Need to rant... - Page 4 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

martureo · #46 02-15-2013, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 865sp300e

Help me out with this, you had eight 30-minute flares and used seven. About 70 minutes passed prior to the arrival of MB support, however, we do not know how much time passed between stopping and the phone call (I estimate 20 minutes). The third flare was the first one to get run over which means about an hour had passed. The fourth flare was used to relight the run over third flare. The third flare runs out and then the fourth flare gets runover. A fifth flare is lit and about 90 minutes have passed.

What happened to flares six and seven?

A 30 minute flare will burn for 30 minutes in the best of conditions (i.e. no wind, no rain, 60°F outside, and at a perfect 45° angle). Most of the time they usually burn out around 25 minutes, in my experience.

Now add in that some of the flares were laying down (as the wire leg holder ripped on me a few times), it was freezing raining/snowing, the road is wet and there is spray from cars passing by and running over parts of the flare (making them all but impossible to reignite) and you have a much shorter time from each flare.

Keep in mind that if a flare goes out and there are 4 inches left of burnable material, how are you going to relight it? I'm certainly not going to hold a road flare in my hand and light it so closely to my fingers and at the time the only thing I had to light road flares was.....road flares. When you initially open them there is material exposed so you can light it with a striker, a striker is no longer an option when the flare has been burning for any period of time.

And it took me 3 minutes to light the first flare and another ~4 to get back in the car and call. Traffic isn't that bad on that road, but I like to be safe and let the 10 cars go by before I try to get in/out of the car.

link · #47 02-15-2013, 05:20 PM

The rant aside, this is an example of when something does not go according to desire, the compounding effect of ignoring the original issue nearly always amplifies or even dwarfs the original issue.

Surprise! Clearly people don’t GAS about driving over flares. They do the same thing to dogs, cats, raccoons, possums, deer, other people, motorcycles and you name it, every minute of every day. Take the hint.

Learn from the mistake - plan ahead and fill the tank.

As an aside, someone should report your policeman friend to the local Mayor’s office for misappropriating public funds by giving away police property.

martureo · #48 02-15-2013, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tbomachines

Actually I don't care enough to "keep up". This isnt a logic debate.

I'm sorry, I like to be reasonable. I like my arguments to make logical sense.

Quote:

Not sure why the condescending Tone immediately Shows up either.

You, the condemning party wants to know why the condescending tone appears?

Do you really want me to answer that one?

Quote:

I'm not the one going on a tirade over a free road flare, and appealing for sympathy. Looks like other people agree with me.

Go look up the fallacy of ad populum.

martureo · #49 02-15-2013, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesDean

I don't know a lot about road flares and this might be an incorrect statement..but could it have damaged a tire?

I can only hope.

martureo · #50 02-15-2013, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by link

....

As an aside, someone should report your policeman friend to the local Mayor’s office for misappropriating public funds by giving away police property.[/FONT][/SIZE]

Yes, because citizens should never stop and drop flares at accidents when they are the first ones on the scene.

Prior to complaining to that officer I had been the first to arrive at 4--count that again-- FOUR traffic accidents in a month, two of which the occupants were unconscious. All were well after sunset, two were on unlit roads. I was the one who called 911 for all of them.

I ran out of my own flares. Do you know how much a dozen 30 minute road flares cost? More than I could pay at the time (I was unemployed), and more than I can still afford to pay.

I went looking for flares, and finding a lack of flares both in stores and finding many online much too expensive I went to the police department. I asked were they sourced their flares in hopes that I'd find more attainable flares. I couldn't get an answer from anyone, but while walking back to my car Captain XXXX asked me what I wanted road flares for. I told him my situation and he told me that he'd rather have someone else out there stopping for accidents and that he'd supply me with flares as long as he worked for the county.

I don't find that to be a misappropriation of funds at all. Heck, I'm a county taxpayer.

tbomachines · #51 02-15-2013, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by martureo

I'm sorry, I like to be reasonable. I like my arguments to make logical sense. You, the condemning party wants to know why the condescending tone appears?

Do you really want me to answer that one? Go look up the fallacy of ad populum.

Sometimes you just need to get your head out of the books and listen to what people are saying to you.

Btw, your tone is hardly limited to this thread.

martureo · #52 02-16-2013, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tbomachines

Sometimes you just need to get your head out of the books and listen to what people are saying to you.

