What's bugging you? (2024 edition)

[MrTPlush]

On 6/25/2024 at 6:37 PM, LouisEly said:

Debate electric vehicles, but two things that should be required to be electric are lawnmowers and leaf blowers.

Require me to pay 2x the price for a mower that 'might' mow my lawn on a single charge? Even then, it 'might' for a year or two before the battery degrades and then I definitely won't finish on a single charge. This is even before considering with my dense and vigorous growing grass a gas-powered lawnmower is definitely more effective. 

Just make things as cheap and as effective, people will happily buy electric in most cases. Like those leaf blowers? Yah, who buys a gas one these days? My local Home Depot appears to not even carry one (minus the backpack ones, but that's a bit more than normal use). Trimmers are also a pretty popular thing most seem to get electric these days.

[homer]

Dig up your grass, plant other stuff. Problem solved

[LouisEly]

42 minutes ago, MrTPlush said:

Require me to pay 2x the price for a mower that 'might' mow my lawn on a single charge?

You might want to check prices at that Home Depot.

And with your neighbors about noise.

[MrTPlush]

6 hours ago, LouisEly said:

You might want to check prices at that Home Depot.

And with your neighbors about noise.

A gas mower is going to cost you approx. $350. An electric lawnmower worthy of cutting .5 acre is going to cost about $750 because you will need extra batteries. The only way the price gets pretty comparable is if your lawn is .25 acre or less. Mainly because the price floor of an electric and gas mower are pretty comparable. 

I don't think my neighbor's care about me mowing at 11am or 6pm. Are there actually places where everyone hates the noise of a mower? Sounds like a miserable place to live. This seems like a talking point where 'electric is quieter', but no one actually really cares one way or the other. 

 

[BrewerFan]

7 hours ago, LouisEly said:

You might want to check prices at that Home Depot.

And with your neighbors about noise.

I'm convinced some people would buy gas-powered hand tools if they sold them! Just throw a little gas in the impact, the nail gun and good to go!! 

[LouisEly]

2 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

A gas mower is going to cost you approx. $350. An electric lawnmower worthy of cutting .5 acre is going to cost about $750 because you will need extra batteries.

Wrong.

Ryobi 40V electric mower, 20", 45-minute runtime, ideal for half-acre, with battery and charger, 3-year battery warranty $329:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-40V-HP-Brushless-20-in-Cordless-Battery-Walk-Behind-Push-Mower-with-6-0-Ah-Battery-and-Charger-RY401170/317061059

ECHO 21" 56V electric mower, 21", two 5V batteries and rapid charger, up to 2/3rds of an acre, 5-year consumer warranty $549:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/ECHO-eFORCE-21-in-56-Volt-Cordless-Battery-Walk-Behind-Push-Lawn-Mower-with-Two-5-0-Ah-Batteries-Rapid-Charger-DLM-2100R2-2/330526880

[MrTPlush]

14 hours ago, LouisEly said:

Wrong.

Ryobi 40V electric mower, 20", 45-minute runtime, ideal for half-acre, with battery and charger, 3-year battery warranty $329:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-40V-HP-Brushless-20-in-Cordless-Battery-Walk-Behind-Push-Mower-with-6-0-Ah-Battery-and-Charger-RY401170/317061059

ECHO 21" 56V electric mower, 21", two 5V batteries and rapid charger, up to 2/3rds of an acre, 5-year consumer warranty $549:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/ECHO-eFORCE-21-in-56-Volt-Cordless-Battery-Walk-Behind-Push-Lawn-Mower-with-Two-5-0-Ah-Batteries-Rapid-Charger-DLM-2100R2-2/330526880

45 minutes run-time is not ideal for a .5 acre. Especially if you have anything that will aid bogging down the electric motor (long/dense/wet grass). So that isn't comparable at all. 

The Echo seems like it could do it, but again, we are now $200+ dollars more expensive than a gas one.

I am not a battery lawn equipment or anything hater, I even owned a plug-in hybrid for a while. However, the bigger the battery powered thing gets, the less financially attractive it becomes. The batteries are so dang expensive if one stops working after 5 years or just degrades that much, the entire mower is basically going to be junk. If the $180 battery breaks on a $329 mower, are you really just going to buy a new battery? Probably not, so it is a brand new $330+ mower every five years? Gas engines are so simplistic even abusing one and the mower will chug along for 15+ years easily without any maintenance. 

 

[LouisEly]

Cost isn't the point.

It's about noise pollution.

[MrTPlush]

2 hours ago, LouisEly said:

Cost isn't the point.

It's about noise pollution.

But it is if you want to make it a requirement. Forcing everyone to spend hundreds more to mow their lawn just to make things quieter seems like HOA type policing. 

