Would you like the Govt to promote biking?

On May 20, 11:19*pm, Pat wrote:
On May 20, 11:54*am, ComandanteBanana
wrote:





You know biking must be very low on their priority when you are honked
at, yelled at, pushed around and even spit at for doing the right
thing and riding a bike.

It could be another way, you know. Like cyclists getting respect --and
even admiration-- if one of our presidents spoke thus...

"My fellow Americans, in light of scarce oil as well as the threat of
Terrorism and Global Warming, the days of the hungry dinosaurs are
over. Yes, no more SUVs, starting with my own. Instead, we will go
back to the smartest, cleanest and simplest vehicle ever created: the
bike. You shouldn't look at it though as a sacrifice, but as the means
to enjoy more free time. Yes, you won't to work your life away to keep
a Stupid Unnecessry Vehicle. And to top if off, you can be as sexy as
me..."

And then the President rides off in his lycra suit... Well, the last
part may not be such a great idea, but the rest is. So do you agree
that the goverment can do more, far more, to make bicycling part of
the American landscape?

Here's what I would do if I ever were president...

"Bicycles should the first line of development, then public
transportation, then alternative vehicles..."

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
(beware of the lion)http://webspawner.com/users/donquijote

Okay, make a list of the things this administration has done right and/
or well. *Now, you want them to promote biking? *Getting the
administration behind it would be a sure-fire way to make sure NO ONE
bikes.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The only thing they've done right is the price of gas to skyrocket.
You know, it makes bikes more tempting...

However you can argue it was an unintended consequence of the invasion
of Iraq, Venezuela, etc.

The political jungle is difficult to understand. A lot of camouflage
in it.

So I won't give them the credit either.

On May 20, 11:57*pm, RicodJour wrote:
On May 20, 10:28 pm, "Jack May" wrote:



You are even dumber than Bush and would make a horrible President.

His adviser will at least tell him that having everybody ride a bike will
both increase the consumption of oil to grow more food and will cause even
more problems than already exist in the world food supply.

You don't know what a calorie is.
You don't recognize the equation F=MA.

He and his adviser will also see that the bike is totally worthless
transportation mode for most of the transportation capabilities needed by
the public. * Bikes will then be a total failure. * *The worst thing that
can possibly happen to a politician. * They will realize the stupidity of
trying to turn bikes into a major form of transportations.

You have never been to Holland.

R

The Europeans have been trying to send signals to this president, but
he never got the hint.

Like when the Prime Minister of Denmark gave Bush a bike, but he never
made any fuss about it. I hear he's into the bicycling hobby, but not
into the bicycling solution.

On May 21, 2:12 am, Jym Dyer wrote:
CommandanteBanana/DonQuixote/LoonProblem writes:
Here's what I would do if I ever were president...

=v= If you were President, the U.S. would annoy the U.K. very
much, if you inability to honor rudimentary Usenet courtesy is
any indications. (Followups NOT to uk.rec.cycling.)

Nothing annoys them more than Bush. I hear they even got rid of their
PM, because he was a sort of American lapdog.

http://www.iranvision.com/images/inf...air_lapdog.jpg

On May 21, 3:48*am, Tadej Brezina wrote:

And then the President rides off in his lycra suit... Well, the last
part may not be such a great idea, but the rest is.

Why not?
She/he's a human with stinking farts and other necessities as every
other person, So why not lycra for increased cycling comfort instead of
trying to cycle in suit and tie.

No, I only said it because the president is not supposed to be sexy in
such a Christian nation.

But I don't see any contradiction between being patriotic and being
sexy...

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/...V52130086_.jpg

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary
depends upon his not understanding it.”
Upton Sinclair in The Jungle

It seems we are fighting the same jungle, huh?

"In a society dominated by the fact of commercial competition, money
is necessarily the test of prowess, and wastefulness the sole
criterion of power." -Upton Sinclair, book 'The Jungle'

On May 20, 9:28 pm, "Jack May" wrote:
"ComandanteBanana" wrote in message

...



You know biking must be very low on their priority when you are honked
at, yelled at, pushed around and even spit at for doing the right
thing and riding a bike.

It could be another way, you know. Like cyclists getting respect --and
even admiration-- if one of our presidents spoke thus...

"My fellow Americans, in light of scarce oil as well as the threat of
Terrorism and Global Warming, the days of the hungry dinosaurs are
over. Yes, no more SUVs, starting with my own. Instead, we will go
back to the smartest, cleanest and simplest vehicle ever created: the
bike. You shouldn't look at it though as a sacrifice, but as the means
to enjoy more free time. Yes, you won't to work your life away to keep
a Stupid Unnecessry Vehicle. And to top if off, you can be as sexy as
me..."

And then the President rides off in his lycra suit... Well, the last
part may not be such a great idea, but the rest is. So do you agree
that the goverment can do more, far more, to make bicycling part of
the American landscape?

Here's what I would do if I ever were president...

You are even dumber than Bush and would make a horrible President.

His adviser will at least tell him that having everybody ride a bike will
both increase the consumption of oil to grow more food and will cause even
more problems than already exist in the world food supply.


OMG! Somebody is certainly even dumber than Bush...
I suspect it's the moron that thinks there is a net energy savings in
using a 3/4 truck to haul his ass to the office rather than a
bicycle. I'll bet part of your calculation is to include the energy
it takes to deliver the snickers bar to the grocery store and you
think that there is a pipeline bringing the gallon of Esso to the
corner gas station. You need to give up the pipe there, Jack.

On May 21, 4:03*am, Tadej Brezina wrote:

Most transportation capabilities as far as I remember transport
inquiries in my country (EU, Austria) comprise of:
*) moving abt. one person (transporting goods not capable of being
transported with a bike due to bulkiness and weight amounts to abt.
10-15% of trips)
*) trip-lengths of 3-5 km length in more than 50% of the trips made.

The US-situation might not be as favourable as elsewhere due to sprawled
out city structure and wider distributed trip lengths. But not a real
challenge for people with average fitness either, given
non-cycling-hostile boundary conditions.

Yep, the sprawl is the root of the problem, but bicycling in
combination with public transportation could cover those distances.

Only problem is, WHO DARES TO RIDE A BIKE WHEN THE LAW OF THE ROAD IS
THE LAW OF THE JUNGLE?

On May 21, 2:28*pm, DennisTheBald wrote:
On May 20, 9:28 pm, "Jack May" wrote:





"ComandanteBanana" wrote in message

...

You know biking must be very low on their priority when you are honked
at, yelled at, pushed around and even spit at for doing the right
thing and riding a bike.

It could be another way, you know. Like cyclists getting respect --and
even admiration-- if one of our presidents spoke thus...

"My fellow Americans, in light of scarce oil as well as the threat of
Terrorism and Global Warming, the days of the hungry dinosaurs are
over. Yes, no more SUVs, starting with my own. Instead, we will go
back to the smartest, cleanest and simplest vehicle ever created: the
bike. You shouldn't look at it though as a sacrifice, but as the means
to enjoy more free time. Yes, you won't to work your life away to keep
a Stupid Unnecessry Vehicle. And to top if off, you can be as sexy as
me..."

And then the President rides off in his lycra suit... Well, the last
part may not be such a great idea, but the rest is. So do you agree
that the goverment can do more, far more, to make bicycling part of
the American landscape?

Here's what I would do if I ever were president...

You are even dumber than Bush and would make a horrible President.

His adviser will at least tell him that having everybody ride a bike will
both increase the consumption of oil to grow more food and will cause even
more problems than already exist in the world food supply.

OMG! Somebody is certainly even dumber than Bush...
I suspect it's the moron that thinks there is a net energy savings in
using a 3/4 truck to haul his ass to the office rather than a
bicycle. *I'll bet part of your calculation is to include the energy
it takes to deliver the snickers bar to the grocery store and you
think that there is a pipeline bringing the gallon of Esso to the
corner gas station. *You need to give up the pipe there, Jack.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Or maybe they are not even dumb, but playing dumb.

They think though that by getting away with evil they are smarter than
the rest, and they are just planting the seeds of their own undoing.

In the end, the dumb cyclists are smarter.

