Minor things that bother you

[kphoger]

I'm waiting for an alphabet proposal that just has one letter for elemeno.  Because that's the way we sing the song.

[NE2]

It's okay, flat landers in Florida can't drive in adverse weather either.

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=36966

[kphoger]

In naval and WW II forums I sometimes see a poster write "Pearl Harbour"

In aviation forums I sometimes see a poster write "aircrafts" for the plural of "aircraft"

That tells you something about what is their native language.

Cypriot Maronite Arabic?

[Beltway]

In naval and WW II forums I sometimes see a poster write "Pearl Harbour"
In aviation forums I sometimes see a poster write "aircrafts" for the plural of "aircraft"
That tells you something about what is their native language.

Cypriot Maronite Arabic?

Not American English.

[Beltway]

It's okay, flat landers in Florida can't drive in adverse weather either.

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=36966

They are smart enough not to drive in a hurricane.

[Max Rockatansky]

It's okay, flat landers in Florida can't drive in adverse weather either.

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=36966

They are smart enough not to drive in a hurricane.

But dumb enough in the Keys to stay during one.

[kkt]

receipts, boarding passes, etc., that are produced online but one might reasonably print out, where the important information could easily be printed on half a page of paper and yet take up two or more pages with unnecessary formatting.

[Beltway]

It's okay, flat landers in Florida can't drive in adverse weather either.

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=36966

They are smart enough not to drive in a hurricane.

But dumb enough in the Keys to stay during one.

IIRC you have a webpage of photos you took there?

Then you know how complicated it is to evacuate.

[kphoger]

But dumb enough in the Keys to stay during one.

IIRC you have a webpage of photos you took there?

Then you know how complicated it is to evacuate.

IIRC, he actually lived in Key West for a time.

[Max Rockatansky]

But dumb enough in the Keys to stay during one.

IIRC you have a webpage of photos you took there?

Then you know how complicated it is to evacuate.

IIRC, he actually lived in Key West for a time.

Indeed, I lived on Cudjoe Key and managed the safety program for a civilian department on NAS Key West.  I was the person ultimately responsible for deciding when we were closing up shop and evacuating to Orlando.  A lot of the locals we employed didn't want to leave and almost always had issues during the storms.  It was hard to find a home that wasn't on stilts in the Lower Keys (which was most homes) that didn't have a hurricane bathtub ring.

Speaking of highway stuff down in the Florida Keys I was the one who donated Google Maps drawings which showed the location of the original Overseas Highway (FL 4A) to the Pigeon Key Museum.  I used to run on 4A between Sugarloaf Key and Ramrod Key almost every morning. 

If I was doing these drawings nowadays, I'd use transparency layers and way thinner stencil.  Keep clicking right from the first image link on Flickr to get the full set from Stock Island to Card Sound:

https://flic.kr/p/UJChvN

[Beltway]

IIRC you have a webpage of photos you took there? Then you know how complicated it is to evacuate.

IIRC, he actually lived in Key West for a time.

Indeed, I lived on Cudjoe Key and managed the safety program for a civilian department on NAS Key West.  I was the person ultimately responsible for deciding when we were closing up shop and evacuating to Orlando.  A lot of the locals we employed didn't want to leave and almost always had issues during the storms.  It was hard to find a home that wasn't on stilts in the Lower Keys (which was most homes) that didn't have a hurricane bathtub ring.
Speaking of highway stuff down in the Florida Keys I was the one who donated Google Maps drawings which showed the location of the original Overseas Highway (FL 4A) to the Pigeon Key Museum.  I used to run on 4A between Sugarloaf Key and Ramrod Key almost every morning. 
If I was doing these drawings nowadays, I'd use transparency layers and way thinner stencil.  Keep clicking right from the first image link on Flickr to get the full set from Stock Island to Card Sound:
https://flic.kr/p/UJChvN

That is what I thought. We made 2 trips to Key West and one trip to Islamorada in the 1960s, so I have some knowledge of the area. Lived on the Space Coast.

Still had all the old bridges then. The new ones would help, but getting all that traffic up US-1 to the mainland, and then to some safe place at least another 100 to 200 miles north of there, is a huge problem. Many hurricane tracks would be heading north thru the Keys.

I would love to live there, but the safest approach is to live on the mainland. Deciding whether to leave puts you between a rock and a hard place, there are risks in staying and there are risks to being in a jam on a highway somewhere.

[CtrlAltDel]

receipts, boarding passes, etc., that are produced online but one might reasonably print out, where the important information could easily be printed on half a page of paper and yet take up two or more pages with unnecessary formatting.

This annoys me too. That half a line of text on this receipt for a car I rented this week is the only thing on that second page.

