Really want/need to get my neck rubbed, and the Feed

I’m working around “Arthur, Arthur Dent” as much as I can, and constantly working my neck to extend my range of motion, but DAAAaaaannnnng! do I need a massage right now… I need to get out and pay some things tomorrow, so I might get it done then. It’s not like the problem will go away by itself overnight. Working on the blog does not help matters any, also. My posture while typing is practically guaranteed to cause a neck problem from supporting my head while I type.

And this just in Yr Fthfl Srvnt was declared Next City’s Smartest Reader of the Day yesterday for my comment on the Seattle commuter dilemma.

Up first because of the many links to the story, and because of the high WTF factor involved. Pedestrian killed by falling hydro pole following collision in Concord and Cyclist killed after pole topples in collision of 2 cars also Toronto man charged after cyclist killed in Vaughan crash This was a serious level of pinball wreck that got both cyclists almost square on, as you can see from the crushed bicycles in the pictures with the articles. From watching the videos it seems the cyclists were waiting at the corner for the light to change when the wreck began and dodged one of the cars only to be crushed by the falling power pole. The bike that I assume belonged to the fatality victim was caught right in front of the seat, I can’t tell where the other bike was struck because it was removed from under the pole to treat one of the victims.

Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: An early endorsement for state senate, registration gets bikes back, and OCTA swims upstream

A literal hit-and-run in Philly. Police seek suspect who struck, killed cyclist with car in Juniata Park And this is the first time I recall seeing a F-150 called a “car”.

Another Philly wreck, where the victim’s survivors are not vindictive. Cyclist’s Family Says They Have No Ill-Will Against Driver Who Killed Him

OR road users are concerned about a recent spike in wrecks. With 40% rise in roadway deaths, activists plan to target ODOT That is an unexplained jump at a time when trends have been sharply down, so what has changed?

A Ghost Bike for the victim of that SUV buzz job in CO. ‘Ghost bike’ memorial to be held for dead cyclist

More on the alligator wreck. Weston cycling crash caused by alligator carcass sidelines spirited two-sport competitor Wow, he really is in bad shape.

A notice to GA riders. Bryan County public safety brief – Agressive Pitbull injures bicycle rider

Some people in the Great White North understand physics. There’s so much more to bike safety than helmets

More from the Great White North. Bike monument and memorial ride honour fallen cyclists This was done at about the same time as the pinball wreck discussed above.

Still more as LEO search the Great White North for a hit-and-run driver. Police seek white pickup truck in fatal hit-and-run

Last Canadian link, is your insurance valid when you are riding a bicycle? Do You Have Insurance Coverage as a Cyclist?

I was wondering what took so long after the driver was found to be driving without a license while driving a big rig involved in a fatal wreck. Freight firm bosses banned after unlicensed, uninsured driver killed cyclist

Also from the UK is another protest at the intersection where crap infrastructure and a blind truck killed a cyclist. Stop Killing Cyclists stage vigil at ‘murderous’ junction and Stop Killing Cyclists to host candlelit vigil to honour life of cyclist killed in midnight crash in Forward Drive

Back a few months ago we all thought this waste of human skin was going to be off the roads for a decent amount of time, not true. Widow of Sheffield cyclist killed by drunk driver lashes out over jail time served Six months into a 4 year sentence and she’s already at a halfway house? TANJ!

They had the only vehicles that could get through, and they were already there. Nepal’s national mountain bike team turn rescuers Another tally in the plus column for bicycle disaster drills. Sometimes the only things moving on the ground are people on foot and bicycles. Give those bicycles some cargo capacity and a mission and see what can be done.

And I’m out of links and I need to go fix dinner.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

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Happy Pearl Harbor Day for Wreck-Free Sunday

This is going to sound like an awful pun, but I used to have a friend who would “celebrate” Pearl Harbor Day by going out and getting bombed on Kamikazes. Well until his liver went on strike for a few days after a bout of alcohol poisoning, then he switched to sushi. Still “celebrates” with over-consumption, just on California Rolls and gunkan-maki and sometimes some Tempura (I swear the dude would eat just about anything battered and deep-fried). I celebrated by going to a Christmas concert with Mrs. the Poet (she does not get the “unkillable badass” in her surname) and one of the tenants. We saw (and heard) a local group called the Vocal Majority, a barbershop chorus that started about the time my voice stabilized enough that I could get back into choir again as a second Bass, and has been going strong and getting better ever since. One thing I have in common with the VM (as they refer to themselves) is we have both performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. My performance was a Christmas concert with all the local High School choirs that was broadcast in SLC and northern Utah, theirs was a TV concert that was broadcast world-wide. Slliiiiggght bit of difference there. 😉 XD

I have been roped into writing two more services for SJF next year, one on 2/15 and the other on 3/29. I’m hoping they will accept my disability and allow me to just write the service and not have to perform it as well. Seriously, I haven’t done ANY public speaking since that day teaching a class where everything just vanished from my memory, including my name for a second. I could not remember what came next, nor could I remember what I had already said so that I could reconstruct the lesson from what I had given and knowing what had to be taught. I could not remember anything for a while. I mean sure my name(s) came back after a few seconds, and what day of the week after a few more seconds, and why I was standing in front of these people a few seconds after that so I was only doing my impression of a fish out of water less than a minute. That was still too long. I can still read a service, but it would be wooden and lack grace, even if I wrote it myself.

Anyway the first service has numerous ways I can go, a service about L’Amore on the day after Valentine’s Day paying homage to our patroness for the year Aphrodite, A chocolate ritual (the last chocolate ritual we did was for Mrs. the Poet’s and my 25th wedding anniversary, and two people were hospitalized from either chocolate toxicity or not taking enough insulin before the service (it has been a while), or something sappy for said wedding anniversary that will take place three days later… I’m thinking that a service in homage to Aphrodite would get me in less trouble. I have been asked if I could do a re-run on the coffee ritual, too, so that is a possibility.

The 3/29 ritual is also rife with possibility… I could do a fast-forward autobiography covering all the times I have done foolish things in my life, but I have a hard 90 minute time limit, so I would have to skip a large number of things, very foolish things, just for lack of time. A long time ago I did an Animaniacs-themed service involving the children invoking the elements as Yakko, Wakko, and their sister Dot as Air, Fire, and Water respectively and an adult representing the element of Earth as Hellooo Nurse! who went with them to light the actual candles as the child invoked the element. The youngest kid in that ritual was just entering K the fall of year of the ritual we did in the Spring, she’s now a freshman in High School… and now I just made myself feel decrepit. I have done several Bugs Bunny-Daffy Duck rituals and one Urusei Yatsura ritual featuring Ataru Moroboshi as the Japanese version of Wile E. Coyote. And I can tell the people doing the spell check on this browser are classic Anime fans because there are no red squiggles under any of the names I just typed. And the only reason I could remember Ataru Moroboshi is a friend sent me a link to some scanlated Lum manga recently.

So, should I rewrite the “Duck Amuck” service, or the Urusei Yatsura service, now that I can incorporate Hotei since we have a person who does that particular deity now since He won the patron auction a few years back. Or should I do a “Disasters in Fast forward” autobiography? Leave comments below with your votes.

PSA, Opus the unkillable badass Poet