Chicago's Magical Piano - What a beautiful, heartwarming, at times funny and other times revealing video!

You're on Candid Camera!



Surprises throughout.

And for the back story, check out Andrew Blendermann/Blenderful Music, beginning November 30th.

Pretty amazing . . .

Perhaps you've seen this picture before? . . . At least one like it:

It always amazed me how relaxed these high-steel "skywalkers" were when in their element. No safety harnesses. Totally relaxed.

Of course, people--the building developers, general contractors, as well as most of the workers--pretty much assumed and accepted that one or two men (or possibly more) would die on every construction job. Those were "just" the risks you had to accept. It was a risky profession. (Interesting case study on the subject available here. Also well worth reading: High Steel by Jim Rasenberger. See, especially, places like p. 247 where you find stories of the workers' own opposition to safety regulations.)

I could continue down that path, but that wasn't, actually, the reason I wanted to show this picture. The reason I wanted to show this picture is . . . well, please take another look.

Anything bother you visually about it? If not, it should.

The photo has been manipulated. Can you discern how and where?

Besides being flipped (notice that all four guys are "lefties"), there's something else "wrong." Indeed, impossible.

Take your time. You'll get it.

See it?

It's an impossible object like the Penrose Triangle or Devil's Tuning Fork:

. . . --the kind of thing M.C. Escher specialized in.

But now in photos?!?

. . . The problem is, I can't figure out how the manipulator did this (I'm assuming it's a him, though, of course, it's a possibility a woman might do such a thing. But, for some reason, I get the feeling this is the kind of thing men do more often than women). . . .

Okay.

Here's the original:

Perhaps I need to flip the manipulated image back and then superimpose the two photos so I can discern what is going on. . . .

Hope you had fun!

What happens to the bottom of a dangled slinky when you let go at the top?

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Why and how can this be true?







And, finally,



. . . If you want to extend your experiments in falling objects, check out this experiment:



. . . and the answer--totally unexpected to me:



Can anyone offer a better/clearer explanation than the narrator provides (beginning at 1:28)? ". . . The tension required to accelerate the chain up actually pulls down on the weight, accelerating it at a rate greater than the acceleration due to gravity." (????!!!!)

And now for some hilarity . . .

Sorry. I can't help it.

I mentioned a few weeks ago Michael Quinion's World Wide Words. I am still fascinated by his discussions of words' provenances. But for me, the highlight of the newsletter is "Sic!" in which he and his readers point out strange and humorous headlines or turns of phrase in news stories. A collection from the last month's worth of newsletters.

Particularly humorous after yesterday's event in our family: "Miranda Kerr returns to the Victoria's Secret catwalk after giving birth in a $2.5 million diamond studded bra." ("Gosh, that's a bit dressy for giving birth!" wrote the woman who noticed the headline.)

"Headline of the week!" announced Howard Sinberg, in reference to one over a story dated 9 November on the website of WDSU in New Orleans: "Unmarried Couples Find Divorce Difficult."

"I'd like to see them take it away!" Colin Hall remarked, having read the What's News section of the Wall Street Journal dated 2 November: "The president-elect of Kyrgyzstan said the U.S. should leave its air base there when the lease expires in 2014."

I didn't know the University of Colorado was that old," commented Jeff Brandt about a story of 14 November from the Alaska Dispatch: "The buckle ... was found inside an excavation of a 1,000-year-old Inupiat house that had been dug into a beach ridge at Cape Espenberg by a team from the University of Colorado at Boulder."

On 21 November, a story in the New York Times (noted by Jim Conroy) stated that "Cities like Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and San Juan, P.R., have started to fly to Havana in recent months."

John Eliot Spofford reports that the online Newswire edition of Trains magazine for 28 November had this headline for an article about the Metro-North commuter train service for New York City: "Metro-North unveils plan to improve winter interruptions."

A report on ABC News on 30 November about a lawsuit contained a typo (since corrected): "It was filed in the Philadelphia Court of Common Please." Robert Wake wondered if there might be a counterbalancing Court of Thank You.

And then, finally, this wonderful ironical paragraph of advice about how to speak (or write) effectively. Quoted from Notes and Queries, 11 February 1893:

Let your conversation possess a clarified conciseness, compacted comprehensibleness, coalescent consistency, and a concatenated cogency. Eschew all conglomerations of flatulent garrulity, jejune babblement, and asinine affectations. Let your extemporaneous descantings and unpremeditated expatiations have intelligibility, without rhodomontade or thrasonical bombast. Sedulously avoid all polysyllabical profundity, pompous prolixity, and ventriloquial vapidity. Shun double-entendre and prurient jocosity, whether obscure or apparent. In other words, speak truthfully, naturally, clearly, purely, but do not use large words.

