Watermelons & Cyclist
Image by Justin Beck. Some rights reserved.
Rocky Hillside
05/28/11
05/27/11
Old Folks Do Indeed Drive Horribly
Interesting. Not unexpected that older drivers drive unsafely.
Yet, perhaps this research suggests a remedy.
[R]esearchers . . . using a novel method to gauge how well people drive, have concluded that serious errors are alarmingly commonplace. “We are seeing a ubiquitous increase in driver errors with age,” said Kaarin Anstey, a psychologist at Australian National University and lead author of the report, just published in the journal Neuropsychology.
Dr. Anstey and her co-author, Joanne Wood, administered a battery of cognitive tests to 266 adults ages 70 to 88 and asked them about their driving history — standard stuff. But then the researchers took their subjects out on the road for a 12-mile swing through urban and suburban Brisbane in a dual-brake car. A professional driving instructor in the passenger seat directed the driver for part of the route, but for about a quarter of the course, the driver had to follow signs and find his or her own way to an unfamiliar destination. In the back seat, a trained occupational therapist observed and recorded everything from unsignaled lane changes to speeding to abrupt stops.
. . .
[T]he so-called critical errors — in which the instructor in the front seat either had to grab the wheel or hit the auxiliary brake to avert a crash — quadrupled among the eldest drivers, compared with the youngest. Those ages 70 to 74 averaged less than one critical error during the nearly hourlong excursion; those older than 85 averaged almost four.
One interesting thing is that these were healthy, independent seniors who were tested as free from dementia and Alzheimer's.
This suggests to me that part of the dangerous driving/loss of mobility problem could be addressed with another round of driver's ed or testing.
05/25/11
Great Title
My Ten Years in a Quandary AND HOW THEY GREW by Robert Benchley.
I was astonished to find that someone wrote a book with this title and that that someone wasn't me.
Watched the News Last Night, Oh Boy
Just the local TV news. No wonder people have irrational fears. It was like a parody of a news show.
The lead story? Hooligans attack a Dunkin Donuts and steal doughnuts and drinks!
05/22/11
Good Plan
05/20/11
Heh. Heh. Heh.
From the NYTimes:
On Thursday, in a report on the “CBS Evening News,” [Lance's team mate Tyler] Hamilton said he had seen Armstrong inject himself with the banned performance-enhancing drug EPO to win those Tours. A full interview with Hamilton will be broadcast Sunday on “60 Minutes” on CBS.
“I saw him inject it more than one time,” Hamilton said. “Yeah, like we all did. Like I did many, many times.”
The evidence was there but gullible people didn't want to look at it.
05/19/11
A Source of Wonder
Michele Bachmann has a law degree. She went to Oral Roberts Law School.
I wonder what classes are like at Oral Roberts Law School.
05/18/11
Lest we Forget
I'm quite happy bashing the media, as usual, but I think they're getting a bit of a bum rap. They're covering the deficit in large part because both major political parties are mostly talking about the deficit. If some charismatic politician with the ability to get people to point some cameras at him spent more time talking about jobs and coming up with policies for jobs and talking about those the media would be talking about that too.
Remind me again why I vote for . . . . Ah well.
About
Rocky Hillside
In the dark of the moon, in the flying snow, in the dead of winter,
war spreading, families dying, the world in danger,
I walk the rocky hillside, sowing clover.
-- Wendell Berry
Location
Edging away from the edge of American space
Links
Riders & Writers
- Biking Bis
News and comments about tours, touring, & racing. Good things not seen elsewhere.
- Commute By Bike
Many reviews, a DIY project or two, and some fun posts about biking.
- Cycle-licious
A great, active blog.
- FatBoyBiking
The struggles of a fat guy on his way to middle age and the classic battle of the bulge. Against him, the entire agricultural and food production system, American Midwestern attitudes towards food and eating and a lifetime of sloth and drunkenness. His only weapon, his bike.
- Freewheeling Spirit
An exhilarating cycling blog. Formerly the authoritative site for Danish handball news and the bike porn contest (my entry was rejected), Freewheeling is a site I check out ever day.
- Lovely Bicycle!
Wonderful writing from a "bicycle obsessionist."
- Martino's Bike Lane Diary
Sharp-witted cycling advocacy and photos
- The Bicycle Story
Kent Peterson is Issaquah’s Favorite Car-Free, Ultra Long-Distance Racing, Techie-Turned Mechanic
- Urban Velo
It's a magazine, newsletter, blog, and the mind boggles to think what else.
- Urbana-Champaign Bicycle Commute
Charming, "fresh" writing about biking in University of Illinois Land.
