That’s the neat thing about bicycles: an asshole on a bike is a nuisance, an asshole behind the wheel of a 2-4 ton car/truck/SUV is a literal existential threat to everyone around them who is not also protected by 2-4 tons of metal and glass.
It looks like YouTube pulled the video that used to be there, but it is still on Vimeo: vimeo.com/1082944804
I never got the Disney cartoon “Motor Mania” until I started biking and walking most places.
The transformation that happens for the vast majority of drivers when they get behind the wheel of their powerful mobile multi-ton living room is almost supernatural (it’s not, but it feels that way).
Remember folks: housing built before 1985 was constructed by hard working Americans helping to make our communities better by building housing for future growth, and any housing built after 1985 is built by greedy developers who want to take away YOUR God-given right to free parking.
Review from “DiamondExed”: This hike was genuinely so cool. It's definitely a hike! Response from “God’s Thumb (Owner)”: Why post on my business account? You didn't see the Site Name, don't even know the name of their destination. The Knob. The Thumb is on the beach at Roads End Point. Where did you get your authority, by the internet click bait websites. Funny don't know you or met you, you definitely need help though
Review from “Courtney Bale”: A truly wonderful hike, highly recommend. A bit strenuous, but well worth it. Don't forget to stop to have some marionberries. Thank you Mr. Thumb!
Response from “God’s Thumb (Owner)”: God's Thumb is not a hike. You are mistaken. This is my business page. What's your motivation to post wrong information about my business? What low down snake is using my registered business name to send unknowledgeable tourists to Glen Eden beach park (your photo) - Is that where you went? Is there some sign directing you or telling you otherwise? Or maybe a deliberately misleading by some hiking page, to get paid for your click bait activity? Maybe you should be sent a bill for my time?
In Oregon there exist a person who spends their entire life yelling at people in Google Reviews that their business is not a hike despite having the same name as the hike and being in the same location. maps.app.goo.gl/ofg7JTWvyFg3...
*Driving* is a drain on our economy.
The fact that congestion is an inevitable side effect of ubiquitous driving likely exacerbates that cost, but do not forget: no matter what you do, driving is insanely expensive and a large portion of that cost is borne by non-drivers.
Nice to see that retreating while waving the tip in little circles, which is about as far as I got in my one semester of fencing in college, is actually a winning strategy when done by someone who knows what they’re doing.
RIP to the many MP3s off Audiogalaxy I lost when my IBM Deskstar (aka, the Deathstar) died.
Also took a few short stories and the entire email exchange between me and the one unrequited love of my life (very bad for the skin).
Isn’t there an argument that one of the reasons older, more conservative, people are uncomfortable with urbanism is that it gives younger people easier access to sex?
How many people had MAGA Schism on their 2026 prediction list?
We can start betting now on where the American Vatican will be.
My money is on Mar-a-Lago.
Actor Christi Haydon as an uncredited ensign on the bridge of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation, rocking a perfect bob. Also known as Ensign Bob.
Groundbreaking legislation allowing anyone to become Ensign Bob
Since 2018, for me, Elon has made following SpaceX increasingly icky. I don’t get excited about them anymore but still follow the news, and it’s worth reminding people the amazing things that SpaceX has done, and they’re much more than the “Cybertruck of rockets!” joke.
Current cost of orbit:
…ability to pull off amazing things (not as revolutionary as the their stans insist; the Falcon 9 booster recovery is amazing but was built on years of work by other companies and organizations, and wasn’t pooh-poohed by others in aerospace like their stans claim), so who knows.
All of that said, Starship as a lunar lander seems like a bad idea. It’s just so…tall. But also catching the Super Heavy booster returning from its suborbital trajectory seemed ridiculous but they’ve done it three times (??) now.
SpaceX does some incredible work, and I wouldn’t doubt their…
…but dropping the cost of getting a kg into orbit by 50 - 75% would be huge.
People frequently see Starship as a total failure because the test launches that fail go viral, but the ones that are successful (the last two were totally successful) no one outside of space nerds hears about.
I’ve been following Starship since it was called ITS (previously it was BFR and then MCT). Starship is still very much unproven and still just a prototype, but it very well might reduce the cost to orbit substantially.
It is likely overhyped, and won’t achieve the rapid reusability promised…
These are the kinds of near-misses that make a city not appealing to non-cyclists for getting around by bike, and Seattle’s apparent penchant for not accounting for downhills when designing infrastructure makes them more likely and more dangerous.
This also happens on 4th but I’ve not ridden on the hilly part of 4th much (south of Madison).
But even at 4th and Pine I’ve had so many drivers almost hit me, or watched them almost hit someone else, illegally turning left off of 4th onto Pine (no light, it’s just “No Left Turn”).
Driver illegally turning left against their lights.
When downhill/southbound it is incredibly dangerous because you frequently can’t see the illegally turning driver coming. Uphill/northbound it’s still terrifying but drivers do it less (likely because they can see you) and you’re moving slower.
The vehicular cycling debate showed how inadequate “take the lane” is for making a city that’s inviting for non-cyclists to get around by bike. Good we’re moving away from that.
Wider lanes make sense for something like Pine, but what about something like 2nd? Is the only option enforcement?
…and have never gotten an answer: what are the options for building better downhill bike infrastructure? Because surely the best option can’t just be slapping something that was designed for flat onto a 5% hill and saying “good enough!”
…windy and full of curbs to hit.
2nd Ave, when southbound between Stewart and Yesler is incredibly dangerous in the 2-way bikeway due to drivers illegally turning left against their red lights. The city seems to have no interest in punishing those drivers.
I’ve been asking this for years…
Going downhill it’s easy to hit 15-20 mph with zero pedaling, and that requires different infrastructure.
An obvious example are door-zone bike lanes, which are being phased out. But our city is still full of them.
But even newer infrastructure like the Pine St protected bike lane is weirdly…
E-bikes and protected bike lanes help greatly with the uphills, but I’ve never seen anyone address how downhills change bike infrastructure, safety, and commuting.
A lot of Seattle’s bike infrastructure seems imported from non-hilly cities, and when placed on a downhill they become dangerous.
If the 50% annual increase compounds on itself, then by 2036 we’ll have over 500 weekends per year of Car-Free LWB.
Let’s not forget: @cascade.org (through their political wing, @wabikes.bsky.social) was actively against this outcome and in favor of keeping Harrell’s reduced schedule.
They spent $56k on mailers endorsing Harrell (among other incumbents), money that could have been spent on actual advocacy.
Mayor Wilson expands Bicycle Weekends to every non-Seafair weekend Memorial Day to Labor Day
#SEAbikes #Seattle
I’m safe as long as I stay out of Fred Meyer parking lots.
Once something has been a certain way for a generation or more, it basically feels eternal.
The job of any given reality is to insist on its inevitability and eternality. That’s why systems of power and ideologies are so hard to break down.