My first Prius rage

Slopeheads? You mean Orientals? The only Orientals I've seen who'd fit that description are the so-called "riceboys" in their hopped-up Civics and Acuras and Eclipses. Most Orientals have a pretty passive, even timid driving style.

Being educated (I'm not sure why you believe relative youth is relevant, let alone a point in these people's favor) doesn't inoculate people against idiocy. I've certainly met a lot of educated idiots in my time.

Considering the fact that I'm a complete stranger and you know precisely nothing about me, that cognitive cockslobber oozing from your mental meatus says far worse things about you than it does about me.

Geoff

[to Vash The Stampede]

I won't presume to speak for Vash, but since you asked this in a public forum, I feel at liberty to respond. Anyone who objects is welcome to review my recent comment about the current avail- ability of shotguns with flavored barrels.

Maybe they're insecure poseurs who yearn so strongly for the approval of others that they have to be seen making a statement with their choice of automobile. That would certainly go a long way toward explaining why the Pious...er, Prius, outsells Honda's hybrid offerings: the Hondas look identical to their non-hybrid counterparts, but with the Prius, everyone knows you're driving a hybrid. Tree-huggers are overwhelmingly liberal, and this need to be seen and approved of would be consistent with the way the libbos care so goddam much about what people in other countries (e.g., France ) care about the U.S. Liberals, after all, are fundamentally herd animals.

Looks like it's doing both. I'm sure that by this point, you're sadder but wiser about how your Prius doesn't get anything close to the promised gas mileage. (Personally, I have it both ways by driving a diesel car: I get great mileage *and* piss off liberals.)

And not only that, but you're going to have tons o'fun trying to unload the thing when it gets older, seeing as how a purchaser (or you, if you decide to keep the thing) will have to shell out ten grand for new batteries at some point. Talk about your money going to Japan...woo hoo! Looks like you'll get your wish, doesn't it? May as well avoid the rush, and bend over and greeze up your bunghole now, financially speaking. Japan, Inc. is headed your way, and its bouncing choad is glistening-tipped and hideously empurpled.

Nice attempt at diversion.

What those who screech about opening up ANWR have trouble wrapping their tiny li'l minds around is the idea that while the oil from ANWR wouldn't last very long if it were pumped out and released all at once, that isn't how it would be -- any more than all the oil from any other source would be pumped out and released all at once. If nothing else, it'll take time to get it out of the ground. It'll be added to the global oil market, a tributary flowing into a conceptual river. It's the aggregate oil supply that determines how long the supply lasts.

As for all this sanctimonious handwringing about the "wilderness" from you tree-hugging dirt worshippers, the oil facilities will occupy about as much land as a postage stamp, relative to the overall size of the Alaskan wilderness. And how many of you are ever going to see the place, anyway? I've been there; have you? Didn't think so.

You know what's stupid? Not exploiting the natural resources in your own goddam country. Now *that's* stupid.

There's still time to reregister as a Republican. We have a big tent.

So do I, come to think of it...

Geoff

[to Scott en Aztlán]

You mean a control freak and an inconsiderate asshole? *That* kind of guy?

I've noticed something interesting about slowpokes and their defenders: they say stuff like the above, but they can't make the cognitive leap from there to the idea that that wisdom works both ways.

Here's the deal. Faster drivers don't want to force slower drivers to move at their (the faster drivers') preferred pace. They just want to get around them. And if we succeed, then it's a win-win situation: everybody gets to drive at the speed he's comfortable at, and no one is riding anyone else's bumper or is in anyone else's way. It's the

*slower* drivers who want to force the rest of us to conform to *their* speed.

Now, which of these groups would you say needs to be reminded that the road isn't their private thoroughfare?

Geoff

"B-but *they* do it, too!" What's that got to do with Democrats?

As somebody else pointed out, status symbols transcend political orientation. That being said, there's a fundamental difference between trying to impress people with your wealth and/or status, and seeking approval for your political views, insofar as either is expressed by the car that you drive.

