The PT Cruiser

I had a trip to Las Vegas this last week for a work related conference. Since this conference was held at a library and not close to any of the usual tourist spots, I rented a car. It ended up being a PT Cruiser.

I've always thought the old car style appearance of the PT Cruiser was cool. I still think it looks nice. In no way do I ever want to own one, though.

The PT Cruiser feels spacious enough in terms of width, but my head was too close to the ceiling for my comfort, and I am only 5'10". I tried adjusting the seat a few times but could never get something that felt just right for me. The pedals felt too far away though in reality, they were just fine. The automatic shift stick and parking brake lever seemed farther away from my reach than I am used to in other cars. I had to get used to the positioning of the automatic window controls (just over the radio) and the fact that the radio remains on even after you turn off the car and remove the key. In addition to all of that, the PT Cruiser does not feel very powerful. I felt like I was on one of the car rides at Disneyland where you have to push the pedal down to the floor to get the car to move. While the PT Cruiser was not at that extreme, I did have to push the pedal pretty far to get the car to speed up. I do not have that issue with my Corolla.

At least I only had to deal with the car for one day.

A United Nations of Religion

The Buddhist Dalai Lama is gathering with Muslim leaders from around the world at an anti-terror summit, looking to promote peace and unity in that message. The article states nothing of other religions showing up to take part, but I hope they do. Toss aside this silliness of "one true religion" and work with each other to help bring about what we need on this planet.

AT&T Helps National Security Agency Monitor Citizen Communications?

This Wired article mentions a lawsuit that the Electronic Frontier Foundation has created against AT&T, accusing them of providing the National Security Agency with full access to its customers' phone calls and internet traffic.

I know I already felt uncomfortable enough with the phone companies starting to reform back into the AT&T giant; this has started to make me look at changing ISPs.