STUFFE

WHO STOLE THE ROAD?
I hate bikes, they get right in the way, don't they?

Or maybe not...

A graphic illustration of how much road space is used by 35 people using different modes of transport.

PERIODIC F*****G TABLE
Flowing Data points out that we all secretly love the Periodic Table infographic - here's Modern Toss' take on the format, with the Periodic Table of Swearing. Surely it's obvious that the page beyond this link contains bad language?

You can buy a print of this too, although I'm not sure who would think a nicely formatted collection of swears makes a nice talking point.

EGGS, BASKETS &c
Cosmo has a good piece on why the "Lance vs Bert" take on this years' tour by US media was a stupid idea here, and more fundamentally why the focus on one rider's exploits to sell cycling to Americans is a daft idea. The killer paragraph for me;

Can you even imagine it? No more armies of dentists dragging the LBS out of the red each year with Lance-replica Trek purchases. No more Chris Carmichael promising phantom results to middle-aged racers about to train themselves out of love with the sport. No more laurel wreaths cast at the feet of DS whose prolific success in July has allowed him to brush years of downright miserable classics results under the rug.

What will the US bike industry look like post-Lance? Is the focus on one rider as figurehead a fundamentally flawed idea?

BANANAS
The first bike I can remember coveting was the Raleigh Team Banana. I didn't follow pro-cycling at the time, but knew instinctively that the black & yellow colour scheme, cutting edge 531 frame and 12 speed gearing was very cool. Re-living that youthful yearning without upsetting Mrs Monkey *or* the bank manager by adding yet another bike to the garage is easier now, thanks to Prendas, who are doing these replica Team Banana caps.

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THE BEST CYCLING PICTURE EVER, CONTINUED
I have no idea what the story behind this shot is, or was, but no one can deny that this guy has it going on. Chopper bike, checked trews, and a lady looking on admiringly.

That's HOW I ROLL, BABY. (He might be saying).

(Found on Bike Hugger, original image from the Smithsonian)

HEART ON YOUR SLEEVE - AND CHEST
Of course, the sun has disappeared the very instant I began to think of these, but Howies have a stylish "Vive Le Tour" t-shirt as their t-shirt of the week.

Also worthy of note, and not so time limited, are Brian Opsal's lovely cycling inspired shirts, including this Bernard Hinault inspired number, and (perhaps for Lamby) this Pantani shirt.

And of course, no round up of bike shirts would be complete without the artwork of Richard Mitchelson, whose "Tete De La Course" series are really nice. (Series 1, Series 2)

Urban Cyclists could do a lot worse than check out City Cycling's Red Bubble store, which does include some pro-cycling shirts, one of which is a Maillot Pois (Polka Dot) shirt subtle enough to not write cheques your legs may not be able to cash...

HOW TO EMAIL
Nedroid Picture Diary has some invaluable advice.

ISO TRUSS FRAMES
Cozy Beehive blog looks at these unusual Carbon Fibre frames. in this post.

VELO ORANGE
They've updated about their "Grand Cru" cranks, in this post. One paragrpah caught my eye in particular;

I do apologize for being out of so many items. The super busy spring season really cleaned us out and we've once again seen growth beyond what I'd anticipated and planned for. The good news is that we should have two containers of products, including several new items, sailing in July.

In some ways, that's a pain, after all, we all want our stuff. But looking at it another way, a company like Velo Orange, who make nice things that they care about making well, is so successful that they (briefly) can't meet demand - that has to be a good thing, and more power, and more success, to them.

SHUTT & ALWAYS RIDING
It's also good to see nice chaps, and manufacturers of top quality gear Shutt Velo Rapide going from strength to strength - their latest venture is a tie in with Always Riding;

Shutt Velo Rapide, UK manufacturer of fine handmade Sportwool™ jerseys, has today teamed up with online e-tailor Alwaysriding.co.uk to create a new range of cycling jerseys inspired by the heyday of British Motor Sport.

