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In February, 1995, Greg LeMond came to Boise.

Remember Greg?  He was the first-ever American to win the Tour de France... several years before whats-his-name... the disgraced guy.  LeMond won three times in his career.  I stood in line on a gray winter morning to get an audience with him.  I got a photo and we chatted.  I told him I'd ridden 50,000 miles.  (Cumulative, since I started tracking in 1986.)  His jaw dropped... he interpreted that to mean I'd ridden 50k miles in a year!  I clarified.  He laughed, and gave me a signed poster - one of his moments of glory on the Champs-Élysées, with the Arc de Triomphe in the background.  He wrote on it, "To Steve, keep it up another 50,000! -Greg LeMond."  It's a prized possession, framed along with our photo together.

As it turns out, I did keep it up another 50,000.  On September 1, 2004, I rode my bicycle to the Statehouse and lofted it high above my head, in a lame imitation of Rocky!  Because that was the day I hit 100,000 miles.  My office friends were there to celebrate with me.

In 2004, another 100,000 miles seemed insurmountable.  Like climbing to a high peak, and seeing for the first time, the distant, even-higher mountain range.  Shades of Lewis & Clark!

Well... time marches on, and the miles keep rolling underneath me.

Yesterday, I hit 190,000 miles.  Now that tall range is much nearer to the view.  I should hit that peak sometime in 2022, based on current annual mileages.

(This may seem like a silly diversion to many.  And I'd still be riding, even if I didn't keep track.  However, I'd be lying if I said that "chasing those miles" wasn't a motivation for me.  Frosting on the cake.  I keep daily track in multiples of 5... you know 10 miles, 15 miles, 20, etc.  I put a checkmark next to 15, whether I ride 15.01 miles or 19.99 miles.  So if time isn't a factor, I'll almost always be motivated to hit the next higher number.  The Missus keeps things in perspective.  When I boast, "I've ridden 5000 miles this year!," her reply is "That's nice.")

"An Inconvenient Pandemic"

Talk about bad timing!

I just got my April Rolling Stone Magazine. It has St. Greta on the cover, and it's all about the Race To Save The Planet - NOW OR NEVER!

In the magazine publishing world, there are deadlines to go to the printer and such. And the April edition was obviously sent to the press before the "Corona Crisis," because there's not a word about it. Instead, it's chock-full of propaganda and society-shaming about "climate change." There's an interview with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a luminary of the "save the planet" movement, and co-author of "The Green New Deal." There's a scathing expose about Chase Bank, which is apparently financing Global Warming. There are photos of dead whales, forest fires, buckled streets... all just small snapshots of the disasters that await us if we don't do something now!

Here's a tidbit - a Call to Arms to RS readers, to "protest":
Earth Day Climate Strike
"For the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, activist coalition Strike With Us is calling for workers and students to stage walkouts across the U.S., demanding action before it's too late."

Um... where are workers and students going to walk out of? In the Twilight Zone of April, 2020, workers and students are pretty much holed up at home, awaiting an end to Covid-19! Bad timing!

But, maybe it will give people more time for getting educated and thoughtful consideration about other matters, like Earth Day and climate change.

I'm not sure what the Rolling Stone demographic is, but it's obviously aimed at people who will easily become alarmed, and perhaps manipulated. People who will see a photo of a dead whale, and decide they can "walk out" for a day to change the climate... and then go back to business as usual.  (Which is pretty much the modus operandi of the Climate Change hand-wringers and pearl-clutchers.)

Here's some documented history... the very first Earth Day, staged on April 22, 1970, was a result of increasing alarm about the upcoming ICE AGE! More detailed info HERE.

Why is Earth Day on April 22? That date is Nikolai Lenin's birthday. It's also "the day of Bernadette Devlin's maiden speech before the House of Commons." I have to confess, if I ever knew about Bernadette Devlin, that knowledge has been forgotten. But Lenin's name still rings familiar. No wonder Alexandra is all about Earth Day! (And it suggests that Earth Day is as much about political philosophy, as it is about the environment.)

I actually feel some pity for young Greta, from Sweden. Here's a teenager, who, like lots of teenagers is concerned about the environment. (And, I admire her, because unlike MOST luminaries of the "environmental movement," she actually seems to walk the talk. Evidently after her 15 minutes of fame at the United Nations, she was concerned enough that she didn't want to fly home to Sweden, and instead took passage on a boat. How often does Al Gore, or John Kerry, or Leonardo DiCaprio, or Jane Fonda, refuse to take the plane?) But, poor Greta is being USED by the Climate Zealots.

