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What Would You Do For $100 Million Dollars? The Incentives Behind Lance Armstrong 17

What Would You Do For $100 Million Dollars? The Incentives Behind Lance Armstrong
Stack of cash photo by 401(K) 2012  In a recent article, I wrote that I care more about what Lance did with his fame than how he achieved it. I asked whether it is really cheating if everyone was doing it. I claimed that Lance had done more with his fame than most other professional ...

Lance Armstrong Confession Expected On Oprah

Lance Armstrong Confession Expected On Oprah
Lance Armstrong Photo Courtesy of Dan Farber Lance Armstrong will appear on Oprah Winfrey this Thursday in his first interview since the widespread doping allegations surfaced last fall. The interview will be taped today and Armstrong is widely expected to confess for not being honest about his doping over the years. It is expected to ...

Roundabouts Gone Wrong 2

Roundabouts Gone Wrong
Australia Roundabout Sign – Photo Courtesy of John Jack Rice We recently posted an article discussing the benefits of roundabouts. Roundabouts are an inexpensive and effective way to increase traffic flow, calm traffic, and improve safety while reducing the environmental impact of motor vehicles. We wrote: “When there is enough space to construct them, roundabouts ...

Roundabout Junctions: Efficient, Inexpensive 19

Roundabout Junctions: Efficient, Inexpensive
Collingwood, Ontario roundabout design – Photo courtesy of the Town of Collingwood We have all dealt with “stop and go” traffic. Drivers accelerate quickly, then slam on their brakes when they hit a red light. Then accelerate quickly again, and repeat. This harmful style of driving wastes gas, creates unnecessary pollution, and creates unsafe conditions ...

2012: A Year Of Adventures 1

2012: A Year Of Adventures
James on a paddle boat in Hubei Province, China (April 2012) Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country Like all good things, 2012 has now come to an end. 2012 was a year full of adventures and many “firsts” for me. I spent the first four months of the year living in China, on ...

2012 Year End Blog Summary 1

2012 Year End Blog Summary
Amsterdam – March 2012 – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country The following is a chronological summary of select content that we published to this blog throughout 2012. In January while I was pedaling on a bike in China we reported that Apple’s Macintosh computer almost became known as the “Bicycle”. Meanwhile, 81-year-old ...

2012: Year End Blog Statistics

2012: Year End Blog Statistics
Highlights 135,452 visits 103,455 unique visitors 220,074 page views Most popular articles of 2012 10 Observations About Bicycling in Amsterdam (March)- 4,165 views, 16 comments 81-Year-Old Gene Hackman Hit On His Bike (January) – 3,393 views, 52 comments Dear Bicycle Helmet (June) – 3,340 views, 25 comments When School’s Out In Amsterdam (March) – 2,587 ...

Happy Holidays Friends!

Happy Holidays Friends!
Christmas Tree ornament – Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country I wanted to wish all of our readers a Merry Christmas, for those who celebrate Christmas, and Happy Holidays to everyone else! I hope you all are enjoying some quality time with your family and friends over the holidays. The Christmas Tree ornament ...

USA Today: LeBron James Is Weird 16

USA Today: LeBron James Is Weird
LeBron James photo courtesy of Bridget Samuels USA Today has reported that LeBron James rides his bicycle to and from his basketball games. This article made the headlines on the USA Today website because of how abnormal it is in America for a rich and famous basketball star to use a bicycle for transportation. Instead ...

Beijing Woman Dies Because Ambulance Stuck in Traffic 1

Beijing Woman Dies Because Ambulance Stuck in Traffic
Beijing Traffic – Photo by Safia Osman Unlike in North America, when the siren from an ambulance is wailing, drivers in China do not move over to let the ambulance past. Ambulances literally sit in traffic with everybody else – with their sirens on and lights flashing. I had witnessed this countless times while living ...