Friday Feedbag and Quotable Links: Dazed and Confused

It has been a long time since I last did a Friday Feedbag, and this one is hardly comprehensive - four short links for your consideration:

You may have read it by now. It was in the Los Angeles Times this morning. The link at BikingInLA took me to the KCRW website. I am quite sure the story was picked up by many other media sources as well. An appellate court judge has ruled that using a map app while driving is perfectly legal, that the law against the use of hand-held devices while driving was intended to apply to talking and listening on said devices. Looking at them is, apparently, an different matter entirely.

What the hell.

Good bye common sense - washed away, like the soil of our fire scorched mountains during our current "massive drizzle."

I was under the impression that 'distraction' was at the heart of the law. Any use of a hand-held device creates distraction. Yet according to the Times story, the appellate Justices thought such a broad application would lead to "absurd results", things like moving a cell phone to "use as a paperweight." Uh, yes. Anything that takes your eyes, or focus, off the road is distraction.

Now that another law has been watered down beyond effective use, we can all return to watching our phones rather than the road, with no fear of prosecution.

Though propriety in not wishing harm to befall another human being prohibits me from listing them, my imagination can envision some rather interesting scenarios in which justice might coincidentally be served in this case.

Next up for legal decision, distracted Glassholes?

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"As a first generation college student, he wanted to use his education to help his community. He taught me, 'once you educate yourself, educate your community, because that's the only way la raza will get better.'"  A year removed from the death of Ivan Aguilar, a student at Cal Poly Pomona, a permanent memorial to his memory was installed at the campus.

If the our roadways seem like they are daily becoming more hostile to human existence, try contributing to the solution rather than adding to the problem. Ride on.