Look, you need to get a few things straight. I already thought through the situation before posting. I already realized my stupidity and made sure to admit it.

Furthermore, it appears as if you are in need to get your head IN a few books. Logic is behind every single argument and thought that you or every other person in this world make. Not everyone is good at logic, but they use logic to form arguments and opinions.

A fallacy is a bad argument, it's a logical statement which is known to be inconclusive or doesn't mean what you hope it means.

I'm sure you understand well that calling someone an idiot doesn't make their argument any less valid, or that comparing someone to Hitler doesn't destroy their reasoning. These are both fallacies.

And just because I was an idiot and stranded myself doesn't excuse the behavior of those running over my flares. (tu quoque fallacy).

Got it?

Quote:

Btw, your tone is hardly limited to this thread.

I am quite aware of how I come off.

865sp300e · #53 02-16-2013, 03:03 PM

Sounds like you ran out of fuel intentionally so you could light free flares.

tbomachines · #54 02-16-2013, 03:17 PM

Appeal for sympathy, get defensive when others don't give it to you. Nice move.

I know what a tu quoque fallacy is, I know how logic works. It doesn't really apply much when you ask for others' sympathy since you're appealing for emotion. Emotion is not always based in logic, believe it or not.

Also, not once did I say any driver was excused for running over your free flares. I said you should get over it and count your blessings. To reiterate what I said in my first post - no sympathy here. You put me and my loved ones in danger, I'm not going to give a flying hoot about your road flare getting snuffed.

martureo · #55 02-18-2013, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tbomachines

Appeal for sympathy, get defensive when others don't give it to you. Nice move.

Um, the title of this thread was "Need to rant" not "Need to have people sympathize with my position."

I don't care if you disagree with me or not. But I'm not okay with people using bad logic to condemn me.

Quote:

I know what a tu quoque fallacy is, I know how logic works. It doesn't really apply much when you ask for others' sympathy since you're appealing for emotion. Emotion is not always based in logic, believe it or not.

Good, now do you know what an assumption is?

Quote:

Also, not once did I say any driver was excused for running over your free flares.

But in your unequal condemnation of me you did.

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I said you should get over it and count your blessings. To reiterate what I said in my first post - no sympathy here. You put me and my loved ones in danger, I'm not going to give a flying hoot about your road flare getting snuffed.

I put no one in any more danger that they wouldn't have done on their own.

Please notice that the people keep referring to that I "put in danger" or that I was "lucky" are people who were talking on cell phones or not paying attention. Heck, a stop sign would be just as dangerous as I was.

Brian Carlton · #56 02-18-2013, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by martureo

Heck, a stop sign would be just as dangerous as I was.

Correct.

However, if one of the idiots violates a stop sign (which they do frequently), the resulting carnage is not to you.

You were the one who put yourself and your vehicle at risk by failing to make a good plan ahead of the event. Once the event occurs, the outcome is now out of your control.

You fail to see the irony of the situation whereby you made a conscious choice to put yourself and your vehicle in potential harm, however you wish to rail against those individuals for which you already have prior knowledge will likely do you harm.

It would be far more appropriate to rant against yourself in this thread. It is a certainty that the behavior of those that encountered you and your flares could be predicted in advance (the only variable is the degree of their idiocy). Thankfully, you're not writing about a totalled Mercedes.............or worse.

t walgamuth · #57 02-18-2013, 11:40 AM

there's nothing worse than being mad at yourself.

Brian Carlton · #58 02-18-2013, 11:42 AM

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Originally Posted by t walgamuth

there's nothing worse than being mad at yourself.

.............as clearly evidenced by this thread.

davidmash · #59 02-18-2013, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by martureo

I put no one in any more danger that they wouldn't have done on their own.

Come again?

martureo · #60 02-19-2013, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidmash

Come again?

Like I said before, a stop sign is just as dangerous as I was. Probably more, a stop sign wouldn't always be guaranteed to have flashing lights alerting people to it's presence.

Several people in this thread have been saying that I might have been involved in a collision with someone who wasn't paying attention, speeding or using a cell phone. My assertion is that those individuals already put themselves in danger by doing such (i.e. speeding/cell phone/distracted), and that my being stopped didn't increase the danger any.