BING MAPS TOUR DE FRANCE APPLICATION
Podium Café has an article about this, which will include commentary from Podium Café on the stages. Click a stage in the sidebar to see the route map and profile - move your cursor along the profile to see a rider follow the route. The application also includes weather forecasts for the stages!

It's better seen than described, so click here to check it out, it's very impressive.

SCIENCE OF SPORT TOUR DE FRANCE ROUND UP
If you don't already read the Science of Sport blog, it's well worth a look. They're looking forward to the tour like most cycling fans, and they've collected some relevant prior posts, and some new commentary here - do add them to your rss feeds if you're following the tour this year.

CYCLOCOSM
A single heading for two good posts, first a bit of pre-tour talk, including a look at the "Radioshack won't start" rumours, and an interesting snippet on pre-tour coverage in the US;

I’m sick of the sad-music-for-Lance, evil-music-for-Contador recaps of last year, the LA vs. AC previews...

Which struck me as a bizarre spin on things from the broadcasters, given that a lot of the acrimony and division in the Astana camp last year seemed to stem from the Armstrong camp either not supporting, or lending only half hearted support to Bert as the self evidently stronger rider.

Cosmo also looks at the rules related to bunch sprints in this post, unpicking what the UCI says about what it's ok to do, and not do in the race for the line.

LE TOUR DES VINS
For a different look at the Tour De France, you could do a lot worse than Jack Thurston's "Tour Des Vins de France", a meander through the tour's stages sampling hop and grape. Mrs. Monkey has personally approved this approach to the tour, and is following Jack's articles with great interest.

WOMEN'S CYCLING
Podium Café have an interesting round up of the field for the Giro Donne, which runs from 2nd to the 11th of July. It's a treasure trove of links, related to the Giro Donne in particular, and women's cycling in general - have your bookmarks folder open when reading it.

INFOGRAPHICS
Information is Beautiful looks at the work of "Always with Honour", a duo you may not have heard of, but whose work you'll almost certainly recognise if you're a fan of Good Magazine's "Transparency" features.

Also well worth a look is this FIFA player value infographic, examined by Flowing Data - what would you do to improve it?

CHAPEAU
To Karl on Sea, who completed his Ironman triathlon. You can read his race report on his blog, and still sponsor him (a surer proposition now, if you were wavering, as you know he's completed the race) here. Monies will be going to Macmillan Cancer Support, an excellent charity that provides practical, medical, emotional and financial support to people affected by cancer, and advocates for better cancer care.

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Look at all those lovely bikes! Pic from Garmin's Website.

TOUR PREP
Garmin-Transitions offer a look inside their Service Course, as they prepare for the Tour De France. The thing that strikes me is the sheer amount of stuff, and work to do. As the article says;

Each rider will head to Rotterdam with 6 bicycles: their race bike, one spare for each car, a roubaix bike, and two time trial bikes.

And every bike is being built up from new frames and equipment by the mechanics. The article gives a real insight into the behnid the scenes work of mechanics and soigneurs, and is well worth a look.

INFOGRAPHICS
Examining whether sequels live up to the original film, at Flowing Data.

TOUR PREVIEW #1

Well, let's face it and be honest about it: any time trial would put the jersey on Fabian Cancellara's back.

Over at Pezcyclingnews, this preview examines the first week of Le Tour.

Also, Pez have managed to get tour fixture Didi (The Devil) to pose with their range of kit, which is quite the coup...

TENNIS, AGAIN

Therefore, in 11 hours and 5 minutes, the energy burned would be around 8500 kCal. How much is this? Well, if someone like Isner, who weighs 110kg, were to run a marathon, he would burn approximately 4600 kCal. So, his 11 hour tennis match came at the cost of almost two marathons. Sure, it was "run" over 3 days in installments, but the numbers are extra-ordinary.

