Speedy's Cafe - General Chat about anything you like!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Nope. We have the odd teeny tiny tornado, but nothing like in America. We don't get that much extreme weather luckily. We do get winds that blow off roofs etc now and again but it's pretty rare.

 

Which I suppose would explain why the expression "safe as houses" would be British rather than American.

 

Are you interested in astrology?

 

What is your horoscope?

I do think there's a general correlation between someone's personality and the time of year they were born. Not so sure about the finer details, though.

 

That said, I'm a textbook Saggitarius!

[Pseudonym]

Am I correct in thinking American houses are not built with brick? When I see footage of tornados ripping apart buildings in America the houses seem to be made mostly from wood?

 

I'm a Gemini, but I'm not a believer in astrology or horoscopes.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Am I correct in thinking American houses are not built with brick? When I see footage of tornados ripping apart buildings in America the houses seem to be made mostly from wood?

 

Right.  There are still some true-brick structures around, but I don't believe anyone is still building them.  They use what's called brick veneer, which is a wood-frame house with one layer of brick on the outside.  At least, that's the way they were doing it last time I checked.  Sooner or later they're bound to figure out an even flimsier way of doing it.

 

That isn't necessarily what allows most of the tornado damage, though.  I've read that in most houses, the roof structure is nailed down to the top of the walls, and it's mostly gravity that keeps things in place.  That is, until something comes along and sucks the roof UP, in which case it comes right off and leaves the walls with no cross-bracing, so the whole structure collapses.

 

When our house was built, I had the builder use hurricane ties, which allow the roof to be nailed or screwed onto the sides of the studs.  The dear man went even one better, by applying the ties to alternating sides of the studs.  To quote him, "If that sucker ever blows away, it's all gonna go in one piece."

 

Are true-brick structures still being built over your way?

[Arcadia]

There's some of it going on here in the higher end homes, although there's a lot veneer, too. I don't know what percentage.

[Pseudonym]

Here everything is brick. Isn't it cold with just wood and veneer? Or is there a lot of insulation between?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yes, the space between studs is typically filled with insulation. Some older houses didn't have it put in, so a lot of people have it added in order to save fuel cost.

 

Oddly enough, I know one fellow who called up a company to insulate his older house, but after having a look, they said they couldn't do it. Turns out he has a solid-brick house, so there are no cavities where insulation could be added. Apparently insulated wood-frame houses are warmer than solid brick ones.

[J.P.]

This can be. Wood is better insulator than concrete or bricks. The insulation here is put outside the walls and fastened to them in a variety of ways.

 

Well, sorry to say that and I hope nobody feels offended, but the most of the houses I saw in the USA, outside of DC and Seattle, looked very… temporary to me.

Anyway, we've had some bad storms in the last couple of years, with winds over 100 km per hour, and even some local twisters, but it's nothing compared to the hurricanes in the USA. And the houses in my part of Europe don't tend to fly away completely. It's mostly the roofs that say good bye. Which - as I live directly under the roof - makes my experience of each big storm a bit… more personal.

 

PS. I suspect that the houses are cheaper in the US than they are here.

[Fantasy Lover]

Ugh, my mom's neighbour is going to be evicted. She's going to be replaced by her landlord, he's an old man, what are we going to do when he can't stand the dog? God help us.

[Pseudonym]

Is the dog particularly irritating?

[Fantasy Lover]

No, not really. But my mom minds dogs for a hobby, so he can complain about them.

[Arcadia]

This can be. Wood is better insulator than concrete or bricks. The insulation here is put outside the walls and fastened to them in a variety of ways.

 

Well, sorry to say that and I hope nobody feels offended, but the most of the houses I saw in the USA, outside of DC and Seattle, looked very… temporary to me.

Anyway, we've had some bad storms in the last couple of years, with winds over 100 km per hour, and even some local twisters, but it's nothing compared to the hurricanes in the USA. And the houses in my part of Europe don't tend to fly away completely. It's mostly the roofs that say good bye. Which - as I live directly under the roof - makes my experience of each big storm a bit… more personal.