Here's what really chaps me... they are all talk, no action! They are "demanding action before it's too late." What are THEY doing, besides laying down their demands? How does the quote "carbon footprint" unquote of Algore or Alexandria compare with that of Joe Lunchbox?

Please don't misunderstand. I would like to sincerely thank my fellow Earth Citizens who are trying to live a low-impact lifestyle. I don't know how much impact you, or any of us, are having on the climate... but regardless, it's good to make an effort to leave our home at least as nice as we found it. I'm confident that the climate is changing, because it has been changing for the entire history of the planet. I have NO IDEA how much our modern lifestyles are impacting the planet, but I know there are a BUNCH of factors that are probably having much more impact, that we have absolutely no control over! (I'm far more confident in our ability to harness the Covid-19 virus, than our ability to control the climate!!! And I'm not willing to go back to a caveman lifestyle, because it MIGHT cool the planet by 1 degree.)

As for "now or never," for 50 years we've been told that if we don't do something RIGHT NOW, in 10 years it will be too late! SHUT UP!

(I'm trying to do my part! If you want to compare "carbon footprints," get in touch with me and let's talk!)

Burning Man & Greenbelt - threatened!

I will assume you are familiar with the Burning Man phenomenon.  Every year in late August, in the Black Rock Desert northeast of Reno, thousands of people throw off the bonds of convention and gather for a week or 10 days of  "arts and culture."  Attendees are expected - encouraged - to push the boundaries of expression and excess.  It culminates with the "main event" - the burning of an immense wooden statue of a man, surrounded by the gyrating, howling - but peaceful - mob.

I've never been tempted to attend, any more than I've been tempted to attend the annual Sturgis "biker" rally.  Perhaps I suffer from what Yogi Berra explained as follows, when speaking of a popular restaurant: "NOBODY goes there any more - it's too crowded!"  (I tend to shy away from large, chaotic groups.  The Fair or a Bronco Stadium football game is pushing my boundaries; I tend to gravitate AWAY from big crowds.)

The population of the most recent "Burning Man" was in excess of 60,000.

The founders and organizers laid down these principles by which Burning Man will be governed:
    - Radical inclusion
    - Gifting
    - Decommodification
    - Radical self-reliance
    - Radical self-expression
    - Communal effort
    - Civic responsibility
    - Leaving no trace
    - Participation
    - Immediacy
… and they've done their best to stay true to those principles.  (I'm sure it's a challenge, when 60K people, with widely-varying levels of commitment, show up for a week and then go back to their day jobs, or whatever their pastimes.)

However, the spirit of Burning Man is under threat from "poseurs" - jet-setters and "social media influencers" who get limo'ed in for Instagram photos, who live in the turnkey, self-contained 2-bedroom "Moon Village" with "super powerful AC" while making the scene, and then get whisked away in the limo to the private jet that awaits at the nearest airport.

Interesting article about it all HERE.

This year, Marian Goodell, the CEO of the undertaking, expelled the worst offenders and warned others.  She wrote, "Black Rock City requires significant investments of time, energy, and resourcefulness.  Part of what makes Burning Man unique and powerful is that everyone has to work hard to be there..."

In thinking about it, that's a pretty good explanation of some of my recent "Greenbelt feelings."

As traditional self-powered Greenbelt users (pedestrians, cyclists, runners, skaters, etc.) are joined by people on electric-powered bicycles and now "e-scooters"...

There's rarely a traffic problem on the Greenbelt between, say, October and April.  But come those summer months, it gets mighty crowded on a perfect weekend afternoon or warm summer evening.  And apparently going forward, those traditional large crowds will be supplemented by people who "don't have to work hard to be there."  They just twist a throttle or push a button to become part of the mass of humanity.  And the quality of the experience deteriorates for everybody, just as surely as the quality of a nice drive from Eagle to downtown Boise deteriorates... if you're doing it at 7:30 on a weekday morning.

Surely the e-bikers and e-scooterers aren't going overboard on "decommodification," or "radical self-reliance," or "communal effort," or even "participation."  (I can't imagine I'd feel much sense of participation, if I was just rolling thru on a self-propelled vehicle.)

Time will tell.  2019 will be our first summer with full-blown, unlimited e-bikes and e-scooters.  It will also be the first summer with several new attractions (expanded water park in particular).  Our city overlords don't seem to have any reservations about trying to limit crowd sizes - growth is good!  I'm not feeling optimistic about the "Greenbelt experience" going forward, but maybe my worries are totally irrational... we'll see.

Am I toxic?

