Another Grocery day, now with less money! and the Feed

Don’t panic, it’s not an emergency, the people who pay Mrs. the Poet’s retirement just changed the day they put the check in her account so we are a bit short of cash this month because some automatic drafts went through before the deposit. Everything will be cleared up by the end of the month, but we are running a bit on the short side right now. I’m just peeved because we weren’t warned about this ahead of time and now we have a bunch of bounced check fees to cover. Had we been warned we could have stopped the autopay transactions and avoided those bounced check fees, now we have to eat them, instead of the groceries we would have bought.

Up first, this has been a bad day for Ted. Daily Ted, part 1 It Seemed So Normal Morning Links: Fix the City sues to keep it broken, Seleta Reynolds talks Vision Zero, and still more kind people

Daily Ted, part 2 The Uglifying. Update: Arleta bike rider killed by suspected wrong-way DUI hit-and-run driver

Daily Ted, part 3 The Rear End. Early morning crash kills cyclist on PCH in Huntington Beach

Still in CA. Alcohol believed to be factor in bicycle crash While I’m no fan of Bicycling Under the Influence (BUI), notice how many people in this wreck were injured but not drinking… Gee it doesn’t look like any of the injured were not drinking, all of the injured were drinking or drunk. That’s why if there is a choice between drunk pedaling or drunk driving, leave the car behind for the bike.

And here you get two classes of criminal behavior in one act. Bicycling While Black Triggers Call to Police in Marblehead, MA Black people bicycling in our neighborhood!!1!!1!! [faints]

More on that rear-end wreck in OR. Newberg woman, 44, killed in car vs. bicycle crash; husband critically injured and Bicyclist Killed, Another Injured in Newberg Crash Still hit-from-behind, and crazy people blaming cyclists for being there to get hit..

Still in OR a wreck at an intersection. Cyclist injured in crash with pickup Either the bike or the truck ran the red, someone said it was the cyclist. This is why you always ride with a video camera recording front and rear at all times. Sometimes you miss the light changing.

Bouncing over to the other side of the country they actually charged a driver in VA for killing a cyclist. Hanover deputies arrest man for killing cyclist “He was charged with involuntary manslaughter, failing to yield to a bicyclist and possession of a concealed weapon.” Any bets that the only charge that matters was the last one?

Coming back half way, they finally charged the MI hit-and-run driver that killed a cyclist less than 10 miles into a 150 mile charity bike ride. Man charged in hit-and-run that killed cyclist

Jogging a bit west from that LEO can’t figure out why a cyclist was hit riding on the shoulder. Cyclist killed while riding on shoulder of Minnesota highway and Cyclist killed as riding on shoulder Even LEO in this one say the cyclist was completely in the right and still got hit.

Sliding over to CO they finally charged the driver that failed to pass a cyclist with his dump truck. Driver who killed Fort Collins cyclist appears in court And look at the charges on this one, just a few years after a similar wreck resulted in nothing against the driver for running right over a cyclist from behind. He didn’t even try to change lanes or slow down until impact. This is a huge improvement.

More on the TN wreck that killed a cyclist on 31W. Woman on bicycle killed in crash and Loved ones remember Cross Plains cyclist killed in crash Situational awareness people, that is what would have prevented this wreck.

A CT wreck leaves an injured cyclist. Planfield accident leaves bike rider injured At this point they don’t know what happened besides the cyclist was hit and hurt.

This NYC rider was apparently in the wrong place at the wrong time when some foo’ decided a crowded street was his shooting gallery. Dad shot dead while riding bike in Brooklyn: police

The person who turned himself in for a hit-and-run in West Canuckistan doesn’t resemble the witness report on the driver? Witnesses say Kelowna driver who critically injured cyclist was drinking, distracted and lied to police The guy in jail is 23, the guy witnesses saw was: “When the old man got out of the truck to see if Trevor was okay he smelled like alcohol.”

