Look who it is!

Yes yes, that's me and my very own band, Mist Giant, in a feature profile video on my very own local music site, WiretapMusic.com. Shameless? Perhaps. Do I care? Not at all.

We definitely did not try very hard to look "cool" for this video. Oh well. This is definitely who we are. Enjoy!

Riggins wisdom

Keep your guard up. Stay angry.

Figgins wisdom

No monkeyshines
No lollygagging
No sassback

The day just got shorter

Literally. The day just got shorter because of the earthquake in Chile. Luckily it wasn't by an appreciable amount, because I can't spare it. But this is fascinating nonetheless:

The massive earthquake that struck Chile on Saturday may have shifted the Earth's axis and created shorter days, scientists at NASA say.

The change is negligible, but permanent: Each day should be 1.26 microseconds shorter, according to preliminary calculations. A microsecond is one-millionth of a second.

A large quake shifts massive amounts of rock and alters the distribution of mass on the planet.

When that distribution changes, it changes the rate at which the planet rotates. And the rotation rate determines the length of a day.

What he said

Krugman gets it right, as usual.

After Massachusetts, Democrats were looking for leadership; they didn’t get it. Ten days later, nobody is sure what Obama intends to do, and his aides are giving conflicting readings. It’s as if Obama checked out.

Look, Obama is a terrific speaker and a very smart guy. He really showed up the Republicans in the now-famous give-and-take. But we knew that. What’s now in question isn’t his ability to talk, it’s his ability to lead.

If you haven't seen the videos of President Obama taking the Repug leadership to task at their own retreat, they're well worth it: here and here.

Copenhagen's bike-friendly streets

I was in Copenhagen for most of December, and was amazed at how many folks ride their bikes there, even in the snow and sub-zero weather.



This video (via StreetFilms.org) shows a lot of the amazing technological innovations the city has implemented to make cycling safer and easier. It also has a few shots of the so-called "cargo bikes" — front-loader bikes that people in Copenhagen use to transport everything from their groceries to their kids. I found them to be very funny.

The numbers speak for themselves: 37% of daily commutes are done by bike in Copenhagen; while 55% of all trips in Copenhagen are made by bike.

This is exactly why I'm a member of the San Francisco Bike Coalition — if they can do it in Denmark, we can sure as hell do it here! Of course, in Denmark the most they do to lock up their bike is a little bolt that goes between the spokes of their rear wheel. That's what tripped me out the most — in San Francisco your bike would be gone in 5 minutes if you don't secure it to something. But I still think that with the right city planning, we can get to Copenhagen levels of bike riding.