Ride with GPS
I used the Ride with GPS recreational route sharing website to make a map of a 50 km bike ride I like; shown below. I'll even put up with Flash® for something this nice.
posted @ 07:40 PM EDT
July 14
Eleventh Pan-Mass Challenge
The first weekend in August I will ride with Team Dolben for the eleventh straight year in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge (PMC), which benefits the Jimmy Fund of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI); 153 miles from Wellesley to Bourne and back. Personally, I have many reasons to support the kind of work—research and treatment—that is done at Dana-Farber, and see this event as an opportunity to make my friends aware of this way of contributing to the effort (a) to improve the treatment of people with cancer and (b) to increase the understanding of cancer prevention. In the past 30 years, the PMC has contributed $270 million to DFCI, while this year some 5,200 people are riding with a goal of raising $31 million (100 cents of every dollar donated going to fight cancer).
If, for your own reasons, you decide to support Dana-Farber with a sponsorship of my ride, please use the secure web server with my "eGift" ID.
posted @ 09:17 AM EDT
July 10
160 Miles on the Bike This Week
I bicycled 160 miles in the week ending today. Last year the only week I rode more than that was the one that ended the Saturday of the Pan-Mass Challenge.
posted @ 02:02 PM EDT
July 5
NH Law for Bicyclists Riding Two Abreast
So that you can honestly say that you've read the New Hampshire law, the following is from TITLE XXI, MOTOR VECHICLES, CHAPTER 265, RULES OF THE ROAD, Special Rules for Bicycles and Mopeds, Section 265:144.
V. Persons riding bicycles 2 or more abreast shall not impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic and, on a laned roadway, shall ride within a single lane.
posted @ 04:25 PM EDT
Two Abreast
Near the end of today's bike ride I overtook a group of three women bicyclists. As I approached from behind them I saw that two of them were riding abreast and continued to do so when there was overtaking traffic in spite of the fact that the rider on the left was well out in the lane, there being no shoulder to the road. I see this all time and am bothered by it because I know that it annoys the motor vehicle drivers who consequently have difficulty passing. After I passed the three I watched—I have a rearview mirror, good for anticipating overtaking traffic—as a few more times cars overtook them, at times with traffic coming in the opposite direction, making passing from behind impossible for a little while. That did it. I sat up and waited until the women caught up to me, then asked the one out in the middle of the road why she didn't move over to allow overtaking traffic to pass. She told me that New Hampshire permitted bicyclists to ride two abreast. Ah! There's the problem.
You see, that's true, but only when not impeding traffic. One of the other women told me I should read the law. I'm pretty sure that people who say that have never read the law. Bob Mionske, an attorney specializing in law affecting cyclists, has a brief guide to the state laws regarding riding two abreast.
posted @ 11:59 AM EDT
June 21
Deepwater Horizon Blowout Preventer Failure
The New York Times finds preliminary answers to many of the questions about the failure of the Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer. Two things in particular standout: the blowout preventer has only one blind shear ram (that failed to seal the well) while many underwater wells have blowout preventers with a second, backup, blind shear ram; blowout preventers are known within the industry and government regulating agencies to be unreliable, suffering from design deficiencies and inadequate maintenance.
posted @ 08:57 AM EDT
June 11
Too Bad Not to Fail
In the American Scholar, University of South Carolina law professor William Quirk provides a straightforward analysis of the recent financial crisis; its causes and effects, as well as the bailout of the giant investment banks, which in his view have become thinly veiled hedge funds following their historically recent incorporation and deregulation. He convincingly recommends re-regulation—returning these rogue institutions to the traditional banking role—and limiting their size, so that we will no longer fear the failure of any one, a measure I heartily endorse.
posted @ 06:50 PM EDT
June 6
Seventh Anniversary
Today is the seventh anniversary of the inception of Nothing Is Perfect.
posted @ 04:38 AM EDT
June 3
Celestial Dance
It's always nice to know what you're looking at when gazing at the sky on a fine summer night. This year our two closest planetary neighbors engage the ringed one in a season long celestial dance.
posted @ 11:17 AM EDT
June 2
The Ultimate Question
It's time for a reminder of what I mean when I say that this blog is about life, the universe, and everything.
posted @ 12:57 PM EDT