My first-grader had an Earth Day lesson at school and is now talking about emissions and turning all the lights off. These are both things I do… and which drive my partner nuts, so I’m kinda tickled by the whole deal!
On the other hand, I have to concede her point that we both have some of the cleanest and cheapest energy anywhere… so it’s really okay to leave a light on. Besides, there are bigger fish to fry.
Ask not what you can do for Earth Day… but what we can all do Every Day!
So what’s most important?
Cutting down Greenhouse Gas Emissions! We drove to an Earth Day event, but how can we help people drive less every day?
Supporting effective land use and transportation can do more for our whole community over the whole year than any of us can do alone.
We can fly less, but how can we support more people flying less?
Long-distance travel can be replaced with regional or remote options.
Supporting rail (and high speed rail!) can be very effective and competitive for replacing popular routes.
But we can also do so much right where we are!
It’s nice to do a neighborhood clean-up – but we could also work to get people to have less trash in the first place!
Getting a heat pump is super cool. (It keeps your home efficiently warm and cool!) I can find the incentive info if you’d like. If you rent a place with oil heat, now’s a great time to suggest a conversion.
Eating less meat can have a huge impact far beyond our everyday life.
Even simply eating less red meat.
This is a very interesting time to prank that one meat-lover friend with a beyond burger…
Okay, those are my suggestions for going beyond the easy, short-term, “low-hanging fruit”…
But attainable goals are good, too! We’re all in this, so we all need to do what we can, even when we’re working within systems that are slow to change.
Getting back to my elementary school kid, turning off a light is something tangible he can do! And engaging with those in charge to change our ways is great!
It can be especially effective to push for change when we’re involved in what we want to be doing, and this is a great example of a small effort that we can scale to the bigger challenges.
What are you doing? What ideas do you have to leverage them for greater change?
GoPro Max camera showing “GoPro Labs Beta Firmware, Participation Terms Apply”
Other than on the GoPro Labs Full List of Action Commands, I haven’t actually seen a good description of how to program more than just for single-shot settings, of which there are good tools, so I’ll try my hand at an explanation.
A nice thing about the GoPro Labs tools is that they both let you output the QR code and share a URL. To start, I’ll stick with the defaults and share the doohickeys with simple controls, but we’ll have more control when hacking the raw code, so… we’ll get there!
Actions start with an ! – with variables as numbers and other letters within each action
!uN – uSB power: turn on, No action (optional: !uXNX=seconds to wait after powered on, 0-60)
!S – Start capture in the camera’s default mode
!uXE – End command X seconds after USB power is off (0-300/5 minutes)
!R – Repeat whole command
For testing, I’ll stick with ending 10 seconds after USB power is off, which shuts off the camera, and the !R repeats the next time the power comes on.
Next, let’s try out IMU Detection. The Inertial measurement unit (IMU), lets you start and stop recording when either the gyroscope, accelerometer, (or both!) reach a set level of movement. Sounds cool – let’s try it out:
Let’s stick with the defaults, so it’s easy to follow along…
!S – Start capture when:
I6 – Inertial measurement unit reaches sensitivity level 6*
D1 – Delay start for 1 second
H5 – Hold for 5 seconds after sensitivity drops to end level
!R – Repeat
*(note: stop level of 0 not shown, but would be I6-2 if set to stop when it drops to level 2)
My next step was to dump the IMU code !SI6D1H5!R into the default USB Power Trigger’s “command to perform” box, which cranks out this combo code. Now I get to figure out how two !Repeat commands play together…
Now, if you’ll excuse me, my parents gave my son a late-season pumpkin that we’ve left outside, and now he’s excited about figuring out what’s gnawing on it. Sooo… I’ll be taking a detour to figure out the Video Motion Detection controls!
I’ll report back.
And if anyone has ideas for taking the camera code to the next level, do let me know!
For this next iteration of the Automatic Bicycle Cams, I’m trying out a GoPro.
The camera can be set to record when it receives USB power, and there’s an option for loop recording (so the oldest clips are recorded over, allowing it to keep recording). There are also options to start recording when the camera sees movement, the camera moves, moves over a set speed, and in other ways.
To do this, it’s necessary to install the GoPro Labs OS, which acts as a beta version that adds more functionality. These functions are added by building a QR code that programs the camera.
A USB Pass-Through door is available for GoPro Hero 9 and newer, which provides a (mostly) waterproof source for external power.
