Amsterdam Bicycles

Found this great site about Amsterdam Bicycles Lots of pics too.
I am back and forth with the helmet thing so you make your own mind up.

3. No Helmets EVER - It is amazing to me coming from San Francisco, land of 100 percent helmet covered heads, but in all of Amsterdam (population 750,000) there is not one bicycle helmet found anywhere in the city. Not ONE!! Contrast this with San Francisco, for anybody under the age of 18, there is a Mandatory Helmet Law, and everybody above 18 wears helmets anyway. Now faced with this shocking disparity, I think any reasonable person must come to the conclusion that either the people in Netherlands do not value the safety of their children, or San Francisco bicyclists are clumsy pansies with soft heads and weak minds that must be protected from hurting themselves no matter how much it infringes on individual rights. more here

Critical Mass and Leap Year Friday

Critical Mass Ride This Friday Night

Leaving @ 6:30 pm SE Corner of The Courthouse Downtown.

We are leaving at 6:30pm sharp getting on the rode at 7pm kind of defeats the pupose.

Starting in March we will be leaving at 6pm

It is also a leap year and lands on the last friday this month and will not happen again till?

BTW: Oil is over 102 dollars a barrel.


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Renewables Win, Oil Loses in House Bill

Well its only a matter of time before American's have to start paying what the rest of the world does for gas no matter who we steal it from. DIm Son has promised to Veto it.
From Matter Network

The House of Representatives passed a bill that would remove tax breaks of up to $18 billion for the oil and gas industries and transfer the money to supporting renewable energy.
The measure passed by 236-182 and would extend and provide new tax incentives for using renewable energy from wind, solar, biofuels, geothermal and others.

The Senate rejected two similar measures last year, and this time may be not be any easier. Oil finished over $100 a barrel, and Republicans fear that ending the tax credits for oil would push prices higher. However, many oil companies including ExxonMobil have recorded record profits during the past few years, so you can also argue that additional costs need not lead to a price increase.

President Bush has already said he would veto this type of legislation, so any legislation would likely have to be modified to become law.

The U.S. is far behind other nations in adopting renewable energy which has proved to create jobs and stimulate the economy. While there might be some short term pain for vehicle owners, this overdue law could very well stimulate the economy more than the recent stimulus package that passed.

Art Exhibit

Come on take a look I promise you will like it:) Ze Germans are nice people too.

WNBR

A first look at a new movie about people, suspense, intrigue, love and potential environmental catastrophic collapse. more here

Only a Beginning: An Anarchist Anthology

There is an interesting article here about bikes and critical mass. Also discussed is how cyclists want utilitarian commuter bike paths while the authorities will only concede recreational bike paths which cost much more. Think about it use the existing roads and make room for bike paths or create these useless greenways which lead .......nowhere read it here

Drawing on a wide range of anarchist publications, "Only a Beginning" is the first comprehensive overview of anarchist theory and practice in North America from 1976 to the present. Compiled and edited by Allan Antliff,... read here

Largest Oil Spill In History 19 years ago

Exxon record profits and still trying to get out of paying. The Captain was a drunk who lost his drivers licence and Exxon still let him captain the boat. I say dismantle the company and distribute it's profits to the people!
From Chicago Tribune

WASHINGTON — It has been almost 20 years since the infamous Joseph Hazelwood and the Exxon Valdez loomed large in the nation's consciousness after the allegedly intoxicated captain beached the supertanker on the rocks of Prince William Sound in Alaska, dumping millions of gallons of oil into the sea.

Gas Prices Soar, Posing a Threat to Family Budget

From the NY Times. Maybe a few of us will bike but what about the rest of the people here will they take the bus, carpool, walk?
The infrastructure here is not set up for it. Are we fucked?

Gasoline prices, which for months lagged behind the big run-up in the price of oil, are suddenly rising quickly, with some experts saying they could approach $4 a gallon by spring. Diesel is hitting new records daily, and oil settled at a record high of $100.88 a barrel on Tuesday.

Energy Independence: How Denmark Kicked Its Foreign Oil Habit

Middelgrunden off-shore wind farm (Photo: René Seindal [Flickr])

With rising gas cost at the pump, violence in the Middle East and the upcoming Presidential Election, it’s no wonder that politicians are saying they have plans to make the United States independent of foreign oil. But can it be done? Here’s a country that has kicked the foreign oil habit: Denmark.

read more here @ neatorama

Critical Mass Bangkok

Check it out

S.F. probation officers bike to clients

Off the doughnuts and on yer bike

In a city where the local government gets the most attention for big, brash moves like same-sex marriage and universal health care, Darrin Dill is doing cutting-edge work in San Francisco's adult probation department with little more than a bike, a helmet and mirrored sunglasses.

more here

What country do you live in?

