Chartreuse Sea-sane

Forget such insane seasonal traditions as The Vigil of Seven Fishes. Darkest days of winter are prime time for citrus fruits and green leafy vegetables. Grapefruits and oranges blast bowel fat, fight cancer with flavonoids, impart Vitamin C, and lead a list that includes clementines, kumquats, lemons, limes, mandarines (cuties, halos), minneolas (tangelos), pomelos, and tangerines. For greens, kale appeals, but arugula, chard, collards, lettuce, mustard greens, rabe, and spinach are also loaded with antioxidants, fiber, minerals and vitamins that fight cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Parsley is nature’s highest source of Vitamin A, though other fresh herbs offer attendant benefits. Iceberg lettuce commonly plopped on burgers probably isn’t worth including; however, it does, like better greens, contain Vitamin K, which avoids artery hardening, helps clot blood, and protects brain and heart. Those who take blood thinners or worry about kidney stones may want to minimize eating oxalates in chard and spinach and Vitamin K. But such late-season sources of nutrients as broccoli and cabbage are rare and welcome, though they cause gas, which, if distressing, is mostly harmless. Whether shades of chartreuse, mindaro or nyanza, fruits and veggies are good eats as long as other nutritional needs are met.

For some people it can be a recreational pharmaceutical, but to say yes to food is to embrace life. Spices have been used as medicines for millennia. Surely, moderate intake is a must, moreover potable water. Focus ought to be on what sustains, such as whole grains, rather than empty calories from processed items, sugar, and white flour. While humans, omnivores by genetic necessity, can survive on them, various diseases directly stem from malnutrition and monotonous diets: anemia, beriberi, diabetes, goiter, gout, hypothyroidism, osteomalacia, pellagra, rickets, scurvy and whatnot. But only a person knows what agrees with her/his constitution. Carcinogenic additives, diarrheic fats, insecticides, parasites, preservatives, prions, protein bacteria, putrid meats, and tainted oils will turn anyone off beef, chicken, condiments, fish (particularly escolar and sardines), lamb or pork. Athletes and bicyclists are well aware, since they suffer demonstrably when deprived or infected. Out of touch with their bodies, couch potatoes stuffing themselves with chips and slop seldom notice until too late.

Why are sports so compelling, anyway? There are a dozen things wrong with them few want to discuss. Broadcasters and spectators wantonly waste fuel, for one. Any NFL team is worth $2 billion, the Dallas Cowboys $4 billion according to Forbes; such a huge investment neither cures diseases nor produces durable goods, though it provides minimum wage temporary jobs and several thousand overpaid positions as one of the nation’s most exclusive employers, thus spreading the gap between poor and rich. Scheduled match-ups and tournaments are totally arbitrary. League executives encourage intensity, ignore consequent concussions, and punish winning with inquests over ill written and trivial rules. Sports mine xenophobia, fear of strangers, and promote hate crimes and them-us dichotomies sometimes triggering riots. At least $100 million is spent on advertising during each televised game, which is charged directly to consumers in inflated prices. Consequently, 1 hour of play takes 4 hours of viewing, so hundreds of millions who've tuned in sit unproductively for 3 hours while subjected to harmful brainwashing and operant conditioning, so they’ll value things like beer and toys which inflict illness and limit participation in sports. Time would be better spent bicycling around or preparing fresh food from scratch; instead, pizzas are ordered and provided by motorized delivery. A huge amount of attention and emotion gets invested into lost causes, while outcomes could be rigged, for all viewers know. In the end, there are legions of abject losers and depressed fans. Lose or win, productivity suffers and profits flag.

All such shortcomings are routinely forgiven for their entertainment boon. Vicarious thrill of victory will inevitably inveigle. Watching athletes dance on ballfields, courts, gridirons and rinks surpasses ballet and other performing arts. Remarkable accomplishments only result from endless repetition and ensuing muscle memory. Devotion and effort garner praise, unlike what usually occurs, and increase a sense of community, service, and teamwork, as if some morality play. Most compelling is nail biting surprise and suspense, not knowing outcome until it’s finally over; that’s hard to fake though billions of dollars have been made and spent on films that feebly simulate this effect.

Everything on this plane of existence is imbued with agony and ecstasy, color and gray, dark and light, gain and loss, good and evil, joy and pain, polar opposites pitted against each other. For every bureaucrat, general, governor, judge, legislator, martinet, priest and terrorist, more than scores of kind and supportive neighbors offset the suffering those who grasp at power impose. Clerics can try to put a burka on Pollyanna, but a female in denial will fight back by frustrating puerile desires, the sport that underlies all life’s struggles. One must accept that mankind both competes for comfort and seeks social approval, a campaign forever fraught with conflict and failure. Accumulating and chiseling have habitual, harmful, hateful consequences, though individuals can altruistically and sanely choose to transcend them through sacrifice and self control exemplified by teamwork. After Superbowl 50, can green rebirth of spring and renewed season for bicycling be far behind?

