sa-essay

We need

2012-02-15T09:54:00.002+02:00

"We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness." - Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977)

Hey, that's my bike!

2012-02-14T22:11:00.000+02:00

OSBM

2012-02-10T15:36:00.000+02:00

I know i've posted already today, but i found this and still can't stop laughing.
http://www.osbm.co.za/

OUR OBJECTIVES

To become the ultimate reference to the definition of biking in Southern Africa
To protect and promote the old school biking traditions, protocols and lifestyle
To provide a platform for those who are in agreement with OSBM objectives
To guide and educate those seeking to define themselves
To eventually compile a database of respected MC, MCC's

And of course, on their patch stands FIFO ... fit in or fuck off. How quaint. I would include an image of their patch, but fuck them.

I should explain myself, since it all appears very ... normal i guess. It's all about control, about who is the top dog of baaikers in south africa. There are a whole bunch of president's councils, presidents councils councils, and other associations which serve as an excuse to drink on weeknights. You have thinkbike, which is a complete flop in terms of positively affecting anything at all, (except hospital visits, Boesman does astonishing work in that dept), and you have importers and manufacturers associations like amid, all trying to jostle their way to the top of the dungheap.

I notice that some of the main okes are ex think bike too ... so they're admitting that tb is a failure, they rubbished the brand, and now create brand after brand after brand, all trying to "educate the uninformed", most likely over a beer. They talk about "respect" and "honour" and such high faluting ideas, but only for people who give THEM their "dues" and conform to their "standards".

"PROCEDURAL GUIDELINES TO START A NEW CLUB
When you have determined what type of club you want to start (see above), you need to make contact with the local Council or Association. You need to do this so that they can assist you.

Old School bikers understand biking traditions and protocols. They ask permission from their Brothers if they want to do anything that will involve the other Brothers. That goes for starting new clubs as well. Less experienced Brothers should seek and follow the advice of their more experienced Brothers."

Sounds like the fucking taxman don't it? Come here so we can help you with your anal virginity problem. This fucking posturing and preening like a bunch of peacocks is revolting. It's all about the jol, and the crowd, and the popularity, and status, and has nothing to do with anything else of value. Old boys club for the common man, as run by the wealthier among them for their own egotism. Just like freemasonry, except the bitch can play with if she keeps her mouth shut.

Fit in or fuck off ... thankfully I don't fit in with them. I am not one of them. Never will be.

The line

2012-02-10T11:08:00.000+02:00

"The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. Even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained; and even in the best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of evil. It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person."
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Again i have to thank CoyotePrime for his daily inspiration. A full size image can be found here.

Last message of Paul Kruger

2012-02-09T14:18:00.000+02:00

Last message of president S. J. P. Kruger to his people.

Addressed to general Louis Botha.

Dear General,

It is a great privilege to be able to acknowledge the receipt of your cablegram and letter of 23rd and 29th May respectively, conveying to me the greetings of the Congress held from 23rd to 25th May at Pretoria.

In all the sorrow and grief that has befallen me these greetings have made me deeply thankful. And with all my heart I thank those who have spared a thought for their age State President during their deliberations about the present and future: by so doing they show that they have not forgotten the past

For, he who desires to build a future, dare not neglect the past.

Seek, therefore, all that is good and beautiful in the past, build on it your ideal, and strive to realise that ideal for the future.

It is true much of what has been built is now destroyed, despoiled and ruined; but through singleness of purpose and unity of strength what now lies shattered can still be restored.

I am thankful to see that this unity and this concord prevail amongst you.

Do not forget that grave warning that lies in the words, "Divide and rule" ; never let these words apply to the South African nation. Then our people and our language will endure and prosper.

What I myself shall live to see of this, rests with God. Born under the British flag, I do not wish to die under it. I have learnt to accept the bitter thought of death as a lone exile in a foreign land, far from my kith and kin whose faces I am not likely to see again; far from a country to which I devoted my whole life in an effort to open it up for civilisation and where I saw my own nation grow.

