Our DM is very good at TPK, and the Feed

Today’s post is getting a late start because of another game session with the Kinky D&D group. After getting my head pointed the right direction last time, after it was removed by another party member under a compulsion, my character was ready to take on the world, and plunder the dungeon. Unfortunately we ran into a pair of succubi, sisters as it happened, and once again we had a Total Party Kill. The only one to escape was my NPC apprentice, the half-elf bard, because she ran when she saw what we were up against before the first spell cast or shot fired. Which was good considering that my character was the only one to get a shot off at the succubi, causing enough damage and disruption to the one I hit that she was out of the battle for the rest of the fight, but in the meantime her sister managed to get all the other characters compelled to attack the other members of the party, which given how lethal our characters are is probably the best strategy rather than going toe to toe and slugging it out (except with my character, he can’t fight in melee and has to keep taking 5 foot steps back and casting defensively so going toe to toe with him is a good idea, and going toe to toe with him by compelling another character to attack is even a better idea). Where we made our mistake was not attacking the succubi immediately as they were being held prisoner and we figured they would prefer a unimpeded release to combat. We had a better than even chance to take them out had we just gone in shooting instead of trying to negotiate for their release. Anywho, the bard managed to find the efreeti outside the dungeon (that we had only entered in the first place because there was a tornado coming), and convinced him that it was in his best interests to revive the party so we could rescue his sister from the half-fiend, half-green dragon who was intent on using her as breeding stock. He honored her wish to revive the party and get all the treasure in the dungeon from the areas we had already cleared, and then we moved on to taking care of the efreeti’s quest to save his sister from being forcefully impregnated by the fiend/green dragon. At this point we all had to level up. My warlock is now level 9 and does 5d6 damage with his Eldritch Blast, has a +7 attack bonus against the touch AC at ranges up to 250 feet, and a +8 bonus at ranges inside 30 feet. My apprentice is now 5th level and no longer has to fork over 500GP to my character at every level after this, her apprenticeship is complete (but she’s still an NPC).

The Big Story comes from the Great White North, as a head-on wreck between two cyclists kills one and puts the other in hospital. Jacques-Cartier Bridge bike path crash kills 1 and Fatal cycling collision on Jacques-Cartier Bridge Basically, someone crossed the centerline before daylight on a blind curve (because of the walls that keep the cars out of the bike lane) and heads literally butted. Both cyclists had head injuries, and neither one was wearing a helmet. To prevent with built environment, same thing as I say for drivers, slow down to a speed that you can stop in the distance you can see clearly. To improve the built environment replace the concrete walls with heavy steel bollards filled with concrete and put a transparent wall on the bicycle side of that.

The other Big Story is on this side of the northern border as a suspected drunk driver drives on the wrong side of the road and hits a cyclist head on and kills him instantly. Cyclist killed after being struck by suspected drunk driver on Lookout Mountain and Golden dad out on evening bike ride killed by alleged drunk driver The only thing that will prevent a wreck like this with the built environment is changing the built environment. Driving drunk is already against the law, driving on the wrong side of the road is against the law, and passing more than one vehicle and passing on a double-yellow line are also both against the law. My change recommendation is public execution of drunk drivers and public destruction of their cars, preferably in a single step operation.

Closer to home a cyclist north of the Red River from WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell while riding on the shoulder of a road to the right of rumble strips intended to keep cars from driving in the shoulder. Norman bicyclist killed near Purcell I don’t see how this could be avoided by the cyclist, he was hit from behind while riding about 4 feet to the right of the fog line on an 8 foot wide shoulder, about 2 feet to the right of the rumble strip. I suspect that the driver was impaired or distracted, and that nothing short of a barrier-protected bike lane could have prevented this wreck. The likelihood of getting barrier protected bike lanes on a semi-rural OK highway is slightly higher than the likelihood of a magnitude 6.5 quake in OK City.