60 Minutes Report On Rove’s Dirty Politics Blocked In Parts Of Alabama Last night, CBS’s 60 Minutes aired its long-awaited report on Alabama’s incarcerated former governor Don Siegelman, featuring allegations that Karl Rove personally told a Republican operative in the state to find evidence that Siegelman was cheating on his wife.

Siegelman, a Democrat, was convicted in 2006 for conspiracy, bribery and fraud. But observers from all sides of the political spectrum are now questioning whether his prosecution “was pursued not because of a crime but because of politics.”

Watch the report:

Though the report aired last night, it was not seen by everyone who may have wished to view it. In several Alabama locations, “the show was blocked - black screen - during the Siegelman segment of 60 Minutes only.” Harper’s Scott Horton, who has investigated the Siegelman prosecution and was interviewed for the segment, reports:

I am now hearing from readers all across Northern Alabama–from Decatur to Huntsville and considerably on down–that a mysterious “service interruption” blocked the broadcast of only the Siegelman segment of 60 Minutes this evening. The broadcaster is Channel 19 WHNT, which serves Northern Alabama and Southern Tennessee.

WHNT originally claimed last night that the blocked segment was due to “a techincal(sic) problem with CBS out of New York.” But that claim was contradicted by CBS in New York, who told Horton, that “there is no delicate way to put this: the WHNT claim is not true. There were no transmission difficulties. The problems were peculiar to Channel 19.”

WHNT now has a different explanation on its website:

NewsChannel 19 lost our program feed from CBS. Upon investigation, WHNT has learned that the CBS receiver that allows us to receive programming from CBS failed. WHNT engineers responded as quickly as possible to restore the feed at 6:12 p.m.

WHNT says it “will re-air the broadcast of that segment.”

$3 Gallon Gas Begins To Reduce Driving

From the Sunday Boston Globe:

Average daily gasoline consumption in the United States has decreased in each of the past four weeks from a year ago, according to recent data. In the past six months, average daily consumption slipped two-tenths of a percent from a year earlier, after growing 2.5 percent in the previous year.

In the Northeast, gasoline demand has dropped as much as 3 percent, after growing 1 to 2 percent annually in recent years, said Joe Petrowski, chief executive of Gulf Oil LP, a Newton wholesaler and distributor that supplies about 10 percent of the region's gas stations.

So why did it take so long? Apparently since the 70's we are living farther away from our jobs (in places with fewer transportation alternatives) and our disposable income has increased. It is estimated that in the 1970's a 20% increase in gas prices curtailed driving by 6%, in 2008 it's only one percent.

Tips for cyclists from a car driver

ride today

Vintage and Cruiser Bike Ride –

* Sunday, February 24
* 2:30pm
* Huntsville Middle School on Adams Street between the back of the Woman's & Children's hospital and intersection at Lowe.
* Conversationally, fun slow pace, appropriate for heavy bikes, newbies, slowbies, tandems... all types of bikes welcome regardless of age or tire width.
* Children do need to be street safe though. Feel free to bring a friend or neighbor. Everyone’s welcome!

Cruise the downtown area / park/ historic areas or some combo for a hour or so with a coffee shop (note Stearns is closed today, so prolly Olde Towne) option (sorry, still too cold for malts).

Rock This Shit!!!

Taco Tuesday :: Photography Ride from Kong on Vimeo.

Bike Moving

Crazy college kids not following the rules.

480 Minutes Bagel Radio Friday

Today and every friday our friend Ted in San Francisco @ Bagel Radio will be playing the best : Indie , Rock, Noise, Pop live from 11am till 7pm
Tune in here

Nice One

I know I am the first to break on Alabama here, but this is a good article. You should be proud.

From The New York Times

Race Matters Less in Politics of South
By ADAM NOSSITER
Published: February 21, 2008
CULLMAN, Ala. — The racial breakthroughs have come gingerly in Alabama over the years: a black mayor there, an old Klansman put on trial here, a civil rights memorial there.

Read More Here

Amgen Tour of California Live Feed

http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/docroot/tourtracker2008/AdobeTourTracker.html