Several years ago I wrote an essay entitled: “On Helmets”, it was an exploration of why some professional cyclists still hung on to the practice of going helmet-less. That was a long time ago and I’m not in a category of cyclist to be around those people anymore. My sense of when and where to choose a helmet has been refined over the years. My recent post was not about helmets, it was about urban exploration and the wonders therein, but it sparked a controversy about helmet use, the mandating of helmet use, and helmets for children.
I don’t go to city council meetings as a habit, but when I briefly lived in Vancouver, WA, in the winter, I went to one, to vehemently disagree with the in-place helmet law for adult cyclists.
Because I rode to college at 8:00AM and it was still butt-cold most mornings, I wore a WOOL HAT. Therefore, no helmet. I asks the council members: “Why is it you mandate the use of a helmet that is ventilated and designed for warm weather only?” The answer is simple, though I did not hear this. In Washington, it doesn’t dawn on local government officials that anyone but desperate bums and kids use the bicycle to transport oneself around the city. To them, it’s recreation.
There’s yet another reason to not wear a helmet. Ever ridden all day long? I have – and the risk of skin cancer is higher and worse than cranial injury by riding the long white line. This is why, upon meeting people during my touring adventures, I explained to those that vocally challenged my helmetlessness and asked: “Why haven’t they invented a SUN helmet?” The little visor does NOT cut it, as you need 360 degrees of sun protection. Nope, I don’t do chemicals on my skin – sunblock is not the way for me, after the research I’ve seen. I have a bald spot. I use a legionnaires hat when I’m out running errands. So, the question is – when does Senna wear a helmet, and when does he choose not to? (Because it is a conscious choice based upon sound risk management and circumstantial functionality)
HELMET ON:
Group rides, pacelines, mountain biking, road racing, big city traffic, Boston especially, or anywhere that feels more like combat than a bike ride, and… to set an example for children.
HELMET NOT ON:
Riding to the cafe, or on quiet neighborhood streets. Towing a trailer slow, or riding ALL DAY or for many hours.
Basically, when you reach a certain skill level, which kids don’t have – no matter how much they think they do, you simply do not fall down by yourself at higher speeds. You might fall, as I still do, at zero knots or just faster, but once I’m a moving, there’s no falling. I focus on NOT falling as I go along, especially on long highway rides, where if I did fall, it would be into a ditch or some brush, and if I were hit by a car at 55 mph – what would a helmet do? Granted – I give credit to people who wear helmets all the time. This is not a bad or wrong choice. Conversely, I equate people who lecture and tell others to wear a helmet with anti-tobacco people. I’m someone who can’t stand the smell of cigarettes for two seconds, but I won’t ever tell people they shouldn’t smoke unless they’re my family. It’s a personal choice to hurt oneself or risk oneself – we have that right to decide.
Yes, I’ve heard the reasoning behind the law, and it’s the same over-controlling reasoning they won’t let us reach into dumpsters to get perfectly good organic fruit. That legal term: LIABILITY. There’s way too much emphasis on indemnifying everything these days. Same reason I’m REQUIRED to insure my pickup even if I only drive it once a month. I could drive it every day, so I’m charged insurance that is based on a ‘would-be’… just as if I COULD hit my head and incur a public debt because I can’t afford health care. But mandating everyone to wear a helmet is WRONG, I fight it, I will always fight it… first and foremost because available helmets are for ‘summer recreation’ and aren’t adaptable to all weather, and secondly because it infringes on my personal liberty as an adult in a way that doesn’t set well with me at all.
I agree with an under 16 or under 18 helmet law. These people haven’t been riding a bike for 25 years. The risk management part of their brains is barely developing. But for the law to tell me that at 35 years old I need to wear a helmet when its 42 degrees out and raining? Turning my bike ride into a paranoia every time I see a police car? This is why I spoke out at that Vancouver city council meeting, and why I disobey that law. It’s right across the mighty Columbia from Portland, and there’s no sign to greet you as you cross the bridge:
Helmets are mandatory in Van-shit-hole.
