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Alternative link: YouTube

This is the definitive performance of this song, if you ask me. Do we know who the backup singers are? I think of of them might be Lisa Popeil.

Alternative link: YouTube

There are more cases than you might think of empathy in all sorts of other animals. Growing up, my dog protected one of our cats from two other cats who bulled her.

Does anyone else have any experiences like that?

What have your towns/cities been doing with their bike infrastructure? It's pretty lousy that some places are going backwards.

As a sidenote, the Culver City Council can be contacted here.

Article text:

Cycling Increased By 57% In One City After a Bike Lane Was Created. But Now It’s Being Removed.

Culver City Council in Los Angeles voted 3-2 this week to take out bike lanes and reinstall vehicular traffic lanes just two years after the bike lanes were put in.

by Michael Venutolo-Mantovani

A project called Move Culver City was launched in November 2021 with the aim of encouraging biking and walking through the 1.3-mile downtown corridor in the Culver City area. The project claimed traffic lanes along the Washington and Culver Boulevard strips, creating bike and bus lanes in their stead, reducing the lanes for vehicle traffic to one in either direction. The project was met with mixed opinions over the last few years.

And while a report released this month by Move Culver City boasted a 57 percent increasing in cycling along the Washington and Culver Boulevard corridor over pre-pandemic levels, the Culver City Council voted 3-2 earlier this week to end the program, remove the bike lanes, and return the corridor to two lanes of vehicular traffic in each direction “wherever feasible.”

The council’s slim margin seems to reflect the public opinion of locals as, according to a story in the Los Angeles Times, “a survey found that 58% of Culver City residents opposed continuing the program.”

Once the traffic lanes are reinstated, area cyclists will have to share lanes with city busses.

In a recent opinion piece in the LA Times, economic and political sociologist Yotala Oszkay Febres-Cordero argued that the rollback of the program would not just be a loss for those who use the bike lanes but also a “devastating setback for how Angelenos see the future of transportation in our region.”

One of the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was the bike boom that saw some 200 American cities alter their streets to embrace and encourage bicycling. Beyond our own borders, towns and cities the world over embraced temporary infrastructure to encourage biking over the course of the pandemic. Meanwhile, many others have redefined their streets to make bicycling a more permanent function of their cities.

And though many cities and towns have returned their streets to their pre-pandemic car-focused configurations, several are beginning to take roads back from cars, to embrace a more bike-friendly outlook, and to install permanent bike infrastructure.

The biggest example is Paris, which has famously created permanent bike lane along the Rue de Rivoli, one of the city’s most trodden thoroughfares and one that cuts straight through the heart of town. The move was arguably the most high-profile step in Paris’s endeavor to create a more bike-friendly and less car-reliant city.

An example on the opposite side of the spectrum (and on a more personal level) is my own very small town of Chapel Hill, which reduced its main drag from two lanes of traffic in either direction to one, creating a permanent bike lane running the length of Franklin Street.

Of course, the news we often hear is good. More bikes lanes, more permanent infrastructure, more cities realizing the role bikes can play in a climate-conscious future. Rarely do we hear the opposite, of the removal and reduction of bike lanes. Which is why the Culver City vote, even though it only affects a 1.3-mile stretch of road, is disheartening to say the least.

To quote Ms. Febres-Cordero once again, “Sure, a 1.3-mile corridor is just a 1.3-mile corridor. But it could be so much more.”

I'm sure I'm not the only one, but... what are your thoughts? Is there any other bicycle-related content (besides bike riding itself, of course) that has that effect on you?

BicycleDutch: Invidious | YouTube

BikeBlogger: Invidious | YouTube

I was in the U.S. visiting New York City this year for the first time since 2019, and... wow. Lots and lots of new infrastructure. The newer stuff is a lot more comprehensive than the older stuff, but there's still a very long way to go.

Is there anyone here from N.Y.C. who can speak to what it's like to ride around the city as a native? I hear tell that congestion pricing may soon be coming to Manhattan... and this should increase bike ridership and public transit.

Article Content:

By Elena Giordano

June 20, 2023 1:30 pm CET

2 minutes read

Estonia legalized same-sex marriage on Tuesday, becoming the first Baltic country to give same-sex couples the legal right to wed.

With 55 votes in favor of the measure and 34 votes against, Estonia’s parliament overcame objections from the right wing, which attacked the legislation as they say it threatens the traditional family model.

“I’m proud of my country. We’re building a society where everyone’s rights are respected and people can love freely,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said, adding that the act will enter into force in 2024.

The move comes only two months after the liberal coalition government took office. In March, Kallas started talks with coalition parties pushing for same-sex marriage to become law.

Estonia’s acceptance of marriage equality, and LGBTQ+ people, has grown in recent years. According to a survey conducted by the Estonian Human Rights Center, 53 percent of the population supports marriage equality, compared with 34 percent in 2012.

In 2014, Estonia introduced same-sex civil unions with the Registered Partnership Act, which did not guarantee the same adoption rights and parental recognition that automatically come with marriage.

“Everyone should have the right to marry the person they love and want to commit to. With this decision we are finally stepping among other Nordic countries as well as all the rest of the democratic countries in the world where marriage equality has been granted,” Kallas said Tuesday.

“This is a decision that does not take anything away from anyone but gives something important to many. It also shows that our society is caring and respectful towards each other. I am proud of Estonia,” she added.

Source: Politico

Article retrieved 21 June, 2023 from the following page, which contains advertisements and requires the use of cookies: Link | archive.ph

Was anyone able to snag it when it was available on Apple music briefly? I'm not asking for direct links here, but I'm curious as to whether it exists in the wild.

It's a version of the song which has never been released that had the "Coo loo coo coo, coo coo coo coo" that the concert version has, but which was unable to he licensed for Straight Outta Lynwood.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/246356

"Animal cells share some qualities with plant cells, but one key feature ours lack is a rigid cell wall. While this provides structure for plants, it’s also something scientists are increasingly looking at for use in new materials, cellulose technology and, now, insulin delivery."

Summary: Rim brake levers shouldn't reach the handlebars when pulled, and rim brake pad material shouldn't be old, hard, and/or brittle. Disc brake pads should be regularly checked for fitness, as per the manufacturer specs.

Has everyone listened to it? What do you think?

Wendy Carlos is considered to be a synth pioneer, having come onto the scene in the '60s with her Moog-based albums. She later composed the scores for A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Tron. Her collaboration with Al is her dive into MIDI.

This album's been out of print for a long time, but it's available to stream at the Internet Archive.