The Onion

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Here comes some weather...

The sky goes black, ominous rumbling overhead--and there I am with water all over me as I'm dumping and refilling duck and turtle pools. I wonder if I'm going to ride my bike in the rain tonight...

Rapa nui bird checklist (What's left, what's been introduced)

(English name, Scientific name, rapanui name; My checklist has the Chilean name as well, but it didn't paste right into the journal)



Sooty Tern -- Sterna fuscata -- manutara
Great Frigate Bird -- Fregata minor -- makohe
Chimango Caracara -- Milvago chimango -- manu toketoke
Chilean Tinamou -- Nothoprocta perdicaria -- vivi
Common Diuca-Finch -- Diuca diuca -- manu puhi
House Sparrow -- Passer domesticus -- manu riki-riki
Christmas Shearwater -- Puffinus navitatus -- kuma
Petrel Pterodroma sp. -- Pterodroma sp.
Giant Petrel -- Macronectes giganteus -- ruru
Fairy Tern -- Gygis alba -- kiakia
Red-tailed Tropicbird -- Phaeton rubicaudata -- tavake
Brown Noddy -- Anous stolidus -- tuao
Blue Noddy -- Procelsterna cerulea -- tavi

Yes

With perfect comic timing, the downpours hit me as I crossed into Watertown. I splashed the rest of the way home, not bothering to avoid huge puddles of clear water, warmed to bath temperatures on the blacktop.

Now the only question is, what shoes am I going to wear on vacation, since the pair I planned to wear are soaked?

Also: turil once remarked at how little the bicycle had changed in the past century. I wonder why as well. In particular, why must I balance on a flimsy tripod composed of my wrists and perineum? After a 15 mile commute, I'm guaranteed to have numb fingers and saddle sores.

The obvious answer is a recumbent. The problems with a recumbent are: The cyclist is basically sitting on the ground, whereas on a 'normal' bike you are at eyelevel with all but the tallest Escalades (man, that's an ugly car! what the hell does Ludacris see in them?), on a recumbent you are below the most tricked-out lowrider Lamborgini--it makes me nervous to see a rucumbent cyclist in city traffic, visibility flag or no. The second problem is that their awkward design would (I assume) make it nearly impossible to carry one onto the commuter rail, as I do a couple times a week with my bike. And last, they cost a couple thousand bucks.