Dream Bike

This is a video of a mom cycling with two kids and 4 bags of groceries. A similar cycle, featured in this month's MAKE magazine, was used on a camping trip to carry a 55-gallon drum, camping gear, and four potted plants, all while towing a trailer with a kid inside. The pilot of the bike, a tiny woman named Martina, who (from pictures) can't be more than 5'4". Martina is not an olympic athlete, nor a steroid user. She is able to move such loads because she has two very useful and clever accessories on her bike.

The first is a hitchless trailer. It essentially lengthens the wheelbase of the bike, and adds a great deal of cargo capacity. The hitchless trailer kit is made by Xtracycle, and is what allows all of the cargo to not only fit on the bike, but also enables the bike to bear the weight.

The second accessory is a Stokemonkey electric motor. There are tons of motor kits for cycles, and though most run out of power after ten blocks leaving you with a 100 lbs bike with a partially jammed drivetrain, there are a few that do a good job. In that regard Stokemonkey is nothing new. What Stokemonkey does a little differently is that it works with the rider instead of in addition to the rider. Stokemonkey connects directly to the crankset of your bike, and by pedaling you engage the clutch. There is a throttle on the handlebars to let you choose how much help Stokemonkey provides, but the clever clutch design means that the Stokemonkey is always working in tandem with your legs, and because it applies torque to the crankset rather than the wheels, the Stokemonkey make just as smart gearing decisions as you do!

I want a bike with this set up incredibly badly. I'd love to be able run weekend errands on my bike rather than in Leorah's car. Depending on how you use the motor a single 9Ah charge will get you in excess of 25 miles, which is far cheaper than gas (even at Leorah's 35+ mpg), and suddenly your bike becomes far more versatile. Right now I'm not even able to grab groceries on my way home from work without having to think far enough ahead to bring an extra bag or empty my panniers. Even with empty panniers I only have room for ~2 bags of groceries.

Unfortunately the Xtracycle kit and Stokemonkey run around $1700 total, so I don't think I'll be getting one soon. However as long as I'm in or near a city I think I'd choose this over buying a car, or even a motorbike or scooter. It's better suited to my needs, lighter on the wallet, and better for the city.

Keepon's back

[via Boing Boing]

Ahhh, urban biking in America...

On the ride home a guy merges into me (into a bike/bus-only restricted lane no less), nearly forcing me off the road. I slap his rear passenger to let him know I'm there. It works. He slams on his brakes and gets out of his car yelling at me:

"You hit my car, why'd you hit my car!"

so I told him. "You were merging into me."

And he sputters, staring in disbelief.

I love how drivers tend to get flustered and confused when a biker confronts them calmly and directly with their illegal driving. He's simply standing there staring at me, blocking traffic because he can't believe that I think I'm entitled to be treated as another vehicle in traffic, as I'm considered under law.

I love even more how drivers get really mad when they realize they're in the wrong and that I'm not about to be intimidated. After a few seconds of sputtering he starts backing towards his car and threatening "Oh, I'll merge into you!" several times, which I find hilarious since he already has. Apparently my levity showed because he got even madder, shouting "why are you smiling!?! I'll knock you off that bike!"

At this I laughed. For him to threaten violence when I was simply sitting calmly waiting for him to get back in his car just made no sense. My laugh set off a bunch of onlooking pedestrians, who I hadn't noticed until now. They cheered for me and mocked the guy back into his car. As we both pulled back into traffic the onlookers shouted and jeered, and I was repeatedly urged to "slap his car again."

The whole event seems surreal to me. I was mildly entertained at the time, but clearly felt nowhere near the passion of the guy in the car. I try to drive more safely (and legally) than other bikers around town: for the most part I won't weave through traffic, I stop at lights and stop signs, and if there's no bike lane I take a lane just like a car, waiting behind stopped cars just as I'm supposed to.

In West Philly I only rarely was met with outright hostility, but in Center City it seems roughly half the drivers think cycling should be a crime. I even get honked at when I stop at stop signs! I'm truly mystified. My bike is zero-emissions, near-zero impact on the roads, safer than cars, motorbikes, or even mass transit are for pedestrians, and frankly it's less of an eye-sore than most of the big American cars that honk at me.

I've spoken to both bicyclists and motorcyclists, and though the motorcyclists often feel as though cars disregard their rights and safety, they never encounter the same sort of vitriol. Can someone please explain why on earth the driver today, and motorists in general, have such contempt for bikes on the road? < /confounded rant>

AfriGadget

I keep telling people about this blog, then not emailing them the url.

Here you go, ye poor neglected masses.

