Things I will never understand.

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J_N
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Post by J_N »

OT: here we have special toddler pools (also lovingly called 'peepool' :wink: ) pretty shallow and not connected to the proper swimming areas...

on topic: I don't understand why Americans need warnings on everything... it's a running joke in Europe... went to Iceland recently - tour guide was like "I am sure you know how to use your common sense, but in case we have Americans with us: Please don't touch the Geysir - it's hot... if there is a spot where nobody is standing, there's probably a reason... again: the water is really hot!"

(I don't mean to offend anyone, it's just an observation. Of course Americans have common sense too, but somehow it seems nobody trusts them to use it... :roll: [probably because over there "but that's common sense" does not work as legal defence :hmm: ])
Julia - Introverts, unite! Seperately... in your own homes.

Spend your free time the way you like, not the way you think you're supposed to. ― Susan Cain

Author death +70 yrs? Legamus!
kukailimoku
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Post by kukailimoku »

No offense taken by this American, it truly is ridiculous. Blame the attorneys and insurance companies, they've built a system that's severely broken. A couple of examples from my own experience:

- I had to have some body and fender work done on a shoulder after years of abuse. Several weeks after my surgery I received a call from my insurer asking if there was anyone at fault for my "injury", meaning there is an entire department whose job it is to find someone to sue. I have to assume that they have a legal team as well, which I pay for as part of paying for the insurance from a company that doesn't want to do the thing I pay them to do.

- We have a local country club that has a golf course and restaurant that is frequented by guests from all over the world. The facility closes at 11:00 pm. Late one night a dang-near-falling-down drunk (not an American) decided to come back to hit golf balls off the elevated first tee in the dark. Not suprisingly, he fell off it. When they found him in the morning, he had a pretty serious spine injury. He sued the club (?) and, rather than take it to court, the club's insurer settled out of court for $7,000,000 (which the arbitrator cut in half because the guy was an idiot) and then raised the club's rates.

There are actually people whose sole source of income is to sue anybody for anything, knowing that they'll get paid as part of a settlement. Pathetic.
Why yes there IS a blog about choral singing. Thanks for asking.
http://www.thewindwardchoralsociety.org/news/
Morlock
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Post by Morlock »

kukailimoku wrote: There are actually people whose sole source of income is to sue anybody for anything, knowing that they'll get paid as part of a settlement. Pathetic.
Nasty, and sounds like that old science-fiction story of The Category Inventor... someone found a role to fill.

And yes, pathetic.
Hazel Pethig
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Post by Hazel Pethig »

I work in a loan office and I will never understand someone who takes out a loan, agrees to all the carefully explained terms, then refuses to pay it back! They seem to think we are running a charity solely for them.

Hazel
Last edited by Hazel Pethig on December 23rd, 2015, 11:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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carteki
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Post by carteki »

kukailimoku wrote:No offense taken by this American, it truly is ridiculous. Blame the attorneys and insurance companies, they've built a system that's severely broken.
Example from a friend driving a rental in the US. At an intersection he gets rammed by another car (i.e. he was in the right). Car is insured - he's not too fussed. Next thing he knows he's been sued by the other party for damages. He won the case, but after legal fees etc there was enough for a beer!

Fortunately our courts in RSA have stayed vaguely reasonable ...
Home owner on a golf estate lost because there were too many golf balls being hit into his garden.
J_N
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Post by J_N »

The way Thanksgiving is celebrated across the pond... and also Black Friday... both of which have started to infiltrate Europe... we have Thanksgiving in Austria - but it's a religious thing and we don't eat our yearly calorie allowance in a single day... [which - according to facebook - seems to be the only purpose of Thanksgiving :lol: ]
Julia - Introverts, unite! Seperately... in your own homes.

Spend your free time the way you like, not the way you think you're supposed to. ― Susan Cain

Author death +70 yrs? Legamus!
carteki
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Post by carteki »

Why my microwave keeps on beeping at me, even though the recipe says to "allow to stand for 5-10 mins"!
Morlock
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Post by Morlock »

carteki wrote:Why my microwave keeps on beeping at me, even though the recipe says to "allow to stand for 5-10 mins"!
Yeah, it's this paranoid thing they built in to keep food out of the microwave. They figure the machine could malfunction and go off at any moment so if there is forgotten food lingering it will start a fire (which might happen without food in it, so I'm lost). And then if that does happen one has to unplug the microwave oven... if one is home... were that malfunction to occur. :hmm:
carteki
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Post by carteki »

Funny that! And thank you for the explanation!
kukailimoku
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Post by kukailimoku »

All smoke detector batteries are programmed to drop to the "let's make a noise every 5 minutes" charge level at exactly 2:00 am local time.

Just like this morning.

Yawn
Why yes there IS a blog about choral singing. Thanks for asking.
http://www.thewindwardchoralsociety.org/news/
SonOfTheExiles
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Post by SonOfTheExiles »

I can never remember whether Robert Burns was a Scotch poet who wrote about rye, or an American poet who wrote about whisky.

SOTE
Currently on sabbatical from Librivox
aaronml
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Post by aaronml »

I will never understand why older people don't like Pop Music. (I am 12) :evil:
Aaron
Morlock
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Post by Morlock »

aaronml wrote:I will never understand why older people don't like Pop Music. (I am 12) :evil:
Wow! Is that still a problem? I'm always amazed to find that out. I'm an old-fart (41) and I'm still awaiting new material by the Spice Girls. (I saw them in concert. All five.)
annise
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Post by annise »

aaronml wrote:I will never understand why older people don't like Pop Music. (I am 12) :evil:
You'll find when you are 50 you'll still like the same music, and the 12 year old's won't understand why you don't like the music they listen to. Music you hear when you are young sticks in your brain for ever.

If the oldies are very old - (that means much older than me :mrgreen: :mrgreen: ) there can be a physical reason, hearing is lost in some frequencies more than others so music may not work as well and they'll say it's just thump thump thump cos they can't hear the high bits

Anne
aaronml
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Post by aaronml »

annise wrote:
aaronml wrote:I will never understand why older people don't like Pop Music. (I am 12) :evil:
You'll find when you are 50 you'll still like the same music, and the 12 year old's won't understand why you don't like the music they listen to. Music you hear when you are young sticks in your brain for ever.

If the oldies are very old - (that means much older than me :mrgreen: :mrgreen: ) there can be a physical reason, hearing is lost in some frequencies more than others so music may not work as well and they'll say it's just thump thump thump cos they can't hear the high bits

Anne
Oh... I never thought of it that way... :hmm: That kinda makes me understand it a bit more... :lol:
Aaron
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