tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17431085255361344912024-02-19T05:07:23.024-08:00The effusions of M. Julius BeezerDouglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.comBlogger101125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-31421102982132382762023-11-17T23:31:00.000-08:002023-11-17T23:31:40.848-08:00Is it natural to work every day?<h4 style="text-align: left;">From the low-effort department </h4><p>I never used to "get" Reddit. But my lovely is keen, so I've joined in for a while (u/available_fact_3445 1 year 9 months karma 4000+)</p><p>I just had a submission to r/antiwork rejected for "low effort" (the irony), so it appears here, in splendid obscurity.</p><p>This was a reply I wrote on a thread discussing the fantasy of retreating into the wilderness, building your own cabin, and living an independent life.</p><p>A comment took it as natural that you would have to work hard every day. I demurred as follows:</p><p>***</p><p> >"working" every day</p><p>It depends on the abundance readily available in the locality, but when this is studied among contemporary hunter-gatherer societies (eg Sahlin's Stone Age Economics) the natural rhythm of "purposive activity" is much more like every other day. For about 4-5 hours.</p><p>This chimes with the many, many, many rest days obliged by the church from rural peasants in medieval Europe.</p><p>It is also coherent with modern work practices which allow a four day week. The hard land of the Scottish Highlands obliges crofters to strictly respect the sabbath; were it not so the infinite possibility of productive work with meagre yields would soon exhaust any man, or woman.</p><p>A vegetable garden and an orchard require regular intervention, but not *every* day. Rain stops play. You only prune the blackcurrent bushes, once, in winter. And so on.</p><p>You only never get a day off when you start exploiting animals, so not *every* day, no, unless you start to keep chickens or something.</p><p>So how do these leisured hunter-gatherers spend the rest of their time? Mainly cooking, chatting, and grooming their relatives.</p><p>***</p><p>Reddit makes it easy to submit one text in many places, and I thought this might be interesting to the readers of r/antiwork.</p><p>It seems the moderators there disagree, so it's published here, for that reason.</p>Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-51321763614022061842023-09-18T10:27:00.003-07:002023-09-18T10:37:33.251-07:00On cycling round pedestrians <h4 style="text-align: left;"> From the self-translated-rants department </h4><p><span style="font-size: 18px;">Cyclists who don't respect pedestrians' priority are simple hypocrits. They would certainly be most unhappy if motorists meted them the same treatment.</span></p><br /><span style="font-size: 18px;">At the end of the day, the pedestrian must always have priority because walking is basic. And yes, even buffoons, the tipsy, and clueless tourists have the right to walk freely.</span>
<br /><br /><span style="font-size: 18px;">So when you operate a potentially hazardous machine such as a bicycle in their vicinity, take great care! Always respect a minimum passing distance of one metre, and ride at walking pace if space is limited. Always give way to crossing pedestrians.</span>
<br /><br /><span style="font-size: 18px;">Making eye contact enables the courtesy of indicating the pedestrian's priority as follows: look the crossing pedestrian right in the eye, and the instant they glance back, tip your cap with a brief nod, and brake to a halt theatrically. Ideally I will make no other signal, neither visual nor audible. I aim to briefly maintain a track stand at least 3m from the crossing markings, before getting briskly on my way once more. It's convivial and efficient.</span>
<br /><br /><span style="font-size: 18px;">If you don't like the effort of reaccelerating after giving way to a pedestrian, buy an ebike and be done</span><!--/data/user/0/com.samsung.android.app.notes/files/clipdata/clipdata_bodytext_230918_174025_014.sdocx--><div><span style="font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 18px;">Note:</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 8px;">This is the translation to the English of a comment in French made   <a href="https://reddit.com/r/EnculerLesVoitures/s/6v5Cvc7qy1">here<a></span></div>Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-13755344356308537972020-02-01T21:56:00.000-08:002020-02-02T01:01:47.401-08:00On laziness <h4 style="height: 0px;">
from-the-department-of-personal-activities</h4>
<h4 style="height: 0px;">
</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The phrase "intellectually lazy" popped up in my feed recently. It bothered me because merely observing the collocation obliged me to reflect on the phrase's implications for a few moments. A few moments I may have needed for another activity. Mony a mickle maks a muckle!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But I received the words fair and square via feeds that I have personally curated. So fair play to its author (I'd have to search on the phrase to name the author). </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My plan is still to have no plan, though the tenth anniversary of the founding of Cabinet Beezer falls this May, so I've decided to take a 'sabbatical', review the projects I've participated in from that date to the present, and write up the experience. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Ou bien rien</div>
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Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-63928688331987306652019-02-27T11:33:00.003-08:002019-06-06T23:23:27.406-07:00House of Lords passes the Dutch on the left hand side<h4>
from the department of the eternally hosted comment</h4>
I'm something of a Carlton Reid fan—I buy his books anyway—and I'm full of admiration for the tenacity of his career as a journalist covering the cycle business. He is to my view somewhat over-enthusiastic about the merits of separatist cycle infrastructure, but this is a matter for reasonable debate, and at least he does actually ride a bike. So I'm inclined to forgive him when I revisit his site bikebiz.com, and find that a comment that I left on <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190227185948/https://www.bikebiz.com/business/peer-blames-londons-longtime-traffic-congestion-on-the-new-cycleways">a story he wrote in April 2017 </a>about some clueless peer's ignorant waffling in the House of Lords has disappeared. Comments often seem to be the first casualty of website design makeovers, and in this case archive.org seems not to have come to my remarks' rescue. So here they are again, now with illustrations.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This idea of the Netherlands as some sort of transport paradise really does need a dose of reality. Firstly, while their overall road mortality compares favourably with that of other European countries, they're hardly immune to road deaths. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu63yD0jLbd7q9jthuFQHWCLvaZ5arTHQj5pga7T-YdUYl5RW3sQyK4X99l4UX3IM7vQgjTJzIv-5nhHlLn9fBh5G3vkAhS2gndNv5oOH5C290XC5KTr2-p1dZPUph78lpMqY4DOjPkRY/s1600/EuropeRoadDeaths.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="987" data-original-width="836" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu63yD0jLbd7q9jthuFQHWCLvaZ5arTHQj5pga7T-YdUYl5RW3sQyK4X99l4UX3IM7vQgjTJzIv-5nhHlLn9fBh5G3vkAhS2gndNv5oOH5C290XC5KTr2-p1dZPUph78lpMqY4DOjPkRY/s400/EuropeRoadDeaths.png" width="338" /></a></div>
All European countries observed a decline in cycling as cars became widely available in the sixties and seventies. While the Netherlands are to be congratulated for arresting this decline better than most, they have not grown cycling since. </blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzhAQVrK6pPo5hU3rgmv9AeJ6N15TRez2ZPhQ4bplppAiiL78kIk4LhMOHuEkt3tjvpkv8nEwuagE93PBoFJmD1uv4ybg5-XLF7HEftYN9vI935eKsRfSZ0flZ672DawOyExhf6Y9lOAI/s1600/TrendLineEurope.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="613" data-original-width="808" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzhAQVrK6pPo5hU3rgmv9AeJ6N15TRez2ZPhQ4bplppAiiL78kIk4LhMOHuEkt3tjvpkv8nEwuagE93PBoFJmD1uv4ybg5-XLF7HEftYN9vI935eKsRfSZ0flZ672DawOyExhf6Y9lOAI/s400/TrendLineEurope.png" width="400" /></a></div>
Yet in global terms they do occupy one of the most favourable topographies for cycling on the planet.The solution they found back then—of rigid separation of modes—has its virtues, but cannot be unquestioningly adopted in other localities—might hills make a difference for example?<br />
Since the seventies, motorists have not improved their reputation: the ongoing road slaughter, oil wars, an obesity crisis, and pollution episodes can all be laid directly at their door, even before we consider the contribution of motoring to anthropogenic climate change. More thoughtful parliamentarians would be considering how to kick the motors out altogether, not bleating about a few cycle paths.</blockquote>
<br />
This seems a good place to note that I consider the House of Lords to be an insult to the notion of democracy, and I'd sack the lot of them if I could. Confronted with such evident idiocy in the legislature, it is natural to wonder how the hell to get rid of one. Answer: you can't. <strike>Dictators </strike>Peers for life! Ho hum!Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-67809894263474444442018-10-16T14:33:00.003-07:002018-10-17T13:21:38.760-07:00Tickling the Dawes' nether regions back to life<h4>
from the threadbare department</h4>
The Dawes has been out of action since the end of May, when, feeling a nasty wobble in the cranks while riding out to meet the lads in Cherbourg, I looked down to see my bottom bracket almost dragging along the road. Investigation at the local bike shop the next morning revealed that the threads on the bottom bracket shell of the frame had rusted through: a potentially frame-ending injury.<br />
