Its here. Hope youve been practicing your high-fives. (Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Portlands epic month of bike rides and events starts tomorrow. Yes, thats right, its time for the annual Pedalpalooza festival. Its the 16th year in a row Shift has helped us celebrate the social exhiliration and of bicycling with a slate of rides organized and led by people in the community like you and me. Its a phenomenonal display of community connectedness unlike anything Ive seen in the cycling world and we hope you plan to be a part of it

If you are going to join in any one of the 262 rides on the calendar (so far) this month, there are a few things you should know to make sure your experience reaches its full potential. And on a more serious note, there are a few things you should do to make sure your experience doesnt end up making bad memories (or worse) for you, your friends, or the people around you.

For our annual Pedalalooza primer we once again turn to bike funnist and Shift volunteer Chris Fool McCraw. He recently shared some important pits of wisdom:

A well-stocked pannier is always a good idea.

Get that tune-up, stock up on spare tubes, and make sure your butt loves your saddle. Its the last minute NOW because you want to have your bike ready before the fun really gets started on June 1st!

Now get yourself tuned up do you know where your summer bike clothes are? Been putting off that doctors appt? Been to see the barber? Nobody wants to stop riding with a few thousand of their closest friends to take care of stuff that could happen anytime, and you know you wanna be in top shape to enjoy the rides and be looking sharp for the cutie youre sure to meet on the happy streets. Might not be a bad idea to get caught up on laundry, too.

Next up its time to get stocked! Easy frozen meals to heat & eat when you get home exhausted and just wanna crawl into bed? Favorite hangover cure available in quantity? Portable intoxicant of choice need to hit costco or stumptown to get enough? Beer is easy on the fly, but if youre more of a liquor is quicker, candy is dandy kinda person do it in advance: visit your local dispensary, or anyway get the things you cant make happen at a quickie mart mid-ride or en-route done on your schedule instead of missing the pre-party for Loud and Lit because you have to find the last liquor store in town still open.

Almost ready but is your pedalpalooza survival kit all ready to go? Picnic blanket, hearty snacks, condoms, band-aids & aspirin, flat-fix kit, extra headlight batteries, and fliers for your ride to hand out to folks at other rides are all recommended. Got Costumes for the WNBR and beyond? Might as well figure all that out during the calm before the storm!

Pedalpalooza is a wild ride, with too little sleep and sometimes too much booze. While were out having fun, I want to ask YOU to help take care of yourself and others. These three steps go a long way toward creating inclusive, safe(r) bike fun!

1) Have a plan & Look out for your own well being

When you go on rides that may take you out of your comfort zone, know thyself might you end up riding longer than expected without a food stop that fits your diet? Might you end up somewhere youve never been before? These are near-certainties, so make sure youre prepared have a spare inner tube, have a bike map, have a friend you can call if you get stranded (very few rides will leave the cell service area, and those that do are generally described as fairly long rides), and have some substantial snacks and water. Make friends on the ride so that even if you dont have what you need you now know someone who might let you borrow their phone or share their snack or patch kit.

2) Be aware of your situation

Both on and off the bike, be aware of your environment. We are traffic, but we are mortal, so watch out for anyone operating a vehicle erratically and be defensive about not getting creamed or even bumping someone else on a bike or in a car! Having a dance party on the springwater? Cool! Just be aware of nearby residents and of wandering off by yourself to pass out or even make out safety first (or third but think about it as you go!)

3) Look out for each other

This one is a bit less obvious than the other two, but as a community of bike funnists, we have to take care of each other. Specifically, be on the lookout for folks who seem so intoxicated that they wont be able to ride safely home, and try to help them figure out a remedy be that getting them a ride buddy or an Uber. On a similar note, CONSENT IS SEXY. This goes for sexual stuff of course be the person you want to wake up and see in the mirror tomorrow but also goes for peer pressure and intoxication if your new friend doesnt want to drink another beer or take another toke, dont shame them into it. We dont need to make any more depressing statistics or have someones life get fucked up. Check out these resources on consent that I hope youll read itll take 2 minutes and youll be an awesomer person for reading them and helping others who havent read them keep them in mind even when drunk.