Uh. Yeah.

Great video . . . even if I do say so myself

Sarita and I were blown away by what several staff members at Sonlight put together. We had to laugh out loud. How did they do this with straight faces and such apparent conviction?



In case you're interested and missed the URL: go to www.sonlight.com/christmas.

Word fun

I just subscribed to a free fun newsletter that comes out once a week. It deals with words. (You can check it out at http://www.worldwidewords.org.)

This week's letter included the following stories I thought you would enjoy:

Topical Words: Plan B
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The news in Britain in recent weeks has been full of references to the notorious Plan A of the Chancellor, George Osborne. He said last year that his scheme for improving the country's finances was the only one needed. Last December, the Treasury insisted that "There is no Plan B", which shows signs of becoming a sarcastic catchphrase. A hundred economists published an open letter in the Observer last Sunday in an attempt to change Osborne's mind, arguing that "It is now clear that plan A isn't working" and urging the government to adopt a plan B. This has been reinforced this week by similar calls from the Liberal Democrats, coalition partners in the government. Ed Balls, Osborne's Labour opposition counterpart, dismisses all such alphabetical labels: "Call it Plan A-plus. Call it Plan B. Call it Plan C. I don't care what they call it - Britain just needs a plan that works."

Observers of a logical bent might wonder, if Mr Osborne only ever expects to have a Plan A, why he bothered to assign a letter to it.
A British author had fun with this approach half a century ago:

"This is what I call 'pattern A'."
"And what is pattern B?" asked Ann Halsey.
"There won't be any pattern B."
"Then why bother with the A?"
"Preserve me from the obtuseness of women! I can call it
pattern A because I want to, can't I?"
"Of course, dear. But why do you want to?"
[The Black Cloud, by Fred Hoyle, 1959.]

To label alternatives with letters is now so fashionable as hardly to warrant much comment, even though to develop possibilities much beyond Plan C is either to suggest an over-controlling and anxious personality or strategies that contemplate extraordinary contingencies. Plan Z gets some attention, but usually as one so far down the list it can only be crackpottery. Even Plan B is more often a humorous comment on a Plan A that has proved impracticable ("we need a plan B", "time for plan B") than a serious potential alternative.

Legal documents have identified plans and drawings by letters for at least a couple of centuries. The origin of the figurative expression partly lies here, but more specifically in plans that illustrate alternative proposals for a development ("The scheme shown in Plan A for remodelling the house is more expensive than the alternative outlined in Plan B").

The Oxford English Dictionary has entries for both Plan A and Plan B which imply that they originate in the US. However, its earliest citation for Plan B - a letter sent during the Civil War in 1863 - turns out to refer to a physical plan or drawing. I have found a British example, from the Report of the proceedings of the Church Congress held in Cambridge in November 1861, where it refers to one of two proposals for a scheme to modify church taxes. The first known example of Plan A is currently from an equally improbable source - the 1867 Report of the US Commissioners to the Paris Universal Exposition of that year.

And

Sic!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The San Francisco Chronicle reported on a court case in its issue of
31 October, Jitze Couperus tells us: "A Florida widow who died in
the 2001 anthrax mailings has reached a tentative settlement in her
lawsuit against the U.S. government according to court filings."

Numeracy rules. Fred A Roth reports that a headline on Fox News on
27 October read "FOX NEWS POLL: More than three thirds of Americans
are dissatisfied with the way the U.S. is heading." It has since
been changed. So has the one Roy Zukerman spotted on the website of
the Los Angeles Times the same day: in an article about measuring
the size of the planetoid Eris when it passed in front of a star, it
stated that "Just three telescopes, both in Chile, managed to catch
the event."

Seen by Ian Harrison on an advertising sign placed by a well-known
local supermarket in Johannesburg: "Whole chicken pieces." How would
one tell?

"The ads down the side of Gmail," wrote Sarah Borowski, "are quite
often a source of amusement, such as this one, obviously aimed at
Jake the Peg: 'Get 3 For The Price Of 2 When You Shop Online With
Hotter Shoes!'"

