Bike-Friendly? Check the City’s Mass Transit System

The bike access provided on Caltrain between San Francisco and San Jose exceeds that in any other major American city. The car being boarded takes 40 bikes; each train has two bike cars.
Green: Living

Two things about my colleague Christine Haughney’s article on the reluctance of New York-area women to become bicycle commuters were striking. One was the main reason cited: fear. (Excessive sweating followed.) The second was an accompanying graphic with data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey indicating which cities have the most bike commuters and from an Australian study looking at gender differences in bike commuting.

Scanning the leader list of this country’s bike commuting meccas — Portland, Ore., Minneapolis and San Francisco — made me wonder if there was a corollary between the percentage of commuters who pedal to work and the degree to which the mass transit and commuter rail systems in those cities welcome bicycles. Ideally, bike commuting should not be restricted to those living relatively close to the workplace, but should include those who need an assist from mass transit.

The women’s fear of bike commuting has to do with competing for road space with larger and more aggressive vehicles. As a former biker in New York City, I understand; before the new bicycle-lane blitz, city streets were unwelcoming. The Bay Area’s roads are a tonic by comparison, even if 101 cyclists in San Francisco were “doored” by car occupants over the last two years.

Stephen Sweeney Will Handle His Disagreement With Chris Christie the Old-Fashioned Way

As the late Elaine Kaufman once said, "Time was, men was men. Now they call a lawyer and sue you." Alas, not in Jersey, where betrayed self-ruled Senate President Stephen Sweeney is threatening to punch Chris Christie, after Christie reportedly reneged on a verbal agreement to call Sweeney, and rejected every Democratic move in his line-item veto of the state budget plan. Sweeney stuck his neck out to support Christie's pension and health reforms, "and his reward was a slap in the face," according to the New Jersey Star Ledger. The governor cut the Senate and Assembly budgets, but not his own, in addition to slash the budgets for college scholarships, legal aid, health care, AIDS funding and mental-health services. (As the Ledger explains, "In New Jersey, the governor has all the power in a budget fight. He simply vetoes any budget line he doesn’t like, and it disappears.") Christie also added $150 million in school aid for the suburbs, include the wealthiest towns in the state. But worst of all, Christie didn't discuss the changes with Sweeney, after reportedly telling Sweeney to wait for his call. Ouchies.

Hair

The beauty and cosmetic industry in India has witnessed a boom over the last few years with the entry of many foreign brands into the Indian beauty and cosmetic market. Despite this sudden boom, experts predict that the Indian cosmetic and beauty industry has great potential for growth.

Naturally this means that all sectors of the beauty and cosmetic industry which includes the hair care industry in India are over-due for expansion.

Hair cuts and hair products have only recently been recognized as an important part of the grooming process. The Indian public now realizes that hairstyles are essential to complete any look and hence modern men and women in India now do take the time and effort to sport the latest hair styles.

However, fashion trends alone cannot dictate which hairstyles people should sport. When choosing a hairstyle, it is important to consider the individual’s hair quality, texture, thickness and natural style as well as the shape of the individual’s face.

It is also important to select a hairstyle that accentuates the individual’s best features and compliments his or her personality while fitting into his or her lifestyle. For instance, a very busy business executive needs a hairstyle that is clean and elegant, but the look must be possible to achieve without much fuss.

All of these factors may make choosing the right hairstyle seem like a difficult decision to make but most people finds that it is a worthwhile subject to fuss over because the perfect hairstyle can do wonders for your appearance as well as boost your confidence levels tremendously.

For men, one of the main problems is how to cope with natural hair loss. Fortunately there are many ways to remedy the situation in modern times. There are techniques like hair grafting and weaving that can help men retain their full heads of hair. In addition there are also many herbal and chemical tonics and lotions that prevent or slow down hair loss. As far as hair styles are concerned, men now have a host of choices. Modern men may wear their hair at different lengths from the very closely shaved crew cut hairstyle to very long hair lengths. Modern Indian men also use hair color and highlights to achieve different hairstyles and alter their looks.

Happy Feet 'stable' following operation

The emperor penguin dubbed Happy Feet is in a stable condition after surgery in Wellington yesterday but still has a "fair amount" of sand in its stomach.

