It's a really good bike!
music, bikes, clothes, minneapolis, (episcopalian) theology, socialism, criticism, editor @thehourmag.bsky.social, he/him
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It's a really good bike!
One more single top tube mixte of sorts for tall folks, the Rivendell Platypus. Only it’s sold out for now so you’d have to wait for its next drop, whenever that would be www.rivbike.com/products/pla...
And not a double top tube mixte, but a modern mixte-adjacent bike: Velo Orange’s Polyvalent is on sale for a banging price velo-orange.com/collections/...
Fwiw Soma makes the only tall mixtes I’m aware of. Obvs not in the Twin Cities but in case it helps your search! www.somafabshop.com/shop/categor...
This, I admit, is true. However the 20s F being below freezing makes sense
I don’t know what’s tough about understanding what is a light-hearted joke and what is actual investment in an arbitrary temperature scale
It makes sense for water, not for human beings
Do see my second post in the thread tho
However, for tools, volume, & extension, it’s the exact opposite. You could have 15, 14, 13, 12, 10 millimeters or you could have 9/16, 1/2, 7/16, 3/8, 11/32, 5/16, 9/32, 1/4, 7/32, and 3/16. Please be serious. Grow up
When it comes to temperature scale, I’m still on team imperial - it makes no sense for “32” to be “really freaking hot.” That should be 90 degrees no question
📌
lol worlds collide
(To clarify, this section is better than Copenhagen!)
A whole hunch of bright eyed & bushy tailed students on brand new construction **already intuiting** where they should walk because of clear design language See the contrast with Hennepin in downtown!
Only one section looks like this, but this is epic. Maybe took Copenhagen as a model since this is like what they have but better Curb and level separation from street, with curb and level separation from sidewalk, clearly differentiating the spaces
Lest it seem I am always the critic, just took my first ride on the new University bikeway and imo these set a new standard for what we can do
It’s how I felt about last year’s Foxing singles. Sort of hated them as singles. But as an album - utterly revelatory
Has three freewheel tools but not the Suntour one I need. Went to the shop to use theirs. Checked the other freewheel I had at home. A nice Maillard…for which I do not have a removal tool Alas!
Like, I know you’re not learning it, but Homer, for instance, gloriously sings in reconstructed. If most vowels were reduced to “ee” it wouldn’t ring the same
I learned reconstructed Classical but since Greek is a living language, I can appreciate the case for modern pronunciation. Just a slight bummer that the vowel sounds are more limited
This is the same approach he took to conflicts in the Communion while ABC. It’s amazing the hostility he can get from ppl who won’t even acknowledge the humanity of the other they refuse even to face
I haven’t seen it in a while, but it certainly affected me still last time I did. And Swell Season holds up for me
The broken-hearted hoover-fixer sucker guy
Ime the two primary groups that complain about it are 1) those who think it’s “outdated” and CCM will “reach more ppl,” and 2) converts who just miss their hillsongs
I don’t know of one. But if you wanted to read Hooker it’s in Book I sections ii and iii of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity!
I am once again saying that Richard Hooker’s second divine law is better than monism or kenoticism
Yes
I mean… open.spotify.com/track/6HgrJf...
Which album has the best mixed drums and why is it White Pony? open.spotify.com/track/2jSJm3...
There will be many casualties from UChicago ending ('pausing') PhD admissions in Humantities, but one which I am keenly aware of: this is close to a death sentence for teaching cuneiform in the United States (esp. Sumerian, Hittite, Elamite, Eblaite, Luwian) and it will affect the whole world.
The whole “low-stress” or “feel safe” thing skirts accountability to whether one IS safe. Outta here with your “feeling safe.” We’ll feel safe when we are safe, and you can access studies to determine which designs are more or less prone to death and injury
It’s been suggested that I try to “out-expert the experts,” but I reject that on two levels: 1) A well educated layman who puts in the work can absolutely bring receipts 2) I resent the attitude that groups like the BAC are just about vibes. “Oh geez, Mr. Planner, I just feel unsafe over there”
I totally respect the people that have muted me when this is the stuff I get up to when I’m in a mood
“Some blocks may fully remove motor vehicle access, others may narrow the vehicular travel space by half, and other blocks could primarily focus on intersection treatments such as curb extensions, median refuge islands, and traffic circles” Do we see this in the bicycle boulevards?