Have fun out there Portland! Ill miss the first few days (headed to Montral tomorrow!) but I cant wait to join you in the streets when I get back.

Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

BikePortland is supported by the community (that means you!). Please become a subscriber or make a donation today.

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Heed this wisdom to be a Pedalpalooza pro - BikePortland.org

Under a new version of the citys proposal, diet drinks would not be taxed, in addition to other changes. A final vote by the full council likely will be scheduled for Monday.

Seattle City Council members moved a proposed soda tax Wednesday toward a final vote and amended it to exclude diet drinks.

Mayor Ed Murray sent legislation to the council in April calling for a tax of 1.75 cents per ounce on distributors of sweetened beverages, including sugary and diet soft drinks, among others.

Under the new version of the proposed tax, diet drinks would not be taxed, small manufacturers would be exempted and medium-sized manufacturers would pay a reduced rate.

The amended plan would raise about $8 million less annually than Murrays plan, according to city estimates.

The councils finance committee made the changes Wednesday before voting 5-2 to move the ordinance forward.

For me, the main object of this legislation is to reduce the consumption of this unhealthy product, Councilmember Mike OBrien said.

Councilmembers Lisa Herbold and Kshama Sawant cast the dissenting votes, while Councilmembers Tim Burgess and M. Lorena Gonzlez were behind the major changes.

Herbold proposed lowering the tax rate to 1 cent per ounce and keeping diet drinks in the tax, but her amendments were rejected by the committee.

Councilmember Rob Johnson proposed taxing syrups and powders based on their dry weight rather than their weight once mixed into drinks, saying that would be simpler. His amendment also was rejected.

Herbold and Sawant said they couldnt support a tax that would disproportionately burden low-income people and people of color. Herbold called the existing proposal unfairly regressive and warned a rate set too high could expose the tax to repeal via citizen ballot measure.

A final vote by the full council likely will be scheduled for Monday.

Many health advocates are supporting the tax, while soft-drink companies, some business owners and unions with workers in the beverage industry oppose it.

The Martin Luther King County Labor Council and the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce issued a joint statement Wednesday against the tax, saying it would harm the local economy.

Revenue from the tax would be used by the city to support healthful eating and education.

Seattle leaders have been having trouble agreeing whether to tax diet drinks.

Diet drinks werent included in Murrays initial plan. The science on sugary drinks being unhealthful is solid, but evidence of artificially sweetened drinks being harmful is less clear.

The mayor added diet drinks to his plan after a racial-equity analysis showed their popularity among wealthy people and white people. And now council members have taken them back out.

In pushing for diet drinks to be excluded from the tax, Burgess pointed to unclear health findings on artificial sweeteners and to concerns about the tax leading to job losses.

Leaving diet drinks untaxed gives consumers an alternative, he said. And Im concerned about what weve heard from labor.

Taxing sugary and diet drinks at 1.75 cents per ounce, as the mayor proposed, would initially raise about $23 million annually, while taxing only sugary drinks at that rate would raise about $15 million, according to estimates Herbold obtained from the citys budget office.

Herbold argued for taxing sugary and diet drinks at 1 cent per ounce in order to raise 15.5 million annually.

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Diet drinks excluded as Seattle soda-tax moves toward final City ... - The Seattle Times

Themost popular regime in take-out dining in the United States is the Paleo Diet, a restrictive lifestyle that supposedly mimics the diets of our ancestors when they were hunter-gatherers.

Thats according to a new survey by take-out service Grubhub, which analysed the volume of its take-out orders to extract conclusions on American diet habits. Compared to 2015, online and mobile orders of Paleo foods increased 370% in 2016 across the United States, says Grubhub, outpacing the raw diet, juice cleanse, veganism and gluten-free diets which round out the top five eating plans.

For the uninitiated, the Paleolithic diet also known as the Caveman or Stone Age Diet replicates the kinds of foods that would only have been available to Paleolithic humans. That means fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, nuts and seeds are allowed, but dairy, legumes, cereals and sugars are not.

