From Saturday night.  Found it on Facebook.

Blocking a highway is quite possibly the dumbest thing anyone protesting can do. I am not against the protests but blocking the highway has resulted in one of my classmates being forced to give birth in her car on Friday (the baby did not survive due to complications at birth) and 3 physicians not being able to get the ER on time, one of whom was a trauma surgeon. Are the protesters assuming responsibility for any lives put in unnecessary danger or those lost as a direct consequence of their actions? While I am not black, I have been on the receiving end of racist remarks and actions on more occasions than I care to count. Given the current climate, there's a very high likelihood of getting arrested at a protest if things get slightly out of hand. Blocking a street where traffic can at least be diverted one thing but blocking a highway is irresponsible regardless of how worthy the cause is. Lives have already been lost and more continue to be lost as a result of some very emotionally charged people acting irresponsibly. The right to peacefully protest is a constitutionally protected one but there is a time and more importantly a place for it. Highways are NOT it.

 

 

Sorry to hear of your troubles, Larry.  Here's to a quick (and cheap) resolution.  Having said that, I can not, for the life of me, understand why protesters want to block traffic, especially a freeway.  There are right ways and wrong ways to get people on your side.  If I was stuck on the freeway, I would be pissed.

 

While I will hold my thoughts on the Ferguson mess, the non-indictment in the Garner case is a goddamn travesty.  I know there are many good cops out there, but fuck, they could really use some better PR lately.

 

I told my daughter the same things, that blocking traffic could become dangerous for many reasons.  But they were arrested later on a city street with many alternate streets right around the street they were on.  I'd understand more if the arrests came while blocking the highway, but the police likely feared the huge numbers earlier in the evening.

 

I wasn't very supportive of her when this happened, and I'm trying to be better about it, but I initially berated her for her poor timing and risking her life and career, saying she could offer a lot more to the downtrodden after she graduates and gets through law school. Then I saw a video she took & it pissed me off, because the police acted just like the assholes I didn't think they were.

 

When the police put on all that riot gear for a peaceful protest, and act like nobody has rights and trample over people, they are asking for things to get violent.  The police chief was fed up and decided to get punitive, and when the last group of arrests were made at the new location they didn't ask them to disperse and warn them that failure to comply would result in arrests.  They didn't want the "fish to get away".  They corralled these young college students like cattle, refusing eye contact and negotiation, and threw them to the ground and cuffed them.  NONE of them expected what was coming till it happened.

 

The police chief was quoted as saying that they wouldn't get involved or make arrests unless the protesters started pushing into them, and yet it was the police that pushed into the protesters and grabbed them out of the crowd.  

 

And while this is happening I'm listening to the video and hearing my terrified daughter scream out in fear, "Where is the path out, where is the path out, I want to go home!" and then the video ended as the police took away her camera and pulled the battery.  

 

I cried.

Heavy stuff Larry. I really hope that it turns out OK for her.

I honestly don't know how heavy handed the justice system is with protesters.

Holy crap, sorry to hear she/they went through all this; hope it all comes out OK in the end.....

Sorry to hear about your daughter, HPA. Regardless of whether we all approve or disapprove of the protests I would try and be as supportive of her as possible. She seems like a smart girl who just ended up in to a bad situation. We all make choices that don't turn out the way we had planned. I wouldn't give her anything but support and well wishes to get through this.

 

Good luck to you and your family.

Yeezh.  I hope at least she didn't get pepper sprayed in the eyes.

Spent 5 hours swapping the fan in my laptop.  I could do it a lot quicker today.

Hate nights like that Stretch.  May you rest well later.

 

Indeed. May you rest in pea ..., er, I hope you feel better.

getting arrested while protesting is probably a good thing for a college student to do.  It's also a good thing to learn not to do again

Completed my first drive without killing myself.

 

Wow. This is a capable car. Never driven a car with turbo before so that is going to take a little getting used to.

 

Getting performance exhaust may not have been one of my brighter ideas. Its friggin' LOUD.

 

Pics:

 

That's hot!

**BRENT**

Very noice indeed!

Sexy ...

How was the PCH on the way to Stinson Beach? Windy, not very crowded = "let's see what this can do"? 

Edited December 8, 201411 yr by Grahame

How was the PCH on the way to Stinson Beach? Windy, not very crowded = "let's see what this can do"? 

 

Oh yeah. That was the plan. I had the road to myself 80% of the time until I caught up to a PG&E truck that didn't want to let me by.