[vdeane]

The fact that I did things like getting a small portable travel fan and fixing my car's aux port in anticipation of the 2026 roadtrip season, and now I'm not even sure if I'm even going to do things like drive out of radio range or stay at a hotel this year.

[hbelkins]

The fact that I did things like getting a small portable travel fan and fixing my car's aux port in anticipation of the 2026 roadtrip season, and now I'm not even sure if I'm even going to do things like drive out of radio range or stay at a hotel this year.

Car issues rearing their ugly heads?

[bugo]

I spent a week in Bradenton, Florida in 1998. One morning when I was there, we drove down to Key West. We took turns driving: I drove down and my friend drove back. About halfway across the Seven Mile Bridge, the check engine light came on in the Dodge Intrepid I was driving. I freaked out a bit because we were 1400 miles from home and it was a Sunday. I kept driving and while the light stayed on, the car drove fine. There were 3 of us, and we took turns filling the tank. When it was my turn to fill it, we stopped at a gas station between Atlanta and Chattanooga. I was pleased when I saw that the gas was 69¢ a gallon. They were having a price war, and I won it. We came back through Nashville and Memphis because my friend hates Mississippi, and he would rather drive out of the way than to drive through the state he loathes so much. He was partially joking, but it was cool to be able to see eastern Tennessee during the day.
It was a fun trip. This was during the month when swing music became unexplainably popular, and the Cherry Popping Daddies were all over the radio.  We listened to the radio part of the time, to CDs part of the time. This is the trip where we got pulled over for going 55 in a 65 on I-10 just east of I-49. My friend who was driving didn't get up to speed because we were about to exit off at the next interchange to fill the tank. The cops didn't do anything to us, but they still violated our rights by pulling us over when we weren't doing anything illegal. I try to avoid driving in Louisiana for that reason. Same with Texas.

[vdeane]

The fact that I did things like getting a small portable travel fan and fixing my car's aux port in anticipation of the 2026 roadtrip season, and now I'm not even sure if I'm even going to do things like drive out of radio range or stay at a hotel this year.

Car issues rearing their ugly heads?

Nope.  More life circumstance.  I was going to go to the Harrisburg meet, but then a memorial service for a family member got scheduled for the exact same day.  So now instead of a trip to Harrisburg that would involve clinching the sections of US 422 and US 322 between Harrisburg and the Philly area, now it's just my usual trip to Rochester.  Then, a couple weeks later, is a conference that happens ever other year that I'd usually go to, but it conflicts with one that I daytrip, so which one I go to depends on the agenda (also, both are in range of my radio presets, and I'd be taking a state car anyways).  I'm also looking at the proposed roadmeets in Frederick and Rivière-du-Loup, but neither is scheduled at this point, so who knows if I'll be available or if either will even happen.

I'm also finding that I'm having to cut back on travel since most of my vacation/personal time is spoken for after accounting for trips to Rochester to visit my parents and extended family, plus the trip my parents and I have started taking to the Thousand Islands annually starting a couple years ago.  I was able to keep up with everything in 2024 and 2025 since I had vacation time saved for a planned cross-country trip (before determining that such wasn't feasible for me), but that bank has been used and we're at the point where if I did deeper I might have to actually start worrying about when I accrue vacation time rather than just taking it whenever I want.  The summer holidays are unfortunately not that useful for overnight trips because I can't stand the traffic from traveling on peak days (even in upstate NY the traffic is bad - I don't even what to imagine what the Northeast Corridor is like).

Now, even if I don't have hotel stays, the fan would likely be useful at the cabin we stay at in the Thousand Islands (and save me the trouble of bringing my one from home and trying to fit it on the night stand), but it would be nice to test it out somewhere that actually has air conditioning first.  As for the radio range thing, my preset system covers most of NY and New England outside of Maine, so I have to go outside daytrip range to spend substantial time out of it.

[kphoger]

I'm also finding that I'm having to cut back on travel since most of my vacation/personal time is spoken for after accounting for trips to Rochester to visit my parents and extended family meeting with building maintenance

FTFY

[Beltway]

About halfway across the Seven Mile Bridge, the check engine light came on in the Dodge Intrepid I was driving.

Steady amber is usually not an emergency. Flashing amber or flashing red means a major problem.

I got an OBD2 scanner on Amazon for about $35. I check the code and if I need more info look it up on Google. If not a major problem I reset the code. Always satisfying to see that light go away! If the problem is real the computer can display the light again.

[wxfree]

About halfway across the Seven Mile Bridge, the check engine light came on in the Dodge Intrepid I was driving. I freaked out a bit because we were 1400 miles from home and it was a Sunday. I kept driving and while the light stayed on, the car drove fine.