For the survey, analysts looked at a combination of dietary tags and specific eating plans in order data from Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2016. The results were also broken down by city to reveal some interesting trends.

For example, Seattle emerged the most health-conscious, most finicky city in the United States, with more residents placing special dietary orders for their take-out meal than any other city Seattleites order 309% more foods related to eating plans and diets compared to the rest of the country.

Raw meats and fish, and raw plants, fruits and nuts found in nature make up the Paleo diet. Photo: AFP

The most popular eating plan in that city? Gluten-free foods.

Elsewhere, youre more likely to find vegans in cities like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Chicago, while New Yorkers, Bostonians and residents in San Francisco are more likely to order low-fat meals.

The Paleo diet is particularly popular in Texas, with Dallas, Houston and Austin, where locals favour the cavemans diet.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is telling the world to stop eating meat and dairy products and switch to a healthy and animal friendly vegan diet. Photo: AFP/Dibyangshu Sarkar

Here are the most popular eating plans across the United States:

Paleo 370% increase in orders in 2016 vs. the year before

Raw 92% increase in orders in 2016 vs. the year before

Juice cleanse 89% increase in orders in 2016 vs. the year before

Vegan 58% increase in orders in 2016 vs. the year before

Gluten-free 35% increase in orders in 2016 vs. the year before

Low-fat 21% increase in orders in 2016 vs. the year prior

Mediterranean 7% increase in orders in 2016 vs. the year before

Keto 5% increase in orders in 2016 vs. the year before AFP Relaxnews

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Raw diet for pets? Maybe not such a good idea, vet says Miami Herald A: The AVMA, veterinary medicine's leading professional group, thinks feeding raw diets to pets is a definite no-no. According to its formal policy statement on this subject, the organization discourages the feeding to cats and dogs of any animal ...

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Raw diet for pets? Maybe not such a good idea, vet says - Miami Herald

Kansas City Star

Vegan bloggers say their diets can stop menstrual 'toxins,' and doctors aren't pleased Kansas City Star Freelee the Banana Girl seemed so excited to tell her YouTube following how she lost her monthly period. It happened when I first came to a 100 percent raw vegan diet, the popular Australian health blogger said in a 2013 video called How I lost my ...

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Vegan bloggers say their diets can stop menstrual 'toxins,' and doctors aren't pleased - Kansas City Star

May 30, 2017 Waterfowl beaks vary along a duck-to-goose gradient (left to right), primarily because of differences in diet. Credit: Aaron Olsen

From Charles Darwin's famous finches to a new study that takes a rare look at a common order of birdswaterfowlevolution has a tendency to reveals itself through bird beaks.

And this new study confirms through a rigorous analysis that the main evolutionary force driving the shape of duck, goose and other waterfowl beaks is their diet.

"This is the most comprehensive look to date at the relationship between diet and beak shape," said Aaron Olsen, author of the study in Functional Ecology and a postdoctoral researcher in Brown University's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

"Waterfowl have really interesting beaks relative to other birds," Olsen said. "They are very curvy with very diverse shapes."

Working at the University of Chicago and the Field Museum of Natural History, Olsen sought to determine what accounts for that diversity.

He expected that diet might play a substantial role, but rather than just compare simple dietary categories with beak caliper measurements as many naturalists have, he engaged in a more detailed analysis. He carefully measured the 3-D form of the beaks of 136 specimens of waterfowl, covering 51 species and 46 genera, including two extinct species. One fossil, Presbyornis, dates back tens of millions of years. Then he paired those measurements with detailed data that he gathered from the research literature on the diet of each bird.

Regardless of his expectation, if diet and beak shape had little to do with each other, the math would have yielded low correlations.

"What this analysis asks is, 'What are the patterns of correlation between these two datasets?'," Olsen said. "What's nice about that is you are going in a little bit naively about the relationship between the two."

