Naa, I'll just go with the ole speakeasy concept...less regulation, more profit and more fun. ;)

Potd!

I KNEW you were one of "them" after the red light camera thread - actually, I had a feeling after the first or second post I read of yours, but that put me over the top and here's the final proof.

On one hand you pretend your concerns are public safety, but in the end admit that it's just about penalizing choices you do not agree with.

It must be nice to be so morally superior that you can decide what people should and shouldn't do with their lives. Glad this site has an ignore list, as you've just made mine.


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You're definitely not alone though. A large percentage of our society has willingly and repeatedly agreed to sign everyone's rights over to the insurance companies - either through their active support of these inane safety laws or through plain inaction. I guess the fast food, television and antidepressants are keeping everyone somewhat numb.

Smokers are allowed to go anywhere they want. There's no smoke-sniffing dogs (not that they be needed for some who you can smell a block away :D ) at the entrances to public places. All that's asked is that you don't smoke inside. Is that that hard? Almost everywhere I go requires walking through a cloud of smoke at the entrance way although I guess it's better than smelling it inside the whole time.

And what was the deal with "smoking sections" in restaurants (they're now gone in DE and PA)? Basically reserved seating for smokers (most people including myself do not enjoy eating and breathing smoke) seperated from everyone else by an impenetrable wall of usually nothing but air. You wait an extra 30 minutes to get non-smoking seating and end up 10 feet away from the chimneys anyway.

At my workplace, the only outdoor seating areas provided anywhere near the building are all "smoking facilities." They are two large gazebos with all the open window area covered with plexiglass so the smokers can sit outside even in bad weather and enjoy a smoke. Don't even consider going in there if you just want to get some fresh air. It's almost always occupied and the windows are gray with soot. There's even an ashtray right in the center but apparently it's diffucult to use since the cigarette butts are all over the grass and walkway around the gazebos and the other butt-stops right near the doors to get inside.

If you want smokers only clubs, you won't find me protesting.

[end rant] :)

"Banning" substances would be "deciding what people should and shouldn't do with their lives"...but that's not what I'm in favor of.

Governments throughout the world use taxation policies to influence public behavior - there have been special taxes in place on alcohol and cigarettes for over 100 years, and nobody (except for a few nut jobs) are claiming that those taxes are immoral or unfair.

Extending that "legal, but highly taxed" policy to other drugs would help reduce the deficit, reduce the profits enjoyed by organized crime, reduce the violence that goes along with it, and help empty our overcrowded jails.

I don't see how that makes me a nanny in your eyes, but whatever...

According to that same logic, you're assuming that electric companies could have their high tension power line workers operate on live transformers w/o insulated gloves or tools, if they agreed and signed a waiver; or a virologist could work in a BSL-4 lab w/o a biosuit and SCBA if they just signed a waiver.

Last time I checked, no companies market a coal dust inhaler for personal leisure. Miners are provided with PPE because the hazards of the job are above and beyond what they would normally be exposed to.
If someone made it an employment requirement that bartenders/waitstaff/etc. are smokers because the establishment is not a smoke-free environment, then how is that exposing the workers to unacceptable risk? These are people that already expose themselves to a known, and perfectly legal, risk.

As a Southerner, let me say, be careful what advice you give in this respect unless you want someone to go blind.

Yeah definitely read something before you go out and do it. However wood alcohol is the most likely culprit for blindness in this respect.

lol! imagine being able to knock on drivers' windows at intersections and politely remind them to put their engines out because the sidestream emissions are bothering you . . .

I pull into the lot this morning and guess who is parked there again, getting his bike ready to ride? This time he comes over to me as I'm putting my saddlebag and light on the bike.

His first words are 'yesterday wasn't fair, you had a head start.'

I replied, 'Good morning to you too. I didn't know it was a race and I'm pretty sure than when I asked you told me that you didn't want me to wait for you and that you didn't want to ride with me'.

'Well you took off when I almost caught you'

'No, I climbed a little hill, you didn't' (I am a grouchy f__k in the morning, ain't I?)

'It will be different today'

'I'm sure it will be, have a good ride', I reply as I climb aboard my bike and he pedals off.

So he's got about a 100 yard head start and for the first couple of miles I don't even try to close the gap, he's doing about my normal commute speed, so why push it? Then we hit the first little hill and I'm on his wheel as we get to the top, but I decide to stay on his wheel rather than pass. He ups his pace a little, but I'm spinning easy so I have no problem keeping his wheel...he looks back, looking peeved, and steps it up a little more. This continues for a few miles and I notice he's starting to breath pretty hard and that he's sweating up a storm - I can see the steam rising from him! I'm a little warmer than usual myself but my breathing is still coming pretty easy...he's doing all the work after all. ;)

I figure we're doing about 20mph, maybe 21 max (I don't use computers on my bikes anymore) when we hit the foot of the double hill. I drop down to the 39 ring and spin up easily, pulling up next to him as he hammers up, still on the big ring, but with a really slow cadence. I mention that he might have an easier time if he'd gear down a bit, reminding him that there is a second, steeper climb, to come mosh skosh. I guess that pissed him off, because he stands and starts hammering harder, beating me to the top of the first hill. I make up the ground on the little flat and I can see that he's about done, his breath puffing out of his mouth like steam from a locomotive, sweat running down his face and soaking through his umpteen layers of clothes. Then we hit the second hill. He slows to a crawl, his legs moving so slow that I swear he's gonna tip until finally, he starts to gear down to his second ring, then to the granny ring. I don't hammer up today, I just gear down and spin up along side him, telling him he can make it up if he just takes it easy and controls his breathing - and whatdya know, he makes it. I can tell he's really happy that he made it up, even if he looks like he's gonna have a stroke. I tell him, 'good job, you were right, today was different!'. He's still spinning on his granny, trying to get his breath. My work here is done, so I shift back up to the big ring and sprint the last half mile to my office.

