Monday, January 28, 2008

an update, of sorts

matt and i went to colorado in mid-december to visit people and snowboard. i drank the water from the tap. it was delicious.

i know it's somewhat unfair to compare the water in my apartment with that from an area somewhat known for the quality of its water, but the basic idea is that... i do not trust the water coming out of the tap in my apartment. i will credit the water *source* with smelling less of chlorine in the months since i published that post (yay for non-poisonous water!), but i still don't trust the water from my apartment. this is why i have a filter on my kitchen tap.

i compare this to me not wanting to breathe the air directly out of the vents. i'm perfectly happy breathing the air outside my apartment, which is the source of the air for the vent, as far as i know, but the vents themselves infuse the air with black particles, and i prefer to let the particles settle out of the air before i breathe it (of course, sometimes i don't really have that much of a choice). to this end, i've got random homemade contraptions taped over the vents in my apartment.

don't believe me about the crap out of the vents? i can show you a picture of the vent we taped up. we put cling wrap over a vent, and the cling wrap is now home to a hoard of this stuff. just ask.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

what did i just say?

it appears that the fed listened to the idiots that wanted a rate cut, and those same idiots saw the rate cut, and thought "well, i guess that means we *must* be going into a recession." result? things get worse. well, i guess "worse" depends on whose point of view you're taking.

good job, one and all. i want greenspan back.

Monday, January 21, 2008

driving courtesy, part 2

i know, i know... i promised this months ago. i suck.

enjoy.

following distance:

according to the little book of driving rules (that you read before taking your learner's permit test), you're supposed to leave 2-5 seconds (depending on state and year of the book) of cushion between you and the car in front of you. that's by the book.

while i'm not advocating driving in such a way that you'd rear-end the vehicle in front of you if it were to stop short, you'll probably find that, in this area, leaving a greater following distance just makes you more likely to be cut off. don't drive in an unsafe manner, but *please* keep up with the vehicle in front of you. not only will this reduce the risk of you becoming a victim of an aggressive driver, but you'll reduce lane changing risks (the way i see it, if people are changing lanes around you, you're at risk of a lane changing accident), and you'll be less likely to piss off the people behind you (the people watching car after car cut in line because you're leaving the door wide open).

this brings me to an interesting sub-point. i've seen lots of hybrids accelerate slowly in stop-and-go traffic when i know for a fact that the vehicle is capable of keeping up with traffic. yes, accelerating aggressively is a waste of gas. i know this. but so is having to hit your brakes. all that work your gas put into getting you to that speed has now gone to waste. if i accelerate to a given speed, then brake, i'm not really using any more gas than if i accelerate to a given speed and coast, but anybody can see that i'm getting further if i don't brake.

yes, i know you're charging your battery when you brake. i also know that the non-hybrids behind you are not. if you're out to save the environment, you've probably just wasted more gas than you've saved. if you're out to save money on gas, don't be surprised when others aren't happy with you for doing the opposite to them.

the point of this pseudo-physics lesson? if you don't keep up with the car in front of you, you're letting everybody in front of you, and then you have to brake because they're now in your way. there's a happy medium between flooring your accelerator and puttering up to speed while everybody slides in front of you. please, for the sake of the people behind you, find it.

back to the main point. if you find that cars are constantly on your tail, or the gap between you and the car in front of you is much greater than any other gap you can see, or (and this is the important one) if everybody and his mother is getting in front of you, you're not keeping up. it's harmful to traffic flow, and it's probably harmful to your health. please, keep up.

conversely, if you find that you're constantly having to hit your brakes when the car in front of you isn't braking, you're probably following too close. in fact, not even constantly. if you have to do this, you're probably following too close. or accelerating improperly. or both.

don't do it.

to accelerate properly, you should be applying and releasing pressure evenly, not in sudden jolts. the old adage i've come across is that you should imagine that there's an egg between your shoe and your accelerator. if you push too quickly the egg could break. if you release too quickly, the egg could fall. of course, this only applies to driving. this is not merging or stopping or anything else that requires you to drive at a not-constant speed.

ideally, you'll be driving with your accelerator partially down the entire time you're driving at an even speed. on even ground, you find this position simply by letting up *slightly* when you're going too fast, and bearing down *slightly* when you've gotten too slow. this part should be common sense. once you throw hills into the equation, you'll have to start looking ahead (for more than just cars). you should apply more gas when approaching a hill (as opposed to losing speed, then trying to accelerate uphill), and let up off the gas (sometimes completely) when you're getting ready to go down the hill. the degree at which you do these will vary with the weight and power of your car, but if you keep an eye on your speedometer, you should get a feel for how your car reacts to these conditions.

lane selection:

nobody belongs in the left lane. i'm going to say now that there's no exception to this rule.

yes, i know this sounds strange, but this is to get rid of the mindset that the left lane belongs to someone.

so how do you end up in the left lane? you get displaced. you can get displaced by a slow vehicle that you have to pass. you can get displaced in preparation for a left turn or a left exit. you can get displaced by allowing someone the room to merge. the important part of this is that you are *displaced.* that means that when whatever it is that displaced you is over, you should move back over. at least in virginia, this is actually taught in driver's ed. lots of people seem to forget this part.

a special note to those of you who are displaced for a left turn or left exit: please don't drive the entire way in the left lane because you know that you'll leave on the left side unless you have another reason to be there. if you're slow in the left lane, you're probably building up a line of cars behind you, and you're making it more difficult for others who are exiting or turning left to get into the left lane when it comes time for them to prepare to turn/exit. either move over when it comes time, or keep up with the traffic in front of you.

please? thank you.

self fulfilling prophecy

i've been whining about this for a while now, but i'm not an economist, so i can't really say that i know better... so i'll allow those who do to say it better.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/18/news/economy/cure.fortune/index.htm

in short, recession != depression, but if your fear of depression has you fighting every single recession, you will bring about depression.

so stop it.