Fun Facts

I play with K-Y, not eat it.

:-P

I dunno, sounds like you have just the right amount of jelly but...

Please tell us it isn't K-Y Jelly.

Fun fact:

I do most of the work to my vehicles. My mechanic will not challenge me on my work, as I have proved to him I know my stuff. I bring him the things that I can't or won't do.

I know how to do complex vehicle repairs. But, for the life of me, I can't figure out how to stop putting too much jelly on to my bread when making peanut butter and jelly! The jelly just oozes out and makes a mess on the plate!

Lol!

It's a fact (albeit not fun) that things more and more are designed with planned obsolecence. I saw this illustrated in a fun way in the movie "Kinky boots". To add some fun to this unfun fact, I recommend watching that movie, if you haven't already seen it ;-)

Just having a little fun with you guys. :-)

But.... I bought a new lawn mower this year. The entire manual was in pictures. I had a hard time trying to figure out WTF the pictures meant.

I didn't really need a picture to know to add the oil included in the carton before starting it. Or a picture of someone pulling the rope with the plastic handle to start it. The pictures of the assembly of the handle on the machine were a bit confusing, but I didn't even look at the book until after I assembled the thing. I wasn't sure what the little pictures on the lever to convert it from bagging to mulching mode meant.

Took me a bit to realize there is no choke/primer button and no way to change the oil. Ever. Turns out they provided more oil than necessary to fill it- I had to get a hose to take some out through the filler tube when I discovered there's no oil drain.

Last mower lasted me over 10 years. I can't imagine this will last that long without any oil changes. They must make really good mowers in Mexico.

Goodenuf - I believe I got the point. The thing is, my take on it isn't that they "can't" understand things. They simply don't want to, and they justify it by telling themselves "it's too complicated".

I think the point was missed.

I think that the reason most people don't work on their cars is related to the fact that people today can't figure out why the nozzle at the gas pump doesn't fit in the recharging port on their EV, or they can't figure out which side of their car the gas fill door is on.

Goodenuf - Yes, todays cars are more complicated, but one of the main reasons people do not work on their cars is that they simply would rather pay someone else to do it. There are many things that people could do themselves and many of those things have YouTube videos on how to do it.

For less than $10 you can get an OBDII port reader to read "check engine" codes, among other things. Spend a little more and it will give you transmission and brake codes. Google the make/model/code and it can yield detailed info about the problem and potential fixes.

There are things that I will bring to my mechanic, but if I do, I already have detailed info about the problem that helps him fix it faster and save him time, and me money.

Even if you choose to have a mechanic do all of your work, armed with a little info, you can quickly see if you have a good mechanic or one that likes to siphon your wallet for the max possible at every opportunity.

Another quick easy way is most auto parts places (AutoZone, VIP, Pep Boys, etc) have online parts. Take your invoice from a repair and see what your cost for the parts would be. If they are 2x or 3x your cost, look for another mechanic. Note that OEM parts will generally cost more. If you're bringing you car to a dealer than you can already expect about 2x (or more) on parts and labor).

One saying I hate is, "You get what you pay for". That is wrong more often than it's correct IMHO.

Just as stupid as having the setup instructions for a new computer only in their website. You don't have the computer working so how cam you pull up their website not everyone has a smartphone or another computer to use.

FF: In the 1940's, car owners' manuals told you how to adjust the ignition points/system and included a detailed cutaway sketch with the copy to assist you in adjusting the distributor vacuum brake.

In the 1960's the car owners' manuals included instructions on how to adjust the intake and exhaust valves.

Today's owners' manuals don't say anything about those 2 maintenance items, but they do tell you to not drink the contents of the battery. Only it isn't in writing, they drew you a little picture.

One of you reading this is probably responsible for the last one.

I don't think I've ever met an intimidating Lab. Figures that an asshole like Puting would have the first one.

FF1: Vladimir Putin had a Labrador Retriever (Konni) that followed him everywhere and had a calming effect on him but an intimidating effect on others- especially other heads of state Putin met with while accompanied by Konni.

FF2: Konni passed away in 2014.

FF3: Putin invaded/annexed Crimea in 2014.

It's a very common term amongst folks in to spinning, weaving, and dying.

I also learned a new term. Though I'm not sure if mordent was my phone heping me or my bad spelling.

Yes. Mordant.

"A mordant or dye fixative is a substance used to set (i.e., bind) dyes on fabrics."

I didn't know that word, although I should have, given it is a chemistry term, albeit a mostly out of use one.

It was a combination of murder and rodent.

:-P

Mordant maybe?

Fun Fact #1: I had to look up the word "mordent"

Fun Fact #2: what I found doesn't make sense in the context of your Fun Fact.

So either it has another meaning or you meant to use a different word.

In a similar fun fact, urine is, or was, used as a mordent for dying cloth. It allowed the creation of a specific color that I don't remember right now. The folks doing the dying would leave puss pots by the road for travelers. Urin from red headed folks was prized. More so was urin from red headed virgin boys.

JW to go along with that Fun Fact:

Where the hell was he getting all this policeman piss from? Did they not think to ask him WTF he was doing with all of it?

Fun Fact:

Phosphorus was the last element to be discovered through what could be considered "alchemical" means rather than chemical. Meaning, there was still a sense of mysticism to it, including instructions that are completely irrelevant.

In 1669, alchemist Hennig Brand, as always in search of the Philosopher's Stone, developed the following procedure, as best I can recall:

Allow 60 pails of policeman's urine to stand until putrefied. Then boil until a paste. Draw vapors from the hot paste into cold water and collect the white powder that falls to the bottom.

Of course the urine being from police officers or allowing it to rot are completely irrelevant to the process, and serve only to give a nod to the last vestiges of the old way of thinking. I wonder if he said a prayer at the same time. It is also interesting to note that not only does the urine not need to be from policemen, or men at all, it doesn't need to be from humans. That he thought it did just shows you how old this approach was.

Fun Fact:

Here is the Fun Facts thread that Goodenuff was asking about.

hope Inez is enjoying retirement

Fun fact:

I am no longer on social media by choice, since November 2018. One of my sisters just sent me a couple of screenshots of a social media page she follows, as that page gives emergency alerts for the area. Apparently there was a house fire in my neighborhood at 6:30 this morning. I know the house, but don't know the family. I hope they are ok.

The fun and sad fact is this: I heard nothing. I heard no firetruck sirens, no commotion or anything of the sort. It is only a two minute walk from my place to where this house is in my neighborhood, but I heard nothing. For the lack of a better term, I was dead to the world in sleep at that time.

in 60 day it will be warm enough to go to the nude beach

Fun Fact:

If you have an electronics background, a soldering iron and time on your hands, you can fix broken power wires on the plug and resurrect an eleven year old Android tablet. The tablet is slow compared to today's processing power. But, it is still a cool little tablet with a seven inch screen.