Another Monday, another Feed the size of Marvin’s brain

For those who don’t get the reference in the headline, the answer is 42. Knowing the answer precludes you from knowing the exact question, much like in particle physics you can either know the position or the velocity of a sub-atomic particle, but you can’t know both. Damn you Heisenberg!

And I have lived through another weekend. Yay! Some time tonight I’m going to put the lights back on Francis/es and the gallon jug for gas in the bed and go get some gas for the mower so I can mow the lawn tomorrow while I can still walk upright. Most of the lawn still looks good, but the patches around where the ant mounds used to be are getting rather tall so they need to get mowed, therefore the entire lawn needs to get mowed.

I have so many links to stories from north of the (other) border I almost feel like the blog post should be Canuck Witch on a Bicycle. Seriously about ²/₃ of the links that passed filtering were from Canada. And not many were good.

But first Ted survived the fireworks and the frightened Corgi in his lap to deliver today’s Daily Ted. Morning Links: Founding father of BMX found dead in Indio; man fixing bike shot dead by LASD deputies

Update on a wreck in Seattle. Reader report: Update on bicycle rider recovering from Delridge crash

Still in the Pacific NW. Ghost bike commemorates Medford cyclist’s death An OR cyclist got a Ghost Bike from CO cyclists because he got killed in CO.

I don’t know that my brother would have done this for me. State briefs: Abe Kolstad completes cross-country bike trek on brother’s behalf Yeah, I’m reasonably certain my brother would not have done this for me.

Another one of those “cyclists are dangerous” fallacy-filled diatribes from NYC. Cyclists must get on board with NYC safety If only motor vehicles were as “dangerous” as people on bicycles, there would be hundreds fewer deaths and thousands fewer injured each year just in NYC.

And more on what is really dangerous in NYC. [Update] When A Bus Driver Kills A Pedestrian, MTA Union Blames A Streetlight “Hey, I can’t see where I’m going so I will just blast through at more than 3 times the recommended rate and hope I bounce off the big things…” and ignore the little things, like people.

First tale from the snowy wastes. Driver charged after cyclist struck and killed in Milton Some see a drunk driver killing a cyclist. I see inadequate infrastructure that failed to protect that cyclist from the drunk driver. Look at the proportion of cyclists killed by drunk drivers to all drunk driving victims in the Netherlands and compare that to the US and Canada. More Cyclist killed in hit and run in Milton

Motor crime in Jolly Olde. Lorry driver involved in fatal collision with Denbighshire cyclist banned for five years Oh, how will he survive being unable to drive for a full 5 years? /snark

And then there is this idiot. Northampton driver who killed cyclist after sending ‘trivial’ WhatsApp messages while at wheel is jailed Texting at that rate there is no way he could have been navigating any other way than by peripheral vision at best. So when will they be executing him? Prison term of less than 2 years you say? TANJ!

Articles like this one illustrate why the KSI statistic is superior to just counting fatalities. More than 700 cyclists and motorcyclists were killed or injured on Merseyside roads in the last four years

Back to The Great White North for this infrastructure article. How to avoid getting ‘doored’ on your bicycle Where there are bike lanes they put cyclists between a rock and a hard place other wise known as the door zone and the streetcar tracks.

More on bike lanes in the GTA. It’s time bike lanes were installed everywhere Well, not everywhere. You probably don’t need them in residential areas if those areas are properly traffic-calmed. If you wouldn’t let your 8YO play in the street in front of your house, then that street has not been calmed properly. Bike lanes are for the collector streets that run off residential areas or in the shopping and employment areas downtown, with separated bike paths connecting those.

Something most people don’t think about when they ride. Being covered: Who pays in bike-car collisions?

And this is why cyclists are so easy to treat after a wreck. Cyclists push past the pain to stay in the saddle “That broke collarbone only hurts a little” is something I hear all the time from injured cyclists. I honestly do not know of any mode of transport that inures the users against pain as well as cycling does.

