past goings on

5 May 2001

@ Wow, is this really 2001? Cinco de Mayo is something special for screed but I don't know why, it just is. Anyway as aged as some of this stuff feels, the flyers are still good and I hope screed keeps getting people excited. I'd like to see more sites like it ... where's yours?

@ Vancouver, B.C. is the spot for Bike Summer 2001.

@ Repaired a big problem with the site. Magically, all the PDF files were rendered unreadable ... kinda funny, it must have been bothering everyone, but only a few people mentioned it. Silly me, I treated the problem lightly, how could all the files on a professionally-run server get corrupted?

Well, they did. Fortunately I have a duplicate of the site on my hard drive and all I had to do was copy from here to there. Let that be a lesson, though, to anybody who's as dumb as I am: if somebody tells you there's trouble with your web site, check out the problem from their point of view. I figured if the files on my hard drive were okay, the server files were, too. Wrong!

5 May 2000

@ Six months to the day from the last bit of news! Actually, there's no news. The news page looked lonely. Everything's going great, even though Tom Ammiano didn't quite get to be mayor of San Francisco. Maybe this city isn't squeaky clean enough for Tom (as he is now) to become Big Boss.

When there's more news ...

@ Oh! Bike Summer 2000! It's in Chicago this year.
@ Oh, right, the millennium. In case you missed it all the digits in the Christian year turned over last time. There was a big party!

5 November 1999

@ Housecleaning. I don't have a lot of web space available so I cleaned out a few older items and some images. What left: Critical Mass 1998 promo flyer; Celebration Demonstration gif files; unlisted Bike Summer flyers; the full page People Do poster; the medium sized God-Willa image; the large size Underweight image.

@ New web site: Movies on the floor. This is another thing I do, and I've done more of it this last year than I've done bike advocacy.

@ Tom Ammiano could be the next mayor! (Or not.)

@ Thinking about this site. Most stuff here is still useful. (Sadly, though the SFPD's relationship with Critical Mass/SF has mellowed very much, all the stuff from the Dealing with Cops page is still useful and current.)

17 August 1999

@ New flyer: Every day is a holdup. This is one of several flyers that Looking Jim sent me more than a year ago. Another, Social Space, got up lickety split. I love this poster and there was a copy of it hanging in the SFBC office last time I checked.

14 May 1999

@ Bike Summer updates. Replaced the dracula flyer with a 2-up color piece that's up to date. <www.bikesummer.org> is still the best place for information.

@ Seasons. When the rain starts falling in San Francisco, I pretty much stop riding my bike. I hate getting wet and I hate how poor the drivers' visions become in the rain. During the winter I take Muni for my local trips. Seasons change for riding, and so it makes sense that seasons change for talking about riding.

A lot of people have been wondering what the hell happened to me in the last few months; I vanished from a couple places where I'd been a fixture for a couple years. I'm not dead or anything. After a very busy time with the local bike advocacy scene, another bug that had been working up its courage to bite me finally did.

My original medium-term goal for getting very active in the Critical Mass scene was to kick some butts into a higher gear. I never saw myself in any kind of permanent leadership position, although I played with the idea. I think I got done what I wanted to.

Note to Chris C. and others: in part my change of venue is because Critical Mass got my mind working in a lot of new ways. "It's not just about bikes." Whatever happens, the new risks I take in my life come directly from Critical Mass.

Weather report: less advocacy involvement in the future; continued supporting membership in the SFBC; more real time on the bicycle; Screed forever.

2 February 1999

@ Removed "SPEAK OUT against killer cops" flyer. The police commission meeting that the flyer sent people to is six months gone. I decided to leave the flyer up for issue awareness purposes.

If you are interested in doing more against abuses of police authority in San Francisco and the region, check out this listing of police oversight groups.

27 January 1999

@ Bike Summer has a new web site.

@ Updated flyer: Parking Clown. More variations on the theme. Now with a screen size sample.

@ Hard to believe I didn't post a new year's entry in this listing, isn't it? Actually my family's adventures around that were pretty funny ... when I've written them up, I'll post them.

21 December 1998

@ New flyer: Parking Clown. If a car is parked in the bike lane, maybe the driver just doesn't understand the problem. Give the gift of knowledge!

