One thing I particularly disliked about Boston traffic was the delayed green -- that is to say, one side of the intersection would get the green light before the other, to give left-turners time to go. Why would I hate this, you say, when it seems so helpful? There was no way to know when you were at one. Like a lot of things about Boston, they seemed to assume that either you'd been doing this exact thing for the last 15 years or you just shouldn't be there anyway.

I will say I've noticed a lot of work being done in Boston on the traffic lights the last few years (probably due to the Big Dig), and when they've done substantial work, they usually put some sort of left turn arrow in these days. Finally learning I guess.

So I guess, the moral is, if you know of a particularly nasty left without an arrow, arrange to do some damage to the traffic lights.

A letter from BBC Human Resources, rejecting a job applicant: [link]

You may also like to note that calling our head of human resources a "skank ho" does not gain you any plus points when being shortlisted for a position.

I wonder why driving makes people so rageful? I mean, I rarely see grocery store shopping cart rage.

Well, if I had to navigate a grocery store every day, for say 30 minutes, and thus constantly came across "two little old ladies with their carts side by side, chatting and blocking the whole aisle," I am sure I would become ragey after a while. And, with grocery carts, you can totally ram people! It doesn't cause any damage!!

Like a lot of things about Boston, they seemed to assume that either you'd been doing this exact thing for the last 15 years or you just shouldn't be there anyway.

I'm... coming to understand that this is an underlying attitude about the city, yes. Did I tell you all about the time (recently) a friend of mine got an invitation to some reception in the city, with directions listing the "Auditorium" stop on the T? It hasn't been named that officially in about 10-15 years; its name is Hynes/ICA. She had to google, and not the official MBTA site, to figure out what the hell they were talking about.

One of my students last period, in his frustration with his assembly, called out, "Screw you, Bob Saget!" I immediately thought of the board.

Like a lot of things about Boston, they seemed to assume that either you'd been doing this exact thing for the last 15 years or you just shouldn't be there anyway.

Heh. Especially now that I haven't lived there in so long, all of my landmarks are gone, but I still think of things as "right by where the [whatever] used to be," which works for people who have been there since the 80s, nsm anyone else...

God, my commute this morning was annoying. I was already running late, then the train I was on went out of service, so we all smooshed on to the next one, which yuck, and it's raining.

Did I tell you all about the time (recently) a friend of mine got an invitation to some reception in the city, with directions listing the "Auditorium" stop on the T? It hasn't been named that officially in about 10-15 years; its name is Hynes/ICA.

Heh, not anymore, since the ICA moved to the waterfront. I think it is officially just "Hynes Convention Center" or "Hynes" now.

The funny thing is, I still think of it as Auditorium (though I ALSO think of it as Hynes - ICA never really stuck).

I have almonds. Nom nom nom.

Oh oh! I remember my other iremaking thing: creepers. You know, the people who stop waaaay before they need to and then spend the next 2 minutes inching 10 yards forward? Irks me partly because I drive stick, and that's a lot of wasted clutch work, and partly because there are some intersections that if you don't pull all the way up to the next car, there's a good chance you are going to leave someone blocking the previous intersection when that light changes and here you are inchinginchinginching TO WHAT FUCKING PURPOSE?!

Anyway.

France is having a great debate over the fate of the semicolon: [link]

ION, I got even less sleep last night than I did the night before. I'm running on fumes here.