And I’m out of links before I ran out of patience. Tomorrow is lawn mowing first, shower second, blogging third, then dinner.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

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I’m back in shorts and a T-shirt, and the Feed

Well the headline pretty much says it all concerning life here at Casa de El Poeta, the outside temperature has risen to what the heating system was designed to cope with (low 40s-high 30s at night) so I’m back to wearing shorts and a T-shirt in the office, and Mrs. the Poet is still wearing her sweatshirt over a T-shirt and long pants. I am comfortable in a very wide range of temperatures wearing the shorts and T-shirt, and do much better than Mrs. the Poet when things get really cold, mostly because I have real cold-weather gear because I hung on to my issue cold-weather gear when I left the Army, and bought more of it when it hit the surplus market. Mrs. the Poet hates mil-surplus clothing because of the way it looks, but I’m the warm one in winter. And I have a selection of gear that I can wear riding a bicycle as well, so I stay warm on my bike. Or I would be warm if I could actually ride my bike.

Up first is some good news from Brownsville, as they discover that they can stuff a lot of bicycles into the space that used to house just one car. Brownsville installs downtown bike corral They replaced one car spot with 14 bike spots, greatly increasing the revenue potential for that parking spot. Sure shoppers that arrive by bike don’t spend as much money per trip, but they make 2-3 times as many trips and now they have the potential to serve 14 times as many customers.

Pedestrians are still getting killed same as they always were with Texas right out there in a battle for the “lead”. Pedestrians killed at about the same rate last year as they were in 2013 This mirrors UK statistics showing cars are getting more forgiving about bad driving, what with air bags and crumple zones and being required to have doors that open after running into a concrete wall at 35 MPH, but drivers are just as crappy as they always were if not worse now that the consequences for them are so much lower.

More on the Houston bike cops going undercover to get drivers who drive poorly around cyclists. Undercover Houston Cops On Bikes Are Nabbing Drivers Dangerous To Cyclists Houston passed a law against buzzing cyclists in 2013 when they discovered how many cyclists were getting knocked down by cars passing too close, then instructed bike cops to run stings against the drivers breaking the law. Nobody is getting ticketed for passing between 2 and 3 feet away (just warned), the (big) tickets are going to the ones passing less than a foot (300 mm) from the cop. So far no word on how many cops have been hit doing these stings, but you know it is just a matter of time before some Bubba decides to “teach a lesson” to one of the undercover cops and misjudges how wide his F-150 really is, like the guy who broke his mirror off on my elbow a few years ago.

Why is this news in NYC? Cops Are Giving Out Speeding Tickets To Drivers Who Are Speeding Really now, cops giving tickets is “Man bites dog” rare in NYC?

If you have a young-looking bike-riding friend in SF please check on his whereabouts and if you can’t find him call SFPD. Young cyclist unconscious, and police don’t know his name The wreck was early Monday morning to give your young man a time frame to be missing, if you saw him after 0800 or so on Monday it is pretty much guaranteed that this is not the same guy.

They have some bad infrastructure over in NOLA, so bad it kills people. Cyclist death shines light on dangerous intersection And cue the H8ers complaining about cyclists taking the lane for visibility when this was a crossing wreck at an intersection and LEO admit they have no way of knowing who ran the light. Check out the comments section.

When the state refuses to act in AZ municipalities take charge. San Luis to enforce ban on cellphone use for drivers It seems there are certain people in the AZ legislature blocking driving while using cell phone bills from getting to the floor, not naming names because I don’t know who is doing it, just that the bills never seem to get a vote.

It seems that providing even barely usable bicycle infrastructure has a positive effect on car ownership (if you are trying to reduce traffic congestion). Multnomah County car registration is down 8% since 2007, and isn’t rebounding They had a steep drop during the recession but people discovered they didn’t need to have a car for everyone so the number of people replacing cars sold during the recession has been very low. Also there is the possibility that they are just not registering their deadly weapons like they are supposed to.

Along the same lines just up the coast a bit. The Remarkable Drop in Car Commuting to Downtown Seattle They expect to see even further reductions when their bike infrastructure gets built all the way into the Downtown area.

