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[Scepticalscribe]

Imagine having these guys in your back yard... or down the chimney on a visit!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1219783258990424064

They look amazing; not sure I'd fancy them in (or down) my chimney.

I remember years ago - in the days when we did have an open fire - a bird fell down the chimney, a tiny, terrified thing - and flew madly and terrified around the living room, crashing into windows and walls (and leaving sooty impressions) until my father managed to catch it, and, still holding it in his carefully cupped hands, gently released it outside.

My father suspected a nest nearby, possibly not all far from the chimney.

And, no, obviously, on that particular day, we didn't have the fire lit.

 

[LizKat]

They look amazing; not sure I'd fancy them in (or down) my chimney.

I remember years ago - in the days when we did have an open fire - a bird fell down the chimney, a tiny, terrified thing - and flew madly and terrified around the living room, crashing into windows and walls (and leaving sooty impressions) until my father managed to catch it, and, still holding it in his cupped hands, gently released it outside.

My father suspected a nest nearby, possibly not far far from the chimney.

And, no, obviously, on that particular day, we didn't have the fire lit.

If a chimney cap over heating appliance chimney venting isn't properly in place or deteriorates over time, then a bird can end up attracted to the chimney rim's warmth after a heating cycle from a furnace or hot water heater has completed but the stone is still warm. The bird then may fall in and usually cannot get back out. The poor thing may or may not be large enough to block enough of the attached ductwork to trigger a safety shutoff in an appliance... but even a smaller bird ends up asphyxiated if there's common ducting to the chimney from both a HW heater and a furnace.

And yes I know this because of an inquisitive fledgling grackle looking for more warmth from that enticing chimney rim on a chilly spring morning. I have a chimney cap on there now that some innovator must have sketched out in exasperation on a far more wintry day. My next furnace will have the new and far more efficient combustion method that doesn't require chimney-style venting...

 

[Scepticalscribe]

If a chimney cap over heating appliance chimney venting isn't properly in place or deteriorates over time, then a bird can end up attracted to the chimney rim's warmth after a heating cycle from a furnace or hot water heater has completed but the stone is still warm. The bird then may fall in and usually cannot get back out. The poor thing may or may not be large enough to block enough of the attached ductwork to trigger a safety shutoff in an appliance... but even a smaller bird ends up asphyxiated if there's common ducting to the chimney from both a HW heater and a furnace.

And yes I know this because of an inquisitive fledgling grackle looking for more warmth from that enticing chimney rim on a chilly spring morning. I have a chimney cap on there now that some innovator must have sketched out in exasperation on a far more wintry day. My next furnace will have the new and far more efficient combustion method that doesn't require chimney-style venting...

I'm pretty certain that we were teenagers when that happened; I also recall my father - who had managed to catch the poor terrified thing - the tiny bird - as it sought to escape via the (closed) window, thinking that freedom lay that way - saying afterwards that its heart was beating frantically as he held it, carefully, in his cupped hands, as he headed out of the house to release it.

 

[Huntn]

i am really peeved by people playing with their phones at lights. The light turns green and they just sit there until aroused by a horn (usually my horn) tooting at them. I’ve probably mentioned this before, but it’s becoming a regular occurrence.

If a chimney cap over heating appliance chimney venting isn't properly in place or deteriorates over time, then a bird can end up attracted to the chimney rim's warmth after a heating cycle from a furnace or hot water heater has completed but the stone is still warm. The bird then may fall in and usually cannot get back out. The poor thing may or may not be large enough to block enough of the attached ductwork to trigger a safety shutoff in an appliance... but even a smaller bird ends up asphyxiated if there's common ducting to the chimney from both a HW heater and a furnace.

And yes I know this because of an inquisitive fledgling grackle looking for more warmth from that enticing chimney rim on a chilly spring morning. I have a chimney cap on there now that some innovator must have sketched out in exasperation on a far more wintry day. My next furnace will have the new and far more efficient combustion method that doesn't require chimney-style venting...

In the 1990s, Apple Valley, Minnesota we had a duck come down our chimney (wood burning fireplace). I caught the poor thing and let it out the back door.