That last one seemed to make sense, although I couldn't figure out what the reference to “Jake the Peg” might be.

But then I think I “got it.” One doesn't buy individual shoes. What will you do with three shoes for the price of two? . . . But a guy named Jake who has a peg leg might like the offer. . . .

Finally, I did a search online and it turns out there’s a song called “Jake the Peg” about a guy who was born with an extra leg:

The day that I was born, oh boy, my father nearly died.
He couldn't get my nappies on, no matter how he tried,
'Cause I was born with an extra leg, and since that day begun,
I had to learn to stand on my own three feet,
Believe me that's no fun. . . .

I had a dreadful childhood, really,
I s'pose I shouldn't moan,
Each time they had a three legged race,
I won it on my own.
And also I got popular,
When came the time for cricket,
They used to roll my trousers up,
And use me for the wicket. . . .

I was a dreadful scholar,
I found all the lessons hard,
The only thing I knew for sure was three feet make a yard.
To count to ten I used my fingers,
If I needed more,
By getting my shoes and socks off,
I could count to twenty-four.
(Pause...count: 1 2 3 4 5....) To twenty-five! . . .

Whatever I did they said was false,
They said 'Quick march,' I did a quick waltz.
Then they shouted at me 'Put your best foot forward.'
'But which foot?' I said.
'It's very fine for you, you only got a choice of two, but me!

And then I found a hilarious presentation of the song on YouTube . . . presented by Rolf Harris who adapted it from a Dutch song about "Ben van der Steen" (Ben of the Stone).

Fascinating word play video

Sorry. This video includes a few ideas that are worthy of a PG-13 rating (two that show from 0:58-1:04 and two more from about 2:08-2:16). But the overall creativity, I think, is worth the price of admission.

The concept: How can you illustrate a word using the letters that spell the word in English?

A few words require some pretty fancy manipulation. But most of them don't. Honestly, I don't understand why the author/artist flipped the one letter in "Van Gogh," for example. But see what you think:



My favorites include some of the early ones: Elevator and Horizon, for example. What are yours?

A unique vision

Daughter Amy has been posting some amazing descriptions of life on the farm--the gut-wrenching challenges as well as the joys. But in the middle of one of her posts, she mentioned some new photos they had taken of themselves and their farm.

I was astonished by the color . . . the vision . . . the photographer brought to the project. I mean, I have never seen Amy and Phil laugh the way the photographer got them to laugh (scroll down a bit).

And then I went to the second link Amy provided--to the series of photos that the photographer somehow took at her own wedding. How did she do that? Not only how did she get the pictures snapped, but . . . let me just say I have never seen someone use color, focus and light in such a sustainedly creative manner. Clearly, she has a unique photographic vision.

And I, for one, enjoy it!

VERY impressive.

Using fun in order to change behavior for good!

Loved this video.



Notice how people not only walked up the stairs, but many of them added extra steps and even jumped around? How much wonderful exercise did this little experiment add?

TheFunTheory.com includes several other examples of making good behavior fun. I'm afraid the pleasure would be so short-lived that the fun would soon disappear. For example, the "deepest bin," designed to encourage people to throw trash where it belongs rather than on the ground:



Or the bottle bank arcade:



However, some other ideas, I think would offer long-lasting rewards. For example, the speed camera lottery:



What are you aware of that you could do that would make something truly good and useful--but less than compelling--to be more fun . . . so people would want to do it?

Conversation overheard . . .

A Sonlight mom who makes herself known as Xzavan posted this story last week. I asked her for permission to reprint it here, which she granted. (Thank you, Xzavan!)

We were driving yesterday [with the kids]. Our SUV is set up so it's [my husband and me] in the front, the two oldest children in the bucket seats in the middle and the two youngest and their car seats in the back. [The youngest] often talk to each other as we are driving along.

4 year old: (grabbing a bag of snacks) Um, these are good. How many calories are in these? (asked in an official, I really need to know, I am going to do something with this information tone of voice).

3 year old: Um, about 14. (In a very authoritative, I know all the answers about this kind of voice).

4 year old: That's not a lot of calories. I can eat it. (Pops one in his mouth). I can eat more calories than you can, because if you eat too many calories, it makes you fat and I am "skinnybones." (His nickname given to him because you can literally count the child's ribs, he is just about 5 and weighs 27 pounds).

Continuing: You can't eat that many calories because you are not as skinny as I am. (said in a typical toddler telling the facts straight out, not mean way. You know, the kind of voice that they say "mom, that person is fat" in the grocery store.)

3 year old: I am not fat.

4 year old: No, you are not fat. But, if you eat too many calories, you get fat. You don't want to get too fat, because then you get sick.

3 year old: I'll just eat a little bit.

4 year old: Ok. You have to bite it and chew it up good. That way, when you swallow, it goes down your "soft gus" and hits your stomach good.

3 year old: (chewing and swallowing with caution) Yeah, cuz in your stomach, it gets all mashed up.

4 year old: Yep, and it mixes up with all the ancids. Ancids make the food go to the blood. you gotta chew it up really tiny, so that it gets into all the right places, and then the blood will take it all over the body, and your body can use it to make you really strong to kick a ball.

3 year old: No it doesn't. It goes to the "ah-testings."

4 year old: Oh, yeah, it goes to the "ah-testings" and the ah-testings squash it all up. They take out all the bad stuff. You gotta get rid of the bad stuff. But, then it goes to the blood. It's gotta go to the blood or else you can't kick the ball good. You'll be too weak.

3 year old: I know (in a tone of voice that conveys she does indeed know all there is to know on the subject).

4 year old: And the blood takes it to the brain, and you get super-smart, but you gotta eat good things because bad things don't make you smart.

3 year old: I'm smart. I can count to 100. One . . .

4 year old: Two . . .

3 year old: Three . . .

. . . and off to about 110, where they get bored and stop.

But our digestion conversation [or "teaching," the basis for these children's conversation that happened last week,] was about 5 months ago.

Ah! Homeschooling! I love it!

Back from Southeast Asia

My friend Mike wrote me on Facebook: "You've gone strangely silent. [Your] last post was Jan 10."

Thanks for noticing, Mike, and sorry not to have posted anything about what I've been up to.

Sarita and I left about noon on Wednesday, January 12th, for an almost-three-week tour of Southeast Asia. We flew from Denver to San Francisco, then, after a four- or five-hour layover, from San Francisco to Manila, Philippines, where we were forced to endure a seven-hour layover due to a missed connection, then on to Singapore, where we arrived Friday evening at about 6 (3 am Friday Denver time).

We spent Friday evening with friends, Saturday in Singapore, then boarded the Oceania M/S Nautica for a cruise up the coast of Southeast Asia--a one-day stop in Koh Samui, Thailand; two days in Bangkok; a one-day stop in Sihanoukville, Cambodia from which we drove by taxi four hours each way up to and back from Phnom Penh (pronounced p-nom pen), Cambodia's capital and the site of Tuol Sleng, the Genocide Museum of the Khmer Rouge; then on to Saigon (two days), Da Nang/Hoi An (one day), and Ha Long/Hanoi (two days), Vietnam; a day in Guangzhou/Canton, China, and, finally, two days in Hong Kong--from whence we returned home Monday, over the course of a 39-hour day, only about 24 of them being awake.

It was a most eye-opening experience; one of the most significant international trips of my life so far. I hope to share a lot about it over the next few weeks, assuming not too much else comes up to push my blogging aside.

I have much to say about what we saw and heard. I also did a bunch of reading of some very interesting books during the travel times and our approximately four sea days.

More about all of these matters in days to come.

For today, however, besides telling you where we've been, I thought I would give you a taste of one of the more remarkable transportation experiences we enjoyed.

******
I'm still learning which technology to use when.

I had my cell phone with me most of the time, even though I couldn't send or receive messages, either by phone, email, or text. But I suddenly realized the phone might be able to make some decent videos--something my still camera cannot do.

Happily, it worked.

So, strictly for your viewing pleasure, I have edited three short clips out of my first approximately 2 1/2-minute clip of traffic in Saigon.

We were stopped in our van while our driver and guide asked a policeman how we were to get to our destination since the street signs suddenly said "One Way" for automobiles-- . . . one way opposite to how we were going. (And lest you wonder, we had been traveling in the direction toward the camera; so all the traffic heading toward you in these clips is traveling the direction we had been going. . . .. Oh. And you wonder what the policeman said? "Ignore the sign. Keep going.")

Okay. With that as background, I share three videos.

I made the first one about 18 seconds longer than it needed to be, just so you would get a feeling of what the vehicles look like in Saigon, and how traffic moves everywhere we went in Vietnam. If I had cut out the first 18 seconds, I thought I would be unfair.

