That's a smart move. Always making eye contact with any driver you're approaching.

'Cause if you connect eye-to-eye, it's probably a good bet that THEY'VE seen YOU, too. Probably. But we have some residential streets here in L.A. where bicycle riders are totally disrespected. Granted, some of them are arrogant and disregard safety rules because they think they own the road and their rights supercede all others. And yeah, some of them do take advantage and make car drivers tear their hair. That said, they're THERE. On the road. Sheesh - you can't just mow 'em down, no matter what you may think of them or how reckless they themselves are on the road that - yes - THEY have to share too, or how much of a hurry you're in. Sometimes I get annoyed at pedestrians also, but shit - you just sit there ANYWAY and let them pass, and THEN you proceed when they've moved out of range. What's the alternative? To mow' em down because they're in your way?

We have a couple of single-lane canyon roads where, unfortunately, the bike riders have asserted themselves perhaps a little too militantly. There have been car drivers through there who've shown them corresponding disrespect to the point where they flip each other off as they pass, or shake fists, or yell some obscenity. Open hostilities. One guy in a Mercedes actually sped ahead, around several of them - who WERE being rude and confrontational, btw, then cut in front of them and slammed on his brakes. Of course the riders immediately behind him couldn't stop in time and some severe injuries resulted as they came crashing into the back of his car and through his rear window. And that's just the medical part. The accompanying legal and criminal headaches were, understandably, astronomical.

You just have to grin 'n' bear it, and find a way to be okay with sharing the road. Even with arrogant, selfish, thoughtless assholes - who can be on bicycles - AND also in cars, and trucks, big rigs, and on motorcycles. I find it hard to keep my cool sometimes, too. But what other choice is there? Answer: NONE.

It's been infuriating. He's a total blight on California's good name.

I cringe when I think that crook comes from my state.

Both my kids were in uniforms. SUPERB idea. A great equalizer.

Nobody could lord it over anybody else because they could afford better clothes than the next kid. Everybody looked the same. Just totally wiped out a whole lot of issues from the get-go. Kids are in school to go to school, not strut their fashions.

With our kids, it was: "if you act like a jerk, you're gonna get treated like a jerk."

Tended to work pretty well - just reminding them of that from time to time.

And sometimes they found out, on their own, how true that was.

OMG!! That's freakin' hilarious!!! Little bit of genius, too, I think!

Indeed. I've heard that good piece of advice before, too. ALWAYS check for exits. ALWAYS know where

they are. That is NEVER a bad idea, regardless where you are.

Lived in L.A. for 50 years. Earthquake threats are something we live with every day.

HOPEFULLY we've learned enough from the last big one here, in 1994, as a community, to retrofit like crazy!

There's this HUGE and extremely annoying road construction project cutting through a large swath of West Los Angeles, through the mountain pass that separates the Westside from the San Fernando Valley, and down just into the valley. It's taken several years. LOTS of retrofitting and modernizing quite seriously needed. That stretch of freeway was built in 1962 - the year my parents and I moved out to L.A. Brand new. It hadn't been attended to in all that time. But MAN-Oh-MAN am I glad it's finally being redone! Needed widening on both sides, complete repaving, and retrofitting for the latest earthquake codes. The freeway AND the various bridges across it. Here in SoCal, we've simply got to do it. No way around it. Traffic has been a nightmare for miles, spilling onto every surface street and major thoroughfare with an on/offramp on that stretch of freeway. AWFUL! You can lose an hour or two, waiting in bumper-to-bumper traffic, almost literally crawling toward the freeway if you use it to commute home. But we have no choice. It HAS to be done. It's long overdue. We've already seen what happens when the earthquake hits the overpass. If you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, you'll be crushed to death by collapsing concrete. Happened in 1994. So yeah, life in earthquake country is - well - unsettling sometimes. Many stores, supermarkets, and even quickie-marts carry some sort of emergency/earthquake survival kit. We're encouraged to keep one in the trunks of our cars, as well as our homes and offices. It's in the back of everyone's mind here, I think.

I worked on a radio documentary once, about an 8.3 earthquake - the size of the "big one" for which we're all told here, repeatedly, to be prepared. It won several awards - it was really a good one - back in the mid 80s. Basically we faked an earthquake. With sound effects and everything, coming out of a regular set of tunes. The small group of us anchors and reporters (back when at least a few rock stations actually still had news and public affairs) each took a "beat" somewhere around town, and reported about what had "happened" there. As in: freeway collapse, grocery store collapse (falling cans. NOTHING to sniff at), emergency room, and so forth. The radio station actually suspended regular programming for a half-hour during morning drive to run it, and promoted it for weeks ahead of time - mainly to alert listeners that what they were about to hear was NOT really happening. AMAZING how we had that kind of management support. It was a really great public service and very cool to be part of.

The basic rule of thumb, seemingly across the board, is - BE PREPARED TO SURVIVE, ON YOUR OWN, FOR UP TO THREE DAYS.

That means having access to enough drinking water, food that doesn't need refrigeration (what if there's no power?), medicines (especially prescriptions), a radio - battery-powered or some such that doesn't need electricity, first-aid kit, and pet supplies if you have pets. Don't forget your quadrupeds!!! The message that's always stressed is - Don't assume you'll get help immediately. What if first responders can't reach you because the streets are messed up? Or if they're overwhelmed? Be able to hang in there for awhile on your own. For up to three days.

It's good advice.

Found this quote in LARadio.com re: Don Imus, limbaugh, and oxycontin

I thought of DU - maybe this will provoke a few grins...



Hear Ache. Last Friday, Don Imus had successful surgery for a “thing” on his vocal chords. He had the choice of having an operation or six weeks of radiation treatment. Imus rested his voice yesterday and came back to work this morning. "Have you ever taken Oxycontin?" asked Don rhetorically this morning. "No wonder Rush took that stuff until his ears fell off. Your wiener shrivels up to the size of a Milk Dud."

http://www.laradio.com/

Welcome to DU, Loup Garou!

Glad you're here! I LOVE this photo! What a maroon!

Reminds me of an early Peanuts comic strip wherein, as I recall, Lucy was trying to impress Schroeder, and wound up making a food of herself. And the final panel features her, lamenting "I'm never quite so stupid as when I'm being smart."

Hereya go! In the flesh!!! Bless his little heart-like-a-BB!

Hey rand - you're in NO position to demand ANYTHING, pipsqueak!

I suppose you'll want to apologize to BP, too, like some of your little pals in the House wanted to do after that near-extinction event in the Gulf of Mexico a short while back?

What a jerk! And what does this say about the voters in his state then? They like this shit? They think this is a good thing?