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.
Showing posts with label Musings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Musings. Show all posts
7.2.11
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.
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.
28.12.10
The Bluegrass Equation
It's no secret that I've steadily been developing an increasingly strong love for bluegrass music, and damned if I can figure out how the hell this happened. In any case, I'm really growing to like this shit, and folks, I think I've figured out at least part of it.
Alex - Pre-19 years old: Does not like country music in any form.
Alex - Post-19 years old: Lives on Vancouver Island and begins drinking ever-increasing amounts of beer. Starts to love country and continues to love it more and more.
Sonuvabitch.
PS. Chris Thile does not normally sing like this. He is making a funny. He is also a terrifyingly good mandolinist. Seriously. It's scary. So is the rest of his band. They are obviously robots. Scary, hilarious robots.
Alex - Pre-19 years old: Does not like country music in any form.
Alex - Post-19 years old: Lives on Vancouver Island and begins drinking ever-increasing amounts of beer. Starts to love country and continues to love it more and more.
Sonuvabitch.
PS. Chris Thile does not normally sing like this. He is making a funny. He is also a terrifyingly good mandolinist. Seriously. It's scary. So is the rest of his band. They are obviously robots. Scary, hilarious robots.
9.12.10
Vultures
What a theft-tastic week.
First instance: stupid me. I decided that it'd be fine to leave my gloves in the rattrap on my bike while I grabbed a couple things from Fairway. When I got back, no gloves. Of course. Couldn't find any decent gloves at FOUR thrift stores, so I had to shell out twenty bucks for a pair at MEC (thankfully they were clearance, so they're pretty great for twenty bucks).
Then tonight: forgetful me. We played at Ocean Island's open mic this week (and it went great, thank you very much. crowd loved it - called for another song after our alotted three, and we even drew in the folks from the bar), and in my rush to get out of the rain and into the cozy, I.... forgot to take my lights off my bike. Came back out at midnight, no front light. Crap. Hilariously enough, I'm actually more annoyed about the losing the batteries that were in it. Three AAA rechargeables, so there's ANOTHER fifteen bucks or so. On the up side, I was already toying with the idea of getting a new light anyway, and Bronnie's (unused) bike lights are the same kind as mine, so I can just use her's until I get paid.
And in any case, it's just money. I'm not starving. I can pay my rent, although that inexplicably massive $500 hydro bill is a right kick in the pants. I'm also getting a grand from church in a couple weeks too, I believe, so whoo. And of course there's all dem studies what show that once a person is able to support their basic needs (food, shelter, and lovin' - all of which I've got heartily covered), more money basically either has no effect or just makes you unhappy. So, if anything, I'm just a little miffed right now. And besides - Optimist Opportunity! Fucker only stole my front light, I've got my back (*cough* important) light. AND cozy gloves.
Suck it, ya theivin' vultures.
And also.
Eee.
First instance: stupid me. I decided that it'd be fine to leave my gloves in the rattrap on my bike while I grabbed a couple things from Fairway. When I got back, no gloves. Of course. Couldn't find any decent gloves at FOUR thrift stores, so I had to shell out twenty bucks for a pair at MEC (thankfully they were clearance, so they're pretty great for twenty bucks).
Then tonight: forgetful me. We played at Ocean Island's open mic this week (and it went great, thank you very much. crowd loved it - called for another song after our alotted three, and we even drew in the folks from the bar), and in my rush to get out of the rain and into the cozy, I.... forgot to take my lights off my bike. Came back out at midnight, no front light. Crap. Hilariously enough, I'm actually more annoyed about the losing the batteries that were in it. Three AAA rechargeables, so there's ANOTHER fifteen bucks or so. On the up side, I was already toying with the idea of getting a new light anyway, and Bronnie's (unused) bike lights are the same kind as mine, so I can just use her's until I get paid.
And in any case, it's just money. I'm not starving. I can pay my rent, although that inexplicably massive $500 hydro bill is a right kick in the pants. I'm also getting a grand from church in a couple weeks too, I believe, so whoo. And of course there's all dem studies what show that once a person is able to support their basic needs (food, shelter, and lovin' - all of which I've got heartily covered), more money basically either has no effect or just makes you unhappy. So, if anything, I'm just a little miffed right now. And besides - Optimist Opportunity! Fucker only stole my front light, I've got my back (*cough* important) light. AND cozy gloves.
Suck it, ya theivin' vultures.
And also.
Eee.
1.9.10
Escape Is At Hand For The Travellin' Man
So I just discovered that if I wanted, I could get a train ticket to Portland for $100, San Francisco for less than $200, and New York for just under $400. Round-trips all. Couple those with free bunking via Couchsurfing....
25.8.10
Pale Blue Dot
"From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here, that's home, that's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
~Carl Sagan
This picture was taken from the Voyager I probe as it passed the edge of the Solar System, about 6.2 billion kilometers away. Wow.
17.8.10
"I finally thought of the right comparison. Driving instead of biking is like having a microwaved frozen dinner instead of cooking something from scratch - it's quicker and convenient, yeah, but... it's not very tasty, it's bad for everyone and, quite frankly, it's simply just not satisfying. Just *bam* and you're done - no enjoyment of 'doing'."
-Me
And it's great because it's true. (and oh God I'm turning into a fundamentalist)
Found this on Copenhagenize. So great, especially the picture at the very end (actually, especially the picture at the very end AND the picture just before it)
Now pardon me while I go sleep and get all stoked for my day off tomorrow. Droppin' off my rent for the new place, droppin' some books off at the library, maybe some grocery shoppin' and then some good ol' bike drooling at MEC or something to finish off the day. Mmmmmm....
6.8.10
Rage
Thanks to good ol' Shuffle I'm listening to Linkin Park for the first time in a very long while. I love that feeling when you listen to an old favourite band that's gone unlistened for ages, and you still remember every little detail about their songs and you still love them, although not as much as you used to.
I suppose it's kind of like running into a girl that you used to love, but you haven't seen her in what seems like forever, and then you run into her again. You suddenly remember all the feelings you had, and you can understand, seeing this woman again, why you felt the way you did, and you still do in a way, although it's not the same as it used to be.
Yeah, that's definitely what it's like, listening to an old favourite :P
And in regards to the video, I'm trying to imagine the sheer adrenaline and terror that must fill you when you're faced against a wall of faceless, armoured enemies. All I know is this: Rage is the scariest feeling in the world. I will be happy if I never feel it again.
I suppose it's kind of like running into a girl that you used to love, but you haven't seen her in what seems like forever, and then you run into her again. You suddenly remember all the feelings you had, and you can understand, seeing this woman again, why you felt the way you did, and you still do in a way, although it's not the same as it used to be.
Yeah, that's definitely what it's like, listening to an old favourite :P
And in regards to the video, I'm trying to imagine the sheer adrenaline and terror that must fill you when you're faced against a wall of faceless, armoured enemies. All I know is this: Rage is the scariest feeling in the world. I will be happy if I never feel it again.
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