So. Get accustomed to the movement of traffic, and then, about 18 seconds in, look for a guy in a white shirt and riding a greenish-blue motorcycle coming in from the right hand side of the frame. Notice how he makes his way, smooth as can be, right across the tide of traffic flowing against him.

This is absolutely normal in Vietnam. One hundred percent normal.

Of course, considering that a bicyclist and another motorcylist follow him ought to prove the point:



Just to prove how normal this is, enjoy the next two clips.

The first one was shot beginning about 30 seconds after the clip I just showed you. Watch how the couple make their way up the flow of traffic away from our vehicle. Then notice the casual bicycle pusher crossing across but still "with" the flow coming toward us.



And then, finally, this one that shows four more motorcyclists making that--what to these American eyes, at that early part of our trip, appeared "impossible"--left-hand turn across and through traffic coming from the right. Not to mention, of course, the casual pedestrian making her way across the street as well. . . .

The joy of recognizing and encouraging your child to develop his or her gifts . . .

We've been astonished at our 2 1/2-year-old granddaughter's obvious artistic bent. Her sense of color (she has demanded to pick her own clothes--very creatively, yet with astonishing sense of color coordination--for over a year) and her musical ability (turn on some music and she is in a reverie almost immediately) have jumped out at us from very early. But she has some astounding facility with language as well.

So her parents and we, her grandparents, try to encourage the development of these traits as much as possible. Her mom intends to take her to her first ballet class tomorrow morning if the weather will permit. (It's been snowing rather heavily here!)

Anyway. With Natalia's unique giftedness in mind, I was astonished to see the following video of a budding musical conductor . . . at three years of age!



Think of how well he has to know the piece in order to anticipate the changes in tempo and dynamic range. As someone commented: he is not merely reacting to the music; he is anticipating the changes. He really knows this piece.

I first saw the video here at the American Choral Directors Society website. Allen Simon, who posted the video to the ChoralNet blog, noted, Jonathan, the conductor in the video, "could give us all lessons in enthusiasm." --There is a page full of admiring and thoughtful comments about his conducting style and understanding of the music. Lots of accolades to his parents, too!

One guy wrote:

I believe a major symphony orchestra could easily follow his direction (except for the finish [Where he falls off his "podium" and lies on the floor giggling from the pure joy of conducting such a fine piece of music--JAH]) and audiences would love his style.

I also think that this video would serve an excellent training tool for conducting students--it teaches music expression using the whole body (including conducting with your feet), unbridled enthusiasm, and how to deal with emergencies without dropping a beat (or a baton).

In the comments section to another video, one of his parents comments,

Since before Jonathan was walking he was trying to conduct and at 19 months he had picked his instrument. He fell in love with the violin. His passion is for classical music. We found him a wonderful violin instructor whom he adores. He has been playing now for a year.

You can find that video (also of him conducting) here.

And then there's the very recent (he's now 4 years old) Jonathan performs "Humoresque" by Antonín Dvořák.

Math for the pure joy of it . . .

The visuals and commentary are about two times too fast for me to follow with great understanding, and I don't want to take the time now to re-watch these videos so that I can understand exactly what she is talking about, but Vi Hart reminded me of a joy I used to experience many, many years ago. For various reasons, I abandoned the pursuit. It gives me pleasure to see that others, however, think along these lines. I never doodled the way she does, but I used to find patterns like these rather fascinating.



[Please note that I have embedded YouTube versions of two of her videos here in my blog--just to attempt to entice you to actually watch one or both of them. BUT . . . if you want to understand them and really get "into" them, I encourage you to follow the text links . . . because she provides useful Wikipedia links that explain the more technical terminology and concepts. The text links will also bring you to her website that includes a lot of truly remarkable videos and technical (and not-so-technical) papers . . . about math and music and . . . well . . . art . . . and things of beauty . . . and lots of other stuff.]

Thanks, Luke, for the originating link that led to the video that led me to check out Vi's website:

A Rube Goldberg apparatus to rival Honda's commercial

I expect you remember Honda's astonishing commercial from a few years ago:



A musical group call OK Go has created their own (rather destructive) Rube Goldberg device to match or beat what Honda did:



Enjoy!

Christmas music up to date

Just for fun. But pretty impressive.

Enjoy!

From North Point Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. The iBand plays Christmas music.

Reading what shouldn't be there . . . but is

I have three or four web pages set up as my standard home pages on my web browser. But I so rarely start a new session that I almost never visit my home pages!

