Car Horns

They can keep them in their cars.

Horns continue honking.

I stayed in a small town of 300,000 about two hours outside of a big city and there was one main road. The town had been selected as some kind of development area so they were getting upgrades. The main road was lit up as bright as the Las Vegas strip at night, which is good for auto safety, but on a perfectly straight, level road, a few less watts would be okay. Anyway, you can get shades for your windows; it's good for the local economical.

The taxis were the only cars in town. It was so early in the upgrade process that even the local officials didn't have private cars. And can you guess what the taxis did while they were driving down a perfectly straight, level, wide road, lit up like the light side of the moon at 3 AM? They honked all the way down the street. Nice, loud, intermittent and irregular blasts every couple of seconds, all the way down the street, all night long. Come 4:30 or 5:00 am, people began opening their loud, metal, rolling security doors. Earplugs don't quite do the trick.

It reminds me of Peter Hessler's first book about life in a small town in Sichuan, where the taxi drivers had horn buttons on the top of their gear shifts they actuated with their thumbs and tooted constantly.

But more, there's a diabolical insistence on urban designs that forces cars and pedestrians into the same space...you'll find a system of gates and guards that make cars and people use literally the same entry way.

The university where I worked for four years has over 20,000 students and a main gate with about 10 parking spaces, with absolutely zero public parking inside. Wait, they made some nice, new basketball courts recently with about 8 parking spaces at the back of the uni.

Every time there's a graduation or a major event, they allow people to drive their cars into the uni and park wherever they like, which is fine 'cause there are wide roads inside that can accommodate cars that are parallel parked. There are no signs anywhere to indicate if a certain section allows or disallows parking. Every time this happens, there are cars that park in places that are decided by the guards hours later to be incorrect and they slap boots on them and then you have to pay the guards a couple of hundred yuan to get them removed.

These are guards who run the front gate like Checkpoint Charlie on the Berlin Wall. They force 20,000 students coming and going each day through a gap that's less than two meters wide, and that includes bicycle traffic.

And they want China to develop a consumer culture? WHEN THEY BUY ALL THE THINGS, WHERE ARE THEY GOING TO PUT THEM?!

Maybe they can keep things in their cars, like rolling storage units.

There is nothing to be done about taxi drivers. They are miserable thieving thugs with their eyes on a prize that has little to do with urban infrastructure and more to do with ruthlessly horrible work conditions imposed by their bosses. We might as well ask teamsters to be nice.

But nouveau private car owners.... that's a different story. They are right now building the inadequate and intrusive owner/driver culture that China will be joyously own for the rest of her modern history.

I find it instructive, in a depressing and uninteresting way, to observe that, around here, the people doing all that are teachers.


Every month or so there are collisions inside the campus. One slow moving vehicle rams another and crushes a fender then everyone stands around with their telephones. Every accident occurs where people walk. I mean that literally. Every day, because there is no other path between dormitory, village, and classroom, people put their feet and bodies where cars crush one another.

I am unsure why Chinese universities set themselves up for lawsuits this way. Perhaps because there are no lawsuits.

Not sure if it's

or

but I'm sure you'll say

As a scientist, I have noted a trend in your posts lately:

Loud dogs at night

Incessant car horns

And an exorbitant number of screaching pidgeons

You don't like noise or you're easily pissed off
Me: I'm both

Yodelling neighbours too.

I used to think it was a music teacher, but it's not. IT"S MUSIC STUDENTS! Some teacher does extra tuition at home. Teacher goes ding on the piano and the student hollers out the same note. It is not in the least bit beautiful nor musical. When these basketball player sized girls actually sing, though how they can with jeans that tight and heels that high, they sound great... and very much reduced in volume.


And for the love of jessu in his baby crib, A DRUMMER! THERE'S A GIODDAMN DRUMMER SOMEWHERE AROUND HERE! The only good thing about Chinese drummers is they can't keep it up. This supposed musician does 45 second solos and then takes a break.

One of my buddies has lion dancing "drummers" next to him. How would you like such people practicing the same riff for 30-60 minutes every day?

Good thing you aren't in Japan: Taiko Drummers

While I'm sure it's true I could be suffering more than I am, I shall not be encouraging such discussion for FEAR OF ALERTING THE GODS WHO SHOULD PREFERABLY STAY SLEEPING!

Meanwhile, rain seems to be the answer. A tropical downpour seems quite to stem the noise-making instincts of the local population. Perhaps there is some yin/yang action at work.

Doubly auspicious rainfall.

Ladles and jelly beans,

we should pay more attention to what happens on campuses. Teachers are the quintessential middle class. They're ones who embody the stability pact with the government: the gov gets to stay in power and the middle class gets to have things. And what these model citizens do now is where the future society comes from.

And we, by the way, are them too.



Meanwhile, there is no law granting drivers extra rights, is there? That'd be a bizarre way to run an urban environment, but the horns seem to indicate a belief in some extra privilege. Or are they just not aware of systems outside their own comfort?

Meanwhile, there is no law granting drivers extra rights, is there? That'd be a bizarre way to run an urban environment, but the horns seem to indicate a belief in some extra privilege. Or are they just not aware of systems outside their own comfort?

On the other hand (I have 5 fingers and) there's another viewpoint. Drivers ARE quite limited as to the privileges allotted. A car horn for some is their only tool, be it a weapon, siren, warning, or toy.

Not endorsing nor justifying, just giving 'em the facts ma'am. Personally, I'd like to rig a big fat greaseless dildo so that when they use the horn they will know it!
 

If horns are outlawed, only outlaws will have horns.

In fact, there's a pretty good case for horns as home defense. Keep a bullhorn by the bed, and attach sirens to window bars. Hell, make doorbells that toot! Personal horns could be carried at all times. If you and old nainai are approaching the kitchen doorway at the same time, whip out a horn and let the old cow know you're there. "OH," she'll yell, "I DIDN"T SEE YOU THERE! I"M SO GLAD YOU HAD THE FORETHOUGHT AND KINDNESS TO TAMADE HONK AT ME INSIDE MY OWN HOUSE, WHY DON'T YOU GO ON AHEAD OF ME>"


I wouldn't though. She'd have her own horn at the ready.

I wouldn't though. She'd have her own horn at the ready.

Guess she's horny too.   

Whole different thread 

Revel in the beauty:

http://www.soundboard.com/sb/Car_Horn_Sounds


Car horns! In Your Own HOUSE!


You know what... I'm putting those sounds on my phone.

Sweet jesus, there's already apps on Google Play.

One of my neighbors is learning to use a Chinese zither.  The first time I heard her practicing, she'd play for a moment and stop, over and over.  At first, I thought someone was watching Kung Fu Hustle with the sound turned way up.

She's actually getting pretty good at it now.

At first, I thought someone was watching Kung Fu Hustle with the sound turned way up.

You owe me a new laptop. I snorted milk tea all over my keyboard. Thanks. Thanks a lot.