The difference is that in the first case, one needn't care what people think of him personally, so long as they know he's "a man of wealth and taste." But in the second case, what people (even

-- hell, *primarily* -- strangers) think of one personally is the whole idea. Now, which would you say bespeaks the greater sense of insecurity?

: Symbolism is more important to liberals than to conservatives,

It's a fact whether or not I say it is.

: and so it's far more likely for a liberal to drive a certain : kind of car in order to broadcast his frugality than for a : Republican to do so.

I live in Santa Cruz and commute to Silicon Valley, with regular side trips up the Peninsula into affluent San Mateo County and out to the Sacramento area. In short, I'm exposed to a full cross-section of drivers and car owners.

: We Republicans drive whatever the hell we want to, and if : that bothers anybody, well, it just sucks to be them.

Yes, we: as in, other Republicans and I. I wasn't implying that you were a Republican. Indeed, whether you are or not, I stand by my statement.

: Not to put too fine a point on it, but I hear you can get shotguns : with flavored barrels nowadays...

We lunch every Thursday. ("We have" what?)

Make lots of money and tweak the easily offended on Usenet.

Geoff

Then maybe not. Maybe your an insecure bonehead who is just jealous of the intelectual crowd who can afford a car like the Prius.

I don't own a prius. Why would driving a Dieasel piss off Liberals? What kind of moron are you?

That's their problem, but the demand dosn't seem to support your claim. Besides any expensive car is a waste of money. Whats the resale a a used Mercedes Diesel. Talk about a poor investment.

Which will have pratically zero affect.

I have been to Alaska a few times. So what, I've never been a lot of places, doesn't mean it's all right to destroy them. As for how much damage the drilling will do, you obviously only see the side the oil companies dish out and you drink the Kool-Aid. Even if the damage is as minimal as the Oil execs say (What a laugh) it's still just handing over a natural reserve for exploitation by the oil companies that will make them richer and have no benefit to the public. Sorry, the'll just have to make due with their current 400 million dallor bonuses.

Exploiting your natural resources to make Oil companies richer with no benifit to the public is stupid.

Getting smaller everyday

No. Just a guy who doesn't like to drive terribly fast.

If a faster driver wants to go around them and does so, legally, fine. Although a "salute" is not necessary, in case you were wondering.

If there's no room, then they'll just have to wait. Or are you saying the slower driver SHOULD be forced to speed up UNTIL the faster driver can pass and then he may slow down?

Hmmm... that can't be, because you just said that faster drivers don't want to force slower drivers to move at their (faster) preferred pace.

Since you asked, I'd say "Western Driver" and his ilk need to be reminded that it's not their own private thoroughfare.

That's indicative.

By the way, the slower driver leading the parade today was driving a late-model Mercury Mountaineer. He was dawdling his way through an inadequately timed intersection and, because he didn't move out smartly, some people behind him had to wait, idling, for an extra minute or two for that light to change again.

Is that a death-penalty offense or should I just key his car and leave it at that?

*** Posted via a free Usenet account from ***

Hmmm - I believe it was Mr Mayor who coined the sales pitch for China Air: "You've seen us drive, now watch us fly!"

: You mean a control freak and an inconsiderate asshole? *That* : kind of guy?

Being a guy who doesn't drive terribly fast isn't bad, in itself. Being a guy who doesn't drive terribly fast and not staying out from underfoot is a different matter.

I live in the mountains and get to and from the freeway via 17 miles of two-lane mountain road. I deal with such people often. A lot of people who live in my area are slow drivers with control issues (overly-tolerant Santa Cruz County is a magnet for misfits of all sorts), so I'm more than familiar with the type.

No. I'm saying that the slower driver should *voluntarily* speed up, out of consideration and common courtesy, until such time as a passing lane appears or he can make use of a turnout to let the faster driver by.

Doing the posted speed limit would be fine; that's all I can reasonably ask of anyone. Accelerating to a speed that was fast enough to open up some space between his car and mine, as the driver ahead of me on my way home from work yesterday did, would be icing on the proverbial cake.

