Radio Galaxy

In November, I got a surprise chance to spend 10 days in China, three of which I spent pedaling around Beijing. I recommend it. Holler if you need advice. Here’s what I have for now.

Parking in the bike lane: A growing threat to biking in Beijing

If You Go, Pedal

1. There will be a bike for rent somewhere nearby.
2. It will require a deposit of 200 or 300 yuan, cash, and cost the equivalent of about $8 a day.
3. There will be a bike lane everywhere but the hutongs — the old alley neighborhoods — and you won’t need one there.
4. If the bike lane is separated from the road in any way, treat this like a bicycle highway. Cyclists coming toward you will generally keep to their right, pedestrians to their left.
5. If the lane is exposed to traffic — even if the lane seems enormous and there are no cars at all — cyclists coming toward you will keep to their left. Do not attempt to keep to your right and force the cyclists over. They will not move away from the curb.
6. Cars turn right on red. They have the right of way.
7. When you come to an intersection — and Beijing has some enormous ones — stop with the pack of cyclists. They know where to get clear of cars turning right. When the cyclists take off, you go, too.
8. That traffic warden snapping his flag means you. Stop. You have to wait for this light.
9. Street names often change at intersections. Your map may not account for this. Otherwise, navigating is fairly easy and gets easier with only a little practice.
10. Night cycling on a protected lane with friendly strangers is a new definition for peace on Earth.
11. Hungry? Eat something from a vendor with a bike-mounted stove. The grilled boiled-egg kabobs with special spices are delicious.
12. The urge to sing on a bike is universal.

In New York, we bottle chutzpah

In case you hadn’t seen enough signs of the apocalypse lately, I’ll lay another one on you.

This businessman from Ohio came to New York in 2003, drank a glass of water, and got an idea. He’d put our local tap water in a bottle and sell it for a buck-fifty a pop. This is not a joke:

Tap’dNY is a New York City bottled water company with a local twist and knack for honesty. We don’t travel the world from Fiji to France seeking water or offer the usual bottled water gimmicks. We work with NYC’s public water system to source the world’s best tasting tap water, purify it through reverse osmosis and bottle it locally, leaving out ludicrous transportation miles.

We offer an honest and local alternative to thirsty New Yorkers, giving them a smarter choice: to drink their own (award winning) water.

I’m waiting for my fellow citizens to laugh this guy out of town. Please, people. Start laughing.

Anyone?

I interviewed a Mississippi economist yesterday who told me my home state’s labor force has grown all of .1 percent since 2000 — .1 percent. This economics gig is still foreign territory to me, but even I can see it’s hard to prosper that way. The economist said people just aren’t moving to Mississippi the way they are to other Southern states, including tough ones like Alabama. He said they’ve got no reason to go to Mississippi, or at least very little reason.

Though I see friends of mine hanging on back in Rankin County, I’ll likely never join them. That’s a bittersweet fact of life for me, and I suspect for any number of people who now live and work far from where they grew up.

Anyway. Sarah Goodyear sent over this account by someone fleeing Hurricane Gustav this week. Loki followed the unraveling Katrina situation three years ago. This time he says his family met with troopers blocking the highway exits in my state — the universal code for “keep moving, partner.” We might ought to find a way to say welcome, y’all.

Bonus:
Katrina: An Unnatural Disaster
The Gambit’s wonderful New Orleans blog

This must be the kind of thing city people do that drives the rest of the world nuts. Twitter pal @electricrider sends this clip from last year’s Brompton folding bicycle world championship.

I’m about to hop on mine and head into work. The next championships take place Sept. 28, in the U.K. So really, I’m not commuting. I’m training. See?

Bonus: The Brompton World Championship