Is noise pollution really a pressing issue though? If we wanted to make a difference with noise pollution my first step would be putting up walls along interstates and/or other busy roads. That would make much more of a difference than my neighbor mowing his lawn 30 minutes a week.

[BrewerFan]

3 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

45 minutes run-time is not ideal for a .5 acre. Especially if you have anything that will aid bogging down the electric motor (long/dense/wet grass). So that isn't comparable at all. 

The Echo seems like it could do it, but again, we are now $200+ dollars more expensive than a gas one.

I am not a battery lawn equipment or anything hater, I even owned a plug-in hybrid for a while. However, the bigger the battery powered thing gets, the less financially attractive it becomes. The batteries are so dang expensive if one stops working after 5 years or just degrades that much, the entire mower is basically going to be junk. If the $180 battery breaks on a $329 mower, are you really just going to buy a new battery? Probably not, so it is a brand new $330+ mower every five years? Gas engines are so simplistic even abusing one and the mower will chug along for 15+ years easily without any maintenance. 

 

If you're going to buy a mower, a push mower, why wouldn't you just get one with whatever your brand of tools are? 

I own Dewalt. No real good reason, just started with them and stuck with them(mostly). I need the 60V Batteries anyway. If I was to buy a push mower...I'd go that route. If I had Ryobi, I'd get Ryobi, etc...if I had Milwaukee, I'd not worry about it breaking every 5 years, but same idea. 

So I wouldn't need to get a whole new setup if a battery goes. 

I do agree, the noise seems irrelevant. I don't worry about a neighbor mowing and I've not given it much thought. It's just kinda part of the summer background. I'm mostly surrounded by Farms, but even when the people across the street mow, I think little of it and it's not like anyone is doing it at 6AM. 

[LouisEly]

5 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

But it is if you want to make it a requirement. Forcing everyone to spend hundreds more to mow their lawn just to make things quieter seems like HOA type policing. 

$200 amortized over five years is $40 per year or $3.33/month.  Yes, I think people can be forced to do things that cost $3.33 per month.  They already are.  Plenty of regulation out there that costs people money that are for the betterment of society.  Look at all of the fees on your phone, internet, gas, and electric bill - you're forced to pay those.  And your energy companies can spend money on renewable resources and force you to pay for that.  Anything your municipality does whether you want them to or not you pay for in taxes; it's required and costs you money, but it's for the betterment of society.  Cities require you to remove snow from your sidewalk (so mail and limited-mobility people can pass) and will fine you if you don't or don't cut your grass/mitigate weeds (spread to other yards).  Stop lights/signs decrease fuel efficiency, but they exist for the betterment of society. 

It was originally said half tongue-in-cheek anyway, glad you got all worked up over it.  And half the reason that rechargeable batteries wear down and need to be replaced is because people don't know how to charge them properly - they leave them on the charger all the time (instead of charging them until they are full and then taking them off) and then run them all the way down.  (Technically they should charge them to 95% and run down to 5-10% for maximum battery life.)

5 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

I do agree, the noise seems irrelevant. I don't worry about a neighbor mowing and I've not given it much thought. It's just kinda part of the summer background. I'm mostly surrounded by Farms, but even when the people across the street mow, I think little of it and it's not like anyone is doing it at 6AM. 

Some people work from home full-time and have neighboring lots 5 feet from their window.

[BrewerFan]

17 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

Some people work from home full-time and have neighboring lots 5 feet from their window.

Yeah...I get it. I've owned rental properties and had to cut the grass at those places and I've lived in a lot of different places. It's just something I've gotten used to hearing in the Summer. Like roadwork all over the place...though it's much less annoying to me. 

[MrTPlush]

Honestly, I am a little shocked Disney would even want to go down this route. Pretty gross look over a guy and a measly $50k lawsuit. Huge long term legal issue if they actually dismiss it based on a Disney+ free trial TOS agreement. 

 

Disney says man can't sue over wife's death because he agreed to Disney+ terms of service (msn.com)

[SeaBass]

Just another reason that all the legalese mumbo jumbo that corporations attach to products and that absolutely nobody reads just so you can use them should be banned. Signing away your right to sue so that you can watch a half hour of television (that you're paying for, free trials be damned) is beyond ridiculous.

I think I remember hearing about some minor uproar maybe a year ago about McDonald's updating their terms of service that you had to agree to just to use their app to order their food. The catch being something similar to the Disney thing about having arbitration rather than a right to outright sue. That crap shouldn't be allowed to hold up in courts anywhere.

[homer]

On 8/1/2024 at 8:08 AM, LouisEly said:

Cost isn't the point.

It's about noise pollution.

Some dude was mowing his yard in my neighborhood at 8am yesterday. 

