Pittsburgh Giant$ Diverge on Cancer Treatment$

There's room for a lot of reading between the lines here: Highmark, UPMC split over cancer treatment.


In 2005 UPMC and Highmark - both private, non-profit institutions that own the local market - collaborated on treatment guidelines that considered effectiveness first, considered side effects second, and then - with all other factors equal - considered expense. Highmark embraced those guidelines at first, but now they're going different ways.

This is (of course) a corporate argument about choices made to keep Aunt Minnie and Uncle Ralph and Mom and Dad alive, and about how much of Minnie and Ralph's money these non-profits get to keep while managing their deaths treatments.

And yet, it all seems so civilized and progressive when expressed in corporate-buzz-speak.

Good thing they're selfless non-profits that have our best interests at heart.

Biking in the Burgh Photo Contest

Through Sunday you can vote for one of five finalists in the Bikin' in the Burgh photo contest.



After you vote for your choice, you can see the results so far. Inevitably, the photo I picked (the crowd of bicyclists in front of the Obey Giant) was the least popular.

NY Times Paragraph of the Year

I really don't like to blog politics. It's not the focus of this blog (Bikes, Bytes, Burgh) and I'm not that savvy about it. Today I followed a link from Infinonymous to Bob Herbert's column, "Putting Our Brains on Hold". His essay includes:

But instead of exercising the appropriate mental muscles, we’re allowing ourselves to become a nation of nitwits, obsessed with the comings and goings of Lindsay Lohan and increasingly oblivious to crucially important societal issues that are all but screaming for attention. What should we be doing about (1) the legions of jobless Americans, (2) the deteriorating public schools, (3) the debilitating wars, (4) the scandalous economic inequality, (5)the corporate hold on governmental affairs, (6) the commercialization of the arts, (7) the deficits?

If I could pick The NY Times Paragraph of The Year, it would be that one. I might quibble about changing (6) to read, the commercialization of the public space, but that's a trifling.

Bravo, Mr. Herbert. You remind me why I miss Moynihan.

Pittsburgh Segway Tour

Friday morning I had the pleasure of spending two hours in the care of Segway in Paradise, Pittsburgh's Segway tour operator. (discussed here in the Post-Gazette) It was a morning well spent.

We departed Station Square in a group of five at 0930 after a quick safety briefing and orientation. We'd been told in advance to wear sneakers and the company provided bike helmets. A rather clever radio earpiece let us hear the tour guide's comments and corrections (just a few) as we maneuvered around town.

We crossed the Smithfield Steet bridge and rode across downtown to Sixth Avenue, then headed north to stop for a break in the Cultural District's Agnes R. Katz plaza. During the break, our guide Ben adjusted the Segway's speed settings (since we had some experience now) so we'd have more power on the broad sidewalks of the North Side trail.

Across the bridge to the North Side, west along the river, took a loop around the baseball stadium, rode down to the river again, and took the Fort Duquesne bridge ramp back to the Point. A few more downtown blocks to the Smithfield Street Bridge and we were done.



Our group had one out-of-towner. Pittsburgh showed well along the route and the tour guide's patter was informative and effective. The two-hour tour cost $60, which is not inexpensive, but two hours was enough time to get comfortable with the machine; I think the 45-minute ride ($25) would leave you wanting more.

Riding the Segway was fun and became intuitive pretty quickly. It wasn't an energetic activity; you stand still on the machine, and lean forward and back.

We rode on the sidewalks, and I wouldn't want to ride a Segway in car traffic. You could see that a downtown that primarily used Segways would be a very cool place, but I don't think there will be a lot of joint-use development.

For worksites that involved crossing intermediate distances (airplane hangars, corporate or college campuses) I could see that having a dozen Segways as duty vehicles would be very practical and a lot of fun.

Website: SegwayInParadise.com. Highly recommended.

Teh Communists are Coming! Red Bikes and Blue UN Helmets Oh My!

From the Denver Post:

Bike agenda spins cities toward U.N. control
Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes is warning voters that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's policies, particularly his efforts to boost bike riding, are "converting Denver into a United Nations community."

Maes, a favorite of teh Tea Party, has pulled ahead of former Congressman Scott McInnis, the early frontrunner in the Aug. 10 primary for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. The maligned Mayor Hickenlooper (Democrat) is also running for the governor's seat, but from the other side of the aisle.

More from the Denver Post:

Maes said in a later interview that he once thought the mayor's efforts to promote cycling and other environmental initiatives were harmless and well-meaning. Now he realizes "that's exactly the attitude they want you to have. This is bigger than it looks like on the surface, and it could threaten our personal freedoms," Maes said.

He added: "These aren't just warm, fuzzy ideas from the mayor. These are very specific strategies that are dictated to us by this United Nations program that some mayors have signed on to."

Maes, at the rally July 26, took aim at Denver's bike-sharing program, which he said was promoted by a group that puts the environment above citizens' rights. The B-Cycle program places a network of about 400 red bikes for rent at stations around the city. It is funded by private donors and grants.

What color are these bikes? Red!    Coincidence? I think not!

Maes said the United Nations is "signing up mayors across the country, and these mayors are signing on to this U.N. agreement to have their cities abide by this dream philosophy." The program includes encouraging employers to install showers so more people will ride bikes to work and also creating parking spaces for fuel-efficient vehicles, he said.

Polls show that Maes, a Tea Party favorite, has pulled ahead of former Congressman Scott McInnis, the early frontrunner in the Aug. 10 primary for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. Maes acknowledged that some might find his theories "kooky," but he said there are valid reasons to be worried.

"At first, I thought, 'Gosh, public transportation, what's wrong with that, and what's wrong with people parking their cars and riding their bikes? And what's wrong with incentives for green cars?' But if you do your homework and research, you realize it's part of a greater strategy to rein in American cities under a United Nations treaty," Maes said.