The Social Justice Activists have moved onto another defect that pervades our society - Toxic Masculinity.  I don't watch much TV, but apparently Gillette - the razor blade people - even have a commercial chastising the 50% of humanity who can grow a beard.  For being men.  (Admittedly I don't know the details, but the men who are confident about being men share some of the blame for the abusers and wife beaters?)  (Dang it, why didn't I take some psychology classes, so I'd understand all this stuff?!!)

Now I can't help but wonder... do I ride a bike (and with a beard, several months of the year) because I suffer from TMS?

I gotta confess - riding a bike instills in me a sense of superiority over the weak-and-infirm people who choose a lesser form of transportation.  But I try REALLY HARD to contain that feeling in my brain, and not point out the feebleness of the others.  (I'm sure they're painfully aware of it - why point out the obvious?)

Maybe I should change my moniker to Bike Neanderthal.

Well... if I'm a carrier of TMS, at least I don't have it as bad as those poor slobs who spend $50,000 on an F350 Super Duty, and then add $15,000 worth of masculine bling to it!!

(nudge-nudge, wink-wink)

"Spin" classes - not diverse enough!

Washington Post style reporter Lavanya Ramanathan has noticed that "spinning" class participants are predominantly young, thin, and white.  Yet one more cause for the Social Justice Warriors!  (Her opinion piece can be read HERE.)

I've never been in a spinning class in my life, nor do I understand the appeal.  But I will add a couple of my own personal observations to Lavanya's ...

The girl in those "Peloton" commercials on TV is young and thin! ... Now that I think about it, the majority of (on-the-street) bicycle riders I see in Boise are relatively young... and relatively thin... and most are white.  I always assumed it kinda reflected the demographics of the people who live in the area, and are interested in bicycling.  But maybe more should be done to make it more diverse!

Hey!  And ya know... now that I think about it... when you watch a big-time bicycle race, like, say, the Tour de France... the racers are predominantly young, thin, and white!  What the?!!?

But... before I get too bent out of shape... I think back on last weekend, when I probably watched 10 or more hours of top-level NCAA college basketball.  And in that field of endeavor, the tables were turned!  There are fewer white guys playing college basketball, than there are black guys (and gals) in spinning classes, I'm guessing.  (Granted, us fatties were NOT very well represented, in any skin tone.)

Hockey ... football ... track and field ... marathon running ... volleyball ... polo ... synchronized swimming ... the list goes on and on.  Some seem to attract a more homogenous mix of participants, and some are quite diverse.  Should quotas be imposed or enforced, just for the sake of diversity?

(For the record... there's not a whole lot I can do about being white.  It's the skin I was born with.  BUT - I'm doing my best to skew the participation percentages to OLDER and FATTER!)

Hydrocarbon fury

There's no denying that image is a huge factor in vehicle selection. We fork over big bucks for a ride that will not only get us and our stuff from Point A to Point B, but will also make a statement about the person behind the wheel.

Take this pickup, for example. Shiny red paint! Overt display of patriotism! Oversized rubber! And... check out that exhaust pipe! It's so big that you could store your CD collection in there! It must take quite the man, to even handle all that barely-contained raging fury when the gas pedal is punched!

Hey! Wait just one minute!

Upon closer inspection... that huge exhaust pipe is just pretend! It's just bolted on the end of a much more conventional-sized exhaust pipe.

I'm no internal-combustion engineer... but it seems to me that this giant chrome exhaust tip wouldn't add even a single horse power! Am I wrong? I invite expert opinions that might clarify my misunderstanding, if there is one.

Is this exhaust tip the vehicular equivalent of sticking a cucumber down your tight britches?

(nudge-nudge... wink-wink)

Emerging Patterns

This is probably nothing to get startled about... but I've noticed that for the last month or so, we seem to be experiencing Global Cooling.  At least at this latitude.  But - if memory serves, the same thing was happening about this same time last year.  (Six months from now, we'll be in the throes of Global Warming once again.)

I enjoy a bit of personal amusement in the autumn.  Being quite "weather-extreme tolerant" (largely as a result of many years of cycling in widely-varying climatic conditions), it amuses me when I'm still in shirt-sleeves, and cross paths with cyclists who are bundled up like they're headed for Antarctica!  You know - thick hooded goose-down parka, heavy mittens, scarf across face, etc.  When it's 50 degrees I always want to ask, "What are you going to do when it gets cold?!"

Also, the "bike room" parking at the office clears out, this time of year.  In the summer, there might be 30 or 35 bikes parked in there... now there are 3 or 4, and a couple look to have been abandoned.  Another fairly regular year-round cyclist observed, "Cold weather has a way of weeding out the weak and infirm."  Among the general population and among the cycling population!

