| Wednesday's Mailbag: Vino's exit and those Frenchmen in Georgia
The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month. The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and should not be viewed as reflecting the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, Inside Communications, Inc.
Of glass houses and stones
Editor:
As a scholar studying the philosophy and ethics of performance enhancement, as well as a lifetime cycling fan, my suggestion to Michael Martens is to remember, as a member of the cycling-fan community, that he is implicated as a member of the throng who cheered for Alexander Vinokourov for years as the most daring attacker in the peloton (see Monday's Mailbag, “Don't let the door hit you on the way out").
Police log: Home electronics, camera gear taken in break
METHUEN — Thieves broke into a Vincent Avenue home and ransacked it before leaving with assorted home electronics, camera gear and two bicycles, police said. Officers were sent to the home at 5:58 p.m. Wednesday and spoke to the owner who told them he had left for work about 7:45 a.m. and returned about 5:45 p.m. to discover the house had been broken into. Police could find no sign of forced entry but did find two unlocked windows which they said they believe could have been used by the thieves to gain entry. Taken in the break were an Apple Mac Mini Man computer, 20 to 30 DVDs, a Panasonic camcorder, a Fuji digital camera, an Olympus 35 mm camera, and two bicycles. Both bicycles were recovered on Emsley Terrace. The following were taken from area police logs for Wednesday: Methuen Arrest: Richard O'Connor, 34, 6 Anthony Drive, Londonderry, N.H., driving while under the influence of alcohol, 108 Howe St., 2:08 a.m.
Wind and waves, a poet laureate, and tough policing
As we enter the new year, some issues remain doggedly at the island's heels just as they were a year ago: the Champlin's affair, state budget constraints and high energy costs. But we also had some unexpected and welcomed turns: a potential solution to those energy problems, a state poet laureate selected from our ranks, and a busy summer held in check by competent police work.Some of the most exciting announcements — with the potential to change life on the island — occurred in the last few weeks of 2007.Wind and waves to the rescueAfter Governor Donald Carcieri announced his goal to provide a minimum of 15 percent of the state's electricity from renewable sources, wind energy ended being high on that list.The state commissioned a study, and Rhode Island Commissioner of Energy Resources Andrew Dzykewicz announced in a series of on-island presentations that two of the prime locations for a wind farm are off the shores of Block Island.If approved, said Dzykewicz, there could be as many as 100 wind turbines, standing 450 feet high with blades extended, complete with foghorns and lights, anywhere from a mile to three miles south of the island.
Thanks for the mammaries
Not on the side of milk cartons but in the wacky world of cyberspace, where nothing is ever too cockamamie to consider. An online website is bringing flat-chested women and mammary-minded men of a charitable nature together for mutually beneficial purposes. The dames want implants; the gents want pictures. Quid pro quo. Aye, it's a sad state of affairs – the haves versus the have-nots – when poor girls must go begging, little brassiere cups in hand, for breast enhancement surgery. But with kidneys and other human organs available through the black market of human spare parts, at least these supplicants are upfront about it. Candace Leadley of Calgary is a wee 29AAA, which is almost concave. The single mother of one pines to be a 36C, which she's certain will boost her self-esteem along with her cleavage.
The times they are a changin
Nasser had the courage to say no to the foreign powers when it involved the future of something as major as the High Dam. Now, we cant say no to the minor things. Im not siding with Nasser, Im siding with an ideology: the dignity of a nation. But dont get me wrong! We believe in the private and public sector alike, but the private sector should fall under the supervision of the public sector, it should produce basic commodities we need, like the bread loaf, not Chipsy [the popular brand of potato chips]. .
For Bellingham’s Mark Wheatley, the bicycle is way of life
Sitting behind a computer all day is Mark Wheatleys job. But his passion is outside out anywhere he can get to on two wheels. Im not the kind of guy who really likes to sit still, says Wheatley, 53, an instructor and systems engineer who bikes often from his home in Bellingham for overnight trips to his job in Bellevue at computer-training company SQLSoft. I like to do something bigger, he says, getting out and seeing a big horizon. In that spirit, Wheatley takes his bicycle everywhere: he rides it to and from work, on tours and even on vacation. He spent a week before and after a Microsoft conference in November 2006 in Barcelona to tour Europe on his bike. Its sustainable transportation, and I never feel like a road trip (in a car) is at all satisfying to me, he says of his work-and-play biking habits.
What's up in The Albemarle 02/01
City Council to hold retreat. City Council will hold a retreat for the mayor and council members at Albemarle Hospital today at 2:30 p.m. The retreat will continue at the offices of the Northeastern North Carolina Economic Development Commission in Edenton Saturday at 8:30 a.m. School needs help for Black History Month. Northside Elementary School is organizing black history activities for the month of February. If you or a group have talent you would like to share with elementary school students, call Pam at 335-2033 by today. Effective Teacher Training. The Perquimans County Schools will host Effective Teacher Training classes at the Board of Education office in Hertford, Saturday, Feb. 2, 9, 16 & 23 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The cost is $65 per person. Preregister by calling 482-7900 ext.
SEXY SWEDE: Volvo's C30 creates luxury in a compact
The Swedes' hard work, ingenuity and long winter nights have led to a smorgasbord of accomplishments: the milking machine, the propeller, dynamite, Nicklas Lidstrom and lutefisk. All hail from Sweden -- though, honestly, lutefisk can stay there. Now, there is the Volvo C30 -- a luxurious sporty compact that can get you from Gothenburg to Stockholm faster than you can read "The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking." The C30 is a peek at the future of compacts -- small, powerful and speeding up to pretty darn expensive compared with typical small vehicles. But this is no pickled herring. .
|
