There's a Lockheed site there, I believe. I 've been up there so often that I don't really pay attention to it anymore. The one that always pops out at me though is Mellon Bank - don't know why, but it does. Anyway, yeah. There's still some IBM there, and Lockheed Martin right near by.

The Fredneck, of course, being one that lives in or around Frederick and is a Redneck. Man. Frederick itself isn't so bad, but it's too far away from work. If it were a 20 minute drive and had widespread fast DSL or Cable, Jenni and I would probably get an apartment there. But, it's a 40 minute drive, and they don't have DSL in the area I was looking at. Plus, Fairfax is too great to pass up. The Sprint PCS coverage here just rocks, and I get full reception in my downstairs bedroom - wahoo! (My dad's girlfriend hogs the phone too much for me to not have my own line, so I got a mobile phone).

Maryland does have some beautiful scenery. I was just never in a place where I was able to get around - stuck in the house all the time. So then I got a job and found someone to give me a ride there (who happened to be Jenni, who then turned out to be you-know-who). But that still sucked. Fairfax is cool because it's still a little city, but it's near everything. So I have a back yard and shit, but Outback is less than a mile away. It's beautiful :)

All this talk of driving has reminded me of one of my pet peeves.













Pathology couriers. For some reason they think that a relationship to the "medical profession" allows them the same rights of way and ability to ignore the speed limit as an ambulance.













Despite the fact that there are no flashing lights and their cargo is limited to urine samples and biopsies.













My first post. Nifty :)

So I felt bad at first digging up this thread and then I realized it really does a good job showing how much dave has mellowed over the years. Damn that 1st post was hilarious.

Anyways, now that summer has come here, suddenly I keep seeing idiots walking around with sunglasses on INSIDE. I usually am able to handle it but today it just ticked me off for some reason, I think it's becuase our Union isn't the brightest place in the world, and wouldn't the fact that you're wearing sunglasses, and trying to read what is on a computer screen pretty much hurt your eyes as much as not wearing sunglasses. Maybe I'm just a little high strung today.

Hmmm. I wear sunglasses inside all the time.

Mirrorshades.

It makes my coworkers nervous.

:cool:

Brief Aside ...

when did :vomit: and :turd: get added to the smilies list? Most excellent!!!

http://www.prodraw.net/cartoon/animal/animal_023.gif :turd:
This is our cow. Her name is 'Peeve'. We keep her as a pet.

Be careful what you wish for 'cause you'll be paying too. No?
Crossing a typical two way street is about 80 feet. Two 12 ft travel lanes, two 10 ft parking lanes and two 6 ft sidewalks add up to 56 ft. The sensors a placed 6 to 8 ft back from the stop line so add 12 ft plus the length of the car at 15 ft.
You get nailed if your BACK bumper does not clear the SECOND sensor before the yellow ends.
Now if your front bumper is right at the first sensor when the light turns yellow (no chance to stop) you have to maintain an avg of 18.4 mph to make a 3 second yellow. 3 seconds is the PA state minimum. 14 mph for a 4 second yellow.
That sound easy enough but the speed goes up as the yellow changes when you haven't reached the sensor yet, but still too close to stop. Think you can mantain a 15 to 20 mph avg through every intersection? Then you've never driven in city traffic that crawls.
Get the judge to throw it out. Dream on. After taking a day off work, going to court, paying to park and spending at least half a day waiting, the judge says "Off with his head". You see PA state law says it's illegal to ENTER an intersection that the way is not clear. So everyone waits for the way to clear? GRIDLOCK. Nobody gets anywhere.
The cameras are about revenue not safety. YOUR revenue.
Oh yes, and if you do try to stop at the last second you'll get rear ended.

Re: Re: Re: Lots o' things that piss sycamore off...
 

Well, Syc, I wouldn't buy that argument either, because in every single solitary state in the Union that liberalized CCW, crime went down and it's stayed down, regardless of population density or indeed of any known sociological factor. Their crime rates went down absolutely without exception. That's a very encouraging likelihood of success. The way to bet is that liberalizing CCW in NJ will indeed cause its crime to plunge. It's a total win-win situation: fewer crimes will allow more quality police work getting them solved, less dollars lost in property stolen and productive lives truncated. Thirty-two states in the Union live in this blissful condition, and only cranks and ignoramuses prevent New Jersey from an arguably deserved self-improvement.

Valuable insight into why antigun thinking is the devil's workshop may be found here:

http://www.jpfo.org

Right on! In England they went all the way and banned guns entirely. The crime rate has rocketed so badly the police won't even respond to non life threatening calls. "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns" is much more than a catchy slogan. It's the truth.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Lots o' things that piss sycamore off...
 

Urbane, that post of mine is 18 months old. My stance on the issue has changed dramatically...no ignoramus here. :)

The Light cameras
 

Just get yourself one of those lisence plate covers that can only be read from streight on. I don't think they've been outlawed yet in the DC metro area.
I've been lucky enough to have never gotten one of those tickets, but i've heard that with those cameras you are Guilty untill proven innocent. and thats just not the postion i want to be put in, even if you can argue a way out of it.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Lots o' things that piss sycamore off...
 

So, Syc, just let me know when you want to go out to play :shotgun: ... (Lady Syc is of course welcome).

Re: Lots o' things that piss sycamore off...
 

Heh.. I remember once when my parents were visiting us, and we were driving somewhere, and my mom asked, "Why do they have that sign that says 'Wait For Green'? Aren't you supposed to know that you don't go till the light turns green?" I had to disillusion her a bit concerning the driving around here.

With regard to driving manuals and the law, I grew up in NC, and the manual said (~15 years ago at least) something to the effect that "this manual is intended to represent the motor vehicle code of the state of NC in an easy-to-understand manner for those attempting to obtain drivers licenses, but it is not an actual statement of North Carolina law."

It's not just here. I've driven to every state except Hawaii (couldn't find high enough floatation tires) and every Canadian Province.
I've found it universal that most people don't watch the light. When the oncoming traffic starts to move so do they, assuming they're first in line. And if they're aren't first, when the car in front of them moves so do they.
This works out OK for the most part. But, if the oncoming traffic gets the green first so they can turn, it doen't work. Hense the signs "wait for green"
NOTICE TO IDIOTS! Wait for green does NOT mean no right turn on red.

We have a special variety of the SUV driver out here in LA, mainly in Orange County (which is considered an annex of the great city herself).

It's the 30-something soccer mom with fakies and streaked hair jawwing on her cell-phone with the carpool kids in the back seat, yelling along to the Justin Timberlake blarring on the stereo.

Left turns from the right hand lane on red. Triple lane changes with no looking. 50 MPH in a school zone at 3:15, trying to make it to Ballet on time. I have seen these drivers do it all, and it is terrifying.

Driving Skills
 

If you want to be a better driver, take a motorcycle safety and riding skills course. What they teach you there about situational awareness and vehicle control can be applied directly to your automobile driving skills.

As a motorcyclist you learn to predict behavior and look ahead into the future about 10 seconds. You become far more observant and you learn to "know" when things are going to happen.

And as a former B-52 pilot friend of mine once told me, motorcycle riding is the closest thing to military flying. So that means it's challenging, exciting and fun, right?