California wants to change federal law to allow states to determine HOV lane traffic. Contrary to how the EPA tests (and therefore how the dealers advertize), here are some average real life numbers for a few of the new gasoline-electric hybrid cars:

• 40 mpg for the Honda Civic Hybrid

• Mid-40s mpg for the Prius

• 50 mpg for the Honda Insight

Hmm. I drive a 4-cylinder diesel car. I get mileage like that. Why won’t I be able to drive in the HOV lane? Especially if my emissions are clean from running on biodiesel. Isn’t the whole point of this legislative change to encourage buying fuel-efficient vehicles? It’s only a mater of time, once this passes, that a TDI owner gets ticketed driving alongside these gas-electric hybrids and takes the matter to court, fighting the hybrid-biased legislation on the basis it’s unfairly biased or something like that.

“embargo” spelled backwards

OLD TIMER
I haven’t seen anything suck so bad
since the Hoover adminstration.

YOUNG MAN
Really, and what was that?

OLD TIMER
The Hoover adminstration.

Dear neighbor in apartment 33,

Please turn up your music! I love those loud, wall-shaking, hip-hop beats, especially at 12 am when I have class the next morning. But as it stands now, I can’t make out the words. It’s just a nondescript thudding sound, unless I’m sitting in my favorite chair next to the wall where I can sometimes make out those wonderful and witty lyrics. So please, turn it up. Wake me up from my boring slumber and don’t think about the welfare of your neighbor. That’s okay. When you hear that thump-thump-thumping noise at 12 am but it doesn’t go with the beat, that’s me at the door. Oh, I’m not angry at all. I’m coming over to politely ask you to turn it up even more, so all of our responsible and studious graduate student neighbors can share in the wonders of your stereo system. Turn it up because the walls are too thick and too well insulated to transmit any kind of sound. And while you’re at it, leave it on even longer. Four hours per day is certainly not enough of your diverse musical tastes.

There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don’t.

Life’s too short to worry about everything. In fact, it might just be too short to worry about anything.

I’m posting my thoughts on Ray right now, before it leaves my memory. I will be honest; Taylor Hackford is a cool guy. He knows what he’s doing and he’s a good director. But I just saw Ray at the Beverly Center (avoid this theater—more on that later) and it blew, big time.

Joined by intrepid if slightly lackadaisical cinematography duo Cindy F. and Chuck D., we proceeded into the theater at the very top of the Beverly Center complex. It is large and seems underutilized, but it was a Wednesday night, so I’ll give them some slack. And slack it was, the sound system rates a D- on Phil’s Phonic Quality Rating System (PQRS) and the projector had some major registration issues. The film jumped and jittered vertically (no, that’s not a dance move) which made me feel as if I were starting to go blind. Perhaps the creators intended it this way, to make it a more visceral experience and help us identify with Jamie Foxx? (Who, by the way, was brilliant in this film and its saving grace.) I’m afraid not. All it did was give me a headache and made me want to run out of the theater and complain to management. As a matter of fact, a half hour after the movie should have ended, Cindy did just that, but alas, alack, to no avail.