I left a comment on luphinus' post about the fur dealer at Califur, which he saw fit to delete. I'm reposting it here, along with his (similarly deleted) response.

[As a quick side note, I automatically repost things like that on the theory that if someone gets upset enough to actually delete it, it obviously had enough of an impact to make it worth keeping around. Plus, I'm not a fan of censorship in general, particularly where it concerns civil discussion. I won't delete comments in my journal--unless they are patently abusive, or spam--for this reason.

I thought about not posting it, as I don't want to spread drama. But, (a) I feel pretty strongly about the censorship thing, and (b) it's funny in a tragic sort of way. >.> I trust those of you who read this to treat it for what it is -- silliness.]

( Cut for drama and general stupidity. Don't bother reading if you don't care about the discussion at hand. )

-- Des

Every so often, I have days (afternoons, nights) where I think to myself, "Oh my god, I'm surrounded by eeediots!" The drive home tonight was one such occasion.

Case #1: Sunnyvale, turning from Maude onto Mathilda
I ended up behind this tan Toyota Camry (do they make them in any other color?). As we completed the turn, it began to accelerate normally, but abruptly levelled off at exactly 35 MPH. (The speed limit was 45.) I got stuck behind it, and we went toodling all the way up to CA-237 E with traffic passing on either side at 45-50. As we got on the freeway, I passed and glanced over. It was a little old lady driving, her husband in the passenger seat.

She was obviously unaware of the danger she presented to herself and those around her by moving more slowly than traffic. Being cautious is always good, but aside from impeding the flow of traffic, moving very slowly or quickly compared to surrounding traffic makes it more dangerous to merge, particularly in emergencies.

Case #2: I-680 N, just north of Fremont
A mid-90s Ford Escort wagon merged into the left lane in front of me. There was plenty of space for her to merge, however, she did not speed up to match traffic (i.e. me). The reason for this became apparent when I got close enough to look through her back window -- she looked like the stereotypical mid-50s housewife with blonde hair and glasses... and she was doing everything under the sun except driving. She was:

• Putting on makeup
• Looking over and talking animatedly to someone (probably a child) in the passenger seat
• Fiddling around in her purse
• Playing with her phone
• Visually inspecting the surface of her water bottle
• ...the list goes on.

Needless to say, she was holding neither a straight line, nor a constant speed (although it was at least fairly close to the surrounding traffic), and was holding up traffic (me) in the left lane. Fortunately, after a couple miles, she realized she was holding up traffic and moved over.

Case #3: I-680 N, near home
I was in the next-rightmost lane, moving quite a bit faster than the traffic in the rightmost lane. (I was, perhaps, too much faster a la case #1, but slowing down.) A forest-green Subaru Outback was in the rightmost lane, sandwiched between two other cars. Just as I'm about to begin overtaking her, she flips on her blinker, lets it blink exactly once, then shoots into the lane.

I dodge around her, accelerating to get past her quickly, and give her the horn. (Past experience has taught me it's better to be in front of crazy/stupid people than behind them, unless they're going really fast.) She accelerates, seemingly trying to keep pace with me, which of course she can't do as I'm driving Shiro. As I slide back into the lane in front of her (signalling properly), I catch a glimpse of a younger woman, phone glued to her right ear, mouth open in mid-sentence.

I move into the right lane, preparing to exit, and she slips in behind, both of us moving faster than we should be. I have to resist the urge to break-check her--I'm trying to avoid safety issues, not create more of them--as I enter the offramp.

I can't but shake my head. Stupid people. And it's so easy to become one, too.

-- Des

Quickly ran over to the video rental place to drop off a video.

On the way back from the video store, I almost got T-boned.

I was travelling West across the Curbaril overpass, when some idiot came off the Southbound offramp (which was on my right). He stopped at the stop sign, then waited until the nose of my car was just about to start passing in front of him before he decided "hey, this is a good time to go". I had to go completely into the opposing lane to avoid hitting him -- fortunately there was no oncoming traffic, because if there had been, I would've had to hit him. (The best brakes in the world won't get you from 40 to 0 in that distance without banging a few heads and cracking a windshield. :p)

This whole ... encounter was over and done with in maybe 2 seconds, total. I didn't even have time to honk at him.

Far as I could tell, the guy never slammed on his brakes, never displayed any awareness that there was another car there, just went. He certainly made it all the way into my lane before he realized I was there.

I'm just thankful I was driving Shiro. I'm not sure I could've pulled off a dodge like that in the Jeep.

Edit (Tues. morning): It almost happened again on the way to work this morning. Some old guy in a Mercedes, and I know he saw me because he looked first, and went anyway. Fortunately he left me rather more time to brake and honk, so it was merely annoying rather than hair-raising. :p

-- Des

So, I took my grandma out to go christmas shopping for my parents, since she can't drive anymore. On the way back to dropping her off at her house, I got pulled over by a cop for going 45 MPH.

The speed limit was 45 MPH.

Apparently, I was driving "too fast for conditions"...however, he pulled me over despite that fact that (a) I am driving a Jeep, which is designed to be able to handle such conditions, and (b) there was nobody in front of me, so I would still have plenty of time to brake if needed.

He acknowledged both of these points, but still gave me a warning.

Since it was just a warning (and therefore doesn't go on my record or have a fine), I didn't make an issue out of it (though my grandma certainly did, lol). But it's annoying. Cops should not be wasting their time pulling people over who are being safe, even if they ARE just outside of what is "legally allowed" (assuming, for the moment, that I was in fact going too fast...even my grandma doesn't think I was, and she's scared of driving, period).

Anyway, that's my rant for the day.