# There's clueless, then there's "how do you remember how to breathe" clueless **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 28, 2024, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938 "2024-09-28T08:44:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2024, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/201 "2024-10-12T03:14:45Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > “A pint’s a pound > The world around.” > > (Old saying. Works mostly for approximations of things made mostly of water.) Assuming it’s a US pint weighing 1.04 pounds An Imperial pint of water weighs 1.25 pounds ---
**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:** [October 12, 2024, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/202 "2024-10-12T03:17:45Z")
Already discussed upthread. ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Blaylock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_blaylock/32/3235_2.png) [@Bob\_Blaylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Blaylock)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/203 "2024-10-13T19:48:42Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > [@Bob\_Blaylock](#): > > > > My Jeep is the only car that @Seanette and/or I have ever had with a backup camera, other than a somewhat lesser Jeep that we rented for about a month, two years ago. Once I got the hang of it, I have found that I get a better view of a parking space, and an easier time getting positioned properly within it, if I back in using the rear camera, than if I go forward, using what I can see with the windows and mirrors. > > If I eventually wind up with a car that has a backup camera, I might reconsider the issue. But I don’t have one now. > > And I don’t have any problem getting positioned properly if I drive forward into a parking space; and then, if possible, continue forward into the facing space so that I can pull forward out of that one. I routinely park further away from the store so that I can find a pull-through space. I do know at least one parking lot that doesn’t have any.   I don’t know why I didn’t figure this out, sooner, with some of the previous cars, but it was during the time that we’ve had the Dart that I figured out that on any car with remote-controllable side mirrors, that it is easy to position those mirrors so that one can clearly see to back into a parking space.  It was the last day of 2016 that we got the Dart, and some time after that, that I figured this trick out, but I an pretty sure that we’ve had cars with this feature back as far as the Tempo that we had back in the late 1990s.  Once I figured this out on the Dart, a preference for backing in to parking spaces took hold in me. Of course, the backup camera in my Jeep makes it much easier still. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/204 "2024-10-13T20:13:14Z")
Interesting. I don’t want to take the time, while I’m paused in the middle of potential traffic, to mess around with readjusting my side mirrors, though. The controls aren’t intuitive for me and it always takes me a while. I think I’ll just keep using my pull-through space technique. There’s only one parking lot that I routinely use that doesn’t allow it, and I’m only in that one about once in three months. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/205 "2024-10-13T20:26:03Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I’m picturing a _Dueling Banjos_ type situation, but with knocking. Nah, gotta be dueling farts. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/206 "2024-10-13T20:36:21Z")
Voila: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/lMtNsrvr7ow/maxresdefault.jpg "Family Guy: Outfarting Michael Moore") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMtNsrvr7ow) ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2024, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/207 "2024-10-13T21:54:15Z")
I can’t help it, that sends me into convulsions of laughter. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/208 "2024-10-14T01:47:08Z")
I was at the zoo a couple of months ago and witnessed an argument between a zookeeper and tourist outside the Galapagos tortoise exhibit. He had apparently dropped his sunglasses into a mud puddle in the exhibit and a tortoise had come along and sat on them. The zookeeper was trying to patiently explain that: 1. The mud was thigh deep and she couldn’t really wade in there. 2. She was not going to drag a 400-pound tortoise out of the mud to retrieve a pair of sunglasses. 3. The fact that the sunglasses were now under a 400-pound tortoise meant that they were likely not sunglasses any more. He was not having it. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/209 "2024-10-14T16:08:18Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > And I don’t have any problem getting positioned properly if I drive forward into a parking space; and then, if possible, continue forward into the facing space so that I can pull forward out of that one. I think of that as “Seattle Parking”, because I’d never seen it done until a vacation out there, and then I watched people do it dozens of times in my week there. It’s a great technique (and no, I’ve never seen a near-accident due to someone trying to drive forward into the spot that’s being ‘Seattled’ into). ---
**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:** [October 14, 2024, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/210 "2024-10-14T16:15:12Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I think of that as “Seattle Parking”, because I’d never seen it done until a vacation out there, and then I watched people do it dozens of times in my week there. Interesting. I’m certainly not the only one doing it here on the other side of the country; but it seems to be minority behavior. I almost never see anybody backing in around here, though – although it occurs to me that that might depend on the particular area. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/211 "2024-10-14T17:32:52Z")
> [@digs](#): > > It’s a great technique (and no, I’ve never seen a near-accident due to someone trying to drive forward into the spot that’s being ‘Seattled’ into). I sometimes pull forward when I feel like it, and I have had cars several times try to occupy that space from the other side at the same time as me. And from the other side as well, as me being the car pulling into a space that somebody is trying to pull forward into. I wouldn’t call it quite a “near accident,” but extra attention is always demanded when you do this. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/212 "2024-10-14T17:34:42Z")
Definitely it needs extra attention. I try to pull through when possible but don’t do so if there is a car in the next aisle that might be about to pull into that space. ---
**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:** [October 14, 2024, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/213 "2024-10-14T17:48:40Z")
I find that I can generally see if there’s a car on the other side that might be approaching the space, and if so I hesitate until I can clearly tell what they’re up to. Worst comes to worst, we might end up nose to nose – just as if we’d both been aiming to just pull up to the dividing line in the first place, instead of intending to pull through. I don’t pull into any parking space at high speed, and rarely see anybody else doing so either; at least, around here. Is that common in some areas? ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/214 "2024-10-14T20:33:53Z")
After a couple of backing up accidents in my old apt. complex (one my fault, the other someone else’s–my excuse was that the setting sun blinded me and my camera from seeing anyone) I now pull through in any public parking lot which permits such, parking sufficiently far away that my car is not visually blocked when I pull out. I can easily huff it the extra distance, burn a few extra calories for my trouble. [my current complex has no pull throughs, tho the traffic here is sufficiently low that I don’t need to back in like I started to do at my old place] ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2024, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/215 "2024-10-16T10:33:20Z")
The pull through parking is fine but it makes it harder to unload a shopping cart into your trunk/hatch or whatever. Someone will park behind you. If your just getting a few things, no problem. If you have a cart full of groceries, it sort of suck. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2024, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/216 "2024-10-16T19:37:10Z")
Meh. There’s generally room enough on at least one side between my car and the one alongside it to fit a cart through. And there’s generally room enough between my tailgate and the bumper of the car pulled in behind me for me to stand. If I can’t also fit the cart behind the tailgate, I can reach over sideways for the bags. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2024, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/217 "2024-10-16T19:41:46Z")
My car has a hatchback and at least once, the car parked behind it was so close I couldn’t swing the hatchback open. But that’s rare. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2024, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/218 "2024-10-16T22:19:59Z")
Happens to me all the time and drives me up the wall. Can’t they _see_ the lift gate? Do they think it’s decorative? ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2024, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/219 "2024-10-16T22:33:41Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > Do they think it’s decorative? You are assuming somethings not in evidence. [Them 1. Noticing and 2. Thinking] ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2024, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938/220 "2024-10-16T23:02:21Z")
My hatchback doesn’t open anymore. 🤷‍♂️ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-clueless-then-theres-how-do-you-remember-how-to-breathe-clueless/1007938.md?page=12)