I’m testing out the 360° GoPro Max, which doesn’t have a factory waterproof power option, (though Ulanzi did produce the [discontinued] Ulanzi GM-2 pass-through charging door). This option, if you can even find one, is even less waterproof, and should be used with care.
I have USB power from our e-bike, so I can use GoPro’s USB power trigger to start recording automatically when the bike powers up.
I was also planning to set the camera to Loop Recording mode (so it would keep recording over the oldest clips even when the memory card is full), BUT the Max camera doesn’t support this. Dangit!
I do have a large-capacity micro-SD card that can hold many hours of footage. 32gb/hour, so 128gb is 4hrs, 256gb is 8hrs, 512gb is 16hrs… up to a terabyte!
1 hour
32gb
$10
$0.31/gb
2 hours
64gb
$11
$0.17/gb
4 hours
128gb
$15
$0.117/gb
8 hours
256gb
$25
$0.10/gb
12.5 hours
400gb
$35
$0.0875/gb
16 hours
512gb
$48
$0.094/gb
32 hours
1TB
$125
$0.125/gb
GoPro Max recording time by microSD card size, with cost, and cost per gb.
Finally, GoPro offers a yearly subscription service. It’s $50, and gets you a few perks.
When you plug in your GoPro to charge, it will automatically upload unlimited footage – and send you a highlight reel.
To automatically upload, we’ll have to set one of the other triggers. I think I’ll start with camera movement, and compare how these options work.
So how does this compare to Cycliq, the standard for biking cameras?
Just using a battery, GoPro can record for an hour before swapping the battery. Cycliq can record for 4-5 hours. Wiring up external power lets you run both as long as you have power, but the weatherproof pass-through door gives the GoPro an edge.
Of course, in order to auto-start recording, Cycliq also needs to be paired with an Ant+ controller (which limits you to the previous CE versions). If you ride with a Garmin trip computer, this will work – but prepare for the light modes to be… possessed🤪
So with all this in mind, the only features the GoPro is missing are the Cycliq’s dedicated save button and incident protection, both of which lock clips that you really want to save. GoPro does have a feature to leave a time-marker at a point in the clip, but it doesn’t lock the clip before and after as Cycliq does.
The lack of loop recording is a serious bummer, though. I’ll have to try out one that supports it and see what happens. Meanwhile, we’ll see how the 360 goes!
With a large enough memory card, this shouldn’t be a problem. You should have hours before you’ll need to worry about recording over any important clips. And if you sign up for the GoPro Subscription service and charge regularly, all of your footage should be automatically uploaded.
Subscriptions also include a camera exchange program, in which you can pay $100 (or the set amount for your cam) and trade in your old unit, no matter how broken. You do need to have the camera, so just don’t lose it!
I started recording bike rides, but it was a lot of work, so I wondered if there was a way to automatically record our rides… turns out there is!
We start riding and the dynamo hub turns the lights on. Our light has a USB power plug-in.
That turns on a Garmin Edge trip computer, which then turns on both front and back Cycliq bike cameras. The cameras record until we’ve been stopped for a bit, and if the bike falls over our embarrassment is saved for posterity. (They also have their own bike lights, which cycle through solid and flashing modes for an added dash of chaos and excitement!)
I made a video to show how it works:
Automatic Bike Cameras on YouTube – showing the author in front of his bike with gizmos
Can this system be improved? Yes!
It’d be great if the cameras can stay charged and be permanently mounted like our dynamo lights. I have some ideas…
Ideal setup:
Auto-on
Charged by bike
Waterproof
Securely mounted
It looks like GoPro may offer some possibility… and it would also be cool if there was a 360º option that ticked most of these boxes.
Politics often get caught up with little things, sidetracked, or engage only part of an issue. How can we keep bigger issues in perspective?
Here are a few simple approaches:
Get the Facts
Look at Context
Identify the Big Issues
Engage the People Affected
Trust Consistency
Solve the Root Problem
Solve the Bigger Problem
Be Transparent
Correct Mistakes
Be Careful with Absolutes
I’ll go through each of these briefly.
1. Get the Facts:
What are the direct facts involved? Look to the source of the claims. And, in the modern reality of post-factual claims… are there facts involved?
2. Look at Context:
How does the issue compare to others? Use standard rates for comparison (percentages are useful, and per 100,000 population is widely used for large groups of people), just be sure to compare “apples to apples”. If comparing a group, compare to the same group. If we’re looking at a subgroup, compare using the same criteria.
3. Identify the Big Issues:
Let’s identify the Most Important Problems to solve. Rather than just working on the problems right in front of us, it’s good to see if larger issues are compounding things.
