You shoulda brought out some "whistler" action on his scruffy ass.

If I had lost it, I would've just put the kickstand down and fucking tackled him - I was wearing an armored jacket, helmet, gloves, boots, etc... wouldn't have hurt me much. Nothing like a helmet to the chin to get your attention.

But I've really been working on blowing it all off, and successfully so far. I just laughed. And really it was sorta funny. My only real concern is one of those students Shiv's talking about walking out in front of me and getting nailed. And there are ample opportunities for that to happen.

Ha ha - I had a similar thing happen this summer. Dude on a bike was riding on the sidewalk, same direction as me, as I approached the turn-off to the HIGHWAY RAMP. I got an inkling that he was gonna cut out in front of me, and sure enough, he darts in front of me to cross the road. I manage to stop, let him cross, and the fucker starts cussing me out like crazy. So I rolled down my window and asked him what the problem was. "This is a crosswalk," he yelled. "Yeh, " I responded. "That's why I let you cross, you fucking moron."

Well, I guess my reasoned tone didn't have the desired effect. The guy went nuts. He got off his bike and picked it up to heave it at my car. I popped the clutch and scooted away like a beeyotch.





oh, and I don't mind bicyclists taking up whole lanes like they're traffic IF THEY OBEY THE SAME RULES AS OTHER TRAFFIC. That means no cutting along the gutter at red lights to get ahead of everybody (and all that sort of shit they routinely pull).

YES. This has been my mantra for years--you can't have it both ways.

In Boston it's scooters, too. The 50cc kind that top out at 45mph. I pulled up next to a guy one night a month ago after watching him split the right lane, go around all the stopped cars, then gun it at the light and get in front of them... only to top out at 45, when everyone behind him wanted to do 55. THREE TIMES. So I shot up there next to him:

"You can't do that shit. Someone's gonna run you over."
Nu uh, I have the right to-
"No, You Don't. You're a tagged vehicle, just like a car. You obey car rules. You can't have it both ways."
(random protestations)
"Whatever. I'm not your dad, I'm not telling you what to do. But someone's gonna clock you, and I wouldn't blame them. And put some fucking pants on. Crashing sucks."

etc. See this shit all the time, bikes and scooters. Split between the right lane and the parked cars, then get lapped. Over and over.

dudes on motorcycles do this shit all the time, too though. I know they're legally allowed to ride between lanes (or at least in PA they are), but it's still retarded, and all but asking them to pull some high-speed slalom shit on the freeway. and I change lanes like a motherfucker so this always gets to me.


every time I see someone on one of those scooters, my brain is BEGGING me to clip 'em. I don't even want to, but come on wouldn't that be great. Right into some shrubs, like that one chick on the real world 20 years ago. just thinking about it makes me want to drive around trying to find someone on a scooter, and follow them until they're by some shrubbery.

and I'm still waiting for the chance that I can jump and clothesline someone off a segway. I know I'll get it, and then I'm gonna run away like a motherfucker, leaving my poor stunned wife to deal with the injured prick.

hah.
"gun it" + scooter = lololololololol

Lane splitting for motorcycles is legal in CA (and I guess PA). In order to do it, we must go no more than (I think) 10mph faster than traffic, and only when traffic is very slow. So lane splitters really ought not ever be going more than 30mph in my book, and that's when traffic is trudging along at 20mph. I know it gets abused. I'm honestly not proud of that... lotsa dickheads buy bikes.

The upside is, as long as you don't hit them, they get one more vehicle OUT of traffic and out of your way. It feels like they're cheating somehow (the common reaction is something like "they don't play by the same rules" or "that's not fair"), but the math of it is, less traffic for you in your car. One less lane spot occupied.

Having said all that I've only done it once, in Boston, last year, in 100+ degree heat, in dead-still traffic. I was going to pass out from heat. Hadda get moving. Otherwise I don't really see a need too much, and I am afraid of pissing people off.

And in conclusion, lemme just say that scooter drivers receive *zero* education / training before being handed the keys. There is no special licensing process. It's just some dipshit cheapskate in shorts and a t-shirt doing anything he can get away with.

this means i may need to move

http://www.slate.com/id/2173729

I remember skimming the liner-jacket for Pinkerton & seeing a Portland address listed for the fan-club mail. & that was '96. So, I think that the trend toward Portland has been on for longer than just Anthony Kiedis house-hunting & Gerard Way trading mash-notes with the the Shins.

This line really cracked me up:

bicyclists have unique laws in many municipalities. for instance, the law in PA is that bicyclists can treat stop signs as yields and redlights as stop signs. (and even though i'm not sure it's written into law in IL, it's pretty much how things are.) but i do agree that too often bicyclists abuse this by blowing through intersections and not obeying any traffic laws.

I might have an intellectual property case against the writer.

As long as they look first, I'm all for this one. I ridden enough to know how much it sucks to lose your momentum to wait at a red light for nobody.

It's the "taking up the whole lane" thing that strikes me as pointless, wasteful, and more than a little dangerous. I want bikes to use the road, but ignoring their top speed limitation is dumb. Having all traffic slow down to 20mph isn't the solution.

My week has degenerated to the point where a spree killing is a legitimate possibility if there isn't a distinct turn in my favour by 6am tomorrow morning.

i think this HDTV/plasma/flatscreen/widescreen trend is waaaay overrated

FALSE

it's just rated, that's about it...I just got HD programming hooked up and it's very nice...if you switch between ESPN SD and ESPN HD and it's not even close

but, when this "6 months of free HD" trial is up, I'm cancelling...as great as it is, it's still not something I'm willing to pay for...and I guess that says it all

plus in 6 months football season will be over...and why the hell do I need HD if there's no football on

I have enjoyed having it for free over the air (at home), but I don't pay for cable, much less fancy cable.

I'm like Nas: "Hold your stash til the coke price drops"

I don't need no thousand gollgar teevgee. Daddy would rather have some custom made shirts and shit.

I considered the HD antenna option before I saw that Dish was offering it for free...I'll probably go that route this time next year

people who ride the wrong direction on one way streets make me so livid.

one point of annoyance is how most businesses and people leave that shit in widescreen mode all the time and people get squished and they still think it looks good

also

wasn't tv already realistic?

i can see the difference between the two... but i can't imagine my overall happiness or enjoyment of tv time would be affected at all by this

"like Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers...and, according to scurrilous local gossip, driving a very un-Portland gold Hummer)"

As long as I've got my health, and my millions of dollars and my gold house and my rocket car, I don't need anything else.