![[coffee beans spilling out of a cup]](http://diveintomark.org/public/2007/10/coffee-beans.jpg)
I’m trying to ride my new bike to as many places as possible. Most days this involves riding past Booda Beans. It’s everything you would expect from a neighborhood coffee-shop-that-isn’t-Starbucks, offering coffee in various combinations of size, temperature, and artificial flavor. Plus pastries and bulk candy. On the dark side, the owner drives an Escalade and watches Fox News all day, while peddling caffeine and sugar to strung-out suburbanites. On the bright side, they offer free wireless.
Tangentially, I think liberals should thank Fox News for indirectly providing a valuable service. It is now possible to rank the batshit-craziness of American conservatives on a single linear scale, based on when they stopped watching Fox News.
Unrelatedly, I’ve made a few changes to my site footer, started redirecting my main feeds through Feedburner, and added an automated list of “related articles” links after each post. This has taught me that I do not write consistently enough for an automated “relatedness” algorithm to work its magic. Also, that both tables and CSS suck, but differently. And that it’s much easier to redesign when you don’t have ads. And that Feedburner’s subscriber counts vary from day to day by a factor of 4. One of the disadvantages of working for Google is that I feel somewhat obligated to report things like this and get them fixed. I helped get one thing fixed already. I’ve done other things too, but they’re not ready yet. Not even “beta.”
I enjoy riding my bike. I haven’t had this much fun exercising since, well, ever.
This is an open thread.
I’m not sure which is worse: that your coffee shop’s Internet presence consists only of one modern parable, or that this parable rips off the ending of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Meanwhile, Starbucks gave me Herbie Hancock this morning.
Comment by Mike Mariano — Tuesday, October 16, 2007 @ 1:04 am
Nice footer. Can’t say I ever read footers, let alone laugh at them :)
Comment by Tom — Tuesday, October 16, 2007 @ 2:24 am
“I enjoy riding my bike. I haven’t had this much fun exercising since, well, ever.”
I’m right there with you. In the last two months, I’ve just started cycling again for the first time in, oooh, ten years. My commute is now one of the highlights of my day, and how many commuters can say that?
I loved the Fox News quote, by the way.
Comment by Pete — Tuesday, October 16, 2007 @ 4:25 am
Bikes are genius.
Comment by Mike — Tuesday, October 16, 2007 @ 9:03 am
Aside from the general evils of pseudo-pre-filled search bar terms, is there a reason yours is random?
I don’t think your linear scale works, by the way. The true batshit crazy thirty-percenters are all still hangin’ in there. At best, yours provides a linear estimation of how far one has redeemed oneself.
- Chris
Comment by Chris Cunningham — Tuesday, October 16, 2007 @ 9:11 am
> Aside from the general evils of pseudo-pre-filled search bar terms, is there a reason yours is random?
They are actual search terms that have led people to diveintomark.org in the past 30 days.
Comment by Mark — Tuesday, October 16, 2007 @ 9:57 am
Not logarithmic?
Comment by Ian — Tuesday, October 16, 2007 @ 9:58 am
I notice your new footer says, “Don’t Steal”.
Don’t know that you’ll be able to do anything about it, but when I followed your link over to intertwingly.net, I found this strange entry in the trackbacks, FYI.
Comment by Kevin H — Tuesday, October 16, 2007 @ 11:41 am
On your “tangent”, as I blogged today after reading your post, in Spain we have a radio station, owned by the Catholic Church, which plays basically the same role as Fox News in USA. It is called COPE, and they are still defending the conspiracy theory that ETA was responsible of the March 11 bombs in Madrid, in spite of all the reality doses they have received in the last four years.
Comment by Santiago Gala — Tuesday, October 16, 2007 @ 4:28 pm
You can’t leave us bicycle geeks hanging without some more background on your bike. We got a few entire posts about your car, and that is far less interesting. What type of bike (in as much detail as you would like to provide of course), how you got started riding again, stuff that gives you bike envy, that sort of thing. Please?
Comment by Zach Roberts — Tuesday, October 16, 2007 @ 5:42 pm
It’s red. I believe it is called a “Raleigh Retroglide,” which is one of those brand names that sounds dirty but isn’t. I bought it used, via craigslist, and then had the local bike shop fix the chain and replace the tubes.
I started riding after Chris DiBona shanghaied me into riding one of the communal bikes on Google’s Mountain View campus. (Frumpy-looking bikes are available all over — just pick one up at the entrance outside your building and drop it off at the entrance to wherever you’re going.) Then I started riding them everywhere around campus. Then I came home and decided to buy one.
I try to ride 30 minutes every day. Last week was the exception because I was sick.
Nothing really gives me bike envy yet. Except I’d like to have a biker’s physique so I could look good in spandex. But not actually to wear spandex, just to be able to without feeling depressed. I’ve promised myself that when I hit 200 pounds, I’ll buy a new bike that doesn’t look like a holdover from the 1950s.
Comment by Mark — Tuesday, October 16, 2007 @ 9:51 pm
Hooray for bikes! I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying yours. I take mine to work and school on weather-permitting days. Apart from saving gas and getting some exercise, it’s very relaxing, especially compared to the rush-hour, stop-light-filled commute I would normally have. Now if I can only find a pannier that can fit my 14″ wide laptop…
Comment by Craig — Tuesday, October 16, 2007 @ 11:02 pm
Craig: use a backpack instead. This will (use your body to) minimize vibratory stress on the lappy, and as a side bonus will make stealing it far less likely (it is sooo easy to forget to pick it up when doing a short stop).
Speaking from experience: my motor bike made an old laptop I had leak screws :) But then it was a small Yamaha that used to be driven at 6k rpm.
Comment by Santiago Gala — Wednesday, October 17, 2007 @ 3:41 am
I frequently take my laptop in a backpack and work over lunch. All the lunch restaurants within biking distance have free wireless (not just Booda Beans).
Comment by Mark — Wednesday, October 17, 2007 @ 9:48 am
Mmmmmm…biking to work. (Glances out at crazy Northwest weather.) All summer I rode 11+ miles a day (round-trip) to work and it was the most amazing thing. I love my new job!
I’m seriously thinking about getting contacts so I can ride in the winter, and I’m TERRIFIED of contacts. (Rain + glasses = can’t see for sh!t.)
Cycling is actually even a part of my prescribed mental health routine, because that amount of exercise turns out to be necessary for me to keep my moods on an even keel. OMG I need to get into the workout room at work, but even with that I can’t get the same quantity & quality of exercise.
And don’t knock the 50s style bikes too much. I have an Electra Townie, and despite its …quirks… you’d have to pry it from my cold dead hands. My husband has tried, by the way, as he thinks it’s “inappropriate” for commuting. Bah!
Comment by Elaine — Wednesday, October 17, 2007 @ 4:56 pm
Elaine, what are you referring to when you say ‘quirks’? I’m looking at buying a Townie myself soon so would love to hear what you think =)
Comment by Tim — Wednesday, October 17, 2007 @ 10:08 pm