The Sports Scientists blog returns to Mahut vs Isner, and some estimates of the energy expended by the players. Interestingly, their commentary has been picked up by the Washington Post - it's good to see them being recognised in this way.

NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
Cycling Weekly rounds up the results of the various National Championship races that took place over the weekend. I'm very pleased to see Stijn Devolder in the Belgian champion's jersey, and doomed breakaway specialist Thomas Voeckler take the French championship.

Interstingly Sky took all the podium places in the UK race, with Geraint Thomas taking the win.

THE GREATEST CYCLING PHOTO EVER

Simon Lamb offers this picture of Coppi and Bartali as the greatest cycling picture ever. I've not given this a great deal of thought, but it seems to me that the shot above (Anquetil and Poulidor on the Puy De Dome) would be my choice - a graphic illustration of their rivalry.

PEDAL TO PROPERTIES
This is a brilliant idea, a realtor that offers bike tours to prospective house purchasers. A bike is a great way to cover distance quickly, but in a way that still allows you to get the feel of an area. I met a chap last year who was house hunting by bike locally to me (and was able to tell him where the local Surly dealer was, among other things).

DISC BRAKES IN CX
The news that the UCI has embraced a post-war technology shocked many of us last week, with their allowance of disc brakes in cyclocross. Bikehugger has a good piece about this, with the following being one of the conclusions I think they're absolutely right about;

...we are perhaps now on the eve of the next big revolution in bicycle equipment. Cyclocross is the doorway through which disc brake systems integrated into dropbar shift/brake reach the consumer as well as the natural path for discs to reach UCI acceptance to road racing.

VELOCLUB DON LOGAN
...becomes an investigative journalist. No, really.

CHARLES BURCHFIELD
I'd not heard of him either, but this post and lines and colors is a great introduction, and his work is lovely.

SPACESUIT OF THE WEEK
Or, features I wish I'd thought of. From Kitsune Noir (and my eternal thanks to Gem at Bianchista for introducing me to that blog) comes the spacesuit of the week.

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6 MUSIC
The BBCs unorthodox "We're axing it" promotional campaign for excellent digital station 6 Music has paid dividends, with latest figures reporting an increase of 300,000 or so listeners to the station. That's 300,000 extra people who might shout "Just Coming!" back to your "Stephen" folks. This comes on top of the station winning two Sony Gold awards this year.

More (less flippant) detail at Love6Music.com. As well as details of what you can do to stand up for the diversity of content and choice that the threatened stations represent.

EXTREME HUMAN POWERED DELIVERY
The Oil-Drum has a piece on bikes being used to transport things, as opposed to just the rider;

"But also important for functioning cities is moving goods around, and most of the above options would seem to have severe limitations when one considers the variety of things that need to be moved. How does one carry a sheet of plywood across town? Surely not on a crowded subway. But a recent trip to China demonstrated for me that almost anything is possible."

Of course, it's not just China. This is a great video of moving the stone for an ornamental path by bike and trailer - old, but well worth a watch if you've not seen it.

"A lot of people say it's really hard to go shopping on your bike. I agree - NEVER shop for anything bigger than a sidewalk."

COMMUTING
Cycling Inquisition has been musing on commuting, prompted by spotting a Southern Comfort t-shirt, empty Budweiser bottle, and Aerosmith cassette at the side of the road. Either someone was cleaning out their car (onto the roadside, ccertainly common practice in Cheshire, judging by the amount of crap on the verges) or they have THE WORST parties where he rides.

FACEBOOK
From Information is Beautiful, this New York Times infographic breaks down Facebook's 170+ privacy options.

There's a useful step-by-step guide to getting some control over all this stuff on ZDnet, here.

I have to admit to being on the point of ditching Facebook - I use it less and less, and the issues around what they do with my photos and data are worrying, to say the least. The walkthrough above at least gives me a way to lock some of it down, and still stay in touch with the folk I know who use the site.

