OKAY.
Let's review. If you get hit by a train, it is your fault.
We can assume that the train did not swerve to hit you.
We can assume that it's obvious to, oh, pretty much everyone else, that a train is coming.
We can assume that, especially as a full-grown-adult, you are responsible for knowing that getting hit by a train will *hurt*

SAN FRANCISCO - Nine siblings and step-siblings of a man killed by a commuter train are suing the operator of the commuter rail service for alleged negligence in a wrongful death case, according to documents filed in federal court.

Jorge Guillermo Avila, 58, was running alongside the southbound Caltrain arriving at the San Bruno station when he was struck on July 24, 2005. Avila was rushed to San Francisco General Hospital, where he died. Investigators have ruled the San Francisco man's death an accident.

Avila's siblings and step-siblings are seeking $47,079 for medical expenses and $12,319 to cover burial and funeral costs in addition to unspecified damages for loss of love, companionship and solace, according to the lawsuit.

...

The siblings argue that passenger walkways at the San Bruno station were dangerous and defective and allowed pedestrians to walk too close to approaching trains. According to court documents, Avila died due to the negligence of the Caltrain operator, including failure to provide adequate warning signs.

Seriously, WTF, people?

Bernanke, you have failed!

"It is not the responsibility of the Federal Reserve -- nor would it be appropriate -- to protect lenders and investors from the consequences of their financial decisions,"

That was what Bernanke said on August 31st of this year.

Today is the day the Fed sent a notice to specuvestors that it's OK to abuse credit and housing bubbles.

A jubilant Wall Street barreled higher Wednesday after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate a larger-than-expected half a percentage point. The Dow Jones industrial average was up more than 200 points shortly after the Fed announced its move.

Although some investors hoped for a large rate cut, most were betting on a smaller quarter percentage cut in the federal funds rate. The Fed responded to the spreading impact of credit market problems on the rest of the economy, saying, "the tightening of credit conditions has the potential to intensify the housing (market) correction and to restrain economic growth more generally."

The Fed cut the benchmark rate to 4.75 percent after keeping it unchanged for more than a year.

Of course, even Greenspan is admitting that the problem was caused by keeping rates too low, too long. so why drop now? Easy!

"Privatize Profits, Socialize Losses"

On the upside, were all these speculators offering to share their funny money with me? I don't remember it. Now? they want government bailouts, they want the FHA to insure worse loans (and by "FHA" they mean me) they want lower interest rates (which? historically are already way low), they want HELP! Help with their foreclosures. Why? Propping up inflated asset prices is only hurting the economy and American families.

Is it good for America that young families can no longer afford to live somewhere without working several jobs? Is it good for America that our workforce is completely tied down by overpriced houses, unable to relocate to respond to changes in the workforce or their lives, too busy working to improve their skills, too worried about their mortgages to take on new careers or entrepreneurship? Is it so great that people in the Bay Area can't have children because they can't afford the home they are in, let alone a larger one? WHY does everyone think that housing prices going up is such a great thing? a 20% increase in your house price? HOLY CRAP! 20% inflation ought to be alarming, not pleasing!


So? If I lose $1000 in Las Vegas, will you bail me out too?
Because, really? If you do? I'm just going to keep going back to Vegas.

Moral hazard in finance

Financial bail-outs of lending institutions by governments, central banks or other institutions can encourage risky lending in the future, if those that take the risks come to believe that they will not have to carry the full burden of losses. Lending institutions need to take risks by making loans, and usually the most risky loans have the potential for making the highest return. A moral hazard arises if lending institutions believe that they can make risky loans that will pay handsomely if the investment turns out well but they will not have to fully pay for losses if the investment turns out badly. Taxpayers, depositors, other creditors have often had to shoulder at least part of the burden of risky financial decisions made by lending institutions.

If I win, I keep the money! If I lose, ummmm, someone else softens the financial blow, so I sort of win. I like those odds!

Unamerican!

If only I could get a loan to buy more tulips

The Fed is leaving rates where they are today!

Am I worried about the credit crunch and recession? Yes.
Do I recognize that sometimes we have to take our medicine even though it's unpleasant? yes.
Do I feel bad for all the speculators ("homeowners") who will be stretched to or past their limits? Not really.

Rates were too low, too long. We put off reality for a long time with easy funny money. But now it's time to take the medicine. There has been a lot of bad news in the mortgage sector this past week, and credit is tightening everywhere. It may be painful, but it's far past time for this.

Fasten your seatbelts! Tulips do NOT always go up.

Caltrain wins, always.

I am just glad I did not take Caltrain yesterday and get stuck waiting for this dumb broad to get scraped off the train.

Hello? Train tracks? They have TRAINS on them! "How did this happen to me!?!?!?"

do it for the monkeys!

This boggles my little mind.

14:39 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Monkeys waving white flags joined protesters outside the district office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco today to speak out against the Democratic leader's support for measures that organizers say undercuts the mission of the troops in Iraq.

Now, I thought that monkeys were illegal in California. I could be wrong. I know helper monkeys are illegal here, but perhaps protesting monkeys are not. When I read the article, I assumed they meant "dumbasses dressed as monkeys," but, no, these appear to be actual monkeys (dressed as dumbasses, but I don't think they chose their outfits)

So you have a monkey. And that monkey is protesting. I wonder how many monkeys they polled to find two who supported the war effort. I have to think most of them were like "No time for that. Can't talk now. Flinging poo." Not Jake and April. They jumped at the chance to exercise their First Amendment rights! Yay two party monkey system?

(I can't be the only one who thinks it's funny that these people chose the animal that is so often used in cartoons to mimic Dubya's facial features)

April looks very stylish in her beret, but she should learn to sit like a lady, not some wild west liberal hussy.

My sarcasm meter is broken

I can't tell if this is supposed to be a joke.

"You would think that members of Congress would have considered the warming effect that an extra hour of daylight would have on our climate. Or did they?"

It hurts me!

(from Boingboing!)

If you are this stupid, no one can help you.

A person on a motorcycle was killed this afternoon after colliding with an Amtrak train three miles east of the Richmond Amtrak station, an Amtrak spokeswoman reported today.

Let me guess, the train made a left turn in front of you?
"but officer, it came out of nowhere!"

The Renters are Coming! Hide Yer Wimmins!

More stupid people!

The couple bought in 2002, as the boom was beginning. At its peak, the house was worth more than three times what they paid for it. But they refinanced and took cash out to do upgrades on the house, and then they refinanced again because — well, Quinlan isn't sure why.

She's learned this about lenders and loan agents: "They make it look like they are trying to do all this for you, but the reality is that it was mainly for them. They got their chunks out of you, and then they put you out to the wolves."

now I understand why we should bail these "homeowners" out-- how were they to know that nice loan shark was out to make money off of them? He seemed like such a nice guy! You mean he wasn't really just cold-calling because he cared about my self interests?!?! You mean *I* was supposed to read those forms, that, um, well, *I* signed?!?!

Wait, this gets better:

At the top of his street, next to the charred shell of a house that mysteriously burned a few months ago, is a house for sale. The house immediately next door is on the market too. A few doors away from De Leon's home in the other direction is a third house looking for a buyer. Some owners are trying to rent their places out, advertising with little signs on the front lawn.

De Leon fears what will become of his neighborhood if it becomes dominated by renters.

"You get people who don't care about the neighborhood and don't take pride in it," he says.

He's hardly alone in that view.

"If people start to rent, that's when you start to worry," says De Leon's next-door neighbor, Jose Serrano.

Serrano, 34, grew up in Long Beach. He saw friends die in Long Beach. He still commutes there every day to work on the docks for Toyota Motor Corp. It's an hour in the morning and two hours coming home, a grind he suffers for the sake of his three young kids.

Oh, so the following people are good for the neighborhood:

• People who commit mortgage fraud (Not enough income? Just "State" it!3)
• Gamblers (I'll take out the most loan I can't really even afford, since this house will triple in value in two years!)
• People so totally irresponsible that they lose hundreds of thousands of dollars of equity
• People who "mysteriously" burn their house down
• People who forsake time with their kids for the ability to "own" their homes. (3 hours/day is 750 hours/year! 31 days you could have spent some other way?)
• People who don't repay debts ("you are in default")
  
• People who rent money from the bank to "own" homes.

The following people are BAD for the neighborhood:

• People who rent houses from people

Keep an eye out for those bastards. Once they start moving in... there goes the neighborhood!

No. Just NO.

U.S. homeowners with subprime mortgages struggling under payments need federal government help to ease them through the crisis, a leading consumer advocacy group said on Wednesday.

EXCUSE ME?!?!?!
So people who saw nothing but greed and financial irresponsibility now are in line for BAILOUTS?

The group, which represents hundreds of low-income housing advocates across the country, said Congress should immediately step in to aid subprime borrowers.

Wait a minute. Two years ago, when these same people stretched themselves out, took out irresponsible loans, and said "housing only goes up," they were not looking to share their profits with the rest of us. Why in the hell are they entitled to shove their losses on us then?

Oh, yeah, it's called "privatize profits, socialize losses."

As I understand it, these same greedy "housing always goes up, I'm making tons of money doing nothing by buying a house" (and by "buying," they really mean "renting money from the bank to live here") are now crying about the downside of their risks? And the gubmint is supposed to bail them out? So WE should pay for their poor gambling mistake? Let me see... so it follows, that if it had gone the other way, and they had made money, they would have happily given that money to the rest of us, right? I mean, they wouldn't ask for us to pay their downside, if they weren't willing to give away their profits too, right?

I will be absolutely outraged if we have to pay for these idiots, and thereby prop up home prices to keep financially responsible people out, by subsidizing the gamblers. I'm offended that it's even up for discussion.

You gamble, you lose, you pay.

Home ownership is something you save for, and do responsibly. In the past few years, it has turned into an "investment" vehicle for the masses who were unwiling to consider the long-term reality and fundamentals. Guess what? "Investments" sometimes go up, and sometimes go down. Don't play if you aren't willing to pay. Now it's time to pay.

Bailing these idiots out punishes the financially responsible, by wasting their taxes and artificially propping up home prices instead of letting them fall to levels in line with fundamentals.

Ugh.

But, but! Tulips ALWAYS go up!

And because I've been telling people about this, and often they just don't seem to believe me, yes. There was a Dutch tulip bubble.

http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_17/b3678084.htm

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=469

Oh, I know, "It's different this time." It's always different this time.

Sleeping Dragon, Indeed!

Interesting NY Times article about the Chinese stock market, "slot machine," as they apparently call it:

“I don’t know how to choose a stock,” says a 61-year-old retiree who gave her name as Miss Hou at a local brokerage house a few weeks ago. “But I trust those technology companies. Maybe the names of some companies sound lucky to me, so I choose to buy these stocks.”

oh, my. This is worse than I thought. Maybe they are as stupid as we are?

oh, my.

In looking at my sitemeter, I often find it interesting to see how random people found their way to my blog.
Last Friday, someone in Canada ran a google search on "how to firebomb someone apartment" which led them, apparently, to my post about my neighbor. Oh, my.

Well, sir or ma'am, in case you search again, please note that I do not recommend you do this. As noted if you read the entire article, they did catch the guy.

Credit whores

Hello Houston, we have a problem:

2006 Personal Savings Drop to 74-Yr. Low

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the savings rate for all of 2006 was a negative 1 percent, meaning that not only did people spend all the money they earned but they also dipped into savings or increased borrowing to finance purchases. The 2006 figure was lower than a negative 0.4 percent in 2005 and was the poorest showing since a negative 1.5 percent savings rate in 1933 during the Great Depression.

OK, this really bothers me. What the fuck are you people buying? What could be so important? Big screen TVs? Hermes handbags? The new iPod? Cable TV? All of this crap is more important to you than, oh personal and national security, retirement, responsibility?

Economists have put forward various reasons to explain the current lack of savings. These range from a feeling on the part of some people that they do not need to save because of the run-up in their investments such as homes and stock portfolios to an effort by many middle-class wage earners to maintain their current lifestyles even though their wage gains have been depressed by the effects of global competition.

Oh, I get it, you don't need to save, because your house is "worth" 5x what you paid for it (with your stated income, option-ARM loan, but details, schmetails!)

My savings rate is well, well into double digits, more than a little. OK, so my salary is low, so maybe a normal Bay Area salary would only have to save a few percent to keep up with me.

I don't have cable TV. I find the idea that I should PAY to watch TV, utterly ridiculous. TV is a waste of time anyway-- I will not pay for that. Hey, when I was a kid, cable TV didn't have commercials-- that's why you paid for it. Now? Um? Why should I pay to watch this crap? My television is the size of a large toaster, and it was given to me about ten years ago since I didn't have one at all. Again, why have a larger one? I don't want TV to be the focal point of my life, so why should it be the focal point of my living room?

I live in a place that's small and won't move until I can do so responsibly. Everyone who bought into "housing can only go up" is in for a rude awakening if they bought with an irresponsible financial plan. "I'll just pay interest-only and sell it in two years for a profit" is not a financial plan. It's called speculation, and you will get burned. Median incomes haven't gone up much, what makes you think there will be a greater fool to buy your overpriced specu-home? I mean, I'll be happy to buy it from the bank, later.

