hee hee...the hypocrisy...
02 May 2006
Why bikes are (going to be) awesome
Riding a bicycle can save the world
Published on 27 Apr 2006 by New West. Archived on 2 May 2006.
by Dana Green
Killer storms. Glaciers melting. A rapidly disappearing snowpack.
The signs of global warming are here, and they aren’t pretty. With the U.S. spewing 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air last year – one-quarter of the world total – a global meltdown, Day After Tomorrow-style, doesn’t seem farfetched anymore.
But getting on a bicycle saving the planet? Call me a skeptic, but I wasn’t buying it. Jim Sayer, Director of Adventure Cycling, a national bike advocacy group headquartered here in Missoula, was giving a lecture during Bike Walk Bus Week claiming bike travel could save humanity from its own excesses. So I hopped on my cruiser, with its cute little basket, and biked over.
I left convinced that, if I would only drop my car keys in the toilet and flush, a revolution would sweep the globe. One person at a time. With happy, smiling people across the planet riding bicycles everywhere.
Vive la revolution!
Okay, first we start with the problem –a virtual carbonfest in the Earth’s atmosphere. Right here in Montana, there aren’t too many people who haven’t noticed the glaciers in Glacier National Park are looking a lot smaller. Puny, actually. Outside Montana, Mt. Hood, a snowy icon with its perpetually snowcapped peak, is rapidly losing its snowy dome.
That’s where Jim Sayer has the answer. Enter enlightenment – the bicycle.
Sayer could convince Rush Limbaugh to sell his car and buy a road bike. With a fit build, wide smile, the man radiates impossibly good health. His young, blond children all cheerfully ride their own bikes around Missoula. In all, he’s the perfect person to convince the global community they need to permanently ditch their cars.
Sayer’s argument is simple: In the U.S., Sayer said, half of all trips taken are three miles and less. If just half of those trips were done by bicycle, we would save 24 billion gallons of gas each year – and reducing emissions as a result.
Those figures are why most of the world is seriously committed to promoting bike travel. So why can’t the U.S. stop spending billions on automobile travel and start spending a small portion on bikes?
It’s all about attitudes – and a political commitment, Sayer pointed out. In Japan, fuel taxes are huge. In Denmark, a 180 percent car registration fee helps encourage bicycle travel. France just hired a National Bike Czar, under the Ministry of Transportation. Copenhagen has 2,000 free bicycles out for commuters to use. And in Bogota, a city of 6.5 million, a plan is in place to ban all cars downtown during peak commute hours by 2015.
Even in Beijing, where the Chinese government is trying to encourage the purchase of automobiles (God bless capitalism), 50 percent of commuter trips are still done by bike.
“Bikes are just part of normal life – they’re respected, and no one thinks anything about it,” Sayer said. “Here, if you rode into work tomorrow on a bike, what would your (boss) say? They'd probably think you were weird.”
In the U.S., federal, state and local governments have committed almost nothing to encouraging bike use. Culturally, while business suit-clad European men get to work by bike, most American businessmen wouldn't be caught dead riding their cruiser to the office.
It’s not like everywhere in the U.S. is equally bike-unfriendly. As Waylon Lewis points out, the revolution has already begun in Boulder. Davis, California, has committed millions to make their city the bike capital of America.
The tide is turning, Sayer believes. National advocacy groups such as Adventure Cycling, Rails to Trails Conservancy, Bikes Belong Coalition, and the venerable League of American Cyclists are growing in strength, and they are pushing to get bike safety and infrastructure on the political front burner. Rails to Trails has a goal to get 90 percent of Americans within 3 miles of a bike trail network by 2020.
As for Adventure Cycling, Sayer’s group, they aren’t dreaming small. They want to see a nationwide, coast-to-coast bike “highway,” with extensive signage, allowing travelers to navigate across the country by bike.
“We think its time there was an interstate bike system,” Sayer said. “We want an official one, so people can follow signs across the country.”
But to bring on the global change, it’s all about starting local.
Missoula is mostly flat. It’s compact. It should be the perfect bike town. But its far from ideal. Although there have been improvements in recent years – extending trails, new bike/ped bridges – there’s a long way to go. Only 5 percent of all trips are by bike in the Garden City. The city hasn’t spent a lot of money on bike paths and advocacy – instead, dollars are going towards widening streets for cars, in Sayer's view.
“We have all the ingredients to be the best bike city in the nation,” Sayer said. “What if the sound you heard in Missoula wasn’t the drone of traffic, but the ring of a bike bell?”
The revolution starts with a simple act of defiance, a symbolic raised fist to the gas industry executives: Leaving the car at home.
I think I’ll leave the basket on the bike. I might need it to get to work tomorrow.
Pedal to save the planet, speaker says
By MEA ANDREWS of the Missoulian
Bicycles have already changed the world once, and they could do it again, says the director of the country's largest bicycling organization.
If everyone replaced half of their short-distance auto trips with a bike or their feet, the country would save more than 20 billion gallons of gas a year, and hundreds of billions of pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.
“You can't carry a whole soccer team on a bike,” says Jim Sayer, director of the Missoula-based Adventure Cycling. “But you can carry a lot of stuff.”
