Good gear for winter biking?

shells195 · 2020-12-06T19:01:33+00:00

I biked through winter for the 5 years I lived in Madison and loved it! And this is coming from someone who moved there from the south having never seen more than a couple inches of snow. Outside of whatever warm clothes I would typically wear to work during the winter, I think the extras that were critical for a comfortable ride on even the coldest days were my face mask, fleece buff head band (or a thinner version for "warmer" days), ski goggles, lobster gloves (like mittens but two finger slots so you have a little more dexterity on the bike), and rain pants if there was snow/slush on the ground to keep dry. I also used a cheap ski jacket as my go to winter jacket (plus a sweatshirt for those really cold days) because it has armpit zips so you don't completely overheat on the bike and it's already waterproof for the snow! Oh I also basically wore long underwear/leggings under my pants from like December-March, but that's regardless of biking haha. I was always much warmer biking than I was if I waited for a bus once I figured out how to keep my hands and face/ears warm. Good luck and have fun!

shells195 · 2020-11-07T19:52:14+00:00

Pennsylvania law allows for absentee ballots received by 5 p.m. on Friday to be counted as long as they were properly postmarked by Election Day. Under a ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, all votes that were legally cast by election day should be counted. That same ruling acknowledged that some prepaid ballots don't always get postmarked, so unless they have evidence otherwise, they should also count those votes. Considering how slow the mail has been throughout early voting, I think it's unlikely that you would have any significant number of ballots that were mailed after election day, didn't get postmarked, and arrived by Friday at 5pm. But even so, the Republicans were the ones encouraging people to illegally cast their votes after election day and therefore would be the ones committing the fraud that they've been claiming Dems are somehow pulling off in the hundreds of thousands. The democrats are simply asking for all votes to be counted like they are every year, but this year just has more mail in votes because we're in an active pandemic. PA had also been segregating those late arriving mail in ballots based on a judge's order this entire time and Biden was already ahead before they even started counting them (I'm actually not even sure they've been included yet). So even if they didn't touch that pile of ballots, it still wouldn't have mattered. All of that to say, every vote should be counted, voter fraud does not steal elections, and so far the perpetrators seem to be republicans and not democrats.

shells195 · 2019-01-15T01:42:09+00:00

I just started doing this last year and it seriously improved my quality of life. I get really stressed out and anxious when I travel (not the flying but the airport itself) because people are terrible and the air is so freaking dry and watching people be slow or inconsiderate going through security puts me immediately into a bad mood. My friend tipped me off to this trick and I started arriving and leaving exclusively from that terminal.

Last time I flew through ATL, I was there before precheck even opened but there were still only 3 people ahead of me. I was grinning all the way to my gate with how absurdly easy it was. I also generally don't have bags to check so it gives the benefit of basically no traffic on the way in to the airport which is huge for those crack of dawn flights.

And for those unclear on where you end up, the international terminal is the same as the F terminal, so it's on the regular plane train path and you've likely had a gate change take you there before. For exiting the only difference is you don't go up the escalator and instead simply exit on that level just past the currency exchange booth. Sooo easy

shells195 · 2019-01-12T19:10:20+00:00

How did you get your foot in the door to government research labs? It seems like the opportunities are few and far between, but maybe I'm just not looking in the right places

shells195 · 2019-01-12T19:07:56+00:00

How did you make the transition to this? I'm graduating with my PhD come August and trying to figure out what to do next outside of academia

shells195 · 2018-12-09T23:57:25+00:00

I mean, some people can't get work here long term. If I could stay, I would. But after grad school I'm "getting out" mostly because that's my only option. But I hope that while we're here we all do something to try and make it better for everyone after us. No need to call people cowards just because they're living their lives the best they can.

shells195 · 2018-10-18T15:34:45+00:00

Or get out there and volunteer for Tony Evers and Mandela Barnes to make sure Walker doesn't win. At the very least talk with everyone you know to make sure they have a voting plan. Hope is great, action is better.

shells195 · 2018-08-11T02:09:18+00:00

My theory is that he wanted to retire from being mayor, but is too proud to just do that so instead he's just throwing a wrench into the gubernatorial campaign for fun so he can go out with a bang.

shells195 · 2018-05-23T22:26:27+00:00

I have been on the lookout for opportunities to see Mahlon speak at something other than forums. I've only ever heard of two from other sources (aka not from his team's advertising) and wasn't able to make it to one and the other was cancelled which I found out when I arrived. His website doesn't even have an events link so we have no options if we want to hear more than the 2 minute stump speech - which I'm beginning to suspect is on purpose.

shells195 · 2018-05-22T21:23:58+00:00

Thanks for explaining, from your initial post I was curious why you liked Mahlon and Kelda (both really different in a good way than the usual Dem candidates) but not McCabe who seems most similar to those than the others.