Our first infrastructure link is from MD. Baltimore Officials Continue “Master Plan” To Make Roads Safer For Cyclists Watch out they have a plan.

Which leads us to our second link. Will Third Time Be the Charm for Baltimore Bike-Share?

The people who blamed a cyclist for getting hit by a drunk driver wonder why cyclists get hit? Police, advocates combate rising cyclist crashes

And I’m outta links again, and it hurts again like everywhere. I have to get another chair, one with a little more back support. I know I’m alive, because every time I move it hurts. 😀

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

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Grocery Day again, and the Feed (now with more raisins)

Yeah, I have no idea what that means except I’m still loopy from posting after 0300 this morning. But today is the day I restock my comestibles. Which reminds me I need to check on my special card deals before I leave for grocery shopping. I had some very strange dreams after finishing the blog post last night… Let’s just say that if this was a prophetic dream like I sometimes have I have some relatives I didn’t know about. Which can be a good thing.

Up first is part 1 of Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Killer OC hit-and-run driver jailed, Westwood Blvd bike lanes threatened, and Beverly Hills lanes fail

And Part 2 of Our Daily Ted. San Diego-area bike rider killed when minivan driver drifts into bike lane [facepalm] Another one hit from behind in the bike lane.[/facepalm]

More Ghost Bikes in AZ. ‘Ghost Bikes’ placed on State Route 95 after deadly accident There was one comment that really needed the writer slapped because of that comment, the one about cyclists having to swerve around the Ghost Bike and into traffic when the bike was chained to a guardrail at least a foot off the shoulder of the road.

“Nice guys” can get you killed on the roads. Injured cyclist sues well-intentioned driver who waved, allowing truck’s driver to turn and hit her The “nice guy” in this case directed oncoming turning traffic directly into the cyclist going straight through the intersection with the right of way. Other “nice guys” direct cyclists to cross when they don’t have the right of way getting the cyclist hit by a car going through the intersection with the right of way. Fortunately the driver who directs traffic that causes a wreck is partially at fault in any wreck from that directed movement in the state of OR.

While we are in OR, here’s something from BikePortland. Talk of a disastrous earthquake got you down? Just keep on biking As was pointed out elsewhere, when the earthquake hit Fukushima for weeks and some places months after the quake the only ground vehicles moving were bicycles because those were the only things that did not depend on a perfect road or railbed, and also not dependent on fossil fuels which had to be shipped in from outside the country.

A witness to cop car/bike wreck says there were 2 cop cars. Motorist describes accident involving bicyclist, police cruiser All I know for sure on this one is the cyclist died.

Another reason to not ride on the shoulder of the road. Bicyclist killed in collision with garbage truck in Exeter identified I suspect the reason the cyclist “fell over” had to do with the construction project leaving dirt and trash in the shoulder. The subsequent secondary collision with the garbage hauler was just topping on the cake.

Moral of this link is even when you get right hooked by a truck violating your right of way, if you are over the limit on BAC%, it is your fault. Vacationing Woman Was Intoxicated When Killed In Bike-Truck Collision: Police

Earning to day’s “crap infrastructure” tag is this bike lane. Mayor says it’s time to scrap Central Parkway bike lane The biggest problem is they tried to do it on the cheap and also not reduce parking, which resulted in what would be double-parking in the traffic lane and people hitting parked cars. Simple solution for this is remove the parking from the areas where people are running into the parked cars. And cite all the drivers who hit the parked cars with violating the basic speed law that requires drivers to be able to stop in the distance they can see clearly.

A driver in West Canuckistan finally pleads guilty to killing a man back in 2012. Woman pleads guilty in impaired driving death of Maple Ridge cyclist Wow only 3 years after killing the guy, what’s the rush? 😛

Since when has a traffic death ever made any sense? Family calls cyclist’s death ‘senseless’ Seriously, stuff like this with children instead of adults is why the Dutch got their bike infrastructure. See “stop the Kindermoord” on Google.