As part of the 2006 Bike Walk Bus Week, Sayer on Thursday gave a slide show on “How Bicycling Can Help Save the World (and Missoula),” a pictorial history of biking and some of the environmental challenges that face the United States and the world.
In their early days, bikes brought affordable transportation to the masses. Suddenly, people of modest means could travel outside their neighborhood, taking jobs away from home and shopping in more than one location, he said.
Bikes are even credited with freeing women from cumbersome hoops and undergarments, he said.
Now, with global warming and pollution such worldwide concerns, and with gasoline supplies dwindling and costs skyrocketing, the bike could save the planet again, he said.
Bikes also could help address an American epidemic: obesity.
“I call it carbos and carbon,” he says, clicking through a progression of slides showing the weight gain of Americans, state by state.
How bikes will help with the carbos is obvious. American kids need to walk and ride bikes, get more exercise in general, he said. Some national efforts might help, including one that earmarks money in every state - $1 million in Montana - to make riding bikes to school safer.
Higher gas prices this summer might encourage more bike riding for everyone, he said.
“I talked to friends in California, and they're at $3.69 a gallon,” he said. “We're peaking. And the Middle East is producing oil at capacity. We'll have to do something.”
“We are going to see the end of cheap oil,” he said. “The more dependent we are on oil, the more mired in the Middle East we'll be. I don't think that's what people want.”
Using less fossil fuel is not just a pocketbook issue, but also a climate issue, he said, showing slides of a dry Mount Hood and disappearing glacier fields, signs of a warming climate. Missoula's average March temperatures are up from 32 or 33 degrees to about 37, “which doesn't sound like a lot, but has profound implications for the planet,” he said.
Europe is making progress, encouraging more bicycling, he said. In Copenhagen, bicyclists are surveyed every year on whether they feel safe, and steep goals for improvement are set based on the survey. France appointed a bike minister to encourage biking, and many countries - the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany - are building connected bike paths across their land.
Numbers show the impact: In Copenhagen, 36 percent of work trips are done on bike, and in Germany, the number is 12 percent. Missoula's is 5 percent, compared with a national average of 1 percent, he said.
“If we don't get our acts together, we can't tell other people to get their act together,” he said.
Sayer said he'd like Missoula to endorse street designs that incorporate cars, walkers and bikers, especially in the urban center, such as the university area, downtown and West Broadway.
Connect bike paths to each other, to create a large network across the town and county, he suggests. Connected trails encourage more people to ride.
Also, offer incentives and provide more bike lanes and bike parking, he said. It's the “I” in “ALFIE,” an acronym that summarizes how to promote biking: Attitude, Laws, Facilities, Incentives, Enforcement.
Besides, biking is just plain fun, he said.
“People say that it is a way to connect with your surroundings, whether the air on your face or what you hear,” he said. “It's highly social: You can smile and wave at people.”
Published on 27 Apr 2006 by New West. Archived on 2 May 2006.
by Dana Green
Killer storms. Glaciers melting. A rapidly disappearing snowpack.
The signs of global warming are here, and they aren’t pretty. With the U.S. spewing 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air last year – one-quarter of the world total – a global meltdown, Day After Tomorrow-style, doesn’t seem farfetched anymore.
But getting on a bicycle saving the planet? Call me a skeptic, but I wasn’t buying it. Jim Sayer, Director of Adventure Cycling, a national bike advocacy group headquartered here in Missoula, was giving a lecture during Bike Walk Bus Week claiming bike travel could save humanity from its own excesses. So I hopped on my cruiser, with its cute little basket, and biked over.
I left convinced that, if I would only drop my car keys in the toilet and flush, a revolution would sweep the globe. One person at a time. With happy, smiling people across the planet riding bicycles everywhere.
Vive la revolution!
Okay, first we start with the problem –a virtual carbonfest in the Earth’s atmosphere. Right here in Montana, there aren’t too many people who haven’t noticed the glaciers in Glacier National Park are looking a lot smaller. Puny, actually. Outside Montana, Mt. Hood, a snowy icon with its perpetually snowcapped peak, is rapidly losing its snowy dome.
That’s where Jim Sayer has the answer. Enter enlightenment – the bicycle.
Sayer could convince Rush Limbaugh to sell his car and buy a road bike. With a fit build, wide smile, the man radiates impossibly good health. His young, blond children all cheerfully ride their own bikes around Missoula. In all, he’s the perfect person to convince the global community they need to permanently ditch their cars.
Sayer’s argument is simple: In the U.S., Sayer said, half of all trips taken are three miles and less. If just half of those trips were done by bicycle, we would save 24 billion gallons of gas each year – and reducing emissions as a result.
Those figures are why most of the world is seriously committed to promoting bike travel. So why can’t the U.S. stop spending billions on automobile travel and start spending a small portion on bikes?
It’s all about attitudes – and a political commitment, Sayer pointed out. In Japan, fuel taxes are huge. In Denmark, a 180 percent car registration fee helps encourage bicycle travel. France just hired a National Bike Czar, under the Ministry of Transportation. Copenhagen has 2,000 free bicycles out for commuters to use. And in Bogota, a city of 6.5 million, a plan is in place to ban all cars downtown during peak commute hours by 2015.
