Saturday, October 18, 2014

Great Salem blogger, the Upright Cyclist, on Cycling and Introversion [feedly]

I guess I'm not an upright cyclist, since the primary bike at LOVESalem HQ is a recumbent bike. 

But I sure enjoy the insights from The Upright Cyclist.

It is one of several high-quality blogs ostensibly about biking in Salem but really about the struggle for the soul of Salem and the rearguard fight to keep carhead thinking from its Final Solution, complete full spectrum dominance over all aspects of public planning and space by cars.

This "autoist" thinking, to use the term preferred at the Breakfast on Bikes blog,
http://breakfastonbikes.blogspot.com, is not only wildly expensive and shortsighted, and it is not just a hazard to our health as living beings with bodies, it is also a hazard to our health as citizens in a democracy, because carhead is about privileging the already privileged and using money to comfort the already comfortable.
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Cycling and Introversion
// The Upright Cyclist


A great deal is being written about introversion and extraversion (not "extroversion," as some seem intent on calling it) in today's common culture. I suppose it is somewhat predictable that all sorts of labels and generalizations are being made about this rather complex topic, and I don't want this little essay to fall into that error. However, I have been thinking a good deal lately about the way I experience utility cycling so differently from my time behind that "other wheel" in my car, and how it always changes and challenges me to be on my bike more than in my automobile.

The change aspect has to do with the way cycling around town relaxes and focuses my mind and body. When I drive, I often do so because I need to cover a fair amount of mileage in a short amount of time. This allows me to get more done in a given day. In itself, this isn't a bad thing. . . . (More at link)


"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

No on 90! Link to a Great explanation of why M90 deserves another huge defeat



The very presence of Measure 90 on the ballot (after the same bad idea's crushing loss in 2008) shows why M90 is such a terrible, undemocratic idea:

M90 seeks to privatize the general election ballot for candidate offices just as a tiny handful of insanely rich guys bought a spot on the ballot for M90. In other words, 90 is about reducing the power of ordinary citizens and increasing the role of money in elections in Oregon.

Unless you want elections where your vote is reduced to choosing which of (only) two candidates spent more money -- and had more influence-buying money spent for them by private PACs and billionaires, vote NO on 90.

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Why unaffiliated voters aren't treated dismally in closed primaries - HinesSight
http://hinessight.blogs.com/hinessight/2014/10/why-unaffiliated-voters-arent-treated-dismally-in-closed-primaries.html
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"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."