Yes, “Big Issues” are contextual, but we do interact with larger issues locally.
4. Engage the People Affected:
Who does the problem most directly affect? Talk to them. Ask what they need. Ask how proposals will help or hurt.
If the loudest people involved aren’t directly affected, how can they engage with those who are?
5. Trust Consistency:
Follow people who act consistent with their stated beliefs.
Hypocrisy, however, will tell you a lot: it calls out the unequal “do as I say, not as I do” approach which can be easily found.
Consistency or hypocrisy can tell you who you can or can’t trust to act consistent with their values.
6. Solve the Root Problem:
We should work to solve the Root Problem.
If we’re just fixing a symptom, let’s dig deeper to get to the actual root!
Root Problems can solve multiple symptoms, so it may be better to do groundwork on the real issue, than to get lost chasing time-consuming symptoms.
Tackling these can involve reaching out and working
7. Solve the Bigger Problem:
I see this as separate from the root issue. A wider fix can often cover more than a narrow one, and prevent future unforeseen specific problems not specified in a more narrow fix.
Some approaches don’t work to actually solve all aspects of a problem, so don’t be afraid to pivot to tackling the real issue.
8. Be Transparent
Be open about your thought process in reaching conclusions.
9. Correct Mistakes
It’s okay to make mistakes – we can learn from them! It’s helpful if we’re transparent about this, too.
10. Be Careful with Absolutes:
I’d like to say to be absolutely sure before committing to an absolute statement. All it takes is one little thing to prove them wrong.
On the other hand… never say never!
These are just a few approaches that I regularly use. I’d like to have this fit together into a usable framework, so it’s good to keep building and adjust as we go. Critiques or suggestions?
The Linka Lock is a smart bike lock that can be added to many bikes. It certainly falls into the category of “Should it be smart?” and we’ll discuss that later. The unique feature it provides is a simple way of having some peace of mind regarding your bike.
The Linka is a frame lock (or a “cafe lock”) – because it attaches to your frame, so it’s always ready to go – say if you run into a cafe real quick! When you stop riding, locking a frame lock keeps your wheel from moving. It’s a basic step to keep your bike from rolling away, even if there isn’t something to secure it to.
The Linka LEO 2 attached to the front wheel
The smart features of the Linka start by linking it to your phone. The standard Linka can lock and unlock from your phone, and warn you if your bike moves (if you’re in bluetooth range – which isn’t far). The Linka LEO has cellular capability, and can both notify you and track your bike’s location. This is pricier, but gives you more serious protection. This can give you increased peace of mind, as you’ll know your bike is safe.
A great feature is that you can get a loop chain to plug into the Linka. This is a great addition to any frame lock, and an arguably smart feature is that when you click it in to the Linka LEO 2, the lock auto-locks. The LEO 2 also has a key fob which lets you lock and unlock without needing a phone.
So, should it be smart? I’m not sure the standard Linka is a huge improvement over a keyed frame lock. It can be set to auto-unlock when it senses you return to your bike, which is nice. But what if your phone dies? It also has a tamper alarm, but will it be ignored just like car alarms?
And does the smart nature of the lock make it more secure? A friend had a locksmith put smart locks in their home, and asked him if they could be hacked. His response was [cue up Russian accent here], “why hack when so easy to pick?” I’m actually guessing the lock could be defeated, but I would get notified if my bike is jostled, and updates if it moves.
One final consideration is if the Linka company will be sustainable, as they provide the behind-the-scenes service that makes the connectivity features keep working. They’ve been around for a while, but there’s certainly a risk that they’ll go out of business or get bought, and the expensive locks will become fancy bricks. I hope this isn’t the case, and they do seem to be diversifying into locks for shared bikes, so it seems a fair bet that your Linka Lock will keep working for the foreseeable future.
Personally, I find the peace of mind aspect to be the killer feature here – more so than even just being a good lock. Being warned about movement could mean I potentially wouldn’t lose the bike. It also means that if I’m concerned no news means I can relax – and to me, that’s pretty worthwhile!
I went to a Seattle School District meeting for the community about the people who are homeless next to Broadview Thomson K-8. It got to be problematic.
As a member of the Broadview community, I walked over to Broadview Thomson, the school my child will enter as a kindergartner this fall. I heard about this meeting from my neighbor, and saw several other neighbors of children at Broadview Thomson present. I’ve also volunteered to bring food and supplies to the people camping here, and I saw a few others involved in this effort, including those from the church across the street. They’ve provided a free pantry, showers, and importantly land on their parking lot for housing. This made it possible for some previously-homeless students at Broadview Thomson to have housing, which has been a community issue for a while.
