Why in the age of science do so many people belive in supernatural things?

People believe in supernatural things because they usually don't know or understand the nature of the phenomena. Lots of people even have never tried to find the explanation. Scientist already explained supernatural things, but the answers are sometimes very complicated and incomprehensible for ordinary people.This is why they create some imaginary ideas which don't exist in real world. Sometimes it's easier for them to believe that there is some supernatural power behind the nature of things. Scientific knowledge should be spread wider and should be simplified for ordinary people so that they won't believe in magic.

Who/What is to blame for modern epidemics of obiesity?

Epidemic of obesity is more and more frequent among people. What causes that? In my opinion it's because of the luxury. Developing technology made our life easier. We use cars instead of a walk or  a bike. Children play computer games all the time instead of outdoor activities. We don't even go to do shopping, we just do it through the internet without moving from our seat. Widely available sweets make us even fatter. All of these things are side effects of the luxury and innovation which should help us but if we won't use them wisely, obesity will be more common.

Should people spent money on space exploration?

Since time immemorial people were looking into the sky searching for stars and planet. But they didn't know exactly what was in there. Secrets of the universe are still unexplored. But is it worth spending money to get to know them? The mysteries of the universe are very interesting and probably solving them would help explaining lots of phenomena also here on Earth. Although here on our Blue Planet humanity has lots of problems which need money for solving like global warming, pollution, poverty, wars, diseases. All of them need to be sorted out. Comparing to the gravity of these problems exploring the space is a minor issue. First of al we should take care of the Earth, of the problem which influence us directly.

The Grand Tours #1

Shortly after people invented a bike they wanted to compete with each other so the races were organized. Over time more and more cyclists were interested in racing and also spectators were plenty so staged tours were introduced. They became more and more popular and everyone wanted to compete in the tours. Among many races the biggest three attracted most attention, have become famous and started being called the Grand Tours. Launched every year since they were first staged except of World Wars years, tours gained lots of fans. They are Le Tour de France (since 1903), Giro d'Italia (since 1909)  and Vuelta a Espana (since 1935). They are similar in technical point of view, they are multi-week races and they have daily stages. 21 days of riding and two days of rest. The whole event takes a little bit more than 3 weeks. But these races are completely different by organization, it's history, culture and traditions.These races are so famous that fans go a week before and camp near the route to have the best view. They support their idols and favourite teams. It's part of life in those countries.


I will write more about those tours in next post.

Recent inventions to make your life easier.

Each technological branch receive constant improvement and upgrade through people's creativity. Numerous inventions are probed and some get to mass production. Also some inventions were embedded into the bike world over past few years. Some of them I personally use and can't think of not having them.


Dropper seatposts - Why would you want to change the height of your seat during a ride? When you climb uphill you need to have the most efficient power transfer. When your seat is high you can straighten your legs and use all your power for pedalling. When you go downhill you don't need any pedalling power but you have to be able to balance and shift your body weight on the bike which allows for taking on obstacles more safely. Seat high up obstructs your movements. Every rider will benefit from lower positioned seat on any trail more demanding than just going down a curb. A dropper post enables you to adjust the seat on the fly - you just push a button on your handlebar and your seat goes up or down. It takes about 2 seconds to adjust your bike for the needs of a trail, something absolutely unthinkable without a dropper post.

Disc brakes - a very effective braking system which has been there for cars and motorcycles for years so why not bikes? Before disk brakes arrived into bikes there was a Cantilever system of brakes and V-brakes. Both of them required a special wheel. Two pads clamped on the rim and that slowed the bike down. Hydraulic disc brakes offer much more stopping power, are much more effective so you don't have to press the lever with all your strength. Also they are much more mud and dirt resistant. After a day out in mud and rain V-brakes lose all their stopping power, sometimes halfway down the slope. For riding in the mountains effective and reliable braking system is crucial. Brakes which clamped on the rim couldn't provide that.

http://enduro-mtb.com/en/best-dropper-seatpost-can-buy/ 
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/disc-brakes.html 

The History of Bicycles #2

The engineering concept most similar to bikes we use nowadays was a "Safety Bicycle" which was created in 1885. Over the next 100 years lots of inventions were embedded into bicycles. Some of them were good, some were bad and same were very weird. Nonetheless, thanks to them we can now use the technology which makes riding safer and more convenient. Below I have put together the list of most valuable and the weirdest inventions that came to the bike world.

Pneumatic tires - first invented and applied in 1888 by a Scottish veterinarian named Goodyear. Before that bikes had hard-rubber tires. Air-filled tires made riding smother and more comfortable.


The first derailleur - mechanism which moved chain from one sprocket to another to change gears was called "The Gradient" which was devised in the UK in 1896. Interestingly the cyclists didn't like and approve of it. They saw it as an unfair dilution of real human power. The gear mechanisms were not allowed in big races like the Tour de France until 1937.

Cycles Hirondelle Retro-Direct - was made in 1925 in France. This bicycle had a very complicated chain movement. It had two opposite direction freewheels system. Which allowed to use 2 gears without a derailleur mechanism. The gears were engaged by changing the pedalling direction. With pedalling backswords the bigger sprocket freewheel was engaged which gave a slower gear. With pedalling foreword the smaller sprocket freewheel was engaged for a faster ride. But with pedalling backwards we use completely different muscles so it was not as easy as we think it was.The invention was clever but shortly afterwords the derailleurs came to mass-produce and become a standard

Book "Cyclepedia A Tour Of Iconic Bicycle Designs" Michael Embacher
 

The History of Bicycles #1

Bicycles have been around us for two hundred years. Some sources say that even Leonardo da Vinci sketched a primitive version of a bike in 1493. Bicycles have evolved a lot during that time. Below I have put together the most important and interesting facts about the beginning of bikes.

The first bicycle - was called "The Celerifere" and had no steering, no pedals and was all made of wood, it was created by a French engineer in 1790. "The Draisienne" - similar bike but upgraded with front wheel steering was created 30 years later by a German Baron. To use those bicycles you had to seat on them and propel them by your feet hence the English name "push bike". Nowadays kids learn to keep balance on similar bikes.

       ⟸ The Celerifere 













                           The Draisienne ⟹














Adding pedals was a huge improvement - 20 years after "The Draisienne" a Scottish blacksmith added first pedal set-up. It was a giant step forward because you could ride more effectively and for longer distance. Macmillan who created this bike rode 70 miles to visit his family.

 "The Boneshaker" - created in 1866 had steering, saddle and cranks with pedals which propelled the front wheel. But riding on it was a little difficult because it's wheels were made of metal so on cobblestone roads you can imagine how uncomfortable it was, that's why it was called "The Boneshaker".

                                                    "The Boneshaker"

"High Wheeler"- before "Safety Bicycle" was created in 1885 which had a technical concept similar to what we ride nowadays, bikes had big front wheels. Why? Because the bigger wheel you had the longer distance you could ride on one revolution of cranks. So people wanted as big a wheel as was available to the length of their legs.

It's all for today, I will continue the history of bicycles in my next posts.



http://www.ibike.org/library/history-timeline.htm
https://www.thoughtco.com/bikes-an-illustrated-history-365776