<br />
I ran home for the town bike, which is a more or less acceptable substitute for the Dawes up to about 70km, at which point the lack of variety in hand position starts to become fatiguing.<br />
<br />
Anyway, when I got back from the trip, Yoann Loncle of Menhir Cycles was ready to take a look, so I stripped the frame down and sent it off to him. Great craftsmen do take their time, but the repair of the frame (there were a couple of cracks in the stays, and the rear brake bridge had cracked through on one side) was finally completed last week, so it was time to rebuild the bike with <a href="http://www.chinakenli.com/En/productd/m2/id437.html">the new Kenli bottom bracket</a>. This sidesteps the need for a framebuilder to replace the entire bottom bracket shell, but there is a reason why threading the bottom bracket securely to the frame is superior...<br />
<br />
First time around I just bought a second Shimano-fit 20-toothed socket tool, and tightened the Kenli as best I could. However, it came loose on a 10km test run to test the fit of the reassembled machine. I retightened it, but next day's planned ride to Saint-Nazaire (64km) had to be cut short in Couëron (13km) when it loosened again.<br />
<br />
More serious measures would evidently have to be taken. Browsing around <a href="https://www.sheldonbrown.com/">Sheldon Brown</a> and the archives of <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!search/threadless$20bottom$20bracket$20|sort:relevance/uk.rec.cycling/rOh5RCqtMk8/6vETi89CoqsJ">uk.rec.cycling</a> yielded some helpful info, but I didn't fancy using metal filler (which is basically glueing the unit in place, probably irrevocably), and 'tapping the thread to Italian fit' and suchlike is certainly beyond my capacities, and I think, those of any known supplier.<br />
<br />
So I decided to try obtaining a snugger fit for the Kenli with shims. This is illustrated in<a href="https://flic.kr/s/aHskKFmQpE"> this Flickr set</a>. Here's a picture of the new left shim in place:
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/juliusbeezer/31494859158/in/album-72157674569507148/" title="Fitted shim"><img alt="Fitted shim" height="213" src="https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1950/31494859158_25d8e5a075_n.jpg" width="320" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
The shims did seem to give a bit of extra added grip as I tightened the bottom bracket, and I added some Loctite 243 to the Kenli's threads for good measure. Fingers crossed! My legs are awfully powerful and I do feel sorry for any bike component that's got to deal with them. A replacement for the Dawes is becoming a pressing necessity, but I've had a lot of fun on that bike down the years, and I'm finding myself reluctant to accept its demise.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Update 22h18, 19 October 2018. First ride out on the repair entirely promising—maximal mashing of pedals on a 20km loop out through Vertou this afternoon—all seemed solid on my return.</span>Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-18950937566035445752018-09-15T05:20:00.000-07:002019-06-17T03:13:40.309-07:00On riding safely in difficult conditions<h4>
from the department of roadspace carving </h4>
I follow a whole bunch of cycle activists on Twitter. This sort of post appears daily in my feed:<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
No.5- Yet another <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/closepass?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#closepass</a> Driver trying to overtake as road narrowed. Hooked handlebar, bike wedged under his wheels, I tried to bale and was dragged along. Police said 50/50 blame! I showed the video. Changed to 3pts & £100 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/greenock?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#greenock</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/inverclyde?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#inverclyde</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TakeThatCyclist?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TakeThatCyclist</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ClosePasses?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ClosePasses</a> <a href="https://t.co/BlTZ5uP067">pic.twitter.com/BlTZ5uP067</a></div>
— Father Spodo Komodo (@fathersensini) <a href="https://twitter.com/fathersensini/status/1040301861545369601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 13, 2018</a></blockquote>
<br />
A cyclist is riding along a busy single carriageway road in wet weather. He is overtaken too closely. The overtaking driver then instantly forgets the cyclist, the road narrows, the overtaking vehicle moves left, and knocks the cyclist down. Fortunately this cyclist incurred only minor injuries, and the driver was prosecuted, though only because the cyclist had video evidence. All most regrettable.<br />
<br />
But—and I'm writing this here because the brevity of the Twitter risks rapid descent into accusations of victim-blaming—there are a few learning points for all cyclists. While the van-driver should not have acted as he did, and is undoubtedly to blame for the crash, there are a few things you can do as a cyclist to avoid such hazard.<br />
<br />
Firstly, it is a good general rule never to pass a parked car closer than the radius of a car-door. "Dooring" (having a car door opened into your path) is a real risk, and a nasty injury-prone crash if it does happen. Riding wide of parked cars eliminates this risk entirely. But the cyclist in the video is riding too close to the parked cars in my view.<br />
<br />
Now, why did he do this? The answer, of course, is that it is easy to feel intimidated by vehicles behind you. Drivers rev their engines, follow too closely, or even sound their horns to try to get you to move out of the way. This is physical intimidation! Resisting it is easier said than done, and requires both mental and physical strength.<br />
<br />
But it is the driver that does not see you that will kill you, and the further out into the carriageway you ride, the closer you are to the following driver's central field of vision.<br />
<br />
I entirely understand also, that my view is formed from my own experience as a) a person naturally endowed for cycling (a moderately athletic male adult); b) a trained motorcyclist (it's easy enough to take the lane with a BMW R80RT between your legs I assure you); c) a person who sees very clearly that the private motor car has no place in the urban environment in a democratic society, and is willing to put body and bike on the line to state this. Having the physical strength to "keep up with the traffic" in short bursts does make the cyclist's life easier in present conditions. But there is no *minimum* speed limit on any urban road, and as cyclist you have a perfect right to use the carriageway appropriately, whatever your habitual cruising speed. Both the British and French highway codes lay great emphasis on the fact that overtaking is the most hazardous manoeuvre, and clearly lay the responsibility for doing so safely with the overtaking driver.<br />
<br />
Secondly, once the parked cars have been overtaken, the cyclist moves left, thus inciting the overtaking manoeuvre. But had he anticipated the narrowing of the road ahead, he could have instead maintained his line to occupy the centre of the narrowed lane, averting any illusion in the mind of the van driver that this was a good time to overtake. Which it obviously wasn't.<br />
<br />
And thirdly, having carved that space, should idiocy arrive over your right shoulder in the form of an inappropriately overtaking driver, you have a space to move into, not the obstacle of the kerb immediately to your left.<br />
<h4>
What is to be done?</h4>
Many people watching this video will interpret it as evidence for the implementation of "protected infrastructure" (i.e. a kerb-separated lane for bikes on the offside of the road). But this is not the only possibility, and such lanes create new problems of their own, particularly when carriageway and bike lane arrive at junctions, which become more complex as a result. In practice such implementations tend to impede the progress of the cyclist compared with the progress they might make on the road. <br />
The elephants in the room here (as ever) are the contribution the parked vehicles made to the crash (on-street parking is a curse), and the sheer volume of motor traffic (this can't go on). Both driver and cyclist are victims of a transport "system" based largely on private motor vehicles that is incompatible with an egalitarian society. Driving in town is only even possible because some people are not driving cars. A town where all trips are made in private cars looks like Los Angeles, not Greenock.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_MRn6dl3uEgo7ia9raY_3phYPCKngBTWsYacEbJ2JEpcg7wQFcMWcbRXp01eeXsXdv1BScLkKoc_mJahfAfllIHkJOTwDm4-usE5-lF3izxSDJsJ5czxmVv93_4A1SmlAizba6gwCoT0/s1600/urbanSpace1r.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="258" data-original-width="495" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_MRn6dl3uEgo7ia9raY_3phYPCKngBTWsYacEbJ2JEpcg7wQFcMWcbRXp01eeXsXdv1BScLkKoc_mJahfAfllIHkJOTwDm4-usE5-lF3izxSDJsJ5czxmVv93_4A1SmlAizba6gwCoT0/s320/urbanSpace1r.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And of course the law should be changed to put the presumption of blame on the user of the motor vehicle in the event of a collision with a pedestrian or a cyclist, as is the case in France or the Netherlands. With great power comes great responsibility! <br />
<br />
These are amongst the most difficult and demanding conditions
that a cyclist could face anywhere. One can understand the popularity of the four-wheeled metal