Isn't this the sort of "do unto others" etiquette that we all learned in driver education? It's amazing how quickly people forget the funda- mentals, not to mention how much emotional baggage they accumulate as time goes by.

The funny thing is, most of these same people would probably have no issue with staying out of other people's way on foot, like, say, in a supermarket or shopping mall. But put them behind the wheel, and somehow their attitude changes. It reminds me of Mr. Walker and Mr. Wheeler in that old, animated Disney driver's-education film, only remade to showcase *passive*-aggression instead of the active sort.

I think you're going out of your way to misunderstand what I write.

I didn't advocate forcing slower drivers to move at a faster pace. I advocated slower drivers not forcing faster drivers to move at

*their* chosen pace. Letting people pass you isn't capitulation or an affront to your masculinity. How could it be? It's some- thing that's done voluntarily.

If everybody would endeavor to stay out of everybody else's way, none of us would have to give a moment's thought to whose private thoroughfare it is or isn't. What could be simpler?

: "I smear the road with bicycles." -- Phillip J. Birmingham

Of what? That's relevant to this thread, I mean?

Why does something need to be a death-penalty or vandalism-worthy offense in order to be worthy of being taken seriously?

Geoff

: As long as the last car in line makes it through the first light, what's the : big deal? You were ALL going to stop at the second, anyway. He's just : helping you save your brakes and a little gas. Drive that way all the time : and save some money.

I have money to burn but am rather short on time. What is more, I LIKE accelerating fast and driving fast.

: And, as for "Prius Rage" being in the news, you'll have to post a link. : This is the first I've heard of it. Prius drivers around here appear to : behave fairly normally.

Other than purchasing economically unviable cars that is?

Did the car have an E-RACISM bumper sticker. I find those hilarious. Do these people actually think they are slowly convincing the last of the pro-racism lobby through bumper sticker activism?

doug

You're presuming a particular motive for a particular behavior when you have zilch for evidence of motive.

No, I understand exactly what you write. You want slower drivers to speed up. You advocate slower drivers speeding up to match the faster driver's pace, you don't want faster drivers slowing down to match the slower driver's pace. You think people should be considerate. Considerate of the faster driver.

Who said anything about not permitting passing?

*** Posted via a free Usenet account from ***

I had a woman push me with her carriage at the check out. I asked her why and she said I was taking too long. She was with her husband, who incidently stood quiet and shook his head in disgust at what she did. I 've had cashiers that were so concerned about the customer line they crushed the bread and tipped over the carbonated sodas. The baggers over filled the bags and crushed the eggs. They put bananas in first and piled heavy stuff on top. Why all this nonsense?? Because they assumed too much. Maybe they saw ONE person act impatient. Big deal. There's a reason why the candy bars are right in back of them. Take one and chill out.

Eh? I took your "S/C" as meaning that you had a supercharger installed?

Those were some sad days for American "muscle" cars...

Boring.

Usually some dumb goof in a car sitting next to you at a light and reving his engine up and down all the way thorugh the red and staring at you is expecting you to drag when the light goes green. We just put the hammer down, didn't even smoke the tires. We left the Trans-Am about half a mile behind when we finally got up to the speed limit. I guess he heard the S/C whine. . . .

Charles of Schaumburg

snipped-for-privacy@u1.netgate.net (Geoff Miller) wrote: snip

By the same token perhaps one could say that the fast drivers want to force the slow drivers to drive at the fast speed?...

Remember that there's very few roads which have one lane only...

Ok Geoff, very good...the name makes more sense now, we used to have great fun there and on ADA with Ralph...

Yes that was a great a/c for our trade indeed...about the only one that I can think of to come close was the C-124 Globemaster.

Those 18 hour plus patrols (standard patrol) were a bitch though, I think my longest was slightly over 30 hours...thank God for two F/E's (minimum crew for any flight was 2 Pilots and 2 F/E's)

That's *big*?

Geoff, I hate to break it to you, but I think it's time for bifocals.

Adam

The Previa was available with a factory installed supercharger for a while.

And in other news, our weatherman says there's a nip in the air...