Happy tropical storm Bill, and the Feed

We are not-quite-flooded out here at Casa de El Poeta, just the usual swamp in the back yard and where the two roofs intersect in the front to send the water from the north-south roof and the east-west roof out of the same corner. I’m considering putting up a deflector to split this back up so it doesn’t all land in the same place every time it rains, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. So, galvanized steel, powdercoated steel, or powdercoated aluminum in order of least difficult to most? Which material should I use to make the deflector?

Up first is some Infrastructure! news from the Great White North. Advocates call for city-wide bike grid after 3 cyclists killed in 2 weeks and Advocates call for city-wide bike grid after 3 cyclists killed in 2 weeks Yep, a protected bike lane probably would have kept that (assumed) drunk driver from killing the cyclist last week, but a network of them would have allowed the driver to get home without needing a car as long as he was sober enough to not fall off the bike.

Speaking of the Devil. Mitchell Irwin granted bail in deadly hit and run Because of the obstruction of justice caused by the driver waiting more than 18 hours to turn himself in there was no way to prove suspected drunk driving, but some of the charges can be proved without knowing the driver’s BAC% at the time of the wreck and they carry significant prison terms all by themselves.

Our Daily Ted is a little lighter today. Morning Links: Hermosa backs safety improvements; San Diego details deaths in the county, including on bikes

And Daily Ted Part 2 is a very good thing to keep on your phone as an app. Why Attorneys Tell You To Never Admit Guilt

More on a CA bike death. CYCLIST KILLED BY DISTRACTED DRIVER WAS RADY CHILDREN’S CFO This looks almost word for word like an article I linked a couple of days ago from a different outlet…

Still in CA. Billboard reaction: ‘To be called roadkill is really disturbing’ While I agree with the premise that attention must be grabbed, there is “grabbing” and there is “assaulting”, and I place this one firmly in the “assaulting” camp. And given the recent death of a cyclist lighted from all angles like a freaking Christmas tree, how about we make “not seeing” a cyclist or pedestrian a crime, punishable with surrender and recycling of the motor vehicle used in the crime?

This cyclist was killed by bad infrastructure, and they are trying to blame the victim for not looking far enough ahead? Cyclist’s death highlights hazards Not to mention that besides looking ahead it requires knowing or remembering the curb cut is not wide enough for 2-way traffic.

NYC is just a terrible place to try to get around, the latest evidence. Pedestrian Dies After Being Struck By Two Drivers In Inwood I will give both driers credit for stopping, and the second driver had almost zero time to react when the pedestrian was knocked into his lane. Why the pair were crossing the street where they did and when is not known at this posting.

Methinks the TWU is unaware of the word “irony”. City Bus Drivers Protest Vision Zero Law By Driving More Carefully OOhhh! They will drive totally within the laws! [faint, iz ded] Or to quote a substantial fraction of the commentariat: “Thank you for obeying the law and not killing me”.

The most dangerous vehicles in London just claimed another victim. Cyclist seriously injured after being hit by skip lorry on London Bridge in rush hour As of this posting the cyclist was still alive in hospital.

Less dangerous vehicle compensates with more-dangerous driving. Angry cyclist films woman eating bowl of cereal behind the wheel of her Land Rover The funny part is how much of the commentariat is grousing about the “dangerous and illegal” cyclist while giving the driver eating a bowl of cereal and milk in traffic a pass.

UK cyclists complete a dead cyclist’s journey that he couldn’t. Friends of Washington cyclist killed by a bus set to take on Coast to Coast cycling challenge

Don’t wear HiViz, get mocked by the courts and killed by drivers, wear HiViz and get beat up by a gang of drunks on the side of the road. Cyclist beaten up after his hi-vis vest gets mocked

And if you don’t want a smelly gas scooter on your multi-million $$ Yacht: Why billionaires want these electric bikes

And that’s all I got today, no more links. Now Ima go play with the plans for the adaptor to put Wide 5 hubs on (reproduction) early Ford spindles.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

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Did some maintenance on the blogger, and the Feed

I went out and had my toes done this afternoon because I ruined 2 pair of socks in 3 days this week and I can’t keep doing that. One of the things that happened as a result of my wreck was a lot of nerve damage in the wrecked leg and when I try to cut my toenails the last two toes on the wrecked leg tuck under and out of reach. As a result I have to either try to con Mrs. the Poet into cutting those two toenails or pay for a pedicure. I almost always end up getting a pedicure and since they don’t reduce the fee for not doing things I get some stuff that for a guy might seem a bit strange, like putting color on my toenails. I got a lovely blue metalflake this time 😉 Then this evening I went to a chant workshop put on once a month by my church which also ate up a large chunk of time.