Even in Beijing, where the Chinese government is trying to encourage the purchase of automobiles (God bless capitalism), 50 percent of commuter trips are still done by bike.
“Bikes are just part of normal life – they’re respected, and no one thinks anything about it,” Sayer said. “Here, if you rode into work tomorrow on a bike, what would your (boss) say? They'd probably think you were weird.”
In the U.S., federal, state and local governments have committed almost nothing to encouraging bike use. Culturally, while business suit-clad European men get to work by bike, most American businessmen wouldn't be caught dead riding their cruiser to the office.
It’s not like everywhere in the U.S. is equally bike-unfriendly. As Waylon Lewis points out, the revolution has already begun in Boulder. Davis, California, has committed millions to make their city the bike capital of America.
The tide is turning, Sayer believes. National advocacy groups such as Adventure Cycling, Rails to Trails Conservancy, Bikes Belong Coalition, and the venerable League of American Cyclists are growing in strength, and they are pushing to get bike safety and infrastructure on the political front burner. Rails to Trails has a goal to get 90 percent of Americans within 3 miles of a bike trail network by 2020.
As for Adventure Cycling, Sayer’s group, they aren’t dreaming small. They want to see a nationwide, coast-to-coast bike “highway,” with extensive signage, allowing travelers to navigate across the country by bike.
“We think its time there was an interstate bike system,” Sayer said. “We want an official one, so people can follow signs across the country.”
But to bring on the global change, it’s all about starting local.
Missoula is mostly flat. It’s compact. It should be the perfect bike town. But its far from ideal. Although there have been improvements in recent years – extending trails, new bike/ped bridges – there’s a long way to go. Only 5 percent of all trips are by bike in the Garden City. The city hasn’t spent a lot of money on bike paths and advocacy – instead, dollars are going towards widening streets for cars, in Sayer's view.
“We have all the ingredients to be the best bike city in the nation,” Sayer said. “What if the sound you heard in Missoula wasn’t the drone of traffic, but the ring of a bike bell?”
The revolution starts with a simple act of defiance, a symbolic raised fist to the gas industry executives: Leaving the car at home.
I think I’ll leave the basket on the bike. I might need it to get to work tomorrow.
Pedal to save the planet, speaker says
By MEA ANDREWS of the Missoulian
Bicycles have already changed the world once, and they could do it again, says the director of the country's largest bicycling organization.
If everyone replaced half of their short-distance auto trips with a bike or their feet, the country would save more than 20 billion gallons of gas a year, and hundreds of billions of pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.
“You can't carry a whole soccer team on a bike,” says Jim Sayer, director of the Missoula-based Adventure Cycling. “But you can carry a lot of stuff.”
As part of the 2006 Bike Walk Bus Week, Sayer on Thursday gave a slide show on “How Bicycling Can Help Save the World (and Missoula),” a pictorial history of biking and some of the environmental challenges that face the United States and the world.
In their early days, bikes brought affordable transportation to the masses. Suddenly, people of modest means could travel outside their neighborhood, taking jobs away from home and shopping in more than one location, he said.
Bikes are even credited with freeing women from cumbersome hoops and undergarments, he said.
Now, with global warming and pollution such worldwide concerns, and with gasoline supplies dwindling and costs skyrocketing, the bike could save the planet again, he said.
Bikes also could help address an American epidemic: obesity.
“I call it carbos and carbon,” he says, clicking through a progression of slides showing the weight gain of Americans, state by state.
How bikes will help with the carbos is obvious. American kids need to walk and ride bikes, get more exercise in general, he said. Some national efforts might help, including one that earmarks money in every state - $1 million in Montana - to make riding bikes to school safer.
Higher gas prices this summer might encourage more bike riding for everyone, he said.
“I talked to friends in California, and they're at $3.69 a gallon,” he said. “We're peaking. And the Middle East is producing oil at capacity. We'll have to do something.”
“We are going to see the end of cheap oil,” he said. “The more dependent we are on oil, the more mired in the Middle East we'll be. I don't think that's what people want.”
Using less fossil fuel is not just a pocketbook issue, but also a climate issue, he said, showing slides of a dry Mount Hood and disappearing glacier fields, signs of a warming climate. Missoula's average March temperatures are up from 32 or 33 degrees to about 37, “which doesn't sound like a lot, but has profound implications for the planet,” he said.
Europe is making progress, encouraging more bicycling, he said. In Copenhagen, bicyclists are surveyed every year on whether they feel safe, and steep goals for improvement are set based on the survey. France appointed a bike minister to encourage biking, and many countries - the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany - are building connected bike paths across their land.
Numbers show the impact: In Copenhagen, 36 percent of work trips are done on bike, and in Germany, the number is 12 percent. Missoula's is 5 percent, compared with a national average of 1 percent, he said.
“If we don't get our acts together, we can't tell other people to get their act together,” he said.
Sayer said he'd like Missoula to endorse street designs that incorporate cars, walkers and bikers, especially in the urban center, such as the university area, downtown and West Broadway.
Connect bike paths to each other, to create a large network across the town and county, he suggests. Connected trails encourage more people to ride.
Also, offer incentives and provide more bike lanes and bike parking, he said. It's the “I” in “ALFIE,” an acronym that summarizes how to promote biking: Attitude, Laws, Facilities, Incentives, Enforcement.
