Author | Lightnews

Benjamin Fry

@bluejekyll.bsky.social

1.2K followers 1.3K following 1.3K posts

Rust, Rusty Bikes, and making everything safer. Berkeley, CA.

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Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · Nov 22

I just went to the Berkeley Transportation and Infrastructure Commission meeting to recount this story.

That was hard. I barely kept it together. I hope I did Ben justice.

Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · Nov 19

On Thursday, Nov 14th, I was riding home from BART. At Rose and Josephine in Berkeley, an intersection that I have always treated with care, and especially after dark, I ended up witnessing this tragedy. I saw a car hit a pedestrian (Ben I later learned).

Walk Bike Berkeley @walkbikeberk.bsky.social · Nov 18

Beloved, long-time Berkeley community member Ben Brown was the pedestrian killed on Rose Street.

Please consider donating to this GoFundMe to help his family with funeral expenses and travel.
gofund.me/c4cb551e

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Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · 28m

It’s never ok to dress up as a legit Nazi, not ever. It’s not funny, ironic, facetious, or even sarcastic.

What it does show is you saw fit at some point to buy and own a legit Nazi SS Uniform with all the regalia down to the Totenkopf.

If you get beatdown and humiliated, that’s on you.

Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · 49m

I got thanked by a passing driver while wearing mine the other day.

It caused an odd reaction in me of wanting to scream at them, “if you pay attention I wouldn’t need to wear this light beacon while walking around! Watch the street, not my jacket!”

In stead I lamely said, “you’re welcome.”

Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · 2h

Oh. I misunderstood your comment. Yeah Oakland was hella early on the hella.

Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · 6h

Very cool, I didn’t know Rashi was going to be there. That’s awesome.

The War on Cars @thewaroncars.bsky.social · 7h

Some tickets are still available for our event tonight. See you there, San Francisco!

The War on Cars @thewaroncars.bsky.social · 9d

Big update to our San Francisco book event with @yimbyaction.bsky.social on Oct 25. Given the passage of SB79, we're thrilled to welcome CA Sen Scott Weiner, Berkley Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani, and KQED Reporter Adhiti Bandlamudi. cc: @yimbylaura.bsky.social Tickets: www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticket...

Reposted by Benjamin Fry

The War on Cars @thewaroncars.bsky.social · 7h

Some tickets are still available for our event tonight. See you there, San Francisco!

The War on Cars @thewaroncars.bsky.social · 9d

green and red graphic that says "yimby action presents the war on cars live saturday october 25th the grand theater san francisco. Features picutres of Doug Gordon, Sarah Goodyear, Laura Foote, Scott Weiner RAshin Kesarwani, and Aditi Bandlaumdi

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Reposted by Benjamin Fry

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 9h

right. given the numbers, “how to win back the working class” should be as much about care and service workers as hard hats. and yet.

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Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · 6h

I always thought of “hella” as originating in NorCal.

Wikipedia seems to agree, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hella

Hella - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · 6h

And yes, cars are the real threat on our streets, even with the small number of people abusing bike lanes and shared use paths with these illegal devices.

But, the revolution of bikes in cities will stall and face a backlash if we don’t keep the bikes lanes safe.

No throttles on bikes at all.

Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · 6h

“But the main confusion right now comes from vehicles that look like bikes, are operated like mopeds, but can reach motorcycle speeds.”

Companies marketing these things as bikes need to be sued into nonexistence. E-bikes are revolutionizing transportation, but we can’t just trade safety for fun.

Streetsblog NYC @nyc.streetsblog.org · 7h

Not all vehicles marketed as e-bikes are actually e-bikes. And many of them are illegal to ride in New York City.

The 'Problem' With E-Bikes? The Super Fast Illegal Ones - Streetsblog New York City

New Yorkers are riding illegal vehicles marketed as e-bikes with little to no-consequences, and it's a safety problem.

buff.ly

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Reposted by Benjamin Fry

Warren Wells, AICP @warrenjwells.bsky.social · 1d

If your California city is saying that they can't actually paint curbs red to enforce AB 413 daylighting, point them to Berkeley.

