mika
Still Wondering
Today’s Birthdays / Calendar
35W Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis Coverage
511mn.org
Minnesota Department of Transportation’s traffic information site.
Photos: I35W bridge collapse day 2
A Bridge in Trouble: Analysis of the Bridge and potential problems.
Minneapolis – St. Paul News Sources:
startribune.com
twincities.com
twincities.com: Photo Gallery
mndaily.com
The Minnesota Daily – News paper of the U of Mn. The bridge was located on the west side of the main campus.
Minnesota.publicradio.org
wcco.com: CBS
kare11.com: NBC
myfoxtwincities.com: FOX
kstp.com: ABC
BMW in the News
f1complete.com
BMW pair clear air after Nurburgring clash
TED: Ideas worth spreading
TED Blog,/b]Conferences, Themes, Talks and Speakers
BMW Press: News and press releases from the official BMW sources
World of BMW News
More stateside success for R1200 S
BMW Motorrad USA
BMW F 800 Flat Tracker breaks new ground.
BMW GroupPress Club:
PressClub Canada
BMW, MINI and Motorrad set July sales records. BMW sales up 31% in July.
Whitby, Ontario. BMW Group Canada reported today a July sales record of 2,438 BMW and MINI vehicles, an increase of 26.7% over July 2006. BMW Group also achieved a year-to-date sales record with an increase of 22.9% to 16,598 units compared to the same period last year.
BMW Brand: BMW brand sales up 31.6% to achieve July sales record.
The BMW brand also set a July sales record with 2,112 units sold, an increase of 31.6% over July 2006. The AJAC award winning 3 Series Coup?® and the 3 Series Cabriolet, with BMW’s first retractable hard top roof, both led the way with the largest sales increase in July. Sales of the 3 Series Coup?® and Cabriolet were up 429.5% and 196.1% respectively.
The BMW brand achieved record year-to-date sales of 14,376 units, an increase of 25.2% over last year.
“Year-to-date, we have sold three times as many 3 Series Coup?®s and Cabriolets than this time last year,” said Lindsay Duffield, President and CEO, BMW Group Canada. “We are seeing very strong demand for our 3.0 litre Twin Turbo engine, which was awarded Best New Engine of the Year for 2007 by International Engine of the Year Awards. This engine was originally introduced in the BMW 3 Series and is now extended to the BMW 5 Series.”
BMW Motorrad Canada set a July sales record with 165 motorcycles sold, up 13.0% from July 2006. Year-to-date, BMW Motorrad has increased sales by 28.5% to 1,150 units compared to the same period last year with.
BMW Certified Pre-Owned sales for July increased 2.7% to 488 units. Total pre-owned sales for July were 678, a slight decrease of 4.9%, compared to July 2006. Year-to-date, 5,144 BMW Pre-Owned units have been sold, 3,103 of those Certified, which is an increase of 13.4% and 24.3% respectively compared to the same period last year.
MINI Brand: Best ever July for MINI.
MINI set a July sales record by selling a total of 326 MINIs, an increase of 2.2% over July 2006. MINI year-to-date sales were up 9.8% compared to the same period last year, translating to 2,222 units sold.
MINI NEXT certified pre-owned vehicle sales were up 5.6% to 38 units in July. Total MINI pre-owned sales for July were 57 units, a decrease of 32.1% from July 2006. Year-to-date MINI NEXT sales have increased 15.7% to 229 units. Total MINI pre-owned vehicle sales were 368 Year-to-date, a slight decrease of 3.4% compared to the same period last year.
BMW Sauber F1: Website
BMW Motorsport
BMW Yachtsport
BMW Golfsport
BMW Oracle Racing
[url= http://bmw-sports.com/en/index.html]BMW Sport website
News:
superbike.com
Metzeler 8hr endurance test
muscatinejournal.com
Motorcycle races expected to be a big hit
hotbikeweb.com
International Motorcycle Speed Trials
womenridersnow.com
Ducati Northwest returns for 2007 – Event for all enthusiasts
learnedonwomen.com
What Harley can teach everyone about marketing to women
Bikes in the Fast Lane
citybiker.com
How to sell your bike on Craigslist
[size=3[b]Iron Butt Rally 2007[/size]
Getting to know the IBA:
Rides and Rules
Official Iron Butt Association Rides and Ride Rules
Bike Reviews:
motoring.co.za
Kawasaki wins guessing game big tourers
infomotori.co.uk
Suzuki GSX 650 F
Rumors:
The plot thickens for Euro Bike race fans.
motorcycledaily.com
Triumph finally redesigning big triple –
MD speculates this will lead to a WSBK bike.
