This story begins in the little town of Oaklawn, Illinois. The citizens were tired of people ignoring the laws of the road. Namely, not stopping at clearly marked STOP signs. The townsfolk had been complaining to the local law enforcement to crack down on the abusers, but their ploys were left unanswered and the problem persisted.

So, like any good Samaritan, they decided to take matters into their own hands. They needed to find a way to get the drivers attention.

They gathered up about $1,700 in materials, pulled together their own brand of creative thinking and set to work on a way to bring more attention to these signs. What they came up with was several humorous captions to place underneath the original signs.

These captions ranged from:

“STOP: In The Naaaame of Love”

to

“STOP: And Smell The Roses”

to

“STOP: Right There Pilgrim”

to

“STOP: Really. You Gotta Stop”

to

“STOP: Billion Dollar Fine”

The townsfolk traveled around to nearly fifty signs and placed their homemade creations below, and went back home feeling mighty proud of themselves for taking the problem into their own hands.

Well, it didn’t take long for the Department of Transportation to get wind of this and throw a banana peel into the whole project. It appears that the little town was actually in violation of the federal code that prohibited defaming a stop sign as such. They were told to either take the signs down or they would lose federal funding indefinitely.

With the signs down and local taxpayers free and clear of the responsibility of footing the bill for the project, thankfully 3M was more than happy to step in and pay the cost of the project. They were actually planning on using the signs for a promotional brochure anyway.

So all is well that ends well in the small town of Oaklawn…

THE END

Every manufacturer in history has had the letters in its name turned into some kind of altered meaning. Some are rather kind, while others are just plain nasty. Depending on whether you are a fan or a foe of these makes, we’ve got you covered with this list of infamous manufacturer acronyms.

ACURA

The Good: Any Child Understands Real Automobiles

The Bad: Asia’s Curse Upon Rural America

The Ugly: Aweful, Crappy, Unreliable, Rusty Automobiles

AMC

The Good: Another Miraculous Car

The Bad: Almost Makes Corners

The Ugly: Ain’t My Car!

BMW

The Good: Beautiful Mechanical Wonder

The Bad: Big Money Works

The Ugly: Bought My Wife

DODGE

The Good: Don’t Only Drive, Get Even!

The Bad: Drips Oil, Drops Grease Everywhere

The Ugly: Don’t Open Door, Garbage Enclosed

FORD

The Good: Faithful, Obedient, Reliable, Dependable

The Bad: Fast Only Rolling Downhill

The Ugly: Found On Road Dead

FIAT

The Good: Finest Italian Automotive Technology

The Bad: Fix It Again, Tony!

The Ugly: Found In A Trashcan

GMC

The Good: God’s Mechanical Creation

The Bad: Generically Made Chevrolet

The Ugly: Get My Checkbook!

HONDA

The Good: Happy Drivers Never Drive Anything Else

The Bad: Had One, Never Did Again!

The Ugly: Hang On, Not Done Accelerating!

HYUNDAI

The Good: Hold Your Usual Nitpicks, (our) Designs Are Improving

The Bad: Hope You Understand, Nothings Drivable And Inexpensive

The Ugly: Hanging Your Underwear Near Door, Alarms Intruders

JEEP

The Good: Joyfully Eats Every Pickup

The Bad: Jumps Excitedly (into) Every Pothole

The Ugly: Just Enough Essential Parts

KIA

The Good: King (of) Imported America

The Bad: Korean Imitation Accord

The Ugly: Keep Inside Asia!

MOPAR

The Good: Move Over, Power Approaching Rapidly!

The Bad: Movements Of Power Are Rare

The Ugly: Mostly Old Parts And Rust

OLDSMOBILE

The Good: Okay, Laugh Dude, Some Mopar’s Overestimate, But I Lick’em Every-time

The Bad: Oh Look Dear, Some Massive Oil Burning Idiot’s Leaking Everything

The Ugly: Old Ladies Driving Slowly Make Others Behind Infuriatingly Late Everyday

PONTIAC

The Good: Plenty Of Nice Trips In Air Conditioning

The Bad: Plan On Numerous Trips In Another Car

The Ugly: Poor Old Nutter Thinks It’s A Cadillac

SAAB

The Good: Shiny, Amazing, And Beautiful

The Bad: Slick As A Brick

The Ugly: Still Ain’t A BMW

SUBARU

The Good: Souped Up Blazingly Awesome Racing Unit

The Bad: Silly Urbanites Bumbling Around Rural Areas

The Ugly: Screwed Up Beyond All Repair Usually

For years inventors have been working on a type of hovercraft that would defy the limits of gravity and enable people to travel in layers, which could solve highway congestion problems within their first 5 minute of use. Of course you would have to come up with a whole new rule system for the road, but let’s not worry about that point for today.

The problem with traditional air fed hovercraft’s, is the air pressure that is created underneath is only sufficient enough to drag a vehicle across the ground with low resistance. Because it is not actually lifting high enough to clear many of the hazards a driver would happen upon, it would not be all that much better than a wheeled vehicle.

Some sci-fi experts claim that in the future we should have the technology to manipulate gravity. This would enable an aircraft to achieve lift off with little effort and propel forward just as effortlessly. But alas it is only 2008 and the best we have to offer right now is reliable rotary turbine engines.

Moller International has been working on just that… a rotary turbine capable of using various fuels, receiving decent gas mileage (20 mpg), and is as reliable as it is safe.

“The Skycar”, as Moller calls it, is not exactly a hovercraft, but it does exhibit features that would be considered quite similar to one. This technological marvel is able to lift off vertically from a standstill, hover up into the air and propel itself along a horizontal plane with relative ease.

Would we all need to become licensed pilots to drive one? Well, for the moment you do, but technically the Skycar drives itself and therefore needs no special skills to handle.. You just point the joysticks where you want to go and its computer controlled system takes care of the rest.

The Skycar has two turbine rotary engines engines. In the case of an emergency and one of the engines malfunctions, the other one would still be able to maintain hover and land the vehicle safely.

The two engines combined are rated for up to 4 passengers at a cruising speed of 275 mph and a maximum speed of 375 mph. Each engine runs on ethanol fuel and is capable of a 750 mile range. They are taking deposits for orders already, so grab your credit cards!

Moller was right, you don’t need a propeller with blades.

Now our future’s so bright…

You got to fly with your shades… fly with your shades!