Comments | dreams_of_wings: Lost in Boston

dreams_of_wings

Lost in Boston

May 25, 2007 18:11

Some time last week I ran into tahnan at the Diesel while Tish was being valiant and going home to get the car while it was pouring out. I was telling tahnan about Tish's car, Mata Hari, who is sleek and gray and has a talking GPS system which frequently rescues Tish from his own lack of a sense of direction.
"I wouldn't name a car Mata Hari" said tahnan. "You'd ( Read more... )

adventures

Comments 12

sweetbenny May 25 2007, 22:22:30 UTC

Twice in the last year German drivers have turned off of roads and strait into buildings. When questioned why they both answered, "I was simply following orders."

cos May 25 2007, 23:52:08 UTC

Source?

hauntmeister May 26 2007, 02:05:45 UTC

Just a joke based on national stereotypes, I expect. But these problems are real, because people just expect computers to be infallible. Here's a real, documented, case:

A 20-year-old student's car was wrecked by a train after she followed her sat nav system onto a railway track.

Paula Ceely, was driving her Renault Clio from Redditch, Worcestershire, to see her boyfriend at his parents' home in Carmarthenshire for the first time.

She was trying to cross the line in the dark when she heard a train horn, realised she was on the track, and the train smashed into the car.
Sat nav driver's car hit by train. BBC News, Friday, 11 May 2007.

sweetbenny May 27 2007, 00:47:57 UTC

No joke... bu I heard it on "Wait, Wait... don't tell me" so I can't cite a source.

Besides, I don't have to cite sources anymore... I'm done with grad school :)

mzrowan May 25 2007, 23:14:09 UTC

Clearly she saw an opportunity to eliminate her rival. ;-)

lightcastle May 26 2007, 06:10:31 UTC

That was my reaction.

igrrrl May 26 2007, 02:14:38 UTC

My brother had one of those in a rental car when he was very jet lagged. It had him u-turning to go in circles in front of his hotel... Plus, with the Big Dig, I don't trust that kind of thing in downtown Boston. The terrain is still a changing thing.

radtea May 26 2007, 02:46:33 UTC

which frequently rescues Tish from his own lack of a sense of direction.

But in Boston a sense of direction is a deficit. Boston is like the anti-Los Angeles: staid, liveable, intellectual, and unbelievably hideous to drive in. It's worse than San Francisco and Vancouver put together, and that's saying something.

empty_fork May 26 2007, 20:50:22 UTC

which talking gps system? if it's OnStar I want to tell the voice actor about her adventures.