Web Echoes

Ahem. We don't have any pics of that part of ...

2011-01-08T01:05:44.064-05:00

Ahem. We don't have any pics of that part of our trip because our hosts and the various guidebooks we read had us scared shitless that we'd be nailed as spies for taking photos in the subways, because a) they were theoretically "military installations" and b) the cops were always out for a quick buck for "fining" tourists. This was 2001, after all. :-)

But they were awesome. I wish I'd had the guts to break the rules and grab pics. St. Pete's subway escalators were insanely fast, too, and it really felt like you were headed a quarter mile underground.

Yeah, this system does nothing for rear or front v...

2010-12-15T18:23:57.711-05:00

Yeah, this system does nothing for rear or front visibility, which are more important, though it is interesting to note that most fatalities and hospitalizations from bike/car collisions don't arise from the bicycle being struck from behind, but much more often turned in front of, turned through, or driven into from a side street/driveway.

These are just neat, cool things to have some fun in my opinion. (and for the record, I have christmas lights on the bike again this year, talk about creating a pool of light.)

Hmmm. But I am far mor concerned by the cars behi...

2010-12-15T06:40:56.484-05:00

Hmmm. But I am far mor concerned by the cars behind me: the ones I cannot see. This doesn't make me more visible to them.

Since I now live in hippy-crunchy Lotusland, I'...

2010-08-18T00:58:51.735-04:00

Since I now live in hippy-crunchy Lotusland, I'm encountering a significant number of courteous drivers while I'm biking. Unfortunately, the courtesy often manifests in drivers just slowing down as they approach my intersection, which leads to the one of the following reactions from me:
1) "Are you slowing down because you saw me, or because your phone started ringing/kid started screaming/bird flew in the window? Cuz that speed may feel slow to *you*, it would still cause me a lot of damage if you *didn't* see me."

2) "I have no guarantee that the person bearing down behind you isn't going to whip around you, and then *over* me. I think I'll wait."

3) "Thanks for slowing down, now I can see if the opposing traffic will slow down, too."

4) "If you think I can cross the road in front of you from a dead stop, when you're going that speed, you've never pulled a trailer containing 40+ pounds of 4-year-old."

75% of the time, these situations end up with the driver almost at a dead stop, frantically waving me across. Since they've gone to that much trouble, I usually just smile, wave, and go. I'm not willing to take the consequences of guessing wrong and hitting that other 25%, though. :)

Oh, and if you want to talk entitlement/enabled cyclists, there are entire traffic-calmed streets in Vancouver designated as official bike routes. It's 95% awesome, particularly during "rush hour" when you can see lines of cyclists stretching for blocks. There is a tendency by some, however, to treat these city streets as dedicated bike paths rather than the multi-modal transportation lanes they actually are. Lots of flouting of road rules. I'm as guilty as the next rider of the rolling/"California" stop, but I see tons of people blowing through stop signs as if they weren't there, going the wrong direction through roundabouts to turn or go straight, etc.

Well, there's something to the Local/Global sp...

2010-08-11T17:50:48.458-04:00

Well, there's something to the Local/Global split, there, though perhaps it could be considered "marginal virtue." :-) If they're sourcing their raw materials locally and shipping the finished goods, it's arguable that they're using less energy than if they were importing their (heavy) raw materials from somewhere further afield.

I'm with you on the handmade thing. Zoiks.

So now I know the .....'rest of the story'...

2010-08-11T14:21:15.055-04:00

So now I know the .....'rest of the story' as the tagline for Paul Harvey's radio spot. Thanks Matt.....MOM!

I'll give it another attempt at charging, it&#...

2009-06-15T13:29:54.276-04:00

I'll give it another attempt at charging, it's had several sunny days on the window sill and even some time out on the deck in the last several days. It charged up a friends cell phone shortly after I got it, so I'm pretty sure that in principle it works, or at least, did.
If it is a problem with charging the iPhone specifically, its definitely an issue, as that's really what I want it for.

I think the reason you're having problems, is ...

2009-06-15T11:37:22.940-04:00

I think the reason you're having problems, is because it's a bad product. I bought it for my Blackberry, iTouch, and Nano. Whether on solar or with the fully charged internal battery (it took about 36 hours of A/C charging and eventually the red light turned off alerting me that it was fully charged), it never charged the Nano. Then after 2 solar charges it stopped working for my Blackberry and iTouch as well, rendering it completely useless. Devotec wouldn't replace it or return my money. They even delayed their response to me for 3 days, then claimed their warranty period had just expired on my purchase. I suggest you return it while/if you still have the chance.

Awesome stuff. Like the progeny of a multi-touch ...