The check engine light really isn't related to the engine, but the emissions control systems.  A solid light most often means that the fuel cap isn't tightened.  It can also mean that there's another problem in the evaporative emissions system, which keeps gasoline vapor from escaping.  It can mean that a sensor is screwy or the catalytic converter is bad.  I don't mean to suggest that these aren't significant problems, because they can be expensive to fix, but in general they do not represent a reliability problem or the need for urgent repair.  If your vehicle isn't subject to emissions checks, those problems may not need to be repaired at all.  Some problems just mean the car pollutes a little more, or you may have to fill the fuel tank slowly. It may not be worth spending thousands of dollars to fix that.  Some problems may result in increased fuel consumption, which may change the economics.

If the light is blinking, that generally means there's a misfire, which is more urgent.  That an drastically increase fuel consumption and burn up a catalytic converter.  Reliability may be impaired.  I've seen a car run thousands of miles with a blinking light when it was misfiring due to a swallowed valve.  I couldn't figure out what was wrong until I took off the valve cover and found the desprung valve spring (something I've seen only this one time in the 30 years I've been taking care of cars).  It burned up the converter and wasted fuel, but it didn't stop going.  Such a problem could have, but it didn't mostly because of luck.  The valve got pushed back up and it bent the stem enough that it stayed up there, but not so much I couldn't pull it out later.

I don't mean to suggest that automotive repair needs should be ignored, but a solid check engine light is something that you can repair at your convenience, or when needed to pass an inspection, and is not likely to make the car stop going.  High temperature, low oil pressure, awful noises, or an engine that stops running are the disasters of the engine (not including transmission, steering, brakes, suspension, tires, and everything else that can go wrong).

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm curious if the check engine light was from gummed out gasoline obtained in Key West?   We always had issues with the octane rating from the fuel deliveries at the Air Station.

As an aside, the Seven Mile Bridge was the line where freight providers start charging extra for deliveries.  That's why gasoline costs so much more in the Lower Keys.

[kphoger]

The check engine light really isn't related to the engine, but the emissions control systems.  A solid light most often means that the fuel cap isn't tightened.  It can also mean that there's another problem in the evaporative emissions system, which keeps gasoline vapor from escaping.  It can mean that a sensor is screwy or the catalytic converter is bad.  I don't mean to suggest that these aren't significant problems, because they can be expensive to fix, but in general they do not represent a reliability problem or the need for urgent repair.  If your vehicle isn't subject to emissions checks, those problems may not need to be repaired at all.  Some problems just mean the car pollutes a little more, or you may have to fill the fuel tank slowly. It may not be worth spending thousands of dollars to fix that.  Some problems may result in increased fuel consumption, which may change the economics.

If the light is blinking, that generally means there's a misfire, which is more urgent.  That an drastically increase fuel consumption and burn up a catalytic converter.  Reliability may be impaired.  I've seen a car run thousands of miles with a blinking light when it was misfiring due to a swallowed valve.  I couldn't figure out what was wrong until I took off the valve cover and found the desprung valve spring (something I've seen only this one time in the 30 years I've been taking care of cars).  It burned up the converter and wasted fuel, but it didn't stop going.  Such a problem could have, but it didn't mostly because of luck.  The valve got pushed back up and it bent the stem enough that it stayed up there, but not so much I couldn't pull it out later.

I don't mean to suggest that automotive repair needs should be ignored, but a solid check engine light is something that you can repair at your convenience, or when needed to pass an inspection, and is not likely to make the car stop going.  High temperature, low oil pressure, awful noises, or an engine that stops running are the disasters of the engine (not including transmission, steering, brakes, suspension, tires, and everything else that can go wrong).

Forgive me, but I disagree.  There are definitely OBD-II codes that are important to look into because ignoring them could cause serious damage to the engine.  Chief among those would be the codes related to timing.  If your car's computer detects slack in the timing chain, it will throw a code and the engine light will come on.  If the chain develops enough slack, it could jump time.  If it jumps far enough, for many vehicles that would cause a valve and piston to collide, which would mean instant and complete engine failure.

[wxfree]

The check engine light really isn't related to the engine, but the emissions control systems.  A solid light most often means that the fuel cap isn't tightened.  It can also mean that there's another problem in the evaporative emissions system, which keeps gasoline vapor from escaping.  It can mean that a sensor is screwy or the catalytic converter is bad.  I don't mean to suggest that these aren't significant problems, because they can be expensive to fix, but in general they do not represent a reliability problem or the need for urgent repair.  If your vehicle isn't subject to emissions checks, those problems may not need to be repaired at all.  Some problems just mean the car pollutes a little more, or you may have to fill the fuel tank slowly. It may not be worth spending thousands of dollars to fix that.  Some problems may result in increased fuel consumption, which may change the economics.

