Moar cat pictures, and the Feed

We had a call from the Daughter In Scotland this afternoon and when she was informed we had kittens she requested I post pictures where she could find them. So without further adieu, when the cats stopped bouncing around the house like guided fuzzball missiles I snapped a shot of each.


Enjoy your cat pictures.

Up first are links from opposite sides of the country about the same subject. UPDATED: Driver Who Struck, Killed Bicyclist in Bethesda Won’t Face Criminal Charges and Why Jolene Friedow only got a traffic ticket in the collision that killed Mark Angeles Same problem in two different states, dangerous driving that breaks traffic laws and gets people killed is not an actual crime that can get steep fines and/or prison time. So the “cure” is to make a death as a result of a traffic violation a misdemeanor that carries mandatory loss of license for a period of time with loss of vehicle if caught driving during that time. I leave the amount of time as an exercise for the student.

After that we need something less upsetting, like our Daily Ted. Morning Links: LA’s Mobility Plan up for review today, and a call for to join or renew membership in LACBC

Still in CA. Cyclist injured in Oxnard accident Can I just say this narrative makes no sense? The cyclist was riding north on one street while the driver was driving east on the other, but the cyclist was hit “after entering the roadway.” At what point did the cyclist leave the roadway? The street view shows a quiet residential neighborhood with on-street parking and long straight streets.

Cycling in NYC can get a little hairy. Losing Your Fear Of Biking In NYC: Are Stop Lights Optional? Most of the article is basically saying “Pay attention to your surroundings!” when you ride and noted she only runs reds in places where she would feel safe jaywalking.

Still in NYC sometimes it ain’t safe to walk on the sidewalk. Pedestrian Killed, 3 Injured When Driver Jumps Brooklyn Sidewalk “No criminality suspected” in spite of the fact the weapon vehicle was upside down and flying when it hit the victim. And the fact the driver was driving on a suspended license…

Still in NYC and yet another pedestrian is killed with a car. Cab Driver Had Been Working 16 Hours When He Killed UWS Great-Grandmother Run down in the crosswalk by a driver at work 4 hours longer than legally allowed. And if you’re wondering why I’m including all these pedestrian fatalities, well they would have been just as fatal if a cyclist had been there because every one went through the bicycle area of the road (bike lane or no) before killing the pedestrians.

Another SWCC wreck in IL. Bicyclist killed in crash near Oakbrook Center and Lombard man on bicycle killed in Oak Brook crash The only surviving witness claimed the cyclist ran a red light. Since there is nothing to corroborate maybe he did, maybe he didn’t but either way cyclists have to be ready for drivers on intercept courses in intersections.

I think this was one of those scooter things and not a bicycle in spite of the name. 2 hurt as taxi and e-bike collide in Guelph Since there were two on the bike I’m pretty positive that’s the case, but the speed range is the same for those scooters in the Great White North as it is for e-assist bikes in the US, so everything in this blog applies except the not riding two up on one bike (except for tandems). Looks like a hit-from-behind wreck.

Example of UK clickbait article. I want to be nice to cyclists – but I’m sick of the kamikazes Oohh, surrounded by soft squishy people while in a light armored (excuse me, armoured) vehicle. The horrors. Teh bike cooties might get on you, or something. Seriously woman, get a grip. BTW don’t read the comments section if you like your brains to stay between your ears.

Speaking of crazies, someone needs to slap some sense into this plod. How I was threatened with arrest as a terrorist for trying to take a photo of a police car parked in a bike lane Sounds like this idjit got his training at the NYPD academy…

Nutter kills cyclist with knife several times over, gets long term vacation in the funny farm. Jason Voong guilty of ‘motiveless’ manslaughter and assault Seriously, the man was deranged.

I thought this link was connected to the previous paragraph until I took a good look at the URL and discovered they were not even in the same hemisphere. Man charged with attempted murder over cyclist stabbing Another less than sane person attacks a cyclist for nonsensical reasons. I blame Rupert Murdoch.

