A photograph of a chicken on a bike path behind a gate with a "PATH CLOSED" sign.

A photograph of a coyote standing on a grassy meadow in front of young blooming trees.

Today's wildlife encounters on the channel trail bike commute.

I'm on the train and I'm blogging.

boy was that shift of working on bikes a welcome reprieve from the doom, now to leave work and open my phone to catch up on the news . . .

Tech people deify visionary minds like Steve Jobs and every idiot loser "founder" or "CEO" claims to take up that mantle. But Aaron really was that generational talent and mind.

I genuinely feel that the entire evil trajectory of the silicon valley tech industry would have been significantly different for the better if Aaron Swartz wasn't driven to suicide by federal prosecutors.

A photograph of the alley side of a brick building. There is a blue dumpster and a mattress up against the wall. The mattress has a black line illustration artwork drawn on it. The image depicts a human figure curled up, as if inside the mattress.

There's been a trash mattress in my alley for a few days. Someone tagged it.

I fear this will solidify a decline in the handmade metal fabrication custom bicycle world.

Paragon Machine Works has closed The storied shop that supported framebuilders for four decades has abruptly shut its doors for good.

"I think bike quality through the handmade scene will drop. It'll also push more people toward 3D printing through problems."

I'm not sure it was cold enough for that to be the explanation for what's happening here. This looks like an adoption of ICE and CBP's practice of hiding their faces when doing violence work in the public eye.

CPD all masked up doing their best ICE impression at Legion today.

Updates on the ground here:

And lastly I hope and pray that those suffering today from this violence will find some care and solace, somewhere, from someone.

And I hope and pray that those suffering today may be free of this aggravated tyranny in the future, just as we all yearn to live free of this same tyranny that waits for all of us to be vulnerable enough, like them.

I hope and pray that the violence workers executing this sweep feel the wound they are inflicting to their own souls. And next time instead, choose to abandon their tools and positions.

I’m glad and grateful to the dedicated folks showing up this morning to help. These folks understand and act on the truth that we are all the poor and vulnerable, in waiting. And any violence done to one is violence done to all.

I yearn for a world where those in power have a richer and more radical imagination of care and compassion than this.

When problems become more complex than they can handle, the powerful too easily resort to solutions based on rules, dominance, and punishment. There’s a better way.

I am grieving today for the suffering of the poor residents of the encampment at Legion Park, as the city of Chicago and Chicago Parks Department evicts them and destroys their tents and belongings.

I want to be clear when I say this. It could snow two feet tomorrow. I don’t care. Winter is still over. It’s been defeated. We won.

A photograph of young yellow and purple flowers.

A photograph of young yellow and purple flowers.

A photograph of a young yellow flower.

Winter is over.

This bike deserved so much better than this indignity. I have enjoyed many hours and miles of this bike riding beside my own. Truly, the death of a loved one.

A photograph of a young new green bud on the end of a tree branch.

winter is over

Always a fun and thrilling moment when the sun blinks out for a split second because you were lucky enough to get the Airplane Shadow.

Summer solstice sunrise/sunset of 5:15AM/8:30PM is better than 4:15AM/7:30PM. And winter solstice sunrise/sunset of 7:15AM/4:30PM is better than 8:15AM/5:30PM. Switching back and forth twice per year is a good idea.

Norman Rockwell’s “Freedom Of Speech” painting meme.

I like daylight savings and think it is good for the more northern latitudes, given the high seasonal variability of daylight amounts and sunrise/sunset times.

That is, religion can provide the axiomatic source of those inalienable rights: the inherent dignity of all created beings.

[ever so extremely tentatively] . . . religion ???

Video still of the self immolation of Aaron Bushnell.

Photograph of the self immolation of Thích Quảng Đức.

thinking about them

Photograph of small yellow flowers.

Photograph of small yellow flowers.

Photograph of small green shoots.

we are, as they say, so back