Demonstrations of Improbable Physics

...or, things behaving like they have minds of their own.

The Well-Behaved Wheel



The Well-Behaved Bicycle

Them's some good pair o' legs!

I saw this over on Energy Bulletin:

Chinese bicycles...

Even though the car has made serious inroads (pffft...) in the transportation needs of the Chinese, the bicycle still plays a vital role in the day to day operations of a economic giant. The one photo I especially like is the mobile bike repair bike.

Enjoy!

Riding for Miles

Nope, sorry, the title doesn't mean what you think.

As I was riding home yesterday (on the Great Pumpkin again), I turned onto the road at the other end of this path and spotted a familiar bike. It's funny how people in the bike community recognize each other by their bikes. Anyway, I spied a kid riding this bike



After checking for the cork grips I knew for sure it was this bike, owned my the author of Rat Trap Press, who's name happens to be... Miles.

See? I told you the title wasn't what you thought!

Anyway, I called out to the bike's rider, "Hey, I know your dad from the blog!" and at about that time, Miles came jogging up. he explained that since he sold his Surly, when he wants to go out with his son, he lets his son ride the Trek and he's started jogging alongside (or maybe slightly behind).

I enjoyed finally meeting Miles in the flesh. A nice guy. Read his blog. ;- )

Because you know, we've all felt like this at times...

Something I saw on BikeForums in the regional area, and it's been a while since I've posted anything...

Just for laughs - We have a winner!

Posted using ShareThis

A Politics Quiz

I found this quiz over at The Penitent Thief and while I didn't like some of the questions, I can't argue with the results. So I'll pass it on.

You are a Social Liberal (63% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (30% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

Explanation Of Results

We wanted to get beyond the two catch-alls of American politics, the Democratic and Republican parties, and see where people actually stand. Parties can bring together people with marginally differing values and make collective action easier. But party platforms can misrepresent their constituents, and blind loyalty to a party can convince individuals to harbor inconsistent views.

The goal of this test was to exactly classify your personal politics, without the traditional labels. We avoided the edgy party issues and focused on fundamental values. Your score is a measure of what you believe in, economically and socially.

Higher permissiveness, on either axis, indicates a "live and let live" philosophy. Of course, we're almost conditioned in America, "Land of the Free", to think positively of such a philosophy. But practically speaking, permissiviness (or its opposite, regulation) can create any number of outcomes:

For example, on the economic axis, a highly permissive system, like the American system of the early 1900s, might mean things like low taxes and increased scientific innovation. It might also result, as it did back then, in unrestricted child labor and millions of poor people with black lung.

At the other end of the economic spectrum, a highly regulated system might conserve the environment, establish national health care, and eliminate poverty. But as we've learned from the Soviet system, extreme regulation can also lead to stagnation, sameness, and unhappiness.

The Green Grocer?

Like other relatively affluent, tree hugging, bike riding liberals, I've started using reusable grocery bags. Maybe you've noticed them at your supermarket, maybe you haven't. They look something like this-



It's the unspoken option when the bagger asks, "Paper or plastic?"

You smugly slide a pile of reusable bags toward him and say, "Here, use these." A lot of grocery stores will actually pay you five or ten cents per bag saved. Kind of a sweet deal. the bags only cost a buck, so if you can use a bag ten, maybe twenty times, you break even, you're not polluting, and you're not stuck with a hoard of those nasty plastic bags.

So today as I was unloading groceries out of reusable Kroger bags I picked up last week, I noticed something in the bottom of the bag. When I checked, each of the four bags was the same-



Hmmm... what's this?



It's a leaflet, printed in three colors on heavy copier paper. It brags about the contest Kroger had (the leaflet isn't even current) where shoppers were encouraged to submit designs to use on future Kroger reusable bags. The contest kind of makes sense in terms of trying to create buzz about their bags.

But think about this for a minute (apparently Kroger executives didn't): People use these bags to avoid using expendable resources. So what do they do to brag about it? They print up these leaflets to inform everyone about it. It would be just as simple, and probably less expensive (not to mention greener), to simply print the message ("Visit kroger.com/green") on the bag itself.

These bags and the leaflets inside kind of remind me of the GoGreen Hummer, although on a less noticeable scale-



Even if each of the extra leaflets is small in and of themselves, I still have to give Kroger a FAIL for them.

The whole point of going green is to save resources, prevent waste and pollution, to think in different terms. We can't go "all the way" unless we all sell our cars and grow all our own food; I realize this. But I like to think that whoever is in charge of Kroger's green campaign is an environmentalist (as opposed to a marketeer). As such, that person should be thinking of the best way to get the word out.

This isn't it. The green grocer? I think not.

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

A few posts back I mentioned a bike I had gotten for free- a 1973 Schwinn Varsity. Since it has that ugly orange Schwinn paint I've started to call it the Great Pumpkin.



I put some baskets on it last night and rode it to work today for the first time. Here are some pics I took when I stopped on the way home.



There is something crude and primal about this bike. It rubs, it squeeks, it doesn't like to stop. Riding this bike is like holding a tiger by the tail.



