Rocky Hillside

Image by Toru_Okada. Some rights reserved.

This implies that he's going to do the right thing and veto this POS.

(Right.)

I'm tempted to elaborate, but why bother. I've said it all before. We're screwed. We've surrendered.

Google Labs can save you from yourself:

Mail Goggles
by Jon P

Google strives to make the world's information useful. Mail you send late night on the weekends may be useful but you may regret it the next morning. Solve some simple math problems and you're good to go. Otherwise, get a good night's sleep and try again in the morning. After enabling this feature, you can adjust the schedule in the "General" settings page.

An add-in to gmail.

If Congress doesn't raise the debt limit and there's no ensuing crisis, Obama will look like a fool.

Image by Ojisanjake at More glimpses of unfamiliar Japan.

Whether you are interested in Japan or not, More glimpses of unfamiliar Japan is a great blog.

Ojisanjake is a talented photographer -- really and truly. Typically he photographs places I will never visit. And, his images capture things that I wouldn't see even if I were there.

He expands my world and makes me more aware of my own. And that's the greatest praise one can give an artist.

Here are two recent posts that do just that.

Image by Lec. Some rights reserved.

Ah, freedom! Not freedom for me. That's not worth mentioning. Freedom of the corporations that want to sell me stuff and control my life, so that I will keep buying their stuff.

I can't use my new cellphone, because the manufacturer's website isn't working and won't create an account. An account I don't want and will never use.

Can't even get past that part of the setup. When I do, I know my phone will have a collection of absurd applications that can't be removed because my cellphone carrier hopes to drain more bucks from me.

Why can't I just buy a cellphone? And then buy cellphone service? A cellphone that works and isn't tied to five corporations and a single carrier? Cellphone service that works and doesn't require a contract?

Because the free market has determined that giving me less freedom of choice makes more money for corporations. Somehow I don't feel an urge to wave the flag and sing patriotic songs.

The true miracle of the free market is that it has eradicated our self-determination and did so without even a whimper. We are slaves to corporations.

I hope they will at least be merciful enough to let me have my social security when the time comes. But that seems increasingly unlikely.

we get Republicans?

Denver's ostensibly Democratic mayor, Michael Hancock, just appointed Janice Sinden as his chief of staff.

Registered Republican. Works for a business group. Formerly worked for ghastly incompetent Republican U.S. Senator Wayne Allard. Donated to one of Colorado's greater nutballs, Doug Lamborn.Doesn't live in Denver.

No one expects Hancock to be a good mayor. The question is, just how bad will he be.

Image by fraleya. Some rights reserved.

The bankers blew up the world. This made a lot of home equity disappear. That meant people had less money. This meant they stopped buying stuff. That threw folks out of work. This means they are paying less in taxes and that the government is spending more on support programs.

In response, the government spent money to bail the bankers out, spent some money to reduce the pace of job losses, and cut everyone's taxes.

The fact that people were out of work, weren't buying stuff, and needed help increased the government's spending and revenue. The tax cuts reduced the revenue some more. This means the deficit is high.

How high is the deficit? Not as high as it was a couple decades ago. (See Reagan and his aftermath.) The fact that people aren't buying things has also reduced the cost of financing the deficit to very low levels. As deficits go, this one is relatively cheap.

So is the government putting people back to work or giving them money to buy stuff? No.

Although the deficit isn't a huge problem right now, both parties feel compelled to immediately address address it.

Why are they all fixated on the deficit? The Republicans say the deficit is a critical emergency because they are nuts and hate all Democratic presidents. In fact, it is so critical, according to Republicans, that they are willing to blow up the world again. Why are the Democrats are hysterical about the deficit? The answer remains a mystery. None of the possible answers reflect well on the Democrats.

How have they set out to solve the deficit crisis that isn't a crisis? Neither party will raise taxes on the only people with money. The Republicans hate all government, and the Democrats don't appear too crazy about it either, except our bloated military which both parties love. So the Democrats and Republicans agree that cutting government spending immediately is absolutely critical.

Since they won't cut the military budget significantly, among the spending cuts are cuts to social security (which is in generally good shape for a couple decades and which regular folks and the poor depend upon) and cuts to medical services to the old and the poor.

These cuts won't put anyone back to work or give anyone more money to spend. They will increase and spread the suffering of regular folks and the poor.

Moreover, they may actually end up doing little to reduce the deficit because they don't fix any of the problems that we currently have. They won't put anyone back to work and they will reduce the money people have to buy stuff.

Do I have that about right?

Mountain Hardwear Drifter 3.

Mountain Hardwear Skyledge.

We took two Mountain Hardwear tents on our recent bike tour: A Mountain Hardware Drifter and Mountain Hardware Skyledge. They were both wonderful tents. (A huge improvement over our old Sierra Designs Flashlight and even older Eureka Timberline.) Mountain Hardwear makes great tents.