Pictures from the Utah trip

The gallery's still in disarray (lots of duds, near-copies, etc.), and I have yet to do any photo editing (clean up messy exposures, balance colors, etc.) but almost all of the pics I took in Utah are up at http://unin5pired.smugmug.com/gallery/3301788#183561948

Wow, this is Leorah and me!!!

In which the day is seized.

I could totally see this being the way I die...

Craphound'n find of the year (to date)

I pulled a gorgeous 1950's Vissetti blue and cream sewing machine out of a dumpster today. It's in a latching color-matched case, not too dissimilar to the one that houses my awesome typewriter (which most people who know me have seen), works like new, and is in absolute mint condition. One rubber foot on the foot pad needs to be replaced, and it needs a needle, but all the belts and mechanics look like they've never been used. My favorite part is the "As Seen In Life" badge just below the brand name. I'll be uploading photos tomorrow...

Best menu option EVER!

In the data processing app Igor:

Patience and Hospitality

Last night I transfered my Comcast account to our new address. Apparently I will no longer be eligible for the student package that I'd grandfathered in from Urban Cableworks (now Time Warner), but the woman helping me on the phone was extremely helpful, and actually got me an even better deal by the end of the call. She spent a lot more time trying to help me than she had to, and the experience was drastically different from any previous dealing I've had with Comcast (which have historically ended with me yelling, or demanding to speak with a supervisor). I later realized that this was probably because it was the first time I was calling about something other than comcast screwing me over, and as a result I was much more polite and patient than usual.

Then today I read this story: Attempted Robbery Ends In Group Hug (Yahoo! News)

Somehow the two incidents seem remarkably similar to me. And yes, I realize that I'm likening Comcast to an armed thief, and yes, I think that's an appropriate comparison to draw.

via [boingboing]

Sturgeon's Law

Everyone in the world knows Murphy's law, and it's referenced to the point that I find it a little obnoxious. Sturgeon's law, on the other hand, is a beautiful little underused gem of an adage. These days it usually is stated as "90% of everything is crud," but I prefer the original: "nothing is always absolutely so."

Since the original has fallen out of common usage I'm going to start referring to it as "the lost law of Sturgeon," and attempt to drag it from its grave.

Discovered via [Daring Fireball]
Defined at [wikipedia]

New house!!!

I've officially been approved for a lease for a new apartment! It's 3 floors above a store-front down in the Italian Market. The place is huge, is a block from Sabrina's (a great brunch joint), and will likely be cheaper to heat than my current 1-bedroom apartment (the record bill: $300+). Anywho, now that the apartment search is over I have time for some other things (hopefully like updating this blog more often).

Also, the trip to Utah in August is all planned now. I just need to find Guy a temporary walker, and then we're set. I can't wait to get out to Southern Utah with a camera. I just wish I could bring a bike...

Oh, and a prize for whoever finds me the original source for this quote:

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall -- think of it, always."

– Mahatma Gandhi

I like the quote, I just don't want to use it unless I can prove Gandhi actually said it. I know some of you are library wizzes, so get crackin'.

Browsers, webapps, and innovative ways to use the web

I started using the beta of the new webapp me.dium. Me.dium talks to a browser plug-in and displays the activity of other me.diumers in your "neighborhood" of the web (the sites you're using or have used most recently) in a sidebar. A picture is worth 1000 words:





In addition to this bit of eye-candy the sidebar enables you to chat with the people you see browsing "nearby." It adds a social aspect to surfing the web that web-services have been trying to achieve ever since del.icio.us.

Messing around with me.dium today got me to thinking about the innovations that have really revolutionized the way I use the internet. I hesitate to include me.dium on that list just now: it's just a fledgling app, and I'm not really sure that it's one I'll keep using just now. There have been a few technologies, however, that have fundamentally changed the way I use the internet.

The one that most immediately comes to mind is RSS. For the uninitiated, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and, as the name suggests, it provides a way for producers of web-content to distribute their media in a manner which doesn't require their consumers to visit their webpage. Using an aggregator (I use NetNewsWire, but there are many free services like bloglines) you can view the RSS feeds from many different sources in a single window. For example I can read news from the New York Times, CNN.com, BBC.com, and so on in a single window.

Nothing else has really had as big an effect on my internet use as RSS, but runners-up include 1Passwd, Firefox (and now Camino), and Digg. Am I missing out on any current web-revolutions? Is there something you can think of that changed the way you surf? Answer in the comments!

News news with a sprinkling of Murdoch hate.