But this grief will be softened if I may cherish the belief that the work once begun, continues; for then the hope and the expectation that the work will end well, will me strength. So be it.

For the bottom of my heart I greet you and my people.

Villas Des Prierriers 17,

Clarens (Vaud), Switzerland.

29th June, 1904.
_______________________________________________

When i visited the Voortrekker monument in Pretoria, which was inaugurated in 1949, i saw deep inside the massive stone monument, the flame (of civilisation). I was initially stunned, since i know its true meaning, which is best expressed as "illumination", which is great and all that, but utterly opposed to the life and beliefs of the boers and trekkers. It struck me then how it had transpired, and how deep the rot went.

I'm doing research on behalf of my son for a project, "The history of banking in SA" ... gosh. 1904 the British defeat the Boers with a scorched earth policy, 1910 they inaugurate their colony, 1912 they establish the central bank. I also learned that the british lied to the bantu's, telling them that the afrikaner would re-introduce slavery, so the bantu's formed cannon fodder for the brits, who won and within 20 years had introduced apartheid, nothing more than refined colonialism, as practiced by the brits the world over.

Ladies and gentlemen, i give you the result of the Boer war, and the victory of Britain in South Africa:

This is what the boers were fighting against.

I also find it fascinating that the ANC and the Reserve bank were instituted in the same year, 1912.

On his return to England early in 1901, in a series of lectures given in Scotland, Doyle praised the activities of the freemasons during the Boer war. On 23 March 1901, he was invited to propose the main toast to the Immortal Memory of Queen Victoria and The Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary’s Chapel) No 1 Scottish Constitution made him an honorary member following his speech, in which he spoke on Masonry in South Africa.
Source: Website.

What has since emerged is that Doyle did indeed visit the Rising Star Lodge but the date and circumstances remain a mystery. The first meeting of the Lodge during the war took place on the 5th of April 1900 following on the British occupation of the town two days earlier. The Cape Argus reported the meeting in their 18th April issue stating that:
" ...a communication was received from R W Bro Lord Kitchener . . expressing his regret at not being able to attend the meeting . . .and a similar letter was read from Bro A Conan Doyle, both Brethren intimating that it was their intention to visit the lodge in the near future. "
Lord Kitchener did attend a meeting of the Lodge on 23rd April 1900 and signed a document, still in possession of the Lodge, proposing that a Royal resolution be sent to the Prince of Wales. Lord Roberts and Conan Doyle are also signatories to this document.

2 days after taking Bloemfontein: "Thirty-nine members of the lodge and sixty-one visitors, many high ranking and important personalities, were present." How convenient.

The victors, who were traitors to their families and friends and country and heritage.

Military enrollment requirements

2012-02-08T15:09:00.000+02:00

Hat tip to this isn't happiness, and with GREAT respect to Arlo Guthrie.

For those who don't know, it's from a song called Alice's Restaurant, which is a song about Alice, and her restaurant ... well sorta. It's a wonderful song, even better story, but real life always upstages the stage. I give you, the court transcript.

Sticks and stones ...

2012-02-07T15:28:00.000+02:00

Registration, the definition in the Blacks Law Dictionary is: “the act of recording and enrolling of property and chattels” – where have we agreed to register our children, homes, land, buildings, businesses and chattels with this company?

Extracted from: Human Beings vs THE CITY OF CAPE TOWN

Anthea has been involved in building alternate communities for several years now. While i cannot be there in the flesh, i will certainly be there in spirit, and i wish her all the best in her defense.

Lions and historians

2012-02-05T08:43:00.000+02:00

"Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters."- African Proverb

I wonder where in Africa are historians, i think story teller would have been more apt, lol. But this quote caught me immediately, our recorded history is notoriously one sided, missing most of the truth of the matter.

Words

2012-02-02T18:27:00.000+02:00

Words ending in SHIP include ownership, custodianship, partnership, receivership and of course citizenship (see all 218 words here: http://www.morewords.com/ends-with/ship/). The vast majority of these terms are used commercially because commerce originated from shipping merchants. Shipping merchants extended their rituals and practices from the sea onto the land. This is why you must SHIP your furniture from Jo'burg to Bloem, even though there is not a drop of water in sight. This is also why you need a passport to travel. There are even ports in the air, known as airports which are clear extensions of the laws and rituals of the sea. It is all about money and commerce.

