Driving Test

If you still want to take one more trip this summer - say over the Labor Day weekend - here's a site that will help you figure out how much to set aside for gas money.

At Drive Pricing you plug in your starting location, your destination, your ZIP code, approximately how many miles per gallon your vehicle gets, and tell the computer if it's a one-way or round trip.

The program spits back your total miles, the average gas price between locations, and about how much you'll need to spend on gas for that trip. It also uses Google Maps to give you directions, if you need those.

Pretty nifty.

+++

FROM THE PITTSBURGH DRIVING TEST

7. The car directly in front of you has a flashing right tail light but a steady left tail light. This means:

a) one of the tail lights is broken; you should blow your horn
b) the driver is signaling a right turn
c) the driver is signaling a left turn
d) the driver is from out of town

The correct answer is (d). Tail lights are used in some foreign countries to signal turns.

8. Pedestrians are:

a) irrelevant
b) communists
c) a nuisance
d) difficult to clean off the front grille

The correct answer is (a). Pedestrians are not in cars, so they are totally irrelevant to driving; you should ignore them completely.

[first seen in Daniel Galvin's Thought for the Day; apologies to anyone who lives in Pittsburgh. Anybody have the first six questions?]

+++

WORD for YOUR WEEK: Today's word is, in fact, an example of its very definition. "Amalgam" is a mixture of words, from French, Latin, Arabic and Greek. In Greek, "malagma" was a softening agent, and in Arabic, "al-malgham" meant "the ointment." So a soft ointment, or in this case, a soft metal combination, usually of mercury and some other metal. The most common definition of "amalgam," however, is simply "a mixture of diverse elements." As in, "Mark's Musings is an amalgam of commentary, unique website recommendations, jokes and humor, personal news, meditative pieces, and even Scripture."

+++

Mark's Musings is also sent each weekday via email and once you pass your test, get your own subscription for free by clicking here.