Longer term, as I think about it I detect another pattern.  20 years ago I would take the most direct route, the majority of the time.  I was focused on transportation efficiency on the bike... wanting to select the fastest way from Point A to Point B.  Nowadays I'll frequently diverge more, sacrificing a minute or two for a more aesthetically-pleasing ride.

Almost every weekday, I ride down a quarter-mile stretch of 4-lane road (Americana Boulevard), where the downhill slope makes it practical to "take the lane."  At the bottom, I can peel off to a bike path through the park.  Doing so definitely adds distance and time to my ride... but it is always such a pleasant change of atmosphere, to put the motor traffic noise behind me!  The extra minute or two is a small price to pay.  (And, in all honesty, my speed is 3mph slower than it was 20 years ago, so rapid transit is less of a factor in any case.)

Hot Air at the Paris Climate Summit

ALERT!  I have to confess considerable skepticism, and cynicism, regarding the efforts of Humankind to proactively change the climate for the better.  If that attitude offends you, you might want to skip this one.

What a relief!  We (and I speak, of course, of all of humanity) kept the wheels from coming off long enough for our luminaries to gather at the Paris Climate Summit, where they'll get the whole thing figured out!

Yup... the Big Brains are convened.  147 world leaders arrived in private jets (at least one in a Boeing 747!), or at least First Class.  They'll talk.  They'll wine and dine.  They'll break for photo-ops.  (I've gotta think there will be a lot of "nudge-nudge, wink-wink" going on, as well.)

Apparently the objective is for the rich countries to fund efforts by developing nations to cut down on carbon emissions, and reduce greenhouse gases.

NBC News reported that our Emitter-in-Chief, who quite possibly has the largest "carbon footprint" on Planet Earth, had 3 minutes allocated at the big opening reception, and took 14 minutes.  He seems to be wavering between climate change and gun control as his number-one priority for his last year in office.  Or that's what he tells people.  Between you and me, I bet his number one priority will be taking lots of vacations, golf outings, etc., in Air Force One, while he still has that privilege.  Let's watch and see if I'm right.  (I wish I could have more respect for the man... but apparently he's never learned a lesson that I learned quite young... your actions speak so much louder than your words!  Even if you blather on for 14 minutes.)

(Yeah, I'm just a racist, like anybody who questions Dear Leader.)

What CAN we do, to minimize our impact on the climate?  I believe it starts with individuals.
- We can minimize our driving.  I believe there's a consensus that driving around in our vehicles (or jetting in our 747s) is probably the single most polluting activity that most of us engage in.
- We can try not to waste things.  Eat all our food, use up our goods, so more doesn't have to be manufactured on account of us.
- We can turn the thermostat down a few degrees in winter, and up a few degrees in the summer.  Expand our "comfort zones."  (Possibly President Obama's first act in office was to turn up the thermostat in the White House.  Check it out - it's out there on the record.)
- We can turn off our lights, electronic gizmos, etc., when they're not in use.
- We can walk up one flight of stairs, and down two.  (Jimmy Carter suggested that, during the first big "fuel crisis," way back in the early '70s.  I thought it was a good idea then... and I still do.  We're WAY too lazy!)

Billions of people, doing billions of little things, will have a much bigger difference than the Blowhards of the World, gathering to talk some more.

Okay... I've vented.

Simplicity

Simplicity is underrated in today's modern society.  We embrace complex high-tech.  There are "specialists" for everything, because everything is so complicated.

Among my other duties at "the day job," I do tech support for our computer systems.  And I've become convinced that our system has become so complex, with so many little wheels that need to be spinning, that something is always broken.  You just hope it's not something really important.  (I've been doing computer-related stuff for almost 40 years, and it hasn't always been that way.  Back in the glory days, there were data entry people, and after-hours batch processing, and lots of printed reports.  (An early-on colleague couldn't make the transition from punch cards to monochrome green monitors connected to the mainframe, and decided it was his signal to retire.  How times have changed!)  Nowadays, information is so vital that it has to be maintained "real time," and everybody - even people out "on the road" - needs immediate access to the right-now info.

From my seat, our "civilized" transportation isn't so different.  Motor vehicles are so complicated that when something breaks, the dashboard "idiot light" comes on, warning you that your car computer has to talk to the car-doctor computer, which will tell the parts replacement guy (formerly mechanic) what part needs to be replaced.  Fer cryin' out loud!  I'm seeing cars advertised that have eight-speed transmissions!  And of course, there are more cars all the time with both a gas motor and an electric motor, working in computer-controlled harmony.  Compare that with the ol' '57 Chevy or '68 Mustang!  And even if the car is purring like a kitten, there's the transportation infrastructure.  I observe that morning commute with amazement... thousands of cars rolling into town, all counting on a no-mishap morning.  One fender-bender... it can throw 5000 people off schedule!

