Keep Arm In

Fahrenheit

2009-09-29T14:25:00.001-07:00

I would just like to go on record here and declare that I think that, for day-to-day living, the Fahrenheit temperature scale is superior to the Celsius scale.

Normal range of temperatures experienced by human beings on earth: 0 to 100 Fahrenheit. That's minus 17 to plus 37 Celsius -- not only is it completely ridiculous to have zero right in the middle of the range, but it's only half the number of degrees! So in order to get the kind of precision that Fahrenheit provides (for day-to-day living), you have to talk about fractions of degrees Celsius. Um, no thanks.

Hub motors in bicycles

2009-08-23T09:41:00.001-07:00

Hub Motors:

Common to all direct drive hub motors is that they are always mechanically engaged. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. It is good because it makes regenerative braking possible. All direct drive hub motors can be made to do regen whether they are equiped to do so or not. Both the BionX and TidalForce both have sophisticated controllers which allow varied braking energy to be stored back in the battery, while most of the Chinese kits like Crystalyte, Golden Island, and Wilderness Energy need 3rd party controllers to do so. Always engaged is a bad because it means that you are always overcoming the rolling resistance of the motor even when you are not using it. Depending on the symmetry and quality of the motor, this additional drag torque can range from imperceptible to feeling like you are always riding with a flat.

Huh, yeah. The Bionx has regenerative braking, which means it is a motor of this type (direct-drive as opposed to geared).

My new consulting career

2009-08-20T10:16:00.001-07:00

I have this plan to become an E-mail consultant. It's a bit late because nobody uses e-mail anymore -- it's all tweeting and texting and what-not.

But it would have been grand. I already had titles for two of the chapters of my flagship powerpoint presentation.

Effective subject line composition (subtitled Subject: hi)
Top-posting: why I'm right and you're very probably wrong.

Newsflash: car drivers are angry, feel impotent

2009-07-14T09:21:00.001-07:00

Vancouver Sun: Traffic tied up getting on, off Burrard Bridge

Drivers stuck on Pacific were furious. "They should fire the mayor," said one of them, Maurice Harting. "How much pollution is this generating with all these cars idling here?"

Okay then, a suggestion: turn off your engine?

"I'm not going down this street ever again."

Thank you.

Traffic turning off the bridge onto Pacific was also backed up during the evening rush hour.

This is no different from any other day. The eastern-most lane of the bridge is often backed up to the middle of the bridge (or beyond) with cars merging onto Pacific. It's obvious to even the most casual of observers that the traffic lights at Hornby and Pacific determine how many cars are backed up onto the bridge.

In the morning, one motorist screamed profanities at cyclists congregated at the corner of Cornwall and Burrard.

Again, this is no different from any other day.

Another yelled, "this is a bad idea,"

This driver then added "instead, we should build a new twelve lane cars-only bridge over False Creek." ?

Dream Job?

2009-06-26T08:53:00.001-07:00

Kottke:

After one year of work, each employee receives an ownership stake in the company and a free custom bicycle. After five years every employee enjoys an all-expenses-paid trip to Belgium -- the country whose centuries-old beer tradition serves as a model for the Fort Collins, Colo., brewery. Oh yeah, and employees get two free six-packs of beer a week.

Working in a brewery, a custom bicycle, ownership stake. Yes, please. And a trip to Belgium, which not only has a centuries-old beer tradition but is also home to the hardiest and most insane of professional cyclists. Belgium Knee Warmers? Yeah.

Vampires on wheels

2009-06-10T10:01:00.001-07:00

Vampires on wheels, Vampire autoist. We need to bring this term back into common use:

The democratization of the automobile in the late Teens and Twenties was not without its social costs. Neighborhood pedestrians conditioned to horse-drawn traffic were slow to adapt to the new speed of life; drivers didn't know what the fuck they were doing. The consequent death toll gave rise to the journalistic concept of the "vampire auto," which basically meant a hit-and-run car.

Mandatory Helmet Law

2009-06-03T09:09:00.001-07:00

It's bike month in Vancouver, and there are lots of reports of the police hanging around giving out Informational Tickets to scofflaw cyclists who have the temerity to ride around without a helmet.

Now, CBC: Vancouver police shock 'distraught' woman with Taser

A 55-year-old woman fell to the ground and hit her head after being stunned by a police Taser Tuesday morning, Vancouver police said.

Non-ideal situations like this could be avoided if helmets were mandatory for the entire population. That way, head injuries would be greatly reduced for citizens that must be tasered. Wouldn't it be worth it if even just one head injury was avoided?

Public Transit

2009-05-22T11:06:00.001-07:00

A comment on public transit, attached to this CBC story (SkyTrain scammers exploit lax security, busker says):

When you hand over your personal transport to a bureaucracy you open yourself to all kinds of abuse and neglect. Buy a car, learn to drive properly, lobby for automotive road rights, improved infrastructure, and the end of city sanctioned traffic impediment or traffic "calming". Stay free and safe. Benson2175

Emphasis added. Yes, someone must lobby for automotive road rights. Because automobile drivers are persecuted and are basically third-class citizens in Vancouver.

Status Quo

2009-05-13T09:13:00.001-07:00

As a rich white man I heartily applaud the four out of ten elegible British Columbia voters who got off their arses yesterday and maintained the status quo.

Our entire political system (nay, our entire society) is designed to cater to my needs and whims. Sometimes I get nervous at election time -- will something change this time? Thankfully, the rich white men with close-cropped salt and pepper hair spoke soothingly to you about how great things are and how great they will be in the future, and you responded wonderfully. Or you just didn't respond, and did not bother to vote at all, which is perfectly fine as far as I'm concerned.

And no, I have not forgotten about electoral reform. A big thanks for defeating Single Transferable Vote! The system we have now (which, as I said earlier, is GREAT for me, a rich white man) is basically guaranteed to be in place for the foreseeable future. You have really put a bullet in the pathetic head of electoral reform once and for all, I think. No worries for me from now on.

Now please excuse me, I'm going to celebrate by purchasing some energy stocks with some of the money I have laying around.

Insurance Companies

2009-04-22T12:57:00.001-07:00

Love 'em. Settlers Life Insurance Denies Claim For Widow Of Gunshot Victim Due To Pre-Existing Medical Condition.

Allergies

2009-04-09T14:32:00.001-07:00

Vancouver Sun: Allergy sufferers on guard against storm of pollen

For at least the last week I have had what I initially thought was a cold. It went away and then it came back on Monday with a vengeance. Itchy eyes, runny nose, a weird feeling in my throat.

The weird, itchy feeling in my throat got worse, and I started to think that I had asthma. I have never had asthma. Why do I have asthma now, all of a sudden?, I thought to myself. In my distressed state of mind I concluded that my asthma was the result of toxic black mold in my walls. Sometimes I become very dramatic and arrive at very negative conclusions with a feirce certainty.

Stephen Rees saved me. I sent complaints about my symptoms out into the twittersphere and he responded with a link to this Vancouver Sun article about seasonal allergies.

I hope the rain pulls some of the excess pollen out of the air.

Also, maybe this post will cause people to arrive at this blog from google searches for allergies. Right now I'm the top result for anemia self diagnosis.

Electric Cars will Save Us?

2009-04-01T12:48:00.001-07:00

Suppose that Vancouver became the North American capital for electric vehicles. It would be great, right? Everything would be better! Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson tweets:

inspired by low/zero emission vehicles at car show today. we must be north amer capital for electric vehicles!

If overnight every car in Vancouver became electric (or even some magic hypothetical car that runs on nothing and produces no emissions) the city would not change. People would still drive their cars around at 60+kph while talking on cellphones, and the city's number one priority would continue to be the automobile. Yes, I know that Vancouver professes something different (City Council has set a list of transportation priorities in the following order: pedestrian, bicycle, transit, movement of goods, and private automobile) but take a look around.

I may have said this here before, but: we basically live in a car-dominated dystopia. The number of deaths from car crashes in Canada is of the same order as deaths from breast cancer (3000 vs. 5000 per year). There are no special coins produced by the Canadian Mint to raise awareness of car crashes, though.

Walk around your neighbourhood some time and try to look at it through the eyes of someone from 100 years ago. Every single piece of ground where parking is not prohibited is occupied by an idle car. Think about that. Does it seem strange to you? Would any of this change if the fuel the cars use was changed?

What is the world coming to?

2009-03-23T10:01:00.001-07:00

bassist and keys needed asap (gvrd)

Need Bassist and keys for original rock/pop project. Starting from ground up. Must have demos and pic is preferable. age range 19-30.

Emphasis added. What, so now bass players have to get glossy head shots made by professional photographers??

The Intensity of the Sun

2009-03-19T11:39:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine pointed out to me the possiblity that Gary Goodyear, our of state for science and technology, may have been trying to talk about global warming when he mentioned the Intensity of The Sun. For your consideration:

Sun to Blame for Global Warming
Those looking for the culprit responsible for global warming have missed the obvious choice - the sun. ... It wasn't until 1980, with the aid of NASA satellites, that scientists definitively proved that the sun's brightness - or radiance - varies in intensity, and that these variations occur in predictable cyclical patterns. ... The correlation between major changes in the Earth's temperature and changes in solar radiance is quite compelling.
The Inconvenient Truth:The Sun Varies in Intensity
For the last twenty days there have been no sunspots (January 1 to 20 2008). Ultraviolet radiation has dropped to extremely low ratings and coronal holes have opened sending high levels of solar winds and making the aurora borealis larger. Siberia is suffering a cold snap and in a few weeks Canada may become colder than it has been in decades. Global Warming?

