Round and round they go

Roundabouts have been a fairly contriversial deal here in my home town for a while, so when I saw that Slate had an article on them, I thought it worth a look. And I couldn't resist, I had to put in my two cents. (from my comment, with typos fixed)

Couple things that you seem to have missed in
this article.

30% of accidents occur in intersections with signals just *might* have something to do with signals being used on the most busy intersections, right?

Emergency vehicles approaching a traffic signal use a strobe light to "trigger" a green light, making traffic all flow in the direction of the emergency vehicle. Approaching the same traffic circle, most of the traffic will have to "slow and flow" through before the ambulance can get through (and to your house, where minutes count).

Large emergency vehicles such as fire trucks and large delivery trucks have problems working their way through the intersection, in particular those useful bits of concrete that direct regular sized cars in the right direction. And while the large statue or landscaping feature in the center blocks vision, here comes a car around the circle and right into the back of the slow moving truck picking its way through the obstacle course. Europe uses a lot more smaller trucks, and has less of a problem.

A lot of these city officials have fallen in love with the idea of traffic circles, despite the downsides, simply because of the construction/upkeep costs (lights take power, and maintenance). The main problem is that with circles, *everybody* get inconvenienced. And a lot of us just don't like that, and much prefer a light that is smart enough to see us coming and change, so we can just drive, instead of having to slalom our way down the street.

Define Schadenfreudemocrat

Schadenfreudemocrat: The feeling you get when watching a Democrat on TV self-destruct. A feeling much like seeing your mother-in-law drive off a cliff in your brand new uninsured car.

History: Originally came up with when looking at Nancy Pelosi's problems explaining just how profitable companies should not be flying corporate jets, while she took a 757 Gulfstream III C-20B back and forth to California every time Congress took a break.


Examples to follow as I find them. (and corrections made)

As Obamas popularity plummets

Read Tigerhawk's article on how the declining popularity of Obama is causing him to attempt to distract the public with talk about War Crimes Trials for the Bush Administration. Strange how those Third World despots seem to haul out the concept of "trials" for their former rulers whenever their own regimes become shaky.

My vote for best quote in the comments by JPMcT "Do you sometimes feel that Washington regards us like kittens...and hauls out the squeaky toys everytime we need to have our attention diverted?"

Sara Palin resigns-We wish her well

Looks like Sara Palin will be resigning the Governorship of Alaska near the end of this month. (Roundup over at Instapundit)

In hindsight, it becomes fairly easy to see why she's resigning now. She's has been having to expend personal funds to defend against the trivial lawsuit-a-day haranguing from the Dems in the Alaska legislature. Since she's the Governor, she can't accept the kinds of speaking fees or engagements that would be necessary to break even, and still maintain her position. If she is to help the Republicans defeat the Dems in the next election without her going personally bankrupt and spending all her free time in an airplane based commute, she about has to resign. (expect a book and a speaking tour shortly)

At this point in time, the Republican party needs a Palin much more than it needs a McCain, or another ancient white-haired Rino stepping to the plate, talking about how to “coexist”, how they managed to “compromise” on only 900 billion dollars of new spending instead of 935. Go Sarah Go!

My only concern (and it is a fairly small one), is the number of Palin Delusion Syndrome sufferers who will be driven into Sulliven-eske fits of frothing while trying to find some horrible super-secret ulterior conspiracy theory motive for the resignation, such as a secret agreement to sell Alaska back to Putin, or a trans-American highway from Mexico to Fairbanks designed to carry Chinese immigrants to the secret Alaskan diamond mines or some foolish twaddle like that. Then again, it will be entertaining. (Cross-posted on Tigerhawk)