Still batching it, and the Feed

I’m still alive and feeding myself (and using up some leftovers). I’m building the other engines I got from VCG Resins (the LS7 and the Ford Coyote) so that I don’t spend much time thinking about not being with Mrs. the Poet and doing my own cooking. Something I noticed is the LS7 engine is almost identical to the SBC, while the Coyote is slightly shorter but much wider than the SBC. I can foresee much wailing and gnashing of teeth trying to get that in the same chassis and especially under the same hood as the SBC. I mean the hood barely fits over the SBC when everything is above the bottom of the lower frame rail and the body sits on top of that 1.5″ square lower frame rail. And I just measured the thickness of the transmission pan and the thickness of the temp floor in the bucket and if I use the temp adhesive to glue the transmission to the inside of the floor without the pan it raises the engine to exactly the height it would be if the bottom of the body was sitting on top of a scale 1.5″ square rod. This makes mocking up much easier, and I will be able to take a picture showing almost exactly what I would see from the driver’s seat of the 1:1 Sprint-T.

Up first is Our Daily Ted for no particular reason (except I want to avoid the Big Story for a few more minutes). Morning Links: LACBC & SaMo Spoke up for national honors, CHP looks for driver in East LA bike hit-and-run

Still in CA. 2 Suspects Sought in Shooting Death of Man Riding Bicycle in San Bernardino Talk about stupid, if they had run the guy over and stayed at the scene and cried a bit how they never saw the guy until they hit him, there would have been no big deal over the dead guy and LEO probably wouldn’t have even put any points on the driver’s license. But because they shot the cyclist now there is a big manhunt going on and probably both are going to get charged with murder and conspiracy to commit.

OK, now that Big Story, more on the drunk driver that hit a group of 10 cyclists waiting in a bike lane for a red light in AZ. 2 bicyclists killed, 2 injured on Tucson’s NW side and Santa Fe bicyclist killed in Arizona; truck driver arrested also 2 bike riders dead as pickup hits New Mexico group in Tucson this too Santa Fe cyclists among those killed, injured by impaired driver in Arizona Again, there were 10 bikes in the group, 4 cyclists were injured enough to not be able to walk from the wreck site, one was pronounced dead at the scene, one died after reaching the hospital, one remains in critical condition, and one may already be out by the time I hit the “publish” button on the composing page. There was some speculation that the driver may have been distracted in addition to being drunk, which would make his loss of driving skills drunk². Actually I don’t know that is true, I’m extrapolating from the MythBusters episode where they compared driving with a cell phone (hand-held and hands-free) to driving with a BAC of 0.08% and found cell phone driving to be slightly worse than drunk driving, so combining the two would be either 2drunk or drunk². It all depends on if it is a linear or exponential relationship. And I just went full nerd on you, sorry.

It took FL LEO long enough to charge this guy. Driver charged in death of Weston bicyclist I mean he only killed the guy back in July, the victim died at the scene so they were not waiting on tox screens or anything.

Bad news about infrastructure from OR. Negligent driving bill won’t pass this session This comment encapsulates things perfectly.
“Anne Hawley March 3, 2016 at 1:57 pm
“In their mind,” Rhoades continued, “this bill just criminalizes distracted driving.”
That was the whole damn point.”

More infrastructure news from America’s Copenhagen. Mayoral candidates make cycling part of green policies at environmental debate Everybody put bicycles as a major component of their environmental policies.

And what will be good news to some in the Power Assist Yahoo Group, and bad news to other members. Shop Visit: Pedego Electric Bikes now open in downtown Portland The guy that owns the Pedego company used to be quite active on Power Assist, but not so much any more, maybe because his little empire is expanding.

A distinctly NYC hazard. SUV Driver Shot In The Head, Crashes Into Utility Pole In Astoria Don’t know that any cyclists were involved, it might have been an Uber or Lyft that someone attempted to hijack and everything went to crap.

How do you hit-and-run a building? Knucklehead Cops Allegedly Fled After One Plowed A Car Into A Hair Salon Oh, you get shitfaced celebrating your cop promotion.

An important part of WI infrastructure. Teaching Safe Bicycling Couse Misspelled word is a cut-and-paste from the headline, I know where to put the “r” in “course”. It does slightly worry me that such a major typo got through.

Ranking cities by bicycle safety and Dallas doesn’t even crack the top 20. D.C., Boston Tie for Cycling, Pedestrian Commuting Rates and Safety But, a city I used to live in when LBJ was president did well in the medium city category.

Want to know how much walking and cycling really mean to your city? Snow and the Walkable, Bikeable, Accessible City Look what happens when it snows.

Scary video from Jolly Olde. Glasgow cyclist shows why you shouldn’t always ride in a bike lane Yep another door-zone bike lane.

Another link to the man convicted of careless driving for killing a cyclist while driving drunk. Seven years behind bars for West Molesey man who killed a cyclist Once again I say this was a case of serious under-charging when they called driving drunk “careless”. Seriously, drinking and driving is a deliberate act, not “careless”.

This is one thing about UK jurisprudence I really like. Cyclist won payout from TfL after hitting gaping manhole on cycle superhighway ‘that hadn’t been fixed’ Here in TX government has “Sovereign Immunity” from being sued over sub-par infrastructure even when it was deliberately done that way.

More infrastructure news from Jolly Olde. Commuters want better cycling infrastructure – even if it creates delays I guess people weighed 5 minutes from their day against permanent injury or death for someone else, and decided their 5 minutes were not worth someone else’s life.

Last link looks at the connection between bicycles and early feminism. First The Bicycle, Next The Vote: The Story Of Bicycles And Feminism

Now it’s time to put this to bed in time for Gigi to review it.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

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Back from a date with Mrs. the Poet, and the Feed

Mrs. the Poet and I took in a movie and dinner this afternoon and evening, so I got a late start to filtering the Feed. I finally saw “The Force Awakens”, then we went to a local burger place to get dinner. We got home just before 2200, and I got right to filtering and making the post.

Up first is Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Examining 2015 SoCal bicycling fatalities, and San Diego mountain bikes seized by Marines

The most deadliest state in the US to ride a bike kills another one and nobody can figure out how he died. Authorities investigate death of bicyclist struck on Copans Road When I filtered this link they were saying the cyclist might have been dead before he was hit by the car that stopped, and they don’t know why he was in the street.

Also from the most deadliest state. Father of killed cyclist in Fort Myers speaks about arrest “Longoria was charged with leaving the scene of a traffic crash involving death, vehicular homicide, arson, two counts of tampering with evidence, filing a false police report and driving on a suspended driver’s license.” Um, yeah, if this is the guy he needs to go away for a very long time, especially with the two counts of tampering with evidence…

Infrastructure news as CT prepares to waste more than 10% of their transportation budget adding a lane to one highway. Highway Boondoggles: Widening I-95 Across Connecticut To give an idea on the scale of this project I submit this quote: “$100 Billion would Build 100,000 miles of protected bike lanes in CT. Instead of adding a couple of lanes to I-95, the same money could create a dense network of protected bike lanes in Every city, town, and Hamlet Which could do more to reduce congestion than squandering billions on failure.” Alexander Vucelic

This “cyclist” was riding an e-scooter, but in the bike lane and at bike speeds, so this still applies to us. Man charged with ‘dooring’ cyclist The scooterist was thrown directly in front of a truck that had no time to avoid him. Since this province has a mandatory sidepath law and an anti-dooring law to protect cyclists stuck in the sidepath the usual advice to not ride in the door zone is not applicable. The only thing that can prevent wrecks like this given the legal infrastructure is charging and prosecuting and applying the maximum sentence to drivers or their passengers who open doors unsafely, particularly when the incident ends up with a dead cyclist.

A hit-and-run driver in Jolly Olde is “given strong words of advice“? Cyclist and child hit by a car – but elderly motorist drove off after accident on Cambridge bridge Am I going nuts or is everyone else?

Still in the UK. Cyclist tailgated by car – on London Cycle Superhighway Not by just one vehicle, look at the back and you can see the glare from the headlights of another vehicle tailgating the first. Insanity.

This is one traffic hazard that is not very common in the US. Cape Town cyclist in ICU after attack

Presented smugly 😀 A Study Finds Cyclists to Be Six Times Healthier than Other Commuters My commute increased by 150% recently as I moved my office from my bedroom to the room across the hall. It literally takes me minutes longer to get from my bed to my computer by way of the coffeepot.

And I’m both out of links and energy to type links into the post.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Still treating new ankle scratches, and the Feed

My legs resemble a scratching post because baby kittens are going to scratch when they play, that’s the nature of the beast. I just get caught in the middle when they do, literally. One on one side and one on the other side of my leg, clawing and biting at each other and mostly getting what’s between them, which would be my leg. So I slather on the hand sanitizer to disinfect the scratches and wince, then carry on.

Among the other things I have going on besides this blog and kittens is getting a solar-powered light ready for camping. The light was originally equipped with a single 600 mAh ni-cad AA cell which was not cutting it for winter lighting with the circuit used to light a string of white LEDs, so I swapped out a 2000 mAh NiMH I have in my stash to see how well it works. I just did the install this afternoon so the test has only barely begun as I type this.

Also on my plate is building a handrail for the porch steps at church, which consumed a major portion of my afternoon and evening getting the raw stock for building them. As it turns out the tax number for the church was not registered at the store in spite of several purchases for the church being made there. So when we go back for the stuff tomorrow we have to have the paper tax form with the notary stamp. Bleah!

Up first is a wreck with a tree in NYC. [UPDATE] Cyclist In Critical Condition After Tree Falls On Him In Red Hook and Deliveryman Critically Hurt By Falling Tree In Brooklyn also Workers Cutting Down Tree Critically Injure Cyclist, Local Says “They Didn’t Block Nothing” Cyclist had virtually no warning of the hazard other than a person in street clothes waving at him, without the required flag or cones.

Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Writer claims Vision Zero is anti-driver plot, new CA bike friendly cities, and Gabe Klein at UCLA Um, yeah Vision Zero is anti-driver, drivers have the things that kill people.

Oregon gets a statewide bike plan. First look at ODOT’s draft of a new biking and walking plan There were lots of “weasel words” in the document that essentially make it not do what they claim it will do.

NYC safe-streets advocates ask for more accurate reporting on wrecks. “Crash, Not Accident”: Hundreds March To Remember Those Killed By Drivers This narrative has been used here repeatedly. I still sometimes make that mistake here, but I’m getting better at it.

Another KY cyclist is ticketed for not using the trash and glass strewn bike lanes, and running red lights. Biking advocate: ‘I am not a scofflaw’ Two things, since there are no sensors in the bike lanes because their bike lanes are just paint where they think there is room to paint a bike lane a cyclist could wait all day for a light to change (especially if their beg buttons are like the ones here in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell and just instruct the signal controller to activate the walk signal with the next signal cycle). The other thing is the bike lanes tend to get the trash and broken glass that cars push off to the sides, so I would tell cops that if they wouldn’t walk barefoot in the bike lane I wouldn’t ride a bike there.

Ghost Bike News from west Canuckistan. Daughter requests ghost-bike memorial for father

Cyclist hit from behind in Jolly Olde. ‘We are all devastated’: Tributes as young cyclist killed in crash with car

A little bit of justice for an injured cyclist. London cyclist severely injured in lorry crash wins compensation Quoting an Original Cast SNL skit now they “can buy some moss for her north side”. For those not old enough to remember that skit John Belushi played the cyclist in a coma for that one that doesn’t seem to be on YouTube.

They managed to find out who the unconscious cyclist in Oz was. Cyclist critically injured in Ballarat CBD

An Enn Zed competition cyclist falls off a mountain. Meggie Bichard’s injury prompts safety calls for Nelson mountainbike trails And cue all the bleching and moaning about tax-dodging cyclists in 5, 4, 3 HOONNNK! they jumped the gun.

And I think I’m out of links finally. I know it doesn’t look like many, but there was a long break in the middle to take care of that church project.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the tired