umbrella as a default mode of transport in the west of Scotland, but it's not progressive, and it's got to change.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqJlk1CQ38kc1MbMihtqndGPdvvyyoloNaT3xi_oiXVZ2xtqgfOsNt1WI5c5FIGB5mWkAkgBhKwnef0l_aG_Jtk8u5wMM8PAZcEKRn17e3Pf9C7xkCBG4cIMNEHcGsHBhLcWgsUvfsI8E/s1600/why_cars_dont_work_in_town.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="564" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqJlk1CQ38kc1MbMihtqndGPdvvyyoloNaT3xi_oiXVZ2xtqgfOsNt1WI5c5FIGB5mWkAkgBhKwnef0l_aG_Jtk8u5wMM8PAZcEKRn17e3Pf9C7xkCBG4cIMNEHcGsHBhLcWgsUvfsI8E/s320/why_cars_dont_work_in_town.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-32520806461463572222017-10-22T01:47:00.001-07:002017-10-22T01:47:35.894-07:00Transparency real and imagined<h4>
from the all very well in theory department</h4>
Back in August I came across <a href="https://chorasimilarity.wordpress.com/2017/08/16/transparency-is-superior-to-trust/">this blogpost</a>—a somewhat generic homily on the importance of openness and transparency in scientific communication. I share the author's optimism that open access to the scientific literature will provide better validation of published work than traditional systems of peer review. But unless this superior access is actually exploited by knowledgeable users, the potential gains may not be realized. Though a blinking cursor beckoned me below the line, the author has, in his or her wisdom, failed to publish my comment. So it <a href="http://juliusbeezer.blogspot.fr/2013/06/what-do-i-think-im-doing-online.html">must</a> appear here: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Transparency is superior to trust—as long as some relevant person(s)
actually exploit(s) the transparency. Look at how long that ssl flaw
hung about in Debian, for example: <a href="https://pinboard.in/u:juliusbeezer/t:security/t:opensource/">https://pinboard.in/u:juliusbeezer/t:security/t:opensource/</a><br />
That was all open code, utterly vital to the security of hordes of
crucial servers run by the world's top-most geeks, and therefore, every
internet user. But the problem sat there for two years, apparently.<br />
That's an extreme example that did get fixed. Transparency is necessary
yes, but unless it's actually backed by
readers/critics/reviewers/coders/experts actually looking through the
windowpane afforded by it, its value is only rhetorical.<br />
It does mean that the guards can guard the guards and we can watch the
guards guarding the guards though. Or maybe McGregor-Maywether.</blockquote>
Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-64529366388889428882017-06-22T11:31:00.001-07:002018-09-17T04:36:07.561-07:00Another look at Dutch geography as it pertains to cyclists<h4>
from the polder layout department</h4>
The Netherlands are often held up as a model for good practice in cycle policy. I've <a href="http://juliusbeezer.blogspot.fr/2015/06/taking-high-road.html">made the point already</a> that the country has a number of geographical peculiarities which mean that its methods should be interpreted with caution when considering generalizing them elsewhere. Of course it is possible, indeed more enjoyable, to ride a bicycle in more hilly terrain than any the Netherlands has to offer. But the techniques required by both the cyclist, and the urbanist seeking to encourage them, are self-evidently going to be different. This much is obvious.<br />
But there are a couple of more subtle points to <i>l'exception néerlandaise </i>that have occurred to me since my <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/juliusbeezer/albums/72157675783018015">pilgrimage to Groningen</a> last year:<br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyYUFla1FVguUbva0tk1AtDwoWUsBgA5U0yNqWr8AuVpZbSj4Z33jutr6TiORjkA4vZQ7FFwz3Nh8V02qVbVtTFuBZoKzjshZkx0oeACdh1tQczDye0LTsOotNJlbCPzlQkjzvQ9LsaOc/s1600/20thCenturyPolders.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="a map of 20th century Dutch polders" border="0" data-original-height="962" data-original-width="968" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyYUFla1FVguUbva0tk1AtDwoWUsBgA5U0yNqWr8AuVpZbSj4Z33jutr6TiORjkA4vZQ7FFwz3Nh8V02qVbVtTFuBZoKzjshZkx0oeACdh1tQczDye0LTsOotNJlbCPzlQkjzvQ9LsaOc/s200/20thCenturyPolders.png" title="" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">20th century polders, from <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ird.340/abstract">Hoeksema</a> (2007)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
1) Fully 5% of the Netherlands' land surface area <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ird.340/abstract">has been added</a> to the country between 1930 and 1968. This often seems to have been landscaped <i>à l'américaine</i>, with spacious boulevards that admit complete modal segregation between facing frontages as much as 100m apart. Time pressures obliged me to admire the splendour of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almere">Almere</a> suburb from the window of a train rather than from the bike, but the desire to allocate huge reserves of space to the motorist there was plain enough, as one would expect from any bunch of 1970s planners anywhere.<br />
<br />
2) In a country where for centuries the canals have been the main axis of transport between towns, it may be that it seems quite natural to have a "major" and "minor" towpath. I noticed on my trip last May that very often I received strong cues from the urbanists to travel on one side of a canal-line (which was often a mixed-use low-speed residential street), while across the water I could see cars moving quite fast on a higher speed street. I was cool with that as long as getting to the "right" side didn't take me too far out of my way. As a tourist, naturally I just went along with it, but I could imagine being a local resident with a bike and being daily pissed off by the tortuousness of the route I was obliged to follow. (Obligatory) cycle routes along major trunk roads often jink from one side of the motorway to other, adding significant travel distance perpendicular to the desired direction. This sucks.<br />
<br />
We should be clear about all these distinctions when considering the applicability of Dutch cycle infrastructure design to other parts of Europe, where the width of roads and streets (their frontage-to-frontage distance) was determined in the era of horse-drawn vehicles. Horses go home at night, and the carts they were pulling too. So three cart-widths would be pretty much enough anywhere: one delivering, two passing in either direction. On-street parking is a twentieth century curse. Where such conditions exist historically in the Netherlands, they tend to mostly exclude motor traffic (as of course you should). Parallel universes of "protected cycleways" may be an option in new towns and suburbs, but in the vast majority of European cities the nettle of private car dependence must be grasped.Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-47531750115057226792017-06-19T03:29:00.000-07:002017-09-12T10:20:48.159-07:00Is there "a Macron effect"? <h4>
from the department of curious anthropology </h4>
My oldest buddy <a href="http://livingonwords.blogspot.fr/">Dan Falchikov</a>, sometime parliamentary assistant to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archy_Kirkwood,_Baron_Kirkwood_of_Kirkhope">Archy Kirkwood</a>, and still, I believe, a partisan for the Liberal Democrats, asked me on Facebook what I made of "the Macron effect." I was happy to give him my view, and perhaps my remarks may be of wider interest. So here [lightly edited] they are:<br />
<i>
[Hi Dougie, just wondering whether you have a take on the Macron effect? Obviously being up against a fascist meant he was always going to win the presidency but I'm more interested in how he emerged from nowhere to beat the more established candidates. Is there any decent analysis you're aware of?]</i>
<br />
<blockquote>
He [Macron] was pretty high profile in his role as economic minister in the Hollande administration, then resigned early enough to escape (somehow) the backwash from them being found red Tories in practice. Being President is his first elected position! A first round vote for Macron was basically a vote for the status quo, in terms of the relationship between business and the French social contract; Fillon's promise of deep cuts in public service employment was deeply unpopular, and his allegèd filching from the public pocket also played very badly. Mélenchon played a blinder, and came closer than any true left candidate since the 1930s; Hamon was a lowish-profile Hollande minister, and one of the PS rebels in the last parliament, which does not play well in French culture; so triple whammy for him (6%!). Now that my French is good, I can understand what Marine Le Pen is saying, and apart from her obviously distasteful world view, she is frankly someone who does not have the mental capacity to be a serious politician. The FN vote reflects, in my view, three tendencies: 1) people who are racist ultra-rightists (few, though there is plenty of casual racism in France); 2) people who want to smash the whole Paris political class (cf Brexit); 3) a survey result for the number of people in France who are… how can I be polite? … incapable of analysing competing paradigms.
<br />
Macron is a weak king: with a first round vote of only 24%, and a second round win against the FN (with near record abstention and 4.4 million spoiled ballots) he has little mandate for his promise to "govern by decree" if he doesn't get his majority in the the Assemblée (though it looks like he will). Personally I find this promise an objectionable rejection of the constitution, and believe a parliamentary committee should generally outperform a presidential decree. But hey! The fun will really start when he tries to pass his new employment laws, or if he tries to build the proposed airport at Notre Dame des Landes. Macron is detested by large numbers on the left, there will be some very heavy demos, and I will be dodging clouds of teargas here in Nantes. Ho hum!
<br />
As for your specific point, his rise is unprecedented, (though he has all the qualifications, did well at ENA etc) but he succeeded in rallying large numbers of young middle class people to get the vote out. There is no doubt he is highly intelligent and capable (and his English is remarkably good for a French person); also no doubt he is firmly in the pocket of the big business/lobbyist complex that really runs France.
I guess I wish him fair wind, but the moment he does something really stupid my good will (and many others') will rapidly evaporate. I predict an ignominious decline in his popularity over the next 5 years (though I'd be happy to be proved wrong). Thanks for asking! 🙂
</blockquote>
<i>[Was there a particular pitch to the young middle classes, or was it more of a shared feeling/shared values?]</i>
<br />
<blockquote>
That is a good question, and I'm not sure I have a good answer. My impression is that enough of the French public are suckers for someone who is handsome and clever on the telly. There's no doubt there is frustration with the rigidity of French employment practices, and a feeling that France is getting left behind other countries that manage greater flexibility in the labour market. The difficulty is that in France *everything* hangs on your "statut social", which basically comes down to your employment status. (cf Americans and their pre-Obama health insurance). So any changes to the system provoke enormous reaction. The last round of attempts at reform (la loi El-Khomri, which was basically authored by Macron) caused several riots in the streets here, one of which I unexpectedly attended when I turned a corner on my bike on my way to pick up the boy from music! Eek!
The political discussion then becomes what to do about the riots, not a reasonable discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of what's being proposed. (I was about 75% against/25% for El-Khomri myself: I don't see any sense in increasing retirement age when there is so much youth unemployment, for example, but I would be in favour of more targeted occupational health examinations). My impression is that people do follow the big issues along better than the UK public does, but there is also an important tribal element, and Macron benefited from young people sick of tribalism, and feeling stuck in the system. The system is very difficult to reform however, and when push comes to shove I'm not sure that Macron's vote will translate into people in the street backing him. But if he governs by decree and the riot police repress the demos against him, then there will be an awful lot of people on the street against him. Certainly here in Nantes, and probably Paris too.
</blockquote>
Update 12h02, 19/06/2017. It looks as though M. Macron and La République En Marche have obtained a legislative majority. May the new Assemblée enjoy peace and good fortune in its deliberation of the public interest!Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-70889054074009333022017-04-14T04:10:00.000-07:002017-04-20T11:30:44.560-07:00Air pollution sceptic refuses comment<h4>
from the start-with-cholera department</h4>
Euan Mearns is an honorary research fellow at Aberdeen University and a former oil industry consultant. His admirably active blog exerts a pitiless scrutiny on the renewable energy business, and I like to read it as part of a conscious effort of escape from my <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter_bubble">bubble</a>.<br />
He recently posted <a href="http://euanmearns.com/mortality-from-diesel-car-pollution-in-the-uk/">a long article</a> which attempted to unpick a claim made by Channel 4 News that air pollution from diesel engines causes 40,000 deaths annually, following the publication of <a href="https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/outputs/every-breath-we-take-lifelong-impact-air-pollution">a Royal College of Physicians report</a>. As Mearns points out, diesel engines are not the only source of air pollution, and so the headline figure is certainly open to scrutiny and debate. But this does not really entitle him (or the commenters he has attracted) to accuse the RCP of publishing "fake science" based on "green thinking." As is my wont, I composed a comment for his delectation, which he has chosen not to add to the other 69 he has published. So it is here instead:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Yep, the statistics of the effects on air pollution aren't easy to interpret. If you want to pursue this line a masters degree in epidemiology would provide a good foundation for your further studies e.g. <a href="http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/study/masters/mse.html#first">http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/study/masters/mse.html#first</a><span id="goog_881887881"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_881887882"></span><br />
<br />
Look, it's quite clear fine particulates and gaseous oxides aren't good for your health. The evidence that I find most convincing is that all-cause mortality rises in pollution peaks: e.g. <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bmb/article/68/1/95/421216/Air-pollution-and-infection-in-respiratory-illness">https://academic.oup.com/bmb/article/68/1/95/421216/Air-pollution-and-infection-in-respiratory-illness</a> Note that the people who die acutely are those with the least cardiorespiratory reserve due to pre-existing illness, but the fact that this increase in mortality is observable suggests that a harmful effect is occurring in everyone's cardiorespiratory systems, and thus, long-term, risks diminishing everyone's cardiorespiratory reserve. Note also that the mechanism of fatal illness is not necessarily directly linked to the peak itself (e.g. someone with asthma suffering an acute attack and dying of respiratory failure immediately), but in increased rates of respiratory tract infection for several months after the peak. <br />
<br />
Even if the epidemiologists' best estimates were out ten-fold either way (say 4000 dead/year—400,000 dead/year) either figure would still constitute ample evidence for tightening the regulatory screw on those who indulge in the antisocial practice of burning hydrocarbons in the atmosphere in the pursuit of an inefficient method of personal transportation. <br />
<br />
So the issue must be addressed. The choice is not between petrol or diesel. The choice is between the private motor car and the other less polluting modes of transport. Although there is some justice in that motorists themselves receive the highest doses of air pollution (e.g. <a href="http://cycling.today/cyclists-exposed-to-five-times-less-air-pollution-than-those-in-cars/">http://cycling.today/cyclists-exposed-to-five-times-less-air-pollution-than-those-in-cars/</a>), everyone is affected. You're no longer allowed to blow smoke in my face in a bar—why should you be allowed to blow smoke in my face at the traffic lights?</blockquote>
M. Mearns himself runs a 1.6L diesel-engined Volvo, and I suspect <a href="http://euanmearns.com/blog-rules/">has classified me a "green troll</a>." Ho hum!<br />
<br />
Update 0820h, 16/4/2017. Following reorganisation, all participants in the interdisciplinary "Engineer in the clinic!" programme are being encouraged to attend <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Snow#Cholera">Epidemiology 101</a>. Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-49468431055791990872017-02-21T01:48:00.003-08:002017-02-21T02:11:08.130-08:00The unbearable asymmetry of bullshit<h4>
from the department of anti-link-rot-action </h4>
Somewhat at random it has been my custom to follow the blog of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics in my RSS reader, and occasionally I would even feel moved by the spirit of enlightenment to offer up a comment to the august minds philosophizing there. Sadly the blog now seems to be <a href="http://www.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/blog">in a state of permanent technical failure</a>, effectively removing these comments from public view. My cacheing system has <a href="https://pinboard.in/cached/188b2897da33/">worked nicely</a> though, so I guess it's up to me to take over the hosting from here on. I was particularly pleased with this comment, which pulls together my thinking on attention, agnotology, peer review and bullshit, written in response to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/294584001_The_unbearable_asymmetry_of_bullshit">this article</a> by Brian Earp:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The key problem with bullshit that enjoys a certain "truthiness" is attentional: its presence is a time-wasting distraction from the good stuff. The agnotological processes whereby e.g. the tobacco companies, or climate change denialists, skew "debates" by creating false controversy is well-studied. In theory scholarly publishing should be relatively resistant to this process by the diligent application of peer review, but this merely displaces the reader's attentional process to a consideration of the judgement of the peer reviewers, potentially also prone to the retransmission of bullshit. The detail and verbosity of scholarly refutation amplifies the attentional problem.<br />
<br />
Whilst freedom of expression worthy of the name must surely include the freedom to bullshit, the solution surely lies in maintaining reputational systems that offer the user efficient filtering systems that enable the basic command "never show content by this author again." It would be an error to universalise such judgement, for we all have our own foibles and tolerances. For example the Facebook system assigns a single "interest score" to each post which is then used to rate each post for all users. Twitter's "follow/unfollow" mechanism, which delegates filtering to the judgement of each individual user is much closer to what is required. The Pirate Party's attempts to implement "liquid democracy," whereby rank and file members anoint experts as delegates on any particular issue is also worthy of study.<br />
Drinking at the commenting firehose at a heavily-trafficked site can be made less overwhelming using ranking systems (see Slashdot). And so on.<br />
<br />
Frankfurt's book is of course itself somewhat bullshitty, devoting as it does, a substantial part of its rather slender discussion to a lengthy argument establishing that bullshit is synonymous with humbug. (What is humbug?) But hey! It's a fun cite on any reference list.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
</blockquote>
<br />Harry Frankfurt seems a most charming man. This interview is a better outline to his thought than the book. He has humbly acknowledged elsewhere his surprise that his university press wished to work up his essay into a slender book:
<iframe width="360" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lArA7nMIqSI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-28212371619894500442017-02-08T14:19:00.001-08:002017-02-08T22:46:39.329-08:00On Scout's pace<h4>
from the department of getting-around-easily
</h4>
A friend's remark made me consider of which piece of writing I am proudest. Two things spring to mind: this thing I wrote for "The Listserv" about Scout's pace (more about the venue <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-reilly/are-you-there-netizens-it_b_2132196.html">here</a>):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Scout's pace means moving at a brisk pace by alternately walking and running. Baden-Powell himself recommended alternating every fifty paces, but I prefer twenties as it's easier to count. My perennial optimism about how long it takes to walk somewhere makes me do it, and I enjoy breaking records for regular trips. I like the control that comes from having a number of "gears" at my disposal--easy strolling, brisk marching, an unpressured trot, the truth of a life lived under my own steam, and feeling... fit and well.<br />
<br />
Scout's pace is obviously only the English term: do it a bit harder and you're speaking Norwegian: a fartlek. As for what the technique's most legendary exponents--the nomads of the Kalahari--call it, I have !kno idea! It is only the blink of an evolutionary eye since we were all hunter-gatherers; and yet we have forgotten Scout's pace, with dreadful consequences. Many ills of the Western lifestyle--obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, stress and depression--can be traced to our lack of exercise.<br />
<br />
I, too lazy and too ambitious to walk all my life, have transferred this knowledge to the bicycle. I could have discussed the virtues of a 24:32 minimum development, or the necessity of mudguards, or the late 19th century campaign by cyclists for paved roads, that led, in time, to the lamentable car culture, but I wanted to stick to the basics.</blockquote>
And maybe <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1117820/">the editorial I wrote for the BMJ</a> before bike week one time, which its then editor was kind enough to describe as "a poem." (He rode a bike too).