By contrast, bicycle transportation seems like a marvel of simplicity.  If you carried to the ultimate form, I s'pose it would be the single-speed direct drive.  What can go wrong... at least with the machine?  I settle for slightly more complexity... I know how the derailleurs work at both ends, and the brakes... I know what needs to be maintained (and am often guilty of neglecting that stuff for too long).  I haven't taken my bike to the shop for years - I can fix everything out under the shade tree.  Barring a totally weird catastrophe, there's essentially nothing I can't maintain myself, nor anything that can happen on a ride, that I can't fix and limp on in.  It's a beautiful thing!

Frankly, I'd prefer if my bike were a "10 speed" instead of a "30 speed" - I don't need all those speeds!  But like computers, for as long as I've been paying attention, even bicycle manufacturers have been motivated to make this year's models a little more complex than last year's.  It's probably driven by the cyclists who drive hybrid 8-speed climate-controlled cars, huh?

(Tonight I'm replacing a rear tire.  The tread was getting pretty light... but it's been so long, I can't remember... should I replace the tire when the rubber is worn all the way thru in a few places, or wait 'til it's worn thru all the way around?  ha-ha-ha!)

Getting old

One of those age-old questions, without a clear answer: "Do you quit riding a bicycle because you get old, or do you get old because you quit riding a bicycle?"

I like to think it's the latter... and I hope to keep riding until my kids insist I give it up because I can no longer keep it upright!  (And hoping I never arrive at that point...)

The mother-in-law lives with us... well, actually, adjacent to us.  She's in her 90s, and her kids prevailed on her to sell her house and move in with one of them [my wife] where she could get attention and assistance when needed.  We built a little 600-square-foot cottage for her out back, connected to the main house, and it's been mostly a comfortable transition.

However, I've observed her.  When she first arrived in Boise a couple years ago, she would routinely cross the street and walk around the perimeter of the city park - about 1/2 mile.  She wasn't setting any records for speed, but she was doing it.  In the ensuing couple of years, she's declined noticeably.  She mostly sits in her easy chair now.  When she walks any distance, its with the assistance of her walker.  (She still goes and "exercises" in a swimming pool a couple times a week, but that's about the extent of it.)  She complains about her constantly-sore knees.

So - did she quit walking because she has sore knees, or does she have sore knees because she quit walking?  She had more incentive to get up and active in the morning, before she took up housekeeping with us.  Nowadays, if she chooses, she can mostly putter around in her place and her needs will be seen to by her house mates.  There might be a lesson here.  Or maybe not.

I'm 61.  Which means I'll be middle-aged within ten years or so.  (Hahahaha!)  These days, when I drag my sorry carcass out of bed, it's a rare day when I don't feel somewhat sore and stiff.  I notice it while doing the most trivial of things... making the bed, brushing my teeth.  But after 10 or 15 minutes of working the kinks out, and an aspirin tablet or two now and then, I generally feel all right with the world.  But I can see how one could take a different route: "I'm pretty stiff and sore today.  I better take it easy and watch TV, and I'll probably feel better in the morning."  But will you ever feel better in the morning, if your preferred remedy is to relax?  I'm thinking not.  "Use it or lose it."  I see evidence of that every day... and I hope I can keep using it, because I don't want to lose it.

Bicycling as social statement

Steve Henning is a textiles-industry executive.  He was working in Australia, and bicycle commuted almost exclusively.  His associates admired him for it.

Then he was relocated to China, where he assumed he could continue riding... after all, bicycle is a very common mode of transportation in that heavily-populated country.  But then he made an unfortunate discovery.  "My team was humiliated that their boss rode a bike to work like a common person. While Chinese bike to work infinitely more than Australians, among the wealthier Chinese, bikes are not an option. There are plenty of bikes on the road, but biking is for the lower classes only. So my team felt it was an embarrassment that their boss rode a bike to the office. They felt it suggested to the entire company that their boss was unimportant, and that by association, they were unimportant, too."  (Story HERE.)

Wow!

Can you imagine being socially-pressured on account of your bicycle riding?

But as I think about it... what kind of social pressures do we have, here in the U.S.A., regarding our transportation?

There is no doubt that in many eyes and minds, choice of vehicle is a very significant "statement."  If you don't believe me, spend an evening watching network TV, and observe the car and truck commercials.  If they are to be believed, your wheels are everything!  If you don't drive their vehicle, you might as well tattoo LOSER on your forehead!

Ride the bus?  Are you kidding?  Do you eat at the rescue mission, too?!?