Is a story confirmed if you find two sources reporting a rumor?
motorcyclist-online.com
Triumph makes a new big triple
Feature:
thekneeslider.com
Munch Mammut Replicas by Mike Kron
Blog Update
Foriegn Language Blogs
Gear:
mcnews.com
Pants
Over Heard in New York | Voice of the City
Riding Skills:
beatnikbiker.com
Overcoming a front wheel skid
Photography / Video:
dPS.com
Battery Grips for DSLRs
Crusader Rabbit: Episode 15 – Finale
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Technology:
gizmodo.com
Tough Laptop: Getec V100 Tablet PC laughs in the face of danger.
Today’s RoadFood.com
Pint Counterpoint
washingtoncitypaper.com
Rustico’s food-beer pairing make for good table talk
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Woot
Todays Woot
The Blog
xkcd A webcomic of Romance, Sarcasm, Math and Language
Wonderings
If I were to tell you of the events of my day in Lilydale or even the Twin Cities I would just be telling you about my day. News is what happens someplace else. I know this for a fact because each day I search the news of the world for things to put in the Morning Reads. The news never happens in Lilydale and only rarely in the Twin Cities. Even then it seems to be limited to the Minnesota State Capital, NWA, Polaris, 3M or some other multi national headquartered here and what the have done someplace else. Things happen but they are not really news like everywhere else.
Imagine my surprise on Wednesday to find out I could be wrong.
6PM local time Wednesday found me at my computer. I was looking for news to put in the Morning Reads while listening to the BBC World Service online. After the top of the hour online news headlines I turned my radio on to listen to the local happenings in time for the news flash. A bridge had collapsed in Minneapolis. I listened intently then turned my television on to see if there were live video feeds. There was and it persisted until I went to bed many hours after.
I watched one channel and then the next. I had come late to the breaking story and was not certain which bridge had collapsed. The angles of the camera shots were bad until I flipped to a channel that had its helicopter on location. Finally I realized which bridge it was, the I35W Bridge over the Mississippi near the UMn campus, several miles up stream form Lilydale. The previous night I had ridden West River Road under the bridge on my way to the Guthrie Theater.
I sat transfixed until it dawned on me that I had every radio in the condo, my computer and TV on. I turned the oven and radio in the kitchen off. The oven now housed a burned home made pizza in it. I sat down at my desk and turned the radio next to it in time for me to clearly hear the BBC news update the earlier breaking news flash. “A bridge across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis a city in Minnesota in the United States of America has collapsed.” The phrasing seemed strange to my ear and I did not listen to the rest of the story. Rather I turned the computer off and sat watching local TV.
I do not have a land line. I am not certain why, but during a break in the coverage I had a need to get it and went to get the cell phone out of my car where I had left it. My phone was ringing I opened the car door.
“Dad I never know where you will go ridding to, and told myself not to worry until 10PM. Where are you?”
This phone call was repeated by several other family members that evening. I am certain that the jammed cell phone towers were carrying many such calls to husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, children and friends. The calls ostensibly were to ask ‘did you see…’, but in fact were to check and see if the events hit too close to home. I awoke Thursday morning and answered e-mails and pms from friends of a similar nature. The latest reports tell that at least one of the calls was from a soon to be fatal victim of the collapse using a would be rescuers cell phone to say good by to loved ones.
The analogies that some broadcasters have been using seem filled with hyperbolae to my common man’s ear. I will not remember forever where I was when I heard about this as I do with the death of Kennedy. This does not compare to the fall of the Twin Towers or give me a new insight into the daily lives of Iraqi citizens.
My heart goes out those who will have to deal with the emotions of having been in this event. It is an experience that is outside my comprehension right now. I wish comfort to the family and friends of the growing list of victims of the event. Their grief will last long after my memory of the event fades. I am proud of the first responders, for what did and how they did it. I recognized several as the cameras rolled.
I know it remains a story on my computer’s NY Times home page. President Bush is coming to town for something other than campaign fund raising. Every news service in the world that I have seen in the last 36 hours has run with the story. Yet as a stoic Minnesotan, if only by geography and not birth, I know this is really not news. Rather it is road construction taken to a radical and tragic extreme, but definitely not news.
I will have to go down to the Lilydale gas station. I will get a cup of coffee, pay my dollar. As the clerks chat and give me my change, I will ask what they think of our daily lives being talked about as news on the BBC. You see the gas station overlooks the I35E Mississippi River Bridge and not die Nile.
Bike Candy:
From: flattrack.comp
THE END[/url]
:
35W Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis Coverage
511mn.org
Minnesota Department of Transportation’s traffic information site.
