NY Times NY Region:
Cabdriver Thanked for Returning a Stradivarius. “As Philippe Quint spent half an hour playing five selections, the cabbies clapped and whistled. They danced in the aisles, hips gyrating like tipsy belly dancers. ‘Magic fingers, magic fingers,’ one called out.” Unfortunately, it seems no Flickristas were there to record the event. Thought I might catch at least one image there.
SF New Mexican:
Work on the new train tracks during the day, you block off necessary traffic arteries. Work on it at night, you keep people awake. Which is the lesser of two evils?
PointNiner:
How to land a helicopter in Nepal. Low atmospheric pressure at high altitudes, your ‘copter don’t fly.
Oh, that’s right …
Cinco de Mayo today. Be extra careful travelling after dark. The harvesting of the innocent by drunken drivers is a particular risk tonight.
News.com.AU:
For 30 years now, you’ve been getting spam.
Washington Post:
Clipping, Scrimping, Saving. Yeah, we’re all doing it. It’s about time the media mentioned it.
SF New Mexican:
Police, public nab ‘polite robber’.
The Economist:
I like the term ”techno-bedouins.”
New Statesman
Gender and agendas. To believe that men and women are the ‘same’, is as blinkered as believing children are ‘small adults’. There are a host of wonderful complexities.
SF New Mexican:
Councilors weigh in on police plan. They’re still talking about their crackpot red-light camera program. Councillors need to be reminded this is not ‘free money’. If the goal is to reduce red-light runners, jig with the timings first, to see if there’s a real need. I’ve seen no studies - none - that talk about the effects of changing light timings at ‘problem’ intersections. If the goal is to increase revenues ... well ... is this the best way to go about it?
Directly related: Ars Technica, Red-light camera monkey business may be a national trend. “According to confidental documents released in 2001, Lasercraft, the company behind Chattanooga’s red camera lights, only installs red light cameras at high-volume intersections with an ‘amber phase’ of less than four seconds.”
Guardian.UK:
“Films in 3D are back - and poised to revolutionise the cinema.” Only when the emphasis is on storytelling ... not when the story is molded around the latest effects plugins.
NY Times Health:
A New Risk of Middle-Age: Dying on a Motorcycle. I took a course before riding, and I’m very glad I did. Still remember SIPDE today. Scan Identify Predict Decide Execute. They drill it into you until it’s like ... breathing. And never look at the obstacle you want to avoid ... you’ll steer into it. Look where you want to go when avoiding.
Riding a motorcycle is not a passive activity, as when driving a car. Other cars simply don’t see you. You have to behave accordingly, with full concentration on the task at hand - which, most often, is keeping yourself in one piece due to poor road conditions. Defensive driving is the only way to survive. I would never think of having even one beer and riding, nor would I ever ride with an iPod in my ears. You need all your senses. When you zone out, that’s most often when you need those sharp reflexes to avoid a sudden edge trap, an animal, a stupid driver, a bicyclist weaving into the road, windblown debris. Helmet? I always wear one. Get hit with insects and gravel in the face at highway speeds, you’ll understand why. Full-face and leathers for me.
Most of the deaths here in SF are youngsters doing idiotic things like standing on the seats of their Ninja-style bikes on Cerrillos. Or doing wheelies for long distances. They cull their own herds in spectacularly bloody and lethal fashion.
NY Times Washington:
“Federal regulators approved a plan on Wednesday to create a nationwide emergency alert system using text messages delivered to cellphones.” On its face, a good idea. My concern is redirection for political purposes. Spare us the color coded threat level alerts before elections.
SF New Mexican/McClatchy News Service:
Fading pastime? Hunters becoming diminishing breed. I wonder how much is due to concern over Lyme, plague, and prion diseases.
Best chop job I ever saw
was a VW bug in Knoxville. Chopped shorter and narrower, had a giant key set in the back ... geared to rotate via the engine. This capture from Euan comes close.
NY Times:
More tunnels to Manhattan. Let’s hope they include a nice walkway, so that one can exit the train and perambulate the remainder of the way to the city, when there’s an unforeseen extended delay. How many uncomfortable hours I spent cramped in with other commuters in that tunnel ...
Spiked Online:
Untying the ‘ribbon culture’. A car covered with bumper stickers is a cry for help, an individual upset over feelings of impotence (general, not sexual). Better to channel anger at disempowerment into Congressional letter-writing or grassroots action. Action being the important word here. Not once have I ever been alerted to a critical situation or been driven to give to a charity on the basis of a sticker or ribbon. There are, alas, all too many causes that need urgent help ... I find out about those which are closest to my heart through my own experience.
YouTube:
1930’s film, Clothing of the Future (2,000 AD). A terrible lack of imagination, really.
*Sigh*
Race, race, race. Feminism, feminism, feminism. I would like to remind the press that all races and all sexes are risking their lives in wars overseas, and all races and sexes are losing their homes here in America. I realize the plea will fall on deaf ears, but perhaps the sentiment will resonate.
WCNC:
You knew it was only a matter of time until this happened. At least the pilot didn’t shoot out the hydraulics.
Happy Easter!
Recipe suggestion: Rabbit Terrine with Green Olives and Pistachios. Whole Foods used to carry “Bunny in a Bag” ... Country Fresh!
New Scientist:
“Money can buy happiness, but only if we spend it on others ...” Unlink it from money. You have to give happiness to receive happiness.
Bloomberg:
Yesterdays irrational exuberance on Wall Street was short lived.
Meetings.
Links later on. Comcast is being really pokey this morning.
Fox/Sun:
Little Person Dressed as Gnome Caught on Video ‘Stalking’ Streets of Argentina Town. Never turn your back on garden gnomes ... *snort* ...
