You Don't Know the Quack, Quack Signal
This is an attempt by me to establish a signal that will advise other drivers that there is a problem with the lights on their car. Although I do occasionally pull into a parking lot behind a car with a problem with the light(s), it's impossible to communicate with the driver in the other car while traveling on the highway. By using the following signal, that looks like a duck quacking, it should be sufficient to accomplish that goal. The following are some of the basic problems associated with lights on a car.
- A light is burned out. Primary reason, 90% of the time.
- The turn signal is on when not warranted. Or use your left, right, left, etc., 3-clicks each way.
- Headlights on high beam during the day. Low beam headlights, or traveling lights, aids the oncoming driver to see you from a greater distance; enhancing both your safety. They are not so you can see better. High beams during the day do not help your visibility, but it does bother the oncoming driver's vision, placing both of you in greater danger. Use low beam or running lights during the day. Or flash your high beams, but DON'T leave them on.
You Don't Know How To Maintain Speed
To get to town, we that live on the mountain have to drive downhill, uphill, and then a steep downhill.
The speed limit on this road is 40 mph, so what did the car in front of me do today? Uphill 35 mph and downhill, well, halfway down, it took him that long to coast to 45 mph. Highways are not rollercoasters. Now, what should one do in a 40 mph zone? Straightaway, 40 mph; uphill, 40 mph; downhill, 40 mph, so how do I accomplish this?
Uphill, press down on the gas pedal; downhill, press down on the brake pedal. On the straightaway, look at the speedometer once in a while. I hope that this is not too complicated.
You Don't Have A Clue Yet
Remember, it is you who voted for Macron. Were all these churches "accidentally" destroyed in the past four years and the 47 in February alone? RIP, France.
You Tailgate When Driving Downhill
I live on a mountain; therefore, I have to drive on a 6-degree downgrade roadway to get into town. I also have to drive on a 6-degree upgrade roadway to get back home. The speed limit is 40 mph, but most cars go 50 mph downhill and 35-40 going uphill. That is not so much the problem, the problem is that every single driver tailgates going downhill, but none tailgate going uphill. The minimum, not to tailgate on a level road is the 2-second rule. On the downhill, 95% of the cars are less than 1-second, approximately 1-2 car lengths behind the front car, while traveling uphill on the same road they are 3-4-seconds behind the car in front of them, anywhere between 5 to 10 car lengths. Why? Wouldn't just the reverse be much safer?
Doesn't it stand to reason, because of the pull of gravity, that it would take at least three times the time and distance traveling on a steep downhill roadway to stop than when traveling uphill? These are the same drivers that do this everyday. Why?
One of the reasons is that it's easier to go faster downhill because the driver doesn't have to do anything. The car just goes down the steep grade all by itself. It's nearly impossible, on the other hand, for a driver to maintain his speed uphill as he has to do something that is very difficult; he has to press down on the gas pedal; therefore, he can't catch up to the car in front of him.
By tailgating only: 15,000 killed, 750,000 hospitalized, and 2.7 million accidents yearly in the United States. Keep up the good work.
You Think That One Second Is Worth Your Life
As many as 16,000 people are killed every year in the United States because of tailgating, aka following too close. As many as 80% of drivers tailgate every day. The safe distance is determined by the 2-second rule, which I have mentioned many times and in my other Posts on Tailgating.
The safe distance, as mentioned in my Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock post, is determined by the element/weather. Let's go with normal, dry weather and the 2-second rule.
The difference between tailgating and not tailgating is 1-second. At 1-second or less time, behind the car in front of you will not give you time to stop if the driver in front encounters an obstruction and has to slow down or stop quickly.
At 2-seconds, which equals a car length for each 10-mph of speed, should give you the time necessary to react so you don't crash into it. Should . . . if you're paying attention to your driving.
It's only a 1-second difference. If the road is wet and even if you decide to follow the 3-second rule to give you more time to react, do you think your boss will be able to differentiate whether you're 1-second or 2-seconds later to arrive at work, or wherever you're going? I don't think so.
So you're not killed, but maybe you'll be one of the 750,000 who are hospitalized each year due to tailgating accidents, or one of the ones involved in the 2,700,00 accident?
Is your life worth 1-second of your time? Mine is. That's why I don't tailgate.
Notice: To view the other 10 Posts on Tailgating go to Categories in the right-hand column and click on the link at www.youarestupidif.com.
The safe distance, as mentioned in my Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock post, is determined by the element/weather. Let's go with normal, dry weather and the 2-second rule.
The difference between tailgating and not tailgating is 1-second. At 1-second or less time, behind the car in front of you will not give you time to stop if the driver in front encounters an obstruction and has to slow down or stop quickly.
At 2-seconds, which equals a car length for each 10-mph of speed, should give you the time necessary to react so you don't crash into it. Should . . . if you're paying attention to your driving.
