The reason the PIT maneuver works is physics. Cars are typically heavier on the front end, steer from the front, drive from the rear, and the tires are ‘stationary’ in reference to the ground so they are using the coefficient of static friction rather than the coefficient of kinetic friction (an aside, if you’re trying to use a pickup line on an engineer, hit them with the 'ole ‘Is there ever a case where the coefficient of kinetic friction is greater than that of static friction? No? Then the hardest part of this conversation is over, eh?’).

What that means is everything is in favor of the car using its front end to push the rear end to the side. The front tires are turned in the direction of travel, so they have the static friction still going in a manner less likely to lose it. The rear tires will lose the higher traction from the static friction and suddenly be ‘drifting’ as they switch to the friction forces using the kinetic friction coefficient, whereas even if the front tires were to momentarily lose traction, they wouldn’t have the driving force of the engine keeping them in the lower friction state. The heavier weight from the front is more likely to be able to push the lighter rear.

There is also another factor, slightly less important to the pit maneuver itself (the tactic) and more along the lines of the overall goals of the chasers and the runners (the strategy)… and as a matter of fact, why cops don’t typically use the pit maneuver much anymore. Even with the specialized bumpers they once had, damage to the cop’s car is pretty typical. Damage to the fleeing car is very likely, and damage to people that might be around is common. Cops nowadays are pretty happy to just chase you, keeping a moderate distance, until you make the mistake and wreck or give up, either on the car and try to flee on foot, or by heading towards what you think is a ‘safe’ spot. In fact, if they get a helicopter up, you might not even see the cops anymore as they maintain a distance back and turn off lights. That one is pretty rare, but it occasionally happens, and more often than a pit maneuver. Anyway. If you tried to ‘reverse pit’ them, you’d be slowly taking your one advantage away. They have a lot more cars than you. They can afford to take a little damage if it means slowing you down if you want to start playing the nascar bump game.

Mostly normal. There is some good research and theory about the topic out there. They refer to the trait as ‘self-monitoring’ and rank people as high or low in the trait. High self-monitors are “alert to social cues that suggest what they should do, and they are ready, willing, and able to tailor their behavior to fit in… low self-monitors are both less attentive to social norms and less flexible.”

High self monitors are activity specialists, who have friends for specific things, like a “ballet friend” or “tennis buddy,” and they avoid disputable topics.

There are a few trends that can be seen, with the high self-monitors having higher intimacy in relationships to start, but the relationships are less committed and shorter.

Some papers to look at: Nezlek & Leary, 2002; Fuglestad & Snyder, 2009; Leone & Hawkins, 2006; Snyder & Simpson, 1984; Wright et al., 2007). Quotes from Miller, 2012

I negotiate boundaries with people individually.

Yeah, I think you nailed it there. I am perfectly happy talking about certain parts of my life with certain individuals, while completely walling off those parts with others.

There’s a part of me that wonders if the reason young adult books always seem poorly written now is that I no longer care about teenage drama concerning high school relationships. I could see a greedy executive having a similar thought and throwing in an adult character.

Americans are complacent. Part of it is living paycheck to paycheck, and part of it is that the bread and circuses have quite a few psychological tricks and chemical boosts to make them much more addictive than anything the romans could have dreamed of.

That “push hard” bit will need to be as extreme as the bombing campaign against the vietnamese was in order to get any action.

There are a lot of fates that are terrible. Deportation is hell, but so is a life where your ‘potential’ (with all of the baggage of that word) is never realized, especially if it’s because opportunities are now denied you.

I think the numbers aren’t even universal when comparing states or countries. As soon as you see the other car’s lights is as good of a rule as any. I actually know the numbers for my area, and it’s not like I use them to calculate when to turn them off.

It’s only fun if you don’t get caught. They say juvenile records are sealed, but you’d be amazed how much it can fuck up your life.

Let’s go further than that. If you know that you will be killed if you don’t resist, and you will certainly be killed if you resist while they’ve already started… maybe you shouldn’t lie down and not resist, and you definitely shouldn’t let them start in the first place.

People are being murdered in broad daylight as a routine matter now, and all minnesota can do is have people turn out in the cold.

Maybe it was just the size of the convention center (30 foot ceilings, holy volumes of air, batman!), but that was my experience as well.

Four in sight. Wasn’t there that video recently with about 10 for a target clerk?

Read it. Enjoyed it. I felt the ending needed something more to flesh it out or be connected to something earlier.

Hey! We agreed that in public his name is bob! Don’t disrespect bob. In public.

Eh… gimme a 2,3; a 2,2; a 1,3; aaaand, why not, a 1,2.

I think it’s more that baseball has slowly become an ‘elite’ sport, and republicans (who have their cultural image shaped by elites) want to be elite. Rich kids can definitely still pursue baseball as an alternative to polo. Meanwhile, basketball is still viewed as a sport where you can go to that basketball hoop at the park, work your way up from a kid through school trying hard, and make it (even if basketball players now have the same ‘academy’ style training facilities that they came from just like baseball has had for a few decades). I have at least one acquaintance who did the whole ‘traveling high school team’ thing for basketball now.

The image still in people’s head though, is of charles barkley and (shit I can’t remember his name) the other houston rocket guy who played at their local community center before playing for the rockets. The center still had their pictures and stories up on the wall when I was last in houston. It still feels like people come from that path. Contrast that with my acquaintance from high school who eventually played pro baseball where it was more something along the lines of: moved to a high school with an elite, known team; went to a baseball trainer after school; played in the amateur, organized leagues outside of school; had parents arrange meetings with scouts, coaches at colleges, and toured each program; played in college; kept going to a trainer during college; then finally went to amateur/pro baseball.

Interesting. I know japan has that weird kfc-at-christmas because of the successful ad campaign, but it’s always korean fried chicken that I hear about being special.

I think the people at the top are supposed to represent the ideal that the side wants. Republican farters want women in dresses and men in suits (likely doing business), where the democrats want, I guess, casual friday? It’s accurate for the red dicks, at least.

There are soldiers who can describe standing guard over growing poppies. Americans heard the old saying about left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing and decided to add modern weapons to the mix.

Aye, this is one of those weird things that I’ve noticed. The conversations somehow broadcast outside the vehicle much louder than music. Something about how voice calls are handled by the sound system is different, whether it’s volume boosting or something else.