It looks like this Intensity of The Sun business is a favourite go-to line for the deniers of man-made climate change. Now is Gary Goodyear doing some Dog-whistle politics here? If so, he didn't do a very good job of it, mainly because he is so friggin inarticulate. His original response to a question about evolution was to say that he didn't want to answer any questions related to his religion. Kind of a non sequitur there. Then later, with the assumed goal of clarifying his earlier remarks, he talked about the intensity of the sun, concrete sidewalks, and high-heel shoes.

The problem with the Intensity of The Sun is that real scientists agree that the sun is not causing global warming.

Your minister of state for science and technology

2009-03-18T11:52:00.001-07:00

We are evolving every year, every decade. That's a fact, whether it is to the intensity of the sun, whether it is to, as a chiropractor, walking on cement versus anything else, whether it is running shoes or high heels, of course we are evolving to our environment.

Earth Hour

2009-03-13T09:25:00.001-07:00

Look: every light bulb in my apartment is a compact fluorescent; I have a bin full of worms on my balcony who eat my garbage; I have not owned a car, ever, in my 30+ years on Earth; I have a valve on my shower-head which I close until it's time to rinse (!!); I wash my clothes in cold water; I drink tap water, not bottled water.

So please forgive me if I don't sit in the dark for an hour on March 28th.

Vancouver Sun: 2010 Olympic torch unveiled

2009-02-12T11:43:00.001-08:00

2010 Olympic torch unveiled

With a flourish befitting the unveiling of ... a long-lost master, the organizers of the Vancouver Games revealed Thursday their concept of what an Olympic torch should be.

That is incomprehensible to me.

But the torch wasn't the only item revealed. Vanoc also made public the white, green and blue uniform each torchbearer will wear come the time they run their segment of the relay.

The uniforms are mostly white, with white toques. They look like HAZMAT suits.

Vancouver Sun, Opposite Land Edition

2009-02-04T12:54:00.001-08:00

Vancouver Sun: Loan for Olympic Village must be repaid in U.S. dollars bought when the loonie was aloft: Exchange risk could cost city $60 million

This article makes me feel like a financial wizard. Quote:

That $750-million line of credit was to be borrowed in U.S. dollars, then swapped into loonies, to pay contractors.
That probably seemed swell at the time. Our loonie was flying high back then. For a period it was even at par, or above the U.S. greenback, and seemed destined to float there. U.S. dollars actually seemed cheap.

Hmmmm... U.S. dollars actually seemed cheap, eh? What do you do when something seems cheap? YOU BUY IT. Yes, when the loonie was flying high, the smart thing to do would have been to use some loonies and buy some U.S. greenbacks. That is, maybe borrow some Canadian dollars and swap it into U.S. dollars. Yes: the exact opposite of what is described above.

But supposing Millennium made its draw when the loonie was at par, or so. Millennium would have roughly gotten a one-to-one deal on its loan. That is: $1 Canadian = $1 US.
Not bad. How can you go wrong with a deal like that?

Hmmmm... how could you go wrong by betting that the Canadian dollar would rise against the U.S. dollar, at a time when the Canadian dollar was at something like a THIRTY YEAR HIGH against the U.S. dollar. Yes, how could you go wrong making a bet like that?

Interview with an Adware Author

2009-01-14T10:35:00.001-08:00

Interview with an Adware Author. This interview is pretty fascinating.

Q:Did you feel this was the gently sloping path to Hell?
A:It was funny. It really showed me the power of gradualism. It.s hard to get people to do something bad all in one big jump, but if you can cut it up into small enough pieces, you can get people to do almost anything.

I guess that's kind of how I ended up writing censorship and surveillance software.

The skull holds the eyes in place

2008-12-08T15:59:00.001-08:00

The Globe and Mail: Does cosmic expansion move everything apart, even parts of our body?

Your right and left eyes, for example, (about 4 inches or 0.1 metre apart) won't drift farther apart (although acted on by space expansion) because your skull is easily strong enough to overcome the cosmic expansion force. The skull holds the eyes in place.

Very reassuring.

Newsflash

2008-12-02T09:56:00.001-08:00

Go to any news story about the current machinations in Ottawa on the CBC or the Globe and Mail website and read the comments. It's a marvelous confirmation that most Canadians have no idea how their system of government actually works. Undemocratic blah blah blah. Just marvelous. Newsflash: Canada does not have a "two party system"; Canada is not a Republic; Canada is not the United States.

I even get the impression that some Members of Parliament are a bit fuzzy on how things work. This morning Ujjal Dosanjh was on the CBC radio with Libby Davies. In response to a question from Rick Cluff (sorry, I can't remember the question; I usually tune Ricky out) Dosanjh said The Conservatives got 38% of the popular vote; it's a minority government. It seemed to me that he believed that the latter necessarily followed from the former. Looking up the popular vote percentage of the Liberal majority governments of the 1990s is left as an excercise for the reader (and apparently also Ujjal Dosanjh).

Ah, screw that: Wikipedia: Canadian federal election, 1997:

Liberal Party, 155 seats won (majority), popular vote percentage: 38.46%

Some further reading:

And last, but certainly not least:

Constitutional refresher course: the people do not choose the government

Cardboard bankrobbers

2008-11-28T09:17:00.001-08:00

Recall this story from the summer: Vancouver police unveil cardboard cops

The idea is to put life-size cardboard cutouts of police officers holding radar guns on the side of the street. People think they are real cops and so they slow down.

Well, in New Jersey, a cardboard figure of a person inside a Somerset County bank kept police at bay for 90 minutes:

Authorities tried to make contact with whoever might be in the building. Officers used bullhorns, and then tried to call inside the building, Forrest said.
After failing to get any response from the figure inside, the SWAT team entered.
To their chagrin, they discovered the "person" seen inside the building was a full-size cardboard figure, Forrest said.

It's clear that the only reasonable response is to ban cardboard.

Optimism

2008-11-24T12:09:00.001-08:00

British Columbia knows how to do optimism right. We're world leaders in optimism. If only we could bottle it up and export it, we'd be even more sheltered from the worldwide financial crisis than we already are. The Globe and Mail on the weekend: Vancouver Games to face money hurdles, CEO says

... B.C. Finance Minister Colin Hansen said yesterday that some Canadian economists are forecasting an economic recovery in late 2009 or early 2010.
"If that scenario plays out, the fact that we're hosting the Games in February of 2010 couldn't be a better opportunity for the world to celebrate," he said. "If consumer confidence is starting to rebound in late 2009, then I think the Games couldn't be better timed for us and better positioned for us to be attracting the attention of the world."

Some Canadian economists. Hmmmm. I have a feeling that these economists are from British Columbia. Because there's one Canadian economist who is not so optimistic. In fact he thinks it would be premature to speculate on that kind of a timeline. And the timeline he does not want to speculate on is less optimistic than whoever the f**k Hansen is talking to (unless late 2009 can be considered to be mid-2010. Come on BC, get on it!)

The Globe and Mail today: [A Canadian economist] ponders 'unprecedented fiscal stimulus'

In contrast to [a Canadian economist's] gloomy outlook, the APEC summit of 21 Pacific Rim countries concluded Sunday with a declaration that the global financial crisis can be overcome in 18 months -- by mid-2010.
"We are convinced that we can overcome this crisis in a period of 18 months," reads a line added to the joint statement released earlier in the weekend. No explanation was given for the change, and the optimistic prediction prompted skepticism from some summit participants and economists.
[A Canadian economist] said the line came at the behest of Peruvian President Alan Garcia, chair of this year's summit.
Asked what he thought about the prediction, [the Canadian economist] replied: "We're obviously entering ... a period of severe slowdown in economic growth with deflationary pressures, particularly in the industrialized world. And I think it would be premature to speculate on that kind of a timeline."

That kind of talk doesn't help, sir. Perhaps this economist is not aware that it is possible to golf in the morning, go sailing in the afternoon, and then ski in the evening in Vancouver. Yeah, that's right: golf, sail, and ski on the same day. And as that link also mentions: Major industries [in Vancouver] include technology, tourism, finance and real estate. Last time I checked, all of those industries were doing just fine, thank you very much.

iPod Killer!

2008-11-14T08:56:00.000-08:00

According to this piece by Kevin Maney the iPod is doomed:

Hauling around thousands of songs on a hand-held device or computer hard drive just so you can listen to your favorites will soon feel overly extravagant and cumbersome, like keeping a cow so you can eat your favorite cheese.

Instead, we'll get music from "the cloud" -- technically, "somewhere on the internet, but who cares as long as it shows up when I press this button." We'll have access to a service that holds every song ever recorded, letting us listen to anything, anytime, from any device.

Sounds great! I never saw it coming. Who knew that the fabled iPod Killer would turn out to be The Cloud?

Fortunately in this bright fiture, no one will ever want to use their CloudMusicDevice in the following situations:

On an airplane
On the subway
When the power goes out
Inside a Faraday cage

Remember this day, folks. Or the dateline of the column (sometime in October 2008). It's when it became clear that The Cloud would kill the iPod.

Explain that to me

2008-11-13T16:03:00.001-08:00

Michael Lewis (Portfolio.com): The End [of Wallstreet]

The second company for which Eisman was given sole responsibility was Lomas Financial, which had just emerged from bankruptcy. "I put a sell rating on the thing because it was a piece of shit," Eisman says. "I didn't know that you weren't supposed to put a sell rating on companies. I thought there were three boxes -- buy, hold, sell -- and you could pick the one you thought you should." He was pressured generally to be a bit more upbeat, but upbeat wasn't Steve Eisman's style. Upbeat and Eisman didn't occupy the same planet.