 

PS. I suspect that the houses are cheaper in the US than they are here.

 

Oh yes, most houses built now ... starting maybe 30-40 years ago? ... are complete crap, at least in our area. Cheap materials and construction methods.

 

I don't know what would be cheaper to you, JP ... currently in my area I think the average is about $250,000-300,000 for a typical singe-family, detached home on a postage stamp sized lot; going up as you get closer to DC, where it's about $500-600,000. I believe we're considered one of the most expensive areas of the country, though.

 

About 15 years ago, they built some $1.3 million McMansions across the road from us. We took a tour of the model home ... plastic railings on the stairs, single-paned glass in the windows (and it can be really cold here in the winter), metal doors, fake stone on the lower story ... the place was all about size, size and more size, but it looked (and was) cheaply built. There was a home theater in the basement; I swear I could have bought better quality seating in Walmart. We were appalled. And of course they put plastic siding on everything now, which is easily damaged, and which to my eye makes homes look even cheaper than they actually are.

 

They do build some nice ones though. Often it depends on the size of the subdivision ... the big ones tend to be filled with cheap houses by major companies, but when it's just a house or two being built, it's usually by an independent contractor who cares about his reputation. But it's getting harder to find land that doesn't already belong to one of the big companies, so the opportunity to hire your own builder is reduced. It's all very frustrating to those of us who care about such things. :(

 

Oh, and those $1.3 million McMansions ... they were built just before the housing collapse. They ended up selling the last half dozen or so for around $500-600,000. I wouldn't have given even half that much for them.

[J.P.]

Didn't really look up for prices lately, because I never planned owning a house. But I know that the small apartments prices were around 100.000 EUR, and this is surely not the most expensive patch of land.

[Pseudonym]

I wish there was a thing where actors would do interviews as their characters. I would murder to see Sherlock on The Graham Norton Show. 

[Fantasy Lover]

Oh, yes!

[J.P.]

They also should go to the cons in costume. :D

[Pseudonym]

I doubt they'd make it out alive!

[Van Buren Supernova]

I wish there was a thing where actors would do interviews as their characters. I would murder to see Sherlock on The Graham Norton Show.

 

Are you nuts? :p

Of course Sherlock had been invited, but he didn't go.

Why would he go?

There'd be people!!

 

 

 

Anyway, in all seriousness, don't underestimate people's stupidity. I still can't believe that many people actually can't differentiate reality and fiction, as we saw in how they mix the characters and actors lives and relationships.

Also, in one of the those survey, 20% British teenager thought Winston Churchill is fictional while 58% believe Sherlock Holmes is real. Having him walking to Graham Norton is going to screw up a lot of people who never bother to do their research.

 

 

In another take, eventhough BC seems like an intelligent person, it'd be super difficult to pull a Sherlock. He should be able to launch accurate insults and pull reliable facts in split seconds.

 

But, BUT, it might work.

 

These are the thing BC as Sherlock could do:

- Plays screeching violin until he empties the whole studio.

- Acclaim Bored! Bored! Bored! And point toy gun around (bad in current situation but yeah :p)

- Prepared and memorize unbreakable deduction, insults and observations monologues for the host and other guests that there is no time left.

- Refuse to talk

- Find a way to send wrong, wrong, wrong to the whole studio.

- Appear in sheet, steal ashtray and walk away.

[T.o.b.y]

 

I wish there was a thing where actors would do interviews as their characters. I would murder to see Sherlock on The Graham Norton Show.

 

Are you nuts? :p

Of course Sherlock had been invited, but he didn't go.

Why would he go?

There'd be people!!

 

 

 

Anyway, in all seriousness, don't underestimate people's stupidity. I still can't believe that many people actually can't differentiate reality and fiction, as we saw in how they mix the characters and actors lives and relationships.

