Hard News: Reasons to be cheerful
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Far freakin' out. So Americans now get a whole five days to examine the text of "non emergency" legislation before it's passed. Some bits of democracy appear to be still coming ...
Someone want to suggest this to our new Government? I don't think we got five days on half the stuff they passed before Christmas.
(Not to malign New Zealand's generally very leisurely legislative process, but.)
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requiring legislation to be posted online for five days between passage and signing
means after passed by congress but before being signed into law by president. no?
a whole five days to examine the text of "non emergency" legislation before it's passed
not the way i read it...
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Stephen Judd, there most assuredly is a difference between a dawdling bike ride to something nearby in a suburb designed for bikes, and what we have to do in Auckland. Hence my excessive caution as regards the safety of my son.
I can't say that I like the sound of Woonerf one bit as a plan for Auckland, unless it was also accompanied by transport infrastructure which fully bypasses such suburbs. But as places to live they sound great.
Stephen Walker, you sound like a pragmatist. I also play fast and loose with the actual laws, when I think they compromise my safety. In Auckland, I ride on the road downhill, but on the footpath going up. This is because going down you go fast and don't wobble much, so you are safer on the road. Going up, you're going slow so the danger of collision with things on the footpath is less than the ever present danger of being knocked over by a fast moving and impatient or careless motorist. My helmet is also overspecced, being actually designed for snowboarding. Technically, I think it is illegal. Practically, it is much safer, as it also protects my face and the back of my head.
As for the coolness of your commute option, I'm glad it wasn't something that put you off when it was uncool. So long as you liked it, that's cool enough for me! I'm pretty sure my bike usage looks pretty uncool to the hardcore cyclists of Auckland, but I really don't care.
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holy shit, this is serious!
ENSURING LAWFUL INTERROGATIONS
well done, Mr. Obama.
Sec. 4. Prohibition of Certain Detention Facilities, and Red Cross Access to Detained Individuals.
(a) CIA Detention. The CIA shall close as expeditiously as possible any detention facilities that it currently operates and shall not operate any such detention facility in the future.
(b) International Committee of the Red Cross Access to Detained Individuals. All departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall provide the International Committee of the Red Cross with notification of, and timely access to, any individual detained in any armed conflict in the custody or under the effective control of an officer, employee, or other agent of the United States Government or detained within a facility owned, operated, or controlled by a department or agency of the United States Government, consistent with Department of Defense regulations and policies.
even Kev has something nice to say. now that is serious.
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(a) CIA Detention. The CIA shall close as expeditiously as possible any detention facilities that it currently operates and shall not operate any such detention facility in the future.
Sucks for me, I was running one of those.
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Ben, i know what you mean about riding uphill. especially since my good bike got stolen and with my much crappier fitness level now i tend to be much less aggressive on the uphill climbs. footpath looks quite sensible quite often. mind you, these hills are nothing compared with Auckland. in Tokyo, if you want to cycle serious distances, it's all a matter of carefully picking and refining your route, imo. Auckland, on the other hand, is a nightmare for most routes, with some notable exceptions. even so, i reckon some roads in AK are more cyclable than others. i just refuse to cycle somewhere where i think i could be killed at any moment no matter how cautious i'm being. Like Khyber Pass, Symonds St, anywhere with too many big trucks and buses...
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I was running one of those
should've know you were a mole. how did they recruit you to the dark side? blackmail?
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how did they recruit you to the dark side? blackmail?
Oh, no, I was always quite receptive.
Seriously, though, this is "end of an era" stuff.
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Shutting down CIA detention is great. Last torture loophole to close would be 'extraordinary rendition'.
Stephen, my solution to the Auckland hills is cheating. My bike has an electric motor on it. Enough to help, but not enough to encourage me to stop cycling altogether and just sit there. I can cycle into town in about 25 mins (10kms) without breaking a sweat. Of course I can break a sweat if I wanted to, but currently I'm not in good enough cycling shape to get any enjoyment out of that. I'm seriously considering making a video of it, explaining the idea and showing how it works in Auckland, for YouTube, since it was from YouTube that I got 90% of the most important information about how to make this option work. Every man and his crackpot inventions can find their way to an interested audience there.
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Ben, yeah, electric-assit bikes are pretty popular here too. quite pricy though and the extra weight is something to keep in mind. but very practical for certain types of use.
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Living up to the rhetoric from his inauguration speech, in practical ways. The world got a little bit better three days ago, and now we're seeing it. Feels good!
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Shutting down CIA detention is great. Last torture loophole to close would be 'extraordinary rendition'.
It's coming, by the sounds of things:
(e) Mission. The mission of the Special Task Force shall be:
(ii) to study and evaluate the practices of transferring individuals to other nations in order to ensure that such practices comply with the domestic laws, international obligations, and policies of the United States and do not result in the transfer of individuals to other nations to face torture or otherwise for the purpose, or with the effect, of undermining or circumventing the commitments or obligations of the United States to ensure the humane treatment of individuals in its custody or control.
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anywhere with too many big trucks and buses...
Add the bottom of Albert St to that list! I did my first 2 bike commutes this week and found that part the worst of the whole journey, although roundabouts are not great.