That is the kind of honesty and adherence to solid principles you should want in an employee. You should want an employee that is capable of examining the facts at hand and using his or her domain expertise to draw a reasonable conclusion. There is a lot of pressure, though, to be empathetic and to try to figure out what your boss or other superior expects for an answer to any given question, and then to give that answer.

Boss: How long is this project going to take?
Employee: About two months.
Boss: *furrowed brow*
Employee: About a month?
Boss: *furrowed brow*
Employee: Two weeks?
Boss: *smile* Great! Bye!

Both Daniel and Moses enjoyed, immensely, working with Steve Eisman. He put a fine point on the absurdity they saw everywhere around them. "Steve's fun to take to any Wall Street meeting," Daniel says. "Because he'll say 'Explain that to me' 30 different times. Or 'Could you explain that more, in English?' Because once you do that, there's a few things you learn. For a start, you figure out if they even know what they're talking about. And a lot of times, they don't!"

This guy is my new hero. My new phrase of choice is Can you explain that to me?

Economic signs

2008-11-13T11:43:00.001-08:00

Financial Post: Bankruptcy 'distinct possibility' for Nortel, analysts predict

Nortel's decision to eliminate another 1,300 jobs earlier this week, which included several senior positions, is expected to save approximately US$190-million in annual costs next year. However, National Bank Financial analyst Kris Thompson said the cuts would have been deeper if the company had the capital to pay for additional severance costs.

Nortel doesn't have enough money to lay everybody they want to.

Yahoo! Answers

2008-11-06T09:15:00.001-08:00

If you've ever looked at anything at all at Yahoo! Answers and wondered how the questions and answers could be so ridiculously stupid, wonder no more.

If your question contains standard punctuation it helpfully suggests that you edit it, presumably to remove said punctuation.

Obama

2008-11-06T09:10:00.001-08:00

One thing that I really like about Barack Obama is that he is very fit and trim. I mean, it's obvious that he has a lot of discipline. To me that speaks volumes and implies a lot about his character in general.

You stop thinking

2008-10-31T08:43:00.001-07:00

After the thing went off, there was tremendous excitement at Los Alamos. Everybody had parties, we all ran around. I sat on the end of a jeep and beat drums and so on. But one man, I remember, Bob Wilson, was just sitting there moping.

I said, "What are you moping about?"

He said, "It's a terrible thing that we made."

I said, "But you started it. You got us into it."

You see, what happened to me -- what happened to the rest of us -- is we started for a good reason, then you're working very hard to accomplish something and it's a pleasure, it's excitement. And you stop thinking, you know; you just stop. Bob Wilson was the only one who was still thinking about it, at that moment.

Richard P. Feynman.

If stocks have you frustrated, invest in tulip bulbs

2008-10-23T14:12:00.001-07:00

Financial Post: If stocks have you frustrated, invest in tulip bulbs

Last year, Mr. Gross raised US$9.1-million for charity by selling bulbs he had bought less than 10 years earlier for US$2.5-million, prompting the declaration: "It's four times profit. It's better than the stock market."

Typical Lower Mainland driver

2008-10-09T11:01:00.001-07:00

Driver puts out lit cigarette in officer's eye

Cpl. Fred Harding says motorist Jozef Baksay got angry over a parking infraction and took a lit cigarette and jammed it into the right eye of the bylaw enforcement officer who was writing him a ticket.

Vancouver Sun on cycling

2008-09-09T09:31:00.001-07:00

Cycling: Beware the door prize. This part really jumped out at me (emphasis added):

Vancouver has about 170 kilometres of designated bicycle network -- roads that cars must share with bicycle traffic. Most outlying municipalities do not have such networks.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that bicycles were permitted on all city streets? And therefore all city streets are shared by all road users? There is nothing special about the designated bicycle network in this regard. The real differences between a designated bicycle street and other residential streets are the traffic calming and the cyclist-activated traffic lights at busy cross-streets.

So I'm not really sure what the author (Randy Shore) is getting at when he says that the designated bicycle streets in Vancouver are distinguished by the fact that cars must share them with bicycles. It's likely that he is not getting at anything in particular. This is probably just another example of ambiguous and imprecise language in a newspaper. Not exactly surprising or shocking.

CBC Radio 2 Format Change

2008-09-02T14:29:00.001-07:00

It's the end of the world!!!

I thought maybe Radio 2 Morning would be tuned to the quiet morning but most of the music had a beat (unnecessary), vocal and was not peaceful enough to drink my morning coffee quietly.

I hate music that has a beat, too.

Re the new Tom Allen show: thanks but no thanks. Not morning music by any stretch of the imagination. Of course, classical music is the only morning music.

Unless it has a beat.

So, here's me looking forward to my classical music and what do I hear ? Someone called Billy Brag with a guitar, then horror of horrors, some old French guy singing something from an old '60's movie , like "The Party", or an early Pink Panther ?

Oh my God, Billy Bragg?! CBC really has joined the unwashed masses. I mean, you can't turn on a commercial rock/pop station without hearing Billy Bragg. Also: the only acceptable guitar is one with nylon strings.

My inner voice ranting at the new show hit its peak with Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone although the CD, mercifully, skipped

Dylan. Get a haircut, hippy!

Internet Comic Link Round-Up Extravaganza II

2008-08-26T16:48:00.001-07:00

Why Work?

2008-08-25T14:59:00.000-07:00

Why Work?

The official line is that we all have rights and live in a democracy. Other unfortunates who aren't free like we are have to live in police states. These victims obey orders or else, no matter how arbitrary. The authorities keep them under regular surveillance. State bureaucrats control even the smaller details of everyday life. The officials who push them around are answerable only to higher-ups, public or private. Either way, dissent and disobedience are punished. Informers report regularly to the authorities. All this is supposed to be a very bad thing.
And so it is, although it is nothing but a description of the modern workplace.

Biking to work is fun!

2008-08-14T09:59:00.001-07:00

I was riding my bicycle home yesterday and had just crossed a four-way stop intersection. About half-way through the next block a mini-van passed me quite closely, gunning its engine etc etc as it went. Naturally I made the jerk off motion with my hand.

I wondered, as I often do, Did the driver see that? and if so does he/she understand what I mean? Well yesterday all questions were erased.

The mini-van pulled over to the right -- in fact I thought it was making a right turn at the next street. But no, it stopped and the driver's side window rolled down just as I was approaching on the left.

Side note: why do these total douchebag drivers pull over and roll down their windows like this? Do they think that I am actually going to pull over as well and talk to them? Really? No, really?

It turns out that this mini-van was being driven by a husky male who I guess just got his license or something? His male companion was in the passenger seat, and unbeknownst to me at this time, another dude was in a rear seat. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We'll meet him in a moment -- stay tuned!

The script at this point is what you'd expect:

Driver (as I pass on his left): What's your problem!?
Me (looking back over my shoulder as I continue moving):Huh, what?

Now the mini-van pulled out again and came up beside me, on my left. The passenger side window rolled down and the the above exchange was repeated a few times (I continued to play dumb. People hate that, I think). Finally:

Driver: Are you telling me to jerk off, buddy? What's your problem?

I continued to play dumb (and actually, I was not trying to tell him that he should jerk off. What I meant was that he himself was a big jerk off. A subtle distinction, I suppose).

This exchange was repeated a few times, and I continued to keep the puzzled look on my face. Then, suddenly, the sliding passenger door opened and dude in the backseat leaned out and yelled BANG!. This little guy had a shaved head and looked like he was fifteen years old and had been working out since he was about thirteen and a half.

I guess his BANG! was supposed to be intimidating. Supposed to make me think that he could have shot me with a gun if he wanted to? I'm not sure. Anyway. I laughed and asked them if they were a comedy troupe (I'm not making this up, I swear).

That confused them, I think. I heard one of them say troop?. By this time I had reached my turn, and I turned right. They turned left (the wrong way around a traffic cirle thing). I didn't get a chance to use the line that I always want to use when these young arseholes accost me with a mini-van: Shouldn't you guys head home now? I thought your mom wanted the mini-van back by six o'clock.

If I could label a blogger post through the e-mail interface (which I cannot) I would label this one with: mini-van.

Propertycop Closing

2008-07-24T19:57:00.001-07:00

Propertycop was a website where you could submit photos of your bicycle along with serial numbers etc. It's being shut down:

Dear Registrant.
We regret the www.propertycop.org website is to be shut down. We have not been able to find a workable long term business plan that would ensure its success and accordingly have found it necessary to cease operations.
We thank you for your support over the past two years and wish you every success in the future.
In the interests of your privacy, all information you have provided us is being deleted.
Board of Directors
Propertycop Recovery & Registration Society

I never actually got around to registering my bike.

It's open season on negligent drivers

2008-07-15T10:28:00.000-07:00

Globe and Mail 2008 July 15: Vancouverites urged to release inner vigilante (emphasis added):

An eye-gouging fistfight between a good Samaritan and a purse snatcher has prompted Vancouver police to offer qualified support for vigilante action, suggesting citizens should feel free to indulge their inner Batman if they have the martial and physical skills to prevail against bad guys.
...
Police don't encourage the average person to act, he said, but "some people have outstanding skills.
"Maybe it's an off-duty police officer. Maybe it's somebody that studies the martial arts that's very used to hand-to-hand combat scenarios, or maybe it's just somebody that's so angry and incensed at seeing somebody victimized that they feel they're just going to do something," Constable Fanning said.

Alrighty. The next time I feel angry and incensed at being victimized by a negligent (or possibly malicious) automobile driver, I'm going to come out swinging (or maybe gouging). The VPD says it's OK.

Reassuring

2008-07-10T10:39:00.001-07:00

An off-hand remark in this CBC article about Air Canada job cuts:

An ACTS spokesperson told Canadian Press that many airlines, including Air Canada, are deferring maintenance work because of the financial pain being caused in the industry by rapidly rising fuel costs.

