The "This Might Be A Stupid Question, But...." Thread

[blue2000]

Akin to Carotte's PEI question, I've seen posters us "Big Box Store" . . . I always assumed that they were referring to Home Depot or Lowes or some other hardware/home improvement type center.

However, in some posts it seems like the poster is talking more like a Walmart type store.



Where did the term "Big Box Store" come from and what is it's true meaning?

I've always interpreted "big box store" as a huge chain store that sells many different types of things under one roof, usually in a building that looks like a big box     I'd include Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, Sam's Club, Costco, etc. all as big box stores.

ETA: another qualification is how, like Wal-Mart, big box stores don't have a real stockroom - the extra stock is all out on the shelves.

I'd say the US stores must be very different from Canadian ones, then. Our back room holds about three or four semi trucks' worth of stock. At peak times we may have multiple containers in the back parking lot with a truck's worth of bikes, patio sets, or sale items in each one.

(Having said that, if you ask a salesperson if there are any in the back, they may automatically say no. Sometimes they can't move all that stuff to get the one item you want.)

[Onyx_TKD]

Akin to Carotte's PEI question, I've seen posters us "Big Box Store" . . . I always assumed that they were referring to Home Depot or Lowes or some other hardware/home improvement type center.

However, in some posts it seems like the poster is talking more like a Walmart type store.



Where did the term "Big Box Store" come from and what is it's true meaning?

Here's Wikipedia's take on it: "Big-box store." These items from their list of "architectural characteristics" is a pretty good summary of what I associate with big-box stores:

Large, free-standing, rectangular, generally single-floor structure...The structure typically sits in the middle of a large, paved parking lot, sometimes referred to as a "sea of asphalt."...Floor space several times greater than traditional retailers in the sector, providing for a large amount of merchandise

In addition, the stores I think of as "big box stores" generally have a standard model for the chain and each individual store deviates as little as possible from the chain standard. They try to make the individual sites conform to their standard rather than adapting the individual store to its own surroundings/community. In my mind, the typical big box store is a giant rectangular box-shaped building, identical to every other store in the chain (often down to the internal layout), plopped down in the middle of a large lot that's graded completely flat and paved into a parking lot. Any deviations from the chain's standard cookie-cutter store and parking lot are the bare minimum required to meet local regulations.

[magicdomino]

Here's Wikipedia's take on it: "Big-box store." These items from their list of "architectural characteristics" is a pretty good summary of what I associate with big-box stores:

Large, free-standing, rectangular, generally single-floor structure...The structure typically sits in the middle of a large, paved parking lot, sometimes referred to as a "sea of asphalt."...Floor space several times greater than traditional retailers in the sector, providing for a large amount of merchandise

In addition, the stores I think of as "big box stores" generally have a standard model for the chain and each individual store deviates as little as possible from the chain standard. They try to make the individual sites conform to their standard rather than adapting the individual store to its own surroundings/community. In my mind, the typical big box store is a giant rectangular box-shaped building, identical to every other store in the chain (often down to the internal layout), plopped down in the middle of a large lot that's graded completely flat and paved into a parking lot. Any deviations from the chain's standard cookie-cutter store and parking lot are the bare minimum required to meet local regulations.

This.  Big box stores include Staples, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, Petsmart, and other "category killer" retailers.

[Diane AKA Traska]

My personal definition for big box stores is this:  You need to do maintenance on your car, flea dip your cat, throw a dinner party AND a birthday party (including get the gift for the latter), pick up a movie for the weekend, get some ointment for that rash you should really have checked out, get some socks, and replace the batteries in your smoke detectors... but you only want to make one stop. 

[cwm]

I am currently using a TV as a computer monitor.  I plugged in my headphone/mic set into the computer.  I can use the microphone just fine but the sound will only play through the TV.  The TV is plugged into the tower using an HDMI cable.  I am using Windows 8.  How can I get the sound to play through the headphones instead of the TV?

HDMI by default does audio and video (High Definition Media Input) but you can probably, in the sound settings, uncheck the Audio through HDMI. Husband (IT tech) recommends googling 'turn off HDMI audio in Windows 8' and you'll find screenshots of how to do that. (I use OSX and Husband mainly uses W7)

Thank you!  I know what HDMI is but I didn't know you could turn off just the audio; I figured it was all integrated and that I would be out of luck in that department.  I shall give it a try.

