WTF-Beta

Make sure you test drive the car before buying it to check CVT noise levels. Drive it with both the windows all the way up and all the way down.

When I last drove CVT cars, it was a 2013 Mitsubishi Outlander and a Subaru XV Crosstrek. Both of them were very loud during acceleration. You couldn’t carry on a conversation with your passengers. There was a loud droning sound but it’s not present all the time. It was only upon acceleration. It’s an intrinsic problem with CVTs. The drone is coming from the engine because of the way CVTs work. Don’t know if automakers have solved the droning since I last drove one which was 2013.

Cats are curious and they all have different personalities. Most cats would participate in any of those vignettes except the one in which the bowl is rotating fast. I think most cats would become skittish and jump out if the bowl is spinning too fast. At least mine would of.

The Joint Security Area refers to both the Korean Joint Security Area (JSA) and the title of a movie. The JSA is a small section of the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas where North and South Korean border guards face each other. Visitors can visit the JSA as shown in one scene of the movie.

“Joint Security Area” is an action-drama fictional movie not based on true events about a group of North and South Korean soldiers and an incident between them resulting in two North Koreans being killed and the investigation into it.

Mostly in Korean and English with subtitles.

At Carson Pirie Scott, Sears, Weiboldts, Goldblatt’s, Lord & Taylor, and other long gone department stores that were once located in downtown Chicago, you might find something you liked. But at Marshall Field’s which is now Macy’s, you would always find something that you liked. Macy’s is a vast store to shop at. It looks like the internet is taking over as the preferred department store, a sign of the times.

I’ve always liked it. There was once a supermarket chain in Los Angeles named “Ralph’s” where I lived. They stocked cottage cheese in both small and large curd. Some of the small curd ones in addition to the plain flavor were also available in chive or pineapple added. This was a long time ago. Since then, I haven’t seen large curd, chive, or pineapple added ones sold anywhere. Currently, I buy it from Aldi’s.

The coyote was looking for road runners on sale.

I have cooked cereal for breakfast. I rotate amongst these four daily so I don’t get tired of any particular one: Oat meal, grits, quinoa, and cream of wheat. All of them contain no added sugar. I use evaporated milk instead of half and half. I think evaporated milk tastes better.

Some soy milk brands have no added sugar. Check the ingredients list on the carton.

Funny that nobody who works in any of the stores that I visited suggested an extension cord reel. Maybe they don’t know about them either, just like me, until now. It looks like it might do the trick. The real experts are right here on this forum, not working in stores. Learn something new, every day, that’s WTF forum. Thank you everyone.

wtg:

You said “Code in Cook County still requires conduit.”. Check to see whether you live in incorporated Arlington Heights or unincorporated Arlington Heights. Incorporated AH has its own building dept. and home rule electrical codes. If you live in an unincorporated area of AH or any uninc. area of the county, then Cook County codes apply.

A previous owner installed only one electrical outlet into my detached garage and it’s mounted to a roof rafter and faces downward to the garage floor. In order to plug in an electrical appliance, I have to climb a step ladder to get to it because it’s too high for me to reach. I’m 6’00”.

A non-flexible six foot long electrical extension rod would do the trick. Modeled like a flexible electrical extension cord, an electrical extension rod would plug right into the rafter outlet by reaching straight up. This would allow appliances to plug into the extension rod without having to use a step ladder. I’ve checked lots of hardware and home improvement stores for this item. Nobody knows of such a thing. It doesn’t exist. I guess necessity really is the mother of invention.

@Daniel said in Bose brings back the 901:

I was familiar with the 901's. They were part of the cultural scene of my parents' generation. Our next door neighbor had a set. They used them at low volume but I think they were meant to make a statement more than anything else.

I personally didn't understand and/ or believe in direct/ reflected technology. I still don't truth be told.

I think Bose 901s sound better at high volumes than at low volumes. For sure. When I first heard of them, I thought that reflected sound speakers like the 901s were gimmicky. 901s are supposed to be placed a few feet away from a wall for best sound fidelity. You want to bounce the sound waves off the wall. I remember one time we reversed the 901s so that the nine drivers on the rear side of the speaker were facing the room and the one driver on the front side was facing the wall. I didn’t notice that much of a difference. 901s do sound better when compared with most other speakers for sure. I’m not an acoustical engineer though and there is a scientific basis for reflected soundscapes. On an opera house backstage group tour that I once took, the docent told us that the opera house was designed for maximum sound reflection and that meant minimizing the use of carpeting and upholstery. They couldn’t get rid of all the opera house’s carpeting because of floor safety reasons. Before I left the Army, I bought unidirectional JBL speakers from the PX. I like them better than 901s.

