What Irked You Today?

[peteski]

7 hours ago, TonyK said:

Used to be the norm but nowadays they might chase you down and shoot you.

NO KIDDING!  Things in today's world are totally out of control!

[peteski]

On 12/3/2021 at 11:35 PM, Rodent said:

OK, my car has Android Auto and I can dictate texts and drive if I feel the need. I can even read and respond to MS Teams posts very easily.

What I don't understand is when I see cars WAY new enough to have Bluetooth / Android Auto / Apple CarPlay being piloted by clueless inDUHviduals driving with their phone clamped to their face.

I know - I also notice that all the time. It also seems that the more expensive car is (which means it has all the bells-and-whistles) the better chance there is that the driver either holds the smart phone up to their ear, or has it on the steering wheel while texting.

But also remember that while all the technological features you mentioned are very helpful, it is still distracting during driving.  It is more distracting than a live conversation you would have with a passenger sitting next to you.  The bottom line is that it is still better to forgo any of those types of activity while driving. one really needs to concentrate on what is going on all around us, especially with all the nutz on the road. If something is urgent enough to require an immediate attention, pull over and then text or call all you want.

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 hour ago, peteski said:

...If something is urgent enough to require an immediate attention, pull over and then text or call all you want.

Yeah, please. The life you save may be mine.

Last year, a good friend's perfect Caddy CTS-V coupe was totalled by some fool woman slamming into it's tail while texting.

Year before, a dumb little girl ran a light in front of my truck, also texting.

If I hadn't been paying attention, I'd have plowed into her door and popped her like a zit.

GET OFF THE DAMMED PHONE AND DRIVE.

 

Edited December 5, 2021 by Ace-Garageguy
TYPO

[BlackSheep214]

On 12/1/2021 at 10:23 PM, peteski said:

Interesting. I have been noticing in general that more women than man drive very aggressively around my area.  Used to be the other way around.

Yeah... I’m seeing a lot of that lately. Running red lights, speeding excessively, cutting folks off without looking, etc...

I’ve also noticed some women aren’t paying attention to what they’re doing whether they’re too busy fixing their hair or texting at a traffic light when the light has turned green.

[BlackSheep214]

1 hour ago, peteski said:

NO KIDDING!  Things in today's world are totally out of control!

I’ve had folks pull over to the side of the road thinking they’re being tailgated when I’m actually 4 cars behind them. They’ll either flip you off, wave their hands angrily, or flash their headlights on you for no reason. ? I’m like what’s their problem? LOLOL!!! Some folks are too testy these days over nothing.

Edited December 5, 2021 by BlackSheep214

[MrMiles]

2 hours ago, BlackSheep214 said:

I’ve had folks pull over to the side of the road thinking they’re being tailgated when I’m actually 4 cars behind them. They’ll either flip you off, wave their hands angrily, or flash their headlights on you for no reason. ? I’m like what’s their problem? LOLOL!!! Some folks are too testy these days over nothing.

People are generally too selfish and self centered.  I blame social media for making people believe they are more important than they actually are 

 

Also, people seem to get stuck in the "high school" mentality because of it too. They dont seem to mature past it anymore 

Edited December 6, 2021 by MrMiles

[peteski]

Quote

I’ve had folks pull over to the side of the road thinking they’re being tailgated when I’m actually 4 cars behind them. They’ll either flip you off, wave their hands angrily, or flash their headlights on you for no reason.

 

Speaking of headlights, probably 50% (or more) of today's vehicles have those eyeball-frying LED headlights.,  I hate those at night!  Likely because they have very sharp beam cutoff when a car goes over the bumps, it seems like they flashing hi-beams. They also seem much brighter than incandescent headlights, so much so that they often blind me, and I can't see the road ahead of me.  Ford trucks seem to be the worst, but pretty much all the vehicles with LED headlights are really annoying.

While the bright light might be beneficial to the owners, it is very bad for the oncoming drivers. I thought that there used to be strict rules on things like the the shape of the projected beam, and the Lumens emitted.  It seems that the rules don't exist anymore - the brighter is better!  And don't get me started on aftermarket LED headlight retrofits.  Most of those should be illegal, but the law enforcement seems to ignore them.

