Okay, here’s my problem with Critical Mass

1.) CM has no structure or organization. No one is responsible for the yahoo element that behaves badly and spoils it for everyone. Let the police deal with the “Bad” element and don’t rush to their defense when they are handled roughly.

2.) I am always told CM is not a protest it is a “Celebration” of cycling. If it is a celebration then why hold it on a Friday evening when it causes maximum disruption? If it is early in the evening it disrupts people getting home from work. If it is held later it disrupts people going out for the evening. Friday night is always the biggest night out on the town for most people. Cyclists are a small minority of the general population and disrupting and inconveniencing others is no way to get people on the side of the cycling cause.

3.) If Critical Mass is a celebration, celebrate it on a Sunday morning when it is safer and there is less disruption to the lives of others. On a Sunday morning, CM could become a family type event that would actually attract people into cycling. The disruptive element would probably not participate because the event would lose its "Anarchistic" appeal.

I am fully aware that I am in the minority on this issue, and it is really a lost cause. But, so many cyclists cry and whine that everybody hates us and that the cops won’t investigate or prosecute motorists who endanger or injure cyclists, and yet no one is willing to step back and see the other person’s point of view. Mine or that of the general public.

Critical Mass is a boil on the backside of the pastime of cycling, those who started it created a monster that will be hard to stop.

Those who criticize me for speaking out and dismiss me as a “Grumpy Old Man,” should remember I have dedicated my whole life to bicycles and the cause of cycling, and I continue to do so by spending my time writing articles here.

At least allow me the right to rant once in a while about something that quite frankly pisses me off. I fully accept that it is your right to disagree, but remember I am on the side of the cause of cycling.

Now I’ll shut the fuck up

                        

A storm in a Hollywood bowl

After watching this video taken during a recent L A Critical Mass ride, with the title, “Hollywood Cops Attack Bike riders,” I am left to wonder what all the fuss is about?

I had to watch the video several times to figure out what was going on. I see a police officer (On the far side of the street.) handcuffing a cyclist. I have no idea why, we are not told that, but let’s assume he has a reason. The cyclist appears to be cooperating.

The cop, when all is said and done, is doing his job. A man is filming this from across the street and bystanders are whistling and calling out abuse to the officers.

A second officer is then seen kicking out at the wheel of a passing cyclist. The guy filming (Or someone with him.) shouts, “What the fuck was that for.”

While I agree the officer was wrong in his actions, how much abuse will a cop take before he retaliates?

We have no way of knowing what the passing cyclist and others said to the cop that made him kick out.

Finally the last cyclist passes and the cops come across the guy recording the incident. He is knocked to the ground where he meekly asks, “What I do, what I do.”

I’ll tell you exactly what you did. You mouthed off to some cops, and then you were dumb enough to stay there after the last cyclist passed.

Go to any city in the USA, stand and verbally abuse a police officer as he is arresting someone. I can practically guarantee the result will be the same. You will be wrestled to the ground, and possibly arrested yourself for interfering with an officer during the course of his duty.

As I see it, this whole thing is a non-incident. The guy doing the filming was hoping to catch some “Police Brutality” on video. He was doing his best to goad the cops into doing just that; the only “Brutality” I see, is a bike tire gets kicked.

It saddens me that respected bicycle advocates are running with this and pressing for a full investigation. Los Angeles is fortunate that it has a Police Chief who is pro cycling; don’t fuck it up by protesting something as trivial as this.

This is Critical Mass at its worst; an unorganized rabble who take over public streets and create mayhem, then cry foul when the cops try to bring some order.

L A bike advocates are also pressing their Police Chief to pursue motorists who endanger the lives of cyclists. Who is going to bring these motorists to justice?

These very same police officers and their colleagues that Critical Mass participants are goading into a fight right now.

Good way to make friends and influence people. Good way to get the cop on the street to be on your side.

What is your take on this incident?

Update, 2 PM, Thursday 17th June

I have just read on LA Streets Blog that the LAPD is going to join the next LA Critical Mass ride on June 25th.

It is interesting to read the comments on LA Streets Blog, people are already discussing whether or not there should be “Corking” of intersections. According to this flyer being passed out by LAPD there will be no running of red lights or stop signs. All bikes must have lights and brakes.

So bring your Visa to pay your ticket, I understand LAPD doesn’t take American Express

                       

DirecTV: Why can’t corporations behave like decent human beings?

We are all aware that this current recession was caused largely by greedy corporate bankers, and dubious business practices.

It is bad enough that we have to suffer the consequences of this, but other corporations are still ripping off ordinary people who are already struggling to get by.

I moved house in November 2008. The cable company I was using for TV and the Internet did not service the new address.

As I had to switch I looked for ways to save money. I had seen advertisements for DirecTV’s Satellite Service; $29.99 for 150 channels, with a 12 month contract. This sounded like the cheapest way to go, so I ordered it.