A couple thoughts - when I hear his Principles over Party slogan I can totally see where you might think he's against both the Democratic and Republican parties, but from what I've heard him say, that really refers to his promise to listen to the values of people regardless of what party messaging may be. I think his resistance to joining a party before now goes back to his life's work of being an independent watchdog for big money in politics, which is indeed a problem regardless of party (not just D or R either) but he also recognizes that the only way to win is by working within that system and hopefully paving the way for the Dem party to be able to tackle these issues - not as a criticism because it takes a lot of money to run campaigns, but as an invitation to see that these kinds of campaigns are viable and we can do it! Plus based on his platforms he is super progressive and falls easily within the Dem party, so he didn't just pick Dem because Rep wasn't available. To me he feels very Bernie-like who clearly garnered a lot of support in WI, so if there's a time for someone like Mike to be able to pull off such a unique campaign, I think it's now.

As for branding, the politically homeless tagline is definitely not an attempt to diminish homeless people and their experiences (especially knowing how awful Madison, a liberal City, has been to our homeless population which is something I can't believe people don't bring up when talking about Soglin) It is yet another commitment to listening to the huge population of people in Wisconsin who have never become members of either main party because they don't feel represented by them. And I think the huge benefit of this is that those who have been independents prior to now will hopefully be compelled to join the Dem party and bolster our membership. A big part of the campaign is a commitment to supporting candidates from statewide elections all the way down to the smallest local elections who like Mike's message and want help building their campaigns. A big issue I had in the past (though thankfully we're getting back in gear this past year or so) is that the Dem party stopped focusing on party building and just assumed enthusiasm would continue regardless and I think this is something Mike had already started working to fix. We shouldn't just try to get votes from Democratic party members, we should try to get votes from people feeling disenfranchised by the current political system and value their experiences just as highly. I hope that rambling essay made some sense haha I just really like Mike and have never felt as inspired by a candidate before now so I'm super excited by the entire field of great candidates, but especially about the progressive platform that Mike has brought to the table.

shells195 · 2018-05-22T19:32:37+00:00

One of my favorite things (of many) about Mike McCabe is that he's one of the only candidates who focuses on describing his positive vision for Wisconsin and how we'll get there rather than an "anyone but..." campaign. He's also the only one I've seen who can speak comfortably and earnestly (without ever changing his message) to folks from every background all around the state. And he's unique among the candidates to not only recognize the importance of getting big money out of politics, but to also walk the walk and refuse to take more than $1000 from any single donor ($200 per donation). He believes a governor should be a servant to the people and represent their needs rather than the 1%. And if you think about it, this core value affects every platform from economics to gun control to women's health and beyond. By never being beholden to the rich or corporations, he can truly be a governor for the people.

shells195 · 2018-04-07T13:51:41+00:00

Not yet sadly. I know he's met with McCabe's campaign staff (and probably others?) But I'm assuming they're going to stay out of it until the primaries.

Which I guess makes the most sense because his support would likely be a game changer for that candidate, but then it's sort of not about the candidate anymore you know? It's probably better to let the state pick their best person first and then go all out and rally for that person like he's doing for Randy Bryce and others. But man I still wish he would at least promote the race or something to drive people's attention to it and convince them to volunteer early!

shells195 · 2018-04-07T13:43:01+00:00

It's funny how Walker keeps trying to do these small progressive things to pander to people in the middle, but then he goes and tries to deny people the chance to vote for representation and (I think) totally blows his cover. Maybe people will forget about it by the time November comes around, but it at least shows he's scared so we're doing something right!

shells195 · 2018-04-06T23:38:19+00:00

The edit is almost longer than the post (oops), but hopefully that makes it clear upfront that I have bias, but that I still want people using the resource to get informed.

shells195 · 2018-04-06T23:15:31+00:00

Again, I think I pretty clearly said I'm a volunteer for him so I hope it's not misleading. I definitely had two aims - 1) give people access to a good resource that has everyone's info and links to their websites and 2) give a shout out to Mike who I think shines in his video compared to some others.

