Weather has been here, wish you were beautiful

The title is the punchline to a very old joke from before I was born, and accurately sums up the situation here in The Beautiful Suburbs of Hell. The highs and lows have been swapping places with highs less than the previous day’s lows, and lows higher than previous highs. I went from long pants and long underwear to shorts and t-shirt for my daily walks on consecutive days and back again to long pants and underwear. Yesterday I went for a walk at night in shorts and t-shirt and was a little chilly, today I went in the middle of the day with a sweatshirt over a long-sleeve T and still my hands got cold, much worse than yesterday’s walk at night. Mrs. the Poet has a condition she calls “changing weather crud” that in the past she got once in the fall and again in the spring, this year she has had it the entire month of December with no end in sight.

In other news I spent the majority of my Xmas money buying parts I don’t have the equipment to fabricate to the level of precision required, at a reduced price because someone bought the wrong parts and returned them after trying to install. So I’m getting them at 20% off original price. Maybe more, there was a discount code I tried to use that wouldn’t work that would have taken another 10% off the already discounted price that will probably get refunded when they get real live humans reviewing the order next week. Anywho the parts are steering arms that attach above the axle on the reproduction early Ford spindles I got last year. The main difficulty with making these on my own is the thickness of the stock used, the arms made for bolting to the bottom of the spindle are cut from ¼” mild steel and bent so they bolt through tabs with nuts, the ones for the top look like they’re cut from 1″ plate and are threaded so they don’t need nuts or bent tabs. My cutting tools are pretty much maxed out at 3/16″ thickness plate or 0.125″ wall tubing. Sure they will cut thicker stuff but my ability to make the tool go where I want to go instead of where it wants to go declines sharply when I exceed those limits. And don’t get me started about my hole-drilling abilities with my 3/8″ capacity hand drill. And I picked up a big bottle of Shiner Holiday Cheer beer to toast in the New Year tomorrow for $3 at my local grocery store. Since Mrs. the Poet will probably only drink an ounce or two (30-60 ml) and I’m not a big drinker either so the 32 oz. bottle will be more than enough for our private little party.

Stay warm or cool as the case may call for this NYE, and consider every driver on the road a drunk stoner on 2 days without sleep, because they’re out there and you don’t want to be the one that gets hit. I’m an unkillable badass but it still hurts like a mutha’ to get hit. You most likely are not an unkillable badass. ‘Nuf said.

BTW I have a playlist loaded to You Tube, labeled “Opus’ fun junk”. It’s 71 pieces of all kinds of music with electronica, EDM, trance, Classic Rock, New Wave Jazz, and some stuff that just defies classification other than the origin of cartoon music themes.

Peace out, Opus the Unkillable Badass Poet

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My brain hurts, and the Feed

I tried to watch the GOP debate from yesterday before filtering the Feed, and then I filtered the Feed. Now my brain hurts from all the Stoopid and H8 to quote Gigi’s commentary from Facebook. Seriously, how can anyone believe the lies and half-truths that get spread around? How can people just run over cyclists like they aren’t even there? Like I said, it causes me pain to think about it.

Up first, can concepts and technology win the Nobel Peace Prize? Bicycle ‘should win Nobel Peace Prize’ I certainly hope so.

On the same idea, bicycles as vehicles for change (no pun intended). Designing a Bike Path to Global Health So, healthy for the driver of the vehicle, healthy for people not using the vehicle immediately outside, or people halfway around the world…

Our Daily Ted. Morning Links: Turning Vision Zero into an unfunny joke, adventures in traffic blocking, and CicLAvia the Musical

Still in CA. Two Bay Area Cyclists Cut Down By Drivers in One Day Why do allow this level of CARnage to continue?

Now that the relatives have been told we can finally know the name of the OR cyclist killed by the deadly combination of bad infrastructure and an impaired driver. Portland police identify 38-year-old bicyclist struck and killed in NE Portland The sentence that chills me was “There was a transfer of blue paint from his car on the guardrail near where the bicyclist was discovered.” after I posted this “And then there was this,”We may never know, but it’s entirely possible the victim knew he was about to be hit and was trapped against the guardrail.” So now we know that is what probably did happen. Basically the infrastructure would work only as long as the drivers paid full attention to not running into the cyclists at the pinch points, which means that every driver has to be awake and free of chemical or physical impairment. Fail even one of those criteria and add in a cyclist, you end up with a high risk of dead cyclist. A risk that failed this time.

And in the ABQ a cyclist killer gets caught driving drunk shortly after getting released from prison and still on parole from the killing. Drunken driver who killed cyclist in ’05 suspected of 7th DWI You think that after 10 years in prison/jail he would have stayed away from alcohol but that was not the case. Somehow he still managed to get hold of a vehicle and excessive amounts of alcohol. “He was arrested after failing several field sobriety tests, and breath tests later showed he a BAC of 0.21 or 0.22 percent.” So, how do we as a society keep confirmed deadly drunks from gaining access to the most deadly devices we have common access?

