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"Now, to you that may sound like a very obvious and uncontroversial acknowledgement that a free..."

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:39:51 -0500

“Now, to you that may sound like a very obvious and uncontroversial acknowledgement that a free society will never be able to ensure its ‘security’ as effectively as a police state. But to Dana Perino and Bill Burck, that is proof that ‘Mirandizing terrorists’ will lead to the fiery violent death of literally everyone in America.”

- Scandal: Attorney General Once Had Principles

"We are happy to set the record straight."

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:58:51 -0500

“We are happy to set the record straight.”

- Daily Mail, after reporting that it was super-easy to be pretend-child-molested on the Facebook when it was in fact some other social network thingamabob

"It’s not nuanced, smart or ‘pragmatic’; it’s craven, unprincipled, cynical..."

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:22:51 -0500

“It’s not nuanced, smart or ‘pragmatic’; it’s craven, unprincipled, cynical and weak.”

- Democrats’ brilliant national security strategies

Myth versus reality of New York cycling, motoring

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:18:00 -0500

Mercedes’s fantasy of coked-up urban cycling and mellow urban motoring

Amazingly, they admit that their 268 horsepower machines are slower than bicycles for moving people around a city. The new lie is that their vehicles are chambers of urban relaxation, calmly piloted by zen masters who are so over that traffic they’re stuck in. Ha.

If city motorists are chill with being slow and stuck in traffic, why are they constantly honking their horns? I can literally hear car horns as I type this. Like every morning, car commuters are queuing up for the systematic traffic jams they inflict upon themselves. Unlike the ad’s mellow motorman hero, none of them are listening to smooth jazz and accepting the fact that their fat vehicles can not fit through the streets any faster than they do. Instead they howl and complain through their factory equipped crybaby-megaphones, all gassed-up and throwing a tantrum.

In a few minutes I’ll be coasting past them on a $125 bicycle. I won’t need to jostle with taxis, put myself in danger, or ride on sidewalks because—why the hell would I do that? It’s going to take me 25 minutes like it does every day, I’ll get a little bit of exercise without mussing my hair, and then I’ll be where I need to be.

Or take it from this guy who was riding a bicycle in New York long before luxury foreign suvmakers perceived bicycling Americans as a threat to their business:

Actual New Yorker’s experience riding on bicycles and in motorcars

“It releases endorphins in your system or something—I don’t know, look it up.”

RT @pk11: this time for real: #akka switched to sbt: http://bit.ly/bPKjBG

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:45:04 -0500

RT @pk11: this time for real: #akka switched to sbt: http://bit.ly/bPKjBG

Streetsblog New York City » Streetfilms: Michael Musto, Il Ciclista Dolce

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:33:00 -0500

Streetsblog New York City » Streetfilms: Michael Musto, Il Ciclista Dolce:

lelands:

Watch this video. Michael Musto rules. I once bought him a Diet Coke at Opaline!

Well I don’t know what THAT’s all about but it is a cool video.

RT @argv0: Hump-day present from Basho - Riak 0.9 released! announcement: http://bit.ly/bVVMTF...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:25:14 -0500

RT @argv0: Hump-day present from Basho - Riak 0.9 released! announcement: http://bit.ly/bVVMTF downloads: http://bit.ly/alc8u7

"Primetime network TV’s attempts to address That Internet Thing are universally embarrassing...."

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:47:00 -0500

“Primetime network TV’s attempts to address That Internet Thing are universally embarrassing. Back in the old days, something like CSI: New York’s Gawker Stalker episode was kind of funny, like a rappin’ grandmother. But, like a rappin’ grandmother, it was funny once. Soon, something like CSI: Miami’s Gawker Stalker episode was just embarrassing.”

- Hey, Network TV: If You Can’t Say Anything Nice About the Internet, Stop Making Episodes About Bloggers

My ride to work with the new Google Maps for bicycles. This...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:59:57 -0500

My ride to work with the new Google Maps for bicycles. This thing is going to do as much to promote urban cycling as the green lanes themselves.

"Having a guy who makes complicated data easily graspable—and who demands that representations of..."

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:14:53 -0500

“Having a guy who makes complicated data easily graspable—and who demands that representations of data be above all truthful—is basically unprecedented in the federal government, where everything is bullet lists, PowerPoint, intentionally misleading pie charts, and design by committee.”

- Obama Hires Internet’s Favorite Pretty Chart Guy

"It was the Legislature. That Legislature also long denied proper funding to the MTA, larded on..."

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:28:53 -0500

“It was the Legislature. That Legislature also long denied proper funding to the MTA, larded on pension benefits for transit workers that divert cash from train and bus operations, nixed congestion pricing and siphoned off dedicated MTA taxes.”

- Meet the scoundrels - 3: More lawmakers who robbed MTA then raged at cuts

"Those faced with the problem of how to verify a person’s identity would be well advised to ask..."

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:43:52 -0500

“Those faced with the problem of how to verify a person’s identity would be well advised to ask themselves the question, ‘Identity with what?’ An enquirer equipped with the answer to this question is in a position to tackle, on a rational basis, the task of deciding what evidence will be useful for the purpose. Without the answer to the question, the verification of identity becomes a sadly familiar exercise in blind compliance with arbitrary rules.”

- The Limits of Identity Cards

"In response to criticism from train advocates, including NARP, O’Connor announced a program whereby..."

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:49:00 -0500

“In response to criticism from train advocates, including NARP, O’Connor announced a program whereby photographers could register themselves and be amongst a group of citizens who act as a second set of eyes to warn of safety and security issues.”

- In Civil Liberties Challenges, Police-State Opportunities

"The fact that these All American folks are also millionaire celebrities with the most powerful..."

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:04:18 -0500

“The fact that these All American folks are also millionaire celebrities with the most powerful people in the world on their speed dials shouldn’t be taken as signs that they aren’t just like you and me. In fact, they are Real Americans in ways that the frou-frou coastal liberal elites will never understand.”

- Stale Cupcakes

"The fun thing about Jenny McCarthy’s conspiracy is that if it catches on enough, it will..."

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:02:37 -0500

“The fun thing about Jenny McCarthy’s conspiracy is that if it catches on enough, it will literally lead to the death of children. Trutherism just makes you really annoying!”

- Only Some Conspiracy Theories Welcome at Huffington Post

RT @ggreenwald: The Joys of Bipartisanship: mandatory worker biometric ID cards http://is.gd/a3KEj

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:36:35 -0500

RT @ggreenwald: The Joys of Bipartisanship: mandatory worker biometric ID cards http://is.gd/a3KEj

Yay, can’t wait! RT @dustinwhitney: just signed up to go to #Scala Days 2010!

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:36:35 -0500

Yay, can’t wait! RT @dustinwhitney: just signed up to go to #Scala Days 2010!

JSK’s “98 Percent” Car-Free Central Park Claim Is 100 Percent Wrong

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:46:52 -0500

JSK’s “98 Percent” Car-Free Central Park Claim Is 100 Percent Wrong

"Bush’s policies came to seem less obviously reprehensible as the Obama administration drifted into..."

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:43:51 -0500

“Bush’s policies came to seem less obviously reprehensible as the Obama administration drifted into embracing watered-down versions of many of them.”

- If by ‘pragmatic’ you mean ‘fail’

"One of my favorite planning-related hashtags is #transitFAIL. The purpose of #transitFAIL is to..."

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:50:42 -0500

“One of my favorite planning-related hashtags is #transitFAIL. The purpose of #transitFAIL is to publicize where public transportation fails its customers and users.”

- Using social media to make transit better