When driving on a road, one uses a left and right lane. These lanes are symbolic of shipping lanes. Strangely, common city streets have islands which need to be negotiated (like a ship negotiates difficult waters). The person sitting next to the driver is called a passenger. Passengers are paying people who are taken from one place to another on commercial vessels for money. The assumption is made that you are always doing commerce when driving on a road. Commercial vessels need to insure their cargo. That is why passengers are insured because they are literally considered cargo. Who owns the cargo? Research this yourself to find out just how deep the rabbit hole goes.

The word "person" means corporation and a person is therefore considered cargo. If a person cannot maintain their commercial integrity, the corporation sinks, the business cannot stay afloat and they are declared insolvent. A solvent is a liquid in which something can be dissolved. If you have too many illiquid assets, you are insolvent. This is why the word liquidity is used in commercial affairs. Everything is about water and the sea because commercial laws of the sea is about commerce and cargo. It about turning real solid things (on land) into liquid trading commodities (money, commercial paper and negotiable instruments). How the illiquid (the real assets) are linked to the liquid (money) is the most masterful of deceptions and why lawyers are paid huge amounts of money NOT to investigate this.

In summary, it works like this: unless you specify otherwise, YOU ARE THE STATE'S CARGO. However, if you specify to someone who has no idea what you are talking about (like a traffic officer) that you are not cargo, they will look at you very strangely.

See how clever this is: a ship berths in a canal, and its cargo is offloaded into a delivery room where it is accounted for by way of a certificate with a title. Certificates are evidence of commercial value (like a share certificate).

Is it a coincidence that babies are also born from a birth canal in a delivery room? And a doctor then signs a manifest of live birth and issues a birth certificate in their name? The baby is then registered (to register comes from Latin rex regus – “for the crown”) and it now has a commercial value as property. This property (cargo) has been gifted to the crown (ie. the goverment's estate). The state has now has a vested commercial interest or share in the value of that property / cargo. That is why your human baby is stripped of all rights and given a commercial value to be traded as part of the national corporation.

If you take a look at your birth certificate, you will see that it does not say what you are (ie. a human being). However, if an animal is born, it gets a certificate specifying “bovine” or “feline” or “equine” or whatever the case may be. Put simply, when a human baby is born, a shadow corporation is formed in the baby’s name. The baby's name then becomes it's title. This cute little corporation only has those rights which the state chooses to give it.

Ask yourself - is a baby born with any natural rights at all (like the right to food and water?) Or does it only have those rights which are granted to it by the state? Well, the state can intervene at any time in the life and education of that child can it not? It can if the child is their precious cargo.

Remember, a flesh and blood human being has no natural legal standing, only it's shadow corporation (or juristic person) does. This is why the word “human being” is not in Black’s Law Dictionary. Black's Law Dictionary contains just about every word imaginable. However, if you want a definition of a human being, go back to 1930 and read Ballentines Law dictionary. Next to Human Being it says: “see monster.” I am not kidding.

My sincere thanks to the Johan of the Joubert Family Community for making this information available.

YES!

2012-02-01T13:42:00.002+02:00

Thank you Le Container.

Petrol-head-ism

2012-01-30T11:09:00.000+02:00

From: Funzug

Very cool motoring museum somewhere stateside. Many, MANY pristine examples of petrol-head-ism.

Life and justice

2012-01-30T10:31:00.000+02:00

"Wherefore the plaintiff prays for judgement against the defendant"

"PRAYS FOR JUDGEMENT AGAINST"

Pray to who?

I am still pondering this bit of paper that was delivered to me. The claims are laughable, and false, but the contents seem designed to insult a sensible man. He is PRAYING FOR JUDGEMENT against me ...

