I got caught in the rain coming home from my haircut, and the Feed

Trip to the bank, trip to the hardware store, and trip to the nearest haircut place when they said they knew how to do a flattop haircut. Unfortunately they had only a vague idea of what a “flattop” was and what I got was more of a high and tight than a flattop. What I was looking for was something close to this.

But what I got was this.

And I look a lot more unhappy in that picture than I intended to, wow. I guess that’s what getting caught in the rain and having to change all your clothes and put your shoes in the shoe dryer looks like. It wasn’t raining when I left the bus stop 0.4 miles away on the main road, but the water was running ankle-deep in the street by the time I got to the corner of my street less than 10 minutes later.

The Big Story today is a UK politician having a bike wreck because someone tampered with his brakes. Police open investigation after Labour councillor is injured after bicycle brakes cut and Cyclist seriously hurt after saboteurs cut brakes After years of anti-cyclist propaganda from the Murdoch media empire is anyone surprised about this? Seriously check your brakes after every stop where you leave your bike unsupervised, you never know what kind of sick sociopaths will take delight in your possible death or dismemberment.

Next biggest story was a tie between this Oz story and the next paragraph. Qld road safety push after cyclist death and Bike group calls for urgent review of inner city truck use The “shocking” news that there is a 25 foot (7 meter) blind spot in front of a conventional cab truck isn’t really news, but the fact that there has been nothing done about this blind spot to the passenger side of the truck in all the years since it was discovered is disturbing.

Back in the US we have another cyclist killed in gun violence. Witnesses: Man riding bike shot, killed on near north side and Man riding bike shot and killed on north side It appears the cyclist was killed by pedestrians on the sidewalk, rather than a drive-by shooting. So you’re dead if you do (ride in the street) and dead if you don’t.

Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Tragedy in Santa Clarita, LA announces Vision Zero, and too much racing news for one day

Wildfires in the PNW impact a treasured Portland bike event. County urges bikers to use TriMet as wildfire smoke fills Portland streets (updated) It came ][ this close to getting canceled, but the wind changed direction to push the smoke away from the city a bit.

Closer to home, another hit-and-run in Austin. Popular Austin cyclist falls victim to hit and run The good news is he’s alive and looks like he will recover without further disruption to his life after he heals.

I’m sure this MD cyclist wishes the driver had left the scene instead of what he did. SUV Driver Cited for Hitting Cyclist, Road Rage: Police He beat up on a man with a broken arm and rib and threw a wheel into the woods so the cyclist couldn’t follow him, and his bail was set at only $25K? TANJ!

A young cyclist in LA is killed when he fell over into a truck’s rear wheels. Young boy killed in bicycle accident in Opelousas Gee I wonder what would cause a bicycle to fall over into the rear wheels of a truck? A buzz job or punishment pass maybe? Or a horn blast just a few feet away from his head?

AZ cyclists are having problems with streetcar tracks. N4T Investigators: Another cyclist files lawsuit over streetcar tracks The problem is not the tracks alone, there is also a lot of traffic in the intersection and a cyclist has to have superhuman levels of multitasking to be able to watch for traffic as well as for road defects and streetcar tracks, and the costs for the cyclist could be extremely high, and I’m not just talking about the $300K lawsuit filed for medical expenses.

A NJ cyclist ran out of luck. Newark man, 23, killed in Granville crash Given that no information about the wreck is coming from LEO, and the driver is in jail, maybe a drunk hit the cyclist from behind semi-on-purpose?

How much does not having bike lanes cost your city? Bike-lane advocates cite new Albany County data on cost of injuries The direct, to-the-cyclist cost of a wreck can be higher than the median family income of the city. The average cost is almost the median income in the city, so it doesn’t take much worse than an average wreck to get way past the “average” cost for a wreck.

Back in AZ for encouragement to ride. Get out and ride, but be safe

Bad wreck in NYC. Chinese food delivery guy, 65, seriously injured after hit by truck in Brooklyn Remember the story from Oz about conventional cabs and their blind spots to the front passenger side? Same thing applies here.

Beautiful article from MO. Ghost bikes honor cyclists killed on road

Is “fell over in front of me” the new “I didn’t see him”? Cyclist killed in Rosemont La Petite-Patrie Québécois are more like Parisian French than your average Canadian, but still a lot better than the average N’Yawker. This just sounds so… suspicious.

And Rob Ford is casting a huge shadow on Toronto cyclists. Most cyclists are not considerate

This is what most of MY bike rides feel like. What Happens When A Tank Crashes A Bike Race

Last link, sometimes we can do great things. A Katrina hero: He hopped into a boat and became a one-man rescue squad He kept rescuing people for days, over a week. And he was One Of Us. Given that level of exertion he pretty much had to be, or some other kind of endurance athlete.

