Mocha-momma wouldn't stand a chance

News of the Weird

The Scandia Family Fun Center, which operates a super thrill ride (168 feet high, spinning at 60 miles an hour, pulling 3.5 g's) called the Screamer, in Sacramento, Calif., decided in March that because of neighborhood residents' noise complaints, riders would be prohibited from screaming (and subject to ejection from the park). [KOVR-TV (Sacramento), 3-31-07]

I can tell you right now, we wouldn't even go here because of this rule, not if Mocha-momma was with us. She is a screamer from the get-go. If she road the little kiddie ride outside of a supermarket, she'd be screaming. I remember one year we went up to Lutsen and rented a condo with my parents and my brother and sister's families. We went to the Alpine Slide, which is a concrete slide down the side of a steep hill, where you fly down on little sleds. I got to the bottom after one of my runs, and for about one minute straight we all could hear MM screaming at about 1000 decibels all the way down the hill. Don't get me wrong, it's a scream of pure thrill and delight; but, it's one that the residents of this town would certainly not appreciate.

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Another interesting bit from News of the Weird

Forget the slogan about seeing motorcycles, it should be "Start Seeing Bathtubs"

In April, near New Orleans, motorcyclist Charles Warren, minding his own business in the left lane of Interstate 12, was hit by a bathtub (which had fallen from a pickup truck in the right lane) and was hospitalized with severe injuries. [Reuters, 4-11-07] [Times- Picayune, 4-9-07]

I have to admit that I quite frankly detest the slogan, "Start Seeing Motorcycles." I don't have anything against them, even though I've never driven one myself. It's just that I usually do pay attention when motorcycles are around, and I would estimate that at least 80% of the time I do see them, they are doing something illegal, idiotic, or just plain dangerous. If they don't want me to do something stupid and take them out, then don't pass me, and 3 other cars, doing about 90 when you're in a no-passing zone on a hill and you don't know if a car is coming.