ragetweet:

It never ends, I just got tired of copying and pasting.

I’ll never understand how these people ever obtained their driver licenses without thoroughly reading the driver handbook. (uh.. it’s ILLEGAL to bike on the sidewalk unless you’re a child??! bikes are supposed to act like cars—even though they are not even close to the same thing—according to retarded american laws?!!!)

i’ll never understand why these people won’t google that shit instead of tweeting how stupid they are.

(all rhetorical-ish. of course i know why)

bikeit:

Great weather for the first annual Session Beer Festival, and an excuse for a ride with friends along the water, from Oakland to San Leandro.

White Elephant building:

Jingletown:

Free wood (so consistently, it’s labeled in the mosaic):

Large tires (foreshadowing):

Miles of car-free paved paths along the water:

Stupid fun: riding a bike with 4” wide wheels:

Some of the along-a-canal riding reminded me of Belgium:

I was there, too! but was like an hour late due to a certain friend procrastinating getting his bike fixed.. after the organized group ride had already left from jack london square.. 

followed the mapped route, which is different from bikeit’s above. i thought that would be the shorter route to take, but knew we wouldn’t have been able to catch up with the group anyway, so just went along with the mapped route, which was quite nice, actually. (pics later)

[Last] Saturday [was] the fourth annual “Take Our Children to the Park…and Leave Them There Day.”

For real.

The idea is that at around 10 a.m. parents take their kids to—as you might expect from the name of this holiday—their local park. And then they leave them there.

…Start a game of tag. Or basketball. Or fairies versus witches. And suddenly, those bored kids who were desperate to go home don’t want to go home at all. They want to KEEP playing— with any luck, for the rest of their childhoods.

Playing is that powerful. It’s addictive. It’s what children have done since the beginning of time…till about a generation ago, when we decided, as a country, that letting kids go outside on their own is just “too dangerous.”

Do you know how many kids play outside on their own these days? One study I read said that in a typical week, the number is down to six percent. That’s kids ages nine to 13—the sweet spot for goofing around and, incidentally, becoming independent. But instead of exercising their bodies and minds and ability to organize ANYTHING on their own, including a couple hours of free time, most kids are either supervised in leagues or stuck inside, usually with a screen.

slate, 16.05.13.

i’m worried about kids not being able to walk around in cities by themselves (when they’re about middle school age). it’s even more impossible for kids whose parents decided to buy a house in the suburbs. they rarely get to see anything different or simulating, explore new things. 

one of my childhood friends moved from berkeley (walkable gridded streets) to fremont (suburbs with cul-de-sac) in the 4th grade. now anywhere she drives she has to use the GPS. 

i think growing up in the suburbs seriously f—ks up one’s mental mapping capability and sense of direction. (maybe there are already studies on this?) but that can be remedied by living somewhere else for a significant amount of time.

1. post a string of fixie portraits
2. pick up a few new followers
3. post urban planning stuff (not totally bike-related)
4. hah—tricked you!

jk :P :D

welcome, my few new followers. and hi to all the older peepz. :)

I will try to keep the content here pretty mixed/balanced. (but yeah, like i’ve mentioned before, if i post a slew of bike pics, it’s probably cuz i’m being lazy / i just spent an hour looking at this one blog. or urban planning news is slow.)

and for those who really did click “follow” because of the fixie pics, I hope some of this urban planning stuff looks interesting. better urban design, public spaces, bike- and ped-friendly infrastructure, etc. will make cities all better and safer places to live and cycle.