It's come up a few times and from what I can tell the basic answer is, meh. Even wikipedia's entry seems pretty ambivalent about their use. There are a few problems. It's almost impossible to build a helmet thats going to provide serious protection while still allowing enough ventilation so you don't overheat your noggin. Another problem is the testing method which makes it so the only way a helmet will pass is if the foam is very hard, which means that your head deforms before the foam. If the foam doesn't deform then it defeats the point of a helmet. From what I read it seems like a helmet is quite good for preventing scrapes and even serious skin damage. The problem is they don't seem to be effective at preventing life threatening injuries. Plus they actually increase the risk of rotational injuries. You don't want your brain to twist inside of your head, its very bad.

To be honest though I'm biased. I hate wearing a helmet, it's uncomfortable and goofy looking. I do my best to ride safely which I think provides far far more security than any lil chunk of foam and plastic can provide.

PZ posted a fantastic comedian that I need to link to, enjoy!

Just some random ass shirts that I found amusing. They aren't T-shirt hell amusing, but some of these I'd actually wear... some
Friends actually let friends do lots of stupid things. It's true ya know.
Horray for sarcasm.
Shirt from the future.
Life is like a box of terrible analogies.
Honk if your about to run me over.
The Internet was closed
Psychic Career
Only way I fight
The Communist Party
Spoiler Alert
Goldilocks
Stop destroying our planet
Emo Poems

The Most Alien Landscapes on Earth, which means none of them are actually alien, but some are pretty freakin cool.

The editors at Vanity Fair decided to take a look at Palin's resignation, school style. Ya know with a red pen. It's pretty funny, others are getting a kick out of her tweets.

The term hero gets thrown around pretty flippantly in my opinion. For one thing victim of a tragedy is NOT synonymous with hero. This may offend some folks but when has that ever stopped me before? For example an office worker who died in the WTC trying to get out is a victim, the Police and Firemen who ran into that same building putting their own lives on the line to save others, those are clearly hero's or at least attempted hero's. Being a hero means putting your own safety aside in order to help someone else. Not every soldier is a hero, thats why they have medals for the exceptional ones. Like I said some people might take offense to this idea that just being in a certain uniform doesn't automatically make you a hero, to me it is offensive to the real heroes when people who haven't earned it are referred to as heroes.

Why do I bring this up? Because here are some real heros they saw a tragedy unfolding and they ran to see what they could do to help rather than running away.

It might just have to be here...
Come on who doesn't want to have breakfast with a Giraffe? Check out the link it actually sounds like a really cool family, and now you can stay with them at the worlds only giraffe hotel.

They're taking over! Lets see, in the foreground without the wheels is my baby. I was cleaning it and decided to take some pics. Behind that is my Bowery, my single speed beast that I tear around town on. Behind that is the tank, it easily weighs more than the other two combined, it's my dads old Schwinn super sport. Barely noticeable is my old Trek 800 mountain bike off to the right without wheels. I also had a POS huffy beach cruiser but I gave that to a friend.

Oh and I was reminded of something very important last week. If you are leaning hard into a corner, DON'T PEDAL! If you do the inside pedal can strike the ground lifting at least your rear tire off the ground at which point you're pretty much fucked. The problem for me is I'm still used to cars where you want to power out of the turn. Which does leave me wondering how one turns quickly on a fixie? The gray bike has the option of being a fixed gear meaning that if the rear wheel is turning then so are your feet, I tried it once and didn't care for it but maybe I'll try it again, its supposed to be good in slick conditions because you can tell the instant you lose traction.