The streets of Manhattan (well, almost: An educated Rant ;-)

No, neither am I in New York, nor have I ever been there.h

Vancouver driver paralyzed in front of an ambulance

But I fall asleep and wake up to traffic noise and aggravated HONKING. I think the only time drivers refrain from honking is when they hear the siren of an emergency vehicle approaching and are too busy to get out of the way or stare at it in the rear view mirror utterly PARALYZED by the Fight-or-Flight response (you have seen them: both hands strangling their steering wheel, foot FIRMLY on the brake pedal, and the eyes unable to look away from the flashing lights in their rear-view mirror) , as a result of which the car of the driver in question does not move AT ALL, causing the emergency vehicle to engage its own ULTRA annoying SUPER HONK, which apparently kicks the delinquent driver's nervous system out of the paralysis and allows them to move again.

Of course, the amount of honking and emergency vehicle sirens can increase even further as a function of traffic volume.  In harsh words:  If you are in Vancouver during the week of the frantic pre-Christmas worship of the new Whore of Babylon (BUYING) get earplugs.  You know the type of buying:  You're gonna CRY if you don't BUY ! Click on this LINK to hear an AMAZING recent song (Lorde: Royals) putting all that BUYING into perspective.  




On a related note:  Could it be that the people who complain or snicker loudest about China's CO2 emissions and smog problems are the same people who take their SUV (with the China-made Reindeer antlers stuck to the doors) downtown or to Metrotown and BUY all the same stuff as Christmas presents that was manufactured in China earlier and caused all those CO2 emissions to begin with ?
And on another related note:  Ever noticed how people depicted in Christmas shopping ads are always young, pretty, and HAPPY ?  (So guess what happens to you if you DON'T SHOP ? ;-)

Definitely NOT my picture

You better watch out
You better not cry
better pull the wallet out
you better GO BUY

 because mass hysteria is in town