Another link to the wreck of the FloriDUH drunk motorcyclist running a red light into a cyclist. Two injured when motorcycle runs red light, hits bicyclist near Clearwater Mall Nothing changed, the motorcyclist is still a drunk idiot riding on a suspended license.

Oz infrastructure news. Brisbane City Council to announce cyclist clearways for Sylvan Road

And this was a friend of my son who got hit by a car in his apartment. Gamer Hit By Car While Playing Fallout 4 In His Home Survives I keep telling people that motor vehicles are artillery shells, and until something like this happens where a vehicle goes through 3 walls and still almost kills someone nobody believes me.

And I’m all out of links.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

I’m including a funny link today that had nothing to do with bicycles, and the Feed

OK I was sent this link from the source, and I thought it was freaking hilarious, especially the funny looks the marchers gave the guy playing the Sousaphone… and the other comments from people walking with them… See? I DO have a life outside of bikes and D&D. Kinda sorta. I mean it’s a “life” like ramen is “food” right?

Up first is Our Daily Ted because Why Not? Morning Links: Suit filed in death of Granada Hills teenager; Biking Black Hole considers SaMo Blvd bike lanes

I’m “sceptible” of this article about the PROK. Un-icyclists rejoice: North Korea installs bike paths throughout Pyongyang as pedal power grows in popularity among citizens Let’s just say that some (most?) of the pictures look like Photoshop or the people in them do not look even remotely Asian, so probably fake.

Remember that guy that basically scraped a cyclist across a brick wall and spun the tires off the rims of the weapon vehicle? Well the media outlet that blamed his drug cocktail on pot has another article about the story. $250,000 bond for driver in fatal bike crash Reefer Madness was disproven years decades ago dudes, you lost, let it go.

Another driver three sheets in the wind when they hit a cyclist makes a stupid claim about the cyclist. Driver pleads not guilty to DUI in crash that killed cyclist And LEO insist that a 0.12BAC% and prescription drugs had nothing to do with the driver hitting the cyclist from behind, that it was the cyclist’s fault for “pulling in front” of the drunken spouse of a LEO.

Update on that cyclist injured by a hit-and-run driver on a charity ride in OH. Family of VeloSano cyclist injured in hit-and-run issues statement and Bicyclist injured in hit-skip during VeloSano ‘Bike To Cure’ event recovering I’m still trying to figure out how the cyclist failed to yield when there were no witnesses and the driver left the scene, it could just as easy been a driver turning onto the road where the cyclist was hit from either direction of the road he was riding on, left cross or right hook.

OH just was not the place to be on a bicycle this past weekend. Cyclist Injured In Hit And Run Not much on the second wreck but plenty on the hit-and-run that sounds like a buzz job gone very south.

This sounds like someone got beaten up and robbed. Police trying to identify woman found in Milwaukee park No cars in the area and the woman was missing her wallet and phone when she was found with facial wounds and bruises.

CO has a dangerous infrastructure and attitude problem that has gotten several cyclists killed. Kechter I-25 overpass dangerous stretch for cyclists You can see the infrastructure in the pictures with the article, and read about the attitude problem in both the article and the comments to the article.

They caught the GA driver doing doughnuts in the middle of the street and jumping the curb to hit a sidewalk cyclist in Hotlanta. Alleged Hit-and-Run Driver Kills Atlanta Cyclist and Suspect charged in fatal hit-and-run crash with Atlanta cyclist The driver appears to be caucasian and was injured in the wreck. There is a possibility the driver may have been under the influence of some intoxicating substance at the time but there are no reports verifying the truth of that statement from early on in the story.

From the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike, these kids survived. Girl, 7, boy, 11, injured when pickup strikes bike in Zephyrhills Other than blaming the kids for not stopping at a stop sign there isn’t much to report in this wreck.

A little NY state legal infrastructure under construction. These Four Bills Do Deserve a Vote in the Assembly I don’t see what the holdup is on some of these bills, especially the one on making NY e-assist laws comply with federal regulations defining an e-assist bike. That was passed early in the BushII administration, shortly after 9/11 and we are approaching 14 years since that. And I still don’t see what the problem is for raising the sentencing for killing while driving without a license, that just seems like a no-brainer.

Some good news from the Great White North. Critically Injured Days Apart, London Cyclist, Skateboarder Both Out of Hospital I’m glad they are both on the mend and doing as best as can be expected.

I know I’m getting tired of refuting these lame memes, how about the rest of you? 5 Anti-Bike Arguments That Should Be Retired

Last link, two new battery chemistries for EV and e-assist bikes. Challenging Lithium-Ion Batteries With New Chemistry The Lithium/Sulfur is more energy-dense, but the sodium ion has the advantage of being able to run all the way to flat without damaging the cells and being cheaper. Which one will win? Who knows, certainly not me.

And today wasn’t too bad, I only felt like gouging my eyes out over one link.

Billed @€0.02, Opus the Poet @opusthepoet