If the light is blinking, that generally means there's a misfire, which is more urgent.  That an drastically increase fuel consumption and burn up a catalytic converter.  Reliability may be impaired.  I've seen a car run thousands of miles with a blinking light when it was misfiring due to a swallowed valve.  I couldn't figure out what was wrong until I took off the valve cover and found the desprung valve spring (something I've seen only this one time in the 30 years I've been taking care of cars).  It burned up the converter and wasted fuel, but it didn't stop going.  Such a problem could have, but it didn't mostly because of luck.  The valve got pushed back up and it bent the stem enough that it stayed up there, but not so much I couldn't pull it out later.

I don't mean to suggest that automotive repair needs should be ignored, but a solid check engine light is something that you can repair at your convenience, or when needed to pass an inspection, and is not likely to make the car stop going.  High temperature, low oil pressure, awful noises, or an engine that stops running are the disasters of the engine (not including transmission, steering, brakes, suspension, tires, and everything else that can go wrong).

Forgive me, but I disagree.  There are definitely OBD-II codes that are important to look into because ignoring them could cause serious damage to the engine.  Chief among those would be the codes related to timing.  If your car's computer detects slack in the timing chain, it will throw a code and the engine light will come on.  If the chain develops enough slack, it could jump time.  If it jumps far enough, for many vehicles that would cause a valve and piston to collide, which would mean instant and complete engine failure.

I don't disagree at all.  Mistiming will generally cause a flashing check engine light.  This is urgent, and may cause reliability problems.  I've seen such a problem not disable a car for months, but that was luck, which is not a strategy.  This car belonged to someone whose understanding of automotives is that if the car goes, then it's good enough for now.  By the time it got to me, it needed a new converter for another thousand dollars.  (I'm not a mechanic, I just use a back yard and a good tool set.)  A solid check engine light can often be ignored for years, or forever.  There are some problems, such as a bad upstream oxygen sensor, that can cause fuel to be wasted or decrease driveability.  In such a situation, when a sensor that tells the computer how the engine is running, so the computer can adjust to those conditions, fails, the computer has to go backup programming, using a table of theoretical values in ideal conditions.  It's usually good enough to keep the car running, but may waste fuel or reduce performance.

I don't mean to suggest laxity.  At a minimum, you should find out what the problem is.  It may be easy and cheap to fix.  Or it might be small, such as leaking half a pound of gasoline vapor into the atmosphere every decade.  But it might be a small thing that can lead to a big thing if ignored for too long.  A flashing light is an immediate problem.  A solid light, which is the topic I was focused on, is an "at your convenience" problem and not something to panic over.

[vdeane]

I'm also finding that I'm having to cut back on travel since most of my vacation/personal time is spoken for after accounting for trips to Rochester to visit my parents and extended family meeting with building maintenance

FTFY

???

I don't actually stay home whenever maintenance comes over.  One of the advantages of being in an apartment is that they don't need me to let them in (of course, that's also a disadvantage).  It's not ideal, but if I stayed home every time maintenance might come over, I'd have no time for much else.  It's honestly one of the things that makes me wonder how people put up with owning a house or condo.

[Beltway]

Forgive me, but I disagree.  There are definitely OBD-II codes that are important to look into because ignoring them could cause serious damage to the engine.  Chief among those would be the codes related to timing.  If your car's computer detects slack in the timing chain, it will throw a code and the engine light will come on.  If the chain develops enough slack, it could jump time.  If it jumps far enough, for many vehicles that would cause a valve and piston to collide, which would mean instant and complete engine failure.

You're right that some timing‑related codes can be serious, but that's exactly the point: OBD2 covers a huge spectrum, from "fix this soon" to "pull over now." A steady amber light doesn't automatically mean non-catastrophic risk.

It can mean a whole variety of things. I had one related to the stability control system which definitely needed fixing within the next 100 miles or so, and that was just steady amber.

I would hope that those serious timing issues would generate a flashing amber or solid red.

My LaCrosse 150,000+ miles kept throwing a minor emissions control error, and engine performance was not at all affected. I reset it dozens of times and it could vary from a day to a week before it came on again. I was going to my dealer to get it reset (for free) and found out I could diagnose and do that myself.

My previous car the LeSabre at ~280,000 miles developed an almost plugged catalytic converter and that varied from steady amber to flashing to red and back and forth. Even then I was able to nurse it along and get it to my dealer. The affect was very sluggish engine performance.

[kphoger]

My previous car the LeSabre at ~280,000 miles developed an almost plugged catalytic converter and that varied from steady amber to flashing to red and back and forth. Even then I was able to nurse it along and get it to my dealer. The affect was very sluggish engine performance.

Our last vehicle did that for like a year and half.  Eventually, it wouldn't start at all.