Sweet Circles in the Road

No doubt you've seen the tar rimmed circles, squares and various other shapes at intersections put there to cause the change of signals. Cars roll over wire underneath these cutouts and the traffic signal knows a car waiting. The wire acts as an antenna that reacts to a large hunk of metal coming near.

These have been around for quite a while; nothing unusual about that. What makes these circles so lovely is they have been scribed into the bike lane at intersections on my commute to work. Traffic light circuitry is not just for automobiles any more - sweet!

Now in L.A. rush hour, I often have a car or two around, but during off hours I can wait a while for an old fashioned, dino-dust burning non-pedalmobile to come along.

I don't know if these tiny beauties use a different process to determine a cyclist is present, but it seems like they must. Bikes are made with precious little metal these days. My frame consists of only 4.5lbs of aluminum with the entire bike weighing around 20lbs (Ok, slightly more when you include the rider). Most of the serious cyclists these days have carbon fiber frames and light alloy wheels with a total weight of under 16lbs and only a pound or so of actual metal.

Dunno how these little things work, but they do - and I like it.

Quote of the Day

The word 'politics' is derived from the word 'poly', meaning 'many', and the word 'ticks', meaning 'blood sucking parasites'.*
- Larry Hardiman

I saw this walking down Abbot Kinney posted to a construction barrier. It is amazing the lengths people will go to create the desired (read: negative) impression of their opponent in politics. Less than a week after I snapped this shot, Hillary had released pictures of Obama wearing what could be described as a middle eastern adult diaper.

If this is what we get in the primaries, I can't wait for the election season to really get going!

I still predict that Bin Laden will be captured this summer between August 18th and September 28th. He'll be paraded through the streets for all to see and the party currently in power will use the event to trumpet, "the plan is working!" Their candidate will breeze through the general election and we'll have another 4 to 8 years of business as usual for the religion, oil and war party.

Then I wake up in a cold sweat and hope it is really just a recurring nightmare, not a premonition.

* Program Note: Despite my taking shots at the three candidates and the current administration, I have great respect for and belief that our leaders can do good for the people of our country. I believe that making true, lasting positive changes takes pure motives, a strong will and long view of what is really right and good. I also believe this type of leadership is currently almost completely lacking in those who hold state and national office in our country. There now, don't you feel better?