Ride a bike?  A grownup riding a bike?  Pitiful!  Lost your driver's license, huh?  What are you, some kind of tree-hugging liberal?

Of course, there are exceptions.  Among the "hipsters" where image is EVERYTHING, it's very stylish to ride a vintage single-speed... and particularly if you're wearing the proper hipster clothing style (which seems to change somewhat regularly - ya gotta pay attention to these things).  Perhaps as they graduate to full adulthood, bicycle-as-transportation will continue to evolve into respectability?

And of course there's a subculture of "equipment fethishists" in the world of bicycling as everywhere else... people who derive satisfaction from having the very top-level gear.  Surely part of the appeal of titanium carbon fiber / Dura-Ace / Campy Record is other like-minded riders making note of your awesome steed.

If I'm making a "social statement" by my bicycling, it's at the subconscious level.  (In my mind, transportation by bicycle is superior in pretty much every way.  I'm saving a boatload of dough.  I'm not contributing to the inversion.  I could do what every motorist is doing... but relatively few of them could do what I'm doing.  But I don't care whether they recognize any of that or not.)

Excuse me, while I wax nostalgic for a moment...

When I was a kid, most families only had one car... or at least that's my memory.  (More moms stayed home back then.)  But still, it was a very unusual sight to see a grownup riding a bike, other than for recreation.

Wesley Goodson was well-known in my neighborhood - for bicycling.  He rode an ancient "cruiser" style bike that was festooned with baskets, several headlights, horns, and literally hundreds of reflectors.  He was an adult - but not a normal adult.  I'm sure he was mentally impaired to some degree... he mowed lawns for pocket money and constantly smoked a pipe as he rode.  He'd ride his bike to Roosevelt Market, right across the street from my elementary school, where we would admire it while he leaned against the wall and sipped beer from a quart bottle.  (Thinking back... Wesley was a pretty cool character!  Although he was hardly a role model, he certainly didn't feel any pressure to "fit in."  He was his own guy.  And - he probably was role model in the sense of his transportation... for me.  Here was a guy who didn't have much in the way of prosperity, but he got around the neighborhood in style, and on the cheap!)

There was another fellow - I don't know his name, but I knew of him from the same Roosevelt Market connection.  He'd park his "English three speed" out front, while he ran in for provisions... on his way to work downtown.  He worked at the music store.  (When I was a bit older, I'd hang out there, admiring electric guitars and horns and pianos and such.)  He bicycled to work regularly... you could say it was his daily transportation.

And my dad rode a bike to work sometimes, but only maybe once a week and when the weather was nice.  I always thought it was pretty cool when his bicycle was cabled up in his office parking spot.

Fall back, schmall back!

I went to the Wikipedia to read up on Daylight Saving Time.  According to that source, the notion was originally floated by a guy from New Zealand, back in the late 19th Century.  And it says the "rationale" is that most people prefer a greater increase in daylight hours after the typical "nine-to-five" workday.

I can buy that - in fact, count me among them. So... why would we suddenly quit preferring daylight after 9-5, in Autumn when the days get shorter?

If anything, they should "fall forward" and "spring back," so we get that extra hour of precious daylight in the winter, when the days are shortest.

Starting Monday for a month or so, you'll get dressed in the morning and commute to work while the sun is up... big freakin' deal!  When you go home, maybe if you're lucky you can do a few minutes of outside stuff without artificial lighting.  By a month from now, it'll be dark all the time, except when you're at work.  (I'm describing the situation at roughly 43 degrees north latitude.  It varies.)  Oh goodness!  Just the thought give me Seasonal Affective Disorder!!

In any case, don't change the batteries in your smoke alarm on account of "falling back."  If your smoke alarm is anything like mine, it will start annoying you with incessant beeping when the battery is getting weak.  (Maybe Duracell is the powerful lobbying group that keeps DST alive.)

When I'm in charge, we'll have year-round DST... and "America the Beautiful" will be the National Anthem.

End of rant.

Do you live in a happy city?

I happened across an article, "The secrets of the world's happiest cities." (Guardian, UK)

Intriguing! I scanned it - when Provo, Utah wasn't listed by name, I just about dismissed it outright.

(That's a joke! Provo, home of BYU, is located in a place the locals call "Happy Valley." But despite my occasional visits there, it's never struck me as happier than any other small city. I'd rather live in Boise.)

What would make a city "happy"? Prosperity / lack of crippling poverty? Health? Lots of bowling alleys and bars? A sweeeet mall?