I rarely have the latest thing. I finally bought my bottom-of-the-line iBook (with a student discount) after like 8 years with the old Mac. That's a dinosaur, considering I do use it for graphics and all. I will ride my motorcycles into the ground and then buy again and repeat. I can't tell you how many times I've been in a conversation with some dingus that is trying to keep the miles off of their zooty new bike so the value doesn't go down. Hey, dumbass, how about buying a bike you like, that you will ride for a while, instead of trying to turn it over and buy the latest one every year? Bikes don't retain much value anyway. STUPID.

I have a credit card, which I use frequently. Most people would tell you to look for a low rate card, but I could give a shit. Who cares what the rate is when you pay it off every month? Paying interest on crap you bought is stupid. You should only pay interest on important purchases (education, a solid home purchase, maybe a car), not clothes you've already gotten tired of and gadgets that are already broken and outdated by the time the bill comes. Anyone paying the minimum due on a credit card is an idiot. You are making some rich guy richer, at a great detriment to yourself. Congratulations. Enjoy the big-screen TV. Remember how you got such a screaming deal on it before Christmas? Guess what, you're going to pay three times that amount in interest. Yay.


Why this upsets me is that our central bank and other guv'mint institutions are, I have little doubt, going to try to bail your sorry asses out come judgement day. Did you lie on your mortgage form about your income and sign up for a loan you didn't bother to understand? Oh, POOR YOU! Did you use this funny money to drive up home prices to the point where responsible people couldn't buy homes? Did you use that extra "equity" to buy an SUV or a trip to Maui? BOO FUCKING HOO. Are you now complaining about gas prices? Get a bicycle! Live responsibly for once, buy what you can afford. No, buy LESS than you can afford. If you feel that savings bothers you, give the extra to charity. Please for the love of god, sock it away for your retirement, cuz I do not want to pay for your sorry, freeloading ass.

Whatever the reason for the low savings, economists warn that it the phenomenon exists at a particularly bad time with 78 million baby boomers approaching retirement age. Instead of building up savings to use during retirement, baby boomers are continuing to spend all their earnings.

Boomers are only a few years from retirement. What the hell are they thinking? Instead of healthcare and security in their golden years, they would like to have some crap from Chinamart? A Precious Moments figurine collection, a surround-sound stereo, a breadmaker machine, a BMW... oh, and: Why on earth are kids this age even driving BMWs and Lexuses?

(01-30) 10:30 PST PETALUMA -- A 24-year-old Petaluma man is in the hospital with major injuries after a fight Monday afternoon involving two couples, a car chase, a baseball bat and, finally, a car crash.

The incident began shortly before 4 p.m., when two Petaluma women, a 17-year-old and a 22-year-old, got into a physical fight on the 400 block of Ely Boulevard South, Petaluma police Sgt. Matthew Stapleton said. Police are not naming the women.

The 22-year-old left the scene of the fight in a BMW sedan, closely followed by the 17-year-old, who was driving a Lexus sedan.

What is wrong with you people? Spending money does not make you cool. Keeping up with the Joneses just means you are constantly one step behind them anyway. Did you ever stop to think maybe the Joneses have more money than you? Or perhaps that they are also destroying their own lives with credit abuse? Hope you and the Joneses repay your debt all the way to the poorhouse together.

PUT THE CREDIT CARDS DOWN, PEOPLE! YOUR HOUSE IS NOT AN INVESTMENT. A FLASHY CAR IS NOT WORTH YOUR RETIREMENT FUND.

And get the hell off my lawn.

#5437290

Dear Cager,
There are two reasons you should be in the left lane:
1.) You are passing that guy, right there.
2.) You are an asshole.

Please advise.

Thanks
Passedyou Ontheright

Getting run over by a train is fucking retarded, OK?
No, you don't get my sympathy.
These trains need to run faster, not slower.

If you're concerned about it, stop spawning stupid humans, and you'll have no problems with it, mmmmkay?

Rollcages are for Pussies

The SRL show on Friday was sold out, and we had to stand in line a lot to see it.
We were standing in line behind some guy and his geek-hipster-(wannabe)-trash friend. She was a late-thirties woman with blond hair and horrible fashion sense topped by a "kooky" hat. Oh, how outlandish!

she liked to talk loud so people would overhear the cool hip things she was talking about.

Fine.

