Government As The Blob
I saw on my phone the other day that I could ride-share on Uber for $5. Well, I could -- if I didn't get carsick from going more than a short distance and a few turns. (Working on that, and no, I don't have a brain tumor, BPPV, or Meniere's Disease, thanks!)
Anyway, how crazy is it that paid carpooling is actually in need of being legalized in California? Reason's Adrian Moore (@reasonpolicy) tweets that it's "anti-capitalism run amok."
At the LA Times, Tracy Lien writes that a new CA bill could legalize paid carpooling:
Carpooling is one of the most popular services transport network companies like Uber, Lyft and Sidecar offer, but it faces a problem. Under California law, paid carpooling is prohibited.Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) is hoping to change that.
Introducing AB 1360 on Monday, Ting said the bill would change a Californian law written in 1961 that doesn't allow passengers in a commercial ride to each be charged separately for sharing the ride.
"We have long encouraged public transit and carpooling to reduce traffic and air pollution," Ting said. "We cannot extend this mindset to ride-sharing without changing a 50-year-old law predating the Internet."
..."[The bill] accomplishes what needs to be done, which is allowing multiple people to share a vehicle that are heading in the same direction," said Lyft's director of public affairs, David Mack. "I think there's going to be pretty swift adoption of it."
I'm guessing that there are lobbyists who will wake up and come out against it -- just like they are for the automakers, in trying to stop gearheads from working on their own cars.
"Introducing AB 1360 on Monday, Ting said the bill would change a Californian law written in 1961 that doesn't allow passengers in a commercial ride to each be charged separately for sharing the ride."
That doesn't keep a cabbie from getting 4 fares for carrying 4 sailors from SAN to the naval base. It's not prosecuted.
Radwaste at April 22, 2015 5:57 AM
I don't understand why shared rides like airport vans are considered legal in CA. Maybe they aren't.
Whether the cabbie isn't prosecuted, he could be. That's what's dangerous. Laws can be used.
I just had the cops come to my house, banging on the doors, windows and gates and using a loudspeaker like it was a SWAT raid. I wouldn't let them in. Not without a warrant. Oh, my "offense"? My parked car got hit by a careless jerk while I was not in it. This careless jerk could have requested my ID under CA law when I requested hers, but she did not. Not my problem. I'm not volunteering it when you hit MY car. I think she got on the phone with Daddy, who told her she needed my info. (Why, I have no idea -- I did nothing to her. I just stood on the sidewalk and watched her "blam!" -- hit my car.) Anyway, the police came out like I was a hit and run driver. One whose car remains parked in front of her house and who strolls into her gate, hiding where she lives not at all. Hit and stroll? This was for under $750 damage, which makes it not their purview. (I'm getting a check for $661.) But they were all hot to get me to come out. If there's some way they can declare you guilty of something to get you, they will.
Amy Alkon at April 22, 2015 6:47 AM
Don't know if this will work for you, but I radically cut down on my caffeine consumption, including no more coffee, and black tea. (I drink two to three cups of Japanese green tea a day)
I am a lot calmer, my blood pressure is lower.
And my motion sickness is gone.
You might look into the possibility that caffeine and/or Adderal are causing it.
Isab at April 22, 2015 6:59 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2015/04/22/government_as_t.html#comment-5977686">comment from IsabYou might look into the possibility that caffeine and/or Adderal are causing it.
Thanks, I know you mean well, but random suggestions like this actually aren't helpful. In fact, amphetamines can help diminish motion sickness and are at the heart of the "Coast Guard Cocktail."
I seem to have a highly sensitive vestibular system and the otolaryngologist I went to at Kaiser thinks it's possible that my sitting at home and working on the book day after day and not going out -- both due to work schedule and how nobody wants to pay for writing anymore (or pay reasonably) -- have caused my vestibular system to be out of practice at dealing with motion in cars, etc.
Amy Alkon at April 22, 2015 9:17 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2015/04/22/government_as_t.html#comment-5977690">comment from Amy AlkonPS It bugs me that people seem to like to go after Adderall as a cause of things.
PPS Thomas Stoffregen, a motion sickness researcher, believes there's sexual dimorphism in motion sickness, finding some evidence that women are more prone to it and it may be connected to estrogen levels.
Amy Alkon at April 22, 2015 9:19 AM
"not going out"
Us guys evolved to go out and kill things and I don't think you gals evolved to stay in the cave.
Dave B at April 22, 2015 11:56 AM
PS It bugs me that people seem to like to go after Adderall as a cause of things.
PPS Thomas Stoffregen, a motion sickness researcher, believes there's sexual dimorphism in motion sickness, finding some evidence that women are more prone to it and it may be connected to estrogen levels.
Posted by: Amy Alkon Author Profile Page at April 22, 2015 9:19 AM
I am not "going after" anything. One other thing that I did recently was to cut out Benadryl. ( it was making my allergies worse)
Don't know which of these did the trick, but I have found that every single medication, even over the counter ones have side effects, and they are different for everyone.
If estrogen was the cause, I should have been sicker in my 20's than in my late fifties. That was not the case.
Everything is a trade off.
Some medical web sites seem to suggest that caffeine and alcohol both aggravate motion sickness.
But if you would prefer Scopolamine, ( which I can't tolerate ) knock yourself out.
Isab at April 22, 2015 2:40 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2015/04/22/government_as_t.html#comment-5978294">comment from IsabEstrogen-related doesn't mean high estrogen necessarily.
Amy Alkon at April 22, 2015 6:51 PM
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