“Neighborhood greenways will also greatly improve the walking environment throughout the city by limiting interactions with motor vehicles & improving the experience of crossing the street.”
Neighborhood Greenways have some similarities to Bike Blvds, but “they differ from bicycle boulevards bc they will optimize travel for peds & bicyclists by eliminating or significantly reducing motor vehicle use.” /
What many don’t want to talk abt is the fact that the AAA plan rejects bicycle boulevards “The most significant outcome of the Greenways Study was the introduction of the concept of neighborhood greenways, which replaces the term bicycle boulevard that was used in the 2011 Bicycle Master Plan”
The neighborhood greenways were supposed to have been completed two years ago, but as yet none have broken ground
Yeah that’s one of the marks against it from an accessibility standpoint. Not necessarily inciting as a thru route for the inexperienced
Just rode and documented the 40th Bike Blvd in an attempt to show to myself that it is better than the 5th NE one. And it is However if that’s the best one we have it only goes to show how far they fall short of the All Ages & Abilities goals
Yes, okay, this is a good example! Hidalgo is a socialist, and what I’m trying to say is that this matters. It matters because the status quo from libs here for so long has been for an entire world for the single occupancy vehicle, for independence
The street had to have been rebuilt anyway. If it had maintained its car-centric focus it would have seemed “natural.” Simply in accordance with what should be. But to reorient its design was contra naturam
To take a small scale local example: Mpls recently built a stretch of a small street to a proper world class standard for traffic calming & bike provisions. They’ve seen a wild increase in the number of ppl biking on it. Yet it’s not as if ppl were clamoring for it
And if it didn’t just happen, if it was achieved over time, then it would take a fervent ideological, long-term commitment to change it. But we don’t see manifest such a commitment in the way we pay for, plan, and build. So the question is why
I know many of the general public aren’t clamoring for expanded transit at the expense of car infra. But this is itself the fruit of long-term infra choices to build out a car world. We tore up and paved over train lines. Again, it didn’t just happen
When planners or politicians talk abt infra they literally talk about the central importance of transportation choice. If we expand bus service it’s to expand ppl’s mobility choices. Even transit advocates talk this way. Every micromobility discussion, for instance, talks this way
Ok but why have we had long-term cultural stasis?
Austerity and tax cuts are choices not to tax appropriately in order to maintain, build, or expand social programs. I don’t get this “things just happened or had to happen” determinism. It cuts off critique or even analysis. Things don’t just happen!
But re: welfare, ppl want to act like Bill Clinton didn’t exist and that we haven’t upheld his policies for decades
Mein Gott I’m not saying “both parties are the same” or anything like that. I’m literally just talking about streets and buses
But why do we have such pathetic infra in the first place? Because it’s not been deemed necessary or desirable as a political goal by the governing class. How could we “already have it” unless it were first achieved?
But we are forced to design new infra around these stupid trucks so there's room for these obscene vehicles. It's a different kind of absolute belief in the priority of cars, but combined w/ the parties who desperately fear losing parking, the end is the same infra ontology. "It *must* be this way"
So it shows up in a host of overlapping interest groups who in many various ways coalesce on core beliefs. So, for instance, American fire departments have these gigantic vehicles they insist are ontologically necessary even though smaller emergency vehicles exist in many other places /
Oh to be clear, I'm not saying I agree with what I said above, only that it's a prevailing sentiment I see all over To the extent that it's a problem of infra, that's still a political problem. We don't have good infra because both American parties believe in autonomy as the highest social good
So buses are good to have available for “those who need them.” But only urbanist libs can ride them as a kind of moral performance. Only they can choose the common good, where those who are “transit dependent” have not yet ascended to the moral life of choosing
The American common good is exactly only what one can buy into. It’s the achievement of self-autonomy. Which is why even libs here can only conceive of welfare as a stop gap for the destitute until such time as they too can achieve independence
Ahh clearly I didn’t read closely enough
Haven't listened to Pinkerton?! Also, imo Make Believe is a fun good time. Wouldn't call it a classic by any means, but I like listening to it
Probably the letters of Ignatius and Diognetus
Lord have mercy
inter arma enim silent leges
Oh jeez. sigh
“Where we’re going, we don’t need primary sources”
I don’t know quite who you’re taking about but it’s wild beyond even 18th C German standards how willing some are to throw caution to the wind and date Paul post-70s and Acts nearly into the second. Evidence be damned!
