Sunday Post

Hullo, hullo. I'ma keep it brief cause I've desperately got to go get homework and practicing done. But anyway, pictures once again! Kaloo kalay!

Have a good week, everyone!

"It's Been A Good Year...

a good, new beginning. I'm through with the old school so let's commence the winning..."

(Motion City Soundtrack, yo. "Worker Bee" off their latest.)

I realized that it's been over a year since I've started this, and consequently, also a year since I've started going Facebook-free.

I think that, indeed, it has been a good year. And now, in the interest of availability, I think I'm going to bring ye olde Facebooke back. Wacky, I know.

I dunno, I've just got more gigging and everything going on, and also I figure that y'know, I can still a reclusive old fart if I want, but now folks can get in touch with me (or just bug me, y'know, whatever) if they want to. I've realized over the last couple days, while planning a trip back to Langley (yes, it's true), that there actually are quite a few folks from the days of yore whose contact info I ain't got and whom I actually kinda miss. So, I dunno. Maybe I'll be kicking myself, maybe I'll just get rid of it again. In any, as MCS put it, "it's been a good year."


Also, I've realized that I completely forgot about the Post yesterday. Fail.
So, several amazing videos. Enjoy.

Snow Neckdowns

Found this on Streetfilms this morning, and I've gotta say - this has made me look at snow in a whole new :P



I found the point about the space itself particularly enlightening. He's right - the only thing that seven-or-eight-foot radius from the curb is used for is turning too damn fast or cutting around other cars - both of which are dangerous and unnecessary.

I'll let the video (and the article) do the rest of the talking. Original here.

You're Welcome, Mr Motorist

You’re welcome Mr. Motorist. I’m happy that my mode of transportation has allowed more space on the road for you to get to your destination more efficiently.

One less car on the road to get in your way and increase congestion, right?

It’s my pleasure. It really is.

Remember the construction that was happening on your main commuting route last summer? I know, that was quite the drag.

You don’t need to thank me for putting very little wear and tear on our streets. I know it prolongs our roads and avoids those pesky construction delays, but don’t mention it. Seriously.

And oh those health care costs. Did you know that heart disease and strokes are two of the top three causes of death in Canada? In America, cardiovascular diseases and stroke cost an estimated $475.3 billion in 2009.

Isn’t it great that my commute helps keep me healthy so I can help reduce our health care costs? I would hate to be a burden on your pocketbook.

And how about those gas prices? Isn’t it wonderful that my bicycle doesn’t require gasoline? It’d be a shame if I contributed to increasing demand for fuel - driving gas prices even higher.

You don’t deserve that Mr. Driver. You deserve inexpensive fuel.

And what’s the deal with those downtown parking spaces? Those parking attendants are borderline criminal.

As if you don’t already pay enough for insurance, gasoline, repairs, registration, and maintenance for your car. Those parking guys want to charge you $20 a day to park your car? It’s criminal I tell ‘ya.

So it’s a good thing I’m not taking up those precious spaces. I’d hate for you to be late for a meeting while trying to find a parking spot for your car.

There’s no need to thank me for helping to pay for those free parking spaces at the local grocery store, either. I know, I know – that land wasn’t cheap for the grocery store to buy so that you could park your car there for free.

But I’m happy to do my part to subsidize those parking spaces for you – consider it a little gift from me to you.

Don’t bother thanking me for all the time I spend advocating for better bike infrastructure, either. I know, it will benefit both of us – it will keep me out of your way so you can get to your destination without being impeded by me, and it will also make me more predictable so you don’t have to be distracted by me while you’re on your phone. It’s a win-win situation, right? But no need to mention it, I’m cool with it.

You also don’t need to thank me for subsidizing the construction and maintenance of our city streets through the taxes that I pay. Yes, it’s true that less than 1% of those roadways that we both pay for are designed for bicycles, but that’s no fault of yours Mr. Driver, so no need to thank me for putting up with this.

It’s just one of those sacrifices that we as citizens make for each other – no need to thank me at all.

But I will ask one thing from you Mr. Motorist. It would be great if you could be a bit more cautious when you’re driving around me.

If you could do me that one favour, I’d be more grateful than you will ever know.

James D. Schwartz is the editor of The Urban Country. You can contact James at james.schwartz@theurbancountry.com.

I'm laughing because it's completely true. Original here.

Sunday Post

Hey folks. Smaller post picture-wise for y'all today; I went and caught Fish & Bird at the Fort Cafe this night (it's about 1:30 AM as I'm writing this) and suffice to say, I'm too sleepy and too beered-up to rummage around for more pictures than these five I already had shortlisted. Thus, awesome videos at the end to make up for it.

Sneak peak into the next couple weeks: T-minus sixteen days - I'm voluntarily hurling myself into Langley. Who'da thunk it. See ya then.







Here you go, Becca. I've finally decided that I should go to France sometime.



