News:

The AARoads Wiki is live! Come check it out!

Main Menu

Random Thoughts

Started by kenarmy, March 29, 2021, 10:25:21 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

kurumi

Two guys arguing on the street corner is a lot less disturbing than... one guy arguing on the street corner.
My first SF/horror short story collection is available: "Young Man, Open Your Winter Eye"


kphoger

Quote from: kenarmy on April 17, 2021, 10:45:27 PM
Someone you passed by once could be fantasizing about you right now.

I've done that.  My girlfriend had dumped me a couple of months earlier.  I had recently spent a week with a warm and inviting family, including an early Christmas dinner at the neighbors' house.  When I got back home on Christmas Eve, my roommate was gone for the holiday, most of the others in my apartment building were gone to, I had no girlfriend, I longed for the kind of family I had just returned from visiting, and I was feeling quite lonely.  I trudged three miles through a snowstorm to go watch Lord of the Rings in the theater by myself.  On my way back home, I saw a young lady walking the other way through the snow on the other side of the street.

All I thought about for the rest of the evening was wondering if she was lonely too, and what if we could have hit if off and been a happy couple together.

I kept thinking of the John Mayer lyrics:  I could have passed you on the sidewalk / Could I have missed my chance and watched you walk away?

Is that depressing enough for you?  Cheer up!  I'm coming up on 15 years of happy marriage.

Quote from: kenarmy on April 17, 2021, 10:45:27 PM
How do we explain US 412 to aliens? Weren't all those other US routes basically turned into interstates as well?

I'm quite confident that, if the opportunity comes up for us to explain anything to aliens, they won't care one bit about the number of US-412.

Quote from: hbelkins on April 18, 2021, 10:14:27 PM

Quote from: CoreySamson on April 18, 2021, 12:23:52 AM

Quote from: kenarmy on April 17, 2021, 10:45:27 PM
Why is it birthday and not birthdate?

On a another note, why do we measure our age from our birthday and not from our conception? My birthday is in June 2003, but technically, I started living in October 2002.

Probably because it's impossible to narrow down exactly what date one was conceived, unless the parents had sex just once and a pregnancy resulted. Not all gestational periods are the same.

Even if your parents had sex just once and a pregnancy resulted, what would be the consequences if your father took a paternity test four years later and found out he wasn't the biological father, and it ended up that the pregnancy was the result of a one-night stand six days earlier?  Would they then have to start throwing your birthday parties six days earlier than they had been?
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

webny99

Quote from: kphoger on April 19, 2021, 03:01:19 PM
Quote from: kenarmy on April 17, 2021, 10:45:27 PM
Someone you passed by once could be fantasizing about you right now.

I've done that.  ...

All I thought about for the rest of the evening was wondering if she was lonely too, and what if we could have hit if off and been a happy couple together.

A very fitting typo. And I enjoyed your story!

SkyPesos

Quote from: kenarmy on April 17, 2021, 10:45:27 PM
How do we explain US 412 to aliens? Weren't all those other US routes basically turned into interstates as well?
The aliens would implement FritzOwl's plan before realizing that US 412 is an oddball route.

Scott5114

Quote from: kphoger on April 19, 2021, 03:01:19 PM
Quote from: kenarmy on April 17, 2021, 10:45:27 PM
Someone you passed by once could be fantasizing about you right now.

I've done that.  [...]

I had a similar experience once, on a roadtrip in western Oklahoma. There was a long stretch of road construction (I think on SH-152) that had the road narrowed to one lane, so they had flaggers set up on either end of the workzone. I was the only car at the east end of the work zone, which was being controlled by a cute girl, which is fairly unusual, in my experience. I'm guessing she probably lived somewhere nearby and was doing it as a summer job or something.