Edited December 6, 2021 by peteski

[MrMiles]

The led headlights are expensive to replace too. If i remember correctly it was like 300 on my old vw gti about 10 yrs ago

[Smoke Wagon]

Nothing quite like cruising down to any parts store anywhere and being able to pick up new sealed beam headlamps for my ‘80 Ford for under 25 bucks. 

[peteski]

4 hours ago, MrMiles said:

The led headlights are expensive to replace too. If i remember correctly it was like 300 on my old vw gti about 10 yrs ago

True, but unless physically damaged, LEDs should last much, much longer than any incandescent headlight. 

[peteski]

1 hour ago, Smoke Wagon said:

Nothing quite like cruising down to any parts store anywhere and being able to pick up new sealed beam headlamps for my ‘80 Ford for under 25 bucks. 

Are they still available in car parts stores?  I recently ordered the ones for my '85 Caddy online from Rock Auto.

[Rodent]

I think that some of you are confusing HID headlamps with LEDs. LEDs seem to have come around in the last few years, but HIDs have been around for a while. My 2016 Mazda 3 has HIDs and they are adaptive. I believe that the BN series from 2017 replaced the HIDs with cheaper LEDs.

[Smoke Wagon]

58 minutes ago, peteski said:

Are they still available in car parts stores? 

They’re common enough that it’d be surprising not to find any at a parts store, or large box store like Wally World. Keep in mind though that rectangular sealed beam headlamps come in two sizes, the larger 5” by 7”, and the smaller 4” by 6”. For instance, your ‘85 Caddy has 4 4”x6” headlights. 

[peteski]

1 hour ago, Smoke Wagon said:

They’re common enough that it’d be surprising not to find any at a parts store, or large box store like Wally World. Keep in mind though that rectangular sealed beam headlamps come in two sizes, the larger 5” by 7”, and the smaller 4” by 6”. For instance, your ‘85 Caddy has 4 4”x6” headlights. 

Thanks Riley - like I mentioned, I picked up a set from Rock Auto website last year.  Yes, they are the quad 4"x 6"  headlights.   But since composite headlights were permitted in U.S. in mid-'80s (around 35 years ago), the sealed beam headlights will get more and more scarce.

[Smoke Wagon]

Eventually, yes. But not for a while. Many new commercial vehicles still come with sealed beam headlamps. There’s also the option of LED lights that come in the same size as sealed beams, but IMO I think they’re tacky and out of place on an older vehicle anyway. 

[peteski]

27 minutes ago, Smoke Wagon said:

Eventually, yes. But not for a while. Many new commercial vehicles still come with sealed beam headlamps. There’s also the option of LED lights that come in the same size as sealed beams, but IMO I think they’re tacky and out of place on an older vehicle anyway. 

Good to know.

As for the LED retrofits, I have stated my opinion about them in my LED headlight rant earlier in this thread (I agree with you).  But I'm ok with using LED retrofit bulbs for taillights and parking lights/directionals.

[BlackSheep214]

21 hours ago, peteski said:

 

Speaking of headlights, probably 50% (or more) of today's vehicles have those eyeball-frying LED headlights.,  I hate those at night!  Likely because they have very sharp beam cutoff when a car goes over the bumps, it seems like they flashing hi-beams. They also seem much brighter than incandescent headlights, so much so that they often blind me, and I can't see the road ahead of me.  Ford trucks seem to be the worst, but pretty much all the vehicles with LED headlights are really annoying.

While the bright light might be beneficial to the owners, it is very bad for the oncoming drivers. I thought that there used to be strict rules on things like the the shape of the projected beam, and the Lumens emitted.  It seems that the rules don't exist anymore - the brighter is better!  And don't get me started on aftermarket LED headlight retrofits.  Most of those should be illegal, but the law enforcement seems to ignore them.

That too... Ford trucks are the worse as you’ve already mentioned. It doesn’t even help if you slightly move your eyes to the right to avoid the bright oncoming LED headlights. Those LED lights never should have been added to new cars.

