OT: General OT Thread [NO POLITICS, RACE OR RELIGION]

[MickeyDavis]

I had to edit a couple of posts, not because there was anything wrong with them, but because someone (who has been dealt with) couldn't help himself and took a big racial detour based on a couple of sentences in those posts.

[vital_signs]

Is it me or has the late March/early April weather of early to mid 2000s turned into the late October/early November these days? I remember being able to hoop outside during spring break in Mid March.

[MickeyDavis]

Is it me or has the late March/early April weather of early to mid 2000s turned into the late October/early November these days? I remember being able to hoop outside during spring break in Mid March.

Yeah this sucks. One warm beautiful day last Saturday and back to cold crap.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Is it me or has the late March/early April weather of early to mid 2000s turned into the late October/early November these days? I remember being able to hoop outside during spring break in Mid March.

I have no data to back this up, but feels like everything shifted a month. No snow until late December/early January. Its almost like a prank because you get through February and say to yourself "we made it" only to have 2 more months not being able to take your kid outside without bundling them in clothes.

[crkone]

[vital_signs]

^huh, must just be in my head then. Probably mentally blocking out bad springs of yesteryears

[MikeIsGood]

Graphs are cool (really), but we're missing info for context. What is "spring" and "winter" - as in, what/when are the data points, is it an average of temps in a month(s) or particular days, etc.

April 2018 was the coldest April in Wisconsin in like 50 years - note that isn't specific to Milwaukee, which I believe those graphs are. I suspect that this April isn't colder than that, but we have been below average temps - both highs and lows - regularly in Madison and La Crosse-region. No source there, other than me looking at the forecast everyday and being upset it's unseasonably cold

[crkone]

Graphs are cool (really), but we're missing info for context. What is "spring" and "winter" - as in, what/when are the data points, is it an average of temps in a month(s) or particular days, etc.

April 2018 was the coldest April in Wisconsin in like 50 years - note that isn't specific to Milwaukee, which I believe those graphs are. I suspect that this April isn't colder than that, but we have been below average temps - both highs and lows - regularly in Madison and La Crosse-region. No source there, other than me looking at the forecast everyday and being upset it's unseasonably cold

Wisconsin State Climatology Office

SEASONAL AND ANNUAL TEMPERATURE GRAPHS

The accompanying graph displays the long-term variation in seasonal or annual temperature at a particular station. Specifically,

� the red curve represents the average of the daily maximum (or high) temperatures for the season or the year,

� the blue curve is the average of the daily minimum (or low) temperatures for the given season or year, and

� the black curve is the average temperature for the season or year.

The data used to produce these curves are obtained from the observed daily maximum and minimum temperatures for the particular station, covering the period of record. Monthly average high and low temperatures are determined for each month, along with the monthly average temperatures, which are the arithmetic averages of the monthly average high and low temperatures. Seasonally averaged high, low and average temperatures represent the corresponding three-month averages for the respective monthly averages, based upon the traditional meteorological seasons (DJF for winter, MAM for spring, JJA for summer and SON for autumn). Annual averages are also produced from 12-month averages.

Dates of changes in station location are provided.

https://www.aos.wisc.edu/~sco/clim-history/stations/T-series.html

From here:

https://www.aos.wisc.edu/~sco/clim-history/7cities/milwaukee.html

I thought that DJF and MAM were self explanatory in the title of the graphs so sorry I should have included links.

By the way here is Madison:

[MikeIsGood]

Ooooh! I didn't put together that was a reference for the months - nor did I know that they are common meteorological groupings for the seasons. TIL

[Beorn]

Is it me or has the late March/early April weather of early to mid 2000s turned into the late October/early November these days? I remember being able to hoop outside during spring break in Mid March.

I have no data to back this up, but feels like everything shifted a month. No snow until late December/early January. Its almost like a prank because you get through February and say to yourself "we made it" only to have 2 more months not being able to take your kid outside without bundling them in clothes.

I don't have any numbers handy to back it up, but I have the same feeling of all the seasons shifting back one month in the last decade or so here (Greece) as well. Not much cold till Christmas, it may snow even in May, September is essentially a hot hell like July/August and December is pretty much Autumn-ish.

[jmart762]

Memes are crazy. I've heard the weather is a month delayed a bunch of times over the last couple of weeks


Sent from my SM-G981U using RealGM mobile app

[Pachinko_]

So I got sucked into watching those docuseries about wrongful convictions on Netflix, first the case of Kalief Browder in NY and then Steven Avery in WI. Like, WTF. Does this happen a lot or is it one of those one in a million things?