Photos: I35W bridge collapse day 2
A Bridge in Trouble: Analysis of the Bridge and potential problems.
Minneapolis – St. Paul News Sources:
startribune.com
twincities.com
twincities.com: Photo Gallery
mndaily.com
The Minnesota Daily – News paper of the U of Mn. The bridge was located on the west side of the main campus.
Minnesota.publicradio.org
wcco.com: CBS
kare11.com: NBC
myfoxtwincities.com: FOX
kstp.com: ABC
BMW in the News
f1complete.com
BMW pair clear air after Nurburgring clash
TED: Ideas worth spreading
TED Blog,/b]Conferences, Themes, Talks and Speakers
BMW Press: News and press releases from the official BMW sources
World of BMW News
More stateside success for R1200 S
BMW Motorrad USA
BMW F 800 Flat Tracker breaks new ground.
BMW GroupPress Club:
PressClub Canada
BMW, MINI and Motorrad set July sales records. BMW sales up 31% in July.
Whitby, Ontario. BMW Group Canada reported today a July sales record of 2,438 BMW and MINI vehicles, an increase of 26.7% over July 2006. BMW Group also achieved a year-to-date sales record with an increase of 22.9% to 16,598 units compared to the same period last year.
BMW Brand: BMW brand sales up 31.6% to achieve July sales record.
The BMW brand also set a July sales record with 2,112 units sold, an increase of 31.6% over July 2006. The AJAC award winning 3 Series Coup?® and the 3 Series Cabriolet, with BMW’s first retractable hard top roof, both led the way with the largest sales increase in July. Sales of the 3 Series Coup?® and Cabriolet were up 429.5% and 196.1% respectively.
The BMW brand achieved record year-to-date sales of 14,376 units, an increase of 25.2% over last year.
“Year-to-date, we have sold three times as many 3 Series Coup?®s and Cabriolets than this time last year,” said Lindsay Duffield, President and CEO, BMW Group Canada. “We are seeing very strong demand for our 3.0 litre Twin Turbo engine, which was awarded Best New Engine of the Year for 2007 by International Engine of the Year Awards. This engine was originally introduced in the BMW 3 Series and is now extended to the BMW 5 Series.”
BMW Motorrad Canada set a July sales record with 165 motorcycles sold, up 13.0% from July 2006. Year-to-date, BMW Motorrad has increased sales by 28.5% to 1,150 units compared to the same period last year with.
BMW Certified Pre-Owned sales for July increased 2.7% to 488 units. Total pre-owned sales for July were 678, a slight decrease of 4.9%, compared to July 2006. Year-to-date, 5,144 BMW Pre-Owned units have been sold, 3,103 of those Certified, which is an increase of 13.4% and 24.3% respectively compared to the same period last year.
MINI Brand: Best ever July for MINI.
MINI set a July sales record by selling a total of 326 MINIs, an increase of 2.2% over July 2006. MINI year-to-date sales were up 9.8% compared to the same period last year, translating to 2,222 units sold.
MINI NEXT certified pre-owned vehicle sales were up 5.6% to 38 units in July. Total MINI pre-owned sales for July were 57 units, a decrease of 32.1% from July 2006. Year-to-date MINI NEXT sales have increased 15.7% to 229 units. Total MINI pre-owned vehicle sales were 368 Year-to-date, a slight decrease of 3.4% compared to the same period last year.
BMW Sauber F1: Website
BMW Motorsport
BMW Yachtsport
BMW Golfsport
BMW Oracle Racing
[url= http://bmw-sports.com/en/index.html]BMW Sport website
News:
superbike.com
Metzeler 8hr endurance test
muscatinejournal.com
Motorcycle races expected to be a big hit
hotbikeweb.com
International Motorcycle Speed Trials
womenridersnow.com
Ducati Northwest returns for 2007 – Event for all enthusiasts
learnedonwomen.com
What Harley can teach everyone about marketing to women
Bikes in the Fast Lane
citybiker.com
How to sell your bike on Craigslist
[size=3[b]Iron Butt Rally 2007[/size]
Getting to know the IBA:
Rides and Rules
Official Iron Butt Association Rides and Ride Rules
Bike Reviews:
motoring.co.za
Kawasaki wins guessing game big tourers
infomotori.co.uk
Suzuki GSX 650 F
Rumors:
The plot thickens for Euro Bike race fans.
motorcycledaily.com
Triumph finally redesigning big triple –
MD speculates this will lead to a WSBK bike.
