ray333:When I tried to log in at work on Thursday and Friday I discovered that my employer had installed a new internet filter. sdbikecommuter.com is now off-limits due to "adult language!" Ironically, I can still log on to sdfixed and other profanity-laden forums, so go figure! I'll just have to post when I get home from now on.

Is this Websense at work?

Just <em>singin</em>
<blockquote>
Your mom cooked meatloaf even though I don’t eat meat.
I dug you so much I took some for the team.
Your dad was silent. His eyes were fixed to what was on TV. </blockquote>
:face-smile:

I haven't read a book in over a month. Have too many ponderous books I feel that I have to complete. Almost tempted to bus to work so I can get some reading time in.

Are you feeling that end of year rush?

What is this life, if full of care, We have no time to stand and stare? -- William Henry Davies (1871-1940)

Just sayin': I'm growing a mustache again. Makes me feel kind of....dirty. Gonna be attempt #3 of mustache fail.:face-devil-grin:

The Stupidest Angel is also a good read for Christmas. It helps if you know Christopher Moore characters, as it includes several from past books. But that's not totally necessary. It's a story of a Christmas miracle where an angel grants the wish of a young boy and ends up unleashing zombies on the town of Pine Cove (which is really Cambria). Heart-warming, terrifying, funny...heart-terrifunny.

ray333:I've been on an apocalypse kick recently. Recommended reading: The Road by Cormac McCarthy - a compelling novella, read it in one sitting, couldn't put it down, film version starring Viggo Mortensen and Robert Duvall is incredibly bleak, gory, and faithful to the story line. Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank - pen name of a retired defense official, realistic and well thought out. Ape and Essence by Aldous Huxley - a century after nuclear war destroys the Northern Hemisphere a scientific expedition from New Zealand "rediscovers" California after the radioactivity cools down enough to make the trip possible; Professor Poole is captured by the locals after making landfall in LA and falls in love with a "normal" woman who is a freak in her society because she is fertile all year long, most other women are in heat once a year, this is the only time mating is allowed; grave robbers loot Forest Lawn for the vestments of the dead and deformed infants are sacrificed once a year to placate Satan at worship services in the Coliseum. On the Beach by Nevil Shute, pen name of another cold war defense official - the Northern Hemisphere is destroyed by nuclear war; the radioactive cloud slowly and inexorably descends southward and engulfs Australia and New Zealand where the last U.S. and Royal Navy ships are stationed; mysterious radio signals from the West Coast of North America are investigated; doomed love story between a hard-drinking Aussie woman and a U.S. ship captain whose family perished in New Jersey.

Happy reading and Merry Christmas!

Thanks for the reading tips!

How about "A Canticle for Leibowitz" (can't remember the author)? First part, 900 years post-nuclear apocalypse, a few survivors try to reconstruct society from a few scraps of leftover information. Second part, 900 years later, they're just beginning to reinvent some machines. Third part, 900 years after that, ... well I won't spoil it, but it's bleak. A bit too Catholic for me at the end, but a good read nonetheless.

I've been reading a book that Thom lent me, Shop class as Soulcraft: an inquiry into the value of work. It is making me really wish that I had gone to an auto mechanic vocational school like I wanted to when I was 18. Instead I bowed down to pressure (and voices in my head) to become a professional paper shuffler. The message in the book is worth spending lots of time thinking about: handmade goods = awesome (in a nutshell), but I think a single essay would have covered the message just as well.

RE: Crawford, _Shop Class as Soulcraft_

I think I mostly love the book because Crawford is a U. of Chicago Ph.D. like me who didn't follow the standard academic trajectory (the UofC is infamous for being a little rigid in terms of what academic success looks like) and actually gets his hands dirty on a daily basis. I mean, if he can do it with motorcycles, I can do it with bicycles, right? At least that's what I tell myself.

What I really like about the book is that Crawford doesn't over-valorize working with your hands. The idea is not that it's better than intellectual labor, but just that our culture has stripped hand work of its intellect. His point is that hand work and intellectual work are not mutually exclusive, as anyone who has tried to fix a problem on a bicycle knows.

Just sayin' This was a fun quiz!
[[_linker_]]

Happy Solstice friends! The sun is starting to come back! I've had a blazing fire going in the fireplace for the past two days to try to persuade the sun to return. It must have worked again!

I'm off until Jan. 4, so no commuting for me!

Jolie rode her Masi racing bike for the first time since her accident in May. No problems in the drops, so Saturday she'll try the track bike. Long road back!

I'm growing a two foot mustache.











- You can only see it if you're closer than two feet.
- It tickles when I ride a bike.
- I stroke it with out knowing I do so.
- Last night I had crumbs in it.
- I look like a used car salesman.

Also, just sayin: Bob Dylan - Christmas in the Heart. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should, just because it's on, doesn't mean you have to listen. All respect to Bob Dylan, but the album sucked. Epic like suckage.

bikingbill:I didn't know why a "Sharrow" was called a "Sharrow" until someone explained it to me on Saturday's ride.

It's an interesting concept, and gets high marks from other cities. I haven't ridden in one yet, so, IDK what it's like. Some very cool new ideas out there as far as mixing cars and bikes. The other night I was talking with someone (who is car free) that lived in Portland. She says Critical Mass there is ridiculous and small ~ because most of the issues we expereince here, are non-issues there. She also had some interesting insight on Milwakee's cycling scene. Makes a person wonder what the potential is for San Diego.

Have you seen one here yet Bill?

Yes, Shared Lane Arrow or Share the Road Arrow.