OH PIPPO!
Mr. Pozzato's desire to appear in ever more disturbing advertisements (exhibit one - the Sidi ad) continues with the pictured "Lego Head" ad for Lazer helmets. Another thing I'll never be able to unsee.

OH LANCE!
Compare this Mellow Johnny's jersey with the classic Molteni Arcore jersey. Homage, or Lésé majesté?

OH VALV.PITI!
Jesus god-dancing christ, can the saga of Valverde get any more ridiculous?

"We have a decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport confirming that it is his blood, that it contained EPO, and confirms that Valverde is a cheater. And, despite all this, he is still racing," said Olivier Niggli, WADA's legal director, to AFP. However, even if the anti-doping agencies win the CAS decision and Spain is forced to ban Valverde, he could be back to racing as early as 2011 if the sanction mirrors the two-year sentence which began in Italy in May, 2009."

LOCK YOUR BIKE
Barry Mason from Southwark cyclists features in this video (on Bikehugger) detailing common mistakes in bike locking.

See also; Sheldon Brown's Lock Strategy and MIT's Bike Theft Prevention advice.

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GAZELLE
From the Bike Commuters Blog comes this nice video of Gazelle bicycles being made in 1925. I want one of their truing jigs, they look great...

SIN TITULO
Artist Cameron Stewart has been publishing "Sin Titulo", since June 2007. There are now 97 episodes of this complex plotted webcomic on line now. The art is a lovely duotone style, do have a look.

BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL
Who else could it be but Nedroid.com?

LATE BECAUSE YOU TOOK THE BIKE?
Maybe, but not for the reason you think;

"In truth the real reason I was late was that I couldn’t decide which bike to ride. But another small part was that I saw a friend out on the street and stopped to say hello. A real hello, replete with handshakes and well wishes. Which is something you really can’t do in an automobile."

It's from a nice editorial on Urban Velo. I really think this is one of the unstated benefits of travelling by bike, the fact that you're connected with your surroundings far more than you can be in a car.

BIKE TRAILER ROUNDUP
A new feature on the Bike Trailer Blog, this monthly article is a round up of bike trailer news from the preceding month. Well worth a read if you're interested in going beyond the capabilities of a standard bike with a rack, or just share my opinion that cargo bikes and trailers are cool.

INFOGRAPHIC
Flowing Data brings this visualisation of Facebook privacy settings. The graphic charts how much of your personal data is available (and to whom) if you use the default privacy settings.

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EMMA POOLEY
Podium Café has a good interview with Cervelo Test Team's Emma Pooley

"Though they have the support of Cervélo’s resources, the women are not entirely insulated from the difficulties that women’s cycling faces. Three races Emma Pooley won last year have disappeared from the calendar."

THE LOST CYCLIST
Urban Velo reviews "The Lost Cyclist -The Untold Story of Frank Lenz's Ill-fated Around-the-world Journey".

"Part travelogue, part murder investigation, “The Lost Cyclist” is a clear-eyed look at bicycle travel in the days before paved roads and automobiles. Herlihy mines myriad press accounts, not only to track the trips but also to explain the sometimes testy relationships among cycling clubs, the media, government officials and the riders’ own family."

The article also includes an interview with the author, and can be read here.

CYCLING AND DOPING
With the UCI's Biological passport in the news, it's probably a good time to round up some useful information on the passport system.

First, the UCI's own page "Information on the Bio Passport".

Scientific American "Can Biological Passports Root Out Doping in Sports?"

On NYVelocity - Michael Ashenden interview #1...and "The Bio Passport: 5 Questions for Michael Ashenden".

ART
I love the "Lost Myths" website featured on Drawn.ca yesterday.

Its creators describe it as

"A playful medly of cryptomythological fiction, pantheons, bestiaries, comics, art, games, readings, performances and more by Claude Lalumiere and Rupert Bottenburg."

