For my friends Steve and Dorotha -- and any of my other friends who are in the DC area -- I pass along Megan McArdle's observations on the current weather conditions in Washington D.C.
"Apparently, if you buy an SUV in the Greater Washington DC area, this gives you license to drive much faster than the rest of traffic on a road that only has one open lane."
Based on what we observed while restocking supplies yesterday, it also gives you an exemption from the rules about clearing piled snow off the roof before going on the road.
"Apparently, if you buy an SUV in the Greater Washington DC area, this gives you license to drive much faster than the rest of traffic on a road that only has one open lane."
Same rule seems to apply here in Chicago too. Far too many people do not understand that 4WD does NOT mean the laws of physics no longer apply to you. (It usually means you'll wind up buried further in the snow bank or farther out in the field because you'll be going much faster.)
I am truly astonished at the degree of wank that her otherwise accurate (I grew up there -- DC really -IS- that bad at snow, it comes from having 2 states and a colony all adjacent to one another and Congress having veto power over DC's budget) and witty post has generated.
Really, people, I know it's snowing, but if you're that bored, why not do something productive like try to enforce world peace?
Yeah - me too - it was amazing and degenerated at the speed of light. I am also entertained because you could take out almost all of the location specific data and replace them with UK ones (eg London and Sainsbury's over DC and Safeway) and have exactly the same article posted over here (though it probably could be done on less than 2 feet of snow, as witnessed last month). More of the fresh produce might have been bought here though....
Absolute wimps! A little snow, and the whole city falls apart. Yeesh. (Hey, where I went to school, when the weatherman said "flurries", that meant at least 8 inches. It was not all that uncommon to get 24 inches overnight. The only place I have ever seen that had bike racks on campus in the summer, and racks for cross-country skis in the winter.)
4WDs -do- handle better even though they don't -stop- any quicker. That being said, they don't handle -infinitely- better.
Some places just don't get it about snow. I remember the Weather Channel (Atlanta, remember?) talking about heavy snow somewhere else in the South. Visibility was down to 1/4 mile! That really -is- flurries.
Based on what we observed while restocking supplies yesterday, it also gives you an exemption from the rules about clearing piled snow off the roof before going on the road.
Same rule seems to apply here in Chicago too. Far too many people do not understand that 4WD does NOT mean the laws of physics no longer apply to you. (It usually means you'll wind up buried further in the snow bank or farther out in the field because you'll be going much faster.)
Really, people, I know it's snowing, but if you're that bored, why not do something productive like try to enforce world peace?
Some places just don't get it about snow. I remember the Weather Channel (Atlanta, remember?) talking about heavy snow somewhere else in the South. Visibility was down to 1/4 mile! That really -is- flurries.