Recording Vocals with Compression

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By Walvis

My first experiences with vocal compression left me a mite ambivalent.

On one hand, the idea of a vocal already being recorded with very minimal volume fluctuations was so exciting that I’d lay awake all night anticipating the benefits I’d reap from purchasing my own vocal compressor.  But, on the other hand, I would sometimes hear negative feedback about compressors from other recording enthusiasts.

In a moment, I’ll give my final view on vocal compression, along with specific settings that some may find useful to start with on their own compressors.

For now, though, I hear Memory Lane calling me.  In 1997, I began frequenting a local recording studio, laying my vocals over Karaoke tracks.  The owners of the studio took a liking to me, and offered me a job.  It wasn’t the most glamorous of jobs, but I was ecstatic. 

In one week, I’d gone from being a Kroger courtesy clerk, to working in a recording studio! There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a courtesy clerk.  But, on hot summer days, wouldn’t most anyone rather be in an air conditioned office packaging CDs, than to be out in the miserable heat with grumpy customers warning you not to mash their bread before you even make it to their car?

Packaging CDs wasn’t my only duty at the studio. I also took on the unofficial janitorial duties. But, as time went on and I proved myself as a hard worker with an interest in learning, I began being invited to the control room more and more.

One day, the engineer and I were listening to an isolated vocal track. 
A customer had brought it into the studio to hopefully repair the manner in which it had been recorded at the vocalist’s home studio. The vocal belonged to a wonderful singer… but, the recording process of the vocal was repulsive, even to my then novice ears.

“So, Ben, why does it sound so… weird? It’s like I hear him taking big breaths between every phrase, and the breaths are louder than the singing.” Ben explained to me that the vocal had been recorded “too vigorously through a compressor”. 

This puzzled me, because while I had still been just a client, Ben himself had recorded me with some compression on the way in. His reason had been that I had good dynamic control, but for the overall mix of the song, he just wanted to snip off a few sudden “peaks” in my voice before the millisecond that I pulled my own volume down naturally.

The recording studio began having some turbulent financial times, and sometimes employees didn’t get paid. I moved on, which was a hard decision. I needed a dependable income, and yet I was thirsty for the knowledge to be learned in that atmosphere. I found another job, saved up $150 and eventually purchased my first multitrack recorder. Those were some fun times! 

On my days off from work, I’d spend up to 12 hours or more singing until I was hoarse. 
I’d obsessively “ride the fader” of my vocal during playback, trying to keep the volume even throughout the song.

When I became a stay-at-home parent in 2003, the act of having to “ride the fader” of my vocal tracks became a frustration. Taking the time to sing was simple. My son loved my singing from his first weeks of life, and when it was time to give him a nap, I’d lay him down in his bassinet right beside my workstation. But, when he’d wake up, I would stop what I was doing and fight preoccupation over how well I’d sung my vocals. 

Only by riding the faders and seeing how my voice “sat” in a song could I know how good a vocal performance really was. The internal catalog of my mind pulled up some data about past thoughts on compressors.

I must have stood in Guitar Center for an hour, debating whether or not to buy my first Alesis 3630 compressor. The store assistant told me that the Alesis 3630 was “a very noisy unit”.  A fellow customer overhearing us told me that the Alesis 3630 “is a very good unit as long as someone knows what they’re doing.” I got home, and handled the compressor like an unsupervised child.

“The attack knob controls how fast my loud notes get turned down? Let’s go to the maximum!”  “Ohhh, the release knob determines how long the loud note stays clamped down? Maximum!”  “A 2:1 ratio only lowers my loud notes by 2 decibels? Let’s go for a 6:1 ratio!!”

I would sing my heart out, positive that I’d just play back my songs and it would be almost as if the songs had already been mixed for me. That false optimism made me sing better than I ever had! “Wally? Uhm… your voice is pretty, as always. But, you sound tired or lazy or something. I can’t put my finger on it.”  My wife really deflated me that night. 

I knew beyond all doubt that I was singing far above my own expectations, and she tells me that I sound tired and lazy?  Discouraged, and with increasing clientele for my graphic design business, I put away the recording equipment for a while.

A less hectic 2008 found me yearning to record again. Reading eases my occasional insomnia, so one night I chose to read about the subject of vocal compression. 
I learned a lot that night that I wished I’d taken time to research in 2003.

That attack time, which I’d been too eager to use? It needed to be set a bit higher so that just the first blast of my loud notes would still be heard before the volume got lowered. 
I’d done even worse with the release knob. The lower it is, the more “artificial” a signal begins to sound.  If the attack and release knobs were set so badly, what about the ratio? 2:1 is usually substantial to just take that loud edge off of a vocal peak.

I began recording again, and still just couldn’t find the perfect setting that would free me from having to “ride the fader”. One day, I recorded a plain, uncompressed vocal into my laptop sound card.  Utilizing what is known as a VST plug-in, I decided to try compressing my vocal digitally. This particular tool was the Kjaerhus Classic Compressor.

I finally heard a closer sound to what I had been listening for, simply by using the “vocal” preset.

The on screen knobs were kind of vague to read, but I did manage to find the script for the presets. 
Those presets, along with some very minimal tweaking, finally brought me to my long awaited “A ha!” moment.

Today, I still use the same Alesis 3630 compressor.  Am I able to sit back and just listen now, without having to “ride the fader”?  Sometimes. There may be an occasional softly sung note, or a really bassy note that I have to manually pull up. But, this is not very often. 
The Guitar Center employee who told me that this was a noisy unit has been proven wrong.

In fact, I find that the signal to noise ratio is much cleaner with the compressor than when I plug my microphone preamp straight into a recorder. I’ve had other recordists relate terrible Alesis 3630 experiences to me. Some claim that no matter what settings they use, their tracks just sound “processed and unnatural”. 

On an opposite end, I had a recording engineer once remark about one of my songs that it was “nice to hear someone record a vocal without any compression and use the vocal fader the old fashioned way”. I sheepishly admitted to him that I’d used the industry cheapo… Alesis 3630. He thought I was joking.

To compress, or not to compress?

My thoughts are that some very minimal compression is needed for most vocals, unless the singer has the world’s best dynamic control to ever exist and also never exceeds a certain volume.

Even an untrained ear can hear the blaring, loudly recorded notes on Celine Dion’s 1996 hit, “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now”. The blaring is most evident on “more” and “laws”, as she belts, “it was more than any laws allow”. 

Celine Dion possesses one of the most beautiful voices to ever be heard in this universe. 
And, as such, she was recorded by a top record label with top notch equipment. 
So, some notes by any vocalist are just sometimes going to be loud. I have tried to research and find if Celine’s vocal on that song was recorded with or without compression. I have had no luck in uncovering this information. I would almost guess that it was recorded without compression.

I have heard notes of an uncompressed vocal take sound distorted even without any fathomable cause.  Even with no “red light” to indicate microphone clipping. 
The same delivery of the distorted note, on a different take, recorded through a compressor, would record cleanly, with absolutely no distortion. 

It just all depends on the sound that a person is going for. I prefer what I call “natural, vintage vocals”. My vocals are big and up front just enough for clarity amidst the music. 
The volume is basically the same throughout the song, but that occasional “Hey, pay attention!” loud note will stand out just a little bit more than the softer notes.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder makes me check, every time I am about to record, that my Alesis 3630 knobs haven’t been moved since their last use. Peak mode, as opposed to RMS. RMS mode can sound more natural, but it doesn’t soften peaks the same way that… well… peak mode does. 

Is my threshold set to -15 db? It should be, because this means that there’s always some small degree of compression going on, with -15 db being my average, medium volume level.

The ratio knob has hopefully been left at 2:1. This means that if a loud note exceeds -15 db, it will be pulled down, but only by a very natural 2 decibels lower. 

I want the attack knob to allow the very front of my loud notes to remain intact. 
The release time, I’m hoping, is still set nicely between fast and medium. 
After all of this volume lowering, my output needs to stay increased to about +8 db.

Wait! Is everything set to the more musical “soft knee” mode, instead of “hard knee”?

The only drawback I find in the Alesis 3630 is that the in-betweens of the knob presets are blank, and there is no way to set things to an exact number between these presets. 
As far as sound quality goes, I have tested many brands of compressors over the past few years.  To my picky, critical ears, the $99 Alesis 3630 keeps the integrity of a performance as pristinely as its $500 competitors.

As long as any compressor that I’m using looks something like the drawing below, I know I’m going to have a very natural, non blaring vocal, with minimal need to “ride the fader”.

Walvis struggles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder minus the aid of medication… but, don’t worry, he frantically Googles the same keywords every Monday at 8 A.M. in hopes of learning new coping mechanisms for said OCD.

The Graphic Nature of Today’s Anti Smoking Commercials

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By Walvis

On April 29th, I’ll be boarding a plane from Texas to Tennessee to visit my mother. It may very well be my last time to see her.

In February, a fall in her home led to a hospital trip. The news? Extensive Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer. Extensive, meaning that, even though this cancer began in the lung, it had “jumped” and made a more threatening home in her brain.

It would be impossible to discuss this any further without mentioning smoking.

To any smokers reading this? Hey, I’m not your enemy. If cancer, and a host of other illnesses that we don’t even hear about everyday, wasn’t a threat, you’d find me very occasionally enjoying a cigar.

And, being an “old soul” who appreciates the “film noir” era of Hollywood… I can still find the poster image of Rita Hayworth using smoking in the manner of a “prop” to be indescribably alluring.

But, the reality is that smoking does exact a toll. A deadly toll.

Again, I am not expressing my views to attack smokers. In fact, I know many smokers who, themselves, will be the first to tell others not to fall into the trap that they are in.

There has been a recent surge of new anti-tobacco television commercials. Commercials that many deem as too graphic for the teen audience being targeted.

One of the newer commercials is fairly typical. A man is shown alone in his kitchen… the darkness suggests that it’s nighttime, and instead of sleeping comfortably, he is sitting in his wheelchair. Suffocating, with emphysema.

Another commercial shows a once beautiful lady having to “get ready for the day”.
The false teeth she puts in are needed because the radiation therapy for her throat cancer destroyed her teeth and gums. The wig she puts on is for the hair loss she encountered during chemotherapy and radiation.

This commercial does hit a little harder than the aforementioned one. Instead of the typical coughing and gagging, this lady is shown looking at herself with a disgusted, angry expression at what she’s having to see in the mirror.

One more commercial shows a man attempting to shave carefully enough to avoid the hole in his throat, or stoma. I personally don’t find these commercials too graphic.

On the contrary, if the goal is to scare the youth away from smoking, these latest anti-smoking commercials should definitely leave a lasting impression.

But, the problem I’m finding is that even as the graphic nature of these ads increases, the ads are still only focusing on the same, narrow spectrum that has been focused on for decades.

Holes in throats.
Coughing and suffocating.
Wheelchairs.

Looking back to my own teen years, when someone mentioned lung cancer or emphysema, my mind’s “tape” played back a person coughing and needing oxygen.
No biggie, you’d just cough all the time and be miserable.

Unless a teenager has to face the suffering and eventual loss of someone to one of these diseases, they probably won’t see just what all these diseases really do involve until they’re a little older.

My mother was a very stubborn, independent, determined person. If she wanted help moving a heavy couch, and you kept her waiting for too long?  She would get that couch moved all by herself.

My mother may have acted aggravated, but in recent years, she has admitted a very amusing truth. She always took a certain pride in doing strenuous things that seemed above her level of ability.

My mother also always possessed the nature of a hermit… a hermit with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. In other words, she has always liked to be alone. Privacy was her best friend.

She had certain rituals and routines that she preferred carried out the same way daily.

Amidst all of the chemotherapy and radiation, and the inclusive side effects… my mother is more upset by her lack of privacy, and the loss of her independence. She has to be told when to take medications. A video monitor has been installed, so that my sister can view my mother’s bedroom from elsewhere. Bathroom privacy is gone. My mother can’t walk to the bathroom alone, and beyond that, she needs help sitting up, to avoid falling forward.

Someone is in her home… watching almost every move she makes… every hour… of every day. Her independence has been reversed.

This morning, my 5 year old daughter asked if she could have a piece of bacon to go with her other foods. I looked over, and saw my daughter sitting there, buckled into her booster seat which is still needed for her to adequately reach our kitchen tabletop.

“Damn. My Mom has to sit back and ask for stuff now, instead of just being able to get up and go get it. She’s no different than one of my kids.”

There is a fine line between negativity and realism.

The odds are very high that my April 29th flight will be the last time that I get to see my mother. When she was diagnosed in February, she was told that without radiation and chemotherapy, she would have died within a month. As of a week ago, her tumors have not grown. But, they haven’t reduced in size, either.

She continues to smoke.

And, yesterday, she told my cousin that she is considering not continuing these treatments that are making her weak and nauseous.

I’m the youngest of 4 children.

Even in all of her misery, my mother has voiced to the rest of the family that she wants to feel and look better when I fly in… so that I won’t be scared and worried and sad when I see her. The other day, I was described by her as, “fragile”. While that may be true, I also am highly resilient. I’m also a good actor.