That's definitely the best way to deal with the financial pain being caused by rapidly rising fuel costs. Cut back on non-essential things like maintenance of your airplanes.

Also, ACTS used to be called Air Canada Technical Services. But now they're officially just called ACTS. Kind of like CN Rail is most certainly not Canadian National Rail. and KFC is simply KFC, not Kentucky Fried Chicken. Makes perfect sense to me.

Google Maps 'Bike There' Option

2008-07-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

I think online petitions are kind of funny. But I like this idea: Google Maps 'Bike There' Feature Request.

The feature would take into account actual bicycle lanes from the locality being mapped, and it would automatically plan a route for a bicyclist, possibly even providing the cyclist options for either the most direct route, or the most bicycle-friendly (safest) route.

It would be nice to be able to minimize hills on the route as well. The Cycling in Cities and Translink route planning tool has a maximum slope option.

Just get on the train

2008-07-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

Two links from a recent Risks Digest:

Oyster and Mifare cracked

Researchers at Nijmegen's Radboud University have evidently cracked and cloned London's Oyster travel card, after previously having had similar success with the Dutch MIFARE travel card ...

Free Berlin subway rids
More than 600 of the 700 ticket machines refused to work after they were updated from a central server overnight. ... It took until 1 pm for the error to be fixed on all machines.
In the meantime, security people walked around encouraging people to just get on the trains. The ticket checkers (who travel undercover and announce ticket controls just after the doors close) were pulled from the subway and put on bus and tram duty.

Kevin Falcon, British Columbia's Minister of Automobile Infrastructure wants turnstiles and smartcards at skytrain stations. I'm confused about whether it is for security or to tackle the ostensibly huge problem of fare evasion. Everybody over-estimates fare evasion; the latest Translink survey confirmed this: fare evasion as measured is less than ten percent, but most people believe it is up around twenty-five percent.

Disregarding the capital costs of these turnstiles and smart-card systems, I wonder how many rush-hour smart-card service outages at Broadway station we'd have to have before all of the supposed re-captured revenue from former fare-evaders would be wiped out by the necessity to allow people to just get on the trains, as during the Berlin malfunction.

Maybe our system would never ever ever ever malfunction, though. Yeah.

More Absolutes

2008-07-07T10:19:00.001-07:00

Essential Life Lesson #1: Over is Right, Under is Wrong:

Put simply, there is a right way to hang the toilet paper, and a wrong way. Read on to determine the status of your own roll.

How do they do this in San Francisco, Kevin?

2008-07-04T22:05:00.001-07:00

CBC, 2008 July 4: Minister reinforces position on bridge closure

Kevin Falcon said it's unacceptable that the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing was completely shut down for six hours on Canada Day while police tried to talk to an apparently distraught woman.
"I was just in San Francisco recently and I can tell you they have lots of problems with the Golden Gate Bridge but they don't shut down the entire bridge to deal with these incidents," Falcon told CBC News Thursday.

I just want to interject here and point out that they also have streetcars in San Francisco. Street cars that run on tracks, in the city. I'm not talking about the cable cars. These are streetcars, on tracks, in the city. Did KFalc see them?

...
Falcon was one of thousands of motorists caught in the gridlock on Canada Day.
"He [Falcon] sounded like a frustrated motorist and not a leader, in my point of view," said Darrell Burnham, executive director of Coast Mental Health Foundation.

Also, in the comments to the CBC story describing the incident, I found a comment written by Kevin Falcon himself, under the pseudonym Devoid:

I wonder how many people in those traffic tie ups lost out on something big in their lives because they took a 3-5 hour detour to get to their destination.
Maybe someone was rushing to a hospital because they got the call their dad was dying and they needed to come right away.
Maybe someone was rushing to the family home because their dog had died.
Maybe someone was trying to deliver medication to a sick person.
Maybe someone had an important job interview or business meeting.
Maybe someone had $300 worth of perishables in their car, which perished.
The possibilities are endless when it comes the possible ways that people can have REAL, negaitive impacts on their lives because police choose to shut down a major artery to cow-tow to one disturbed person.
Those shut downs affect tens of thousands of people. Why is the jumper more important than everyone else? Just because the jumper's situation is time-sensitive, doesn't mean that the guy in the VW Jetta waiting patiently isn't losing something dear himself.
I'm tired of the police throwing a blanket over the rest of us to make their jobs easier.

So I wonder what KFalc would think of what I witnessed on the Burrard bridge just now. For at least the last forty-five minutes the bridge has been intermittently blocked by police, who are positioned at each end of the bridge. All six lanes are closed to motor traffic, for several minutes at a time.

Traffic on the downtown side was backed up down Pacific Street/Beach Avenue for as far as I could see. There was a bit of angry honking going on. I don't know how far back up Burrard traffic was backed up. It must have been backed up quite far down Burrard and Cornwall on the south side of the bridge as well.

Why was the Burrard bridge closed this Friday night? Why were all these motorists inconvenienced so? Why were ambulances, people going to visit their dying dogs, and people with $300 of perishables in the trunk all delayed for so long?

To film a car commercial, of course. In order to create the fantasy of unobstructed speed you have to get the Vancouver Police to close the bridge for you. Then you can film your shiny cars zooming back and forth over the bridge. Back and forth. Back and forth. For forty-five minutes or so. Sure, they take a break every once in a while to let some of the traffic through, but the traffic is still backed up for blocks and blocks.

Something else I noticed: the cars being filmed for the commerical have European license plates. I guess we can have a pretend Euro Auto Fantasy on the Burrard Bridge but the possibility of a Euro Bike Fantasy (in the form of trial lane allocations for bicycles) is out of the question.

In summary, for those keeping score: Closing a bridge to help a suicidal woman BAD; closing a bridge to film a car commercial GOOD.

What do you think of the new database?

2008-07-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

We thought we had a better database said Sheriff's Department Legal Advisor Sanford Toyen.

How's that database upgrade coming along?

US Army set to hire internet spies

2008-07-03T13:03:00.001-07:00

US Army set to hire internet spies

"The contractor will conduct internet awareness services ... to identify and assess stated and implied threat, antipathy, unrest and other contextual data," said the tender document, which was released by the US Army's German office.
Those applying for the contract must include in their staff a principle cyber investigator, a specialised threat analyst, a 'foreign-speaking' analyst with cyber investigative skills and a 24/7 watch team.

Cyber investigative skills means ability to use Google, I assume.

The UK's armed forces are also upping their surveillance of the internet.
...
The Royal Air Force is at present facing a critical shortfall of intelligence officers and intelligence analysts: both positions are currently advertised as "urgently needed". An intelligence analyst earns an annual salary of just [GBP] 16,200 and needs just a handful of GCSEs.

Big salaries and high qualification standards like this is the way to attract the best and the brightest.

To give these guys something to do, from now on I'm going to conclude every blog post with the output from a run of emacs M-x spook: S Key embassy 64 Vauxhall Cross MILSATCOM Ermes unclassified Verisign secure Ft. Meade blackjack Marxist Defcon underground Clinton Maple

Justice!

2008-07-02T18:36:00.001-07:00

This evening, on the North side of the Burrard Bridge, in front of Bicycle Sports Pacific, there was a motorcycle cop. I thought he was sitting there waiting to pounce on cyclists who were not wearing helmets.

While I was waiting there at the intersection, a big black truck was causing a traffic back-up (lots of horns honking) -- he was in the left lane southbound, trying to turn left onto Pacific. Not Allowed.

The motorcycle cop waited for the driver of the truck to come to his senses and go over the bridge. But as the light changed he floored it and went left.

The cop sprang into action. Siren blaring, he shot out of his hiding place and went after the truck. I assume the truck got a ticket, or at least a nice stern talking-to.

Employment Opportunity

2008-07-02T12:43:00.000-07:00

Network Surveillance Engineer

Our client is urgently seeking a strong Network Surveillance Engineer for a 3 month North Ryde based contract !
To be successful in this position you will have either a strong telecommunications or data background. Experience in a NOC/NMC is advantageous.
In this role you will be responsible for fault management, analysis, resolutions and have the ability to quickly sectionalise system faults and work in a team environment.
This is a shift based role and a great opportunity for you to gain or expand on your mobile telecommunications knowlegde in a challenging environment.
You will be able to work a rotating 24x7 day roster
Strong communication skills and attention to detail to support Operational processes is essential.
2 years technical/field experience, preferably in CDMA or GSM Network.

June is Bike Month

2008-06-26T09:25:00.001-07:00

I saw a motorcycle cop giving a cyclist a ticket at Burrard/Pacific this morning. The cyclist was not wearing a styrofoam hat so I assume that was the reason for the ticket.

There was another cyclist sans helmet up the hill at Harwood where most people wait for the light at Pacific to turn green. I'm sure she must have seen the ticketing going down, but it looked to me like she was patiently waiting and planning to continue as planned. Since the officer was busy she'd probably have no problem just riding by.

Blogs tagged with "vomiting"

2008-06-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

This blog is in a Blogged.com list of blogs tagged with vomiting. It's also categorized as miscellaneous. Miscellaneous vomit.

I noticed a while ago that this blog had become linked with vomiting. Maybe this blogged.com tag is the reason. But the question remains: who tagged my blog with vomit and maybe more importantly, why?

Of course, the more I talk about vomit here the more valid and/or accurate the tag becomes. It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy. A self-fulfilling vomit prophecy. Or maybe a temporal paradox. A temporal vomit paradox.

The Internet is mysterious.

