Archive for February, 2008

Foto del dia 2.10

The Art of Wheel Building

The Art of Wheel Building by Gerd Schraner is considered the definitive essay on construction and design of custom wheels. This is a friendly, hands-on book, compiled from Schraner’s notes from over 45 years of building wheels for professional and amateur racers. A must-have for the serious wheel builder, and an essential companion to Jobst Brandt’s The Bicycle Wheel. Wire-bound softcover.

buy at bikeschool

Real Onionz: "UN: Shut down marijuana dispensers"

VIENNA - Marijuana vending machines in Los Angeles violate international treaties and should be shut down, a UN-affiliated drug-control board said Friday.

"The International Narcotics Control Board is deeply concerned about reports that computerized vending machines to dispense cannabis [marijuana] have been put into operation in Los Angeles," Philip Emafo, president of the board, said in a statement.

At least three Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries have installed vending machines to distribute the drug to people who carry cards authorizing marijuana use. The drug is said to alleviate chronic pain, loss of appetite and other ailments — a use the board is skeptical about.

"Can a great writer be blind to the world around him?"

The great American writer Herman Melville says somewhere in The White Whale that a man ought to be "a patriot to heaven," and I believe it is a good thing, this ambition to be cosmopolitan, this idea to be citizens not of a small parcel of the world that changes according to the currents of politics, according to the wars, to what occurs, but to feel that the whole world is our country.
a€", "Homage to Victoria Ocampo," in Borges en Sur

at slate

"My Africa: Biking Through the Dark Continent"

a€oeAlllllllllaaaahhhhhhhhhha€¦.a€A The booming voice of a muezzin reciting the morning prayers from a mosque loudspeaker jolts me awake. The first attempt to open my eyes proves unsuccessful, as the sand that has accumulated in them (as well as every other orifice in my body) presents an obstacle. When Ia€™m finally able to blink out the crust, I can make out the luminous Sudanese desert night sky through the ceiling of my tent, stars free from competing against pollution and skyscrapers.

At 4:30 AM, ita€™s too early to get up, so I make a feeble attempt to sleep through the deafening prayers. After finally drifting off an hour later I am once more unceremoniously disturbed from my slumber, this time by the booming vocals of Freddie Mercury. The opening lines of Queena€™s bicycle song (a€oeI want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bikea€¦.a€A) blare from our support truck. Despite waking us up with this song every morning for the past three weeks, our overland support staff still finds this funny. Hilarious. I struggle to get up once again, change into my riding clothes, pack up my tent, and swallow down some porridge before starting the 70 mile trek in the Sudanese sun. So begins another day on the Tour Da€™Afrique. via

Foto del dia 2.10

Waterboarding the Democrats?

What to do with your Millions you ask?

Learn Numismatics.

Today, most transactions take place by a form of payment with either inherent, standardized or credit value. Numismatic value may be used to refer to the value in excess of the monetary value conferred by law. This is also known as the "collector’s value" or "intrinsic value."

White Flag, 1955