Good sized crowd in attendance at Broadview Thomson
This meeting had a lot of interest and was attended by members of both the local and surrounding communities, as well as several people who are homeless and living in the area. After a lengthy background by Seattle Schools’ new Deputy Superintendent Rob Gannon and School Board Director Liza Rankin took questions. The voices dominating the “questions” seemed to be quite reactionary and unhelpful, however. This is not to say that wanting to know the details was unwarranted, but that there was very little listening to others, especially those with direct experience and knowledge to answer the questions.
Finally getting to the heart of the meeting, Deputy Superintendent Rob Gannon described “the start of a plan” involving a partnership with the nonprofit outreach provider Anything Helps to connect people with resources. Anything Helps is a new nonprofit run by Mike Mathias, who is a formerly homeless counselor and has worked in providing support for people who are experiencing homelessness. The school district said they’ve provided $5,000 to Anything Helps for material needs, but they’re looking for volunteers and donations.
Although I understand criticism that the meeting should have started with this information, I’m not sure if that would have defused the general pitchforks attitude.
And I do think the background is important. Homelessness is a huge issue, and covers a lot of ground. We aren’t going to change homelessness by September. It’s a regional, and really a national/international one. It will take a long time to reverse many of the reasons that have brought us here.
There were members of the news media present, with Erica C. Barnett of Publicola providing an extensive live-tweet. Barnett and Publicola have done some of the most intensive reporting on local Homelessness issues, and I highly recommend reading and supporting their work. It is also great that Dahlia Bazzaz, Seattle Times’ Education Reporter was also present. I appreciate that the Times has a specific beat for both schools and homelessness coverage.
Additionally, a reporter and camera operator from KOMO were in attendance. Interestingly, despite regular coverage of this specific story, they didn’t have any of the KOMO branding or blue outfits/jackets/vehicles that generally signify their presence. Perhaps the criticism of KOMO of being owned (and controlled) by the right-leaning Sinclair has moved them to be more discrete? At any rate, I’m pretty sure their coverage has been detrimental to public understanding of this issue. I can get into this more later, but after the various propaganda from KOMO, I’m wary of the angle that they’re pushing.
Important Takeaways:
Anything Helps has identified the needs of 46 out of 56 of the people camping at Bitter Lake and started the necessary steps to get people the help they need.
Deputy Superintendent Gannon reported that 3 people have already moved into housing, and Mike Mathias of Anything Helps stated that 6 people are ready to receive housing.
Additionally, Anything Helps has begun working on getting people IDs or replacements and next steps, which are important in getting the process going.
People in the camp are specifically not interested in working with “We Heart Seattle”. Hmm…
Their goal is to get everyone into housing by Sept 1 (or Sept 3? – before school starts, anyway). While 100% seems unlikely, it’s certainly possible that a number of people will receive services. And certainly more than if the city had simply done a sweep. We’ll just have to see what happens next.
I’ll be interested to see more coverage, but I’m also a bit trepidatious to step into a school community which seems to be dominated by some problematic voices. It was heartening that some nearby parents were (more quietly) taking a positive approach. I just wish more of us had said something.
I have a teenager to discuss this with, so I’m trying to keep this as simple as possible.
I’m seeing people get lost in the details of the latest death, and I get caught up in it myself, but we need to look at the bigger picture:
Police kill over 1000 people in the U.S. each year.
That is 1000 more than any other country.
235 people killed by police last year were Black.
So about 1 in 4 people killed by police are Black.
But only about 1 in 8 people in the U.S. are Black!
So Black people are twice as likely to be killed by the police*.
And, Black people are more likely to be killed when they aren’t even posing a threat.
5X more likely.
Let’s back up. Police need to follow the rules. They need to use reason, and they need probable cause. And even with these, the police should be doing as much as they can to take everyone into custody alive. So they can stand trial. That’s our system.
Police aren’t the judge or executioner. Nor should they be.
Not our way.
And yet our police kill 2-3 people… (nearly) Every Day.
So almost every three days, police kill TWO Black people.
We must look past the latest atrocity.
We don’t have to argue about details to see that the overall picture is bad, that it’s wrong, and incredibly unjust.
If we’re caught up arguing about the details of the latest black death by police, without seeing the larger problem and taking action, then another death happens and we just keep on arguing.
So, what do we do?
If we want justice, we must work for it.