The Superiority of Bicycles

2008-06-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

The Columbus Dispatch 2008.June.23: EMS on 2 wheels gets speedy care to victims

Emergency medical service medics on bikes are able to weave through crowds and reach a victim quicker than a large ambulance, Fish said. The bikes carry 50 pounds of medical gear, including oxygen equipment, cardiac equipment and a basic first-aid kit. Paramedics can treat anything from an insect bite to a heart attack.
...
To become a certified cyclist, team members go through 32 hours of training, where they are taught how to ride a bike through crowds, at slow speeds and up and down stairs. They also learn to use the bikes as a barrier to protect the patient.

Yeah, that's right, up and down stairs. It's not bicycle racing, but it still makes me think PRO.

Also, recently Meals on Wheels in Victoria was cancelled after 35 years:

The costs of fuel and food contributed to the demise of Meals on Wheels, Prentice said. The company that prepares the food can't keep up. In May, Meals on Wheels increased its price to $7 a meal, up from $6.75 . a small jump Prentice said he didn't want to see happen.
To make it work, "We'd have to go up at least a dollar a meal," Prentice said. Then, factor in fuel compensation for volunteers and "we'd have to go up at least another dollar a meal to cover the cost."

Back in November of last year, the Vancouver Police Department put out a media release about Meals on Bikes (sorry, no direct link):

The Meals on Bikes pilot project coincides with the 40-year anniversary of the Meals on Wheels program, which has been delivering hot, cooked meals to frail, isolated seniors in their Vancouver and Richmond homes since 1967. The new, environmentally-friendly venture is intended to recruit and attract more and younger volunteers.
For additional information about Meals on Bikes, please contact:
Beth Symansky
Communications Coordinator
Health and Home Care Society of BC
Tel: 604-733-9177, ext. 114
e-mail: symanskyb@carebc.ca
Web: www.carebc.ca

Whenever the automobile inevitably stumbles and reveals its inherent limitations, the bicycle is there.

Stamps

2008-06-24T09:07:00.000-07:00

I bought a book of ten stamps on the weekend. I was given the choice between the stamps that featured a portrait of our Queen, or stamps that featured a lighthouse.

Ancient History

2008-06-20T12:09:00.000-07:00

Netscape and AOL, Jamie Zawinski, 31-Mar-1999 (emphasis added):

Some will tell you that an organization is the people who make it up, but that's not the case at all. The whole is larger and completely different from the sum of its parts. The system that we as a society have invented to run our world is a simple one. It's a game with a small number of rules. You put the pieces on the board, wind it up, and let it go. The thing is, the rules involved are all about money. The underlying theory is that you motivate people to provide value to society by making it be in their best interest to do so. But that's the intent; the mechanism is much less vague. The mechanism is money.
Corporations are not evil. That kind of anthropomorphism is inappropriate. Corporations are too stupid to be evil, only people can be that. Corporations are mechanisms. People can influence them, but by and large, corporations just follow the rules.
Bear in mind that, for a publicly-traded company, if a CEO makes a decision because it's the right thing rather than because it's the most profitable thing for the shareholders, he will lose his job, and possibly be sued into oblivion. That's the way the rules work.
For someone not solely motivated by profit, the way to win this game is to pick your goals such that your goals, whatever they may be, are aligned with the goals that the corporate mechanism will seek for itself. For example, if your goal is "working on interesting stuff," then the best way to do that is to find a company which looks at the stuff you're interested in as a way to meet its goal of "making lots of money."
And sometimes the only way to win is not to play.
...
... But if you think that non-censoring network access and publication will always be available because there will always be some people who want it, consider that Barnes and Noble have all but eliminated the independent bookseller, and that Blockbuster Video have all but eliminated the independent video store. And let's not forget that it is Blockbuster's policy not to rent NC-17 movies. We're not talking about pornography here: we're talking about movies that are merely not for children.
AOL is about centralization and control of content. Everything that is good about the Internet, everything that differentiates it from television, is about empowerment of the individual.
I don't want to be a part of an effort that could result in the elimination of all that.

Moderation Tastes Better

2008-06-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

Somebody on the Internet is doing a cleanse:

I decided that this cleanse would set me in the right direction. When the 21 days are over I'm certain I will add sugar and caffeine and alcohol back into my diet, albeit in smaller, more thoughtful quantities than a 32-oz Frappuccino spiked with rum.

The Liquor Store bags in Ontario say Please Drink Responsibly (at least they did when I lived there). There is of course a French language version, but it is not an exact translation of the phrase. If I recall correctly the French version says something like Moderation Tastes Better.

Surveillance fears force Norwich to scrap 'pay as you drive' car policies

2008-06-17T09:17:00.000-07:00

Surveillance fears force Norwich to scrap 'pay as you drive' car policies

Britain's biggest insurer Norwich Union has withdrawn one of its flagship car insurance policies less than two years after its launch.
The "Pay As You Drive" scheme used satellite technology to track journeys via a black box installed in customers' cars. The data was used to offer cheaper premiums to drivers who avoided high-risk periods such as rush-hour and late at night.
...
"The big-brother element of Pay As You Drive, particularly the ability to see how fast someone drives, put a lot of potential policyholders off," said Peter Gerrard.
...
The policy charged drivers between 5p and [GBP 1] per mile depending on when and where they drove, particularly during rush-hour or at night. This made it more popular with younger and occasional drivers.

Is there a reason that this could not be implemented with all of the smarts inside the black box? That is, the black box in the car knows what time it is, and where the car is (via GPS), and let's say even how fast the car is going. Furthermore it has an internal table of rates to calculate the insurance cost based on these variables. It keeps a running tally while the car is in motion, and monthly transmits the grand total charge back to Central Headquarters. The gist of this internal table could be published so that drivers know what they're being charged and why.

Is there any reason to continually transmit the location and speed of the car to the insurance company (or other authorities)? Is that really an unavoidably necessary part of any Pay as you drive insurance system?

I'm dumb, so please, someone explain this to me.

Crossing the Burrard Bridge

2008-06-15T15:06:00.001-07:00

This is a video I took a couple of weeks ago. I'm riding north over the Burrard Street Bridge. I'm not sure why the guy in front of me is riding so far over to the left. Maybe he wants to be completely sure that he won't run into any pedestrians?

I've slowed down the video at a few points where cars and a bus pass very close.

Cycling: bad for the economy?

2008-06-15T14:14:00.001-07:00

Kitchener-Waterloo Record: Cycling: bad for the economy?

Sure, you might think that regular bicycle riding would be part of a healthy lifestyle, but do you really want to be healthy? Health Canada says that 47 per cent of the Canadian population is considered overweight. What will be the economic impact on medical testing labs, fitness clubs and junk-food makers if some of that 47 per cent find that cycling helps them to lose weight and become healthier?
...
Imagine what would happen to the foundation of the North American economy if you used your bicycle for ordinary single-person trips under five kilometres. You might use your bicycle to ride to the corner store or the post office.
...
And without the gas guzzlers lined up at the pumps, will the Alberta oil-sand sector falter? All because you chose to buy a bicycle.

I've thought in the past that if everyone behaved like I do that it would be very bad for the economy. Mainly because I don't eat out that much, or buy stuff that I don't actually need. Note: yes, I need chocolate milk.

Absolutes

2008-06-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

A great post by Joe Clark: It's been 14 years. Can't people learn how to link?

Go read it.

Some people think that things like this are just a matter of opinion. That reasonable people can disagree about it. That each side of the argument is equally valid. This is wrong. There are many things in the world for which one answer is the obviously correct one, and all other alternatives are wrong. This is one of those. Here are some more things that are absolute and universal:

Numbered footnotes[1] in blog posts or articles that are not links. Each number refers to an item in a list of links that appears at the end of the post. The mind reels. Because this is so wrong.
Comments in reverse-chronological order (newest appearing first, and the earliest comment at the bottom of the page). You have to scroll down and up, down and up, down and up to read the comments. I think The Guardian does this, among many others. It's wrong. CBC story comments sort this way by default, but there is an option to change it to be First to Last. The question is, what other order makes any kind of useful sense? Blogger archive pages (including those of this blog) are in the wrong order and it bothers me.
Top-posting when replying to e-mail. If you think this is OK then you're wrong.
HTML e-mail is not OK. Multipart/alternative with a plain-text section is closer to being OK but not quite there.
I prefer vi to emacs, but using either is fine. Something like notepad.exe or wordpad.exe is only good for writing rambling, incoherent nonsense.

Non-computer/internet:

The proper way to eat a banana. There is only one correct way. Learn it. If you don't know the right way to peel a banana ask someone who looks smart.
Ale is better than Lager. It's true. This is my conclusion after exhaustive sampling over many years. But isn't this a matter of taste? No. Ale is better than Lager.
Riding around with a squeaky bicycle chain is not acceptable. Oil it.
There is a very narrow range of acceptable ways to stack dishes in a dishwasher or on a dish drying rack. Random order of insertion and haphazard ad hoc stacking is not OK.

Your help requested with an ethical dilemma

2008-06-12T16:10:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit torn about something I've been asked to do at work. Without going into too many details I will say that my work would directly contribute to the creation of an Internet surveillance device.

I've set up this question at Say-So and I hope it results in some timely and useful feedback.

Thanks.

Robber fled Dawson Creek bank on bicycle

2008-06-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

Robber fled Dawson Creek bank on bicycle:

"After the employee turned the money over, the male fled the scene on a bicycle. No one was harmed during this incident," McGowan said in a release.
A security camera caught the robber leaving the premise [sic].
He's described as Caucasian, about 50 years old, with a medium build. He was wearing sunglasses, a black baseball hat, a grey sweatshirt and blue jeans.

No helmet?! Tsk tsk.

