Monday, July 16, 2007

Can't we all just get along?

There was a recent editorial in the local paper on biking. I'll quote it below because I'm not sure just how long the link will persist:

Back in the ’50s and ’60s when I was growing up in Logan, we respected the traffic laws and vehicles on the roadways when we rode our bicycles. We also had to buy a license plate for our bikes every year which cost us $.50. If you didn’t have one you were ticketed. Now when I ride around the valley, there is no respect. Total disregard for the vehicles and above all the stop signs and traffic lights.

It’s time our legislators start making these people pay tax and license these two wheelers. The police should start writing tickets for stop sign and red light runners.

We pay our road tax on everything we own. It’s past time for them.

Jerry Jensen

Hyrum

I like the idea of a license as long as the fee is commensurate with the provided services. We have no bike lanes, and the amount of wear we put on the road is negligible. So I don't think the licensing fee should amount to much, and I'll gladly pay it. As for ticketing I completely agree. If cyclists break the rules of the road, they should be fined like anyone else. I do think (and see) lots of contradictions to the idea that there is no respect for motorists. Cyclists have a tremendous amount of respect for motorists--by necessity as you tend to outweigh us by orders of magnitude. I put my life in drivers' hands every time I ride, and for the most part that trust is very well placed.

The times I've seen motorists do stupid things (two have pulled out right in front of me, and one cut me off to make a turn, forcing me to slam on my brakes or get side-swiped) in the past year are a drop in the bucket compared to the number of cars that have passed me, or even motorists going out of their way to make sure things are safe for everyone.

You should try it out, this is a great place to bike. For the most part people are very friendly, it's good for you, it's good for the valley, and it saves a ton of money.

Monday, July 02, 2007

Google Scholar has made life even easier

I just got clued into this from one of our doctoral students (Curtis Castillow). Apparently you can set up Google Scholar so that it can directly export to your bibliography manager of choice. Well, there's 5 choices at least but it covers my manager of choice--End Note. You can set this up under the preferences section. I always thought it was cool they recognize your institution and provided links to local holdings, but this is a nice additional step. Of course it's probably been around a long time and I'm just now getting around to figuring it out . . .