A few days ago we visited the makers of a beautiful human powered trike. I've actually ridden one of these and will admit to lusting over it. Adding a wheel doesn't do much for me, but there are human powered quads. The Crank-It seems to be a high performance mountain quad and the price is non-trivial. The photo section is interesting - there appears to be some nice design and fabrication.
http://www.crank-it.com/
I'm going to guess that most serious mountain bikers will prefer the two wheeled variety.
moving from rare human powered vehicles to all too common mba and cpa powered crime ...
So let's say you are a CEO whose company is under investigation by the SEC and you suspect things might get bleak. In years past the punishment was essentially non-existent, but now terrified politicians who need to deflect public anger from themselves and towards a few expendibles. The net result is that there may be serious prison time. So what will it be like?
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/11/business/yourmoney/11PRIS.html
I'm part of a pool that is betting on punishment for Enron execs. The problem is that they were so close to the administration that it seems likely they will walk free. Perhaps Martha Stewart is just a smokescreen for the public.
The dark night time sky of northcentral Montana completely spoiled me as a kid. Even with my bad eyes it was possible to see nearly seventh magnitude stars and the Summertime Milky Way was so rich that it was difficult to pick out the constellations on really dark nights
There are at least a dozen amateur astronomy themed bed and breakfasts around the world with a few in New Mexico. I've never been to one, but here is a sample if you are really into dark skies and want to use some reasonably nice amateur tools.
http://www.nmskies.com/
If you haven't seem the Summer Milky Way from a dark place I recommend a trip to a dark place in the next few weeks. This weekend would be appropriate and I'll plug the Perseid meteor shower again.
Yesterday morning NPR did what seems to be an annual piece on enjoying the night sky on yesterday's morning edition with a report on Stellafane. It is embarrassing to admit that I live within a day's drive from Stellafane and have never gone. It isn't the largest star party, but it is probably the oldest and it probably celebrates homemade telescopes more than the others.
http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/aug/stellafane/index.html
If you have never been to a star party I note that they can take place in rather unexpected places. One of the more amazing variations I've been part of were parties on the streets of San Franscisco in 70s. The conditions were awful, but the amount of enthusiasm probably turned hundreds of people on to amateur astronomy.
The driving force behind the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers was John Dobson - a rather unusual and charismatic figure in astronomy. Once I ran into him on Russian Hill and found myself pressed into service showing a few bright objects to passers-by. He had an amazing ability to make you feel part of his group.
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/6389/Page1.htm
Those of you in San Francisco or other urban areas should search the web for sidewalk astronomy groups - or, better yet, plan a trip to the dark countryside where you can actually see the milky way.
Yesterday's Morning Edition also had a tribute to the king. I won't say more, but you really should listen to this one. (EIEIO)
http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/segment_display.cfm?segID=148144
5:58:24 AM 
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