It's only a 1-second difference. If the road is wet and even if you decide to follow the 3-second rule to give you more time to react, do you think your boss will be able to differentiate whether you're 1-second or 2-seconds later to arrive at work, or wherever you're going? I don't think so.
So you're not killed, but maybe you'll be one of the 750,000 who are hospitalized each year due to tailgating accidents, or one of the ones involved in the 2,700,00 accident?
Is your life worth 1-second of your time? Mine is. That's why I don't tailgate.
Notice: To view the other 10 Posts on Tailgating go to Categories in the right-hand column and click on the link at www.youarestupidif.com.
You Improperly Feed Deer
Deer Feeding by Humans
Worse than a belly-ache.
It takes two to four weeks of feeding on a new food source for deer to establish the microorganisms necessary to obtain nutrients from that food. The time and energy it takes to convert to new microorganisms uses precious fat reserves that could have been spared if the deer had fed continually on natural winter browse. Studies, including some in Pennsylvania, have documented the death of wild ruminants from feeding on highly digestible, high energy, low fiber feed such as corn in winter. This rapid exposure to a concentrated grain diet can cause a fatal disruption of the animal's acid-base balance. Those that survive the immediate effects often die in the days or weeks that follow, due to secondary complications of the disease.
Feeding by humans causes the concentration of a large herd which attracts predators such as bears, mountain lions, foxes, etc. When the human, especially a child, is feeding the deer and there are predators around, as the human cannot run as fast as the deer, the predator, not being fussy about what it eats, will eat the human. There are several recorded instances where the human child was killed and eaten by the predator. Bears don't kill their prey before they start to eat it . . . human or otherwise.
It seems to the human, especially the human child, that they are helping the deer by giving them a treat and it's a fun thing to do, but they are actually killing the deer. Irrespective of the predators, the deer themselves can become aggressive and harm the human.
If one feels that animals are in distress, such as injured or due to severe weather conditions and snowfall, he should call the proper agency for advice and help.
The Dead of Winter
Winter mortality will never be eliminated, it's nature's way of ensuring that only the strongest of the species survive to reproduce. Winter survival is determined by the availability of high quality fall food (to ensure fat accumulation) and winter thermal cover (to conserve energy). By late fall, deer (even captive deer) instinctively reduce their food intake and continue to do so through most of the winter. During that time, deer rely heavily on fat reserves and their ability to conserve energy, thereby making those reserves last longer. They travel less and seek protection in cover where snow is less deep, wind is less severe and tempertures are warmer. Winter energy conservation, especially important to fawns which use a good portion of their fall food to grow bone and muscle, not build up fat reserves. If an animal's fat reserves are used up before the end of winter, it is much more likely to die.
That being said, any activity that causes increased energy demands can harm deer by compelling them to waste essential fat reserves. Supplemental feedig can cause deer to expend more energy by coercing them to travel farther and more often and can increase winter starvation by luring in more animals than the feed can support. In one study, feeding was found to increase the winter death rate from 25 to 42 percent. Supplemental feeding also lowers the quality of the herd by enabling less fit individuals to avoid selective, natural winter culling. High concentrations of wildlife at feeding sites also attract predators. Animals expending energy to avoid those predators burn fat reserves that would have otherwise enabled them to survive the winter.
Sources: Wildlife conservation websites.
http://www.ruidosonews.com/story/news/local/2017/01/12/feeding-wildlife-could-fatal-wild/96491254
Worse than a belly-ache.
It takes two to four weeks of feeding on a new food source for deer to establish the microorganisms necessary to obtain nutrients from that food. The time and energy it takes to convert to new microorganisms uses precious fat reserves that could have been spared if the deer had fed continually on natural winter browse. Studies, including some in Pennsylvania, have documented the death of wild ruminants from feeding on highly digestible, high energy, low fiber feed such as corn in winter. This rapid exposure to a concentrated grain diet can cause a fatal disruption of the animal's acid-base balance. Those that survive the immediate effects often die in the days or weeks that follow, due to secondary complications of the disease.
Feeding by humans causes the concentration of a large herd which attracts predators such as bears, mountain lions, foxes, etc. When the human, especially a child, is feeding the deer and there are predators around, as the human cannot run as fast as the deer, the predator, not being fussy about what it eats, will eat the human. There are several recorded instances where the human child was killed and eaten by the predator. Bears don't kill their prey before they start to eat it . . . human or otherwise.
It seems to the human, especially the human child, that they are helping the deer by giving them a treat and it's a fun thing to do, but they are actually killing the deer. Irrespective of the predators, the deer themselves can become aggressive and harm the human.
If one feels that animals are in distress, such as injured or due to severe weather conditions and snowfall, he should call the proper agency for advice and help.
