| A Personal Rememberance by John Allen, League Board Member
In 1972, I was halfway home with a flat tire and walked into a bike shop that was just closing. Sheldon stayed late to fix it. That's how I first met him. There were 46 bicycles in or around his house "with a few shared wheels", by his recent count, mostly in his basement. He didn't buy bicycles off the shelf -- as a challenge to his mechanical ingenuity, and a way to spend less money and spend more time doing what he liked to do, he cobbled up customized bicycles from parts he acquired mostly through special deals, barter or secondhand, to suit himself or someone in his family. He often came up with a something unique, clever and useful. You may read about his bicycles on his Web site. He had an eye for style, but also, one or two rusty clunkers hung out by the back door getting rustier, for the quick ride to the convenience store, and several old hulks of bikes lived under the front porch.
In our view: Common sense is the best reason to applaud helmet law
If you have wheels under you, better have a helmet over you. That’s the message from the Vancouver City Council, which on Monday passed a law requiring helmets on riders of bicycles, skateboards, roller skates, roller blades, scooters and unicycles on public streets, sidewalks and trails. The helmet law is the first in Clark County but is similar to regulations in Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma. We hope Clark County commissioners and other cities in the county follow suit. Both supporters and opponents of the helmet law are able to debate this topic ad infinitum, and anecdotal references often cloud their arguments, but our preference is to rely on basic common sense. It just stands to reason that riders of these wheeled implements should be required to wear helmets in public places for reasons of public safety.
STATEHOUSE: Rep. Jones pushes Internet safety policies for public ...
BOSTON — You can lock the doors and windows, hold their hand at the mall and buy training wheels for bicycles. But a major danger facing kids today is right above the keyboard. "The Internet is one of the biggest risks we have for kids safety right now," said Lawrence Lt. Sean Burke, who is president of a national school safety group. And, a North of Boston lawmaker wants to make sure the time kids spend on school computers is safer. Rep. Bradley H. Jones Jr., R-North Reading, is pushing legislation to require every school district to have a policy for making the Internet safe for minors and make the policy known to parents and legal guardians. "It's important that any parent be able to know what (the school system's) policy is, and even if there is no policy in particular," Jones said.
Cyclists get back to basics: Fixed-gear bicycle riders take simplicity ...
Some ride them to train, some ride them for the thrill and some ride them just for the bragging rights, but whatever the reason, many local cyclists are ditching their derailleurs to ride fixed-gear bicycles. Fixed-gear bikes, or "fixies," are as basic as a bike gets -- a frame, two wheels, one gear and often times, no brakes. The defining feature of a fixie is its lack of a freewheel, the mechanism that allows the rider of a normal bike to stop pedaling and coast. On a fixed-gear, there is no such thing as coasting. The chain of a fixed-gear directly connects the pedals to the back wheel. So if the wheel is moving, so are the pedals. And for fixed-gear riders, this is both the allure and the advantage. "It's a different style of riding," said Winston Sauber, a Humboldt State University student who rides a fixed-gear to and from classes every day.
N.S. bylaw will ban smoking in cars with kids
For two generations and millions of tax dollars it is clear that anti-tobacco organizations have completely failed and now are off-loading their responsibillity to the police with by-laws of this type. If these advocates knew what they were doing then these measures would not be needed. To date the media (with advertising bans), convenience stores and bars are doing the work of anti-tobacco advocates. Oddly, those that do the work are the only ones that don't get government funding. Anti-tobacco advocacy is a disgrace and these incompetents should no longer get a penny of tax funding. If anti-tobacco advocacy is failing because they are constantly being outsmarted by tobacco companies, then there is a simple solution. Fire all of the stupid anti-tobacco advocates and replace them with people that can actually do the work.
Peach Buzz
The charity is a division of Little League designed for kids with physical and mental disabilities. Justin, dad Paul and little brother Max have served as "buddy helpers" in the nonprofit for several seasons now. True to his word, Justin secured the 13 donors and a total of $4,680 for his friends. But during his party last weekend at Turner Field's 755 Club, Justin and his friends, all decked out in the appropriate dress of baseball jerseys and jeans, were shocked when a 14th unexpected donor came forward. Veteran Atlanta Brave and Justin's baseball hero Julio Franco (Justin even wears the player's famed No. 14) suddenly appeared on the club's big screen TV, via a video greeting to say hello and donate to the charity. There was just one problem: holding aloft a large cardboard check made out to Murphey Candler, Julio told Justin: "I don't know how many stamps to put on a check this large.
Rumor Control
UPDATE] One clue may have surfaced this morning, when Microsoft Casual chief Chris Early hinted that a major announcement related to "asynchronous play" between Windows and Xbox Live and Microsoft-backed mobile devices would be made during Schappert's keynote speech. [UPDATE 2] On February 20, Schappert unveiled a massive new Community Gaming program at GDC which will let indepedent developers create and upload their own games onto Xbox Live. .
Toll road paves way to growth in Orange
The Maitland Boulevard extension, Orange County's first new major east-west route in a decade, is intended to ease traffic by creating a bypass around Apopka as well as provide links between roads such as S.R. 429, U.S. 441 and I-4. (GEORGE SKENE, ORLANDO SENTINEL / February 19, 2008) .
Global Warming Evangelism: Give Up Carbon For Lent!
It asks you about your heating, water use and electrical gadgets as well as travel and food. My total annual emissions were a weighty 21.06 tons, nearly double the national average. I rang the Carbon Gym in a panic. The biggest area you need to cut back on is air flights, said information officer, Joel Rawson. I adopted a hangdog expression and explained that they were all for work: ironically two were on climate change stories. That means you can exclude them from your calculations, he said. This is just about your private journeys. Ah. So, if all of my airplane travel is related to work, it doesn't count? I can travel the world, expelling as much carbon dioxide as I want, as long as it's part of my job? Hmmm. So, let me get this straight: expelling too much carbon dioxide is a sin because it's harming poor people.
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