The "bike-lane" along the waterfront towards Mission Bay must be on one of the most poorly maintained bits of footpath in Auckland. (I'm the one on the bike-lane - most cyclists stay on the road but I haven't ridden a bike regularly for over 30 years so still building up my confidence!)
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stephen, my one has proved extremely practical already. For starters, it only cost $200 second hand. Secondly, yes it is heavier, but since it carries it's own weight and then some, that is actually a bonus for 2 reasons. Firstly, it is sturdy. Secondly, it is cheap. Most of the extraordinary cost of new bikes is in making them light. This is totally unnecessary for an electric. Only when you run out of charge you do notice that the bike is heavy, and even then, it's way easier than walking (unlike my less successful experiments with electric mopeds, which are no fun at all to push home when they are out of charge or broken down).
They would not appeal to a strong bike rider, who would hardly see the point, compared to just getting a really good light bike. These are people who are trained, geared up, and actually want the hard exercise that cycling around Auckland tends to be. But anyone who fails of those 3 criteria (IMHO most people) might see the point. Also, those people are prepared to pay a heck of a lot for their bike because they do enormous miles. I get a lot of interest from kids, who actually use bikes for transport, who see the point immediately. "It's for hills, eh bro? Choooice". I wouldn't feel any more worried about letting a kid ride it than I would about letting them ride any other bike. It doesn't go any faster than a normal bike. It's just easier.
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Heh, Mike, I reckon any time you see a cycle lane that most cyclists avoid, you can bet it's badly designed or poorly maintained. And riding around the CBD is dangerous as. I stick to the footpaths, and will just take the fines, if any cop can catch me, for most of it.
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I stick to the footpaths, and will just take the fines, if any cop can catch me, for most of it.
Ben, a few years ago a community constable came to lecture my daughter's primary school on road safety and actually told them to ride on the footpath (wise advice for a child around Cornwall Park School, sadly). I have also noticed councils building/marking cycleways that debouch onto footpaths where the road has no shoulder, with the clear implication that you are to ride on the footpath.
When I was a boy in the 70s, cops would make you get off your bike or ride on the road if they caught you.
I don't know what the road code says these days, but riding on the footpath seems to be turning into policy. Roads are only for cars, you know.
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While we're (sort of) on the subject of public-service-cum-social-engineering advertisments, I should mention my favourite from the genre. Mercifully it never reached our shores, but it was playing in glorious technicolour on the big screen when I first arrived in England. I had been in the country but two days, and then saw this. The film that followed was 'Children of Men', the dystopic pic with eerie similarities to Blair's new Britian. I wanted to go home.
Anyway - the ad:
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Stephen Judd, one of my nightmares of driving on West Coast S.I roads is cyclists. Many many of them are overseas visitors. They seem to assume that ANZ road rules mean nothing to them - as guests of the vountry, they can bike how they like.
So, I've come round a corner on Mount Hercules (v. twisty with sharp angled turns) and come across 3-abreast!fuckwits!! each with double
panniers!!!My vehicle is in good nick: I stopped in time. I yelled very loudly and rudely at them and they responded with the fingers.
Did they really expect me to go on the wrong side of the road to avoid them???
I made up my mind to NEVER do that in the future.
And frequently think that, yeah, main state highways *are* only for powered vehicles (I mean, shitodear, getting around the trucks with double trailers is bad enough...)Mind you, where that puts an electric-assisted bike - or a horse-drawn vehicle...I'm not quite sure.
Though the times there have been horse-drawn vehicles on coast roads, word gets round, and everyone is extra careful and delighted!
It's the decades of batshit tourist cyclists that have soured us I suspect-
snd Dont Get Me Started On #@!@#$#! Campervans!
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Ooo, go there, steven! We've had traction engine journeying conventions turn up in big O, and are they polite and considerate road users? Definitely. Slow - but pull over as soon as is practicable.
V. different to the road lice... -
tempting to go miniature steam engine
Those little brass jobs that burn metho are cute, but they couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding.
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They'll be stoked to see you. :)
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Bike riding. Auckland. The two don't really go together, do they.
I ride my bike. I've riden up Khyber Pass. Along Alber Stt. Along New North Road. Dominion Road. Beach Road. Up Symonds St and Queen Street. Along Ponsonby Rd.
I try to ride considerately, having regard to other traffic, but where I feel the need to assert my right to ride safely, I use the entire lane for the period of time I need. I haven't had anyone try to mow me down (knock on wood), and on the whole drivers have been generally good.
What I would like is for everyone to slow down when driving. Just take your sweet merry time. There's a recession on folks. No hurry at all to get to that meeting, to catch up with your friend, to pick up your kid from daycare. No hurry at al! Relax. Take your time. You'll feel better and your friendly local cyclist will thank you for it.
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Christopher D - you are talking* city traffic * and I thooughly agree with you there.
I'm talking state highway (73 to be precise) traffic - with NO cycle lanes whatsoever, and areas where motor vehicles are warned about narrowing of roadwidth.We slow down where it is warranted BUT-
cyclists do not (see this emphasised in big gory flourescent letters)
belong on the main road here.
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O hell, flourescent letters are probably quite nummy but-
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