But it's hard to decide. The best paid thing I ever did had my name sawed off (thus the generous cheque). My <a href="https://pinboard.in/u:juliusbeezer/t:dccomment">online commenting</a> has never earned me a thing, but the satisfaction that I might just, maybe, have changed one person's mind somewhere, just as they were ready to, is ample reward.<br />
<br />
[ et <a href="https://velofou.blogspot.fr/">en français</a> ? ]Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-33027758041892688402017-01-30T04:10:00.003-08:002017-02-14T08:13:37.075-08:00On the virtues of mechanical autonomy<h4>
from the keeping-it-on-the-road department</h4>
A dear Facebook chum wrote:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">I
love learning how to do new stuff on the bike and of course "having" to
buy new tools....but it's just not a very good use of my time.</span></span> </blockquote>
I replied:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody">You
can't really ignore the technical aspects of cycling, and the fact
that a bike is mostly fixable with only a few simple tools is part of
its genius. You'll get quicker with practice. The availability of
online video of expert mechanics performing just about any procedure is
transformational.* It's well worth putting in a bit of effort, for your
own comfort and efficiency, not to mention the manifold possibility of future
gallantry. And even if you do decide to delegate to the bikeshop in future, you'll
be a better informed client, which is a good thing both sides of the
deal.</span></span></blockquote>
Cycling involves both a human and a machine. It's easy to feel developing mechanical skill is too difficult or complicated, but it really is all one: you'll be more confident out on the road, knowing you can handle any problem that arises—and you'll be riding on a bike that you know is set up just right for you, for maximum comfort and efficiency.<br />
<br />
*This sorta thing:<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V3aYhoQworY" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-38156842317921407802017-01-28T00:13:00.000-08:002017-01-28T00:13:16.747-08:00Why cars don't work in towns<h3>
<b>from the its-very-simple department</b>
</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTNIR06INYTiqEb1myZfTVEo_AR5wiOUqXTrdD0f4nOa2He5P0mE-uN5GEKMeq4KigsG-zwYWv5I-o7ZNpvkWyKlMc0dt77gP03lSiHVaNU7iuTIoejsjEcHGvQMS0QUB2yZYoAQGRtDA/s1600/BeachTowelRoadSpace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTNIR06INYTiqEb1myZfTVEo_AR5wiOUqXTrdD0f4nOa2He5P0mE-uN5GEKMeq4KigsG-zwYWv5I-o7ZNpvkWyKlMc0dt77gP03lSiHVaNU7iuTIoejsjEcHGvQMS0QUB2yZYoAQGRtDA/s640/BeachTowelRoadSpace.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-88615458262532459372016-12-01T14:47:00.001-08:002016-12-11T13:53:40.242-08:00Don't send a doctor to do a politician's job<b>from the department of radical-wheelchair-ectomy</b>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTbMZXoAkGPLaQb6kodmit0_PQr1tpc1GRLN9LTH0j5AXKUX4s8_rNkAJE6MuUrYsiBCHkNSkQN1q7a9OYyIJMghUaayxvS0e_zMPpG7TTG_BiOMV6OC_e2W4LhnH334NAaEPvwUKdntI/s1600/NICE-logo-c2001.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTbMZXoAkGPLaQb6kodmit0_PQr1tpc1GRLN9LTH0j5AXKUX4s8_rNkAJE6MuUrYsiBCHkNSkQN1q7a9OYyIJMghUaayxvS0e_zMPpG7TTG_BiOMV6OC_e2W4LhnH334NAaEPvwUKdntI/s200/NICE-logo-c2001.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NICE logo in 2000 (C.E.) (source: archive.org)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyVVKTp9g1TUqytTkJ_POsqy5a89U15qtWcmPQ53OYOgbh8FLb8FOAYWJznqNm6jO99JWQE56J5eZsUC9lSaaZhlaHLjWUhyphenhyphen6sRJqqKW70JcgOGthRguPsancyA6pu7pOzC86ZDA1h1Fs/s1600/NICE-logo-2016.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="35" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyVVKTp9g1TUqytTkJ_POsqy5a89U15qtWcmPQ53OYOgbh8FLb8FOAYWJznqNm6jO99JWQE56J5eZsUC9lSaaZhlaHLjWUhyphenhyphen6sRJqqKW70JcgOGthRguPsancyA6pu7pOzC86ZDA1h1Fs/s200/NICE-logo-2016.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(source: https://www.nice.org.uk/)</td></tr>
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Somewhere between ~2001 and 2016 NICE morphed from being about "clinical excellence" to "health and care excellence".<br />
At its inception, NICE was the British <br />
medical establishment's co-option of the evidence-based medicine movement, which believed that medical treatment should be based on the best available (scientific) evidence, rather than, say, the doctor's personal experience or the blandishments of the last drug rep they'd seen. Very good.<br />
<br />
At the heart of the approach was the systematic review of available studies on any clinical topic. This is a limited paradigm. Although one of the purposes of a systematic review is to identify avenues of future research, the problem remains that all the world is not a clinic, and so not all questions are amenable to study by methods available to the clinician.<br />
<br />
Public health is different. Controlled experimentation is difficult, and is much more likely to be based on ecological study (i.e. non-experimental observations). And policy prescription based on it will be prone to all kinds of perverse effects, political compromise and subversion, partial implementation, and general motherfuckery. Put it this way: you can trust doctors to identify and quantify the scale of health problems; but you certainly can't rely on them to solve them alone.<br />
<br />
The <a href="https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/indevelopment/GID-PHG92/consultation/html-content">latest NICE guidance, on air pollution</a>, which kills about 30,000 people each year in both the UK and France, was interpreted both as "anti-motorist" by the right-wing press, and a recommendation to remove traffic-calming speed bumps. Of course <a href="http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/give-cyclists-cycleways-slow-down-motorists-says-health-watchdog/020395">it says no such thing</a>, and I saw it as my immediate duty to subvert this:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/Telegraph">@Telegraph</a> Fixed that for you. Where do I send the invoice?<br />
<br />
HT <a href="https://twitter.com/carltonreid">@carltonreid</a> <a href="https://t.co/8dkAiMpcLU">pic.twitter.com/8dkAiMpcLU</a></div>
— Douglas Carnall (@JuliuzBeezer) <a href="https://twitter.com/JuliuzBeezer/status/804134483221954570">December 1, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> I don't like the NICE guidance for a different reason. A medical perspective of society is inevitably conservative: there is no social critique, no examination of the source of the problem, which is motor exhaust fumes of the ever-increasing numbers of motor vehicles on the roads. This is accepted as inevitable, or, if it is not, the authors of the report seem to have been unable to summon the courage to say so.<br />
<br />
Well done if you can be bothered to comment on their advice:<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
My comments going into the NICE air quality guidance consultation, potential to damage our ability to get good cycling infrastructure built <a href="https://t.co/EbrLIzShYB">pic.twitter.com/EbrLIzShYB</a></div>
— Tom Bailey (@TyneTom) <a href="https://twitter.com/TyneTom/status/804410338842181632">December 1, 2016</a></blockquote>
<br />
Maybe they'll tweak it. But the guidance will be ineffectual without a clear overall demand for motor traffic reduction. Instead NICE contents itself with describing the existing evaluations of "clean air zones" as being of poor quality, and takes comfort in the forthcoming tighter Euro-6 standard for emissions with nary a mention of <a href="https://pinboard.in/u:juliusbeezer/t:VWgate/">the VW scandal</a>, nor the successful lobbying of the motor manufacturers to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/28/eu-emissions-limits-nox-car-manufacturers#comment-62340570">postpone tightening the regulations</a>. So let's look elsewhere for solutions. The growing political recognition in Paris of the injustice of the present situation is heartening:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Paris?src=hash">#Paris</a>: 50% of the public space is reserved for cars which represent only 13% of journeys <a href="https://t.co/kixvhHUU7C">https://t.co/kixvhHUU7C</a> <a href="https://t.co/gR3OEql3w6">pic.twitter.com/gR3OEql3w6</a></div>
