fixed gear bike: A Big Yawn

Saturday 23 April 2011

A Big Yawn

April Fool’s Day came and went; thank goodness. I don’t know about you but I found the whole thing a great big yawn…. Booooooooooooooooooooring.

Including my own post I am sure. Not that mine was any better, or any worse than others; it was just that there were just too many people doing it…. Like just about everyone who had a blog or online news site.

An April Fools spoof has to suck you into believing it, if only for a little while; otherwise it is not funny. That is the only reason for doing it.

I wrote mine ahead of time and set it to auto post a 3:00 am. US Eastern Time. That is midnight on the West Coast and 8:00 am. in the UK. I caught a couple of Brits who commented within half an hour of the posting.

But by the time America awakened it was pretty obvious what was going on, and no one was falling for it anymore. Even Google was doing it. (See video.)

There were posts about Lance Armstrong running for Governor of Texas, Alberto Contador becoming an anti-beef spokesman for Chick-Fil-A, and Audi making wooden bicycles. (I was knot falling for that one.)

One only had to look at the title and you knew it was a spoof. I didn’t even click on most of them, and those I did I had a hard time reading the whole thing, even though most were funny and well written. It was like reading a joke when you knew the punch line… What was the point?

Next year being a Leap Year, April 1st falls on a Sunday and I don’t usually post anything on a weekend; it will be a good excuse not to participate. In fact I might just stay off the Internet altogether that day, maybe ride my bike instead.

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Almost hidden amonst all the silliness going on I found this little gem of a video called: Bicycles can change the world, one life at a time.

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And on a totally different subject I got an email from a regular reader of this blog, William Labigan; he wrote:

About a month ago I entered a contest through Cox Communications (local cable television provider.) This contest was looking for people who thought they made a difference with the environment.

I wrote in and told them about my bicycle commuting project. Since late Sept 2008 I have been commuting to work every day by bicycle. Well I am happy to report I was named one of three finalists.

The finalist who amasses the most votes wins $2500 to donate to a local no-profit environmental organization. I am pledging my funds to the Orange County Bird of Prey Center.

The volunteers at this organization rescue and rehabilitate injured and orphaned birds of prey, such as hawks and owls, with the hopes of releasing them back into their natural habitat.

I chose this group because the money would make a huge impact in the feeding and care of these animals. I am guaranteed at least $500 but would sure like to win more.

I don’t usually do things like this because I get many such requests. The reason I decided to help out this time is because William is not asking for money; only about five seconds of you time.

Click on this site http://www.cox-cares.org/conservation-champions/finalists/ scroll down and click on the Vote button next to William Labigan’s name. That’s it, no forms to fill in, nothing to put your name to.

Voting is open until April 15th. Please help a fellow cyclist win some money for a good cause. Also if William wins it will give bicycle commuting a little extra publicity.