Discussion Thread II: Bots? What bots?

[Trifkin]

I enjoy the act of driving itself, but I'm with you guys on the other-drivers-are-terrifying front. My one and only accident was because of some silly girl trying to make a u-turn from the right lane across a six-lane road!

When I move to Austin I will probably sell my car and just walk a lot or ride with others. And, minus the occasional talkative crazy, public transportation is kind of soothing to me.

[CD-Man2021]

Oh dude totally. Some drivers are idiots. I also hate when you're going the speed limit and there's someone tailgating behind you. Just pass if you want to break the limit that badly, don't expect me to speed up just because you're impatient.

[negzee]

Everyone knows they're an above-average driver, and it's just all the other morons who are dangerous.


Edit: @CDMan well, if you're doing the speed limit and everyone else is doing +5 or +10 or something, I would say keep pace with traffic or you're a hazard (which is not to say the person on your ass is driving well.)

[CD-Man2021]

^I do that, but not when it's just one dude riding my tailpipe like a...uh...druggie rides a bong? I dunno, I'll probably think of a better joke later.

[Starfe]

I don't have a drivers license. I learned to drive back in high school, realized I didn't like it, and never took my test. I still walk and bus everywhere. If its to late and the bus isnt running? I take a cab. This happens pretty rarely these days, maybe once or twice a month, and the cab never exceeds $20. I can totally see how driving would be useful in certain scenarios, but its just not worth the stress (or sobriety) to me. Every time I'm in a car with someone they are just pissed off the entire time about traffic, other drivers, etc. Not worth it. When I need to go somewhere far away? I take the train. I like taking the train. They sell drinks and I get to read or sleep.

My girlfriend and I own a car together, but I prefer to just pay for half of it than to drive it. She uses it to get to and from work, and we use it when we have to go grocery shopping, go to the hardware store, etc. But other than that we just take the bus. The public transportation system here is basically entirely bus based, and its pretty widespread. Most of the heavily trafficked areas can be reached with one bus, and fairly frequently (20 mins or less). Going from a more out of the way suburban area (like where I live) to the university takes a bit longer, and the busses aren't as frequent (40 minutes for the trip). The only time I use two busses to get to work/school is when I dont feel like walking an extra half mile or something. Two different routes also becomes more and more necessary as the night drags on. The only situation where you might need 3 different busses is if you were going to an outlying area, like West Seattle or Bellevue or something. We have a light rail system, but at the moment it basically only goes from downtown to the airport, so that kind of sucks. Our commuter bus system is pretty decent. If you work a 9-5 and live in an outlying suburb its pretty easy to take the bus to and from work. I love public transporation because it affords me tons of extra time to read or brush up on stuff before exams. I have probably read more books in the 4 years I've lived in Seattle and have to take public transit than when I was in high school and had free time. 40 minutes of enforced free time can be very useful.

Seattle is also a really shitty city to drive in, which doesn't make me feel worse about my choice. Not in the way that Portland is shitty to drive in, because they got rid of all the free parking, but shitty in that driving is actually difficult because of the environment. Its not like a midwest or desert city, where you have a simple grid based road plan and everything is fucking flat, Seattle doesn't fucking have that. The entire city is built around bodies of water and hills, which means there aren't enough roads in some places, or theres massive bridge congestion, or the bridges are up, and as such the traffic is shit. Not to mention that "Seattle" is really a amalgamation of several smaller towns that all had their own roads and setups back in the early 20th century when they joined up. Things like 5 or 6 way stops are not uncommon in the spots where two neighborhoods are mashed together, and people get to them and just freeze because they think that somehow the right of way rules change. When they do road construction you get these intersections that become nightmares every night from 5 to 8.

If I ever move elsewhere, and find that driving is required, I will totally do that. Heres hoping the cars pilot themselves before I have to.

@Driving the limit when everyone else isnt: Go the speed of traffic. Keeping pace with traffic is important.

[PLA]

[Starfe]

[Etrian Veteran]

[Maxine MagicFox]

I wake up and go downstairs to go to the bathroom since someone was in the shower and I hear a strange skittering noise as I'm about to enter it. I'm like "wth... if that's a mouse what the hell is it doing and OMG it sounds huge."

I look around and realize o_o it's a bird! OMG a bird is in the house!!!

I quickly do my business and go get my dad. It was a pretty easy catch, actually. I expected a tougher fight than that, but the bird was like "Ok... catch me and get me out of here."

Wow... no idea how it managed it. If Tia let it in when she left for work (why wouldn't she have told someone, though?) or if there's an open window somewhere. It's like.... wtf... how.... how.... how... HOW?!

Also, I try not to be superstitious but... bird in the house is about as bad an omen as you can get.... o_o *gulp* .............. (FYI: we've had birds fly into the house before, some when I was much younger. All the members of our family are still here, minus some pets down the road, so unless it's one of our pets, I really am not worried about anyone in my house kicking the bucket any time soon.)

[PLA]

^ Pennsylvania has a problem with assassin-birds?

[Starfe]

[Liferake]

Click Beetles are considered harmless and they are not "pest" because they actually can't do any harm to anything in your household, including yourself.

Except for the fact that they are clumsy as all get out and make a lot of noise (Which is enough for them to be considered a pest in my book!). Bonus points if they actually know how to fly (When beetles fly they fly LOUDLY.)

I can now swing a baseball bat accurately at a fast flying and small moving target when I'm only half awake, and now I take preventive measures to keep those damn things out of my room.

And seriously, I wouldn't mind them so much if they didn't make noise. I don't like spiders, but they don't make noise or bug me so I don't kill them. If only the beetles would learn that.

[Trifkin]

I am okay with most insects. However, I am very bothered by junebugs mostly because of how they sound when they fly and especially when they HIT THINGS BECAUSE OHGOD WHO'S STEERING. Seriously. Why don't these bugs know how to fly correctly? D :

Stingy things (wasps, bees) frighten me also. My solution is to cover my ears, shut my eyes and walk swiftly away.

[PLA]

Arthropods are much more diverse than mammals. Matters that there's more of them, and in more places. Even beetles alone are a huge group of animals.

I just kill the annoying ones. :3
And sworn enemies of humankind, like many ants.
But I don't want to kill bees; they're great.

[Kimiko]