What a Difference a Week Makes

Seven days ago, I posted about our local Ginkgo tree in all its glory. The post, here, noted that the fall color of the Ginkgo is quite brief. Well, today, that same tree's photo is below. All that's left of its foliage is what is still on the ground underneath. Note that the neighboring Maple trees haven't changed much in the intervening week.

King Richard's Reign was Short

Think Globally and Act Locally

In previous posts, here and here, I discussed how much oil is wasted on things like plastic bags - and straws. Sadly, I FAILED to adequately consider Khal and cafiend's suggestions about reducing the use of bags at the store. Reusing lightweight bags for produce and meat is indeed a viable option. It becomes more viable yet if a dog poop solution not involving bags can be found. I will address those observations in  a post to come soon.

Also, even more sadly, though my post was made nearly FIVE YEARS AGO, nowadays neither link take one to a place that is useful in discovering where to take a pesky plastic bag. The site that worked before, now provides no useful information at all. It shows a generic "Discover our New Home" page without any clear indication about where the new home is. THAT page is shown below:

Luckily, clicking through the various places that WERE listed provided a page that will identify the closest places that will recycle plastic bags. That site can be reached directly here and is a "dot org" site. As you may see, the closest locations are 25 to 50 miles away. I suspect few people are going to go to that amount of effort to recycle plastic bags. Still, at least both of the places identified were still in business, unlike the equivalent search five years ago.

Since that post, "bag bans" have been implemented in places like California and Washington State, and have been attempted in places like Laredo and Austin, Texas, though the courts ruled that such local bans were illegal. Perhaps Texas did the right thing for the wrong reasons. As it turns out, these bans have actually INCREASED the amount of plastic bags going in to landfills. The most recent LA Times story on bags may be found here. A related evaluation, summarizing the Times findings, is here.

Lighting Up a King

While I'm not sure if Rantwick plans to do a post about his "King Maple," here in North Texas, we were treated to a brief show of autumn color by the very same tree I posted about two full years ago, here. Unlike 2021, however, we had a brief bit of Indian Summer while the tree was showing close to its very best, and it was much better than the photo in the afternoon sun as sunset approached.

As in 2021, we had a brief freeze; followed by moderate days. Sadly, I expect this display to be brief as there's a cold front expected by the weekend and the tree will quickly become bare. Perhaps this tree is honoring King Richard III, another monarch whose rule was very brief.

King Richard's Tree in Texas?

Try Traffic Engineering when Cyclist Solution Fails

 

Our garage equivalent of a painted cycle lane

Cyclists seem to delight in the notion that they can change motorist behavior with "education." Well, that might be so, but motorists are a powerful special interest and such suggestions go nowhere.

At my house, the motorists have trouble parking in the garage without hitting a post or straying over too close to the middle of the garage. I first tryed the cyclist solution of gently "educating" my motorists by installing a flower target for parking position as in the photo at the start of this post.

Well, the cyclist solution didn't work, so I took a "traffic engineer" approach and simply cut away the offending post. Fondly, I leave the flower in place as gentle encouragement. I think we won't see drywall on the front bumper any more...

Cutting away the post avoids problems (I hope)

Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

On occasion, I notice that cycling has its seasons. One such appeared here. Other things around our neighborhood are interesting or odd (or both), such as here. Right now, as in the video below, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Have a happy one. In North Texas, it looks like we'll be at our coldest of the year, but it looks like a cold and dry Christmas.

How to Talk to a Non-Cycling Liberal About Bicycling

Cycling itself is neither liberal nor conservative, and experienced cyclists find they mostly agree on how stuff works on and around bikes, and what to do in various traffic situations. However, non-cycling liberals seem to love to talk about bicycling, even though they (by definition) don’t actually ride bikes themselves.

However, as a matter of fact, cycling is a favored non-cycling liberal theme. Presumably, cycling will save the planet from global climate change. Most non-cycling liberals, however, are conflicted about cycling. Their ignorance leads them to get wrapped up in “us versus them” class warfare, espousing amusing views on transportation cycling, and indulging their overpowering urges towards more government control; the old notion of "better too much than too little." As a result, caution is in order so that you can talk to liberals (or non-liberals) about bicycling truthfully, without appearing on their “fascist enemies of the state” list. This caution should apply to you as a cyclist, whether you are liberal OR conservative.

 LIBERAL CYCLING CONFLICT
The fundamental difficulty non-cycling liberals have about bicycling is that while it is the mode of transportation that needs government intervention less than any other (besides walking), it also conflicts with the principle that government is a solution rather than merely a parasitic problem. As a result of the conflict, they fail to realize their well-intentioned efforts usually fail, while some of their crazy schemes go beyond failure and discourage cycling, or even maim and kill cyclists. One should be very careful about pointing this out, even to liberal cycling advocates (who are rarely ignorant of the problems). Instead, you can take advantage of this conflict to meaningfully communicate with non-cycling liberals about cycling without selling out. Just don’t get the notion that any of them will ever purchase carbon offsets from you when you ride your bike to work. I know this from first-hand experience. Non of my non-cycling liberal coworkers wanted to purchase carbon offsets from me, even to the extent that they all go to park one spot closer to the entry door since I didn't use up a parking spot and I arrived at work earlier than they did - resulting in less co-worker CO2 exhalation walking in from the car.

