Who is the Route 29 Batman? This guy

Courtesy Montgomery County Police Department

I saw the picture on Facebook of Batman getting pulled over on Route 29 in Maryland, so naturally I wanted to find out more.

What a touching story. This Batman really IS a superhero!

Police pulled a man over on Route 29 in Silver Spring last week because of a problem with his plates. This would not ordinarily make international news, but the car was a black Lamborghini, the license plate was the Batman symbol, and the driver was Batman, dressed head-to-toe in his full superhero uniform.

HOLY MOVING VIOLATION!

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USPS postage labels receipt scam

Got another phishing email, this one with the title “USPS postage labels receipt.” It comes from the lovely and talented “Alma Parks.”

From: “Alma Parks”
Subject: USPS postage labels receipt.
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:59:59 +0100

Acct #: 3199501

Dear client:

This is an email confirmation for your order of 3 online shipping label(s) with postage. We will charge you the following amount:

Transaction Number: #1148147
Print Date/Time: 03/16/2012 02:30 PM CST
Postage Amount: $28.32
Credit Card Number: XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX
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Treyvon Martin and what we don’t know

I’ve been thinking of writing about the Treyvon Martin tragedy. Then I realized that no one cares what I say.

No one cares because everyone has already made up his mind. This is exactly what many accuse George Zimmerman of – of being judge, jury, and executioner of Martin. It reveals the level of mistrust that still exists in America, and how everyone’s prejudices are brought out without those that harbor them even realizing. It’s a huge wound that has once again been ripped open.

I may one day write more about this sad incident but for now I choose to remain unswayed by the emotion raging on all sides. I want to see the facts first – to get as close to the truth as I can – before I make up my mind.

That’s supposed to be how justice in America works.

Doggone and back

Nyla, a.k.a "Chimmy"

We were circled around the chimnea in the driveway last night, mesmerized by its flames and enjoying the chat with our neighbors. A man walked down the street with a dog on a leash, which is certainly nothing new as it happens all the time in my neighborhood. When he walked up our driveway, though, our curiosity was raised.

“Anybody know where this dog lives?” he cheerfully asked.
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Young Americans not driving? Why would they?

I was mulling over the last post about young Americans not feeling the need for cars and I think I have one idea why.

It used to be that if you were a kid curious about the world we live in, you’d have go out and explore it. This usually required a car of some sort. Things are radically different now. Through the magic of the Internet (and 500+ channel cable/satellite TV), the world now comes to the kids! Kids nowadays can find out far more information on places and people than I ever could as a kid growing up. Outdated, dead-tree encyclopedias and magazines only take one so far.

While there’s still no substitute for actually being there, technology today can get one pretty close. With so much exploring available at their fingertips, kids can take their time deciding where they want to go.

Young Americans not buying cars

Wow. Transformational. The world is truly going to look a lot different very soon.

Kids these days. They don’t get married. They don’t buy homes. And, much to the dismay of the world’s auto makers, they apparently don’t feel a deep and abiding urge to own a car.

This week, the New York Times pulled back the curtain on General Motors’ recent, slightly bewildered efforts to connect with the Millennials — that giant generational cohort born in the 1980s and 1990s whose growing consumer power is reshaping the way corporate America markets its wares. Unfortunately for car companies, today’s teens and twenty-somethings don’t seem all that interested in buying a set of wheels. They’re not even particularly keen on driving.

The Times notes that less than half of potential drivers age 19 or younger had a license in 2008, down from nearly two-thirds in 1998. The fraction of 20-to-24-year-olds with a license has also dropped. And according to CNW research, adults between the ages of 21 and 34 buy just 27 percent of all new vehicles sold in America, a far cry from the peak of 38 percent in 1985.

via Why Don’t Young Americans Buy Cars? – Jordan Weissmann – Business – The Atlantic.

James Cameron begins solo dive to the bottom of the ocean

Film director James Cameron has the biggest balls of anyone I know. Titanic and his other hit films made him boatloads of money. Cameron never has to work another day in his life and still he chooses to dive to the most remote. most inhospitable place on our planet … alone!

I am in awe.

Film director and ocean explorer James Cameron began his one-man plunge to the bottom of the sea Sunday afternoon, Eastern Time, in a scientific and film-making quest to touch the deepest spot on Earth, a gash in the western Pacific Ocean that reaches nearly seven miles below the surface.

Seven years in the making, the descent by one of the most successful Hollywood directors of all time (“Aliens”, “Terminator”, “Titanic”, “Avatar”) was delayed for some 16 hours by choppy seas.

via James Cameron begins solo dive to the bottom of the ocean – The Washington Post.

Land once home to Raleigh baseball field now eyed for urban park

News and Observer reporter Matt Garfield wrote a captivating article about the Devereux Meadows site one day being a park again after 30 years as a trash truck parking lot.

It reminded me of Leo Suarez’s look back at the old ball park from two years ago.

RALEIGH — An expanse of land just north of downtown moved closer to a greener future this month when the city began relocating a sanitation and fleet yard to a new home outside the Beltline.

The land, which has spent the past 30 years as a parking lot for garbage trucks, is envisioned as a park and greenway that supporters hope will enliven an aging gateway into downtown.

Called Devereux Meadows, the planned 15-acre park takes its name from the minor league ballpark that once anchored the site along the west side of Capital Boulevard between Peace Street and Wade Avenue.

via Land once home to Raleigh baseball field now eyed for urban park – Wake County – NewsObserver.com.

Cheap Thoughts: buoyant disposables

With a built-in air pocket, this can might have stayed at the top of Falls Lake, not the bottom.


On my greenway ride last weekend I couldn’t stop staring at the trash floating on the surface of Crabtree Creek. The trash was mostly plastic bottles: sealed but empty plastic bottles, that is, and therefore buoyant.

I thought it would be far easier to fish floating trash out of the creek as opposed to submerged trash. Empty plastic bottles are easy to fetch, but what about empty aluminum cans? Most go under as soon as they are filled with water.

What if all disposable bottles and cans were mandated to float? What if each was made with air pocket built in that would force the empty container to float? I think it would make it far easier to corral trash that floats before it fouls our seas than trash that doesn’t float. Recycling the materials would be boosted as well, since containers which might have ordinarily been flushed into the oceans could be better recovered.

I wonder if something like this could be done.