It is Very Hot in Phoenix
It's a new experience, living somewhere where the temperatures sometimes reach 120 F, but perhaps worse are the night time lows, averaging in the 90s F. Usually one can expect cooler temperatures at night but not during this heat wave. I find it bizarre living in a refrigerated world. Without air conditioning, Phoenix and much of Arizona would be uninhabitable. But here I remain for two more weeks, having completed the first half of four total weeks of prostrate cancer proton radiation treatments at the Mayo Clinic here, my diagnosis coming earlier this year. The care provided is very professional, certainly the best traditional medical care I have experienced. Obviously then, if you are dealing with a potential life-ending condition, I suggest you check out a Mayo Clinic closest to you. I originally began my investigations into cancer treatment at the cancer center closest to me in Silver City, New Mexico but decided that proton therapy offered at Mayo to be a much better option. One major plus for me is that Phoenix has a very good Chinese restaurant, Great Wall Cuisine, located at 3446 West Camelback Road. Great dim sum!
Hey Everyone! It isn't Wise or Smart to Commit Opperational Suicide
On first reports received, some have declined to sign the petition. Why? Since I know all of you well, and the countless excuses often provided for not taking care of yourselves, I need you to understand that this petition effort might be your last opportunity to stop the bleeding that will ultimately lead to your local cab industry being dead and buried minus a coffin.
By reversing decisions made by the City of Seattle and King County, you are literally retaking control of your own lives, a life that is tenuously held at arms-length by government bureaucrats and regulators who are getting big salaries and making decisions for you while you work your butt off in the cab. As you know better than me, you now find yourselves working harder than ever, picking up the crumbs leftover from Uber and Lyft. You should read your situation as for what it is: a red flashing warning light that something is very wrong.
Thinking that taxi, as you now know it, will remain is more than foolish, it is pure fantasy. Just as the Seattle and King County taxi industry was flushed down the toilet in 2014, the hand is on the handle to do it once again. Waymo is going to come in and run you over. Uber and Lyft will be switching to autonomous self-driving cars, jettisoning all their drivers, eliminating that option altogether.
What I am attempting to do with the petition is to build a legal dyke preventing the future flooding of your worksite that is Metropolitan Seattle and King County. Business can be brought back but it will take your cooperation. Lying down and dying is not the answer. You might have heard the popular idiom/saying: "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink." What it means is that you can provide opportunity but you cannot force someone to take it.
When driving here in the great American Southwest, where I am now, you often see signs warning "Last Chance Gas!" suggesting that if you are not careful, you will be left stranded in the middle of the burning desert surrounded by spiny cactus. Same here, guys! Fill up those petitions now or find yourself taking to desert coyotes, asking, "What the hell do I do next?" Howling along with the coyotes might be fun but it won't fill your gas tanks or feed your families. We need at least one thousand signatures. Don't delay. Make the scoundrels in government pay!
Congressman Kevin Mullin, Democrat Representing San Mateo, CA Introduces New Federal Legislation Imposing New Regulations Governing Waymo
It is called the "AV Emergency Response Coordination Act," which sets standardized procedures for AV companies when AVs encounter emergency responders like police and fire fighters. A series of incidents occurring nationwide prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to put Waymo on formal notice, calling the incidents unacceptable. In addition, "high-speed" operations on freeways were temporarily suspended on May 19th, stopping service to San Jose and San Francisco airports. Service has just been reinstated.
Will this effort stop the fatality accident that I am predicting will stop all AV companies in the USA in their tracks? No, I don't think it will. It is inevitable. Waymo and friends are going to kill one of their passengers in an accident. And when that happens, all hell will break loose.
Book Review Coming in September
My intention was to have read the book by the end of July but no, it is "thick' reading, meaning I will have the review ready for my September post. It is another book by Peter Norton: "Fighting Traffic, The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City". In the meanwhile I suggest you look up a fellow named William Phelps Eno. Remember him every time you take a left turn.
Peter Norton is the author of the book, "Autonorama," that I reviewed in the June blog post. If you haven't read that review yet, I suggest you go back and read it. Peter Norton's knows his stuff. He really does. Someone to pay attention to, heeding his warnings and advice.
Why Hasn't the City and County Stopped the Unlicensed Driver from Picking Up Passengers?
I just got a report this evening, this being Friday night July 31st, that the same rogue (bogus) person pretending to be a cab, remains free to endanger any passenger who steps into his red Telsa. Recently he was ticketed and fined $1000. but he failed to appear for a scheduled hearing. The man needs to be arrested and his car impounded. Nothing short of that will stop him other than an accident in his uninsured car. By allowing him to remain on the road, he is endangering everyone who gets into his car. If a serious accident happens, and a passenger dies, what will be the City and County's response? I expect they will be held liable, which is obvious. I and others have notified City and County regulators about him. And here he is, still out there menacing Mariner fans as they leave the baseball game. Why!?
Postscript August 2nd: The parallels between Chistopher Nolan movie "The Odysssey and Taxicab
I was amused, which is why I am writing this, when I read an article how the Classics scholar Emily Wilson, known for a well received 2017 translation of Homer's poem, "The Odyssey, is being lambasted for writing critical commentary concerning the movie. In short, she said it missed the mark in every way known to her yet found the movie entertaining, hoping it will lead to more people taking the time to read the poem.
Wilson is a serious scholar, and reads Ancient Greek, speaking Greek too. Nolan is a maker of movies, interesting in creating entertainment. Wilson's goal is scholarship, providing to those who are interested a window into what is foundational to Western literature. While you might munch popcorn while reading "The Odyssey," you are reading with purpose instead of spending 172 minutes in an air conditioned theatre during this unusually hot summer. And the important point here is that Wilson knows much about ancient Greek literature while Nolan knows very little.
I say this as a comparison to the reality we in the Seattle and King County taxi community know, with regulators and lawmakers making rules and laws for us while in reality knowing "squat" about taxicab, having not for a minute driven a cab. Being a nice guy doesn't qualify you. Like Wilson's knowledge of written Greek, we know the text that is taxi by heart, god knows it is written upon our souls. And how did that happen? By reading and observing taxi hour after hour turning into my case, 35 plus years. If my tongue too is often critical, now you know why.
The good part of all this for me is that I finally get to reading both "The Odyssey" and "The Iliad," instead of my many years of piecemeal reading. And of course I will read Wilson's translations. Will I ever see the movie? Doubtful.