The bird was found more than 3000km from its Antarctic home on Peka Peka Beach, 60km north of Wellington, last Monday. It was taken to Wellington Zoo for treatment on Friday after vets discovered it was eating sand.

Yesterday morning they removed about half of what was in its system with help from Wellington Hospital gastroenterologist John Wyeth.

Wellington Zoo spokeswoman Kate Baker told NZPA the penguin was "still looking good" this morning but had a "fair amount" of sand in its system.

"Today it will continue to be on the IV fluids...and basically we are hoping it will pass more of the sand naturally," Ms Baker said.

It was being fed a special diet of fish slurry and given laxatives to encourage it to pass the sand.

The penguin would be x-rayed tomorrow and whether it would undergo further operations depended on how much sand remained in its system.

She said an advisory meeting would be held today to decide what would happen to Happy Feet if it should recover.

Millionaire businessman Gareth Morgan has offered to take the bird home by giving it a berth on a Russian icebreaker ship making an expedition to the Ross Sea in Antarctica in February.

"Of course until that time Happy Feet will have to be cared for here in Wellington," he said.

The emperor penguin is believed to have swum about 3200km from the Antarctic home to Peka Peka. The only previous recording of an emperor penguin in New Zealand was at Southland's Oreti Beach in 1967.

Michele Bachmann Lies About Profiting From Govt Subsidized Dairy Farm

On Fox News Sunday today, Michele Bachmann denied that she has personally benefited from government subsidies for her family’s dairy forms, but her disclosure forms tell a different story.

Here is the transcript from Fox News:

    WALLACE: All right. We’re going to talk about the other candidates a little bit later.

    But let me ask you about yourself. With the spotlight comes new scrutiny. The Los Angeles Times has a story out today that says for all your talk of being a fiscal hawk, that, in fact, you have gone after federal and government — excuse me, state government money over the years, both personally and professionally. And let’s it up on the screen.

    A counseling clinic — excuse me — run by your husband got almost $30,000 in state federal funds. A farm, in which you are a partner, got almost $260,000 in federal subsidies. And over the years, you sought more than $60 million in the state earmarks and more than $3.7 million in federal earmarks.

    Question — that’s a fiscal hawk?

    BACHMANN: Well, let’s go through them. First of all, the money that went to the clinic was actually training money for employees. The clinic did not get the money. And my husband and I did not get the money either. That’s mental health training money that went to employees.

    Number two, regarding the farm, the farm is my father-in-law’s farm. It’s not my husband and my farm. It’s my father-in-law’s farm. And my husband and I have never gotten a penny of money from the farm.

Louis C.K. On Leno: Black People Get To Complain More (VIDEO)

The always funny and often controversial Louis C.K. appeared on "The Tonight Show" Friday night and provided Jay Leno's audience with some intriguing material on race. In this third portion of his interview with Leno, C.K. starts off talking about his daughters. Leno asks how the girls are doing and C.K. responds that of course they're great because they're "two little white girls in America," sparking a set of jokes about race that had the audience and Leno cracking up.

Leno tried to steer the conversation toward the holidays, but C.K. decided to use the remainder of the interview to clarify remarks about his daughters complaining too much about things like bubblegum-flavored medicine.

"I'm not trying to say that if you're white you can't complain," C.K. said. "I'm just saying that if you're black you get to complain more."

Leno's audience immediately broke into laughter, as well as Leno who said "don't tell the band that" before the camera panned to the nearly all-African American band.

Louis C.K. followed up with a great bit about white people insisting year after year that slavery was 100 years farther back in history than it really is. He also noted that if you see a black person with gray hair, that they probably remember what it was like to have to use a different toilet so, "give them a little time to be cranky."

Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea Selling Post-Wildfire Rebuild in Malibu

Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea has just listed his brand new Malibu spread. No, it's not another case of fickle celebrity desires. In 2007, a previous house on the 2.4 acre site was destroyed by massive wildfires that swept through this section of Malibu. The structure that used to occupy the site was built in 1978 and had been on the market for $5M. Well, it seems Flea was heart-set on getting close to $5M, because he's listed the vacant Marmol Radziner-designed new house for $4.95M. The only trouble is the new house has a rather uninspiring design. Will Flea ever see his $5M?