Saturday, April 17, 2010

Bike v. Car

Small hills and wind (in general except on a bridge or a hurricane) have no effect on a car.  Cars, in general, are not too much of a problem for other cars to see since they are about the same size and in the road lanes.  Cars use gasoline and emit noxious fumes.  Cars travel at 25-80 (or more with idiots at the wheel (assuming not on a race track)) mph.  Cars can carry 1-9 or so passengers.

On a bike going up hills increases the energy needed and hence increases the calories burned.  Into the wind with a bike has the same effect.  However, going down hills and with the wind does not seem to reduce the energy needed; this might be because we don't recognize the reduction as much as the increase.  Cars are a large problem for bikes, in a collision with a bike the care wins plus the cars do not seem to realize that we are there and hence do (to us) stupid and dangerous things.  Bikes use people calories for propulsion, which does not add to pollution other than the sweat odor.  When we bike, our speed is usually between 10-12 mph, up hills 0-8 mph and down hills 12-20 mph.  With our tandem we could have 2 passengers but usually the only one per bike (a friend of ours son has a four-dem) or with the bike kiddie cart 1 or 2 small children.

Long distances are a car's specialty; it takes a looonnng time to bicycle more than 20-30 miles; but on a bike it is much more likely to appreciate the scenery and notice people and other attractions.  If everybody would bike for short distances (1-15 miles round trip), then our health and pollution would be much better.

When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.- Sherlock Holmes


When you ride hard on a mountain bike, sometimes you fall, otherwise you’re not riding hard.- President George Bush


An engineer designing from scratch could hardly concoct a better device (BIKE) to unclog modern roads – cheap, nonpolluting, small and silent…- Rick Smith


The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community.- Ann Strong


Cycling to work is an important issue for business – the more who do it, the more our communities will support it. Healthy and green, cycling is worthy of the support of every business in the land.- Sir Digby Jones


Until mountain biking came along, the bike scene was ruled by a small elite cadre of people who seemed allergic to enthusiasm.- Jacquie Phelan


The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart. - Iris Murdoch


When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.
- H.G. Wells


Marriage is a wonderful invention; but then again, so is a bicycle repair kit.
- Lord Charles Beresford


Bicycling is the nearest approximation I know to the flight of birds. The airplane simply carries a man on its back like an obedient Pegasus; it gives him no wings of his own.- Louis J. Helle


bicycle (n)a vehicle composed of two wheels held in a frame one behind the other, propelled by pedals and steered with handlebars attached to the front wheel.
ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: from bi- [two] + Greek kuklos ‘wheel.’

Monday, April 12, 2010

Kids Today

Kids!
I don't know what's wrong with these kids today!
Kids!
Who can understand anything they say?
Kids!
They a disobedient, disrespectful oafs!
Noisy, crazy, dirty, lazy, loafers!
While we're on the subject:
Kids!
You can talk and talk till your face is blue!
Kids!
But they still just do what they want to do!
Why can't they be like we were,
Perfect in every way?
What's the matter with kids today?
Kids!
I've tried to raise him the best I could
Kids! Kids!
Laughing, singing, dancing, grinning, morons!
And while we're on the subject!
Kids! They are just impossible to control!
Kids! With their awful clothes and their rock an' roll!
Why can't they dance like we did
What's wrong with Sammy Caine?
What's the matter with kids today!   ("Kids" from Bye Bye Birdie)

I was thinking about kids now and then (back in the dark ages when we were kids).  When I was young, we used to bicycle to the Detroit Zoo (it was then free to enter, we kids didn't have any money) which is on a very busy highway.  Now a days the kids are not allowed to go anywhere without being driven.  I saw the kid across the street come back from a soccer game in the family van; my poor kids had to bicycle to soccer games which were as close as the neighbor's game was.

We did not have any money and today if you look at the High School parking lot you will see cars, pickups, or vans that are much nicer than our Minivan.  It seems that every kid has a Cell Phone, in the olden days we used Carrier Pigeons (just kidding we had nothing to call home or our buddies).