Portland’s traffic is far more fast and furious than Vancouver’s ever will be, so why the law?
Because this is WASHINGTON – and if you don’t want someone telling you you need a license to wipe your ass, don’t live here. It’s the most ridiculous bureaucratic fuck-stick place, but I love riding all year and I love GREEN. Conclusion: Wear a helmet if you want, and don’t if you want. Don’t judge others for making their own choices that have little or no effect on YOU.
not hidin’ behind nothin’… and not harassing, just exposing poseur posteurs… so we don;t have to spar (traditionally) yet expectedly (ride bikes). francis you at sea level? dis guy at 7,000 ft +. i’ll beat you anywhere on anything das big ring. and as said earlier… i want to roast but not eat what’s left of your pasty pussy ass…
I tire of you, D.
lj, let it go. Grow up. Life is too short and too stressful to hate people like you do. You’re the one keeping this going (seriously, 100 comments on this?). It’s not like you’re real name is “littlejar” anyways. Sometimes (and by sometimes, I mean most of the time…) we don’t get to choose our nicknames. Embrace it. Own it. Quit letting this get to you. Look at how many people YOU have pissed off during your time here. Give it a rest. You’re a front-pager (somehow???) show that you’re above the shit the rest of us yahoo’s throw around. It’s not worth fighting so bitterly with people you actually have a bit in common with.
A) The FRANCIS shit is boring.
B) Pissing off Littlejar for the sake of pissing off Littlejar is FUCKING BORING.
C) Today a supermodel pledged to run naked through the streets of Ascencion as a tribute to her country’s soccer team. Not a single goddamn comment/joke has been made about it on this site. Get in the game, folks, and stop being FUCKING BORING.
i’m pretty sure i can take both of you retards… so squash this beef and move the fuck on.
D2, yes, yes, YES!
I’m with the Colonel on this one.
I’m in agreement with moving on but I have to say LJ, claiming to be a marine & then saying that you weren’t & it was a parody is pretty disapointing & I think disrespectful to all those who have put their arse on the line.
I did suspect from some of your quotes but I really did not want to to keep the flames burning
Boring.
Only if you haven’t been there
D2 @ 104, get busy, son! You got the Engrish degrees!
I think the rest of you dudes need to enter a cock sucking contest. You know, see who’s a real man?
Gnone, I know who I am & I know where I’ve been.
I don’t make a big noise about it but I really don’t like people who pretend to be something that they are not.
I’m right here, lj. Been pretty busy the past couple days saving the world from inadequate power distribution. No one ever said being a superhero was easy.
112 posts? Dang!
…sorry, pal…
…inferring you were a marine when you were not is very sad business…i abhor war but i am insulted that you would ever make the inference that you were one of a select group of men & women who are willing to lay their very lives, i repeat, their lives, on the line. littlejar…
…if that’s what you see as a joke or a parody, i’ll say this again…you need to prioritize, littlejar…you need to sit & think about this & a lotta other things…
…i have never been in the military & although i was born in canada, i have several generations of family members who have served proudly in the u.s. marine corps…that they would be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice speaks strongly to me…
…i have a nephew, who, after 2 tours became prominent in “iraq veterans against the war”…he went off to make a difference & in serving his time, he became aware that he was serving what he felt was a fraudulent rationale so he turned things around…
…you wanna post here to make a difference, lj ???…then sit down, shut the fuck up until you learn to prioritize…the defensive tripe you spew at times when people insult you completely defuses any good you think you contribute…
…you have greatly insulted earnest people more deeply than you seem to have the capacity to realize…time to wake up, pal…time to wake the fuck up…
…gnomer…i heard if ya suck a dick just once it doesn’t mean yer gay…
…“not that there’s anything…blah, blah, blah…”…
…& no, if yer askin’…
BGW,
Your nephew, man has my full respect.
He has more balls than I had.
