Archive for the 'Slightly off-topic rant' Category

Sigh. Lawyers again.

Posted by Erik on January 24th, 2013 filed in Advice, Slightly off-topic rant, Tooting my own horn, vexation of the spirit

About once a week I get a call from some company offering to improve my Web site’s placement on Google. These people offer, for sometimes a lot of money, to spam the Internet on my behalf. It’s very annoying. On the rare occasion that I don’t immediately hang up, I will often [...]

Read More..>>

Has it really come to this?

Posted by Erik on September 12th, 2011 filed in Completely unrelated to bicycles or law, Slightly off-topic rant

Not to be too churlish about this, but have we fallen so far as a people that a half-mile walk through the woods calls for a New York Times article and a nation-wide round of self-applause?
Hurricane Irene left an astonishing mess on Vermont and elsewhere, and I would never minimize that. One community there [...]

Read More..>>

My depressing bus stop

Why do we tolerate this in our city? Our freeway interchanges have far better landscaping — and shade — than this.
–EBR

Read More..>>

ADOT

A couple of years ago I had a case in Sells that required me to travel there with maddening frequency.
During my many visits, I got to watch ADOT complete the drainage project portrayed in the photo above. It runs alongside Highway 86, which bisects town in a long, hot swath. I remember thinking [...]

Read More..>>

Danehy on Jose Rincon

Posted by Erik on February 26th, 2010 filed in Slightly off-topic rant, fatality

Tom Danehy has an article on the Rincon award. You be the judge.
I have a hard time paying much attention to a fellow who believes that art should never be publicly funded and who does everything in his power to keep his children from riding a bicycle on the street. He [...]

Read More..>>

All the more reason to bike there

Posted by Erik on February 15th, 2010 filed in Slightly off-topic rant

This story needs more coverage to debunk the Fox News version, and I thought this was a good write-up of it.
How global warming contributed to the snow
A warming world increases atmospheric moisture, which leads to massive snowstorms
By Mike Tidwell
February 14, 2010
You can’t even find your car on the street, the kids have been out of [...]

Read More..>>

GM shares fall to lowest price in 75 years

The looming death of this company may be the canary’s warning that our entire economy is swirling down the toilet, but we might as well gloat over it while we can.
Their arrogance, and their encouragement of arrogance on the part of their customers, against the scary, unsettling effects of global warming make it hard for [...]

Read More..>>

24 hours to go . . .

Posted by Erik on December 31st, 2008 filed in Cool bikes, Slightly off-topic rant

I have about 24 hours left to get this ice-bike.  I hired a welder yesterday to build me one, and a carpenter to build the platform.  Total for labor and materials is less than U.S. $100.00.  Whether these fellows will really be able to finish the job in time is kind of up in the [...]

Read More..>>

City Considering Electric Bike-Sharing Program

AZ Daily Star reports that the owner of the electric bike store on University has proposed an initiative for Tucson to invest $35K in an electric bike sharing program.  It sounds as if the program would be based around a short-term rental system through which you can use a credit card to rent the bikes:
” [...]

Read More..>>

Inquiry

Posted by Erik on November 22nd, 2008 filed in Slightly off-topic rant, Uncategorized

My snarky friend G wants to know: what do you suppose the carbon footprint is of the El Tour de Tucson?
–Erik Ryberg

Read More..>>