[89AKurt]

Got a phishing email, claiming to be Amazon.   The only clue it was a scam, the arrow under 'amazon' was not yellow.   I supposedly ordered their credit card, I have ZERO credit cards, for a reason.  Sneaky criminals, they work so hard..... ?  I figured out how to talk to a real person, so filed a report.

[cobraman]

I agree with that. I used to love driving at night but now that I am older my night vision is not that good anymore. I seldom drive at night , I let my much younger wife at night !

[peteski]

3 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

Got a phishing email, claiming to be Amazon.   The only clue it was a scam, the arrow under 'amazon' was not yellow.   I supposedly ordered their credit card, I have ZERO credit cards, for a reason.  Sneaky criminals, they work so hard..... ?  I figured out how to talk to a real person, so filed a report.

I'm sure that email was full of clues (other than the arrow).  Well, the first huge clue is that you *DIDN'T* apply for their credit card.  The other important clues are that if you hover over any links or buttons in that email, you should see that the URLs the links are pointing to are unrelated to amazon.  Most browsers show what the "true" links are when you hover over the visible links.  If you use a smart phone -- I have no clue how they work. Another good reason to use a "real" computer for Internet surfing.

You make it sound like a big deal.  To me SPAM and scam emails are way of life - I expect several a day (although my email provider is getting better and better at filtering them out).  And yes, the people sending them out are often very good as figuring out how to fool many people. There are millions of dollars to be made on scams.  Id there was no money in it, they would stop sending those emails.

But I'm glad that you figured out it was a scam, and took the time to report it.  However, I'm 100% sure that the perpetrators will not be caught.  It is just too easy to disappear on the World Wide Web. Sad, but true.

Edited December 7, 2021 by peteski

[Ace-Garageguy]

2 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

Got a phishing email, claiming to be Amazon...

 

50 minutes ago, peteski said:

...There are millions of dollars to be made on scams.  Id there was no money in it, they would stop sending those emails.

...However, I'm 100% sure that the perpetrators will not be caught.  It is just too easy to disappear on the World Wide Web. Sad, but true.

TEXTING SCAMS are one of the newest methods to steal from you.

They pretend to be from a legit business, and they'll often offer a "free gift" you get by visiting a link provided in the text, and go from there.

[89AKurt]

How does that saying go about anything being free?  (oh wait, this forum is free ?   Forgot to report to G00gle as spam......

I see the discussion about headlights.  The giant Ford pickups, with stacked headlights, seems like they are high beams, hating on them.  I'm old enough to hate driving at night, unless it's a full moon.  Some car taillights have the LED flicker when you look sideways fast, that's getting annoying too.  Oh well, First World problems, could be running to a bomb shelter or simply looking for clean water.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Speaking of which...HOW CAN ANYBODY BE STUPID ENOUGH TO LET GOOGLE HAVE THEIR PASSWORDS?

Browsers constantly ask if I want them to "save" my passwords...and I decline.

And every time I log in anywhere, google asks if I want to use a "saved" password.

Nah, I don't think so.

I need to find out if they've saved any without my permission, and boy if they have...class-action suit, anybody?   

Edited December 7, 2021 by Ace-Garageguy
CLARITY

[Ace-Garageguy]

4 minutes ago, 89AKurt said:

How does that saying go about anything being free?  (oh wait, this forum is free ?...

Yeah, it's "free", but when builders like you post their work, you're "paying" far more than you think.

YOU, and all the other builders ARE THE CONTENT THAT GIVES THE SITE ITS VALUE.

It's not like you're getting the contents of the magazine for free, where SOMEBODY ELSE does all the work, and you reap the benefits.

[Snake45]

3 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

Got a phishing email, claiming to be Amazon.   The only clue it was a scam, the arrow under 'amazon' was not yellow.   I supposedly ordered their credit card, I have ZERO credit cards, for a reason.  Sneaky criminals, they work so hard..... ?  I figured out how to talk to a real person, so filed a report.

I had a phone call today "from Amazon" about my new IPad and $1500 worth of other stuff was on the way. I didn't order any such thing from them, so hung up immediately without even waiting to hear what kind of scam they were trying to run.