Another link to that SD bill that would require drivers to not hit cyclists they are trying to pass. Bill Aiming To Keep Cyclists Safe On The Road 3 feet at 35 MPH and under, 6 feet on faster roads. And the bill has passed the Senate and goes on to the governor to be signed into law.

Cyclists in the Emerald Isle are discovering that protecting the head just seems to move the injury to some other part of the body. Soaring popularity of pedal power leads to 200% rise in spinal injuries That energy has to go somewhere, and when you protect the skull the next thing in line is the neck, which this report seems to indicate is the part taking the abuse.

And whadda you know, crap infrastructure is crap. Are Southend’s roads safe for cyclists? If you have to ask, then the answer is probably “NO!”.

I think I’m done taking Boris Johnson seriously. Cyclists should wave like Simon Rattle to avoid being hit, says London mayor Really, get out in front of a heavy truck and wave your hands around in the vague hope that the driver will see you and not run you over? And how is that begging for your life at the base of the guillotine working out for you, Boris? 😉

Speaking of stupid things in the UK. Cyclists vs motorists – 3 STUPID acts committed by the frustrated car driver

Dealing with the rather arcane legal infrastructure in Oz. TAC admits cyclist claim rules are confusing after host of anomalies in rules exposed If I had to deal with a mess like this with my wreck I would be pushing a walker or a wheelchair still.

This is stupid, bike 4 months, skate 4 months, and 4 months transition when you can’t safely do either. Canadian ‘freezeway’ could let residents skate to work And what about people who can’t skate, like yr fthfl srvnt blogger? Aside from the fact that I’m 2027 miles from Edmonton by bike that is.

The kind of lifestyle article I like to link to, because nobody had to die first. For injured veterans, bike ride helps heal body

Our Daily Ted was a little late posting, but I got it. Morning Links: Endorsing Ramsay and O’Grady in CD4; and a blind bike rider needs your help to regain his sight

Some infrastructure news out of Dallas as they debate adding a bypass Interstate (I 345) or enhancing the existing grid. Why the Grid Has More Latent Capacity Than a Highway The thing about I 345 that I object to is they are putting it through existing neighborhoods, unlike its northern counterpart I 635 which was built on what was mostly semi-rural farmland (there is still an active Future Farmers of America at Garland HS in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell, which is located outside the 635 loop).

And a Texan I would be proud to share the designation with. 76-Year-Old Man Bikes 300 Miles To Raise Money For Planned Parenthood

I’m outta here.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

Finally paid all my property taxes, and the Feed

I made my final trip this year to pay my property taxes, at the GISD tax office. Now I understand why there was a line out the door when they stopped accepting payments Friday, there isn’t enough room inside for more than 2 people to be in line before they hit the door. There were 4 windows to pay at, but I don’t know how many people they had to take the money Friday. Today they only had 2 people working the 4 windows, but there was no line and I was in and out in seconds.

We are going to start out with a double dose of Our Daily Ted. Weekend Links: Burbank Sunday Funday ride; Spokane police bend over backward to blame bike riding victim and A rider fallen, family and friends shattered, and a young woman on the verge of hard time

And to go with that second Ted link… Bike ride to honor Irvine cyclist killed on Santiago Canyon Road

Another link to cycling lifestyle in FL, the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. Critical Mass Comes a Week After Cyclist’s Death and another protest Cyclists Gather Over Concerns For Safety Amid Deaths

This was how things were when I was a kid. This Is How Normal Walking to School Used to Be For some reason they just left off things like sidewalks as subdivisions grew up in what used to be rural areas. And then there was the “Stranger Danger” panic, so now most kids only get to school by bus or by car, and some places will arrest parents trying to walk with their children.

More victim-blaming from NC. Being reminded of the ‘see and be seen’ mantra Heaven forfend that we should place any onus on drivers to not run their killing machines into cyclists and pedestrians using the roads with them.

A bit of infrastructure from Jolly Olde. Dramatic rise in road deaths as numbers of traffic police fall Surprise, surprise, when you don’t enforce the laws people ignore them.

