Short Takes Short Takes (June 29, 2005)

Dude, get out of my car

Sometimes, it must be tough having a mom who's a legislator. State Sen. Jackie Speier is pushing a bill that would extend the six-month probation period for 16-year-old drivers to a full year. During the probationary period, teen drivers with provisional licenses aren't allowed to have other teens as passengers.

Sen. Speier's bill, which just made it out of committee, would also increase traffic fines and require that a special, provisional driver placard be displayed.

"Teens are losing their lives at an alarming rate, not from disease or suicide, but in driving accidents," she said.

Oh, and Sen. Speier has a 16-year-old son who just started driving.
Canadians among us

Houses are cheap, jobs are plentiful, and the pay is in loonies. Silicon Valley was the target of a recruiting drive trying to lure technology professionals to Ontario's Waterloo region, "one of Canada's hottest technology centers."

The hosts, The Digital Moose Lounge and Waterlootechjobs.com, threw a Canada Day bash at Huddart Park in Woodside on Sunday touting plenty of beer, a rousing sing-along of "O Canada," and a host of recruiters for top tech firms located in our neighbor to the north.

Mentioned in the press materials were the area's top-flight universities, copious outdoor recreation opportunities and affordable housing. No mention was made about the weather.
Quote of the week

"It must have been a sentimental experience for him, all that shouting out there in the street." -- Palo Alto Weekly Editor Jay Thorwaldson, upon hearing that Robert McNamara, former secretary of defense in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, was at the Stanford Park Hotel at the about the same time as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and about 1,000 anti-Arnold protesters last week. Mr. McNamara is considered a prime architect of U.S. Vietnam policy.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.