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I Bought A Firetruck

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Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#141

Post by newbie12 »

bigiain wrote: post #108
JamisonM wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like living in a place where my kids can play in the front yard without non-stop surveillance. Every parent has had a kid run out of sight in the back yard, a store, or the mall. The idea that jerks like you say things like that every time something bad happens to someone's child really pisses me off.

While thezach's comment does come across as being from a jerk, keep in mind too the same reaction applies to "every parent" who expects the rest of society to curtail every possible activity that might hurt their unsupervised child. Does anybody really think it's a rational argument to make, that this guy _shouldn't_ buy and drive his own fire truck because it's a risk to "the children"?

Kids bike and play in neighborhood streets. Surely you recognize that some untrained guy driving a massive firetruck up and down that street just to get groceries is a problem.

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#142

Post by dageshi »

AlexMuir wrote: post #104

I just bought a warehouse. Similar - I always wanted one. I'm going to turn it into a house and put a roof garden on it and put a sweet garage in to fiddle with cars and set up some office space and generally cause havoc in there. I could drop dead tomorrow. It's nice to tick these ambitions off, although my ambitions always seem to make it more likely that I will drop dead tomorrow. (It's in Manchester, UK if anyone…

If it's big enough, I've always wondered if you could basically drive some form of caravan/motor home into something like that and live there while you renovate the place.

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#143

Post by nettdata »

carlob wrote: post #21

Is there some sort of crazy game of one-upmanship in the USA as to who can drive the most impractical gas guzzler? First it was stretch limos, then Hummers, then Hummer stretch limos. I wonder if we're gonna see stretch limo fire trucks… Edit (since I'm being downvoted): The story is cool, I just find the fact that he's driving it daily to work completely retarded. What the hell I consider driving a car to work to be…

Whatever you do, don't Google "Unimog".

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#144

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

newbie12 wrote: post #135
fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Even though there's no HOA he is probably running afoul of city or county zoning rules... Many days I can't find a good reason to appreciate living in the US. I'm glad that there are places to live where a guy can buy an old fire truck if it tickles his fancy. I'm also glad that there are ticky-tacky neighborhoods with HOA's in towns with strict zoning, so you and I won't have to be neighbors. I also can't think of…

These trucks are huge and have blind spots...there's a reason you need a commercial driver's license to operate them in most states.

So you keep saying. What's the big deal about blind spots? So, he shouldn't reverse without a spotter, and he should be extra careful merging on the freeway. Looks like he has a circle-driveway so, he's got that covered. Seriously, this thing isn't any worse than a Class-A RV, a vehicle which, like it or not, requires no special driver license.

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#145

Post by newbie12 »

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #61
mikeash wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes the truck more unsafe around children than e.g. a Ford Explorer or similar?

If nothing else, the fact that it would attract children, whereas I've seen few kids who are interested in playing on (versus in ) the Ford Explorer. It also would have far worse visibility than a Ford Explorer. That said, I don't think it is an argument for whether he should be "allowed" to have the truck or not. If there was evidence that people with large truck always hurt kids, perhaps; but I don't think that evi…

Of course should be allowed to own the truck, but I'd have a problem with him parking it visibly and operating it regularly in a residential neighborhood.

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#146

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

newbie12 wrote: post #138
fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the blind spot were really a child safety factor, then the sight of a UPS or FedEx truck would terrorize parents across the world. I'll also bet that his fire truck can stop better than you think, especially if he has left the ~500 gallon water tank empty.

As a kid I watched a UPS truck run down my dog on a quiet residential street.

Sorry about your dog. A school bus got my cousins' dog under the same circumstances. The two of them had to helplessly watch the whole thing from the bus.

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#147

Post by CamperBob2 »

carlob wrote: post #74
druiid wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude, it is a single firetruck, not a fleet of firetrucks being driven around to pick up groceries. If he were starting a trend, then yes perhaps this would be a-bad-thing. Instead, it's one guy fulfilling a lifelong dream. The gas mileage is going to be terrible and the emissions bad, but it's one firetruck.

Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_imperative

Do you want to live in a world where I get to decide if your lifestyle will scale to seven billion people?

Because I'm thinking your computer would use less electricity and cause less CO2 pollution if it were half as fast as it is.

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#148

Post by JamisonM »

X-Istence wrote: post #112
JamisonM wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like living in a place where my kids can play in the front yard without non-stop surveillance. Every parent has had a kid run out of sight in the back yard, a store, or the mall. The idea that jerks like you say things like that every time something bad happens to someone's child really pisses me off.

Then make sure your kids are responsible and know that if they hear a big hearty diesel fire up in the fire truck that they should GTFO ...

My kids know not to run out into traffic and they know to stay at my side when walking in a parking lot because they have been told over and over that it is a dangerous place (and punished for doing otherwise). But, no matter how well they know it if I pull into a parking lot of a restaurant and Grandma and Grandpa are standing there, the kids run for them in excitement. They are smart for their age, but they are still little kids.

That's why public safety has to be a balance between rights and responsibilities that may not always seem "fair" to some. I can not say what my kids would do if I pulled into that cul-de-sac and they hopped out of the car and saw a firetruck sitting right there. I know I would not want any old belligerent "its-my-right-of-way" guy driving that thing but I doubt there will be some sort of epidemic of firetruck driving in my area any time soon.

(As a farmer I think I come to this with a different perspective than most. I work with heavy equipment all the time in a yard where my kids run around, but in a remote yard with just your kids it is pretty easy to do a head-count before you move something.)

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#149

Post by CamperBob2 »

newbie12 wrote: post #141
bigiain wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While thezach's comment does come across as being from a jerk, keep in mind too the same reaction applies to "every parent" who expects the rest of society to curtail every possible activity that might hurt their unsupervised child. Does anybody really think it's a rational argument to make, that this guy _shouldn't_ buy and drive his own fire truck because it's a risk to "the children"?

Kids bike and play in neighborhood streets. Surely you recognize that some untrained guy driving a massive firetruck up and down that street just to get groceries is a problem.

No. I was always taught not to play in the street.

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#150

Post by jrockway »

geoka9 wrote: post #22

I wonder if the author realizes what a waste it is to drive a big car (let alone a fire truck) to the grocery store. We all love nature. We go out of our way to live in a place where it is more spectacular. And yet we do our best to shit on it with the damn gas guzzlers. Because, you know, it's fun!

It sounds like he's not stealing his fuel or evading taxation on the vehicle, so any problem you have with it is a problem with your local tax structure. Take it up with the government, not HN.

(I think people are upset that clean energy costs more than dirty energy. But I'm guessing I pay a lot less to ride my bike to the grocery store than he pays to drive his fire truck there. So perhaps things are working as intended.)

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