A Speeding Ticket

In this episode, A Speeding Ticket . . .

This week I wanted to share an exciting bit of trivia from one of my online subscription newsletters, Interesting Facts that you might enjoy. Have you ever gotten a speeding ticket? Did you know that the first-ever speeding ticket was issued to a driver going 8 miles an hour?

Walter Arnold probably didn’t think he’d be making history when he took his “horseless carriage” for a spin through the humble English village of Paddock Wood in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England, on January 28, 1896. But make history he did — by traveling at a blinding pace of 8 miles per hour on the main thoroughfare. And while you may find it difficult to believe that a bicycle-riding constable was able to catch up to him, the low-speed pursuit led to Arnold paying the first-ever speeding ticket.

The story has it, speeding wasn’t all he was charged with. Arnold was cited on four accounts: using a “locomotive without a horse” (the nerve!) and on a public road, operating said contraption with fewer than three people, failing to display his name and address on that absolute manifestation of speed, and, finally, traveling at a higher velocity than 2 miles per hour.

Arnold, one of England’s first car dealers, was driving a Benz that fateful day and paid more than $300 in today’s money for his quartette of criminality. However, a few months later, he began marketing his own Arnold Motor Carriage to the public, a variant on the very Benz he was driving. Whether the whole thing was a publicity stunt or mere coincidence has never been proven.

There you have it. Be reminded that anything outside the norm is subject to criticism within the law. I would not suggest driving so slowly these days, especially on a freeway; you too will get a speeding ticket.

I’m Patrick Ball; thanks for listening; see you in the next episode.

Comments

Back to School (Without the Triple Lindy)

I hadn’t set foot inside a public library in over thirty years. Last Saturday, when I walked through the sliding doors of the modern County of San Diego branch on Eucalyptus Avenue in Vista, my eyes instinctively scanned the floor for the familiar, comforting sight of varnished oak cabinets and brass pull-handles. Nothing . No card catalog. No little wooden drawers. No rows of index cards typed by someone who presumably had beautiful penmanship and a pension. I walked up to the front desk, looked the librarian dead in the eye, and asked with complete earnestness: "Where’s the card catalog?" She didn’t laugh, though she had every right to. Instead, she offered a warm, dry smile: "We magically had the computer digest it." And just like that, I was enrolled. Not the Rodney Dangerfield kind of back-to-school. No diving board, no loud blazer, no campus party, and thankfully, no need to convince anyone I belonged there. Just an overdue reminder that while I was busy with ...

Beyond Facts-The Deep Dive

✨ In this episode, Beyond Facts: Reimagining School–in the Age of AI . . . This week's podcast is a bit different; it's another example of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can offer tools to creatively enhance your analytical presentation of information. We took this week's blog and copied it into Gemini with the question, “If a story is to work, it must, on some level, create an illusion of escape and also achieve a goal simultaneously. Does this apply to my blog post that follows?” What's created is not just an analysis of the writing, but an AI-generated discussion produced “On the Fly” - Enjoy! Did you know that the word "school" comes from the ancient Greek word scholē , which originally meant "leisure"? Not a rigid schedule or droning lectures filled with "facts," but free time for thinking and conversation. To the Greeks, learning happened best when life slowed down—when you had room to reflect, to ask questions, and to wrestle ...

The Rhythm of the Woodpecker

The morning in Vista often begins under a heavy, gray marine layer that rolls in from the coast, pressing a damp, muffled stillness over the neighborhood. At 4:30 a.m., the driveways are still full. The local commuters are either blissfully unconscious or stumbling blindly toward their showers, clinging desperately to their last shred of peace before the nine-to-five grind claims them for the day. I, on the other hand, am voluntarily wide awake in the dark. When your agenda consists of absolutely nothing, it is critical to get an early start. Inside the house, the quiet is profound, broken only by the sharp, mechanical click of the kettle as it reaches a rolling boil. I stand at the counter, watching the dark ground coffee bloom as hot water hits the French press's stainless steel. The smell is sudden and heavy—a deep, roasted-earth aroma that cuts through the morning fog. I push against the plunger’s gritty resistance, pouring a cup that radiates dark, stinging heat against my pal...

How to Horrify a Professional Skeptic

Today’s " Professional Skeptic" knows exactly how retirement is supposed to unfold: you lose your job, your identity, and your purpose. Within months, you're complaining about restaurant portions and detailing your blood pressure to strangers in line at the post office. For a generation distrustful of leaders, convinced the future is a rigged game, a peaceful retirement is an outdated myth. The working world expects you to stay “on the hook.” Former bosses are quick to ask, “Can we call you? What are your consulting fees?” So, just for fun, picture a deeply suspicious, invisible observer lurking in my kitchen. Let's call him Captain Content. The Captain doesn't wear a top hat or wring bony fingers. Instead, imagine a younger guy glued to his smartphone, heavily caffeinated, and entirely convinced the system is broken. He live-streams my morning routine to his echo chamber while on a conference call with 48 attendees on his second phone, waiting for the inevitabl...

On The Fly

Search This Blog