And I’m outta links again.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Unkillable Badass Poet (only 6 more shopping days until my Deathday, be sure to hit your favorite liquor store so you can celebrate properly, at home)

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This shouldn’t take too long, and the Feed

Well we did the groceries today, and I won’t have to eat beans every day when Mrs. the Poet visits her relatives. We got a half-dozen Totino’s pizzas that are a big meal for me by myself and probably good for two meals with some kind of leafy greens. So I will be buying lots of salad kits to go with my beans and rice and cheap pizza. [s]Whoo![/s] (That’s the code of “snark” btw.)

Up first, Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: LA City Council does the wrong thing, Metro picks a bike share vendor, and Sir Bradley didn’t cheat

I wonder who this driver annoyed enough to change a traffic ticket for failing to pass safely to a murder charge? Chanute man charged in wreck that killed Kansas cyclist The driver was charged with 2nd degree murder in the wreck. Now I’m no expert in KS law, but I think that is the one that you didn’t know the person before the incident that killed them, but you just killed them “because”. Combine that with the driver that “didn’t see” the cyclist last week getting charged and you would think that suddenly cyclists were human beings in the eyes of LEO.

And apparently they can’t charge the owner of the weapon vehicle with obstructing justice for withholding the name of the driver that hit a cyclist driving 70 MPH in a 25 zone. After a year without answers, family of cyclist killed by speeding driver offers reward and Family of cyclist who was killed pleads for witnesses to come forward Maybe they should have just kept the weapon vehicle as “evidence” in the case until the owner said who was driving that night?

More on another IN wreck that injured two cyclists. Driver facing OWI charges in Madison Co. crash that injured 2 bicyclists Drunk driver runs into car stopped at a stop sign and pushes the car over one cyclist and hits a second cyclist. This wreck is an example of why I have a tag that says “drunk drivers need to die”. I’m mellowing a bit though, I no longer demand they die by being chained to the steering wheel as their cars are sent through a car shredder, while on fire.

Another cyclist is shot in MA. Teen shot, killed while riding bicycle in Dorchester What little I can find out about this says the shooters either could not afford or just plain could not get a car to kill the cyclist with, but they got a gun…

More NYC infrastructure news as we have another link to the High Bridge reopening. New York’s “Eighth Wonder” Reopens to Fanfare There seems to be a lot of competition for that 8th place in “Wonders of the World”.

More infrastructure, this time from IN. Bangert: Why Harrison Bridge, bikes don’t mix Basically the bridge needs to be rebuilt with a new deck if they want to mix cars and bikes or get bikes across at all, because making the sidewalk a MUP isn’t going to work either. The sidewalk is too narrow to share without risking one mode or the other getting pushed off and into motor vehicle traffic. So the only other alternatives are build a bike ped bridge or fix the existing bridge so that cyclists aren’t risking life and limb as they dodge holes, cracks, and huge bumps to get across the river.

Things are not much better in CO. Drivers vs. cyclists in Colorado Springs This is more on the cyclist who was assaulted with a motor vehicle and the driver left the scene.

This lifestyle event had more than its share of problems. Death and injury trail Heart Across America cyclists They made it, but not with the full crew. The only good thing was the cyclist that died, died in his sleep and not as the result of vehicular mayhem.

More “blame the victim” “safety” advice, this time in the Great White North. Experts urge safety for cyclists with summer surge of riding approaching You don’t think maybe Rob Ford’s years-long campaign against cyclists and bicycling has anything to do with GTA having a higher than average rate of cyclist death and injury?

And last link a cyclist injured by a tree falling on him gives a portion of the compensation he got from the tree trimmers to a registered charity. Injured cyclist donates part of compensation to children’s hospice

And that’s all I got today.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

Grocery day, and the Feed

One thing Mrs. the Poet and I have never seemed to come to a consensus on is my desire for salty snacks. I mean sure she lets me buy them most weeks, but every so often I can tell she just does not understand why I want those snacks. Personally I feel $4 for a pound of cheese balls in a reusable and resealable container is a bargain, particularly when name-brand cheese puffs cost nearly that much for half as much by weight and they come in a bag that lets the uneaten snacks go stale in a couple of days. I mean look at it this way, not only am I getting a full pound of snacks, I’m getting a free cookie jar for her snacks. Also we are getting 10 quarts of Powerade for $0.69/qt because, reasons. And I’m also having difficulty persuading her to get the salt that is 50/50 sodium chloride and potassium chloride to deal with my potassium deficiency, because she can get store brand salt for $0.59 a pound and the potassium mix is like $1.50/4 oz.