…let’s hope littlejar understands…
…but ya, me too, hurben…
…i agree…w/ both parts of your statement…
D2, #104 part C. ..more please, inquiring minds *need* to know. Thanks.
Also, Danimal; Thanks for the rational, clear and solid information presented without brinksmanship or vective. Your contributing points are substantial.
Hopefully your message was appreciated by the intended recipient, but I’m not hopeful.
As is so often the case when in a room spilling over with drunks the sober people are ignored, even if they’re calling attention to stuff like curtains on fire, gas leaks etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrllCZw8jiM
old sauce Nutella… That’s what started this shitstorm…
Just don’t badmouth the Corps. No, I never served. But the Marines I’ve been lucky enough to know taught me stuff. I’m just sayin’ don’t badmouth those guys. Please?
I’m with Joe, I’ll not bad mouth ’em. Bring ’em home.
But not until the job is done. Whatever the fuck that is these days.
Semper Fi!
Do or die!
Ooh-rah!
And goodnight, Chesty, wherever you are.
no shit el jefe. that’s the point… expose the shitbag that is littlejarhead. he’s put more vile tripe into this otherwise stellar site in such a short amount of time. i want to out the motherfucker; expose him and his agenda; and rat the littlejarbitch out. serious business i know, but stupid is as stupid does…
No way, keep this going. With Biggie and Tupac dead (supposedly) we really need a good East Coast/West Coast rivalry. So, from now on the 2 of you can only insult each other in a rap format.
http://vimeo.com/8812024 Knowing how to crash is also a good skill to have. ie: opening segment of this vid. Damn Aussies!!
nyhc00, all can think of after your comment is this:
BJ – that video is so old and has appeared on this site many o times. Freshin’ up mister DC.
More rap, less crap. I’ll take a recycled video vs. this overbeaten dead horse thread. Hell, I’ll take a stick in the eye…
or a gg video or three
Holy fucking shit I leave the computer alone for a day and this thread gets longer? First order of business:
Joe the electrician, I owe you an apology. You aren’t posing as some other commenter. This has been confirmed.
I’ve been deeply involved with the rig. Mission accomplished on getting it to run. The engine sounds *perfect*. I have to re-wire all the lights, the horn, and other switches. I have to lay in a fucked up position on a steel plate to reach the fuse box, remove it, and put it under the hood where I can service it. Let’s talk DC, let’s talk marine solar electric, wheels and keels. Wheels and keels. Mastering, not being mastered by, machines. Knowing the taser from the 9mm. Knowing how to act, not react.
The history of the Marine Corps is interesting. I say this because there had been a clear line of difference between a soldier and a marine, but in functional essence, that is the same, when these ‘marines’ (think, sailor-rifleman) today are just out with the same mission that the army has.
In the early days of our navy, the term ‘top marine’ came from one of the crew members being skilled enough to climb to the top of a waving mast and hit a target with a rifle. It’s a challenge, of course, so the marines are always going after that which is a challenge. The crucible.
In my marine corps, I am a marine body of one, a body of water in a world of work. There are always challenges, always crucibles. Few days off. Circumstances may bring harder work. “Run away the soreness” is one of the mantras I sometimes conjure to keep me going.
But this is not war for me. I had thought that way in the past, but I am at peace within my struggle and ready for war. War can arrive here, people – it can be swift and brutal, or it can be a smoldering stagnation; the US military might that is imminently on the decline.
At 22 I was convinced to join the military. It was an economic decision, so you can call me an example of the ‘poverty draft’ I did not know what I was in for – that is, in essence: External power with internal powerlessness. You see, you’re given status as as servicemember, responsibility, weaponry, tools, what have you… but every night when you go to sleep, as the sound of aircraft engines lull you to sleep, you know that you traded your sovereignty for a fucked up contract where you give much more than you get.
In prison, the opposite exists. I daresay prisoners, at the root essence, have more integrity than soldiers. You are internally powerful and externally powerless. No one volunteered for jail. You’re there AGAINST your will, and that is not a violation of one’s inner guide.