2009-02-21T08:50:00.000-05:00

Awesome stuff. Like the progeny of a multi-touch display and Wii-mote.

Very awesome!!!!

2008-11-29T17:16:00.000-05:00

Very awesome!!!!

Yea Matt! I'm proud of you for trying and finishi...

2008-10-15T13:59:00.000-04:00

Yea Matt! I'm proud of you for trying and finishing well.Mom!

Interesting but slightly bizzare ;>

2008-09-23T08:07:00.000-04:00

Interesting but slightly bizzare ;>

re: dead trees and online vs. offline magazine rea...

2008-08-29T21:35:00.000-04:00

re: dead trees and online vs. offline magazine reading...
Don't you know you're supposed to solve that problem with another gadget, like a Kindle or an iPhone? :-)

I assume that Ali is referring to my comment about...

2008-07-04T11:42:00.000-04:00

I assume that Ali is referring to my comment about the bioplastic phone.

"interesting innovation, though, is bioplastic production just transferring fossil fuel use to corn production instead of direct use of oil to make plastic?"

I guess my question does there seem to be an assumption that making bioplastics is eco-friendly? It requires energy input just like any other modern human resource gathering and manufacturing cycle...

I wasn't commenting specifically about energy balances, but was thinking in terms of raw resource uses. All of our manufacturing requires energy from some source or another, it becomes a question of energy use efficiency...

Plastic itself involves energy consuming processes...

2008-06-22T06:34:00.000-04:00

Plastic itself involves energy consuming processes - using oil. There are many ways to get energy from the wind, the sun, water etc but there's not an eco-friendly way of making plastic from oil.

Oh yeah, and I think it's an awesome idea, and you...

2008-05-14T01:39:00.000-04:00

Oh yeah, and I think it's an awesome idea, and you should totally run with it. :-)

Hmm...not offhand, but I wonder if there are peopl...

2008-05-14T01:37:00.000-04:00

Hmm...not offhand, but I wonder if there are people at Bike Pittsburgh that could put you in touch w/ Pedal Pittsburgh organizers? They in turn might be able to give you pointers about what types of local people you'd need to contact.

Might seem like a tenuous series of connections, but as an advocacy group, BikePgh seems to be pretty open and positive, so if you mention your Pittsburgh link and the fact that you took a class from Erok, there might be some willingness there to hook you up to some support resources.

Glad to be of service for the time-impaired.

2008-04-28T09:52:00.000-04:00

Glad to be of service for the time-impaired.

That picture is beautiful...yes it is the only lin...

2008-04-28T09:30:00.000-04:00

That picture is beautiful...yes it is the only link I had time to click :>

Another interesting wrinkle in the milk-marketing ...

2008-03-27T18:55:00.000-04:00

Another interesting wrinkle in the milk-marketing business: Despite the PA ruling that states you aren't allowed to differentiate your product by claiming no hormone-fed cows, producers are doing it anyway. They're just adding a little asterisked disclaimer stating "studies have shown no material difference in quality in milk from hormone-fed vs non-hormone fed cows blahblahblah."

This isn't just happening in neo-hippie stores like Whole Foods and our co-op. We see it in Giant Eagle, too, with the Giant Eagle brand milk. Clearly someone's realized that consumers care about this stuff, and not just the "high-end" consumers.

Nice to see market forces beating lobbyists for a change. :-)

Great - Thanks for posting it!

2008-03-27T10:13:00.000-04:00

Great - Thanks for posting it!

Hey, thought i was on the wrong site. As you say,...

2008-03-10T12:13:00.000-04:00

Hey, thought i was on the wrong site. As you say, always something to fix,do or change. Yep, colors need work, harder for me to read.

The graphic at the top, you mean? That's the stoc...

2008-03-10T10:11:00.000-04:00

The graphic at the top, you mean? That's the stock graphic, another thing that I need to find a replacement for.

I like the new layout - not sure about the top ban...

2008-03-10T09:38:00.000-04:00

I like the new layout - not sure about the top banner though. The new layout puts more focus on your test - which is a good thing!

I guess my advantage is that I really don't identi...

2008-03-09T18:08:00.000-04:00

I guess my advantage is that I really don't identify with any of the political press/pundits to feed me sound bites or, for that matter, pay attention to the media sources for which sound bites are targeted.

And I thought about whether perhaps I too am clouded by my own preconceived notions about the issues attendant with AGW, but then I remembered I actually saw an argument that appeared to be based on science about the natural warming/cooling cycles of the planet and examinations of CO2 levels at that time. Really sat and thought about it, it seemed plausible, but justified to myself what was wrong with the argument.