"Judge NOT lest ye be judged. "

This half man, who has spent his whole life running from the courts, now feels that they can be manipulated to do his bidding, against his own daughter. Did i mention he had the summons delivered for her birthday? Now those who have followed this blog a while know that my wife and birthday have very unhappy connotations. I guess he didn't like my version of justice, but he has no actual recourse, save for lies and falsehoods.

I have been reading and learning quite a lot lately, mostly in connection with the courts, the banks, the police, and how they conspire against us all. The word is Babylon, the system. That which is against all life on earth. So this man puts on airs and graces, biblical justifications for personal vendettas, and goes to pray to Baal to hurt his daughter and her family, because she stood by her marriage vows, standing by her husband, and not her father. Of course, his own breach of contract from the wedding day seems forgotten in his money lust. He has no claim over my family and it's goods, so in the absence of true footing, he prays to Baal for judgement against us.

I realise that legalspeak is always couched in occult terms to confuse the goyim, but the reality of ruined lives is the only legacy of this system, which is wholly financial, wholly indescriminate, and has NO relation to reality, truth, or fairness. I now must take this system head on, and a cannot afford a shark, nor do i want such a self serving asshole pretending to be me. And i am NOT an idiot that needs the designation of "ward".

My children thanked me for having forced his hand to leave (of his own will) and remembered to me the horror with which they faced their grandparents each day. Of course this entire exercise is to provide his latest wife with a nest egg, for he is sick and near his end, having wasted everything he ever had. But somehow he has paid a lawyer to harass me, and i intend to make that lawyer operate at a a loss. That not 1 of his 3 children would help him in any way is his own doing, and i cannot even raise sympathy anymore, only disgust for this man of the world who really is an enemy to all who do not obey him.

I have so many other things to say, to share, but unfortunately this is more important, urgent, and dangerous. The health of my children is being threatened by someone who should be the last to do so.

Here's to ...

2012-01-25T14:04:00.004+02:00

Honda CB350 1973

2012-01-22T08:51:00.001+02:00

Hat tip to 8Negro, origionally at VintageHondaCB.com. Beautiful, the details are entrancing, i love this bike!

Get well soon Jeb!!!

2012-01-17T09:06:00.003+02:00

World renowned base jumper, Jeb Corliss, attempted a jump off Table Mountain today and ended up with two broken legs and a neck injury.

And then ...

The whale and the ship

2012-01-16T12:40:00.002+02:00

Sanral in financial dilemma

2012-01-15T16:32:00.000+02:00

ArriveAlive.

The agency is continually borrowing money on the open market, and repaying it on a monthly basis. In September Sanral’s total indebtedness was R31.5bn, R20bn of which had been spent on the improvement of the envisaged Gauteng toll roads.

Every month Sanral holds bond auctions which raise an average R300m. These auctions are generally twice oversubscribed, but in September the auction was cancelled because investors got cold feet owing to the uncertainty about the future of the toll system.

Sanral then cancelled further auctions until the implementation of the tolling system. It had hoped that this would be in February and that auctions could resume in March.

The absence of auctions in September, October and February would mean a loss of R900m. Sanral does not normally hold auctions in November, December and January.

By implication the March auction is off the table and there is no indication when auctions will resume.

In terms of the initial planning, the e-toll system was to have begun in April last year. Financial planning was aligned to this date. Sanral is thus saddled with massive debt that has to be paid, but without a meaningful income.

Financial director Inge Mulder previously reported that Sanral had sufficient money, if necessary, to pay off its debt up to the end of May. But by June the money will be exhausted and Sanral will no longer be able to make payments. Government will then have to intervene. This has huge implications for market confidence in Sanral and South Africa, which could be reflected in credit ratings.

A good day

2012-01-12T10:16:00.000+02:00

Ain't it so.