 

[S.B.G]

i am really peeved by people playing with their phones at lights. The light turns green and they just sit there until aroused by a horn (usually my horn) tooting at them. I’ve probably mentioned this before, but it’s becoming a regular occurrence.

Indeed. Distracted driving is becoming more and more of a problem and it aggravates me regularly. I've gone so far to eliminate it in my own driving by unpairing my phone from my car. I no longer even take or make telephone calls while driving. I don't want it disturbing me with anything at all. The phone is put away at all times and any messages or calls can wait until I reach my destination.

 

[Huntn]

Indeed. Distracted driving is becoming more and more of a problem and it aggregates me regularly. I've gone so far to eliminate it in my own driving by unpairing my phone from my car. I no longer even take or make telephone calls while driving. I don't want it disturbing me with anything at all. The phone is put away at all times and any messages or calls can wait until I reach my destination.

I regularly use a navigation program on my phone, it sits in a holder, and with the navigation program going, I just don’t mess with it. Why do I use it Daily? I live in a congested neighborhood with limited routes in and out, and sometimes knowing which way not to go saves time, maybe a lot of time.

 

[Clix Pix]

In this area, too, distracted driving is definitely an issue! SG, I am the same as you; I do not take or make phone calls while driving somewhere, unless it is a situation where I need to pull over, get out the phone and make a quick call or text to let someone know that I am running late or something. My iPhone remains in my purse and my Apple Watch will tell me if an urgent text message, call or email is coming in. Thankfully that has never happened; I glance at the watch and can see that it's just an ordinary email or a phone call perhaps from an unknown number and I don't need to think any more about it....

 

[compwiz1202]

i am really peeved by people playing with their phones at lights. The light turns green and they just sit there until aroused by a horn (usually my horn) tooting at them. I’ve probably mentioned this before, but it’s becoming a regular occurrence.

In the 1990s, Apple Valley, Minnesota we had a duck come down our chimney (wood burning fireplace). I caught the poor thing and let it out the back door.

Agree. If you can't multitask and don't know the light patterns, pay attention. And would be nice if people could actually accelerate at a rate beyond barely tapping the gas pedal.

 

[LizKat]

In the 1990s, Apple Valley, Minnesota we had a duck come down our chimney (wood burning fireplace). I caught the poor thing and let it out the back door.

I've had to do that with songbirds a few times, usually finches so small the chimney cap I had then didn't deter them. I think they mistook it for a bird feeder. When I opened the stove door to release them, hoping they'd head straight for the bright light of the back door I had opened for them, they sometimes made a stop first on the kitchen window curtains and left feathery black and grey marks of their dreadful experience behind, if not also some bird poop.

Meanwhile of course the two cats I had back then were always eager to help. One bird that I did catch in the kitchen --after a cat nearly got it-- had a heartbeat so rapid I thought it would expire, but it just sat on a branch of the honeysuckle outside for almost half an hour after I released it, as if doing a complete system reboot. Maybe memorizing its surroundings: "Never coming back here again..."

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Indeed. Distracted driving is becoming more and more of a problem and it aggravates me regularly. I've gone so far to eliminate it in my own driving by unpairing my phone from my car. I no longer even take or make telephone calls while driving. I don't want it disturbing me with anything at all. The phone is put away at all times and any messages or calls can wait until I reach my destination.

In this area, too, distracted driving is definitely an issue! SG, I am the same as you; I do not take or make phone calls while driving somewhere, unless it is a situation where I need to pull over, get out the phone and make a quick call or text to let someone know that I am running late or something. My iPhone remains in my purse and my Apple Watch will tell me if an urgent text message, call or email is coming in. Thankfully that has never happened; I glance at the watch and can see that it's just an ordinary email or a phone call perhaps from an unknown number and I don't need to think any more about it....

Distracted driving is a new term to me, but driving without paying due attention to either your surroundings or your driving - especially allowing yourself to be distracted by a mobile (cell) phone, even the hands-free ones - is something that really irks me, and has irked me ever since the use of mobile (cell) phones became prevalent in the 1990s.