Schadenfreude over a man who has done everything in his power to endanger cyclists with bad infrastructure. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Hospitalized With Suspected Tumor Not wishing Rob Ford to die soon. That would be too kind… And really I don’t wish him to suffer, much (a few days, please?) because really if he was to get an equal amount of pain for all the pain he has personally brought on Toronto cyclists with his policies he would be in agony for pretty much the rest of his life. For those with (blessed) short memories Mayor Ford compared riding a bicycle to swimming with sharks, and said that all cyclists deserved to die horribly in a wreck with a motor vehicle. I guess all I really have to say is “Ain’t karma a bitch, Robby?”

Another hit-and-run killer, this time in WV. Man Arrested In Connection With Death Of Boy Struck, Killed On Bicycle The story actually changed as I was creating the link, first it was just a hit-and-run, then it turned into an arrest report. Congratulations to the LEO who tracked him down and arrested the driver of the weapon vehicle. Hit from behind wreck of a cyclist not even riding on the road, protocols moot, so infrastructure “up to Dutch’ to prevent. And crush the vehicles used to commit hit-and-run as part of that infrastructure.

OK strange story time in IN. Officials: Muncie man killed in bike accident; sister found dead in home next day by deputy coroner SWCC wreck for the cyclist, who knows what happened for the sister. The infrastructure that got the cyclist killed was obviously not “up to Dutch” or the cyclist would not have been able to be hit when crossing the intersection of the bike path and the road.

A SWCC wreck in CA. Cyclist killed in crash on San Juan Grade Road at Crazy Horse Canyon Classic SWCC narrative claiming a cyclist pulled out in front of a speeding car just as the car came along to hit him/her. Since there is an intersection nearby protocols to avoid or reduce damages, and infrastructure “up to Dutch” to prevent.

Another wreck in CA, this one hit-from-behind. Long-haul cyclist injured in Highway 1 crash near Santa Cruz Hit from behind 2 feet off the road, not the cyclist’s fault or much she could have done to avoid it. I’m going to blame this one on CA not being the Netherlands.

Right hook in West Canuckistan. Cyclist injured Intersection protocols to avoid or reduce damages, and get the infrastructure “up to Dutch” to prevent. I like wrecks with survivors who will recover and simple-to-solve problems.

I can’t believe they posted this in a UK media outlet… Cyclists airlifted after van crash between Swindon and Royal Wootton Bassett As the story reads now the cyclist were hit by a van that crossed the centerline into the cyclist’s side of the road. I don’t know how long that will stay up. As the story reads now there was nothing the cyclists could have done to change the outcome of this wreck, leaving only getting the infrastructure “up to Dutch” to prevent.

Hit and run by a distracted driver in the Emerald Isle. Cyclist knocked down and killed by driver who was using his laptop at the wheel and Driver who fatally hit cyclist (19) with car and ‘callously’ drove away without ever taking foot off accelerator jailed The driver did not get anything close to the sentence he deserved, but as I understand it Ireland no longer has a death penalty. Pity, because hanging, drawing, and quartering barely covers what happened in this wreck. Three years in prison does not even come close for a wreck and subsequent behavior like this one.

Update on a wreck in Enn Zed. Injured cyclist remains critical Still hit-from-behind on the shoulder of the road by a driver that could not keep in the proper lane, still infrastructure “up to Dutch” to prevent.

A fatal wreck in Oz. Young woman killed in South Brisbane crash Killed while waiting for traffic to clear to make her turn, surrounded by sub-standard bike “infrastructure” that failed to allow for cyclists wanting to turn. And why didn’t the driver of the semi just wait behind her? Get that infrastructure “up to Dutch” to prevent another wreck. More Brisbane, Fast, First: Cyclist dies in collision with truck and the latest breaking news – September 11

Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: AAA promotes 3-foot law they previously fought; Brown legalizes triple bike racks on buses Good stuff.

Infrastructure! news from Oz. Clover’s deluded death wish list for Sydney’s cyclists Really, jihad against cars? Bubba, you ain’t seen jihad if you think making a little (tiny bit) of space for some other mode of transportation is a jihad against cars.

Lifestyle from IL. Jacob Bass, Bridgeport Cyclist Killed, Has Music Scholarship Named for Him

And this review of a revamped A2B e-assist bike. A2B launches Entz e-bike with frame-integrated motor and gearless shifting

And those were all the links that gave me fits or giggles today, plus shopping for groceries. You would not believe the amount of food we bought today. It completely filled the back of a 2010 Honda Insight.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the unkillable badass Poet