Over-specific law of the day

Note below, where only a handful of Virginia localities are given authority to put up "Yield to Pedestrians" signs.  This is one of the things I like about being a "Dillon Rule" state - localities can't even blow their noses without specific authorization to do so.

Va. Code § 46.2-924. Drivers to stop for pedestrians; installation of certain signs; penalty.

A. The driver of any vehicle on a highway shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian crossing such highway:

1. At any clearly marked crosswalk, whether at mid-block or at the end of any block;

2. At any regular pedestrian crossing included in the prolongation of the lateral boundary lines of the adjacent sidewalk at the end of a block;

3. At any intersection when the driver is approaching on a highway or street where the legal maximum speed does not exceed 35 miles per hour.

B. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection A of this section, at intersections or crosswalks where the movement of traffic is being regulated by law-enforcement officers or traffic control devices, the driver shall yield according to the direction of the law-enforcement officer or device.

No pedestrian shall enter or cross an intersection in disregard of approaching traffic.

The drivers of vehicles entering, crossing, or turning at intersections shall change their course, slow down, or stop if necessary to permit pedestrians to cross such intersections safely and expeditiously.

Pedestrians crossing highways at intersections shall at all times have the right-of-way over vehicles making turns into the highways being crossed by the pedestrians.

C. The governing body of Arlington County, Fairfax County, the City of Fairfax, the County of Loudoun and any town therein, and the City of Alexandria, may by ordinance provide for the installation and maintenance of highway signs at marked crosswalks specifically requiring operators of motor vehicles, at the locations where such signs are installed, to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians crossing or attempting to cross the highway. Any operator of a motor vehicle who fails at such locations to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians as required by such signs shall be guilty of a traffic infraction punishable by a fine of no less than $100 or more than $500. The Commonwealth Transportation Board shall develop criteria for the design, location, and installation of such signs. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any limited access highway.

I don't care where you're from, that there's funny...

Robber kills himself drawing on homeowner...

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/crime/stories/DN-robber_19met.ART.West.Edition1.b6bdbe.html

Privacy Policy Haiku

Google may resist clouding its home page with a link to its privacy policy, but I have no such aims. Here is what you can expect from greatblackangus.blogspot.com

You don't know if I

(or another) watch your tracks.

So pretend we do.

How to stop famine

The Niger River, which provides water to many countries in subsaharan west Africa is drying up, according to the BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7375109.stm. This will cause hardship for the millions of people who depend on the Niger's water for agricultural, industrial, and residential use.

According to an alarmist study, increased man-made Global Warming would add moisture to this area. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7227080.stm ("Greening of the Sahara/Sahel").

Save lives. Increase your carbon footprint.

Historical fact

Few people today realize that Noah was famous as an Ante-Semite.

RIP Tristram Cary (1925-2008)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/news/080424_news_01

Film and television composer who scored electronic and orchestral music for cult BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who and the Alec Guinness Ladykillers.

First honorary blackbelt in veterinary jujitsu?

People should know how to defend themselves from animals. This is one of the basic primitive skills. (See, e.g., the wolf attack in Conan the Barbarian. Then stop after the wolf attack. The rest of the movie is bad for you.) I refer to this art as veterinary jujitsu, though I have yet to actually assemble any instructional formula (and probably am insufficiently motivated to actually do so...).

In the following article, however, you will see an example of someone who excels at this art:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7327984.stm

It kind of sticks in your craw...

"What doesn't happen when you are drunk?"  --A great Russian (click for story)

Superlaser coolness

Article at http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/04/texans-build-wo.html

Scientists at UT/Austin, with help from the National Nuclear Security Administration, have built a petawatt laser (1*10^15 watts) which they intend to ramp up to about 1.5 petawatts.  They report that is enough power to simulate the inside of a supernova, and they can maintain it for a few femtoseconds.

Swedish Authorities to Help Virgin Galactic with Regulatory Barriers

I love how far a little ingenuity goes in law. "Spaceships are basically hot air balloons. Have a tax cut."

Swedish Authorities to Help Virgin Galactic with Regulatory Barriers

via Res Communis by PJ Blount on 4/1/08

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

From Space.com:

PARIS - Swedish authorities planning to host flights of the Virgin Galactic suborbital space plane hope to lower the costs and regulatory barriers to the operation by having it classed as a sounding rocket and given the tax advantages of hot-air balloon flights, Swedish and Virgin Galactic officials said April 1.

The press release from the Swedish Space Corporation is also available.

Regarding the medical profession

I recently ran across an aphorism describing the other great profession thus:

Internists know everything but they don't do anything.
Surgeons aren't supposed to know anything, but they do it all.
Pathologists know everything and do everything, but it's all too late.

Poll results

I am a big fan of David Morgan-Mar's generally Lego-based Irregular Webcomic.  One feature of Mr. Morgan-Mar's comic is a poll, the topic of which changes periodically.  I find it an amusing commentary on the generally geeky makeup of the comic's audience that in one recent poll, his readership voted, with a margin of nearly 25% more votes, to save semi-obscure mathematician Evariste Galois from an untimely death over doing the same for Princess Diana.

The Waldo Ultimatum

For one who grew up on these books (not the Ludlum books!), here's some quality entertainment.


http://view.break.com/465843

Do YOU trust your water?

Ever wondered what prescription and nonprescription drugs you drink and brush your teeth with every day? Some answers here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/10/AR2008031000621.html?sid=ST2008030901877

Mood stabilizers in Fairfax County Virginia; Estrogen in New Orleans; heart medications in New York, etc.

The amounts are trace and we are told not to panic...

Global warming followup

I posted recently on global warming guessing here.

Since then, another stellar article has come out indicating that there is a significant new tool for climate change modeling.  Try to follow the trail of made-up information and guesswork: the scientists here have guessed backwards about sea level changes to create hypothetical data.  They then indicate that this data is useful for modeling future climate change.  In other words, by drawing a line from a guess in the past through what we think we know about the present, we will be able to definitively state what the future will be like.  Given the certainty with which we can state the outlook and causes of this future, we should make state-mandated policies to control the effects we state this future will hold.

Sure, that much guesswork inspires confidence.