First things first

Here’s what a hula hoop session looks like . . . from the hula hoop’s point of view.

[Via BoingBoing.]

When I was in college and grad school, I rode my bike all over campus. It was fairly easy to do so in those places: there were some bike lanes, there wasn’t a lot of car traffic on campus, and there wasn’t much anti-bicyclist sentiment.

When I lived in Eugene, Oregon, I rode my bike all over town. It was supremely easy to do there. Eugene is criss-crossed with bike lanes, which bicyclists, drivers, and pedestrians respect. Eugene is also home to the Center for Appropriate Transport, an awesome organization that promotes human-powered transportation. I bought my human-powered bicycle lights (which I love) there.

Since I moved to the bike-unfriendly Mid-Atlantic, I haven’t done much riding. I’ve enjoyed taking Sylvia to school via bike, but that ride doesn’t involve navigating any busy roads. The thought of riding on local highways without bike lanes and with drivers who are at best ignorant about bicycling and at worst hostile to it is one that fills me with dread.

When we were in the Netherlands in April, I saw people riding bikes all over the place. We borrowed bikes from relatives a few times and did some riding ourselves (with Sylvia riding like all Dutch passengers do: sitting on the luggage rack in back and holding on to the biker—and with no one wearing helmets). I loved it. Only the realization that I’d never be able to use them stopped me from buying some cool grocery-sized saddles bags for my bike. (I did, however, get a new bell for my bike. Sylvia got one for hers, too. She was very adamant that we get matching bells.)

Our Dutch relatives were surprised to learn how difficult safe bicycling can be in most U.S. cities. Perhaps I should send them this video. Then they’d understand.

…that one day I’d live in the town where this awesome video was filmed:

Here’s the history of this observation:
1. Today is Jan’s birthday.
2. One of his birthday presents is a melodica.
3. I said, “Hey, the Hooters used one of those!”
4. He said, “The who?”*
5. I go to YouTube and show him this video.
6. At the beginning of the video, we see a sign for the Exton Drive-In.
7. “Is that OUR Exton?” we wonder. Could be, since the Hooters were a Philadelphia band.
8. After the video—and after I’ve recovered from the visual onslaught of ’80s hair—I google “exton drive in hooters” and pray I don’t get hits for restaurants with scantily clad waitstaff.
9. The first hit is for this site. Awesome.

* I like to joke that he was in a coma during the 1980s. Seriously, he pretty much avoided popular culture during that decade, preferring instead to play and listen to music from the 1960s and 1970s.

Even if you didn’t grow up watching “Schoolhouse Rock,” I think you can appreciate this:

I wish instructional videos like this one were around when I was in school. Unlike the content in many school videos, this stuff is actually useful knowledge:

You may have heard of Alexandra Wallace, the UCLA student who recently posted on YouTube a rant called “Asians in the Library” about how Asians were “taking over” her school. (If you haven’t, just Google her name.) The video went viral within hours and created a shitstorm that she never expected. She quickly removed the video and offered a fauxpology, but the cat was out of the bag. Lots of people responded with thoughtful rebuttals to her arguments. And, unfortunately, lots of people responded with their own racist or sexist (or both) rants against her.

A slam poet named Beau Sia created this video, which is one of the best responses I’ve seen. He doesn’t insult Wallace by commenting on her sex or ethnicity; rather, he presents his comments in her “voice,” and ends up with a very sharp critique of racism and white privilege:

(Via the awesome folks at Sociological Images.)

Genki Sudo is a pretty interesting person. From martial-arts champion to musician and choreographer—not many people can claim that sort of career trajectory.

This song has been stuck in my head for weeks, ever since I first heard/saw this video. The choreography is pretty freakin’ awesome. The only thing that could improve it is a flying triangle or two.

Amanda Palmer describes this as “a song about Pubix Hair Freedom sung by a crazy chick with a ukulele.” Yeah, that pretty much describes it.

No nudity, but lots of merkins. So possibly NSFW, depending on how your employer and coworkers feel about that sort of thing.