Friday, April 19, 2019

New Outside Column!

Happy Friday, and Happy Good Friday!

(Aren't they all?)

Here's a new Outside column, and it's all about how much we love parking and how much we hate children and bikes:


We really should just change the name of this country to The Land of Guns and Parking already...

20 comments:

Beck the biker said...

Podio? All those bikers are in my way! The country suffers from a windshield view of transportation. It's all viewed from the lens of the single occupancy motorist and their god-given rights to free parking and no traffic at rush hour.

Anonymous said...

Or, since the bike rack is full, they should put in an additional bike rack....

FrugalWheels said...

Podium! Do I win a parking space?

It's amazing hearing these comments at meetings where people talk about parking. People are simply nonplussed if they have to walk more than 8 feet to get into a business. And yet, everyone complains about obesity...

Chazu said...

Good Morning!

Anonymous said...

Snobby, does Outside have it’s own comment section? I can’t find any. I would think Outside has a bigger readership than the blog (no offense) and therefore stupider, and more entertaining comments

Grump said...

A few years ago, I read that my old Grade School banned kids from riding bikes to school. The reason wasn't because they wanted lots of fat little kids, but that too many parents were driving their kids to school. The parents would pull over and park while their little tykes got out of the car. The parents would then pull out into the road without looking for other kids riding their bikes to that same school. After 872 kids were squashed, the school determined that the best way of solving this problem would be to ban bikes.

Pist Off said...

Bikes are somehow a triggering threat to the sacred auto space and the average American psyche. Out west it’s the land of school shootings and single-occupant full-size pickups. Can you smell the freedom (or is it a coal-rolling roughneck, or a fracking rig that I smell?)

theEel said...

WEED!

Anonymous said...

how about we compromise and put up more trees or sign posts to lock the bikes.

Seattle lone wolf said...

I've always attributed it to a mixture of jealousy and shame. They are jealous of the carefree manner in which we weave through traffic, and they feel shame that for whatever reason they don't feel up to the challenge of riding themselves. However I may be wrong. That may just be what I want them to be feeling.

Egg hunting said...

Podium even after I read the Outside column - well done, TT, by the way, well done.

I unfortunately had to drive to a meeting far away this morning. At a light my little tiny car (relatively speaking) was side by side a behemoth of the "pick up that actually never does anything remotely close to picking up stuff but is squeaky clean and oh so powerful" variety. The license plate on said behemoth said, "MYRIGHT."

That's all we seed to know.

Happy Easter and Happy Passover.

huskerdont said...

I prefer to think of it as that people just don't like things that the minority does (or is). It's the only way I get through the day without feeling singled out, and feeling like a victim is not how I want to live.

Look at how much grief people give vegans and vegetarians, for a comparison. Only thing is, it's hard to buzz them on the road with your Freedom Machine because you can't tell just by looking at them.

Other examples: soccer fans, LGBTQ folks, people of color, the handicapped. (I'm not equating the treatment of all these groups, mind.) Some of these groups are no longer fair game (or weren't until Individual #1 was installed into the Oval Office to set a bad example), so the hatred comes out more for easy the targets.

Analogy completely falls flat WRT women since they aren't a minority. I'll get me coat and cease my musings.

HDEB said...

On good Friday my giant pick me up is overflowing full of tree bits that I cut with an axe and hand saw. I've got one more payment until that polluting douchewagon is all mine and it has under 5,000 miles on it.

Anonymous said...

Protip for spotting abandoned bike: Note the valve stem positions. If they're the same the next day, either something statistically very unlikely has happened or the bike hasn't moved.

You want to get into some CSI forensic shit? For longer term abandonments you can also look for vertical streaking on the tires. Road salt or oxides from corroding metal will be deposited in streaks by rainwater. Rainwater follows gravity and moves vertically. If said streaks are 1) at the bottom of the wheel, and 2) oriented vertically across the sidewalls, that's another clue.

leroy said...

My dog concedes, as he must, that the terms of his participation in the witness protection program preclude him from public speaking at Community Board meetings.

He notes, however, that his agreement says nothing about attending meetings and playing the tuba when bike lane opponents take the floor.

I concede, as I must, that he has a point.

Al said...

Imagine a planet without cars.

Tony said...

I love parking, guns, and bikes.

JLRB said...

look on eh bright side of humanity - at least they didn't chain kids to the bike rack

dotcommie said...

Some schools have actually BANNED cycling (or walking) to school.

Wrote this a while back on the subject:

Cycling or Walking to School Will Not Be Tolerated

bad boy of the south said...

How long should a bike be parked at a corral?
Asking,seriously.