The productivity monster ate my blog post, and the Feed

It was my intention to get up early and get a blog post done so that I would have my evening free for this thing they call “television” that I understand is highly entertaining and something I can share with others in a communal experience. But, Mrs. the Poet had other ideas. Since I can no longer get to my tool storage areas in the garage I have taken to keeping my tools in the living room where I can at least get to them. Well today Mrs. the Poet pitched a hissy fit over all the tools in the living room, and started “cleaning up”. Unfortunately her ideas of “cleaning up” were to do things like putting the 2 and 4 pound hammers and the chipping hammer in the same toolbox as all my precision measuring equipment and on the same level. At this point I don’t know how badly my calipers and micrometers are damaged if at all, but you can understand that I was not too happy to see the big hammers in and on the precision measuring tools. This devolved into a screaming match over whose house it was until I escorted her out to the garage and showed her all the “other people’s stuff” that was in the middle of the garage and more to the sides in front of my shelves and workbench. There is literally a wall 4 feet thick and more than 6 feet tall of “other people’s stuff” in front of my tool storage area, and there are 2 bikes including my show bike, that were in ridable condition except for flat tires because I can’t get to them under the piles of “other people’s stuff” on top of them. Then I calmly explained to Mrs. the Poet that if she wanted my expensive and sometimes delicate tools out of the living room she needed to get all the “other people’s stuff” out of the way of my tool storage areas and work areas. The last time someone “cleaned” the garage to put more “other people’s stuff” in it all my bikes were shoved off to the sides to make room which also blocked access to my tool storage and workbench. And I won’t say anything more about all the times I had to go out to the curb to rescue my stock of donor bikes…

Up first is a wreck in CA. Another cyclist struck in downtown S.F. There was little to go on in this wreck narrative when I saw the posting other than the cyclist was injured and transported. Infrastructure to prevent.

Another low-information wreck report from KY this time. Bicyclist hit in downtown Lexington At this point all I have is intersection wreck with a traffic control but no information on who violated the traffic control. Intersection protocols to avoid or to mitigate damages, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

A wreck in West Canuckistan. Cyclist hit by oncoming traffic The cyclist was hit when drivers had a “fresh” green, which means the cyclist was already in the intersection when the light changed. I wonder if the driver of the weapon vehicle will be charged with violating the right of way of the cyclist, or the cyclist with running the red in spite of the evidence the cyclist was well inside the intersection when the light changed. Anyway intersection protocols for whatever good they would do to minimize damages, and get the infrastructure right to prevent.

Also from the Great White North final closure on a wreck from several years ago. Injured Kanata 5 cyclist to get $1.7M This was a hit-and-run with a suspected drunk driver that wandered into the bike lane and ran over a whole peloton, injuring 5. Unfortunately by he time they caught the driver too much time had elapsed since the wreck to prove he was intoxicated at the time of the wreck. And what really chaps my backside about this is more than half the money is coming from the victims’ insurance.

SWSS wreck in UK has the evidence challenged. Cudham cyclist’s inquest evidence called into question by brother The classic SWSS narrative, the driver never saw anything until hitting the cyclist.

Another link to that horrifying UK story of the killer driver walking away from court with community service. Lorry driver who killed London cyclist is spared jail Really, 250 hours of community service for rushing and mangling a human being to death with a multi-ton killing machine? TANJ!

A mostly-infrastructure post from BikingInLA. Morning links: Undead bike lanes in Beverly Hills, 11 routes to the Valley, and a harrowing Brit Jerry Brown And that video at the end was a terrifyingly close pass. It looked like the passenger side mirror passed right over the rider’s head by a few inches which means the side of the truck was scant inches from the cyclist’s handlebars. <shudder>

Infrastructure news from West Canuckistan. Sunshine brings out cyclists & warning Canadian cyclists come out in droves when it isn’t freezing or drowning.

And a combination e-assist and infrastructure post from Jolly Olde. LAKES BIKE MARKET WILL BE ‘ENERGISED’

A FB picture that I find inspiring. Photos from Bill Drumbore’s post in I Love Bikes

Last link is a picture of the Danish Foreign Minister’s motorcade. Det ser man kun i DK. Udenrigsminister hjuler afsted søndag formiddag med flagrene slip og hipster-cykelkasse Sorry about the Danish headline but the first comment is a translation, I think. Let me Google it. Nope, Google Translate says, “It appears only in the UK. Foreign Minister wheeler off Sunday morning with flags clean release and hipster bike box.”

