From MSNBC:
Survey looks at road rage across nation
Miami tops rude drivers list; Minneapolis nicest
Stressed Miami drivers speed, tailgate and cut off other drivers so frequently that the city earned the title of worst road rage in a survey released Tuesday.
AutoVantage, an automobile membership club offering travel services and roadside assistance, also listed Phoenix, New York, Los Angeles and Boston among the top five cities for rude driving.
Minneapolis, Nashville, St. Louis, Seattle and Atlanta were rated as the cities with the most courteous drivers, who were less likely to change lanes without signaling or swear at other motorists.
...
I wonder how you empirically measure something like that. It's not a surpise though. As annoying as Seattle drivers can be sometimes (a courteous driver is not necessarily the same thing as a good driver), I have to admit, they are awfully polite.
Visibility: Anyone
...when after getting your car washed, you park for roughly 30 seconds to reattach your screw-on radio antenna, and during that time, a passing bird drops a big fat load right in the middle of your windshield.
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So for the longest time, as long as I can remember...as in many, many years, I've had this stupid stupid problem of my shoelaces always coming undone if I only did a single knot. It was so bad that I could tie them, then five steps later, they'd be undone. I'd just assumed that somehow I had managed to constantly buy shoes with slippery laces or something. I got so used to tying double knots all the time that I just did it as a matter of habit every time I'd tie my laces.
Well, one day I stumbled across this website, Ian's Shoelace Site. It has all sorts of interesting (OK, maybe not) info on different ways to lace and tie shoes. Well lo and behold, one of the pages is about laces that constantly come undone. Apparently, there is a very subtle difference between the standard knot everyone uses to tie their laces, and a slip knot, which is unsecure and can almost come undone by itself.
Slip Knot
Secure "Reef" Knot
One way a reef knot becomes a slip knot is if you reverse the very first step, e.g. you do a left-over-right starting knot instead of a right-over-left one. So, reversing this should secure the knot.
Well, I gave it a try, and what do you know, it worked. My laces hardly ever come undone anymore and I no longer need to spend 10 minutes to untie my shoes. So apparently, I've been tying my shoelaces the wrong way for years. I am a moron.
Well, one day I stumbled across this website, Ian's Shoelace Site. It has all sorts of interesting (OK, maybe not) info on different ways to lace and tie shoes. Well lo and behold, one of the pages is about laces that constantly come undone. Apparently, there is a very subtle difference between the standard knot everyone uses to tie their laces, and a slip knot, which is unsecure and can almost come undone by itself.
Slip Knot
Secure "Reef" Knot
Well, I gave it a try, and what do you know, it worked. My laces hardly ever come undone anymore and I no longer need to spend 10 minutes to untie my shoes. So apparently, I've been tying my shoelaces the wrong way for years. I am a moron.
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It's time for another Zoji world premiere. :-) I've finally finished one of those pieces that I've been working on for a long, long time. Well actually, more like one movement of a piece I've been working on, but still, it's something you can actually listen to from beginning to end, so I'm happy.
Scherzo in C minor (score)
This piece will be the second or third movement of four (I haven't decided which, yet). It's a scherzo emulating the late Classical style (like all my stuff). A scherzo (or its predecessor, the minuet) is typically the third (occasionally the second) movement of a piece. In the Classical era, they were pretty much always in 3/4 time, scherzos usually being fast enough to count in 1. The overall movement is in a ternary A B A form, with the scherzo being the A, and a contrasting section called the trio being the B.
In this movement of mine, the stormy C minor scherzo is followed by a calmer, somewhat rustic C major trio prominently featuring the horns and trumpets (in keeping with the era, the horns and trumpets used are valveless, meaning they can only play a few notes--in this key, C, D, E, F, and G).
Anyway, hope you like it!
Scherzo in C minor (score)
This piece will be the second or third movement of four (I haven't decided which, yet). It's a scherzo emulating the late Classical style (like all my stuff). A scherzo (or its predecessor, the minuet) is typically the third (occasionally the second) movement of a piece. In the Classical era, they were pretty much always in 3/4 time, scherzos usually being fast enough to count in 1. The overall movement is in a ternary A B A form, with the scherzo being the A, and a contrasting section called the trio being the B.
In this movement of mine, the stormy C minor scherzo is followed by a calmer, somewhat rustic C major trio prominently featuring the horns and trumpets (in keeping with the era, the horns and trumpets used are valveless, meaning they can only play a few notes--in this key, C, D, E, F, and G).
Anyway, hope you like it!
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It is with mixed emotions (actually, really only one emotion) that I announce that my time working on Zoji has come to an end. After a couple of bad days on the stock market a month or two ago, and a few ill-advised <cough>casino trips</cough>, my savings were at a point that I couldn't afford to stay.
So as of Friday, I've officially accepted a position with my old team in the Developer Division at Microsoft, working on the new Windows Presentation Foundation that will be shipped with Windows Vista. I start on Monday. Sorry to leave you hanging Dan, but I didn't have much choice. It's been fun, but as they say, all good things must come to an end.
So as of Friday, I've officially accepted a position with my old team in the Developer Division at Microsoft, working on the new Windows Presentation Foundation that will be shipped with Windows Vista. I start on Monday. Sorry to leave you hanging Dan, but I didn't have much choice. It's been fun, but as they say, all good things must come to an end.
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Just don't go to Miami...
Amen, Kevin.
I'll be in Miami again next week. Wish me luck!
And people in Indiana can't drive. Period.
Seattle is also the only place I've ever been where the speed of travel is actually the speed limit and not at least 10 over that. (Parts of Michigan the flow of traffic is 15-20 over) I've actually had my bumper ridden by the highway patrol in Mass because I was only doing 15 over in the passing lane.
As for the passing lane, it's the accepted practice accross the country to use the left lane as the high speed lanes. The right lane is where 95% of onramps and offramps are. In many states you will see signs instructing slower traffic to keep right. Also, except in a few really stupid cases (mainly in Seattle) HOV lanes are on the left as well. In Mass, trucks aren't even allowed in the left lane on the highways. Can I pass on the right? I often did in Seattle, but it was always out of frustration of people going slow in what is the "passing lane" in every other state.
A bunch of Georgia students pulled off this stunt where they drove 4 cars side by side down the interstate at the speed limit as a way of proving that driving the speed limit is not in fact, safer (at least in Georgia!).
I saw another video recently where a news station in Minnesota (I think?) did an experiment where they drove the speed limit and recorded the reactions of the traffic around them. They'd get flipped off, honked at, tailgated, etc. (Darn, can't find it though)
The fact that these people think it's crazy enough to drive the speed limit in these places to actually make a video of it shows that in most places, people ignore the interstate speed limits, and that actually following the speed limits can be dangerous because it impedes the flow of traffic.
Also check this out: http://www.leftlanenews.com/2006/05/15/texas-to-raise-speed-limits-to-conform-to-driver-habits/
Texas is considering raising the speed limit on 2 interstates to match how drivers actually drive there. The 85th percentile of traffic drives at 79 mph, so they're raising the limit to 80 mph.
Also, a British study (linked to in the previous story) showed that with higher speed limits, speeding decreased, lending support to the notion of a "natural speed limit" at which people will drive.
Personally, I find 50 mph on the 520 bridge way too slow. I don't really understand why the limit is decreased to 50 for the bridge.
No one in this country knows how to drive. Do you know why? Because everyone has their own set of rules irregardless of driving laws at the city, county, state and federal levels.
Next time anyone comes into a roundabout at full-speed without slowing down to merge into existing traffic (READ: ME) gets a pit-maneuver done to them by yours truly.
Two things come to mind immediately why it's so different.
1. Lack of unified driver's education within the country. (How many different DMV entities do we have in this country?)
2. Lack of unified enforcement of laws between different regions of the country and even within multiple juristrictions (e.g. city level - local police, county level - sheriff's department, state level - state patrol).
You're wondering why someone is driving 80+ MPH in Seattle in a 1999 Honda Accord... It might not be he has the "King Of The Road" attitude... It might be that he or she is a California transplant where going 20 MPH over the speed-limit is the normal.
I don't know where you've done your driving, but I'm guessing it's only been places like Seattle where people actually do drive the speed limit. And apparently where there's no concept of a passing lane...
Anyway, here's that video of the Minnesota news station that did that experiment of driving the speed limit. Maybe it'll do a better job of making my point than I have.
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=124420
That's only ONE of MANY instances where there's no uniformity across the union. Washington State generally is "Unlawful to pass from right" and "Left lane for passing only".
The sad thing is only about 5 other states in some form mandate this. In the EU, this is uniformed (taking into account, yes, the driving left-side, right-side in some countries) and is of my opinion that the 45 other states are WRONG in some shape or fashion.
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.61.100
"(2) Upon all roadways having two or more lanes for traffic moving in the same direction, all vehicles shall be driven in the right-hand lane then available for traffic, except (a) when overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction, (b) when traveling at a speed greater than the traffic flow, (c) when moving left to allow traffic to merge, or (d) when preparing for a left turn at an intersection, exit, or into a private road or driveway when such left turn is legally permitted...
"(4) It is a traffic infraction to drive continuously in the left lane of a multilane roadway when it impedes the flow of other traffic...
"Legislative intent -- 1986 c 93: "It is the intent of the legislature, in this 1985 [1986] amendment of RCW 46.61.100, that the left-hand lane on any state highway with two or more lanes in the same direction be used primarily as a passing lane." [1986 c 93 § 1.]"
So yes, you are correct that it is *legal* to pass on the right (heck, I do this often myself). But that doesn't change the fact that the left lane is intended to be used for passing, and by law, slower traffic should keep to the right.
Just because you're following one, doesn't mean you can ignore another. And just because they are speeding, does not make all bets off for YOU, either. (Even if you are going the speed limit)
Also that survay is flawed.
Its asking people in an area to judge themselves. Being self critical is something that most people are poor at.