After globalization, US can't afford it's wealthy class anymore

Globalization has brought a plethora of inexpensive products to our lives. Things made in other countries, where labor costs are lower, have created a bonanza for American consumers, but consumers are also workers. Outsourcing of jobs has hurt American workers.

Some of those jobs could come back if American worker/consumers worked for lower wages, but the cost of living is too high in USA for that to work very well. Workers can no longer afford to pay for the upper class which continues to go on (without a clue) as if nothing has changed.

The upper class creates much of the cost of living that workers can no longer afford. For instance American workers can no longer afford the cost of our health care system wrought with insurance company executives that rake in millions, star doctors that can command millions and the high price of malpractice insurance with it's associated payouts and all the trial lawyers involved.

Then there's the cost of our military, second to none. We can no longer afford to support that if we compete with workers in other countries.

Education with the likes of high priced college presidents is another thing no longer affordable.

Housing is another. Property values have been too high, but now we are seeing property value adjust downward. Markets do tend to reach an equilibrium eventually.

From our corporate executives to our high level professionals to even most of our politicians; we can't afford the cost that these people are imposing on the provision of services, such as health care in America.

Some people think we can still out compete cheap overseas labor by always doing things better. Using more technology for efficiency and making better products. They call this the American advantage. Problem is, there is no more American advantage. Other countries can do it better as well.

I'm not necessarily suggesting a race to the bottom where we all try to lower our incomes to the level of Chinese sweatshops. Incomes in China are raising anyway. It's just that those at the top of the American system have to do their part to face the new realities of a global economy. If workers are expected to work for low wages, they can't expect to be living in homes costing around a half million dollars or paying health insurance premiums of over $500 per month. The top providers of American services have to adjust their expectations closer to where the workers are headed.

Overall quality of life can still get better. One measure of "better" in quality of life is peace of mind. If workers feel like they can afford to live in their own country, they can have more peace of mind.

We'll most likely survive the Mayan Bug since we survived the Millennium Bug

We're almost to 2012, the year of the Mayan Bug. We survived the Millennium Bug in year 2000 so we'll most likely sail through the Mayan Calender Bug come next December, when I hear it occurs.

Interesting coincidence. Both Mayan and Millennium start with "M."

Link to letter I sent out to a few people who still might expect to hear something from me via the US Postal Service.

Occupy Bellingham camp evicted December 28

Bellingham's camp lasted longer than in some other cities, but eviction orders and police came on December 28. I think the occupation camps may have painted themselves into a corner where it looked like breaking camp would be akin to backing down. Unlike Egypt where people tried to keep occupying the square until Mubarak stepped down, changing USA culture is a longer process. The evolution of society keeps happening. Street protests in rainy weather will be hard to keep the momentum going, but come spring who knows.

Also, 2012 election is coming. While things in USA may not be that bad, like conditions in repressive Middle Eastern countries, the Republican House of Representatives, elected in 2010, is particularly bad. That election pushed things to the extreme, but this too shall pass if people vote.

Are Occupiers "happy campers?" like in the phrase "they were not happy campers."


Bellingham's "occupy camp" is becoming like an alternative community. The city is allowing it to exist, so far. Here's a tent with solar power.

Composting and recycling. In Bellingham, even some supermarkets do this.

Of course there is a bike rack.

I'm not in the tent city, but I toured it after the rally.

After the October 28 rally, some Occupy Bellingham folks set up camp in Maritime Heritage Park. They may not be happy campers about the state of the economy, but hopefully they are happy campers about networking and doing other things that a camp out of social change minded people will do. Seems like some smiles on people's faces, at least the first day. So far, the city has been flexible and allowed them to remain even though camping is normally not permitted in city parks.

There are usually quite a few homeless people sleeping in various nooks and crannies of Maritime Heritage Park anyway. One person pointed out that having the camp out might provide some support for the already homeless around in the park. For instance someone has set up a porta potty. Regular restrooms in that park are usually closed at night, according to article in Bellingham Herald.

Hoover ville?

For several years, Seattle area has had some organized camps for the homeless.

* several blog posts compiled into this one.

Below posted earlier.

The sometimes cumbersome process of consensus governing

One of the "demands" being discussed in the Occupy Bellingham encampment is to make sure that Whatcom Transit Authority plans to give route 331 high priority for use of it's hybrid buses, when those buses become available to the fleet.

