No, no, maybe, yes, yes!

Lots of rules in Vail.

Some Japanese Videos

I don't particularly care for motorcycles, but this guy makes some really nice ones, really well done video to boot.

via the sweetpea blog


The grindies! Ridiculous all around.

Via the mastastico

LED in your fridge

If you have a new fridge that is really energy efficient and has really big door seals that are prone to sticking and not closing all the way I suggest that you replace the incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs.

Our AMANA fridge came with 2 40 watt incandescent bulbs in the fridge and one in the freezer. When we left the door on the refrigerator ajar overnight last year the bulbs pretty much cooked all the food. It melted all the butter. We threw away everything. I replaced those bulbs with these little 1 watt LED spotlighters (20watt equivalent) at 9.99 apiece at the local hardware store. Now we don't have heaters in our fridge.


Like an idiot I forgot to change the one in the freezer. Last week we left it ajar and it melted everything. Including some really nice buffalo steaks and some frozen fish that cost way more than the 30 dollars in LED replacement. I think there are real LED fridge bulb replacements out there, but the little spotlighters were easily available in my local hardware store and fit in the space of the incandescent appliance bulb.

I am not saying that leaving the fridge open is now a painless exercise, but I am saying at least you won't be actively heating your food while your fridge is open. The new fridges are so well insulated that a couple of 40 watt bulbs can actually cause the fridge to melt/burn ( according to our appliance repair man).

So in conclusion. You will save a fairly minimal amount of energy as the bulb is off when the fridge is closed, but you will save yourself a whole bunch if you accidentally leave the door cracked. The bulbs do heat up really fast. By the time I opened the refrigerator, removed the cover and started to remove the bulb they were already too hot to touch.

Or you could be not-an-idiot and never leave the door open. I recommend this path the most, but I find that the seals on our fridge are sticky enough that they defy me regularly.

It is here

Bikewad:


29'er forks are serious biz...


and funny



Happy owner, suspicious youngling.


Hard to get the color photo'd. Picture forest service green with glow in the dark green mixed in.


That is the new Kelly Roshambo EBB 29'er singlespeed in Toothpaste color with lots and lots of tire clearance.
Let the wheelbuilding, earnest part gathering and frantic building commence.

Only interesting bike in all of Moscow

Seriously.


In a sea of disc braked mtbs and hybrids, there was this excellent reverse steer folder. I am pretty sure that it belonged to a street performer.



If you were, as I was, expecting a sea of eastern block knockoff Raleigh D bikes, you and I were both mistaken.

Update from the Pfister in the comments:
"""
I rode that bike (or maybe a clone of it) in London about 10 years ago. It belonged to a street performer who would chalk two lines about 20 feet apart and offer rides for 1 pound. If you could ride the bike from one line to the other without dabbing he would give you 20 pounds. He was able to ride the bike around to demonstrate that it was possible.

I gave it a try, and decided to cross my arms to short-circuit any learned body english. But I still only made it about 10 feet.
"""
There you go, thanks Marc!

World's Greatest Pedal Boat

Dual pedal input. Bonus water slide.




Seafaring no less. Spotted in Otranto, Italy. Adriatic in the background.