[KidA24]

So I got sucked into watching those docuseries about wrongful convictions on Netflix, first the case of Kalief Browder in NY and then Steven Avery in WI. Like, WTF. Does this happen a lot or is it one of those one in a million things?

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=LastWeekTonight

[jute2003]

So I got sucked into watching those docuseries about wrongful convictions on Netflix, first the case of Kalief Browder in NY and then Steven Avery in WI. Like, WTF. Does this happen a lot or is it one of those one in a million things?

They're always slanted in one direction to make it seem like sure thing wrongful convictions. Sometimes they might be. Most of the time they're fiction

[chonestown]

So I got sucked into watching those docuseries about wrongful convictions on Netflix, first the case of Kalief Browder in NY and then Steven Avery in WI. Like, WTF. Does this happen a lot or is it one of those one in a million things?

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=LastWeekTonight

It's far more common than one in a million. The legal arena may as well be a pay-to-play forum. Capable lawyers cost money, billable hours add up in a hurry, filing motions carry transaction fees. If you don't have the resources, your case will usually suffer. There's baked-in biases to the American justice system and those can be argued subjectively, but financial wherewithal directly correlates to favorable outcomes.

[emunney]

So I got sucked into watching those docuseries about wrongful convictions on Netflix, first the case of Kalief Browder in NY and then Steven Avery in WI. Like, WTF. Does this happen a lot or is it one of those one in a million things?

Wrongful convictions happen a lot. Unfortunately, cases like Browder's -- who was *never tried* for the crime for which he was imprisoned for over 3 years -- are also far too common.

[Pachinko_]

Fk man. Makes me wonder now if it happens everywhere around the world and we just don't hear about it. One thing about the US, you can count that whenever they **** the bed it might take decades but eventually Hollywood will make a movie about it

[CharityStripe34]

Our spring/fall seasons here in Western NY State have also become f*cked up. Our winters have lingered deeper into the year (May and we still have low 50s in the forecast) but summer warmth, strangely enough, lasts a bit longer into late September early October. My poor Alfa Romeo Giulia is dying to stretch her summer legs (I have UHP summers) and this overcast/chilly weather just wont go away.

[Pachinko_]

Our spring/fall seasons here in Western NY State have also become f*cked up. Our winters have lingered deeper into the year (May and we still have low 50s in the forecast) but summer warmth, strangely enough, lasts a bit longer into late September early October. My poor Alfa Romeo Giulia is dying to stretch her summer legs (I have UHP summers) and this overcast/chilly weather just wont go away.

How is the Giulia? I was looking at one last year but I prefer diesel generally, and that particular diesel motor sounded like a combine harvester
I looked at the faster petrol ones too, but it just seems like such a waste in the country, can't really drive fast anywhere

[CharityStripe34]

Diesel motors are garbage in general. I know it's cheaper fuel internationally.

The Giulia has been utterly sublime. It's the most well-balanced chassis I've ever experienced (and I've driven Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, etc.). Given the sporty brand the suspension is a bit geared more for quick driving than long-distance plush. My cousin's Mercedes C400 is more comfy but Mercedes is a luxury brand. It handles incredibly well with a sharp steering rack (12:1 ratio), is also comfortable on long journeys even with my sport bucket seats (I'm 6' tall with decent love-handles). The 2.0L turbo engine that mine has is punchy and quick (280bhp, 300lb ft of torque) with very little turbo lag, especially in sport mode. The braking is brilliant when you're on the throttle and driving spiritedly but it takes some getting used to in normal urban commuting because it's electronic braking as opposed to hydraulic. So the normal progressive pedal feel as you brake driving at low speeds is almost exactly the same if you're thrashing it on some mountain twisty roads, which can feel weird the first couple of weeks.

Honestly, it's not even its top end speed but it's just such a fun, rewarding experience to drive the car even doing mundane or routine drives.

For the boring stuff like infotainment screens, that's the last reason I would ever think of while purchasing a car so, to me, the Alfa's system works just fine. It plays my phone's music, has built-in Android Auto whenever I plug in so I can use Waze or Google Maps. Even the bluetooth/voice activation works reasonably well and I have Greek friends and family where if I say "Call Kosta" the car will do just that.

Mine is a 2018 and I've had zero mechanical/electrical issues thus far, save for one factory recall for a software update maybe about 8 months after purchase. I just replaced the brake pads/rotors last year and did one alignment. It's been pure bliss.