Things That Really Grind My Gears

[wildcoyote]

More for news stories than personal gripes, but what the hell, better to vent than punch a co-worker right?

1. WHO chief dies at 61.  So a guy who\'s supposed to be the leading expert in the world on health kicks @ 61. :hscratch: I know completely random thing out his control, but still.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/05/22/who.chief.ap/index.html

2. 7 year old boy swims from Alcatraz to SF.  Wasn\'t this supposed to be this famous unescapable prison?  I (reluctantly) went out there when in SF.  View of the city from the island=far better than the crappy prison tour.  
Standing there I said to my friend, that properly motivated, I think I could make it.  He laughed and speculated @ how many died trying.  Granted, the cold is the hardest part, but a little boy made it?  Come on.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/22/alcatraz.swim.ap/index.html

3. 1 out of 136 people in the US is in jail or prison.  :sigh: Doesn\'t that seem a little high?  How many of these people are really dangerous?  How many are for stupid minor drug offenses?  We need to review our penal system and our laws.  For non-violent offenders, or even violent ones who were substantially provoked, can we do some kind of jacked up community service program?

[derickw]

"you know what really grinds my gears...... Lindsay Lohan"
sorry i just saw that Family Guy last night.

RI drivers really grind my gears. who stops at a yield sign? who takes a right hand turn from the far left lane, better yet who makes a u-turn at a no u-turn intersection from the far right lane.

and that\'s what really grinds my gears

[kindm's]

When traffic is approaching you and they have the right of way you must yield to traffic which means wait your turn. Thats why people who know how to drive will sometimes come to a complete stop at a yeild sign

Yield means that if you have the right of way and there is no oncoming traffic that you need not come to a complete stop. Try getting on to the Merrit parkway or Saw mill river parkway or any place with a lot of traffic and not stop at a yeild sign. I garuntee you taht you will not live long.

[wildcoyote]

Oh man, I didn\'t even think of all the driving things.  My ultimate: slow in the left lane.  Honestly, I think some people are unaware this lane is designated for passing.  

And that Lindsay Lohan and her little outfits! Don\'t even get me started!

[Todd]

People who pull out in front of you with fervor, then proceed to do 10 mph below the speed limit!!!

[Mamalakabubadaya]

Oh man, I didn\'t even think of all the driving things.  My ultimate: slow in the left lane.  Honestly, I think some people are unaware this lane is designated for passing.  

welcome to my life of misery in the dc metro area. i learned to drive in ny and knew of the left lane/fast lane/passing lane rule from day one. i come down here (va), and people will be on the freeway (55mph speed limit) going 50 in the FUCKING LEFT LANE. they cause a dangerous hazard to other drivers (i.e. me) who will go maybe 70-75mph and need to pass them on the right but first deal with slamming on breaks. what a complete waste of gasoline. maybe i am just crazy but i cannot stand people who just leave their signal on if they\'re not going anywhere..how fucking oblivious can you be/? i also have an issue with people who don\'t signal at all or retards on their cell phones that forget they\'re driving the second they get on their goddamn phone. can\'t deny that i hate workmen/construction workers/truck drivers that like to let you know they think you\'re hot and make gestures, yell, honk, etc...ok i will stop venting about this now before i sound psychotic/agressive.

People who pull out in front of you with fervor, then proceed to do 10 mph below the speed limit!!!

:bomb: :pissed: DON\'T GET ME STARTED ON THIS ONE

[derickw]

When traffic is approaching you and they have the right of way you must yield to traffic which means wait your turn. Thats why people who know how to drive will sometimes come to a complete stop at a yeild sign

Yield means that if you have the right of way and there is no oncoming traffic that you need not come to a complete stop. Try getting on to the Merrit parkway or Saw mill river parkway or any place with a lot of traffic and not stop at a yeild sign. I garuntee you taht you will not live long.

OH, trust me i lived in CT long enough to know getting onto the Merritt. wait your turn pfffttttt, is\'t called the Rhode Island block, pull out into the two lanes on your side of the road and stop traffic till some ass coming the other way stops and lets you cross two lanes to merge and if I\'m not mistaken those are actual stop signs not yield signs. I\'m talking about the people around here who have there own lane in front of them and proceed to stop before realizing (even though they have lived there whole lives here) that they have there own lane. come on up to RI and join the fun sometime. hey quick heads up to anyone out there looking to get into an accident that won\'t be there fault, come on up to RI, but watch out chances of the other person actually having insurance is very slim. just find a woman in Newport driving her Benzi but also watch out because chances are she has 3 lawyers, who are all lawyers, wangs in her mouth besides her husbands, while talking on her cell phone putting on makeup and checking her hair.

[skalnbyc]

i come down here (va), and people will be on the freeway (55mph speed limit) going 50 in the FUCKING LEFT LANE.

Yeah, I often see a row of 5 cars all travelling 50 MPH on a five-lane highway, with no way to get around them all.  This aggravation is generally attributable to the many overly-cautious immigrants who have never driven before, and don\'t really understand the rules of the road, such as operating slower vehicles on the right side.



