Winnebago got sued and LOST because they worded their "Cruise Control" function in their motorhomes as "Auto Pilot" . Some idiot was driving down the road and set the "Auto Pilot" (cruise control) then got up to go get a cup of coffee. He wrecked, he sued, and he won.........I hate stupid judges and trail lawyers....oh yea and stupid people!!
---------------------------- Oh god...please....not the old "Winnebago cruise control' story!. I'd be interested in your source or any factual evidence you have for that one. People repeat, repeat and repeat that story over and over again,but oddly no one ever produces any factual evidence of it ever happening The story is old of the hills, about as real as Unicorn feathers and one is a classic 'urban myths' that never happened, but that keeps getting told over and over again..... no matter how may times the story has been debunked Mart3406 =====================================
I first heard this one back in the late 60's/early 70's when cruise controls first became popular ... usually from someone's barber's cousin's brother-in-law's tax guy. Urban legend, anyone??
Warning sticker seen on a large piece of farm equipment with many moving parts: DANGER! THIS MACHINE MOVES FASTER THAN YOU CAN!
not sure if this answers it for sure, but here's snopes' take: http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/cruise.asp
This is my point exactly. Stupid assed stories that become truths because they've been repeated so many times. The first one I ever heard was nearly 50 years ago. The "Girl With Spiders in her Hair." I remember going home to tell my mom about it. She laughed and told me about "the stories" that some peoply like to pass around. Then there was the car accident where a man and a woman were found dead at the bottom of a ravine. It wasn't until the coroner did his exam that it was found that she had been giving him a "spit shine" as they drove. He lost his focus, crashed, she bit off his unit, he bled to death, she choked to death. I have had two people tell me that they were there and witnessed the whole thing. One wasn't even born when I heard the story in high school. He was a deputy sheriff to boot. Everyone that I knew in the military seemed to have a guy in their boot camp company that was so well hung that he passed out when he got wood. The crap just gets deeper every day because of the internet. Don't pick up a dollar bill in a parking lot. There's a perv under the car that will drag you under and cornhole you. Don't use your remote to lock your car because there's a guy capturing your code so he can rob/rape or whatever. 25 dollar army surplus Harleys still in cosmoline. (PS, they didn't ship motorcycles in cosmoline). All of these warm, fuzzy, vignettes about dying children, hero soldiers etc. that are pure BS. No matter how ridiculous or no matter how many times they are proven to be crapola, lemmings line up in droves to, blindly, believe them or to swear that they were there and "seen" the whole thing. I don't give two farts if any one wants to buy into it. That's their choice, but if I know it's bunk or if I even doubt it, I will say so. The first time I hear some one say they were an eye witness, I might give it some credence, but the second or third guy I say, "Hogwash." Is your life so lacking in actual interesting events that you need to invent occurrences to justify your existence? Sorry, but I've walked too many miles on this ball of mud to listen to it. BTW, if the interlock on your lawnmower has you so befuddled that you cannot pick up a stick or a pile of doo doo without killing your engine, here's what we do on my planet. We use these things called zip ties. Secure the safely devise to the push handle. If zip ties are unavailable in your area, wire, a length of vine or perhaps a concoction of dung and mud will suffice. FWIW
the remote thing is real, now most car alarms have rolling codes, that means the code changes every time the button is pushed, but older alarms don't. they would send the same code over and over. if the code doesn't change, it's very easy to use a special receiver called a code grabber, then duplicate the code and disarm the alarm, and open the doors. I used to work in car stereo and security work, we had one used for legitimate reasons. another thing to remember, don't ever put a sticker on your car showing the brand of alarm. sophisticated thieves can take that type of information and easily bypass an alarm. with these new super high tech systems, using the RFID tags, it's becoming even easier to steal the data, which will not only disarm the alarm, and open the doors, but allow the car to be started. BMW got extremely embarrassed a few years ago, when thieves figured out how to do this. No one was supposed to be able to steal the cars. no key, just a push button and everything electronic. What they were doing is setting up receivers, stealing the info, then tracking the location of the car with help from corrupt cops, they would make a new rfid tag, go to the house, find the car and simply drive it away
I was searching for a code grabber picture, but couldn't find one, they are now illegal in the US, figures, since they are now obsolete. once they came out with rolling codes, their days were numbered. I checked snopes and they say the same thing as me, today it's nearly impossible to use one of those, but in the early days of remotes, someone could be in your car in under a minute.
Grass is green, water is wet, and gravity works, but common sense obviously aint common. Some people always are trying to ice skate uphill, I attribute that to cranial-rectal inversion
Another bit of crapola that I heard when I was in the Navy and has been around since, at least, 1939 http://www.snopes.com/military/lighthouse.asp Much like the cops who almost got fired on by a Navy fighter jet http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/radar.asp
The new ladder I just bought had 22 stickers on it, telling me what I can/can't, or should/shouldn't do with the ladder. My old extension ladder I bought in '97 had just three. Have you looked inside a new Chilton's or Haynes repair manual. Virtually EVERY SINGLE PAGE has at least one warning and caution, and they repeat the same thing, many times over. It's amazing there is room left to actually describe HOW to do the actual repair job!
It's because stupid people, who have no business even picking up a wrench, buy the book and magically think they can rebuild a transmission, when in reality, they can't even change oil, so when they can't put the 10000 pieces back together, SUE the book maker!! it's happened many times, they could be as dumb as a rock, but it's the book makers fault!! use concrete pieces for a jack stand, drop the car on yourself, your relatives sue the book maker!! well gee!! no one told him those concrete pieces stacked up two feet high were dangerous!!
I'm going to sue that shampoo maker, I've had suds in my hair all day, people keep laughing, and the suds are getting in my eyes!! it just doesn't work right!!! I keep thinking I forgot to do something, but it wasn't on the bottle, their fault!! don't forget the woman who sued the contraceptive jelly maker, after she got pregnant, she put it on her toast. some say it's an urban legend, if they met some of the dumb idiots who live down here, it doesn't seem so far fetched, what I've always heard is someone really tried to sue for that, then it was immediately thrown out of court, but from that is where the legend of the woman winning millions started.
Ive got one.. a motorcycle helmet with the features sticker on the face shield and at the bottom, it says remove sticker before riding.
Another thing about that damn shampoo..."Lather. Rinse. Repeat." So, when the hell do I STOP? AAAAAGH!
------------------- I figure I must either be exceedingly clever or maybe just damn lucky, because I've *somehow* managed to use shampoo my entire life without ever reading the instructions!. Mart3406 ==========================================
they try to confirm most of the darwin awards, the majority of the idiots don't survive anyway. the problem is, with all these labels, they are beating the odds.
one of my favorites and I wish I had saved the box, you never think about these things till later, I had a box of light bulbs with DIRECTIONS , I think it was something like, turn off switch, grasp glass parts of bulb, rotate counter clockwise, grasp new bulb by glass, insert into socket, rotate in a clockwise direction until tight, do not over tighten. turn on switch. God I wish I had saved that, I love stupid signs. I've never seen another one. One that everyone looks at everyday, and never thinks about, single light switches are marked on and off. um.......if it's up it's on, if it's down it's off, unless the electrician didn't read the directions, and installed the switch upside down. Now wait you think, what about a circuit with two switches controlling the same thing? don't they need to say on and off? nope, they can be either depending on the other switch, and therefore aren't marked at all. they get you every day and most people don't realize it. If I ever get to rewire my own house, I'm going to install all the switches upside down, just to screw with people.
I once had one of those accordian-fold windshield sun screens ... warning label on it read: "Do not attempt to drive vehicle with sunshade in place"!?
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