The Truth Explodes

2012-01-10T22:26:00.000+02:00

Rendest rachib, rhud rhip zelp
borachs un fun dehl noach, shochen zoap

Oh ohhhhh, oh yeah
Ah ahhhhh, oh yeah

And your city will fall
And your corn won't grow
To the silence from the temple
Hear the truth explode
It is written in the dust
It is whispered in the wind
From the wisdom of the fathers
Where the word begins

Ah ahhhhh, oh yeah
Oh ohhhhh, oh yeah

In the kingdom of gold
And the stolen chance
You can join the celebration
See the children dance
And the bells will ring
And the crowds will roar
And the sand in the glass
Can pour no more

Yallah, yallah, yallah, yallah,
Yallah, yallah, yallah, yallah

Oh ohhhhh, oh yeah
Oh ohhhhh, oh yeah

The rivers will freeze
And the hosts descend
Thru the fires and the storms
To the bitter end
And the treasures and the gifts
And the words and truths
Will be cast to the heavens
With Oomrah fruit

Ah ahhhhh, oh yeah
Oh ohhhhh, oh yeah

And your city will fall
And your corn won't grow
To the silence from the temple
Hear the truth explode
It is written in the dust
It is whispered in the wind
From the wisdom of the fathers
Where the word begins

Dracula Raven Orchid

2012-01-06T22:15:00.000+02:00

Thanks to LucustintheField.

Silence

2012-01-06T08:31:00.001+02:00

I sit, in silence
and listen;
like black is the deepest color
silence is the purest sound
a giant entity, teaming with energy
yet keeping it to, itself
though not selfish
forever giving and yielding
yet never ending
this massively wonderous thing
though it can not be seen
it is felt, and heard
yet makes no sound
and therein
lies the beauty
Of Silence

My thanks to daddio at ATS for sharing this with me. Silence is something that i also love dearly, perhaps because it is so rare :)

On time

2011-12-31T13:15:00.000+02:00

"On Time"

"And an astronomer said, "Master, what of Time?"

And he answered: "You would measure time the measureless and the immeasurable.
You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course of
your spirit according to hours and seasons.
Of time you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch its flowing.

Yet the timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness,
And knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.
And that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the
bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space.

Who among you does not feel that his power to love is boundless?
And yet who does not feel that very love, though boundless, encompassed
within the centre of his being, and moving not from love thought to love thought,
nor from love deeds to other love deeds?
And is not time even as love is, undivided and spaceless?

But if in your thought you must measure time into seasons,
let each season encircle all the other seasons,
And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing."

- Kahlil Gibran, "The Prophet, On Time"

Thank you to CoyotePrime for his runningcauseicantfly blog. Everday another thought which carries me above the daily dumdrum.

I'm scared to think about the coming year, or the past, each year seems worse, the only changing is the children, living their lives headlong, headstrong, and all too quickly.

The rain falls gently outside, thunder rolling alongside, and cold clean air following. And i try break free of all our stupid timetables of life. I forget the time, i forget the date, and if i'm lucky i forget the day.

But monday to friday, 8-4h30 i have to be somewhere else, far away, doing something i hate, for people i revile, for a system that kills us all, before we die.

And i'm grateful that the rain is not yet stolen, nor the air (the ipcc is working on that) ... and i pray that somehow, i can be the change i want to see in the world.

Peace and love

Gone surfin

2011-12-27T14:03:00.002+02:00

Happy

2011-12-25T09:03:00.002+02:00

I wish everyone a bountiful tree as we celebrate this consumerist extravaganza. May capitalism bring you increased excess next year.

Thanks to @BarryBateman

Deep Green Resistance

2011-12-20T13:35:00.000+02:00

Teachers of madness

teachers of rage

we need you to lead us

out of this age.

The rivers are dammed

trees are cut

food is poison

the world has changed.

On the mountain

in a cave

the God of Destruction laughs

he knows the age of destruction is near.

The best of us sits

in front of a screen

we talk about peace

but everybody knows.

We need a teacher

the Teacher of Madness

Master of Anger

Magister of Rage

And we will all go

laughing

smiling

dancing

destroying.

By Desert dreamer - Thank you so much.

I fell in love with this poem, feel the emotion of the author, and my spirit yearns for action, reaction, correction a return to balance ... DEEP GREEN RESISTANCE.

Stupidity and doubt

2011-12-20T08:41:00.001+02:00

“The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell

This is so true. Arrogance and ignorance always go hand in hand. So when you meet someone who is really sure of themselves, and wants to include you with their plans, you can bet they're stupid too.

