# Intelligence is water-soluble **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 2, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-is-water-soluble/531017 "2010-03-02T18:24:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-is-water-soluble/531017/21 "2010-03-03T05:34:41Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I’m sorry. I’m fat. I need a bigger umbrella. I don’t know if it quite rises to the level of a golf umbrella, but I do know that I have trouble with my clothes getting wet with a normal sized one. I don’t understand how it blocks you in any way shape or form. It takes up exactly the same amount of space I take up. > > I do understand the ire if the wind is blowing, but I don’t carry an umbrella I can’t manage. And, if it’s raining, I’m just going to use it to get from place to place. I’m not gonna stay walking around because that’s how you wind up soaked. > > I don’t understand the ire about not wanting to get wet. That’s why people carry umbrellas. I’m sure you’d love it, if, when your all dressed up, I come along and squirt you with a supersoaker. If I didn’t care about getting wet, I wouldn’t carry anything. And I’d be sure to sit in all the chairs of people jerkish enough to insist that the devil himself rape me. At least that has a realistic chance of happening. Interestingly enough I have never seen anyone even approaching “medium sized” carrying one of the damn things, let alone a large person. Around here at least it’s always small folks. They have zero sense of how much space they are taking up and they do not care in the least that they are constantly in danger of de-oculating people with the ribs of their oversize brollies. If you’re big and need a big umbrella and you don’t fling it about carelessly like Conan mowing down enemies with a chain flail then I thank you and please don’t consider this rant aimed at you, any more than a pitting of careless SUV drivers would extend to a responsible truck driver. **BorgHunter** , I am ranting about that particular moron driver who was repeatedly letting his window fog up on a crowded freeway at rush hour in shitty weather. I’m sure he saved 3.7 cents. What a wonderful bargain compared to the large increase in risk of crashing into someone else. He could also save power by driving at night with his headlights off. People who do stupid shit while navigating two tons of steel at high speeds can eat a bowl of Dingleberry Crunch. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-is-water-soluble/531017/22 "2010-03-03T05:53:33Z")
> [@BorgHunter](#): > > I hate to piss on a beautiful rant—and I agree that the defogger _should_ be used in this case—but I volunteer to be Pedant McAsshole here. In every car I’ve been in so equipped with air conditioning, putting on defog also engages the A/C automatically, with no way to disengage it without also putting the vents back at your feet or in your face. And the A/C consumes a bit of fuel, thus it’ll cost him maybe a handful of change per trip if the defog’s on. > > So does this mean I own your soul now? My 2005 Corolla has A/C, and it doesn’t come on automatically when I use defrost - they’re two separate things. One switch does defrost, a different switch does A/C. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-is-water-soluble/531017/23 "2010-03-03T06:06:03Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I play golf and they are probably talking about this kind of cart: [picture.](http://www.hickerphoto.com/data/media/185/golf-pull-carts_12768.jpg) _Pfffft._ That’s not a golf cart. [This](http://www.uberreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/h2%20hummer%20golf%20cart.jpg) is a golf cart. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-is-water-soluble/531017/24 "2010-03-03T13:40:00Z")
[QUOTE=BorgHunter] In every car I’ve been in so equipped with air conditioning, putting on defog also engages the A/C automatically, with no way to disengage it without also putting the vents back at your feet or in your face. [/QUOTE] Maybe it’s unique to Chrysler products, but both our truck and car have a setting on the knob at the far end that blows on the windshield only and shuts off the face and floor vents. Looks like a fan with squiggles on it. And yes, add me to the crowd who saw the thread title and immediately thought of Bay Area drivers. I am amazed that I managed to survive for 20 years there and not get squished. Fortunately, the penchant for sidewalk-dominating umbrellas (It’s all about **ME**. **I’m** so self-important! That other poster was joking, but \*\*MY \*\*hair _is_ made of sodium! And \*\*MY \*\* seasonally-inappropriate coat is made of the finest silk! Get out of **MY** way!) seems to be a Bay Area thing. I haven’t noticed any oversized brollies in Charlotte yet. Just drivers who barrel along at 65 on black ice. :eek: Got to get to the store for milk and bread before someone else gets the last loaf! ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-is-water-soluble/531017/25 "2010-03-03T14:08:06Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > Uh, the idea is that I’m not hitting anyone in the face with it, jackass. I hold the damn thing high enough to not get in people’s way when I’m walking, and I’m tall enough that that’s a reasonable possibility, capiche? > > You know, like I said in my original freakin’ post? Oh, so the whole issue with golf umbrellas is OTHER people. Like it’s all those OTHER Hummer drivers that are jackholes. ---
**Author:** ![SecTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SecTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecTech)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-is-water-soluble/531017/26 "2010-03-03T14:34:11Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > Yes it’s that time of year again, the rainy season in the lovely Bay Area which means it’s open season on idiotic behavior. > > First off, … > Next up, driving! Oh what a thrill it is to be in traffic with people who don’t seem to grasp the concept that when it’s raining: > > a. It’s harder to see. > b. It’s harder to stop. > > I am astounded that these folks make it out of the shower alive each morning. Nice rant. I appreciate all the points made, in fact the only place that I have ever spent any time where there is an “umbrella culture” is Japan. Walking down the street from my \*\*eye \*\*level of 5’9", I am amazed by the umbrellas bobbing and dodging one another, it’s like being above the clouds. About driving in rain. Florida has a “dry season” during which 4-7" of rain falls each month. If it doesn’t rain for 5 or 6 days, you need to stay at work an hour longer, to allow the authorities to clear the ambulances and tow trucks out of the way. Bay Area rainy season Bah! Try someplace where it rains all the time and they still don’t have a boody clue ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-is-water-soluble/531017/27 "2010-03-03T15:01:00Z")
You should see what happens to people’s intelligence when _frozen_ water enters the picture. [Intelligence must be a gas at room temperature-](http://preparatorychemistry.com/Bishop_solubility_temperature.htm) its solubility seems to be higher in frozen water than in water at a higher temperature. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-is-water-soluble/531017/28 "2010-03-03T15:32:47Z")
See, what you need is a [full body umbrella.](http://www.weirdasianews.com/2009/10/19/chindogu-weird-useless-japanese-inventions/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligence-is-water-soluble/531017.md?page=1)