Besides, biking is just plain fun, he said.
“People say that it is a way to connect with your surroundings, whether the air on your face or what you hear,” he said. “It's highly social: You can smile and wave at people.”
01 May 2006
Here, here!
"Until the geographic scaling of our cities, towns, and hamlets returns to the human, and not the automotive, scale, we will continue to be the slaves of our own devices."
Caught over a barrel
Gasoline prices have the power to change our behaviour: Motorists will drive endlessly to save a few cents on a litre and families are changing their vacation plans in the face of $1 a litre at the pumps. There's a Web site on where to find cheaper gas that gets 200,000 hits a day. To Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns, this is more than a little strange. He remembers what happened the last time gas prices spiked. That was late last summer, after Hurricane Katrina knocked out most oil-producing and refining operations on the Gulf Coast. "The biggest impact we've seen on consumer confidence in five or six years was Katrina. It had a bigger impact than the tech meltdown, 9/11, and the Iraq war. To me that's unbelievable." Part of the story with the price of gas, Porter said, is that it's the most visible cost in our lives. We can't avoid seeing it every time we leave the house. In his view, it's arguably the most influential price in the country. But it isn't necessarily the biggest one. According to data from Statistics Canada, just 3% of total household expenditures are going to gasoline and other fuels. That compares to food (10.9%), shelter (19.2%), clothing (3.9%), tobacco and alcohol (2.3%), and household furniture and equipment (2.9%).
So why the focus on gasoline? "Canada is a big place," said Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers' Association of Canada. "We drive a long way, we have a lot of urban sprawl, people tend to commute a long way. Gas prices affect us more than other places." Our paranoia that we are being fleeced at the pumps is ironic, given that gasoline is one of the rare commodities whose price isn't officially manipulated. Marketing boards set the prices for poultry and dairy products. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission regulates local phone rates. Pipeline and distribution rates on natural gas are regulated. Even the insurance industry is heavily regulated by the federal and provincial governments. "But gasoline is also the only commodity we see posted on billboards," said John Williamson, president of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. "It's always in your face. Your income taxes might be in your face this time of year, but not the rest of the time." Although investigations have proven there is no gas price manipulation taking place, the complaints about gouging and manipulation at the pumps remain. And the experts seem to agree they are unlikely to go away any time soon. "A lot of people think they're being gouged," Jason Toews, co-founder of GasBuddy.com, which operates a network of Web sites that track gas prices, said. "They shouldn't blame the gas stations. Crude oil prices are at US$75 a barrel. We're going to see that price reflected at the pumps."
(National Post 060429)
Bush rejects tax on surging oil company profits
President Bush on Friday rejected calls in Congress for a tax on oil company profits, saying the industry should reinvest its recent windfalls in finding and producing more energy. "The temptation in Washington is to tax everything,'' Bush said in an exchange with reporters in the White House Rose Garden. Rather than for the government to reap the benefit from oil company profits driven by the recent surge in global oil prices, "the answer is for there to be strong re-investment,'' he said. "These oil prices are a wakeup call,'' Bush said. "We're dependent on oil. We need to get off oil.'' With gasoline topping US$3 a US gallon (3.78 litres) in some areas, Bush said energy companies should use their increased cash flows to build more natural gas pipeline, expand refineries, explore "in environmentally friendly ways,'' and invest in renewable sources of energy."
(Canadian Press 060428)
I actually agree with Bush on this one. First of all, the profits the oil companies make is used for exploration and development of new O&G sources, which are only getting more expensive to develop as the deposits get smaller, more scarce, more remote and of poorer quality. To take that investment money away from the 'developers' could potentially result in much higher prices down the road. Second, it sets a very dangerous precedent (special tax every corporation when they start rolling in dough?). Third, it wouldn't address the fundamental issue that is resulting in the problem we have today, and it appears Bush finally gets the picture - a bandaid solution won't stop our addiction in any way.
Loonie may flirt with US parity
The Canadian dollar punched to a high not seen in 28 years against the US currency Friday, prompting some leading economists to raise the possibility of parity with the greenback as early as next year. The loonie gained US41 cents during the day, ending at 89.45 cents. At one point, it hit 89.56 cents, its highest level since May 26, 1978. "When you talk to foreign investors, they don't see parity being an unreasonable target at all," said Doug Porter, chief economist with BMO Nesbitt Burns. "It is definitely a possibility. Whether it can be sustained is another question." BMO is forecasting the loonie in the mid 90 cents range by early 2007, with parity not far behind. And although there are opposing views, Porter is not alone in his thinking. Dennis Gartman, an economist and editor of Virginia-based Gartman Letter, also raised the possibility Friday.
(National Post 060429)
This is really hard to believe. Just over five years ago, the loonie was at its worst performance against the greenback ever. I took a trip down to New Orleans in December of 2001 when the exchange rate was 62 cents on the dollar. That trip almost put me in the poorhouse. Now it is almost a deal to buy everything mailorder from the States. How time changes things....