Let’s begin.
“We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe.”
I’ll let you know how discussing this goes. This is basically a draft, so I’m open to suggestions! Could parts be even simpler? More memes? More relevant cultural references? I’d love suggestions!
Update:
Discussing this went okay, but was only the start to an ongoing discussion.
If I could do it again, I’d recommend more listening. Kids are going to make up their own mind, and a dialogue is more useful than a tirade. I’ll try that next time.
Some friends have pointed out that the numbers have more to do with Black people having more interactions with police, and therefore being more likely to be killed. Their argument being that the possibility of being killed by the police is the same each time, regardless of race.
I think this speaks more to our racist society, and what is the difference to a Black person?
Being more likely to be pulled over, possibly leading to death, because of the color of one’s skin… yeah, I don’t think that changes the overall problem.
Over-policing that leads to racially unjust death is still systemic racism.
Okay, we’ve had the parts for a year. When we first spotted Metrofiets’ closing sale, we’d been shopping around for an electric-assist bakfiets, and… well, we already loved them. A few friends have Metrofiets and they’re dreamy, but a bit pricey. With a closeout deal, however… we couldn’t pass it up. We’d been talking to Alex at Electric Lady about options. Should we do it? “It could be fun,” he said, bursting into his infectious laugh.
We went for it. All we’d need would be a motor, and… oh yeah, some parts.
It would take a while to come together.
First, for some color. Since we had a raw steel frame, we got to choose our own color, and Seattle Powder Coat has some special sparkle options!
The sparkle really pops!
Meet the very last Metrofiets box bike: Tangerine!
Seattle Powder Coat did a nice job.
It turned out great!
Then we had a few conversations and negotiations on what all would go together. We wanted lots of gears, but a front triple just wouldn’t fit on the Metrofiets huge diameter seat post tube, so 10 gears will do. With the assist, it would be plenty.
Alex and Bike Swift recommended a new monster 1500 watt MAC motor, but we’d be waiting longer than we wanted. As regular bike riders, we went with the 500-watt Bafang rear hub motor which still has the power we’d need, and would get us riding sooner. I’m not saying we won’t upgrade someday…
Our friend Shirley offered a battery she had used for a previous motor setup on her Metrofiets… which turned out to be seriously high-powered and badass. I’ve run the battery completely out only once, and was smart enough to ride it uphill before it did. The bike is pretty darn heavy, so I wouldn’t recommend this.
Four-caliper hydraulic disc brakes would bring it all to a swift stop.
With a plan, we gathered the bits and got to work.
Frame on the stand at Electric Lady, ready to go!
We also insisted on a dynamo system for the lights, despite having a huge battery which could easily power such things. This way, the lights stay on even if the battery runs out!
Fenders and a waterproof canopy round out the build for northwest weather. BlaqPaks makes great waterproof covers, the new version of which has nifty magnetic latches.
There are a few more details: a dropper-post, USB charger, and a serious rear rack.
That’s enough for now, gotta go for a ride. Let’s save some drama for next time!
Metrofiets made front-loading box bikes in Portland, Oregon for 12 years, and they’re fantastic bikes. These bakfiets-style cargo bikes have a solid front box, a long-wheelbase, and a 24” front tire for a cushy ride.
When Metrofiets went out of business, we got our hands on the last frame and set to build up a custom electric cargo bike. Step one was powder-coating, the long-lasting way to “paint” a bike frame. As we got to do this ourselves, we chose a custom sparkly tangerine color from Seattle Powder Coat.
Before adding the box, you can really see the “Long John” style. This thing is 9 feet long!
Tangerine on the stand at Electric Lady.
Electric Lady in Seattle built up the bike, with an electric hub motor from Bike Swift. We haven’t had an electric bike, and the kid is just getting heavier. With both of us riding bicycles regularly, we opted for “only” a 500-watt motor, but it’s a Bafang hub with some serious torque. Henry from Bike Swift says it’ll do “up to 80 N-m”… which I honestly don’t understand, but must be good!
Now Boxed!
It has a bunch of little details, I’ll give a full rundown after the ride home!
Casa Concerts is an intimate RSVP only live show held on the second Friday of each month. The location is at a private home in Scottsdale, AZ. Each concert will feature both local and touring musicians and comedians.
The Linka Lock is a smart bike lock that can be added to many bikes. It certainly falls into the category of “Should it be smart?” and we’ll discuss that later. The unique feature it provides is a simple way of having some peace of mind regarding your bike. 
Fofo-babble 