@Fiveslide Re: driving defensively. I wasn't sure another thread would be better for more info on this topic so I'll just continue it here. I'm a novice when it comes to street riding bikes. Now, the bike I'll have is just an electric assist cargo bike so I'll be topping out at 20-25mph and sticking to in town roads. No highways or faster speed limit areas. I've been reading about safe biking online. Most of the major points are to be seen - wear highly visible clothes and lights if possible, don't hug the shoulder and maintain your physical presence in your lane, give parked cars wide berth to avoid getting doored, give clear arm signs for turning. As someone (anyone else, chime in)with some road experience, anything you can add?
Never tailgate, on-coming traffic turning left behind the car ahead of you will never see you. Same for the car turning right or left off of a perpendicular street on your right. If sitting in traffic, I always point the bike in a direction for an exit. That way, if you hear tires squealing behind you, nail the throttle towards your exit so you're not mashed between cars. Always assume nobody sees you, because many of them don't.
And even when they see you, don't assume they do. The only time I was hit on my bike was when a woman had established eye contact with me and then proceeded to drive right into me. Serious WTF moment. Some drivers just don't relate with anything smaller or different than a car. It's like their brain doesn't know how to process the physics of a non-car (speed, direction, etc) and therefore just remove it from the driving calculations. If you're going through an intersection and there are no other cars going with you, but there is a car turning left coming at you, across your path, assume they don't see you and will do so. My biggest piece of advice for riding my motorcycle was assume you were invisible and nobody saw you. Drive 100% defensively.
I always rode with my headlight on bright during the day, figured it helped a little. I see some newer bikes have flashing lights during daytime riding.
Russia is threatening to strand an American astronaut in space. If there were ever a mission for Space Force, this would be it.
@Fiveslide thanks for the tips, the one about positioning yourself to an escape is not something I've read or would have thought to do. I can see how that is the case. People look for cars and everything else gets filtered. I've done it myself once by mistake, scared me enough that I'm super careful now. There was a pedestrian coming up on the sidewalk to cross over the street I was on at dusk and I just did not see them. Luckily they walked around the back of my vehicle instead of the front. Maybe I would have seen them if they had come in front, maybe not... but it scares me to think that I could have hit someone. And, like you, the one time I got hit on my bike riding up a sidewalk was from a guy who made eye contact at a full stop and then accelerated as I was just in front of him. It's nuts. The brain filtering out anything but a car is a thing. My reflective vest and bands and lights are gonna be garish but I don't even care.
That's all good advice. I'd add: don't ever ride in shorts or without gloves. (Unless you like picking asphalt out of abrasions.)
We are living in a Tom Clancy novel, I swear to God. The question is, Executive Orders or Red Storm Rising?
I would be surprised if that happens. China gains nothing from intervening and everything from sitting back and letting Russia destroy itself.
China, like always, will make the moves that benefit them. Advance their strategy of economic imperialism while the West is distracted, and take the opportunity to be a pain the ass of the US/Europe if the opportunity arises, but only if it's free to do so. They're not going to incur heavy costs to back Putin's nonsense.
I don’t think they would either. But I wonder if they are considering testing the water to see how Biden would react. I think there is very little to gain from helping Russia at this point. Being China’s bitch might sound fun for a minute until they realize how expensive it would be to prop them up constantly.
From China’s perspective, their main competition in the Eastern Hemisphere is more demographically depressed than they are. This war is a gift.
So some headlines are indicating that China might actually offer them military assistance. I hope it’s not actually true.
No need to worry Elon Musk has challenged Putin to single combat to decide the fate of Ukraine over twitter. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2022/03/14/elon-musk-putin-fight-ukraine/7036541001/
Putin's TKD belt was only honorary, but his Judo is legit. Musk doesn't know how to take a fall, he's like to break something.