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<\/a><\/p>\nI posted this photo on Instagram, where a representative of The Thing? commented, saying he hoped we had a good time there. I answered, saying we did indeed. No reason to tell him we only stayed a minute, just long enough to take\u00a0a selfie in the parking lot.<\/p>\n
Out of pride, I almost told him The Thing? inspired the name and design of my blog<\/a>, but then thought better of it. Why invite a cease & desist letter?<\/p>\n In 2004, when I decided to name my new blog “Paul’s Thing,” I Googled it and discovered two previously-existing\u00a0sites with the same name. Both were personal blogs, and both were inactive: one was just a blank page with Paul’s Thing at the top; the other had a single post dated sometime in 1999. Neither had a copyright notice, so I took the name (after all, I did think of it by myself, before I knew about the older blogs). I Googled it again this morning: the old blogs are gone and this is now the only Paul’s Thing on the internet. Here, you can see for yourself<\/a>.<\/p>\n I’m still waiting for the more famous Paul Woodford, a British motorsports promoter and YouTube personality, to come after me for my Twitter handle, which is @paulwoodford<\/a>.\u00a0I joined Twitter a year before he did, so the handle’s mine by seniority\u2014he had to settle for @paulwoodford84<\/a>. Even though, as a courtesy to him, I later changed my display name from “Paul Woodford” to “Rogue Lead,” the other Paul Woodford’s fans tweet me all the time, thinking I’m him. I used to forward their tweets to him, but it got to be too much and I eventually quit. I assume he knows who I am; I certainly know who he is!<\/p>\n Just for grins, here’s my very first Paul’s Thing post<\/a>, from January 23, 2004. It’s about motorcycling (what a surprise), and refers to\u00a0a South Dakota politician (now dead) who killed a motorcyclist<\/a>, a pretty famous case in motorcycling circles at the time:<\/p>\n Janklow’s Sentence<\/strong><\/p>\n … seems about right to me.<\/em><\/p>\n Riders on the motorcycling e-mail lists I monitor are seething with indignation over Mr. Janklow and what they perceive as a slap-on-the-hand sentence for second-degree manslaughter. But the sentence seems about right to me\u2014after all, he wasn\u2019t convicted of murder, nor did he commit murder. If I thought he\u2019d received special treatment from the judge I\u2019d feel differently\u2014but I think Mr. Janklow got the same sentence you or I would have received in similar circumstances.<\/p>\n The AMA (American Motorcyclist Association) is lobbying states for mandatory minimum sentencing in cases where motorists are convicted of killing motorcyclists. I\u2019m opposed to mandatory sentencing guidelines in general\u2014I think the \u201cthree-strike\u201d laws were a terrible mistake, and this would be a mistake as well.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s certainly true that far too many motorists receive little or no punishment for injuring and killing bikers. There\u2019s no doubt in my half-a-mind this can be chalked up to anti-biker prejudices held by cops, prosecuting attorneys, and judges. And I don\u2019t know what can be done to reverse those prejudices.<\/p>\n The AMA is taking, perhaps, the only viable approach\u2014remove prejudice from the equation with mandatory sentencing rules. Sort of the same approach the military took toward race relations\u2014you may not be able to change hearts and minds, but by imposing strict rules and harsh penalties, you can sure as hell change behavior.<\/p>\n Which is to say that while I don\u2019t support the AMA\u2019s \u201ckill a biker, go to jail\u201d campaign, I\u2019m not opposing it either.<\/p>\n What I wish is that we had a doctrine of professionalism. We\u2014Americans, our law enforcement officials, our judges\u2014don\u2019t take driving seriously. You can get away with \u201cOops, I didn\u2019t see him.\u201d If we took driving seriously this would never fly\u2014what the hell are you doing operating a vehicle if you aren\u2019t looking out for other drivers and obstacles? And so it would be, were I king of the world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And for even more grins, my first tweet:<\/p>\n
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