Nine million terrorists in the world and I gotta kill one with feet smaller than my sister

2008-06-10T18:55:00.001-07:00

An intriguing comment by Peaked at on Stephen Rees' blog:

I just learned from a reliable source that the Vancouver Police Department held a little "simulation" at the VCC/Clark Station this past weekend.
Apparently, they're preparing for radical environmentalists to take over a Skytrain car. Had a SWAT team, the whole nine yards. The "organizers" taped the windows of the car over to prevent any gawkers and were nice enough to let the "terrorists" negotiate for pizza, among other items.
Somebody in the media should call the VPD and ask why they feel "radical environmentalists" are a threat to the Skytrain.

Unsurprisingly, the Vancouver Police Department has not put out a press release about this. I wonder what a hypothetical radical environmentalist or eco-terrorist would do after taking over a Skytrain car. Demand safe passage on it to Cuba?

Obama's Bike Helmet

2008-06-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

Obama's Bike Helmet: Everyone looks dumb in a bike helmet.

I have an opinion on bicycle helmets, and whether they actually do a rider any good in a real accident. I won't go into that right now.

I will say that I do in fact wear a styrofoam hat when I ride my bicycle. Mainly for insurance purposes. If I have a crash I don't want to give an insurance company any reason to refuse to pay any claims. I have long believed that insurance companies actually have more control over people's behaviour than laws or anything else.

Big Bicycle

2008-06-10T09:43:00.000-07:00

Clean Air Foundation to Lead National Scrappage Program, Bicycle Trade Association of Canada applauds new vehicle scrappage program.

Yeah, I'll bet they're applauding it. This is yet more Corporate Welfare for the bicycle industry, or as I call it, Big Bicycle.

When is someone finally going to stand up to these guys? Look at the resources we as a society already devote to bicycles: the constant maintenance of bicycle lanes, the tens of thousands spent on bicycle parking facilities, the law enforcement man-hours devoted solely to policing bicycle riders in a vain attempt to keep them from killing themselves and others, and then of course the inevitable costs to the health-care system. And yet here is more money from the public coffers going into the pockets of Big Bicycle.

Killer Tomatoes

2008-06-10T09:26:00.000-07:00

The Globe and Mail: Tomatoes removed from menus

Restaurants and fast-food outlets across the country, including Tim Hortons, Subway, Burger King and Harvey's, have stopped using raw tomatoes as the result of a growing outbreak of salmonella food poisoning in the United States.
...
Early last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent out a warning that advised consumers in Texas and New Mexico not to eat certain raw red plum, red Roma and red round tomatoes ...

Yesterday, before I had heard about this, I bought a bunch of red Roma tomatoes. I'm going to eat them. I'm stubborn that way.

There is Power in a Union

2008-06-10T09:17:00.000-07:00

The Christian Science Monitor: In Toronto, cyclists form a first-of-its-kind union.

It would be like CAA (Canadian Automobile Association), in that it would offer roadside assistance. I wonder if the roadside assistors would arrive via bicycle or automobile? The Cyclist Union also plans to offer insurance. I'm not sure if it includes liability or collision coverage. What I'd be interested in is some kind of theft insurance. All of this (roadside assistance, insurance) is provided for a $24 annual fee so it's hard to say.

But the primary goal of the Union is

"[to] give a voice to urban cyclists who use their bikes in their daily lives as a mode of transportation," explains David Meslin, founder of the Toronto Cyclists Union. "Cyclists don't feel safe on the streets, and if they know there is a group fighting for safer conditions, I believe a lot more will join."

So the main purpose of this Union is advocacy on cyclists' behalf. Also from the article:

Believed to be a global first, the union already has enrolled hundreds of card-carrying members since it formed in May.

But it sounds a lot like the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition (established in 1998) to me:

The VACC advocates for better conditions for cyclists, and the removal of barriers to cycling. We achieve our objectives by meeting with governing agencies at all levels, writing well-researched, proactive letters and reports, working constructively with the media, and encouraging more people to cycle more often.

Police unveil cardboard cops

2008-06-06T10:07:00.000-07:00

Vancouver Sun: Police unveil cardboard cops.

The idea is to put life-size cardboard cutouts of police officers holding radar guns on the side of the street. People think they are real cops and so they slow down.

The fake officers were relatively inexpensive to make, Pauw said.
...
The cut-outs were tested on [Knight] street for a few hours earlier this week and "a tow-truck driver pulled up and started talking to it," Pauw said.

It reminds me of my old idea of walking around with a fully clothed manequin that I could chuck out into the street in front of egrigiously speeding cars.

Oppressed by the English. Again.

2008-06-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

I'd like to think that I don't have many prejudices, but one that I definitely can't deny is a kind of intense visceral dislike for the English. It might have something to do with the fact that my ancestry is 45 percent Scottish and 45 percent Irish.

Now of course this doesn't really apply to most actual English people that I have met or otherwise communicated with. I mean come on, Stephen Rees is originally from England!

In fact some of my relatives were born in, and continue to live in England. The fact that I am able to admit that publicly shows you how much progress I have made in trying to overcome this prejudice over the years.

There is also a pretty big list of English people that I have never met but who I like and have respect for. This list includes but is by no means limited to Billy Bragg, R.J. Mitchell, and of course Archie Leach.

This morning on the way to work, riding along a part of Nanaimo street that is traffic-calmed and designated as a first-class bicycle route, I was passed quite closely by a white truck which then slowed down, almost to a complete stop, before continuing again. At the time I thought the driver was considering turning, but subsequent events lead me to believe that in fact the driver was doing it to send me a message, or something.

Of course one block later we're all lined up behind a red light. So I pull up on the driver's side and wave through the window. He immediately rolls it down and says You should watch where you're riding in the road, mate, you're liable to get killed, innit. Yeah, an Englishman.

It occurred to me that this might be some kind of threat. But you know how it is; it's hard to tell with these marble-mouthed English d**chebags. He adds You ought to have some reflectors or sumfin, innit. Which is funny because my bicycle is fairly plastered with reflective tape. I'm borderline Fred, by some definitions.

So I yelled FREEEEEEEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOMM! and gave him a nice solid head-butt before riding away.

No, actually I didn't do that. After the truck in front of him turned right-on-red, I moved to the front of the line and waited for a chance to cross. This was a pedestrian/cyclist controlled intersection, so I could have moved over and pressed the magic button. But that would have given this ar**hole a chance to turn right (he actually had his turn signal activated!). Instead I just waited. And waited. And waited. It's a pretty busy street, two lanes in each direction.

What do you think this guy in the truck did? Did he honk at me? Did he get out of his truck and go over and press the magic pedestrian/cyclist button? Did he get out of his truck and physically confront me?

No. He did none of those things. Although every time I inched my bicycle forward a little bit, I would hear his mighty engine roar as he gunned it to follow me forward. So every 10 seconds I would move forward another inch just to hear him gun his engine. It was pretty fun. I looked back at him once and pointed at him, then made the jerk off motion. I know: brilliant, clever, just fantastically witty in every way. I did this twice because I wanted to make sure he understood me. I'm not sure if he did.

Yes, my commute this morning was pretty good. I managed to strike another blow in the historic battles against English and motorist oppression.

A typical day at the office

2008-06-05T20:34:00.001-07:00

I just found out that the office I work in has surveillance cameras! This is some footage from a few weeks ago of a typical day.

Route Planning

2008-06-04T14:17:00.001-07:00

A Metro Vancouver cycling route-planning tool being developed by Cycling in Cities and TransLink.

Cycling in Cities is a program of research investigating

which factors encourage or discourage the use of bicycles for urban transportation, and

which types of transportation infrastructure are associated with increased or decreased risks of injuries to cyclists.

It has a maximum slope option, and it shows the severity of the slopes along the calculated route. If I ask it to give me directions from home to work and set the maximum slope gradient to 9%, it tells me No direct route. It shows you the mean NO2 level for the route (measured in ppb.) as well.

Surveillance, Sousveillance

2008-06-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

Study: Surveillance Software Revenue to Quadruple by 2013. Maybe it's time for me to make the jump from the Internet Censorship biz (e-mail me at sgt.turmeric at gmail dot com if you'd like more details) to surveillance? There are just so many ways to profit from a Police State, after all.

... the advent of Wi-Fi has made it possible to place wireless cameras just about anywhere while still sending footage back to a central location.

Ah, is that what's really behind the proposals for free wireless Internet access in Vancouver? The Vancouver Police have an intermittent lust for surveillance cameras, and if they are going to piggy-back on municipal Wi-Fi, then said Wi-Fi should be paid for at least partially out of the Police budget.

In my opinion total surveillance is inevitable. There's nothing the public can do to stop it. In fact the public seems to be quite keen on it, even though it doesn't work. And that's when the cameras are actually working (not guaranteed: CBC also reported that a number of security cameras went off-line four hours before the theft.). That's my only comfort, really: the people deploying and operating the cameras are basically incompetent.

Also, ever since I read Steve Mann's book Cyborg I've wanted to be one. The incompetent public institutions and private entities can put up all of the cameras they want as long as sousveillance remains legal. Whoops, there's a concerted effort to stop ordinary citizens (and even the media) from taking photos in public. So to everyone out there who yearns for security cameras everywhere to make you feel safer: don't be surprised if you get TASERed or something for taking a snapshot someday.

Party like it's 1991

2008-06-03T19:23:00.001-07:00

 $ date Tue Jun  4 19:16:54 PDT 1991

That's what it kind of feels like. It's over-used but:

There's a Bush in the White House
There's a war in Iraq
It feels a bit recessiony
The Prime Minister of Canada is not a member of the Liberal Party
The Pittsburgh Penguins are in the Stanley Cup finals
And the CBC Radio 3 Track of the Day last Friday was The Grapes Of Wrath - You May Be Right

This post was just an excuse to link to that song.