FEAR AND LOATHING
Liberals start out with a victim mentality. Rather than establishing facts, non-cycling liberals presume that cyclists are helpless to operate their bikes without special protection and intervention, and evil motorists (undoubtedly, fat cat bankers and the rich) are actually trying to kill cyclists. They forget our transportation system is dependent on trucks for delivery of goods (including goods for cyclists), and that private motor vehicles provide incomparable point-to-point transportation for moderate (between ten and two hundred miles) distances. Its why liberals like to drive their hybrid cars around, even while bemoaning the traffic. The cyclist as victim mentality leads them to meddle. Because few liberals really ride bikes themselves, they make things worse, arguing for things like door zone bike lanes, side paths that are crisscrossed by driveways, forgetting to get bike racks installed at destinations, and creating routes that randomly start and stop rather than integrating into any conceivably useful transportation element. Liberal politicians have it easier, since they simply pander to their constituents and bring the pork home. The liberal pols aren’t trying to actually HURT cyclists; they just mostly don’t know any better. The only politicians I have seen that looked comfortable on a bike on the road were Ron Paul (R), Betsy Price (R) and Wendy Davis (D). I'll note that Beto O'Rourke gets a pass here, as the only politician I know who had a parent killed while riding a bike, so he ought to know.

Liberal politicians compound things by making laws for cyclists to follow “for their protection.” Helmet laws, safe passing laws, and even mandatory side path laws (like Oregon) are all liberal artifacts that neglect a fundamental principle: “If you want to discourage an activity, regulate it more and claim it’s dangerous.” That summarizes the liberal approach to cycling. I'm not sure that's better than the "let's regulate people more" faction of the GOP that want to simply ban things they don't like, but it winds up having a similar effect of reducing cycling.

COMMON GROUND
Since you won’t get far by talking to non-cycling liberals about meat and potato things like educating cyclists or enforcing valid traffic laws, how DO you influence non-cycling liberals towards a more realistic view? LOOK FOR THE COMMON GROUND. While you won’t reform a non-cycling lefty by this tactic alone, you can plant some solid principles into their blathering nonsense about saving the planet with bikes.  The five principles below will get your pinko friends nodding in agreement, and maybe some will rub off on them. Small government cycling principles that even liberals can accept include:

• Worse than Benign Neglect – As a cyclist, you will no doubt know of many situations where government intervention has actively made things worse for cyclists. I am sad to report that even redneck poseurs have used the power of the state to make things worse for cyclists, but liberals are notorious for compounding rule upon rule until the poor cyclists have nothing left to do but throw their hands up. Helmet laws are one such example. I wore a helmet on my commute. If I lived in Seattle, I could not legally ride my bike without a helmet, though I could still ride as long as I wore a broken helmet backwards and unstrapped. Whether helmets are a good idea or not is not the issue here, but whether the case is clear and compelling enough (more important than things like health benefits of cycling to cite just one example) to use the power of the nanny state to mandate people wear one. If more ammo is needed, mention to your non-cycling liberal friend that helmet laws are mostly used by police to further stick it to people of color who happen to be riding a bike. If you really want to confuse things, suggest googling "Seattle Bike Helmet Law." This last item really merits another, futher post. Another example where liberal rules are worse than benign neglect are the periodic cases where you’ll get a liberal principal that bans bikes from his/her school “for the safety of the children.” When you cite these examples, MOST liberals will be nodding in agreement with you. If you need to, you can even cite cases of redneck crazies that want to use government to make cyclists stick to the sidewalk or simply restrict the right access to common public ways that has existed throughout the life of our republic. Such troglodytes are an embarrassment to the whole principle of a small, constitutional government. But that is yet another post entirely. Such scum should simply move somewhere like Russia, where they’ll be happy with authoritarian government.
• Spending on Needed Connections – Another area where you can get your non-cycling liberal friends nodding in agreement is pointing out simple and cheap bicycle and pedestrian connections that make it easier for people to get from place to place without motors. When we were growing up, good walk/bike connections were called “shortcuts.” Due to many years of misguided zoning laws and development that valued the appearance of pastoral purity more than the reality, there are now many places where it is difficult to get around OTHER than by car. While some bike projects are expensive (natural liberal darlings), these are vastly outnumbered by cases where a simple expedient of a bit of critical thought and consideration can improve life for us all. I’m sure you can come up with examples of your own. If you feel REAL DARING, you might mention, in passing, that hundreds of these connectivity improvements can be made for the price of a second-rate recreational multi-use path, or even a door zone bike lane. Shortcuts put real TEETH into the “one mile solution.” One thing you DON’T want to mention – putting AMTRAK out of its misery could fund all the quality bike projects (long and short ones alike) we might imagine and move many more people, while still saving money. Suggesting it’s time for AMTRAK to go will get you shunned - and not just by our current President. Unlike bikes, passenger rail has become entirely a creature of big government. It's sad because I really like trains, and they can make a great complement for a bike commute.
• Government Dictated Car Parking– A side effect of many years of liberal land use development rules and restrictions is the institutionalization of grossly inefficient land use (ironic, considering cities also invariably want higher density). Cities require lots of parking spaces nowadays, and only recently have these wise governmental bodies begun to consider bicycles. When your friend drives you to the mall in his/her Prius, you will have no trouble pointing out how simply and unobtrusively merchants COULD have accommodated bicycles instead of designing to discourage same to comply with government edicts. Your friend might not ever ride a bike, but will nod knowingly, and might begin to see parking in a less ignorant fashion from behind the windshield (trust me, even liberals don’t drive Yugos any more). In reality, bike parking is less a matter of government intervention than teaching people to see what is already available and how it can enhance their customer base. If you give businesses equal credit for bike spaces as for car spaces, you’ll see a lot more bike spaces.
• Discriminatory Laws and Police Teaching – Liberals will generally be receptive to the observation that there are many laws that actively discriminate against cyclists. I could do a whole post series on a small sampling of such. What’s more, while I hate to say it, most liberals will also be receptive to the concept that police are out to get cyclists. In reality, police (and even prosecutors) rarely actively persecute cyclists. Instead, bicycles are a minor element of law enforcement duties, most police drive lots of miles in cars, and cyclists are viewed as adults playing with toys; collectively, this leads to a general ignorance of bicycling law and safe cycling practice. NONE of the officers that testified against Reed Bates had any dedicated bicycle law training and none of them knew the principles of how to safely operate a bicycle in traffic.  You’ll get your liberal friend agreeing with you based on his/her prejudice against law enforcement, but you will not have to fudge the truth to obtain the agreement.
• Smart Cyclists SHOUT OUT – Most liberals will either give you a blank look or recoil in horror at the notion that cyclists should learn to operate bikes safely and within the law (the EDUCATION principle espoused by the Bike League). It simply won’t register that this might be more important than simply adding another door-zone bike lane. Liberals will, however, happily agree that cycling education should be more readily available to people, and that the government is not doing its part in this regard. It is simple truth that schools don’t teach kids safe cycling as a part of PE classes. What’s more, most any liberal will agree that educated cyclists will advocate better. The only thing you’ll need to be very careful of in this regard is in avoiding any suggestion that cyclists are generally anything other than innocent victims, that maybe many people on bikes need the education even more than the average motorist, or that butts on bikes might not be the best idea if those NEW butts are completely clueless. Most of all, you should avoid mentioning that smarter cyclists are much pickier about getting ONLY infrastructure that doesn’t put them in added danger. THAT, my friend, would be good for ALL cyclists.

IN CONCLUSION
It isn’t really hard to talk to a non-cycling liberal about bicycling. Most liberals tend to think of bicycling as a liberal activity, so that’ll work to your advantage, as long as you don’t try to claim cycling isn’t dangerous, or that you can go places even if nobody painted special segregated facilities on the road (sometimes it’s actually easier without that paint).

Ancient King Close to Home

Rantwick, as is his habit, likes his "King Maple." Even this year, though he was a bit tardy, his post shows it here. He hasn't yet said which "RAT" he might be at this year. Myself, I've been marooned in Ocean Shores over the winter, only returning to DFW recently. The trip was somewhat surreal since pandemic responses ranged from one extreme to another along the way. When we left, fall color hadn't really made its appearance in the Pacific Northwest. Arriving back home, it seemed somewhat summery, with warm days and even warm nights. Until recently when we hit a cold spell.

Ancient

At this point, I'll digress. Many millions of years ago, long before any Maple trees existed that could claim to be any sort of king, there was the Ginkgo.  Gingko fossils have been found that are 170 million years old (the Middle Jurassic Period) and almost identical to the Ginkgo biloba; native to China. The Ginkgo biloba is found around the world. It is the last remaining species of its order. Certainly it is an ancient tree.

King

Ginkgo trees are not usually considered to have spectacular autumn color. According to Wikipedia, "the leaves turn a bright yellow, then fall sometimes as quickly as one day. However, if the leaves remain, the tree truly can be considered as a king of the forest. It's been that way since the dinosaurs dominated the animal kingdom. At the top of this post is such a King. While perhaps not the largest tree in the neighborhood, it is rare to see one so colorfully yellow with almost all of its leaves. That is the result of a fall freeze followed by many more moderate days without much rain or wind. Long live the King!