There’s no way I would have stayed in longer than four years. I was ready to be a free man, with the free choice to go where I want WHEN I want, with whatever means I have – alone if necessary, ready to die if necessary, to hopefully die an in an honorable manner on my feet, on my wheels, or at sea.
A marine body of one.
Jesus Christ Little Jar,
You don’t get it, you appear to be incapable of getting it, it’s like you live in a parallel universe
You dishonour brave men & women by lying, yes lying, by pretending to be one of them, admit it & then happily stroll in here with an even more fucked up take.
You are frankly fucking delusional.
And then as the ultimate insult you state that a criminal, yes a criminal, (in the US & NZ there are no prisoners of conscience or political prisoners), has more integrity than a soldier.
You fucking dare propose that some low life scumbag who breaks the laws of society has more integrity than someone who is prepared to lay their life on the line to protect that society!!
I’ve tried to support you on occasion here when I felt that you were being unduly harassed but you have just proven to me that you are the lowest of the low.
I’m out of here, whilst I support freedom of speech I really don’t want to be part of a group that allows such as you free rein to post shit like this. This is not as intelligent or scathing a post as I’d have like to have done but frankly I’m struggling to find the words to express my anger without just totally losing it.
I’ve met a lot of great people here & I’m honoured that they welcomed me, thank you all.
Take care out there people, (not you Little jar, I don’t give a crap what happens to you).
Little Jar @ 129. That’s the best piece of writing you’ve posted. Superb. You’ll hear no more Francis from me.
Thanks.
d
…sorry but i agree w/ hurben…
…i still see delusion & maybe a missing gene or two in littlejar’s makeup…
…what i also see is an inability to personally address the concerns of others directly without losing it, so once again you traipse off in a different direction, feeding us claptrap to justify those inabilities, all the while ignoring basic sociological tenets…
…gnomer sees “superb”…i see “sad”…
littlejarhead is clearly a few bubbles off of level…
Oh, it’s a fine ramble. Writing for writing’s sake. I gave up any need to derive value from this thread days and days ago, when the threats of killing each other reached that crescendo of sincerity. Horrible. From then on, there has been no value in keeping with the context here. None.
The evolution of how this banter has been played out in order to goad emotional reactions from the players involved is the true sadness of the affair. Yea, I was a brief part of that. I digress. But then the greed that results from te freedom that anonymity provides, showed once again, just how primal our distinguished species is when it has no rules to follow.
Smash the window. Grab the T.V.
More interesting is that this thread still has energy here, at post number 134. I hope that behind the chuckles, some value has been gleaned. For me, it is the fact that we all see our own delusion. And who threw-out the first sociological tenet? Was is Little Jar? Was it Electric Joe? So be it. The bait was taken and all of us are the fools.
Yes, just say’n.
gnome, doesn’t that mean D2 owes me 34 beers?
anybody see any riots in oakland last nite?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bUSo1p66a0
another cop got away with killing someone – UNFUCKING ARMED. fuck some shit up.
Hurben, I’ve heard this kind of thing before, but before you go attacking me, see what Gnome is seeing in this – a truth behind a lot of lies. We can differ on some opinions. I was hoping that my being honest would ring a bell. I say things conceptually and you take them literally, turn it around on me, as though I have to respond to a FOX news reporter.
I have to respond… I dare say there is only a false and constructed form of honor in going over to AFGHANISTAN or IRAQ and dying so that Halliburton’s shareholder’s dividends are safe once again.
Those people in uniform are not serving us. WAKE UP. They are serving the interests of the USA acting as a corporation, a cop, an enforcer, a resource grabber for the lion’s share. Even most marines know this because they see it. They go over there and see the shit, and go: “Holy shit the lies I’ve been fed – I can’t believe this C-fuck.” And that is one of the differences between a marine and a soldier. A soldier might come to the same conclusion, but half heartedly, because most soldiers are behind desks or have a cake walk job. YES, most. Marines are few, and work hard for their whole enlistment. They call it “The Suck” because of that.
