I was reminded today...

why it is, I will almost never yield the right-of-way to a taxi.

I was driving down Mission Street during rush hour.  Traffic was not awful, but it was not light either.  I was stopped at a traffic light.  The cross street was a two way street, I think it was 4th but it could have been 5th or 3rd.  It was a block from the Metreon.

A taxi was approaching in the right lane, and as the car in front of me was not tailgating, he managed to wedge his nose into the space between him and the car in front of him.  When the light changed and the lead car entered the intersection, the taxi finished pulling into the lane and promptly signaled for a left turn.

Of course, nobody else made the light.  This is Mission Street at rush hour, the taxi was not going to be able to make the turn until the light changed.  I knew it, the driver in front of me knew it, the taxi driver knew it. 

So he knew before he did that he was not going to make his turn any faster, but he would block anyone else from making the light.  There was nobody behind me when he got there, he could have easily pulled in there.  But that did not give him the opportunity to be an asshole.

What can we do about it, other than encourage everyone to tailgate?  How about this.

If you are in a taxi, and the driver does something like that, something rude and completely unnecessary.  Don't give him a tip.  And then, when you pay him, tell him why you didn't give him a tip.

A long time ago, I read a quote from Larry Ellison.  I do not know if it was a real quote, or something made up by someone who didn't like him.  The quote was, "It is not enough to win, somebody has to lose".  But my point is that there are enough people with that attitude, that taxi drivers will still get tips from people who think being an asshole is manly.  So maybe it will not change anything.

But wouldn't it feel great?
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The other shoe

So now we know that the target was not only terrorism.  It may have started that way in the minds of some., but that NSA data is finding it's way into other hands.

The DEA and the IRS are getting this stuff.  Does anyone care to wager that this is not the last recipient that we will find out about.

To paint a broad brush that everyone is a potential terrorist, and therefore all of their electronic communications are fair game, but only for 'national security' of course, was already a stretch.  But of course it was never going to stop there.

And of course it will not stop with the DEA and the IRS either.  We are all suspects now, and for the moment it is about whether or not we may be committing a crime.  The more people get there hand on this information, it will be used for more and different purposes.

Just the way San Diego Mayor Bob Filner used information he gained as a member of congress to target women who had been victims of sexual harassment and rape, to help select his own targets, so you will find others with access to the NSA data using it for their own purposes.

Got any secrets?  Not anymore!
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