Deficit

It is pretty simple to balance the budget if you want to do it honestly. Cut military spending by withdrawing from Iraq, Afganistan and Libya, cut contractors from the military budget, reduce our military size and let the Bush tax cuts expire.

Now that we had our serious conversation can we stop trying to privatize Medicare and cut Social Security?

Cyclist run down - possible vehicular serial killer.

So I looked at my RSS feed this morning and found this headline "Encino cyclist killed in Leucadia; local TV speculates an attempted vehicular serial killer could be at work". Wonderful. I follow the linke and find out that there have been two cyclists run down in the same stretch of road both by a Ford pickup and both hit and run. To quote one of the articles:
San Diego County Sheriff's Department investigators are looking into the possibility that the driver did not stop because he wanted to hit the bicyclist.


Nasty.

Then I read the comments. Ugh.

First we have the Blame the victim style where it is just too dangerous to ride:
jaxd

What was the bicyclist doing riding on the road @ 1:00am? Not excusing the hit and run but common sense tell one that at that time there are DUI's on the road and it is not safe to be riding on the shoulder.

BikeAversion

When Americans would have to learn that riding a bike along cars is dangerous! Is like playing Russian roulette!!

Both offensive and inaccurate (riding a bike is safer than driving in terms of deaths/million hours).

But the real cake is the other two idiots (the story is only hours old so only 15 comments so far).
Huge:

How come these fools in tights dont obey traffic laws, if they did, this probably wouldn't happen

Huge:

maybe they should "Share the Road" and this stuff wouldn't happen. Take a drive down 101, you'll see what I'm talking about

Capn Crunch:

Let me guess. Was the bicyclist riding just on the painted line of the bike-lane, even though there was about 2.5 feet of bike-lane available? O,r riding side-by-side with another cyclist, instead of single-file? Just to make the cars slow down and go around, instead of co-inhabiting the road? Just asking...

I can't stand hate-mongers like this. It saddens me and my suspicion is that the posters are road ragers who threaten cyclists in real life. It makes my blood boil

Bikes and Preferences

Since I got my Mango Sport I have found it hard to commute and ride my other bikes. I will jump on the raptobike for a quick ride and sprint around my neighborhood or to get the mail, but I ride the Mango for most any long rides. The difference is when I want to ride with Kristin or a friend. Then I get on the Raptobike as it is better to keep the same pace as others. The few times I rode with groups on the Mango I really put-putted along.

What is amazing is that for commuting, there is no substitute. The Mango Sport "The Carrot" is so suited for packing a laptop, some tea supplies, my lunch and a change of clothing. To do the same with my Raptobike or Corsa means dealing with one or two panniers. With the Mango I just pack it into my backpack or place it loose inside. I get to work, pop out, grab the satchel and go inside. No worries about water proofing as the mango takes care of that.

I can't wait until Wednesday when I get the Carrot back.

Anticipation

The mango sport is at the shop today. I am getting the brakes tuned, bleed, etc. I can't wait for the Carrot to be ready. Anticipation is deadly.

Soon I will be back on the road:

A comparision of two incidents involving cyclists and motorists.

First up we have Portland, OR. Considered the front runner in the US for positive treatment of cyclists.

From: bikeportland.org

A Multnomah County Grand Jury decided today that 63-year old Candice Palmer — the woman who told police investigators she reached into her back seat to tend to her dog and then struck and seriously injured a man who was bicycling on SW Multnomah Blvd — should not face criminal charges.

Palmer's car swerved into 20-year old Reese Wilson while he rode home from work on the 6100 block of SW Multnomah Blvd on February 4th. Palmer had her dog in the car and reportedly looked into the rear seat where the dog was just prior to the collision. After hitting Wilson, Palmer's car ran through a fence and came to rest on the side of a house.

Note: the man (20-year-old Reese Wilson) who was injured died in the hospital.

So a elderly woman confessed that she drove with extreme negligence, then killed a man riding a bike and then drove into a house. The Grand Jury in Multnomah decided that this didn't rise to the level necessary to charge the woman with a crime. The comments on articles spent most of their time arguing about helmets for cyclists rather than any comments on the motorist responsibility.

