*Warning, pointless rant ahead…*

[millera9]

I just wanted to share with everyone that I have discovered a tremendous new form of birth control; sitting in the Orlando airport waiting for a delayed flight on a Saturday afternoon. That’s it. I’m serious. I think when I get home I’m going to have a vasectomy. Never have I experienced such a wealth of poorly supervised children hopped up on caffeine, chocolate, and boredom.

Argh!

/*end of ranting*
//I don’t blame the kids for their boredom. Hell, I’m typing this from my phone, that’s how under-stimulated I am right now…
///Do they prescribe ritalin to 23 year olds?

[caradoc]

Never have I experienced such a wealth of poorly supervised children hopped up on caffeine, chocolate, and boredom.

I feel your pain. I really do.

It seems that any time I’m booked to travel for work, I end up with a four-year-old sitting behind me with a spastic leg muscle. The kicking never stops.

And it seems that some large percentage of “parents” immediately go deaf after spawning. Some don’t. Many do.

My wife and I have actually made an effort to patronize local establishments that are *not* “family-friendly.”

I once saw a sign I found amusing, though…

“Unattended children will be given two cups of caramel espresso and a free puppy.”

I just hope they wait until about 90 seconds before returning the child to the parents to do that.

[staplermofo]

One of the few benefits of looking like a child molester with a camera is not having to put up with that. Kids are more supervised than it seems, especially when you give them candy and try to take them somewhere. Sure, giving a kid some candy to cheer him up while you take him to security to find his parents seems reasonable… but man… it never works out.

[schnee]

hey, wait a minnit. the schneeclan was in the orlando airport yesterday.

/not really. april fools

[caradoc]

After tonight, I really have to add to the rant…

What the fark is it with these asshats who drive everywhere in all weather with their farking fog lights on? There’s no fog. There isn’t even any rain. Not a farking cloud in the sky. And yet they all drive around with their farking fog lights on, blinding other drivers who then turn on their own fog lights.

I want an auto-targeting BB gun. Shoot out those farking fog lights.

And people who drive with their HID headlights on should be shot, too.

Oh, and anyone who wraps their headlights in farking blue Saran wrap to simulate HID headlights should be shot.

(sigh)

[mikemikeb]

What the fark is it with these asshats who drive everywhere in all weather with their farking fog lights on? There’s no fog. There isn’t even any rain. Not a farking cloud in the sky. And yet they all drive around with their farking fog lights on, blinding other drivers who then turn on their own fog lights.

Many of those cars probably have something called “Daytime Running Lights” (DRL). It’s supposed to be a safety feature built into cars. The idea is that having the low beams turned on (not the high beams) increases the car’s visibility to other drivers, even in the daytime, potentially reducing the risk of an accident. Because of this, having them lowers car insurance rates. The drivers can’t turn the lights off, and if the parent drivers with DRL-equipped cars (a large percentage of such drivers on the road) believe that keeping them on means that their children are less likely to be part of an accident, why would they want to?

There are signs along a road in MD, SR 404, telling drivers that it’s state law for them to turn on their lights on that road, even in the day, because of the undivided two-lane (read: one lane in each direction) roadway and its 55 MPH speed limit. Maybe I’ll get pic of a sign one day to prove its existance.

Oh, and anyone who wraps their headlights in farking blue Saran wrap to simulate HID headlights should be shot.

Wow — people where you live actually do that to their cars? And yes, I would find that potentially annoying and absolutely tacky (and bad). There ought to be a law banning it nationwide, in case this trend passes on to other areas like Florida and Ohio — or the DC area.

*****This post brought to you by The 1996 Saturn SL, among the first inexpensive cars in the US with Daytime Running Lights.
Saturn: Because it’s a Saturn*****

[caradoc]

I’m aware of DRLs. My own car has them. I’m not talking about DRLs.

I’m talking about the fog lights, being the extra headlights that are usually placed very low to the ground and aimed slightly up of straight ahead so as to avoid the direct backscatter typically associated with light dispersion through fog. Sometimes they have yellow filters over them.

There’s no good reason to turn those on unless there’s fog.

[Claff]

Fog lights aren’t supposed to be aimed “up of straight ahead”, they’re supposed to be pointed down and a little to the left and right to help illuminate the lines marking lanes in the road immediately in front of the car.

When my lights are on, the fogs are always on. I always say there’s no such thing as too much light when I’m driving. But my fogs are also factory-equipped and aimed correctly, so there shouldn’t be any glare to oncoming traffic. Obviously I can’t speak for everyone else’s equipment, though.

[caradoc]

When my lights are on, the fogs are always on. I always say there’s no such thing as too much light when I’m driving.

I hate to say it, but you’re in the target class for my rant.

If there’s no weather problems, and you’re driving on surface streets in town, there’s absolutely no reason to have the fog lights on.

Turn them off. Please.

[staplermofo]

FIGHT IT OUT!

[monkeybort]

*arsenio arm motion*

jerry!! jerry!!! jerry!!

[powerplantgirl]

*throws chair*

*gets hit with chair*

[Claff]

You can have my fog light illumination when you pry it from my cold dead hands.

On the plus side, there’s like almost zero chance I’ll be in Arizona in the foreseeable future (though the missus spent her teen years in Mesa and we spent a long weekend in Phoenix back in 2003, it’s a nice place and I’d gladly entertain a return trip) so you’ll have to take care of the many locals assaulting your night vision before having to take action against those of us on the other side of the continent.

[caradoc]

I bet you drive the freeway with your high beams on, too. On the other hand, I’m betting your fog lights aren’t right at my roof line, either.

Too many jackasses around here with jacked-up trucks.

[Claff]

I’ll go to low beams if I see headlights or taillights ahead of me. I’m not totally uncivilized.

[Author]

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