The one-lane zone was a very long one, so I was stopped for what seemed to be like ten minutes or so. At some point the flagger girl got tired of holding the stop sign up and lowered it to her side. I misinterpreted that as her signaling me to go and started to move forward. She immediately panicked and started waving her arms to get me to stop. I rolled down my window and yelled "Sorry!" She said something back like "It's cool", and then, several minutes later, a caravan of cars passed from the other way, and I got the signal to go forward.

As I passed through the work zone, I started thinking that I should have chatted with her more since I had to be stopped there for ten minutes anyway, maybe got her number or something. (I'm sure that being a roadgeek made me more predisposed to seeing a flagger girl in a reflective yellow vest and thinking "gee, I'd like to know her better".) But, after all, she probably lived several counties away from me, and hitting on a girl while she's at work on a state highway in the middle of nowhere probably would have seemed skeezy as hell from her perspective, so it's probably for the best that I didn't.

Of course, now Oklahoma uses those remote-control stoplight trailers to control work zones, so this story couldn't even happen in the present-day.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

webny99

Quote from: Scott5114 on April 19, 2021, 04:21:28 PM
...

Of course, now Oklahoma uses those remote-control stoplight trailers to control stop lights, so this story couldn't even happen in the present-day.

New York uses the stoplight trailers for any long-term closures, but you will still see flaggers if the closure is only temporary (say a few hours or less). Of course, short-term closures are usually also over a much shorter distance, so it's unlikely you'd be there for 10 minutes even if there was a flagger.

TheHighwayMan3561

Quote from: webny99 on April 19, 2021, 04:27:06 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 19, 2021, 04:21:28 PM
...

Of course, now Oklahoma uses those remote-control stoplight trailers to control stop lights, so this story couldn't even happen in the present-day.

New York uses the stoplight trailers for any long-term closures, but you will still see flaggers if the closure is only temporary (say a few hours or less). Of course, short-term closures are usually also over a much shorter distance, so it's unlikely you'd be there for 10 minutes even if there was a flagger.

I'm not sure I've seen the stoplight trailers used outside of MN District 1 (the NE part of the state). There was one set of trailers that I really didn't enjoy because the opposing one was around a bend out of sight that I wasn't convinced some idiot wouldn't be trying to run because he saw no opposing traffic coming.
self-certified as the dumbest person on this board for 5 years running

kphoger

Quote from: Scott5114 on April 19, 2021, 04:21:28 PM
hitting on a girl while she's at work on a state highway in the middle of nowhere probably would have seemed skeezy as hell from her perspective, so it's probably for the best that I didn't.

You may even have been the eleventh guy to try and get her number that day...
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

US71

Quote from: kphoger on April 19, 2021, 05:30:04 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 19, 2021, 04:21:28 PM
hitting on a girl while she's at work on a state highway in the middle of nowhere probably would have seemed skeezy as hell from her perspective, so it's probably for the best that I didn't.

You may even have been the eleventh guy to try and get her number that day...

Ask her what she wants for Lunch?
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

kenarmy

#159
How are you confident that aliens won't care about US 412?
Contacts are basically invisalign but with glasses.
You don't know what I look like.
When you saw forward and back, your lips move in that direction
Who decided what qualified as a cuss word??
You wake up thousands of times, but you still aren't used to it.
US 51 and US 63 are the same length.. That feels illegal.
US 26 is longer than US 85.. Ok but this one actually blows my mind.
If life is a game, what game is it? Is it game to see how much you can harm yourself until you lose?
Aren't we all addicted to oxygen?
If you got a trillion pennies, you would be average.
When I see US71 turn 71, I will be completely satisfied with my life. Also, US 71 has spent 71 days online  :sombrero:.
Do we all read usernames the same? I read kphoger is "K P Hoger"
Just a reminder that US 6, 49, 50, and 98 are superior to your fave routes :)


EXTEND 206 SO IT CAN MEET ITS PARENT.

US71

Quote from: kenarmy on April 19, 2021, 10:03:33 PM

When I see US71 turn 71, I will be completely satisfied with my life. Also, US 71 has spent 71 days online  :sombrero:.
Do we all read usernames the same? I read kphoger is "K P Hoger"

.