Over in WI another cyclist is killed by another hit-and-run driver. Suspect in custody after fatal Germantown hit-and-run crash And Suspect in fatal Germantown hit-and-run crash released from custody He is impeding the investigation by refusing to give up the driver. Of course, since he’s probably the driver he’s protected against self-incrimination by the 5th Amendment. So, screw the 5th and charge him as the owner of the vehicle, which makes him responsible for what happens with it. That’s one of the things people are constantly harping about on bicycle registration, that it makes people accountable. Well, if registration makes people accountable, make this owner account for this wreck by going to prison.

And another hit-and-run wreck. Bicyclist injured in hit-and-run The cyclist was injured but the bike was undamaged, a strong indication of a buzz job or punishment pass. This is very similar to the wreck that killed Larry Schwartz outside Plano which precipitated the Ride of Silence in 2003. The main difference here is the cyclist was alive and semi-conscious when someone got to her a few minutes after the wreck. By the time someone found Larry, well that’s why we have a Ride of Silence.

Wanna bet this one gets solved ASAP? Wayne cop struck while training for charity bike ride Nothing on what happened aside from telling who owned the weapon vehicle.

Our Daily Ted (I bet you thought I forgot). Morning Links: Caltrans may remove dangerous Topanga Cyn reflectors; Vision Zero becomes official LA policy

And still in CA, another frikken hit-and-run. MAN ON BICYCLE KILLED IN MARIPOSA HIT AND RUN I am so freaking tired of hit-and-run drivers I could scream.

Last link is from Oz. Australia’s biggest bike-lane skeptic ‘wants to destroy cycling in Sydney’ Neanderthal, ain’t he?

And I’m tired, I have to get up early tomorrow, and I’m still very unhappy about that last link’s comments section.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Unkillable Badass Poet

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It’s hot in Texas and water is wet, and the Feed

Looking at my phone the temp just went to 103°F with the heat index “only” 102 because there is almost no humidity. Seriously the air in Phoenix is more humid than the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell, 22% in TX to 26% in AZ. And I actually go out and ride a bike in weather like this, wearing a full-face helmet. Well nobody has accused me of being “normal” lately. Speaking of that there are only 20 more shopping days to get me a Death Day present. I’m looking for RPG dice this year, especially d6 and d8. And I’m a vain geek, I want pretty dice that kinda match. And seriously about this, I’m playing a game now where I sometimes need as many as 10 d6 for damage rolls because my Warlock is heavily buffed with stacking magic items that both increase his “to hit” as well as his damage. I mean my to hit is now +13 against the touch AC of my opponent meaning against most non-monsters I hit every time, and I have better than even odds against pretty much all of the monsters. Currently it takes me longer to roll damage than most people take to play a turn because of my lack of d6. 😦

Right now it appears the Big Story is the woman hit by a semi in Boston on Friday morning. Cyclist Killed by Tractor Trailer Identified and Cyclist’s death spotlights Mass. Ave. peril also Recent fatal bike encounters with trucks, buses this too Police search for flatbed truck after bicyclist hit and killed at Boston more like this Bicycle rider killed in Back Bay crash in the previous link you can see the cyclist just before she was hit under the passenger side mirror of the picture of the weapon vehicle. Police Identify Bicyclist Killed In Back Bay Accident I’m going to make a 100% absolutely serious recommendation here: Ban large trucks like this from urban areas unless accompanied by bicyclist outriders front and rear to make sure that no pedestrians or cyclists get run over because drivers can’t see out of the right side or directly in front of the vehicle. The outriders’ responsibility would be to ensure that there was nothing and nobody in the way of the truck before allowing it to make a turning movement and hold the truck until the way had been cleared with the front outrider keeping people from turning across the truck and the back outrider making sure nobody comes from behind, and both making sure that the people who got there first have time to get out of the way, then the truck can make a turn. Obviously this is much more important when making a right turn because such large vehicles have to fade far to the left to clear such things as light poles and sidewalks, but there is still some issues with the left turns from a one-way street that require fading right for clearance. Using bicyclists as outriders means the forward speed is more or less limited to a safe speed. Late addition Surgeon Remembered After Being Struck and Killed on Bike

From a few hours ride east of WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. Calls for road safety after Longview cyclist crashes “It’s not if I’m going to get hit, it’s when,” which sounds pretty pessimistic, but this is TX, the state where the 2 biggest-selling vehicles are pickup trucks in spite of most of the population living in one of 6 urban areas.

A memorial ride south of WoaB about a day and a half ride. Memorial to honor teen killed in auto vs. bike crash “(H)e swerved and hit the side of a vehicle” tells me that he got buzzed and hit. Remember this victim of motor violence.

Ted had a good day. We interrupt this website for a view from Sunday’s successful CicLAvia

Well it was good for a little while, anyway. Bicyclist killed riding on I-15 in North San Diego County hit-and-run; victim may have been struck multiple times

Same area, slightly earlier. Mission Beach Cyclist Severely Injured in Hit-and-Run Area readers are encouraged to BOLO for the weapon vehicle, have SDPD non-emergency number on speed dial. And PD need to have the ability to get texts and attachments from cell phones so that vital information can be sent from people on the scene instead of trying to describe the situation verbally. Pictures are worth a thousand words.

From the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike catches a killer. FHP: Hit-and-run driver distracted by e-cig before killing teen cyclist and Arrest made in hit-and-run crash that killed 17-year-old He dropped his vaper on the floor and instead of pulling over and stopping while he searched for it, he just ducked down and drove blind.

NYC, you suck. 18-Year-Old Queens Cyclist Who Was Struck By Driver In Bike Lane Has Died The drunk driver has not yet been charged with anything, including not charged with drunk driving.

Upstate NY is only slightly better. Bike accident during Great Race sends two cyclists to Upstate University Hospital No motor vehicles involved, but it was a race/ride. Some people were just out to have a nice ride somewhat protected from motor vehicles.

More upstate NY hassles. No easy answers for rider-driver friction in Piermont Part of the problem is NY culture leads to confrontations (remember Pacino’s “Hey! I’m WALKING here!”?), and part of the problem is we cyclists get a trifle excited when some putz comes within inches of terminating our lives which does little to reduce tensions.

Meanwhile in Joisey. Charges filed in Mine Hill crash that left cyclist injured The driver has been charged with driving like a putz and failing to yield.

A bill in PA that deserves to get thrown under the bus. Pa. bill to demand cyclists wear reflective vests at night getting thrown under bus Seriously, instead of demanding that cyclists do all the work here, how about just enforcing the Basic Speed Law?

Are you Too Old To Drive? Mother of bicyclist killed in car accident helps educate elderly drivers I remember covering this wreck back then, the cyclist was hit with the front of the right front fender. The driver just did not even consider that there was a lane of traffic to the right of the vehicle before starting the turn.

Someone in MN has a serious hate on for cyclists. Answers Tough To Find After Cyclist Hit By Chunk Of Concrete and People are ruthlessly attacking Minneapolis cyclists, for some reason Seriously, this was a planned attack, as the driver was riding in some cyclist-heavy parts of the city and wearing PPE so as to not get hurt by the objects he was throwing at cyclists. If you see the weapon vehicle deploy spike strips and shoot to kill. The car that is, kill the car. We want the driver to be publicly humiliated for at least a decade or so and corpses don’t get humiliated easily.

Still in MN a left cross wreck injures a young girl. Minnesota Girl Injured On Bicycle After Car Struck Her This story is just so bizarre. The driver was the victim of random mob violence a few years ago that left him brain damaged and was just now starting to get something resembling a normal life back when he turned left into the cyclist. As a member of both groups, brain damaged and cyclist, I don’t know which I should feel more sorry for. But as a member of both groups I also need to say they should test the driver for his degree of perception to his left, as well as can he physically turn his head to see that direction. He may have undiscovered defects on that side of his body, that he may not even know about.

Another hit-from-behind wreck in WI. Bicyclist hurt in Sunday crash named Other than the fact the driver stayed at the scene and rendered aid to the cyclist until medical help arrived it was a common hit-from-behind wreck.

Another cyclist is killed in another hit-and-run, this time in MI. Bicyclist on trek across Michigan dies in hit-and-run crash and Woman cycling across Michigan killed in hit-and-run The driver of the pickup truck hit the last rider in a group and sped away because he was a person of low moral content. When they find the truck it should be crushed as soon as they finish processing it, possibly with the driver still in it.

A little girl is hurt in SD. Five-Year-Old Girl Injured In Car Vs. Bicycle Accident If a 5YO can’t play safely here then there isn’t a safe place to play in SD.

Our first international links come from the Great White North, as age is no defense against criminally bad driving. Charges pending against 83-year-old driver after cyclist hit And neither is “sun glare”. It’s not like you don’t know the sun is going to be there…

The father of a cyclist killed in a hit-and-run wants a mandatory minimum sentence for killing someone in a hit-and-run to deter DUIs from leaving the scene. Dead cyclist’s father wants jail time for hit-and-run drivers and Dead cyclist’s father wants jail time for hit-and-run drivers I suggest the minimum for a fatal hit-and-run be twice the minimum for death by DUI, whatever they call it in the statute. If leaving the guy to die is not worse than killing him outright, well…

Gawddammit! Cyclist seriously injured after being hit by a lorry in central London OK I know the drivers have at least some degree of driving ability to pass the test for the license, and the majority of the cyclists hit have been experienced and careful cyclists, which narrows it down to infrastructure and vehicle blind spots…

Road.cc is sorta like Gothamist except all bike and in England. They have two links in today’s Feed. The first one is the driver who had his pathetically weak sentence reduced further because victims’ impact statements don’t actually count, they’re just for show. Lorry driver who caused death of Denbighshire cyclist has driving ban reduced FFS.

Second link is the bus driver that hit a cyclist in plain view and dragging his body until there was no hope of survival and getting away with it. Bus driver who dragged cyclist to his death and failed to stop avoids jail That distance in American (formerly Imperial English) is almost 80 feet. And WTF?!? “Death by Dangerous Driving” is the most serious driving offense in the book, and he got probation?

I think the coppers are still looking for the murder weapon. 70 year-old man questioned over death of cyclist Yep, I’ almost positive that’s what they’re doing.

Last link. Sips For Cyclists Event To Benefit Injured Riders Go out there and benefit somebody.

And I’m tired and done composing, now comes proofing, editing, and tagging.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Unkillable Badass Poet

Lots of infrastructure news today, and the Feed

First off let me say that I went and did two personal PM errands today. First thing I did was to stop at my local nail spa and get my toes done. I have mentioned this before but I can’t get all the toenails trimmed on my left foot because the nerve damage makes the toes do weird things when I bend over and try to cut the nails. Basically I just can’t get the toes to unclench so I can get the clippers to the nails on the last 2 or 3 toes. Sometimes I can get that 3rd nail, sometimes not.

While I was at church tonight we had a man with a bullhorn show up across the street yelling at the Pagan Fellowship group about how we were lost and our journey could end if we would just accept Jesus. I took a picture but so far it has failed to show in my inbox to share.

Up first is a dumbass who failed the firearms handling course about as bad as you can fail it. Florida Cyclist Dies After Gun in Pocket Goes Off Accidentally I don’t know why he was packing heat (I have a suspicion that he was going to see if SYG applied to cyclists threatened with death or injury by motor vehicle, but that is just speculation on my part based on personal experience), but the reports all seem to say the gun discharged “by accident” while in his shirt or jersey. More Police: Florida man riding bicycle is killed when handgun in jacket pocket accidentally fires OK that one changed between filtering and composing, they now say it was in a jacket instead of his jersey.

More on the victim of a hit-and-run in Chuck SC. Bicyclist who was killed in North Charleston was doing everything right, family says Apparently a hit from behind on a guy lighted like the proverbial Christmas tree with 3 rear-facing blinkies. Seriously, this has all the hallmarks of a murder by motor vehicle. I’m betting that when they catch the guy he “didn’t see” the cyclist and “didn’t know” he hit anyone.

We get a two-fer on Our Daily Ted. 51-year old San Diego police detective died from solo fall earlier this month after being taken off life support and Weekend Links: Marathon Crash non-Race is back on for Sunday, along with a long list of upcoming bike events The Marathon Crash event is actually doing the LA Marathon organizers a huge favor by sweeping the course prior to the running race.

A little bit of cycling lifestyle from Beantown. Friends mourn for Cambridge songwriter, activist I had to click the link to find out which country’s “Cambridge” had this wreck. So many dead cyclists, so little safe bicycle infrastructure.

I stopped doing wreck reports, but this one is unusual. For one thing there are no cars involved. Cyclist did wheelie on road and hit pair on tandem That’s right, this is a bike-on-bike wreck caused by someone doing something stupid.

The timing on this wreck is too perfect to be on purpose. Spectator causes cyclist to crash hard by grabbing her handlebars and The horrific moment a SPECTATOR flicked his arm out from the crowd and knocked cyclist off her bike as she sprinted for the finish line You can’t see the spectator’s head until the cyclist hitting his arm pulls him around, but he is plainly facing away from the fence just prior to the impact when his arm comes up from the top of the fence and has a “WTF?” look in the fraction of a second he’s facing the camera. Although why he would be on the fence at the finish line of a stage expected to produce a bunch sprint and is not paying attention to the cyclists in the sprint is a mystery. My guess is he was looking for another cyclist in the pack instead of the group in the sprint. Still super stupid thing to be doing however.

And another UK driver uses the Universal Get Out Of Jail Free card when he hits a cyclist. HGV driver who killed cyclist found not guilty of dangerous driving You remember that one, right? “I didn’t see him” when I ran over him with tons of deadly force.

Another article I can’t link to right now suggests the spectacle of private prosecution in this death shamed prosecutors into taking this case for the government. Dead cyclist’s family win review over driver who killed dad on Regent Street The reason I can’t link to the other article is shortly after I read it the first time the site went down for maintenance and put a big 404 page where the article was before. Anyway this was another case of a driver exercising the Universal Get Out Of Jail Free card to “excuse” hitting a cyclist that was plainly in front of her for 200 meters before the wreck.

One thing the UK has that we don’t here in the US as a result of them having Universal Health Care is this little life-saver. Injured cyclist saved by new London Air Ambulance procedure There is something about the nature of calling for air ambulance in the UK that they take getting the victim there with less damage more seriously than their US counterparts so they have better equipment on board the chopper than our crews have. The only thing I can think of is there is absolutely no costs reduction or “moar profits” motive for the UK service, the only thing they are judged on is survival rate and secondarily on saving other body parts.

You know back in the day one of the criteria you used to judge a city by was the condition of their streets, mostly on the smoothness of the pavement. Streets Department: Digging its Way out of a Pothole Still a thing, but not as big a thing as before apparently. Maybe less money on tanks for crazy cops and more on pothole maintenance?

Other towns also face infrastructure issues. SUPPORT BIKING IN TYSONS ON MONDAY As this town repaves they have the golden opportunity to install semi-decent bicycle infrastructure at a far lower cost than at a later date.

A cycling blog reposts (I hope with permission) a news article on why a reporter no longer rides a bike to commute. News-Press Sunday 3/8/15: biking safety feature:
Why I stopped riding my bike on the road Spoiler: It’s cars.

What is causing most of the wrecks between cars and bikes, and cars and pedestrians, in SF? It ain’t a lack of helmets. PRIVATE AUTO RESTRICTIONS CLOSER TO COMING TO MARKET STREET Yep turning vehicles factor in to more than half of the injury collisions with motor vehicles.

Is an open pit mine sending more than 6 semi-trailer loads of sand an hour over a grade crossing really a compatible industry for a bike trail? Vote on Open Pit Mine by Elroy Sparta March 16th I didn’t think so either, because every truck load they send out requires an empty truck to cross the other direction first, so that is a truck crossing every 5 minutes or less unless they hold trucks so that the do both crossing movements at the same time.

Someone has been delaying completion of this bike trail for almost a decade. Stop the delay: Build the Burke-Gilman Trail Seriously, this thing has been “studied” one way or another since 2002, just build the damn thing already! For the accountants in the bureaucracy, think of it this way: The medical costs of the 45 people injured due to this languishing the last 5 years is more than the costs of construction for the 1.5 miles of the connector.

And last link is a little humor: 20 problems only modern roadies have

And I am finally devoid of any more links to include.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet