Happy Birthday, Tom Scola!

The lion baby is precious.

My mom left me a voicemail this morning that she and her coworkers were discussing a movie, and they couldn't remember the title of it, but she knows that I know it, and it's about those newsboys who went on strike, and one of them's on crutches, and it might be a musical?

Cannot. Stop. Giggling.

I'm the king of NEW YORK!

But I like this shirt, it calls to the evil biologist in me. Or something.

That's hysterical!

my grandparents: [link]

flea, may I show that picture to my Big!Boss? He knew your grandpa through the Pharmacy School, and I bet he'd get a kick out of that picture.

Timid drivers who won't get into the intersection to make a left turn also earn my ire and invective. Mostly commonly, "Get your fucking ass in the intersection, dipshit!"

To me this is a bit strange to be mad about; I can't recall ever having done so-- I mean does it make such a big difference to the result? However, you can go fuck yourself describing people as timid who don't like to be in intersections or make left turns. Car accidents are no joke, and I'm sure I'm not the only person here lucky to be alive.

Yeah, I was all, "Well, I'm glad I'm not driving in front of Hec, I guess."

To me this is a bit strange to be mad about; I can't recall ever having done so-- I mean does it make such a big difference to the result?

Yes. Because if they don't pull forward enough, you can't get enough into the intersection to make the turn at the end of the light and have to wait through another red.

My traffic ire is reserved for pedestrians in this city, red light runners (light turns green, count to three and the intersection might be clear,) asshat city bus drivers and one other thing I've seen a lot of lately but now it escapes me. I just remember my ire.

It's true in LA that you have to pull as far into the intersection as possible to take the left just as the light turns yellow (and sometimes red), because no one will let you go, ever. And you need to pull up as far as you can so that you can take the dude behind you with you.

Well, the specific problem is with very busy intersections that have (a) a legal left turn but (b) no actual left turn signal (we have one such two blocks from our apt, and you can't get to any of the main cross-city arteries without using it). Very often the cross traffic is so heavy that only one or maybe two cars can make left turns at all, and then only on the yellow.

It's a huge, wide intersection (big enough that the city could take the lights out and put a small rotary in if it so desired) and there's plenty of room to come out into the intersection and wait for your chance at the (generously timed) yellow; plus, our street is a single lane in each direction with parking spaces at the corners. People too timid to pull out not only miss the signal (and usually end up missing two or three signals before traffic lightens up enough for them to feel safe), but, because there's no room for anyone else to maneuver around them, at commute hour they'll instantly turn the entire street into three blocks of parking lot.

eta: Or, she added shamefacedly, what everyone else said much more concisely.