Evidence that gas prices have gotten out of hand: two shot in bicycle drive by.

I posted a link to a lower quality version of this picture last week, but The Big Picture published a fuller series of the amazing anti-terror drills, including this fantastic picture. Get ‘em, boys!

The mistake attorneys and judges say is the most common among those who choose to represent themselves in traffic court? Admitting guilt.

Beep beep beep beep beep beeeep beeeep beeeep beeeeeep beeeeeep beeeeeeep beeeeeeeeeep.

I test drove the 2008 Mazda 3 and liked it, but have not yet purchased a car due to several disappointments with dishonest car salesman. Anyway, Mazda has been slow in releasing their 2009 line, so I’ve kept my eyes open for information about any updates. Here’s an image purporting to be the design of the new model:

Image via the Motor Report and Vince Burlapp Car Page.

The bizarre local economy created by the Chinatown bus. Via Neatorama.

Click to big-ify

What kind of car was actually parked there? Not a Ferrari.

Narita Airport’s “Fun Contents” aren’t all that fun, though I would be interested in seeing Sakura no Yama Park’s 5,300 shrubs.

These are on in DC all the time; I don’t think Eastern Motors services the higher end of the market.

Jerry Seinfeld on dramatic, roll-over car crashes:

The comedian took the crash in snide.

“Because I know there are kids out there, I want to make sure they all know that driving without braking is not something I recommend, unless you have professional clown training or a comedy background, as I do.”

jbg wants to buy the CatBus:

I HAVE A 1995 MO’ VAN THAT GOT TRANSFORMED INTO THIS CATBUS. I BROUGHT IT TO A SHOPS AND I WAS LIKE HEY, CAN YOU TURN THIS INTO A CATBUS? SO THEY DID. THEN THAT DAY I DROVE IT HOME. THE CAT BUS ONLY HAS 50K, WHICH ARE ALL HIGHWAY MILES AS I DROVE IT TO WORK 2 DAYS A WEEK AND THAT WAS IT. IT’S IN REALLY GOOD SHAPE AND ALL THE FUR IS STILL ALL THERE. THE STEERING WHEEL HAS A CAT ON IT. IM ONLY ASKING 2900 FOR THE CATBUS BECAUSE ITS REALLY FURRY AND SOMETIMES PEOPLE GET SICK ON IT.

But it’s the picture that’s really going to sell this car:

Here’s another view.

In the near future, I’m going to need to buy a car.

Today I sat in, and rejected, the Honda Fit and the Toyota Yaris (too small). I test drove the Honda Civic and the Honda Accord, the Toyota Corolla and the Toyota Camry, and two variants of the Mazda 3. I met two out of three managers, one of whom offered me a deal that was only good for 24 hours (act fast!). I gave all of them fake phone numbers, but stupidly gave one of them a real address (what was I thinking?).

In terms of a general sitting-in-a-car-and-driving-it-around-for-a-few-blocks, I liked the Mazda 3 the best. It was the best looking, and best feeling of the lot. Anyone have any opinions on Mazdas, or really cars in general? I’m an advice taking machine right now.

I’m soon to be in the market for a new car and was interested in signing up for Consumer Reports in order to do a little research. When I attempted to sign up online I was unimpressed by their ironically un-consumer-friendly online subscription models — they’re all auto-renew:

Mandatory auto renew is a crock and certainly does not aid me as a consumer, it just gives me a chance to forget that I’ve signed up for a product that I definitely only want for one time period. I just find it ironic that Consumer Reports would take such an anti-consumer friendly position considering their general pro-consumer stance.  This is a slimy, pro-business anti-consumer move and they should be shamed for it.

I guess I’ll just get the car issue off the newsstand, ebay, or preferably from my local library.

I took this picture a few days ago of a sign inside a subway car on Boston’s Green Line:

If you see smoke or suspect a fire, please SPARK IT UP!

If a passenger is in distress, please FINISH HIM!

From the always interesting D.B. Cooper story:

While the plane was being refueled, a FAA official, who wanted to explain to the hijacker the legal consequences of air piracy, walked to the door of the plane and asked Cooper’s permission to come aboard the plane. Cooper promptly denied the official’s request.

Who was this guy? As if D.B. Cooper, the hijacker, needed to know the specific details of the air piracy laws at that point. “Oh, yeah, you say it’s AGAINST the law? Man, I totally misinterpreted that. Let me just get off this plane right now.”

From the creative geniuses behind Train Railways and Automobile Taxi Service, comes the new standard for air travel branding: Jet Airways.  When you want to fly on a jet airplane, choose Jet Airways.

I’ve wrested control from the robots and am once again running RumorsDaily by hand. As a welcome back gift I present the following problem:

What is the longest possible direct flight between two major airports in which there is no change of time zone?

I have not researched this question and have no answer. Some sort of Canada-Chile adventure? Norway-South Africa? Russia-New Zealand?

Discovering which flight is the winner and then taking it would be rather remarkable, don’t you think?

The Ron Paul blimp actually raised enough money to get off the ground (hyuck, hyuck). They’ll be flying over Washington, D.C. on December 10th at 3pm. I’m there.

After my previous Virgin American lovefest, it seems sensible to point out that Virgin America makes great ads. Below is Virgin America’s Virgin Americans series of ads which have a subtle Sealab 2021 vibe about them (especially “Plugs”). Also of note is “Game” which features a series of all-star blogger cameos including Digg’s Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht, BoingBoing’s Cory Doctrow, Xeni Jardin, Mark Frauenfelder, and Engadget’s Peter Rojas.

Plugs:

Game:

Read more »

I have to give this driver credit for being bold:

Seriously, Kee (Key) Me? The amazing part is that nobody had yet keyed the car. I was tempted to do it on general principle.

I recently flew Virgin America between DC and Los Angeles and was very, very pleased with the service. In addition to all the well-touted and well-reviewed features, they paid a lot of attention to smaller details that can make a trip more enjoyable. The most impressive of these smaller details was the amount of care devoted to the safety placards and the safety video.

First the video. Tell me if you’ve ever watched a safety video as enjoyable (and non-condescending) as this one:

Now the safety placards. They, like the video, communicate the same safety information you’ve seen a thousand times, but Virgin America has gone through the trouble of updating the imagery so it doesn’t look like the hypothetical disaster is affecting passengers in some strange 1970s universe.

Here’s the entire Virgin America safety card:

Click to big-ify

Check out the attire on the passengers. And the facial hair. I’ve pinpointed a few examples of what I’m talking about:

Click to big-ify

Attention to minor details isn’t going to convert a bad customer interaction to a good one, but it indicates that someone, somewhere is actually thinking about the customer and trying to make every aspect of his/her experience a better one. That bodes well for everything else. Good job!