click it OR STICK IT

I am so angered by all of the money and resources wasted on this Click It or Ticket business.

A) I agree that minors should be legally required to wear seat belts and that the state can legitimately seek to enforce the safety of those who are not of legal age to decide for themselves, and who may or may not have adequate legal guardians.

B) I am an adult. How I decide to sit in my own car, so long as I am not harming or potentially harming another, is my business only. The state needs to leave my body alone.

C) WE ARE IN A FISCAL CRISIS. Why in the world are national and local funds spending money to advertise this junk, especially when the target group is males from age 18-34?

THESE ARE NOT EVEN MINORS. If the ad campaign sought to crack down on the deaths of small children, perhaps I could muster up some understanding.

suburb designed for life without cars

The New York Times reports on an up-scale German suburb built for a life without cars:

Street parking, driveways and home garages are generally forbidden in this experimental new district on the outskirts of Freiburg, near the Swiss border. Vauban’s streets are completely “car-free” — except the main thoroughfare, where the tram to downtown Freiburg runs, and a few streets on one edge of the community. Car ownership is allowed, but there are only two places to park — large garages at the edge of the development, where a car-owner buys a space, for $40,000, along with a home.

As a result, 70 percent of Vauban’s families do not own cars, and 57 percent sold a car to move here. “When I had a car I was always tense. I’m much happier this way,” said Heidrun Walter, a media trainer and mother of two, as she walked verdant streets where the swish of bicycles and the chatter of wandering children drown out the occasional distant motor.

Vauban, completed in 2006, is an example of a growing trend in Europe, the United States and elsewhere to separate suburban life from auto use, as a component of a movement called “smart planning.”

the politics of seat sizes on airplanes

I do not know how to resolve the issue of seat sizes on airplanes and varying body sizes. As it stands, individuals who do not fit in an airplane seat are put on another flight with two empty seats next to one another. Proposals of a "fat tax" are alarming weight acceptance activists.

Somehow, someway, this issue needs to be adequately addressed in ways that avoid humiliation. Last year, United received 700 complaints about "seat infringement." Check out the full article and tell me how you would resolve this issue.

ILVTOFU

The Colorado DMV rejected the personalized plate request of "ILVTOFU" (I love tofu) as it could be seen as "I love to f you."

Haha. But that does suck. Veg-friendly plates (no pun intended) are awesome.

Full article