Recent comments in /f/mildlyinteresting

iwannawangchung t1_ja9lcho wrote

My father had the same pile. Not scratch offs, though. He plays the state lottery where he lives. $5 two times a week, same five sets of numbers for probably 30 years. About 7 years ago he calls me late night. I thought he was dying when I saw his name come up because he never calls. I live several states away, and we mostly communicated via email. Long story short, he finally won the big one. I thought how big could a state lottery be with mega millions and powerball dominating most of the ticket purchases. I thought he maybe hit $100k. Boy was I way off. Multiple millions. Most surreal moment of our lives. He still plays twice a week.

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only_utilitarian t1_ja9klbz wrote

Yep this should be standard. Here in the UK, it was traditional to pick a marker, like a sign for example and you would say a phrase. You'd start it as the vehicle in front passed the sign and if you got to it before finishing the phrase, you were too close.... judging attitudes to raid safety nowadays, I think this is largely forgotten.

The phrase was "only a fool breaks the two second rule".... Simple and effective.

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Janus_The_Great t1_ja9jj0s wrote

Or you do it like the rest of the world and keep track of something the car in front passes by, start counting and stop counting when you pass that spot. If it's less than two seconds, you're too close. Bonus, it adapts for speed, you're literally counting down potential reaction time.

Do people not learn that in driving school in the US?

In Switzerland we still have markers sometimes, but they act as reminders. Counting is still safer.

Have a good one. Stay safe.

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