Could a 60 or 90 minute commercial be created to show this side of smoking related illnesses?

The tenacious woman who now must be handled like a needy child?

The private loner who now has 24/7 surveillance in her own home?

Me, afraid that my mother will die before my April 29th flight?

There’s going to be a lot of crying, in private.

I’ll probably have to stop mid-step a few times before I enter my mother’s house, to be sure that I’m not going to start crying in front of her.

Inside the house, the act will begin. Before I sit down, I’ll probably walk in and use my little hand-held squeeze toy… “The Pooter”. It’s better than a whoopee cushion.

“Oops, hope ya don’t smell that!”, I’ll say, flashing a forced smile that I hope covers up the fear and worry that I’ll be trying so hard to hide.

Could a television commercial capture, in a minute and a half or less, what two people such as my mother and myself are going through right now? That’s a very doubtful possibility. And, that’s a shame.

Coughing and the inability to breathe definitely look scary. But, if I were still a teenager, I’d be likelier left with a haunting fear of smoking if I could, instead, see all of the changes and disruptions to a daily lifestyle.

But, until such drama can be expressed in a short commercial… I say, “yes” to the increasingly graphic nature of anti-smoking commercials.

Walvis is a singer, and therefore prefers clean air… along with an occasional brownie from Starbuck’s.

Why are Trans Fatty Acids Bad for You and How do You Avoid Them?

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By Dr, Del Millers

You might have read about trans fatty acids in the news recently. In fact, there has been a lot of concern lately about the link between trans fatty acids and heart disease.

Trans fatty acids, also known as trans fats, are found naturally in some foods, including beef, pork, lamb, butter and milk. But most of the trans fatty acids in your diet come from foods containing hydrogenated oil.

Not only do these fats increase your risk of heart disease, trans fatty acids also interfere with the way your body deals with the “healthier” forms of fats found in foods like flaxseed oil or walnuts.

You should be very alarmed to know that these cancer-causing fats are used to make things like margarine, chocolate, crackers, breaded chicken, french fries, soups and potato chips.

What is hydrogenation?
Hydrogenation [pronounced high-drodge-en-ay-shun] involves taking fat that starts out as an unsaturated liquid (usually some kind of vegetable oil) and adding hydrogen. During industrial hydrogenation, oil is heated to extremely high temperatures. It’s then mixed with nickel before hydrogen is forced through it. Some of the unsaturated fatty acids that aren’t hydrogenated are converted into trans fatty acids.

The idea behind the hydrogenation of oil was to transform it into a product such as margarine to be used in place of butter. Hydrogenated oils also have a far longer shelf life than most oils. This means that a product containing hydrogenated oil can remain on the shelf of your local food store for longer without becoming rancid.

Unfortunately, hydrogenation changes the original oil into a form that your body wasn’t really designed for. Because it doesn’t recognize trans fatty acids as “foreign”, your body uses them to “build” various parts of human cells.

What to avoid
What this all means is that when you decide what to eat, it’s important to consider not only the quantity of the food you eat, but the quality of the ingredients as well.

If you’re concerned about your health, make sure to check food labels for the phrase “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil”. These oils are dangerous to your health and should be avoided. You’ll find hydrogenated oils in margarines, and other foods such as cookies, crackers, cakes, commercially fried foods and chips. It’s also common in ready-made frozen meals.

Until next time, do something worth imitating. Experience. Share. Grow.

Originally published on The Dr. Del blog, Del Miller International, by Del Millers PHD. Link: http://www.drdelblog.com 

 

One-Piece Electronic Drums

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By Jeffrey the Barak

I have been a drummer since the mid 1960s, and now it is 2012. So not quite half a century, but a heck of a long time. I have had quite a few drum sets over the years, originally acoustic and recently electronic.

I play mostly in a jazz style, which you might assume would be better served by real acoustic drums and cymbals, but in practice, electronic drums are better for one simple reason, you can practice at low volume, or you can put on headphones and make the drums almost as quiet as a computer keyboard.

Yes I know that an acoustic ride cymbal and snare drum can produce a billion sounds and nuances that don’t make it to the electronic version, if the listener is in proximity or if they are recorded well, but for most music, the electronics are good enough.

I first became aware of the concept when I saw a grainy image on British television in 1971. The Moody Blues presented their drummer Graeme Edge playing what looked like a table, but sounded like drums. He had developed this in partnership with an electronics professor named Brian Groves. There were no microchips then so it ran on transistors. I never forgot it and as I toured Britain with a giant drum set all through the Seventies, I often wished I had a small and light alternative to my giant drums, which had to be mic’d up to be heard over the guitars anyway. The hardware for the kit and the mics weighed a ton.

More than four decades later we still don’t have a lot more than the Moody Blues had on that one TV show. If anyone reading this has a photo of that instrument, please share it for this article!

Electronic drums fall into two format categories, the format that mimics acoustic drums, and one-piece layouts. And there are two schools of thought that go with the two categories. Purists and inflexible thinkers are proponents of having the electronic drum set take the same positions as the real set, and adaptable players might prefer to take advantage of the fact that electronic drums can be arranged differently.

Let’s face it, originally kick drums with pedals evolved because the big drums required to make a bass drum sound with a foot movement had to be mounted on their sides. And Hi-Hats originally worked by having the drummer’s foot at the base of the stand where the pedal was. This in addition to the size and shape of stand mounted drums and cymbals formed what we now call the standard drum set.

With electronic drums, these pedals can be anywhere. Well not quite, they need to be where the feet are in relation to the seat, but the playing surface can be anywhere, or even nowhere besides in the pedal itself.

Similarly, while tom-toms measuring from ten inches to sixteen inches in diameter need to be a certain distance apart when they are part of a real drum set, their virtual counterparts can be small and close together, arranged to fall within a convenient small equidistant arc in front of the player.

Again, our cymbals in electronic drum sets still replicate bow, shoulder, bell, edge etc., but they need not be arranged as such when they are rubber triggers. And while a right handed drummer typically plays the hi-hat with his or her right hand crossed over the left hand that plays the snare drum beneath it and to the right, with an electronic trigger, the hat can conveniently be beside the snare to the right, or to either side of the snare. It can be anywhere.

I love this way of thinking about layout and I find that having drums arranged close together, all at a comfortable distance, height and angle from my seated position, allows me to play things that would be quite a lot harder on real drums or on a conventional electronic drum set that is arranged like acoustic drums.

Unfortunately, one-piece electronic drums are quite disappointing. I am waiting for someone to bring out a better device. I have tried many different products, usually by purchasing, using and then reselling them.

Currently I play an electronic drum set that is arranged like acoustic drums. It is a Roland TD4-SX with mesh heads, and I have the pads arranged like an acoustic drum set. I own this because of my disappointments with one-piece electronic drums. It’s an entry level kit, but has nice quiet mesh heads and the basic sound module allowed me to customize and save a perfect sounding drum set, well almost perfect, the ride cymbal could be better.

So, back to the one-piece sets. Here is my experience.

Starting in 1996, I had been retired from playing for some years but saw a nice little toy called a Yamaha DD-50 in a consumer electronics store. The pads were very loud, being mounted on what was essentially a hollow plastic box, and they were rock hard rubber, which caused fatigue. Also it was so easy to miss the pad and get a loud crack when the stick hit the plastic. The pedals were little foot switches. I rigged one up to be hit with a real bass drum pedal, and that little set was fun, and it reminded me I could play.

After another long break, in 2008, I wanted to play again and I started a marathon of flipping. I bought, played and sold several devices.

First was an Alesis Performance Pad. I found it was unable to keep up with a press roll, it had cross talk, which is where a pad is accidentally triggered by an adjacent pad, was acoustically loud due to it being hollow and having hard rubber, and the onboard sounds were not very good.

Second was a Roland SPD-20. The eight pad layout was far from ideal, and the onboard sounds were okay, but not great. I added a throne and pedals and even bought an amp. It did not inspire me. All were flipped.

Then I put the sticks down in search of something really tiny, and played  a Handsonic 10. This required the purchase of an audio interface because I recorded an album using it as a drum set. This was designed for hand and finger drumming and had limited choices for drum set sounds, but it was an excellent, high quality device that still has no equal. I knew that playing it with sticks would damage it so I never did. I learned new techniques and all it really lacked was the ability to do real rolls, which require the player to use sticks.

Hand drumming was interesting, but I am a stick drummer, and the sticks were beckoning again so I flipped the Handsonic and bought a Yamaha DTX-Multi 12. This was not very playable so I promptly returned it for a refund. (Thanks Zzounds).

Then I bought a DrumKAT DK10. It was a little trickier to set up because firstly, it had no onboard sounds, so I had to buy a sound module and a few pricey cables. It apparently did not have a continuously variable Hi-Hat, which is something I need as a jazz drummer, but it felt nice. Yes it was a little loud in the room and the pads were hard enough to give me some fatigue, but it was not too difficult to master the unconventional interface and I quite liked it. I got sounds either from the Roland sound module (an old TD-6 model) or via EZdrummer or Garageband on my computer.

 

I exchanged it, or upgraded it through the American manufacturer and got a more complicated model with continuously variable Hi-Hat, called a DrumKAT 3.8. This was the one that defeated me. I found I was not quite able to master the control interface. Alternate Mode, the manufacturer were such wonderful, ethical sellers, and they graciously allowed me to return it for a refund. Ironically, it was later discovered by Alternate Mode’s President that all my woes had been caused by a faulty hi-hat pedal controller, not made by Alternate Mode.

What I really wanted to be playing was a TrapKAT XL. I am pretty sure that if I had one, and some help setting it up, I would love it. I may in fact be buying one soon to replace the Rolands. This is the closest anything has come to the dream one-piece, and considering it is American-made by a small firm, the price is not bad at all. The operating system and absence of a big display screen can prove challenging for some, and that would include myself. A fresh start in this area would help them take these excellent controllers mainstream. Imagine a TrapKAT with a docked tablet interface running VSTs!

At some point during this flipathon, I also briefly had an Alesis Control Pad that I used to trigger MIDI drum sounds, but it was as hard on the hands as the Performance Pad, and the quality was not confidence inspiring,  so I flipped that also.

So eventually I gave up, temporarily I hope, on my one-piece dream and bought my Roland drum set, which plays beautifully. And it should be noted that you get a lot for your money when you buy an electronic drum set. One-pieces are expensive by comparison, especially when you add the pedals, stand, sound source, etc.

Update, April 4th 2012:  A new all-in-one solution has hit the streets in April 2012. The TrapKAT 5KS is a TrapKAT XL with an onboard Kurzweil sound synthesizer. It is available at alternatemode.com and is being billed as a  26 piece plug and play eKit. I will call it a one-piece. I’ve ordered one.

Jeffrey the Barak used to be Jeffrey the Barak in the 1970s. He still is to some degree. His music is too dangerous to include here.

 

 

Scoot Like a Pro!

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By Jeffrey the Barak

The most popular scooters in the United States are the small folding kind. The fact that they can fold up and be carried makes them so much more versatile than the scooter that remains it’s full deployed size and is basically a bicycle without the seat or the drivetrain.

While you may own one of today’s excellent push scooters such as the amazing KickPed, or perhaps a Xootr Mg or a Xootr CityKicker, or a Micro Black or a Razor A5, you can still use the same technique as the European athletes who race their larger Footbikes.

My KickPed scooter

Usually, when I am scooting around, I never see another person on a scooter, but on the rare occasions that I do, I see them wasting energy, robbing themselves of forward speed. No wonder so many people sacrifice the convenience of a scooter for the efficiency of a bicycle.

Now I will not argue that a scooter can match bicycle efficiency because it is not a machine. A bicycle is a machine that has gears and pedals, so whether it has only one gear or ten, it converts pedal motion into more forward motion per caloric input than any scooter can.

But not everyone can be comfortable sitting on a hard saddle and moving their feet in circles all afternoon. I for one, prefer to stand, even if it compromises how fast and how far I can go. And so I am a kick scooter enthusiast.

If your goal is to be as fast as possible then perhaps you should be on a KickBike or Footbike, because they will take you along faster than a smaller wheeled folding scooter, but the dynamics used by the racers can also save us energy during our casual rides on our more convenient folding scooters.

The first thing to pay attention to is unintentional braking. I see it all the time. A rider will provide forward motion with a kick or push and then immediately cancel out some of that energy by dragging a shoe on the road or by inadvertently applying the rear spoon brake.

Another way the casual scooter rider will rob themselves of efficiency is with the handlebars. By unintentionally turning the bars they lose energy as the front wheel acts like a skier swerving or ploughing to control downhill speed. Keeping as straight a course as possible will reduce how much forward inertia is converted to friction and heat by the front tire.

Hannu Vierikko, pioneer footbike racer on his KickBike. (c) KickBike.com

But the key to getting more efficient forward motion from the same set of muscles is to use gravity as your assistant. We convert falling into going. The ideal power stroke involves swinging the kicking leg forward and then flexing the supporting leg as the kicking leg comes down to meet the pavement slightly ahead of your center. The propelling foot on the ground then has to roll back onto the ball of the foot and the toes, at the back of the stroke. That final pointing of the foot provides the final flicking thrust of the stroke. And then that same leg swings forward again, providing another seemingly magical forward thrust without any ground contact at all.