(Someone has the happy idea to compare road safety with work safety)

QUOTE(datako @ May 21 2008, 03:54 PM)
"All the government has to do is to apply the same health and safety
thinking it requires of workplaces to road users.

Imagine in a workplace having a 1,000 kilo object travelling at 100km/
h and capable of random direction passing within 50cm of a person. It
would be banned or required to slow down and leave a larger margin of
distance.

Roads should be safe for all vulnerable users."


That's a good metaphor. Actually conditions on the roads for cyclists
must be as appalling as the meat industry was when the book 'The
Jungle' saw the light 100 years ago...

'Although Sinclair originally meant for his novel to focus on
industrial labor and working conditions, food safety became the most
pressing issue. Sinclair's account of workers falling into meat
processing tanks and being ground, along with animal parts, into
"Durham's Pure Leaf Lard", gripped public attention.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle

On May 21, 7:16 pm, ComandanteBanana
wrote:
(Someone has the happy idea to compare road safety with work safety)

QUOTE(datako @ May 21 2008, 03:54 PM)
"All the government has to do is to apply the same health and safety
thinking it requires of workplaces to road users.

Imagine in a workplace having a 1,000 kilo object travelling at 100km/
h and capable of random direction passing within 50cm of a person. It
would be banned or required to slow down and leave a larger margin of
distance.

Roads should be safe for all vulnerable users."

That's a good metaphor. Actually conditions on the roads for cyclists
must be as appalling as the meat industry was when the book 'The
Jungle' saw the light 100 years ago...

'Although Sinclair originally meant for his novel to focus on
industrial labor and working conditions, food safety became the most
pressing issue. Sinclair's account of workers falling into meat
processing tanks and being ground, along with animal parts, into
"Durham's Pure Leaf Lard", gripped public attention.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle

Read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Pollan. We have only substituted one
set of a problems for another. I, for one, would just as soon have
the old jungle.

R

On May 22, 8:46*pm, RicodJour wrote:
On May 21, 7:16 pm, ComandanteBanana
wrote:





(Someone has the happy idea to compare road safety with work safety)

QUOTE(datako @ May 21 2008, 03:54 PM)
"All the government has to do is to apply the same health and safety
thinking it requires of workplaces to road users.

Imagine in a workplace having a 1,000 kilo object travelling at 100km/
h and capable of random direction passing within 50cm of a person. It
would be banned or required to slow down and leave a larger margin of
distance.

Roads should be safe for all vulnerable users."

That's a good metaphor. Actually conditions on the roads for cyclists
must be as appalling as the meat industry was when the book 'The
Jungle' saw the light 100 years ago...

'Although Sinclair originally meant for his novel to focus on
industrial labor and working conditions, food safety became the most
pressing issue. Sinclair's account of workers falling into meat
processing tanks and being ground, along with animal parts, into
"Durham's Pure Leaf Lard", gripped public attention.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle

Read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Pollan. *We have only substituted one
set of a problems for another. *I, for one, would just as soon have
the old jungle.


Let me quote from a review...

"he creates the ground work for a fairly simple conclusion -
industrial scale food production, whether organic or non, is a
failure, a disaster for those who care about ethics or the
environment. In a way, it doesn't matter whether what you care about
is the suffering of animals (industrial slaughter) or the suffering of
humans (malnutrition), the extermination of songbirds (pesticides) or
rising cancer rates (pesticides) or the extermination of everyone due
to global warming, the conclusion that Pollan expertly and gracefully
leads us to - ie, that many more people need to take a role in their
own food systems, both by buying locally, encouraging the creation of
millions of new small farms instead of an expanding industrial system,
and by growing some of their own (or hunting it, or foraging)..."

http://www.amazon.com/Omnivores-Dile.../dp/1594200823

And it is here that the bicycle is so fitting. Buying locally, biking
locally. We've got two bikes with huge baskets that we use to go to
the supermarket. Regrettably, it ain't Whole Foods, so we can only
pick and choose a few products. I still eat meat and drink diet Coke,
but maybe we should be ready to give them up after the
revolution...

Oh, there's a Farmers Market in the other direction, so I promise to
check it out Saturday.