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[1]

Here's one: people that brake when approaching a green light. Ahhhhh! WHY!?

Because they're turning left and they have to wait for incoming traffic to clear?

[webny99]

Here's one: people that brake when approaching a green light. Ahhhhh! WHY!?

Because they're turning left and they have to wait for incoming traffic to clear?

No, I'm talking about going straight, with a clear lane ahead.

[hbelkins]

Here's one: people that brake when approaching a green light. Ahhhhh! WHY!?

Because they're turning left and they have to wait for incoming traffic to clear?

No, I'm talking about going straight, with a clear lane ahead.

Never hurts to be cautious for red-light runners.

[webny99]

Never hurts to be cautious for red-light runners.

Only when the light has just turned. I'm talking about people braking when it's already been green for a while (10 seconds or more), almost as if they are scared of going through, or perhaps for some reason are actively trying to miss it.

[ZLoth]

My mom insists on leaving the TV remotes underneath the TV, instead of beside the couch (because "it looks tidier"). Why have a remote if you have to get up every time to grab it?

It could be worse. In the laste 1980s, my mother "hid" the remotes to my own television and VCR, and insisted that I get off my lazy butt and change the channel. Mind you, not the family television, but my own television and VCR in my own room. And, the VCR was one of those models that you needed the remote to set up recordings.

At some point, my parents had a remote that would turn the TV on and off and adjust the volume but would not operate the cable box. If you wanted to change the channel, you still had to walk over there and change the channel, this because they were not willing to pay the cable company to rent a remote that would operate the cable box.

Let me guess... you grew up in the 1970s or 1980s where the family had only one television set, and a remote wasn't needed because you were the remote. If there were multiple TVs, the cable only went to the main family television. Usually, the program that got watched was what the father wanted to watch, followed by the mother.

Yeah, I remember those days.

My mother elected to move with me to Texas. I figured, get a Roku television, they're cheap, and the user interface is fairly simple. We'll save some money by using streaming services. For the record, I have:

• Amazon Prime (paid subscription)
• AMC+ (promo subscription)
• Criterion Channel (paid annual subscription)
• Discovery+ (free through mobile provider)
• Disney+ (free through mobile provider)
• ESPN+ (free through mobile provider)
• HBOMax (free though Internet provider)
• HULU-Ad supported (free through mobile provider)
• Starz (promo subscription)

Plus, I have a Plex media server with many movies and TV shows, some of which may be of interest to her (e.g. The Sound Of Music, Dancing In The Rain, Casablanca, The Spirit of 76, other musicals and older dramas).

What does my mother do? She insists on subscribing to a linear television service, but I convinced her to use DirecTV Now (now DirecTV Stream), but all she watches is one single channel: The Hallmark Channel. Furthermore, if the Hallmark Channel is not on, she interrupts me to the point of waking me up to set her television to the Hallmark Channel. Can she observe what I'm doing to get to that point? Nope. Can she watch her precious Golden Girls on Plex or HULU? No, it's too "complicated".

[Scott5114]

Sounds like you need to just stop doing it for her then—if she wants Hallmark badly enough she can figure out how it works. If she can't figure it out, it means she doesn't want Hallmark badly enough to learn and it's no great loss.

Such is the only way to escape indefinite unpaid IT support contracts sometimes. (I've managed to escape my own with "I dunno, I don't use Windows anymore.")

[1995hoo]

Could you just type up a set of instructions for her? I had to do that for my wife when we switched from DirecTV to YouTube TV, especially for the TV in the basement because the volume down there is controlled through the stereo receiver. I essentially typed up an instruction sheet using numbered paragraphs that says "Pick up the Logitech remote," "Press Watch TV," etc., saying what to press, what to move the cursor to on the screen, and when to switch between "Activity" and "Device" mode on the remote (and how to do so).

[snowc]

My mom insists on leaving the TV remotes underneath the TV, instead of beside the couch (because "it looks tidier"). Why have a remote if you have to get up every time to grab it?

It could be worse. In the laste 1980s, my mother "hid" the remotes to my own television and VCR, and insisted that I get off my lazy butt and change the channel. Mind you, not the family television, but my own television and VCR in my own room. And, the VCR was one of those models that you needed the remote to set up recordings.

At some point, my parents had a remote that would turn the TV on and off and adjust the volume but would not operate the cable box. If you wanted to change the channel, you still had to walk over there and change the channel, this because they were not willing to pay the cable company to rent a remote that would operate the cable box.

Let me guess... you grew up in the 1970s or 1980s where the family had only one television set, and a remote wasn't needed because you were the remote. If there were multiple TVs, the cable only went to the main family television. Usually, the program that got watched was what the father wanted to watch, followed by the mother.

