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#101
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cars get the lion's share
Tom Keats wrote:
It is a matter of historical record that bicycling groups were the first to push the Good Roads Movement. It's ALSO a matter of historical record that they basically failed. No they didn't. What happened was, since bicycles and automobiles were more-or-less contemporary with each other, drivers usurped the developing Good Roads Movement to their advantage. So the Good Roads Movement was originally initiated and kick-started by bicyclists. But the car drivers later stole it. Of course, a reason bicyclists "failed" is that motorists were able to pay for roads due to the taxation of gas. Thank you motorists, even if you tried to usurp bicyclists' initial efforts as your own. Wayne |
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#102
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cars get the lion's share
On Feb 23, 12:54 pm, Wayne Pein wrote:
Tom Keats wrote: It is a matter of historical record that bicycling groups were the first to push the Good Roads Movement. It's ALSO a matter of historical record that they basically failed. No they didn't. What happened was, since bicycles and automobiles were more-or-less contemporary with each other, drivers usurped the developing Good Roads Movement to their advantage. So the Good Roads Movement was originally initiated and kick-started by bicyclists. But the car drivers later stole it. Of course, a reason bicyclists "failed" is that motorists were able to pay for roads due to the taxation of gas. Thank you motorists, even if you tried to usurp bicyclists' initial efforts as your own. Wayne Thank you, American people, for subsidizing gas so the SUVs can prosper and multiply... "gas has been so crucial to our economy in the governments eyes that they have subsidized a large portion of oil production, through programs, tax-exemptions, and the hiding of pollution costs through pollution permits. They have through intervention put off an inevitable end-we will run out of gas sometime, if we continue forcing prices down on a scarce product. In fact, government has actually contributed to the overconsumption of oil. When government subsidizes something (meaning they pay for a portion of it so that the consumers don't have to) they effectively raise the demand for a product far beyond where it naturally should be. They make it cheaper for the companies to produce it and thus cheaper for consumers. This process distorts market balance, because it hides costs, and creates what is known as a moral hazard. If companies had to pay all the costs out of their own pockets, they would produce less, and with a smaller output, the cost would rise, and consumers would demand less and slowly ween themselves off of this product and substitute another for it. They would find communal travel, or alternate means of energy, things that are both economically efficient and in the long run even better for the environment. But because the government has absorbed the costs of production, they have encouraged overconsumption of this good to the extent that any miscalculation in their plan will result in the prices skyrocketing towards the price equilibrium where oil naturally should be, which is near 5 dollars per gallon or more. It is this type of economic incentive that spurs innovation and gaurds scarce resources from overconsumption. The best solution I can think of now is to let the prices of gas..." http://www.collegeliberty.com/?p=14 |
#103
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cars get the lion's share
so now the gas guzzlers are the heroes?
Oil is not sold by the gallon by the way only gas. I guess we should give the drivers a thumbs up when they get close and intimate with us on the road. But not knowing that fact about gov't support everyone still knew what it is doing to the environment and resources so they are still to blame you know. I know that is why I am a life long cyclist. Things just seem to be getting worse. Zen |
#104
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cars get the lion's share
On Feb 23, 2:45 pm, "nash" wrote:
so now the gas guzzlers are the heroes? Oil is not sold by the gallon by the way only gas. I guess we should give the drivers a thumbs up when they get close and intimate with us on the road. But not knowing that fact about gov't support everyone still knew what it is doing to the environment and resources so they are still to blame you know. I know that is why I am a life long cyclist. Things just seem to be getting worse. Zen Yep, they are the heroes judging by the bumper stickers on their gas- guzzling SUVs: "We support our troops" and "God bless America"... The not-so-prosperous mostly supply the troops and a few cyclists who dare to ride out there. David doesn't have a chance nowadays. You know, Goliath got big bucks. |
#105
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cars get the lion's share