Yes folks, by the time he got there, I was once again up on the porch, waving to him as I had a smoke. He waved back this time. I think I might have a riding partner for the morning commute for awhile....should I charge a coaching fee? ;)

In order to go blind they would have to use wood to make methanol instead of ethanol. Who the heck is gonna ferment wood when you can buy sugar so cheap? As for making it stronger, I would certainly not advise using a still. You really have to know what you are doing in order not to get a bunch of poisonous alcohols. Using a freezer won't concentrate it that much and is generally a safe way to go from about 12% abv to about 18-20% abv as alcohol won't freeze in most home freezers.

Good job, Chip. It was very sporting of you to keep it under 400 watts;) ;) !

Great job, Chip.
Did you walk a little taller the next few days?

It's still a workplace safety issue, regardless of the recreational interests of the employees.

For instance, many people garden recreationally and spray toxic chemicals on their plants without benefit of respirators, gloves, etc. But those same people would be required to wear protective gear if they were employed by a nursery or greenhouse.

Protecting employees from exposure to dangerous second-hand smoke (regardless of whether or not they are smokers) is no different...though some addict advocates would argue the point :rolleyes: .

LOL - you beat the anti-Knave!

Next week, I expect a full report on how you "smoked" a 10-year old girl on a pink bike with a basket and streamers. :D


EDIT - wait a minute, I just re-read your post. Are you telling us that this guy has a bike equipped with a triple chainring, and that he's barely capable of getting up a hill (aka, bump in the road) in Ohio??? If so, either the guy has some sort of serious disability or maybe he's recovering from a round of chemotherapy...or this story is a fabrication of your active imagination.

I'm prolly planting the seeds of my own destruction here. If I ride with this guy in the mornings and help him improve, sure as shootin he's probably gonna be dropping me like a bad habit at some point. But that's a good thing, because I'd rather ride to work alone. ;)

Can I have a few weeks to prepare? That's a pretty tall order, considering she's dropped me since she was 8! :p

Chip: Outstanding! You were more sporting than I would have been. I would have said, "Prepared to drop me again today are you?" Let him have his lead, and then BURIED his arse (assuming I had the engine) without any help. Your way is nicer but my way is more fun.

Nice chipcom.

There was a saying that a teacher told me once. "Keep your words short and sweet, they go down better when you have to eat them."

Perhaps commuters should have warning signs... "This person commutes on his bike daily - and racks up miles like you do feet. Challenge him at risk to your pride..."

I have been told I am an evil person because I have white hair and cruise at speeds that motorcycles do down here.

You do realize you were really killing him giving him advice while he was dying going up the hill - after all, it is pretty sure HE couldn't talk at that point!

nice! you should really tell your firend your beating him cause his bike is too heavy... seewhat sorts of expensive bits of unobtainium he starts piling on the bike to make it faster... ;)

low cadence just reeks of a guy who never rides. maybe he's busy practicing his boasting too much to actually get out and pedal.

That's the funniest part. The only thing that would've made it better was if you were riding the SS w/ the loud-ass studs.

You know, I actually have a pretty good way of telling when someone is going to be a good rider. I watch them relate their seat. If they move off their seat easily (often seen when starting, etc.) and effortless I know their strength to weight ratio is good. Someone who complains about their seat hurting them is also a good clue.

I know when I am feeling good and fresh, it feels like I barely touch the seat, if I am tired and burnt out, I am pegged on the seat like I am stuck with Superglue.

I have a seat feels like a baseball bat, small end up, with a hankerchief for padding. I almost never can tell. It is stock, but now a days, my weight is support by my legs more than other parts of my anatomy.

Or perhaps he's an out-of-shape guy trying to get into better shape? I know that 1000ft of 13% grade, following 1500ft of a more gradual ascent is nothing to a Cycling God like you. But then again, after the BS you wrote about climbing at high altitudes, coming from lower elevations with no acclimation, perhaps the active imagination is behind and just above your own keyboard. :rolleyes:

If we ever get any snow I'm gonna have to...and I ain't looking forward to it. I had a nice multi-geared MTB for my snow bike last year...I really don't know WTF I gave it away and got a SS to replace it. :( (Yes I do...you guys shamed me into it!) Luckily, I kinda doubt this guy is gonna be out for a ride when the roads are snow covered. ;)

Guy couldn't keep his mouth appropriately shut yesterday, so I guess it's not a surprise he still can't today.