So why the focus on gasoline? "Canada is a big place," said Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers' Association of Canada. "We drive a long way, we have a lot of urban sprawl, people tend to commute a long way. Gas prices affect us more than other places." Our paranoia that we are being fleeced at the pumps is ironic, given that gasoline is one of the rare commodities whose price isn't officially manipulated. Marketing boards set the prices for poultry and dairy products. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission regulates local phone rates. Pipeline and distribution rates on natural gas are regulated. Even the insurance industry is heavily regulated by the federal and provincial governments. "But gasoline is also the only commodity we see posted on billboards," said John Williamson, president of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. "It's always in your face. Your income taxes might be in your face this time of year, but not the rest of the time." Although investigations have proven there is no gas price manipulation taking place, the complaints about gouging and manipulation at the pumps remain. And the experts seem to agree they are unlikely to go away any time soon. "A lot of people think they're being gouged," Jason Toews, co-founder of GasBuddy.com, which operates a network of Web sites that track gas prices, said. "They shouldn't blame the gas stations. Crude oil prices are at US$75 a barrel. We're going to see that price reflected at the pumps."
(National Post 060429)
Bush rejects tax on surging oil company profits
President Bush on Friday rejected calls in Congress for a tax on oil company profits, saying the industry should reinvest its recent windfalls in finding and producing more energy. "The temptation in Washington is to tax everything,'' Bush said in an exchange with reporters in the White House Rose Garden. Rather than for the government to reap the benefit from oil company profits driven by the recent surge in global oil prices, "the answer is for there to be strong re-investment,'' he said. "These oil prices are a wakeup call,'' Bush said. "We're dependent on oil. We need to get off oil.'' With gasoline topping US$3 a US gallon (3.78 litres) in some areas, Bush said energy companies should use their increased cash flows to build more natural gas pipeline, expand refineries, explore "in environmentally friendly ways,'' and invest in renewable sources of energy."
(Canadian Press 060428)
I actually agree with Bush on this one. First of all, the profits the oil companies make is used for exploration and development of new O&G sources, which are only getting more expensive to develop as the deposits get smaller, more scarce, more remote and of poorer quality. To take that investment money away from the 'developers' could potentially result in much higher prices down the road. Second, it sets a very dangerous precedent (special tax every corporation when they start rolling in dough?). Third, it wouldn't address the fundamental issue that is resulting in the problem we have today, and it appears Bush finally gets the picture - a bandaid solution won't stop our addiction in any way.
Loonie may flirt with US parity
The Canadian dollar punched to a high not seen in 28 years against the US currency Friday, prompting some leading economists to raise the possibility of parity with the greenback as early as next year. The loonie gained US41 cents during the day, ending at 89.45 cents. At one point, it hit 89.56 cents, its highest level since May 26, 1978. "When you talk to foreign investors, they don't see parity being an unreasonable target at all," said Doug Porter, chief economist with BMO Nesbitt Burns. "It is definitely a possibility. Whether it can be sustained is another question." BMO is forecasting the loonie in the mid 90 cents range by early 2007, with parity not far behind. And although there are opposing views, Porter is not alone in his thinking. Dennis Gartman, an economist and editor of Virginia-based Gartman Letter, also raised the possibility Friday.
(National Post 060429)
This is really hard to believe. Just over five years ago, the loonie was at its worst performance against the greenback ever. I took a trip down to New Orleans in December of 2001 when the exchange rate was 62 cents on the dollar. That trip almost put me in the poorhouse. Now it is almost a deal to buy everything mailorder from the States. How time changes things....
28 April 2006
Bush: Raise fuel-efficiency standards
US president Bush on Thursday said he wants to raise fuel-efficiency standards on automobiles, as members of both parties jockeyed for political position on the issue of rising gas prices. Bush called on the US Congress to give him the authority to set the standards for passenger cars sold in the US as a means of reducing the nation's demand for gasoline. The president's comments were soon followed by a letter from Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta to the GOP House and Senate leaders. "At the president's request, I hereby ask that the Congress take prompt action to authorize the US Department of Transportation to reform fuel economy standards for passenger automobiles," Mineta wrote. Congress first set the passenger car standard for fuel economy in 1975, and it has remained at 27.5 miles per gallon since 1990. The mileage is a weighted average of an automaker's fleet, not a requirement for individual models. Mineta said the administration would oppose any increase in fuel standards that did not include rules that would prevent cars from becoming less safe as carmakers reduced their weight to help gas mileage.
Republicans proposed an amendment Thursday that would give the Transportation Department authority to issue fuel efficiency standards for passenger vehicles, expand tax incentives for the use of hybrid vehicles and push for more research into alternative fuels and expansion of existing oil refineries. It would also provide most American taxpayers with a US$100 rebate check to offset the pain of higher pump prices for gasoline. However, the GOP energy package might face tough sledding because it also includes a proposal to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil exploration, which most Democrats and some moderate Republicans oppose. Wednesday, on the other side of the aisle, Democrats called for a new energy bill and federal legislation to punish price gougers. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said Democrats want to roll back billions in tax breaks for oil companies. On Thursday, she reiterated her party's interest in forcing oil companies to ease the burden of high gas prices. Senator Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, called Thursday for an amendment that would suspend the federal gas tax for 60 days, which he said would save taxpayers $100 million dollars per day. He said the lost tax revenue would be covered by repealing $6 billion worth of tax breaks for major oil companies. If any of the proposals survive election-year partisanship to pass, Democrats and Republicans said they would be unlikely to affect the price of gas in the short term. That opinion was shared by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke during congressional testimony Thursday. "Unfortunately there's nothing, really, that can be done that's going to affect energy prices or gasoline prices in the very short run," Bernanke said. He warned, however, that record high oil prices remain a concern that could pose a risk to both economic growth and the inflation outlook.
(CNN 060428)
Thank gob the Powers That Be are finally looking at this as a crucial, serious issue. The arguments as to the source of high gas prices and reducing the stress on consumers are completely misguided attempts at political hot potato, but overlying all of this is the question whether it's too little, too late? Initiate the gas tax/carbon tax already! Yes, there will be economic hardship initially, but in the long run the ones that are using the finite resources will pay proportionately for their profligate lifestyles. If they can afford it, they should pay dearly for it. It's the only way to get our runaway consumption under control!!!
Republicans proposed an amendment Thursday that would give the Transportation Department authority to issue fuel efficiency standards for passenger vehicles, expand tax incentives for the use of hybrid vehicles and push for more research into alternative fuels and expansion of existing oil refineries. It would also provide most American taxpayers with a US$100 rebate check to offset the pain of higher pump prices for gasoline. However, the GOP energy package might face tough sledding because it also includes a proposal to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil exploration, which most Democrats and some moderate Republicans oppose. Wednesday, on the other side of the aisle, Democrats called for a new energy bill and federal legislation to punish price gougers. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said Democrats want to roll back billions in tax breaks for oil companies. On Thursday, she reiterated her party's interest in forcing oil companies to ease the burden of high gas prices. Senator Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, called Thursday for an amendment that would suspend the federal gas tax for 60 days, which he said would save taxpayers $100 million dollars per day. He said the lost tax revenue would be covered by repealing $6 billion worth of tax breaks for major oil companies. If any of the proposals survive election-year partisanship to pass, Democrats and Republicans said they would be unlikely to affect the price of gas in the short term. That opinion was shared by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke during congressional testimony Thursday. "Unfortunately there's nothing, really, that can be done that's going to affect energy prices or gasoline prices in the very short run," Bernanke said. He warned, however, that record high oil prices remain a concern that could pose a risk to both economic growth and the inflation outlook.
(CNN 060428)
Thank gob the Powers That Be are finally looking at this as a crucial, serious issue. The arguments as to the source of high gas prices and reducing the stress on consumers are completely misguided attempts at political hot potato, but overlying all of this is the question whether it's too little, too late? Initiate the gas tax/carbon tax already! Yes, there will be economic hardship initially, but in the long run the ones that are using the finite resources will pay proportionately for their profligate lifestyles. If they can afford it, they should pay dearly for it. It's the only way to get our runaway consumption under control!!!
27 April 2006
Broken
So many things have broken on me this week, I'm not sure what to do. So much money going out.
The computer is fixed and running. We still have the crashed hard drive as a slave so that we can pull stuff off of it, so it still runs but it makes awful noises. At least we have recovered all of the personal stuff. Total bill for the fix was $260 which includes a new 250GB HD. I called Future Shop today to inquire about their warranty in light of the fact that we did the repairs on our own. Not surprisingly, the warranty is nixed if you do the work on your own. Maybe I could've gotten a replacement for free through them, but no doubt it would've taken weeks for them to do, and we wouldn't have had the chance to attempt to recover our data. In retrospect, even though I paid a chunk for extended warranty and $260 for repairs, it still doesn't seem like that bad of a deal. I'm definitely going to take everything in slightly askew for replacement before the warranty is expired, however. Fuck them.
I took my Madone and an extra Bontrager wheel into Ridley's for overhaul and repair, and as they were truing the wheel, the hub flanges snapped on both sides. Strange, but I guess Trek is covering the cost of the replacement, which is good.
When we were down in Tucson, I bought a replacement skewer transmitter and mount for my Mavic Wintech computer. Everything was working fine up until last weekend when I finally decided to install everything. Now the computer doesn't work at all. I think something is wrong with the computer as opposed to the transmitters because it is not reading ANYTHING, and when it goes into sleep mode, it doesn't display the time like it used to. I know it's been over two years since I bought the thing, but the guys at Calgary Cycle want to help out. If I can find the bill of sale, they can probably try and get a replacement through Mavic. Otherwise, I am probably going to be stuck having to buy a new one. Commitment to previous investment, indeed.
On top of that, some of my other 'personal' possessions at home have broken as well, and are requiring another shelling out of cash to replace. Hmmmm....
Is anything else going to break? Frick.
There is some good news though - I got word last week that I have been selected by Zipp for the 2006 athlete sponsorship deal. I'm getting a Canadian pro deal through them for the year - which means cheap(er) equipment! I've already put in an order for several wheelsets and accessories.
