer or I am with slower riders I don't so I carry it with me and plug it in when the battery on the phone gets low.

Once at an airport waiting as we changed planes we were running short on battery power and so was everyone else in the airport. Couldn't find a place anywhere near a charging station so I plugged into the power pack.

snakeweasel

stever said:

Something like this? (Sometimes I get some fun swag).

Well now you have to get one to all the regular posters on this forum.

stever

You wouldn't believe how many people wanted my Edmunds folding chair (it finally wore out last summer).

stickguy

I got a little one of those chargers for Xmas. A great gizmo for travelling, especially air travel.

I also have a big box one for home, that even has jumper cables. When we lost power last summer for 4 days, I used that to keep the phone, etc. charged.

abacomike

I finally have something to be very proud of - my oldest grandson (15 years old) earned his first VARSITY letter from his high school in Football, no less.  He's 6'1" tall and weighs 200 lbs - obviously he plays on the line.  Imagine, 15 years old and he plays on the Varsity Team.  He is also going to play on the Varsity Baseball team next month and will earn another varsity letter.  He pitches and plays first base.

Ah, to be 15 years old and play on two varsity teams - and all the perks that go with that achievement - the girls! 

tjc78

Those power packs can be really convenient.  We had samples of them at work, snagged one for the wife.  

Those and Selfie Sticks are the hot cell phone accessories.  

qbrozen

snakeweasel said:

oldfarmer50 said:

graphicguy said:

oldfarmer50 said:

graphicguy said:

abacomike said:

@graphicguy:

I thought they push all the cars in and out of the auction because of the emissions and fumes from the engines.  I don't think they want to exfixiate their potential buyers.  I could be wrong, but I see guys pushing the cars all the time.  Yes? 

Mike....I don't know. Usually, there's open garaged doors on both ends of the auctions for ventilation. Also, some they drive in, some they push in (assume they don't run). I could be wrong.

On one episode of Fast&Loud they had to turn the motor off due to fire regulations.

Vaguely remember that, OF. What were they trying to sell at auction? I remember Rawlings saying you always get more money at auction of you can drive the car on the podium vs pushing it.

There were actually two if IRC. One was a 1917 Reo that wouldn't start and the other was a custom 1976 C 10 with a dead battery.

Why did they do that to that poor truck? If you tried to drive over an ant you would bottom out.

It is on air ride. You raise it up if you actually want to drive it anywhere. I thought the truck was pretty cool, personally.

tjc78

Yeah, I like the trick too.  Lower it to show, raise it to go.  They must have had to C notch the frame to get it laying that low. 

abacomike

We are currently under a Tornado Warning! Oops, I think a tornado just went by our building. The building was shaking, literally. Luckily, I put my hurricane shutters on the terrace down when the sirens went off. I just looked out the front windows and there are four palm trees laying in the street - street is not only flooded, but blocked off because of the downed trees. Palm frontons are all over the place. Lights are flickering - very scary.

I first got the alert about the tornado warning on my cell phone - it was a throbbing, screeching alert. Then, all the sirens in our community went off. We've had at least 3 inches of rain in the last hour. I was out doing some quick shopping and most of the streets were flooded. Looks like I got back home just in time. I am going to watch the news later to see if, in fact, that was a tornado that hit us or if it was a funnel cloud aloft. When a concrete building shakes, it's either an earthquake or a tornado. Since we don't have earthquakes here, through deductive reasoning, it was probably a tornado.

This has not been a fun winter down here in south Florida. We have already broken rainfall records for the month of January.

abacomike

All I can hear are police and ambulance sirens all over our community. Something must have happened, that's for sure. We still have electric power, although I don't know how long that will last since there is another line of severe thunderstorms coming to us from the southwest coast of Florida. This is not going to be a fun day!

Just an update. I put on the TV and it was, in fact, a tornado. They showed it on radar as it passed by my community. We were the only community hit by the tornado, although they still have a warning out until 10:00 AM for us and Deerfield Beach and south Palm Beach County.

I had to move to south Florida to be in a tornado. Who would have thought???

abacomike

I am at the front of my building now - I count 12 police cars, 3 Florida Power and Light trucks, 3 ambulances, roads closed.  Good grief.  My neighbors said we were hit by a tornado.  The roof on our theater was blown off as was a roof on the community's administrative offices.

tjc78

Wow!! Thank goodness you are ok. 

abacomike

tjc78 said:

Wow!! Thank goodness you are ok. 

