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Commuters ditching cars for bikes, foot power
Considering that SF is 7x7, I never take for granted how close it is to get everywhere, even if it means showing off my super calves (ahem-) after those lovely hills. Happy biking to all! Although MUNI is okay in the city in comparison to other big metropolitan areas (soCal), once you get in the habit of riding and street route savvy, there is no comparison with the bus/metro system.
* * Share your commute distance, walking, daily riding, or weekend rides. (Mine is a daily pedaling session of approx. 8.5mi. round trip)**
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"You get a completely different impression of San Francisco on a bike," he said, "It's one of the best biking cities. There is nowhere you can't get to on a bike."
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In May, Blake Altshuler, 29, got rid of his car and joined the growing numbers of people who ride their bicycles to work. Mainly, he said, it was because of rising gas prices. His friend Dolly Totes, 25, who has been commuting by bike since she sold her car two years ago, said, "I couldn't afford it. I needed to pay my rent." It was partly gas and insurance, she said, but also all the parking tickets she kept amassing.
If you are already biking or walking to work - or are contemplating doing so - you aren't alone. According to a 2007 analysis by the U.S. Census Bureau, among large cities, San Francisco has the fifth-highest number of bike commuters and the third-highest number of people who walk to work. Also telling is that there were twice as many bikes as cars on Market Street during the morning commute on Bike to Work Day in June, a nearly 30 percent increase over last year, according to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
Cheryl Brinkman also became an almost daily bike commuter in the past year. She lives in the lower Haight and commutes 2 miles to her job as a product manager at McKesson Corp., in the Financial District. About her wardrobe, Brinkman said, "I've altered it for the better and only one thing that I don't wear now that I bike so much is long full skirts."
Helmet hair
On the days she rides her bike, Brinkman tucks her skirt into a band of elastic that she wraps around one thigh, a homemade garter belt solution, as it were. And, she said, "I always have a small binder clip in my handbag, as well, to keep wrap skirts or dresses closed while pedaling."
She brings her purse but eschews wearing a helmet - not because she fears having dreaded "helmet hair" upon arriving at her destination, but because she believes it gives her an advantage on the road.
Those who bicycle say they get benefits beyond just buffeting their budgets from gasoline prices.
"It's the fastest way to get to work. Compared to Muni, it takes half the time," said Tumlin. "I bike because I can change my route and stop off and run errands and see people along the way. It is great exercise and I find a significant difference in my productivity when I bike to work. I am smarter when I bike. I'm more patient when I bike."
"You get a completely different impression of San Francisco on a bike," he said, "It's one of the best biking cities. There is nowhere you can't get to on a bike." Considering that SF is 7x7, I never take for granted how close it is to get everywhere, even if it means showing off my super calves (... more -
Newport, Maine: residential windmills can range from $15,000 to $75,000
With a $57,000 price tag — residential windmills can range from $15,000 to $75,000, depending on size and need — the Burgesses admit that the windmill’s payback won’t be anytime soon, but they admit that the good feeling they get as responsible stewards of the earth more than makes up for the cost.
"Even if we don’t bank enough with the winter winds to pay for our summer use, it still seems like the right thing to do," Sue Burgess said. "It just feels good to have done it."
The couple said interest in the windmill has been high. "Everyone is asking about it and I’ve not heard one negative," John Burgess said. With a $57,000 price tag — residential windmills can range from $15,000 to $75,000, depending on size and need — the Burgesses admit t... more -
Fake Cannuck Letter and Democratic Presidential Candidate Ed Muskie in 1972
A bit of interesting democratic primary history with Ed Muskie doing the crying at this link above - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canuck_Letter
fyi amies,
"Cannucks" - French Canadians, mostly descendants of the French Voyageurs and Northeast Indian women - Metis, Quebecois, and Bois Brulle and/or Acadians, the offspring of communally living French men from Brittany and Normandy in the early 1600s and Mik'mak women, were persecuted from Maine up through Canada on the eastern seaboard for over 200 years. When America was born, the border crossed over them from coast to coast. One contentious border was Maine, with Acadians having family on both sides and longing to be reunited. My Memere Louisia Aucoin Touchette was born in the late 1890s, but she yearned to return to Acadia and talked about the dispersal in 1755 as if it were yesterday.
Our people were major players in the French and Indian Wars, War of 1812 and others when we usually took the side of our Indian relatives, not usually the winning side. The Grand Derangement in September of 1755 of Acadians, when families were separated, their property confiscated and herded on ships and dispersed to the British colonies, is the first modern example of genocide in the West. Seeing Mormon children torn from their mothers reignites that tragic ancestral memory.
What most people don't know is that the Ku Klux Klan had it's biggest activity against "Cannucks" in Maine in the late 1800s and early 1900s with a membership in Maine of over a 150,000. Read this description of the times from "Performing family stories, forming cultural identity: Franco American mémère stories" by Kristin M. Langellier
First published in Communication Studies, 53(1) Spring 2002, 56-73.
