A new license in Rhode Island costs $44.50. Road test cost like $30. Lessons would off course be more, but I think those are all privatized.
What made me happy today?
- Thread starter big soft moose
- Start date
A new license in Rhode Island costs $44.50. Road test cost like $30. Lessons would off course be more, but I think those are all privatized.
I still remember the one question I got wrong on the written test. Had no idea what blue flashing lights on a vehicle meant, even though I'd seen them my whole life. Just didn't register as something that would be important to know. They're for snow removal vehicles.
I did okay for the road test, though everyone hates the parallel parking section. The testing guy said I missed a school zone speed limit change and could've failed me, but let me pass anyway
For lessons, most people I know took them, because you get a lower insurance rate. I couldn't afford lessons; was something like $400-500 twenty-five years ago.
I did okay for the road test, though everyone hates the parallel parking section. The testing guy said I missed a school zone speed limit change and could've failed me, but let me pass anyway
For lessons, most people I know took them, because you get a lower insurance rate. I couldn't afford lessons; was something like $400-500 twenty-five years ago.
I paid $46 to renew my driver's license on Monday.
My grandson got his first license in January. Driver's ed is taught in high school here.
My grandson got his first license in January. Driver's ed is taught in high school here.
I'm always surprised to hear it isn't. I took it in summer school in 1971. Students alternated between classroom time, simulators, and real driving experience.
Living in a rural area is different than living in an urban area. Both my children started driving on dirt roads when they were about 9 and managed quite well by the time they were fourteen. My grandson was maybe in kindergarten when my son stood him up on the seat of the pickup, put the engine in granny gear, and let grandson steer the truck across the pasture while everyone else bucked hay bales onto the trailer. At the end of each pass, son hopped in the cab, made the turn, and then returned the steering wheel to grandson.
Yeah, my first lessons were a summer school class in high school. Could have taken Driver's Ed in lieu of gym class for one semester but that would've meant waiting on account of when my birthday falls. I've had to take the test twice more because my birthday falls when school is in session here, and my home state wants us to show up for an eye check every so often, so by the time I get home I'm outside the easy renewal grace period. Hence thinking about getting a Japanese license. Also, you can only drive on an IDP if you have a tourist visa, which I've never had here. Permanent resident for how long now? Probably time to just suck it up and get the license. I won't be living in America ever again, will I?
I grew up in the bush, didn't spend much time in the "big" (100K pop) city til I was about 19-20. I wanted to drive the dirt roads early, but my mom wasn't for it til I was about 13-14. My dad had me shifting gears for him when I was a tyke, though. Mom would let me drive us up to the fishing spot on our road, but would not have me go anywhere else without a license when she was in the truck with me.
I did get pulled over once while driving my dad's motorcycle with no license and no insurance, so I guess she had a good point. I could've been absolutely screwed, but the cop let me off and called my dad to come pick up the bike.
When I visited Italy, I think I saw some people park their car sideways into a parking spot (i.e. at a 90-degree-angle to the footpath, not parallel to it).
Need I say more?
I still remember the one question I got wrong on the written test. Had no idea what blue flashing lights on a vehicle meant, even though I'd seen them my whole life. Just didn't register as something that would be important to know. They're for snow removal vehicles.
I did okay for the road test, though everyone hates the parallel parking section. The testing guy said I missed a school zone speed limit change and could've failed me, but let me pass anyway
For lessons, most people I know took them, because you get a lower insurance rate. I couldn't afford lessons; was something like $400-500 twenty-five years ago.
I almost failed the parallel parking section, but the instructor let me pass. I don't think I ever had to parallel park since I took the test, and that was many moons ago now.
I tried four categories, and got 100% on the "Alcohol" and "Accident" sections.
I missed a few questions in the "Emergency" section (especially the warning triangle -- I've no idea what that is, we don't have them in Australia) and did badly on the "Highway" questions (only 17 out of 27? Must do better next time!) ;-PBut yes, the "Alcohol" and "Accident" questions are common sense. Don't drink before driving, huh ... because if you do, your reaction time will slow down and you'll get over-confident while behind the wheel of a big vehicle. Gee, what a great idea.