I'm just sayin' - I think Santa's bringing me a new GPS for Christmas...already have the bike mount for it. so I am all set!
:face-smile:

Velo Cult:maybe i should have asked for a GPS. i have a few off road bike tours planned and GPS would sure make life easier.

I do like the tracklog, as proven my my frequent posts of them here.

The new one will also tackle "routes"-= i.e., I can define a route (on or off road) using mapping software on a PC, upload it to the GPS and have the GPS give turn by turn directions w/audible signals. It also auto-routes - i.e., I am in location A and need to go to location B and it will auto-generate the route with turn by turn directions on the fly. Can be set the choose a route based on if you travel by Automobile, wish to stay off freeways, or as a pedestrian, as well as a few other modes of transport.

Does someone here have suggestions for video making software? I've been using MS Movie maker, because it was free. But, it's clunky, and hard to manage audio and video. Nothing heavy, but just a bit more than normal.

Jolie is officially healed after seven months of physical therapy. Surgery was not indicated. She is back riding her track bike in pace line and is even motorpacing again. Her arms get weak after about thirty laps, so she'll need to build up triceps, biceps, and upper body strength. That will come with time.

To celebrate we will be down at the track on New Year's Day after we wake up, probably about 11 am. There may be someone there earlier to open up, but no guarantee. We will ride about ten miles and then mix Tour of California style bloody marys before the inaugural match of the newly reconstituted La Jolla Croquet and Lawn Bowling Society in the infield. We measured out a 100x50 foot court last weekend. All cyclists are welcome to participate in the ride, the refreshments, and the croquet match.

In another lifetime, I would be a sociologist combining psychology and statistical analysis to study U.S. culture especially with regard to public space. I find so much of it endlessly fascinating.

For example, yesterday I came across this article titled "Disconnected from Society? Gated Communities: Their Lifestyle Versus Urban Governance" [pdf link]. I believe I found the paper via the Infrastructurist.

The paper discusses Gated communities in the U.S. I thought it was a good analogy to the auto-bicycle discussion - do we have public space? Why is there such a strong need to be "safe"? What does exclusion really mean when it comes to creating segregated environments and designing "public" spaces around these environments.

I've come up with this idea (not too original) that despite people's professed love to the automobile culture and lifestyle (noted in Autotopia) , many of them are feeling deeply disconnected from their community, their neighborhood and try to reach out to others in strange ways. For example, bumper stickers. They seem to be a cry for help - "please notice me! I am not like all the other Dodge Durango drivers! I believe in reading or cracking funny jokes or sending my kid to school to become honor students". The loud boom boxes playing whatever music is also an attempt to reach people outside the little metal moving box of doom - "I am cool cause i listen to NPR or death metal or whatever". Not that I as a car-free person am exempt from that desire to be noticed - I took my factory made bike and covered it with stickers to stand out from other Surly LHT owners.

Some excerpt from the paper to wet yer appetite:

By allowing some part of society to exclude itself spatially, social fragmentation processes will begin to show fault lines and
social inequality will in effect become social exclusion.

The possibility of encountering a genuine stranger and facing a genuine cultural challenge is highly minimised [in gated communities]

For residents in gated communities, membership of a homeowner association is compulsory. They are required to pay a monthly fee and must obey to the rules of these associations.

I'd like to know your thoughts on the paper and whether you think my analogy is apt or not.

Not in San Diego, but this is a big thing for me. The map in the background, located at the 1st / Soto subway station on the Metro Gold Line in Los Angeles, is from one of my maps. It dates to 1924 and is an old USGS topographical map. The artist for this station contacted me and asked me if I had any maps of that area, which I do. I scanned it in, at high resolution. The result ended up being about 60' x 20'. Very cool! <a href="http://s989.photobucket.com/albums/af13/mike_ballard/?action=view&current=DSCN0733.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af13/mike_ballard/DSCN0733.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> Overview of the map. The stairs lead to the platform level of the station. <a href="http://s989.photobucket.com/albums/af13/mike_ballard/?action=view&current=DSCN0722.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af13/mike_ballard/DSCN0722.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> With the original map. Very happy!

I forgot to add, there were marks on the map that I didn't clean off, which are on the "art" at the station. Proof positive that those maps are mine!

No, they were used by a geologist before I got them. I cleaned them as best as I could, just missed a couple spots.

It is a small part of my collection. I have quite a few old maps of California, not sure how many total but over 400.

I found a 1965 Standard Oil Chevron map of San Diego on eBay. It's interesting to see what it looked like before 805, Mira Mesa, and UTC. There was some great motorcycle riding out there, including a famous steep climb called "The Wall" near where the Mormon Wedding Cake is today. If you didn't make it to the top, you were screwed, blued, and tattooed! I remember having to climb halfway up and retrieve a friend's motorcycle that he had stalled. One day the cops showed up and told us to get lost and never come back. That was just before "The End."

In my present neighborhood near 30th & Adams there were several city blocks and streets that completely vanished. Adams Avenue had a different alignment as it crossed Wabash Canyon into Normal Heights. This was before C. Arnholt Smith and his buddies redrew the boundaries between the neighborhoods and began the fragmentation and blight caused by the proliferation of six-pack and ten-pack apartment blocks. North Park stopped where the zip code changed from 92104 to 92116, somewhere just north of El Cajon Blvd. at Meade, if I remember correctly. University Heights went from Hillcrest where the zip code changed from 92103 to 92116 and stopped at Boundary St. (hence the name). Normal Heights went from Wabash Canyon (the 805 runs through it) to 40th St. And Kensington is still, well, Kensington.

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