Me to a particular new NT school: Oh, and is Marcion in the room with us right now?
Got mine off Craigslist. I am mostly joking. In my experience most people find rollers difficult. I can't actually be helpful
Rollers!
For memorization, KJV
bsky.app/profile/adal...
A fuller account, if people were interested! thecompletebicycle.wordpress.com/2024/04/03/l...
Yeah Perennial is the place with the most experience and knowledge. Love Luke and Co
I was thinking hub dynamos, but even rim ones have gotten good! www.velogical-engineering.com/dynamo/produ...
It’s so wonderful never to have to worry about charging or remembering or removing the lights!
Dynamo. A system in which the energy of the bike moving forward powers permanently attached lights so there is never any question of batteries or remembering one’s lights Common in many parts of the world, perfected by Germany
One of the reasons I am a dynamo evangelist is for this safety reason. It’s awesome never to be without lights!
To which I’d add my favorites: James & Mary Laurie Bookseller in downtown Minneapolis, And The Bookhouse on the UofM campus Also the Half Price books in St. Paul has a killer religion section
Couldn’t have said it better myself!
A thing I am loathe to admit but I’ve found true for myself is a light road bike with a traditional fit is faster than my regular bike
What divine weather for a ride
Feel like I don’t see many white bikes these days, but it’s one of the colors I think could work best with modern black parts
In that vein, a walk around lake Bde Maka Ska (or any in the chain of lakes) is great. I’m happy to recommend restaurants too
I always want people to visit the Minnehaha Falls park. Even in their agèd condition our parks system is so much more worthy of attention than the Mall of America or whatevs
Does The Last Starfighter hold up? For instance not even nostalgia was enough to erase how bad Short Circuit was. Is TLSF at least enjoyable?
On the one hand I feel I was robbed of an entire summer month, July having such cursed weather this year, but on the other the upper midwesterner in me bursts with joy at starting the day in the 50s Might even pull out a flannel
Praying, my friend
Didn't realize "relational evangelism" had shifted so dramatically as to open a gay anarchist cafe
Really do wish I could mute "Newsom" but that runs the risk of not hearing news about when Joanna Newsom might release another album, which is a risk I cannot take
Wouldn’t it eat at your soul if you knew you could only stay in power by means of Wyzata landlords and republicans while many of your neighbors actively oppose you?
take your righteous anger and your money and throw it at the fateh campaign here:
The whole series of lectures are available, if you end up liking it!
To my mind, Williams' "The Edge of Words," which comes from his Gifford Lectures, is his magnum opus, and this lecture in particular is breathtaking youtu.be/_t8F__cac1g?...
No idea how I would discern that. At any rate he didn’t seem like a true believer. Straight business
What was curious is that when I replied that I wasn’t gonna vote for him, the Frey guy didn’t try to convince me. He made no case, no attempt to convince. He just moved on. Couldn’t be bothered to try, I guess
New post up! Of plain clothes cycling and men's fashion thecompletebicycle.wordpress.com/2025/08/20/s...
Team Frey just stopped by. I was nice. Didn’t realize they’d be shilling Strahan while door knocking for Frey. These PACS just be backing losers, huh?
Oh I have no idea if it’s even planned at all. But if Lyndale gets shared use paths we’ll need that section of Bryant to be better
New post up! Of plain clothes cycling and men's fashion thecompletebicycle.wordpress.com/2025/08/20/s...
Adverbs are neat, and subordinate clauses are comprehensible
It’s normal & fine that some parts of resolutions I write for a group I’m in get edited or modified But sometimes it’s just making sentences simpler when they’re perfectly sound grammatically & it’s at such moments I get gruffy at the Hemingwayification of American prose