The Dead of Winter
Winter mortality will never be eliminated, it's nature's way of ensuring that only the strongest of the species survive to reproduce. Winter survival is determined by the availability of high quality fall food (to ensure fat accumulation) and winter thermal cover (to conserve energy). By late fall, deer (even captive deer) instinctively reduce their food intake and continue to do so through most of the winter. During that time, deer rely heavily on fat reserves and their ability to conserve energy, thereby making those reserves last longer. They travel less and seek protection in cover where snow is less deep, wind is less severe and tempertures are warmer. Winter energy conservation, especially important to fawns which use a good portion of their fall food to grow bone and muscle, not build up fat reserves. If an animal's fat reserves are used up before the end of winter, it is much more likely to die.
That being said, any activity that causes increased energy demands can harm deer by compelling them to waste essential fat reserves. Supplemental feedig can cause deer to expend more energy by coercing them to travel farther and more often and can increase winter starvation by luring in more animals than the feed can support. In one study, feeding was found to increase the winter death rate from 25 to 42 percent. Supplemental feeding also lowers the quality of the herd by enabling less fit individuals to avoid selective, natural winter culling. High concentrations of wildlife at feeding sites also attract predators. Animals expending energy to avoid those predators burn fat reserves that would have otherwise enabled them to survive the winter.
Sources: Wildlife conservation websites.
http://www.ruidosonews.com/story/news/local/2017/01/12/feeding-wildlife-could-fatal-wild/96491254
You Don't Report Child Abuse
The following will seem like I'm bragging, but I'm not as it's all factual. The reason will be understood in the summary.
I've lectured for 11-years to just about every discipline that is responsible for children: police, firemen, EMT's, teachers, medical personnel. and at colleges and universities in the Master's program for Criminal Justice professionals, all on Child Abuse. All of these people were Mandatory Reporters, i.e., if they didn't report child abuse to the proper agency or take care of the child themselves they could be disciplined and/or arrested, which in one case, a teacher was, based on my recommendation.
Just because you're not a mandatory reporter doesn't mean that you do not have a moral obligation to do anything about trying to help the child from further abuse.
So what's my point?
If you don't report to the proper authorities what you know or suspect that a relative or neighbor is abusing their children, I strongly believe that you are complicit in the pain and suffering of that child.
I've lectured for 11-years to just about every discipline that is responsible for children: police, firemen, EMT's, teachers, medical personnel. and at colleges and universities in the Master's program for Criminal Justice professionals, all on Child Abuse. All of these people were Mandatory Reporters, i.e., if they didn't report child abuse to the proper agency or take care of the child themselves they could be disciplined and/or arrested, which in one case, a teacher was, based on my recommendation.
Just because you're not a mandatory reporter doesn't mean that you do not have a moral obligation to do anything about trying to help the child from further abuse.
So what's my point?
If you don't report to the proper authorities what you know or suspect that a relative or neighbor is abusing their children, I strongly believe that you are complicit in the pain and suffering of that child.
You Don't Know the Sun
The Sun:
The sun was shining bright late this afternoon when I was walking my dog. Walking back towards my house I noticed how bright the road ahead looked. The trees seemed to be lit up and I could see several deer crossing the street far ahead. What a wonderful bright picture the sun made as it was shining from the back of me and slowly lowering in the sky. During the early, to mid-morning hours the sun is also low but rising.
What wonderful times of the day to be out walking, BUT,
while the sun is at your back it's also shining in the windshield of the approaching cars, blinding or, at least, severely reducing the driver's vision; therefore, he may not see you . . . WHACK, YOU'RE DEAD.
Tip: If the approaching car is not moving away from you, you move away from it by stepping off of the travel portion of the road.
Note: Some people recommend that you always walk with the sun facing you, even though you'll not be facing traffic. I prefer, as recommended, that you always walk facing traffic. It's your choice. It's your safety. (This is not an issue if there are sidewalks).
The sun was shining bright late this afternoon when I was walking my dog. Walking back towards my house I noticed how bright the road ahead looked. The trees seemed to be lit up and I could see several deer crossing the street far ahead. What a wonderful bright picture the sun made as it was shining from the back of me and slowly lowering in the sky. During the early, to mid-morning hours the sun is also low but rising.
What wonderful times of the day to be out walking, BUT,
while the sun is at your back it's also shining in the windshield of the approaching cars, blinding or, at least, severely reducing the driver's vision; therefore, he may not see you . . . WHACK, YOU'RE DEAD.
Tip: If the approaching car is not moving away from you, you move away from it by stepping off of the travel portion of the road.
Note: Some people recommend that you always walk with the sun facing you, even though you'll not be facing traffic. I prefer, as recommended, that you always walk facing traffic. It's your choice. It's your safety. (This is not an issue if there are sidewalks).