"nash" wrote in message news:vvHDh.1121560$5R2.856160@pd7urf3no... so now the gas guzzlers are the heroes? Oil is not sold by the gallon by the way only gas. I guess we should give the drivers a thumbs up when they get close and intimate with us on the road. But not knowing that fact about gov't support everyone still knew what it is doing to the environment and resources so they are still to blame you know. I disagree. We as a society build where people have no choice but to drive if we are to survive. And if you talk to officials about what can be done to add density in selected areas, you'll find out there are all kinds of crazy policies that mean that everyone has to live pretty far apart. For instance, in one recent case in our area, a developer wanted to build a fairly dense subdivision in an area where there's actually existing sewer (for once). Unfortunately, it is at the end of a road that can't handle the increased traffic. The developer has no control over that road and the county will not upgrade it. So eventually the county will have to build sewer out to some other area that got settled since the developer couldn't develop at the end of the road the county wouldn't spend a few thousand $ to upgrade (not to mention the increased tax base that area would have had to make the road feasible). Anyway, the upshot is that rather than having enough people you could support a corner store, etc. and people could walk or bike to useful destinations, that place will likely develop at a rate of one house per acre, which is pretty much the worst density from an environmental standpoint and certainly doesn't lend itself to transit, pedestrian traffic, or bike traffic. Love this town. But the fact is that the average person doesn't realize that these things are going on behind the scenes or what they could possibly do to affect the mystery world of how these things get decided. Most people seem to think that anyone who points out these kinds of problems are somehow the cause of them, and that if we all pretend not to notice they'll go away. -Amy |
#106
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not a fairy tale
On Feb 23, 3:17 pm, "Amy Blankenship"
But not knowing that fact about gov't support everyone still knew what it is doing to the environment and resources so they are still to blame you know. I disagree. We as a society build where people have no choice but to drive if we are to survive. And if you talk to officials about what can be done to add density in selected areas, you'll find out there are all kinds of crazy policies that mean that everyone has to live pretty far apart. For instance, in one recent case in our area, a developer wanted to build a fairly dense subdivision in an area where there's actually existing sewer (for once). Unfortunately, it is at the end of a road that can't handle the increased traffic. The developer has no control over that road and the county will not upgrade it. So eventually the county will have to build sewer out to some other area that got settled since the developer couldn't develop at the end of the road the county wouldn't spend a few thousand $ to upgrade (not to mention the increased tax base that area would have had to make the road feasible). SUVs and sprawl are connected: it's all about the Big Money. One needs the other. And the compact city and bike are connected: they save space --and money. Once upon a time, in an enchanted place called Denmark... 'Once when I was touring Denmark my friend Jenka was visiting Europe at the same time. I picked her up at the airport and we headed into Copenhagen. As we were approaching the city, she got excited. "Wow," she said, "it's like a constant Critical Mass bike ride!" As we wait at traffic lights at major intersections we passed through, the traffic passing by ahead of us generally includes a few cars and a lot of bicycles and pedestrians. Bike paths are as common as streets, and most people of all walks of life get around town by bicycle. Trains and buses full of passengers traverse the city, and you rarely have to wait long for the next one. Each neighborhood has a commercial center with shops, cafes, public spaces and streets off- limits to cars altogether. Most people live bicycling distance from where they work. Like so many European cities, it is a place that seems to have been designed for people. People like it that way and, to a huge extent, they keep it that way.' However a little Danish girl found a place in the real big world, not a fairy tale... 