Ranting

They’re somewhere to park and lock your bike, aren’t they? You can buy them pretty much off the shelf from a bunch of companies that bang them out by the thousand to a range of standard designs. And when things are produced in volumes like that, they tend to be pretty inexpensive. Trust me, I know...
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So this afternoon, on my way back from the Team Valley, I dropped in to my local Apple dealer to see about some more memory for my PowerMac. The guy I usually deal with was outside indulging in his recreational drug (nicotine), chatting with a friend of his. As I rode up, this guy looked...
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So after her sentencing earlier this week, there was a bit of a public outcry - it seemed that killing another driver in a journey during which she’d sent 20 text messages is deemed to be worth more than 21 months inside by the UK’s Joe Public. The Attorney General is reviewing the case, and...
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This today via Adrian Fitch’s Random Ramblings - a story about bicycle helmets, accidents and blame as reported in BikeRadar. Putting it simply: Involved in an accident on a bike? Hit by another vehicle, and suffer a head injury as a result? Weren’t you wearing a helmet? Then you’re partially to blame. Maybe. Or at least that’s one...
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So. Yesterday, Amsterdamize put up some charts about the Dutch population’s ways of getting around. Great stuff, showing how far people travel, and what mode of transport they use depending on journey length, and how far people cycle. As an engineer, I like numbers,  so I thought it would be fun to compare our part...
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Meh! Driving. It’s just now how I expected it to be - certainly not the way it was portrayed in all those adverts. I mean, I already have the foxy Wife, and lovely Daughter, but where were the wide open roads so I can pretend to be a Formula one driver: . . . where’s my...
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I was working at a client’s on the Team Valley today, and over lunchtime, I put together a post that I immediately decided to embargo for just over a fortnight. My reasons may become clearer later. So on the way home, I was wondering what to write about, and surprisingly enough a couple of drivers...
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Some of you may remember the video I made last year about The World’s Shortest Cycle Lane. This was in Gateshead, next to their shiny new college, and a mere ten metres long. At the time, several commenters, and Gateshead Council’s extremely friendly and approachable* Team Leader for Traffic Projects and Rights of Way said...
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So I used to think that I was maybe a little paranoid about the way people drive around bikes. Or more specifically, about how people drive around my bike, when I’m riding it. But after today, I’ve realised that it isn’t paranoia - they really are all out to get me. Today I had FIVE assassination...
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Well, car manufacturers don’t seem to be having a good time of it right now, do they (”Hey, Congressman, buddy, can you spare $35bn?”). This might seem good for the environment - after all, transportation accounts for a boatload of our carbon emissions, so fewer cars means less of that going up into the...
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