We were standing there in our moto-gear minus helmets, but I'm pretty sure it's obvious we came by motorcycle, which must be why she felt the need to start discussing some friend's motorcycle accident. (People do this to me; I don't know why.) Which culminated in the mutual shaking of heads and smug looks of just knowing better than those idiotic motorcyclists...
"you know, it's just, rollcages are so much safer."
and laughing. smug. knowing better.



dumb. boring.

Listen, you stupid, boring, SAN JOSE, over-the-hill, washed up, hipster-reject, you want "SAFE?"
STAY HOME AND WATCH OPRAH.
This is an SRL show. "SAFETY," more specifically your illusion of safety, is not really what it's about.

You want a rollcage in life? Stay home, watch TeeVee. Don't think. Don't do anything "risky." Please wait here and someone will be by shortly to tell you what activities are "risky" and which are "safe." your call is important to us, and will be answered in the order...

Dry Lake

We got up at the asscrack of dawn Saturday to go to MotoGP.
Last year, we got there and spent an hour waiting to get in. I swore I would not return. Laguna Seca cannot get their shit together.
I lied, and I did return.
This time, the line moved OK getting in, but once in the gate, we rode around the entire goddam place trying to find where we were supposed to park. I know, some places you go, they do fancy things like post big signs, but not here! They wanted us to have a tour of the place first. We drove every direction, and yes, I stopped several times to get directions from the various traffic directors. They directed me a lot of places. The last place was to the parking area. Good job, dumbasses!

Fine, so we're parked and on our way finally. We got a bunch of beer (Porter, even, not some pissy frat boy shite) and felt a little better. Oh, yeah, it's HOT. It's going to be even hotter, we know this. I've camped in 110+ weather before, and this doesn't surprise me. We have our camelbak, and a ton of sunscreen, and are staying out of the sun anyway.

But it becomes clear as the day goes by that it is not hot, like, complaining hot. It is, in fact, dangerous hot. I don't like crowds anyway, and being surrounded by idiots kind of freaks me out. In the tent where we stop to sit for a while, there are about a million people eating lunch. We look around to see a lot of people who don't even know their bodies are crashing. I see kids who are completely flushed, and their parents clueless. Heat is actually very hard on your body, folks! I know, we are from California, and not particularly aware of this. But it's kind of sad and scary. We watch a lot of ambulance activity taking place around us. Water? Costs FOUR DOLLARS a bottle! We sat in the lobby area of the bathroom near the paddock entrances/food area, where I had just soaked my shirt again in the sink, and we sat loading up on salt in the form of some noodles, and even sucking down soy sauce packets. Refilled the camelbak and gave our bodies some rest. After a guy came in and then actually dropped in front of us, we were like, "fuck this place, this is getting bad," and left.
It must have been around 3:30 when we got up to our bikes, stepped into our sun-warmed snowsuits, and got on the road again. The most racing I saw was on the way out of the place, I caught a glimpse of some folks riding around the track. Hey, guess what, I'm riding too! I guess that's at least as good as watching some guy I don't even know ride.

On the freeway, I got incredibly sleepy, and pulled off. Paul was the same, and we literally parked at a shopping mall and napped in the grass there. Heat exhaustion is no joke.

After a mall dinner, we rode home, which was more misery. It never got cool. Windchill was more like riding into a hot hairdryer. Even San Francisco was hot, and my apartment didn't cool off until, oh, about 3am.

I hate hot weather.
I hate Laguna Seca.
I hate $4 water.
Motorcycles are still cool.

Yesterday I watched a bicyclist collide with a car in Berkeley. Maybe it was technically Oakland, but close enough.

It was the bicyclist's fault, completely. Hey, genius, don't pass a car on the left that is making a left turn.

Seriously, if you can't ride properly, just don't. Buses were made for people like you.
I felt bad for the driver just then.

But what's news for ME?
Not a lot. I'm really crazy lately, trying to get EVERYTHING done. We are getting close to the August 5th/6th event, and there's a lot of cat herding left to do. And real errands, like getting posters and flyers, and all that.

It is coming together, but people are starting to get weird. It's been a few weeks now of work, and some of the personalities are bubbling up to the surface in not so pleasant ways. Whatever.

I've been sick since thursday. I don't really know how I managed to get a cold in July when no one else I knew was sick, but I'm guessing it mostly has to do with the fact that I've been running myself ragged. There is a ton of stress in my life right now, and the only thing keeping me sane anymore is Paul. So I figure the people around me who are losing their shit ought to be pitied because they don't have Paul to make everything better. Well, I'm not sharing, so there.

