The Netherlands Doesn’t Have Domestic Flights
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Batteries
One of the main advantages of bicycles over cars is the low environmental impact they produce. However, as it comes to electric bikes (as well as other electric vehicles) there is the issue of the batteries not only in the production step in the whole object life span, but also the end of life. This last stage causes negative environmental impacts when not following individual guides made by some experts in the field.
As time goes by, it seems like the e-bike market is increasing year by year. For instance, 4,5 million of electric bikes were sold just in Europe in 2020. This is a good idea specially when electric bikes substitute pollutant cars or motorcycles. Nevertheless, the traditional bicycle is always better than the electric one at least from the environmental perspective because of the energy it consumes (person-originated vs probably not renewable energy) and the batteries.
At the time of writing this post, there is not an international guide on how to treat batteries from e-bikes at the end of life. Some countries welcome bikers to deposit them in recycling points whereas others make bike stores responsible for the correct treatment of them, usually with agreements with expert firms in the treatment of gadgets batteries. Logic says it is better to trust in such companies due to the fact that they are used to manipulate batteries and extract its components to give them a proper end of life under the most challenging quality and environmental standards. Under no circumstances should you manipulate batteries since they can emit poisoning gas or even get burnt.
Finally, what can I do in order to expand the battery of my e-bike? Here you have some tips:
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Do not lock your electric bike under the warm sun
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Keep your battery at medium temperatures when not using
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Keep it at medium charge (30% – 60%) so that you avoid an important discharge which would seriously deteriorate it
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The Goonies
What have you thought when reading the title of this post: The Goonies? You have probably thought about adventure, freedom, friendliness, risks and nostalgia. The Goonies was an iconic movie in the 80’s which marked a whole generation with other materials by George Lucas, John Carpenter or Stephen King. The four friends plus a three-people group of teenagers faced an impressive quest: To find a treasure of gold and diamonds which was hidden by the pirate One-Eyed Willy. The magical quest starts and finishes with bikes as powerful symbols. Remember some other movies from the 80’s such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, It or BMX Bandits.
Nostalgia is also powerful since we can say that The Goonies is the seed of the series Stranger Things. Besides, nostalgia made Youngbuck to create an internet forum called BMX Musem (https://bmxmuseum.com/) in which he wants to get the necessary accessory to build the four bicycles that appear in The Goonies like the fabulous Wester Flyer Invader Mag of Mickey.
The Goonies, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, BMX Bandits and some other movies from past decades in which actors and actresses move by pedaling are impossible to make because of cities which have made compulsory bike helmet no matter the biker age. Most of urban bikers have learnt riding a bike without wearing it. Most of us do not pedal like mad people and respect other actors in street, specially the pedestrians. Besides, making it mandatory reduces the number of cyclists as were the cases of Australia and New Zealand. Moreover, in a crash between a bike and a car, the decisive factor in determining whether or not the biker dyes is not the helmet, but the car speed. Numerous studies demonstrate that if the car speed is above 50 km/h (31 mph), most of the time the cyclist dyes. Thus, authorities should focus on preventing too fast cars by using radars, speed bumps or winding car line designs.
Junction design, the Dutch – cycle-friendly – way
The tunnel where cycling is mandatory
Fernando Traverso
In March 24th, 2001 actual size, black bicycles started appearing in Rosario, Argentina. At the beginning, it was a surprise since nobody knew who had painted them or whether they had a special meaning. Then, one day it was discovered that Fernando Traverso had made them. Fernando Traverso is a plastic artist who militated in the Juventud Peronista in his youth at the same time the bloody dictatorship of Jorge Rafael Videla took place. Among the abundant crimes it committed such as economic and juridical issues, there was the multiple human rights violations.
Fernando Traverso painted 350 black bicycles and this figure links with one of the darker episodes in the Rosario history. 350 is precisely the number of disappeared people from Rosario under the dictatorship. The Argentinian repression is known first for kidnapping people, then for torturing and finally for disappearing thousands of Argentinian.
There is a red number bellow every black bicycle indicating the number of bike in the series. Not surprisingly, cycles play a central role in this Traverso work. The reason why is that is because an episode in his youth. One day in the grey streets of the dictatorship, he was walking when he came across a friend who was riding a bike. Traverso surprised since he did not say hello to him and after a few minutes he found his friend’s bicycle locked to a tree. The next day, the same bike remained in the very same spot. This detail impressed Fernando Traverso and after some time he determined his friend had been a victim of the dictatorship. He had been murdered.
The project was awarded by the Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes Juan B. Castagnino in december of 2003.
