imzadi2 minutes ago
There's always money in he banana car
dwa359233 minutes ago
That's a good looking car. I wish there were more of these on the roads.
gnabgib3 days ago
Discussion yesterday (168 points, 92 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48601420
chris_wot10 hours ago
I missed that, which is a pity as it's a fruitful story and I must have slipped up as it looks quite a-peeling. Certainly I clicked on this story as it stood out from the bunch.
actionfromafar3 hours ago
What's a fruitful story for you can get berry triggering for a botanist.
classified9 minutes ago
> Often officers simply wanted photographs. Other times they invented reasons to start a conversation.
Who knew that abuse of privilege could be fun! But then I think it's only natural that the LEOs of a banana republic would feel a magnetic attraction to a giant banana.
eagerpace4 minutes ago
He's calling the adventure "The World Needs More Whimsy Grand Tour." Sometimes it's ok to have fun. Nobody drives a big banana thinking they're not going to attract attention. It's part of the fun and whimsy.
inglor_cz4 hours ago
So many comments in the previous thread and no one mentions the banana car from Bloodhound Gang - Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo video.
miah_16 minutes ago
I wondered if it was the same but he says he built this car in 2008 which would have been three years after that video.
ljsocal7 hours ago
There are many of these “art cars” out there. See https://lesblank.com/films/automorphosis-by-harrod-blank/
netsharc6 hours ago
Author profile: "Before getting into news, she spent a handful of years teaching college writing at Montana State University."
Holy shit, apparently college writing nowadays is one sentence per paragraph, 3rd grade/Buzzfeed-style.
InsideOutSanta3 hours ago
She's obviously following the publication's style guidelines. Look at other articles. There's absolutely no need to attack people in a discussion about an article about a fricken banana car.
autogn0me3 hours ago
Response dangerously lacks whimsy
dapperdrakean hour ago
Most of the whimsy vitamins are between the skin and the banana.
kube-systeman hour ago
Newspapers are invariably written to a grade school reading level for accessibility.
2OEH8eoCRo02 hours ago
So 100s of cops have done their jobs?
saghman hour ago
> "For the first eight or nine years I was the most pulled-over man in America," he said. "It was constant."
> Often officers simply wanted photographs.
> Other times they invented reasons to start a conversation.
> His favorite stop happened in a small mountain town in West Virginia.
> A traffic light turned red. Braithwaite stopped. The light turned green and he made a leisurely turn through the intersection.
> A few moments later, flashing lights appeared behind him.
> A police officer marched up to the banana and delivered the news.
> "'The reason I pulled you over, that light back there, you peeled out.'"
Their job is to take advantage of their authority to have fun at the expense of the time of citizens?
williamdcltan hour ago
I'll happily live in a world where this is the extent of police authority abuse.
teraflop5 minutes ago
If you tolerate small abuses, and let people get accustomed to abusing their power in small meaningless ways, the abuses will only grow.
tomalbrc43 minutes ago
If only.
pak9rabid22 minutes ago
Sounds like a fun way to make a lot of friends in law enforcement :)
4chandailyan hour ago
More like 100s of cops have abused their authority to harass a middle aged artist.
At even just 10 minutes a stop, that is over 30 hours of this poor man's life he has spent staring at the berries and cherries just because some entitled cop thought he deserved a photo op.
petcat36 minutes ago
> harass a middle aged artist
This man is driving a homemade banana car across the continent specifically because he wants the attention it garners. It's the whole point.
4chandaily7 minutes ago
Wanting to attract attention and wanting to be constantly interrupted by law enforcement are not the same thing. This is the "well if she didn't want to be raped, she shouldn't have worn that skirt!" argument, and it doesn't look any better here.
petcat3 minutes ago
He said that he enjoys it. Why not just let him have fun in his banana car if he wants to? HN commenters seem to be the only people upset about this. He specifically said that he enjoys the banter and photo-ops with the police.
cindyllm4 minutes ago
[dead]
rozap13 minutes ago
Yea, he should be driving the state sponsored crossover suv like the rest of the country.
Arodex29 minutes ago
Yeah, the attention of armed people with the authority to order him around. See how ridiculous that sounds?
petcat24 minutes ago
I would advise you not drive a homemade fruit car around your town if you are this terrified of the attention it will bring. He clearly said in the article that he enjoys the encounters. He is doing this on purpose.
4chandaily5 minutes ago
Him enjoying the attention doesn't make the actions of the police right or just. He enjoys the attention, they are abusing their authority, Both things are true.
sixothree13 minutes ago
You seem to have misunderstood the reason this country was founded in the first place.
kube-systeman hour ago
The police can only stop a driver if they believe they have committed a primary traffic offense.
petcat32 minutes ago
That's not true at all. The police can stop a vehicle for any suspicion of unlawful activity. For instance, to question a driver about the street-legal-ness of their homemade banana car. You can, however, refuse questioning and refuse any inspection of the interior of the vehicle and just ask them to cite you for what they pulled you over for.
kube-system27 minutes ago
They are required to have reasonable suspicion that the banana car is unlawful in some way. (e.g. missing required equipment, etc) Simply wanting to question the driver or get a picture for funsies is not quite enough.
sidewndr4635 minutes ago
No? Not even close. If the police "smell weed" they can stop you. If the police believe you have active warrants they can stop you. If the police believe you have committed a criminal act of any kind, they may stop you
kube-system30 minutes ago
I'm speaking about a traffic stop specifically, I am aware other crimes exist.
sidewndr4625 minutes ago
your statement was "The police can only stop a driver". This is completely false. It is based off the belief of the officer, not fact or reality.
kube-system16 minutes ago
> It is based off the belief of the officer, not fact or reality.
A belief that they have violated some law. They cannot do it for these reasons, from the article:
> Often officers simply wanted photographs.
> Other times they invented reasons to start a conversation.
[deleted]20 minutes agocollapsed
[deleted]16 minutes agocollapsed