Some advantages we had, we could get jobs (there is 30-40% unemployment in the 20-30 range thanks to P.O.).  Our teachers seemed to care more about teaching us then keeping Politically Correct speech in the classroom.  We were able to fail (believe or not we actually kept score in sports).  We were able to play baseball or football or etc. without coaches or team uniforms.

(Caveat : my grandkids appear to be raised in the correct (in my opinion) manner).

Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told:  "I am with you kid.  Let's go."  ~Maya Angelou


We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today.  ~Stacia Tauscher


You can learn many things from children.  How much patience you have, for instance.  ~Franklin P. Jones


A characteristic of the normal child is he doesn't act that way very often


Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music.  ~William Stafford


Even when freshly washed and relieved of all obvious confections, children tend to be sticky.  ~Fran Lebowitz



CHILDHOOD, n.  The period of human life intermediate between the idiocy of infancy and the folly of youth -- two removes from the sin of manhood and three from the remorse of age (DD)

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

What Not to Wear

During a sermon our pastor mentioned a show on The Learning Channel called "What Not to Wear".  He said that people (friends or relatives) nominate people who do not dress well and the show then does makeovers on their wardrobes after embarrassing the subjects and burning their old clothes.

To me this is the height of arrogance to tell someone that what they wear is not correct.  Of course, I only wear clothes now that I enjoy or that feel comfortable (when I was not retired I wore comfortable but more dressy clothes).  I wear shorts in the summer (short shorts compared to what most people (especially the young people) now-a-days wear) and blue jeans when the weather is not warm enough for shorts.

I don't care what other people think of my attire (actually the only person that I ask is my lovely bride and she is nice enough to say I look OK).  I do dress up more for Church since that is showing respect for the Lord.

What is the "correct" clothes to wear?  If you look throughout the ages the "correct" clothes changes with the year or season; like women's swimsuits : in 1800's completely covered up, mid-1900's a one piece suit, late 1900's bikinis (remember the "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini"; then later thongs.


Song Lyrics: "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini"
Recorded by: "Brian Hyland"
Written by: (Paul Vance, Lee Pockriss)


She was afraid to come out of the locker
She was as nervous as she could be 
She was afraid to come out of the locker
She was afraid that somebody would see
Two, three, four, tell the people what she wore


It was an itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini
That she wore for the first time today
An itsy, bitsy, teentie, weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini
So in the locker she wanted to stay
Two, three, four, stick around we'll tell you more 


She was afraid to come out in the open
And so a blanket around she wore 
She was afraid to come out in the open
And so she sat bundled up on the shore 
Two, three, four, tell the people what she wore


It was an itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini
That she wore for the first time today
An itsy, bitsy, teentie, weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini
So in the blanket she wanted to stay
Two, three, four, stick around we'll tell you more


Now she's afraid to come out of the water 
And I wonder what she's gonna do
Now she's afraid to come out of the water 
And the poor little girl's turning blue
Two, three, four, tell the people what she wore


It was an itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini
That she wore for the first time today
An itsy, bitsy, teentie, weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini
So in the water she wanted to stay
(From the locker to the blanket) 
(From the blanket to the shore)
(From the shore to the water) 
Yes, there isn't any more


The finest clothing made is a person's skin, but, of course, society demands something more than this.  ~Mark Twain


A dress that zips up the back will bring a husband and wife together.  ~James H. Boren


I base most of my fashion sense on what doesn't itch.  ~Gilda Radner


People seldom notice old clothes if you wear a big smile.  ~Lee Mildon


I don't see how an article of clothing can be indecent.  A person, yes.  ~Robert A. Heinlein


Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes.  ~Henry David Thoreau


If men can run the world, why can't they stop wearing neckties?  How intelligent is it to start the day by tying a little noose around your neck?  ~Linda Ellerbee



clothes (pl n)  1 items worn to cover the body 
ORIGIN Old English clāthas, plural of clāth (see cloth ).