Wednesday, October 3, 2012

WW- On Unnecessary Signs

I just got back from a busy, yet rewarding, trip to Arizona. Busy meaning that I got relatively little sleep. Rewarding in that I now have a sore throat and suspect I may have strep.

I was hanging out in Tucson, near the U of A (go Wildcats!) and would wake up an extra 30 minutes earlier than the rest of the clan to go running. The runs weren't anything special nor anything long. They were just enough to get the blood flowing and wake up the mind. I failed on both accounts but at least I got in some exercise.

Tuscon has this great running path that borders the Santa Cruz River Wash. For those of you who don't know about a Wash (I got disciplined by the locals for my ignorance), it is NOT a dead, dried up river despite its appearance. Apparently there is water during the rainy season, which, to my understanding, happens between April 1st and April 3rd. I stood corrected and apologized for wondering why they also didn't build a dam to keep the rocks in place.

One of the great aspects of this path was that they didn't force you into automobile traffic at intersections. In many places you could run under the road. However, at each underpass, they conveniently posted a sign that stated "Do not enter when flooded."

I laughed at the idiocy of the sign. Seriously, do people not already know this? Are there people who would look at the flood waters and go, "Hmm, I think I can make it,"? Sadly, I bet that sign was posted after an event happened. Some people just couldn't figure it out on their own. Naturally the government's only recourse was to post a sign. (As opposed to the highly unpopular policy of adding candidates to the annual Darwin Awards.)

Then I got to thinking, what are some other signs that are out there and shouldn't be necessary? (Ya know, because what else is there to do when running at excruciating slow paces in unfamiliar territory than think about the idiocy of others?) Of course, I asked my good friend Google for some help. There were a bunch. So I narrowed my search to water related incidences. Here's what we came up with:

As a triathlete, I probably would have swum for it.


Too bad they didn't post a reason why.

Stuff they don't teach you in science class.

Where?
Good thing they warned us.
This was all in good humor until I came across this sign, made especially for an idiot.


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