According to the article, the common denominator of the happiest cities has nothing to do with the wealth of its inhabitants, or lots of name-brand shopping, or even its super-smart politicians. Rather, it is based on an urban design that minimizes auto-dependence and maximizes opportunities for its citizens to enjoy the outdoors and "connect with others."

It describes the transformation of an unlikely city - Bogota, Colombia, "a city with a reputation for kidnapping and assassination." The author followed the reform-minded mayor, Enrique Peñalosa, as he rode his bike partway across town to meet his son after school and accompany him home. Mayor Peñalosa raised eyebrows when he "declared war on cars," scrapping an ambitious roadway expansion plan and directing the funds toward expanding bike infrastructure, making open spaces more user-friendly with sidewalks, parks, etc. But he hasn't been thrown out of office, and his citizens seem happy with the evolution. (Maybe TOO happy - at the end of the story it says the facilities are stretched to the breaking point because of their popularity, but funding hasn't kept up with demand.)

Some interesting and provocative quotes from the story:

"If one was to judge by sheer wealth, the last half-century should have been an ecstatically happy time for people in the US and other rich nations such as Canada, Japan and Great Britain. And yet the boom decades of the late 20th century were not accompanied by a boom in wellbeing. The British got richer by more than 40% between 1993 and 2012, but the rate of psychiatric disorders and neuroses grew."

"The more connected we are to family and community, the less likely we are to experience heart attacks, strokes, cancer and depression. Connected people sleep better at night. They live longer. They consistently report being happier."

"A Swedish study found that people who endure more than a 45-minute commute were 40% more likely to divorce. People who live in monofunctional, car‑dependent neighbourhoods outside urban centres are much less trusting of other people than people who live in walkable neighbourhoods where housing is mixed with shops, services and places to work."

Two Zurich economists "found that a person with a one-hour commute has to earn 40% more money to be as satisfied with life as someone who walks to the office. On the other hand, for a single person, exchanging a long commute for a short walk to work has the same effect on happiness as finding a new love."

Daniel Gilbert, Harvard psychologist: "Most good and bad things become less good and bad over time as we adapt to them. However, it is much easier to adapt to things that stay constant than to things that change. So we adapt quickly to the joy of a larger house, because the house is exactly the same size every time. But we find it difficult to adapt to commuting by car, because every day is a slightly new form of misery."

Speaking for myself - I dislike a 30-minute driving errand, on account of sitting in traffic, etc. (Granted, I'm not used to that treatment.) I'd probably become homicidal if I had to do a 45-minutes-each-way, 5-day-a-week car commute! Homicidal is unhappy... right?
:-O

If you were a bug...

We recently enjoyed an idyllic week on the Oregon coast, with both activity and relaxation. My granddaughter Mackenzie seems destined to be some sort of critter wrangler - unlike many 6-year-old girls, she loves bugs, snakes, toads, salamanders, etc. Except for spiders. I believe certain adults - the ones who stand on chairs - have brainwashed her into being afraid of spiders.

She even built a "bug hospital" outside the house we were staying in - complete with leaf beds and pebble pillows.

During our visit to Shore Acres State Park (beautiful!), we saw lots of honeybees and bumblebees, busily moving from blossom to blossom.

We observed "wooly bear" caterpillars. (If the Wikipedia is to be believed, they hatch around this time of year, and then literally freeze over the winter in their caterpillar/larva state, and thaw in the springtime. Amazing!) When I was cycling, I saw literally hundreds of 'em on the roadway. I wish I could report that they were displaying some uncanny migratory instinct or traveling to a mutual destination, but 360 bugs were creeping in 360 different directions.

One of her favorite and routine finds was big, slimy, slow-moving banana slugs. We don't have anything like that in Boise, but they thrive in the humid and temperate coastal area. She

asked me, "What are slugs good for?" You know, in comparison with bees that pollinate our fruits and flowers, and ants that are famously industrious. I couldn't give her an answer.

(An interpretive sign in the redwoods area said banana slugs eat all vegetation in their path - except for redwood sprouts.)

Since then, I've thought about bugs and people. (Bike riding affords time for unproductive thinking about a wide variety of subjects.) And I've come up with a philosophical question, right out of the Barbara Walters Interview Manual:

"If you were a bug, what kind of bug would you be?"

Mackenzie would be a chipmunk. (Chipmunks are bugs... right? haha)

Many people these days are banana slugs, at least in their mobility habits. We've become a sedentary ease-seeking society. If it weren't for bicycling, I'd probably be a banana slug. But I'm probably a bumblebee - not very fast, no obvious usefulness, and looking at me, you'd guess that flight is improbable, even if you see me flying.

Therapy!

Sometimes transportation cycling is an ordeal - I'd be lying if I said otherwise.

