Today’s Headlines

Two Within DOT’s Bridges Fiefdom Charged With Bribery (News, NY1, Newsday)
Sander Skeptical of State Aid (News, Metro)
Hike Could Rest With Bloomberg (News)
NASCAR Drivers Careen Through Pedestrian-Packed Midtown (Post)
Parking Regs to Go Online (City Room)
Web Site Maps Existing and Potential Bike Parking (Wonkster)
Developer Proposes Long Island to Westchester Tunnel (NYT)
DC Area Plans Streetcar Revival (Business Journal)
Obnoxious Stereo Systems Aren’t Just for Cars Anymore (NYT)
Golf Umbrellas: The Escalade of Pedestrian Rain Gear (NYT)

Konrad

I would tolerate those obnoxious sound systems on bicycles if it meant those kids were choosing bikes over cars. However, in a few years most of those kids will probably move their speakers over to 4 wheels.

Oh, and I hate those golf umbrellas too. What’s wrong with a regular sized umbrella? Perhaps people are trying to keep their expanding waste lines dry?
Jonathan

If the Xtracycle people are reading this, two-wheel sound systems sounds like a wonderful new market for them. I think they could use some good publicity after a TA employee complained about their handling the other day on Streetsblog. I have to confess that my inner bike snob emerged when I read that the sound-system guys were building on department-store-brand bikes. An Xtracycle with sound system would be perfect for parades and green-minded politicians.
curmudgeon

Just what we need more of: people who think it’s acceptable to force other people to listen to their noise. Sometimes my apartment is actually vibrating from rolling automotive boom boxes. Since none of these folks are paying rent on my apartment, I can’t for the life of me figure out why their noise is occupying space there. Since the people who like to do this are virtually all male, I suspect they are compensating for something. Funny that it’s also the men who are obsessed with bigger umbrellas too. People who have real lives don’t need to forcibly get other people’s attention this way . . .
Cap’n Transit

Here’s more about that harebrained Long Island tunnel idea:

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-litunn1121,0,6733939.story

Regarding the bike sound-systems:

When I was a kid, I used to take long bike rides down country roads with a buddy of mine. I had a plastic bin bungie-corded to my bike rack, and I’d put a mono tape deck in there. You know, one of those flat decks with the retractable handle and four C batteries. We were too cool to play the Outfield, but I’m sure I popped a few Police tapes in there.

Years later I realized how annoying it must have been for the people sitting in their yards and porches to hear us riding around. But now I don’t feel so bad. I can’t imagine riding around with 200 pounds of speakers on the thing. You’d need one mother of a kickstand.

I still don’t get the deal with the DVD screen, though. This kid is that uninterested in where he’s riding that he has to watch a movie on the way? Why not just stay home and watch the movie? Never mind the safety aspect, of course.
gecko

A little bit of “Love Supreme” and not too loud; “Buena Vista Social Club”; Pavaroti; “Kind of Blue”.

RE: Obnoxious Stereo Systems Aren’t Just for Cars Anymore (NYT)

Holy naddering nabobs of negativism Batman! (Or, maybe I’m just in rebound, completely recovered from that age of boombox terrorism and remission of post truamatic distress.)

This stuff is hilarious because it’s all so over the top.

It would be interesting to hear the quality of the systems, lack of distortion, range, clarity, and not just the high amps.

To hear what they like and if they could get into other stuff classical, jazz, pop, rock, etc. and can keep things under control.

They look like good kids that aim to please. They’ve worked hard to put these systems together and take a lot of pride in them.

And, might be a “blast” at TA events, or congestion pricing rallies providing microphone PA systems or playing Hendrick’s “Cross Town Traffic.”

And, hard to suppress urban kultur.