Bike vs. Bear

Only in Boulder

I was competing in the Boulder Peak Triathlon on Sunday, along with about 1600 of my close friends. Another competitor, Sabrina Oei, had started in an earlier wave and was about 15 minutes in front of me in the bike portion of the race. Screaming down Lefthand Canyon at about 35 MPH, she hit a black bear that was unexpectedly walking across the road and went over her handlebars.

The bear, apparently uninjured, ran off into the woods. Sabrina, however, waited half an hour for the ambulance to arrive, when she was pronounced to have a major case of road rash and fit to continue the race. Remarkably, her bike was also fit to ride after the encounter.

Sabrina was not issued a summons for cruelty to animals, and the bear was not given a citation by race officials for obstruction. There is no evidence that the bear was hired by another competitor to deliberately slow Sabrina down. The race director, Barry Siff did, however, promise to put up a "Bear Crossing" sign at the location for next year's race.

Bush's First Veto Proves Something

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
- Hanlon's razor, Anonymous

Today, President Bush issued the first veto of his presidency, killing a bill that would have eased limitations on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. He claimed the bill "crosses a moral boundary."

Consider this:

1. That moral boundary was not crossed when Bush allowed federally-funded research on cell lines created prior to August 9, 2001.


2. Bush supports fertility clinics, which generate the large number of embryos destined to be destroyed.

The President is obviously untroubled by the inconsistencies in his own argument. Going back to Hanlon, on the question of whether Bush is stupid or evil, I guess I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Not as Smart as We Think

In the recently-enacted Colorado workplace smoking ban, there were a small number of exceptions, including the state's casinos. But it seems that the law includes a (previously undisclosed) statement that casino workers can request a smoke-free work area. My rant today is not about smoking bans, casinos, or exceptions, but about our wonderful political system.

Colorado State Rep. Jim Sullivan, who pushed to include the casino exception, apparently had no clue that this so-called loophole existed. According to Sullivan, "we're not as smart as we think we are."

Rep. Sullivan has just admitted his own incompetence and failure to do the job he was elected to do. Is it too much to ask that our lawmakers at least read the bills they are voting on?

In fact, there should be a law. If someone votes for a law they should be required to read it first. If not, they should be held liable in court for any consequences of the law.

Wait a minute, these people are already responsible -- we get to vote them out of office. Well, I guess that would require that us voters actually read the news. So, our politicians are safe.

We the Politicians

Too Cute?

Our yard in Northwest Boulder can be quite the wildlife viewing zone. Most years, you can watch the fawns born and grow up in our yard and neighborhood.

The fawns in these pictures are a couple weeks or so old and are twins. You can watch them play, running around our yard or the lot next door. Sometimes when they lose their mom or can't figure out how to get from one yard to the next you can heard them mew, almost like kittens.


The fawns pass through our front yard



Crashing through the brush



Stopping to investigate



Relaxing under the apple tree. In all our years living here, we've never beaten out the wildlife to eat a single apple from this tree!