Close to Home

Strangely, this particular king isn't in a distant arboretum or otherwise hiding away. While I've noticed it in past years, it is nicer than ever this year. Where is it? It's across the street from my own house in Colleyville, Texas! You can't get much closer to home than that. Below, you can see the King, with 2 of its courtiers - 2 Maple trees that it puts to shame. If you look closer, you can also see a few Christmas decorations. Autumn arrives late in North Texas!

Wordpress is a Quiet Giant

 

Wordpress Logo

There's something not many people know. While Wordpress may be thought of as a blogging platform by those of us that operate a blog, it is really much more than that. According to Wikipedia, 

"WordPress was originally created as a blog-publishing system but has evolved to support other web content types including more traditional mailing lists and forums, media galleries, membership sites, learning management systems (LMS) and online stores. WordPress is used by 41.4% of the top 10 million websites as of May 2021..."

 Among other sites, Variety, Bloomberg Professional, BBC America, MTV News, and New York Times all use Wordpress. Just yesterday, I noticed that the Canon Printer support site also had the blue Wordpress logo as well. Unfortunately, Wordpress's flexibility and power also means there's a lot to learn...

Avoiding the Zombie Blog Situation

Despite not having posted here since March, things are cooking beneath the surface. I actually purchased a domain name. I'm also studying Wordpress. Stay tuned for further news, as I've not decided whether to and what to move to the new domain. I purchased 3 years of hosting and can have unlimited websites. I suspect I'm going to use subdomains rather than registering separate domains.

This is not my first foray into building a website. 20 years ago I wrote the website for the Seattle Jaguar Club. Thanks to "internet archive's" "Wayback Machine," a sample of it back in the day can be visited here.

What Will Become of Blogs?

For quite some time, it has seemed as if many blogs I've known and loved have dropped off the face of the earth one by one. At first, there were many new ones appearing and, certainly, people do get tired of writing on almost any topic.

However, the reality is that social media giants (not naming any in particular) have been reducing interest generally in blogs.

Below is what Google Trends says about interest in blogs. For those that don't know, blogspot (blogger) is a Google product. Wordpress is a competing product.

Google Trend over time for the Seach Term "blog?

As can easily be seen, Google trends show the term "blog" peaking in popularity in August, 2009. This blog started at the end of July, 2009. As of October 2020, blog is used less than 20% as much as it was at its peak. Things are even worse for blogspot, which is only about 5% of its peak popularity as a search term. Wordpress has not suffered as badly, but even it is down 2/3 from its peak.

Relative Popularity of "Blogspot" versus "Wordpress" over time

Perhaps the writing is on the wall for those not using Facebook or Twitter or any of the other overwhelming social media.

Hmm...

The Best Pilot Gordo Ever Knew

Chuck Yeager with Northrop F-20 from Getty Images

In the movie, "The Right Stuff," Gordon Cooper was asked "Who's the best pilot you ever knew." Thinking of Chuck Yeager, he eventually caught himself and said "You're looking at him." However, Chuck truly did have the right stuff. He passed away yesterday at age 97. No airplanes involved. There's a "Right Stuff" movie trailer featuring him, here. Wikipedia has a biography of him here. There's a mini documentary on him below. God Speed Chuck Yeager. There aren't many like him any more.

Sometimes a Bike is too Quick

 Recently, I had cause to stroll around Aberdeen, Washington. Normally, I ride my bike or in a car when I visit Aberdeen. Walking, however, showed me many items I would miss when on my bike.

Old and Tired Aberdeen

Seen while walking in an Aberdeen Alley

Gray's Harbor County, and Aberdeen, are some of the poorer areas of Washington State. Aberdeen bills itself as "the Lumber Capital of the World," but that really means its heyday was a century ago. Less well known is that Aberdeen was also home, back in the day, to perhaps the worst serial killer in US history, Billy Gohl. Between about 1902 and 1910, Billy may have killed over 100 people. His memory is immortalized in Aberdeen only through a bar/grill named "Billy's." His name does not appear on the walk of fame, described below.

Aberdeen Walk of Fame

Doug Osheroff, Nobel Laureate born in Aberdeen

The first star presented for your consideration is that of Doug Osheroff, a Nobel Physics winner that was born and raised in Aberdeen. As with Kurt Cobain, he achieved his fame elsewhere.

John Madden played football for a year at the local community college

I was surprised to see John Madden (of NFL fame) on the Aberdeen walk. John wasn't born or commonly associated with Aberdeen. However, as one discovers from Wikipedia, he played football for Aberdeen's Gray's Harbor College in 1956

There were many other stars on the Aberdeen sidewalks, some names more familiar and some less.