Touch

2011-12-17T17:42:00.002+02:00

Rivers of death

2011-12-14T08:51:00.000+02:00

450 killed on SA roads

It has been a grim start to the 2011 festive season on South Africa's roads.

The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) said 450 people have been killed over the past two weeks.

RTMC spokesperson Ashref Ismail said the accidents were caused by "excessive speeding, drinking and overloading".

Last weekend, at least 30 people were killed when an overloaded taxi collided with a truck in Harrismith in the Free State.

______________________________________________

No, mr RTMC person, you are entirely wrong, and being wrong is part of the "causes". Drinking is the only factor mentioned that causes accidents, the others only exacerbate them. Add to the list insufficient and ineffective policing, a completely unworkable and valueless licensing system, and people in responsible positions at the RTMC obviously having no clue about road safety. Government stonewalls any civic group that tries to address these issues, and is ONLY concerned with how best to rape the population financially.

May the poor dead rest in peace. Most were only passengers paying ridiculous sums to get home to their families for xmas. 450 families will be crying this season. And we haven't even reached the 15th, when most of the people start leave.

The title is "rivers of death", and that's how i see roads. Massive rivers flowing fast and carrying flotsam cars, swinging and swaying uncertainly, ready to crash into anything in it's path. Like a river full of crocodiles and snakes, any unwary moves could bring instant death, at any point near to it's blackness.

Stoned

2011-12-13T08:31:00.001+02:00

Curious rock formations found near the town of Bulls Port in Namibia.

Thanks to Onestonedcrow!!!

Hang on!!

2011-12-08T09:48:00.000+02:00

The Drug Deal

2011-12-04T09:20:00.000+02:00

Howzit

Howzit

Thanks

Sweet

Hello moon

2011-11-29T09:03:00.000+02:00

Thank you thisisnthappiness.

Toyrun was awesome!

2011-11-28T07:48:00.004+02:00

Four days of Benoni North Sports Grounds, walking and pulling and pushing and hanging and throwing and running and talking and listening and sun and flowers and water and bikes. Yeah bikes. Bright shiny painted chromed noisy motorbikes, in the thousands.

The Toyrun party was a good one this year, and all there had a great time. Sadly it wasn't as well attended as we'd hoped, but i think that's true more often than not. No idea on toy counts yet, but as usual the mountain of toys and variety beggars belief. I need to get to some of the handouts, just to complete the year. I hate xmas time but playing santa's little helper really is where i must be. Did you hear about the dyslexic who sold his soul to santa? The bikers were the usual sorts, apparently one guy spent R2000 on tickets for a kids cancer charity. Most were very well behaved, although the temptation of showing off on grass was too much for most, which led to only one off, but many fast beating hearts. I have to mention too, the variety of bikes on display was supreme. Nowhere else in the world could you find such a varied collection of well loved machines.

It was an honour to work with the team. Men and women of all shapes and sizes and dispositions, all pulling together to make it work. The two head marshalls, Andre and Devon deserve special mentions, each having excelled in keeping masses of bikers as safe as possible, under difficult conditions. EMPD made a surprising mass appearance which for safety was perfect. It also looks really good when the ride is preceeded by official police escourt. The other organisers were all outstanding examples of selflessness and charity, and the entire event was powered by hard work by many, many people. But this year was good, it had the right festive atmosphere that infected all who were involved, even the hired workers were a jovial and enthusiastic bunch.

The grass. My most vivid impressions are of the grass fields stretching as far as the legs could carry. Each foot of it teeming with life, bees, flies, miggies, flowers red and yellow and purple, small unidentified other plants sitting quietly amongst the grasses. The constant flow of people all through the day coming to enjoy the space in peace. I felt a strong sense of being a custodian for the fields, of being responsible to them. Each tree was a shelter from the sun, the grass a welcoming seat, the bees amiable company, the constant breeze bringing clouds of all shapes and sizes. The skies a constantly changing panorama of blues and whites and greys and birds of all hues.

