# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 28, 2022, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380 "2022-09-28T11:33:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 58
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1142 "2023-01-03T03:37:50Z")
My terms are surely imprecise, but the best way I can think to put it is I’m thinking of an “injury” as a trauma from without. A trauma from within would be, I don’t know, a “medical emergency,” maybe? Of course the lines can blur. I wouldn’t categorize a pulmonary embolism as an injury, though feel free to vote that way if you so choose. And I hope you’re OK now! ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1143 "2023-01-03T04:05:57Z")
Yeah, now I’m even more confused. But thanks for the link. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1144 "2023-01-03T05:39:45Z")
I can see myself. As a police officer. In a few hours as a matter of fact. But not too much longer. Of course I could see myself as a firefighter. Who doesn’t like taking naps and playing video games? Nurse? No thank you. I don’t like puke and poop. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1145 "2023-01-03T05:42:09Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > My terms are surely imprecise, but the best way I can think to put it is I’m thinking of an “injury” as a trauma from without. A trauma from within would be, I don’t know, a “medical emergency,” maybe? > > Of course the lines can blur. I wouldn’t categorize a pulmonary embolism as an injury, though feel free to vote that way if you so choose. > > And I hope you’re OK now! I answered as if it was a medical emergency. Never stayed overnight for an injury but did stay a little less than a week a couple of times. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1146 "2023-01-03T17:06:01Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > My terms are surely imprecise, but the best way I can think to put it is I’m thinking of an “injury” as a trauma from without. I was assuming that. I’ve had to be in the hospital for a couple of days, but voted “none”, because the cause was a procedure to repair my heart. It wasn’t an emergency, though I suppose it would eventually have become or caused one; but it was badly needed. > [@Loach](#): > > Of course I could see myself as a firefighter. Who doesn’t like taking naps and playing video games? That part, I could do. The part about climbing ladders in full protective gear while carrying a lot of weight? Not sure I could ever have done that well enough to meet the needs of the job; and entirely sure that I couldn’t do it now. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1147 "2023-01-03T17:19:09Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > While we have city sewer, not a septic system, but the sewer line from the house to the street curb is the homeowner’s responsibility in our village, I did select “septic failure.” I’m in a condo complex, and I forgot that the line from the street to our complex failed once. My car was totalled by the insurance company once, but it wasn’t damaged _that_ badly. I assumed the insurance peeps figured the cost to repair was greater than the value of the car. I tripped and fell down the concrete steps to our parking space on my way to work one morning and broke my wrist. My only ER visit…thankfully. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1148 "2023-01-03T21:04:23Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > I assumed the insurance peeps figured the cost to repair was greater than the value of the car. Anecdote time: a friend in high school had a Pontiac 1000, which was just a Chevette by a different name. It was involved in a fairly minor accident, like someone backed into it in a parking lot if I remember correctly. The other driver was found at fault, and even though his car only had minor damage the insurance company declared it totaled, because the car was worth so little pretty much _any_ repair exceeded the value of the car. But it was still drivable, so IIRC he just collected a check from the insurance company and kept driving it. Or maybe he bought it back from the insurance company. But the way he told the story he profited from the transaction somehow. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1149 "2023-01-03T21:12:07Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > But the way he told the story he profited from the transaction somehow. I had a Ford Escort that was a moneymaker. I took it for tires. They backed up into something. Offered me the tires for free, I learned to like the dent. Got hit in the left front. I cashed the check, hammered stuff back into place. Got rear-ended at a red light, breaking my seat from the coup-contrecoup. I cashed the check and jammed a milk crate behind my seat to keep the seat-back up. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1150 "2023-01-03T21:40:08Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > it was still drivable, so IIRC he just collected a check from the insurance company and kept driving it. Or maybe he bought it back from the insurance company. But the way he told the story he profited from the transaction somehow. When I bought my totalled car back from the insurance company, it didn’t cost the full amount of their payout to do so. Basically, IIRC, they decided that the value of the car was less than what it would cost to do all the work needed to repair it, so they totalled it; but paid me the amount they decided the car was worth before the accident. They charged me for it the amount the car was worth after the accident, which was obviously less than it was worth right before it, so there was cash left over. A friend and I did a lot of the work, but I think the rest of the money, or nearly all of it, went into buying the other car carcass that we bought for the body parts, and a few parts that we did need to buy new. It also took us a great deal of time, because we weren’t car mechanics, though we were able to get advice and work space from another friend who had, IIRC, some of the tools. – this was back in the 1970’s and a lot of stuff was simpler to work on than it is now. If your friend’s car was drivable as was (mine wasn’t) and he just didn’t care what the body looked like, he might well have wound up with extra cash out of the deal. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1151 "2023-01-03T23:23:23Z")
