New pics up

Have had an evening of sorting through photos and as such have updated my Flickr for the first time in a while! Too much to talk about but shall list the sets:
Homegame, Whitehills windfarm, Edale, Scope, Love Calculator, Dundee, Dumfries and Galloway before Christmas, and even Paris!

Here's one at random:


I am Roy.

How do you cut UK emissions 80%?

Nice interactive on the guardian website that allows you to play being the PM by dragging sliders to try and cut UK emissions by 80% by 2050. It also demands that you balance the electricity demand from different sources (though it is not exhaustive: no gas/coal/biomass with ccs). Anyway, I tried to do it without limiting consumption and travel. Answer, impossible. And as for flying, I'm going to climate hell...

Walkability

Cool tool assessing the walkability of where you live. I.e. how many destinations can you get to without the need to get in a car. It's not perfect (uses as crow flies distances) but certainly gives you a flavour of how walkable a place can be.

p.s. our house gets a "very walkable" 71 whilst the old rupert street pad scores a "walkers paradise" at 93. Unfortunately the comparison tool only works for US cities, maybe they'll get on that and we can see how we rank compared to our urban neighbours....

Some are doing something at least

Originally uploaded by selimski

Selimski covering a recent memorial event in London..

I love this story, cos it means I can bring my bike with a bit more peace of mind..

Bike-theft saga takes a turn toward the strange

Obsession

There are three qualities that motivate me in any activity: exhilaration, elegance, and sharing.

When cycling, I like to cycle fast, feeling the exhilaration of the wind in my face. I ride a fixie, the simplest, most elegant form of bike. I bought it from a social enterprise in Maryhill, sharing the assembly with those who can benefit most from the experience. I love the closeness of the messenger/fixie community in Glasgow, and how the best way to do anything with bikes here is to talk to someone else about it.

When doing design work, I am obsessed with elegance, and seek out the exhilaration one feels when having created anything. I strive for a more sharing community in industrial design, hence Zero-waste.

As for music, this is where all three are inextricably bound up. Playing for excitement, for beauty and for the act of interaction with players and audience, altogether, makes perfect sense to me.

I could go on, applying this thinking to why I do and don't like flying kites, why I like travelling, why I like staying in one place, why I'm unsure about moving flats.

The bottom line is that I'm not hyperactive - I'm obsessive, and will pursue any activity to satisfy these obsessions.

Aquaduct

A very neat idea...

Weird Bikes, episode III

SpokePOV, Freddie Grubb & Spherical in racing action

Originally uploaded by selimski

a whole load of great photos by selimski in this set.

Another weird bike

Cart Bike - Instructables

Lawn Mower Bike

Lawn Mower Bike

I like these bikes, they're weird, but strangely logical!

YouTube - London Calling - Bike Messengers Race

This is quite fun, although I advise you to turn off your sound before hitting play...!