I’m trying to track down which Deity I have annoyed lately, and the Feed

I’m getting a [insert adjective for extreme] bad run of luck, but so far nothing damaging to life or limb. Just consumptive of my time in the extreme. With today’s example we had another visit to the chiropractor to get Mrs. the Poet and I well adjusted. Because this is Spring Break Mrs. the Poet has no little customers to feed so she’s off from work. That meant I could leave the house 45 minutes later than usual for Neck Cracker Day as I didn’t have to stop and gather up Mrs. the Poet from her job, we just went straight on through to where we met the lady we share appointments with. Since I normally stop for a bite where I pick up Mrs. the Poet I ate like I usually do, which means a big cup of coffee with lots of milk and nothing else until I do that stop to get Mrs. the Poet. Only today, no stop as we were just going to go straight through. That meant I was getting a might peckish when we got to the C-store where we rendezvous for the rest of the trip. I dropped in to grab something edible and ran into our ride as I exited the store, so far so good. We get to see the therapist early and get done quickly because the therapy is starting to show results, slowly but surely. We got done so fast our ride was still on the table when we got done, something that has never happened. On the way home we decided that instead of fixing a fast dinner when we got home it would be better to stop for fast food since I had a coupon good for a free sandwich when I bought another sandwich of the same kind. BTW the sandwich was very tasty and filling. Back to the trip, we got our food and piled back into the vehicle to get the rest of the way home, the driver turned the key and nothing happened, repeatedly. Since we were at the intersection of two freeways and a major cross-town arterial street nobody could hear anything, so I stuck my head under the hood to listen closer to the engine to see if there was any aural clues about what was going on. Well, it sounded to me like the solenoid was tripping but not making contact. I felt the battery cables and they were not getting warm so the starter was not shorted out, also none of the lights on the dash dimmed when the key was turned except the radio dial, which always went out when the key was turned since before this fault showed up. To make the rest of the story short we were dead in the water in a 30 minute parking zone. We ended up getting home more than two hours later than normal, but at least we had a chance to eat dinner first…

Up first is a cyclist that came within a couple of inches of departing this plain, shuffling off this mortal coil, singing with the choir eternal, you know dying. Luciano: Cyclist sore after pickup driver’s hit’n’flee Salmon driver cutting the corner to widen his arc on a narrow road with sharp turns almost takes out the cyclist, the cyclist was extremely lucky. He did about all you can do when a motor vehicle coming the opposite direction tries to apex the turn where you are riding, lean into the turn harder to stay away from the vehicle. Properly designed infrastructure would have had this driver on a completely separate piece of pavement from the cyclist in this rural area.

When you leave a swath of loose gravel across a road you have to pay the piper when someone comes a cropper because of it. Capistrano man gets $15 million in bike-accident settlement They were lucky it was just a small group of cyclists that hit that gravel first, instead of a group like the Hell’s Angels. They have a tendency to take out their compensation in the blood of the responsible parties.

Update on a serious wreck. Morning links: Arraignment in the Phillip O’Neill case, and a preview of this weekend’s Donut Ride And there is obviously a whole batch of other information there.

“Some assembly required”. ‘Pee-wee’s Big Adventure’ bicycle fetches $36,600 Talk about appreciation, this bike went from $10K less than 4 years ago to $36.6K. In vehicle terms that’s like Hemi ‘Cuda 4-speed convertible appreciation.

I wouldn’t recommend the IPA that I drank after dinner as a recovery drink, but someone is working on a beer that will work as such. Beer As A Post-Workout Recovery Drink? Not As Crazy As It Sounds This is not your average beer, so continue to avoid Bud and Miller except as something to go with dinner. But not Shiner, you can drink as much of that as you want. >:) (what is the character combination that gives you a smiley with horns in WordPress?)

Another article on the phenomenon of the Ghost Bike Movement. Ghost bikes honor dead cyclists around the Twin Cities There are many reasons but few explanations. And I say leave it at that.

OK explain to me again why your car is so good? Ethics on Wheels

If your city doesn’t know what to count, how can they make improvements? A wiser way of counting

OK even I find this at least a little bit inspiring. Bicyclist to finish ride after losing leg in hit-and-run Unlike my wreck where I lost consciousness at the first impact (thank [*Deity] for small favors) this guy was awake for every insult and injury he suffered. So yeah, he “wins”. Mrs the Poet read this link during filtering and says we need to get together and go on tour or something to combat hit-and-run. We both survived for a reason, and I for one would love to have a reason to keep on keeping on besides, “it’s cheaper than dying,” because that one’s starting to wear a bit thin.

Infrastructure! from Canuckistan. Remove a lane to improve traffic? Expert explains his Calgary cycle track proposal And the comments to this article perfectly illustrate the arguments against cars in the paragraph above.

Last link is another example of entitled drivers. A solution for slowpokes That’s right some drivers can’t stand when people drive the speed limit, either. Put a cyclist on the same road and they blow a blood vessel.

And those are all the links that gave me fits, or not, today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus