icy out there

well on the roads near the house at least. Closer to the city it was just slush. Managed to hitch a ride up to Burgess and Warren with my wife. The hour delays around here meant everything was just a tad bit melted. The places that got salt last night were in good shape, roads that didn't (our road/neighborhood) were skating rinks. Solid sheet ice. No black ice, it was skating rink stuff. But it is sunny as can be. Very gorgeous out there.

One guy honked at me in his big fancy MB with his easy to remember vanity plate. Honestly. Don't people with vanity plates realize that there isn't an easier way to give someone a way to remember it? Long time ago in maine someone i was riding around the town with got assaulted by a couple of guys. What it was over I won't go into now but because this tough guy (we eventually rode away, hid in the woods till he left) had a vanity plate, the cops were able to get all the info on the guy who did it. Yes i still remember the plate on that Subaru he was driving.

Same this morning. Heck i almost caught back up to him through the city, he was dodging and weaving between the slower moving traffic, seriously cutting between cars and around people pretty recklessly... He turned off a side street and floored it. Total jackass I hope he wraps that big beast around a telephone pole. I hope no one else gets hurt by his actions. His big ass metal cow he's driving will protect him just fine no matter what he hits. His plate is sticking in my head pretty easily.

I was pretty wound up about the incident. Sure it wasn't a big deal... he only honked at me and then waved his fist yelling at me, he had room to go around (two travel lanes, i was in the right lane, no cars were in the left yet he still felt the need to honk at me). Actually kind of funny. The really scary part was how he was driving after he honked and passed me.

There was some talk about forgetting the fuel economy limits as a way to regulate consumption, and going with horsepower limits. Not big policy talks but still. It makes sense. Who needs a giant 400 horsepower car to get around the city? Seriously. And the whole "it is safer to have power" is a crock of shit argument. If you don't have power you just drive so you don't put yourself that kind of situation. The times you need power are generally 100% avoidable. We have speed limits in this country of 75 or 80 in some places. Even a little 90 hp engine can push a reasonably large car that fast. It might not be able to go much faster but hey, why do you need to go any faster? We don't have the Autobaun here. Despite what it feels like driving in New England when there isn't traffic slowing you down.

I feel pretty strongly about regulating consumption instead of emission as well as putting HP limits in. If standards were set to mandate a specific fuel consumption minimum instead of (or maybe in addition to) tail pipe exhaust, well i think that would have a much bigger total overall impact on both green house gasses and pollution. Maybe us a Pound/HP limit. Set it at 45#/Hp. Sure if you want a big fat heavy car, you'll get more HP but you won't be able to go any faster than anyone else. Ah but then that's socialism or something. People want their cars to be a reflection of themselves. Ah well. We're all pretty screwed unless people some how believe everything is turning around. All it takes is people to think it is getting better not worse and it will get better.

Here's to hoping the new generation of energy production and what ever else new "industry" starts taking off soon is enough to bolster consumer confidence and get us out of this freaking mess.

Because what a mess it is.

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