Real Men Ride Bikes

2008-06-03T11:40:00.000-07:00

From Canada's leading independent online newsmagazine (how does one earn such a designation?) Straight Goods: Real Men Ride Bikes

Benefits? There could be enormous benefits of aggressively promoting bike transit as part of Canada's transportation picture. More people on bikes and using shared or public transportation means less fossil fuel use, less pollution, and more healthy people who happen to be a bit happier too because of all the exercise and social contact. The economic benefits are many: helping family budgets, jobs building infrastructure, jobs in public transportation, lower health care costs, and reduced national dependence on oil ??? other than chain oil.

I just want to say that I've been using the same little bottle of chain oil for at least the last four years. And it's not empty yet.

Hot cycling accessory for the summer

2008-06-02T15:24:00.000-07:00

When is MEC going to start carrying these?

That's just good baseball

2008-06-02T14:12:00.001-07:00

Today on the way to work I was riding along 45th avenue, as usual. I heard a car approaching from behind; it sounded like it was going to try to pass me and beat me to the four-way stop that was about 30 metres away.

I looked over my shoulder at the car and moved ever so slightly to the left. The car backed off and I was first to the stop-line, and first through the intersection.

It was like a ground ball to the short-stop (me), who looks the runner (the car) back to second base before throwing to first for the out.

CBC Radio One

2008-06-02T12:12:00.000-07:00

It???s official: Vancouver???s CBC Radio One adding FM signal. So now I'll be able to better hear Rick Cluff b*tch about the weather in the morning.

Fermentation!

2008-05-31T15:30:00.000-07:00

I'm a big fan of fermentation. Yeast eat sugar and produce alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Here is a photo of some whole wheat seven grain bread that I made a few weeks ago:

Here is a photo of the 23 or so litres of beer that I made in my kitchen. This photo is of the beer in the glass carboy for secondary fermentation. I bottled the beer a few weeks ago. It's not bad; I'm having some right now.

I've also made yogurt, which is much easier to do than either bread or beer. No photo, though. The way I make yogurt is:

Materials

Glass mason jar
Candy thermometer
Small cooler
Two sauce pans
Small container of commercial yogurt which has Active Bacterial Cultures
Milk

Method

Slowly bring one mason jar's worth of milk to a boil
At the same time, bring a quantity of water up to around 125 degrees Fahrenheit.
When the milk just reaches a boil, take it off the heat and let it cool down to around 122 degrees Fahrenheit. For a 950mL mason jar this should take around 25 minutes
Put 3 or 4 tablespoons of yogurt into the mason jar
When the milk reaches 122 (or so) degrees, pour some of it into the mason jar. Put the lid on the mason jar and shake it. Now put the rest of the milk in and shake the jar again. Be careful not to drop the jar.
Put the lid on the mason jar and put the jar into the cooler
Pour the heated water into the cooler; enough water to cover the jar.
Close the cooler and let it sit for around twelve hours. A few hours longer won't hurt it, though.
Take the jar out of the cooler and dump the water out.
Open the jar and give the yogurt a stir. Yes, all of the milk has turned into yogurt. It amazes me every time.
Put the jar in the fridge. This will set the yogurt and make it a less runny. If you like warm runny yogurt you can skip this step.

I've never gone to any great effort to sanitize the mason jars that I use to make yogurt. I think that 12 hours of fermentation is not long enough for anything bad to develop. Also, the resulting yogurt is generally eaten within a week.

Contrast that with beer brewing. The beer is in primary fermentation for around a week, followed by two weeks of secondary fermentation, followed by three weeks of carbonation/conditioning in bottles. Only then is the beer even marginally ready to be consumed. And those bottles can stay in storage for months. You have to be pretty careful about sanitation when making beer. I use diversol, and I still worry.

My bread recipe is both easy and foolproof. If you follow it, it's totally impossible to avoid making incredible bread. But this rambling post is already too long so I'll leave the bread recipe for another day.

Speed Limits

2008-05-30T13:16:00.001-07:00

I think the City of Vancouver's proposal to lower speed limits to 40km/h on side streets is a great idea. It's not really that complicated, either:

The new limit would apply to most local side streets while most major streets would keep their current speeds. As a general rule, if the street has a yellow line down the middle, it would stay at 50 km/h. If it doesn't have a yellow line, it would likely become 40 km/h. Those areas that are currently 30 km/h, such as playground and school zones, would remain at 30km/h.

Actually, that is probably too complicated for your average Vancouver driver to figure out.

Closer... closer... wait, too close.

2008-05-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

I was riding to work today, along 45th avenue. I could hear a car approaching from behind. I was riding just out of the door-zone.

Just as the car was about to pass me, I put my hand out at what turned out to be mirror-level. So My hand was at most one foot from my body. My hand was smacked by the car's mirror.

Question: Did the car pass me too closely?

This is why I often ride around with a set of keys in my left hand.

Work-Life Balance

2008-05-22T18:17:00.001-07:00

What does it mean when you really look forward to your dentist's appointment because means you will not be spending the afternoon at work?

While riding to the dentist I nearly hit a squirrel; it waited until I was right there, then made a mad dash for the other side of the path. I squeezed my brakes, and at the same time (fortunately) the squirrel came to a screeching halt and turned around and darted back into the bushes.

On the way back from the dentist, I made this video:

Internet Comic Link Round-Up Extravaganza

2008-05-20T09:24:00.000-07:00

Score one for the cyclist

2008-05-16T16:20:00.001-07:00

Quote:

I play this little game while riding to and from work where I memorize the license plate of a passing car. When the next car drives by I memorize that one, and so on and so on. If there is an altercation, I've trained myself to look at the license plates first. So rather than use my middle finger to tell somebody how I feel, I can find out where they live based on that license plate and send them a letter of gratitude.

Read the rest of this story at: surlyblog.

I must admit that I usually use my middle finger. Or do a particular motion with my hand that indicates that I think the driver is a jerk off. Not very creative.

Olympic Legacy

2008-05-16T12:10:00.001-07:00

From The Tyee: Vancouver's Bedbug Plague

In January of 2007, British bedbug exterminator David Cane told the BBC that the 2000 Sydney Olympics was the single event most responsible for the global bedbug blight currently plaguing urban centres across Europe and North America.
The explosion of the [global bedbug] population began around the time of the Sydney Games... by the end of the games, about 98 per cent of the hotels in Sydney had at least one infected room, and because it wasn't detected early enough, it spread to other rooms in the hotels, and people transmitted them from location to location.

Whenever I read an article about bedbugs I'm always curious to see if the author has included my favourite bedbug fact:

All bedbugs mate via a process termed traumatic insemination. Instead of inserting their genitalia into the female's reproductive tract as is typical in copulation, males instead pierce females with hypodermic genitalia and ejaculate into the body cavity.

This Tyee article does not mention traumatic insemination or hypodermic genetalia, though.

Anyway, it's good to know that there will be at least one long lasting legacy from the 2010 Olympics that will affect the lives of all Vancouverites.

More Professional Drivers

2008-05-16T10:57:00.001-07:00

A heart-warming tale from Los Angeles, California, USA: Hollywood Bus Driver Attacks Cyclist, LAPD Handcuff Cyclist (and Wife!)

Ing-Spray III

2008-05-16T10:18:00.000-07:00

We're right in the middle of Spring and Bike to Work Week is almost upon us (prediction: that URL will be broken by July).

That means that the fair weather cyclists are appearing on the streets. I have nothing against fair weather cyclists -- riding in the rain, in the dark, the wind, and the (relative) cold of a Vancouver winter isn't for everyone. In fact it makes a lot of sense to not do it. It's a bit masochistic -- commuting by bicycle in the winter is one of the three (possibly four, depending on precise definitions) masochistic facets of my personality, in fact.

One annoying thing about these eminently reasonable people who choose to start riding their bicycles to work after the vernal equinox is that many of them think that it is some kind of race. This race mentality manifests itself in many annoying behaviours that violate the Code of Bicycle Commuting. Now, this Code only exists in my head as far as I know. I'm planning to write it up and post it on this blog soon.

What it boils down to for the purposes of this post is: do not pass someone and then immediately slow your pace. For example, passing someone going down a hill and then switching into your granny gear on the up-hill that immediately follows.

Also, don't do crazy stuff like riding on the sidewalk at full speed to pass someone, or passing fellow cyclists by blowing by them as they slow at a four-way stop. Just relax. Take it easy. We're all going to catch up to you at Knight street, anyway.

We're racing to work here, people. Does the person who gets there first really win?

So-called Professional Drivers

2008-05-14T09:54:00.001-07:00

At least once each week I am almost side-swiped by a school bus while riding on 45th Avenue (a designated bicycle route, in case you were wondering). Invariably a school bus driver will pass me, and then, because of approaching traffic from the other direction, will be forced to swing back to the right immediately after passing me. This brings the back of the (short) school bus within two feet of me and my bicycle. This happens with Translink buses as well.

For various reasons today was the day that I decided it was time to confront the f*cking idiot driving the bus that almost killed me. Usually I just let it go but today I caught up to the bus and forced it to stop. This was done easily and quickly because immediately after passing me the bus turned left at a traffic calming circle. I'll say it again: the driver of this bus is a f*cking idiot. Does it make sense to pass me dangerously when you're about to turn left anyway?

I went around the circle the wrong way and stopped in front of the bus, yelling (I think) What the f*ck was that?. The driver opened the door and made some stupid remark that I didn't hear clearly. I said You almost hit me back there!.

The driver then said Oh, sorry, the windows are fogged up and I didn't see you.