Also from Oz. Cycling stars ride to raise safety awareness Maybe they can do something about Murdoch…

More on the Enn Zed cyclist who was walking his bike because it was too dark to ride. Pedestrian killed near Nelson named

Really? ‘Beyoncé On A Bike’ Opens Sexualized Can Of Worms Sex symbol rides a bike, a sensible bike with fenders and a front basket, and everyone goes ape over the picture? Because sex symbol, therefore sexualized. Another example of people just “not getting it”.

I have been making the point for years that while helmets might be useful for individual cyclists, helmet laws just make things more dangerous for cyclists as a whole, and now there has been a study that proves me right. The Latest Evidence That Helmet Laws Don’t Help Bike Safety

And last link another front on the lumen wars. The Case Against Bright-as-the-Sun Flashing Bike Lights I can’t say as I have ever had to deal with one of those bright blinkies, every time I have encountered another bike at night they had reasonable lights or none at all. Most had none at all, nor did they have reflectors. My bike resembles Tokyo at night with all the lights.

And I’m all outta links again. Go do something useful.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet

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Things are Not Good on the church front, and the Feed

I’m working at transferring a mailing list that I moderate for the church over to someone else, only I can’t because I’m not the owner. The last anyone heard from the owner was in 2012, and we are not even sure that he is still on this side of the veil. He would be in his late 60s or early 70s by this point, and his access to social media or email are “iffy” if he’s still alive. But right now I can’t do what needs to be done, and that frustrates me.

Up first, Google cars don’t understand track stands. How fixed-gear bikes can confuse Google’s self-driving cars The combination of moving back and forth and the rider in the same position as moving forward confuses the AI. But they are still working on it.

Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: San Diego police blame bike mob; unconfirmed report of bicycling fatality on PCH in Malibu Is there a stick or magic wand we can use to beat sense into cops?

And Daily Ted part 2. Bike rider killed crossing PCH in Malibu; bicycling deaths down over 40% in LA County compared to 2014

Infrastructure news from Portland. Neighborhood greenways breeze through council with unanimous support

Also from Portland, I think if we find that stick down in CA we need to send it north to see if it works on traffic engineers. State says there’s not enough proof that bike lanes boost safety, so 26th Ave lanes should go Apparently a decade of statistics from NYC aren’t good enough for ODOT.

Update on a MI hit-and-run, they found the driver. Sheriff: 16-year-old identified as driver in crash that injured cyclist And it looks like the “penis enhancer” theory about the weapon vehicle may be factual.

Two links about a WA wreck. Mill Creek cyclist critically injured in hit-and-run and Cyclist critically injured in hit-and-run; police search for suspect See, now why can’t trigger-happy LEO ever pull one of these idjits over and shoot them in the face? Seeing as how they are actually armed and dangerous and proven willing to use the weapon? And from the narrative there was nothing the cyclist did wrong or could have done to avoid the wreck.

More from CA. Cyclist Dies After PCH Collision Again, without seeing the wreckage I can’t verify the “crossing” portion of the narrative. Assuming the narrative is factually correct, what we have here is either a cyclist not paying attention (possible) or a stretch of road that can be clear when a cyclists starts to cross, but there may be cross traffic before getting to the other side. There needs to be testing to see if the second scenario is true, and either a refuge island provided to make a 2 stage crossing, or a reduction in the speed limit so that crossing the road isn’t like playing Russian Roulette. Give people at least half a chance at survival.

A KS cyclist is right-crossed while crossing with the light in the crosswalk. Bicyclist injured in accident I’m trying to wrap my head around the geometry of this wreck, it appears the cyclist may have been riding salmon but would have been coming at the weapon vehicle from the front rather than the side. So basically the driver blew the red (because the only way this could have happened as described would be for a simultaneous ped signal and turn arrow signal, which would have been a solid red to the driver) and didn’t look in front of the vehicle to make sure the crosswalk was clear, oorrr, the driver failed to notice the light had changed while making sure traffic had cleared and when they stopped he went without looking. So either way this went, the driver went without looking in the crosswalk to make sure there was nothing in his path.

