Daily Dose of Common Sense

I hate preemptive honkers.

You’re sitting at a red light, waiting for it to turn green. The split second that the light changes, someone behind you honks–as if you were holding up a long line of cars by not flooring it. Only, you weren’t. Are these the most impatient, annoying drivers in the world?

I don’t honk capriciously. I use the horn in extreme situations–such as danger or when another driver isn’t paying attention to the road. I don’t use it to hurry everyone else along at changing lights. Driver’s Ed Guru has written a guide to Horn Honking Etiquette. They say to wait at least four seconds after the light changes before you tap your horn lightly to alert another motorist to get a move on.

Calm down, you overzealous honkers. We’re all moving just as fast as we can. You’re not busier than everyone else, so be nice to your fellow motorists.

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Parking is something all drivers worry about at one time or another. You can never be sure that there will be a spot for your car at your destination…or, can you?

This woman just brings her own parking spot wherever she goes. Brilliant. Illegal, but brilliant.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXrG28pZXE8

[Via Huffington Post]

In a move that certainly does away with little trivialities like PROOF, the Ohio Supreme Court has given officers in that state the right to give speeding tickets based on their eyes–not a radar gun. In Ohio, if a police officer sees you speeding, he can write you a ticket even if you weren’t officially clocked as going over the speed limit.

This is troubling because the perception of how fast you’re going is subjective. It’s not like running a red light or making an illegal turn. What looks 45 miles an hour to one person could look 55 miles an hour to someone else. “Speeding, officer? Exactly how far over the speed limit was I?” In Ohio, they won’t need to answer this question before socking you with a hefty fine.

[Via The Consumerist]
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A woman is suing Google after being struck by a car on a busy highway. Why is this Google’s fault? Because she was following the Google Maps walking directions at the time. In the lawsuit, she claims Google provided her,

walking directions that led her out onto Deer valley Drive, a.k.a. State Route 224, a rural highway wit no sidewalks, and a roadway that exhibits motor vehicles traveling at high speeds, that is not reasonably safe for pedestrians.

This woman apparently left her common sense at home when she departed. Concentrating on her Blackberry, she forgot how to LOOK UP and notice her surroundings.

Google warns in their walking directions, “Walking directions are in beta. Use caution – This route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths.” This may, however, have been missing on the Blackberry edition of Google Maps. Even still, if Google told you to jump off a cliff, would you?

[Via BoingBoing]

We love Yahoo’s Odd News here in our house. I think this next collection of AP headlines from today is possibly the greatest group ever to pop up. Here they are, in the original sequence:

Police: Man calls 911 about mom taking his beer

Man punched while calling 911 to report punch

Police: Man accidentally shoots self in testicles

Ohio woman finds groundhog hiding under car hood

NJ teen admits defecating in classmate’s soda

Random, senseless and absurd–everything we love!

Today’s post is courtesy of Cherie Strand, an occupational therapist and world traveler from Idaho.

Just because a hotel SERVES breakfast does not mean it is your home kitchen.

My family has the opportunity to travel quite a bit because we live in the witness protection program in rural Idaho. Well, maybe not the WPP, but we do live about 3 hours away from an airport, Target, Walmart, Costco and doctors. (No kidding.) So, we do frequent overnight trips to stock up on things.

We love that many hotels have a hot breakfast included in the stay. Many are very well apportioned–everything from cheese omelets, bacon, hot and cold cereal, pastries, waffles, fresh fruit, yogurt, etc. Budget hotels have moved way beyond the stale danish that they used to offer. And, this is especially nice for families as it saves the time and money of taking kids to a “real” restaurant.

On the flip side, over the past 12 years, we have noticed more and more people take this breakfast offer a little too casually. Some folks appear in the breakfast area in their pajamas, hair completely uncombed (clearly) and often without shoes (despite signs saying proper attire and footwear required). It used to be just small kids that looked as if they were plucked straight from bed and brought down to the communal breakfast. Now, it is the entire family.

Whether it’s 7 AM or 9:30 AM, it is common now to see a grown man and woman with their three or four children, all still in PJs, slippers (or barefoot) and looking exactly as if they rolled out of bed and came right on down to the breakfast area. The rest of us try to keep down our breakfasts while treated to what these folks really look like without any semblance of morning hygiene–no imagination necessary! It is not as if we are eating at 5 AM and expecting everyone to be there in suits (which, incidentally IS the case because the business men and women are up early, dressed, and ready to go).