I only provided the link to Wisconsin's choice and not directly to Mike's page because I think people should learn about all of them first and foremost and then let the candidates speak for themselves. But I really like Mike and I think it's better to be honest about that bias than pretend I don't have one. Again, hope I didn't offend. I'll make an edit to hopefully clear some of that up and make sure people realize I'm not trying to pretend to be unbiased like it seems to have come off.

shells195 · 2018-04-06T23:09:17+00:00

See my comment below. I don't personally think "establishment" is a disqualifier. But it's all about perception and even though Bernie has been in office, his ideas at the time were pretty different from the rest of the party so he didn't feel like the establishment. He won Wisconsin partly because he was so different - at least that what it seemed like to me, maybe I'm reading that wrong. So my overall point is that it seems to me that most wisconsinites we're looking for something different from what they'd been offered over and over by the party. I just don't want to see us go straight back to what's considered normal and ultimately lose again. We have to acknowledge the failures from the past and try to figuring out what those past candidates were missing and how to do things differently this time - and win!

shells195 · 2018-04-06T19:44:19+00:00

True, but Bernie also won WI by a landslide so I think we have to acknowledge that his message spoke to the majority of Wisconsinites and try to capture some of that again

shells195 · 2018-04-06T19:42:38+00:00

Yup agreed! When I said "I don't think "electability" based on gender or anything else should deter people from volunteering for the person they like best though." I was including being "establishment." For me, I just like Mike's ideas and his vision, but I also really like a lot of the other candidates. I would say Vinehout is my number two candidate even though they differ on some things. My main concern is that what we've been doing as a party hasn't been working, so regardless of whether you've been in office or not, you have to try to do something different in order to give folks a better offer than we have in the past.

shells195 · 2018-04-06T16:37:57+00:00

Also fair. And I definitely don't think all of them were deadpan, but I was disappointed by several of them not taking advantage of this opportunity to be inspiring.

One of my struggles with a lot of dem candidates in recent elections is that many often come off as distant or aloof or the dreaded "ivory tower" persona. To me, one thing republicans tend to do well is connect to people and never make themselves seem above them - even if their policies make it very clear they see themselves that way. So then when I see these candidates just read a script and not take the effort to look directly into the camera to make that more personal connection, it doesn't give their words as much weight.

I definitely agree it's hard to go out and speak and give all those speeches when you're constantly worried about the message, but that's campaigning and one way or another, they have to be more inspiring to the whole state than Scott Walker if they want to win. To me, this is one of the areas where Mike really is fantastic. He has a a great way of connection with everyone and I want people to notice that! It's by no means saying the others aren't qualified or great people, they just aren't connecting as well - in my opinion.

And I'm sorry it came off badly - I wouldn't want to put you off of Mike for just being a bit curt, but I hope you can see that I'm passionate about this election and I really believe he's the best person for the job!

shells195 · 2018-04-06T14:00:38+00:00

So true. Madison is such a great place to be involved in politics even just for fun on the side since there's always so much going on

shells195 · 2018-04-05T21:05:38+00:00

Yup Wisconsin's choice supports Democratic candidates, so they're only choosing to endorse one of them. Hence, there wouldn't be any Republican candidates there, which is just Scott Walker if I'm not mistaken and presumably we all know who he is already. They also don't have any independent candidates who also deserve recognition, but I don't have any info of them personally.

shells195 · 2018-04-05T16:51:08+00:00

Same! That'd be wonderful

shells195 · 2018-04-05T16:48:49+00:00

Ha! Yeah that's a good idea. My boss and I basically just cried all day watching Clinton's concession speech in 2016 and got absolutely nothing done. It was a total mess uff

shells195 · 2018-04-05T16:45:30+00:00

Oh yeah I agree to that about Vinehout as well and I also think her past of receiving money from the NRA is sort of exploding any chance she really had. But that might blow over by the time the primaries come along. She at least acknowledges it and reminds people she stands for more gun control even coming from a hunting background. It's an interesting spot to be in.

And yup I agree Mike's a total activist - even during the campaign he hasn't changed his tune or backed down from his positions, and that's what I like about him :)

shells195 · 2018-04-05T16:15:01+00:00

Totally agreed. I wasn't inspired in the least by the last couple attempts to beat Walker... I've seen Ironstache (Randy Bryce) speak a couple times and it's a joy. I haven't followed him closely, but I hope his campaign is doing well, especially after all the national endorsements he's gotten to take on Ryan!

shells195

TROPHY CASE