DnvrFox

??

chasm54

Because we are social animals. Nobody succeeds on their own, nor has anyone ever done so. Everything that has contributed to our development has been a joint endeavour. We succeed as a species because of co-operation, even more than competition. So our success depends on our society hanging together, and our society hangs together because we have compassion, enforced by empathy. Altruism is in our collective self-interest even when it is inconveniently demanding at the individual level. Evolution isn't all about dog eating dog.

Biker395 

Chickism.

Dudelsack 

I think he means because my blood wasn't spilled on the asphalt I should HTFU and blow it off.

I personally think there isn't much difference between someone gunning their Chevy Tahoo right at me and waving a loaded g u n at me. I believe they both meet the definition of assault.

crazyb

We do stop at "rural" intersections, But we bunch up and go thru as a group. Our group of 6 or 8 riders being about the size of a large pickup truck. Not always a matter of just being safe, but the image presented to other roadway users. Most people in our area of "rural" Iowa stop at stop signs, whether it is on a bike, car, truck, or tractor.

gregf83 

Interesting. Very few people (cars or bikes) come to a complete stop around here, particularly in a rural setting with decent visibility. Larger groups will proceed through an intersection using your same approach of considering the group as a single entity. As long as the lead rider has a green light the group will continue on even if the light turns red before the final riders clear the intersection.

Biker395 

True enough ... we all stand on the shoulders of giants. Some stand on and are stood upon better than others, tho.

But the question is why do we have compassion? Do we have it because it gives us a leg up on passing on our genes? And if it's in our genes, maybe we only have compassion because we've evolved such that it makes us feel good to do so. In other words, maybe compassion itself is an product of our acting in our own self interest.

Then again, maybe not.

I think someone put something in my diet Coke this morning.

chasm54

Because we haven't evolved as individuals, we have evolved as part of communities. Our individual genes have survived and repliacted themselves in that context. Those who have been too individualistic and expressed extreme antisocial traits have been kicked out of the tribe and done poorly. So being "nice" and having the capacity to understand what others are feeling and react accordingly has been an evolutionary advantage.

So yes, to an extent it has been in our best interests to be compassionate. But that doesn't make compassion selfish: it just means that being entirely selfish has probably not worked out too well for those who tried it in the past.

Dudelsack 

Put down that diet Coke, step away from the keyboard, and no one will get hurt.

big john

The late, great Chick Hearn. "The mustard's off the hot dog, it's all over the floor".

"This game is in the refrigerator,the door is closed, the light is out, the eggs are cooling, the butter's getting hard and the Jello's jiggling".

Biker395 

Gawd, I miss Chick Hearn.

berner

This is not quite a rant. Just a accounting of a difficult week.

It has been an odd few days. A week ago I was hit by a car crossing a bike path. Not a serious collision but I did loose some skin, which I trying to grow back as quickly as I can, and the rear wheel was bent to un-rideable condition. I was able to make it rideable by bending it back a bit with a heavy foot and reach the house, 5 miles away. The front wheel was bent a bit also but re-trueable with not too much effort. The new rim arrived from Pro Wheel Builder two days and 11 hours ago. I had taken pictures of the bent wheel of both the drive side and non-drive side and the printer produced nice clear images much larger then the camera screen. I felt confident I could reproduce the original wheel which has 32 spokes, laced 3X on the drive side and 2X on the other side.

I did the job, taking much longer than expected and needing to muster much patience to get the lacing correct. I finished this morning and thought I was home free and ready to install Velox tape. I had bought a roll new tape while at REI a few days before. For some reason the tape would not stick and the rim seemed to have a very slick coating inside. Not a problem. "I'll just sand whatever it is, off". Off to Ace Hardware I go for emery cloth and for the heck of it, got a small bottle of rubber cement. I was still puzzled by the Velox tape not sticking so an a whim, I tried the old tape and this stuck as it should. Evidently, it was an old roll or had glue incorrectly applied at the factory.

At this point the story is not yet over. This new rim is a Velocity rim that will work with a tube or tubeless. As such, the inside of the rim is constructed differently than a standard rim and full width tape interferes with seating the clincher lip. I already knew this would be a problem. I've no idea why I went ahead and bought this rim. I decided to use the old tape but it needed to be trimmed with a razor knife to exactly 12 mm wide. The new roll I had bought was 10 mm wide and would not work. At long last the job was done and the new rim spins prettily, not more and 1/2 mm out of round or true. I did use a few dabs of the rubber cement to be on the safer side. I had myself a celebratory and delicious New Castle Brown Ale.

It was at this point I noticed that the new rim has the Velocity labels on the wrong side. This does not effect use but it is much like putting socks on in the dark only to find out one is a red and the other has strips. Well, I'm not going to unlace the new rim. One possibility is to flip the front wheel around except the tires are directional. I would have to remove the front tire and flip it around to match the rear. Another possibility is to remove the stickers and reinstall so they all match. Right now my head hurts so I'll decide tomorrow

Doohickie

My bad. I was responding to the original post; didn't realize it was several pages long. Looks out of context here, eh?

FrenchFit 

Frankly, I think there is alot of truth in that. They are living their fantasy. I confronted one of these guys who pulled a really bone-headed stunt, and it was like he was waking up from a dream state.