I just opened my hurricane shutters on the terrace.  I count 20 trees down and a building in our small village (we have 6 buildings) across from me had its entire roof blown off - a 48 unit building - no roof left.  We were lucky, I hope.

Don't know if our roof sustained any damage.

stickguy

To think. A few days ago you changed your insurance coverage. Either good timing, or this is all your fault!

abacomike

stickguy said:

To think. A few days ago you changed your insurance coverage. Either good timing, or this is all your fault!

Yes!  But roof damage would be covered by our village's insurance, not my own.

It looks like a disaster area in front of my building and behind my building.  Luckily these are all concrete buildings.  

imidazol97

Glad you're okay. I hope there weren't others who were injured.

And just when I was starting to dream of a vacation in South Florida after little snow
here and relative warmth but we had hit a few zero degree nights and 20 degree days.

Actually I would settle for Pigeon Forge (Gatlinburg) TN for a getaway.

abacomike

They have us on TV already - cars turned over, one injury in our administration bldg.  Lots of damage at Broward College across the road from us.  Many cars blown on top of each other.  They are now showing live video of my Condo complex.

roadburner

Glad you are okay Mike; we had a tornado hit our town in 1996. Our house was one mile away from the path of the twister and we didn't even have one branch blown off our trees. A tornado can do strange things...

abacomike

roadburner said:

Glad you are okay Mike; we had a tornado hit our town in 1996. Our house was one mile away from the path of the twister and we didn't even have one branch blown off our trees. A tornado can do strange things...

Several of our local Condo buses were turned over.  They show the building across from me with the roof blown off.  They are having all the residents there evacuate.  They have TV trucks and reporters outside the building next to me.  This was pretty serious.

abacomike

abacomike said:

roadburner said:

Glad you are okay Mike; we had a tornado hit our town in 1996. Our house was one mile away from the path of the twister and we didn't even have one branch blown off our trees. A tornado can do strange things...

Several of our local Condo buses were turned over.  They show the building across from me with the roof blown off.  They are having all the residents there evacuate.  They have TV trucks and reporters outside the building next to me.  This was pretty serious.

Now we are under another tornado warning and a flood warning.

PF_Flyer

oldfarmer50 said:

Speaking of idiots.

I was passed by one of these this morning. It was driving on heavily salted roads in light freezing rain.

Either the driver was an idiot or he just won the powerball.

We don't have any roads nearby where one of these would be safe from potholes

imidazol97

abacomike said:

;This was pretty serious.

Did your car get hit by anything?
Your condo doesn't have any broken wndows since you didn't mention that,
so I hope you can stay in yours safely.

oldfarmer50

abacomike said:

stickguy said:

To think. A few days ago you changed your insurance coverage. Either good timing, or this is all your fault!

Yes!  But roof damage would be covered by our village's insurance, not my own.

It looks like a disaster area in front of my building and behind my building.  Luckily these are all concrete buildings.  


Forget all that trivial stuff..HOW IS YOUR CAR? The car man, how is it?

abacomike

@imidazol97:

There are news helicopters overhead now - they are broadcasting live video showing the damage to the roof of the building right next to me.  No damage to my roof based on the video from helicopters.  

I have not been down to my car yet to examine it, but I can see both sides, the roof and front end from my catwalk and there doesn't seem to be any damage.  Can't see the rear of my car - it's still raining.

They are now showing video from helicopter above me of our community center - roof is gone!  Still have 12-15 local and county police cars here.

andres3

driver100 said:

RE: Red Light Camera's!

I have heard the arguments that they cause rear end accidents. Well, if someone runs into your car because you stopped for an amber light they are at fault....for following too close. Are we supposed to change laws so the people who break the laws will be covered?

About rights and cameras!

In England they have 1000s of cameras in major cities. It has cut down on crimes especially robberies and assaults. I think that protects my rights more than protecting criminals who can do their dirty work and not get caught. What good are rights, when they protect the bad guy?

Back home there was a main downtown street where lots of criminal activity including thefts were taking place. Surveillance cameras have really cut back the crime rate. Why would I worry about a thief's rights? I'd rather me be protected than him.

Society is changing...the laws that worked 100 years ago just don't work any more. I care about my rights...but really, I don't have anything I have to hide, if it can help to protect society.

The rights we have are not to protect criminals, they are to protect us all. Sometimes you don't know who the bad guy is, and it is often the guys pretending to be "good guys" in uniform unfortunately.

Cutting down on crime is a good thing, but not if we have to give up our liberty and freedom to do so.

The "standard" of I don't have anything to hide is not a good one. The standard should be that we are presumed innocent and we have our Bill of Rights, our Constitution, and other protections. They exist to protect us from the "good" guys gone bad. Traffic enforcement revenue generation schema are an excellent example of "authorities" abusing power and running amok.

abacomike

oldfarmer50 said:

stickguy said:

To think. A few days ago you changed your insurance coverage. Either good timing, or this is all your fault!

Yes!  But roof damage would be covered by our village's insurance, not my own.

It looks like a disaster area in front of my building and behind my building.  Luckily these are all concrete buildings.  

Forget all that trivial stuff..HOW IS YOUR CAR? The car man, how is it?

Car looks OK. 

andres3

driver100 said:

roadburner said:

Britain is close to becoming a police state- and after all this time I thought the [non-permissible content removed] LOST the war.
I thought that this poster was from the film 1984; wrong- it was posted in modern day England:

I don't have a problem with that sign one bit......it is a warning for bad guys...if they can read, and it is there for my protection. There are a lot of streets I wouldn't feel comfortable walking down in London UK., that sign would be a positive rather than a negative for me.

But the sign nor the police state are working! You've just admitted despite the loony POLICE STATE that the UK has moved to, and despite that sign being posted, you still wouldn't feel comfortable walking down "a lot of streets....in the UK" It isn't working! That's the problem. It doesn't work.

tjc78

@abacomike .. is this your complex? http://www.local10.com/news/possible-tornado-touches-down-in-north-broward

wow, that Accord didn't fare too well.

Michaell

@abacomike - glad to hear you are OK. I'm not a fan of tornados. Fortunately, we don't get many here in Colorado, but a couple of small ones have formed a few miles from where we live over the years. Was close to one in Milwaukee years ago on business

Much rather deal with an earthquake - by the time you realize what's happening, it's all over with.

abacomike

tjc78 said:

@abacomike .. is this your complex? http://www.local10.com/news/possible-tornado-touches-down-in-north-broward wow, that Accord didn't fare too well.

Yep!  That's me!

abacomike

Michaell said:

@abacomike - glad to hear you are OK. I'm not a fan of tornados. Fortunately, we don't get many here in Colorado, but a couple of small ones have formed a few miles from where we live over the years. Was close to one in Milwaukee years ago on business Much rather deal with an earthquake - by the time you realize what's happening, it's all over with.

I agree!  I've lived through 3 earthquakes in my life - Northridge, CA, Big Bear, CA, Landers, CA (all were 6.9-7.3 quakes).  I've lived through one hurricane (Wilma), and now one tornado.  I guess a psunami is next, if I live that long! 

Michaell

abacomike said:

tjc78 said:

@abacomike .. is this your complex? http://www.local10.com/news/possible-tornado-touches-down-in-north-broward

wow, that Accord didn't fare too well.

Yep!  That's me!

And now we know where your user name comes from.

stever

Dang, if my mom hadn't gotten sick, my brother would likely be camping down around John Pennecamp. They are heading back that way today but it'll take another day for them to get to South Florida.

Oh oh, you park outside don't you @abacomike?

Michaell

stever said:

Oh oh, you park outside don't you @abacomike?

Any damage to the MB? If so, time to trade 'er in!

andres3

driver100 said:

The primarily folks who get photographed by cameras are ones from out-of-town who don't know where they are located. The locals stop at those but ignore the others without cameras.

Even if they stop at the one's they know have a camera, that is some progress. The police can't be everywhere, the cameras help to spot more lights, and are on guard 24/7.

Someone told me they got a $180 fine for going through a particular red light camera. I would try to stop anyway, but now I really make sure I will stop.

I think ideally, there should be signs warning everyone the town has RLCs, and some of them should be roving cameras or locations not given.

I have heard argument it causes more rear end accidents. It is possible the type of accidents are less damaging than being T-Boned in an intersection.

While T-bone accidents would tend to be more severe than rear-end accidents, there is no good evidence that red light camera's lower T-bone accidents. Then there is also the truth that most T-Bone accidents that involve a red-light runner involve a driver that would not be stopped or deterred from running that red light whether there was a camera around or not. It is because when a serious T-Bone accident happens, it is from someone that has run a red light mid-cycle, not someone that runs one a half second late. The truly dangerous red-light runners are doing it either on purpose, or from lack of attention; cameras do nothing to help with that.