Whilst the best title award undoubtedly goes to "Fun and Games with the Hippatocora", the alternately whimsical and sinister "What To Do with the Dead" is superb too.

INFOGRAPHICS
Flowing Data takes an interesting look at the trend for large infographics.

Big information graphics have been around for a long time. They've come in the form of maps, visualization, art, signs, etc. That was all on paper though. In the past couple of years, humongous, gigantic, and often really long infographics have found their way onto the computer screen, through blogs and news sites. Some are great. Some really suck. The volume is booming for both.

Let's take a look at when this all got started, where the trend is headed, and how much we should really read into these things.

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ME
Whilst STUFFE is largely about interesting things I find elsewhere, those of you who were following Mrs Monkey and I across France and Belgium last year may be interested to know that I got chance to write up Day Three of our Tiny Tour yesterday, having finally had time to sort through the pictures and tour diary. Day Three is here, Day Two here, and Day One here. Day three was our longest day in the saddle (42 miles from Brugge to Ieper) and one of my favourites. Just don't ask why I'm pulling that face.

I've also been tidying up some older posts a little (sorting out malformed tags, for the most part). Depending on how both of you read my blog, that might make posts pop up as "new" in your feedreader - apologies if that does happen.

PENCIL VS CAMERA
Lines and Colors blog features the work of Belgian painter, illustrator, caricaturist and photographer Ben Heine. His Pencil vs Camera project is a series of photographs taken with Heine's sketches of the location (often with a surreal twist) held in place in the appropriate part of the frame. It's a wonderful, fun project, consisting of 13 images so far.

(US) NATIONAL BIKE MONTH
Bike Commuters reminds US readers that May is national bike month.

There's a list of events on the site, and you're invited to add your own via the comments on this page.

DISC BRAKES FOR BEGINNERS
Disc brakes are becoming more common on road bikes and commuters. Over at BikeHacks, they've obtained their first disc brake equipped bike, a Globe Vienna. This post runs through their experience of adjusting them, using, typically enough for Bike Hacks, a steak knife.

URBAN VELO #19
Urban Velo are a regular source of bits and pieces for STUFFE - their own magazine is available now (issue 19). You can order a print copy, or read it online for free here.

Contents include: Denver’s Courier Veterans, Aiming for an Urban Cycling Mecca in Asheville, NC, Finders Keepers, I Love Riding in the City, Gallery: 2010 NAHBS, Residue, The End of Favoring Motorized Transportation, Red Hook Crit, The Lost Cyclist, Freewheel Removal, Get a Grip and Bicycle Helmet Evolution.

INFOGRAPHIC
Cosmo over at Cyclocosm has created an infographic charting 100 years of Giro Winners.

The graphic is word cloud of Giro winners in the shape of Italy, running more or less chronologically from Sicily to the Austrian border. Text sizes correspond to the number of victories, and dates are provided as well. Colors are from the Italian flag, and pink from the maglia rosa worn by the race’s GC Leader.The graphic is word cloud of Giro winners in the shape of Italy, running more or less chronologically from Sicily to the Austrian border. Text sizes correspond to the number of victories, and dates are provided as well. Colors are from the Italian flag, and pink from the maglia rosa worn by the race’s GC Leader.

The graphic is available as a poster or a T-shirt from Cyclocosm.

VIRTUAL MUSETTE TOP 50 UPDATE
Eric over at the virtual musette has updated his Top 50 riders of the modern era with points scored this season up to and including the Tour of Romandie. Commentary on the results is to follow (the post linked above is numbers only), but if you're interested to see how the landscape has changed during classics season, head over.
(See also - how the riders are scored part 1 and part 2).

IS THERE A PLACE FOR ELITISM?
This piece at Bicycling argues that riders can be "too nice".

But all that stuff worked. It weeded out those of us who didn’t belong there, and we didn’t ride there until we belonged.

I’ve always contended that, as reprehensible as roadie elitism is, it is also valuable. A pack of racers needs to be elitist because, when you’re going 37 mph bar-to-bar you want to be there only with the elite. You want to know that the racers in front of you and on either side of you understand what’s going to happen and how to react and what is fair and expected and, even, unfair but expected.

I don't really have a view - I don't ride in groups, and if I'm honest, people sitting in on me makes me nervous (I don't know them, they don't know me). It sounds like I might have the right idea too - I ride my bike for fun these days, and tbh, dealing with this sort of stuff seems a distance away from what I want to do with my spare time.

SALSA AND THE USBRS

Take a moment and think of the transportation route system that the United States has developed primarily around automobiles. Now imagine a similar route system for bikes.

Salsa has signed on as a sponsor of the new U.S.B.R.S. fundraising campaign: Build it. Bike it. Be a Part of It. We encourage you to consider donating if you are able.

US readers can learn more, and help the campaign for the USBRS at this page.
(I know it's another US specific thing, but I love the promo graphic, and it's also further proof of Salsa's COOLNESS).

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INFOGRAPHIC
You've seen some of these before, but this is a nice round up of Movie Infographics, from "The Bonus View".

THE HORN

Standing in front of their cars, my brother and I asked them if their truck had the iconic Tour de France car horn. They didn't understand what we were asking. I mimicked the sound, that sound that I hear in my sleep during hot July nights after days of watching the Tour. Over the years, I've developed a Pavlovian response to it. The horn means watching races, it means riding in short sleeves. That sound has been bouncing around in my head since I was seven years old, and I listened to the Tour on the radio for the first time. Once I mimicked the sound, the guys finally understood what I meant. They honked the horn, I recorded it...and now I share it with all of you as my gift.

From the Cycling inquisition blog.

BIKEWAY CENTRAL
Left ponders, Bike Commuters points you to Bikeway Central, which aims to be;

"a clearinghouse for U.S. bike maps and advocacy groups — and he’s asking for your help to add more to his lists. If you know of a good bike map produced by your local/regional/state planning groups or advocacy organizations that deserve some extra recognition, please let him know by using the “Contact Me” buttons on the Bikeway Central site. "

TWITTER DATA BUFFET
Is how Flowing Data aptly describes Infochimps' Twitter data repository. It's an enormous set of data subsets, some of which can be accessed for free, and some of which are paid for.

You'll be pleased to know that "users by background colour" is in the free set.

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SKETCHING
Drawn.ca mentioned this great set of posts from Mark Kennedy. Titled "A Kick in the Head" they're intended as reminders for working artists, but work pretty well for those of us doing this for fun.

On a lighter note, wouldn't you like to know how to cure ANY weakness in your art in one easy step? SEE HERE!

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
I like NPR. But I have to wonder what they were thinking of here, specifically this section;

Riders beware, though: Urban cycling is not for the faint of heart. You respectfully share the road, of course, but you will be confronted by reckless drivers and the occasional angry pedestrian. But you're a warrior, so ride like one. Don't forget to bring your battle gear: a helmet, some LED lights and, of course, a dose of healthy aggression.

You aren't a warrior. You're someone on a bike, usually up against someone in (at least) a half tonne of metal. Claim your space on the road, ride predictably and considerately. No warring or aggression is required.

GET WELL SOON
Read on cyclingnews.com that one of my favourite riders, Sylvain Chavanel, will be out for 8 weeks after his crash in Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Chavanel sustained a fracture to the base of his skull, potentially very nasty indeed. He's an exciting rider to watch, and I love his attitude to the sport;

You know, I just want to race! That may sound simplistic at first, but I'll explain: In this Tour, I get the impression that nobody really races. I mean, everybody is saving their energy for later, for the final week.
...
But I don't care about later... I don't care about a top 15 placing. That's not why I'm here. Cycling would be quite a sad affair if everybody was speculating like that. I mean, you shouldn't be afraid to take a blow. It's also much more exciting for the spectators: they want us to attack - and if we blow up on the next day, it doesn't matter! At least, we gave everything on the day we really went for it.

