baltimorespokes

Now, more kids are getting cholesterol drugs.
Published: July 13, 2010
by Scott Hensley
Researchers who screened 20,000 kids for high cholesterol in West Virginia suggest the time has come to start looking at the fat in all kids’ blood — not just those who have a family history of cholesterol trouble.
How come? The West Virginia team found 98 children among the nearly 6,000 who wouldn’t normally be tested for high cholesterol had cholesterol levels bad enough to warrant treatment with drugs. The results appear in the latest issue of Pediatrics.
Many cholesterol drugs, such as statins like Lipitor, are approved for the treatment of kids with genetically linked high cholesterol that can lead to early heart trouble.
Better diet, weight loss and exercise remain the first options for most kids with too much fat in their blood. Side effects, such as muscle pain, and limited data on long-term use of the drugs in kids are reasons to proceed cautiously with the medicines in children.
….
"There’s no question that we’ve seen an increase in the lipid values in children, and that’s probably due to the obesity epidemic," Donald Pittman, a pharmacist who leads the cardiovascular drug group at Medco, tells Shots.
…
Continue reading “Cholesterol Drugs Grow More Common For Adolescents”

This is nuts only cars on a private road can cross a major highway? This case brings up another interesting consideration, the land adjacent to major highways shouldn’t it be available for bike paths? Instead we have to get easements from adjacent property owners just to skirt along a car sewer.

A public bike path? Cyclists and skateboarders whooshing by? Distracting concentration on Red Hole Five? That would not do.

“Once the word gets out to the younger generation there is a secluded place to come and visit and have some fun, you can bet they’re going to be there,” retired Navy Capt. Louis Kriser said at a recent public hearing. “Gangs. Rivals. Hazards to pedestrians coming in and out. . . . I can see The Washington Post: ‘Golf Ball From Army Navy Country Club Fifth Hole Hits Baby.’ ”

Last week, the normally staid country club was roiled by controversy when 14 of its members sued the club’s leaders, saying that they cut an inappropriate deal with the county for the bike path — or “hell’s canyon,” as one called it — without a vote from its members, which they say violates the club’s bylaws.

Continue reading “Army Navy Country Club members sue club’s leaders over bike path”

Rapha Cycle Club, a pop-up bike shop that opened in NoHo, offers three important amenities: two flat-screen televisions that will show all stages of the Tour de France live (then played on a loop until the next stage), indoor bike parking and a full-service coffee bar from Third Rail Coffee.
“Everybody I know who’s a cyclist is also a coffee nut,” said Mike Spriggs, the manager of Rapha Cycle Club. “They go hand in hand. I do a lot of rides that end up at a coffee shop. That way I can get the fuel to get back.”
…
Continue reading “A Coffee Bar for Cyclists”

Continue reading “Bendable bicycle wraps itself around a pole – by design”

Truth in satire:

Continue reading “Onion: Nation Demands Tax Dollars Only Be Wasted On Stuff That’s Awesome”

Apparently in Paris lying ped signals is not the norm, or how Human Transit puts it:

“The truth will sound silly, but it’s striking how green these signals are. It’s simple: the default setting for pedestrian signals is green, and they turn red only when your safety requires it. (In Sydney, where I currently live, the opposite rule applies. There, pedestrian signals are always red, but if you push a button and wait patiently, often for a nearly complete cycle of the signal, wondering if you’ve submitted an application to some bureaucrat who will get to it after his lunch break, you’ll finally get green for a few seconds. But don’t blink or you’ll miss it and have to start again.) “

So I tried to look up the pedestrian fatality rate of Paris for comparison. What I did find is an article “Switzerland rates poorly in pedestrian safety” where a similar argument is put forth as our local Street Smart Campaign and some counter arguments not that far off then mine:

“People should be made more aware that pedestrian crossings are not automatically safe zones,” said TCS spokesman Stephan Müller.

Speed restrictions?
However, the Swiss Transport and Environment Association says the solution to saving lives lies elsewhere.

…
He said it was too one-sided to point the finger solely at motorists. “Pedestrians can’t simply stroll out onto the zebra crossing,” he said, adding that the Tempo 30 scheme – locally imposed speed limits of 30km/h in residential areas – didn’t make the roads safer because it was poorly observed.

Too general
Steinmann rejects the notion that Swiss drivers are more aggressive than those in other countries, but says in most cases the driver is to blame for pedestrian deaths.

“If motorists drive too fast, the [pedestrian’s] right of way is disregarded,” she said.

So how bad is Switzerland compared to Maryland?

For comparison Maryland’s fatality rate would break the top of the chart at 20.6.

At 20.5 per cent, the number of pedestrians killed as part of the total Swiss road deaths was significantly higher than the European average of 14.6 per cent, the study found. Only Britain did worse, with 21.3 per cent.

To compare, Maryland’s per cent of the number of pedestrians killed as part of the total road deaths is 19.6 per cent and the US average is 11.7 per cent.

So in Maryland it does look like the street belongs to cars.
Continue reading “Paris: the street is ours!”

Continue reading “Never forget why we ride”