Bixi (bike + taxi) is a public bicycle system which allows urbanites to rent a bike from an automatically-run station for a nominal fee, use it for any length of time, and return it to a bixi station of choice (conveniently dispersed throughout a city). Says Bixi’s website, “This allows people to have all the benefits of a bicycle, without having to purchase one, store one or bring one into town.” Cheaper than a taxi, more fun than a bus, and quicker than walking, bikes are undoubtedly one of the best ways to tool around a city, and public bike systems make all the benefits of biking inexpensive and easy.

Bike sharing is not a new idea. Around since the 50’s and popularized in Europe in the 90’s, self-service bike rentals have received mixed results. Earlier this year, the BBC reported one bike share company who, after a wildly successful launch in Paris, found themselves facing a massive problem when the bikes continually were stolen and vandalized.

Bixi has learned from other company’s mistakes, responding to these concerns by enlisting the help of top designers to quite literally reinvent the wheel. The new bikes are almost futuristic-looking in their durable design, and have embedded tracking systems that allow all bikes to be accounted for at any given time on back-end control systems. So far, the results are good, and in Montreal, the systems have flourished. With this success, the rest of North America is finally catching on to the idea.

“Boston, New York, Miami Beach, Montreal, Toronto, Minneapolis, Portland, and Vancouver are just some of the cities that have expressed an interest in or are actually setting up public bike systems. Not to mention a host of college and university campuses,” Bixi gushes. Time Magazine named Bixi one of the Best 50 Inventions of 2008, and even music icon David Byrne recently took to his blog to detail his positive experience using the public bikes. Byrne muses, “There are chain guards so you don’t get grease all over your nice white pants or dress, and the gear switching mechanism is inside the axle, so no grease there either. . . . You don’t HAVE to dress like a messenger unless you want to.”

A logical solution to a multitude of problems, installing a simple bike share system should be an obvious addition to every city’s public transit web. With such endless benefits, it’s clearly time for someone to knock on city council’s door with a new request to green the city.

*Image from www.Bixisystem.com

“Will Americans put on ‘recession pounds’? asks a recent article online. Suggesting that because of the rising cost of food and declining rate of the economy, the article projects more people will turn to fast food and junk food as a cheaper choice to fill the gut. And, in turn, the gut will grow.

Coining the phrase of a “Diet for a New Depression,” is Adam Drewnoski, director of the Nutrition Sciences Program at the University of Washington in Seattle.  His research shows that in economical hard times (uh, that would be now), more people consume “empty calories or foods high in sugar, saturated fats and refined grains, which are cheaper,” at the same time avoiding the “relatively expensive items” like fruit, vegetables and whole grains. He recommends rather than turning to big macs and cheezits, we should instead look at using the same foods Americans used to cope during the Great Depression in the 1930’s.

But to write off fruits and vegetables as if they are a “luxury” items is out-and-out untrue – unless you count keeping healthy and fit a luxury.  Truth be told, some produce may be out of budget, but certainly not all. Shopping at Whole Foods the other day, for example, I found bagged organic crisp fuji apples on sale — $2.99 for 3 pounds. That’s a buck a pound for awesome apples (I bought 3 bags).  Later, I found a farmer’s market selling organic baby spinach at 3 pounds for $7. And I can get dried black beans for less than a dollar a pound as well which can make more hearty black bean soup than I know what to do with.  The physical well-being that this food will afford me? Priceless, of course.

With just a hint of shopper’s savvyness, it’s not difficult to maintain or even begin a lifestyle of healthy living even during nickel and dime time. Keeping an eye out for sale items, buying what’s in season, and taking advantage of the bulk bins is a great way to save some dough . . . and avoid becoming a recession doughboy.

For the original article, read it in full here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090109/us_nm/us_financial_obesity