'My friend Ash came to visit the US from Denmark once while I was in Washington, DC to sing at a protest. It was January a couple years ago. Her plan was to join me for a week in DC, but first to spend a week soaking up the sun in Florida. She flew into Tampa. She managed to make it to the hotel she had found online, checked in, and then thought she'd go try to find the beach. Like most hotels in the US, hers was located some miles down a highway outside of the city, in an area that used to be woods, swamp or farmland. An entirely recent development, a sort of sprawling cluster of hotels, fast food restaurants, and big box stores, surrounded by vast parking lots, connected by four-lane roads and six-lane highways. A sidewalk has never graced the area, and certainly not a bike path. Ash discovered a bus stop eventually, on the side of the highway, but no bus ever crossed it's path. Welcome to the real USA. Ash had never seen or imagined such a place. An entirely alienating environment where everybody gets around by car, and there is not a pedestrian to be seen unless it's someone walking from their car to the mall. Where walking is actually somewhat dangerous and certainly not pleasant, there on the shoulder of the four-lane road with the trucks and SUV's whizzing past. I had warned Ash that there would be no way to get around the area without renting a car, and that this was really the only way to get around most of the country, but this idea had seemed just too preposterous to be believed, and she didn't rent one.' http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb07/Rovics06.htm |
#107
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cars get the lion's share
nash wrote:
The same goes for inept cyclists what do you mean by that? Cars get the lion's share means they shouldn't. Do not know what your problem is with cyclists but you better grow out of it. You just want to scare everyone off the road so you can be fast and powerful. Well driving slow saves gas and gets the boys back on their own soil. Ever think of that Law breaker. Well, I'm a cyclist. Not as a political statement, but to get from point A to B. The road is a terrible place to make political statements. -- Paul Hovnanian ------------------------------------------------------------------ Parity on, dudes! |
#108
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cars get the lion's share
Tom Keats wrote:
In article , "Paul Hovnanian P.E." writes: nash wrote: Oh, and as 'traffic', make sure you adhere to all applicable laws. Like the one prohibiting slow vehicles from delaying more than 5 vehicles. If they are speeding in the first place you are not officially slowing them down. Who said anything about speeding? If a cyclist impedes more than 5 vehicles, that's a violation. Not necessarily. Are you sure there isn't a proviso in that legislation that says the slow moving vehicle may proceed until the first opportunity to /safely/ allow following traffic to overtake, if it's built-up to five or more following vehicles? There's the link right below. I saw no such proviso, but you are welcome to search for it. Just as it is for a motor vehicle. You made that up didn't you? http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=46.61.427 Note that the law defines a 'slow moving vehicles' as one traveling at a speed less than the normal traffic flow. It says nothing about speed limits. How about being inept at driving they should "walk only" in the first place. The same goes for inept cyclists. Put the training wheels back on and ride only where mom can watch you. Sometimes self-interested car drivers try to disguise themselves as cyclists. The results of their thrashings and wailings and nashing of teeth are amusing. Like now. And sometimes cyclists don't want to get killed due to the road rage that those seeking to make political statements incite. If you want to be taken seriously, you are going to have to quit acting like children. Nobody is going to invest millions of dollars into infastructure to coddle law breakers (other than prisons that is). -- Paul Hovnanian ------------------------------------------------------------------ Software Engineering is like looking for a black cat in a dark room. Systems Engineering is like looking for a black cat in a dark room in which there is no cat. Knowledge Engineering is like looking for a black cat in a dark room in which there is no cat and somebody yells, "I got it!" |
#109
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a wake up call for the dinosaur
I know we have a problem with the dinosaur. He's so stupid that he
doesn't see the need to change! So perhaps a wake up call could be that we alert him that the asteroid is coming, or that we don't feed him --or perhaps that he reads a book like this... 'Worldchanging: A Users Guide for the 21st Century' is a groundbreaking compendium of the most innovative solutions, ideas and inventions emerging today for building a sustainable, livable, prosperous future. "To build that future, we need a generation of everyday heroes, people who - whatever their walks of life - have the courage to think in fresh ways and to act to meet this planetary crisis head-on. This book belongs in the library of every person who aspires to be part of that generation." - Al Gore http://www.worldchanging.com/book/ I think it could be an action plan for THE REVOLUTION. It talks about bicycle activism too, so, who knows, the cyclists may be the next furry little mammals. |
#110
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"I've got cocaine runnin' around my brain"
Well, it's not cocaine but another kind of addiction that goes through
