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I Bought A Firetruck

geckodesigns.kinja.com

261–270 of 284 posts

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I drive a 2012 Subaru Impreza. Before that I drove a 2001 Hyundai Accent and before that a 1997 Kia Sephia. All of those are small cars, maybe it is because I am from The Netherlands but I never considered a large car, they slurp gas like it is going out of style and I want something compact that I can park almost anywhere. What I do like is that even with a small circle of friends it is almost guaranteed that you kn…

A Subaru Impreza is considered a small car ?????? It's more than 4.3 meters long ! I have a Renault Twingo (3.4 meters long), and before that I had a Maruti 800 (3.2 meters long). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Twingo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maruti_800 That's what I consider a small car :) . My father had a Fiat 600 (the original one), and now has a Suzuki Maruti Alto/A-Star http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Su…

Those are tiny!

In the States, a Subaru Impreza is a compact car in size

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I should've said "exurbs and beyond".

I wonder what the stats on that are. I can only think of a hand full of US metro locations that would actually have areas that I would think of as exurbs and most of them are on the coasts (sans Chicago and maybe Dallas/Fort Worth).

Since I'm not a researcher I can really only speak to my experience around Milwaukee. Basically any town within Milwaukee County doesn't (as a rule, there are exceptions) have that kind of space. But further than that, there's quite a bit of space. Probably still not fire-engine-storage space, but at least riding-mower-recommended space.

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Subaru Impreza is considered a small car ?????? It's more than 4.3 meters long ! I have a Renault Twingo (3.4 meters long), and before that I had a Maruti 800 (3.2 meters long). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Twingo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maruti_800 That's what I consider a small car :) . My father had a Fiat 600 (the original one), and now has a Suzuki Maruti Alto/A-Star http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Su…

Those are tiny! In the States, a Subaru Impreza is a compact car in size

I know, but what called my attention is that the poster is European.

Part of my family lives in Austria, and what they consider a "small car" is more along the lines of a Volkswagen Golf, which is a little under 4 meters.

According to Wikipedia itself, the Impreza wold be a "Compact" (what North Americans consider a small car)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_car

while the Golf would be a "subcompact" (what I thought Europeans considered a small car)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subcompact

and the Maruti would be a "city car" (what we Uruguayans consider a small car)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_car

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#264
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone wrote about their experiences travelling the world, would you make a similar criticism? After all, they are flying, which causes a lot of extra carbon emissions. Or is the fire truck particularly bad for some reason?

As a European I don't understand the american fascination with impractically fhuge cars for every day commuting. Okay I get it, you want a big car for that roadtrip or vacation. Understandable, I do too. But for everyday stuff? My hatchback does perfectly fine around town ... hell, it does perfectly well on most vacations and long drives too.

I currently drive a Dodge Ram 1500 pickup and love it. Do I have a need for it all the time? No. But there were a few factors that went into the decision:

- My wife wants to get a boat as well as we were gifted jet skis by her family.

- I anticipate moving at least three times over the next 10 years (the lifetime I give to the car barring any accidents) which the pickup will be great to be able to move things as well as being able to hookup a UHaul and go.

The biggest plus for me though is that I'm 6' 3" and 250lb and don't necessarily fit into some of the cars that are economical when it comes to fuel. My previous car (Toyota Corolla) actually would hurt my knees when driving more than 30 minutes because I had to angle my legs in a weird position in order to drive.

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#265
post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

man, I want a warehouse, too. A buddy just bought one and is renting some space in it to me for ventures and my workshop, and we're doing a joint business venture in another part of it, but it's not the same as owning the place. (That, and he'd not like it if I started sleeping here.)

It's a cool dream. Just be sure you know what you're getting into. This guy ended up having a harder time of it than he expected: http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/shop-management-owner-i...

Yeah. That's one of the things I hope to learn a bit about by partnering with my buddy on one of the ventures inside the warehouse.

It's complex, but it's a negotiation, like anything else, and eh, that's something I'm not good at now, but I'm getting better.

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#266
post #82
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The maxim is simply "if you're really interested in fire trucks, and you can afford one, then you can buy one," and there's no problem with it becoming a "universal law," because very few people will be that interested in fire trucks.

Also, if everyone were to try to buy firetrucks, the price goes up — and makes me wonder how supply and demand fits in with the categorical imperative (if at all).

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#267

It turns out there are no actual aircraft carriers for sale on eBay. I am disappoint.

They just don't come up for sale too often... http://www.kungfo0.org/theweb/ebay/carrier.html Never know what you may find on ebay... http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-050902a.html

That's too damn cool. $ 7,000,000 is surprisingly cheap since it was still in service.

I wonder if they kept the armor?

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

better keep kids away from school buses, clearly dangerous /sarcasm

You'd be surprised to know how many kids are run over by school buses every year.

Looks like about 15 per year.

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811165.pdf

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#269
post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Guys, I understand wanting to maximize your load-carrying efficiency, but decommissioned naval vessels and military aircraft are not the way to do it. For my commute, I chose rail instead – Budd Pioneer III-series rolling stock go for surprisingly little on eBay these days, and at least where I live, it's not terribly expensive to file the paperwork for a zoning easement to add a 700v third rail to a local stretch of…

Sometimes I look at my bicycle and feel small and insignificant.

Don't worry: I think the chap with the carrier battle group might be overcompensating for something :)

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want a jet fighter. I wonder if I could get a relatively new one. All weapons would have to be removed of course. It would be the sports car of the air. I would need to get a billion dollars first though so that I could afford top notch maintenance. This would be my expensive toy. Instead of a yacht the new "in" thing could be buying a sport jet. In reality, I like the idea more then the reality of it. If I really…

A billion dollars for a fighter plane. Good lord, this actually brings into context how fucking rich Bill Gates is. This and the fact that he can give every single person on Earth a billion dollars each and still be among the richest people on the planet.

i think you're off by about ten orders of magnitude
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