July 2011
1 post
“TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be...”
– Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken
June 2011
3 posts
“Images from the Victorian era have a much better chance of being here in 200...”
– @simondebrux
Google+ →
“It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favour of...”
– H. L. Mencken
May 2011
1 post
The changing face of Abraham Lincoln →
April 2011
3 posts
Christopher Hitchens in the 2011 TIME 100 Poll →
To the Smithsonian! →
The Smithsonian recently began the painstaking restoration of one of America’s great hidden treasures: what is called the “Jefferson Bible.” Composed through a process of rigorous editing, Thomas Jefferson assembled a spare, concise book that was devoid of supernatural events from six different Biblical texts. Even the crowning moment of the Christian story, the Resurrection, is completely...
March 2011
5 posts
“I just saw Halley’s Comet, she waved.
‘Said, “Why’re...”
– Shinedown, Second Chance
“Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave...”
– William S. Burroughs
“Unfortunately the global warming hysteria, as I see it, is driven by politics...”
– Freeman Dyson, Letters to a heretic: An email conversation with climate change sceptic Professor Freeman Dyson
February 2011
34 posts
3 tags
Tour de Feb, great success
Well, I managed to both blog and ride every day of februari, through hail, snow storm, mush, ice, fierce headwinds and unforgiving cold. I’m pleased, and it really wasn’t that hard to do. For next year I’ll try and recruit more people to start biking, if only to the store, and have some material ready to post every day.
The total for Tour de Feb came down to 241 km (150...
“I read one or two shallow books of travel in the intervals of my work, till that...”
– Henry David Thoreau, Walden
2 tags
Just a quick run to the store
Looking at prices, cooking ideas.
3 tags
Shopping for food
It might be a sign of mental unhealth ;) but I actually went by three stores in search of low prices today. I’ve started to come to the realization that we pay too much in too many aspects of our lives, so I’m trying to be more mindful at what I buy and at which prices. Today I found perfectly fine meat, which was too close to government mandated ’expiration date’ so they...
3 tags
Hovering around freezing temperatures...
…which means that the frozen, highly packed snow in the lanes becomes soft and mushy. :( Spring, please!
24 hours in the saddle for 2011.
3 tags
Four days to go on Tour de Feb
Same uneventful commute as always. While the cold has been slowly grinding me down these past thirty-eight days (since january 18th), the sun is really starting to pick my steam back up again. It’s brigther every day now, and the sun feels like it’s been warming better the past week as well. Really looking forward to cycling the rest of the year now, with the hard part already behind...
1 tag
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Still cold :P
Hovering around -8°C to -12°C, but the newspapers promise warmer weather starting in a week or so. My biggest wish is that that does’t mean it will go from warm to cold every day, ice is a bitch to cycle on.
200 km for february and 350 km for the year!
3 tags
Cold
Worked late, -13°C when going home… stiff legs, rosy cheeks.
Also, added Disqus, a blog feels weird without ability to comment.
1 tag
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”
– Confucius
3 tags
Sun, stable weather, good riding conditions
Interesting how commuting around the year makes you so focused on the weather. I don’t think I’ve ever really remembered or cared about the weather much until I started cycling, and with winter commuting it got a lot worse. I now feel like a farmer in the sixteenth century where my life and well-being is dependent on how the weather is going to be. :) Which in a sense is true (for the...
2 tags
Quick run to the store
Less than five minutes travel and a 22l backpack means shopping has gone from being excruciating and boring chore to an extremely quick and easy-to-do activity. :S
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100 miles
While I prefer sane measuring systems, like the metric system, I am also a sucker for milestones. So here’s to 100 miles during february, 200 miles and 20 hours in the saddle for the year.
Bit cold today, ~-12°C.
3 tags
Commuting sure is uneventful
Only thing of note today was that there were three guys suspiciously standing around my bike as I exited the store that I stopped by on my way home.
Good fast lanes now with hard packed snow, quite fun to ride on.
3 tags
Commuting clothes
The temperatures since I started commuting at the middle of january have stayed between 3°C (37°F) and -19°C (-2°F), however the coldest I’ve actually went through with riding all the way to work was a mere -12°C (10°F). It has been snowingfour times.
For these conditions I have: -Wool beanie -Buff Polar (fleece) covering the mouth, nose and neck -The North Face shell jacket with fleece...
3 tags
Another day
I realize my Tour de Feb entries aren’t very exciting to read, but neither is my commute to write about… for next year maybe they should ditch the requirement to tweet or blog about every day.
Good lanes and better speed today at 17.4 km/h, but still a far cry from what I’d like to go.
3 tags
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The weather doesn't want me to ride
Was met by -19°C (-2.2°F) waking up this morning, and I decided that it would take more than Icebreakers and jeans to comfortably traverse today’s 25 minute commute, so I took the subway instead. Probably a good choice as my face was freezing cold after the ten minute walk.
I will probably take the bike out for a couple of km after I get home, as the temperature is up to more reasonable...
2 tags
“The smallest deed is better than the greatest...
Just went a couple of kilometers today as well. Oh well, tomorrow will have an extra long commute to the Central Station.
113 km for february and 260 km for the year.
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Errands
Just went to the store today, great weather and the now plowed bike paths are wonderful to ride on. Going to aim for a longer ride tomorrow if we get comparable weather.
3 tags
More snow
A mild snow storm greeted my morning commute, after about a kilometer I decided it wasn’t much fun to ride blind (I really need to get some ski goggles), so I locked the bike and took the subway instead.
Weather should be clear at least over the weekend and will hopefully offer better riding conditions.
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Ice and hail today
Yes, hail. Welcome to my world.
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Weather still sucks...
Sorry for sounding like the day’s weather report, but the weather is just wet and depressing right now… and my commute is a bore. Another day cycling though.
2 tags
Sun! Wet, windy...
Not quite the february weather I’m wishing for, but the sun almost made up for the wet and the wind.
60 km for February and 208 km for the year!
2 tags
Utility-cycling
Just went to the store, freezing degrees but there was still some slush present. I think cycling all year round for a decade or so you’ll develop a vocabulary regarding road conditions that rivals the number of words that eskimo’s have for snow (or enuits, whatever).
2 tags
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This cocksucking weather...
Morning thaw, followed by snow, followed by freezing temperatures. Fuck. Again? Really?!
Amazing day otherwise though, but yeah; fuck cycling in these conditions with slush and water followed by unsalted and unsanded lanes of freshly frozen ice.
3 tags
Water and wind
The weather is ridiculous for being february. Thawing and +4C this morning and gusty as hell in the afternoon. I’d prefer a steady -3C with no winds, really.
3 tags
Ice to see you!
Treacherous commute today after yesterday’s thaw, it was particularly interesting to descend the bridge to Skanstull with black ice waiting at the bottom. No crashes though, nor any speed records broken. Nice and easy.
3 tags
Tour de Feb
Tour de Feb starts today with the goal of riding every day during the month of february, which usually is neither uncomplicated nor comfortable in Sweden’s often harsh and cold climate this time of year.
Today it was thawing though, which meant icy and wet back streets but pretty decent (but still wet) cycling lanes, and so I arrived at work with a lot of small pecks of muddy water over the...
December 2010
4 posts
“Well, Mr. Frankel, who started this program, began to suffer from the computer...”
– Richard Feynman, Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character)
New NASA model: Doubled CO2 means just 1.64°C... →