(no subject)

[hatman]

Driving back from the grocery store last night, I turned onto a local highway. Was driving at about 50mph (about the speed limit) in the right lane. I was going slightly faster than the car just ahead of me in the left lane until I saw that the traffic light about half a mile down the road was turning red.

Meantime, a grey Nissan Altima - about as drab and nondescript a car as you can find - pulls up behind me. I've taken my foot off the gas because, really, there's no point in accelerating to a red light (and, with the Fibro, braking hurts). He decides that's not good enough for him and flashes his brights at me. I silently wish for a way to communicate with him (I actually invented one a couple years back, but it's expensive and potentially dangerous/distracting so I never really did anything about it) but otherwise ignore him.

Seeing that I'm slowing and the car in the left lane is keeping pace, he switches to that lane. As soon as he gets past me, he switches lanes with about a foot to spare, then zooms off down the road (the red light, surprisingly short, switches back to green just as he arrives).

As I turn at the next light, the radio changes songs. It's one I've never heard before. ("Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye, apparently.) In the middle of the song, a line jumps out at me. "You didn't have to cut me off."

Comments

[dave7.livejournal.com]

When I discovered that my car flashed a 'Welcome' on the screen when I switched it on and a 'See you' when I turned it off, I was over the moon. Now, I'm kind of disappointed, cos while my car talks to me, your car is Bumblebee!

[pgwfolc.livejournal.com]

That is pretty cool.

And yeah, Bumblebee was my exact thought. I love that I have a friend who thinks the same.

Meantime, I just realized something: If you plugged Siri into Google Car, you'd very nearly have KITT.

[dave7.livejournal.com]

Great minds, etc.

Siri has too much sass to pass as a good KITT - have you asked her to open the pod bay doors yet?

[pgwfolc.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave. I don't have an iPhone. (I hate the things.)

[dave7.livejournal.com]

Youtube, my good man.

[pgwfolc.livejournal.com]

Oh, right. Of course it's on YouTube. Everything is on YouTube.

I'm just tickled that I got to give you the correct answer in my previous comment. You are well-named, sir.

[dave7.livejournal.com]

How bad is it that I knew you weren't just calling me by name?

[pgwfolc.livejournal.com]

Well, the Pod Bay Doors joke wouldn't have made any sense at all if you didn't know, Full Name.

BTW, did you know that HAL's crew had iPads?

[dave7.livejournal.com]

Weellll... I've still never seen the movie. I just enjoy the joke for the crassness it implies. Naturally, my mind resides in the gutter. :)

iPads are the best toys.

[pgwfolc.livejournal.com]

The movie is very long, and moves very very slowly, but there are some impressive bits to it. And it's one of the few sci-fi movies to portray space and space travel with any kind of accuracy.

Truth to tell, I'd never even thought of the potential crassness before.

OTOH, I did once ask HAL (on Twitter) to help me shell peas. It did not go over well.

[pgwfolc.livejournal.com]

Anyway, the line is something a lot of people in our circles know, whether they've seen the movie or not. Happens with some movie lines, like "I coulda been a contender." Or "play it again, Sam" (which was never actually spoken in the movie).

I first knew it because I had a HAL 9000 Windows system sound pack back in the day. It was probably a decade after that before I actually saw the movie.

[dave7.livejournal.com]

In our circles, of course, referring to the wonderful world of Geeks? *g*

[pgwfolc.livejournal.com]

That is one of the larger circles within the Venn diagram I was loosely thinking of, yes. ;)

[dave7.livejournal.com]

I expect there's charts and graphs that accompany this?

Personally, I'm awfully fond of flow charts.

[pgwfolc.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sure there are. No shortage of flow charts out there. Unfortunately, I must admit I don't have them handy. Instead, I'll just have to leave you with this witty rejoinder.

[Witty rejoinder]

[pgwfolc.livejournal.com]

Of course, I completely forgot I said it wrong.

I'm afraid I can't do that, Full Name.