I've just realized I haven't really posted anything since Easter. I still have lots of pics to sift through and post. There has already been a weekend in between! Last weekend was fun. My curling mate Aaron's farewell party was on Friday at Vicious Circle. We had a lot of fun and the story ends up in a hot tub at the Westin at 3am. Please email for more details! (heh heh) Saturday Joe and I met up with Doug, Darren and Jeff for some drinks at the Backlot and then we were supposed to meet Jerome and Bruce at Ming. We got a call from them enroute that they didn't wait for us and headed home. So we ended up going there anyways, and later on Jon and James Purdy popped in from the Ship and Anchor and had a few with us. Joe and I headed home after stopping at Thai Thai for subs. Sunday was the first CBTL registration day at the track, so that took up most of the afternoon. Pretty quiet weekend.
Tonight is the second night of CBTL registration, and this weekend is the first race event of the 2006 season, the Bicisport ITT and Crit. Should be fun now that the weather's looking to be warm and sunny. Yay. Wish me luck!
The computer is fixed and running. We still have the crashed hard drive as a slave so that we can pull stuff off of it, so it still runs but it makes awful noises. At least we have recovered all of the personal stuff. Total bill for the fix was $260 which includes a new 250GB HD. I called Future Shop today to inquire about their warranty in light of the fact that we did the repairs on our own. Not surprisingly, the warranty is nixed if you do the work on your own. Maybe I could've gotten a replacement for free through them, but no doubt it would've taken weeks for them to do, and we wouldn't have had the chance to attempt to recover our data. In retrospect, even though I paid a chunk for extended warranty and $260 for repairs, it still doesn't seem like that bad of a deal. I'm definitely going to take everything in slightly askew for replacement before the warranty is expired, however. Fuck them.
I took my Madone and an extra Bontrager wheel into Ridley's for overhaul and repair, and as they were truing the wheel, the hub flanges snapped on both sides. Strange, but I guess Trek is covering the cost of the replacement, which is good.
When we were down in Tucson, I bought a replacement skewer transmitter and mount for my Mavic Wintech computer. Everything was working fine up until last weekend when I finally decided to install everything. Now the computer doesn't work at all. I think something is wrong with the computer as opposed to the transmitters because it is not reading ANYTHING, and when it goes into sleep mode, it doesn't display the time like it used to. I know it's been over two years since I bought the thing, but the guys at Calgary Cycle want to help out. If I can find the bill of sale, they can probably try and get a replacement through Mavic. Otherwise, I am probably going to be stuck having to buy a new one. Commitment to previous investment, indeed.
On top of that, some of my other 'personal' possessions at home have broken as well, and are requiring another shelling out of cash to replace. Hmmmm....
Is anything else going to break? Frick.
There is some good news though - I got word last week that I have been selected by Zipp for the 2006 athlete sponsorship deal. I'm getting a Canadian pro deal through them for the year - which means cheap(er) equipment! I've already put in an order for several wheelsets and accessories.
I've just realized I haven't really posted anything since Easter. I still have lots of pics to sift through and post. There has already been a weekend in between! Last weekend was fun. My curling mate Aaron's farewell party was on Friday at Vicious Circle. We had a lot of fun and the story ends up in a hot tub at the Westin at 3am. Please email for more details! (heh heh) Saturday Joe and I met up with Doug, Darren and Jeff for some drinks at the Backlot and then we were supposed to meet Jerome and Bruce at Ming. We got a call from them enroute that they didn't wait for us and headed home. So we ended up going there anyways, and later on Jon and James Purdy popped in from the Ship and Anchor and had a few with us. Joe and I headed home after stopping at Thai Thai for subs. Sunday was the first CBTL registration day at the track, so that took up most of the afternoon. Pretty quiet weekend.
Tonight is the second night of CBTL registration, and this weekend is the first race event of the 2006 season, the Bicisport ITT and Crit. Should be fun now that the weather's looking to be warm and sunny. Yay. Wish me luck!
26 April 2006
The Lorax
From Wikipedia:
The Lorax is a children's story written by Dr. Seuss and first published in 1971. The tale chronicles the plight of the environment and the Lorax (a "mossy, bossy" man-like creature), who speaks for the trees against the greedy Once-ler.
The book is commonly recognized as a parable concerning industrialized society, using the literary element of personification to give life to industry as the Once-ler (whose face is never shown in all of the story's illustrations) and to the environment as the Lorax. This story is often used in environmental science classes to teach the tragedy of the commons.
The Lorax is arguably Seuss' most controversial work, having been banned in some schools and libraries for its political content.
The Once-ler was a businessman who ran his company with the exclusive goal of increasing its sales and profits as rapidly as possible, a common practice in a corporate market economy: "business is business and business must grow". In the process he ignored the long-term sustainability of his business and environmental concerns such as biodiversity and habitat loss. In his old age he tells a curious boy about the splendor of nature in his youth and the growth and crash of industry at the far end of town.
Discovering the potential for profit in a lush forest of Truffula trees, the Once-ler began clearcutting it to mass-market Thneeds (odd-looking but versatile knitted garments) made from the Truffula tree tufts. The Lorax popped out of the tree stump of the first felled Truffula, and declared himself to "speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues".
The Lorax vehemently protested the destruction of the Truffula forest, stating that the Once-ler was crazy with greed and that his business was destroying the Truffula ecosystem, causing mass migrations of native fauna, including the bear-like Barbaloots and species of fish and birds. The Once-ler didn't listen; he continued clearcutting the trees and dumping industrial waste into nearby ponds. Eventually the Once-ler's thneed business consumed every single Truffula tree, eliminating the truffula forest ecosystem and putting his own company out of business. The Once-ler's relatives abandon him, and the Lorax flies away, leaving behind a small pile of rocks inscribed with the word "UNLESS".