Girls weekend was a bit of a wash, since I was all sicky and tired. Plus, my sister-in-law is all knocked up and can't drink. Still, nice to hang out and kill time with my family.

I finally got a new front tire on my SV. I was amazed at what a difference it makes in the handling. I mean, it just corners so much better. I forgot what it was supposed to feel like. Maybe I shouldn't be so cheap. The DRZ is still not on the street because some of the spacers I need to replace are on backorder, as is the new front tire. I decided to upgrade to distanzias, but the front is a no-go so far. Maybe I'll do a Distanzia rear and an MT21 front? That's not funny unless you're a dualsport tire geek. Nevermind, I have a headache.

This weekend: MotoGP. Saturday only, just because that's how we roll. Sunday will be nice.

F@#KING Motorcyclists!

Sometimes people wonder why I don't necessarily like other motorcyclists. I wave, sure; those riders are passing through in the opposite direction. But, no, to be frank, I often don't like encountering another motorcyclist on the road in my direction of travel. I've just seen too many stupid behaviors, and, worse, I've actually been hit by motorcyclists a few times.

So the coming of summer isn't all that welcome, particularly during the commute hour, when I get on the Bay Bridge this morning. I start in the carpool lane, and, as every morning, immediately start moving left across all lanes of traffic. Why? Because I think it's best for the motorcycles to split that lane. I think it's especially best if we split the same lanes, so that there aren't bikes in between all cars on all sides. Ever seen a helpful driver try to move aside for you? Well, now imagine there's another motorcyclist on the other side. No, it behooves us to split only one or two lanes in traffic, as much as possible. Particularly when we know, as we do in the commute hour, that there are a lot of other motorcycles out.

So I move over, and this morning, as I got into the #2 lane, I slowed to check the in-between lane, and as I did that, a motorcyclist honked his horn at me, I suppose thinking I was about to run into him. I wasn't, but I waited for him to calm down and go ahead before diving in. Which was a mistake. Well, maybe not, knowing the temper he had. I mean, the guy was slow. He was riding some big late 1970's/early 80's honda thing, I think maybe an Oldwing or something? And, I split behind the guy for a while, but he's slow. Will he let me pass? No. Note: it is the polite thing to do, when someone lanesplits up behind you, to pull into the lane and let them pass.

Fine, I'll wait, and plod behind him, maybe he'll get the hint. He makes a big show of flipping a car off, for changing lanes, about 400 feet in front of him. At his speed, it was NOT a danger. He's just an ass. I start thinking about breaking my rule and going to the next lanesplitting lane over, just long enough to get in front of him. I try this, and he speeds up. Now he is racing me. Look, fucker, I'm just going to work! YOU'RE SLOW. OK, fine, I'll get behind your slow ass again. And he slows back down. And next, NEXT he punches a delivery van, for no reason. This poor cager does NOTHING, and asshole honda guy hits his mirror in. Woah! Yeah, thanks asshole, you've just made a whole new set of motorcycle-haters. And those of us lanesplitting behind you (since you won't let us pass) now have to face these drivers' anger. At this point, I can't follow him anymore, and move over two lanes to get away. At which point he starts racing me again.

I don't say this often, but I honestly hope you eat shit, and soon, since you're making the world a more dangerous place for the rest of us.



so here's a review:

1.) If you are lanesplitting, and another rider comes up behind you, pull into the lane and let them pass, and then go back to lanesplitting. Painless!
2.) If you aren't checking your mirror for riders because you're afraid you'll hit something in front of you, then you are riding too fast/over your head. Slow down, check your mirror, and let others pass.
3.) It really helps if we don't have to go to the next in-between lane to pass you, since this multiplies the problem of heplful drivers accidentally taking one of us out when they try to move out of the way of the one of us they do see. (in other words: don't surround the cars on all sides if you can avoid it)
4.) If another rider does finally go around you because you don't check your mirrors and pull over, please don't take this as an oppurtunity to race. Other riders are just trying to get to wherever they are going. The race is in your head, and you already lost it, if they are trying to pass you.
5.) If you are an asshole, just go crash somewhere by yourself, and stop flipping off and *punching* cars that didn't even do anything, as that makes lanesplitting and riding more dangerous for the rest of us.
6.) Lanesplitting is a separate skill. If you don't feel comfortable doing it and maintaining yourself, your awareness, and composure, just don't do it.
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