pc486

I'm unconvinced. The LBS can still work on Buffalo bikes. They can still repair tubes, true wheels, fix pedals, replace spokes, fix chains, change brake pads, etc. They may not have unique parts, like the AK2 freewheel, but it's far from being unable to repair most bicycle failures.

I think Evan found an upset businessman who's in the business of selling Black Mambas. They're in that same situation as a local doctor that's been displaced by Doctors Without Borders. And they're upset that they have to compete with WBR. The complaint is understandable yet it doesn't absolve them of their own failures.

No bicycle donation program is going to survive on a single LBS or two near a city. If I were to buy a kid a Black Mamba and it breaks down, then the kid has to take it into the city to repair it at that one shop with high repair prices. What's far more likely is the kid will stop using the bike and sell it. Kids-in-school objective failed.

Note, this is also why WBR only operates in places where there is insufficient bicycle support. There's no need for WBR to donate and sell bikes if there's already a healthy local bicycle market. You can't buy a Buffalo Bicycle and WBR doesn't want you to have one. Instead go buy a Surley or a SOMA or a Rivendell. We have a robust LBS network. WBR operates where there's nothing.

And, IMHO, the Black Mamba isn't a great rural bicycle. It'll work but it's far from ideal. By donating to WBR, I know it's the best bicycle that will go to some kid. I know that it'll survive long enough for that kid's few more years of school. I know that it'll be strong enough to be passed down to their little brother or sister. And I know their village has a dude with a wrench to fix a flat and adjust a pedal. Such robustness is worth the extra $50 over a Black Mamba.

I'm not a fan of this article, mostly because Evan Christenson contemplates the darker side of charities working in underdeveloped countries without actually exploring them beyond criticizing WBR. It's, likely unintentional, FUD propaganda.

It should not be a shock to find out that charities have overhead and many of them have unfortunate side effects. For example, Evan brings up Doctors Without Borders as a charity with lower overhead and a leader less compensated. That's true, but did you also know they sell your personal information when you donate to them? That's part of how they lower their costs. Also they provide doctor services for free. What does that do to the doctors who are there trying to make a meager living? DWB is undermining what little medical infrastructure the country has.

Is that a bad thing? Is it a good thing? That depends on you, the donor's, perspective. Selling my data to provide more doctor is fine with me. Same with undermining the countries' medical market because it's a temporary thing and usually in a crisis where not providing help is definitively worse.

I'll continue donating to WBR because their expense ratio is acceptable, even good, for physical good imports given the shipping overhead (aka bribes) in Africa. Admim is ~15% and fundraising is ~23%. Everything else goes into the bicycle and into families with kids who cannot afford one. That's a lower margin than buying just about any good from your local shops, and it's lower than many other charities working in Africa!

Vietnam is a counter-example with quite effective bicycle troops. Their army and insurgency was supplied with bicycles on the Ho Chi Minh trail.

I don't believe the machine gun is intended to be fired while on the move. You'd have to be grabbing that grip at your crotch, aiming without the sights, all the while peddling and steering. That's quite the tall order. Even under ambush conditions you'd want to get out of the area ASAP, something a bicycle would do better at than on foot.

My presumption is this is intended to be a fast and light machine gun placement. Speedy deployment and movement of machine gun nets without needing to carry all that weight, let along carrying a machine gun's diet of ammunition, on your back is quite an advantage. Dismounting to get behind the gun isn't a high bar nor particularly slow. I'm sure a soldier could be sending lead downrange in a matter of seconds. Essentially the same role as light infantry support vehicles today.

The recoil wouldn't be that bad. Apparently the M1895 was loaded with 6mm Lee Navy at around 2,200J muzzle velocity and a cyclic fire of 450/min. That's quite manageable. In comparison, the M249 is a shoulder mounted gun of 1,800J, 850/min. That's 50% more recoil to manage without a bicycle frame to support the firearm.

I upgraded my license when my grandfather had to move in with my parents so I coul help him setup a smaller shack and assist in operating the radio with him. He deeply appreciated the family time, and I'm sure your Uncle wouldn't mind spending time with you too.

For whatever it's worth, these web interfaces are great at listening and cost nothing. Ask him to help you operate (finding signals and how to listen to them) using a KiwiSDR online. If you find out he's also having fun, then perhaps look into remote radio station equipment. There's a wide selection of transmitting capable SDRs, like FlexRadio, and DIY solutions (e.g. https://www.remotetx.net/). You can even rent remote operation time with incredibly nice hardware in amazing locations (e.g. https://www.remotehamradio.com/). Perhaps he'll be come interested in another side of ham radio that he hasn't done before either, like working satellite passes. That doesn't take more than one nice, or two very cheap, handheld radios and a small handheld yagi.