It is a form of arrogance, self-indulgence, and a lack of consideration to other road users to use your phone while driving. It can also run the risk of being actually dangerous, both to other road users, and pedestrians.

Actually, I have had to ask taxi drivers to please stop using their phones while they were driving me somewhere.

 

[Septembersrain]

Distracted driving is a new term to me, but driving without paying due attention to either your surroundings or your driving - especially allowing yourself to be distracted by a mobile (cell) phone, even the hands-free ones - is something that really irks me, and has irked me ever since the use of mobile (cell) phones became prevalent in the 1990s.

It is a form of arrogance, self-indulgence, and a lack of consideration to other road users to use your phone while driving. It can also run the risk of being actually dangerous, both to other road users, and pedestrians.

Actually, I have had to ask taxi drivers to please stop using their phones while they were driving me somewhere.

I feel so very outdated in that I believe you shouldn't use your cellphone while driving or at the dinner table.

While I enjoy technology as much as the next person, I still think there are times when it's inappropriate.

I can't even begin to tell people how many times I've used my own wit to avoid an accident only to pass the person and notice they were on their phone. It's up there with putting on makeup and eating.

 

[LizKat]

Yep a few times I've watched in horror as a pickup truck headed towards me in my driving lane w/ guy clearly not having eyes on the road... in an area known to be the one place along there where one can get a cell signal. Infuriating! My flashing headlights fortunately always gained other driver's attention in time. I have not liked the idea of having to pull off to the right there abruptly either, because the road fronts pasture for a small herd of bison. When they don't like the idea of someone approaching their turf, a little thing like a fence doesn't mean a thing to them. They routinely bust out once or twice a year and just go for a stroll until someone notices them and calls the sheriff and the owner of the bisonburgers...

Anyway that guy and others like him are part of why I'm thinking of not getting another car. It's not just that I don't like old geezers on the road, and I have always said I'd quit driving by time I became one or hit age 80, whichever came first. It's that I don't like who else is on the road either any more, too much of the time. And I have always liked smaller, lighter cars. If I got another one now I'd probably be like my sister and a bunch of my neighbors, finally cave in and get some SUV built like a tank. But I don't want to become a geezer with a tank, I'd end up getting shot instead of just rear-ended. So I'm just about ready to become the old lady who needs a ride to the polls. I paid that forward already for 20 years, it must be nearly my turn to ride in the back seat and complain about the ballot choices lol.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I feel so very outdated in that I believe you shouldn't use your cellphone while driving or at the dinner table.

While I enjoy technology as much as the next person, I still think there are times when it's inappropriate.

I can't even begin to tell people how many times I've used my own wit to avoid an accident only to pass the person and notice they were on their phone. It's up there with putting on makeup and eating.

Oh, yes.

Absolutely agreed.

Driving and the use of mobile phones (cell phones) is one thing, and meets with my total disapproval, but dinner and mobile phones.......or while out in a bar, or restaurant, this is another entirely, and meets with my complete, utter and total disapproval.

I cannot abide the use of mobile phones at the dinner table - I think it incredibly discourteous and disrespectful to one's companions, one's host, and to the whole idea of dinner, and dining together.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I use my phone whilst driving all the time. It stays in my pocket and I use the button on the steering wheel. Perfectly safe.

 

[Huntn]

I use my phone whilst driving all the time. It stays in my pocket and I use the button on the steering wheel. Perfectly safe.

That’s why most US states allow hands free phone usage, even though that can distract you depending on the conversation. At least you would not be texting with your fingers, looking at a screen.

 

[Clix Pix]

Some of us have older cars, with no convenient button on the steering wheel.....

 

[Septembersrain]

Some of us have older cars, with no convenient button on the steering wheel.....

I still find talking through Bluetooth distracting. I will ignore calls unless they call 3 times, then I'll pull off wherever and take the call or return it. People drive terribly these days and putting more technology in cars seems to only be compounding this problem.

