Scree - September 18, 2010
There is a large office building on 21st Ave, about a half mile from our house. The workers from the building go on walking lunch breaks down our neighborhood street. Many of the walkers are also smoking. Huh? Does the walking offset the smoking health issues?
More on Liquid Mountaineering, Innovation Textiles reports that the Hi-Tec shoes worn for the stunt "feature P2i’s liquid repellent nano-coating, ion-mask." I need to get some of that stuff! Oh, the site also has the Liquid Mountaineering video embedded.
As reported by the Wisconsin Watch - A Russian student working in the Dells resort in Wisconsin was killed while riding her bicycle to work on the sidewalk. After reading the article over a few times it seems as if a garbage truck turned right and into the path of the bicyclist. She hit the truck's side. Maybe I don't see all of the story; but this seems really wrong. If there is not a law governing it, there should be. Cars should not be allowed to hit bicycles under almost any circumstances and garbage trucks should not be allowed to run over bicyclists.
In California, there is a pending bill which will try to tame the noise from loud motorcycles:
"The bill targets motorcyclists who remove factory-installed emission control devices mandated by the U.S. government and replace them with custom, after-market parts that often make their bikes louder — and, consequently, dirtier. If passed, motorcycles would be required to bear the proper U.S. Environmental Protection Agency label certifying that the exhaust system is clean burning and does not exceed 80 decibels — about the same as a vacuum cleaner."
It has always been illegal to modify the exhaust; the problem is that motorcycles are exempt from vehicle inspections.
One motorcyclist said of the noisy riders:
' "Guys revving up their noisy pipes remind me of my 8-year-old grandson. Every time he jumps in the pool he yells 'Hey Grandpa, look at me! Look at me!'" the retired businessman said. "They're making noise to get attention. It's no wonder the public has come down on us because of these idiots." '
Los Angeles spent 70 million dollars of the stimulus money to create 7.76 jobs. Okay, how do you create .76 of a job? The 10 million per job, huh, maybe they were working in the city of Bell? I hear they pay their workers well! (Yahoo - Upshot)