- Yehuda Moon
Rick Smith's bikey comic.
Colorado
- Bicycle Colorado
Wrapped up effort to get a "share the road" vanity automobile license plate. In February 2008, failed to raise the maximum fine for running over a cyclist while the driver was failing to yield. (Bicycle Colorado was pushing for $1,000. Radical.)
- Bike Denver
Positive trajectory in doubt, trending back to ass-kiss mode. Too bad.
- City of Denver's Bike Program
Denver shows why it's behind the curve. (I really didn't think this page could get worse . . . Wrong again.)
- Cycle Analyst
The most experienced mechanics in town and the most complete collection of tools and parts in the West. No place like it.
- Denver Critical Mass - YahooGroups
Last Friday of the month. Meet at Civic Center Park at the Seal Fountain pool between 5:30 and 6:00 pm.
- Denver Cruiser Ride
The Denver Cruisers meet at the The Ginn Mill at 2041 Larimer Street every wednesday at 6:30pm, until September 30th.
- Denver Local
Adventures in Local Living
Biking, Walking, and Public Transit in Denver, Colorado - Derailer Bicycle Collective
A free, non-profit, collectively run community bicycle shop on the west side of Denver.
- Kickstand Magazine
The world's first and only cruiser magazine has it's home right here in Denver. Aren't we the lucky ones!
- Rocky Hillside on Google+
- The Bike Depot
A east side (Park Hill) non-profit bike place that encourages folks to build and fix their own bikes and gives them the tools and help to actually do it. Nice dedicated folks who seem to know what they are doing. (As befits a foundation-funded operation, the website description is opaque and baffling, but I've been there and it's a good place.)
- Track Shack
Friendly, competent, and cool.
Cycling Advocacy
- Bicycle Fixation
A large collection of articles and links on cycling and sustainability.
- Bike Portland
To inform and inspire. And it does.
- C.I.C.L.E.
(Cyclists Inciting Change thru Live Exchange) dynamic site promoting cycling as a viable and sustainable transportation choice.
- Cycling Cartoons
"Explaining" cycling in cartoons. Works for me.
- Driven To Distraction
The NYTimes series on irresponsible, multitasking drivers.
- StreetsBlog
The blog of the New York Streets Renaissance - advocacy in action - and as everyone knows, it happens in NYC first.
- Time's Up!
grassroots group that uses direct action and education to push for a sustainable NYC.
- WashCycle
Washington Area Bicyclist Association
Writers
- Gezellig Girl
Though it's about cooking and food, I love the writing - snappy and downright . . . rollicking. Read this.
- The Paris Review
The Paris Review is a literary magazine featuring original writing, art, and in-depth interviews with famous writers. And its website is a collection of literary curiosities, fiction, and essays.
Tourists
- A Bikeable Feast
"I want to learn about sustainable agriculture, as much as I possibly can. . . . I plan to hop on my bike and head north, following the growing season in a giant loop around the country, stopping to learn and work . . . I imagine this will take about a year, maybe longer."
- A Honeymoon to Remember
"[They] built the bikes, sold the house, got married, quit a job," and are cycling around Asia. They finished their tour in May 2010.
- crazyguyonabike
THE place for cycle tourists. If you are planning, dreaming, or riding a tour . . . .
- reCycling the World
David Byrne cycled around in the world in 1975. Now retired, he's doing it again. Why? "I can think of nothing better to do."
- The Touring Store
The best, most knowledgeable, compulsive person to talk to about panniers and racks is Wayne. Has any business, internet or brick and mortar, ever know so much and been so helpful about this stuff? His prices are great, too.
Bike Ogling
- Bikes For The Rest Of Us
- Rides A Bike
Movie stars and their self-propelled vehicles.
Japan
- Finding Fukuoka
Fukuoka, Japan.
- More glimpses of unfamiliar Japan
Interesting photos and descriptions of Japan. No bikes.
- Tokyo By Bike
Bicycles and cycling in Japan from someone quite opinionated about Japanese cyclists and commuters.
- TravelJapanBlog
No cycling here but a collection of glimpses of Asia, mainly Japan -- from baseball beer girls to beaches.
Bike Tech
- Mike Sherman's Gear Calculator
Calculates gearing in several useful ways and provides extra info like required deraileur capacity.
- Zinn's Fit Calculator
Lennard's Zinn's bike fit calculator. The link goes to the Road version.
Gardening
- Front Ranger Gardener
Gardening in Denver from the staff Horticulturist with the Colorado State University Extension office in Denver. Good stuff.
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