Melodically Unchain

Recent, or recently discovered, song releases reinforce the notion of an ongoing bicycling culture, haunting but not at all ghostly. Such a persistent enthusiasm, oh my darlings, you're likely to see garden planters and lawn ornaments that resemble bicycles, though why someone wouldn't just use a flea market bargain instead mystifies. Owners sometimes leave them on curbs for garbage collectors, too, the source of many "ghost bikes". When not hanging on his Harley soft tail hog, the late actor Patrick Swayze was known to ride a vintage Schwinn on set of The Beast, a 2009 television series set in Chicago.

Big Sweet, The, Bicycle Nights, Bicycle Nights self, 2013

Craig Morrison, Pedaling Home, Cityscapes, self, 2013

Davine, A Bicyclette [French, cover of Yves Montand song], single, self, 2015

Derek Bishop, Bicycling in Quicksand, Bicycling in Quicksand, Perryville Rec., 2015

Dieselcreek, Bicycle Ride, Bicycle Ride self, 2013

Don Peris, Bicycling [guitar instr.], The Old Century, Badman Rec., 2013

Ghost of Monkshood, Bicycling in the Pitch Dark, Lift, Dualtone Music Group, 2008

Kristin Allen-Zito, Pedaling My Bike, The Atlas, self, 2010

Laurel Zucker, Bicycling Uphill for Flute & Double Bass, Journeys, Cantilena Rec., 2011

Mari Rosa, Bicycle Wheel, Bicycle Wheel EP, 2015

Natalie Jeane, Bicycle Song, single, self, 2015

Piotki, A vélo [French], á toi de voir, self, 2015

Renton 7, Handlebars, Handlebars EP, self, 2015

Roey Fitzpatrick, Bicycling Down Boulevards [Aussie], Diamonds and Rain, Star Hill Studio, 2014

Troty, Rowery [Polish], single, self, 2013

Acid Rain

Don’t suppose you saw William Shughart's dopey opine "Recycling is a charade". He claims Waste Management dumps bottles and cans they collect into landfill. Why, then, do they hurry to collect recyclables and leave garbage to fester? They make money off them! A bigger issue is land, no place to put garbage residents make. If you have to keep buying more property that costs millions and worrying about groundwater contamination, line on nickels spent on recycling becomes moot. At core of their complaint, conservatives begrudge steady minimum wage jobs for pickers. Nowadays, lone drivers also run hoists that shake refuse into trucks, so no tax chiseling picker hangs perilously off back of vehicle anymore. You might figure this doubles number of trips, but even that’s untrue. Fuller trucks must frequently make distant treks, so targeting trash keeps gas guzzlers in neighborhoods longer, thereby cutting fuel use, which, you can be sure, they’ve ground to a logistical nub. Hating that, Big Oil has deep pockets to pay for junk science appearing in such disguised and dishonest articles.

All solids you bury eventually emit toxins into air and water supplies. Alternatives to burying include burning (toxic and wasteful), dumping in ocean (already killing reefs), or gasifying (could supply methane). Sometimes residents don’t sort correctly, which messes up process and results in consignment of a few loads to landfill. But recycled bottles and cans don't figure in those; separating waste doesn't cost more and has potential. Many states have enacted Zero Waste Programs. Leaves, wood, and yard clippings are already composted and spread on state lands to increase oxygen yielding foliage, though they could be combined with food/human waste to produce methane. Many electrical plants are being built or have already been converted to burn natural gas, the least toxic carbon based fuel. Though it can be directly reused once sterilized, glass is mostly ground up to improve asphalt and concrete used in road construction. Recovering aluminum from cans and jar covers saves tremendously over extracting from bauxite or smelting alumina. Plastics can be tricky, as sorting them for granulation remains labor intensive; since much consists of food wrappings that can’t be recycled because of bacteria, best to minimize their use whenever possible.

All processes involved with human inhabitation of planet involve a release of carbon dioxide and/or monoxide. Animals leak methane to atmosphere. Automobiles, household practices, and industrial operations release nitrogen and sulphur oxides, as well as volatile organic compounds such as benzene, methylene chloride, or perchloroethylene which undisputedly cause cancer. Another bad effect of burning coal and petroleum is acid rain, that is, precipitation (fog, rain, snow) whose pH is so low it poisons soil, stunts plant growth, and upsets ecosystems. Amphibians and fish in eastern lakes die because of stack emissions from midwestern steel plants. Almost as bad is how critics of sustainable practices rain acid comments against as if they were exempt from pollution's detrimental effects and not purely delusional. In the face of such insanity, can you blame protesters for going gaga or grabbing headlines?

It’s hard to estimate how much pollution bicycle makers and users cause. Components and frames are made of aluminum, steel and titanium. Lesser amounts of fabric, graphite, plastic and rubber are also used, but nearly all can be recycled. These materials collectively represent 200 times less by weight than an average SUV (0.5%). Twice as many bikes as cars doesn’t come close to automakers' expended energy in assembly. Food is the fuel that powers bikes. While food production and shipping both use fuel, motorists and non-motorists alike also eat, so you can’t hold that against bicyclists. Seven times more people walk than bike. Motility is a basic human necessity; bicycling is 4 times more efficient than walking, which probably balances negatives and clears slate. How dare critics target cyclists when huge parking lots defoliate with noxious pavement? If you're so worried about revenues being wasted, why not question the totally unsustainable $1 trillion spent every decade on nation's highways?

Taxes Your Brain

This blog has only ever given thoughtful analyses. If information had any value, Labann would minimally be a millionaire. Instead, not one cent was ever made during decades of blogs, book, comments on websites, and letter writing to officials. No compensation was ever expected or requested. It was done as an exercise in connection and experiment in unique expression. The enlightened few who follow B&C get this. Majority hates to think, so they run from anything that might tax their intelligence or patience. Most resemble needy zombies who want to eat your brain.

Sharing self seems too much an imposition to those who just don’t care. This explains why selling art has become so difficult; public doesn’t want to know the artist who produced it or what motivated it. Meanwhile, companies pour billions into worthless data and opinions. Therefore, the ultimate in commercial art is convincing corporations that reports, spreadsheets and standards are crucial, though nobody reads them including auditors and regulators. Nevertheless, an elegant cell, ironclad imperative, and spicy gossip sell. The letter of law rewards lawyers, legislators, and middlemen at the expense of consumers, innocents and taxpayers.

On the other hand, quality assurance relies on facts, metrics and polls. All design begins not with greed but with an attempt to meet an expressed customer need. Survey narratives are gold in pay dirt requiring a huge effort to sift out. A company’s worst enemy, especially since the advent of social media, is someone who doesn’t want what they offer and vocally denounces what they deal in.

In that spirit and in time for holidays, Labann presents Labann Says~ Loose Essays, a slim volume that chronicles all extraneous writings completed since the publication of B&C in 2008. Click link for free download. While you can’t deduct charity extended in reading it, you won’t have to pay any fee or sales taxes, either.

Wrap in Cellophane

A joint Coca Cola and Walmart commercial buys a boy a bike, what he "really" wants for Christmas, 2015. Displays self sacrifice and sharing among family members. Collaboration or corporate tag team? Advertising almost always focuses upon an individual company, so wonder whether viewers noticed either. Reminds one of the 10000 Maniacs video, Trouble Me, in which angelic Natalie Merchant rides a bike and shoulders concern for the elderly. Can’t imagine it was very popular during the 1990’s. But at least then people could still afford to be kind.

President Obama spoke several times lately for sharing the responsibility of rooting out terrorists and working in solidarity with Muslims, who figure as citizens in business, sports, and such roles. It’s as clear as cellophane that the world’s richest people foster terrorism, particularly media tycoons and Saudi sheiks whose empires are built on human tragedy and wasteful practices. Don’t forget religions, too, spread through exclusive ideologies and intolerance for the slightest difference in arbitrary customs among themselves.

Been studying conservatism for a long time. It appeals to clerics, cynics, knuckleheads, morons, schemers, terrorists, and whoever has given up on humanity altogether. The Unabomber was incensed by socialism despite the fact he couldn't even define it. Conservative media fuels their rage, while it isn't actually reporting on anything other than how others lead nonviolent lives that don't support their extremism, made obvious by name calling and saber rattling. Conservatism attracts isolationists, jihadists, John Birchers, neo-nazis, NRA, religious fanatics, white supremacists, and whoever is so bigoted or prejudiced they'd rather kill than suffer you to exist. They believe in fascism and final solutions, as did Hitler. They oppose decency so much because cultural fusion requires thinking, something for which they are woefully unequipped. About 25% of population is insane, and mental incompetents gravitate to this packaged hate. Don’t suppose they see the irony of listening to billionaire Rupert Murdoch, himself an immigrant recently retired from Fox News, who staunchly advocates immigration and market economy, and villainously opposes collective bargaining, public service, social security, welfare, and whatever provides a safety net for the vulnerable, for example, those he enslaves. Press profits when there’s blood in the streets. People getting by by working cooperatively isn’t newsworthy.

Only cooperation would work, because trying to fight terrorism would take more might than any nation alone can muster. You can bomb a location back to the stone age, but many terrorists are cavemen anyway. Any such approach would be costly and pointless, play right into their hands. Less than decisive approaches only appear weak, but they are really how solutions forestall crises, probably the best you can do in a complex world. Never forget how Dubya inspired and orchestrated a war that ended in global recession and perpetuated terrorism. He did Americans no favors, though he favored the few who make a killing from death.

GOP only succeeds in elections when voter turnout is light, when only crazies show up and majority stays home. But unless worthy candidates step up, why vote? Some tenets of conservatism have merit in small roles, like dog catchers and quality inspectors. One must learn to stomach it. It never works with international policy, though; instead it destabilizes treaties. Terrorists themselves are intensely conservative. Despite their impassioned rhetoric, don’t subscribe to their holy war against each other, because they’d rather you die fighting it for them. They'd gladly sacrifice a family who can barely afford to get a kid a $50 bike as well as the kid who rides it. Worst of all is how they suck whatever merriment and mirth remains from an already stressful season.