3 December 1998

@ New flyer: Critical Mass Film Fest. December 12, 11:30 am; Roxie Cinema, 3117 16th (btw Valencia/Guerrero), SF.

18 November 1998

@ Removed November election stuff for San Francisco propositions E and G. Congratulations to both campaigns. Now let's see how Octavia Boulevard gets built.

@ New flyer: Obeisance to Chevron Even with the ludicrous sponsorship, the Bicycle Culture show at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in SF is very cool -- art bikes, low rider bikes, history. The rest of the Ecotopias art show is pretty cool, too.

@ Has there been news? Nothing else, really. The strategy stuff will shake out over the next couple of months. I've started checking out how SF plans for pedestrians. Pretty interesting.

@ Oh! I can't ride my bike! That's news. My bruised wrist, from falling during Critical Mass, still makes it too hard to ride to feel safe in street traffic. Very frustrating!!!

31 October 1998

@ Happy Halloween! I went to a favorite Italian restaurant in North Beach, didn't wear a costume, didn't go to a party. Lots of great costumes getting on and off Muni on the way home. (Couldn't bike because I wiped out on the streetcar rails during Critical Mass's long ride on Market Street last night, and this time, bruised my hand and wrist. Bright side: witnesses described my fall as "a textbook roll" and "exactly how to fall on Market Street." Also, the bike wasn't damaged.)

@ More little changes around the site. In continuing avoidance of return-to-college applications, I've been tweaking this site again.

@ Strategy planning for the SFBC. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has entered its self-imposed chrysalis. What kind of butterfly will we become?

30 October 1998

@ New flyer: BIKE SUMMER! Bike Summer will happen, it will happen in San Francisco, and here's more information on the web. By phone, call 415-431-BIKE ext 9.

17 October 1998

@ Gratuitous web graphics. I don't like them ... I added some at the foot of each page anyway. They're very compact and the clean up the look a little.
16 October 1998

@ New flyer: Stop Evictions - YES on G. Up to June, I didn't know anyone who'd been evicted by an owner "moving in." Since then, it's happened to two of my friends. I live in a big building so it won't happen to me but this kind of "Get the fuck out, this is my building and my cash cow" bullshit must stop.

@ New flyer: Better Freeway - YES on E! Added the "Boulevard" large poster design. Like "Better Freeway", you can get a larger, brighter color version from the campaign, see the listing for instructions.

14 October 1998

@ New flyer: Take the lane! This one's for biker people, for driver people, try Bikes are traffic.

13 October 1998

@ New flyers: Better Freeway -- YES on E! Added "You have a choice!" and "Art Agnos letter."

@ More about oil. One of the conditions that would extend the oil supply would be a widespread economic recession -- so if there's a global financial crash, we'll have plenty of oil to go around. Isn't that good news?

@ SFBC Board of Directors? Tonight's the night for Board candidate speeches, I said I was a candidate, maybe I get to make a speech tonight. I wonder about the SFBC, about all the possible different SFBCs in each of our heads. Elections are exciting!

10 October 1998

@ New flyers: Better Freeway -- YES on E! Build the boulevard: a cheaper, faster, safer solution, with better traffic flow.

@ Added a page about PDF. Nobody asked for this but it seems useful. Also added a link to this page beneath each flyer entry.

9 October 1998

@ Park and Garage stuff removed. Not because the garage won't happen ... just that energy has shifted. See the G-Line and Alliance for Golden Gate Park pages for more.

@ Yes on E! Skip the Overpass: Build the Boulevard. I'll have some stuff for this in a bit.

@ Bike Summer in S.F.!

@ I like this site. I'm happy with it, and though I haven't touched it for a while, I think it works: the look, the collection of flyers, the idea. I'm glad I did it. I'm also glad I put in the time to make updates easy, because I've forgotten all my HTML since August, and so far the design teaches me what to do, all over again. Yay!

5 August 1998

@ New flyer: Choosing an Issue. Sometimes it seems like there are so many things you and your fellow social terrorists want to accomplish, it's hard to get a grasp of them. Fortunately you can take this kit, fill out the checklists and chart, and get a good idea of what you want to do, how much of it you can do, and how to do it. Nice, huh?