So sorry, **Maus** , for your recent accident! Hope you’re still OK. The older I get, the more I appreciate air conditioning in Ohio’s hot, muggy summers. When our AC quit in the worst of the August heat a few years ago and, for various reasons, couldn’t be fixed for almost two weeks, we were very uncomfortable. But we survived. > [@Loach](#): > > …Of course I could see myself as a firefighter. Who doesn’t like taking naps and playing video games?.. Ooo, burn! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1152 "2023-01-03T23:24:58Z")
Do i know this drunk man? Do i deem him dangerous? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1153 "2023-01-04T02:36:14Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > That part, I could do. The part about climbing ladders in full protective gear while carrying a lot of weight? Not sure I could ever have done that well enough to meet the needs of the job; and entirely sure that I couldn’t do it now. Young me went into the Army and would have no problem with that. Slightly older me got through the police academy and managed a couple decades of combat arms Army training. I could handle that. Current broken down me can handle telling the youngsters what to do and being their boss. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1154 "2023-01-04T03:02:40Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Do i know this drunk man? Do i deem him dangerous? I guess I assumed that there was somebody (or a group of somebodies) present at the party/whatever who was capable of taking the keys from the drunk man without risking serious injury, and that the question was whether they ought to. I was at a party years ago at which we did that; we all knew each other, and the drunk guy didn’t tend to be violent. He wound up sleeping it off on the couch. – IIRC, it was actually his couch; he wasn’t trying to drive home, he was trying to go get more beer. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1155 "2023-01-04T03:03:49Z")
At a party, maybe? At a bar? ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1156 "2023-01-04T03:22:16Z")
The poll says a party, restaurant, or whatnot. “Whatnot” would presumably include a bar, but it read to me as if the question was primarily about a group of friends. – the bar’s apparently legally only responsible if they continue to serve a customer who’s already visibly drunk. But you’re right that it’s applicable information to how one answers the question. I just wasn’t thinking of it that way when I voted. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1157 "2023-01-04T03:31:50Z")
I misremembered. But I wouldn’t intervene at a restaurant if someone from another table did that. (I might or might not call the police.) But I would intervene directly if it were my friend, and certainly wouldn’t call the police. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1158 "2023-01-04T03:53:01Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > So sorry, **Maus** , for your recent accident! Hope you’re still OK. I was sore for a couple of days, and my rib is bruised where it slammed into my elbow. It’ll take more than two dudes in a 2008 Ford Explorer to take me out. > [@](#): > > The older I get, the more I appreciate air conditioning in Ohio’s hot, muggy summers. When our AC quit in the worst of the August heat a few years ago and, for various reasons, couldn’t be fixed for almost two weeks, we were very uncomfortable. But we survived. The house I lived in college had a busted A/C. The two weeks before our landlady fixed it were hellish. My roommates didn’t tell me it was fixed, and when I came home from work and saw all the windows shut, I about freaked out, because it was going to hellish in there (North Carolina in June hellish). When I walked in, I could almost see my breath, they had it cranked up so high. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1159 "2023-01-04T03:55:12Z")
I want to hear the story of the [one person who voted that their was house totaled and they rebuilt](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/polls-only-no-discussion/953642/2598). My house has been threatened by wildfire and I’ve packed the car to leave quickly more than once when things were dicey. I have dreams about everything being gone, being evacuated and a vagabond while insurance and contractors slowly do what they do. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1160 "2023-01-04T03:58:19Z")
Re the lottery poll: I’m unlikely to live another 30 years. If I were younger, I might have voted the other way. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2023, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/1161 "2023-01-04T03:58:42Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Re the lottery poll: I’m unlikely to live another 30 years. If I were younger, I might have voted the other way Ditto. I’ve got may be 10 years left. Not 30. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=57) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=59)