When it's down in the single digits (or lower) in the dead of winter.

When the skies are dark and the rain is pourin' down... it takes some will power. (I've had occasional rides home where I literally poured water out of my shoes, after arriving at my destination.)

When it's triple digits on a sultry summer afternoon, and heat waves shimmer on the asphalt, to some degree. (I personally enjoy riding on hot days, as long as I am able to stay well-hydrated. But lots of people ask, "How can you do that?")

When I unexpectedly need to haul something heavy or bulky.

But there are many, many, many days when transportation cycling is an unqualified pleasure! So enjoyable I'm surprised it's not illegal!

On a perfect spring day, with blue skies and big puffy clouds overhead, and just enough breeze to wiggle the brilliant-green leaves on the trees... it is Manna to my Soul!

It invigorates the body. It soothes the spirit. It calms the emotions. It is therapy!

(Can the same be said for getting in a car and spending a half-hour or 45 minutes in freeway gridlock? Perish the thought! For me, that would be an ordeal every day!)

No matter how bad my day is going, usually I can at least look forward to the trip home. Or when I'm totally beat after a day of yard work, it may be hard to get on that bike and ride... but if I do, I'm always glad I did so afterwards.

Pedaling is WAY cheaper than lying on a psychiatrist's couch!

(People who haven't experienced it probably think I'm over-selling it. I am not.)

Weather

It got up to 68 yesterday in Boise, setting a new high temperature record for the date.

Algore was right! (I say that in jest, of course. He may be right, but one day of unseasonably warm weather doesn't prove it, any more than a day or week of unseasonably cold weather proves him wrong.)

Once the sun went down, we got a significant and soaking rain.

I know - it soaked me!

I can't say I wasn't warned; I probably pay more attention to weather forecasts than most, except maybe farmers. But you've gotta get where you're going, and I happen to do most of that by bicycle.

Last night I was riding home from a family gathering. Some of my family members were surprised I was on my bicycle. (Why?) Some felt misplaced pity as I rode off into the rain and the dark. And I imagine a few people who crossed my path in their cozy, warm automobiles felt either pity or superiority or both.

But the ride was no problem!

I was adequately visible, with lights front and rear. I wore the Gore-Tex jacket. (The pants would've been nice, but when the worst-case scenario is a 20 minute wet ride, they aren't mission-critical.) When I got home, I changed into some dry, comfortable sweats and slippers. My shoes dried overnight, and I'm back in business.

And I enjoy the "payback."

Yesterday was one more day when I wasn't paying for gas, car insurance, depreciation, parking, etc. One more day I wasn't sitting in bumper-to-bumper.

More significantly, I'll declare confidently that I enjoyed that 68-degree afternoon more than my car-driving family members, as I went on a fantastic "lunch break" ride in shorts. I'm no psychologist, but I'll go out on a limb and say that since I occasionally endure a rain-or-snow-in-the-face bike ride, I probably enjoy the lovely, perfect days more than people who never experience wet-face, except in the bathroom. My "spectrum of experience" is far wider than the folks who choose to seal themselves up in a protective cocoon.

Today promises to be upper-50s, with the possibility of another evening rain storm. Maybe I'll be home before the rain hits. And maybe not. In either case, I look forward to it.

Word Power

Here's my new most-useful word:

Schadenfreude

Websters: Enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others

I saw it used in the context of Paris Hilton being sent back to jail. All of America is feeling schadenfreude about her self-inflicted woes.

It's not a particularly good thing to derive pleasure from the woes of others, but I s'pose it's human nature. In fact, the opposite is probably better - feeling compassion or empathy when we see our fellow humans suffering. (And hopefully all of us are capable of feeling compassion and empathy when appropriate... but maybe not towards poor little Paris.)

But it put me to thinkin'. And I've got to confess - I feel a certain amount of schadenfreude when those Hummer and F350 commuters are pumping $3.50 gas. I feel it when I see the bumper-to-bumper, stop-and-go traffic on I-84, State Street, Eagle Road, etc., every weekday.

Motorists probably have the same reaction when they see me floundering along on a triple-digit-hot day, or in a downpour. Or when they see me repairing a flat tire by the side of the road. Their feelings may be merited when I'm fixing that flat. Other than that, what they are feeling is pseudoschadenfreude. Because I may not relish the single-digit or triple-digit temperatures, or the downpour, but taken in measured doses I enjoy the variety that they provide. And they make me appreciate the perfect days. (And no matter how bad it gets, it's better than being totally dependent on a motor vehicle.)

(Pseudoschadenfreude - isn't that one of the ingredients the meth-cookers use?)