Speaking of bad UK infrastructure, this updates at the beginning of every month. Cycle Facility of the Month Yes, that is a bollard-protected bike path that is just over a meter long.

I keep getting invited to these things, but I don’t know why exactly. Vigil and Die-In If someone could get with me (maybe by a FB message?) and tell me why I’m getting invited to a UK protest from TX.

More about the unconscious driver that ran over a cyclist during a diabetic episode. “…An accident waiting to happen ” – Diabetic who fell unconscious while driving jailed for seriously injuring cyclist and Diabetic crash driver jailed

When drivers break traffic laws they’re bad drivers/people. When cyclists break traffic laws all cyclists are “provocative”. Provocative cyclists

Sometimes advertisers have a “tin ear” when it comes to cyclists. Taxi advert shows cabbie running over a cyclist I’m absolutely convinced that many of not most cyclists get hit by taxis in search of a big payout, not because cabbies drive like maniacs. [/sarcasm].

Another veteran gets back into life thanks to the UK version of the Wounded Warrior Project. Injured veteran’s vow to join Help for Heroes cyclists set to be fulfilled

Some Ozzie cyclists remind a news media outlet that the plural of “anecdote” is not “data”. Cycling risks insurance This bit is about 2 Page Downs from the top of the page.

In bits and pieces, even sub-standard infrastructure can look great. The best cycling infrastructure in cities around the world – your pictures

And I’m fresh outta links.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

They closed the tax office an hour early today, and the Feed

Cutting to the chase, they closed the GISD tax office as I was walking up to it at 1600. The line of people out the door were very vocally unhappy about getting turned away, to the point that police were on hand for crowd control. I think that this may have been a planned thing, because the police were there long before the office was closed. I know this because I was walking up to the door as they closed it and there was a cop inside already.

Up first is good news from just a half-day’s ride east from WoaB World HQ in the Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. Injured cyclist rides again following months recovering WoaB and employees very happy to see this. Her recovery period was about the same as mine.

LAPD shows NYPD how it’s done. Suge Knight Arrested For ‘Suspicion Of Murder’ After Fatal Hit-And-Run This was a pedestrian death on a closed film set, but still, NYPD should be taking notes.

Speaking of NYC, they had another fatal pedestrian right hook. Woman Fatally Struck By Nassau County Bus Driver In Queens And in spite of a bus full of witnesses NYPD failed to arrest of even charge the driver.

Another article on the loss of who may have been the world’s oldest active cyclist. Long Beach loses its 106-year-old symbol of cycling

And that makes for a great segue into our next link, our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Atwater paper calls legal cyclists lane hogs, a handful of links and a long list of upcoming events

Update on a cyclist that a road-raging driver tried to kill. Donations help injured cyclist recover at home I like the remodeled bathroom, Mrs. the Poet wants a shower like that, too.

Infrastructure news from VA via DC. Bills in the Virginia General Assembly would hurt and help transit and cyclists I’ll withhold comment on this because I haven’t read the full text for any of the bills.

A hit-and-run driver gets a gentle caress on the wrist from a CO judge. Woman gets probation for hitting Fort Collins cyclist, fleeing They totally ignored the sentencing guidlines for felonies of this nature. According to one commenter if this had been treated like other crimes of this grade of felony the minimum sentence would be 2 years with the possibility of probation.

A little legal infrastructure in action in Jolly Olde. Marjorie Trappenden accelerated into Kevin Lane on High Road, Woodford Green, on February 9 Another dead cyclist with the killer getting community service in the UK.

I find it interesting that a surviving cyclist elicits more severe punishment than a deceased cyclist. Diabetic driver mum jailed for crash which left cyclist seriously injured

Another “bicycle safety” article from people who haven’t been on a bike since elementary school. Life in the bike lane: Riding responsibly Once again too much emphasis is placed on helmets to prevent wrecks.