Also, in one of the those survey, 20% British teenager thought Winston Churchill is fictional while 58% believe Sherlock Holmes is real. Having him walking to Graham Norton is going to screw up a lot of people who never bother to do their research.

 

 

In another take, eventhough BC seems like an intelligent person, it'd be super difficult to pull a Sherlock. He should be able to launch accurate insults and pull reliable facts in split seconds.

 

But, BUT, it might work.

 

These are the thing BC as Sherlock could do:

- Plays screeching violin until he empties the whole studio.

- Acclaim Bored! Bored! Bored! And point toy gun around (bad in current situation but yeah :p)

- Prepared and memorize unbreakable deduction, insults and observations monologues for the host and other guests that there is no time left.

- Refuse to talk

- Find a way to send wrong, wrong, wrong to the whole studio.

- Appear in sheet, steal ashtray and walk away.

I plead for the last option! :-D

[Pseudonym]

I'm thinking if he's blackmailed into it by Lestrade or Mycroft, and just sits there in silence most of the time, with his coat wrapped around him, glaring. Whenever Graham says something jokey directly to him he has a cold, acerbic response. Whenever Graham says something as a fact he mutters wrong. He's like a giant bat at the end of the sofa, that everyone is trying to ignore. Maybe at the end he spots a murderer in the crowd (or maybe that's the real reason he shows up) and mid-interview leaps up at chase them. 

 

I don't know that I believe those stat things. I saw someone somewhere point out that surveys conducted by people with clipboards only get the responses of people stupid enough to stop for someone with a clipboard. 

[Arcadia]

Also, in one of the those survey, 20% British teenager thought Winston Churchill is fictional while 58% believe Sherlock Holmes is real. Having him walking to Graham Norton is going to screw up a lot of people who never bother to do their research.

 

But that's what would make it so fun! :p

[J.P.]

If people don't bother to do their research, they don't deserve any better. :P

[Pseudonym]

I wouldn't be surprised if people lie too. If someone asked me if Sherlock Holmes was real I'd probably say yes just because I'm a sarky sod. 

[Van Buren Supernova]

Oh no no no,

I get that it's fun to mess with their minds, but that's for people with better intelligence, who could take humour and laugh at themselves.

 

For those who take it and run, it would come out in form that I don't like to see, like those who are angry at Amanda or Martin or whoever because of Sherlock, or something like that. It's the level of stupid that I can't handle, because there are too much, too many (is stupidity countable?) in the internet.

 

Just the other day I actually read some compilation a friend sent to me, about dumb things people put on internet. I remember one wondered if Australia ever experiences rain because, you know, the rain would fall into space, since it is on the bottom of the earth (insert head banging emotie). Then another who was waiting for her sister to deliver her baby and wondered if she would become an aunt or uncle. (Holy macaroni speedy-hermaphrodite-transformation alert!) Or another one who said she was sick of America, and moving to New York. (I can't remember the exact place, but some place who any decent Tom, Dick and Harry from another countries would easily recognise as part of America).

 

It could be entertaining, I had my laugh, but mostly, I'm dumbfounded about WHY, WHY on earth in this time of googling and plethora of knowledge you can find on internet, ironically, there is no stupidity filter? Come on! I used to travel hours to look for books in library and found out it's out. How come it's more difficult to do fact checking now?

 

Eh...why is it become a rant? It's all your fault. Three of you, I blame you guys certain members of this forum. And Arcadia, you should know also, J.P, together with Pseud, that I am not the sort who name names. :P

[Pseudonym]

Me? Well, I know that it never rains in Australia, and that New York is in New Zealand, so there :P

 

Yea, I hate people like that, there's only a stupid level of stupidity I can take with humour before it becomes too depressing. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Speaking as an ignorant American, I'm pretty sure that a number of those stupid statements were intended as humor -- because, you know, nobody would be stupid enough to really believe them (though I'm personally not all that certain about the last part).

 

But please don't ask me *which* statements were meant sarcastically, because I don't know. It just seems statistically likely.