2011-05-25-0306Z


Being suck sicks. Heading into my 72nd hour and still getting worse. Haven't started coughing yet but it's almost inevitable.

Over the last 10 days or so, I've read Three Cups of Tea, the book by the now-controversial Greg Mortenson, and Medicinemaker by Hank Wesselman. The former book rings true, whether or not everything in it is factually accurate. The latter book does not; there's something too perfect about the people and the interactions between them. If it someday turns out that Wesselman made the whole story up to cure his financial woes, mentioned in the book, it won't surprise me at all.

It always gets me how people and governments are always lamenting the use of motor vehicles for every little errand, yet gear everything towards making everything safer and more convenient for those who use them. For example, the "walk lights" at intersections; most times, if you're one second too late to the intersection when the lights change, the walk light will not come on for you until you wait through another whole cycle. This can take minutes, even in a small city like Petaluma. There are exceptions, like the crossing at Plaza North in front of the Starbucks. You can get it to change just about any time up till it's about to give the green light to the other direction. Why don't they all work this way? I'll be happy when on the first push of the button, the light for oncoming traffic turns yellow. That will be telling pedestrians that you laud and encourage their mode of transportation, and will reward it. Right now, that's the message that car drivers receive, day in and day out. This has to change.

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last updated 2011-05-24 23:24:18. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com