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So I was watching the news the other day, and they had this little segment about how skitching was on the rise. Skitching is a word that has been developed when you are riding a bike, skateboard, or any type of manual pedaling device and you grab a motor vehicle and let them pull you. doing this will get you up to speeds that are not possible to reach if you were to pedal manually, but it can be extremely dangerous. This was not really news to me because I have seen and done this all the time but what got my attention is when the news anchors mentioned a bmx rider who had over 100000 views of him just skitching all over his city. When someone has that many followers or views on social media you start to get sponserships and can actually make money. So im thinking to myself that someone was actually making money off doing something that me and my friends do all the time maybe I could post videos like that as well. Anyway here is a link to a video of a skitch tutorial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezi-vEqOdR8

I want to talk about a living legend in the bike messenger world. William Lopez is a 51 year old messenger who has been working for over 20 years in NYC. He goes by the nickname “Skeletor” and you can hear him coming from blocks away as he screams “hip hip yea yea” as he passes every intersection. He is a father of two and also battling lung cancer. Despite his age and health he is still out here to this day working on the same bike. He has been doing this since before I was born, and can also be seen in the documentary pedal. This is a movie I feel like everyone should watch at least once and this link is Skeletors profile in the movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqTxNgEtL4I

Last Friday when I was riding my bike home from work I ran into a very interesting group of cyclist. They go by the name of Cycle Squad Maniacs. There was three of them I had the pleasure of meeting; Maniac Dblock, Mohamed Blockz, and Chino Blockz. I have always seen these guys around the streets doing bike stunts through heavy traffic, but on this day I had the honor of riding with them through uptown Manhattan, and the Bronx. We would all take turns popping wheelies through traffic, and doing all types of tricks while dodging cars. At one point during the night we ran into another group of stuntmen called Bike Life who are known for riding illegal dirt bikes and atvs all over NYC. When we saw these people Dblock instantly yelled for us to follow and said “its show time” at that point we all caught up to the motor bikes and started to wheelie next to them, and when they saw us they screamed out in approval and began doing tricks too. This lasted for about a mile until the bike life people got onto the highway and we split off from them. This was a very fun experience for me, and I later found out that Cycle Squad is pretty internet famous. Mohamed Blockz was on world star hip hop for doing a wheelie on his bike with one hand and leans all the way back until his other hand touches the ground and he pushes himself back into balance. They call it the 12:00. Dblock is famous as well for holding the record for the longest wheelie. Here is one of Dblock’s most recent videos where he wheelies through the Bronx with another person standing on the back of his bike.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHzN98WN8n4

Last week was the 2016 North American Cycle Courier Championship. It was the first time the event was held in NYC. With the help of the 33rd police precint, several streets were closed down in Williamsburg, Brooklyn so that a race course could be made and no cars were permitted to enter the premises. NACCC is an event for bike messengers all over the world to come together and celebrate their work. Its also a competition to see who is the best courier. The race course had 12 checkpoints, and each checkpoint was occupied by a sponsor of the event. at the start of the race you are handed a manifest with a list of checkpoints you must pick up packages from and then deliver to. You can complete them in any order but you must follow the rules of the course. First of all you can only travel with traffic and going against it will result in disqualification. At each checkpoint you must lock your bike or event staff will steal your bike and hide it. Also at each checkpoint the sponsers will act as clients so if you offend them in anyway you will also be disqualified, so its important that you are polite to everyone. The top 25% of messengers to complete the manifest the fastest adavance to the finals to compete for the NACCC champion. There are other side events where messengers compete to see who can bunny hop the highest, drift the longest, popping a wheelie, and who can do the best tricks on a bicycle in general. It was a lot of fun, and a great way to raise awareness about the services that delivery people provide to the world.

Transmedics has developed a new way to transfer organs while they are active to patients for an implant. Currently, they can deliver a heart, liver or lungs in working condition. Organs in this state beat or breathe while being transported. It is possible thanks to a medical device the company has developed which keeps organs active instead of the frozen transport method. Blood from the donor is circulated through the organ by the instrument to hold it in the best condition possible. More information about the process is available on the company webpage, but please do not click the link if you are disturbed by sight of blood or medical images. The device is currently ‘investigational’ which means it is not entirely ready for health use yet, but the company is still working on it. I think this prevents loss of life due to failed transplants because the organ does not have to go through the freezing and thawing process which destroys tissues and reduces success rate. The devices ability to contain the organ disease free and in good condition helps with lower mortality rate. Maybe soon startup companies such as Organovo or Cyfuse Biomedical who aim to print 3D organs for implant can also test and deliver the organs in a safer way, reducing mortality rates.

Plant-based foods are becoming more popular and the plant based food industry is growing twice as fast as the rest of the food industry. This is mainly due to recent health, environmental or animal welfare concerns, which the public is made aware of thanks to vegan or animal rights movements. This change helps a company called Daiya Foods. They are a producer of non-dairy cheese substitutes. According to an interview at this article, they expect a 100 million USD revenue this year from non-dairy cheese products alone. The total revenue from non-dairy beverages alone this year was 4.1 billion USD. I think this is a good opportunity for startups in the food business, to get into the plant-based food industry. There is a high potential of growth and a big market available already, from which they can benefit. This also gives the consumer more choices, and increase the availability of non-diary products. If this type of product is available everywhere, from the smallest convenience store to the biggest supermarket, it will eventually help the environmental effects of dairy farming.

Good afternoon everyone,

I just wanted to share a very helpful and insightful article I ran into in the Forbes website, “How Entrepreneurs Identify New Opportunities“. In it, professor Raffi Amit, a professor of management at Wharton, answers many questions I feel we as future entrepreneurs ask ourselves. It gave me an insight as to what are some of the most common mistakes made by new entrepreneurs, as well as what should be taken into account when starting a business. Check out the interview if you all get a chance.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/11/identify-new-opportunities-entrepreneurs-wharton.html

Hi, I found an interesting news.

There is a company in China called Ehang which is building self-flying drones. These drones can carry one person from one point to another. The passenger does not have to do anything except get in the vehicle, and select where to go. This machine works exactly like the smaller drones sold by many companies. It can lift straight up and land straight down, eliminating the need for a landing strip or airport. I think this is a lot easier way to commute compared to self-driving cars, which still have to sit in traffic and go around buildings. It seems reasonable to use the air for travel, because the technology is already available. Once this and other self-driving vehicles become the standard, I think the phobias related to flight or being in a car will be extinct. As human error decreases, the stress levels related to vehicles should go down considerably. In my opinion, this and similar technologies help human life on more levels than they realize.

So I have this venture plan to install vending machines all over New York filled with bike parts and also have tools attached to the machines as a self service for bike repairs. This wont require any labor cost, and has very low liabilities. All you need to do is make sure the machines are fully stocked and the tools are maintained and functioning. I will also be putting snacks and drinks too so that I can get everyone to use these machines not just cyclists.

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