Some folks might ask, what does that have to do with Occupy Wall Street?

One of the chants I hear in the marches goes; "This is what democracy looks like."

When the request, about the 331 bus route, came up at an Occupy Bellingham meeting, it got "put on stack;" so to speak, in the lingo of the occupy meetings. A small show of hands came up for "ya" and hardly any hands came up for "nay."

After dropping by the meeting, I Later went home and looked up where the 331 route goes. That route is kind of like an "eclectic protest march in itself." From downtown, it meanders through the city to serve both the Barkley Village and Cordota areas.

According to an article, I read, in Bellingham Herald, the WTA plans to use it's new hybrid buses on routes with a lot of "stop and go." Hybrid vehicles are more advantageous for travel through city traffic than long distance highway application. The 331 seems to meet that criteria anyway; in my book at least.

So, what is the point of Occupy Wall Street? Aren't some of it's demands already resonating with common sense anyway? Aren't many of them already being met?

So far, the local police have allowed Occupy Bellingham's camp to remain in Maritime Heritage Park, as far as I know. I've only visited the camp twice with friends passing through. Noticed the hybrid bus suggestion on a list of proposals hanging from a wall made of plastic tarp.

Looks like the local camp is fairly clean compared to some of what I've been reading about from the media, at least, in other cities. On another wall of plastic tarp was a sign that says, "Drug Free Zone."

I don't know if the occupy movement, by itself, is pivotal to the social evolution that this country is going through. The occupy movement has been successful in getting people to think about problems, like the vast discrepancy of wealth in society. I see the OWS as just another part of the larger process of social evolution that takes place in society.

Time for a break

Even the 24 hour Haggens in Barkley Village took a break yesterday. Sometimes it's nice to see our 24 hour work a day world pause for a moment. Of course places like hospital emergency rooms and power plants can't, but people can value slowing down a bit more. Also slowing down at other times than just Christmas.

24 hour society is fine. Not everyone works 9-5. For instance me.

Taking breaks for rest and special moments is needed. Like summer vacations.

Below, posted earlier. October 2011.

Time to call it a day. We'll get back to it later.

Utility upgrade taking place around downtown Bellingham. New poles in some areas. I assume street light and phone lines will eventually be moved to the new pole, but this works for a while. Some old poles are coming out.

Behind YMCA, some transformers that are too close to buildings are coming down and new transformers are going underground. That ally should look less cluttered before too long.

The economy isn't totally dead, but there's always more stuff that needs to be done and more jobs that need to be created.

There's an old phrase that says, "a man's work is never done." These days, it should say "man and woman's work." Also, if the work were ever done, what would we do?

Going on vacation would be nice for at least part of the time.

Peace sign in Christmas lights

I may be too lazy to put up lights in my window, but I'm not too lazy to ride my bike around town looking at other people's lights. My bike is well lit.

3 pictures in this post.

Peace sign in Christmas lights on a fence in residential area.

Christmas Tree, a sequoia, near Edens Hall at Western Washington University. Lit up each year. This year with both blue and white lights.

Under tree it looks like stars through the branches.

Since I don't have kids, I don't really have to do Christmas shopping.

Christmas candor

When the minister dropped by to say hello to our family on Christmas day when I was in college one year, Christmas was on a Saturday. He said he was planning to be at the church next morning because it was Sunday, but he wasn't quite sure what the service would be about the day after Christmas. He said it was like wondering what to do after the orgasm.

I grew up in a liberal church where transparency and candor were common. My folks chuckled with their mouths dropping and then we all sampled some Christmas cookies before he headed on to the next family of parishioners.

About the only thing I do for Christmas is bike around town enjoying Christmas lights

It can feel like being on the outside looking in, but at least I'm missing the rat race. Biking around town after traffic calms down reveals quite a colorful show. That's the main thing I've done for the holidays so far.

In Bellingham, it seems like the most fantastic displays are on dead end streets, in keeping with Bellingham's theme "City of subdued excitement." It's almost like Bellingham tries to hide its flamboyance.

Not necessarily the most spectacular lights of the lot, but a nice sampling.

Under the tree; new cars.

With imagination one could think of the bright blue lights as looking like the Pleiades star cluster that I often admire in astronomy pictures.

Looking forward to dancing on the Solstice. Quite a few dancing events in Bellingham tonight.