 

I picked up the car in Sausalito and work in Larkspur so I had the road to Stinson and Sir Francis Drake penciled in as my "first drive" for months.

 

This car is so much more capable than anything I've driven before. My hands are literally sore from the death grip I had on the wheel.

How did you find the price / process with Cartelligent? Did you compare with CarsDirect? 

So Cartelligent really was hassle free. That is their selling point and they did a great job of taking care of the process. If you know what you want and don't want to deal with all the dealer crap then they are a great option.

 

They handled the trade in of my broken-down 2005 VW Passat and got me exactly what I would have expected for it.

 

Cartelligent only saved about a grand or so vs. MSRP on the new car, which was less of a discount than I expected. In their defense, there are basically no unsold WRXs on dealer lots in the US and most WRXs have to be custom ordered from Japan so the Subaru dealers they deal with probably aren't going to cut that great of deals on them. My guess is that if you are a tough negotiator you can probably beat their price with a little hard work.

 

They got me 2.90% on the car loan though. Hard to complain about that rate.

Edited December 9, 201411 yr by TMoney

Oh yeah. That was the plan. I had the road to myself 80% of the time until I caught up to a PG&E truck that didn't want to let me by.

 

I picked up the car in Sausalito and work in Larkspur so I had the road to Stinson and Sir Francis Drake penciled in as my "first drive" for months.

 

This car is so much more capable than anything I've driven before. My hands are literally sore from the death grip I had on the wheel.

 

Just wait until you replace the stock tires with something better next summer, like the sport tires that come on the STi, and you'll be even more amazed!  Might be a Bridgestone RE-01R. The grip is so much better that it makes it well worth having to mount different tires for the winter.

 

Your post makes me almost wish I'd gone for the WRX this summer, instead of the Forester XT Turbo; but my wife and kids thank me often for going for the one with more room.  The Forester XT has sport tuned suspension like the WRX, so all I need is some sport tires and an exhaust myself.  

 

For now I'm on Blizzak WS80 that break loose on warm days much too easily, but they've been great on the several days of snow that we've had.  It handles better on the snow and ice than my wife's Tribeca with new Yokahama Iceguard tires.

 

What brand exhaust did you buy, so I can avoid that kind if it's too loud?

Nice ride!

Just wait until you replace the stock tires with something better next summer, like the sport tires that come on the STi, and you'll be even more amazed!  Might be a Bridgestone RE-01R. The grip is so much better that it makes it well worth having to mount different tires for the winter.

 

Your post makes me almost wish I'd gone for the WRX this summer, instead of the Forester XT Turbo; but my wife and kids thank me often for going for the one with more room.  The Forester XT has sport tuned suspension like the WRX, so all I need is some sport tires and an exhaust myself.  

 

For now I'm on Blizzak WS80 that break loose on warm days much too easily, but they've been great on the several days of snow that we've had.  It handles better on the snow and ice than my wife's Tribeca with new Yokahama Iceguard tires.

 

What brand exhaust did you buy, so I can avoid that kind if it's too loud?

 

The WRX came with Dunlop summer performance tires. I'm not 100% sure if they are the same ones that are on the STI, but I'd bet they are awfully close. The long and short of it is with the AWD and the summer performance tires you will be howling in a corner long before the tires do  .

 

I live in the SF Bay Area, so winter tires aren't necessary. The worst we get down here is rain and light flooding. I do go up to Lake Tahoe in the Winter from time to time, but not enough to buy a second set of tires. The summers will be fine.

 

The Forester is the sensible choice. The turbo XT and the WRX have essentially the same engine from what I understand. You've got about 20 years on me (and a wife and kids!) so obviously our car priorities are a little different.

 

The exhaust I have is just the STI performance one Subaru offers as an option on the WRX and STI. I wanted it to be under warranty. I think I'll get used to it after a week or two, but its a makes a whole lot more noise than the 4-cyl Legacy I had rented while I was waiting for the WRX to show up.

Co-workers Amazon Echo arrived today, So we played around with it. Decent sound for what it is. Voice recognition was not too shabby. The developers appeared to have anticipated the "what are you wearing" question.

Learnt some cardiophysiology/pathology. It fucking rocks. The heart is freaking amazing. 

Exercised coworkers Amazon Echo with the following questions

 

* What do you think of Siri?

* What do you think of Google?

* What do you think of Apple?

* What do you think of the NSA?

* What do you think of Me?

 

Any other Questions you think I should try tomorrow?

What do you think of bacon?