STAN'S BLOGS

I love recreational, multi-terrain bicycling and I love any effort made to preserve the great outdoors for better biking, hiking or whatever. So, while scanning the news wires this morning, it's no surprise that this headline: "Budapest Critical Mass with up to 30,000 people" caught my wild eye. You won't find this story on ABCNews.com , CNN.com , NYTimes.com or even the BBCNews site; no... for this story you'll need to go to IndyMedia.org —the news you lose, if you're only reading the snooze news. The story read out like some nationally attended Earth Day event in the U.S., but this one was happening on the other side of the world. It turns out we're not the only people to care about foundering environmental issues and, per capita—Hungary's population: 10,006,835 (July 2005 est.)—we may not even be in the top ten. IndyMedia goes on to report, "Budapest, Hungary has experienced its greatest Critical Mass bike ride ever on September 22, 2005. Es

Hurricane Katrina disaster relief contributions from the U.S. government, the private sector and the public have reached a total of $10,787,000,000. Bigtime, commercial fund raising events and concerts are still to come, and a national, cooperative fund raiser is being scheduled for anyone wishing to participate on September 9. The American public alone, not counting the government's help, have given at least $287-million to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Volunteers are also streaming into the American Red Cross 's "Disaster Response Training" classes, ready to ship out at a moments notice after taking an intense 9 hour preparation class. The Sacramento Sierra Chapter listed all "classes full" by 1am - Friday, but future classes are opening up daily and are being posted here . "The pace of giving is unprecedented in recent American history. In the 10 days after September 11, Americans donated $239-million to charitable causes, and in the 9 days