In Southern New England, it seems that no matter how fast you are driving on the highway, there are always plenty of people whizzing by at much higher speeds.

[Mamalakabubadaya]

Yeah, I often see a row of 5 cars all travelling 50 MPH on a five-lane highway, with no way to get around them all.  This aggravation is generally attributable to the many overly-cautious immigrants who have never driven before, and don\'t really understand the rules of the road, such as operating slower vehicles on the right side.

i didn\'t want to be the one to point a finger, but if we\'re going that route..well okay. it is such the case here that people drive slow because they are immigrants. in the area outside of dc where i live, i am convinced that the last thing most of these people drove before a car was either a camel, elephant, giraffe or panda. immigrants, old people and soccer minivan moms are ruining our traffic patterns!

[wildcoyote]

While we\'re on the subject of auto\'s:

Modifications that actually HURT the car\'s performance!  Including coffee can exhausts, non funtional hood scoops, cut springs and my least favorite of all- the spoiler on the front wheel drive car.  Take a physics class people.  You\'re spending $$$ to make your car a bigger piece of shit.  
Not to mention other stuff that just looks stupid, like a big sticker @ the top of the windshield with the brand of car it is.  Yeah dude, I know it\'s Corolla, but apparently you don\'t \'cause you put a Type R sticker on it too.

[Spunk]

how about when people are in the left turn lane and they dont pull into the intersection

[antbach]

to sum up derick\'s gripe on RI drivers in simple words:

They STOP at Yield signs and YIELD at Stop signs. I have been hugging the right side of the back roads for sometime now waiting for any jackass to roll his customary 5 feet beyond the stop sign/corner.

Other RI driving traits: Lack of knowledge of the right of way. Example-when turning left at an intersection into one lane you apparantely have the right of way to make your turn even if others across the intersection are making a right into the same lane. I experience this every single morning at a traffic light turning right onto Wickendon Street, and the idiots in front of me WAIT for the line of cars turning left to make their turn! I love it when I make my right turn and the people taking the left beep and whatnot. Another: when in slow traffic on the highway (30-40mph) with no where to go, ride the car in front of you\'s ass, because maybe if they move and the next car moves and the next car moves and about 50 other cars move, you\'ll get there faster. And one last one before I leave work for the day: if you drive a school bus, use the RI block, creep, and left hand right of wayness, to your full advantage, because the other cars will always stop for a school bus!

[bdfreetuna]

3. 1 out of 136 people in the US is in jail or prison.  :sigh: \\

I believe this number is *much* higher, like 1 out of 20 (too lazy to check) that have ever been in prison.

Nothing short of some fucked up shit. A key part of the race and class warfare that America wages against its own citizens in an attempt to keep "undesireable" and free thinking elements out of society.

Here\'s a good op-ed bit on it:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/15/171250/881

What really grinds my gears is the fact that there hasn\'t been a national minimum wage increase since 1997, to $5.15.

Everyone deserves a living wage @ 40 hrs/week.

[FrankZappa]

1. That the family guy "season finally" was just the stewie griffen movie chopped up to make the last 4 \'episodes\'.

2. People who make really, really long drawn out replies on topics that no one else is talking about, like swimming when everyone else is talking about rhode island road rage.

On that note,
On the Alcatraz thing, many, many people have done it. There are races all the time. The thing is they told the inmates that it was impossible so that they wouldn\'t try it. They also wouldn\'t let the inmates take cold showers because they feared they could use it to condition themselves to the water. The main issue is not the distance or temperature though, it\'s the current. Your chances of being dragged out to sea and drowning while trying to make it to land are much greater than by any of the other issues. Add to all of this that it is a major shipping lane in and out of the bay. Also, they told the inmates there were sharks, which there are, but they are all sand sharks along the bottom that would never attack something as big as a human.

When they do the races there are boats following along side of you to keep you pointing in the right direction. Also, they usually are wearing state of the art clothing (full body suits, professional goggles, ect) to assist them, and they are either professional swimmers or are amerature swimmers that can already do a longer distance. So a 7 year old swimming it doesn\'t suprise me.

[Blackieshamps]

honestly i cant stand the fucking flaggers.  there is constant construction all over the area i and most of you probably live.  theres nothing worse than a team of FUCKED UP or otherwise retarted flagmen who will accidentaly try to wave you into a moving truck coming from another direction.  i got certified when i lived out in colorado..possibly the EASIEST job on the fucking planet, the signals are VERY simple, rational, and easy to interpret but somehow these clowns cant seem to remember them and will impose their own design on the site which is confusing and dangerous.  all i know is if i got hit yesterday by that truck because the retard waved me through without checking to see if it was clear, my bat was coming out of my trunk.  luckily i used my own judgement and did not follow his instruction and avoided being rammed by the oncoming mitsubishi fuso.  thank you for lettin me vent in this thread.  thats all folks..