My body needs rest, but my mind is at peace.

EDIT:
http://www.iol.co.za/motoring/bikes-quads-karts/toy-run-bikers-party-all-the-way-1.1187910

Toyrun

2011-11-23T14:13:00.003+02:00

If you want any info:

send a blank email to: info@toyrun.org.za.
or phone me :)

Guys, anyone who reads this, pass it on please, and bring toys, as many as you can. More is better, i'd rather have 10 small gifts than 1 large one. Teddy bears look great, but kids over 10 aren't really into them? They'd rather have stationary, so they can work their way out of the hole they're in, or toiletries, so they can have some dignity.

peace and love

PS, apologies for the colour, it was created by a biker, ok?

Black Tuesday

2011-11-22T08:50:00.000+02:00

http://www.zapiro.com/cartoon/589725-111122tt

Sensible Police Tactics Against Occupiers

2011-11-21T09:14:00.001+02:00

www.Moonofalabama.org

"Lt. John Pike of UC Davis defends himself against an ongoing attack by radical left wing students camouflaged with hoods."

We teach life, sir.

2011-11-18T21:34:00.000+02:00

*silence*

Kommetjie

2011-11-18T08:24:00.002+02:00

My favourite place in the whole world! Thanks to Deevi for sending it for me.

Outlaw

2011-11-17T08:29:00.002+02:00

"Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you're not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. 'Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win. That's just the way it is."

- Clint Eastwood, "The Outlaw Josey Wales"

Old books

2011-11-15T14:29:00.000+02:00

Golden Ratio

2011-11-14T11:22:00.000+02:00

11 11 11 11 11 11

2011-11-11T09:12:00.002+02:00

Just sayin' ...

Full moon, seems like everyone has gone moggy again, 2 bikers taken out by the blue light assholes, another shot in a semi road rage incident.

As Aquila Ka Hekate pointed out, already the xmas madness has started.

And all i want is for it to rain.

Pseudoscience and Heretics

2011-11-08T09:11:00.002+02:00

PDF: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/ridley_rsa_millar_speech_scientific_heresy.pdf

Matt Ridley's speech at the Angus Millar lecture - http://www.thersa.org/events/audio-and-past-events/2011/angus-millar-lecture-2011-scientific-heresy

FROM: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/11/01/thank-you-matt-ridley/#more-50468

So I learnt lesson number 1: the stunning gullibility of the media. Put an “ology” after your pseudoscience and you can get journalists to be your propagandists.

Lesson number 2: debunking is like water off a duck’s back to pseudoscience.

Lesson number 3. We can all be both. Newton was an alchemist.

That’s lesson number 4: the heretic is sometimes right.

Lesson number 5: keep a sharp eye out for confirmation bias in yourself and others.

Lesson 6. Never rely on the consensus of experts about the future. Experts are worth listening to about the past, but not the future. Futurology is pseudoscience.

In conclusion, I’ve spent a lot of time on climate, but it could have been dietary fat, or nature and nurture. My argument is that like religion, science as an institution is and always has been plagued by the temptations of confirmation bias. With alarming ease it morphs into pseudoscience even – perhaps especially – in the hands of elite experts and especially when predicting the future and when there’s lavish funding at stake. It needs heretics.

Revolution

2011-11-04T08:40:00.001+02:00

Thank you LeContainer.

Fog Harvesting

2011-11-02T08:53:00.003+02:00

Tshiavha - When plumes of fog gather above the rocky mountains encircling a remote South African village, children look at them with excitement, knowing they will have clean drinking water at school.
Erected in 2007 with the help of a local university, the fog trapped in the nets provides up to 2,500 litres of waters on a good day.

“The water is clean and safe with no chemicals added to it,” said Lutanyani Malumedzha the principal of Tshiavha primary school.

According to Malumedzha, access to clean water had significantly improved school children's health and reduced the outbreak of waterborne diseases.

“Children used to bring their own bottles of water to school during the hot and dry months. The water was collected from muddy wells and not suitable for human consumption,” said Malumedzha.

In some areas, communities share drinking water with cattle.

