What's that you say, Reuters? New York's pedestrians are the eighth fastest in the world? Are you sure?

Pedestrians in Singapore were crowned the world's fastest movers, walking 30 percent faster than they did in the early 1990s... Copenhagen and Madrid were the fastest European cities, beating Paris and London. And despite its reputation as "the city that never sleeps," New York ranked only eighth in the pace race, behind Dublin and Berlin.

Stationary pedestrians will tend to cluster on a public sidewalk at its narrowest point.

I really don't want that much of the sidewalk. I'm only asking for the width of my shoulders. So why is it, when there's more than enough room for three big guys to walk abreast, and there are only two of you coming my way, and I'm already as far to the right as I can get without stepping into the street, that I have to turn sideways to avoid a collision? I guess I left my sense of entitlement home today.

If there's one thing you can rely on pedestrians to do, it's to not walk a straight line. Just try to pass one from behind and see.