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17742. thoughtful - 12/8/2005 3:59:33 PM Sigh.
I've been using my bed lamp to brighten my mornings gradually which seems to have helped a lot with my usual seasonal depression, but lately I've been feeling very stupid. It seems like things I should know, I don't...things I used to know, I've forgotten...and things I try to learn come with difficulty. Like I used to be a lot quicker and now my brain is slogging through mud. Is this just another form of depression? Mental laziness? Lead poisoning? Old age? Or is it just a result of reading "A Beautiful Mind". Often what I'm reading seems to cast a shadow over my day-to-day life.
Very frustrating.
At least I haven't received any messages from aliens through the fillings in my teeth. 17743. thoughtful - 12/8/2005 4:00:15 PM At least, not yet. 17744. alistairconnor - 12/8/2005 4:22:39 PM "It prevents a skid."
yes, but that's not generally my problem... it's just going in a straight line when the road bends, because there is no grip for steering. Can ABS help get control back in that situation, is what I was wondering. 17745. alistairconnor - 12/8/2005 4:23:59 PM I had a colleague who got radio reception through the fillings in her teeth. Thought she was going mad, but once she'd identified the station there was no doubt about it. 17746. thoughtful - 12/8/2005 4:37:21 PM No, ABS can't help regain control in that situation as it's all about braking. It will help you stop faster. While J's equation may be correct, it's a matter of friction loss. ABS will help maximize friction and thus slowing the car more efficiently than skidding.
If you have front wheel drive, then the way to help regain steering control is to just touch the gas to keep the front wheels turning and turn the wheel in the direction you want to go. If it's rear wheel drive, you need to let up on the gas, but don't touch the brake and turn the wheel in the direction you want to go.
I'd suggest checking your tires to make sure they have proper inflation and/or getting new tires or snow tires. Most of the people I've seen with that problem need new tires and need to slow down. 17747. thoughtful - 12/8/2005 6:25:19 PM thinking of wabbit. 17748. wabbit - 12/8/2005 6:32:39 PM Thank you, t'ful, my tires are ok.
Any more music anyone wants added to our work-friendly stream? 17749. Ms. No - 12/8/2005 6:40:16 PM Thoughtful,
Good thinking with the lamp. I still haven't adjusted properly to daylight savings this year which at this point means I might not ever. It's actually been great to wake up and really truly be awake before my alarm goes off, but it's tough getting up in the dark.
Do you drink coffee in the morning? Is there a timer on it so that you could combine the homey smell of coffee brewing with the light coming on and feel like you're waking up to company or something? 17750. Ms. No - 12/8/2005 6:41:35 PM Folks have been pretty stingy with their requests, so far.
I'm curious about the Jethro Tull Christmas song that Jay was talking about though.
---Oh, and you were right. It's ELO that did Nutrocker, not Manheim Steamroller.
17751. jayackroyd - 12/8/2005 7:29:26 PM It turns out there is a Jethro Tull Christmas album out.
That link is to the lyric sheet for the album positioned at the song I was thinking of.
The song sample is also up on the site, although I don't like this version as much as the one on the album (Living in the Past? Thick as a Brick?) and stops before the punch line. It's not up on Itunes, and if I have it, it's on vinyl and I've unhooked (long story) my cd burner from the music system. 17752. alistairconnor - 12/8/2005 7:43:31 PM You people still have rear drive cars? Lord, I thought they went out with the Ark. Last one I had was a Beetle, that ground to a halt in the early 80s. 17753. PelleNilsson - 12/8/2005 8:22:14 PM BMW and most of the Mercedes models are still rear drive. The Vovo I have now is my first car with front-wheel drive and I'm quite happy about it. With ABS, studded tires and anti-spin (works like the old diff-lock) I'm quite confident in difficult road consitions. Before that I had a BMW automatic with rear drive. With that combination you have little control of the car's behaviour on slippery roads. 17754. jayackroyd - 12/8/2005 8:28:32 PM There's an awful lot of 4 wheel drive here now. I think Suburu's entire line is 4 wheel drive.
Car nuts, like Mickey Kaus on Slate, prefer rear drive.
Myself, I hate automatic transmissions. I never feel like I'm really in control of a car when I can't downshift.
The car I was using that had the ABS was an automatic, but my sister's winter car is manual, and I really felt safer in it. 17755. thoughtful - 12/8/2005 8:30:21 PM The sportier cars tend to be rear wheel drive as well...one of the reasons why i never got a miata, cute as it is. A friend of mine has one, but she lives in FL so it makes sense for her.
 17756. jayackroyd - 12/8/2005 8:34:57 PM I'd always wanted a miata. I like small, peppy cars. My sister has one--it's her summer car. When I've ridden with her, I've always been just a little bit terrified. It's like riding on a roller skate, especially with the top down.
Like thoughtful, she doesn't it consider it safe to drive in a New England winter. So when she moved back from Seattle to Maine, she got the Subaru for the winter. 17757. judithathome - 12/8/2005 9:31:33 PM know of nothing more terrifying than the unexpected and complete loss of control when you hit ice at, say, 30 mph on a twisty country road
I can think of something more terrifying. I had a brand new Cougar XR7 or something like that and was tooling along one winter's day at a sensible spped and went across an bridge/overpass thing and suddenly found myself twirling in slow motion and sliding off the road, ending up facing on-coming traffic. My car was white with white leather interior and I was wearing a big white cable knit sweater with a huge collar and had on black round glasses...the man who was facing me as I came to a stop jumped out of his car and ran to help me...he said all he could see were the glasses with huge frigntened brown eyes staring out at him like a terrified barn owl. 17758. wonkers2 - 12/8/2005 11:08:45 PM Rear wheel drive cars are like hogs on ice. I was in DC when the big snowfall hit in the late '90s and was able to get around in my Detroit front wheel drive car, but the BMWs of which there are plenty in DC were stuck in snow banks all over town. And in the north you may as well put your Corvette or Firebird away for the winter. They are virtually unusable. 17759. wonkers2 - 12/8/2005 11:09:30 PM Anybody else remember the good old days when you put snow tires on in the winter and/or carried tire chains in your trunk? 17760. wonkers2 - 12/8/2005 11:15:06 PM A plug for Detroit: General Motors' Oldsmobile Division introduced the first automatic transmission in 1946 and the first front wheel drive car, the Toronado, in the 1966. Olds also developed the high compression Rocket V-8 engine, the first hard-top convertible, recessed windshield wipers and several other innovations. Let's hear it for DETROIT cars!!! 17761. Ms. No - 12/8/2005 11:22:16 PM Jay,
That whole album looks cool. I couldn't hear the samples so I'll check out artistdirect and see if they've got them there.
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