Here in Australia (and everywhere, I'm sure), road safety is taken very seriously. Here's an ad that was made by our road safety people, the TAC (Traffic Accident Commission) about how dangerous drink-driving could be:
Last edited:
I spent my late teens and twenties operating heavy farm machinery, then worked on a roadcrew as a scraper hand for a while. Once you've parallel parked a few times in a piece of machinery the size of a small house, passenger vehicles aren't much problem. HOWEVER: to my shame, I never did learn to back a horse trailer properly. I can only conclude I am missing a horse-trailer-backing synapse in my brain.
Last edited:
Stuart Dren
Active Member
You can't tell us that without mentioning the switches.
Louanne Learning
Skipping along
Active Member
Winner: 4th Contest March
Winner : February Poetry
Winner: 4th Contest Feb
Winner: 4th Contest August
I've been thinking of changing mine to one of the ergonomic ones.
ps102
Active Member
I had a nice Dell keyboard from 1997 with ALPS switches. It was my favourite. But I uh... accidentally melted the keycaps a couple months ago. Don't ask the how. It's a really stupid and long story.
A Taiwanese company seems to make compatible replacements that are even better quality than the originals though, so all is good.
A Taiwanese company seems to make compatible replacements that are even better quality than the originals though, so all is good.
I'm in the mood for a long, stupid story...
The ergonomic ones are great if you are using it just for writing. Video editing, or anything else, not so much. But I do recommend one for writing.
I used one of those for years. Don't remember having a preferential opinion either way.
Is it one of the ones that don't go anywhere? Like the time you caught the ferry over to Shelbyville?
You needed a new heel for your shoe, so, you decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So we all tied onions to our belts, which was the style at the time.Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em! Gimme 5 bees for a quarter, we'd say!
Now, where were we? Oh, yeah! The important thing was that we all had an onions on our belts, which was the style at the time. They didn’t have white onions because of the war. The only thing we could get was those big yellow ones ...
ps102
Active Member
So, I have a Nintendo Switch that I bought back in 2017 when they first came out. I never played it much (the only game I finished was Breath of the Wild because it was genuinely amazing). It mostly sat in my desk's drawer untouched. I used to love video games as a kid (played the NDS to death) but my interest in them died in my early adult years.
Anyway. What my rare usage of the Switch taught me is that it discharges itself to zero even if left unpowered completely. That always annoyed me because on the occasion where I did want to use it, I had to charge it back to 100% and wait a lot. It's also really bad for the battery. My 3DS doesn't do that. It doesn't loose charge and is ready to be used even if you don't power it on for years.
Last summer, I decided to mod it with a Picofly chip. I like soldering (been at it for years) and had heard all about how challenging the installation is, and how most people fail it. So, I bought one, and installed it myself successfully. It was so much fun and I now have a fully unlocked Switch. Of course, after I had my fun modding it, I shelved it again.
Then today, I felt like playing a game again, so I put it to charge to 100% overnight as usual. But to my absolute shock and surprise, as soon as I plugged it in, it booted to Hekate and showed me 100% battery level. I don't know how (and I can't find any info online) but it appears that the modchip somehow fixed the discharge problem.
That alone made the mod worth it, so I'm happy!
Anyway. What my rare usage of the Switch taught me is that it discharges itself to zero even if left unpowered completely. That always annoyed me because on the occasion where I did want to use it, I had to charge it back to 100% and wait a lot. It's also really bad for the battery. My 3DS doesn't do that. It doesn't loose charge and is ready to be used even if you don't power it on for years.
Last summer, I decided to mod it with a Picofly chip. I like soldering (been at it for years) and had heard all about how challenging the installation is, and how most people fail it. So, I bought one, and installed it myself successfully. It was so much fun and I now have a fully unlocked Switch. Of course, after I had my fun modding it, I shelved it again.
Then today, I felt like playing a game again, so I put it to charge to 100% overnight as usual. But to my absolute shock and surprise, as soon as I plugged it in, it booted to Hekate and showed me 100% battery level. I don't know how (and I can't find any info online) but it appears that the modchip somehow fixed the discharge problem.
That alone made the mod worth it, so I'm happy!
*pushes my switch at him* fix mine? Pleeeeassse?
