The Most-Loved Car, Bikini Baristas Put On Notice, and Some Bitch-Slapping

1. What car delivered the most satisfaction this year? Probably a Lexus, or a Prius, right? The answer may surprise you.

2. Snohomish County, just north of Seattle, takes aim at the latest menace to society: bikini baristas.

3. Papa John’s, which is donating all profits from pizzas sold yesterday and today to the families of the four police officers who were gunned down near Tacoma last month, is so overwhelmed with business that all but three of its 20 Seattle-area stores have stopped taking orders. I love the community response, but this left us scrambling for other dinner plans.

4. Perez Hilton gets bitch-slapped.

5. Speaking of bitch-slapping, have you been weighing the Barnes & Noble Nook versus Amazon’s Kindle? The New York Times’ tech maven David Pogue opines: “Every one of the Nook’s vaunted distinctions comes fraught with buzz kill footnotes.”

UPDATE: Other reviewers pile on:

Here’s The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg: “My recommendation on the Nook is to wait, even if you prefer its features to the Kindle’s. It’s not fully baked yet.”

Here’s the AP: “I’ve been trying Barnes & Noble Inc.’s $259 Nook for a few days, and I’m not eager to prolong the acquaintance.”

Three things about Bay Area drivers that drive me nuts

1. The constant running of red lights. This is such a major hazzard I always pause a second or two before proceeding from a stoplight or crossing the street. Every day I see multiple instances of cars blowing through intersections when the cross-traffic light has already turned green. I amazed I haven’t seen any wrecks yet.

2. Habitual failure to use turn signals. Okay buddy, why are you going so slow? Why are you slowing down now? Did your car break down? Do you need some help Oh, you’re turning. Well, how about using your signal next time. This is extremely frustruating in Albany, where many intersections don’t have left-turn lanes or dedicated left-turn signals. When, approaching a line of cars stopped for a red light, I’ve learned to avoid the left lane even if nobody has their blinkers on. That’s because invariably, some idiot will crawl up to the middle of the intersection and stop, waiting to make the turn but not having bothered to use the turn signal switch two inches from his left hand.

3. Motorcycles driving between lanes on the freeway. This gives me absolute heart attacks because I’ll be driving along peacefully on the Bay Bridge listening to Megadeth, when suddenly a rrrrrrRRRRRRROOOOOOWWWWW drowns out the soft strains of Dave Mustane’s axe-shredding and some nutter zips by in the 4-foot space between me and the next car over. All it would take is me swerving one foot to the side to avoid something in the road, and that cycle jockey is going to be using his face as a boogie board on the asphalt surf.