Collecting ducks on the dashboard of jeeps has been going on for a long time. I find it incredibly annoying, but it’s not just a Maryland thing. I live in North Carolina and the number of duck festooned Jeeps I see is alarming.
I find this very exciting. The young college student who lives down the hall from my condo has a ginormous tricked out Jeep (Her parents bought her the condo. They bought her brother a condo. They bought a larger condo for themselves for when they visit. The kids attend a very expensive private college.) Anyway, she is a very sweet and friendly girl, and her boyfriend has helped me carry stuff in from my car. (The family may have money but the kids are great.) I have a rubber duck, origin unknown, that I am now going to place on the hood of her Jeep.
Jeep ducking is very common here in Alabama as well. I googled it the first time I saw one and now view further examples with an indulgent shake of the head.
That's what I went with in my own vote. I agree that rubber duckies are common, but these seem to have been the SAME rubber duckies, in number and arrangement. Plus the Jeep really hadn't moved. Had it?
I've seen them and that was going to be my guess (so luckily I said I think I know instead of I definitely do) because he said it was the same cloying display of ducks and I was assuming he meant same same as in he recognized the basic elements and order of elements to some reasonable extent. One assumes jeep ducking would result in a wide variety of size, shape, color and arrangement.
Why would you ask Claude? Just ask any Jeep owner, or even any car enthusiast. Or, you know, Google it, scroll past their AI summary, and read the primary sources instead of AI regurgitation.
I didn't think of that since I'm familiar with chameleon paint but I was once loaned a car that changed color enough under the lighting in a parking lot to go from a golden tan to a gray with distressing results when it came time to relocate where it had been parked...
It’s a thing!! Great for the rubber duck industry… loved the footage of the event!! Your parking skills are epic, maybe you should sponsor a parallel parking challenge. Sure to be a hit, then develop a video game and become filthy rich.
There are some truly SERIOUS comments below about the rubber ducky thing that many of you have seen first hand. Me? I didn't have a clue, but as it turns out, my guess was right. But more important than rubber duckies is the fact that every day my day is brightened a little bit when I open Gene's column to learn about parking meters which won't accept coins, cats named Grandpa who give birth to kittens, poop, and other subjects which delight and stimulate the mind. For that daily gift, Gene, I thank you. You brighten my day. And, oh yeah, keep an eye on The Great Orange Turd. Expose him wherever you can. That, too, brightens our days.
Thing is, Occam's and Holmes's propositions aren't mutually exclusive; it's a matter of where you start and stop (and how much time you have to come up with an answer...). Despite the difference in navigation technique, you can wind up at the same place. 'Course for the terminally indecisive, you can always default to Bayesian reasoning which gives you a chance not to make a decision by presenting a probability distribution, not a pronouncement. Wouldn't recommend this for anything approaching a fateful decision or if you only have say, 30 seconds to decide if you can fit into a parking spot that would involve stretching the bounds of Euclidean geometry and mechanics.
I was going to say this too. The Sherlock saying only applies to situations when only one explanation is left after the impossible is eliminated. If two are left, there's no reason not to use Occam. And I don't think Occam would mean to choose simple but impossible solutions. Essentially the Sherlock principle gives no nontrivial guidance at all, so it can't conflict with anything.
The true cosmic aspect of your "presto chango" parking story is that another Jeep, not another vehicle, managed to replace the first one and fit into the same obviously tight spot (cue “The Twilight Zone" theme). But it does point up the phenomenon of change blindness and how say, misdirection works, for magicians and pretend presidents of these United States. Btw --- notice any orange paint on your rear bumper?
I believe that literally everything has a logical explanation, and just because we do not know what that explanation is or do not understand it doesn't make it somehow mystical.
I am an astronomer/cosmologist by lifelong interest, education and career, and I can assure you that the universe is the result of natural forces the nature of which we are perhaps only halfway toward understanding, but one thing is clear: If it had/has a designer, it was done when he/she/it was paying attention to something else rather than our universe, what with its galaxies crashing together, exploding stars and whatnot. And then there's the totally haphazard, chaotic life on earth, which is a very strong argument against "Intelligent Design." It leads me to believe that, if there is a God, that God is a vicious moron.