"Arguably, the Roman Catholic church both held French Canada together culturally at the same time that it hindered the social progress of its people. In the U.S., the devotion to French language and Catholic faith made Franco Americans the targets of religious hostility and racist attacks. The Anglo imagination attacked the French refusal to assimilate by challenging their whiteness. The French were characterized in an 1880 Massachusetts labor report as "the Chinese of the Eastern States" (les chinois de Pest) (Doty, 1995, p. 87), a comparison not to other white groups but to another race. Using French Canadians to argue against a ten-hour work day, the report concludes, "Now, it is not strange that so sordid and low a people should awaken corresponding feelings in the managers, and that these should feel that, the longer hours for such people, the better, and that to work them to the uttermost is about the only good use they can be put to" (Wright, 1881). Class, linguistic, and religious conflict submitted Franco Americans to two hundred years of discrimination, oppression, and poverty. In the mid and late 1880's and again in the 1920s, French Catholics were the target of cross-burnings by the Ku Klux Klan. In Maine, for example, an active and flourishing Klan in Maine, numbering 150,141, waged campaigns against the Catholic Church and foreign-language schools (Doty, 1995). Anti-French and anti-Catholic attacks suggest how larger historical forces shaped language and religion within the specific cultural formation of Franco American identity. "
Unfortunately, the Muskie "Canuck Letter" didn't increase awareness about the history and unequal status of some of America's first inhabitants.
From TouchArt.net and One Earth Blog.
P.S. Our Mik'maq ancestors arrived on the northeast shores of the Atlantic 20,000 years ago. A bit of interesting democratic primary history with Ed Muskie doing the crying at this link above - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canu... more -
Obama projected to win Maine caucuses
8 inches of snow was expected, but Democratic party leaders weren't concerned, saying "We live in Maine, we deal with snow all time".
As of 4:15 PM PST, Barack Obama was beating Hillary Clinton 58% to 41% with 70% of the votes in. 8 inches of snow was expected, but Democratic party leaders weren't concerned, saying "We live in Maine, we deal with snow all time". ... more -
Mitt Romney wins Maine caucuses
Mitt Romney coasted to a win in presidential preference voting by Maine Republicans on Saturday, claiming his third victory in a caucus state and fourth overall.
The former Massachusetts governor had 52 percent of the vote with 68 percent of the towns holding caucuses reporting. John McCain trailed with 21 percent, Ron Paul was third with 19 percent, and Mike Huckabee had 6 percent. Undecided votes accounted for 2 percent. Mitt Romney coasted to a win in presidential preference voting by Maine Republicans on Saturday, claiming his third victory in a caucu... more -
Maine Buggin' Episode 3
Ryan and Jon encounter trouble on the water. See how easily things can go wrong on the open sea...
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Life in Lockdown
Nobody sets out to go to prison. Robert Reilly didnt either, but lifes unexpected choices threw him into a tortuous cell block. With visions of becoming a rock star, his dream was stolen and now his world is behind stark prison walls. He walks the halls of the Maine Maximum State Prison as a correction officer alongside crazed, murderous inmates who like him failed in choices. These are high profile men and women: murderers, drug dealers and killers. Reilly and the infamous homicidal maniacs hes in charge of have one thing in common: they want out. Theyre trapped in sentence. Reilly is trapped in family obligations. Theres no way out. For Reilly music and writing are mental escapes. He uses his experiences to create ballads and stories to break out, leaving behind his days filled with abuse, horror and, at times, attempts on his life. Every prisoner has a story to tellbut mostly what they grumble is that they are not guilty. His dark, gritty days are contrasted in his everyday family life spent in Hope, Maine with his wife and childrenalthough he never seems to truly escape from his prison existence; constantly in angst to return to a creative, fulfilling environment and become free from the mental and physical chains that bind him. Nobody sets out to go to prison. Robert Reilly didnt either, but lifes unexpected choices threw him into a tortuous cell block. With... more
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Hunting and the environment
This is a story about how hunting helps manage and conserve the environment. Although many people not familiar with hunting may have preconceived notions about it, hunting is actually very positive for the environment. And now that hunting is on the decline, what does that mean for the future of conservation? Lisa Schroeder reports on this issue from Maine. This is a story about how hunting helps manage and conserve the environment. Although many people not familiar with hunting may have p... more
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Middle school offers birth control
A Portland, Maine middle school is offering up birth control to its students.
Is it okay for schools to provide contraception? Is middle school too young? A Portland, Maine middle school is offering up birth control to its students. ... more -
The Pop!Tech experience!
Pop!tech is a conference that meets every year in Camden, Maine which brings together five-hundred of the most influential and diverse thinkers of the world. This year the Conference focused on the idea of the Human Impact on the world. Every topic imagenable is coverered here at Pop!tech and the small coastal setting only adds to the originality of this event. Check out all the presentations at Pop!tech.com and also download all of the performances on Itunes for free! Pop!tech is a conference that meets every year in Camden, Maine which brings together five-hundred of the most influential and diverse... more
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Middle school to offer birth control
Students at a Portland, Maine middle school will be able to get birth control pills and patches at their student health center.
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65-year-old gets carded in supermarket
This is absurd ... but she should feel pretty good about getting carded at that age! And she gets a quality conversation starter out of it. Not bad. This is absurd ... but she should feel pretty good about getting carded at that age! And she gets a quality conversation starter out o... more
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Thoreaud Less Traveled
If reading "Walden" leaves you pining for an eco-trip, you might want to walk in its author's footsteps along Maine's newly christened Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail. If reading "Walden" leaves you pining for an eco-trip, you might want to walk in its author's footsteps along Maine's newly christened... more
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