Up first because they attacked a secondary cause rather than the primary cause of the wreck. Distracted driver who caused deadly crash banned from using phone The driver was depositing a check via his cell phone banking app while driving between jobs, but instead of taking the vehicle away they took the phone away. Now the cyclist did not die because he got hit with a phone, he died because he got hit with a truck, that was being driven by a guy using a phone. So they are not restricting him from the deadly thing that was not properly used and killed the cyclist, but merely a contributing factor.

And continuing in the same concept, here is another convicted distracted driver. National guardsman who killed Minnesota cyclist warns others of distracted driving and Man who killed cyclist warns of distracted driving Again, distracted driving was only the trigger, the gun is the motor vehicle, which our former soldier still has unfettered access to after he completes his initial sentence.

Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: San Bernardino police unfairly blame victim; bike commuter dares Sepulveda Pass sans spandex The exchange with the cop sounds like he was being deliberately obtuse, ignoring statute that was permissive for the deceased cyclist and ignoring statute that was prohibitive for the killer driver.

Local (almost) to WoaB is this protest ride. DENTON TOUR DE FRACK – SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 7:00 AM, MCKENNA PARK And no, that is not a BSG reference, this ride is to protest the TX state law that just overturned the Denton TX law prohibiting fracking within city limits.

Remember those two cyclists hit in the same intersection in Portland? Crosswalk enforcement action uncovers rampant law-breaking on SE Powell Turns out they were writing tickets as fast as they could get the motorcycle cops back to the intersection after writing the tickets. Suggestion: don’t let the motorcycle cops write the tickets just stop the cars until another LEO can get there to do the ticket and then get back at the intersection to pull someone else over. Station the ticket writers about 100-200 feet down from the crosswalk and let them know by radio what violations the initial stop was for and let them take care of secondary tickets like no license or insurance. Put a sniper there with a car-stopper of a gun like the Barrett 0.50 caliber to get the ones that don’t stop immediately.

How do make change with something as entrenched in society as automobilism? My opinion: Protests, politics, and progress? Two cyclists left hooked in the same intersection in a single month and massive protests resulted in left turn signals that will be installed in less than 6 months, because those signals had already been approved and budgeted years ago but placed way down on the priority list until the two wrecks in quick succession. And the problem here is that this is the wrong way to roll out projects where it is an entire street that is the problem, not just one or two intersections that happened to roll craps.

And then you get $&(% like this. Six days after man dies crossing SE Chavez, his ghost bike memorial is mangled too (UPDATED) And a late comment seems to show it was a semi cutting the corner. Which is even worse when you think about it, because there could have been someone waiting to cross the street there instead of a Ghost Bike.

And our last link from BP, a comprehensive look at changing bad infrastructure to somewhat-less-crappy. Fixing Southeast: Three achievable proposals from a fast-rising advocate

A BOLO for a total douchebag driver in the Windy City. Police release photo of car in hit-and-run that injured bicyclist

Hey, let’s make cyclists as distracted as other road users with GPS. This High-Tech Helmet Shows Cyclists the Best Bike Route in a City Not saying this wouldn’t be useful, just that it would be a distraction, just like having GPS on your handlebars would be a distraction. Putting the information directly in your line of sight with the HUD would make it potentially more distracting, but also make it possible to read the information and redirect attention back to the outside environment much faster than the same information on a handlebar display. Still a distraction though.

While we are back to that subject here’s another distracted driver in the UK. Julie Watson killed cyclist after using phone while driving What is shocking here is the judge remanded the driver over to jail to await an inevitable prison sentence. Two years ago this would have been maybe a year in gaol or a few hundred hours of community service on weekends, this time it was go directly to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200 (Monopoly game reference).

