On driving in an uncivil society:

Every time you get in your car, you take your life in your hands. Not because of all the giant SUVs on the road-- well at least that’s not the primary reason. It’s because people either don’t remember what the driver’s manual says or they just don’t care to follow the rules. In Boston, at least, we are literally at the point of automotive anarchy. It is so common for people to run red lights in this town, that I don’t think the police even notice anymore. I have had to develop the habit of pausing to look both ways before I proceed into an intersection when I’ve got the green light. When I stop during a yellow because I know it is about to turn red, the guy behind me honks and makes gestures in my rearview mirror. (As if it’s not bad enough having a toddler in the backseat incessantly saying, “Mama go?”)

The yield sign has similarly lost all meaning. I was on Memorial Drive the other day and a guy merging on almost hit me. He seemed to expect me to slow down for him. I beeped and gave him a dirty look but I’m sure it was lost on him since he apparently didn’t know he was supposed to yield to me! I yielded getting onto the Jamaicaway recently (like the sign said) and the woman behind me was so busy not yielding that she actually hit me!

One place you can be pretty sure people around here aren’t going to yield is when they’re entering a rotary. But-- oh yeah!-- that’s the law! I think they think there’s no light so they shouldn’t have to stop. Or maybe they know vehicles on the rotary have the right of way, but they figure if they’re aggressive enough, people on the circle will give way and they’ll get where they’re going 30 seconds sooner. Or maybe they’re all from Turkey where the law is that people on the rotary have to yield. In Turkey they have an apt expression which translates loosely as: “How’d you wait in your mother’s belly for nine months?” You’d think they have heard it.

Another area of great confusion is the right on red. You can do this only when there is no sign prohibiting it and only after stopping first. But be prepared, because if you do stop first, a chorus of horns will erupt, egging you on. And those intersections with a separate lane and light for the right? Sorry, no right on red at all. Brookline– the strict traffic rules capital of Massachusetts– has signs that explicitly state both of these laws but I still see people breaking them all the time.

And how about the ubiquitous practice of pulling out onto the road even though there is traffic in the lane you want to enter? You don't want to wait for both lanes to clear, so you sit there in the middle of the road, blocking traffic in the other lane and all those people have to wait. Likewise pulling into an intersection when you aren’t sure you can get through it by the time the light changes just creates gridlock. It’s inconsiderate. It breaks the rules of the road, and it makes other people mad and impatient and more willing to break the rules...

I know what this is all about Bostonians and I feel your pain. I know it’s hard to get anywhere fast in this city, but society creates these rules for a reason: for safety and to ease the flow of traffic. Disregarding them will only lead to– has led to– chaos, accidents, gridlock and road rage.

We could all stand to review the Massachusetts Driver's Manual periodically. To do it now, click on the link below.

Mass. Driver's Manual, Chapter 4 (Signs)
http://www.mass.gov/rmv/dmanual/chapter4.pdf

[Letters Never Printed] On nanotechnology:

My dad was an avid writer of letters to the editor rife with $10 words. Of course, he got published-- often. I, on the other hand, am a many time reject. In honor of my dad and as part of a series I'm calling "Letters Never Printed," I'm posting letters to the editor that should see the light of day since I bothered to open my dictionary...

The links to the Brown Alumni Monthly and the Boston Globe articles are below. (The Globe article was actually entitled, "What do Pants and the Space Shuttle Have in Common?") There's also a link to The Woodrow Wilson Center's Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies which offers a list of products that contain nanomaterials.

As I read "Mass.'s Nanotech Rivals are on the Move" in Monday's Business section, an article that touts the positive aspects of nanomaterials while it discusses their potential for improving Massachusetts' economy, I kept waiting for Hiawatha Bray to get to their possible negatives. Nanomaterials are completely new and while they have many advantageous properties, much remains unknown. According to "The New Atomic Scientists" by Emily Gold Boutilier in the Brown Alumni Magazine (September/October 2006), what is known is that at least some of these materials bear a resemblance to asbestos-- "they are the right size to be inhaled, they are unlikely to be broken down by the body and their needle-like shape could damage tissue." Carbon nanotubes have even been found to "cause lung irritation and granulomas in animals." Scientists at Brown University have made researching the risks an integral part of their work with nanomaterials. So serious are their concerns that they will only work with these materials using rules for chemical hygiene and hoods or respirators. Some of these same materials may be in your golf clubs, your chinos, your sunscreen, face powder, paint, air sanitizer-- nearly 300 consumer products that are already being sold. I am guessing consumers are not wearing respirators while spraying air sanitizer!

I am disappointed that the Globe neglected this important part of the story. As usual, the money that can be made from a new product is taking precedence over human health. No matter what the potential revenues for universities, industry and the state, I believe we need to exercise extreme caution in the use of nanomaterials. Until the government does more to protect consumers from the possible risks of nanomaterials, I hope readers will access www.nanotechproject.org (where the Woodrow Wilson Center's Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies has posted a list of products containing nanomaterials) and protect themselves.

Source: "What do pants and the space shuttle have in common?" Hiawatha Bray, The Boston Globe, 11/13/2006
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/11/13/
what_do_pants_and_the_space_shuttle_have_in_common/

Brown Alumni Monthly: "The New Atomic Scientists" Sept./Oct. 2006
http://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/storydetail.cfm?ID=3172