Here is a sample of the first few comments posted on this story at KATU news

comment 2: They don't believe the rider was wearing a helmet. That's crazy these days. Thank GOD that I wear a helmet.
comment 3:It will be interesting to see what was the cause of this. Not faulting the cyclist at all..Could have been clipped when the car went out off the road.Of course not wearing a helmet wasn't the brightest thing either.
comment 4:Stupid Bikes! Stay off the street!

As you can see, all three put blame on the cyclist.
Here is the picture of the car post incident:


Now listen and view this video about an incident where a driver ran into 4 teens at an intersection and caused only minor injuries. Pay attention to the media and public reaction.


The difference is night and day.

No sympathy for Christian's who feel Christmas is cheapened

Matt Yglesias says he feels sympathy for Christians who feel that Christmas has been weakened by meaning so much to so many different groups. I on the other hand feel no such sympathy. Christmas only exists on Dec 25 in an attempt by the Catholic church to take over the pagan holidays celebrating the Winter Solstice. Most scholars pin Christ's birthday somewhere in September.

In other words the entire point of Christmas for the Catholic church was to muddy the waters and take over the celebrations of other religions. I feel no sympathy that this policy has come back to bite Christianity.

Republican's and Science

Dougj from Balloon Juice wants to kill the idea that Republican's are anti-science. Unfortunately for him this goes to one a series of simple empirical tests.

1- Which party reliably attacks science?
2- Which party funds scientific endeavors?
3- Which party support religion vs science?


1- Which party reliably attacks science?

Republican's have a long history of attacking science. In Texas they are trying to remove scientific discoveries from textbooks. There is an entire industry that is dedicated to attacking climate science. The history of pro-tobacco misinformation is very illustrating here as well. Some Democrats do have a history of falling for health cons and the anti-vaccine craze infected both Democrats and Republicans. This category is given to Republicans.


2- Which party funds scientific endeavors?

The race to the moon which JFK supported has paid dividends for the US. We have a large number of satellites that are vital to our communication technology today. Look at the funding history for NASA and physics in this country. You will see Democrats paying for the essential research that fuels our economy. Republicans sometimes appreciate engineers but only when the Republican in question is investing in a company that employs that engineer.

3- Which party support religion vs science?

Doug wanted to dodge this question.

First off, I’ll admit there is some real hostility to science from the fundies. But I don’t think that conservative opposition to stem cell research is rooted in hostility to science, it’s rooted in the (admittedly non-scientific belief) that Jeebus loves 5-celled blastocysts as much or more than he loves post-birth human beings

Christianity has been attacking science since Galileo. Astronomy, Cosmology, Biology, Climate Science, and Medicine have all been targets of Christianity. This isn't limited to the recent Catholic belief that all sperm are sacred, it is a full frontal assault on knowledge. Republicans are the political party of choice for the religious Christians in this country. It is one of the ways Republicans use to control the downtrodden.

To sum up, it is pretty obvious that Republicans are the enemies of science. Any professional scientist would shun Republican leadership out of simple self-preservation. Engineers are a different animal and at engineering schools you often hear the joke that business majors are just second year engineering majors. The joke is that when you fail at engineering there is always business school. But the meat behind it is that you go to school for engineering when you want money, you major in physics or math for a love of science. It is pretty clear why you might see engineers in the Republican party.

Optima Voyage

Optima Voyage, originally uploaded by Watson House.

The Optima Voyage is a version of the classic Baron lowracer that folds. There is an awesome video of this at recumbentblog.com

This is very cool and I am happy to see recumbent bikes finally coming up with a fast folder that is a decent bike as well. I would happily use this for either travel or urban mixed mode commuting.

Route-08Aug10

Route-08Aug10, originally uploaded by Watson House.

Today I did a bit of exploring and tried a new route (on ridewithgps here). It was pouring rain and I got lost a couple of times but the Mango was great.
Avg Speed: 14.7 (blech)
Distance: 42.3 miles
Elevation Gain: +1769ft

I ended up using both the foam cover and my STP jacket on this ride. I didn't expect it to be so wet and chilly.

Here is my slideshow of pictures from the ride:

New Routes

Tomorrow I am going to try a new route. The route above is a 60 miler that goes up to Snohomish, over to Monroe, through Duvall and then to Carnation and back to Woodinville.

I loaded it into my Garmin and will see how the navigation works out.