For example, the actions of the Trump administration may seem inexplicable, but they are explained by the evil, greedy, sociopathic nature of those determining the course of those actions. In fact, if you wish to employ Occam's Razor, when you assume that Donald Trump is a "Manchurian Candidate" acting on behalf of a foreign adversary seeking to diminish America's strength and unity both domestically and internationally, everything becomes consistent and clear.
And while support of self-styled "patriotic Americans" for this administration may appear similarly inexplicable, it is a direct result of the incontrovertible fact that the majority (minus 2) of people, by definition, possess below-average intelligence. Actually, stupidity explains a lot of what's going on these days.
I love those strange rolling contraptions. Annapolis is a really interesting and lovely city. And while I would never be so vehicularly unwise as to purchase a Jeep (like nearly everyone else living in the largely urban eastern seaboard states, I do the vast majority of my driving on roads, something Jeeps are singularly inept at), I think that the little duckie thing is cute and helps provide a sense of camaraderie to lighten the burden of wind-and-tire-noise deafness and gas pump impoverishment blues.
Since I'm told a Jeep "chameleon" paint job can cost between $10-15,000, that answer would be at slim to none on a list of probabilities --- and the kicker --- having one of the change colors be "puke."
I assume "wackadoodles" is a typo and you meant to write "engineers."
Collecting ducks on the dashboard of jeeps has been going on for a long time. I find it incredibly annoying, but it’s not just a Maryland thing. I live in North Carolina and the number of duck festooned Jeeps I see is alarming.
Yep. It is everywhere, I see the duck collection vehicles constantly and admittedly find it cute fun!
I find this very exciting. The young college student who lives down the hall from my condo has a ginormous tricked out Jeep (Her parents bought her the condo. They bought her brother a condo. They bought a larger condo for themselves for when they visit. The kids attend a very expensive private college.) Anyway, she is a very sweet and friendly girl, and her boyfriend has helped me carry stuff in from my car. (The family may have money but the kids are great.) I have a rubber duck, origin unknown, that I am now going to place on the hood of her Jeep.
We see it in Florida.
Jeep ducking is very common here in Alabama as well. I googled it the first time I saw one and now view further examples with an indulgent shake of the head.
I'm thinking of donating a few of those ducks to a neighborhood kid. Why not? I have no use for them.
Same here in South Crackerlina. Annoyingly, even in Jeeps built up for serious trail riding. Too precious.
Very common here in Georgia, too.
It's the reason my wife says she will never own a Jeep: it comes with membership in an annoying club.
I Googled it, and there is such a thing as color-changing car paint. "Colour shift chameleon paint."
That was my guess. Back in the ‘90s Klein Mountain Bikes used it. I thought I was going nuts when I first saw it.
That's what I went with in my own vote. I agree that rubber duckies are common, but these seem to have been the SAME rubber duckies, in number and arrangement. Plus the Jeep really hadn't moved. Had it?
I've seen them and that was going to be my guess (so luckily I said I think I know instead of I definitely do) because he said it was the same cloying display of ducks and I was assuming he meant same same as in he recognized the basic elements and order of elements to some reasonable extent. One assumes jeep ducking would result in a wide variety of size, shape, color and arrangement.
You had my thought, but you actually looked it up to confirm it. I applaud you, but isn’t that behavior generally banned on the internet?
Why would you ask Claude? Just ask any Jeep owner, or even any car enthusiast. Or, you know, Google it, scroll past their AI summary, and read the primary sources instead of AI regurgitation.
Silly me! I thought it might be the angle of the sun changing the apparent color of the jeep.
But No!
I didn't think of that since I'm familiar with chameleon paint but I was once loaned a car that changed color enough under the lighting in a parking lot to go from a golden tan to a gray with distressing results when it came time to relocate where it had been parked...
That's the light. Probably sodium vapor.
Mine too
This was my thought!
It’s a thing!! Great for the rubber duck industry… loved the footage of the event!! Your parking skills are epic, maybe you should sponsor a parallel parking challenge. Sure to be a hit, then develop a video game and become filthy rich.
