Friday Cab Roundup

Yeeehaw.  This week, as last, the high-resolution cab pictures are courtesy of indefatigable cab-huntress Kat Miner, who photographs color wherever she finds it.

Now, I’ve I’m sure you’ve been wondering about Stas Cab for some time.  Stas is a common name in Ukraine and Poland, typically short for Stanislav. For instance, Stas is the first name of this interesting computer whiz, web developer, and author. A little known Stas fact is that 19th century Belgian analytical chemist Jean Servais Stas (August 21, 1813 – December 13, 1891) did the modern age a number of favors, including (a) establishing the atomic weight of carbon by weighing a sample of the pure material, burning it in pure oxygen, and then weighing the carbon dioxide produced, (b) determining the atomic weights of the elements more accurately than had ever been done before (using an atomic mass of 16 for oxygen as his standard), and (c) disproving the hypothesis of the English physicist William Prout that all atomic weights must be integral multiples of that of hydrogen. Stas’ careful, accurate atomic weight measurements helped lay the foundation for the periodic system of elements of Dmitri Mendeleev and other physicists not named Stas. Stas would be a great name if you worked at the State Department in the Office of the Science & Technology Adviser, which adopted STAS as its acronym, as did the the Prince Edward Island Science and Technology Awareness Site (STAS). STAS is also the name of a French Canadian mining company that produces 10% of the world’s primary aluminum. So, when you ride in Stas Cab, you can be pretty sure the driver’s name is Stas (but ask him if his name is Stanislav).

Ah. The Ark Cab. Now that’s a good one. Perhaps the driver is from Turkey. If so, he is surely from a town near Mt. Ararat (where the book of Genesis says Noah’s Ark lies). In that case, it’d be pretty awesome if Ark Cab was painted with a mural a mountain range and receding flood waters, replace his cab-light with one shaped as an Ark lodged in a mountain, and epoxy a parade of animals (two by two) “walking” out of the ark down the roof, back windshield, and trunk. How awesome would that be? [Ed. note: get on it, photoshop experts.] Maybe Ark Cab’s driver considers his cab a type of Ark, a place of refuge in a deluge. If so, however, it’d be funnier if Ark Cab was in a rainier place than San Diego, such as Seattle. Hopefully the Ark Cab company will continue to grow, because it’d be great to see a fleet of Ark-themed cabs, such as Noah Cab, Ham Cab, Shem Cab, Japeth Cab, Torrent Cab, etc..

This is a doooooozy. Maimegdom Cab? The only thing crazier than a cab named Maimegdom is that Google only has one yes one result for “Maimegdom,” and that result is Kat’s Flickr page of San Diego Cabs. [Ed. note: BING has zero results.] Maimegdom sounds like Armageddon, which only the boldest of travelers would be willing to ride in. Mike Alpha India Mike Echo Golf Delta Oscar Mike? Nah. I’m stumped. Help me out by tracking down Maimegom cab and asking the driver about the origin of its name.

Last but not least is Nordic Cab. Nordic cab’s driver is tricky – he wants you to ask if he’s from Norway so he can inform you that “Nordic” refers to Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden (all of which use a Nordic Cross flag) and their associated territories which include the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Svalbard and Åland. Then he’ll make you guess. Here’s a hint: he’s not from Finland. If he was, he’d tell you, because Finns are proud people who fought the Soviets for nearly ten years after WWII. [Side note: the best coffee I've ever had was in Helsinki, Finland, at Cafe Tarzeh.] Come to think of it, though, Nordic Cab is about the most boring cab name a Scandinavian who doesn’t want to specify what part of northern Europe he hails from could name a cab.  Think of the Nordic possibilities: Swede Cab (Swede-Dude Cab), Norse Cab, Odin Cab, Thor Cab, Plunder Cab, Ice Cab, Great Dane Cab, Finn Cab, Viking Cab, and the GREATEST OF ALL CAB NAMES: Techno Viking Cab, which would have a DVD screen playing the following video on a loop:

Cabs, TV