Friday, February 26, 2010

Overheard on BART

Kid: is my daddy going to be there?

Mom: no, he's in Oklahoma

Kid: how long does it take him to get to gramma's?

Mom: about 3 days

Kid: do we pass Oklahoma?

Mom: no, Oklahoma is another state.

Kid: a state like mexico?

Mom: Mexico is a country.

Kid: what is a state?

Mom: ummm so on the piece of land that is the United States, there are
a bunch of different parts that are called states and there are 52 and
all 52 have different names

Kid: when is he going to come?

Mom: well when you get out of jail, you don't just get to go to
another state.

Kid: why?

Mom: cuz you have to be on um what's it called? Ummm. It's like being
grounded.

Kid: how about if we send him a cell phone?

Mom: well our phones won't work there because it's different satelites.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Improper Search?

A friend of mine, along with all the rest of the people waiting to board this morning's ferry, got searched by a Coast Guard dog. He complained a little bit, but no one else did. Then he sent an email to me and some other friends.

One of his friends commented that he'd rather put up with the inconvenience than read about it in the paper later, or, worse, have to be fished out of 40 degree bay water.

I couldn't resist answering with a little classic Ben Franklin:

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Wait. Really?

As I was walking into BART today, I noticed a bike that was at a very
odd angle on the rack to which it was locked. And had a wooden pole
(evidently the support appropriated from a near by tree) sticking
through it. Closer inspection revealed the pole was stuck through a
standard intact, if badly twisted, Kryptonite U lock.

Someone tried to steal an old low end Trek commuter bike by breaking
it's Kryptonite lock with a very long (at least 6ft) lever. And failed.

AND broke the rear wheel off the fork, for that matter.