I grew up with a stick shift. You had to pay attention. I'm still like that now. Aside from playing music, I do not appreciate distractions while I'm driving. It's unsafe. Accidents can happen in a split second.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

As far as I know, in our corner of the world, it is not that hands-free use is "allowed", it is that it is compulsory. Driving while holding a mobile (cell) phone is actually illegal, and, candidly, I am not sure that people - even hands-free - can concentrate both on the road and on a conversation (of a challenging sort) simultaneously.

 

[Clix Pix]

I still find talking through Bluetooth distracting. I will ignore calls unless they call 3 times, then I'll pull off wherever and take the call or return it. People drive terribly these days and putting more technology in cars seems to only be compounding this problem.

I grew up with a stick shift. You had to pay attention. I'm still like that now. Aside from playing music, I do not appreciate distractions while I'm driving. It's unsafe. Accidents can happen in a split second.

I have an older car - a 2006 Acura -- and to be honest, I am really a bit hesitant about buying something new because of all the additional technology that is in the 2019/2020 models today. To me a lot of that seems as though it could be very distracting and while the salesmen and manufacturers may bleat about the safety features of this-and-that, just how safe is this, really, if the driver is actually distracted by something his or her technological wonder is beeping or displaying while the the car is in motion or in a problematic situation?

My next car may be a gently-used several-years-older one rather than a brand-new one simply for this reason, as, although I'm definitely a techie in many ways, I really don't want to be confronted with a lot of potentially distracting technology while behind the wheel of a vehicle weighing several tons and which has the potential to injure or even kill me and innocent others if my attention is deflected......

 

[Septembersrain]

I have an older car - a 2006 Acura -- and to be honest, I am really a bit hesitant about buying something new because of all the additional technology that is in the 2019/2020 models today. To me a lot of that seems as though it could be very distracting and while the salesmen and manufacturers may bleat about the safety features of this-and-that, just how safe is this, really, if the driver is actually distracted by something his or her technological wonder is beeping or displaying while the the car is in motion or in a problematic situation?

My nest car may be a gently-used several-years-older one rather than a brand-new one simply for this reason, as, although I'm definitely a techie in many ways, I really don't want to be confronted with a lot of potentially distracting technology while behind the wheel of a vehicle weighing several tons and which has the potential to injure or even kill me and innocent others if my attention is deflected......

My car was like finding a needle in a pile of needles. It's a 2013, it had Bluetooth so I can play music from my phone and steering wheel controls so I can change song/volume without taking my eyes off the road. No touch screen, no heated seats, no billion buttons or controls, very minimalist. It has cruise control but I have only used it twice.

All the other cars I test drove felt like the cockpit of an airplane. I refuse to deal with that. I might be a techie but there is a time and place for it. Driving is definitely not one of them for me.

 

[Clix Pix]

I have never used cruise control in all the years I've been driving in any of the cars I've owned that have it..... I feel the very strong need to be in control of my vehicle at all times. Even when cruising down the highway, interstate or expressway on a long-distance trip it is not impossible that a deer could leap in front of the vehicle unexpectedly or an accident could occur just ahead, in which case the driver needs to be in command of the car in order to prevent additional damage and potential disaster.

I've never liked heated seats and when I've sat in someone else's car that has them I always shut it off once I realize that my seat is unusually warm.....I don't need that, thank you! Just feels weird to me.....

 

[LizKat]

My car was like finding a needle in a pile of needles. It's a 2013, it had Bluetooth so I can play music from my phone and steering wheel controls so I can change song/volume without taking my eyes off the road. No touch screen, no heated seats, no billion buttons or controls, very minimalist. It has cruise control but I have only used it twice.

All the other cars I test drove felt like the cockpit of an airplane. I refuse to deal with that. I might be a techie but there is a time and place for it. Driving is definitely not one of them for me.

Yah my car that's headed to the crusher in spring is a 2000 Chevy Prizm, 5-speed. I've always driven a stick except when I took my driver's road test in my dad's car, some clanking automatic transmission thing back in the 1950s.

The Prizm was pretty minimalist on features, which was fine w/ me. I even had to use an FM transmitter to run a playlist from an iPod to the car's speakers. No aux input, no CD player. It got me from point A to point B for 14 years without any major expense so it owes me less than nada.

