Confrontations are often turn-based, where each person ups the ante until the other backs down. Sometimes, however, one party decides to escalate the situation clear into the realm of insanity. Such was the case the other night, when another driver decided to run my father off the road. By this point my dad had done nothing more that look at this man (who we will call Mr. Crazy) as he passed him on the highway; Mr. Crazy responded first with wild gesticulations and then by following my father until he began to get off the exit ramp. It was at that point that the not-so-gentleman intentionally hit my dad’s car.
I’m proud of what my dad did next, and I like to think I would have done the same. To summarize: “Aw, hell no.” My dad began following Mr. Crazy, while simultaneously calling the police. He led my father on a winding tour of backroads, trying to lose him. With each turn my father updated the officers on Mr. Crazy’s location until the flashing lights became visible and converged on him like the closing hand of God. Four black and whites and an undercover car responded to the call. Mr. Crazy decided, against all logic and reason, to abandon his car and flee on foot into the backyards of Framingham suburbia. It is with no amount of shock that I report the man was quickly tackled and subdued. My father identified the man as the driver who hit him. Mr. Crazy was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and (shock!) driving while intoxicated.
On a positive note, congratulations to Ben Liblit on winning the ACM PhD Dissertation Award. Ben is a former student of my advisor, Alex Aiken. Slashdot carried the story a few days ago. I’ve been using his tools and hacking around in his code as part of my own work, which makes me feel special by extension. Leeched glory! (Ben suggests that I “try to pull off the same trick.” I’ll do my best, man.)
Here’s a link if you’d like to visualize where your tax dollars are going.
My time is otherwise occupied by finding a place to live in Albuquerque this summer, finding a dog-friendly place to live near Stanford next fall, finding a brilliant research topic, and reading scientific papers like it’s my job. Which, to some degree, it is.
This weekend I’ll be backpacking on The Lost Coast, a stretch of untouched coastline in Northern California. It should be cold, windy, rainy, and absolutely gorgeous. Don’t even act like you think I won’t take pictures. That’s just crazy.
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