the ghost of Monsanto haunts me at work…

nhc_fog.JPG

The Research Triangle Park is a strange place. It feels a little creepy with GlaxoSmithKline’s North American headquarters, a major IBM campus, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, and Eli Lilly all within half a mile of each other. The presence of these companies alone makes RTP feel like the setting of the next Michael Crighton novel, where experimental science goes awry. Add to that, however, the security cameras at every intersection and the guarded checkpoints at the entrances of most campuses.

Rumor has it that somewhere in the Park is where Monsanto developed Agent Orange. Every now and then you can see official looking health inspectors taking soil samples from the woods that lie between campuses. True or not, I wouldn’t plant a food garden anywhere in RTP, if you know what I mean.

Occasionally, when I ride the bike path through the woods to work, I half-expect some strange, genetically mutated monster to confront me on the trail. Between the pharmaceuticals research, the genetics research, the nanotechnology research, and the ghost of Monsanto, such a scientific “accident” is as likely to happen here as anywhere else in the world.

Column: Bike-friendly community needs planning

Phillip Barron
The Herald Sun
December 20, 2004 8:49 am

DURHAM — Building a bicycling community takes cooperation. Cooperation between drivers and cyclists. Cooperation between municipal and state governments. And, when our community grows, cooperation between the public and private spheres of development.

Historically, the model that Durham used for bicycle transportation improvements focused on responding to residents’ requests. Encouraged by cyclists and bike activists, in 2001 the Durham City Council and the Durham County Commissioners jointly established the Durham Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. It’s charged with promoting “the full integration of bicycling [sic] into community transportation policies and practices.” That is, the city and county want BPAC to help identify ways to make Durham more bike-friendly.

This is a radical departure from the “squeaky wheel gets the grease” policy and it sets Durham apart from most other cities. BPAC’s charter establishes a body dedicated to helping the city address bicyclists’ needs before the bicyclists raise them themselves. BPAC is not a replacement for citizen input; it’s a complement.

BPAC’s goal is to do what it can to make sure that bicycles and bicyclists are considered whenever public facilities are built, whenever a road is widened, whenever new land is acquired. Why? Because it’s more cost-effective to stripe bike lanes while widening roads, to build sidewalks on the bridge when building the bridge.

This is part of building a bike-friendly community. But, the city can do only so much. The private sphere picks up where the public sphere leaves off.

Bike lanes invite cyclists as long as there is a place, at their destination, for cyclists to park their bikes safely. Public roads with bike lanes encourage more people to ride when the private neighborhood streets connecting to these roads are also bike friendly.

So, I have a few requests for help building a stronger bike community in the Triangle. Consider them end of the year requests or New Year’s wishes.

First, let’s host more cycling events. The Halloween Hundred drew more than 180 cyclists to its inaugural event and Little River Park’s grand opening drew an estimated 200 mountain bikers. Cyclists have a strong presence in Durham and it’s evident that riders come out to support homegrown events. How about a downtown criterium?

Second, a request to private businesses. Please, make sure that if someone (an employee, customer, or client) wanted to bike to your business that he or she could. Cyclists need a safe and secure place to park their bikes. Covered bike parking is ideal. And hey, while we’re at it, why not encourage customers to bike by offering a discount on purchase totals? Whole Foods gives a bring-your-own-bag credit to encourage that good practice. Why not encourage another?

Third, to all those developers out there, please think of bicycles in all new planning and construction. Bike lanes and greenways are more useful when they connect to neighborhood bike paths or parks with bike racks.

Bike-friendly resources are gifts, not just to bicyclists, but to the Triangle as a whole. Promoting clean, healthy, person-powered transportation is about building a stronger sense of care and concern for our community.

pizza and pain

My brother’s not ready for childbirth.

The other night A and I decided we wanted to make pizza for dinner. We decided this, however, once we were already hungry; we didn’t have the forethought to thaw the frozen dough.

I don’t have a microwave, but we were committed to pizza. So, we had to figure out ways to thaw the pale, oblong block faster. The best we could come up with was to hold the mass of frozen dough (in a plastic bag) against something warm — our bellies. We took turns, passing it on as soon as one of us couldn’t stand the cold any more. Despite noticeable fluctuations in my heart rate, our technique was working. Then A noticed that I was placing the bag directly against my skin to maximize heat transfer; he cringed. He had been keeping a T-shirt between his stomach and the dough, so I wondered why his turns weren’t any longer than mine.

Our experiment in conduction led us to talk about pain and tolerance for pain; this reminded me of my friend’s pain-training exercises. She’s about to have a baby, and she wants to have as natural a childbirth experience as she can. One thing this means for her is that she doesn’t want to use any anesthetic during the procedure. Her doctor prescribed pain-training exercises — little things she can do around the house to prepare psychologically for childbirth with no epidural.

In one exercise she holds an ice cube between her wrists for 5 minutes at a time. It’s supposed to teach you that no matter how intense the pain, it will come to an end. Perspective.

I told A about the ice-cube-on-the-wrists exercise, and he was curious what could be so painful about a little ice cube. He tried it out, and after a few minutes he gladly put the ice cube away and went back to warming the dough.

We had pizza in record time, considering no microwave.

any moral leaders?

The 2004 presidential election season was disappointing for many reasons, but not the least of which was the unprecedented public argument that one’s religion is the only source of morality and personal values. The argument is disappointing because it represents an incomplete view of morality.

Because no counterargument was ever offered, pop culture in the U.S. is left with the impression that religion must be the source of both morality and one’s personal values. This is not a new argument; it’s the default view that students will have when they walk into my ethics class next semester — happens every time.
Read more

biking brother

A’s in town from Colorado. I like it when he visits because I know I get to laugh nearly non-stop for the time he’s here.

In the weeks leading up to his trip, he told me he wanted me to take him mountain biking, so yesterday I finished building up a bike for him to ride. I built him a soft-tail, knowing that suspension up front and behind is a little more forgiving; he’s never mountain biked before.

He did great. Up and over the whoop-de-doos; he plowed over the rock gardens; and he grasped the concept (and utility) of body-english almost immediately.

One of these pictures is posed. I’ll let you decide which one.

logstack.jpg

postlogstack.jpg

why nicomachus?

At some point people usually ask me who Nicomachus is, or what Nicomachus means. Nicomachus is the name of both Aristotle’s father and his son. Not that his father and son were the same person, they just shared the same name. It’s the latter with whom I’m concerned. Nicomachus Jr. was one of Aristotle’s best students, and like all good students, Nico took great notes. In fact, the most systematic record of Aristotle’s moral theory is a revised set of notes Nico took in class. The Nicomachean Ethics remains one of the greatest philosophical works in moral theory and outlines the classical theories of normativity and moral psychology with which I agree most.

Basically, the idea is that our moral character is just the constellation of the morally relevant habits that we cultivate. A morally just person is a person who has cultivated the right sort of habits. How do you know what sort of habits you ought to cultivate? Think about a person you admire… what would she do in this situation? What kinds of habits does she have? How can I adopt similar habits?

Obviously, you can develop the wrong habits, and a sound virtue theory needs to say more about the difference between morally good habits and morally bad habits in order to satisfy the rationalistic demands of contemporary moral evaluation . So, a lot of students are frustrated by Aristotle’s virtue theory because they think that it’s not especially instructive. But, I don’t think Aristotle meant for this theory to be a prescription for determining right and wrong action, good and bad moral behavior. It is more an outline for understanding what makes a life meaningful. Understood in this way, I think he’s right.

Column: Proper dress key to wintertime cycling

The Herald-Sun
December 8, 2004 8:17 pm

DURHAM — I look forward to winter cycling all summer. The air dries and gets crisp. I feel like I can breathe again after six humid months of holding my breath. The sky is more blue than haze, and with the deciduous leaves off the trees, I can see farther into the scenery of my ride.

A lot of cyclists hang up their bikes this time of year and either turn to other sports to get them through the winter or just soften up around the middle. But, for those of us who either don’t want to or can’t give up cycling for even a few months, we really don’t have to.

It’s not hard to ride through the winter. Just changing a couple of your habits will help: wear different clothes and ride a little more cautiously. Sure, there will be a few days in February when the roads are too icy to ride safely, but then again, you probably shouldn’t drive on these days either. For the most part, Durham’s winters are relatively mild and cycling can be a year round activity.

Obviously, we need to dress a little warmer in December than in June. Whether you want to spend a lot or a little to brace against the cold, here are a few ideas to help keep you on the bike this winter.

Plan to start out a little cold, because no matter how cold it is you’re going to sweat once your feet start spinning, trust me. Polyester, nylon and other synthetics wick moisture away from your body and dry out much faster than cotton. This means they’ll keep you warm even while you sweat.

Dress in layers. I know, everyone including your parents says it, but that’s because it’s good advice. Dressing in layers means that half way though your ride you can peal off the outermost layer so that you don’t risk overheating.

You need something to protect your hands, and I recommend long-fingered gloves with tacky palms and fingers. Some people swear by mittens, claiming they’re warmer, but remember that you need the manual dexterity to grab the brake levers. Mittens are a little too restrictive. Gore-Tex, the company famous for water-proof breathable membranes in outdoor clothing, even has a WindStopper technology you can find in gloves.

For your chest, a vest is best. Vests keep your upper body warm and you won’t overheat. I wear a simple fleece vest for most of the winter. On bitterly cold days, add arm warmers (think socks for your arms) or a thin, breathable, wind-proof jacket.

Tights will keep your legs warm. You don’t need anything fancy; long underwear under a pair of shorts works for me. For more wind-protection, add a pair of nylon basketball pants over the tights.

Most of the time, a headband covering your ears will be enough warmth for your head. Some mornings, though, you’ll want more protection over your face. Try a balaclava, a cyclist’s fancy term for a thin ski-mask.

Until I learned the trick to keeping my feet warm, my toes would freeze no matter how many pairs of socks I’d cram into my shoes. The trick is to add layers of wind protection outside the shoe. From your local bike shop you can buy neoprene booties that slip over your shoe, leaving room for contact with the pedal. Or, you can make your own. Find an old sock big enough to fit over your shoe. Slide the sock on the shoe and cut a hole in the bottom of the sock, just big enough for contact with pedals. Wrap the sock in duct tape. It’s not pretty, but it’ll keep your toes warm.

Last, invest in a good set of lights, handlebar or helmet-mounted. Until daylight savings comes back around, you’ll need a headlight or two to find your way home after 5 p.m. And don’t forget the red taillight.

So, until you need a Zamboni to get down Roxboro Road, keep warm, ride safe, and I’ll see you on the trails.

ghost mums

In the front yard are the ghost mums: chrysanthemums I planted two years ago that haven’t died, but they don’t fully come back each year either. Mums are annuals, so it’s unusual that they come back at all. This spring, they sprouted and grew into 2ft-tall bushes; in the summer the stalks dried out (despite rain) and turned brittle enough to break in a strong wind. They’re now dark gray wisps with blooming white flowers. They remind me of zombies, half alive and half dead.

bmx — bicycle mechanix

I used to ride my BMX hard. Everyday, after school, I’d ride over to Keith’s house. Then we’d go back to the red clay hills. They were supposedly building a new neighborhood behind his, but we never saw anyone working. One day, the grassy meadow was carved up into red clay roads and piles of dirt. And for years after that day, the bulldozers and earthmovers sat empty. Since no adults were around, it was our land. Our place, with mounds of mineral-rich dirt just waiting to be formed.

To us, they weren’t mounds of dirt; they were raw materials for a trail network. Over months with shovels, rakes, and my favorite trail compaction tool (my bike), we carved an elaborate course of uphills and downs. Without brakes or pedaling, you could ride down one hill and gather the speed you’d need to climb the next. In between hills were jumps, whoop-de-doos, and ramps made of scrap wood, buckets, and cement blocks. It’s a wonder we never broke more than spokes or pedals.

On this course is where I learned to repair bikes. If we couldn’t fix it, then we had to wait until one of our dad’s got home. Worse still was when we’d have to wait til the weekend and take it to a shop, which might then take a week or more to fix it. We didn’t like to wait, so we figured out the basics of bicycle mechanics. Because we had no idea there were tools specially designed for working on bikes, it was pretty amazing what we could do with a screwdriver, an adjustable wrench, and a set of pliers.

Usually, a pair of needlenose pliers was all I needed to true a wheel. But once when I taco’d my front wheel on a brick’n'board ramp, my heart sank. I didn’t want to admit it, but I knew it wasn’t fixable. Before I quietly accepted that the wheel was dead, I tried even the most desperate of techniques: whacking the rim against a sturdy tree. It straightened out the wheel enough to get me home, but no farther. It had to be replaced. (…to be continued)