I got this at the SFBC activist training on July 25 (yes, the 1 year anniversary of the Critical Mass of DOOOOM). Happy Bike Day!

@ New flyer: What's next after oil? In the next 20 years, maybe before 2010, world oil production will begin to decline, and the Gulf States get 50% of the world oil market, or more. Will this be a global oil crisis? Or will new technologies and more destructive oil mining processes "save" us all?

I want to know, this oil crisis -- energy crisis, manufacturing crisis -- does it happen before or after the ice caps melt? Ugh. We are in some serious shit.

@ Oh well, no rewrites yet. I can't tinker with the site right now. I'll get to it.

2 August 1998

@ Happy August! Critical Mass on Friday night was pretty amazing, and the number of flyers going around before the ride inspires me to make this site better. Probably the design won't change but the supporting text will, that's my prediction, we'll see!

31 July 1998

@ New flyer: Social Space... fun and laughter ... lots and lotsa bikes. Another Mass vision.

@ New flyer: Traffic ... or trees? We can't choose our past but we can choose our future, and that future will be bike friendly.

30 July 1998

@ New flyer: SFPD rules on copwatching. Great to have on you if you're recording or just watching the police, in case they try to tell you what they're doing is none of your business. Read it first so you know what you're talking about.

@ New flyers: What's wrong with this picture? and Mass if you're Critical for promoting Critical Mass in SF.

9 July 1998

@ Police Commission Meeting, that I couldn't attend, seems like it showed us why the SFPD's abusive behavior goes unrecognized -- the S.F. Police Commission either doesn't care or just thinks concern over harassment is some kind of "Only In San Francisco" political cause.

First, harassment or mistreatment of people on bikes is not as serious as killing innocent people, but I think it comes from the same place: cops who think their job is to intimidate the already vulnerable, and a department that lets them behave that way.

Second, Human Rights Watch did a report on police abuse in the United States, and San Francisco's on their list. The Police Commission is right that San Francisco is a special case but they're wrong about why.

4 July 1998

@ New flyer: Stress Management Kit. Don't know about the copyright, a copy shop was giving them out.

@ New flyer: SPEAK OUT against killer cops. Wednesday, July 8, 5 pm, at the Hall of Justice, raise your voice against the worst form of police abuse.

29 June 1998

@ New flyer: WAIT! Bicycles are traffic. Put this on the front, It's the Law! on the back, and you have something more to say than "Hey! You could have killed me!"

@ Critical Mass. I'm not sure what else to say. It makes me happy to see the internet-bound debates coming to the public, finally, and to see all the energy coming back after months of rain and hard times with the cops. It makes me sad to see people not speaking to their real differences, or presenting their side to the media as the truth and trying to snowjob everyone else. We need to be better than this.

24 June 1998

@ New flyer: It's the Law (CVC 21202). First part of three for handing out, to defend your bicycle's presence in the lane, or even simply on the street.

17 June 1998

@ What every office needs: the seven deadly motivational posters.

16 June 1998

@ Must be spring or something. Time to redesign the web site. No actually I was just thinking the index needed to be easier to read, and then ...

9 June 1998

@ New flyer: GOD-WILLA vs. Spokemonster. Got this at the last mass. Yes I did get permission to post it.

5 June 1998

@ Election's over. And on A/J, a weird result -- authorization for a garage, but no money for a rebuilt museum. From my side, against the garage, this is probably a better outcome than museum money but no garage, because it's likely in that case that the garage would have been built anyway.

The garage may still be built. The group that pushed for A/J will probably push for another full bond rather than accept something more appropriate to the park: a less ambitious museum, or a split facility (minor facility in the park; major exhibition space downtown, where attendance would soar and the de Young could pay its own bills, for once).

So I'm leaving the NO! flyers up, and I'll put up some new ones soon, so people can show their opposition to the garage, and maybe pressure the Mayor and the museums to do the right thing by the park -- keep the crowds down, and do transit first, garage second, if at all.

@ Taking the Lane. Flyers will start appearing soon to help bikeists do a one-on-one education campaign in the street. One flyer to give drivers, one for cops, and one for other bikeists, to explain the campaign. A more direct, more changing "share the road."

(Feb 1998 through May 1998) older news >>