Depending on the TV, there might be other options too. I know with my mom's TV, the HDMI 1 port also comes with places to plug in audio cables. I have no idea why, all I know is that they have them, and if her cable box is plugged in with HDMI into HDMI 1 she'll need it to get audio, but if the cable box is plugged into HDMI 2 or 3 port and the Blu-Ray player is plugged into HDMI 1, none of them need audio cables. But if the Blu-Ray player is plugged anywhere else, the whole system comes falling down.

It's a truly bizarre system. Even my boyfriend, tech genius that he is, can't figure it out. But we've managed to get it to work.

[stitchygreyanonymouse]

What would an apartment manager mean when they say "you will still need to register your mail with the [city] post office"? In Vermont, if it makes a difference. They were confirming that there were mailboxes at the complex and that I had the correct mailing address (including apt number).

I mean, aside from filing a change of address when I move to forward the mail from my current house to the new apartment, is there another step? I’ve never had to do anything else.

[mandycorn]

I had to go to the post office to get the key to my mailbox and submit the change of address form, but those are the only steps I needed to go through.

[Betelnut]

Why are cars such boring colors?

White, black, gray, silver, tan/beige are the most common--all colors that are easily spotted at night and in the rain or fog. ( Not)
Red, of course and the very occasional green or blue (my car is that dark blue that you see).

BORING!  Where are the pastels?  The pinks?  Orange? Beautiful leafy green?  Deep rich brown? Robins egg blue?

[Tea Drinker]

I don't have an answer to your question, but I saw a car yesterday that was not merely orange, but International Distress Orange. One was striking; a dozen on the same block would probably have been hard on the eyes.

[jpcher]

RE: Big Box Stores

Thanks, everybody, for your replies. Especially Onyx_TKD for the wiki link.

For some reason I thought Big Box Store was an e-hell term, probably because I never heard of that term outside of e-hell, so I never even thought to google it.

Now I know!





RE: Why are cars such boring colors?

LOL!

DDs and I are looking for a car. We sat down with a dealer and chatted a bit then he asked if we were looking for any specific color. DD#2 piped up and said

"A pretty color, like Azure (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azure_%28color%29) or a pale lime green. Not the shocking Woah! Bright! lime green but a nice soft pastel lime green. Something like that."

The salesman was all  Then he wrote down "pretty color" and looked at me. I said "Any color."

Just thought I'd let you know that you have a car-color soul mate.




I'm sure you'll get more technical responses, but I'm going to say Demand/Cost/Feasibility of repair.

Not a whole lot of people want an orange car so they stick to neutral colors. They paint their cars and parts in "lots" and it's cheaper by the dozen, KWIM? With any body damage people can buy touch-up paints in their specific lot color and it would be a pretty darn good match.

Just my thoughts.

[dawnfire]

Why are cars such boring colors?

White, black, gray, silver, tan/beige are the most common--all colors that are easily spotted at night and in the rain or fog. ( Not)
Red, of course and the very occasional green or blue (my car is that dark blue that you see).

BORING!  Where are the pastels?  The pinks?  Orange? Beautiful leafy green?  Deep rich brown? Robins egg blue?

I think it started out to make it easily identifiable to the motoring bodies and in accident reports. I've seen some odd colors, an orange (imagine if you mixed milk into tomato soup, it was a creamy orange color),  tree frog green (complete with the registration plate Kermit),  and safety vest yellow.

[Bluenomi]

Why are cars such boring colors?

White, black, gray, silver, tan/beige are the most common--all colors that are easily spotted at night and in the rain or fog. ( Not)
Red, of course and the very occasional green or blue (my car is that dark blue that you see).

BORING!  Where are the pastels?  The pinks?  Orange? Beautiful leafy green?  Deep rich brown? Robins egg blue?

Netural colours sell better and don't date as much. Every now and then a certain type of car will come in some fancy colour and for years afterwards you can say 'Oh look there is an x year model y!' The bright green Mazda 2s from a few years back come to mind.

[Luci45]

Oooooo! 57 Chevy salmon! (Or was it oyster shell?)

We saw a light metallic green car this weekend with the plate "Lima Bn".

Our granddaughters have had a persimon car and an eggplant, but that was merely because they were the most appropriate used cars for them.

I've seen lots of interesting colors, but it is the more neutral ones that sell best.

[Slartibartfast]

My car and DH's car are both technically "blue," but they're about as opposite as you can get.  His looks black in all but the exact perfect angle in direct sunlight, and mine is BLUE blue.

[RingTailedLemur]

Someone near me has one of these: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29133179@N06/3688990826/