Provided I live that long. or don't change my name :)
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

SkyPesos

Quote from: kenarmy on April 19, 2021, 10:03:33 PM
US 51 and US 63 are the same length.. That feels illegal.
US 19, 23, 25, 27 are each longer than US 21 even before the latter got truncated due to I-77, and x1 routes are considered the US routes.

Big John

Quote from: kenarmy on April 19, 2021, 10:03:33 PM
Do we all read usernames the same? I read kphoger is "K P Hoger"
Correct.  But there was a former user who intentionally messed up names with abbreviations.

SSOWorld

There is at least one person who


Actually there are 16  :bigass:

NOTE: This is not an invite to talk post counts.

----

Zemo is a terrible dancer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nEzCv5u1O8&t=25s
Scott O.

Not all who wander are lost...
Ah, the open skies, wind at my back, warm sun on my... wait, where the hell am I?!
As a matter of fact, I do own the road.
Raise your what?

Wisconsin - out-multiplexing your state since 1918.

webny99

Quote from: Big John on April 19, 2021, 11:26:21 PM
Quote from: kenarmy on April 19, 2021, 10:03:33 PM
Do we all read usernames the same? I read kphoger is "K P Hoger"
Correct.  But there was a former user who intentionally messed up names with abbreviations.

We don't all read all usernames the same. This could really be its own thread, but I suppose "random thoughts" is as good a thread as any.


  • I know now that it's K P Hoger, but ph is not a good username combo. Early on, it never occurred to me to pronounce it any other way than k foger
  • Same with H B Elkins and h belkins
  • There are some that I just didn't read closely enough, like formulanone (I thought it was formula one) and adventurernumber1 (I thought it was adventure number 1, missing the extra r)
  • The weirdest one, because it's the complete opposite of the others: I thought briantroutman was brian t  routman. Of course, routeman would be spelled with an e, but I just chalked it up to a forgivable mis-spelling
  • Finally, some that could very well be the same format as kphoger and hbelkins, but I'm not sure, and I've never bothered to figure out how to pronounce them properly, like bzakharin and dvferyance

Now I'm wondering how many people pronounce mine as web nee 99. For the record, the ny stands for New York.

SkyPesos

Quote from: webny99 on April 20, 2021, 08:47:10 AM
Now I'm wondering how many people pronounce mine as web nee 99. For the record, the ny stands for New York.
Count me as one.

CoreySamson

My username is just a pseudonym using the names of two characters I've played in church plays and skits. My real name is not Corey.

I always read webny99 as web n wye 99.
Buc-ee's and QuikTrip fanboy. Clincher of FM roads. Proponent of the TX U-turn.

My Route Log
My Clinches

Now on mobrule and Travel Mapping!

kphoger

Quote from: kenarmy on April 19, 2021, 10:03:33 PM
How are you confident that aliens won't care about US 412?

Because nobody outside this forum or some other roadgeeky site cares one bit about the number of US-412.  Nobody.  No, not even that one guy.

Quote from: kenarmy on April 19, 2021, 10:03:33 PM
If you got a trillion pennies, you would be average.

Huh?  There are only 130 billion pennies in circulation.  How would getting a trillion of them make me average?  Explain that one.

Quote from: kenarmy on April 19, 2021, 10:03:33 PM
[/b]Do we all read usernames the same? I read kphoger is "K P Hoger"

I read your username as ke-NAR-my.  Even though I'm pretty sure it's actually two words smooshed up against each other, I still pronounce it as one word.

Looking at older posts...

I say J. M. A. C. Swimmer.  Should I say J. Mac Swimmer?  Something else?
I say Web N.–oh yeah, that guy.  I never even really get to the 99 part in my head.
I say D. Listener, even though that isn't how it's spelled.
I say Zachary Ama–something something, because his username is too long to finish.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

webny99

#168
Quote from: kphoger on April 20, 2021, 10:32:38 AM
... I never even really get to the 99 part in my head.

