Snow Gone, Now Warm
It's warm here. In the freakin' 40s. The forecast says it'll stay that way, with highs even reaching 50 a couple times in the next week. What the crap? All the snow that fell yesterday and the day before has melted. AARRRRGGH.
Is there not actually going to be a full month of snow-covered streets and sidewalks this year? December was shaping up to be one, but the complete absence of snow upon return from vacation made me painfully aware that that would not be the case. This almost makes me want to cry. I miss my snow.
Also... if you're not aware, the "j turn" is a driving technique wherein a car starts in reverse and then turns through 180 degrees to end up going forward in the same direction the car was originally reversing. The fine people at Guinness World Records note the narrowest "j turn" was performed in 1999 in Germany, and they have a video to prove it. Very cool stuff.
Several years ago, I read that Secret Service officers are trained to perform these maneuvers while driving limousines. You know, in case the car comes under attack from the front. Also very cool.
Comments
I checked out the Guinness website and saw the video of the J-turn. I confess that I have never actually tried a J-turn in my car. I saw some of the other videos too, like the oldest cat video, and the smallest night club video. Interesting stuff.
Speaking of things that are kind of cool, I was watching "Mythbusters" on the Discovery Channel and they proved that if someone is shooting at you with high-powered weaponry, then the best place to be is under water. They showed how, even with armor-piercing bullets, if someone is shooting at you in the water, from an angle, then even if you are as little as 3 feet under water, the armor-piercing bullets won't hurt you. I thought it was neat, although I try to avoid the situation entirely. I figure that if people are trying to shoot you with armor-piercing bullets, you have a lot more to worry about then trying to find a body of water to hide in.
Getting back to doing J-turns in presidential limousines, the Discovery Channel has published DVD's of Secret Service training courses in which agents are trying to accomplish high-speed J-turns in the presidential limousines. Once again, it is pretty neat stuff.
Posted by: arc | January 8, 2006 04:00 PM
The smallest night club is Ministry of Sound in London. You can get there via the Elephant and Castle tube stop, if you're interested. :)
Posted by: Colin | January 8, 2006 05:02 PM