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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It was a cool day yesterday, and the Feed

Too bad we had to spend most of it indoors because of the rain, but the temperature moderated in the Suburbs of Hell yesterday. My local weather recorder barely got over 90 with most of the day in the low 80s due to the light rain and cloud cover. Of course this means Mrs. the Poet’s grass-killing exercise that she calls “mowing” has been undone as the grass will recover given ¼ a chance (back when we moved in I reseeded the place with a drought-resistant grass that was not supposed to grow more than 6″ high, and the drought-resistant part was correct). Since my Ubuntu OS computer and my ancient digital camera refuse to talk to each other (I know all I need to do is find the right driver from the Ubuntu archives, but finding it and getting it installed are exceeding my patience levels) I still don’t have an pictures of Blue to share with you, much less any of the recycled bicycle projects I have been working on. I will take a Sunday off soon and get this issue solved.

A wreck about a hundred miles east of WoaB World HQ in the Suburbs of Hell. Mother of teen killed by truck wants answers SWSS wreck, There was no place for the cyclist to have “darted” from unless he waited for the truck to approach then pulled off the curb with no sidewalk, or maybe at one of the parking lots where other vehicles could have blocked his view… Too many questions (what was a garbage truck doing out @ 2100?). This was a location that would have been mostly bypassed by bicycle infrastructure preventing the cyclist from ever interacting with the weapon vehicle.

From the most deadliest state in the US to walk or ride a bike, more on the kid killed by a turning vehicle that ran the red light. 17 year old killed in crash Let me just say that there must have been some irrefutable evidence in this case otherwise LEO would have blamed the cyclist for running the red light. This was not the kind of wreck that could have been prevented by infrastructure, because the driver of the weapon vehicle ignored the infrastructure that was already in place, the traffic light.

A WI rider killed in a hit-and-run has been identified. Wis. cyclist killed by hit-run driver identified Hit from behind, report was sketchy but it appears the cyclist had no chance of being able to avoid this one because the weapon vehicle was moving at a high rate of speed. I can’t get a street view pulled up so I can’t say if this would be fixable with infrastructure, but physically separating bicycles and idiots racing in cars would be a good idea if this was not in a residential neighborhood. What I could see from the map view this may have been on an arterial, so a separated bike path would have been appropriate under the Dutch model.

A project that looks interesting and increases my noticeability. Bicycle Rim Lights To be legal you need to make these either white or amber/front red/rear but they are Uber-Cool.

And that’s all I got today, except for the guy that ran off a trail on his mountain bike because he was looking behind him as he was going forward, him I’m not linking to. Not on a road, not involving a motor vehicle or defective infrastructure.

Billed @$0.02, Opus

Richard Nicodemus, SMIDSY

I have been debating with myself if I should relay this report, because I’m a member of the rather small community to which this man belonged even though we never actually met. One of my passions is building Human Powered Vehicles for both transportation and competition, and Mr. Nicodemus was also a competitor (that participated to a much more involved degree than I ever had the opportunity). He was hit as he rode his recently repainted Lightning F40 streamliner on a training ride by a vehicle that pulled out of a driveway as he was passing. This is a picture of Mr. Nicodemus’ ride before he painted the nose HiVis yellow

As you can see this was not a small bike, and the fairing made it even larger visually, plus the color at the time of the wreck was that obnoxiously bright and ugly neon yellow that everyone thinks that all cyclists should be dressed head to toe in. The driver that killed him swears he never saw Mr. Nicodemus until impact, something I find … improbable. I don’t know if the bodysock was replaced with the HiViz color or if the fabric part of the fairing remained bright red behind the yellow nose. If any bike should have been easily seen it would have been this one in either color scheme. I don’t know what will make drivers start seeing cyclists if this cyclist was missed.

I’m angry about this, and frustrated beyond measure. This was a member of my community, and his life was just snuffed out like a candle, by a person that might as well been blind at the controls of a motor vehicle, and at this point there doesn’t even look like there will be much more than a traffic ticket if even that. Even after letting my anger cool for 2 days since I first saw this I’m still having a hard time coming up with words I can use to express my outrage and anger over both the initial killing, and the “Oh, hum” response from LEO about it.

PSA, Opus