GALFROMDOWNUNDER UPOVER

Patience , one of two lions guarding the the Beaux-arts building of the NY Public Library, knows that it's only a matter of time before folders may pass into the library unscathed ... My somewhat ballsy Tikit on Trial experiment spanning 2007-2010, which   tested whether I could ever so politely sashay my way into office buildings with marble front desks and starched uniformed gatekeepers - is now archived off the Bike Friday website. The links below are copies saved by that giant, silent hoarder of everything ever blogged, the Wayback Machine. The articles are mostly intact - but for a quick pictorial tour, check out the Photo Gallery and YouTube movies. 0.  Summary  (archived) 1. The experiment  (archived) 2. The results  (archived) 3. Photo gallery  (current) 4. The movies  (current) In a nutshell, it was an experiment to see how the the  tikit , the Bike Friday commuter folding bike, fared as a piece of personal transportation in

I've just posted some multimedia about this intriguing, outspoken and let's face it, super buff Aussie social activist, Peter Melov: MOVIE: Peter Melov Live Food Cooking Class - 3-part video showing us how to make his signature chocolate balls, loaves and not fishes Photo Gallery of the class Melov's credo: Coconut! "A medium chain saturated fat that is understood by the human body." However, he is adamant his cooking is really just to sweeten people up for his real message, that of social awareness about the sinister politics of the food pyramid - and what he believes are the lies and propaganda we ingest along with bad food, thereby supporting big Pharma, conglomerates and other organizations that feed the need for greed. "My family think I'm crazy," he says. His family are medicos and apparently "obese, got acne, health issues ..." I met Peter after eyeing off his caco-nib-studded chocolate balls at the Bondi Junction weekend market

Two score and six years ago ... my parents did the default here I am. I've just landed in NYC after 4 months of rabid customer evangelizing downunder . I was met at the airport by a Manhattan midnight cowboy who immediately whisked me off to the house of superlative bi bim bap to celebrate, Gam Mi Ok . It's the best, most healthy Asian square meal ever, in a round bowl (vegetarians can always refuse the meat). Just before I got off the plane, my lawyer James von Boeckmann (the nicest lawyer you'll ever meet, 541-485-0912) called and told me my greencard petition finally got approved. Unbelieveable! It's the end of a longish road. Rather than waiting years going the traditional employer route, I opted to self-petition using the faster, riskier route: National Interest Waiver. What is NIW? You have to show "exceptional ability" (the rung above it, extraordinary ability, is for young Einsteins and Nobel Laureates) and that your work is in the national interest. H

That's what this t-shirt says. Think it will help calm road rage? I whipped it up using the Design-O-Matic t-shirt designer at www.remo.com.au Read my take on REMO and view the movie clip

- Cal-Earth UPDATE Jan 2009: It's being lived in! - thanks to Donna Stratman for keeping me in the loop. Email her: donna@island-trust.com +++ I nearly fell off my chair. In Hawaii, I was surfing, er, the internet that is, looking for ideas for my little piece of land on the Big Island. I stumbled upon this man planning to build a 'SuperAdobe' house designed by the famed Cal Earth architect Nader Khalili - in the Nanawale Estates subdivision, right where my land is! The only problem is, on closer investigation it appears the permits were rejected twice back in January 2007 - but the owner is going ahead anyway. I am feverishly hoping there's been an update. It makes sense, especially in Hawaii where the sun and rain are free, sustainability should be the default and yet, 92% of the state's energy consumption is fossil fuel based. If it was volcano-based it would be perfect, but Chevron et al don't seem to be sticking their long snakey hos

Picketing against illegal picket fences ... PHOTO GALLERY | MOVIE CLIP | GALFROMDOWNUNDER IN HAWAII I've just attended my first rally in a long time - the placard waving, chanting and foot-stomping kind. For bicycling? No, for beachcombing! Well actually, we're talking the full monty of ocean worshipping activities, like surfing, swimming, walking, sunbathing, beach-barbecuing, and kiddie favorites like jellyfish-poking and limpet harassing ... The rally was organized by Beach Access Hawaii , Surfrider Foundation and other citizen advocacy groups, collectively incensed at the increasing gall of "rich landowners" who've been surreptitiously gating and blocking off beach access paths for quite some time - and no one is stopping them. Often, the gates are torn down only to be put right back up again, with fake signs saying "Private Access" and "Trespassers will be stoned with coconuts" or words to that effect. Some even hire security guards to

Pictured: Ann Kobsa preparing to 'plant' some seeds on my sliver of Hawaii (which I merely borrowed from mother earth for a fee of $20K) using the Fukuoka method of natural farming - basically tossing it to the winds ... read more It's been hot as Hawaii in high summer here in NYC. Yesterday I partook of a 60 mile round trip bike rider to Garden City led by 5bbc member and NY history wiki-on-wheels Danny Liebermann. Many of us were wiped out by the time we'd done 45 miles of basically flat urban riding. There we were, slumped against the walls of an 'Amish (hardly) Market', sipping fancy cold drinks and talking of taking the subway back. Of course, any bike rider will tell you that extended flat bike rides are in may ways more fatiguing than hilly ones - it's one long steady grind, rather than some butt-relieveing downhills. My last post, an extended tirade about global warming (ah, thank god for blogging, better than paying a $120 an hour therapis

I would have included an original shot of a polar bear or endangered tree frog, but I decided to save the fossil fuel. This old shot is from the seat of my bicycle . +++ Last Monday night I made a pilgrimage back to the NY Explorer's Club , the 103 year-old "international multidisciplinary professional society dedicated to the advancement of field research and the ideal that it is vital to preserve the instinct to explore." It's not a place to see lightweight travelogues (like biking across Italy , Peru or Cuba ) unless you're making a scholarly, scientific contribution, or you've an angle the club deems worthy of sharing. Of course, if you're a Sir Edmund or Buzz Aldrin in your chosen field, you'll be eagerly summoned to the lectern in the club's riotously gothic, time-capsule of an edifice, addressing an appreciative audience of both real and armchair explorers – perhaps even honorary chair Sir Edmund himself. And what more real and worthy a to