'advocacy' Archive

bike lane markers around town

22 May 2008, 7:34 pm
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Somerville has been freshening up the bike lane markers. First they indicate where they should go:

Then they stencil the marker right on top:

Sometimes this makes it look like the iconic cyclist is wearing a cliché asian peasant hat

The narrow headed Somervillian riders make some of their skullish Cantabridgian counterparts look rather macabre in comparison:

Especially since […]

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top 5 commute scares

26 April 2008, 10:17 am
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Road hazards that don’t affect 4-wheeled traffic
Loose gravel is bad. So are vertical discontinuities parallel to the road.
Other bikes where I don’t expect them
Riding against traffic or failing to obey traffic signals/yield right-of-way
Vehicles turning left across my path when I have the right-of-way
Vehicles nudging into the intersection are also scary; I can’t tell if they […]

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why I don’t trust your privacy policy

2 February 2008, 8:12 am
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First there was Flickr. I liked Flickr a lot; it was a very convenient way to share photos with my friends and family. I didn’t know anybody on the Flickr team personally or anything, but it was clearly a small, bright outfit. The vibe of the site made me feel comfortable letting them keep track […]

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Green Green Cabs of Somerville

29 November 2007, 8:15 am
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Yesterday I saw a hybrid cab operated by the Green Cab Association of Somerville. This is apparently old news, but I’d somehow missed it. I think it’s a great idea — the combination of high use and mostly in-town driving seems like an excellent match for hybrid engines.
My wunnerful girlfriend and I are sort of […]

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DRM done right; repetetive kudos

13 November 2007, 7:35 pm
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I read a very convincing review of Pragmatic Press’s Prototype and script.aculo.us and decided to buy a copy. The shopping cart defaulted to the physical book and the PDF. This gave me some real pause. I find it very useful to have a physical book that doesn’t take up monitor space. On the other […]

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welcome bike #5

2 September 2007, 2:55 pm
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I bought my fourth bike, a blue Jamis Tangier, #WLH3438M, on 4 September 1997.
A few days before its 10th birthday, the right chainstay cracked.

I dug up the original receipt (from DC’s awesome City Bikes) and did a little calling around. It seemed likely that Jamis would honor the lifetime frame warranty, but it also seemed […]

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grr.

31 July 2007, 8:25 am
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So this morning, as I’m taking out the recycling, there’s a Department of Works guy taking pictures of the unruly mound of trashbags already on our sidewalk, and our house, and (to my instant chagrin) me.
“Trash is s’posed to be in barrels,” he says, none too kindly.
“That’s not my trash,” I reply, with an unfortunate […]

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a new favorite artist

26 July 2007, 9:11 am
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Art by Chris Jordan (also a short interview). Wow. Just, wow.
I don’t think his work needs any words, but a) words are my stock in trade and b) if you’re like me, you won’t just click some random link without some context. So I proclaim that Chris Jordan is the Fugazi of digital photography, because […]

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