Is a story confirmed if you find two sources reporting a rumor?
motorcyclist-online.com
Triumph makes a new big triple
Feature:
thekneeslider.com
Munch Mammut Replicas by Mike Kron
Blog Update
Foriegn Language Blogs
Gear:
mcnews.com
Pants
Over Heard in New York | Voice of the City
Riding Skills:
beatnikbiker.com
Overcoming a front wheel skid
Photography / Video:
dPS.com
Battery Grips for DSLRs
Crusader Rabbit: Episode 15 – Finale
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/n67xgr9P2Zw"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/n67xgr9P2Zw" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
Technology:
gizmodo.com
Tough Laptop: Getec V100 Tablet PC laughs in the face of danger.
Today’s RoadFood.com
Pint Counterpoint
washingtoncitypaper.com
Rustico’s food-beer pairing make for good table talk
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tZslkC4y2qY"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tZslkC4y2qY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
Woot
Todays Woot
The Blog
xkcd A webcomic of Romance, Sarcasm, Math and Language
Wonderings
If I were to tell you of the events of my day in Lilydale or even the Twin Cities I would just be telling you about my day. News is what happens someplace else. I know this for a fact because each day I search the news of the world for things to put in the Morning Reads. The news never happens in Lilydale and only rarely in the Twin Cities. Even then it seems to be limited to the Minnesota State Capital, NWA, Polaris, 3M or some other multi national headquartered here and what the have done someplace else. Things happen but they are not really news like everywhere else.
Imagine my surprise on Wednesday to find out I could be wrong.
6PM local time Wednesday found me at my computer. I was looking for news to put in the Morning Reads while listening to the BBC World Service online. After the top of the hour online news headlines I turned my radio on to listen to the local happenings in time for the news flash. A bridge had collapsed in Minneapolis. I listened intently then turned my television on to see if there were live video feeds. There was and it persisted until I went to bed many hours after.
I watched one channel and then the next. I had come late to the breaking story and was not certain which bridge had collapsed. The angles of the camera shots were bad until I flipped to a channel that had its helicopter on location. Finally I realized which bridge it was, the I35W Bridge over the Mississippi near the UMn campus, several miles up stream form Lilydale. The previous night I had ridden West River Road under the bridge on my way to the Guthrie Theater.
I sat transfixed until it dawned on me that I had every radio in the condo, my computer and TV on. I turned the oven and radio in the kitchen off. The oven now housed a burned home made pizza in it. I sat down at my desk and turned the radio next to it in time for me to clearly hear the BBC news update the earlier breaking news flash. “A bridge across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis a city in Minnesota in the United States of America has collapsed.” The phrasing seemed strange to my ear and I did not listen to the rest of the story. Rather I turned the computer off and sat watching local TV.
I do not have a land line. I am not certain why, but during a break in the coverage I had a need to get it and went to get the cell phone out of my car where I had left it. My phone was ringing I opened the car door.
“Dad I never know where you will go ridding to, and told myself not to worry until 10PM. Where are you?”
This phone call was repeated by several other family members that evening. I am certain that the jammed cell phone towers were carrying many such calls to husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, children and friends. The calls ostensibly were to ask ‘did you see…’, but in fact were to check and see if the events hit too close to home. I awoke Thursday morning and answered e-mails and pms from friends of a similar nature. The latest reports tell that at least one of the calls was from a soon to be fatal victim of the collapse using a would be rescuers cell phone to say good by to loved ones.
The analogies that some broadcasters have been using seem filled with hyperbolae to my common man’s ear. I will not remember forever where I was when I heard about this as I do with the death of Kennedy. This does not compare to the fall of the Twin Towers or give me a new insight into the daily lives of Iraqi citizens.
My heart goes out those who will have to deal with the emotions of having been in this event. It is an experience that is outside my comprehension right now. I wish comfort to the family and friends of the growing list of victims of the event. Their grief will last long after my memory of the event fades. I am proud of the first responders, for what did and how they did it. I recognized several as the cameras rolled.
I know it remains a story on my computer’s NY Times home page. President Bush is coming to town for something other than campaign fund raising. Every news service in the world that I have seen in the last 36 hours has run with the story. Yet as a stoic Minnesotan, if only by geography and not birth, I know this is really not news. Rather it is road construction taken to a radical and tragic extreme, but definitely not news.
I will have to go down to the Lilydale gas station. I will get a cup of coffee, pay my dollar. As the clerks chat and give me my change, I will ask what they think of our daily lives being talked about as news on the BBC. You see the gas station overlooks the I35E Mississippi River Bridge and not die Nile.
Bike Candy:
From: flattrack.comp
THE END[/url]
:
Last edited:
