Penises

What would the world be like if men didn't have penises? In my bird class that I'm taking this semester we learned that only 4% of birds have penises. For most birds all sex requires is a quick touch of the butt. The only way to really justify carrying around the extra weight of a penis is for water birds who would need to get sperm further in so it wouldn't wash off in the water. Other birds that have penises are ratites which include larger birds like ostriches, emus and rheas.
Since birds don't have penises, the female is the one that gets to wear the pants in the relationship. If a male wants to produce offspring, he has to put 100% into attracting a female. He can't just walk up and "rape." If a female doesn't want her offspring to have a certain male's dna, she doesn't have to mate with him. Some birds can even reject unwanted sperm. But if a penis was used, she'd be stuck with the sperm.
Interestingly enough, ostriches, which have penises, have male dominance unlike these other birds. Even though the male still has to court the females, the relationship is much more of the patriarchal variety. So I have to wonder... is this why most human societies are dominated by males? Because they wear the penis? What would life be like if guys didn't have penises? I mean other than what sex would be like lol.
This article I found while writing this post goes much more into detail about bird sex and penises. Its based around the idea of why Zeus chose to be a swan to rape Leda. I would highly recommend checking it out.

Bottom line: Penises are dangerous.

Things That Were Cool When I was a Kid

Okay granted, that wasn't that long ago. I haven't ridden a bicycle in oh... probably 8 years, but walking around campus today and seeing all the bikes, I suddenly had nostalgia of being a kid and riding my bike around the street. Riding your bike around was like "the cool thing to do." And not just because it was the environmentally friendly thing to do. So today I want to look at things that made bikes, or in particular my bike, cool.

The Kickstand

Why were kickstands so cool? I don't know. Maybe it was because of the cool way it folded/swiveled up or down at a moments notice. Maybe it was because of the way it got your bike to stand up all by itself. All I know is that whomever invented the kickstand is a genius! I was sad to notice today that not many people have kickstands on their bicycles because kickstands=kickass!
Sidenote: I actually looked up to see who invented the kickstand and it is a certain "Gunter Baron." Tragically, he does not have a wikipedia page. Did you know that kickstands were patented in 1983?

Pedaling Your Bike Upsidedown

I don't know if anyone else used to do this, but it was a big thing on my street to turn our bikes over and "play mechanic." All it really involved was turning the pedals and watching the wheels go around and maybe pretend you were 'fixing' your bike. Some times we would race to see how fast we could make our wheels go. It was such a cool concept to me that you could flip a bike so that its wheels were in the air, that I wished there was more you could do like play fort or pretend it was "an exercise" machine. Here is a better picture that illustrates what I mean by this.

Spoke Beads

I wish I could remember what I called these as a kid, but I never would have thought to call them spoke beads. I just know my neighbor had some on her bike, and I had to get me some! I loved the colors, but even more than that, I loved the sound. A light, tinkling musical sound that gives you the same shivers as listening to a rain stick. This was another reason to pedal your bike upside down... just so you could listen to these babies. I haven't seen them on a bike in ages, but I'm pretty sure you can still buy them.

Noise Makers

I think I went through at least two of these, but they were plastic (and colorful) of course. I feel that they didn't last very long due to bike and ground contact. Plus I feel like I wasn't very good at steering and honking at the same time. I also had at least one bell, with which I faced similar problems with (I think it involves more skill to push the lever than to squeeze):



So I hope you have enjoyed reminiscing with me over the "bike riding days." If I ever get a bicycle, now that I'm older, this is one accessory I would definitely love to have:


What are you favorite bicycle parts-- past, present, future?