Today, however, I wanted to have two browser sessions going at the same time--so I could copy material more readily from one screen to another. (Just a little easier than using multiple tabs in one browser session.)

Anyway. That meant I saw my home pages--which include iGoogle--for the first time in weeks. My eye was attracted--as it usually is--to one of the widgets I have running on iGoogle: Mighty Optical Illusions.

And today's optical puzzle was a doozy:

What do all those strange shapes stand for?

I know--or at least I assume--the artist has to be playing with negative space. Normally I can "see" whatever-it-is they have hidden in the negative space. But this one just seems really difficult!

Eventually, with the help of some commenters, I was able to make it out. But unlike the editor of the blog, who says, "once you see it, there’s no going back," I will confess that I "go back" regularly. I have to almost trick myself into seeing what the artist has hidden.

See how you do.

If you can't make it out, let me suggest that you pretend you are looking at a flat piece of bright metal. Someone has cut holes in it with an acetylene torch. The metal is brightly lit from the front (behind you, over your right shoulder), and the background is dark.

Yes, it does say something.

If you don't get it, "check this revealing article," writes the blogger. And there you will find an easier puzzle of a similar variety -- although I believe we should say it uses positive rather than negative space:

Well?

It takes only one child to raze a village.

Just thought you could stand a laugh!

Comparative sizes

Inside Back Cover of the latest The Week magazine: an ad for Zurich HelpPoint insurance service. "Helps your company get the right insurance solution. Whatever your size."

Wow!

I've seen photos of machines like the one on the right before. But, somehow, this one grabbed me in a way I've not been grabbed before.

I don't know if it's the juxtaposition with the little truck on the left . . . or the presence of the two grown men.

At first I thought the truck on the left was a "mini" hauler. And, in a way, it is. It lacks the protruding engine compartment you'd expect on most American pickups. And the floor of its bed, obviously, rides above the rear wheels--whereas the majority of American pickups have beds whose exterior side panels generally extend down to just below the axle.

But the bed of the truck on the left is a good 6 feet long (at least)--which is common for American pickups. And the cab is at least as high as any standard American pickup. . . .

Hard to keep things in perspective, isn't it?

Something cooler than iPad

Saw this on the Pow! Right Between the Eyes blog. Coke "exploits the element of Surprise for fun . . . and profit."

Somehow, it just makes me smile . . . and you?

Whoa! I can't imagine driving like this!

Best I can make out, this occurred in Southern California back in April.

A driver tried to ram a Long Beach car, prompting an hour-long, high-speed chase in which the woman drove the car in circles, went the wrong way on a tollway and even got out of the car to gesture at officers.

The woman was arrested after about a 40-mile pursuit. No injuries were reported, but the woman endangered motorists on four freeways, California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers said.

The chase began when Long Beach officers went to an intersection shortly after 6 a.m. in response to a report of a woman screaming. A car tried to ram their police cruiser three times and then fled, Long Beach police Officer Jackie Bezart said.

After an eight-minute chase through Long Beach, the driver got onto a freeway and the CHP was notified. Officers chased the silver Scion into Orange County at speeds that sometimes topped 100 mph, authorities said. Television news helicopters carried the chase live.

On the SR 241 tollway in Rancho Santa Margarita--where the video clips below were shot--the woman made "doughnuts" while driving on both shoulders of the road, briefly drove the wrong way then got out of the car and gestured with both hands at officers before returning to the slowly rolling vehicle and driving off.

Shortly thereafter, a patrol car rammed the back of the Scion, spinning it around in an attempt to stop it, but the driver managed to flee once more.

The car finally was stopped at the end of the tollway in an unincorporated area near Rancho Santa Margarita after being bumped a second time. The Scion was boxed in and swarmed by officers, including one who jumped onto the roof. The woman was pulled through the car's window, forced to the ground and handcuffed.

First video, covering the end of the chase played at a slightly faster-than-normal pace (maybe 120% of real life) and set to humorous music (0:54):



Second video, a more sober summary of the story with the same basic video but shot from a different angle (1:56):



Glad I have not found myself confronted by drivers like this!

. . . And if they aren't enough, and you really want to get your blood pumping . . .

How about this a police chase of a stretch limo going upwards of 150 mph--with a goodly portion of the chase conducted while the limo driver is driving his vehicle in reverse (3:42)?!?