There are some truly SERIOUS comments below about the rubber ducky thing that many of you have seen first hand. Me? I didn't have a clue, but as it turns out, my guess was right. But more important than rubber duckies is the fact that every day my day is brightened a little bit when I open Gene's column to learn about parking meters which won't accept coins, cats named Grandpa who give birth to kittens, poop, and other subjects which delight and stimulate the mind. For that daily gift, Gene, I thank you. You brighten my day. And, oh yeah, keep an eye on The Great Orange Turd. Expose him wherever you can. That, too, brightens our days.
Thing is, Occam's and Holmes's propositions aren't mutually exclusive; it's a matter of where you start and stop (and how much time you have to come up with an answer...). Despite the difference in navigation technique, you can wind up at the same place. 'Course for the terminally indecisive, you can always default to Bayesian reasoning which gives you a chance not to make a decision by presenting a probability distribution, not a pronouncement. Wouldn't recommend this for anything approaching a fateful decision or if you only have say, 30 seconds to decide if you can fit into a parking spot that would involve stretching the bounds of Euclidean geometry and mechanics.
The person who started the duck thing is dead. https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a61438882/jeep-ducking-trend-founder-allison-parliament-dies/
I'm not certain there is a fundamental conflict between Occam's Razor and deductive reasoning. Eliminating the impossible simplifies the explanation.
I was going to say this too. The Sherlock saying only applies to situations when only one explanation is left after the impossible is eliminated. If two are left, there's no reason not to use Occam. And I don't think Occam would mean to choose simple but impossible solutions. Essentially the Sherlock principle gives no nontrivial guidance at all, so it can't conflict with anything.
My thought, also. And, how 'technologically advanced' is the alien?
Here I was thinking someone puked on the Jeep
Because of the ducks....
Take it a step further: i have a buddy who drives a jeep and hates those little fuckers.
So when I find a little rubber ducky, of course it goes on his jeep!
Blame it on The Watchmaker.
Heh-heh-heh...
The cosmic thing is how you both have avoided seeing the duck thing before —short of blinders. Maybe jeeps are more suburban than urban?
The true cosmic aspect of your "presto chango" parking story is that another Jeep, not another vehicle, managed to replace the first one and fit into the same obviously tight spot (cue “The Twilight Zone" theme). But it does point up the phenomenon of change blindness and how say, misdirection works, for magicians and pretend presidents of these United States. Btw --- notice any orange paint on your rear bumper?
I believe that literally everything has a logical explanation, and just because we do not know what that explanation is or do not understand it doesn't make it somehow mystical.
I am an astronomer/cosmologist by lifelong interest, education and career, and I can assure you that the universe is the result of natural forces the nature of which we are perhaps only halfway toward understanding, but one thing is clear: If it had/has a designer, it was done when he/she/it was paying attention to something else rather than our universe, what with its galaxies crashing together, exploding stars and whatnot. And then there's the totally haphazard, chaotic life on earth, which is a very strong argument against "Intelligent Design." It leads me to believe that, if there is a God, that God is a vicious moron.
For example, the actions of the Trump administration may seem inexplicable, but they are explained by the evil, greedy, sociopathic nature of those determining the course of those actions. In fact, if you wish to employ Occam's Razor, when you assume that Donald Trump is a "Manchurian Candidate" acting on behalf of a foreign adversary seeking to diminish America's strength and unity both domestically and internationally, everything becomes consistent and clear.
And while support of self-styled "patriotic Americans" for this administration may appear similarly inexplicable, it is a direct result of the incontrovertible fact that the majority (minus 2) of people, by definition, possess below-average intelligence. Actually, stupidity explains a lot of what's going on these days.
I love those strange rolling contraptions. Annapolis is a really interesting and lovely city. And while I would never be so vehicularly unwise as to purchase a Jeep (like nearly everyone else living in the largely urban eastern seaboard states, I do the vast majority of my driving on roads, something Jeeps are singularly inept at), I think that the little duckie thing is cute and helps provide a sense of camaraderie to lighten the burden of wind-and-tire-noise deafness and gas pump impoverishment blues.
Since I'm told a Jeep "chameleon" paint job can cost between $10-15,000, that answer would be at slim to none on a list of probabilities --- and the kicker --- having one of the change colors be "puke."
Other available colors should be snot green, piss yellow and shit brown.