This may sound like a complicated athletic feat, but it uses no more energy than a normal kick, and it takes you more than twice as far. Having a bendable flexible shoe also increases how much thrust you get out of one identical kick. A rigid skateboarder’s sneaker will waste energy. A bendable running shoe that allows you to articulate your toes will give you an extra free push on every stroke. In fact good bendy running shoes, as opposed to skateboard shoes or cross trainers etc., are like high octane fuel for your kick scooter.

Eventually you will want to switch feet, because your standing supporting leg, the one flexing up and down on the footboard, will get tired if you do not. The most efficient way is to use the scooter racer’s hop switch technique. As the kicking leg comes forward again from the back of it’s stroke, it neatly lands upon the footboard as the other foot smoothly jumps off to continue the forward swing that the first foot started. This takes a lot of practice, but since you will be going for many rides on your scooter, you can practice a little on every ride. Eventually your switching of the foot will be hard for any observer to see.

Your hands and arms also come into play. If you are too tall for your scooter, or if your handlebars are too low, you may find yourself bending over and supporting your weight on the handlebars. This will transfer the vibration from the road through your arms and shoulders, which is tiring, but it also robs you of forward speed.  Ideally you should keep both hands on the grips and be aware of the forces so that you neither push down nor pull back. Aim for neutral force on the grips. The exception is when you approach a pavement crack. A little pull back and up will help the front wheel over that speed-robbing obstacle.

I learned these techniques slowly over more than three decades of scooting, but I mastered them when I had a KickBike. However, now that I ride my KickPed, all the same rules apply. This is not to say I ride fast everywhere, I do not. like to stand upright and look around and take my time. But when I want to, I can really make my little KickPed fly.

So, even if you have not yet saved up to buy a KickPed or a Xootr and you are still borrowing your kid brother’s beat up old Razor with the worn down wheels to go riding, you can start to think about these techniques for speed and endurance, and start to practice them for when you have that shiny new ride. Believe me, you will soon find yourself calmly speaking to that out of breath cyclist who is going the same speed as you!

This article was originally written for kickscooterpro.com published by NYCeWheels

Spongewave Bleachpants

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By Jeffrey the Barak

The sponge in your kitchen is not merely stinky, it may also kill you. Smell does not come from nowhere, it is produced by living organisms that appear and develop in sponges thanks to contact with the organic matter on your plates, moisture, light and warmth. In fact if you looked for a better way to grow these organisms, it would be difficult to find a better place than your kitchen sponge, the one you wipe your plates with.

In Frank Zappa’s great song, The Dangerous Kitchen, there is a line, “The sponge on the drainer, is stinky and squirty”. He goes on to warn about what might happen to you if you squeeze it.

Fortunately, there are two simple ways to eliminate almost all of the harmful substances, repeatedly and frequently. The smell goes away, indicating that the cause of the smell has been temporarily neutralized.

The toxins in question include E. coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter, yeast moulds, Pseudomonads, and S.Aureus. These are not things you want on your hands or in your drinking glass. All can be defeated by these two methods.

Method One: The Microwave.

Place a wet stinky sponge in the microwave for a minute. When you take it out, be careful not to scald your fingers on the boiled water, but notice that the radiation has removed all of the smell.

 

 

Method Two: Bleach and the dishwasher.

You can use bleach on its own, but if you run a dishwasher frequently, just load the sponge and pour a little bleach directly into it, before running the cycle. It will come out smelling like nothing, which is our goal.

 

So there we have it. There is no reason for that dangerous and stinky sponge to remain so, and it will serve us until it falls apart.

 

 

 

L.A. Beach Bike Path, Part Three

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By Jeffrey the Barak

(c) Google Earth, our route

Part one took us from Torrance to Manhattan Beach on the L.A. Beach Bike Path, and part two began in Manhattan Beach and ended as we arrived at Venice Beach. This article is part three so if you are starting here, you may want to navigate to parts one and two first.

Part Three: Venice to Temescal Canyon.

We begin this ride at the end of Washington Boulevard, which we old-timers call Washington Street, because the Boulevard used to veer North following the historical alignment of the streetcar lines, but it was renamed Abott Kinney at that point. so what was formerly Washington Street took on the name of the Boulevard. So we are at the Southern end of the Venice Beach Boardwalk. Visitors from the East coast will notice that this is boardwalk by name only. The surface is asphalt, or in places concrete. The L.A. Beach Bike Path is, as it was in the South Bay, still concrete.

Looking out to sea from our starting point is the Washington Street Pier. If you are not in a hurry to scoot off down the bike path on your, KickPed, Xootr or other kick scooter, this pier is worth a stroll to the end and back. Being roughly in the middle of Santa Monica Bay you will see the Palos Verdes Peninsula to the South and Malibu and the Santa Monica Mountains to the South.

(c) Google Earth, the Venice section

Anyway, we have scooted down the bike lane and can now rejoin the real bike path here at the beach and head South again. Between Washington and Venice Boulevard the main attraction is the architecture of the homes that face Venice Beach here. The bike path here is never straight so there will be curves to keep us interested. And on this side of the Marina our bike path is much busier at all times.

Just before Venice Boulevard there is the big lifeguard station on the left that the fans of Baywatch will remember as the Hoff’s HQ.

For the next third of a mile, the bike path is one or two hundred feet from the main action of the boardwalk. If you have visited Venice before and are concentrating on our twenty six mile scooting chautauqua then this distance will be welcome. But let’s not forget that Venice Beach is second in attendance only to Disneyland in SoCal. And usually you can scoot through the crowds without ever getting so much as a dirty look from law enforcement. So one day, perhaps after you have covered every yard of the path, please bring your scooter back and ride the boardwalk as well.

Sandwiched between the bike path and the boardwalk you will see the paddleboard courts, the volleyball courts, the basketball courts and the famous Muscle Beach, which moved here from Santa Monica decades ago.

At mile 16 is Venice Beach Park which has been much improved in recent years and is usually full of dancing quad-skaters and other assorted Venice Beach performer-types.

This park too is nice place to scoot back and forth and around and around, going nowhere in particular, unless you are on this mission to complete the path. To the left, or beach side of the path is the Venice Skate Park. Kick scooters are designed to go forward nicely, but you will see some people here using them as jumping vehicles and generally making a lot of noise and falling down a lot. If that is your thing, good luck.

For the next mile, Venice Beach gives us the nicest curves on the bike path. Lovely swooping lefts and rights. There is however a lot of sand on the concrete here that can result in a skid. On a KickPed you will be stable, but your pushing foot may have to be aimed at sand-free patches in some parts.

(c) Google Earth, Ocean Park and Santa Monica

Mile 17 is the end of Venice and we enter the City of Santa Monica, our tenth city since the beginning. This section is on Ocean Park and it is even better than Venice for a nice day out on your scooter. In fact if all you want to do is ride, then Ocean Park is the best place on the L.A. Beach Bike Path to bring your push scooter. In decades past there was  large pier and amusement park here, and the sand is four hundred feet from path to surf. What remains is a vast parking world. Even on the busiest days, these parking lots never get full, so there is always plenty of asphalt for us to enjoy kick scooter fun in the sun with an ocean breeze.

At Perry’s Cafe Bike and Skate you can enjoy some good food by beach standards and watch the world ride by as you enjoy a break. There are eight Perry’s on the bike path, but Ocean Park is the place.

At Bicknell, just before mile 18 we leave Ocean Park and we remain in the City of Santa Monica. Here we find many people walking on the bike path, and despite the slower speeds of our leg scooters we still have to be alert and not let these violators step right in front of us without warning.

We see the large hotels to our right as we get nearer and nearer to Santa Monica Pier. This is where Muscle Beach originally was, in the grand Hollywood era, before it was reintroduced in Venice as World Famous Muscle Beach. And then for two hundred feet, we are under the pier itself, kick scooting in the shade with the smell of preserved wood, and salty air mixing together to form that beachy smell of the nineteenth century.

Of course it goes without saying that this pier is a good place to visit, but let’s keep going. After the pier parking lot, the path bends toward shore and keeps going and going. The sand here is a good seven hundred feet wide from bike path to surf.

(c) Google Earth, Santa Monica Pier to Temescal

We hear traffic now, as the Interstate 10 has ended it’s cross-continental span and emptied into Pacific Coast Highway just a short distance off to our right. But we pass houses and parking lots as the bike path straightens out and shadows the road.

Mile 19 is Santa Monica State Beach Park, and when we see lifeguard tower 18, we are at Santa Monica Canyon. Inland this channel cuts through the land to form a chasm between Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades, but more interestingly, under the ocean where we cannot see it, it forms a deep underwater river valley that cuts down through Santa Monica Bay. For us, it is mile 20, and we leave Santa Monica. The Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles is our eleventh city.

At Mile 21 we pass Palisades Park and we commence the final five mile scoot of our journey. At Temescal Canyon, it is the end of the road. A parking lot in the 14800 block of PCH. This is the Northern end of the L.A. Beach Bike Path.

My KickPed, from NYCeWheels.com

I doubt that anyone would ride a human-powered scooter all the way from Washington to Temescal in one day. It is over ten miles and then you need to get back, but there are some cyclists who do the whole thing in one session. We can choose to take this a section at a time depending on our strength and endurance. And of course you don’t have to start in Torrance, you can ride from North to South and end there instead.

Always remember, as I said in parts one and two, whenever you take a long scoot in one direction, you need to have enough energy to get back again. Of course if you do over-extend yourself, you can always take a taxi back!

Compared to the cyclists for whom this epic path was built, we kick scooter riders have a different ethic. We like to stand upright and see what is around us, and take our time, and stop frequently and have conversations.

Considering the beauty of this little coastal concrete ribbon on the West coast, I think that kick-scooter riders can get a deeper appreciation of their surroundings, despite having to input more energy to complete the journey.

This article was originally written for kickscooterpro.com published by NYCeWheels

L.A. Beach Bike Path, Part Two

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By Jeffrey the Barak

(c) Google Earth, our route

Part one took us from Torrance to Manhattan Beach on the L.A. Beach Bike Path. This article is part two so if you are starting here, you may want to navigate to part one first.

Google Maps has an overlay view of the L.A. Beach Bike Path at this link:

Part Two: LAX, Manhattan Beach to Marina del Rey.

 

North of Manhattan Beach Pier, the bike path continues along the edge of the sand and keeps us well up the beach from the surf. Up a level to our right is The Strand where beachfront homes look out upon this classic L.A. Beach scene.

Pedestrians, runners and kids on toy scooters, tricycles and bikes with training wheels are up a level from the bike path, but you will find that they use the bike path just as much. We should remember that a non-local may enter the bike bath between any posted signs and therefore not realize that it is reserved for cyclists.

I usually approach them with a casual “on your left” or at worst, “please step off this bike path” rather than show rudeness. Don’t worry, some road bike racing speedster will soon happen by with a more strongly worded message for these walkers.

Up until this point we have experienced only slight variances in gradient, few climbs and few coasts, so on your your KickPed, Xootr, Razor A5, Micro Adult White, or whichever scooter you are the proud and enthusiastic owner of, it has been a nice ride.

Of course the key to enjoying a kick scooter or push scooter ride in a scenic place, or anywhere else is to take it easy. Even at a speed that feels very slow, any pedestrian that you pass will have dropped into the distance behind you after a few seconds, so you need feel no obligation to pursue your maximum speed. The slower you go, the further you go.

At 45th Street the path bends slightly left and right to pass some gasometers and at this point, Mile 7 of the bike path,  we exit Manhattan Beach and enter the City of El Segundo, the fifth city so far on our South to North scoot along the bike path.

In the El Segundo area we see a much more industrial landscape. Just offshore, oil tankers unload Alaskan crude into pipelines terminating at large buoys. These pipelines carry the oil to the refineries that we can see inland of the L.A. Beach Bike Path.

There is a slight chance that you may have to take a break if anyone is using the Chevron Refinery Heliport which is right beside the bike path. You are free to pass during a take off or landing, but you risk being sandblasted from the rotor wash.

At Grand Avenue, we scoot out of El Segundo and find ourselves for the first time in Los Angeles, our sixth city. Here at Mile 8, when you reach the first swooping left and right curve of the path you have the honor of passing by all the sewage of Los Angeles. Just inland from the bike path, and across the street called Vista del Mar is the Los Angeles Sanitation Department’s massive wastewater treatment plant. No need to worry  though as on most days the ocean breeze is enough to prevent any trace of odor from intruding upon your ride.

When I had my KickBike I would regularly park the car in Playa del Rey and scoot a round trip to Manhattan Beach, but I have never done this on my KickPed. As lovely and huge as this section is, it is a better suited to riding a swift bicycle. The kick scooter ride through here is long and arduous and no matter how much you love beaches and scooters, it can become uninteresting after half an hour when the tiredness builds.

Assuming though that you will be seeking to do the whole twenty six mile path in stages, there is much of interest here nonetheless.

