Dave's Good Stuff

I’ve not been very good about riding my bike to work the last couple of weeks. I was gung-ho the first week, and rode every day. The last couple of weeks, though… I don’t know, I just didn’t have it in me. I caved to the pull of the seat vs. the saddle. I took the easier, more populated road. Can’t say I felt great about it, and though there were only a couple of days where I legitimately needed the car to either be somewhere far away quickly, or to carry something my bike just isn’t equipped to carry (lumber, for instance), I did it every day anyway.

Bike Week KC starts up next week, and I joined up on Brent Hugh’s MoBikeFed Wheel Wizards team, for no other reason than b/c I got a mass e’mail from him about it. I couldn’t pick the man out of a crowd, but if it keeps him from buying dinner for other people I don’t know, and helps me with the whole biking thing…

Well, why not?

So… I’m signed up, and though I’ll need my car at least one day next week, I don’t see why I can’t ride to work the rest…

See you out there. And Noah if I see you, I promise I’ll wave back.

Keep ridin’…

Predators On Facebook Tough To Track – Kansas City News Story – KMBC Kansas City: “KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Your child could be talking to a sexual predator on Facebook and not even know it. Thursday, February 18, 2010.”

Just watched this on the television… more ridiculous scare mongering from self-important local news personalities. To be fair, the advice was good, such as “Don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t say in real life.” and the tips for parents

However, they lost me with the bits about the sex offenders and the lack of police manpower and time to check them all was completely glossed over. They ignored the fact that the list is so polluted with people who have no business being there, that the police may miss the real threats

In the end, it was irrational fear mongering in the name of ratings without any real perspective on the level of danger.

But that’s what I expected to find, so that’s what I found.

“Hi Readers — When you get right down to it, a lot of Free-Range Kids ends up being a plea for more community. More helping each other, more trusting each other, even more hanging out with each other. And here is a story of just that: A brief glimpse of how nice it is when [...]

When zero-discretion policies and accurate risk calculus collide we have… common sense. This story is remarkable by the very fact that it’s unremarkable.

Only $99.99:

Keep tabs on your child at all times with this small but sophisticated device that combines GPS and cellular technology to provide you with real-time location updates. The small and lightweight Little Buddy transmitter fits easily into a backpack, lunchbox or other receptacle, making it easy for your child to carry so you can check his or her location at any time using a smartphone or computer. Customizable safety checks allow you to establish specific times and locations where your child is supposed to be — for example, in school — causing the device to alert you with a text message if your child leaves the designated area during that time. Additional real-time alerts let you know when the device’s battery is running low so you can take steps to ensure your monitoring isn’t interrupted.

Or…

Helicopter parents rejoice! Now you can give up any semblense that you’re raising your child to be his or her own person. With this device, you can establish, without a doubt in your childs mind, that he or she is completely incapable of doing anything on his or her own. Do you want to raise children unable to make decisions on their own? Do you want to ensure that they rely on you for the simplest of tasks well into their adult life? Do you want to spend every waking moment worried about where your child is, what he or she is doing, and who he or she is doing it with? Are you convinced by the mass-media that there are abductors and molesters around every corner, even in your own yard? If you answered yes to even one of the above questions, then our Surveillance Tracker is for you!

If you call within the next 10 minutes (and we know you will, because every second counts when your child’s life is under immediate and extreme threat), we’ll throw in our home surveillance system that allows you to monitor every room in your home from your smart phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for the low low price of $24.99.

Restrictions and shipping charges apply. Only available in the continental United States.

All that said, I can see a use for this in tracking friends and fellows on long rides, such as the Triple Bypass.

WEST BURLINGTON, Iowa – A man faces up to [a mere] 60 days in jail in connection with a November 2007 accident that killed a West Burlington man who was riding a bicycle.

A judge found Marvin Oberly guilty last week of driving on the wrong side of a two-way highway and passing a vehicle on the wrong side. Douglas Kenney died of [the tragic and needless] injuries he suffered in the accident on Nov. 9, 2007 [due to Oberly’s utterly irresponsible and reckless actions].

Oberly is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 30. He faces [a paltry] 30 days in jail for each of the counts and up to a year suspension [rather than the far more just complete and permanent revocation] of his drivers license. [It is left as an exercise for the reader to rationalize how 60 days in jail and a year's suspension balances out the irresponsibility and recklessness that resulted in Kenney's death.]

Prosecutors argued that Oberly drove up behind Kenney in his pickup and collided with the bicycle Kenney, who was riding his bicycle in a manner consistent with safety and law.

Oberly testified provided the lame and weak excuse during his trial that glare from the sun prevented him from seeing Kenney[, which would have been inconsequential had be been driving on the correct side of the road and not passed another vehicle on the shoulder].

Original here.

I rarely disagree with Bruce Schneier, and I’m not entirely sure I do in this case, but I’m certainly not convinced that this is a good use of technology, especially when “security” can be so completely irrational…

Reporting Unruly Football Fans via Text Message

Fans still are urged to complain to an usher or call a security hotline in the stadium to report unruly behavior. But text-messaging lines — typically advertised on stadium scoreboards and on signs where fans gather — are aimed at allowing tipsters to surreptitiously alert security personnel via cellphone without getting involved with rowdies or missing part of a game.

As of this week, 29 of the NFL’s 32 teams had installed a text-message line or telephone hotline. Three clubs have neither: the New Orleans Saints, St. Louis Rams and Tennessee Titans. Ahlerich says he will “strongly urge” all clubs to have text lines in place for the 2009 season. A text line will be available at the Super Bowl for the first time when this season’s championship game is played at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium on Feb. 1.

“If there’s someone around you that’s just really ruining your day, now you don’t have to sit there in silence,” says Jeffrey Miller, the NFL’s director of strategic security. “You can do this. It’s very easy. It’s quick. And you get an immediate response.”

• Granted: It can be difficult to impossible to reason with unruly, and sometimes drunk sports fans.
• Granted: It can be dangerous to try to reason with unruly, and sometimes drunk sports fans.
• Granted: Security personnel have the power and authority to protect us from both each other and ourselves. Ideally. They’re only human, and have lapses in judgment just as the rest of us do.

All the same, this use of technology seems to be an excuse to not even try to handle things ourselves. It grants permission to tuck tail and hide behind mommy and daddy’s legs while they handle our problems for us. It makes it too easy to defer responsibility for our own feelings and actions, and hand it over to someone else, rather than buck up and stand up for ourselves… or at least try to.

Shouldn’t calling security be a last resort? This seems to make it too easy.

I welcome any and all views on this. In fact, I eagerly await them.

Fantastic news!

Mark Breeding attended the court proceedings and filed the following report:

Mr. Bondon was found guilty of attempted assault with the judge describing it as classic road rage. He escalated a minor exchange into a terrifying confrontation that required police involvement.

The penalties prescribed by the judge include: ninety day sentence with two days served in jail, two years probation and an anger management class. Mr. Bondon is presently free on bond.

Summary of the trial proceeding: Defense claims that the cyclists hit the Bondon Hummer with a water bottle and yelled profanities at him for turning in front of them.

Bicyclists Matt and Richard assert that they did nothing aggressive beyond the comment of “you couldn’t wait ten seconds” before turning. From this the stories converge to the point of the Hummer being driven across the yard to intercept the riders and a confrontation taking place. Bondon claims no bumping of the cyclists or physical attack took place. Richard and Rachel made it clear they thought that a possible life or death situation was taking place, initially believing that Mr. Bondon was carrying a handgun.

The judge felt that he needed to send a message to Mr. Bondon who he said obviously feels he did no wrong. He made mention of Mr. Bondon’s high profile as former Jackson County Sports Authority Chairman.

The defense attorney asserted that the riders had provoked the confrontation and that the prosecution was a vendetta by a group of avid cycling advocates. He worked the words “WMD” and “conspiracy” into the summation.

Character issues were emphasized during the trial, with testimony from bicyclist Matt Maher, a school teacher, Richard Gordon, a consultant for one of the nation’s largest nonprofits, and Rachel Thompson, a chemist.

The two defense witnesses were a Lees Summit police officer and Mr. Bondon’s second cousin, a two time convicted felon currently on probation.

Mr. Bondon tended to elaborate beyond the questions asked by defense counsel and did not keep his composure under cross by prosecutor Craig Sweeney. He gave the impression having some impulse control problems.

Much was made by the defense of discrepancies between the Richard and Rachel’s testimony and subsequent playing of their 911 calls. This was pretty much dismissed by the judge. There was some sharp give and take between defense and prosecution throughout the proceedings and I really had no idea how the judge would rule.

And now for a personal comment: Where were all of you? Aside from court officers and one spectator, Matt’s parents and myself were the only people there for the duration of the trial. You missed a great day for cyclists here in KC.

Another comment: If William Johnson had killed the Gaunts on the other side of Longview Lake, he would probably be in jail today.

The prosecution put forward by Mr. Sweeney was zealous. Much more so than what I witnessed during my time at the Gaunt trial.

Last night at pool league, a friend of mine brought in a copy of the Wall Street Journal. There was an article about a local San Francisco wanna-be politician, Rob Anderson who has effectively stalled the installation of bike lanes in San Francisco because…

Cars always will vastly outnumber bikes, he reasons, so allotting more street space to cyclists could cause more traffic jams, more idling and more pollution. Mr. Anderson says the city has been blinded by political correctness. It’s an “attempt by the anti-car fanatics to screw up our traffic on behalf of the bicycle fantasy,” he wrote in his blog this month.

I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a conclusion.

There have been many articles lately about the rising tension between motorists and cyclists. You can read about it in the New York Times, Reuters newswire, The Wall Street Journal, the Austin Cycling News, Newsweek, and a wide variety of other sources.

Frankly, I’ve just not seen it. I’ve been out nearly every day riding my route, peacefully and almost entirely without incident. In fact, I can count on one hand the times I’ve been “harassed”, and both times it was very easy to chalk it up to idiocy. The first was a (pardon my stereotypes here) three toothed, chew spittin’ redneck on a country road yelling “Dip Ass!“, and the second was a pair of know-it-all high school jocks in daddy’s pick up.

Aside from that, I’ve had numerous men and women offer admiration and encouragement. Two quite attractive young women even offered me a ride. Stupid me, I didn’t think to ask where we were going to ride to. ;) Just the other day, I got into a brief exchange with a fellow at an intersection who good-naturedly told me I was crazy, and then said how he wished he could do the same. I talked about how much better I felt and how much gas money I’d saved, and told him if he really wanted to, he’d find a way. He looked thoughtfully at me, nodded, wished me luck and safety and the light turned.

I have no idea what motorists are *thinking* when I pass by them, or they pass by me. I know there are many motorists who hate cyclists. A visit to the comments section on any cycling story in the news will tell you that. (I like how the Tuscon Bicycle Lawyer puts it here). I do know that if they’re thinking anything negative, they aren’t saying it out loud, and more than a few times, they’ve said very positive things to me.

Is there a rising tension between cyclists and motorists? I’ve certainly not seen it, and I very much doubt it. Does reporting on such a phenomena sell papers? You bet it does.

I just found this today. It’s a bit old, so you may have already seen it. There are 23 parts to the series at this point. I’ve seen the first two so far.

Why do people laugh at creationists?

Only creationists don’t know.