Yet Another Reason Not To Run Over Cyclists

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/02/teen-driver-road-rage-attacks-cyclist-police-officer.php

I hate road rage, I truly do.  The idea that you’re sharing the road with someone who, for whatever reason, might decide that it’s perfectly ok to kill you, just because he had a bad day and thinks that there’s a defense that will allow him to get away with it?  Not cool.

In this case that person is a stupid 18yr old who decided to terrorize a cyclist, screaming at him to “Get off the road or I’ll kill you.”  Not an idle threat, he apparently actually did force the guy off his bike and chase him into the woods, hurling rocks and such at him.

And then Karma joined the fun and laid some serious smackdown upon this moron, because the cyclist was a police officer who simply noted the license plate, then had the idiot arrested.   “Can’t I just apologize?” junior was heard whining as he was handcuffed.

The worst part of the story is where he got a suspended sentence and a 2 year ban from driving a car.  How about taking him at his word, treating it like attempted murder, and putting him in jail for, I dunno, ever?

Make Use Of Your Commute, Know What’s Near You

It’s easy to think of your commute, no matter how long it is, as dead time. Maybe you listen to the radio, maybe you read the paper, but there’s not much room for flexibility.

Or maybe there is, especially for driver/walkers.  Lifehacker’s post on Tools For Finding Stuff Nearby can come in handy if you’ve got any wiggle room in your trip from point A to point B.

Take your morning coffee and bagel, for instance.  Does your current stop having WiFi so you can fire up the laptop?

If all you want is a connection, we've got you covered. Gina's definitive guide to finding free Wi-Firecommends such tools as WeFi and JiWire, along with other means of hopping on the net from almost anywhere. If you want somewhere you'll actually enjoy being with your laptop,LaptopFriendlyCafes.comcovers 104 spots in New York City (and a scant few shops elsewhere), or type "laptop" or "wi-fi" into local review aggregator Yelp and see what comes up.

Similar tools show you the good restaurants in your neighborhood, so why not bring home dinner for the family sometime?

And don’t forget GasBuddy so you know you’re getting the best deal before you fuel up!

Dear Toyota, Hire Woz.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10445564-64.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Steve Wozniak, founder of Apple Computer,  is something of a legend among computer geeks.  He is a “hacker” of the true and original form, a systematic finder, dissector and solver of problems.   Better than many people are even capable of understanding, he identifies the boundaries of a system, the variables, their influences on each other, and the optimal methods for manipulating that system.

He also owns a Toyota Prius that accelerates under demonic influence(*):

"Toyota has this accelerator problem we've all heard about," Wozniak said. "Well, I have many models of Prius that got recalled, but I have a new model that didn't get recalled. This new model has an accelerator that goes wild, but only under certain conditions of cruise control. And I can repeat it over and over and over again--safely."

Trust us geeks.  There are people who will call up customer support and say “But it does this every time!” and yet when we stand over the person’s shoulder, it of course does not do that.  This isn’t what Woz is talking about.  Chances are that by the very act of owning and driving a Prius he knows more about how it works than many of the engineers that worked on the thing.  That is his nature.  (“It’s what he does! That’s all he does!” to steal a Terminator line.)  If he’s telling you there is a problem with your software, it is in your best interest to listen.

 

(*) A million years ago I had an Audi, and much like Ford’s “Found On Road Dead” that is the acronym we used to use -- “Accelerates Under Demonic Influence”.  Apparently a long time ago Audi had a similar problem.  Anybody remember what I’m talking about?