This guy, Rémi Gaillard, is a bit of a legend apparently. Almost all his videos (over a hundred) have well over a million or even two million views. He's completely insane and I can't get over it. Do yourself a favour and watch as much of his stuff as you can.

Bike Rant

Hey y'all. I've had this bouncing around in my head for a while so I decided to finally try and write it down as best I could.

I've found that practically every time an article on the main news website comes up about bicycles or something related to them, the comments sections are usually filled with misled outcries from grouchy bigotted people. Usual suspects range from angry outbursts that cities should stop putting in bicycle infrastructure with tax dollars to cries that cyclists shouldn't even be allowed to ride on the roads because "they don't pay for them like us car drivers do;" "maybe all those cyclists should start registering their bikes and paying insurance like we do before they start complaining about the roads." (Can't be too hard on them, though - they've probably spent most of their day stuck in traffic) In a nutshell:

This is bullshit. Complete, utter bullshit.

You pay tons of money to own a car, yes. My roommate spends more on her car per month that I do on groceries and booze combined (and I'm not shopping wholesale at Costco either). But that's it right there: you pay tons of money to OWN a car. Owning a car DOES NOT automatically give you a right to the road that I don't have.

First, the taxes. Yes, you pay taxes. So do I. So does everyone, for that matter. These “general taxes” (HST, income tax, etc) are NOT applied exclusively to people who drive cars, and they are (generally) the government’s general revenue, which is then used for whatever the hell the government spends it on, such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure, such as roads. Roads are a public space and are maintained as such by the public’s money; your paying taxes gives you a right to have a road, NOT to have a car.

To get yourself the privilege (not right) to drive your car on the public space of the road, you pay about $5000-8000 a year to own a car. This includes gas, insurance, maintenance, repairs, and payments if the silly thing isn’t fully cashed in yet. True, you pay lots for insurance and bikes do not, but here’s the thing: car insurance payments do NOT go into government coffers. Car insurance, is... well, car insurance. It insures your car so you don't get completely fucked over in the likely situation of getting in an accident at some point. I don't pay bike insurance because I don't need to and because it's not worth it. If my bike gets damaged, it's pretty cheap to fix it; if it gets stolen or irreperably busted, it's cheaper to get a new one than it would be to pay for insurance every month. In BC you’re all shackled to ICBC, an insurance company. Insurance companies do not pay for road maintenance, they simply make lots of money (also, anyone who’s had to deal with ICBC can attest that even if they did take responsibility for road repairs, they are far too busy infuriating people to actually do anything helpful).

“But what about gas and carbon taxes?” you cry. True, that money does go to the government and then gets used for all their governmenty things. However, gas and carbon taxes are basically just your normal taxes. You buy a hat, you pay tax on it; you buy gas, you pay tax on it; you consume and emit a ton of CO2, you pay tax on it. Guess what. When I go to Recyclistas and get new brake pads, I pay tax on them too – does this mean that I have more of a right to the road than you do? Paying tax on things for your car doesn’t give you any more right to the road than my paying tax for new lights or cable housings does.

Basically, the point I’m trying to make is this: owning a car does not automatically award you more right to use the road than I have, especially if you’re just talking about “paying” for it. The hilariously high amount of money you pay every month for your car is for the “privilege” of owning the damn thing (and I sure wouldn’t call it a privilege). Insurance payments do not go into repairing and maintaining roads (which, ironically, is only necessary because of your driving), and your tax payments are for essentially the same reasons as mine. We have the exact same right to that road, it’s not our fault that you’ve chosen the most expensive way of exercising it.

As always, please respond with any thoughts or whathaveyou. Feedback is always great, particularly from the other side.

And now, a bookend. I can only dream:





Thirty-five thousand people. Thirty-five thousand bicycles.

Sunday "Post"

So you win some and you lose some today. You win some in that I'm actually getting something posted before, y'know, 11 PM, and you lose some in that I'm not actually posting any pictures or anything as per usual.

You do, however, get the craziest bike video I've ever seen. My definitions of both "lunacy" and "adrenaline rush" have been irreperably changed.

Frigid Fury from BODABODANYC on Vimeo.

"When the weather's cold, you gotta go fast to stay warm. Whiskey helps."

PS. I think I've.... *choke* fallen in love with fixies.

Digital Post

So my intention upon geting home from work was to do my reading for Ecological Processes,

and I actually sat down to do it.

And then I discovered that our prof Trevor had not updated the site with the reading pdf, so I actually cannot do my reading. Thus, the first DP in I don't know how bloody long. I'm listening to Gary Karr, you're looking at these pictures - what's not to love about life?

Have a good day everyone!















I would like to point out that unless you are or have played this before, you have no idea how much fun this is. I'm getting calusses on the SIDES of my THUMBS. (We're having a bass class recital in April, if y'all are interested. This is getting performed!)