Cyclists are injured in multiple wrecks in West Canuckistan on the same day. Cyclists injured in two separate Saanich crashes One was a two-for-one that was almost a three-for, as a driver either crossed or hooked three cyclists but one managed to avoid the vehicle. How do you turn into three cyclists, unless you meant to? The other cyclist was hit running a stop sign. [sigh]

This one was from the Great White North. Cyclist in coma following downtown Montreal crash Another Single Witness Crossing Cyclist wreck where they say the cyclist was running the red.

Still from the Great White North, blame ALL the cyclists. Many cyclists taking chances

In Jolly Olde stockholm syndrome is beginning to set in. Cyclists welcome report into safety of Frideswide Square After decades of neglect or outright hostility, any slight display that might get mistaken for compassion is fawned over.

Last link is from Enn Zed, and is something I can commiserate with. Cyclist badly injured in truck crash accuses Wellington hospital of neglect This sounds exactly like what happened to me, because CAT scans can only detect DAI (Diffuse Axonal Injury) when there is a baseline scan for comparison, like what is required for F1 and IndyCar drivers before the start of every season. Diffuse Axonal Injury is a sneaky kind of TBI, it can affect a large part of the brain, but unless it is a part the victim has to use while being treated it doesn’t get noticed until it’s too late to treat it. For me it was the loss of foreign languages and a large chunk of specialized vocabulary. For other people it is other things.

And I’m done, wiped out, beat, semi-functional. TIRED.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Unkillable Badass Poet (3 more shopping days until my DeathDay)

Already working on Halloween costumes, and the Feed

Some of the people in my RPG group are real big on Halloween, like REAL big. Start planning your costume and buying for it in August big. So I was out pricing and comparing body paint with one of them this afternoon. Body paint is sold in sizes from 4 oz. to multiple gallons in a bucket (not sure if that was a 3 or 5 gallon bucket, but that was a lot of body paint). The person I was shopping with would not need any of the large sizes, but depending on coverage she might need a gallon for the base color. Or she may decide to just go to a pro and get the job done right. I know I’m going to be busy that night because my church has decided to do a full ritual on that night. I’m not on the ad hoc for that ritual, but it will be a barn-burner (probably not literally as don’t have a barn to burn).

The Big Story tonight is a continuation of one from last night as the links and news on the drunk salmon driver who killed a cyclist in CO. Cyclist Killed On Lookout Mountain By Suspected Drunk Driver Leaves Behind Wife, Son and Cyclist killed after being struck by suspected drunk driver on Lookout Mountain Still the same story even with more links, it won’t get any better unless the perp hangs himself with a trash bag in jail.

The “new” Big Story is from the Most Deadliest State to walk or ride a bike in the US. Bicyclist dead in hit-and-run crash on U.S. 192 in Kissimmee and Search continues for driver in Kissimmee fatal hit-and-run on U.S. 192 The problem with drunk drivers who run is it is almost impossible to tell the difference between a drunk driver driving like a drunk, and deliberate murder. This case illustrates that difficulty, the cyclist was riding in the bike lane when the driver swerved off the road through the cyclist and hit a pole and another vehicle, then the driver got out of the car and ran, leaving the cyclist’s broken body in the grass in front of the weapon vehicle where it fell after the weapon vehicle hit the pole.

Still in FL, a SWCC wreck. St. Augustine bicyclist dies in U.S. 1 crash Not much in this one, just a cyclist hit while “crossing” a busy highway. Since the cyclist was dead at the scene when LEO got there there was no account from the victim of the wreck.

Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: More on Monday’s Vision Zero event, and a rider’s eye view of the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix

Still in CA, why is breaking a car window a crime but running a bike over after knocking the rider off of it and dragging the bike several blocks not a crime? Especially when the car window was broken trying to get the attention of the driver after the knocking down and dragging? Driver, bicyclists tussle in Normal Heights Hit-and-run against the injured cyclist with the damaged bike, and they are going to charge the cyclists? TANJ!