In a house, Bose 901s can overwhelm and deafen you with sound. A friend from the Army had Bose 901 speakers. 901s rely on bounced sound reflection off of a wall. I think it had nine speakers facing the rear and one speaker facing the front and they could handle lots of wattage. You need a powerful receiver to really take advantage of 901s. They were expensive too as I remember. Because they’re so powerful at loud volumes, they’re better for discos and roller skating rinks than home use. Playing the Bachman Turner Overdrive song “Sledgehammer” at full volume would cause the walls to vibrate.

Put on your ice skates before walking across that floor. You just might need them because the floor looks slippery and especially if it gets wet.

As I remember there was a problem when the Thompson State of Illinois Office Building in downtown Chicago was under construction. It was discovered that the concourse floor was too slippery and they feared lawsuits from people falling. A machine had to be brought in after the floor was installed to roughen up the floor.

Our old forum is now a ghost town.

Can a topic in its entirety from the old wtf/eve site be brought over here to be continued rather than starting the same topic here as a new topic? It was a “What are you reading” topic and I think there were two of them.

Then there’s a device called a “curb feeler”.

A curb feeler is an aftermarket device that some people used to attach to their car’s passenger side fender. They’re passe now. I haven’t seen one in decades. It’s a long thin flexible metal coil that jutted out from the lower fender. If you got too close to a curb or anything else, it would make a metallic sound to let you know you were too close.

Passenger side outside mirrors cause some distortion because they’re convex shaped glass.

Outside mirrors stick out too far. Whenever I back up, I turn my head and look out the back window in addition to using the interior and exterior mirrors. This was an expensive lesson for me. Once when I was backing out of the garage and turning the car’s wheels, my outside mirror hit the steel track that the overhead garage door uses and cracked the mirror. I had to buy a whole new mirror assembly.

When I was in a high school driver’s education class, the instructor put traffic cones stored in the car’s trunk onto a parking lot and we, three students per car, would take turns practicing parking. I don’t know where you can get traffic cones.

I have a narrow garage so I have to be super careful when entering and exiting my garage. I’d like for my next car to have a feature called “four wheel steering” (4WS). Some of the 1990s Mitsubishi GT3000 models had this feature. There may be other car makes and models that have 4WS but I haven’t been keeping track. It makes a car more maneuverable to steer and especially in tight spaces.

The outside rear view mirror is a feature that I’d like to see go away for good. Because outside mirrors protrude from a car, they’re vulnerable to damage. Cameras can take the place of the outside mirrors. I think Japan allows cars to have this feature. It’s probably just a matter of time when U.S. cars will have 4WS. Most cars already have a back up camera with the monitor screen in the dash.

Who leases a car instead of buying one? There are pros and cons for car buying versus leasing. Check “Consumers Reports”. CR is a good reference for autos. I personally don’t have any car leasership experience.

But I do know of one group of people who would rather lease than buy. They’re owners of business properties. One of my coworkers owns a couple of gas stations. By leasing, he says he gets certain income tax deductions by using the leased car in the course of checking on his gas stations.

I got the Covid 19 booster on Wednesday. Opera season and a World Music Festival are starting up here. They get crowded and I don’t want to go unprotected. I requested Pfizer because all my previous Covid shots were Pfizer. Pfizer wasn’t available at the CVS drug store chain which administered the shot so I got the Moderna vaccine instead which is interchangeable with Pfizer.

My arm was sore and I had body ache for about a day and a half afterward but it’s better than catching a Covid.

This will be my first post on the new WTF forum. I’ve never owned a grand piano. After reading your post Shiro Kuro, the following came to mind:

If it was a local move, did the piano mover come out to your house BEFORE the actual move to scope out beforehand what’s involved between unloading the piano out of the truck and moving it into your house?

Regarding the movers not using a ramp. Maybe they had a ramp but couldn’t use it. Ask them why. Does your house have a porch with curving stairs or is the staircase longer than the length of a mover’s ramp?

Concerning the thud sound when the piano was on the sled: It appears that piano moving sleds need to have springs mounted on each wheel to act as shock absorbers. Yeah, I know they don’t make them like that but maybe they should.