This is just a nightmare. Cyclist died in hospital five years after lorry overtaking him knocked him off his bike He never left a hospital except to be transferred to another hospital for treatment for five freaKING YEARS!!!

Last link is from Oz again. Accused hopes hurt cyclist recovers Yeah, because if he doesn’t recover that will cause the charges to be upgraded severely and make the punishment that much worse considering she was drunk and left the scene of the wreck.

And now I’m “all done” until tomorrow.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

Looking at another long day, and the Feed

Well, the computer crashed twice during filtering. So I know it’s going to be a long day when that happens. Usually that means I had too many pages with Flash ads running on them for the available memory on my Chromebook which has 2GB of memory. So when you read the links, only open one at a time, s’il vous plaît. OK, maybe two. [Monty Python]Four is right out[/Monty Python]

Up first because the injured (killed?) cyclist was pretty much ignored in the other casualties and because the number of dead and injured in this one incident was so high. Three Killed As Car Ploughs Into Shoppers and Man kills 3 driving into crowd in Austria — on purpose, authorities say also Car ploughs into crowd in Graz, Austria Sorry about the auto-play videos on those. So as it appears as I post this, the guy went off his rocker after getting kicked out of the house by his wife and starts looking for someone to take it out on and these people were handy as he drove into a car-free section of town (roads still passable because delivery vehicles were needed for shops in the district). Either the cyclist was not among the named dead or the fact that the dead person was the cyclist mentioned earlier did not make it into the article.

Our Daily Ted. LA bike rider attacked with machete, bad news from Hemet, plus Bicycle Coffee and pleasant private bike cops

And another link to the machete attack. 18-Year-Old Bicycle Rider in Critical Condition With Skull Fracture, May Lose Hand After Late-Night Machete Attack

Still in CA. Family of Rady Children’s CFO killed in bike crash wants answers, apology If the airbags were deployed this indicates a very severe impact for hitting a person riding a bike, an impact where there was a significant force transmitted to the car by the body of the cyclist. That is a BIG hit.

Not out of CA yet, would you rather have this drunk on a bicycle or behind the wheel? Cyclist falls, gravely injured in Chula Vista As it is, the falling-down-drunk cyclist hurt exactly one person in this wreck, himself. Most drunk drivers manage to avoid hurting themselves while injuring or killing others.

Machete attacks seem to be the rage this weekend. Brooklyn Man Arrested For Road Rage Machete Attack In Holland Tunnel Road rage, that is… I know, it is a bad pun but in my defense I saw 30 deaths in links that won’t get posted here. Interesting that he was charged with assault when all he hit was the car… are cars people now, too?

Not sure about this report from Seattle. UPDATE: Woman hospitalized after bicycle/car collision at Delridge/Dakota AFAIK this seems to be infrastructure related because the cyclist was hit in a bike lane but the driver did not hit-and-run.

Holding a hit-and-run driver accountable in the Great White North. Woman charged in hit-run death of cyclist remains behind bars

Lifestyle news from the Great White North after another hit-and-run death. Tribute held for cyclist, 26, killed in hit-and-run and Vigil held for cyclist killed in Yorkville hit-and-run

Don’t hit puppies either! Puppy owner thought cyclist had killed dog in ‘hit-and-run’ collision Off-leash dog runs under the cyclist and gets run over, not the cyclist’s fault, but you could hang around for a few minutes to show compassion for the owner.

Not again… Cyclist killed in crash with tipper truck at Bank junction in the City of London That makes 8 dead, 7 caused by trucks, and 6 victims have been women. Is there something in the water? or does it have more to do with the state of the infrastructure that places cyclists in the blind spots of trucks at intersections where neither party can see what the other is going to do?