When you pass Imperial Highway at Mile 9, there is something just out of sight to the right, LAX. Every minute or so a jet will take off from one of the four runways and fly over the bike path and out to the Pacific, where it will turn to select a flight path to wherever in the world it is headed. The sound of jet engines is constant here and it merges with the traffic up on Vista del Mar and with the ocean surf to create a background roar that is quite unique to where we now are, Dockweiler Beach State Park.

The bike path snakes around on this large beach, making a long stretch even longer. The gradient also changes so you have to power up hill, but get some nice high-speed downhill coasts as reward for your effort. But the difficulty of this section is dependent upon the wind. It may be your friend or your foe. It can change directions, and on some days of the year, you will even see the planes approaching LAX for a landing from the ocean instead of the other way around.

In years past, it was not unknown for lone cyclists to be held up and robbed along this stretch of the path. I only go through during a busy weekend and I keep an eye on any suspicious characters if I find myself far from other riders. Criminals here are in an isolated spot so if they take a victim’s mobile phone, they can be far away by the time police can arrive to help. But I don’t want to scare everyone away from Dockweiler. If you goal is to complete the path, then you have to ride through.

During one of these curving swoops of the path, approximately between the two pairs of LAX runways, we pass into an area of Los Angeles, that we call Playa del Rey, our seventh town.

 

Playa del Rey has an upper level way above the elevation of the bike path, and a smaller area down at sea level. Just past Mile 11, you can take your scooter off the bike path at Culver Boulevard and look for some coffee and food in the lower village section of PdR. A century ago, before there were roads and towns, Playa del Rey was a beach resort serviced by the old Balloon Line streetcars out of Los Angeles, which is fifteen miles inland from here as the crow flies. Then, as now, Ballona Creek emptied into the Pacific at Playa del Rey and there was a lagoon called Del Rey Lagoon, which is a remnant of what was once Mud Lake. Mud Lake was no more when the Army Corp of Engineers constructed Marina del Rey, the world’s largest man-made yacht harbor.

This entire coastal area was part of an extensive marsh system called The Ballona Wetlands. Some of this has been preserved, but most has since been developed, first by the Hughes Airport, used for the production of WW2 aircraft, and lately by housing.

Officially, the L.A. Beach Bike Path stays on the sand here until just before the channel of the creek, where it curves around and crosses a bridge to a spit of land that separates Ballona Creek from the entrance channel of Marina del Rey.

Unless you have a magic flying scooter, in order to get to Venice on the other side, you need to take long inland detour as the bike path heads inland around Marina del Rey. NYCeWheels have no immediate plans to sell a magic flying scooter.

After crossing this bridge, which is a nice place to stop and enjoy the view, the bike path is a nice downhill from our Playa del Rey end, passing Mile 12,  until we get to the split between the twenty six mile L.A. Beach Bike Path and the Ballona Creek Bike Path. We will not cover the Ballona Creek Bike Path in this article, and we will hang a left and find ourselves for the first time, sharing the road with motor vehicles and the bike path becomes a bike lane on Fiji Way, Marina del Rey, our eighth town.

But it would be shame not to stop here as we are now in Fisherman’s Village and here we can walk our scooters and enjoy food, coffee, a boat ride, or, if it is the weekend, outdoor live music. It’s not a bad place to take a break, and in fact I got married here at Shanghai Red’s.

Continuing on the bike path, which is a bike lane on Fiji Way, we pass Mile 13, the halfway point. Then we eventually have to cut across four lanes to make a left turn onto the section of the bike path that snakes past the boatyards. This Marina section is actually a nice ride on a scooter and less so on a fast bicycle. Of course we do not strictly have to use the Fiji Way bike lane at all. Instead of riding in the bike lane beside the cars, we can stay on the other side of the road, where Fisherman’s Village was, and we can ride the sidewalk and detour through the parking lots of The Boatyard and West Marine, and generally have a fun time on our scooters just as we would in town.

Assuming we are sticking to the path, it resumes across Fiji (just past Mile 13), and curves within Admiralty Way, crosses Mindanao Way and Bali Way, affording us close up views of hundreds of docked boats, and eventually leads us into the parking lot of the Marina del Rey library. We have to cross Admiralty Way at the traffic light and then the bike path is separated from the road in a nice green park where it gets an additional local name, The Marvin Braude Bike Path. Halfway through this section at the beacon that shines straight down the main channel of Marina del Rey we are at Mile 14.

I have ridden this section for decades on bikes and scooters, but I should warn that around twenty years ago the Los Angeles County Sheriff Bike Patrol used to hang out here and give citations to roller skaters who are technically forbidden from the bike path. On any given day you will see many skaters here, and everywhere else along the twenty six miles, but I do not really know where we legally stand with our scooters. No-one does.

At the end of the Marvin Braude, we again have to use a crosswalk to continue down a bike lane on the far side of Washington Boulevard. This is now Venice, our ninth town. Cars will be passing us on our left, but again, no reason we cannot scoot on the sidewalk if it is a more relaxed experience. This street eventually takes us back to the shore, passing the Venice Canals at Mile 15 and then arriving a couple of blocks later  at Venice Beach. I will save this famous ride for part three.

Marina del Rey is also a nice place to ride a kick-scooter if you ignore the L.A, Beach Bike Path altogether. Riding the sidewalks there are nice routes around each yacht basin and there are nice quiet streets around the Marina Peninsular and the Grand Canal. The actual Venice Canals, on the North side of Washington Boulevard should be reserved for walking, as there is no room to ride, but it is handy to carry a scooter anywhere in this area.

I doubt that anyone would ever ride a folding scooter all the way from Manhattan Beach to Venice in one day, but you can take this a section at a time depending on your strength and endurance.

Always remember, as I said in part one, whenever you take a long scoot in one direction, you need to have enough energy to get back again. Of course if you do over-extend yourself, you can always take a taxi back!

This article was originally written for kickscooterpro.com published by NYCeWheels

L.A. Beach Bike Path, Part One

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By Jeffrey the Barak

(c) Google Earth, our route

You have seen it on TV and in countless movies. The twenty-six mile bike path along the coast in Santa Monica Bay is a place that many a scooter rider is longing to try out.

The bike path is quiet in some places and crowded in others, and some of it is really not the best place for a scooter, but nevertheless, the day you find yourself standing there with your scooter still sitting at home is a sad day indeed.

As far as scooter riding is concerned, the L.A. Beach Bike Path has a few negatives and many positives. We kick scooter riders are generally not a wild, law-breaking bunch, but when it comes to this particular bike path we need to be sure to behave properly. You will find that although it is forbidden for pedestrians to walk or run on the bike path, pedestrians numbering in the thousands are one of the main hazards. And you will find that while you are having a great ride at the beach, it is important to stay alert enough to observe any signs that you come across, because failing to do so can result in a ticket and fine from one of the six different police agencies that patrols the path between the Southern and Northern ends.

As we scooter riders know all too well, twenty-six miles is much too far for one day’s ride, and a fifty-two mile round trip would be beyond torture for me personally, so let’s break the path down into sections, to be enjoyed over the course of many visits.

Google Maps has an overlay view of the L.A. Beach Bike Path at this link:

Part One: The South Bay, Torrance to Manhattan Beach.

The Southern end of the L.A. Beach Bike Path is within the City of Torrance. At the intersection of Via Rivera and Paseo De La Playa are a pair of parking lots where you can grab your KickPed, Xootr, Razor A5, Micro Adult White, or whichever scooter you are the proud and enthusiastic owner of, from the trunk of your car, and stroll, or ride your brake, down a short pathway to the beginning, or end of our legendary trail. There is a restroom here so you can be sure you are ready to concentrate on the scoot.

Here you will start to get used to fairly smooth concrete surrounded by yellow sand and the Pacific Ocean a few yards off to your left.

After three minutes or so you will have traversed from Torrance into the City of Redondo Beach. To your right will be a steep grassy bank. The constant ocean breeze rises up this bank, and on the street at the top there are quite often people with radio controlled gliders and various kites taking advantage of the updraft.

The bike path is virtually straight all the way from the Torrance end to Mile 2, Redondo Beach Pier, where it becomes complicated. When you get to the pier, you may as well dismount and fold it up, because that is the only way you can be guaranteed to get through this section without a ticket and a fine.

The Redondo Beach Police have been known to issue tickets to scooter riders here, despite the laws of scooter riding being unknown to almost everyone, including the police themselves. Cyclists are required to walk their bikes, and skaters are technically required to remove their skates in the immediate area of the pier. Those who leave the path and go up to the street to avoid the pier will find that the only way safely through is to stop and put a foot down for three seconds at every stop sign, never ride in a pedestrian crosswalk and generally pretend you are taking a test for a drivers license at every moment.

As far as scooter riders are concerned, just walk it or carry it to be on the safe side. You will soon be past the pier and able to scoot again. But it would be shame not to take a break here and walk around the pier with scooter in hand.

North of the pier you will not have a beach on your left for a while as the bike path cuts through the Redondo Beach Marina and King Harbor. There are many restaurants in this area so if you are hungry you can carry your scooter to your table and get fueled.

At Mile 3, Herondo Street the path takes a sharp left and right and then you once again down on the sand and free to ride. To your right will be the houses on The Strand and there will be beach volleyball nets to your left. And you will also be in your third city of the day, Hermosa Beach.

Here, as in Southern Redondo Beach, the path is straight. There is no room for pedestrians, but there will almost certainly be many, getting in the way, and despite your slow speed on your scooter, it will be the bicycles that hold you up as people stop to chat. This is no place for a race and it is best to get into the slow flow of things and not be in any hurry.

The next major landmark is Hermosa Beach Pier. Pier Avenue is a crowded, booze-happy place that spills across the bike path. You should always step off and pick up your scooter when you pass the pier. For two blocks on either side of the pier, the bike path has signs telling you to walk your bike. Of course you won’t have a bike with you, but walk your scooter to be safe and legal. If you take a detour up Pier Avenue, which is for pedestrians, don’t scoot unless everyone else is, because there is the potential for a violation here also.

I’ve passed this point on all manner of scooters, bicycles and skates over the years, but since I have had my KickPed scooter from NYCeWheels, I have found  the easy folding aspect of the design makes a walking break very easy. No time is wasted with Ergo-pins, turning bolts etc. From riding to carrying folded, or vice-versa literally takes three seconds. The KickPed, is ideal for alternating on and off kick scooter riding.

 

Continuing North, it is again a long, straight, beach level bike path, and by this time you will be hankering for some carving turns, But there are none this far South. At 35th Street there is another sharp right and left where it is best to walk. You will observe that cyclists seem to find this spot very annoying, but we scooter riders are usually in much less of a hurry and we don’t mind stepping down and taking our time.

This point between Mile 4 and Mile 5 also marks the approximate border between Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach, our fourth city so far.

From here it is a short ride up to Manhattan Beach Pier, our third pier so far. This is a nice pier to walk along. It is slightly uphill towards the ocean end where there is a cafe, and also the Roundhouse Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, which is worth a visit. Heading back down the pier toward land it is slightly downhill. If you are sure you see no police and it is not too crowded, you can risk a free-coast back to shore.

The Southern section of the L.A. Beach Bike Path is not the part you see on the big screen or TV. There are more locals and fewer tourists. The vibe is not as frantic as it is in Venice and Santa Monica. But we will be covering those sections later, and they are great scoots!

So far we have ridden about five and a half miles, from the Torrance end to Manhattan Beach Pier, not counting walks along the piers etc. Add the five and a half miles back to the car and this is way beyond the recommended distance for a leisurely scoot. But if you are making a full day of it, perhaps eleven miles is something you could take on. If not, break this Southern section into two or three shorter visits, and adjust your parking spot accordingly. Always remember, when riding a scooter in one direction, you need to have enough energy to get back again. Of course if you do over-extend yourself, you can always take a taxi back!

This article was originally written for kickscooterpro.com published by NYCeWheels

My road to the KickPed

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By Jeffrey the Barak

Xootr left and KickPed right

Most kick scooter riders and potential kick scooter buyers are thousands of miles from being able to stroll into a certain New York City bike shop called NYCeWheels, but thanks to the Internet anyone is able to choose to buy the scooter that I have personally chosen as the best scooter ever, the KickPed.

I did not just stumble across it and decide to say it is the best. No, I have owned and ridden six different scooters in California, and before that, when I lived in England I had a few more.

Each scooter had its good points and bad points and each was used hard and evaluated objectively in several riding situations. And for me, the KickPed is the best one of all.

Toy Scooter

The scooter that I rode the most was a heavy, inefficient, steel child’s scooter that I bought new for $50 back in 1988. I lived at the time, a mile or so from Venice Beach, California, and would appear on the boardwalk daily, riding my little scooter, in an era where scooters were almost never seen. I was “Scooter Man”.

Occasionally a child would happen by on a toy scooter, not that mine was not also a toy, and very rarely, the elusive dream machine known back then as a BMX scooter would make an appearance. But in general, it was all bikes and skates, besides me on my scooter. Although I should add that the future Patmont guys (manufacturers of today’s KickPed) were field-testing their prototype of the  combustion engined Go-Ped in Venice that year, and getting hassled by the police even then.

That $50 scooter wore out and the last pair of tires was kept in service with a can and a half of Fix-A-Flat. After donating the scooter, I was left with a hole in my life. I yearned to have another scooter. I flirted with bikes, got a bruised  behind from the saddles, and even went through several models of stand-up electric scooters, which while fun, did not really fill the void left by my last human-powered scooter.

We each have our preferred way to get around, but for me, the kick scooter, or leg scooter or push scooter is the vehicle that really gets me going. I love the simplicity and the efficiency, and I also, I have to admit, enjoy the attention.

I will repeat at this point that my current scooter favorite is the KickPed, sold by NYCeWheels in New York, (or at their website, from anywhere). For me, the KickPed has all the right stuff. It is easy to ride, easy to push or kick, easy to carry and is the easiest scooter to fold and unfold.

In recent years I have had a few remarkable human powered scooters, and I will comment on each here and explain why the KickPed beats them all.

Sidewalker City

The Sidewalker City was an amazing looking giant scooter, but it was inefficient. The footboard was too high, making it very tiring to ride, as the supporting leg had to basically do squats on every stroke.  It was also pretty huge and was as cumbersome as a full size cruising bike when you wanted to park it or transport it. At 26 pounds, it was a little on the heavy side, and in 2003 it cost $299. It was a good argument for the inefficiency of scooters, but it did cause a stir and attracted many curious onlookers.

Clearly the KickPed is faster, lighter, easier to carry and less expensive than the Sidewalker.

KickBike Millenium Racer

The KickBike Millennium Racer was a scooter of the sort that is raced by European athletes. Scooters have always been more popular in countries such as Denmark. They call them Footbikes, and there is a FootBike brand, but mine was a KickBike. With its large front wheel from a racing bike and its 100 pound tire pressure, the KickBike would fly at terrifying speed over bumps and cracks, stopping at nothing except the steepest of hills. On a downhill it would speed along like Lance Armstrong, passing teams of cyclists, and I would see the road beneath me as death in waiting. Luckily I never once wiped out on that KickBike.

Despite it being fairly easy to remove the front wheel and toss it in the car, the KickBike was a never a vehicle that you could hop off, fold, and carry, so it never had the full convenience that is a major advantage of a scooter. It weighed under 20 pounds and in 2003 it cost $299 plus shipping.

The KickPed is easier to carry, more convenient, and less expensive than a KickBike.

Xootr MG folded and unfolded

The Xootr Mg is one of the more popular versions of the Xootr scooter range of foldable kick scooters.

Sometime around 2005 I had just written a magazine review of the KickBike on the-vu.com, and a man who’s name I unfortunately cannot remember asked me if we could meet and ride each other’s scooters. He showed up in a van containing folding bicycles, two Xootrs and if I remember rightly, a Know-Ped with a shaved deck. Or perhaps it was a Xootr Cruise with a shaved deck, but whichever it was, he was onto something, as a shaved deck is one of the star features of today’s KickPed. Anyway, we rode together up to the top of Beverlywood and back, a steep climb up and free ride back down, about three miles, with he on my KickBike and myself on his Xootr MG. The next day I found myself ordering a Xootr MG.

When the surface is smooth and dry, the Xootr is hands down the best scooter you can get. The deck is low, the rolling resistance is minimal. and it is simply the most efficient scooter, and is also quite easy to fold, unfold and carry around. If all surfaces were always smooth and dry, there would be no beating the Xootr. But, not all roads are smooth are they? That is why I think the KickPed is the better scooter in the real world.  Compared to the KickPed, the Xootr MG was very noisy, very bumpy, harder to fold and unfold, prone to sudden grinding stops on uneven pavement, and it skidded unnervingly on damp or wet pavement.

But there is no denying that any Xootr is a great scooter. The NYCeWheels store in New York has a custom version of the Xootr MG called a CityKicker. Other Xootrs include the Venus and Roma models which have a narrow deck for improved scooting efficiency.

The KickPed is much safer, much quieter, much more comfortable, and yet still almost as fast as a Xootr, actually faster on the uneven sidewalks around this neighborhood, which often require a dismount and walk if you are on a Xootr.

It is no secret that my favorite scooter, the KickPed, is adapted, very cleverly, from an existing product, the Know-Ped. Despite the KickPed being better in a few ways, an original Know-Ped push scooter is still a nice scooter. I had a blue one for a while, but I lost it in a burglary in 2003, before I really had a chance to put many miles on it. I do remember that I wished the bars were higher, and that the kick stroke was a bit too far out to the side to be very efficient, but it was a nice smooth ride on an over-engineered platform that was originally designed for a combustion engine driven scooter.

The improvements that NYCeWheels brought to the Know-Ped when they designed the KickPed are all very effective. Especially the version with the taller handlebars. As long as these improved KickPeds are available there is no good reason to consider the older Know-Ped for your next scooter.

I realize that not everyone has the patience to buy and sell their way through five or six scooters just to find out which is the best choice for them, but if you take my suggested direction, you’ll be very happy with a KickPed, and slightly less so with any other choice.

This article was originally written for kickscooterpro.com published by NYCeWheels

 

Why choose a kick scooter?

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By Jeffrey the Barak

Ah, the humble kick scooter. Often maligned as inefficient, or silly looking, but to those of us who know, it is the ideal vehicle for short-distance, low to medium speed transportation.

True, if you need to go ten miles, then a bicycle of any type will get you there with less energy spent, and if you need to go a hundred yards, walking may be more convenient, but lets say your trip is between half a mile and five miles, well then what could be easier than a scooter?

With a kick scooter, also known as a leg scooter or push scooter, You don’t have to remove your shoes and put on skates, you don’t have to unlock and lock your large, heavy bicycle, you don’t have to risk a fall from a skateboard, you just step on and go.

While still in a tiny minority among human-powered vehicles, scooters are nonetheless the best choice for such distances, especially when they are highly-efficient, light-weight, quickly foldable examples, best exemplified by the truly excellent KickPed.

Easier to ride then the original Know-Ped upon which it is based, and smoother to ride on the street than the similar Xootr line of kick scooters, the KickPed is a perfect example of a well conceived design. New York City retailers NYCeWheels are not just a bike shop with a couple of scooters in the window for eccentrics and tall kids to buy, they are enthusiasts who truly understand and appreciate the virtues of scooter riding.

I have owned, borrowed and ridden many different human-powered scooters in my time, and I think that to date, the KickPed is the one that got it right. It’s the perfect balance of efficiency, stability, foldability and convenience.

I have written many an article about scooting, or scootering over the decades, as well as several product reviews of scooters, large and small, and will try to contribute here also. Hopefully describing use and experience will help convince hundreds more to acquire a scooter and take advantage of what such a vehicle can offer.

Before the Razr craze of the 1990’s I never saw another scooter rider besides the occasional small child, and a decade and a half later I am still often the only one out there, but this has nothing to do with people’s experience of scooters, which is usually very positive, it is more to do with perception. I hope to help boost awareness of how underrated scooters are as general transportation vehicles.

Cycling and skating are of course great activities, but there are some things that are best done on a scooter.

This article was originally written for kickscooterpro.com published by NYCeWheels

 

2012 Election, Goodies and Baddies

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By Jeffrey the Barak

This is an election year here in the United States. Some of us spend the time to read the complete manifestos of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, and perhaps also those of the Independents, and most of us base our choice on our general feeling about which party is more wrong and which is more right.

It can be difficult to know who we should really be voting for if we, like the majority of Americans, do not take hundreds of hours to really study what each politician is all about, and to understand each issue comprehensively.

How do we know if our current preference is really in our own best interests, or if it is generally fair? Well, if we don’t want to invest the time on a full understanding of what is going on, then we can do the opposite and pare it down to really simple choices.

To do this we have to assume that we all want: what is fair, what is honest, what is the right thing to do and what is honorable. And by doing so we have to assume that we don’t want anything that is unfair, dishonest, wrong or dishonorable. If you want any of these last four things then this article may not be of any help to you.

We can get even simpler, in American English, we can ask ourselves who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. In British English this would be Goodies and Baddies, respectively. That sounds nice so we’ll stick with these British terms here.

Take any issue and apply this Goodies versus Baddies test.

Let’s start with a simple question. Is it better to spend  Trillions of dollars on killing people or to spend Billions dollars on making Americans well and caring for them. Well lets look at the cost of killing. Please visit this link http://costofwar.com/en/ to see the current 13 figure amount. Now we are Americans and we don’t believe in the government providing free health care to all and paying for it from our taxes do we? But if we did do that then for as long as we and our children and our grandchildren are alive, it would only cost a tiny fraction of what these wars have cost us.

Now let’s apply this to the Republicans and to the Democrats. They are not as different as you may think. Republicans started the wars and Democrats continued them. Neither would introduce a National Health Service. Both would expect us to pay for our health either in cash or via insurance. Both are far to the right of European politics, and both take money from lobbyists representing heath insurance and health care, to preserve the status quo. And all the while, millions of Americans cannot afford to set foot in a doctor’s office, let alone a hospital, so they essentially have the same health care as pre-civilization nomadic hunter-gatherers. Survive or die.

Well, not quite, even a penniless homeless person has to be treated in an emergency room by law. But this is demonstratively more expensive to the taxpayer than keeping that person healthy in the first place.

So who are the Goodies and who are the Baddies when it comes to heath care? It is close, but we can probably say the Democrats are a little bit more like the Goodies, on this issue.

Now apply a similar test to other issues. Any issues from economic to moral, and ask yourself with all honesty, who are the Goodies and who are the Baddies. Then vote for the people who are the most fair, the most honest, the least wrong, and the most honorable. Then, if your party wins, you can be even more proud to be an American, and to be doing the right thing.

Let’s take one more issue that seems to be at the top of this year’s election considerations. The recent “Occupy” movement started with many separate themes, but as it has progressed, the general idea they seem to agree upon is that 1% of Americans have all the wealth and 99% don’t. They don’t want to be communists and steal the rich person’s money and spread it out by the penny to each poor person, but from the poor person’s point of view, they see it as unfair that they have to pay higher taxes than their billionaire friends.

Republicans and Democrats have different views on this. The Republicans quote economists like Milton Friedman and say the rich create more wealth that filters down to the average person. The Democrats say that this does not really seem to happen in practice, and that taxes collected from the wealthy can improve the country for the poor, who are after all, the customers who made the rich, rich, by buying their stuff. Both parties would agree that the poor need some support, and that the lazy should not be subsidized by those who produce. But clearly the Republicans are more influenced by donations from the wealthy that make it worthwhile to keep those tax breaks and loopholes for the rich in effect.

It does not make a huge difference to the economy if the 1% pay a little less tax, but we have to look at the rate of tax a working person pays, while still being financially strained, and ask what is fair. Should we really be paying a lower tax rate if we succeed in making it big and becoming wealthy, or is that not fair?

So two very simplified issues, healthcare and taxes. Two out of many, but the point is, ask what is right, what is fair. When you have considered any issue that is important to you and you have decided which way you swing, you will know which vote feels right to you. Base your decision on what feels right or wrong to you, not on which way your family and friends vote, and not on which way you think your peers would expect you to vote. It is a secret ballot after all. Don’t be a Baddie, when you can be a Goodie and feel good about your choice.

So you may wonder what I think. I’m the one writing the article that you are reading. I think that it is good to have disagreements and debate, and to consider different points of view. Without at least two parties, there is no democracy. I look at as many issues as can fit in my straining mind, and I have decided that to be a Goodie, I can only vote for President Obama this year. He’s not perfect, no-one is perfect, but he is clearly far less horrible. He is working on ending the wars and he has demonstrated that he can improve the terrible economy that was handed to him by President Bush and his previous administration.

At the time of writing, the Republican candidate is not yet selected, but the potential Obama beaters include a motley cast of people who among other things, support male superiority over females, prefer the idea of a religious theocracy over the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, spew hateful rhetoric on radio shows, promote the continuation of war mostly in order to support weapons manufacturers who profit from the killing, lie about the clearly demonstrable improvements in the economy under the President’s watch, believe that the people who have lost their wealth have entirely caused it themselves, and generally take the rotten, cruel side in most moral arguments, for reasons only they can understand.

In my view, I see a party of Goodies and a party of Baddies. I celebrate your freedom to disagree, despite the fact you may prefer to lose that freedom one day.

Balls to Fitness

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By Jeffrey the Barak

Exercise fads come and go, and then, some stay, because they work, are good value for money and get results.

As we all know it is very easy to consume too many calories and to eat the wrong types of food to maintain our optimum heath. And it is extremely easy to get insufficient exercise, or even none at all.

If you are like me, you dislike gyms and heath clubs. Despite them being good places to get the fat off and the muscles on, they do have their drawbacks. For me it is the bacteria, the viruses and the fungus.

I recently terminated my club membership, despite using the club regularly to attend “Zumba” classes, which were very effective for strength-training, aerobic conditioning and fat-loss, as well as being a lot of fun. But I was not using the rest of the club, including the weights, the machines, the pool, the ball-courts or the changing rooms.

So for those of us who simply cannot stand the exposure of a health club, but want to exercise, what should we do? Clearly, we have the option of buying home equipment, so we can add strength-training to our walks around the neighborhood.

But do we buy some clever machine from an infomercial that costs thousands of dollars, or do we make do with something cheap. Well, as it turns out there are some devices in all the stores these days that cost next to nothing and are very effective.

They are a load of balls.

They come with different names, some trademarked and others merely descriptive. Examples are Fitness Ball, Stability Ball, Exercise Ball, The Bender Ball, The BOSU half-ball, and many others.

The majority are large, soft, compressible inflatable balls, usually in small, medium and large, for people of different knee height. Others, such as the Bender Ball are small, so that you can place it in the small of your back and do a slightly different routine, and others are hemispherical with a flat bottom (the BOSU ball).

All come with suggested sets of exercises, and these exercises are simple, easy, enjoyable, and over and done in a few minutes. I recommend you do a YouTube search or a Google search for exercise ball or stability ball or fitness ball and see what comes up.

The remarkable thing is, by using nothing but a ball and your own body, you can get similar results as you could with weights or equipment that would have cost a fortune, and the exercises work, perhaps because people actually do it. It is unlikely that anyone has ever had to dust an exercise ball.

The alleys turn to dust

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By Jeffrey the Barak.

When a city or a state runs out of money, it takes longer for potholes to be fixed in the roadway. It takes even longer for sidewalks to be repaired, despite their upheaval due to short-sighted tree planting decades ago.

But far behind on the priorities, are the service alleys. Behind the houses and the apartment buildings of Los Angeles, service alleys are slowly but surely turning back into the dust that lay there before humans arrived here.

There is no money to repair them, so every time a car drives over the remaining pieces of asphalt, the once smooth blacktop becomes smaller and smaller fragments, rubbing together to form finer and finer gravel, and finally dust. On a windy day, the average alley can shed a hundred pounds in weight, and that dust goes somewhere else.

There is enough gravel, that was formerly asphalt, in the storm drains to pave a small town. Assuming the city and state budgets never recover, we can also assume that our service alleys will one day become country dirt roads, dotted in mud puddles of various depths on a rainy day, and making their way slowly but surely into the Pacific ocean, as if this great flood plain never had a Los Angeles built on top of it.

Cherie Magnus’ new book, The Church of Tango, is out now.

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The Church of Tango: a Memoir, published January 21, 2012

On July 1st 2001, Cherie Magnus’ short article, The Church of Tango was published here on the-vu. Now a full-length memoir with the same title is published and it’s the talk of the milongas around the world. Cherie writes on her blog:

“Finally.

I started writing this story at the time it began–in February of 1992, when I was so depressed after my husband’s death I wanted to swallow all of his left-over meds and follow him into the beyond. So what began in a way as a journal or diary became the chronicle of my road to survival in four countries. And once I made that decision to live no matter what tragedy came my way, I plugged on, through one tremendous loss after another, by dancing. No, not yet had the tango found me, but whatever dance there was at the time came to my rescue. I had always been a dancer, and now I knew dance could save me from despair.

As my adventures unfolded, the manuscript grew and grew. I had to make cuts in events, characters, reflections and realizations. That was the hardest part of bringing this story to fruition. There is so much left out. Who knows, maybe I’ll write The Daughter of the Church of Tango, or a prequel one day.

Our students come from all over the world: China, The Philippines, Australia, Viet Nam, New Zealand, Hawaii, South Africa, India, Nepal, Finland, Russia, Israel, Scandinavia, all over Europe, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Canada and the U.S. And one question almost all ask me is, how did I end up teaching tango in Argentina?

This book is my answer.

Lots of women have come to Buenos Aires for tango, stayed a while, and went home and wrote about their experiences. There are a couple of tango histories available in English, as well as a couple of Buenos Aires milonga guide books. There are self-help books using tango as a way to better interpersonal relationships. There are some novels about tango in Buenos Aires.

My memoir is not like any of them; it is not a “tango book,” but a story of survival that cuts across death, cancer, Alzheimer’s, loss of home and homeland and cherished heirlooms and possessions, loss of shared histories, of hope for one’s children, of hope for the future, of love. But it’s also about finding love and unexpected joy. And about listening to the music and dancing.”

It can be ordered from the printer online: https://www.createspace.com/3733773

Now available on Amazon and soon as an ebook for Kindle.

Protecting your backup with a fire safe

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By Jeffrey the Barak

You may have a PC, or you may have a Mac. Either way your documents, pictures, movies , music and even your preferred settings are probably more important to you than the machine itself, which can be replaced at the store in a day or two.

That is why we back up. We may back up to a remote server via our Internet connection, or we may own an external hard drive, and vigilantly back up our computer so that our user profile could be restored to a new computer in a couple of clicks. Well isn’t that nice?

Nice, unless your building burns down. Let’s say for example that your computer is a Mac, and you back up to a LaCie external Firewire hard disk. I choose this example because that would be my situation. It is easy to leave that attractive LaCie with it’s pretty blue light sitting on the desk next to the Mac, backing up once every hour or so to Time Machine. But it is also risky, because if the computer is lost, then so is the backup.

A better idea is to disconnect that Time Machine backup and place it inside a fire safe. Once every couple of days, or once a week, you can pull it back out and run Time Machine. But then you should put the drive back in the fire safe and close that lid. The drive can keep your passport and insurance policies company in the fire safe until it is needed on the desktop again.

This may sound like a great inconvenience, but if you are tiptoeing through a black charred smoldering mess that used to be your home, would you be happier to see a fire safe, or the melted remains of a hard drive?

 

What is in that dust?

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By Jeffrey the Barak

As usual, I spent a few minutes today playing with my trusty vacuum cleaner and also a Swiffer duster. And as usual, the vacuum and the duster each had plenty of dust to pick up.

Sometimes I cannot see dust without putting on my eyeglasses, but that’s another problem altogether.

So what is this dust? What was it before it became dust? And how come the room smells so fresh when it has been dusted, but the dust itself seems odorless? Dust raises questions such as these, and cars in the desert raise dust, such as this.

A glance around my home reveals a big clue as to why my dust looks as it does. I may have hardwood floors, but there is a long pile rug in the living room, and that sheds as soon as you look at it. Then there is hair. I shed, and so does my wife. We shed. So much of our dust is from the wool of the rug, which finds its way to the furthest reaches of the other floor of the house, and some of it is our hair.

But not all of it. We are traditionally told that dust mainly comprises of human skin, which we shed constantly as a barely visible fine powder. But I don’t believe it. While I do not dispute the fact that our skin contributes to house dust, more than half of the components of house dust find their way in from outside. Yes outside where every solid object in sight is constantly turning to powder. It may take centuries for some objects to turn to powder, but you can see it happening. Paint does it, brake pads do it, asphalt does it and concrete does it. And the dry soil of the Los Angeles basin does it, a lot. This outside dust is in every breath we take, and it enters the home just as our air does, through the windows, doors, air vents, and even through the solid walls and floors and ceilings.

It joins our skin dust in the bedsheets, on the baseboards and along the edges of the floor. Every day there is a little more to suck up into the vacuum cleaner, or a lot if I am wearing my glasses.

And every three months I open my air filter and there on the media is a  big layer of compressed dust.

It would not be so bad if dust was dead, but it is teaming with life. There are mites in the dust, and the mites defecate. And there are bacteria feeding on the waste from the mites. And bacteria, tiny as they may be, are what produces the smell in a dusty room. So if you can smell it, there are millions of the poo-eating monsters. A room that smells dusty, especially a bedroom, is full of bacteria.

So keep on vacuuming, never choose wall-to-wall carpet if you can have a hard floor, change your bedsheets a lot, and be aware of just what it is you are looking at when you see dust, with or without your glasses on.

One time everywhere in the world

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By Jeffrey the Barak

Have you ever seen a time zone map? Its a rectangular projection of our globe, like most maps, where small distances at the poles are stretched for thousands of miles and large distances at the equator look tiny by comparison. But my preference for globes is not the focus of this article.

The time zone map has twenty-eight vertical lines showing the time from “Universal Time minus fourteen” to “Universal Time plus twelve”. And somewhere in between is the International Date Line.

Universal Time is the same as the old Greenwich Mean Time in the Winter, but Greenwich (the United Kingdom) jumps ahead by an hour in the Summer for “Daylight Savings Time”, as do many other, but not all time zones. Other time zones that jump forward and fall back with the seasons do not always do it on the same week of the year, and many areas closer to the tropics do not change their clocks at all.

Add to this the odd thirty minute time zones and forty-five minute time zones that are observed in some countries, and the H zone, or UT-8, which the whole of China follows despite the vast distance from West to East, and some places in the Pacific that have UT minus fourteen so they can match their date with other related islands, and we have a world with a giant mess of silly time zones.

We civilized humans are an adaptable bunch of animals. Each year most of us adapt twice, when we move the clocks forward in Spring and back in the Autumn. And we twirl our watch crowns whenever we take a long flight across lines of longitude. Nothing bad happens when we change our clocks and watches.

So why don’t we consider one major change, once and for all and stay with it? Why don’t we do what airline pilots already do? Why don’t we adopt Universal Time for every place on the planet, and stop changing it with the season, or the longitude?

Yes it may be strange at first to wake up at 15:00 instead of 7 AM in Los Angeles, or go to bed at 04:00 instead of at 11PM in Boston. And it may be strange at first to have one daylight work day spanning two calendar dates. But there are many advantages for the time and date to be the same everywhere on earth.

It would really help The Republic of Kiribati, which currently has to bend the imaginary International Date Line like giant snake in order to have the entire nation of islands on the same date. and it would really help large wide countries such as China, Russia, Canada, Australia and the United States.

It would make daylight and actual days as perceived from where we are in the world more important than the numbers on a clock. We would be farmers, harvesting the light of the day. We would still rise somewhere near dawn and retire sometime after sunset, and we would still sleep in the dark, but the clocks around the world would all be the same.

The British would still be the lucky ones to have the sun at its zenith at noon on the clock, as they are today in the winter months only, but the rest of us would quickly get used to living by the sun and having an international standard for time in the new modern globalized society that we do business in.

What do you think? Please leave comments with your agreement with, or opposition to this proposal.

Why our car seats and doors are where they are

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A response to the Doking HD
By Jeffrey the Barak

The Doking HD is car made in Croatia. Most cars are of course not made in Croatia, but this is not the most unusual aspect of the Doking HD.

It is an electric car, and it is competing for our attention against electric cars from better known manufacturers, such as Mitsubishi, Nissan, Rolls-Royce, Ford, Chevrolet etc.

While rival CODA, from Southern California has aimed for a boring, plain-vanilla car format, Doking has included several design features that are out of the ordinary, notably gullwing doors and a central driver position.

And it is these two features in particular that make the car stand out. But while gullwing doors and a central driver position are great for car shows, there are very good reasons why most cars have hinged doors and the driver seat on one side or the other.

Let’s take the doors. Right now my ordinary car is parked in the garage. A few feet above the car is a concrete roof, and below that are water, gas and sewer lines. Had my car been a Doking, I could have parked there, but I could not have opened the door to get out, without hitting the structure above.

Okay so let’s assume I parked in a taller space. Normally we get in a car by opening a door, putting one leg on the floorpan, sitting down and then bringing the other leg in; in that order. But if the seat is not right beside the door, we have to come up with another way. We can step to the seat in a semi-crouch, or we can jump butt-first and backwards towards the seat, or perhaps hang our weight from overhead handles to maneuver into position. But we cannot just hop in, especially if the car is somehow not in clean show condition and the carpet has mud on it. And all the while, the entire side of the car is open, letting in the Croatian winter or the Arizonan heat, depending on where you are parked.

So Doking, the addition of gullwing doors and a central driving seat may be what sets this car apart from the Nissan Leaf or the Mitsubishi iMiev, but not necessarily to the advantage of Doking.

Besides these two areas of impracticality, this seems to be a nice car. It is fast, efficient, well-made and safe. Rather than retype everything from my Zagreb-penned press release, I will include this link to the very descriptive website: http://doking-automotiv.hr. I will say though, the tail light design is very clever and is sure to be copied by other marques by the time the next car show rolls by. See them in this article from two days ago:  the-art-at-the-auto-show

Have you seen the Doking? How do you like it?

Sexual abuse or “boys at play”

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By Mark Bernstein

There’s been a lot of attention in the news about sexual abuse. The most recent scandal involves some sports coaches at a large American University culminating in the firing of a legendary and iconic football coach for being complicit in the cover-up of a younger coach’s indecent activities. This most base of human indiscretions seems to be rampant in the worlds of religion and sports – men of the cloth and coaches being the major perpetrators. Much of the abuse we hear about seems to be man on boy. For many victims, the sexual abuse has had an initially occult but eventually profound effect on their lives, which is completely understandable, undoubtedly due to their betrayal by highly trusted adults which makes it difficult for them to trust again. What may be much more common is everyday sexual abuse which never makes it into the newspapers, TV shows, or law or mediation courts, or even into conversation.

Like what happened to me. I am now 61 and it would have been when I was about 10. It happened over several summers at my family’s summer cottage. There was an older boy BC, I guess 5 years my senior, whose family had the cottage next to ours. One of the families had put up a large old-fashioned white canvas box tent between the two cottages for the boys to use as a play-house or fort. BC was fun to be with and we did a lot of fun stuff like walking in the woods, going fishing, making forts, swearing, shooting arrows with bows, smoking cigarettes, drinking stolen alcohol, spying on our sisters, boy stuff. I guess I felt honoured to have an older boy spend time with me. And I was such an insecure little kid I would have done anything anyone older than me told me to do.

So I did. He did not physically force me but he must have asked and saying “no” would not have even popped into my immature little brain. So, at his instruction I used to regularly go into the tent, undress him, get on my knees and put his erect penis into my mouth and with his verbal guidance and probably some help from his right hand, (as I’m sure I was not very good at it) bring him to orgasm. During the act he always regaled me with tales of the last girl he had felt up. After 50 years I still remember the name of his favourite girl (her initials were CH). I don’t remember if I swallowed or got any on my face. I do not recall if I felt any sexual arousal. Maybe it was just another simple and not unpleasant chore like putting out the garbage or mowing the lawn.

I do not feel remotely scarred by what happened. I do not recall feeling badly, or frightened, or violated at the time it happened. It did not feel particularly unnatural. Maybe I thought it was some kind of game boys play. And when I reflect on it now (which I seldom do) I don’t have any negative feelings. My heterosexual development was within normal limits regarding my sexual appetite and performance, or any other metric I can think of. And while I completely embrace homosexuality (including being a strong supporter of gay marriage) I feel no homosexual desires and do not recall ever having had such urges. Similarly, I do not find the idea of being with a man repulsive. In fact the opportunity of giving pleasure to one’s fellow homo sapiens of any gender is a very wonderful thing to do and may trump other factors.

So I guess the questions for me are: Why did this not have a greater (or any) impact on me? Am I a latent homosexual? Was the bond of trust between me and BC just not powerful enough to produce consequences when it was broken? Or has it had an impact and I’m just not aware of it? Maybe I would have been a better husband, a better father, a better brain surgeon had these things not happened. I’ll never know and I’m not going to lose a minute’s sleep over it. And I almost never think about it. I’m not even sure why I wrote this piece except maybe to convey to others like me: “You’re not weird if childhood sexual abuse did not screw up your life”. I guess that’s why.

 

Mark Bernstein is a neurosurgeon at the Toronto Western Hospital and Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto. He and his wife Lee (a native Los Angelina) have three daughters and two pet Labradors. He has written extensively in the medical literature for over 25 years and for the last few years has been trying his hand at non-medical writing. He is the world’s second worst saxophone player.

The Art at the Auto Show

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The November 2011 L.A. Auto Show, Los Angeles Convention Center, California USA.

(click twice on any image to see it full size)

Honda Civic Instrument Panel

For years, the-vu has been lucky enough to have a couple of writers attend the LA Auto show on Press Days, and we have written selective reviews of cars, usually electric and alternative fuel cars. We used to have to search the back corners of Kentia Hall, where the accessories were shown, to find our hydrogen, electric and hybrid subjects, but the world has caught up with us and in 2011 all the news is about green technology.

So we are taking a left turn from the green news and focusing instead on the art of the automobile. Art often takes a back seat in new car models. Just look at a typical Buick, Toyota or Dodge and you will have to really search it inside and out to find much art in the car.

But art sometimes does make it into production, if you know where to look. It may be front and central, like the dashboard of a Mini-Cooper, or it may be hidden in the subtle belt-line curves of a new Hyundai.

This year our low flying cameraman follows our jazz, opera and ballroom-dancing inspired crew into the gallery that is the 2011 LA Auto Show. We only invested a couple of miles of walkaround into this project, but if you happen to attend and notice anything we missed, please post comments at the end of this article.

Not a Caddy, a Civic roof antenna.

Aside from the cars, some elements of the exhibition itself caught our attention. From perforated nylon partitions to shiny white floors, the cars benefitted from the latest in display innovation.

 

While the design criteria for a Rolls Royce, a Nissan and a Morgan have to be very different, as usual, judging all marques together  Volkswagen and Audi rise to the top of the pile for overall good aesthetics mixed with functionality.

VW Golf GTI nose

And as usual the BMW Mini has an interior that really stands out from all others, from the large clocks to the door trim to the stitching on the leather steering wheel.

 

But sometimes it can be a tiny detail such as a headlight, that uses art and design to elevate the car as a whole.

Bentley

Morgan

Even the mundane daily driver can be enhanced by trim and color to stand out from the crowd, as in the case of this lowly Hyundai.

Today’s Rolls Royces may have taken design far beyond either function or good taste, and I will spare your poor eyeballs by not showing the whole car here, but a nod to the classic wooden speedboat is always appreciated.

When presenting a small production electric car to go up against the major manufacturers, it helps to pull out all the stops, and Doking has a center driver seat, gull wing doors and cartoonish tail lights to grab the attention of the crowd.

Mitsubishi’s electric cars have become a reality, but the next generation take a leaf from the Beetle Book and also add some faux-wood-inlay micro-circuitry. (click once or twice on the small photo to zoom into image to see it in detail).

Have you been to the show and found any details that caught your artistic eye? If so please comment with your photo links.

Why I am not Linked In

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By Jeffrey the Barak

A Rant about multiple LinkedIn profiles.

I don’t use LinkedIn. (Linked In, linkedin.com). I really don’t need to because I’m not in the kind of business where I need to network with people and I don’t have a job working for someone else.

Still, there is no harm in having a LinkedIn profile is there? Well no, if you only have one. But what happened to me is apparently the same thing that that has made many other people cancel, delete and move on from LinkedIn.

You see, when it first started, several friends and few clients, who probably have more normal careers than myself, invited me to join LinkedIn, so I did. But they spelled my name differently, so each time I accepted I became a new, additional person on LinkedIn. Before long all these invitations began piling up, and some contacts went into one profile, others to another, and still more to as-yet uncreated profiles for different spellings of my name.

As commonplace as this situation seems to be, LinkedIn does not allow you to merge profiles. And it is not very obvious how to move contacts and networks of contacts from one to another in order to consolidate everything into one account.

Being a neat and tidy person, I found this quite disturbing. I mean, I have to tidy my desk and put everything away before I can feel comfortable, so this big, albeit virtual, mess created by LinkedIn was driving me nuts. I had to delete everything to be okay again.

For the past few years I have been dragging LinkedIn invitation emails to the trash every day, so I recently conducted some web-searches to see if LinkedIn had ever provided a solution. To my surprise, they have not.

And so, to the trash anything related to LinkedIn continues to be dragged, with a flourish of the wrist on my very tidy magic trackpad.

Jeffrey the Barak stays away from chain-link fences, sausage links and LinkedIn, and he used to enter banana eating races.

Which Kindle Will You Order?

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By Isabella Woods

The new Kindle range from Amazon doesn’t replace your iPad, but if you’re looking to make a change of eBook reader or tablet computer, your choices have been expanded. Both the Kindle Touch and the Kindle Fire are must buy gadgets.

Kindle Fire

Getting the biggest surprise out of the way first, the new Kindle Fire tablet computer isn’t up against the iPad for business. Its possibilities are very different to Apple’s offering. It’s the price that may steer many people to Amazon, whereas previously the iPad seemed the only real option for tablet computing.

You can expect further news from Amazon about a different tablet computer early in 2012. Just as soon as they learn from customer reaction to the new Fire model, they’ll bring out the models we wanted in the first place, but the cost issue may bring the 2012 10 inch models in line with Apple’s pricing structure.

At less than $200 the Kindle Fire is an easy purchase. With an iPad ranging in price from $500 to $829, recession-hit Americans are thinking twice about buying. It meets the demand for color eBook readers, with some already available in the market, and is part eBook reader and part tablet computer.

Where’s The Camera?

Starting with the bad news, the Fire doesn’t have a camera so it isn’t going to compete with the iPad in that area, although most people carry a cell phone with those facilities.

The good news is that the on board cloud accelerated Silk browser loads pages quickly especially if you want to use Amazon’s purchasing channels.

With direct access to your music and photos and with the ability to download a movie from Amazon’s own files the Fire puts the owner in control.

iPad owners will say that their apps are the best available, but market forces are quickly changing that assumption. In 2012 we are likely to see a more level playing field. Unlike the iPhone, the Fire uses the Android operating system which is gaining ground rapidly and has overtaken the iPhone in many territories.

The Kindle Fire also uses Flash, something iPad users would love to have access to, but won’t admit it. After all, if you’re an Apple lover, you simply must buy every Apple product available and ignore the rest.

Kindle Touch

EBook sales are rising so fast that no-one has real data of any use, although in April 2011 Amazon said that for every 100 printed books they sold, 105 bought a Kindle book. The abundance of free books (over 2 million at the last count and targeting 2.5 million titles) makes owning a Kindle a low cost book reading choice. Amazon’s sales of Kindle ebooks are up 66% over last year.

The Touch model turns pages similarly to the iPad is renowned for, except that on the iPad you flick or swish to the next page while on the Touch you simply touch the page to go forward, back or to a menu rather than pressing a button (as on the previous model) to go to your desired page.

Superior E-Ink Technology

The Kindle Touch uses market-leading e-ink which technology. It’s perfect indoors and out, but lacks a back light which is why the battery life between charges is so long. The iPad is brighter, but you just can’t read books in bright sunlight when you’re on vacation.

The affordable price of both new Amazon units makes them winners. They’ll sell millions in the run up to the Christmas season. The Touch will sell to new Kindle buyers, but previous buyers may not need to make the move yet. For the Kindle Fire, it’s almost too low a cost to avoid getting one. With extras like cloud storage, online movies and terrific email facilities, more people will be reading books on Kindle than ever before.

If you’re in the US, then now’s a good time to get in line for the release of the Kindle Fire on 15th November and the Kindle Touch on 21st November. If you live outside of the US then you’re going to have to wait a while before reading ebooks because Amazon hasn’t issued release dates for the rest of the world yet.

Isabella Woods is an experienced freelance writer with a passion for tech and gadgets. She writes for travel blogs, but enjoys a night in on her coaster sofa with her virtual library of classic literature.

Nissan and Toyota ban each other from 25 countries.

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Nissan and Toyota sue each other for making similar products. Toyotas are to be banned in the UK while Nissans are to be banned in the USA.

Sounds ridiculous? Well it is and it’s not true. But this is exactly what Apple and Samsung are trying to do to each other.

the-vu thinks it makes all parties look silly and it’s very bad for public relations.

The money, time and effort wasted on this would be better spent on continuing to make the already excellent products even better.

KickPed versus Xootr, a scooter review

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By Jeffrey the Barak

The KickPed is a custom Know-Ped, manufactured in the same factory in California, Patmont Motor Werks, but made to a lean and mean customized set of specifications, exclusively for one retail store, NYCeWheels in New York City. In some ways it is less of a scooter than the Know-Ped but the customizers, the people at NYCeWheels,  think that what has been taken away from it, improve it.

The four differences between a Know-Ped and a KickPed are:

  1. The deck is shaved down to a narrow width, making it easier to scoot without having to trace a wide arc around the side of the board, or steer in a wavy line to get the board out of the way of the pushing foot.
  2. The entire front brake assembly has been omitted, leaving only the rear fender “spoon brake”.
  3. The simplified folding handlebars come in a choice of two fixed heights, 36 inches and 42 inches, the longer of which allows riders taller than about five and a half feet to ride comfortably upright without having to hunch over the bars and subject their palms to the forces of the road.
  4. Instead of the choice of four exceptionally attractive colors of the original Know-Ped, the KickPed’s frame comes in clear lacquer coat only, so you can see the steel and the welds.

Now despite these changes representing things that have been taken away, the KickPed costs (at time of writing) $229 plus $34 shipping, a total of $263, whereas a new Know-Ped in any of the four colors can be had for $199 including free shipping if you know how to do a good web-search. But you won’t be spending an extra $64 for nothing. The sellers are very clever people when it comes to knowing what works in an urban scooter, and of course they ride in New York City, meaning we should take note of what they advise.

The original Know-Ped

The deck is narrow because the original deck was designed for a pair of side by side feet. The original wide Know-Ped deck is from the motorized Go-Ped, and therefore it makes scooting inefficient because to get the ankle of your propelling foot around the footboard. or to swerve the vehicle around your propelling foot, you really have to bend your supporting leg too much, and that is the most tiring physical action in a kick. I’m sure you have noticed that if you scoot a while and don’t switch feet, it is the supporting leg up on the deck that gets tired, not the one you were scooting with.

The original wide Know-Ped deck is beautiful, especially with the bright powder-coated frame protruding at each end, but it’s extra width very much reduces the efficiency of the ride in terms of simple physics.

The front brake is gone from the KickPed because it was the one thing that frequently needed adjustment on the Know-Ped, and it was too aggressive when those metal calipers grabbed the grooved tire-walls, Remember, the Know-Ped is a Go-Ped without the engine, and it’s brakes can stop you from a high speed with a heavy load. The rear brake that spoons around the top of that fat back tire is simply good enough on it’s own, for a human-powered scooter and much less likely to lead to a sudden unintended dismount (accident).

The handlebars are not quite the same either, and in the case of the custom taller bar option, it allows taller riders to stand upright and watch where they are going, which is less uncomfortable than bending forward to face the road like a road racer, and then bending your neck back so you can see the road ahead through your eyebrows. Remember, an urban kick scooter is not for breaking speed records at the velodrome, it’s from getting to A to B efficiently, comfortably and safely.

And the clear lacquer coat looks okay also. Very industrial and strong looking.

 

Since I currently own one of each, I will compare the KickPed to the Xootr Mg. (I had a Know-Ped once but it was stolen before I had a chance to ride it much)

Xootr Mg on left, KickPed on right

Rolling resistance on smooth concrete, hardwood, vinyl.

If you are able to ride your scooter on a smooth surface, then the Xootr will live up to it’s reputation as the smoothest, most energy-efficient, fastest, easiest scooter in the world. It is second to none. On a perfectly smooth level surface, one kick will take a Xootr an unbelievably long way, whereas a KickPed may require an extra kick or two to make it quite as far. But the difference is not as great as other reviewers have written. It’s practically negligible based on my own comparison, switching back and forth from one scooter to the other. However…..

Rolling resistance in the real world.

In my normal scootering environment, there are uneven, un-repaired sidewalks, with large gaps and ridges caused by tree roots, lack of maintenance and general disrepair. The roadways, where the cars go, are often almost as bad, and the alleys are extremely degraded and have no hope of being repaired any time soon due to city finances.

In this environment, the slightly superior rolling resistance of the Xootr is completely lost to energy-robbing vibration and necessary slowing and stoppages, and the rubber-tired KickPed rolls just as far, even further when surfaces get really bad. I am assuming that most people who use a scooter for errands and commuting, as opposed to taking it to a specific place for a pre-planned pleasure ride, will find the same rough surfaces to some degree. The KickPed can often be ridden when the Xootr needs to be walked.

Decks from behind

Deck height.

The KickPed’s deck is half an inch higher (3.5 inches) off the ground than the deck of the Xootr Mg (3 inches). If you ride all day, this makes a difference to how tired your supporting leg gets, as you have to flex that standing leg to put your other foot down to scoot. But it’s only half an inch and most riders will never notice, nor will they ride for hours at a time. Some of the large European-style kick bikes have very high decks that really cause this fatigue, but the KickPed deck is low enough, narrow enough and the grip tape will keep you secure.

Ground clearance and wheelbase.

The Xootr Mg has 1.5 inches ground clearance and the KickPed has 1.75 inches. Of course it’s impossible to have both a low deck and high ground clearance, but the extra quarter inch under the KickPed will come in handy on the streets. Also, the bottom of the KickPed is a steel tube.  The Xootr’s magnesium rail can behave like a brake pad on concrete and unexpectedly stop you dead if the front wheel drops down onto lower pavement. The KickPed’s wheelbase is about an inch shorter, measured from axle to axle but it does not seem to negatively affect anything.

Tires, grip dry and wet.

Well this is the big one. If the pavement is wet or even slightly damp, the Xootr can skid and cause an accident. No such issue with the rubber tire of the KickPed. In dry conditions, the polyurethane tires on the Xootr will not let you down, but dampness is all it takes to ruin your day. Polyurethane and water add up to falling down painfully.

Noise.

Not all Xootrs are as noisy as the Mg, but the Mg with a rear fender brake makes one heck of a racket. Noise comes from the rear brake rattling and also from the area of the “Ergo” quick-release push button ball pin at the front. The loud clatter that the Xootr Mg makes on the street is well beyond reasonable.

Other Xootrs, like the old ones with the wooden decks, no rear brake and no Ergo pin are quieter but not as quiet as the KickPed. Even in a smooth concrete garage, the Xootr creates this other sound, hard to describe, but most likely from the polyurethane rolling on the concrete. Not a bad noise by any means, but in a comparison test with a super-quiet KickPed, it’s definitely there.

The KickPed will rattle a little bit if you deliberately pull and push on the folding handlebar, but for the most part it softly and quietly rolls along without disturbing the wildlife. Be ready to have to warn pedestrians that you are behind them and approaching because they will probably not hear you coming.

Vibration

Riding the Xootr on a rough surface is exhausting. Your teeth rattle and your vision can even blur. This makes it extra hard to avoid a mishap and it’s no fun. The ride on the KickPed is many times smoother. Let’s not get carried away though, the KickPed’s tires are solid rubber and there is no suspension, so it’s hardly ice skating, but compared to the Xootr, the KickPed’s ride does not suffer from undue vibration.

Portability

My KickPed Tall model has a nylon strap that hooks around the rear fender. Once folded the scooter is small and easy to carry and can be stowed in any car’s trunk etc.  The scooter can also be slung over one shoulder and carried hands-free

The folded Mg weighs a tiny bit less, (hardly noticeable) and is easy to carry in one hand.

Standability

The folded Xootr Mg can be stood on one end if the handlebar is adjusted to the right height. This allows it to be stored with a small footprint. The folded KickPed cannot stand up on it’s own.

Ease of folding

Both are easy to fold, but the KickPed is much easier. You just slide the tube that sleeves around the handlebar hinge, fold or unfold and allow the sleeve to spring back down . With the Xootr, the pin is depressed, removed and replaced after the fold, and the handlebars adjusted. It can be hard to line up the pin with the hole if you are holding the Xootr in one hand. But it is not difficult, just less simple than the KickPed, which can be deployed and ridden within one or two seconds of being carried folded up!

Durability

Both are super durable. Eventually after hundreds of miles, the brakes, tires, bearings etc. may need replacing or at least servicing, but the KickPed is designed to be maintenance-free for life and only very heavy use will require service of any kind. In fact the omission of the Know-Ped front brake is the main improvement here as that was something that required adjustment from time to time.

Safety

I really think highly of my Xootr but I have to be honest, it is potentially dangerous. Almost every ride includes a scary moment or two where I almost fall or crash or I come to a sudden unexpected stop due to a twig or pebble or bump in the sidewalk. It can also skid sideways on damp pavement and it really is a constant worry that spoils the enjoyment of the ride. Furthermore even on a smooth surface, high speed cornering on the Xootr’s skinny polyurethane tires does not inspire confidence, but they will keep you onboard if it’s dry.

In each of these situations, the KickPed just plows through without a moment’s hesitation, without a wobble, and without causing a scare. Any extra input effort required to cover the same distance is well worth it for the peaceful bliss of a smooth and uneventful ride. And on a speedy downhill in a parking garage, the KickPed feels very stable in banked turns. Not so the Xootr.

It should be noted here that I generally ride scooters with care from point A to point B, and never attempt tricks besides the occasional cautious downhill speed run.

Conclusion

The KickPed wins on safety and on quietness, so these factors alone make it a clear winner for me. Having fallen off my Xootr at low speed due to practically invisible cracks, uneven slabs and debris such as twigs, I am always worried about what might happen on my next Xootr ride. At 54 I cannot recover from an accident like a twenty year old would, and accident avoidance is very high on my list of criteria. And the considerable noise generated by the rattling Xootr only has one advantage, it signals pedestrians ahead to step aside, otherwise the rattling negates all of the brilliant design that went into the most widely acclaimed scooters ever made. The KickPed is quiet and rolls right over most objects that would upset the Xootr.

The original Know-Ped

So what if you own a shiny new Know-Ped and you wish you had found a KickPed first? Simply find a woodworker and shave down the sides of the plywood deck, and then consider removing the entire front brake assembly from caliper to handle, and then you basically have a KickPed in a fabulous frame color, but with the stock 36 inch handlebars. If you are five foot seven or below, you’ll be just fine, and the vehicle’s efficiency will get a big kick.

Jeffrey the Barak has owned many types of human-powered and electric scooters. These are the two smallest he has owned, and two of his favorites also. Search for scooter to see other reviews on the-vu.com

 

 

Goodbye Microsoft

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By Jeffrey the Barak

A couple of decades ago I bought a notebook computer and Windows 3.0 and Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. Today, as I prepare my iMac for the upgrade to OSX Lion, I deleted all Power PC applications that will no longer work after the change. This included Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, which in my case, were seven year old versions of the ubiquitous programs.

And then I realized that these were the last Microsoft applications that I had. Not that I used them anymore, being a fan of Google Docs and an owner of Numbers and Pages, but nevertheless it felt strange to drag them into the trash and empty the can of a twenty year legacy.

Yes I can still collaborate with the un-liberated, opening XLS and DOC files in Google or iWorks and saving in the same format to share with the dinosaurs, but I wonder if now that OSX Lion is stepping away from the legacy Power PC based apps, how many others will be saying adios to the big MS.

 

Chromebook versus Macbook Air

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By Jeffrey the Barak

Very different capabilities and different prices, but this comparison is completely valid, because it’s about which system better serves lightweight, traveling, out of the home or office, on the go, computing.

I work at home, and in my office I use a 27” iMac. But almost everything I do is from inside a Chrome browser. I use Google Docs instead of iWork or MS Office, and I can honestly say it has never let me down.

Yes, I also use the iMac for more intensive computing at home. I use Garageband, Photoshop, and other programs that are not in the cloud, and are best suited to the desktop format and hard drives and peripherals. But when I travel, usually with a Macbook, and lately with my wife’s 15” MacBook Pro, it’s 100% Chrome browser work while on the road, and I need tabs and a real keyboard so all current tablets cannot fit the bill.

So for me, am I better off with a Macbook Air or a Samsung Chromebook or Acer Chromia?

There are several considerations here. If I were to get the 3G version of either Chromebook, I could connect and do a little slow email and Google Spreadsheet editing when there was no wi-fi, so right there, the Macbook Air is out of the race.

But the most important factors when traveling may be simply size and weight. The Macbook Air 11” version weighs much less, half a pound less than a couple of iPads. (see chart)

 

Of course a Macbook Air costs more than twice as much, but does it really? Most of us know, we can use an Apple product for a couple of years and resell it for a decent price later on to someone who cannot quite afford a new one. I doubt either of the initial Chrome laptops will have much of a resale value. So they could cost close to the same as the Apple over time.

I am an Apple Head, and also a Chrome Head. I love Apple and I love Google, which is an unusual thing to write, because along with Microsoft, these two companies get a lot of negativity in the press. So for some direct comparisons lets do this:

  • Cost: Chromebooks win
  • Weight: Macbook Air wins
  • 3G connection: Chromebooks win (well some of them)
  • Usability offline: Macbook Air wins
  • Size: the smaller Macbook Air wins (important if you carry a smaller satchel).

Of course I could buy both, or neither, but where’s the fun in that?

Jeffrey the Barak never puts a 27″ iMac in his bag and he loves condensed milk.

Magic Trackpad, no wrist pain

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Copyright © 2011 Apple Inc.

By Jeffrey the Barak

Back in the days of Windows 3.0, which I seem to remember being 1990, I acquired my first mouse. Then for twenty years I spent most of every day with my right hand on or near a mouse.

For the most part it did not hurt, and because it worked so well as an input system, I assumed that it would always be what I used. I even used a pen-based trackpad for while and owned a Windows Tablet PC for a while, but nothing matched the mouse for all round usefulness. In fact when traveling with a notebook computer I would often take a mouse along as well.

But then normal trackpads were rendered obsolete by the Magic Trackpad. Or to be more accurate, Macbook Pro users suddenly got very large trackpads that led to the Magic Trackpad.

My last couple of mice, the Mighty Mouse, and then the Magic Mouse has issues. The Mighty Mouse always needed to be cleaned to scroll properly because dust and hair would interfere with it, and the Magic Mouse, which I initially loved gave me my first ever computer related wrist pain.

It was this pain that led me to try the Magic Trackpad and yes, that is why my wrist does not hurt. But it’s not just about pain-free comfort, the gestures and general usefulness of the Magic Trackpad have transformed the interface of computing for me. Even in spreadsheets and photo editing and even when dragging and dropping, I prefer the trackpad to the mouse that I cradled for two decades.

It may take a day or two to get completely used to, but having a nice relaxed arm and the fingers resting comfortably on the desk in the handwriting position takes all of the physical stress away from navigation and control.

Add to this the tremendously useful gesture controls for scrolling, pinching, zooming and page turning etc., and the computer interface is transformed from the move and click of a mouse to something much more dimensional and intuitive. And activating the optional tap to click really adds to the utility of this device. The very idea of going back to a mouse after this is unthinkable.

When OSX Lion comes out this year it will be even better. I have already installed reverse scrolling under Snow Leopard and it makes much more sense after the short adjustment period.

So I have to say, my Magic Trackpad is a remarkable device and one of the best interface innovations I have yet to experience.

 

Jeffrey the Barak is not a mountain yak and he eats bananas.