A man came to install it, put a small satellite dish out back, and ran a cable into the house. He then told me he didn’t have a receiver box for the basic service, but he would install an upgrade at no extra charge. I agreed, which was my first mistake.

When the bills started to arrive a month or so later it was for $78.24. a month. I called to ask about the $29.99 a month service.

I was told, “You have the upgraded service.” I explained the man who installed it said I could have it at the same price.

“No, he meant you could have it installed at no extra cost.” What installation? You carry the box in from your van, remove it from its package and plug it in.

My attitude at the time was, “Oh well, I have been screwed. Now I am paying about the same as I was previously paying for cable, but I am getting more channel choices."

However, I made up my mind at that moment I would honor the 12 month contract I had agreed to, and that was it; I would then look for an alternative.

A year later in November 2009 I cancelled my service with DirecTV, and found a combined package for TV, Internet, and Phone service, with a local cable company. In total the three services combined, saved me over $70 a month.

Now DirecTV is billing me $225 cancellation fee, which I refuse to pay. They immediately handed the matter over to a collections agency, who start in with the harassing phone calls saying if this amount is not paid it will show up as an unpaid debt on my credit report.

I lodged a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, and discovered (A little late.) there are tens of thousands of complaints against DirecTV mostly for the charging of this cancellation fee. Some customers who had been with DirecTV for as much as eight years were sometimes charged over $480 cancellation fee.

As a result of my contacting the BBB, DirecTV sent me a copy of a letter they claim to have sent me back at the end of 2008. (I don’t recall getting it.) The four page letter has tiny type about 8 point, and buried somewhere in it is a clause that the upgraded service is not only more money, but the contract is for two years, not twelve months as widely advertised.

My failure to respond to this letter, which I dispute that I ever received, meant by default I agreed to its terms. This is illegal. Not just my view but those of various class action law suits against DirecTV, currently pending across the country.

Why does DirecTV resort to these shady tactics and downright trickery? They are already the biggest Satellite TV Company in the US. Could they not make enough profit by being honest?

No, it seems DirecTV knows they are wrong, and will eventually settle these law suits, and still come out billions ahead in terms of profit. If the ordinary man on the street behaved in the manner he would be thrown into jail.

My apologies for using my blog for a personal rant, but just maybe it will save someone else the grief I am going through.  

Life is Absurd

Sometimes I am serious here, occasionally I am not. I find life is absurd, people including myself are often absurd and the only way to deal with it is to laugh at it. Every now and then I will write something that is satire, humor, not meant to be taken seriously.

At times the humor is subtle and not immediately apparent. To me that is the hallmark of good satire, it sucks you in and you are not immediately aware the piece is not serious. As you read on and things begin to sound a little strange, you start to get the joke.

A joke is not funny if you give away the punch line before the end, and it is not funny if you have to explain it afterwards. For those who just don’t get it, there are tags at the end of the piece that say “satire,” “humor.”

I wrote such a piece back in 2006 about the “Mixte” bike. Some argue that the mixte is a unisex bike, designed to be used by a man or woman. Probably true, but in my eyes any bike that has a dropped top tube is a “Girls” bike. They have been made that way since the late 1800s so that women can ride them while wearing a skirt.

This was 2006 almost three years ago, before the hipster fixed wheel craze had really taken off. Hipsters at the time were buying up and riding mixte bikes. This to me was one of the absurdities of life that anyone would seek out and ride a certain type of bike for no other reason than it is trendy to do so

No reason why they should not either, it is a free country. However, when people do absurd things you can either let it annoy you, or you can laugh at it. I chose to write a satirical article about it.

Fast forward to today, 2009 and someone is selling a Peugeot Mixte on Cleveland Craig’s List. The seller links the above mentioned article to the advert. He obviously didn’t read the piece.

Why would anyone reference an article to help sell a bike, when that piece made fun of the people who rode this type of machine?

The result was the piece got a lot of hits, and the insulting comments start to appear, including one from a female who somehow thought the piece was demeaning to women.

Somehow the biggest insult you can make about a man is to suggest he is acting like a woman. (Riding a girls bike,) And that in turn made it an insult to women.

I have taken a lot of flack in the past over this particular piece, and I was not about to start up the whole controversy again. I deleted the article along with all the comments, both from this site, and on my old blogsite.

The piece was trivial, nothing of importance has been lost. Please don’t link articles that are meant to be humorous where people might take it out of context and mistake it for serious comment.

As absurd as this whole episode is, and knowing that I really should try to laugh at it. I am having a hard time at this moment finding any humor in being unfairly accused of being sexist. But at least if I am unable laugh about it yet, I can write about it and get it out that way. 

To the Hipsters with their stupid trendy bikes....go away and leave me alone, and to the feminist chick who left the comment....Screw you. (I mean that in the nicest, non sexist way of course.) Excuse the rant.