If you are told a lie often enough, it becomes your truth. Proving this by showing that civilians that have an emotional reaction to the troops serving and use the word ‘support’ to describe it, it is shown to me that military members do not get fired up when I talk about these things. They know what I’m talking about! It’s the brainwashing of the citizen back home that is most dangerous, more so then the conditioning of the soldier. Brainwashing is very real, and nowhere is it more stark and known than in the military. I went through the brainwashing process. I was aware of it the whole time, I was ready for it, and was, yes, partially brainwashed. Coming out, I know a lot more about how fucked up and corrupt our system of power is than I ever wanted to know. I have made attempts to write about it, and not all of them here. You miss my point, Hurben – it’s not that a CRIMINAL has more integrity than a WARRIOR – not the case. You take my statement using “A” and insert “ALL” – some people in jail are innocent or just railroaded by a self serving revenue generating system of ‘justice’ – which, like the military, is systematic and not always based on its own principles. Not all prisoners are criminals, and not all SOLDIERS, MARINES, etc… are warriors. A good many them are just playing along to get some money to send to their families, and get medical care for ‘free’, and to have something other to do than sit around a trailer and drink. Yes, a good many military people are lazy at their core, and the reason they are in, serving, is because the internal discipline is not there and they need structure and order imposed on them. There’s a big ugly truth for you right there.
If we are to continue this conversation, I ask you to leave the table if you haven’t ‘served’ – that is, if you don’t know what that feeling is, that feeling of being property, not of having property but BEING property, then shut up and keep your misinterpretations to yourself.
An angry emotional reaction is just what the brain washers want. They don’t want you to stop and think about WHY – just feel it. Just yell “Drill baby drill!” at the top of your lungs at Giuliani’s speech. Just don’t THINK, whatever you do. Steer clear of the stuff that makes you think (cannabis) and numb that over-active brain with the widely available ALCOHOL.
Sociological tenets? Where are we? A fucking board meeting? No, we are here expressing words through text. Destructive, constructive, and benign. No, my friend – my level is spot on. I’m not sitting in front of this keyboard because I’m trying to be socially correct, pray tell who the fuck is? What I AM trying to do, is get some awareness out there, spread it around, maybe spur someone, anyone, to stop and think about what I’m trying to show in these words. We need anti-recruiters, and we need a school of not driving, and until we have these things, the brainwashing continues.
WAY TOO preachy for me. littlejar, put the sermon back in your jarhead. and lighten the fuck up.
Here we go, response 141, like the big aircraft C-141, filth spewer and machine mover, and at least 3 people will read it. Good enough.
I’m not going to have the last word. Someone else is, and it might be great and it might be just bullshit. Hurben – oooh ooh ooh ahh ahh ahh (bang chest and howl and display anger) It’s not just intelligence, because I could be just as smart and not educated. I wish I didn’t know the shit I know. It ain’t a conspiracy or controversy. It’s experience + those other two things (the IQ + education) that lead me to write what I’ve written.
There’s something stopping me from writing a book, and that is the reactions I know I’ll get including death threats. I’m going to publish my fire when I’m adequately ready to prepare for death. Dr. Slepian was shot while preparing dinner through a sniper’s bullet in his kitchen. When I go and question an entire way of life and if enough people see it, someone’s going to want to take me out. Until then, I’m obscure enough to be safe (I hope)
Again, the mission isn’t about me, right? Service before self. No, I’m not dangerous… I’m just a raving lunatic RIDE YOUR BIKE STOP DRIVING just a fucking wing nut, harmless of course GET OUT OF THE COMFORT GRAVE silly silly man, speaking nonsense YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, let’s pick on him WORK WILL SET YOU FREE.
Whoa! No critical words necessary. You are fucking crazy jarhead. some things should go unsaid (unwritten). Please DC administrators, cut this guy off! He’s bringing down the site.