Iraq war was probably a total waste

Waste of lives and money. Just think if we had spent that money on clean energy research, space exploration and other good things like bike paths.

Somewhat diverging interests: labor, environment. Bellingham coal train issue

Lots of interesting discussion on various blogs and forums.

On December 12, several folks tied themselves together across the BNSF tracks coming through Bellingham. This led to the first arrests, that I know about, which were associated with the Occupy Bellingham movement. This group is often now referred to as "The Bellingham 12." This protest took place on a day of action all up and down the west coast blocking things like port facilities.

I wasn't part of that protest, myself, but I know at least one of the people who were.

Photo found on Facebook.

It got people talking and blogs are humming with discussion. Folks keep asking, what is the proper focus for the Occupy Wall Street movement?

There's the concern about unfair distribution of wealth; the so called 1 percent versus 99 percent issue. Other concerns are related, but all the issues have their differences as well. This protest had a lot to do with environmental issues, rather than just the income distribution problem.

Here in Bellingham, there is a lot of opposition to SSA Marine's proposal to build a large shipping port north of town. The new port would ship coal and some other bulk products, such as grain. Some coal trains are coming through now to an existing port just across the border in Canada. There is fear that more coal trains will come if the new facility is built on this side of the border. Big worries about the environment and global warming; thus the protest at railroad tracks. Coal would be exported to China and other places which burn it for power.

This issue points out a difficulty in expecting there to be one focus in movements such as Occupy Wall Street. The proposal to build a coal port is actually supported by a lot of union people. Union folks are thinking about the hundreds of permanent jobs that could be created by the port, plus many more temporary jobs created by its construction.

On the other hand, union folks are supposed to be one of the constituencies of Occupy Wall Street as workers are said to be concerned about the American middle class being gutted while the 1 percent accumulate more wealth.

Can those causes of saving the American middle class and protecting the environment cohabitate?

That question is especially important in Occupy Wall Street because of the democratic structure of the movement where a lot of interrelated concerns are brought to the table. The movement often takes whatever form people bring to it. It can be said that democracy is one of the worse ways to get anything done except it's better than the alternatives. What direction does Occupy Wall Street or Occupy Bellingham take? To some extent, it is what ever the people bring up from the grass roots.

Back to the question of whether the middle class and the environment can cohabitate; this is worth a lot of thought. Much of middle class lifestyles, in the past, have not been very good for the environment. Excessive driving, for instance. Part of the reason why China is such a big market for coal is the fact that it has 1.3 billion people. Many of them are aspiring to more middle class lifestyles.

Seems like large middle classes and the environment can only be compatible if a lot of change takes place. Change in business practices, change in technologies and change in lifestyles. It all kind of fits together in the discussion of how to get from here to the so called nirvana of a green economy.

Technology can be a big part of the change. I'm a fan of bicycling, but I even realize that the future may hold things like hydrogen powered cars. Clean energy will require technological advance.

Some ask if China, where much of the coal would go, is doing anything to make it's economy more green. Apparently it is. China is big in solar, wind and other green technologies. It's just big in traditional technologies, such as coal, as well. 1.3 billion people is a lot of consumers. One can say that China is running on all cylinders; to borrow a phrase from the internal combustion engine.

So, were people like my friend who was part of that protest blocking the railroad track helping the cause of Occupy, what ever that cause is? I guess the answer is unclear. At least this action stimulated a lot of discussion. It's another part of a big conversation about what the best pathways are to the future.

It might be more pleasurable to believe in something rather than being an atheist

One of the things the writer Christopher Hitchens, who has recently passed away, was noted for was being an atheist. Basically, I assume that implies not believing in an afterlife. Someone I know recently put on Facebook this comment.

Right about now, Christopher Hitchens has confirmed his long held religious beliefs, or he is one surprised MOFO.

In reply I wrote, "If Hitchens atheistic beliefs are true, his awareness has ceased to exist just in time to miss experiencing the confirmation of his beliefs."

There's probably nobody holding up a sign at death saying, "dead end."

Come to think about it, it's pretty depressing to think that life ends at death. One even misses the confirmation that there is nothing which conceivably comes after death since, of course, one is no longer there to experience even that.

Believing in the possibility of something seems more enjoyable to me since, at least, it provides some hope for a future. I can imagine this hope would be especially useful at a time when one's life has little prognosis for much future. The hope would come in handy during this life at least.

