this is fyf

What. Is. Gay: Is Gay gay?

We've succumbed to the temptation to dub the ongoing inquiry into what it means to be gay in which we're engaged "W.I.G.", short for "What. Is. Gay.".

Just as a refresher, the imminent arrival of Pride and the recent discussions regarding whether some one can be "post-homosexual" have raised some interesting questions for us here at FYF, including what is meant by "gay", particularly in the statement, "I'm gay.". We're also curious about whether the meaning of "gay" itself has changed since the word was first used to refer to homosexuality in the late 19th or early 20th century.

In this particular post, there's a rather less serious tone and inquiry before us, considering we're asking whether the above photo captures a gay child riding his unicorn bike, and - if so - why riding a unicorn bike makes him gay. ShaquAndre, I think you'd better weigh in on this one...

Additionally, we chuckled over the clever, tongue-in-...well HAND-in-cheek, perhaps, video below from YouTube-lebrity Gay Carrington and present it here for both comic (albeit slightly sinister) relief and as a point of (rather obvious) clarification regarding Gay - the name - vs. gay - the identity.

Both via Billy Beyond. Uni-Bike originally seen via Daniel Extra.

Naked Bike Ride this weekend.

Doesn't it feel great to go for a bike ride?  And doesn't it feel great to get naked?  Combine the two this weekend with Naked Bike Ride, part of a world-wide event protesting the indecency of oil dependence and the decency of being naked.  The route is a secret (because our police force hates bikes and nakedness), but it starts out at 3pm in Williamsburg (99 South Sixth Street off Bedford Avenue) with a bike and body decorating party.

Photo via bitchcakesny Flickr

Michael Musto: How to avoid rats while biking.

Michael Musto's full embrace of bicycling is something to be respected.  Since long before the bike lanes and other poshery, he's been pedaling the streets of the city.  Last week he provided some bike safety tips, some of which are surprising, but upon reading very "of course" especially this gem:

• "Don't ride on the side where there's a lot of foliage. Rats can jump out and scare you so badly, you'll be propelled into traffic and, you know, die."

Bike helmets finally aren't just for nerds anymore.

When you start biking in New York City, you start to really hate mass transit.  Suddenly the subway and bus are over-priced, dirty boxes brimming with people you never want to see again in your life.  On the down-side though are your contemporaries constantly asking if you wear a helmet.  The response for me - someone that rode at least 500 miles in the city in the past summer - is always simple:  No, bike helmets are for nerds.

Life is meant to be risky, but if risk is to be decreased, one should at least be able to do so stylishly.  Now, out of Mälmo, Sweden, Hövding presents a helmet that inflates upon impact protecting from injury both the rider's cranium and aesthetics.  Doubtful of it's ability?  After the jump, check out crash-test videos of bikes being hit by cars and the automatic inflation of the airbag helmet.

Via Core 77

Maybe people won't make fun of my basket on this bike.

The abuse a guy can get for having a basket on his bike is brutal sometimes.  "Nice basket" is the common dis.  So maybe this newly designed Puma "cargo bike" will finally quiet the naysayers and bring on the "hey"sayers.  It hits stores next spring.

NYPD Chief Ray Kelly has admitted the NYPD was wrong!

“While I believe that it was appropriate to remove the bicycles as a security precaution, I acknowledge that more could have been done to notify members of the community in advance that this action would be taken,” Kelly wrote to Vallone, who chairs the Council’s Public Safety committee.

“While signs warning that vehicles would be towed off of Houston Street were posted several days in advance, the signs did not specify that bicycles would be removed as well.”

The department said it collected only 30 bikes, as well as towing 165 vehicles from the street, but other reports put the number of cycles in the hundreds.

Really?  Thirty?  Care to look at that picture again?  

Hide your bikes! The President is in town!

 
President Obama is coming to a fundraising dinner at the St. Regis this evening, so please be sure to hide your bicycles.  It looks like the trip is mostly mid-town this time around, although he'll be visiting the Mayor at some point to discuss the massive drop in terror funding for the city.  Mayor Bloomberg will present the case that the funds are necessary to keep our streets clear of the terrorist bicycles.

Image via World Hum.

Video of last week's NYPD bike trashing has surfaced.

That Earth Day bike-snatch by the NYPD last week?  Now there's video of it now from environmental group Time's Up. 

One bike owner had commented on getting his bike back in horrible condition. Even the sleepy local paper for millionaires took notice (although they didn't challenge the obviously incorrect police assertion that it was only 30 bikes total and didn't follow up with a reporter on-site when cyclists were allowed to retrieve their property on Monday).   Surprisingly there has been no comment from the Department of Transportation which touts the city's encouragement of bicycle ownership, but is still desperately behind in creating the infrastructure and culture needed to support cyclists.

 The story is sad and infuriating on too many levels.  Via Gothamist.

Your stolen bike is at the police station.

 

So the bikes that the NYPD clipped the locks on yesterday to clear the streets for the Obama visit?  Gothamist followed up and they're at the Seventh Precinct where the police have a "special way" of determining whose bike is whose.  As the picture showed yesterday, there was no marking or tagging of the bikes, just the tossing of them into the back of a truck.

There was some debate in the comments yesterday (and more so at Reddit) regarding whether advance notice was given notifying owners that their bikes were facing removal.  When asked by Gothamist, their precinct contact replied:  "No, they just did this because the president was coming and they didn't want anything on the sidewalks. You're not supposed to lock you bike to signposts anyway, they have those new bike racks you're supposed to use."

No word about reimbursement for damages incurred by the piling of the bikes on top of one another or for your $100 Kryptonite lock.

(Photo on Houston Street by Anthony Rebholz.)

Happy Earth Day - NYPD trashes hundreds of bikes for Obama visit.

 
Citing security concerns that bikes might be secret pipe bombs, NYPD officers clipped the locks of hundreds of bikes along Houston Street this morning in preparation for President Obama's speech at Cooper Union.  The bikes  were unceremoniously put in the back of the truck.  There was no prior notification of the bikes needing to be cleared along the route by NYPD and onlookers were not given information as to what would become of the bikes.  Happy Earth Day!  (Updating this story as more information comes available.)

It seems that the President is no longer your new bicycle, but NYPD's overzealous response to his visit is your reason for needing to get one.

(Photo by Anthony Rebholz.)

Update:  Gothamist has more information and another picture.

Update 4/23:  Your bikes have been located and no, there was no sign.

Update 4/29:  Video!  Sad, sad video!