I appreciate the article, but it makes one serious mistake: There's nothing wrong with pink.

While it's true that pink is just a color, and it, in and of itself, is not bad or wrong because it's just a color, the idea that any child in contemporary US society can "just like pink" is so fallacious as to be laughable.

I know from experience that girls will participate in sports where pink equipment or garments are available and shun sports where that is not the case. The number of Halloween costumes where Batgirl or Supergirl have their costumes changed to pinkier, froofier, sluttier versions speaks to this as well. How many female Superheroes have pink in their costume? How many representations of them (cups, shirts, keychains, etc) are "pinked" to show that they are "female".

One cannot separate pink from gender at present. It's too far gone. There IS something wrong with pink. Or, at the very least, or to be more precise, there is something wrong with the way society presents pink so much so to the point that pink, itself, is the problem.

I tell girls all the time, "Joan did not need a pink sword, Amelia did not need a pink plane. You don't need pink either. If pink is a girl color, then what's a boy color? There isn't one. Boys OWN the rest of the spectrum, and you're stuck with only pink to choose from. Does that seem right to you? Fight The Power."

Once again, I cannot argue with any of this.

You are correct that Prius drivers suck. And they suck harder than Mini Cooper drivers.

I'm just tickled that you, on your own and several counties away, have seen this connection as well.

When I go off about certain cars, there's always someone telling me how unscientific my conclusions are and/or how it's only my bias creating a connection where there isn't one.

Which speed limit are you referencing, though? The posted one, or the one a majority of the drivers on the road are setting?

One way or the other, I don't care. As long as you stay the hell out of the left lane if you're going to go the posted limit, or have enough awareness of what's going on around you to not cruise along right next to someone going the exact same speed you are going, OR look behind you and see you have TEN cars who want to go faster in a line behind you on a two lane road, it wouldn't matter how fast you were or weren't going.

My observation is that anyone who is not in a Ferrari like me is a dink, and just clogging the lane. Also, don't park, don't park so, don't park so close to me. (pleeeeeeeease don't paaark so cloooose to me)

You're missing two "so"s.


On parking:

Park straight! There are two parallel lines. Parallel your damn vehicle relative to them.

Park in the middle! Make your vehicle equally-distant relative to the previously mentioned parallel lines.

Check! When you get out, LOOK at your damn vehicle. If you're That Guy, go back and fix your work.

Exception to the rules - If you're on the end, park as close as you can to the curb, people are morons and will, undoubtedly, screw up one or both of the simple rules above. As the lucky bastard who got a good spot, you have a vehicular moral obligation to mitigate the problems they will certainly cause.

agreed.

Driving in general should be a cooperative effort between all motorists, not an assbag free-for-all.

Indeed.

I'm on the road with two predominant purposes:

1. GO!!

Get to my destination. Do it as fast as possible without getting nailed by the lawman.

2. Get everyone else where they need to go!

I assume you're on the road in a car for the reason BOTH of those things were built. To that end, I wish to do nothing to hinder you from getting where you need to go as fast as possible.


If everyone had these two ideas in mind, traffic jams and accidents would be a thing of the past.

Case in point: Gaper's Block

GO!! All the cops are busy! This is a license to SPEED!!!

The biggest problem that I find is that the "I" mentality tends to screw this all up. Everyone is in such a hurry to get where they need to go that the attitude becomes "screw the other guy, I want to get to my destination asap, so get out of my way!" If everyone would cooperate a bit, most of the problems that slow traffic down would be eliminated. Unfortunately, for a lot of drivers (and people in general), working with someone instead of just concentrating on numero uno is a foreign concept.

I hope you didn't take anything I said that way, when in fact, I was hoping to convey something akin to the exact opposite.

The Don't Be That Guy aspect of my Guiding Road Principles is just as important as the GO! aspect.

I am not above following my own rules and getting the hell out of someone's way.

When I was on my way to Chid's last weekend, I spent most of my time in the right lane. I was getting passed on 294. That's a strange experience for the guy who always wants to pass other people, but the other drivers wanted to go faster than me. It's my responsibility to get the hell out of their way.

We finally have proof that you do live behind the cheddar curtain.

Not at all. Just pointing out that, in my experience, the above is a leading reason why road rage and other traffic problems are so prominent. If everyone held the same attitude that we do, things would be much more pleasant on the road.

He was responding while driving, so give him a break!

That doesn't matter - the Batmobile has autopilot.

Poor Robin...

Who?

Wait. What?

Are you suggesting (correctly) that Cheeseheads drive slowly/poorly?

I'm fine with that. But you can't make the connection that I am, therefore, a Cheesehead.

I'm not going to publicly state how fast I was going, but I sure as Hell wasn't driving UNDER the limit.

Like I said, I'm used to being the guy who passes or, more often, the guy who wishes like Hell that he COULD pass. It was just weird to be all the way over in the right lane and getting passed by just about everybody.