I imagined myself sipping a glass of champagne before jetting off to Paris for the day… That was me, in awe of the champagne bar at St. Pancras International in the heart of London. Actually, I was in awe of everything at St. Pancras- the 30 foot bronze sculpture of a couple saying their goodbyes… [Read more…]
Everyone, or nearly everyone, will spend a few moments reflecting on the close of the first decade of the 21st Century before beginning the next decade with a an awe inspiring hangover. We, here in the land of green opportunity, are no different. Let us review the events of the past decade in all their… [Read more…]
Here’s an opportunity (or three) for Silicon Valley – small, self contained solar generation. As the rain fell in San José on Christmas Eve I learned about Sara Ruto, an entrepreneurial woman living in a remote Kenyan village. Ms. Ruto would walk two miles on dirt paths and take a 3 hour motorcycle taxi ride… [Read more…]
It’s barely 36 hours after the polls closed in California’s November election, and less than 72 hours after the San Francisco Giants put the finishing touches on the World Series. What do these two disparate events have in common? Texas and California’s right to self determination. The Texas Rangers, whose previous owner, former President Bush, made… [Read more…]
October 19, 2010 by shilohballard
A few months ago, I blogged about electric vehicles. I wrote that they promise to help move us in a more sustainable direction but that ultimately, biking is where it’s at. Little did I know that just a few months later I would be riding an electric bike around Rotterdam as a part of a… [Read more…]
NewIPO cycling correspondent Michele Beasley delivers part two in her series on becoming an avid cyclist. Recipes to follow… Last night, when I came home from work just past 9:30pm, I was feeling pretty jazzed. So far I have made good on my commitment to do my bike/ Caltrain commute once a week. We had… [Read more…]
September 5, 2010 by shilohballard
New IPO foreign correspondent Shiloh Ballard gives us an update to her cycling mission in the Netherlands. On the way to Utrecht from Amsterdam, the first thing I noticed about bikes was the bike parking. I saw a double decker parking structure and was shocked. That was just the beginning. There were full blown parking… [Read more…]
As a kid I walked the beaches along California’s Central Coast. Often coming home with thick bits of black goo stuck to my feet, my clothes and on the shoes I refused to wear in the sand. Mom was not happy. I would stare at the oil rigs far offshore and wonder why fish and… [Read more…]
You know you’ve lost your inner child if you don’t laugh at the word “poop.” Friends of mine just had their first child. A beautiful, tiny piece of art whose life consists of sleep, eat, poop and cry. Dad spends a lot of time discussing her poop. The first (looked like tar but didn’t smell),… [Read more…]
We’re all living through it. Pinching pennies, watching families walk or crowding onto bikes, and eating veggies instead of meat. The economy has been grim for months. Thousands are out of work in the Bay Area. Silicon Valley has an unemployment rate of almost 12%, the state is over 12%. Yesterday’s State of the State from… [Read more…]
January 3, 2011 by thenewipo
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