Notices by Velocipede Rider (ruari@velocipederider.com), page 2

@joel I mean, I guess I am an international penny farthing racer. 🤔

I mean it says it right in my bio here in the fedi.

If the image looks familiar to my regular followers it's because I have posted it before here myself. Let's zoom up a bit on the rider at the back of that group of racers. Yep, that's me! 😂

The biggest unicycle supplier is unicycle.com (they also sell penny farthings). In Europe, their biggest store is unicycle.co.uk. I often buy parts from this one.

Today I head over to by a new tyre from one of my 36 inch wheeled unicycles and what do I see? Well right on the homepage near the top is an image of penny farthings being raced.

Just a picture of an ordinary wheel.

Went out for a spring 🌱🌼 #Unicycle ride with some friends.

#UnicycleLife

One of my own numberless† cards, for those that have not seen such things before. Other companies that offer them include Chase (UK) and also the Apple card.

And yes this is a real, usable card and no I did not remove anything. This is how it is issued.

† It has a number obviously, just not printed on the card. I can access it though the app and website associated with my account and I also store it in my password manager for convenience.

Here is an old image of more of my cards. I switched some of them since this picture but still none have any card account number on the front, unlike my cards further in the past.

The obvious advantage of stripping the numbers off the front (or entirety) of the card is for security/privacy. If they are seen† it is not possible for a nefarious person to memorise or quickly photograph the number.

Indeed I cannot think of any good reason for modern cards to continue to print the number across the front. If your bank does, maybe tell them to stop it.

† Just a few years back I could not have posted a picture like this on social media without compromising my account details.

Having an embossed card seems particularly stupid in 2025. Those old "Knuckle Busters" cannot be used anywhere, anymore. So there is no advantage to them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card_imprinter

Just to clarify one point, card imprinters might now be pointless but I do personally think they were a brilliant solution at the time. They are so much quicker (and more accurate) at recording the account details than someone handwritting them out. So while their time has come and gone, hats off to whichever individual(s) that came up with this idea in the first place. It was a brilliant little hack.

[And yes I am using "hack" in it's more traditional sense]

@badrihippo Well I am old enough to recall seeing them used.

At least I recall my parents handing over cards to be imprinted this way. I don't think I have ever used one with my own cards that I recall.

@badrihippo Credit Cards are full of redundant methods for getting account information off them

1. The numbers being printed are from when the merchant would transfer by writting them out, with a pen
2. Embossing to work with card imprinters
3. Mag stripe to work with mag stripe readers

In Norway these days it is 90% contactless with the very occasionally insert of the chip. You can remove all 3 of the above and it would not really matter at all.

Not a #WristCheck 🤪

People are likely thinking. "Ok, that's not practical" but it is actually. 😉

Sometimes when I am unicycling, I want/need to check the time. In the winter with gloves, jumper & jacket it can be hard to expose your wrist to read it, even though my hands are free.

However, even with a gloved hand I can use the chain to pull this out of my pocket and neatly place it back again.

What about your phone, you might ask? The smooth, pebble shape makes this easier and the chain prevents dropping! 😉

Not just unicycling. I would imagine it also works on a bike because you can do it entirely with one hand. In fact this might be even more practical on a bike.

Even when walking. When it is negative degrees outside who wants to take off their gloves or risk dropping your (much bulkier) phone.

Now granted I don't buy and use things like unicycles or pocket watches for practical reasons but it is suprising how often my odd choices turn out to be practical after all, at least for some use cases.

It is worth experimenting and not just going with the status quo.

#UnicyclesArePractical

So I got a question (no names… OK, it was @atlemo)

"How exactly do you put your hand in your pocket with thick winter gloves on?"

You pull out via the chain. Putting back is easy. You just press the watch against the area above your pocket and push down. It is small, smooth and round. It just goes in. My hand never goes into my pocket but it would need to if I was to try and get my phone out.

However, a quick demo might be easier. Let me don my glove! 🤣

@atlemo and note, my other hand was free to video this. So yeah, you could easily do this on a bike whilst cycling with no risk of dropping anything.

Now try that with a glove on and your phone. Oh and don't drop the phone because it is not on chain and will fall to the ground! 😛

#WinterCyclingWatch

@timmy Yes it is an "automatic". Here is a picture of the back. That weight moves when you move, causing it to self wind while you wear it.