They were both watertight, lightweight, and had two doors. The two doors cannot be beat. The widespread use of netting rather than ripstop means both tents were very close to as cool as can be in the heat. Both have large vestibules when the flies are pitched.

I'm over six feet all and Gerty is not petite. There was plenty of room for us in both of these tents -- they are, supposedly the three-man versions.

Which is better?

The Drifter ($194.95) is a great, simple tent. No tent is easier to set up. It has two matching poles. Sturdy enough. Very light. The opaque side panels are tall enough to provide privacy even in cramped campgrounds on a hot night. Stephen said he thought there was less cross ventilation because of those panels but I have trouble believing there was significantly less. The footprint is a piece of ripstop.

The Skyledge ($424.95) is another great tent. It is made for ultralightweight backpacking. It doesn't seem quite as sturdy as the Drifter -- I'll bet the Drifter lasts longer -- but the weight shaving doesn't compromise useability. The Skyledge has a bit less floor area but an additional short pole across the top (in addition to two cross poles like the Drifter) makes the difference unnoticeable in use. The Skyledge packs a bit smaller. The footprint is olefin -- very light but makes noise when you're unfolding it.

The only thing I would change about either tent is to make the tent poles fold small enough to fit inside a pannier. This is minor and a personal preference: the poles fit easily on top of a rack.

All in all, I would buy the Drifter and save the money. The weight saved by the Skyledge (less than half a pound?) just isn't big enough to make it worth an extra $200.

I wondered a few months ago about what sort of law school Michele Bachman might have managed to graduate from.

Sarah Posner sheds some light.

If a Nobel laureate can't figure out what Obama's doing, how am I or any other Democrat supposed to?

My latest theory is that he is a sleeper agent for Grover Norquist.

Ah, well.

[via Bike Lane Diary] Bike wheel animation. (The title is derived, I believe, from various other "tropes" once used create animations.) The creator, Tim Wheatley, has a blog called the Cyclotrope Project.

Tom Tomorrow at Daily Kos.

I supported Obama over Clinton because I didn't want another four years of "triangulating," reinforcing moronic Reaganesque ideas, and failing to provide progressive leadership.

Even if Clinton was (or is) what I thought Clinton was, she couldn't have been as spineless and incompetent as Obama has proven to be.

Goofed again.

I thought the first four Harry Potter books were wonderful children's literature. The last three were sorry, pretentious, detestable dreck.

Little did I know the Harry Potter books and movies were not in fact juvenile literature. Rather, they are the pinnacle of Western Civilization. J. K. Rowling belongs in the pantheon of great writers. And all literature and movies are now best discussed in terms of Harry Potter.

Just so you know.

This is for real. In downtown Salt Lake, near Squatters. There were flags available on either side of the crosswalk.

If a pedestrian is hit in a crosswalk without a flag, is it the pedestrian's fault?

Until I saw the film "Bill Cunningham New York", I had never heard of Bill Cunningham. When I learned he was a "fashion photographer," Gerty had to drag me to the theater to see the film at all.

Wow!

A very interesting man living a unique and modest life and whose work, to which he is utterly dedicated, is extraordinarily prominent.

I wouldn't say the film was excellent but learning about Bill Cunningham made it one of the best films I have seen in the last couple years.

From the NYTimes review:

[H]is life is one of monastic solitude and simplicity.

He owns what look to be roughly five articles of clothing. (His signature piece is the same royal blue workman’s jacket worn by Parisian street sweepers, which sells for about $20 and comes in a plastic bag.) He favors $3 lunches. Until he moved, when Carnegie Hall reclaimed the artists’ residences there for other uses, he lived in a tiny studio with no kitchen and with a bathroom down the hall. He gets around on an old bicycle and sleeps on a cot surrounded by filing cabinets containing every negative of every shot he has ever taken. And yet somehow the patrician image is further burnished by the radical lifestyle. He’s an aesthete and an ascetic, a member of the establishment and a bohemian, and among the last of his kind.

While the White House and Congress are spending their time arguing over whose plan to put people out of work is the best, efforts to address critical problems have stalled.

Anyone remember climate change? Thought for sure there would significant action during Obama's first term. Thought wrong.

From the NYTimes:

American Electric Power has decided to table plans to build a full-scale carbon-capture plant at Mountaineer, a 31-year-old coal-fired plant in West Virginia, where the company has successfully captured and buried carbon dioxide in a small pilot program for two years.

The technology had been heralded as the quickest solution to help the coal industry weather tougher federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions. But Congressional inaction on climate change diminished the incentives that had spurred A.E.P. to take the leap.

. . .

The federal Department of Energy had pledged to cover half the cost, but A.E.P. said it was unwilling to spend the remainder in a political climate that had changed strikingly since it began the project.

Gerty asked me the other day why anyone would buy a Pugsley. (We had just seen one in North Central Cyclery.)