Ham radio can be used as voice chat with friends, but that would be a pretty limited view of it. Here's some things that a Discord Voice Chat cannot do that radio can:

• Chat without internet (e.g. places without cell towers).
• Chat without voice. (digital communications of all kinds; email/text, keyboard-to-keyboard, pictures, etc).
• To build an internet (e.g. building WiFi meshes with extra power [AREDN], AX.25 packet, WinLink).
• Used as a tool during emergencies (see ARES/RACES/CERT).
• Chat completely randomly (it's just one big discord channel, but you can only hear some people).
• Chasing the challenge of unusual radio propagation (earth-moon-earth, meteor bounce, tropospheric ducting, aurora).
• Chasing the challenge of collecting the most point-to-point contacts (contests).
• Chasing the challenge of difficult radio propagation (microwave links).
• Constructing and using radios that you cannot buy off the shelf parts with (usually with those funny microwave guys).
• Higher power versions of things unlicensed folks cannot do (RC toys, Meshtastic/LoraWAN, WiFi, etc).
• Historical preservation (restoring old radios, keeping ship-shore coastal stations running [e.g. Maritime Radio Historical Society]).
• Conducting scientific experiments (HamSCI, and I conducted one listening to the ionosphere during the recent total eclipse).
• Building and controlling satellites (AMSAT).

And there's even more. The way to view ham radio is the government grants you a license to operate on many pieces of radio spectrum so long as you can show your technical ability to not cause harm (interference, safety, and things that will prevent you from blowing up your radio as well as find success in using it). What you do with that spectrum is up to you!

Since you brought it up, let's dive into the numbers as presented[1]. The top all-cause is heat disease. A disease that's preventable by moderate exercise (e.g. walking, biking, playing baseball, anything really) and avoiding common legal drugs (tobacco and alcohol being most implicated, but also most available).

Next up, cancer. Also a general class of disease that has many causes, but has also been shown that moderate exercise reduces cancer risk.

COVID and respiratory disease? Preventive measures like vaccines and, again, moderate exercise also reduce this risk. Oh, and cars are a factor in this category (long-term inhaling tailpipe emissions will make your lungs unhealthy).

Opioid overdose (1:55)? Suicide (1:87)? That's somewhat self explanatory to fix, but good medical care and moderate exercise again helps.

Guns? That's all cases of guns. Homicide (1:219) and suicide (1:159) by guns must be rolled up to get to the 1:89 figure. Homicide is a big issue to untangle, like suicide. That said, homicide has been linked to car infrastructure depressing local economies and as a tool in segregating black communities into unfit areas away from economically viable white ones.

Then we're finally down to falls (1:92) and cars (1:93).

What can we take away from this? If you're trying to reduce risk, go for a walk or ride a bike regularly. It'll help you avoid heart disease, improve odds against respiratory diseases, and is a good tool for upping your mental health game. No need to trust me. I'm a dog with a keyboard. Talk to your doctor about it. You may be surprised how effective reducing drinking, stopping smoking, and going out for a walk every day can do.

Whoops, my bad. Pedestrian "incidents" (ran over by car) is the next cause (1:468). Cycling isn't too far behind (1:3,162). Maybe we should continue to drive overhead bad parts of town, inhale our neighbor's car fumes, and enjoy our near-guaranteed death by heart attack and choking.

[1] In the OP's data source. It's a good source, but it is US biased and biased in NHTSA's reporting (e.g. person in hospital from a car, but died >30 days later? That's natural causes.).

Perhaps with your preferred brand(s) of ebikes. This law is targeting Super73 and similar brands that advertise and promote post-sale "off-road" or "unlimited" modifications. These modified bikes have been a nuisance on public trails for a few years now.

Are they? I've seen plenty of well-liked memes of banning cars as well as guns. There are popular posts about banning cars entirely from various developments. Or outright hate and venting when another ghost bike gets installed.

IMHO, the urbanist movement is more focused on infrastructure than fuck cars. Fuck cars is more encompassing than just urbanism and civil engineering.

Not every member of the fuck cars community is about car infrastructure, even though I personally fall into the infrastructure camp.

Say you have the viewpoint that guns should be tightly controlled due to the number of people killed by them. Cars kill approximately the same number of people in the US every year (depending on if you count suicides and if intent is important). If guns are bad for deadly external behaviors, then so are cars. Just like how there are gun ranges or race tracks for responsible ownership, there can be gun related murder and car related murder. Ban guns and ban cars.

Case in point is this very article. It appears to be a hate related crime committed with a car. Germany tightly controls gun ownership, so why would we dismiss tight control of car ownership? Should we allow this person to drive again if he's convicted? Why do we allow DUI drivers, who have killed others before, to continue to drive again? What do devices like ignition interlocks say about us?

Amazing, right? They're a shop oriented towards trike builders. Not only do they have by-the-foot orders for a trike's crazy long chainline, but they offer a la cart parts on their kits! Not just for repairability but also for whatever custom project you'd like to lego together. I've had nothing but good experiences with them. :)