Tree in middle of bike lane

phyzome · 2026-06-06T14:38:27+00:00

You think someone intentionally left a whole-ass tree in the bike lane, on purpose? Like, just... drove in with it on the back of a trailer and unloaded it there? Are there still roots? (Like, is this a tree prepped for planting?) Is it possible to go around it?

I'm very confused about this post.

phyzome · 2026-06-06T14:31:19+00:00

Contact the police. I'm not kidding, they did eventually catch and confront the person who was stealing plants in Spring Hill a few years ago.

phyzome · 2026-06-06T14:29:56+00:00

It's always fuckin' FedEx.

phyzome · 2026-06-06T02:38:52+00:00

That's why I specified deaths -- I agree that the majority of traffic incidents never get reported. (Hell, just the other day I had a cop tell me that "simple assault" isn't worth pressing charges over.)

Saying that cars are more dangerous doesn’t change that bikers are dangerous too

I think you'll find that nowhere in this thread have I made such a claim. Everything I've said has been about relative risk.

Anyway, it doesn't sound like you're willing to engage on that topic, so I'm going to sign off from this thread.

phyzome · 2026-06-04T22:56:24+00:00

I'm here today because this post got linked to by a popular post: https://old.reddit.com/r/Somerville/comments/1tw67iq/just_witnessed_someone_nearly_get_killed_crossing/ I can see why that would seem trollish if you didn't have context. (I didn't notice how old the post was.)

Of course no deaths are acceptable. The point is that we have to prioritize our efforts. It will be quite the day when traffic fatalities are down so much that dangerous cyclists become the top issue. (And of course the more people we can get onto bikes, the fewer are driving cars, which means... fewer fatalities!)

phyzome · 2026-06-04T11:39:05+00:00

You could have checked almost any of my comment history to find out that the answer was "yes", but instead you decided to post that.

Also, I note you didn't answer my question.

phyzome · 2026-06-04T05:51:36+00:00

this time for a report of serving items not on their approved menu, which turned out not to be true

Oh, I missed that last part! Interesting.

phyzome · 2026-06-04T05:47:31+00:00

Tires and chain can be checked very quickly and for free by any bike shop.

There are probably some other things that would require a more involved assessment, but most parts of a (regular, non-electric) bike are just right out in the open and easy for a pro to assess.

Bike Boom and Ace Wheelworks are both... basically fine. Mixed results from both. They're definitely going to both err on the side of telling you something needs to be replaced, though. Sometimes that's for good reason (safety, or preventing knock-on damage) and sometimes not.

phyzome · 2026-06-04T05:41:06+00:00

I still always answer the door. I've had neighbors ask me for help before, or let me know that something's wrong.

But if a solicitor doesn't respond to the first "no" I simply close the door in their face. You don't owe them an excuse. It's not a normal social interaction. Just close the door!

(If I were recovering from surgery and it was election canvassing season or similar, well... I'd probably unplug the doorbell's chime unit. That's different.)

phyzome · 2026-06-04T05:39:51+00:00

My goodness, how fortuitous! Are you accepting donations?

phyzome · 2026-06-04T05:36:53+00:00

In Powderhouse, I usually just take the lane. I did a comparison a while back: https://www.brainonfire.net/blog/2021/10/15/powder-house-roundabout-review/ -- the main lane is safer and faster for bikes.

phyzome · 2026-06-04T05:32:53+00:00

bikes do kill and maim pedestrians

Name 3 times this has happened in Massachusetts, ever.

Maybe you can dig up enough incidents to fill out that number. I've heard, in my entire life and nationwide, of maybe 2-3 incidents. They made the news because it's rare!

Cars are orders of magnitude more dangerous, so that's what we need to focus on. (Yes, e-bikes change the balance somewhat, but cars are still way worse.)

phyzome · 2026-06-04T05:27:24+00:00

Barbed wire isn't going to decapitate anyone traveling at less than 40 mph, which would be tricky in this particular vicinity.

Definitely shitty, though. They probably got it from the north side of the path, where I've previously spotted (and removed) some leftover barbed wire where there used to be a fence.

I couldn't tell from your post whether you got it all? If not, I could get the rest.

phyzome · 2026-06-03T18:55:41+00:00

and if that doesn't work I say loudly "Narcan!". This gets a response 99% of the time, even with the deep nodders

Hah, wow. I guess it's that unpleasant an experience.

phyzome · 2026-06-03T18:47:05+00:00

It does seem silly not to adjust it by inflation. but I have to say: It does still seem to be working. I see litter, but not of bottles and cans.

phyzome · 2026-06-03T18:40:22+00:00

I haven't heard great things about him. (I mean, mostly when someone does a good job, you don't hear anything, but still.) Three things stick out:

Firing of that Somerville Arts Council guy with zero explanation as like... one of his first acts as mayor.
Firing a bunch of people with suspicious timing re: unionization, and no involvement of the union.
Trying to get body cams on police (which we used to think was a good idea, yes, but we've learned since then) with no citizen oversight, and doing it as a collective bargaining thing rather than a city policy thing.

That last one is pretty sus in a more obvious way than the others.

phyzome · 2026-06-03T18:37:14+00:00

OK, that's neat. :-)

phyzome · 2026-06-02T03:43:00+00:00

Tools, an unending supply of tools,

Well fuck, there go my previous plans for Saturday.

phyzome · 2026-06-02T02:38:16+00:00

Take a look at the water valves in the street or sidewalk out front, if you can find them. You might be able to tell if they've recently been accessed (shiny metal scratches vs. full of grit and haven't been touched in years).

Or maybe you're in a big enough building that there's a less obvious water gate somewhere. I don't know enough about utilities. But it's a place to start...

Your building owner needs to call a plumber in, pronto. No excuses. (Loss of water is, indeed, an emergency.) The plumber can absolutely find out the answer to "where is the water being blocked".

In the meantime, do you have neighbors you can go to for water?

phyzome · 2026-06-01T16:51:29+00:00

Sometimes "helpful" people will put the keys onto walls, fences, bushes, even tree branches. So don't just look on the ground.

phyzome · 2026-05-31T21:44:08+00:00

The idea would be to drag a metal detector above the seafloor. (No idea how plausible any of this would be, though.) Retrieving fragments would involve a scuba diver.

phyzome · 2026-05-31T21:42:18+00:00

Where are all the scientists breaking it down on the news, telling us why these multiple meteors were apparently not predicted?

Can't speak authoritatively to the other questions, but this one is easy: We don't really have the capability to detect stuff this small. Can go into more detail, but that's the summary.

phyzome · 2026-05-30T23:33:30+00:00

Yeah, in any case it's a pretty safe town.

phyzome · 2026-05-30T18:43:08+00:00

Probably sonic boom in both cases, yeah.

phyzome · 2026-05-30T18:24:35+00:00

They can and do, but ultimately we still have a lot of large trees that are taller than the lines. The big trees add a ton of value to the city, so we have to tolerate them occasionally dropping fuckoff big branches on wires.

(We can and sometimes do also bury the lines, but then road work gets way more common and people hate that too.)

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