The General Chat Thread (2023)

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rascal said:
Certain places here are grit when its snowing on the passes to west coast. Arthur's pass and lewis pass only 2 ways to the coast. Over mountains. My hilux was never a problem. I drove over 100s of times. Cars use chains to get grip.

Russ
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I am assuming by "grit" you mean some kind of coarse sand? That's what they use in Texas on bridges, overpasses and at intersections. Nasty stuff, but at least it doesn't rust your car away like rock salt does. I don't know if they still use salt in any northern states or not. Someone here will know.

CD
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
I had to explain to a very disappointed lady today that the ice she had so very bravely driven on wasn't black ice at all as she was proudly telling everyone... it was white frost and not actually slippy.

She actually asked me what colour black ice was! I nearly stated the blindingly obvious but then thought the better of it and told her it was black. She was ever so disappointed :headshake:for some weird reason she thought black ice was white! :facepalm:

PS, they don't grit roads around here, even the tarmac ones. You're just expected to slow down on the straight sections. It doesn't work well.
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Here in Ohio, black ice is clear but it looks black on a black tar road, so hence the term black ice.
 
caseydog said:
I am assuming by "grit" you mean some kind of coarse sand? That's what they use in Texas on bridges, overpasses and at intersections. Nasty stuff, but at least it doesn't rust your car away like rock salt does. I don't know if they still use salt in any northern states or not. Someone here will know.

CD
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Yeah crusher dust type. Incline and decline. The viaduct saves time now.
Giggle otira viaduct.

Russ
 
JAS_OH1 said:
Here in Ohio, black ice is clear but it looks black on a black tar road, so hence the term black ice.
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Yeah, same worldwide.

But here the highway is actually pink/brown concrete... it's why I just settled for saying black rather than trying to explain to her that it was a clear colourless solid that allowed you to see the tarmac below. Seemed easier than trying to explain the concept that black ice isn't white
 
Colonel Chris Hadfield knows his stuff.

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Rocklobster said:
I was snooping for different single plates at a nearby thrift store today. My son has started a food blog and asked me to send him some photos of my dinners. Anyhoo, I found this one with a logo of a French Restaurant named Le Procope . Came home and googled it and turns out it is the oldest cafe in Paris that goes way back to 1687. Leave it up to somebody from around here to steal a plate from a fancy restaurant in Paris.

Le Procope / Brasserie / Paris
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1986 we moved into a rental with a cram packed shed. Is kids made short work of going through it all as we were left home unsupervised all the time after Mum passed away.

One of the boxes had hundreds of plates from a famous Sydney Pub. Dinner plates, side plates & oval shaped ones.

Australian Hotel - Wikipedia
 
caseydog said:
For the non-Americans here (most members):

It is a Monday Holiday in the US. Juneteenth. It celebrates the real "official" end of slavery in the US.

That date fell in mid June in 1865. Any history buffs will know that the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in January of 1863, but that was not the end of slavery. After the civil war, which was fought over slavery (despite what some people now say), the last enslaved people were officially freed in June of 1865... in Texas.

Many slave owners in the South sent their enslaved people to Texas during the civil war, for "safe keeping" until they figured the Confederacy would win the war, and they could bring them back to the new Confederate States of America. It didn't work out that way.

It was in June of 1865 when the US Army arrived in Texas and "officially" ended slavery in the USA. I use quotes around "officially" because there were loopholes that took a while to overcome.

If you are curious about world history, I suggest you look into this chapter of US history. Here is a starting point...

What is Juneteenth? Learn the history behind the federal holiday's origin and name

CD
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They did a great dive into it on High on the Hog. Netflix doco on the contribution to cuisine of the slaves who did all the cooking & farming. Amazing.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Yeah, it's windy. That's why they built the wind farm here, because it's one of the windiest places in the whole of NSW. We're 1km from the closest turbine, higher than it and more exposed.

It's already much colder tonight than it was at the same point last night. Locally already -3°C. I think -6°C might be a bit optimistic! This is coming straight off Antarctica.
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Did you get snow today?
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
I had to explain to a very disappointed lady today that the ice she had so very bravely driven on wasn't black ice at all as she was proudly telling everyone... it was white frost and not actually slippy.

She actually asked me what colour black ice was! I nearly stated the blindingly obvious but then thought the better of it and told her it was black. She was ever so disappointed :headshake:for some weird reason she thought black ice was white! :facepalm:

PS, they don't grit roads around here, even the tarmac ones. You're just expected to slow down on the straight sections. It doesn't work well.
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Sometimes it’s clear as glass. Which is why it’s black, as all you see is the road surface.

The highway just Sydney side of Lithgow is notorious. They re-did 40 Bends in concrete a few years ago as concrete doesn’t ice over in the same way.
 
Frizz1974 said:
Did you get snow today?
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No, but it only started to rain at dusk.

Frizz1974 said:
Sometimes it’s clear as glass. Which is why it’s black, as all you see is the road surface.

The highway just Sydney side of Lithgow is notorious. They re-did 40 Bends in concrete a few years ago as concrete doesn’t ice over in the same way.
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I'm very familiar with black ice. It's a pretty common occurrence where I grew up in Scotland and north of England. Those lanes don't get gritted either.

The whole reason for settling with the answer "black" when she asked what colour black ice was if it wasn't white was that i simply didn't have the strength or stamina to have a conversation with someone about ice being a clear colourless solid. Plus quite frankly I wasn't really sure that I'd get the message across. Some people just don't have the level of intelligence I need in a conversation and the answer "black" was the level she could cope with.
 
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