Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

driver100

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

dad23 said:

@driver100, I've been playing WORDLE for a little while. It is a good brain exercise as well as a challenge to beat the wife and kids!

@dad23 Wordle is very clever, it is just hard enough to be challenging, and it keeps the brain working. I doubt if I could beat MrsD100 but maybe I'll challenge her one day.

I just tried it and got it on the first try.

Careful....it's addictive.

kyfdx

How addictive can it be, when you can only play once, each day?

henryn

Three doors down and across the street there is an abandoned house. Not exactly abandoned, but empty for 3 years plus and pretty much about to fall down. When I moved here in 2011, there was an old man living there with several of his grandkids staying with him. A few years back, the old man died, and the grandkids moved away / went to stay with other relatives.

About 2 weeks ago, a realtor’s for sale sign appeared in front of the house. Being the curious type, I looked it up on Zillow. $134,900, “Sold for Lot Value”. Which is very optimistic, lots are going for $110 to $120k in this area, and it will cost several thousand to have the old house torn down and carted away. David, who lives in the next house over, has a phone number for the oldest granddaughter and called her up. She said the family finally sold the place about 2 months back, and it's been flipped twice since then.

The granddaughter told David he was welcome to anything he wanted out of the house, as it was going to be torn down anyway. It occurred to me that might not be legally binding, seeing as how she is no longer the owner, but not my problem. So this afternoon David is going through the place, takes a couple of interior doors that aren’t completely shot, and decides to get some 220 volt wiring that did run to the stove. And nearly got electrocuted for his trouble.

He's telling me this, and I’m having a hard time believing him. The house has been standing empty for 3 years or better, I’ve never seen any lights, what the heck? So, as I already said, being the curious type I decided to investigate. Sure enough, the meter is still installed, and not only that, it’s moving. Not at a prodigious rate, but not at a trickle either. I wasn’t about to go inside (holes in the floor, etc), but I did look in through the windows (mostly broken out), and could see nothing that would be drawing electricity. I did look for any extension cords or electrical cables where someone might be borrowing a little free electricity, but I didn’t see anything.

I suggested to David that he might call the granddaughter back and tell her the electricity was still on, god knows the utility may catch up with them and bill them for a few million.

ab348

kyfdx said:

How addictive can it be, when you can only play once, each day?

The worst thing about it is that the addicts seem to feel compelled to post their results to every social media platform every day.

Michaell

ab348 said:

kyfdx said:

How addictive can it be, when you can only play once, each day?

The worst thing about it is that the addicts seem to feel compelled to post their results to every social media platform every day.

Yeah, I see 3 or 4 of them on FB every day.

driver100

kyfdx said:

How addictive can it be, when you can only play once, each day?

lol......MrsD100 found a way to play twice...once on her phone, once on the computer. She gets the answer faster the 2nd time

driver100

ab348 said:

kyfdx said:

How addictive can it be, when you can only play once, each day?

The worst thing about it is that the addicts seem to feel compelled to post their results to every social media platform every day.

No fear.....I'm not on FB and my results aren't worth posting.

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

dad23 said:

@driver100, I've been playing WORDLE for a little while. It is a good brain exercise as well as a challenge to beat the wife and kids!

@dad23 Wordle is very clever, it is just hard enough to be challenging, and it keeps the brain working. I doubt if I could beat MrsD100 but maybe I'll challenge her one day.

I just tried it and got it on the first try.

Careful....it's addictive.

How addictive can it be, anyway this is how the universe messes with me. First time I'll get the word right off the bat then I'll never be able to figure out the word again.

kyfdx

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

dad23 said:

@driver100, I've been playing WORDLE for a little while. It is a good brain exercise as well as a challenge to beat the wife and kids!

@dad23 Wordle is very clever, it is just hard enough to be challenging, and it keeps the brain working. I doubt if I could beat MrsD100 but maybe I'll challenge her one day.

I just tried it and got it on the first try.

Careful....it's addictive.

How addictive can it be, anyway this is how the universe messes with me. First time I'll get the word right off the bat then I'll never be able to figure out the word again.

There is a bot on Twitter, that compiles stats/percentages on the posted results. Most days, only 2%-5% don't get it within the allotted six attempts.

So, it's an easy game. The challenge is to complete in as few guesses as possible. Also, you can play in "hard" mode, which makes it slightly more challenging.

ab348

The worst thing about that accursed word game (I will not use the name) is that it has spun off a bunch of variants (just like Covid) with multiple words, longer words, etc. The addicts also post their results in those things all over social media. I think all of it is a Russian plot.

ab348

Speaking of evil plots, whose bright idea was it to insert an ad for Edmunds Price Checker at the top of the forum menu column? Why move our cheese? Put it below the Quick Links section.

imidazol97

Wordle:
I hadn't paid attention until Snakeweasel said he'd gotten it.
I got it on the 5th line out of 6. It's like a version of Wheel of Fortune.