So, would you waltz into a restaurant like that? (Well, yes, because I have seen that too, but mostly from teenagers and college kids.) I do NOT want to see you or your family with bed head, pajamas, bare feet or ratty slippers. It takes about 10 minutes to get kids up and pull their hair back and get dressed yourself. You can even use your room coffeemaker in the meantime to have a cup of coffee to get geared up for all that work it takes just to put on regular clothing. Asking for a little courtesy while strangers are eating breakfast doesn’t seem like too much to ask, does it?

I don’t want to see your toe jam while I’m trying to eat my jam on toast.

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Again this past weekend, someone died in the New York City subway because he had jumped down onto the tracks to retrieve something. What precious item had fallen? A jacket. Yes, a man lost his life trying to save a jacket. (What’s really sad is that he was just a good samaritan trying to help the woman who dropped the jacket. She lived.)

People, if you drop something on the subway tracks, let it go. No iPhone, Blackberry, music player, piece of clothing, or shoe is worth losing your life over. If you need it back, go find a station agent or transit employee for assistance. (I know there have been cutbacks, but they still do exist.) This man was the third New Yorker in the span of six months to die from jumping down on the tracks to get something.

The trains move fast and anyone who thinks they can move faster is delusional. Also, there is no easy way to climb out. There aren’t rungs to hold onto and the platforms can be quite high up.

“It’s just not worth taking the risk,” said Paul Fleuranges, a spokesman for New York City Transit. “In one instant the coast looks clear, and you think you can hop down, retrieve your item and hop back up. In reality, it’s not that simple.”

About 90 people are hit by subway trains each year, and about half the time it is fatal. But officials could not say how many cases involved an attempt to retrieve something.

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An Illinois woman has just been convicted of reckless homicide because she was painting her nails while driving, during which she hit and killed a motorcyclist. I’m all for multi-tasking, but who would think it’s a good idea to disable your hands while trying to drive? Like the prosecutor said, “It is not the same as biting a sandwich … it’s a voluntary disablement. She might as well have been in the back seat making a sandwich.”

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[Via the fine folks at Pat's Papers.]

It is always surprising to get in an elevator in a hotel and see the numbers go from twelve to fourteen. We all know there’s a number missing. Are some people really still paralyzed with fear over the number thirteen?

There are many theories as to why thirteen has gotten a bad rap. Some say it has Christian roots revolving around the Last Supper. Others say the ancient Egyptians believed the number thirteen to be a symbol of death. There are also Norse and medieval ties to this number as well. Regardless, we all know superstitions are just crazy, right?

For example:
- Knocking wood won’t really change your luck (there’s no such thing as luck).
- Spilling salt doesn’t bring the devil (it means you’re clumsy).
- Sneezing doesn’t let your soul escape (it means there’s an irritation in your nose).
- A sudden shiver doesn’t mean someone is walking on your grave (it means you’re cold!).

And yet, the fear over the number thirteen persists. Friday the thirteenth is not just a horror franchise; many people actually alter their plans when this day rolls around. A small percentage of people polled said they would request a room change if given accommodations on the thirteenth floor.

A recent USA TODAY/Gallup Poll suggests a large majority of Americans — 87% — would be comfortable with a 13th floor room assignment. But 13% say they’d be bothered by a 13th floor room assignment, including 9% who would be sufficiently bothered to seek a room change.

The poll shows women, people age 65-plus and those with annual household incomes below $30,000 are more prone than average to seek a new room if assigned to the 13th floor.

The trend of renaming the thirteenth floor in buildings and hotels began in the late 19th century. However, in a rash of rationality, some newer hotels have bucked this nonsense and have installed elevator buttons with thirteenth floors. I say let the 9% move to a different floor–and get a grip. But, until then, I guess I’m staying on the “fourteenth” floor of my hotel.

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You know how you can’t even sneak a bottle of water through airport security? Well, two British women thought they could get a dead guy past security. Sounds like something straight out of Weekend at Bernie’s, but it’s true.

The BBC and other British media reported that the women placed the man, a relative of theirs, into a wheelchair and covered his face with sunglasses in a bid to get him aboard a flight to Berlin.

Boy, those two women are ballsy. Either that, or they are secretly filming a British sitcom with plenty of high-jinx and hilarity.

These days, airport security is an invasive process: No shoes, no metals, no liquids, no coats, etc. And it’s only getting worse. Attempting to sneak a dead person through is a really, really, bad idea. (Especially when you can just take a train instead.)