We have red curbed over half of the 1,754 intersections in the city, with the goal of completing all intersections by early 2026.

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Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · 15h

Going to see them tomorrow!

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Reposted by Benjamin Fry

Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 1d

“The Sisters of Social Service have ended their lease of cars from Enterprise over allegations the company is supplying vehicles for the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement.” www.ncronline.org/sisters-soci...

Sisters of Social Service ends leasing contract with Enterprise over ICE connection

Officials said it was a different part of the company that had an agreement with the U.S. government for FEMA.

www.ncronline.org

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Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · 1d

“What single agency is directly responsible for millions of deaths in CA?”

Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · 1d

Me running on a platform to destroy CalTrans.

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Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · 1d

I figured we should at least let them maintain the existing infrastructure, but maybe we could just transfer it all to that transit row, and then they can convert highways to trains as they see fit.

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Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · 1d

“…that left an empty DNS record for the service's regional endpoint. The race condition occurred when one DNS Enactor…”

It’s always DNS, and it strikes again.

Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · 1d

CalTrans needs 75% of its funding reallocated to better places.

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Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · 1d

Don’t worry, pretty sure he’ll destroy the Westwing too.

Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · 2d

Yeah. Appears to be a non-standard bracket. Shimano has committed to a standard mount that they’ll support long-term, Bosch has not. And then there’s this. It looks like a single box with the bottom bracket, motor, and battery?

Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · 2d

Haha. I’m able to run my 10k, but l’m going to skip my sprints for a couple weeks.

Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · 2d

Yeah it would require dedicated fundraising for this purpose. It could probably get into the 100s of thousands of dollars.

Benjamin Fry @bluejekyll.bsky.social · 2d

Perhaps, but I don’t think it’s reasonable to limit bike to 15 mph except on shared use paths. Less than 20 on all of the roads people need to share with cars on a regular basis will put them at a severe disadvantage to cars.

Reposted by Benjamin Fry

Robbie Andrew @robbieandrew.bsky.social · 2d

It's not long ago that most of us never even asked the question where the rubber on our tyres went when we realise we have to replace the worn ones. The obvious answer is: directly into nature.
New report shows that car tyres are the largest source of microplastics in Norway's natural environment.

Opptil tre prosent av Oslofjordens lause massar består av bildekk: – Alvorleg

Ein ny rapport konkluderer med alarmerande mengder mikroplast i norsk natur. Blåskjel er hardt ramma.

www.nrk.no

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Reposted by Benjamin Fry

Slaves of Magic @slavesofmagic.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you for hosting #TurnBasedThursday!

Slaves of Magic is a #medieval #fantasy #turnbased #tacticalRPG inspired by XCOM!

Only 11 days till release!

Slaves of Magic @slavesofmagic.bsky.social · Aug 12

I'm happy to announce the release date for Slaves of Magic, with a new trailer!🥳

Every retweet helps, plus you can wishlist it on Steam in case you are interested:
store.steampowered.com/app/1442610/...

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Reposted by Benjamin Fry

Rebecca Saltzman @rebeccaforec.bsky.social · 2d

Maddening but not surprising.

Read the thread for details.

And know that we at @bikeeastbay.bsky.social will continue to fight for 24/7 biking and walking access on the bridge. The current decision is temporary, and BCDC will make a final decision in the coming years. They can still fix this.

Robert Prinz @prinzrob.bsky.social · 2d

From MTC’s official FAQ on the RSR Bridge bike shuttle. I’m glad they’re saying this, as I asked them to be explicit wrt the types of bikes & riders the shuttle won’t accommodate. But it’s very revealing that their service falls short of “maximum feasible public access”.

mtc.ca.gov/operations/p...

Richmond-San Rafael Bridge Path

The bicycle and pedestrian path across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge is a vital link in the 500-mile San Francisco Bay Trail.

mtc.ca.gov

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