Yeah, I remember those days.

My mother elected to move with me to Texas. I figured, get a Roku television, they're cheap, and the user interface is fairly simple. We'll save some money by using streaming services. For the record, I have:

• Amazon Prime (paid subscription)
• AMC+ (promo subscription)
• Criterion Channel (paid annual subscription)
• Discovery+ (free through mobile provider)
• Disney+ (free through mobile provider)
• ESPN+ (free through mobile provider)
• HBOMax (free though Internet provider)
• HULU-Ad supported (free through mobile provider)
• Starz (promo subscription)

Plus, I have a Plex media server with many movies and TV shows, some of which may be of interest to her (e.g. The Sound Of Music, Dancing In The Rain, Casablanca, The Spirit of 76, other musicals and older dramas).

What does my mother do? She insists on subscribing to a linear television service, but I convinced her to use DirecTV Now (now DirecTV Stream), but all she watches is one single channel: The Hallmark Channel. Furthermore, if the Hallmark Channel is not on, she interrupts me to the point of waking me up to set her television to the Hallmark Channel. Can she observe what I'm doing to get to that point? Nope. Can she watch her precious Golden Girls on Plex or HULU? No, it's too "complicated".

Disney+ has good stuff too! 
When we got rid of CenturyLink in 2018 (internet remained till 2020), we had some channels that remained through TV Everywhere.
Now we have spectrum, and that got rid of most of them. 

[ZLoth]

Could you just type up a set of instructions for her?

That would rely entirely on my mother actually reading the instructions. You would think they would provide an online guide to download and print out. The guides I have found were "bare bones" on how to add the DirecTV Stream channel and how to access it, but not an actual users guide.

I have tried sitting down and tutoring my mother in the afternoon, and these are the responses I get:

• "You aren't coming at a good time." (She is watching a YouTube video or Facebook)
• "I'm tired and going to bed."
• "Why do they make things so complicated?"

It's already bad that she doesn't have much patience... or likes to interrupt me when I'm trying to patiently explain how to use Roku. As they say, you can lead a horse to water....

[Mr_Northside]

I remember the first remote control we ever had had to be plugged into our VCR.  I think the cord was maybe 6' long.

That was the case that I remember growing up.   I think the remote cord was longer than 6', but it was certainly corded.  I imagine there was some overlap afterwards where a TV got replaced with a non-corded remote for that TV (but still needing the wired remote for the VCR)

[kkt]

Here's one: people that brake when approaching a green light. Ahhhhh! WHY!?

Because they're turning left and they have to wait for incoming traffic to clear?

No, I'm talking about going straight, with a clear lane ahead.

Never hurts to be cautious for red-light runners.

Yes.  My wife and kid got T-boned by a red light runner.  There was no visibility around the corner but slowing down would have given her a precious split-second.  Not "serious", the car seat protected the toddler very well, but wife had a year of physical therapy and some permanent reduction of function of her leg.  And the car was totalled.

[TheHighwayMan394]

Here's one: people that brake when approaching a green light. Ahhhhh! WHY!?

Because they're turning left and they have to wait for incoming traffic to clear?

No, I'm talking about going straight, with a clear lane ahead.

Never hurts to be cautious for red-light runners.

Yes.  My wife and kid got T-boned by a red light runner.  There was no visibility around the corner but slowing down would have given her a precious split-second.  Not "serious", the car seat protected the toddler very well, but wife had a year of physical therapy and some permanent reduction of function of her leg.  And the car was totalled.

I always get nervous when I see someone come flying up to the stop line looking to RTOR because I have to defensively assume they either don't understand and/or don't really care about the "on red" part of the equation.

[zachary_amaryllis]

Never hurts to be cautious for red-light runners.

Only when the light has just turned. I'm talking about people braking when it's already been green for a while (10 seconds or more), almost as if they are scared of going through, or perhaps for some reason are actively trying to miss it.

I don’t necessarily hit the brakes, however if a green light is what I would think is stale then I will let my foot off the gas and coast especially considering the number of red light cameras in this town

[vdeane]

How common is red light running in the middle of the light cycle?  Usually I see it as something where someone misjudged the length of the yellow or is playing the "the person in front of me entered the intersection therefore I can too regardless of what the light says" game that is often played right as the light turns red.  I can only think of one time, maybe twice, where I ever saw someone blatantly run a red that had been red for a while.

[wanderer2575]

How common is red light running in the middle of the light cycle?  Usually I see it as something where someone misjudged the length of the yellow or is playing the "the person in front of me entered the intersection therefore I can too regardless of what the light says" game that is often played right as the light turns red.  I can only think of one time, maybe twice, where I ever saw someone blatantly run a red that had been red for a while.