Rupert Murdoch recently bid on Dow Jones, the company that owns WSJ. Thankfully the Bancrofts and their fellow shareholders see their ownership of Dow Jones as the responsibility that it is. There is an excellent article on the front page of the NYT (print copy) today, which is reprinted here, which discusses the reasoning behind Dow Jones' dismissal of Murdoch's offer.

The argument is best summed up by this excerpt:

“As an investor, I would be very concerned to live in an era of making investment decisions based on the Murdoch-filtered business information,” he said. “As a citizen, I would be afraid to live in a world where news is solely entertainment, and there is an agenda behind every story I read, watch or hear.”

I am so impressed that I am subscribing to the WSJ webpage, and maybe to the print edition, as we speak. Maybe if enough people have this response Dow Jones won't be in a position where they need to be worried about being bought out.

School's out for summer!

Hello world!
I'm back after 2 weeks of coughing blood, (literally) feverishly writing a term paper, and cramming for a quantum exam in far too little time. It's amazing how much a week of being debilitatingly ill can screw up your schedule.

Anyhow, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, and now that I'm not displaying tubercular symptoms any longer I imagine I'll be posting with more regularity.

Also, just a heads up, my goal for the summer is to complete at least 3 MAKE projects, so I'll post the results here. My first project is one I'd meant to do last summer but never got around to, which is to build a kite-borne aerial-photography rig (don't worry dad, my digital camera will stay earth-bound: the rig mounts disposable cameras).

When geeks have too much time on their hands

24: The Day After

Hopefully this title doesn't attract too many Jack Bauer googlers, as this post has nothing to do with the most formulaic of the non-crime dramas on television today (though I suppose terrorism IS a crime, I meant crime drama as in the CSIs and Law And Orders that air on every channel).

Nope, this post has to do with my age. As of yesterday. I have officially survived the second least exciting birthday to precede age 25 (with 17 being a close 3rd, but 20 edging both out by virtue of its proximity to 21). First off, thanks to all the folks who wrote on my wall (facebook), twittered me (twitter), called me (sorry my phone died Alyssa and Grandma), came out on Saturday (you know who you are), and made me breakfast and won me a pie (Leorah). The bulk of my celebrating was dinner with friends at Ajia followed up with pool at Roosevelt's.

So Ajia is an all-you-can-eat (-before-getting-sick-of-the-terrible-service) sushi resturant, and so far is the second best sushi-shop I've tried in philly (though that's not saying much). Eating at Ajia is a once-a-year tradition for me and my friends, as we love sushi and CAN eat a lot, but only once-a-year as the service is so comically bad that one visit gives us at least a year's worth of stories. This time it was particularly interesting as Spring Fling at UPenn coincided with this weekend. A party of about 15 drunken fratboys (and their sorority entourage) had virtually taken over the resturant, creating a huge ruckus and being generally disruptive. Ajia is BYOB, so these guys had brought a whole keg into the restaurant, and were doing keg stands and beer bongs all night. It was hilarious to see the two super-polite women serving their table trying to cope with the spilled beer and disruptive behavior, though it meant waiting an hour and a half for our food.

Roosevelt's could probably sneak its way onto my top 10 list of places to hang out in Philly. Saturdays they have a $10 cover, but inside there's free hot wings and roast beef, and a penny well from 10-12. The place tries to cater to 30-somethings working and living nearby in center city, but their great deals and the fact that they are just across the bridge from Penn draws a lot of older undergrads and many grad students as well. We got there right at 10, and were able to keep the pool table the whole night.

I got a sweet new laptop bag from the folks. If you are in the market I highly recommend the bags from Pacific Designs. I also got some Amazon $$$, which I think I may save till the next iPod update.

All in all it was a satisfying and restful birthday. Thanks to everyone!

Of Easter and Traditions

I had a wonderful Easter today. Leorah had bought a bunch of candy and made me an Easter basket and hidden eggs around the house when I woke up this morning. It was really sweet and cute of her, though now we have pounds of candy to tempt us. Lucky you if you work with me: expect candy on my desk tomorrow! After the egg hunt I made us a yummy omelet, took a 2 hour break, then returned to spend the next few hours in the kitchen cleaning and making a ham dinner. Ham is pretty essential to my memories of Easter, as much so as chocolate and eggs, and it started me thinking about my family's traditions in general.

In my family certain holidays have certain meals associated with them (ham for Easter, cioppino on X-mass eve, corned beef on St. Patty's, and of course turkey for Turkey Day). On other holidays we may not have a specific dish or meal, but we always tend to celebrate with a big meal (with a few exceptions: I can't think of any big Halloween dinners in my past). Even now that it's just me and Leorah on most holidays I usually find myself cooking more than enough food to feed a family of four (or provide us with leftovers for a couple weeks).

