Author Archives: Josef Bray-Ali

Two Wheeled Subsidy Dumpster

I once rented a Metro Bike Share bike in downtown Los Angeles and rode it across the city to Venice Beach. Awesome, right? “This is awesome!”, I thought. When I got to Venice, I found out it was NOT awesome. It was expensive and a major hassle. The downtown LA bikes are not allowed to […]

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Hackers steal flyingpigeonla Instagram account

Breaking news! The Flying Pigeon LA instagram account (@flyingpigeonla) has been hacked! On January 2, 2021 at 4:45 a.m. local time some nefarious hacker on a XioaMi Redmi Note 8 from Al Mashahira, Palestine logged in to the account. I am not sure if any of those details are accurate or even matter – for […]

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MacPorts “Error: Failed to locate” Solution

Two days ago, I tried to update some of the applications installed with MacPorts and got an error that looked like this: Error: Failed to locate ‘openssl’ in path: ‘/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin’ or at its MacPorts configuration time location, did you move it? Please run `port -v selfupdate’ for details. I spent a lot of time checking […]

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LA Chinatown Hot Tip: Pearl River Deli is Very Good

Pearl River Deli (in the shopping plaza at 727 N. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90012) serves incredibly delicious Cantonese food; it is worth a visit (or, in this time of the COVID-19 quarantine, a take-out or delivery order 626-400-8126). I was first made aware of this new restaurant by the Fung Brothers. They posted a […]

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Making Parts for a Gazelle Rear Rack Kickstand

What follows is a story that really doesn’t deserve to be written down. It is a story of searching for a couple of small plastic parts made abroad, and finding or making their replacements with what is available here at home – using labor and tools that far, far, exceed the value of the parts. […]

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Bugaboo Stroller Brake Cable Repair

Years ago, I happened upon the craft of repairing Bowden control cables. A couple of old motorcycle mechanics told me not only was it possible, but they themselves used to do it all the time “back in the day”. I read up on the topic (i.e. old forum posts online) and found Flanders Cables – […]

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Benny Boy Brewery opponents in Lincoln Heights look like bigots

Did you know: if you are white, own a business, but weren’t born in a given Los Angeles neighborhood, people will organize to keep you from opening your doors? Sounds kind of un-American to me. There are valid reasons to oppose a brewery. The ethnicity and place of birth of the owners are not valid […]

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Fixing My Broken Toaster Oven

My toaster oven broke. First, a buzzing noise. Next, some smoke. Out to the curb it went in the arms of my wife. I saw it sitting there and thought, “It is already broken, if I take it apart – where is the harm in that?” I take it down to my workshop. Zip, zip […]

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Two Reasons Bike Advocacy in LA is on the Wane

Bicycling advocacy in Los Angeles is getting smaller and weaker. The Great Social Justice Awakening Part of the weakening of bike advocacy in Los Angeles is a function of the take-over of nearly every civic issue or cause by a professional (and sometimes volunteer) class of social justice warriors. This class of people, like those […]

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L.A.’s Substandard Bike Projects Lead to Increased Crash Rates

It is time to face the facts: Los Angeles’ 3rd rate, crap-tier, bike projects have been a net negative for public safety. Two of my personal heroes in the political war to make Los Angeles more bike- and pedestrian-friendly, councilmembers Mike Bonin and Jose Huizar have made substantial positive impacts on my personal life. The […]

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