If what most atheists say is true, one will not know the difference anyway. Like I mentioned before, I'm assuming one has to be conscious to even experience the reality of nothing.

One could say, belief will not let you down, or disappoint you in death since you have to be conscious to be disappointed.

A former Christian, I know, who's now leaning toward being an atheist does say something different. He says that he has less fear of death now, being an atheist, than he did being a Christian. Imagine that. More peace of mind from being an atheist. Partially that fear from being a Christian had to do with the teachings about hell that he grew up with. There was the constant fear and questions like, "is one was pleasing God."

I'll admit, nothing would sure be a lot better than something like a hell.

On the other hand, nothing still doesn't seem like it's enough.

Unlike my friend, I grew up in a very liberal Christian church. It is a church where the concept of a hell isn't really promoted.

That church is pretty open minded and I think there are even some atheists who attend that church. They attend mostly because it's a social center.

I have to admit that I don't go there, myself, as it doesn't fit into my schedule, but I get a good feeling when ever I do go.

There's probably no egotistical "man in the sky" who's offended if one's not fitting a church service into one's schedule.

Science has always met a lot to me and it does seem to be inconclusive, at best, as to whether there is a god or not.

Maybe I shouldn't say a god since that conjures up images of the man with a grey beard, which, other than Santa Clause, I don't really believe in.

Science does seem to indicate that there is still a lot out there we don't know about. The universe, by itself, is huge and there may even be other universes as well as stuff like multiple dimensions. Hard to conceptualize with our very limited minds.

There's a lot of interesting shows about physics I listen to on NPR Radio; for instance.

At least it seems like there is plenty of "stage" for things we still don't know about to exist. Science can be quite humbling.

The fundamentalist brands of religion tend to be more arrogant than the liberal brands. People claiming to know answers. Science tends to unravel a lot of beliefs. At the same time, I'd say we certainly haven't written the last chapter.

Might as well hold a hope about something since it can bring some comfort and pleasure to this life at least.

Occupy KGO? Former listener via ionospheric skip writes from Bellingham, WA. Now using internet

KGO transmitter looks like it's behind prison fences when seen from Dumbarton Bridge bike path. Image taken on my 2004 bicycle tour.

Update 2023, last I heard KGO is now a sports gambling station called "The Spread 810."

I've seen an "Occupy KGO" video. A video of that occupy rally, which has since been taken off Youtube. It included former KGO Host John Rothman addressing that rally in front of KGO studios. I remember him saying, "KGO just fired their listeners."

Video may have been taken down when Rothman was invited back on the air at KGO as the station attempted to resurrect some quality talk.

KGO was a popular talk show station in San Francisco that I remember since the late 1960s. I grew up in Pullman, WA. but KGO's signal is heard up and down the west coast at night. Talk shows were booth liberal and conservative. Locally produced; rather than packaged off the network. Quite a forum for many years.

Just a few weeks ago, the new corporation, Cumulus Media, that bought KGO changed the format. Most of the talk show hosts were laid off.

Maybe I should say they almost totally changed the format. Some of hosts have remained, but there's a lot more news and less discussion now. (update 2023. It's all sports talk now).

Constant news can be repetitive.

People are mad, thus the Occupy KGO uprising. There seems to be an occupy everything, these days anyway.

Rather than blowing my stack, I'm now using the internet. It's a relatively new source for talk radio. That's the great thing about the internet. So many choices and talk radio can still thrive. It's just thriving in new ways.

NPR is one of many talk sources available on the net as well as on the air. Since KGO's recent changes, I've started listening to a wonderful forum on KQED. It's hosted by former KGO talk host, Michael Krasney. (Update 2023 now retired, but the forum show continues). Krasney went off KGO years ago and is now on KQED, a listener supported public broadcast station in San Francisco. I've always appreciated Krasney's "nice guy" style. He's not a yeller. There are interesting guests and one can learn a lot.

I listen on-line to Krasney's podcasts. They are archived, by subject. Easy to find the shows that interest me from months of well documented archives.

NPR stations, and the national NPR network, do a good job with archives. Not just a list of show dates, but there are small blurbs on each show to accompany the download link. Who were the guests, what was the book about and so forth.

Working as a custodian, I have lots of time to listen to the radio, but radio waves have trouble penetrating the building I work in. KQED's FM signal didn't make it to Bellingham anyway. That's where the podcast comes in handy. If I'm organized, I can download a bunch of interesting shows from different sources and take them with me. Learn things as I mop the floor.