the brain of the "voracious consumers" (SUVs, motorboats...) 'Oil on the Brain: Adventures from the Pump to the Pipeline' 'Lisa Margonelli's illuminating, entertaining stories of "people who oversee oil's long journey to our cars." Starting at her neighborhood filling station, she scurries up the pump like Alice down the rabbit hole, to discover and chronicle the delivery trucks, refineries, drilling rigs, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the oil market and, most tellingly, the voracious consumers. Simply put, oil rules. It is indispensable to our comfortable lifestyles and we will go to war over access to it. Running through the book, subterranean but ever present, is our preposterous relationship to oil, an institutionalized addiction that discourages strategic change. We feed the rat [dinosaur] instead of setting a trap for it. Today's petro-states are hazards in themselves: Margonelli's portraits of Venezuela, Chad, Iran and Nigeria are cases in point. "Lurking within [those countries] were instability, poverty, nationalism, and deep anti-American feelings. The 2001 National Energy Policy, written after secret consultations between Vice President Dick Cheney and oil executives, concluded as much. ... Many people interpret it as a virtual declaration of war." Weapons of mass destruction don't have to be bombs; oil fits the bill quite nicely.' http://www.envirosagainstwar.org/kno...hp?itemid=5209 "She realizes that the long term future of energy is not with oil. She says: 'The United States could put its considerable money and political will into creating new kinds of vehicles and fuels, while creating incentives to use fossil fuels more efficiently.' Unfortunately, when I listen to our politicians, I don't hear anything about such things. Perhaps lip service as in the state of the union message, but no action." http://www.amazon.com/Oil-Brain-Adve.../dp/0385511450 and I leave you with the lyrics here (you may substitute appropriately oil for cocaine)... Song: Cocaine in My Brain Lyrics Hey Jim, Jim, just a minute y'all I want to ask you somethin' I want you to spell somethin' for me Jim Can you do that? Sure John But I want you to spell for me New York John, why you ask me to do that? I just want you to spell New York, Jim Well alright, I'm gonna go ahead man N-E-W Y-O-R-K, that's New York man No Jim, you've made a mistake, Jim I'm gonna teach you the right way And the proper way to spell New York Well, go ahead, John A knife, a fork, a bottle and a cork That's the way we spell New York, Jim - yeah You see I'm a dynamite So all you got to do is hold me tight Because I'm out a sight, you know 'Cause I'm a dynamite But everytime I walk in the rain Man, o man, I feel a pain, I feel a burning pain Keep on burning in my bloody brain I've got cocaine runnin' around my brain I've got cocaine runnin' around my brain I want you to dig me soul brother and soul sister I want you hold me tight because I'm a dynamite - yeah I've got cocaine runnin' around my brain No matter where I treat my guest You see they always like my kitchen best 'Cause I've cocaine runnin' around my brain cocaine runnin' around my brain, yea Hey Jim, Jim? Where is Jim, man? Jim, I want you to tell me somethin' I want you to spell for me New York, Jim Come on, Jim, I want you to spell New York A knife, a fork, a bottle and a cork That's the way we spell New York Right on, out of sight man, right on, ooh Right on, yeah, right on Hey Jim, Jim, just a minute y'all I want to ask you somethin' I want you to spell somethin' for me, Jim Can you do that? Sure John But I want you to spell for me New York John, why you ask me to do that? I just want you to spell New York, Jim Well alright, I'm gonna go ahead man N-E-W Y-O-R-K, that's New York, man No Jim, you've made a mistake, Jim I'm gonna teach you the right way And the proper way to spell New York Well, go ahead, John A knife, a fork, a bottle and a cork That's the way we spell New York, Jim - yeah You see, I'm a dynamite So all you got to do is hold me tight Because I'm out a sight, you know 'Cause I'm a dynamite But everytime I walk in the rain Man, o man, I feel a pain, I feel a burning pain Keep on burning in my bloody brain I've got cocaine runnin' around my brain I've got cocaine runnin' around my brain I want you to dig me soul brother and soul sister I want you hold me tight because I'm a dynamite - yeah I've got cocaine runnin' around my brain No matter where I treat my guest You see they always like my kitchen best 'Cause I've cocaine runnin' around my brain cocaine runnin' around my brain, yea Hey Jim, Jim? Where is Jim, man? Jim, I want you to tell me somethin' I want you to spell for me New York, Jim Come on, Jim, I want you spell New York A knife, a fork, a bottle and a cork That's the way we spell New York Right on, out of sight man, right on, ooh Right on, yeah, right on Man oh man, I'm on the run I've got to reach the setting sun 'Cause I've got cocaine A whole lot, whole lot of cocaine, man Runnin' around my brain, runnin' around my brain cocaine, cocaine, runnin' around my brain, yeah http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/mewit...einmybrain.htm |
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