Another article that should not have to be written, but was because too many drivers have the morals of a Chaotic Evil kinder. Attorney John Nojima of Lederer & Nojima, LLP Reminds Cyclists to Carry Uninsured Motorist Coverage in Light of News Regarding Hit-and-Runs Now if they would just provide a source for this insurance that doesn’t require buying a car and getting a license first…

A little humor from Spokesmama. 10 Reasons Not To Get A Cargo Bike The one I thought was hilarious was the one about not supporting the poor oil companies… HA!!

Last link is a bit of bike culture from the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike. Critical Mass Set To Take The Streets Friday

And I’m out of links again.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

That freaking lawnmower still won’t start, and the Feed

One of the places they saved money on the lawnmower we bought was the carburetor. It has absolutely no controls or adjustments, and basically does not work when ambient temperatures fall much below 60°F and is really iffy below 70. I mean once you get it started it runs fine, the hard part is getting it started the first time because of the lack of controls. There is a choke lever on the side but it isn’t connected to anything…

I got an update on a pedestrian fatality I wanted to share if the URL will work. Breaking News: After 47-Second Hearing, Driver Who Ran Over 3-Year-Old Is Found ‘Not Guilty’ If anything exemplars the “Motors Uber Alles” mentality amongst LEO this one does it. The victim was crossing the street with the crossing signal for several seconds holding her grandmother’s hand when the killer made a left turn across the crosswalk the victims were using, hitting the grandmother and running over the head and torso of the little girl. There is video evidence of this from someone with a dashcam pointed at the crosswalk in question, and still the tickets were dismissed. I have heard rumors that mob hitmen are now waiting for their targets to cross the street so they can be run over and publicly killed without any repercussions. I guess it all depends on do you want the victim dead, or do you want the victim dead and a message sent.

Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Mealy-mouthed Mobility Plan goes to Planning Comm; pope raffles bikes to feed homeless Anyone in Rome want to take my €10 and buy a ticket?

The depiction is still more convenient for pedestrians than an actual city. Brilliant visual illustration of how much #publicspace we have given to #cars I mean think of it, you can walk across one of those planks any time, crosswalks require waiting for cross vehicle traffic to clear before you can hurry across and hope a turning vehicle doesn’t run you down.

Cyclists in Oz are facing a quandary. Injured cyclist’s $1.6 million payout sends ACT riders scrambling for insurance There is only one vendor for bicycle insurance in Oz because until now there was almost no need for it.

There is a reason why there was a school of art called “the Dutch Masters”. This Dreamy, Glow-in-the-Dark Bike Path Was Inspired by Starry Night I mean if you have a glow-in-the-dark bike path to work with why wouldn’t you make Art from it? Isn’t this cool?

And those are all the links today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the unkillable badass Poet

OK now I Voted, and the Feed

Just checked, and the I Voted Widget is working for this blog now. So officially I Voted.

You may have noticed the “and the Feed” has returned to the headline. This does not mean I will return to posting wreck links, it means I have found links to bicycle “stuff” that is not wrecks.

First up, NYPD gets taught the laws about hitting people with motor vehicles. Cops Are Learning How To Charge Drivers Who Break Laws I thought they went through Police Academy for learning this stuff, silly me. The big problem is the Rule of Two that requires 2 traffic violations when yu run someone over before you can be charged with reckless driving and NYPD has been very lax about finding that second violation, this training is supposed to correct that. In other news an airliner reported a mid-air collision with a pig…

Over in CA Ted Rogers has a stolen bike report… BOLO Alert: Three bikes stolen from Venice garage on Wednesday As a multiple victim of bike theft myself I say if you find this guy please leave enough behind to identify him from his DNA. Don’t go overboard mind you, CSI doesn’t need much more than a decent size smear…

Proof that MHL are more about revenue and harassment than safety, in Oz. Police issue 223 infringements to cyclists including 121 for not wearing helmets during operation to improve rider and pedestrian safety When more than half of the tickets are for helmet law violations, it was just a show to get some sweet, sweet easy $.

Last link, does your car insurance cover you on your bike? How about homeowners? What Do Bicyclists Need to Know About Insurance?

And that’s all I got today, I have to say it feels a heck of a lot better winding up one of these posts than the ones I used to do with all the wrecks.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the unkillable badass Poet