Bloody Bike Wars

[His Highness the TibetanMonkey, the Beach Cruiser Philosopher]

"Juliana Dias's death, at first glance, wasn't particularly
remarkable. She was killed on her bicycle by a bus on March 2 on Sao
Paulo's most famous street, Avenida Paulista.

But her death -- one of a reported five fatal road accidents involving
cyclists in Brazil the same day -- sparked spontaneous protests in
some two dozen cities across the country, and a fierce national
debate.

Dias, a biologist and researcher at the Sirio Libanes hospital in Sao
Paulo, had been a cycling activist. Her death came just three years
after another activist, Marcia Prado, was killed at almost the same
spot. This time, hundreds of cyclists blocked Avenida Paulista in
response and across the country -- in cities as far apart as Manaus,
Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro -- cyclists threw themselves on the
ground to symbolize the deaths, lit candles and sang songs."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-09/brazil-s-bloody-bike-wars-drive-national-protests-dom-phillips.html

***
Hey, there's no place for a man or woman to ride a bike in the the so
called "Civilized Western World." Our commitment to the RAT RACE is
unquestionable. Maybe in Africa they have more pity for the poor guy
on a bike. They want bicycles.

This sounds like the American way of life to me:

"Sao Paulo is, without doubt, a city of horrendous traffic and
pollution. During rush hour, it can take hours to cross town. Many
workers spend up to four hours a day commuting -- in their cars, on
overcrowded buses or on the city's pitifully few metro lines. Many
Paulistanos drive to the gym to work out, or to the park to run -- or
to ride bikes."

[His Highness the Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher]

...huhu hum...

Democracy is under questioning... unless they deliver the goods.
Sometimes it takes the local government to make it work. It's a small
revolution at a time.

Contrast Sao Paulo with Curitiba:

One of the biggest threats to sustainability is that for many
countries which are urbanising rapidly, for example India and China, a
Westernised style of city may be followed – meaning a city dominated
by cars and increasing ‘edge' developments for housing and services.

...

The factor which makes it stand out as a model of ‘voluntary
sustainability' is the vision and efforts of its mayor Jaime Lerner.
He and his government have achieved higher levels of quality of life
for the residents of the city by creating a city 'more intelligent and
humane'. This is despite scarce urban resources.

...

Cities will not evolve into a sustainable form since there are so many
different groups involved – speculators, individuals, pressure groups
and so on. Planning and proactive management is critical to resolve
differences in opinion and to safeguard minority social groups – but
it needs strict political resolve!

http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/learning_modules/geography/04.TU.01/?section=13

***

This is a sort of quiet revolution few have undertaken in Latin
America or elsewhere.

[His Highness the TibetanMonkey, the Beach Cruiser Philosopher]

On Wed, 13 Mar 2013 19:59:58 -0700, His Highness the Wise TibetanMonkey,

you're right, as you know. interesting absurdity... or could it be
that the world itself is of such a similar mind set that a symbol
could work?

we are plunging into Hell... we need comfort more than ever... not
less...
God

then perhaps we should carve an X into a stone and say it's THE
answer.
it's a philosophers crack...

Who needs comfort when we could have fun and freedom?
My older Lexus is depressing and I crave for my bikes. Walking is part
of evolution. We are a bipedal species and that doesn't refer to the
pedal of a boring automatic car.

we are an inventive species, invention is a part of evolution. i don't
think we should replace the basics with invention but it is inevitable
that an intelligent species would invent the wheel followed by vehicle.

it is part of expanding our horizons and discovering more of the world...
just as planes and the internet make us a more global species.
our conscious expansion into a universal embrace relies on technologies..
you would be in quite a smaller world without vehicles or communications.
where would be the enrichment of your mind by multi-cultural awareness...

The Internet is good technology because it brings us closer. The motor
vehicle just isolates us and makes animals out of us. Communities
disappear and gated communities appear.

[His Highness the Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher]

...
... death ...

How would you prefer to die?

I prefer to slip on a banana peel.

Do you have a second choice?
And, at what age
would you prefer this to occur?

Just before 70...

Sounds as if
you prefer to not see
death lurking around the corner
and to have it occur suddenly
while you least expect it.
You also prefer
to have all your faculties
undiminished by age.
Perhaps not too unlike
the lady who met death
on the road while riding her
bicycle, around the corner,
suddenly, without expectation,
having all her faculties undiminished
by her particular age.
You may say a banana peel
is not the same as some other
vehicle of death, and that before 70
is just not the same as 65, or 50,
or 25 or 15. And, in so doing,
you draw your own lines.
You might own them
and might try to push
your envelope onto
others at times.
To envelope all things
using your points of view.
But in so doing, you, yourself
may be enveloped by your envelope.
If there is no right nor wrong
then drawing lines is not wrong
nor is it right by the same line
of drawing and undrawing
water from a well.
To view a thing or event
as being one side of a coin,
or another side of a coin,
being as both are of
a single coin, ore to toss
the coin into the air, far,
far a way, so it is not there,
can be to view how views go.
Perhaps you cannot help but see
things and events such as you-dew.
May be you are unable to keep
from slipping on the peel,
after all, you are just
before 70 when
ever you do
draw that
sort of
line.
You-dew
such a thing
eventually practially
almost every day here
and there in newsgroups
mostly everywhere as well
as being nowhere.
You slip, fall,
crash, burn and
die ten thou sand
times over and
over and.
If you think
that you are
here for a purpose
such as to draw lines
then that is what you think.
You may feel a need for there to be
a purpose for you to exist. And
that is a feeling you might
care to have, a wish
to whoosh you
upon a star.
To carve
an uncarved block
such that there exists
purpose or no-purpose is
to carve an uncarved block.
There may not be any purpose
nor reason for carving, a side from
the purpose or no-purpose of
carving its'elf, for a spell,
while you draw lines
on the surface of
many waters.
You could be
a surface dweller.

The worst part about cycling/walking is not death itself, but the
constant struggle with mad drivers. One thing I think is particularly
bad is to be left injured, watching perhaps your own severed leg,
while the driver has taken off. Hit and runs are rather the norm
around here. And then... no dinero. The Jewish lawyer can not take the
case because there's nobody to sue. That's sad, real sad.

[His Highness the Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher]

Post by His Highness the Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher
The worst part about cycling/walking is not death itself, but the
constant struggle with mad drivers. One thing I think is particularly
bad is to be left injured, watching perhaps your own severed leg,
while the driver has taken off.

That has happened to you more than twice?

Post by His Highness the Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher
Hit and runs are rather the norm
around here.

You have been hit quite often?
Like, normally, when you go for a ride?

Post by His Highness the Wise TibetanMonkey, Most Humble Philosopher
And then... no dinero. The Jewish lawyer can not take the
case because there's nobody to sue. That's sad, real sad.

I once heard about a guy who was sad
because he had no money for shoes.
Then, he saw a guy with no feet.
Suddenly he didn't feel so sad.
If you are not content as you are now
perhaps things will get worse for you
and then, when they return to how
they were when now was then
you will be more happy.
Some folks seem to like to be sad.
They go looking for what's bad.
At times they get mad.
Are you ever glad?
Is being glad unnatural for you?
A sort of rare event?
Maybe if you posted good stuff
instead of always looking for trouble
you would not be so sad.
Just a thought.

There's something out there --quite foreign to you, I'm sure-- called
EMPATHY. It hurts when somebody goes through a preventable accident --
dozens of cyclists around here are the guinea pigs, many of them young
people, tourists-- and nothing is done to prevent accidents. And when
they do happen these terrorists behind the wheel simply take off and
leave you bleeding there...

http://www.ivanschertzer.com/blog/2013/02/pedestrian-killed-in-a-hit-and-run-accident-in-miami-beach.shtml

Good thing the Jewish lawyer finally made justice.