With age the Once-ler has come to realize the folly of his ways and the importance of conservation. Speaking to the boy in the story, and directly to the reader, the Once-ler explains that "unless" people took an active and caring role in their environment, "nothing is going to get better, it's not". The Once-ler then gives the boy the very last Truffula seed, telling him to grow a new tree and eventually a forest and protect it from unsustainable industrial practices, and that then perhaps the Lorax and his animal friends would return.
21 April 2006
Data loss update
I talked to the computer technician that is looking at our computer last night. It appears the hard drive physically crashed. I'm not sure how much of the data on the drive is retrievable, but it's fairly certain that at least a chunk of it will be permanently lost. There was around 100GB of data on the drive. The biggest loss would be three year's worth of pictures, all of my web site files, cycling documentation, and of course the porn. I hope we luck out and retrieve the stuff that was really important.
On the bright side, we're getting a new 250GB hard drive put in so we can work hard to fill it up with crap too.
Let this be a lesson to you: "Don't put off backing up today what you can wait to back up tomorrow". Or something like that. In other words, don't be a lazy sot and plan to do it tomorrow. That goes for living in general, too.
On the bright side, we're getting a new 250GB hard drive put in so we can work hard to fill it up with crap too.
Let this be a lesson to you: "Don't put off backing up today what you can wait to back up tomorrow". Or something like that. In other words, don't be a lazy sot and plan to do it tomorrow. That goes for living in general, too.
19 April 2006
I feel so vulnerable...
*Sigh* So the home 'puter blowed up real good last night. I was attempting to plug my work support laptop into the powerbar and accidentally hit the cancel switch. The computer blinked off. I tried to restart it but it was looping between the DOS startup and the initial Windows XP startup routines. It appears I have fried the connection between the motherboard and the harddrive, since the operating system was still trying to access the main startup files on the harddrive, but couldn't. Joe tried resurrection as well, but now the machine won't even turn on. So it's a trip to the repair shop for good 'ol Bessy. My life in general will be put on hold until this is resolved. Hopefully I'll be back online by the end of the weekend....
15 April 2006
Brooks Newest B&B
Brooks newest bed and breakfast - wouldn't you be PO'D to come home to this???
The guy that lives here is in Fort Mac working, he has a good sense of humor - I hope.
His 'buddies' made this sign in his front yard. The posts are cemented in the ground and it cost over $500 to make. It is illuminated and the one hand goes back and forth and smacks...
They actually put this sign up on the guys front lawn while he was away and it stayed up while he was away this month.
Thanks for the pics, Jon!
Liza Minelli belongs in the crazy house
A clips reel of Liza Minnelli's various outbursts on the March 15, 2006 episode of Larry King Live. Homegirl is wild.
Thanks for pointing me to this, Bruce!
12 April 2006
The REAL Monster Profile
| Your Monster Profile |
 Brutal Terror You Feast On: Tofu You Lurk Around In: Sewers You Especially Like to Torment: Your Evil Twin |
Ooh...wait...I like this one better:
| Your Monster Profile |
 Wild Vagabond You Feast On: Fried Chicken You Lurk Around In: Swamps You Especially Like to Torment: Cops |
...or this one...
| Your Monster Profile |
 Basilisk Slimer You Feast On: Fingernails You Lurk Around In: The Empire State Building You Especially Like to Torment: Cops |
I question the validity of this test too, Sara and Jon! When ARE the scientists at Blogthings going to devise an accurate monster profiling test?
11 April 2006
I'd Do Tom Boonen (alternate title: Bend It Like Boonen)
The Tom Boonen fan club was in agreement this week, "Yes, we'd do Tom Boonen." There are even plans to get the complementary t-shirt. Indeed, I was VERY serious when I proclaimed this. This man is unstoppable - he's 23, and destined to become the next Eddy Merckx of cycling. Amazing. And hot!
Boonen wins the Ronde van Vlaanderen
The other four Europeans I'd do:
2. Alessandro Petacchi
3. Fabian Cancellara
4. Danilo Diluca
5. Alejandro Valverde
Boonen wins the Ronde van Vlaanderen
The other four Europeans I'd do:
2. Alessandro Petacchi
3. Fabian Cancellara
4. Danilo Diluca
5. Alejandro Valverde
10 April 2006
Deserted in Arizona
Great trip, great times. 750km in seven days. A total of 20,000 plus feet of climbing. And lots of beer and gellato to boot.
Biosphere 2 - Sunday
Kitt Peak - Monday
Saguaro East National Park - Tuesday
View to the north from Saguaro
Windy Point, en route to Mt. Lemmon, Friday
San Pedro Vista
Flying over the Grand Canyon
Another view
For Jon
Biosphere 2 - Sunday
Kitt Peak - Monday
Saguaro East National Park - Tuesday
View to the north from Saguaro
Windy Point, en route to Mt. Lemmon, Friday
San Pedro Vista
Flying over the Grand Canyon
Another view
For Jon
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