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Viewing all posts tagged "Annoying"
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London Transport
75% of people on London buses are mean, crazy, or stupid. Typically, passengers sitting on the aisle seat who have chosen to leave the window seat unoccupied will wait to be asked politely by newly boarded travellers whether or not the window seat is free, and, if so, whether or not it would be alright if they could squeeze through to sit down. More often than not, the one sitting on the aisle will gladly collect himself and his bags, stand up, and backpedal a few feet to allow sufficient space for the newcomer to pass, before returning to his coveted aisle seat.
This process, it seems, is preferable to either 1) taking the window seat in the first place, or 2) kindly scooting over whenever a newcomer boards the bus. Why this is the case is beyond me, but I think it has something to do with the (British?) sense of ownership one feels when occupying a space, no matter its extent or significance.
Roughly 24% of London bus passengers are nice, sensible, smart people. They never leave a window seat unoccupied.
That leaves the final 1% of London bus passengers, one of whom I encountered today. I give you the following illustration I made with the little Cyanide and Happiness people. That’s me in the green shirt and this is exactly how the exchange happened, word for word, action for action. I was stunned.
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Real Life Conversations™
Today’s Real Life Conversation is brought to you by the fine drivers of London taxi cabs. This morning I had a not too uncommon encounter with a London taxi. First, let me set up the situation:
Taxi driver fails to see me approaching to his right, and yet, having seen no cars coming from his right side, begins pulling out into the road to make a right turn. Taxi driver sees traffic coming from his left and therefore cannot continue with his turn. As he sits there idling halfway across the lane, I continue my approach all the way up to his driver’s side door, where I pause, look up, and meet the driver’s eyes. I had deliberately left 1 inch of space between my front tire and his car door.
“Are you making a statement!?” he says.
“Yes,” I say, “you cannot pull out halfway into the street and expect me to swerve!”
“Fucking asshole!” he says.
Today’s Real Life Conversation was brought to you by the fine drivers of London taxi cabs.
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![This is the rule:
Motorists, including motorcyclists, MUST stop at the first white line reached if the lights are amber or red and should avoid blocking the way or encroaching on the marked area at other times, e.g. if the junction ahead is blocked.
[Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10, 36(1) & 43(2)]
Source: The Highway Code, Road junctions (170-183)
Is this rule followed? Not at all. Here are some examples from my ride today:
Is this rule punishable? Yes, in theory. Are people actually punished for such violations? Not that I know of.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_krrgycRHPK1qzdwdxo1_400.jpg)
This is the rule:
Motorists, including motorcyclists, MUST stop at the first white line reached if the lights are amber or red and should avoid blocking the way or encroaching on the marked area at other times, e.g. if the junction ahead is blocked.
[Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10, 36(1) & 43(2)]
Source: The Highway Code, Road junctions (170-183)
Is this rule followed? Not at all. Here are some examples from my ride today:
Is this rule punishable? Yes, in theory. Are people actually punished for such violations? Not that I know of.
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Email from real life. Sounds eerily similar to something out of the Corporate Gibberish Generator. For example,
“The ability to productize virtually leads to the power to embrace mega-wirelessly. The development factor is cross-media.”
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gaza:
Welcome to Israel
And you thought Welcomes in the USA were rough…
An announcement played over the sound system, interrupting my break in the sunshine. First in Hebrew, then Arabic, then in English. It was something along the lines of, “do not to be alarmed by gunshots because the Israeli security needs to blow up suspicious passenger luggage.”
… “I’m sorry but we had to blow up your laptop.”
The questions are… is a Macbook
Prodeemed a threat? or a luxury? and is this damage covered by AppleCare?Follow up piece about the compensation process…
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Right-wing terrorist crashes plane into IRS building in Texas
A man crashed a small plane Thursday morning into a seven-story office building in Austin, Tex., that houses offices of the Internal Revenue Service, the authorities said. The pilot was killed. Two people were hospitalized, and one person was still unaccounted for Thursday afternoon.
President Obama was briefed on the situation by his counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, at 12:35 p.m., according to Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary. But while the Department of Homeland Security was investigating the crash, federal officials emphasized that they did not consider the case to be a terrorist attack.
Stopping briefly for commentary: what about this isn’t a terrorist attack? The guy clearly had political objectives in mind and wanted to kill people to achieve them. So it’s terrorism when a non-American guy fails to light his crotch on fire in an airplane, but when an American crashes his plane into the side of a U.S. government building with the objective to kill, it’s somehow not terrorism?
The seven-story building, at 9430 Research Boulevard in northwest Austin, about seven miles northwest of the State Capitol, was consumed by flames after the crash. It continued to burn for hours, and by early afternoon firefighters had only been able to search the three lowest floors.
Officials said the crash was being investigated as a crime. The authorities identified the pilot as Joseph A. Stack III, 53.
A long, angry note posted on the Internet, on a web site registered to Mr. Stack and signed “Joe Stack,” appeared to have been written by the pilot, though authorities had not confirmed the connection. By midafternoon, the company that hosted the site had taken the note down, saying it was acting at the request of the F.B.I.
The note related a long history of financial difficulties and frustrations with the nation’s tax and health-care systems and with setbacks like the sharp decline of defense-related employment in Southern California in the 1990’s and the disruption of air travel after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. It ended with passages strongly suggesting that its author expected to die on Thursday, including a reference to Feb. 18, 2010, as his date of death.
“I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different,” the note concluded. “I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.”This was a criminal suicide attack, and he was white, so it’s not terrorism.
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