[NeedMoreFans]

The license plate on my car is 12 years old and is flaking to the point where I need a new one.  My registration is up for renewal this month, so I contacted the DMV requesting a new one be sent to me with my registration.  The gist of the response was that they are automatically replacing license plates, but could not tell me when I will get a new one, and if I wanted one now I would have to pay for it.  Given the fact that my wife's license plates are 14 years old and have yet to be replaced, I doubt mine will be automatically replaced this year.  

Very related- we do a lot of road trips, both in and out of Wisconsin.  Wisconsin's license plates seem to be the only ones that peel/flake the way they do.  Perhaps I haven't spent enough time in other states to get a good sample, but I see peeling license plates daily in Wisconsin and I felt like I would have seen them in other states if they were an issue there.  I may have seen a Virginia place somewhat peeling, but nothing like they do here. That's very annoying.

Since I need new plates, I decided to look at getting a specialized license plate.  They do not take applications for specialized plates online; I have to print out a form, fill it out, and mail it via snail mail.  I do not understand why they do not have an online option for this in 2024.  It's so inefficient for everyone to use a paper form. 

[TURBO]

5 hours ago, MrTPlush said:

Honestly, I am a little shocked Disney would even want to go down this route. Pretty gross look over a guy and a measly $50k lawsuit. Huge long term legal issue if they actually dismiss it based on a Disney+ free trial TOS agreement. 

 

Disney says man can't sue over wife's death because he agreed to Disney+ terms of service (msn.com)

Disney in general. has become a gross wart on our society.  

It's too bad really.

[TURBO]

3 hours ago, NeedMoreFans said:

 

Since I need new plates, I decided to look at getting a specialized license plate.  They do not take applications for specialized plates online; I have to print out a form, fill it out, and mail it via snail mail.  I do not understand why they do not have an online option for this in 2024.  It's so inefficient for everyone to use a paper form. 

The peeling plates in Wisconsin is ridiculous.  I would think they want every car to have clear, legible plates.  I honestly would think that the police would be pulling these cars over to advise them they need to get new plates, but that obviously isn't the case.  Hit and runs, and other incidents makes it pretty important to have clear plates, but I guess it isn't a concern.

I always wonder about the pitch dark window tinting too.  When I was a new driver and into my 20's, I know there were laws against your windows being too dark.  Seems those laws are gone, or completely ignored by law enforcement.  I don't understand it.  You'd think cops would be putting up a stink so they can be a lot safer during traffic stops, but I guess that isn't a concern either.

As to the the part I quoted, I got my personalized plates online about 4 years ago.  Did it all online, so the fact you can't do that now must be something new.

[LouisEly]

That it's 2024 and license plates haven't been nationalized or digitized boggles my mind.  (Yes, there is a company out there that does digital license plates, but they are only accepted in a handful of states at this point.)

There is no need for license plates at the state level - makes it that much harder to identify stolen vehicles.  And they should be digitized and ingrained into the vehicle/rear windshield.

Talk about a product that is in desperate need of innovation.  But how much innovation do you expect the government to come up with.  At the least, nationalize it to bring economies of scale and consistency. 

[nate82]

52 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

There is no need for license plates at the state level - makes it that much harder to identify stolen vehicles.  And they should be digitized and ingrained into the vehicle/rear windshield.

This already exists it is called a VIN.  License plates are rather useless to be honest.  You could just embed a QR code somewhere on the vehicle it doesn't even have to be visible on the car.  Just somewhere for someone to be able to scan it. 

53 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

Talk about a product that is in desperate need of innovation.  But how much innovation do you expect the government to come up with.  At the least, nationalize it to bring economies of scale and consistency. 

Asking the government to innovate something is like choosing a Big Mac as a healthy option for dinner.

[wallus]

I don't care whatsoever that you smoke weed. I do care when you reek of it in public and walk by me.

[nate82]

1 minute ago, wallus said:

I don't care whatsoever that you smoke weed. I do care when you reek of it in public and walk by me.

Meh.  Cigarette smokers and vapors bother me more than weed smokers especially with smell and yes you do smell if you vape though sometimes you smell like a drunk fraternity girl on flavored vodka. 

[LouisEly]

9 minutes ago, wallus said:

I don't care whatsoever that you smoke weed. I do care when you reek of it in public and walk by me.

Or when you drive by me and I can smell it coming from your vehicle.

[wallus]

2 minutes ago, nate82 said:

Meh.  Cigarette smokers and vapors bother me more than weed smokers especially with smell and yes you do smell if you vape though sometimes you smell like a drunk fraternity girl on flavored vodka. 

I'm not a smoker whatsoever and don't hang out with people that smoke so maybe I am more sensitive. Just have a little self awareness is all I am asking.

[nate82]

Just now, wallus said:

I'm not a smoker whatsoever and don't hang out with people that smoke so maybe I am more sensitive. Just have a little self awareness is all I am asking.

They can't smell it like a non weed smoker can't smell the cigarettes on them or how a cat owner doesn't smell the cat piss in their house.