— Mohamed Mezghani (@MedMezghani) <a href="https://twitter.com/MedMezghani/status/804184331967205376">December 1, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<br />
If memory serves, about 7% of trips to central London are made by car, so both cities are in roughly the same ballpark. But the less densely populated suburbs where providing frequent public transport is difficult, are a more difficult problem. It is an acute irony that moving out to the suburbs for a better lifestyle is poisoning everyone left behind. 30,000 dead! It's not quite the first day of the Battle of the Somme, more like a couple of 747s crashing each week of the year. And it dwarfs direct death from road trauma.<br />
Any policy that does not address the overuse of the private motor car as a central issue in better urban air quality is doomed to ineffectiveness. Yet for all its claim to scientific excellence, NICE seems to consider a frank statement in favour of this treatment to be so radical as to be unworthy of evaluation. Ho hum!<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-19067456110749655482016-11-30T11:07:00.001-08:002016-11-30T11:07:14.690-08:00Presumed liability for cyclists too?I had an exchange with <a href="https://twitter.com/CHAIRRDRF">Bob Davis</a> of the <a href="https://rdrf.org.uk/about-2/">Road Danger Reduction forum</a> earlier today about presumed liability in cycle-pedestrian crashes. The Blogger interface makes embedding tweets a bit of a fag compared with Storify, so I made <a href="https://storify.com/DouglasCarnall/strict-liability-for-cyclists-too">this</a>.Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-81205390220984605982016-08-22T08:01:00.000-07:002016-11-28T00:40:39.043-08:00Lamentable Corbyn-basher refuses debateI felt moved to offer a comment below <a href="https://thegerasites.wordpress.com/2016/08/19/corbyns-past-will-destroy-labours-future/">this blogpost</a>, which claims Jeremy Corbyn is "unelectable" because of his positions he has struck in the past on matters Irish:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
Classifying Corbyn's statement that he would commemorate all those who have died in the cause of Irish independence as "support for the IRA": just a tad crude? Would there have been a Good Friday agreement without the left's recognition of the justice of the republican movement?<br />
Of course, that doesn't stop anyone misrepresenting Corbyn's views in the way that you suggest. But it would still be a misrepresentation. The English electorate may well be ignorant enough to find such over-simplification attractive; but that is hardly a recommendation. Fortunately the electorate has other sources of information than admen's billboards these days.<br />
Neither would participating in a "minute of silence" (however convened) be equated with endorsement in most reasonable people's minds: politicians should pause for reflection more often!</blockquote>
I'm posting it here under the rule that it is rejected comments that are most interesting (the site, a standard WordPress design, is purportedly open to comments, but only one suspiciously unctuous comment has actually made it to below the line. Ho hum!). <br />
<br />
Update 28/11/16: Nice example of how <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/27/awkward-moment-for-prince-harry-in-minutes-silence-for-fidel-castro">anyone can get caught up in a minute of silence.</a><br />
<br />Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-78465980566471004702016-07-18T08:47:00.002-07:002016-07-18T08:47:23.307-07:00Shock troops of the carbon liberation frontI get these YouTube genre crazes from time to time. One example: US truckers' dashcam footage. Allie Knight has an appealing personality, so it's nice to tune in to her doings for a while. Otherwise I just pick a road trip, and mix some music of my own choosing over the top.<br />
<br />
Indiana Jack
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TKieEklvTj0" width="480"></iframe><br />
Allie Knight
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ydy-EZt6gi8" width="480"></iframe>Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-49345871847962851942016-02-11T01:29:00.000-08:002016-02-11T01:37:25.530-08:00Obesity epidemic caused by sedentary living not diet<b>from the what-made-you-think-you-could-stop-using-your-legs? department</b><br />
<br />
I took out a subscription to the London Review of Books a few years back, in the hope that some of its literary excellence would rub off on my translations. And to have something to read in the bath. My attitude to it is generally one of respectful awe at the elegant mastery of the canon displayed therein, but when finance specialist John Lanchester strayed into an ill-founded discussion of the current obesity epidemic, I quite naturally composed this grumpy letter to its editor. Unsurprisingly rejected, for its ill-tempered criticism of both the writer, and the editor who sent him thence, and its slight inaccuracy (he mentions inactivity twice, not once), it appears here, in suitable obscurity.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="http://www.lrb.co.uk/v38/n02/john-lanchester/short-cuts">John Lanchester laments</a> the ill effects of the general increase in occidental adiposity, but sadly, as is all too common of articles in the genre, he mentions 'inactivity' as a factor only once, discusses it not at all, then lapses into a contentious and unsystematic review of possible dietary factors.<br />
But the average Briton walks on average eight miles per day less than they did fifty years ago. In 1949, fully one-third of all miles travelled using a mechanical mode of transport were by bicycle: by the year 2000 only 1-2% were <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1117820/#B2">[1]</a>.<br />
It's quite simple. The scales do not lie. If you eat more calories than you burn off, you gain weight; if you eat less than you burn off, you lose weight. What's more, the relative error of the hypothalamic mechanisms that produce the sensation of satiety is greater when energy requirements are low.<br />
I realise I sound like some ruthless P.E. teacher when I tell people to get out of their bloody cars and start using their legs again, but that is what is required. As for those poor little underage prisoners strapped into car seats everywhere they go, never getting to explore their world for fear of getting knocked down, I weep for them.<br />
It is disappointing indeed that Lanchester aimed so wide that he missed an obvious target by a mile: the re-examination of the Fordist mode of revictualment represented by the private motor car and the supermarket car "park".</blockquote>
Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-49982139302733563222016-01-13T03:46:00.000-08:002016-10-16T15:23:52.779-07:00Rearranging the urban furniture<b>from the because-we-need-the-space-for-other-things department</b>
<br />
The <a href="http://bristolcars.blogspot.fr/">Bristol Traffic blog</a>, which claims to be about "getting around Bristol", obviously got off on the wrong foot when it was named "bristolcars", so I suppose it was hardly surprising that it failed to publish this comment, beneath <a href="http://bristolcars.blogspot.fr/2016/01/prewar-bristol.html">a post there </a>regretting "the war on the motorist." They are, of course, under no obligation to publish any remark of mine, though their unwillingness to debate their ideas is duly noted. As ever, I offer it here instead:
<br />
<br />
<blockquote>
"The car is a victim of its own success. Car ownership over the last twenty-five years has continued to increase linearly—see this RAC report for example on: <a href="http://www.racfoundation.org/assets/rac_foundation/content/downloadables/car%20ownership%20in%20great%20britain%20-%20leibling%20-%20171008%20-%20report.pdf">Car ownership in Great Britain</a>
According to the RAC, there were 20 million cars on Britain's roads in 1991; by 2007 there were 26 million, with considerable growth in two- and three-car households.
Whilst these might at first sight be considered figures in support of your argument for more parking and roads, the problem in town is that space is limited and choices have to be made. If every trip into the centre of town were to be made by car, congestion would rise. Consider the graphic attached to this tweet </blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="es">
La ciudad que queremos <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/transportesostenible?src=hash">#transportesostenible</a> vía <a href="https://twitter.com/elpais">@elpais</a> <a href="http://t.co/wbTZQf2ec2">http://t.co/wbTZQf2ec2</a> <a href="http://t.co/lnaz3fg0HZ">pic.twitter.com/lnaz3fg0HZ</a></div>
— ViveLasPalmasGC (@ViveLasPalmasGC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ViveLasPalmasGC/status/633564597761482752">August 18, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script> which illustrates the amount of road space needed by 48 people using various transport modes: a car, the bus, walking, or a bike. It is clear that cars occupy a vast amount of urban space—and the faster they move, the more they need. This high requirement for space is to the detriment of all other modes, and choices have to be made.
Presenting this as a war on the motorist is to fail to understand the impossible demands of the mode for urban space in any streetscape conceived before the 20th century. A streetscape designed for the car looks like Los Angeles, not Bristol, and if you want a city like Bristol to work for everybody, car use has got to be limited in some way."Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-48444818625380487212016-01-05T02:10:00.000-08:002016-01-05T02:14:59.997-08:00Elisabeth Carnall 17 July 1935 — 23 December 2015<div dir="ltr">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Sad to report that my mother died recently. Apologies for the delay in announcing this, and any distress that may have been occasioned if you thus heard the news by a tortuous route. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">All who knew her personally are most cordially invited to her Memorial
Meeting 2.30pm Saturday 30 January 2016, Quaker Meeting
House, Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh. <br /><br />Donations to <a href="http://peaceandjustice.org.uk/">Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre</a> (online possible via PayPal button top right of that page). </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Memories and
messages to </span><a href="mailto:dougie.carnall@gmail.com" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="background-color: white; color: #196ad4; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;" target="_blank">d@bzr.bzh</a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-1114953490518996802015-11-11T11:37:00.001-08:002019-07-17T11:23:25.808-07:00Is cycle infrastructure the new helment?<h4>
from the new-Fordist-distractions department </h4>
<br />
The open access arm of the BMJ has just published <a href="http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/11/e008052.full#abstract-1">the results of an ecological study</a> from Canada, where legislators have created an interesting natural experiment by requiring cyclists to wear helmets in some provinces, but not others. The authors claim surprise that they found no effect in either the overall injury rate or the head injury rate between the provinces, though <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1115887/">those of us who have followed</a> what <a href="http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.fr/2014/05/its-all-in-your-head-future-of-helments.html">BikeSnobNYC calls the helment</a> (non-)issue are perhaps less surprised. Forced by their negative results to admit helmet legislation has no effect on the substantive issue--reducing danger for cyclists--the authors then proceed to claim that "more cycle infrastructure" is the solution. Although they review the literature, they themselves have no data to add, and as the issue of road design and behaviour is fraught with complication, conflicting interests, and perverse effects, I thought they weren't entitled to a free pass at their sweeping and not altogether well-founded discussion.<br />
As ever when someone is wrong on the internet, I freely composed a comment for the delectation of both the authors and the public. This the BMJ have failed to publish, so, in the best traditions of this blog, it appears here:
<br />
<blockquote>
These are valuable results and the authors are to be congratulated on their clear presentation.<br />
Given the health and well-being effects of regular cycling, the overall risk of hospitalisation of 622/100 million trips is worthy of wide attention: a chance of ~1 in 160,000 that your trip will end in hospital rather than your intended destination is really rather low, even in the present motor-dominated environment.<br />
However, the recommendation by the authors that more "bicycling infrastructure" is the answer to increasing modal share, thereby augmenting the "safety in numbers" effect is controversial, and is neither justified nor refuted by the evidence presented here. (Cyclists were asked about whether they used their bicycles, not about the routes they took).<br />
My own view is that developed countries already have a highly developed infrastructure that is ideal for cycling called the roads, and that the real problem is negligent driving. Some design features that privilege more direct routes for cyclists and exclude excessive motor traffic (cycle contraflows, modal filters, bicycle boulevards) may be useful, but the real enemies remain excessive speed and drunk driving, and the newer menace of distraction by mobile devices.<br />
Effective measures to reduce these, including stricter policing, driver education, strict civil liability for drivers who collide with cyclists, and proper accident investigation to ensure lessons are learnt, are more important elements for those who would emulate (and surpass) best European practice.</blockquote>
I shall footnote this comment with two more:<br />
1) I am surprised and disappointed at the BMJ's failure to publish the comment <i>in situ, </i>though I suspect this reflects organisational failure to monitor the relevant disqus account rather than any conspiracy to silence me.<br />
2) I suppose it is not surprising that people deluded into a focus on the victim-blaming issue that is cycle helmet promotion and compulsion, will, brought to their senses by the lack of supporting data, switch their allegiance to the unicorn of "cycle infrastructure," instead of the elephant in the room of much-needed motor traffic reduction, better driving-related laws, enforcement thereof, and driver education. These present real challenges of course: but addressing them is what's needed, not demands for a parallel reality of "cycle infrastructure" before cycling can be widely adopted.<br />
And given that <a href="http://juliusbeezer.blogspot.fr/2015/08/on-road-to-cycling-hell.html">such infrastructure is often second-rate while delegitimizing existing cyclists' right to the road</a>, they may be assured that this cyclist at least, will keep calling them out, until his dying breath has been finally drawn.<br />
<br />Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-34384297116674534232015-10-05T00:56:00.003-07:002017-01-08T14:08:58.329-08:00Separate development? Or civilised behaviour?<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }A:link { }</style>
<br />
I recently commented on a Guardian article discussing <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jul/01/sabotage-and-hatred-what-have-people-got-against-cyclists">recent deliberate attacks on cyclists in the UK,</a> which uncritically presented the statement:<br />
<blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
building segregated bike lanes [is] proven to be the best
way to prevent such deaths</blockquote>
</blockquote>
I reproduce it here, for ease of navigation:<br />
<br />
***<br />
Reference required? <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3064866/">It
is rather a controversial matter.</a> It is true that the countries
where extensive segregation of cyclists has long been practised
(Denmark, the Netherlands) have markedly better safety records than their
neighbours. They are no paradise though: there are still 200 cyclist
deaths a year in the Netherlands, for example.<br />
But their segregated networks have been obtained at a certain
price: the exclusion of cyclists from many parts of the road network
(and its superior surfaces and direct travel lines), and slow and
complicated junctions.<br />
<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9542542">A Canadian
study</a> has showed higher accident rates for cyclists who
habitually use footpaths rather than the carriageway. Most
collisions happen at junctions. Footpath (and cycle lane) users
generally find themselves at a positional disadvantage with respect
to the traffic flow just when they most need to be correctly
positioned.<br />
A pre-eminent Dutch road safety expert has just published <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753515001472">a paper</a> (paywall, sorry) admitting that, in part, his country's superior
cycling safety record is because their cyclists ride more slowly.
They have to, on often tight cycle paths. Waits at complicated
junctions can be long too.<br />
Building cycle paths does reduce the space available for other
modes. Such paths are the cowardly choice of the policymaker too
timid to confront head-on the reality that the private motor vehicle
is a dysfunctional form of urban transport, but nevertheless would,
understandably, appreciate less noise, pollution, danger and fewer
parking spaces in their town centre.
<br />
It has little to do with increased road safety for cyclists
though: in fact, life for the cyclist may well be more difficult
after they have been implemented, though if this also means fewer
motor vehicles in town, this may be nicer for everyone.
<br />
<br />
***<br />
Here's a video from the UK of the kind of angry entitlement we can expect from motorists once a cycle path, however unsatisfactory, has been built alongside a main road. Talk about realpolitik! (<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/shropshire/6303427.stm">Cyclists in the UK retain their right to ride on the road, and are not obliged to use any cycle path</a>.)<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_6e0t8sDevs" width="320"></iframe>
***<br />
<br />
Thanks to the authors of these tweets for inspiring this post: <br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="fr">
Plus il y a de cyclistes, moins ils ont d'accidents. La preuve par les statistiques de 8 pays. <a href="http://t.co/cfTo0f2wQX">pic.twitter.com/cfTo0f2wQX</a></div>
— Olivier Razemon (@OlivierRazemon) <a href="https://twitter.com/OlivierRazemon/status/649905229979324416">October 2, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
<div dir="ltr" lang="fr">
<a href="https://twitter.com/OlivierRazemon">@OlivierRazemon</a> n'oublions pas l'inexistence des pistes cyclabes protégées en France vs Pays-Bas.</div>
— Christian denHartigh (@cdenhartigh) <a href="https://twitter.com/cdenhartigh/status/649909267881951232">October 2, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-39091993161980095382015-08-30T14:20:00.000-07:002015-09-04T01:56:13.944-07:00Sorting out saddle problems<h4>
from the keep-dancing-on-the-pedals department</h4>
<i>This article appeared in the pages of Cycle, the membership magazine of the CTC, almost ten years ago. It doesn't seem to be easily available online there, and it's still useful, so I'm pasting it here for those in need.</i><br />
<br />
When I confessed to my own saddle problems in the rather public forum of the London Cyclist ten years ago, I certainly discovered one thing: cyclists' bottom problems are a taboo area. There were lots of giggles for a few months after publication, though fortunately the dignity of my profession enabled me rise above them. The article also proffered the anecdote of my own resolution of the problem--a couple of boils on the perineum. Round town I switched from gel to sprung leather, and, on long distance rides, adopted a recumbent. Result: no more problems.<br />
The part of the body that relates to the saddle on a conventional machine is technically termed the perineum. Now, most animals are quadrupeds, and their perineum has less to do, being vertically inclined and acting as the side, rather than the base of the bucket. But humans' upright stance makes the pelvic outlet (as it is known) an insoluble conflict between ease of labour in childbirth and mechanical efficiency when walking on two legs.<br />
The umbrella of muscles suspended from the inside of the pelvis and sacrum collectively is known as the pelvic floor. In men its only defect is the anus, but woman need the space of the birth canal too. Hence, as is widely understood, the adult female's broader girth about the hips, on average, than males.<br />
This fact of nature—the distance between the ischial tuberosities that form the lateral bony boundary of the pelvic outlet—is an important variable in saddle selection. Best bought in person, grasp the demonstration model in the shop, and bring it firmly into alignment with the your ischial tuberosities there and then. Any saddle whose widest part is narrower than this distance runs the risk of inflicting pressure injuries potentially deeper than the skin, as the right and left perineal blood vessels and nerves course forward to the genitalia close to the midline. The anus is also in the midline, but its internal and external sphincters are reasonably robust to saddle trauma.<br />
Out of the shop, saddle correctly fitted, the most obvious saddle injury, instantly painful, is an unexpected blow from an unyielding saddle on an unsprung bike. Unexpected road surfaces--I speak of potholes--can result in a stiff biff where the sun don't shine that is rarely appreciated if unanticipated. Usually the pain settles in a few minutes and the damage is minor, but you certainly don't do it for fun.<br />
More insidious but with the same disastrous potential as a direct hit, is damage caused by lack of blood flow when the pressure of the saddle exceeds the pressure in the blood vessels. The circulation of the skin and pelvic floor muscles is rarely a problem in young adults of either sex, but older riders may start to notice problems, with the first symptom noticeably slower recovery and healing times after longer rides.<br />
The perineal skin can suffer local infection at any time, though it is more likely in summer or warmer climes, when the increased transpiration of moisture from the sweat glands encourages yeasty organisms such as Candida, and mechanical problems such as chafing and maceration of damp skin. If you're prone to a spot of groin rot over the summer months it's probably safe to suggest a strategy of a couple of days of rest off the bike, preferably in a sarong rather than a pair of Y-fronts, and the application of a little clotrimazole cream twice a day, while nature runs its course. Hint: a small folding mirror and a good light can be very helpful when monitoring the progress of your perineum through the course of its cycling career.<br />
There's much more that could be said of course, but do so would require longer than the editor allows: consult your doctor if symptoms persist.<br />
Among cyclists who really know about these matters: the randonneurs and racers of this world, opinion divides on both prevention and treatment of perineal problems, but on one fact all will agree: if you're not dancing in the pedals, you are already finished. As to the merits of padded shorts, the application of pre- and post- ride ungents (such as Vaseline), or specially-shaped saddles (once the basic requirement of physical fit has been satisfied), none agree, as you would expect from the ruggedly individualistic body of cyclists.<br />
<br />Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1743108525536134491.post-74322639737385726002015-08-01T03:29:00.001-07:002017-11-27T00:22:05.446-08:00 On the road to cycling hell<h4>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">This is a translation of an original post I published in French <a href="http://velofou.blogspot.fr/2014/10/sur-la-route-lenfer-cycliste.html">here</a>.</span></h4>
<div>
<i>"Be careful what you wish for: it might just come true one day..." </i><br />
<br />
We, as London cycle activists, were always careful not to fall into the pockets of the road engineers and planners, whose responsibility was always for "the possible." We, on the other hand, were struggling with "the impossible"—the end of car culture in town, with its impossible demands for space, its danger and pollution. My vision is still to reclaim the roads for the cyclist, and leave the pedestrian unmolested on the sidewalk. And the Dutch method of "cycle apartheid" has absolutely damn-all to do with promoting cycling; rather it is a dangerous source of oppression.<br />
<br />
It's true that planners can do useful things for cyclists: allowing cycle contraflows in one-way systems for motor vehicles (the principle of cycle permeability), and reducing speed limits on roads where necessary. But if each "advance" is accompanied by a degradation, such as, for example, the appearance of "No cycling" signs on roads with cycle paths alongside, one begins to doubt the good faith of the authorities. (This happened in 2012 around Nantes, on the D69 between Nantes and Sucé-sur-Erdre, the D75 between Indre and St. Herblain, and the D107 between Chantenay and Indre).<br />
<br />
So I went to a meeting organized by Place au Vélo (Nantes' most significant cycling organisation) to hear a talk by the author and transportation journalist Olivier Razemon yesterday evening, and to criticize their strategy.</div>
<div class="western">
I spoke up against this pavement cycling (and separatist
infrastructure) during the meeting. </div>
<br />
I began my remarks by quoting the aphorism "The road to hell is paved with good intentions",
and my opinion that, in the seven years I have lived in Nantes,
conditions for cyclists have worsened. And I read an extract from Olivier Razemon's latest book to illustrate the true problem
which prevents sharing the road:<br />
<blockquote>
"We've all met, at least once, an arrogant,
overweight driver, steering wheel in one hand, the tyres of his 4x4
squealing, as he accelerates towards pedestrians, while giving the
finger to cyclists."</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
(They're certainly more common in
England, hence my preference for life in France! And the beautiful
strict liability law—the <i>loi de Badinter</i>—passed in 1985, gives strength to the cyclist's elbow as well). And I asked Olivier Razemon, and
the auditorium in general, if we were ignoring the true problem, that he so
expertly describes, whilst scrabbling round in the details of local
authority expenditure on street design, with €80 millions budgeted
to the year 2020, etc, etc.? Behavioral problems are solved by
education and the law, not just road design.<br />
<br />
I didn't say
at the time, though I might have, that one could justly revise this
extract to read "Everyone has already met, at least once,
a fit, arrogant <i>cyclist </i>holding the <i>handlebars</i> with one
hand, tyres skidding, as he accelerates towards pedestrians, middle
finger held aloft to <i>drivers</i>," as a reminder of the new
daily experience for crossing pedestrians since Nantes' main
north-south cycle route was laid past Commerce. The enemy isn't the
transport mode chosen, nor the road design nor its marking: it's the users
of wheeled vehicles who lack respect for others. <br />
<br />
I think my
French was sufficiently fluent to express my ideas, but I don't think
my intervention was particularly welcome. The president of Place Au
Vélo contradicted my remarks by expressing his affection for the now
obligatory cycle path running alongside the <strike>D39</strike> D69 to Sucé, and made an
ad hominem remark, that, as I was already a convinced cyclist, I
was not part of the group of new cyclists they were looking for.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I'm certainly familiar with this line
of argument from my time in England, but, to speak frankly, it's
bullshit. I have no problem with <i>a choice </i>between a cycle path
and the road. But why do you have to make the cycle path compulsory?
<i><b>Because it is inferior.</b></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
And there you have it: that's how the
rights of cyclists are trammelled whilst claiming to
enhance them! It's a manoeuvre of Fordist political genius. The
Fordists never forget their fundamental principle: everybody must
drive a car. Pedestrians and cyclists alike are an insult to this
principle. What could be better then, than to mix them together on
the sidewalk in conflict with one another, while leaving the road
clear for the real travellers? And if the cyclist has the temerity to
continue to use the road when there's a cycle path alongside, give
him a good blast of the horn, the rebel! Defenders of cyclists'
rights? I don't think so!<br />
<br /></div>
Douglas Carnall, @juliuzbeezerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563159368217318352noreply@blogger.com0