I hear that KQED is tops in the ratings for San Francisco Bay Area radio. Nice to know as it breaks that old adage "the nice guy finishes last." Krasney does have a "nice guy" sound. There's more to KQED than Krasney, but Krasney's Forum is the only show I've downloaded from so far on that station.

Another talk station I've discovered is Wisconsin Public Radio. WHA, Madison is a flagship for something called the Ideas Network. Plenty of good stuff there.

Commercial talk radio seems to be a dying art, but it has always had its drawbacks. Advertisements pay the bill. As greed gets worse, the time devoted to boring ads goes up while time devoted to interesting talk goes down. Ads were very repetitive. One gets tired of hearing the same ad over and over again. Couldn't they be creative and write more variety in copy?

Listener support and even corporate underwriting seems to be a better model. Classic KING FM, in Seattle, has recently switched to the "listener support underwriting" model of funding. They used to be commercial.

Back at KGO there's still some talk. Weekend host Karel is going strong; so far at least.

One interesting tidbit, Karel is openly gay and he's one of the few hosts they kept. No I don't think the sky is falling for alternative views on the media. I'll still listen to KGO, occasionally, for Karel at least.

Many of the other hosts will be missed. John Rothman with his knowledge of history, Gene Burns, with his formerly libertarian now more Democratic perspective, Bill Wattenburg with his fairly conservative, but uniquely scientific point of view.

Maybe I will not miss Ray Taliaferro as much as he tended to be more of a yeller, but occasionally I'd listen and often agreed with what he said. His liberal perspective was on KGO since the 1970s.

KGO's Cumulus management (Cumulus Corporation) has killed most of talk on that station, but many of these former hosts are, from what I gather, being courted by other stations.

KSCO radio, in Santa Cruz, CA. seems interested and has already had Bill Wattenburg on. It's broadcast range is quite small compared to KGO, but KSCO is also on the Internet.

Rothman, Taliaferro and Burns were recently (Dec. 19) on one of Karel's shows that's not on KGO. Karel is also syndicated on other stations as well as being on the web. On that show, Rothman pointed out that Cumulus didn't fire their hosts, they fired their audience!

The internet is a game changer and my ears remain open.

My mini arcology. Neighborhood in one building

In my college days of the late 1970s, others went to beer parties while I drew a few arcologies. While digging through my files, here's a look.

Image on the right is a more recent version done with Neopaint. Sloping blue surface is a solar collector, or could be windows over an atrium. Roofs can be green spaces. Nothing is to scale. It's just sketches of the concept.

Here are some excerpts from the descriptions I wrote back then.

Title: All In One Building.

AIB (All In One Building) is a community within one building. This little "city within the city" contains 90 dwelling units, a hotel, stores, offices and a recreation center. The building serves as an integrated living, working and playing environment for not only it's tenants, but others as well.

See more images.
Mission Statement:

People have dreamed of developing a whole city in one building. There are many advantages to this way of thinking. For instance:

* Efficient use of land.

* Energy savings for heating and transportation.

* The ability to visit anywhere in town without being exposed to inclement weather.

* Hopefully a unified community spirit.

AIB is a compromise between the standard apartment house and a free standing city. It is a "one building neighborhood" within a larger city. Due to it's location within the city, AIB's residents are able to take advantage of a wide range of facilities that are largely supported by outside customers. Things like stores, restaurants and a recreation center can serve the region, beyond just AIB's tenants, so these facilities can be larger than just the size of what would be economically viable for just the residents.

Some businesses, like a laundromat, could serve many uses such as washing towels for the recreation center, bedding for the hotel and various walk in customers from both within AIB and the surrounding area. Other common services could include things like a reception desk.

Side view. See more text below.

The AIB Chamber.

An organization of participants and residents of AIB. Makes AIB an active community, rather than just a place to rent. Members of the chamber could include:

* Residents of the apartments.

* Business owners and employees of firms that lease space from AIB, such as for retail and office space.

* Outside members, such as those joining the fitness club.

This building would be full of clubs and discussion groups. There would be dancing, dining, saunas and even swimming under one roof. Plus it could be located in a city, or possibly a college campus. Imagine a whole city made up of these kind of intentional communities.

More recently, (2016) the concept of a Phalanstery has been brought to my attention by my friend Kody Bosch who studies design.