Me either - unfortunately my memory caps out at about 2003 or so.  :-P


Quote from: kphoger on April 20, 2021, 10:32:38 AM
I say D. Listener, even though that isn't how it's spelled.

Ooh, good one. I say Dils Turner, even though that isn't how it's spelled either.

jmacswimmer

Quote from: webny99 on April 20, 2021, 08:47:10 AM
Now I'm wondering how many people pronounce mine as web nee 99. For the record, the ny stands for New York.

I've always read it as web-n-y-99, largely because your location in your profile is NY.  If it were any other state, perhaps I wouldn't have made the connection and thus read it as web-nee-99.

Quote from: kphoger on April 20, 2021, 10:32:38 AM
I say J. M. A. C. Swimmer.  Should I say J. Mac Swimmer?  Something else?

The bolded one is how I intend it, but interesting to see that there are other interpretations out there!
"Now, what if da Bearss were to enter the Indianapolis 5-hunnert?"
"How would they compete?"
"Let's say they rode together in a big buss."
"Is Ditka driving?"
"Of course!"
"Then I like da Bear buss."
"DA BEARSSS BUSSSS"

Scott5114

There used to be a guy on here with the username 'slorydn'. I always mentally pronounced it "sss-lorry-din". Only after he stopped coming around here and I was looking at older posts did I realize it's probably meant to be pronounced "slow ridin'".

There was a fairly important guy on Wikipedia who lived in Florida and played the cello, so he chose the username Flcelloman. New users had a tendency to misread that and get a different idea of his recreational habits.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

TheHighwayMan3561

The abefroman guy (of "H. Belkins" infamy) I used to read as "uh-bee-fro-man" before I realized or someone's post suggested it was actually his name, "Abe Froman".
self-certified as the dumbest person on this board for 5 years running

kphoger

Some are just because I'm too lazy to figure out what order the letters are really in, so I just approximate the username.  It's not like I'm calling someone by name:  I'm just attaching an online persona to a username.

I think of dvferyance as some weird version of the word defianceD. V. Fiance is how it comes out in my mind.
I read cpzilliacus as C. P. Zalius.
I read rickmastfan67 as Rick Master Fan 67.
I read bzakharin as B. Zarkhin.
I read noelbotevera as Noel Bot–oh yeah that guy.

Also...
I read PHLBOS as Phil Boss.
I read sprjus4 as Spurgeous 4.
I read Grzrd as Gizzard.
I read chays as Chaz (like the nickname for Charles).
I read inkyatari as Ink Yatari.
I read michravera as Mike Rivera.
I didn't even notice till now that Stratuscaster has that extra s in the middle.

As I said, I don't think any of this matters.  A username on here is little more than an icon made of letters instead of symbols.  It's something you glance at for a split-second to know who's posting.  No actual interpretation necessary.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

hotdogPi

Quote from: kphoger on April 20, 2021, 02:39:33 PM
A username on here is little more than an icon made of letters instead of symbols.  It's something you glance at for a split-second to know who's posting.  No actual interpretation necessary.

I can think of two examples where a username isn't meaningless:

1. If you're female, having your first name in your username will prevent people from using male pronouns by accident or out of ignorance.

2. Marf207 was an obvious sock of Marf, even with no posts. (207 is Maine's area code.)
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

kphoger

Quote from: 1 on April 20, 2021, 02:50:33 PM
I can think of two examples where a username isn't meaningless:

1. If you're female, having your first name in your username will prevent people from using male pronouns by accident or out of ignorance.

Annoyingly, the "Dean" part of |vdeane| always makes me thing she's a man.  I think it just recently stuck in my head, finally.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.



Opinions expressed here on belong solely to the poster and do not represent or reflect the opinions or beliefs of AARoads, its creators and/or associates.