Infrastructure news from the IL town where a woman riding USBR 36 was killed by a car driving in the bike lane. Bicycle, roadway safety in wake of cyclist death

Infrastructure news from far West Canuckistan. Editorial — Cyclists, take care Gee, one would think cyclists did not know that getting hit by/with a motor vehicle is painful and potentially deadly every time it happens. And that more times than not there was nothing the cyclist could have done to prevent it.

Final link about that Workmen’s Comp protest ride in the Great White North. Riders seeking financial justice for injured workers

Lifestyle in Wales as cyclists raise money for an injured rugby player with paralysis. Father of injured Blues player Owen Williams among those heading off on Cardiff to Paris bike ride

Another “greatest thing” battery chemistry for e-assist bikes and EV. Next Generation Battery Technology

And I’m outta links and patience, fortunately links ran out first.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Tired

Chafing with antici.. wait for it, wait for it… pation

I’m getting tired of waiting. I want “Chris Christie” off my neck. I got tired of the “ugly lump of useless fat that is a pain in the neck” months ago, now I’m tired of waiting for it to be gone. I started this trip back in June 2014, when I was for sure I had health insurance (I had to fill a prescription for antibiotics and presented my insurance card and got $50 worth for like $4) and it took until now to get scheduled. Now I just have to wait until there is a free spot in the OR.

I’m still working on the Sprint T, mostly as a distraction from waiting to get my neck sliced open. I used a hunk of tubing from a bike project that got stalled when my source for another size of tubing I needed to complete the project went out of business to plot where I would put the body mounts. The tubing is not the same size as the frame rail it represents, but I was able to get a good idea of where the mounts will go under the body. The manual for Speedway’s kit that uses the same body suggests 6 mounts, 3 to a side. I can get to the far corners of the mounting flange and keep the frame rail under the body, and also for the middle of the body so I’m good to go on that front. I also go one up on the Speedway kit by putting the mount directly to the body instead of through the plywood floor that is glued to the body. You can see roughly where the mounts will go by looking at this picture.

The front mount will go right behind where the front of the body is resting on the floor about ³/₄” from the outside and front edges, the rear mount will go about even with the back edge of the floor cutout in the body and likewise ³/₄” from the outside edge of the body, and the middle mount will go on the line connecting those two about the middle of that run. I wish Chrome had a decent photo editor so I could make those marks and lines and show you where the mounts will be rather than just telling you.

There is a method to my madness in this. I’m trying to simplify the frame construction as well as knock as much weight off the build as possible. So, I’m changing the frame design again so that I have 3 distinct sections that can be built independently of each other so I am not filling my entire workspace with the full length of the frame all at once. The front part of the frame, the part where the engine goes and the front suspension is attached, is two parallel rails on the bottom with a front and rear tubular bulkhead and a diagonal from the top of the front bulkhead to the bottom of the rear bulkhead. The top of the rear bulkhead and the top of the front bulkhead are connected by the upper frame rail when the front clip gets welded to the passenger compartment section. The rear part of the frame is also two parallel rails on the bottom, with a front and rear vertical bulkhead made from a tube structure braced with a sheetmetal diaphragm, and an upper frame rail made from the same material as the lower connecting the two bulkheads and likewise sheetmetal used to brace that assembly as the rear of the frame makes the trunk/fuel cell container completely separated from the passenger compartment. Those two assemblies define the width of the frame where they meet the rest of the frame. The rear bulkhead of the engine compartment is also the front hoop of the roll cage that defines the upper frame rail, and the rear hoop is mounted to the part of the frame that connects the front and rear clips together and runs under the body. The real fun part is the entire roll cage runs outside the body to protect the driver and any passenger that might be unlucky enough to be on board in a wreck, and as I wrote earlier use the largest possible dimensions for the frame to use the d⁴ principle to make the frame torsionally stiff. And this means I will have to figure out a way to get the body inside the frame after it gets finish welded and everything painted without having to cut any diagonal braces or scratch any paint. I think maybe I should build a couple of “ship in a bottle” models to get ready for this. The old style, where the ship was built except for the rigging outside the bottle and then rigged inside the bottle.

Actually, I’m thinking that the diagonal braces inside the body are going to have to be bolt-ins that are installed after the body gets finally installed through the side or top of the frame. If I have to go through the top that means the top braces are going to have to be bolt-in as well, so I might just make the whole mess bolt in as a single unit if it makes it any easier to do. Or not. 😮

PSA, Opus