Instruction page needs improving. Not clear enough. But I figured it out
by the 4th line.

Is there somewhere to go through some of the previous "puzzles"
for practice while waiting for tomorrow's offering?

ab348

Oh no, another addict is created.

imidazol97

I think you may be right! LOL

ab348

Stop before it is too late.

kyfdx

imidazol97 said:

Wordle:
I hadn't paid attention until Snakeweasel said he'd gotten it.
I got it on the 5th line out of 6. It's like a version of Wheel of Fortune.

Instruction page needs improving. Not clear enough. But I figured it out
by the 4th line.

Is there somewhere to go through some of the previous "puzzles"
for practice while waiting for tomorrow's offering?

I don't know of any practice mode.

You can switch to hard mode in the settings, though

jmonroe1

driver100 said:

kyfdx said:

How addictive can it be, when you can only play once, each day?

lol......MrsD100 found a way to play twice...once on her phone, once on the computer. She gets the answer faster the 2nd time

When I repeated 5th grade I did better too.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

imidazol97 said:

Wordle:
I hadn't paid attention until Snakeweasel said he'd gotten it.
I got it on the 5th line out of 6. It's like a version of Wheel of Fortune.

Instruction page needs improving. Not clear enough. But I figured it out
by the 4th line.

Is there somewhere to go through some of the previous "puzzles"
for practice while waiting for tomorrow's offering?

Do you really want them to tell you where to go?

jmonroe

snakeweasel

imidazol97 said:

Wordle:
I hadn't paid attention until Snakeweasel said he'd gotten it.
I got it on the 5th line out of 6. It's like a version of Wheel of Fortune.

Instruction page needs improving. Not clear enough. But I figured it out
by the 4th line.

Is there somewhere to go through some of the previous "puzzles"
for practice while waiting for tomorrow's offering?

Well, I tried it again and failed.

snakeweasel

Got gas for the wife this morning RUG is $4.18, Midgrade $4.48 and PUG $5.08.

Looks like a lot of time on the bike this summer.

driver100

snakeweasel said:

imidazol97 said:

Wordle:
I hadn't paid attention until Snakeweasel said he'd gotten it.
I got it on the 5th line out of 6. It's like a version of Wheel of Fortune.

Instruction page needs improving. Not clear enough. But I figured it out
by the 4th line.

Is there somewhere to go through some of the previous "puzzles"
for practice while waiting for tomorrow's offering?

Well, I tried it again and failed.

Today's Wordle was not fair. Blue letters aren't good, gold are good but in the wrong place, green are good and are in the right place. I needed one more letter, and I wasted 20 minutes of my life, before MrsD100 told me letters in gold can be used twice....how was I supposed to know that.

kyfdx

driver100 said:

snakeweasel said:

imidazol97 said:

Wordle:
I hadn't paid attention until Snakeweasel said he'd gotten it.
I got it on the 5th line out of 6. It's like a version of Wheel of Fortune.

Instruction page needs improving. Not clear enough. But I figured it out
by the 4th line.

Is there somewhere to go through some of the previous "puzzles"
for practice while waiting for tomorrow's offering?

Well, I tried it again and failed.

Today's Wordle was not fair. Blue letters aren't good, gold are good but in the wrong place, green are good and are in the right place. I needed one more letter, and I wasted 20 minutes of my life, before MrsD100 told me letters in gold can be used twice....how was I supposed to know that.

Letters in green can be used twice, as well

driver100

jmonroe1 said:

driver100 said:

kyfdx said:

How addictive can it be, when you can only play once, each day?

lol......MrsD100 found a way to play twice...once on her phone, once on the computer. She gets the answer faster the 2nd time

When I repeated 5th grade I did better too.

jmonroe

Fortunately, you found out, even though you didn't get better at it, that it was faster to do the grade right the first time.

tjc78

@snakeweasel said:
Got gas for the wife this morning RUG is $4.18, Midgrade $4.48 and PUG $5.08.

Looks like a lot of time on the bike this summer.

$4.52 for 91 today

ab348

Went up 10 cents a liter here overnight, and will apparently be doing the same again at midnight.

driver100

kyfdx said:

driver100 said:

snakeweasel said:

imidazol97 said:

Wordle:
I hadn't paid attention until Snakeweasel said he'd gotten it.
I got it on the 5th line out of 6. It's like a version of Wheel of Fortune.

Instruction page needs improving. Not clear enough. But I figured it out
by the 4th line.

Is there somewhere to go through some of the previous "puzzles"
for practice while waiting for tomorrow's offering?

Well, I tried it again and failed.

Today's Wordle was not fair. Blue letters aren't good, gold are good but in the wrong place, green are good and are in the right place. I needed one more letter, and I wasted 20 minutes of my life, before MrsD100 told me letters in gold can be used twice....how was I supposed to know that.

Letters in green can be used twice, as well

Now I find out.....life's not fair.

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

So, as I sit here in the midst of yet another snowfall outside, waiting for the &#$%!?@ winter to depart so I can try doing things outdoors, I am watching as much TV as I can tolerate to pass the time. Most of what is on TV I dislike because I am not into gore, unpleasantness, medieval warfare, superheroes, and mindless CGI-heavy crap. So that means my viewing options are severely limited.

One of the things that is rather fun is watching the very old first few seasons of This Old House that Roku offers, from the Bob Vila era. The show could not be more different from what it has now become, not surprisingly. The first season with the Dorchester house was pretty haphazard and crudely produced, but the second season was very ambitious and while it still wasn't very sophisticated in terms of production, they did throw in some crane and helicopter shots and the building itself was very interesting. The last couple of days I've been watching the 3rd season, which couldn't be more different.

This one was mostly all Bob with a bit of Norm and Rich thrown in. Probably because they were close to losing their shirts on the season 2 project, which didn't sell at first, they were very frugal on this one, with Bob doing a lot of the work himself. The idea was to buy for $65K a small mid-'50s tract bungalow in Woburn MA (36 Robinson Rd if you're interested, though it no longer looks like what it did back in '82) and expand/improve it on a $25K budget. It is almost laughable in the context of today's home improvement programming how he did things. A tiny pink bathroom where he had a new floor installed and replaced the ugly little sink and vanity with a wall-hung sink that Rich took out of a house they were working on. Homemade kitchen cabinets that were finished with Formica rather than being painted or stained. He kept the existing fridge, stove and kitchen sink but had the fridge resprayed for $75. The main part of the project was connecting the house to an existing garage via a new greenhouse-style breezeway entry and turning the garage into the new living room. I didn't like the result much and the outside in particular looked pretty awful in the end but even in '82 $25K only went so far.

What I found fascinating is looking at it on Streetview today. It bears no resemblance to what Bob left behind. New owners at some point put on a full 2nd floor, redid the exterior in a more conventional style, and did a lot of work on the grounds. The houses on either side still look much like what they did in '82, though the neighborhood in general looks a bit more upscale now and there are even a few newer McMansions where little bungalows once stood. Bob's house that he bought for $65K in '82 is valued according to various sites at between $800K and $900K. Even the mostly untouched little bungalows on either side are not far off that number. Incredible. No wonder old guys are buying new Corvettes.

Those early seasons of TOH were more tailored to what a DIYer might be able to accomplish rather than the fantasy island that most renovation shows have become.

oldfarmer50

henryn said:

Three doors down and across the street there is an abandoned house. Not exactly abandoned, but empty for 3 years plus and pretty much about to fall down. When I moved here in 2011, there was an old man living there with several of his grandkids staying with him. A few years back, the old man died, and the grandkids moved away / went to stay with other relatives.

About 2 weeks ago, a realtor’s for sale sign appeared in front of the house. Being the curious type, I looked it up on Zillow. $134,900, “Sold for Lot Value”. Which is very optimistic, lots are going for $110 to $120k in this area, and it will cost several thousand to have the old house torn down and carted away. David, who lives in the next house over, has a phone number for the oldest granddaughter and called her up. She said the family finally sold the place about 2 months back, and it's been flipped twice since then.

The granddaughter told David he was welcome to anything he wanted out of the house, as it was going to be torn down anyway. It occurred to me that might not be legally binding, seeing as how she is no longer the owner, but not my problem. So this afternoon David is going through the place, takes a couple of interior doors that aren’t completely shot, and decides to get some 220 volt wiring that did run to the stove. And nearly got electrocuted for his trouble.

He's telling me this, and I’m having a hard time believing him. The house has been standing empty for 3 years or better, I’ve never seen any lights, what the heck? So, as I already said, being the curious type I decided to investigate. Sure enough, the meter is still installed, and not only that, it’s moving. Not at a prodigious rate, but not at a trickle either. I wasn’t about to go inside (holes in the floor, etc), but I did look in through the windows (mostly broken out), and could see nothing that would be drawing electricity. I did look for any extension cords or electrical cables where someone might be borrowing a little free electricity, but I didn’t see anything.

I suggested to David that he might call the granddaughter back and tell her the electricity was still on, god knows the utility may catch up with them and bill them for a few million.

Better be careful who’s giving you permission. Right now I’m watching a news report on how people are getting scammed into paying upfront for a home only to find the house wasn’t really for sale and the owners were living there. I guess such is the crazy market that people try to buy a house on line sight unseen.

oldfarmer50

snakeweasel said:

Got gas for the wife this morning RUG is $4.18, Midgrade $4.48 and PUG $5.08.

Looks like a lot of time on the bike this summer.

About the same here.

henryn

RUG was $3.39 two days ago. I suspect it's higher now, but I haven't been out and about to see.

stickguy

I might get a surprise. Going to upstate NY next weekend (OF territory) so will need to top up the Maverick Thursday then refill up there. Good thing even the Ecoboost gets pretty good MPG (hoping to break 30 mpg overall like my last road trip a month ago).

explorerx4

It's starting to look like a house!

stickguy

nice. that is pretty much exactly what we are looking for!

we are actually going out Friday up in NY with an agent to look at a few places. but it sounds depressing how the process works these days. How long the build time is (9-12 months, at best), and builders putting escalator clauses in. So they can raise the price on you quite a bit. And if it hits the cap, they can just cancel you. Does not sound like a fun time.

explorerx4

@stickguy,
Our builder broke ground in the beginning of February. Started looking at this dev around Thanksgiving.
So far, garage doors are the biggest sourcing worry, but builder asked if a certain door was ok because they could get them. They looked fine to us, so we went with that.
Last week we went to the counter top supplier. My head was spinning after touring that place.
We think we are on track for mid summer, at the very least.
Everything is locked in financially. I have heard about the 'builder walk away' situation, but where we are building doesn't seem to be one of those.
Escalator clause is something to look for, but I'm guessing not normal in a non fast growing area.
We went with a local rather than regional or national builder.

henryn

I just watched “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing” on Netflix. A very interesting documentary. These days, I am careful about believing anything that I see or read, but this film had a lot of things to recommend it. For one thing, Roger Ebert gave it a strong review. And the film features an appearance by “Sully” Sullenberger, one of my personal heroes. I strongly recommend this film.

At the heart of the matter is a software failure. I spent most of my adult life writing software. Small programs, big programs, major systems. And I am fully aware that no software system that I ever worked on was perfect. After watching this documentary, I am very grateful that none of the systems that I ever worked on was responsible for human lives.

And one of the strong takeaways is how no one ever admits to mistakes. No one. Ever. During my long career, I had several high points. Several of those were long term, and not relevant here. But one of my greatest short term achievements just might be. You may recall Oliver North, and his attempts to delete emails from the IBM Profs system, which were unsuccessful. And resulted in his criminal conviction.

Back in the late 80’s, my employer asked me and one of my colleagues to eliminate some emails from the Profs system. And we did so. We first asked IBM if that were possible, and they assured us it wasn’t. But over a long weekend, we did it. IBM telling us we couldn’t do it made us much more interested in the task. My friend and I didn’t get much sleep that weekend, but we made it work. During those years, no one who worked on IBM mainframe systems actually liked IBM .

Looking back on it, it was not a “good thing”. And I am not proud of my actions. But yes, at the time I took great pride in helping to achieve something that IBM said couldn’t be done.

imidazol97

I am hooked on Wordle. The first time has hooked me.

I was anxious
to try again this morning for my second round. It's like some drugs are
where one try and people are users needing their fix (what's a 5-letter word for "fix"?).

I found a good article with strategies on WSJ.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/wordle-what-is-word-game-11642016202?tesla=y

kyfdx

imidazol97 said:

I am hooked on Wordle. The first time has hooked me.

I was anxious
to try again this morning for my second round. It's like some drugs are
where one try and people are users needing their fix (what's a 5-letter word for "fix"?).

I found a good article with strategies on WSJ.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/wordle-what-is-word-game-11642016202?tesla=y

Real men play in hard mode.

stickguy

What’s hard mode? Just alternate words? Or fewer guesses?

driver100

@imidazol97 I think you are addicted!
(Spoiler Alert if you haven't done it today)
I had 3 letters in the right place after my second word....TRUCK and then CRANE.
But it took 5 lines to get the answer.
It is very addictive.
I would like to read the article about strategy, but like most articles today you have to subscribe to read them.

kyfdx

stickguy said:

What’s hard mode? Just alternate words? Or fewer guesses?

Requires you to use the letters you already have correct from a previous guess.

Some people use words with completely different letters for the first two or three guesses, to eliminate as many letters as possible. (even if they had some right on the first guess).

Hard mode restricts you from doing that.

ab348

We need to declare these forums a W****e-free zone. I suppose someone could set up a board here just for that to limit the damage and aggravation for others.

abacomike

Just filled the gas tank up at Costco - $3.78 for RUL and $3.98 for PUG. That’s an increase of $1.50 a gallon over last year at this time. Crazy - and they expect increases of $1.00-$1.50 a gallon over the next 6-8 months.

But when inflation begins to affect not only the price of my toilet paper, but a 1.5” decrease in the width of my toilet paper rolls, I get really upset! That 1.5 inch decrease in width affects my fingers on my dominant right hand to the point that I am seriously considering becoming ambidextrous to “spread” the negative aspects of narrowing toilet paper in my bathrooms. It’s getting to be a “stickie wicket” sort of situation! 🤪😜🤓

imidazol97

driver100 said:

@imidazol97 I think you are addicted!
(Spoiler Alert if you haven't done it today)
I had 3 letters in the right place after my second word....TRUCK and then CRANE.
But it took 5 lines to get the answer.
It is very addictive.
I would like to read the article about strategy, but like most articles today you have to subscribe to read them.

Search google for "wordle wsj".
The first link up should be the WSJ link, What Is Wordle and How to Play.
Click there and I think you'll be able to read
the article. I suggest clicking once on the textt,
then ctrl-A, Ctrl-C, and then paste the
copy into notepad or other document to save for later referral.

Your copy will have a lot of other advertising and text
but you can edit that off and leave the good parts.

Please note Buick and Chevy are 5-letter words.
LOL

tjc78

I have enough frustration and real puzzles to solve everyday. Adding in Wordle may push me over the edge! Lol

imidazol97

abacomike said:

Just filled the gas tank up at Costco - $3.78 for RUL and $3.98 for PUG. That’s an increase of $1.50 a gallon over last year at this time. Crazy - and they expect increases of $1.00-$1.50 a gallon over the next 6-8 months.

But when inflation begins to affect not only the price of my toilet paper, but a 1.5” decrease in the width of my toilet paper rolls, I get really upset! That 1.5 inch decrease in width affects my fingers on my dominant right hand to the point that I am seriously considering becoming ambidextrous to “spread” the negative aspects of narrowing toilet paper in my bathrooms. It’s getting to be a “stickie wicket” sort of situation! 🤪😜🤓

abacomike

@imidazol97 said:
I am hooked on Wordle. The first time has hooked me.

I was anxious
to try again this morning for my second round. It's like some drugs are
where one try and people are users needing their fix (what's a 5-letter word for "fix"?).

I found a good article with strategies on WSJ.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/wordle-what-is-word-game-11642016202?tesla=y

I have a difficult enough time playing WWF2 and Boggle on my iPhone. Adding another challenge such as Wordle could put me into a 72 hour mandatory lock-up in the local mental institution. I certainly don’t need that after the past 4 months of back surgeries.

BTW, saw the surgeon Tuesday and he told me that there is nothing more he can do surgically to diminish the horrific pain I am experiencing in my lower back. I will probably need to use a walker for the rest of my life. At least I can still drive.

dad23

We just paid $3.70 for RUL this morning here. One of the boys who usually drives his mom's car decided he'd take the Pilot today, change it up, he says. Come to find out, change it up means mom's car was on empty...

Sorry to hear about the back @abacomike, you always have a positive attitude looking ahead! Get yourself something nice to drive!

imidazol97

$3.79 here in W. Ohio.
I remember in the last couple years? $1.97 or $1.93 was what I paid for RUG.
We need those conditions again. This is terrible for inflation in everything
we buy because it all gets trucked. Diesel is up greatly. Barber's son is
thinking of selling his dual wheeled diesel pickup.

fintail

Those conditions may be gone for a very long time, if not permanently.

I recall locally PUG was something like 1.09 in late 1998 - I also recall it was around 4.50 in the summer of 08, which didn't have a war behind it.

Maybe rail needs to be supported again. A lot of inflation is simple profit taking.

imidazol97 said:

$3.79 here in W. Ohio.
I remember in the last couple years? $1.97 or $1.93 was what I paid for RUG.
We need those conditions again. This is terrible for inflation in everything
we buy because it all gets trucked. Diesel is up greatly. Barber's son is
thinking of selling his dual wheeled diesel pickup.

stickguy

considering almost all of the spike is going right into the pockets of the big oil companies, definitely gouging.

and US and foreign producers all cut way back on production when demand dropped during the pandemic. They could ramp back up if they wanted to and get supplies back to normal. But most likely they prefer the inflated prices for now.