Cooking's not our only tradition, but it is the one that always leaves me the most satisfied when I can't visit home for a holiday, and it's the one I miss the most when I don't celebrate something. Do any of you (the two people who've been checking the blog consistently) have any traditions that you value the way I do food? What is it, and why is that tradition important to you? Leave your answers in the comments (ooh, that request made me feel so bloggerific!).

This week: a retrospective

So this weeks been a bit crazy. Leorah's been in Charleston visiting the folks, so I've been having to run home earlier and more often to walk the dog. It was also the last week that I TA labs this semester, and I managed to forget to show up for one of them! I've also hit another hitch with my research so I've been having to contact venders about a custom made part, which is probably the most time-wasting and boring part of getting an experiment off the ground.

The theme for the week has been unhealthy eating: I started the week out with a chicken fried steak on Sunday, and followed it up with pizza, ice cream, chili (right before a soccer game: bad idea), peanut-butter cookies, easter candy (thanks for the care package mom, dad, and josh!), and so on. I've come to the conclusion that one unhealthy food week a year is sufficient to remind me how great vegetables are. Still, I'm going to go out with a bang and make an Easter ham on Sunday.

I also got my beta copy of Joost this week. So far it's great. I can see it being a much more effective tool for targeted marketing than conventional cable, and once they resolve some buffering issues, and get a bit more content services like this could really give Crapcast a run for its money.

Oh yeah, HORSIES!!! These are the pics from last Saturday at the horse farm Leorah rides at:

This is Leorah and 'her' horse Louie (the cheeky one chewing on her arm). That dark horse behind them is Chapter, a former racehorse, and the horse of the farm's owner.

Here's Chapter and Louie running.

Here's Louie running some more.

Here's Chapter showing some interest in my camera.

This is Colin, a pretty white horse that hangs out with Louie and Chapter alot.





Here's another pretty horse. I forgot his name.




Here's Colin again. He really is all white. He just needs a good brushing.




And she wonders why he always nibbles at her hands!




Colin and Chapter




Colin eating




Probably my favorite part of the farm. Fat dogs.




Here's my favorite pic of Louie





This is why our help was needed: a driving competition. This is Louie's half-sister.




More chubby dogs.

I'm not lazy, really!

I know I promised horsey pics, then haven't posted for two consecutive days. Monday was crazy busy, and today I had batch-photo-uploading issues. I just got back from flying into a overly-dramatic-in-hopes-of-a-discount rage at a cricketless Petsmart, so I'm pretty pooped today too. As soon as the SmugMug uploader stops choking on my 350-photo upload I promise I'll make the aforementioned post, but it may well be late tomorrow that that happens.

I'm faaaaat.

I just got back from brunch at the wonderful Honey's of Northern Liberties. I made the mistake of having the chicken fried steak. It was wonderful, and for some bizarre reason I was craving some southern style fried food. But now I'm fat.

On an unrelated note, archery didn't happen yesterday, but Dan and I are going to go bow shopping this week sometime. I feel almost like Nicholas Cage from The Weatherman. I bet cabbies will treat me better if I've got a bow and arrows strapped on my back as I bike around town.

Pics of horsies tomorrow!

My first celebrity look alike?

I've just been informed by my old roommate and honorary "I [heart] the 80s" talking head, Raul, that with my new haircut (or lack thereof) I am now a dead ringer for Thomas Dolby.
You be the judge:

Some pics

Last night I skipped meeting the prospective grad students for next year in favor of kicking the football around with our intramural team after our game. I snapped some pics, and quickly realized I need to figure out a better way to snap action shots. Here's the best of them:





I clearly need to shorten my exposure. I was using the "sports" macro, but that clearly didn't do the trick. Also it was really tough to frame the shots to begin with, as the zoom changes pretty slowly.

Anyhow, we lost again, but Paulo, one of the postdocs in my lab, and one of the coolest guys I've met here at Penn, came out last night and really tore up the field (he's the blue blur in the bottom two pics). He's also supposed to be an incredible tennis player, so Lynn and I are hoping to get him on the courts when it gets a tad warmer.

Tomorrow I'll be in Jersey in the morning helping Leorah out at the horse farm, then I might hook up with Dan for a bike ride that afternoon. He has some crazy idea involving bows and arrows. I'm not really clear on the details but I'm pretty sure it will end in injury or death. We'll see.

Hello Internets

You all know what blogs are for by now, so I'm going to eschew the ritual of using my first post to explain my purpose in starting this site. Instead I will post this charming video of a dancing robot:


[via Jay via Marek Michalowski]