Does it seem like every time a tiny bit of paved space is taken back from cars it’s a big news item? Closing Streets to Cars for Walkers and Cyclists Is Getting More Popular by the Minute

Infrastructure news in ME. Leg Work: Seeking safe passage in Maine crosswalks, on foot and on wheels A vulnerable road user bill is long overdue in most states.

More infrastructure news from VT. Another View: Our goal is zero deaths

First of several infrastructure articles from north of the border. Brian Dexter: Cyclists, get on the sidewalks! Basically what this guy is saying is if you aren’t going to provide safe infrastructure for cyclists, let them use the spaces for pedestrians even if it’s sub-optimal. Better than they should get killed.

And more blame the victim from Canuckistan. Motorists, cyclists share responsibility — improved weather often means rates of fatalities on roadways increase

This is the time of year when cyclists ride in honor of people not killed or injured riding bicycles. Wounded Warriors Canada Battlefield Bike Ride Participants Raise $500,000 for Ill and Injured Veterans and their Families As a vet and a cyclist you know I am endorsing this one.

This truck makes a better window than a door. The Safety Truck Could Revolutionize Road Safety I can personally think of several bike wrecks where something like this could have made a difference.

And I’m all out of links. And sanity, but that was pretty much a given years ago.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the unkillable badass Poet

Happy Beg for Candy Day, and the Feed

Yes, it’s that time of year again, when the veil between worlds is thinnest and we try to appease the angry dead by giving candy to stranger’s children. I’m not real sure about the mechanics of that one, maybe the angry dead are really just older tweens, or disguised as older tweens, and giving them candy makes them mellow for another year. That’s what I get for trying to reconcile my theology with a modern popular holiday loosely derived from it.

Today was Mrs. the Poet’s last day of removing the flavor from the children’s food at work, and they were sad to see her go from the school. She did her entire 25 years of work at the same school, Forest Meadow Junior High School in the north part of Dallas that is inside Richardson ISD. I took a picture of what’s left of the cake after the party. I sent it to myself so I could post it but it hasn’t shown up yet…

Friendly gestures may help defuse deadly situations. Austin Cyclist is Making Waves I might try this when I can ride a bike again.

More on the contextless “spike” in US cyclist deaths. Bicyclist deaths spike on US roads If the US cyclist population was stagnant or declining this would be a major concern…more Does Cycling Culture Have a Drinking Problem?

Oh Emm Gee, Ebola nurse is riding a bicycle! Kaci Hickox defies Maine Ebola quarantine with morning bike ride Note that the nurse is a qualified public health administrator (in several countries) and does not have eny symptoms of Ebola and is therefore not contagious… And the quarantine was imposed illegally by NJ Gov. Christie and not a public health person as required by law.

NYPD is so vigilant about removing hazardous waste from a crime scene… Blood & Hair Still Stuck To Murray Hill Light Post Following Gruesome Car Crash The article goes on to state that not only blood and hair, but brains, fat, and skull debris from the victim’s head striking the pole, left out for days.

The widow of the first guy killed by a cyclist this year in NYC writes an article telling NYPD to back off the ticket blitz for bicycles…? Protect pedestrians and bikes from cars Oh, yeah, because only 8 people have died from getting hit by a bicycle in NYC since the turn of the century, compared to 2,291 killed by motor vehicles or a 286.375:1 ratio of deaths or to put it another way just over 0.3% of pedestrians killed are killed by bicycles.

An e-assist bike for bike share. Saltire City Mk1 Electric Bike for Mass Automated Cycle Hire Schemes I notice there is no information about the e-assist other than it exists. The video shows it is a bottom bracket assist that looks like the rider is pedaling even when no force is being applied, which because the hub is fixed drive that makes a lot of sense.

And last link, a pair of tadpole trike chassis about to get coroplast bodies and become racing velos. Check out CO2 & CO3!

And those were all the links that didn’t have wrecks in them, or at least that didn’t require my thought and time contemplating and analysing the wrecks.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the unkillable badass Poet