That's what cycling is really about in my opinion. We're not here to wait in an armchair for things to happen. I'm not here to win the Tour - those riders are in a different position. I just want to race and make things happen for me! Who cares if I suffer later... And I will, that's for sure. Today, I feel a bit more tired. I hit the pedals hard yesterday, and I was in a break already on Sunday, so there's no wonder.

(Excerpt from his Tour Diary on Cyclingnews, 2008). Get well soon, Sylvain.

PARIS-ROUBAIX - The Untold Story
From the cycling inquisition blog, comes this tale of what happens when you try to take a replica trophy (that is, essentially, a large rock) through airline security.

Without putting much thought into it, I told the TSA agent that the rock was part of a trophy for a bike race, which takes place on cobbled roads. "And you won the race then?", he asked. "Yes, yes I did", I told him. How else would I explain the fact that I have this weird trophy? Why would I actually pay for a replica of a rock/trophy? I had to tell him I had won, in order for him to believe me.

In essence, I had just told this guy I was Fabian Cancellara .... As soon as I said it, I imagined further interrogation in a dark room somewhere in a JFK basement. I imagined TSA agents comparing my face to pictures of Cancellara, and me being forced to stick out my jaw to match his brutal underbite.

INFOGRAPHIC
From flowing data comes this visualisation of US Tax Brackets over the past century. Now, for a non resident, that's not a matter of pressing interest, but the graphic produced is gorgeous.

A TALE OF TWO PODIUMS (PODIA?)
I'm really enjoying the commentary on Cyclocosm lately. This piece, on the reaction to the podium at the Giro Del Trentino is thought provoking.

I think it’s pretty clear that the real villains in this tale of two podiums are the fickle cycling fans and commentators, and I think more people need to adapt the attitude taken by Fleche Wallonne winner Cadel Evans: some athletes in every sport will always cheat to win, and no amount of wristbands, invasive testing, or draconian punishment is going to change that.

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INFOGRAPHICS/BICYCLES
From Flowing Data, one of my favourite infographic and data visualisation blogs comes this round up of Good Magazine's Neighbourhood Infographics competition. The winning infographic is about biking in Minneapolis - I particularly like the "Sightings" of different sorts of cycle.

PHOTOGRAPHY
From Brendadada out of off of Twitter, this amazing set of wedding photos shot on 35mm film.

Link on Fredmiranda Forums

I used to love using Black and white film, and although I've shot the occasional "Once in a lifetime" set using it, I don't think I'd have the bottle to do something as high stakes as a wedding. shows how digital has spoiled us, I guess.

PHONES
Get better battery life from your N97 Mini. Smartphones EAT batteries - especially if you're using the GPS to track your rides, the internet to faff about on twitter, &c This article gives you a little checklist of things you can do to prolong battery life.

Also, if you have an S60 Phone, want to use GPS to track running, cycling, walking, ski-ing (you get the idea) and don't yet have Nokia's Sports Tracker, you should grab it.

The new release on SymbianTweet's site.

Sportstracker for 3rd Edition Devices.

The last Beta Labs 5th Edition Release.

BIKE LIGHTS
Ok, it's a bit early to start thinking about this in this hemisphere, but Treadly & Me has written a good article on bike lights that you can read here.

LOVELY BIKES
Bicycle Design has this, pointing you towards the Tyrell company and their rather nice looking road bike. The frame is based on the slant frame of their 20" mini velo frames. It makes for a striking looking bike.

Tyrell Bikes.

SKETCHING/INSPIRATION
From Drawn! comes this idea - take your favourite book, turn to p.100, draw it.

The original article has what more talented people than I have done with the idea. I'll try to get my head around it and post what I come up with.