Also in CA a cyclist is knocked 176 feet by a hit-and-run driver. Hit-and-run leaves Hanford bicyclists injured This idiot driver came within inches of killing 3 people, they should throw the book at him, pick it up, throw it again, then pick it up and throw it one more time. When they catch him that is. If you see the black Caddy pickup truck the driver is probably a poseur with “compensation issues”, treat him as armed and dangerous. And Stupid, a bad combination.

Not done with CA yet, we have a left cross wreck. Cyclist injured in Alpine Road collision There are a lot of people who don’t know the how to drive in CA as evidenced by the comments section.

Moving closer to home, another LA cyclist is hit. Teen riding bike to school injured by hit-and-run driver Since they never mentioned lights and reflectors in the story in spite of the early hour before sunrise, the cyclist was at least legally conspicuous. And I am so tired of hit-and-run drivers.

Another wreck in MI. Sheriff: Cyclist injured in Charlevoix County hit-and-run crash I still want to run hit-and-run drivers through a car shredder with the car they hit-and-ran in. I might be benevolent and allow the driver as much to drink as they wanted before the trip through the car shredder, or I might be an asshole and make them drink Red Bull and Monster so they are really wired and alert, and have to pee. Can you tell I’m really angry at all the hit-and-runs this week, and it’s only Wednesday.

And now we get to that great cyclist and pedestrian killing field, NYC. Woman On Mobility Scooter Killed By Driver In Sheepshead Bay The victim was crossing with the light in the crosswalk when she was left-crossed from behind.

This just makes me angry too. Police Seek Riverside Park Hit-And-Run Cyclist Who Hospitalized 2-Year-Old Asshole, you hit a little kid, you stick around and exchange information with the parents. Oh, wait a minute she tried, but the parents left with the kid to go to the hospital… See what I get from reading too fast?

A little NYC infrastructure change. These Scary Atlantic Avenue Intersections Are Now A Little Less Dangerous

Another “safety” article that begins and ends at “helmets”. NYS Fair bike helmet giveaway; Upstate Medical’s free lids not just for kids anymore I think every one knows how I feel about helmets, even though a major reason why I quit riding was I couldn’t get the helmet over the tumor on the back of my neck.

Lovely infrastructure article from West Canuckistan. More than 200 people killed or seriously injured on Whyte Avenue in 10 years The area is a 3 km long stretch that has an average of almost 2 wrecks with injury or death every month. That’s about 2 miles in “old money”, to use a Britishism. That is too many for too long a time. Something needs to be fixed there…

This is an insane assault on a cyclist in Jolly Olde. Man who pushed cyclist into path of traffic turns himself in to police I still don’t see how this isn’t attempted murder to push someone into traffic, bicycle or not.

Last link, instead of just adopting the CROW manual, they have to do things the hard way. New junction opens to save bike riders

As an aside, I composed this post while listening to the 6 hour complete soundtrack music to Cowboy Bebop on YouTube and my phone. You’re welcome. Seriously this is just a long silky ride on a cloud of jazz, blues, a little rock, some heavy metal, a little Western Swing, some pure J-Pop, all written by an enormously talented Japanese woman who could have made a small fortune composing new classical pieces and directing orchestras, Yoko Kanno. I hope she got boatloads of yen for all the anime she has scored over the years. She also wrote all the music to the Ghost In The Shell series, Brain Powerd, and a couple dozen others that are not coming to mind right now. Good stuff, and lots of it, even if it is an anime soundtrack, if you didn’t know it was you couldn’t recognize it from the music. Unless you watched the show, of course. Oh, Gawwds they just got to “The Real Folk Blues”… about 2:50 or so into the 6 hours, but not the version in the end credits, the one used in the final battle between Spike and the Mob Guy…

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Unkillable Badass Poet.