@meganL@mas.to
@meganL@mas.to avatar

meganL

@meganL@mas.to

Disabled Masters student @ UC Davis. Speaker on Accessibility in Higher Ed/Cycling/Plant Science. Speaker on carob.

#Accessibility #Botany #Cycling #SciComm #NoBot #NoBridge

Most of my posts are not asking for advice so please don't offer it unsolicited. When I'm asking for advice, I usually ask quite explicitly.

Banner = 2 UC Access Now buttons, with a seal that's a parody of the University of California's. It says "Let There Be Access > ADA" Profile = HG Peters drawing of Wonder Woman

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

meganL, to cycling
@meganL@mas.to avatar

Wooden removable bollards put in places to protect human life.

Metal permanent bollards put at a corner of a building to protect property.

This is what "Platinum Bike-Friendly" looks like at UC Davis.

@cycling

meganL, to bikenite
@meganL@mas.to avatar

Late question for the crowd: Do you have recommendations for clear wraparound glasses to keep from getting beaned in the eyes by gnats and larger bugs when cycling at twilight? When it's sunny, I have sunglasses, but I need something for darker times of day when I still need eye protection. Something for big heads, hopefully with customizable fitting around the nose/cheeks. @bikenite

skinnylatte, to random
@skinnylatte@hachyderm.io avatar

I’m angry that I don’t get the same quality of restaurants and food trucks. I’m angry I don’t live in LA (yes cars.. but the food is exceptional)

meganL,
@meganL@mas.to avatar

@skinnylatte I saw you posting about the East Bay. Unless you're in rent control in SF, moving to East Bay might get you the things about the SF Bay Area that are superior to LA but also get you some of the things you like about LA.

I think LA has great things and SF people dog it way too much, but I also think the weather/landscape up north is better. Although being from a hotter clime, you'd probably like LA's weather better too.

How are you on West Side LA vs. San Gabriel Valley?

ascentale, to random
@ascentale@sfba.social avatar

Locally, there's a proposal to remove a path on a long bridge for most days of the week, and convert it into a car breakdown lane. There doesn't appear to be any evidence that this would improve traffic, but it will require those who would have walked/cycled/rolled to take a 40 mile detour.

Q3. Have you ever seen cycle infrastructure removed or threatened? How was it preserved, or if it was removed, what were the reasons, and what were the effects?

https://bikeeastbay.org/rsrpathatrisk/

meganL,
@meganL@mas.to avatar

@ai6yr They have serious car brain. I don't know what mold they're stamped from, but no one has broken that mold yet.

moira, to random
@moira@mastodon.murkworks.net avatar

hellooooooooo ^_^

meganL,
@meganL@mas.to avatar

@moira Helloooooo

ascentale, to random
@ascentale@sfba.social avatar

Last week we talked about bad and good interactions with drivers. @sam asks:

Q2. If the situation gets tense, what are some techniques to deescalate?

meganL,
@meganL@mas.to avatar

@ascentale @sam Strait into A2, huh? 😜 I think this can be so context-dependent that it's hard to give universal advice.

What can help sometimes is disarming - doing something happy or innocent or "crazy" they don't expect. An non-cycling example is that a friend of mine used to pick up something someone littered and very happy, innocent, gave it back to them saying "Hi! Hi! You dropped this!" as if it were a $20 bill they'd dropped. While some people can be angry in response,

meganL, to random
@meganL@mas.to avatar

Does anyone have a link to a video on solar storm events and their effect on infrastructure that comes from a reputable source?

Partially due to Google's shitty algorithm, I'm mostly finding clickbait conspiracy BS.

meganL, to random
@meganL@mas.to avatar

The way people flip from "it's too far off to get alarmed about" to "it's too late to do anything about" drives me NUTS.

Add to that people saying "recycling is a lie" because plastics industry lied - HEY, glass, aluminum, and paper recycling still work!!!

skinnylatte, to random
@skinnylatte@hachyderm.io avatar

When most people get massages, they’re generally looking for a relaxing time.

When I get a massage, I’m looking to be the subject of some pretty serious karate moves.

Anything less than that is simply outrageous to pay for.

meganL,
@meganL@mas.to avatar

@skinnylatte I need deep tissue massage, so it's definitely not that kind of relaxing. But it's not skin-flaying like this, either.

This place is in LA, so you know you can get something unrelaxing...

meganL, to random
@meganL@mas.to avatar

I wish progressives could believe as much in their power together as regressives do. Yes, the regressives have that right-wing $$$, but if the $$ alone could have done it, they wouldn't have bothered trying to create disinfo campaigns to hook people through social media.

If things could turn around relatively quickly like this due to right-wing suscepts' belief in people power, they can turn the other way as well. Remember '60s counter-culture came about in reaction to repressive McCarthyism.

ai6yr, to random

Fun challenge - Apple iPhone 15 Precision Finding commercial. h/t @sepdroid for the idea. 34.1941214,-118.4132869

Google Street View of location - Vanowen Street

meganL,
@meganL@mas.to avatar

@ai6yr I'm so envious of your skills at this.

Also, it's a bit unsettling how good you are at it so I'm glad you're on the side of good.

meganL, to random
@meganL@mas.to avatar

🧵 Wanted to share a lesson I've been learning about advocacy - If someone tells you a design is working for them and they're not actually hostile to you, just congratulate them that it's working for them.

I had just finished up a mtg with a co-op board member using my to demonstrate how these lightning bolt racks are inaccessible and not even really great for the upright bikes they're designed for.

I saw them parking their trike & asked if I could get a photo. When they asked me

meganL,
@meganL@mas.to avatar

...why I wanted the photo, I explained that the rack is inaccessible to a lot of different cycle designs. They said it worked for them. I congratulated them, non-sarcastically or PA, on it working for them and took my photos.

As we were talking, I talked about the problems the racks create for me and other cyclists riding different designs and it then came out that the rack only works for them if they can get in there before others have or can get on the end.

2/?

meganL,
@meganL@mas.to avatar

They asked what kinds of racks I preferred. As I described a staple or Sheffield rack, they said, "Oh! Yeah, those are better!"

They came to the realization themselves that it didn't actually work all that well for them - under certain circumstances they could make it work.

By not disagreeing with them in a confrontational or lecturing way, by just affirming their experience & answering their questions, they realized there's a better rack design.

ai6yr, to hiking

Hiking Safety Tip For The Evening / or maybe dating advice for guys who like older women?

Calvin Klein's Obsession for Men attracts cougars

https://mountainlion.org/2010/06/24/ck-cologne-attracts-cougars-no-not-those-cougars-actual-cats/

meganL,
@meganL@mas.to avatar

@ai6yr I tried following that to an actual paper and encountered several 404s, but this seems to have more detail despite being an old blog entry.

It's the presence of civetone that attracts (some) big cats.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/running-ponies/big-cats-and-cologne-e2809cthey-roll-and-cheek-rub-and-just-look-to-be-in-heavene2809d/

meganL, to random
@meganL@mas.to avatar

CA GOP has already done this and it will likely be happening everywhere in the US: calling to defund higher education because of students availing themselves of their First Amendment rights (and college presidents bungling things).

If you care about access to education for those who are not rich, make sure to write/call in to your US reps and senators, state reps, and let them know.

The right wing absolutely will be making themselves heard. The rich have plenty of free time.

markmccaughrean, to random
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

You have people at your house for an evening & are eating when the phone rings. It’s your daughter who asks “what’s up?”

Answering:

“We have friends over & we are having fish for dinner”

would be fine, as both parts can be used to describe the present, but:

“We are having friends over & we have fish for dinner”

would be wrong, because both parts sound like they describe the future.

The English language is quite often idiotic 🙄

meganL,
@meganL@mas.to avatar

@markmccaughrean I actually wouldn't see the second one as being wrong, just unusual in having the continuous present, then switching to simple present.

meganL,
@meganL@mas.to avatar

@markmccaughrean The latter bit about word order is very hard to explain and definitely something "you just know". English isn't unique that way. Lots of languages have things more felt than easy to explain.

I think with the present there - it puts a slightly different emphasis. And it works in this case because you can "have fish" as a simple thing...it doesn't suffer from lack of emphasis on it being a continuing present thing. You can also say "we have friends over" and match the two tenses

meganL, to cycling
@meganL@mas.to avatar

In guarded good news, I have an appointment to meet one of the board members of Davis Food Co-op to demonstrate how the "lightning bolt" racks are not accessible. (She offered to meet with me in response to a customer feedback form I sent in.)

I'm going to try to pile my recumbent bike onto the cargo quad so I can bring both over and illustrate the different types. I need to print out some photos I've taken of other cycles at those racks, too.

seachanger, (edited ) to random
@seachanger@alaskan.social avatar

look at my cute earrings from @Tzipporah! You should buy some too! Buy some! This should be a place where you buy things

meganL,
@meganL@mas.to avatar

@seachanger I's funny that your hair is "blowing" the same way it is on your profile photo. For consistency.

scott, to random
@scott@carfree.city avatar

How parklet owners are interpreting “open 7am to 12am”… 🤔

The parklet is mostly locked but a small area is outside the fence

meganL,
@meganL@mas.to avatar

@scott I feel like I get pushback every time I try to mention how the implementation of parklets (instead of the mere conception of parklets) has been a private sector annexation of public space, but there's so much evidence of it.

meganL,
@meganL@mas.to avatar

@timrichards @scott I'm not complaining about street auto parking being made into something else. I'm complaining about the public space being treated as private restaurant space - often inaccessible, often hostile to houseless people, etc.

meganL, to cycling
@meganL@mas.to avatar

I always have very mixed feelings about playing music outloud from a cycle, but if you're going to do it, an old gramophone horn is the stylish way to do it. https://road.cc/content/feature/behold-airnimal-joey-musical-twist-308183

meganL,
@meganL@mas.to avatar

@pomCountyIrregs Was meant for a group ride. Although he says he can still hear it himself.

meganL, to cycling
@meganL@mas.to avatar

UCI really screwed things up for ergonomics when they outlawed recumbents in the 1930s.

"The press coverage kicked off a long-overdue conversation about women’s saddle issues and aired one of pro cycling’s open secrets: that some women suffer so much damage to their genital areas they resort to surgery—labiaplasty—to keep riding."

https://www.bicycling.com/health-nutrition/a60412469/cycling-saddle-pain-women-surgery/

meganL,
@meganL@mas.to avatar

@mariusor This video isn't mesh recumbents, but the seats also don't put weight on the genitals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD53YiygVhA

Recumbents tend to be more aerodynamic so any time you potentially lose on uphills is easy to make up downhill.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • anitta
  • Durango
  • magazineikmin
  • InstantRegret
  • hgfsjryuu7
  • vwfavf
  • Youngstown
  • slotface
  • thenastyranch
  • ngwrru68w68
  • rosin
  • kavyap
  • PowerRangers
  • DreamBathrooms
  • cisconetworking
  • khanakhh
  • mdbf
  • tacticalgear
  • ethstaker
  • modclub
  • osvaldo12
  • everett
  • tester
  • cubers
  • GTA5RPClips
  • normalnudes
  • Leos
  • provamag3
  • All magazines
    •