bypedal

physical therapy student + cycling enthusiast | exploring wherever my two feet take me

[bypedal]

Bar tape improvisation 🚲 #bypedal

[skunkbear]

What makes fireworks colorful?

It’s all thanks to the luminescence of metals. When certain metals are heated (over a flame or in a hot explosion) their electrons jump up to a higher energy state. When those electrons fall back down, they emit specific frequencies of light - and each chemical has a unique emission spectrum.

You can see that the most prominent bands in the spectra above match the firework colors. The colors often burn brighter with the addition of an electron donor like Chlorine (Cl). 

But the metals alone wouldn’t look like much. They need to be excited. Black powder (mostly nitrates like KNO3) provides oxygen for the rapid reduction of charcoal © to create a lot hot expanding gas - the BOOM. That, in turn, provides the energy for luminescence - the AWWWW.

Aluminium has a special role — it emits a bright white light … and makes sparks!

Images: Charles D. Winters, Andrew Lambert Photography / Science Source, iStockphoto, Epic Fireworks, Softyx, Mark Schellhase, Walkerma, Firetwister, Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com, Søren Wedel Nielsen

[bypedal]

Summer to-do list: explore my new town my favorite way 🚴🏼 (This cycling map of Pierce Co. might help.) #bikewa #biketacoma #bikeeverywhere #bypedal #outsideisfree

[bypedal]

happy golden birthday to my little monkey. sorry the vet called you "middle aged." 😩 #thedukeofbonaire #6onthe6th #goldenbirthday #middleaged #adoptdontshop #rescuedog

[wwnorton-deactivated20200424]

Mount St. Helens erupted 36 years ago today. 

For the "moment-by-moment account of what happened,” read Steve Olsen’s Eruption, in stores everywhere. (Or start with a short excerpt.) 

[nprbooks]

I remember this!  I was maybe five years old when it happened, and for a year or so afterwards I was obsessed with it the way only little kids can be. I even had a jar of ash from the mountain, which was real puzzling when I found it in a memory box three decades later. I’ll definitely be checking out Eruption.

– Petra

[bypedal]

I can't decide if this is *exactly* the right book to read before moving to Tacoma, or the worst possible one.

[bypedal]

I agree, Duke. Fri-YAY indeed 🎉

[bypedal]

happy Mother's Day to my fun-loving mama! 💖

[bypedal]

ok. this will do. 🌴 #30a #seasidefl #outsideisfree

[bypedal]

happy golden birthday to my bluetick girl 💙 #hrhstellathedog #birthdaypupcakesforeveryone #bluetick #adoptdontshop

[bypedal]

"We won't plant a garden this spring," we said. "Why bother if we won't be around to enjoy it? But if we just so happen to find anything growing in the compost pile," we said, "we'll give it a chance." #allgrownupandnowheretogo #garbagetomato #darwinsgarden

[bypedal]

I found this sweet boy in the middle of the road yesterday, dodging traffic. I immediately pulled over, called him to me, and contacted LHPD/Animal Control. He had no collar but was neutered and responded to my commands - clearly, this was someone's pet. I couldn't bear to think of him in the shelter so I called animal control back in the afternoon to ask about a short-term foster arrangement until we move - and they told me that thanks to little dude's microchip, they found his owner quickly and he had been brought home. He had been missing for weeks. WEEKS. I'm so happy this guy had a happy ending and is reunited with his family. (And we are taking this as a reminder to update our dogs' chip information before we move.)

[bypedal]

#siblingday #squad

[bypedal]

someone needs her mama after getting vaccinations today 🐒 #hrhstellathedog #bluetick #birthdayshots

[bypedal]

Guard doggin' hard #thedukeofbonaire

[bypedal]

today's good news is I got on my bike for the first time since February 9! 🙌🏼 (today's bad news is the gaggle of of physical therapists observing me were unanimous in their opinion that my sacrum is still too unstable and my hamstrings still too unbalanced for me to get back on again anytime soon. 😫)

[cosyandthegang]

[brynmawrspeccoll]

In honor of the first day of Women’s History Month and Super Tuesday, here are two suffrage cartoons from the Carrie Chapman Catt Collection. 

Carrie Lane Chapman Catt was an internationally recognized suffragist, feminist and political activist. The Carrie Chapman Catt Papers focus on the history of the women’s suffrage movement, with material pertaining both directly to her and to the movement as a whole. There is a wide range of material in the collection, including correspondence & memorabilia, cartoons, and photographs.

The collection contains approximately sixty editorial cartoons pertaining to suffrage which appeared in newspapers around the country from ca. 1912 to ca.1920.

To see more of the Catt Collection, click here.   

[staff]

In the chaos of election season, it’s easy to lose sight of how recently women—especially women of color—were denied the right to vote in America. The Nineteenth Amendment wasn’t ratified until 1920. After World War I, after the Ford Model T, and after 60-plus years of feminists like Carrie Chapman Catt agitating for change.

In a democracy, your vote is your voice. At a time when one half of the population was silenced by the other, Chapman Catt and the suffrage movement claimed their right to speak. But it would be another 45 years until the passage of the Voting Rights Act that women of color were effectively enfranchised.