DannyGirl’s Recent Comments

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  To VidrianSeattle: Cute. Sure - in Holland people go everywhere, on flat even terrain, surrounded shoulder to shoulder with other cyclists in a richly bike-centric culture. That's not the dynamics we work with here: hills, cars far numbering cyclists, and a very "car-centric, bicycle-invisible" mindset. Look, people will walk away with a basic idea of 'helmets good' or 'helmets bad'. What you're talking about takes skill to avoid serious head injuries in the absence of helmets. That's all well and good but it doesn't make for good general audience messenging which has to take into account that there are no manditory trainings for biking like cars, no testing and licensing of any kind. People view bikes as being basically toys, we let our small children ride them nearly unattended and just go from there. Sure a helmet is not a bubble. It won't save you from tearing up your entire body in the event of a bad crash. All kind of bad things could happen to you. But a simple crash with some road rash shouldn't automatically be pre-packaged with a concussion also. Helmets work.On Ask Umbra on bike helmets posted 2 weeks, 2 days ago 12 Responses

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  I'm sorry but this is utter nonsense. I've personally seen your "lightweight piece of styrofoam with a bunch of holes" get cracked when a friend took a tumble on a wet pavement plate. THAT CRACK would have been in his skull! Cracked skulls are pretty much the worst kind of concussion we can have. The helmet saved his life and kept him from being Vegetablized End of story. If you don't believe me, try this experiment on yourself: sit on a bicycle, fully upright. No movement (which is in most crashes). Just sit. You're probably sitting 6 feet tall or so. Now, tuck your shoulders out of the way, and let the bicycle and you fall over in a perfect arc. No slumping and falling on your arms or hands. The object is get your head to bounce off the pavement from a 6 foot drop with no helmet. Have you done it? Ok, assuming you survive your head cracking open like an egg, go ahead and post the results here some months later when you re-gain the ability to speak and think and write and everything else.On Ask Umbra on bike helmets posted 2 weeks, 2 days ago 12 Responses

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  I noted that the gist of the article *wasn't* about bicycling safety and its merits. It was about helmets and what to do with them after a theoretical crash. :-/On Ask Umbra on bike helmets posted 2 weeks, 3 days ago 12 Responses

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  The bulk of modern bike helmets is a kind of styrofoam. The only place I've seen that take styrofoam packing frames (analogous to bike helmet inserts) is this collection bin at IKEA in Renton, near the check-out exit. I have no idea what they do with them (they also collect other hard-to-recycle items that represent the products they peddle.) I would think that IF YOU REMOVED all non-stryo parts of the helmet (outer shell, chin straps, foamy inner pads, etc) then you could probably recycle the styrofoam part at IKEA. Unless someone has other info?On Ask Umbra on bike helmets posted 2 weeks, 4 days ago 12 Responses

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  brings up gender issues in a big way

  It's pretty noticeable for men and women alike (if the gals swing that way) when a man's 'gear' is on the small size - and very regrettable if this is attributable the plastics he was exposed to from the periods in utero through puberty.  What I'm guessing is being in overlooked is the same kind of effect showing up in girls.  That is is to say a too-small, impossible-to-find clitoris.  Yet, this still sort of appearance files under 'feminine' and therefore socially acceptable (if sexually deleterious).  So, to the extent that policy makers and industry actually give a crap about male sexual health, they might get off their butts and do something.  Females will benefit by proxy, but no one's going to get off their buts to save the endangered clitoris, I'd hazard to say. On Phthalates linked to abnormal genitalia in baby boys posted 1 year, 1 month ago 5 Responses