More for pruning than preening

But the mathematical result was a strong correlation between dietary preferences and beak shape. It makes physical sense, Olsen said. Ducks, which primarily filter-feed little bugs and seeds from the water, have relatively long, wide-tipped bills that can bring in a lot of water. Geese, which evolved to prefer the leaves and roots of plants over filter feeding (though some still do), have shorter, narrower beaks that give geese a more forceful bite for pruning tough plant parts.

The correlation is so strong, Olsen said, that diet likely dominates other influencers of beak shape that researchers have demonstrated, such as preening and shedding body heat. But Olsen said his analysis doesn't preclude those factors from still having roles, too.

Duck then goose

The data Olsen gathered, combined with several lines of prior research, also led him to hypothesize that the early ancestors of modern ducks, geese and other waterfowl were duck-like. Geese-like beaks are newer phenomena, though they've evolved several times in several places.

First of all, Olsen said, a mathematical reconstruction he performed that accounted for modern waterfowl and the early ancestor in the waterfowl phylogenetic (or evolutionary family) tree, Presbyornis, showed that the duck-like beak is the most likely ancestral form. Moreover, the widespread emergence of grasses occurred after the origin of waterfowl, supporting a later origin for geese within waterfowl.

The other extinct specimen whose bill Olsen surveyed, the fern-eating moa-nalos goose, may be a good example of the kind of transition he suspects played out multiple times over waterfowl's evolutionary history. Other researchers have shown the moa-nalos likely had a duck-like ancestor, but after its ancestors ended up in Hawaii, it adapted to its final plant-eating status by evolving goose-like features over time.

All that said, Olsen acknowledges his assessment of waterfowl lineage remains an open hypothesis. He said he invites further research, even if it ultimately ruffles his feathers.

"I would love to see someone publish a paper and argue the opposite," he said.

Explore further: Up to 600 waterfowl die in western Idaho from avian cholera

More information: Functional Ecology (2017). DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.12890

An estimated 500 to 600 ducks and geese have died due to avian cholera in western Idaho.

A study of the super-diverse bird groups, which include Darwin's finches, has found that modular skull parts helped them adapt to different roles.

Citizen scientists and bird lovers across the world have helped researchers at the University of Sheffield and the University of South Florida uncover new secrets about the evolution of bird's beaks over time in a ground-breaking ...

Migratory waterfowl around the world travel hundreds to thousands of miles annually, stopping at lakes, ponds and marshes to refuel and breed. Some of these aquatic rest stops may be at sites polluted by remnants of radioactive ...

(Phys.org) To female coastal plain swamp sparrows, male bill size matters.

Beak shape variation in Darwin's finches is a classic example of evolutionary adaptation, with beaks that vary widely in proportions and shape, reflecting a diversity of ecologies. While living birds have a beak to manipulate ...

Imagine being a scuba diver and leaving your oxygen tank behind you on a dive. Or a mountain climber and abandoning your ropes. Or a skydiver and shedding your parachute. That's essentially what humans are doing as we expand ...

What happens to a cane toad's internal chemistry when it has to shed its skin to replace worn out skin cells?

Slow and steady wins the race.

No experience with human speech is necessary for budgerigars to perceive the difference between "d" and "t", according to a study published May 31, 2017 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Mary Flaherty from The State ...

Some migratory bats are attracted to artificial green light which may interfere with their flight paths, according to a study published May 31, 2017 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Christian Voigt from the Leibniz ...

Subgroups of tuberculosis (TB)-causing bacteria can persist even when antibiotics wipe out most of the overall population. The need to eliminate these persistent subpopulations is one reason why TB treatment regimens are ...

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The author of the article continues to interject the words like "evolution" and "evolutionary force" (whatever that means---very unscientific) and "which evolved to prefer". Fact is that none of these are supported by any science, and is complete guesswork.

We can observe animals that may prefer something. But to say as a scientific fact that evolutionary forces made this happen is complete nonsense. Those are 2 completely unrelated propositions. Scientists should not be so confused.

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Fowl-mouthed study finds that diet shaped duck, goose beaks - Phys.Org