Fatboybiking provides the answer:

On the way home I decided to take a "short-cut," a way that is not ridden by anyone. I took the train tracks from 70th to where they end at 60th.

Pugsleys and train tracks are made for each other. Bumping on the tracks on fat bike tires is a treat that few will ever know and when the tracks are less close, the ability to ride on the rocks, weeds, crap and other surfaces without a second thought are a treat that few will ever know. I repeat myself because I believe it's true.

When was the last time you felt like you were five?

When people brag of their wonderful childraising techniques, I often end up cringing.

Why is being mean to children laudable?

From Rides A Bike.

Apparently a still from And God Created Woman directed by Roger Vadim, 1956.

From Wikipedia:

Though by no means her first film, it is widely recognized as the vehicle that launched Bardot into the public spotlight and immediately created her "sex kitten" persona.

When the film was released in the United States by distributor Kingsley-International Pictures in 1957, it pushed the boundaries of the representation of sexuality in American cinema, making Bardot an overnight sensation.

Trailer.

Newer Ortlieb Bike Packer Plus panniers.

Older Bike Packer Plus panniers.

Bottom line on the new version: More volume but I miss the straps.

(This is not a comparison of Ortlieb panniers to other brands. The closest I have come to comparing brands is here. Generally, I like our Ortliebs better than our Lone Peaks or Arkel because the Ortlieb attachment system is simple, reliable, and doesn't threaten to leave holes in clothing or legs.)

We are using a set of Ortlieb's new Bike Packer Plus panniers on our current tour. We are also using a set of older Bike Packer Plus panniers. It's a perfect set up to evaluate what Ortlieb has changed. So, I did:

=> Read more!

Image by iwinacookie. Some rights reserved.

One (and only one) of the scary parts of the Obama press conference:

I might add it is the primary solution that the Republicans have offered when it comes to jobs. They keep on going out there and saying, “Mr. President, what are you doing about jobs?” And when you ask them, well, what would you do? “We’ve got to get government spending under control and we’ve got to get our deficits under control.” So I say, okay, let’s go.

That's why we are now talking about spending cuts when we should be talking about jobs? Because the Republican politicians say that cutting spending will create jobs, contrary to rational economic theory?

Instead of "Okay, let's go," how about "That is idiocy and here's why. . . ."

Ah well.

It would be nice if Obama said this.

But, to be honest, if he did, I wouldn't believe him . . . .

From Mark Thoma at Economist's View:

Why, again, are we spending so much legislative time trying to figure out how to cut the deficit in the short-run -- which will make things even worse -- instead of focusing on job creation? We do need to get the budget under control in the long-run, but deficit reduction can wait until the economy is on better footing. We need more help for job markets right now, not the creation of additional headwinds that work against the recovery.

So, focusing on short-term deficit reduction now makes no sense because it will hurt employment. Why is the Obama Administration pursuing a deal to achieve what amounts to anti-stimulus?

At this point, the unemployed are more likely to drop out of the job market than to actually get a job.

From Calculated Risk.

And then the potential budget deal to reduce the short-term deficit sucks -- most likely aggravating inequality (because increasing revenue is not really on the table) and likely hurting employment and the safety net.

From Ezra Klein at the Washington Post.

Worse, I think, is the failure of anyone in power to actually point out that the goal is idiocy and that the potential deal sucks. Obama has adopted the insane Republican view of the federal budget and associated erroneous and misleading talking points for reasons that escape anyone that has a clue.

Even politically it's dumb. Rhetorical (and stupid) question: Can any sentient being believe that cutting spending now will stop the Republicans from screaming "Obama has done nothing about jobs" come November?

And, this time the Republicans will be right.

(If you would like a reminder of why this is so depressing, read this.)

Ah well.

"Did you never study atomics when you were a lad?"

"No," I answered.

"That is a very serious defalcation," he said, "but all the same I will tell you the size of it. Everything is composed of small particles of itself and they are flying around . . . . These diminutive gentlemen are called atoms. Do you follow me intelligently?"

"Yes."

. . .

"The gross and net result of it is that people who spent most of their natural lives riding iron bicycles over the rocky roadsteads of this parish get their personalities mixed up with the personalities of their bicycle as a result of the interchanging of the atoms of each of them and you would be surprised at the number of people in these parts who are half people and half bicycles."

I let go a gasp of astonishment that made a sound in the air like a bad puncture.

. . .

"Are you certain about the humanity of the bicycle?" I inquired of him. "Is the Atomic Theory as dangerous as you say?"

"It is between twice and three times as dangerous as it might be," he replied gloomily. "Early in the morning I often think it is four times . . . When a man lets things go so far that he is half or more than half a bicycle, you will not see so much because he spends a lot of his time leaning with one elbow on walls or standing propped by one foot on kerbstones. . . "

-- from The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien