Go cart, go

Published 11:35 pm Sunday, February 21, 2010

I brake for bogeys: Residents of a Whidbey Island community are seeking a change to state law that would allow them to drive golf carts on neighborhood streets to run errands and visit friends, thus saving gas by avoiding unnecessary car trips (above).

Lawmakers appear agreeable to the change but want some limits put in place in the interest of public safety: No plaid pants that could distract other drivers. And turn signals left on for the duration of a trip will count as one penalty stroke.

You gotta leave there: Businesses and officials in Washington state hoping to snag a few tourists on their way to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C., aren’t seeing the numbers of visitors they expected.

But maybe by emulating Vancouver, state communities might attract visitors as they head back. The Buzz recommends canceling events because of bad weather, overcharging for hotel rooms and surrounding cultural landmarks with chain-link fencing.

Don’t know much about history: On this day in 1940, Tenzin Gyatso, a 4-year-old Tibetan boy, took the throne as Tibetan Buddhism’s 14th Dalai Lama.

Only 24 years later, the first “Hello, Dalai” joke would be made. The lama smiled politely.