February 2012
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January 2012
3 posts
DeClouding
reposted from axoplasm.com
I suck at Resolutions (New Year’s or otherwise). I lack follow-through. So instead of resolving to do, I did. I took my life off the cloud and disconnected most of the digital noise that distracts me.
Let me back up a little here. Perhaps a year ago I encountered this:
“Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re Facebook’s customer, you’re not – you’re the...
December 2011
38 posts
I secretly love having a fever...
…lying in bed shivering and insensible, fingers white and numb, beyond discomfort or pain, chasing psychedelic butterflies along the edge of consciousness. But then it breaks and, wide awake, you discover you’ve soaked through three layers of pajamas with your own sweat, cursing your swollen glands and a throbbing headache.
Whatever, I just went from “tired but healthy” to “too sick to...
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Burn your ships
Last week I wrote, in reference to the lousy bus service at our new house:
Just as Cortés burned his ships, I’ve burned my buses, and my quads know it.
This is a lemons → lemonade thing:
lemons : lemonade :: lousy bus service : bicycle training
Which is to say, having no options I am riding my bike a lot more. Over an extra horizontal mile and 500 vertical feet each way.
OTOH I’m...
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Fifteen years ago today
I miss that Real Grownups (like Johnny Carson!) took seriously a gentle man in a turtleneck who spoke about “star stuff.”
I miss that science was once considered a means by which to glimpse the divine.
I miss a man who dared to write four pages for Parade Magazine about abortion, and somehow got most people to agree with him.
I miss the guy who wrote a screenplay and a novel about...
Never ask me what I think, Internet
TriMet asked what I think about their budget shortfall so I told ’em. Using their tool I balanced their budget with only a 25¢ fare increase and only one service downgrade (Red Line only runs between Airport and Gateway TC). But my beef is that TriMet is thinking waaaay too inside the box. Like fools they had an open comment field so I gave them an earful:
Some of the above items would be good...
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“Here’s what I learned from Christopher Hitchens in the 25 years I knew him....”
– Jacob Weisberg
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The Spandex Theory →
jennlevo:
“While wearing spandex on my bike, I started to love myself and fix my self. It also helps me deal with my depression because spandex is honest. It makes me honest with myself and with others. This is why I think the cycling world is so open; when people can accept themselves for who they are they can also accept others and help them to be their self. You can’t help others if you...
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USA Cycling Pressures OBRA, Independent... →
Brad Ross: “Long story short: I think USAC is trying to put OBRA out of business.”
Kenji Sugahara: “I think they’ve forgotten that [we’re on the same side], and they don’t realize we’re out there trying to get more people racing, just like they are.”
I can’t believe I have to have an opinion about crap like this. What a load of baloney. OBRA is a rock-solid sanctioning body and very race- and...
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A short rant: let’s downsize roads
The ongoing fracas about the ongoing budget stupidity of the Columbia River Crossing prompted me to write an awesome little rant. As a comment on BikePortland, natch. Which I thought was good enough to reiterate here for semi-posterity.
Maybe, radical thought, we need smaller bridges and narrower roads and less mode separation. Maybe transportation infrastructure is overbuilt and unnecessarily...
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“North Korea is approaching a catastrophic situation for vulnerable populations...”
– David Austin, North Korea Program Director for Mercy Corps. Read the full story: Aid Groups: Children in North Korea at Risk for Starvation this Winter via PBS NewsHour. (via pulitzercenter)
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Fast and faster
Dave Moulton wants a bumper sticker: “I’m retired: Just go around me.” The whole thing is worth a read, it totally gets at the zen of traveling by bike.
I’m not even retired and I find that the more I ride, the slower I drive. If there aren’t any cars around me pushing me to go faster I’ll find myself going 10 below the limit.
Weirdly, distances that seem close to me by bike seem to take...
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Get crafty with Mercy Corps gifts →
I am one of those competitive gift-givers who finds satisfaction in knowing that my creative and thoughtfully packaged presents look better than the other ones under the tree — which, although thrilling, creates a conundrum, because I’m also a proponent of giving symbolic gifts.
— Megan Zabel
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Watch
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“I’ve got two daughters who will have to make their way in this skinny-obsessed...”
– JK Rowling
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November 2011
98 posts
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WatchIn one of the most intense spiritual experiences of my life, I spent an entire night lying on my back watching the Milky Way pass overhead. I had the distinct feeling of looking out not up, as if with my back to a wall. I clung to the earth with my hands to prevent myself being flung off by centrifugal force.
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