Aberdeen even has a Major League Baseball Player

For any loyal reader not familiar with Vean Gregg, he is a member of the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame. The PCL is a minor-league, but Gregg also played well in the Major Leagues. According to Wikipedia, "Gregg's major league career record is 92–63 with a lifetime 2.70 ERA in 1,393 innings pitched and 720 strikeouts. He was the only pitcher in the 20th century to win 20 games or more in his first three seasons." While Gregg was born in Chehalis, he lived in Aberdeen after he retired from baseball.

I'd have seen none of these items on my bike or from the seat of a car.

Sportsmanship in a Pandemic

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Fires are still burning out west, though rain in Washington has dampened things somewhat. Mostly, it's muggier than usual, however and we'll need more rain to put the flames out entirely and clear the air.

In OTHER news, Coronavirus continues. Looking through the archives, I'm reminded that the Coronavirus is, in many ways, simply a rerun of the Spanish Flu pandemic. In a past post, here, I recounted how the Seattle Metropolitans were the first American team to win the Stanley Cup away from the Canadians. In that post, I mentioned that Seattle was going to play Montreal again in 1919, but the Spanish Flu caused the contest to be cancelled. Today, my loyal reader will hear more about that later story. It seems particularly relevant in these days of Coronavirus and the attempts that professional sports teams are making to cope with it. I encourage reading of the newspaper clipping at left, from the April 2, 1919 edition of the Vancouver BC newspaper, "The Province."

As you can see, the series was tied and Montreal gamely wanted to continue against the favored Seattle Metropolitans, but the Montreal team was simply too crippled by the pandemic to continue. Rather than accept the Stanley Cup by default or by beating a Montreal team with players added at the last moment, Seattle supported the result that the series was declared a tie. Somehow, that level of sportsmanship by both teams seems to be in short supply nowadays.

Lest we get too focused on current events, we should remember that the previous epidemic lasted for two years and claimed over 500,000 lives in America alone. History suggests we may be dealing with the Coronavirus for quite some time to come.

Learning from a Non-Teachable Moment

This morning, I learned some things when I rode to get coffee. I didn't learn anything in particular from the ride, but rather from the fairly short wait in line at the drive-thru.

It started like this - I left for coffee here in Ocean Shores about an hour later than normal - at 7AM rather than 6. As a result, early-rising tourists were starting to line up.

As a result, I wound up behind a silver Chevrolet Suburban. Like many in line, the driver didn't think to turn off his engine while stopped. Perhaps he was afraid his engine wouldn't restart if he shut it off or maybe he was still a bit sleepy. Who knows? Anyway, it got beyond typical when his cigarette smoke also wafted back. It got even further beyond typical and created the "learning from non-teachable" when he tossed his half-smoked cigarette onto the curb near me close to the wooden siding of the coffee establishment in order to pull forward and order his beverage.

Not considering things fully, I inquired if he realized his cigarette was still lighted and if he wanted it back. As you might expect, the answer came back in the negative. Then I forgot about non-teachable moments and suggested he pick up his (expletive deleted) item. Before you knew it, his passenger came out of the SUV and said "I'll take care of the cigarette but don't cuss at my husband."

At this point, I memorized the SUV license plate number - something I should have done routinely.  This was my first learning from the non-teachable moment. I'll not repeat than number here other than to note the license plate holder was from Tacoma, despite the "Ocean Shores Cares" decal affixed to his back window. It's good to learn from such episodes to do something like routinely mentally noting licenses - just in case.

In my second learning I also learned that some people just think that we on bikes simply ought NOT to be in drivethru lines to start with, even if the walk-up lobby is shut due to a pandemic. Or perhaps they just don't think things through at all.

In my own defense, at least I had the presence of mind to not going beyond calling out that the Suburban shouldn't have been in the drivethru line either, and I also considered what I'd do if the Suburban backed up after getting coffee. Upon reflection, the notion that bikes should not be in drivethrus seems even more common than the notion that they ought not be on any kind of road. My third learning was what if the guy had a gun and even more anger issues? In other words, avoid escalation when dealing with a questionable stranger.

One thing I learned only after the SUV drove off - my barista noted that the SUV had an ash tray and if the driver was going to smoke in it he ought to use that ash tray. Golly, I hadn't thought of that as the passenger yelled at me about how bikes should not be in a drivethru.

Hmm...

Only a Fool and No Fool

A few days ago, I was headed north in Ocean Shores and, what to my wondering eyes did I see other than someone on a bike headed against traffic. Now, that is not totally unusual by itself, but the wrong-way dweeb had a dog on a leash running alongside his bike. I thought about yelling out, but then the missive "only a fool argues with a fool" took hold and I simply shook my head in wonderment about whether the guy would fall due to the dog diverting his front wheel, due to the dog darting toward a nearby dear just as oncoming traffic approached, or simply due to some other cause. In any event, it did not seem like a teachable moment. I consoled reflecting on how cycling is fun and safe, even when practiced by someone completely clueless.

Yesterday and today, I saw more intelligent actions. Yesterday, I came across a black bear about three blocks from my Ocean Shores house. The bear saw me shortly afterwards and took off, not wanting to tangle with an apex predator on a Schwinn Cruiser. Today, the same thing happened when I encountered a coyote just south of our local IGA Grocery. These two were no fools!

For the record, the bear looked well fed. The coyote not as much, but not emaciated either.

So Long John

You can read my posts that have  a "John Forester" label if you're in stay-at-home mode with a fair amount of free time. John Forester passed away on the 14th of April, 2020 at age 90. I heard he had been ill for some time. I imagine there will be lots written about him in the days and weeks to come. I will simply say that his principles on the best ways to ride bicycles changed my life for the better.

Lost, and Found Again

Brand New Pearl Izumi "Ride Thermal Lite" Gloves with Decade-Old Gloves a Saint Returned and my Orange Hat
While the Orange Hat is "Just a Hat," its Color Probably Helped Find the Gloves

Nearly ten years ago, in a post, here, I related how I bought a pair of good winter cycling gloves (Pearl Izumi Softshell Gloves) at a bargain price at the Hotter 'N Hell 100. Unlike the shoe covers I also reported on at that time, I've gotten almost constant use out of the gloves in colder weather. They're good from about 25 degrees (-4C for any Canadian friends that use French temperature units) up to about 55 (13C). Outside that range and things are either a bit chilly or a little sweaty. For $15 gloves (they sell for about $60 on Amazon), they have proved exceptionally durable and versatile. While they no longer look new, they remain in good overall shape, with only a some of the extraneous rubber non-slip dots falling off through the years. The gloves are a size too big, which turns out to be perfect, since they're easier to get on and off; pretty much mandatory at coffee stops.

Well, they WERE until all this Coronavirus stuff cropped up. You see, as things started to ramp up (while the NYC Mayor was still working out at his local YMCA), people got confused. Even I, grumpy as I sometimes am, elected to purchase groceries for an entire week rather than my usual every-couple of days routine. Well, to make a long story short, that entailed using a shopping cart, and I left my cherished gloves behind, along with an orange hat I frequently use to keep my head warm.

I rode back to see if I could find them, or if they'd been turned in. Alas, I was out of luck. I even looked in the store garbage can in case someone had taken it on themselves to dispose of items that might be contaminated. No luck there, either. Sigh.

Later, at home, I was resigned to purchasing another pair as much like the originals as I could find. I was somewhat dismayed to find the "non summer HH100 price" was $60. In an attempt to be frugal, I bought a pair of lighter gloves, figuring I could always use a liner with them. The cheaper Pearl Izumi gloves were still $20, and, as we will find later, work more in the 50-60 degree range.

The day after the new gloves arrived, I inquired one more time at the grocery store lost and found. Hallelujah! They had them and the mention of the orange hat helped them pick them out of the pile. For the remainder of my ride home, I put those new gloves in the pouch of my hoodie and thought kind thoughts towards every one and every thing. What can I say, I'm not grumpy all the time.

Still, the new gloves were not a waste of money. They do work in the warmer ranges of what we see in Ocean Shores, Washington. Now that we're headed towards May, I can see myself using them frequently. They are called "Pearl Izumi - Ride Thermal Lite Glove" and the blurb on Amazon claims "A top seller, these lightweight unisex gloves are ideal on their own when the weather gets cool. Or use them as liners under our P.R.O. Barrier WxB Gloves in truly cold temperatures." More importantly, the new gloves gave me hope for a brief period that Pearl Izumi made good "not quite so cold" gloves.

Well, they certainly ARE lightweight, but there is no noticable insulation on them. They're just another pair of non-waterproof, full-finger cycling gloves. While I've not tried it yet, they might work well as liners for my softshell gloves for those rare "really cold" Ocean Shores or North Texas mornings. We shall see. OTHO, such mornings also seem to work well with ski gloves.

One of Our Nuclear Bombers Has Gone Missing

Avro Vulcan - Capable of  Carrying a 21,000 Pound Bombload - or Nukes

In 2016, I related how I was impressed when I saw an Avro Vulcan flying at the Edwards Air Force Base Air Show in 1979. There is more to the Vulcan story, however. Just as one went missing in the James Bond movie, Thunderball, one went missing while on a real mission. This happened in the only conflict in which Vulcans were used against targets with live ammunition. The story has not been well known, for obvious reasons.

In 1982, Argentina decided to take the Falkland Islands from Britain. Beset by domestic problems and knowing of upcoming British military spending cuts, the Argentines bet they could succeed. However, Margaret Thatcher was not made of sugar candy. The British soon sent a task force south. To conserve their naval resources, they refitted six Vulcan bombers to attack Argentine targets in the Falklands; principally Stanley Airport. Stanley Airport was a facility capable of supporting Argentine air attacks against the British fleet.

The bombing missions were made from Ascension Island in the South Atlantic. Each mission required 11 aerial refuelings. On one of these missions, a Vulcan's refueling probe broke while returning from the Falkands. The pilot and crew were faced with the unpleasant choice of ditching in the ocean (shades of Thunderball!) or of making it to the nearest land, which was Brazil. After some drama, the Vulcan landed in Rio de Janeiro with no fuel to spare. Brazil, which was neutral, promptly interned both the crew and the British nuclear bomber. The United States also got dragged into the situation since it had secretly supplied the British with anti-radar missles, one of which was still attached to the bomber when it landed.

To make an intriguing story shorter, after many negotiations, the Brazilians eventually released both crew and bomber back to Britain. They kept the American missile and the British agreed to supply quite a few helicpter parts to Brazil. The whole story is related in the video below. Somehow, I don't think we will see a movie entitled "Locked up in a Brazilian Prison!"

Rise and Decline of Bike Share

Five Years Ago, Bike Share and Scooter Rental were Neck and Neck. Now Scooters FAR Outpace Bike Share

This is a fable for our times. It was just a bit more than five years ago that bike share programs really go going. I will use history from the Seattle Bike Blog (SBB) as illustrative of bike share.

The first SBB post on the subject was made on May 5, 2014. By August 25, 2014, the headline: 

"It’s really happening. Today, you can buy a membership for a Seattle public bike share system."

 Somewhat grumpily, I forecast, on July 29, 2014:

"They’ll later use our tax dollars to subsidize the bike share system when it fails due to their policies. Perhaps they’ll emulate NYC in outlawing large soft drinks and in arresting cyclists for imagined offenses."

 At this point, the system was run by Pronto, a subsidiary of Alta Planning. It used fixed bike stations and tried to work around the Seattle helmet laws in order to draw in casual riders who didn't happen to bring their own helmets along on the chance they might want to rent a bike. Before too long, this became a drain, leading them to charge for helmet rentals. On May 11, 2015, SBB reported:

"If you buy a 24-hour or three-day pass to use Pronto Cycle Share, you will now have to pay an extra $2 to check out a helmet."

It also became clear that the service area with bike stations was pretty limited, and, as a result, on June 8, 2015, SBB reported:

"...the biggest problem with Pronto is that the service area is simply too small to meet most people’s needs. And under the current business model, the system would expand slowly over time as more private sponsorship investments or city budget line items lead the way. It’s a plan that creates solid benefits for relatively little public investment, but it’s not a plan that can truly revolutionize transportation and low-income access to bicycling in Seattle. 

"That’s why the city has put together a visionary plan for a massive, fast expansion of Pronto that would increase the service area from five square miles to 42 square miles..."

Bike share was growing by leaps and bounds! However, cracks were beginning to appear. While Seattle proposed a massive expenditure to dramatically increase the size of Pronto, and (move in to management of Pronto as well), the Feds said "nope." By October 27, 2015, SBB reported:

"...the city still intends to move forward with an expansion. Mayor Ed Murray’s proposed 2016 budget includes $5 million for expanding Pronto. If that funding is approved by the City Council, the path forward really hinges on whether the city focuses on expanding the station area or on electric bike technology."

Scooters - Cheaper Than Ebikes, Faster than Pedal Bikes

Electric bikes - well that IS a new development indeed. Things went down a bit further, when, on February 4, 2016, the SBB post headline read:

"Pronto needs city buyout before end of March, how did we get here?"

And things continued downhill for the Pronto, station-based bike share. By October 10, 2016, SBB reported:

"Though it’s not final, Seattle has indicated that it intends to select a young Quebec-based company to launch an all-new electric-assist bike share system. 

"That means both Motivate, the current Pronto Cycle Share operator, and the existing Pronto equipment are out if the deal goes through. The city is now negotiating directly with Quebec-based Bewegen to finalize a deal."

Now, bikes were only a part of the solution if they were electric assist, though bike stations were still the fundamental backbone of the system. By October 20, 2016, the SBB headline read:

"Council faces a choice: Kill Pronto now or make lemonade out of the existing stations?"

There it was, bike share, at least if it wasn't "electric" was going away - and fast. In January, on the 13th, SBB headlined the final resolution:

"Mayor Ed Murray has scrapped his bike share expansion plan, ending the city’s efforts to create a new public e-assist bike system to replace the doomed Pronto system set to shut down March 31. This officially ends a frustrating era..."

And so it was. Bike share was dead in Seattle. A victim of inflexible docking stations, mandatory helmet laws, and bureaucratic meddling, just to mention three factors. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

On July 19th, 2017, SBB reported on the beginning of dockless bike share. Spin and LimeBike started operation and exceeded the old Pronto system ridership in their first week. They would have done better, but old city rules were still in place that presumed an "ease into the water" approach. The report of the death of bike share was greatly exaggerated. By December 15, 2017, SBB headlined:

"Bike share pilot’s daily ridership blows past Pronto’s lifetime totals, rivals both streetcars combined."

and, in that article, stated:

"...bike share services are already rivaling two streetcar lines that cost about $190 million to build is pretty incredible. Free-floating bike share services have cost the City of Seattle almost nothing. In fact, these companies pay the city permit fees. And at $1/ride, bike share is the cheapest way to get around other than walking or owning your own (not-high-end) bicycle. That’s far, far cheaper than other private mobility services, like car share, taxis and app taxis."

However, this was about the peak for bike share. Instead, the future looked like e bikes and scooters. On August 19, 2018, SBB reviewed the timeline. Notably:

"2018: Lime introduces 15¢ per minute e-bikes, Spin leaves town as it transitions to scooters and ofo leaves town as their China-based business begins imploding. Bike ridership in Seattle increases significantly, smashing bike counter records all over town. Uber-owned Jump joins Lime at the end of the year as the $1 pedal bikes disappear."

Lime Rental Scooter

Scooters are Getting Fancier

Which brings me up to the present. Recently, in downtown Dallas, I noticed scooters ALL OVER THE PLACE. All of them were electrically powered. There was not a single "regular" bike to be had. Things didn't look a whole lot different in Seattle. The story continues to evolve. As with bikes, it appears that many of the people who rent these electric scooters do not understand that they are really renting a small motorcycle and zooming along sidewalks and against traffic is really NOT a good idea. Perhaps our driver licensing system should start by ensuring that  prospective motorists understand that the rules of the road apply to ALL that use wheeled things on public roadways (sidewalks are also part of those roadways) and require people to demonstrate they can do so with scooters and bikes before they move up to more powerful vehicles.

But I digress. Over on SBB, they are arguing that the best thing to do is bring back the dock system, but spend a LOT more money and make the bikes cheap to rent. Somehow, I think most people want a motorized item that they can simply pick up wherever they happen to be. It's been 30 years since the Soviet Union fell...

After Renting, Many People Scooter Along the Sidewalk

Admitting Rebel Shame - and Saluting Southern Pride

Dallas has at Least Covered up its Rebel Shame - November, 2019

It has now been over two years since I posted about the shameful rewrite of history that the City of Dallas maintains on its property while patting itself on the back for possible removal of a Robert E Lee statue in Lee Park.

Well, since then, they removed the Lee statue from Lee Park. At auction, it fetched more than the high estimate for the winning bid. I note, that now, the "formerly Lee and Oak Lawn before and after that" Park will henceforth be known as "Turtle Creek Park." This happened earlier this year. A story on the renaming is here. Since it appears that no Council action is required, this name change might stick. The Lee statue itself seems to have wound up on a golf course near the Mexican Border. That story is here. At least it no longer resides on public land.

Enough about Lee/Turtle Creek Park. In the meantime, the monument in my "Rebel Shame" post is still in the Dallas Pioneer Cemetery, within sight of Dallas City Hall. Even in Dallas, however, there are signs that Rebel Shame might be starting to be recognized. I was in Dallas earlier today and the statue has been redecorated by Dallas. There're no signs about what might happen in the future, but at least the "brazen lips of Southern cannon thundered an unanswered.." nonsense is not there for descendants of Rebel victims (such as the Gainesville Great Hanging) to read with no mention that things were not quite so romantic as all that for THEIR ancestors.

The picture at the top of the page shows the Rebel Memorial as it is now. To their credit, the Dallas City Council voted to have it pulled down, but not everyone agreed, the story of "what happened next" may be found here, and it is still going on, though the only site I could find within the last month wanted me to take a survey about whether or not Adam Schiff should be charged with treason. You'll have to find that one on your own, but basically, it recounts how lawsuits are continuing over the memorial.

OTOH, we should offer a salute for Southerners that did not betray their country. Among these was Sam Houston, and Lilburn Colley, for whom Colleyville was named. In the 2017 post, I recited Houston's feelings about the United States. Old Doctor Colley remains in North Texas. His grave is in the next town over from the one named after him. If you go to "Findagrave," here, you can see he was born in Missouri, though there's no mention there that he fought for the preservation of the Union.

Headstone of Old Doctor Colley, from Findagrave

In closing, I will add another quote from Sam Houston (one his last while Governor of Texas, immediately after secession), one that none of the Rebel Memorials include:

Fellow citizens, in the name of your rights and liberties, which I believe have been trampled upon, I refuse to take this oath. In the name of the nationality of Texas, which has been betrayed by the Convention, I refuse to take this oath. In the name of the Constitution of Texas, I refuse to take this oath. In the name of my own conscience and manhood, which this Convention would degrade by dragging me before it, to pander to the malice of my enemies, I refuse to take this oath. I deny the power of this Convention to speak for Texas....I protest....against all the acts and doings of this convention and I declare them null and void.

Southern Pride, indeed. Two veterans who helped make the United States united again. I salute their service.