I am seeing a lot more red light runners than I ever used to, and I don't think it has anything to do with misjudging or following the person in front.  I think it's related to people still driving 90+ mph on urban freeways and recklessly weaving through traffic to do so, because they liked the openness when the roads were empty during COVID confinements and they're not giving it up.

[TheHighwayMan394]

How common is red light running in the middle of the light cycle?  Usually I see it as something where someone misjudged the length of the yellow or is playing the "the person in front of me entered the intersection therefore I can too regardless of what the light says" game that is often played right as the light turns red.  I can only think of one time, maybe twice, where I ever saw someone blatantly run a red that had been red for a while.

I admit recently I got myself into a pickle where I piggybacked off a car turning left on yellow, but as I was about to turn I saw a guy who was flooring it to head straight through and was just not going to give a shit about his red light whatsoever, so I got caught in the middle of the intersection on the cross traffic's green light. It was not pretty.

[J N Winkler]

I admit recently I got myself into a pickle where I piggybacked off a car turning left on yellow, but as I was about to turn I saw a guy who was flooring it to head straight through and was just not going to give a shit about his red light whatsoever, so I got caught in the middle of the intersection on the cross traffic's green light. It was not pretty.

I wouldn't worry too much about this type of situation.  Staking a left turn (moving beyond the stop bar and advancing into the intersection while waiting to turn) is partly about risk mitigation, as it ensures you are visible to traffic that gets the green if you are trapped in the intersection by someone who is bound and determined not to stop.  People usually won't launch into an obstacle that is right in front of them.  On the other hand, I know at least one person whose car was declared a total loss because she tried to turn in front of someone who was speeding up to make the light.

[SectorZ]

As I dealt with yesterday, people that will take a left turn attempting to pull into a full Starbucks/Dunkin' Donuts parking lot (due to the drive thru) and block traffic.

In this case, this person had a left green arrow and got caught when she clearly could have just stayed at the light and only turned if it was clear. Blocked two of three straight lanes of the oncoming side that got the green soon after on a 45 MPH road.

[jeffandnicole]

As I dealt with yesterday, people that will take a left turn attempting to pull into a full Starbucks/Dunkin' Donuts parking lot (due to the drive thru) and block traffic.

In this case, this person had a left green arrow and got caught when she clearly could have just stayed at the light and only turned if it was clear. Blocked two of three straight lanes of the oncoming side that got the green soon after on a 45 MPH road.

This is very annoying. But at the same time, there's too many people on these forums that will also say they had the green and the right of way, so they could turn.  As long as they turned before the light turned red, they believe they're in the right, even though they're now obstructing traffic.

[kkt]

As I dealt with yesterday, people that will take a left turn attempting to pull into a full Starbucks/Dunkin' Donuts parking lot (due to the drive thru) and block traffic.

In this case, this person had a left green arrow and got caught when she clearly could have just stayed at the light and only turned if it was clear. Blocked two of three straight lanes of the oncoming side that got the green soon after on a 45 MPH road.

This is very annoying. But at the same time, there's too many people on these forums that will also say they had the green and the right of way, so they could turn.  As long as they turned before the light turned red, they believe they're in the right, even though they're now obstructing traffic.

If they think they have the right to turn just because the light is green, they should reread their drivers' handbook.  They have the right to turn when the light is green AND it is safe to do so.

[GaryV]

When a driver ahead of me is being nice and stops to let a car out of a business driveway, and then said exiting car tries to turn left, but can't because the other lanes have traffic. Now we have to wait for the exiting car to get out of the way.

[formulanone]

When a driver ahead of me is being nice and stops to let a car out of a business driveway, and then said exiting car tries to turn left, but can't because the other lanes have traffic. Now we have to wait for the exiting car to get out of the way.

If I let a car into my lane, it's karma.

If they then want to stop everything to get over over three lanes to make a left, it's dogma. 

[gonealookin]

I'm finding it very annoying that whoever owns the rights to the "Cheers" theme song has licensed its use to Applebee's for their commercials.  Sam's bar in no way bore any resemblance to an Applebee's.

[CtrlAltDel]

Those semi trucks with multiple trailers. They just seem dangerous. I've never seen one drive completely straight without swinging back and forth to some greater or lesser extent. And when one of them tries to pass another one, you definitely want to stay way back and let the process finish.

[dlsterner]

Hotel room bathrooms where they place a full length mirror directly opposite the toilet.  Yeah ... that's the last thing I want to look at while taking a shit ...