That's just about the stupidest bullsh*t excuse I've ever heard. This bus approached me from behind and saw me well enough to move to the left to pass me. I guess after passing me the bus driver just totally forgot that I was there? And then cut hard to the right. And then put on the brakes to prepare to turn left around the traffic calming circle.

I'll say it again: the driver of this bus (bus number 2075) is a f*cking idiot.

Normally I would not post something like this but today (not sure why) I think that it's not too much to ask that I be able to ride my bike on a bike street and not be nearly killed. To celebrate I'm declaring the rest of the week Take The Lane Week. I'm going to ride right in the middle of the lane at all times, and if I hear a vehicle approaching from behind I'm going to move to the left. If you want to pass me, go fully into the other lane, b*tches.

Two ways to make automobiles stop

2008-05-13T09:30:00.000-07:00

I've discovered two things that a cyclist can do to make a motorist stop their car and sit there motionless:

Make a right turn signal (you know, left arm out and bent at the elbow, hand pointing up). This confuses the hell out of the vast majority of Vancouver drivers. If I'm planning to turn right and a driver is stopped at a stop sign to my right, making the right-turn signal will freeze the driver. They will not go across the intersection until I turn right, even though in the reality-based universe our paths do not intersect each other.
Stop and put one foot down at a four-way stop. It seems that the way to convince a driver that you are about to dash into the intersection is to remove your foot from the pedal and make it impossible to propel yourself forward. This happened to me this morning. I came up to a four-way stop and a car approaching from my left got there first. I hovered for a second, but the driver would not go. So to convince him/her that I was really stopping, I put my right foot down. Then we stared at each other for about seven more seconds.

Ing-Spray II

2008-04-08T19:08:00.000-07:00

Another sign that Spring is here: Right now I'm watching the Blue Jays' game on television. David Eckstein was just described as the sparkplug, the catalyst. Blech.

Ing-Spray

2008-04-08T18:50:00.000-07:00

I decided to ride along the sea wall on the way home today. I rode along the south side of False Creek. I saw several signs that Spring is indeed here:

A bunch of women doing an apparently organized and synchronized work-out using a set of park benches as props.
A bunch of people warming up and preparing to run wearing Jump Boots.
Near Go Fish I saw a guy driving his car on the Sea Wall.

Entrenched behaviours

2008-03-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

This is a screenshot of a forum posting. A person has lost their driver's license and so is wondering where to buy a small helicopter. Seriously: Where to look to buy a helicopter?

Anything, anything but riding public transport, or car-pooling. Or Heaven forbid, cycling.

SkyTrain purse snatcher sentenced

2008-03-27T11:56:00.000-07:00

CBC: SkyTrain purse snatcher says sorry in Vancouver court.

The real tragedy here is that turnstiles at SkyTrain stations would have prevented any of this from happening in the first place.

Evidence of the on-going Financial Apocalypse

2008-03-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

The Take 5 cafe in the Metrotown Mall has a sign near the cash register that says We are no longer accepting any U.S. currency. The sign is not hand-written; it has the official Take 5 logo on it and everything.

Unrelated: my calendar tells me that today is L. Ron Hubbard's birthday.

Who controls the intersection?

2008-02-14T09:01:00.000-08:00

My commuting route passes through several pedestrian/cyclist controlled intersections. These are the intersections with flashing green traffic lights that confuse visitors from Ontario. I grew up in Ontario, and whoah the flashing green light means something completely different there.

If there is no traffic then I just go across without pressing the button, of course. And if there is traffic, but I can see that there will be a chance to cross within half a minute or so, I'll wait and scoot across. Unless I am in a particularly bad mood I see no reason to unnecessarily bring four lanes of car traffic to an idling stop.

The usual situation though is that there is lots of car traffic (I am commuting during rush hour after all) and any gaps that exist are frustratingly arranged so that it is impossible to scoot. What to do? I think most people would just press the button immediately. But I have developed a more discerning system. Some would call it discriminatory; to them I nod in agreement.

If I see a particular type of vehicle approaching the intersection, I will let it pass through before pressing the button. Conversely, if I see another particular type of vehicle approaching the intersection, I will madly press the button as fast as I can to force it to stop so that I can sloooooooooowly roll across in front of it, scratching my backside as I go.

Here is a short list of the vehicles in each category:

Vehicles which I will let pass through before pressing the button:

Fire trucks
Ambulances
Buses and community shuttles
Taxis with passengers
Co-op cars (although this is purely theoretical, since it is difficult to identify co-op cars from any distance)
Food delivery or courier vehicles

Vehicles which simply must be inconvenienced at every opportunity:

SUVs of any kind
Pick-up trucks that are very shiny and clean and obviously are not working trucks
Mini-vans
Police cars (unless the sirens and lights are going, of course)
Zip-cars (these are hard to spot, too)
Any vehicle whose driver my telepathic powers tell me is an a**hole
Basically any vehicle which is not in the list of vehicles that I let through

Also, if I know there is a cyclist half a minute or so behind me, I will wait until he or she is near the intersection before pressing the button, so that he or she will not suffer the frustration of racing toward a stale green light and having to stop.

There are two ways that my attempts to inconvenience particular subsets of vehicles can be thwarted:

The light does not turn yellow immediately after I press the button, thus letting through the vehicles I have selected for time-out. There is nothing to be done in this situation but watch those arseholes cruise through. Pressing the button is merely a suggestion to the electronic brain that controls the traffic lights; if the lights were red a short while ago then the timing mechanism will make you wait.
The light turns yellow right after I press the button, but everybody just runs the yellow light, then more people run the red light. Running red lights is routine in Vancouver. If I'm in the right mood I'll roll slightly into the intersection and spit, trying to time it so that they'll drive right into it and it'll splatter on the windshield. Juvenile, I know, but any reasonable person must agree that there has got to be some kind of consequence to running red lights, right?

So the answer to the question that is the title of this post (Who controls the intersection?) is: I control the intersection. And if you defy my will I shall spit on your car.

Sheldon Brown

2008-02-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

It's a sad day for cycling: Sheldon Brown has died. I think everyone who rides a bike regularly or does any kind of maintenance work on their own bike has likely consulted Sheldon's web-site (link on the right) at least once or twice.

His determination and good spirits in the face of his illness (primary progressive multiple sclerosis) was inspiring.

Snow Days

2008-01-30T09:08:00.001-08:00

I'm riding the SkyTrain this week. The snow and ice and slush is just too much for me to ride my bike. It's driving me crazy. I'm getting a lot of reading done, though.

I'm looking forward to spring.

More Ice

2007-12-12T08:54:00.000-08:00

I noticed lots of ice on the road on the way to work today. My back tire slipped (two to four centimetres) at least four times, but I never went down.

I didn't really notice any ice until I got to some higher elevations (near Queen Elizabeth Park). A fellow was walking his dog on the sidewalk, and as he crossed a lane he slipped around on the black ice. He said Slippery! Be careful! to me. I got a little nervous and more cautious, but I waited until I crossed Fraser street to let some of the air out of my tires. The intersection of Nanaimo and 37th avenue, and Nanaimo street South of there, was the worst (as always, it seems).

I hope it doesn't snow too much before I'm able to get home tonight.

Nice Weather

2007-12-06T08:58:00.001-08:00

The weather forecast for today was sunny with cloudy periods, high 6C. Which sounds just wonderful. The people on the radio gush about how great a day it is going to be.

But in December, when I hear sunny, plus six or seven degrees, I think of one thing: Black Ice.

Sure enough there was lots of black ice out there this morning. I was gingerly turning right and my back tire started to go out from under me. Somehow I recovered and didn't go down; I just took the corner reeeeeeeeeaaaallly wide. Fortunately there was no traffic coming from that direction (it was a quiet residential side-street).

A few blocks later, though, I saw the guy in front of me go down. We were going down a short hill, with an up-hill on the other side of a traffic-calming circle at the intersection at the bottom of the hill. He went down while going around the traffic circle and slid for about two car-lengths. He said he was OK and I went on my way, being even more careful.

Only a few blocks later, while riding perfectly straight, I felt my back tire slip to the side again. Freaky. I pulled over and let some of the air out of my tires, hoping for better traction (but worried about pinch-flats now). I rode over some more icy patches but took it slow and didn't have any more incidents.

Just give it a shove

2007-12-03T09:45:00.000-08:00

The Skytrain was delayed a bit this morning. The woman making the announcement said that it was in part because of door problems. So if you see a door that is trying to close or is having trouble closing, give it a shove. She then repeated this message.

Novel: day 26

2007-11-26T11:49:00.001-08:00

My wordcount right now is 50,050. That's right, I reached the target wordcount. The story is not quite finished, but by the wordcount metric I am officially a NaNoWriMo winner. The size of the text file is 273,958 bytes (267kb).

It actually wasn't as difficult to finish as I thought it was going to be. I wrote close to 3,000 words on the plane (in a Selectum Composition Book). I typed it out on my sister's computer this morning and added a little extra here and there. Bam, 50,000 words.

Now, the revelation that I thought the main character was going to have has not quite happened yet. Certain things have occurred, pushing him very close to the edge. But he hasn't gone all the way over yet.

Novel: Day 20

2007-11-20T21:29:00.000-08:00

My wordcount at the end of day 20 is 43,082. I think my main character is right on the verge of an important revelation. A revelation that will propel him to act in such a way to bring the novel to its conclusion. I just haven't decided quite what form the revelation will take.

Novel: Day 19

2007-11-19T09:39:00.000-08:00

At close of day 18 last night I had 38,753 words. With a little bit of effort I should be able to reach 40,000 by the end of today. The story is getting a little bit more complicated. For example, there is now a cat in the story. The cat doesn't have a name, though: it's very mysterious.