See more images.

You can stretch all the economists end to end and you still won't reach the solution

Maybe we should build a ladder to the moon made out of economists. The engineering project could create jobs. Some of the rungs could be lawyers too. Lawmakers, professors and journalists too. Pretty soon everyone is in the ladder. Then we ask, "are there entry level rungs on the ladder?"

Payroll tax cut may not be much better than Bush Social Security plan

I benefit from the temporary cut in Social Security taxes that's been pushed by President Obama, but I worry about the integrity of the Social Security trust fund. Reducing the amount of revenue going into the trust fund was my biggest criticism of the Bush Social Security reform proposal of several years back. That plan called for cutting part of the Social Security tax so younger workers could put that money into private individual retirement accounts. Under that plan, the government would have to borrow money to keep up the level of Social Security benefits for current crop of retirees and older workers who would be "grad fathered in" to the old system. That was a long transition period and a lot of borrowing to make it work.

With that in mind, it's hard to justify a similar tax cut in Social Security to try and temporarily give more people spending money and prop up the economy.

That was the tax cut we got last year. The new plan is slightly better. It calls for a tax increase on millionaires to pay for the payroll tax cut. It's still probably not the best idea. Too much political posturing, even though I basically favor income redistribution concepts.

Yes, soak the wealthy pro football player bastards.

While I am troubled by all the tax cut posturing, I still support Obama. Still impressed with things like Obama's secretary of state, Hillary Clinton and her recent speech before the UN; GLBT rights as human rights. Still good reasons to vote for Obama.

We get the same rebate posturing from Congress, both Republicans and Democrats.

It's throwing the masses candy for votes while bankrupting the system in the long run. Hard to say if these rebates actually help the economy and I'm also counting the corporate tax giveaways and tax breaks that the wealthy get. It's a rebate war between rich and poor. A one up mans ship.

Tax candy so we can all go out and buy more Chinese products and imported oil.

Hillary Clinton's ground breaking speech on GLBT rights as human rights

History in the making.

Today, I decided to watch the speech by Hillary Clinton on LGBT rights as human rights. It is a significant milestone.

Nothing was said, in the speech, about cutting off aid to countries that don't respect GLBT rights or tying that aid to progress on GLBT issues. Instead there was talk about a lot of behind the scenes funding and efforts to support individuals and organizations all over the world who are working for GLBT rights.

From my reading of the news, I do think there is some debate in the United Kingdom about linking foreign aid to GLBT issues.

This topic is being discussed around the world in which Hillary's speech is a cornerstone, but her contribution isn't the only energy going into the international discussion.

Personally, I often link GLBT issues to world population issues. The British discussion about foreign aid has come up in relation to new laws being considered in the nation of Nigeria against gay people. Harsh 14 year prison terms and so forth.

I see Nigeria as an example of one big worry about foreign aid. The "bottomless pit" problem. When populations are growing real fast, one can try to feed the population, but a few years later the hunger increases as there are many more people to feed. One can't keep up. Eventually one can suffer from "charity fatigue" as the growing problems seem overwhelming.

Also countries that don't respect human rights often remain in poverty killing off some of their most progressive thinkers and ideas.

I like to link population and environmental issues to feminist and gay rights issues.

While the talk from Hillary Clinton didn't address that link directly, that link is part of the broader discussion of which Hillary's speech is one of the cornerstones.

Last night, I listened to a segment of "World Have Your Say" on the BBC World Service radio. Very interesting international talk show. Callers were from Africa, on that segment, discussing gay rights, both pro and anti. Dialog is making history.

Some pictures of December 2 lighted bike parade in Bellingham

During the Christmas season, there is the lighted boat parade. Why not have a lighted bike parade? Such an event happened in Bellingham December 2 2011. Coincided with the monthly Gallery Walk which takes place around downtown Bellingham on the first Friday of each month.

Lots of folks dress up and decorate around the holiday season. At the same time, many bikes don't have lights and can be a safety hazard. Why not decorate bikes with lights? A way to show off and also be lit up for safety. More folks will see your bike than your Christmas tree that's hidden behind a living room curtain.

Back wheel of my bike.
Costumes.
Lighted sculptures. A "light person" in foreground. Tent around where another rider sits in background.
Good sized turnout at starting point in front of Public Market on Cornwall Ave.
Under the streetlights.
One of the sponsoring web sites, Everybodybike.com.