• Science News / Wake Up And Smell The Java - “Cells in sleep-deprived rats sniffing freshly brewed coffee turn up the volume of genes that soothe stress and prevent cell damage… Rats exposed to the scent of coffee for 24 hours amped up production of products from genes that encode antioxidants.”
• Bicycle Saturdays and Sundays - 2008 dates for carfree days on Lake Washington Boulevard in Seattle.
• Creature Comforts: D.I.Y. Paper Wrapped Soaps - How to wrap soap neatly and attractively for gifts.
• Vintage Chinese Children’s Hats Silk Embroidered - Charming, beautiful, evocative hats for small children. Many of the hats are in the shape of animal heads with pointy ears and big googly eyes.
• Crooked Timber » » Libertarians and global warming - John Quiggin writes some critical notes on the general response of libertarians to climate change, referencing Jonathan Adler. (Nice point about the Pacific Island nations.) Conversation ensues.

There was a woman in a light-colored shirt with a black lab by her side about to cross the street at the corner. I happened to be watching her, because I was admiring how well-behaved the dog was, so I saw her look both ways (apparently she’s well-behaved, too) and as I passed her at the corner I saw her begin to cross.

There was a car down the block that’d easily had ample time to slow to a stop normally, if the driver had been reasonably attentive. But apparently the driver wasn’t paying much attention until the last minute, at which point he or she slammed on the brakes. The car behind that one, whose driver wasn’t smart enough to leave appropriate stopping room, smacked into it just hard enough to knock off its little plastic bumper.

So, the woman with the dog keeps on going. And I’m standing there, wondering if I should go say, “Hi, I’m a witness.” It was a really minor thing, though, and I suspect that the drivers just shrugged and swapped insurance numbers. I look up the block, waiting to find out if anybody comes out of their car yelling. Nobody does. But while I’m waiting, some bald guy in a red Jeep, maybe — something shiny, red, elevated and faintly mid-life-crisis-like, anyway — grins at me conspiratorially and says, “Well, that was rude!”

“Pardon?” Who, me?

“She was really rude!”

I’m lost. I couldn’t even see the genders of those drivers; the light and angle were wrong, and I was looking at the car damage anyway. I walk a few feet back to the corner. “Who?”

“The woman with the dog!”

“What?” Of all the people in this interaction, it’s the pedestrian he’s blaming? The who what now? Is it for walking away?

He nods at the corner curb and says, “She should have stopped!” He is beginning to get that I am not so eager to celebrate his judgmentalism.

Uh. Possibly, and purely for the sake of agreeableness, I’d buy that she was very slightly ill-advised, but that’s only because I’m surely in the top 5% for street-crossing caution. In no way is it reasonable to call her rude. I raise my eyebrows and state a fact: “She had the right-of-way.”

I expect him to tell me that’s no excuse. Instead, he gets huffy and gestures at the street. Clearly I am an idiot, and it is shocking that I am not supporting him in this. “There’s no crosswalk marked!!”

This is when my jaw drops. Yes, you ignorant and deluded entitlement case, that’s what they call an “unmarked crosswalk.” Generally speaking, every intersection contains legal crosswalks, whether or not they’re marked. I could actually feel the hinge of my jaw loosening for a moment before I said, pointing to the corner on which I stood, “Pedestrians have the right of way at every corner. You are wrong. Sorry.” (If only I could have included the link!)

At that point, having heard no yelling, I turned and walked away before I started getting rude. (Or ruder.) Because if you don’t know when pedestrians have the right-of-way, you don’t know how to drive, and in a better world your license would be taken away until you get a clue. Ah, for a better world.

Four studies document the rejection of moral rebels. In Study 1, participants who made a counterattitudinal speech disliked a person who refused on principle to do so, but uninvolved observers preferred this rebel to an obedient other. In Study 2, participants taking part in a racist task disliked a rebel who refused to go along, but mere observers did not. This rejection was mediated by the perception that rebels would reject obedient participants (Study 3), but did not occur when participants described an important trait or value beforehand (Study 4). Together, these studies suggest that rebels are resented when their implicit reproach threatens the positive self-image of individuals who did not rebel.

See also the venomous freakouts in the Seattle P-I’s Soundoff pages any time that bicycles or farmers’ markets are in the news.

(Thanks, Siderea!)

Delaware today:

Stupid squirrels, digging where they ought not be digging. Grawrr.

I haven’t seen any physical signs of her being a rooster, though I’ve wondered. As far as I can tell, she’s just a hen with an oversized personality.

So every time I reach into the chick box for something, there she is, running for my arm at top speed. This was adorable at week 1 or so, but now that the chicks are almost four weeks old, it’s beginning to become a problem. And when she reaches her full six pounds or so, it’s going to be a problem indeed. Chickens, it happens, are sharp. My forearms are covered in scratches; it looks like I’ve been raising a dozen kittens. Which is to say, it looks like I’ve been sticking my arm in a food processor.

I bet Trouble would be a good trained attack chicken: very aggressive, extremely fast and agile, tremendously food-motivated, an excellent flyer. Perhaps I should consider taking up chicken falconry.

• stereotypist: comix for the 21st of january - The Death of Garfield. Perhaps the greatest Garfield comic ever made.
• Militia Fail « FAIL Blog - Fail Pictures at Failblog.ORG - Via Making Light. Sweet mother of God. That isn’t… no. Nobody I know. But jeez… the resemblance to a certain former KateHauser is uncanny.
• Margarita Fick - handcut unique papel picado (cut paper) creations - Killer papel picado. Damn.
• Union Station Photo Flap - “A local news crew was interviewing an Amtrak spokesman at D.C.’s Union Station who told the reporter that photography is allowed in the station. During the interview, a security guard interrupted them to say that photography/video was not allowed.”
• Brain and Mind - Video lectures from prominent neuroscience researchers, recorded in 2004.
• Silicone Plastique - Food Grade Silicone Mold Making Rubber - *covet* *covet* *covet*

It’s a lucky Seattle gardener who’s doing well this spring, and I’m not one of them. I’ve yet to catch much of a break in the seed-planting department. Planted cilantro and it snowed; planted basil and we got unusually cold, wet June weather. I’m rethinking this whole business of direct seeding. At least the chard seedlings have come through like champs. My new favorite plant, right there.

The chickens are almost three weeks old now. In theory, they should be ready to go investigate their new home very soon, and I’m becoming very ready to see them leave their corner of my office. Chicks do create a lot of dust and sometimes a lot of racket. But unless this weather straightens out, they’re going to be in the brooder a good long while.