It's hard to believe Schwinn sold millions of these functional but clunky bikes. It's even more amazing to think that it still works well after all these years.

Getting these pictures was a chore. I used my new cell phone, but it didn't come with a USB cable to plug it into the computer. Being the McGyver that I am, I looked around and found an old Palm PDA I don't used anymore. It has Bluetooth and it has an SD card slot. So I was able to Bluetooth the pics from my phone to my Palm and save them to the SD card, then plug the SD into my computer. A pain the butt, but at least I can do it without the cable.

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

A few posts back I mentioned a bike I had gotten for free- a 1973 Schwinn Varsity. Since it has that ugly orange Schwinn paint I've started to call it the Great Pumpkin.



I put some baskets on it last night and rode it to work today for the first time. Here are some pics I took when I stopped on the way home.



There is something crude and primal about this bike. It rubs, it squeeks, it doesn't like to stop. Riding this bike is like holding a tiger by the tail.



It's hard to believe Schwinn sold millions of these functional but clunky bikes. It's even more amazing to think that it still works well after all these years.

Getting these pictures was a chore. I used my new cell phone, but it didn't come with a USB cable to plug it into the computer. Being the McGyver that I am, I looked around and found an old Palm PDA I don't used anymore. It has Bluetooth and it has an SD card slot. So I was able to Bluetooth the pics from my phone to my Palm and save them to the SD card, then plug the SD into my computer. A pain the butt, but at least I can do it without the cable.

Drive your bike

I found this link on a comment on Cycle*Dallas blog. In her comment, Keri provided a link to The Florida Bicycle Association's page called Drive Your Bike. The page is a quick and interesting read, but the part that is most useful is the section called "Understanding common crash types and how to prevent them"- you know, stuff like the Right Hook



and the Left Cross


Take a few minutes to read that page. I could save your life!

Why is This Guy Grinning?

Maybe it's because he loves riding his bike



Old Schwinn, customized, personalized, outfitted, rack, generator light

Time to look at bike commuting styles again. There were a lot of different kind of rigs at Ride Your Bike to Work Day on Friday. I thought I would post a few of along with my thoughts.



Classic Cannondale, rides in work clothes, probably a short commute



Folding Bike, compact, he said he rides the train down to Austin and takes the bike with him



Rugged, utiliarian, urban



Another old bike, looks like someone pulled it out of dumpster, kind of pretty though..... this one's mine!

On "Marley & Me"

Mrs. Doohickie watched Marley & Me yesterday and summed it up thusly:

"It's like Old Yeller, but-

...they don't shoot him in a cage at the end."

That is all.

Bike to Work Day 2009

So here's what I did on my day off: I celebrated Bike to Work Day with all the slobs that had to go into the office. I just went for the coffee. ;-)



It was definitely fun. Brian from LMRA Bike Club and I got to City Cyclist



in time to scarf down some of their breakfast spread.



We left at about 7 and rode Westcreek to Trail Lake,



jogged over at Foster Park to Ranier (which turns into Overton Park East just before the big downhill)



and cruised through Tanglewood and past Colonial Country Club before picking up the trail between Rogers and University.

As we approached the trail head there, we saw a knot of cyclists. I asked if they were going down to ride with Betsy Price & company and one of them responded, "I am Betsy Price!" It turns out that Tarrant County Transportation Authority President Dick Ruddell, Tarrant County Tax Assessor Betsy Price, and Fort Worth City Manager Dale Fisseler had met up with some friends at the trail head and were riding to the downtown rallying point at Heritage Park.





So we joined the crowd.







When we got to Heritage Park, there were even more cyclists.



And just after we arrived, a contingent of Fort Worth's finest showed up on bicycles.





We all climbed up the 12% grade of the Taylor Street hill and made our way to the Intermodal Transportation Center (the train station).





The police stopped traffic at all the lights and we just rolled through. I could get used to that.



It was a quick ride over to the ITC. Lots and lots of bikes; it was pretty cool. Once we got there they had water and coffee, donuts, cereal bars, etc., and a lot of fellowship with other riders and the bicycle-mounted police.







All together there were five of us from the bike club, including these guys (me on the left)



and Nancy who got there a little late.



As penance for eating donuts (or what someone called Cyclist Power Rings)



we had to listen to some brief remarks by the civic leaders who showed up, including Tarrant County Transportation Authority President Dick Ruddell,



Tarrant County Tax Assessor Betsy Price,



and Fort Worth City Manager Dale Fisseler.



Fort Worth's finest, who escorted us through downtown



and their bikes.



This is me hamming it up with Dale and Betsy. You can see this shot in the Fort Worth Star Telegram video coverage of this event here. This shot is at 1:50 in. You can also see me cycling by at 1:18.



They had a T Bus there for anyone who was interested to try out loading their bike onto the rack on the front. It's really pretty easy, as Nancy demonstrates.





Dick Ruddell said that last year there were only 4 cyclists that showed up for this event. I think we had twenty times that today.

For even more pictures, click here.