When I've rented a car any time in the past few years, or been asked to drive someone else's newer car for some reason, I have felt a little like I'm flying a plane when I first look at look at the dashboard and controls for all the features... plus at the outset I'm always trying to find the clutch pedal and feel weirded out by the straight-line gearshift!

 

[Clix Pix]

I drove a stick shift Honda CRX for a number of years and then when my husband became ill we realized that it would be more practical to have just one car for the two of us (he wouldn't be driving all that much) and because of his health, it had to be an automatic. No big problem for me, actually, since by that time traffic was already problematic and I really didn't miss giving up the "clutch leg" syndrome......

After his death I held on to that car and then eventually when it was time to replace it, went with another automatic. I'd bet, though, that if I were to sit in a stick-shift car again that it wouldn't take me all that long to get moving again! There's just something wonderful about being in such control of the vehicle......I loved it and I still kind of miss it..... Unfortunately where I am living the traffic is now so congested that really, an automatic transmission is the way to go at this point. I don't miss "clutch foot" and "clutch leg," but I really do miss the joy of moving the car ahead in the way I wanted to when I wanted to do so....

 

[Apple fanboy]

I drove a stick shift Honda CRX for a number of years and then when my husband became ill we realized that it would be more practical to have just one car for the two of us (he wouldn't be driving all that much) and because of his health, it had to be an automatic. No big problem for me, actually, since by that time traffic was already problematic and I really didn't miss giving up the "clutch leg" syndrome......

After his death I held on to that car and then eventually when it was time to replace it, went with another automatic. I'd bet, though, that if I were to sit in a stick-shift car again that it wouldn't take me all that long to get moving again! There's just something wonderful about being in such control of the vehicle......I loved it and I still kind of miss it..... Unfortunately where I am living the traffic is now so congested that really, an automatic transmission is the way to go at this point. I don't miss "clutch foot" and "clutch leg," but I really do miss the joy of moving the car ahead in the way I wanted to when I wanted to do so....

My courtesy car is an automatic. I keep playing with the gearstick in traffic thinking I need to put it in first.

As for hands free talking, I find that no more distracting than listening to music in a car. It’s the only time I ever talk to my parents.
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I drove a stick shift Honda CRX for a number of years and then when my husband became ill we realized that it would be more practical to have just one car for the two of us (he wouldn't be driving all that much) and because of his health, it had to be an automatic. No big problem for me, actually, since by that time traffic was already problematic and I really didn't miss giving up the "clutch leg" syndrome......

After his death I held on to that car and then eventually when it was time to replace it, went with another automatic. I'd bet, though, that if I were to sit in a stick-shift car again that it wouldn't take me all that long to get moving again! There's just something wonderful about being in such control of the vehicle......I loved it and I still kind of miss it..... Unfortunately where I am living the traffic is now so congested that really, an automatic transmission is the way to go at this point. I don't miss "clutch foot" and "clutch leg," but I really do miss the joy of moving the car ahead in the way I wanted to when I wanted to do so....

My courtesy car is an automatic. I keep playing with the gearstick in traffic thinking I need to put it in first.

As for hands free talking, I find that no more distracting than listening to music in a car. It’s the only time I ever talk to my parents.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Agreed about the cockpit feel of some modern cars - very off-putting - and can't help noticing that those of us who are less than enthusiastic about it tend to be ladies (and ladies "d'un âge certain").

That, in turn, prompts a question, which is that I would love to know how many (if any) women are actually involved at a senior level in designing cars.

Personally, I loved the clear, uncluttered, easy-to-read, classic feel of the dash of say, Saabs, or Volvos, or those old Rover P5s, or so on.

My brother and I hired a car over Christmas to visit my aged aunt, (and visit the cemetery), a Renault Clio, a lovely car - but we couldn't work out how the incredibly complicated radio worked, some mad touch screen thing - and all we wanted was to listen to some soothing classical music - and, needless to say, we didn't have the time to sit with instruction manuals. So, no noise, no distraction, simply chat.