Although South Africa's water quality is rated among the best in world, rural communities lag behind when it comes to having running water.

“We have learnt to appreciate water and treat it as if it was a precious commodity,” said Malumedza.

“Not a single drop is wasted. Some of it goes there,” said Malumedza pointing to a vegetable garden which provides food for the school feeding scheme.

The four-metre high mesh net which stands outside the school's playground resembles a volleyball net, except for a gutter at the hem where water droplets fall, leading to a water tank a few metres away.

There are no electronics involved and the system requires little maintenance, Malumedza said.

Killers

2011-11-02T08:29:00.002+02:00

This is a warning to all bikers out there: the pigs, in this case the provincial piggies, in unmarked cars, are prepared to kill you, either by riding into you, or shooting you.

IOL: http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/he-was-going-to-kill-me-1.1169654

“I didn’t know what was happening. I couldn’t turn around to look who it was because there were potholes all over the road. I couldn’t see any blue flashing lights and there were no sirens. I was panicking. I thought that those inside wanted to hijack me,” he said

It was as Van Zyl turned on to the R514 that the traffic officers collided with him, apparently on purpose, striking his handlebars and front wheel, forcing him to crash.

Van Zyl was thrown across the VW Golf and into a pavement and traffic light, smashing his rib cage and tearing ligaments.

He claimed one of the traffic officers from the car walked up to him and began pistol-whipping him before shoving his gun into his helmet and threatening to execute him.

“I couldn’t move. This traffic officer was screaming that he was going to kill me.

“It was only after another motorist stopped to help me that the officer walked off,” he said.

Changes

2011-11-01T08:22:00.002+02:00

Things change, and i'm going through one of those times. I've already slowed on my posting, and probably will further. I'm not abandoning it yet, the thought occurred to me, but honestly i feel too deeply for this blog and the people i share ideas with to walk away, just changing slightly.

peace and love

One demand

2011-10-19T08:56:00.000+02:00

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29436.htm

Occupy Wall Street: My One Demand

By Jinger Dixon

October 18, 2011 "Information Clearing House" -- I was recently asked what I thought the “one demand” should be for the OWS protest. That’s a tough question. I’ve seen many lists of the things people are suggesting. Most seem well intended. However, no one demand alone even begins to scratch the surface of what‘s wrong here. In fact, in a way, it points out how far we really are, from seeing where we really are. To sum it all up in one demand seemed impossible, so I decided to try. After much thought, I constructed the following analogy to describe my take on this whole One Demand issue.

Take a map and draw a circle, then say, everyone outside the circle is to have their labor and resources exploited for the benefit of those inside the circle. If you live outside the circle you say, “this system is completely fucked up.” If you live inside the circle you say, “this is capitalism and it’s the best system on earth you should try it it’s awesome. Sure, people outside are suffering, but who gives a fuck about them?” Now as the circle shrinks, as it is designed to do, concentrating accumulated wealth, people begin finding themselves suddenly outside of the circle. They jump up and down and cry foul, but the ones still in the circle say, “tough shit, you were too slow, shoulda run faster to stay inside the circle“. But then, they soon realize that they too are too slow to keep up with the rapidly shrinking circle, and quickly they find themselves left out, so they cry foul. “The system is broken!!!” they decry! But is it? Isn’t this the way the system has always functioned? Why is it now broken just because they, we, no longer reside within the bounds of its benefits? We stand outside the ever shrinking circle, yelling fixes, throwing band-aids, making demands that the ever shrinking circle expand! at least big enough to include us so that we can go back to not giving a fuck about the people outside, but alas, it will not. The circle does not expand, it does not know how. It only knows how to contract, concentrate, condense, like a dark star collapsing in on itself. There is no “demand” that will drag the borders of the circle back around us. And even if you could, would you? Would you go back to fucking the rest of the world to have your cable TV and your steel belted radials? I hope not. I hope the world is ready to say no more. No more. Therefore, since it is my sincere belief that the circle is/was and always will be fucked up, I say, surround them and demand that they collapse in on themselves and disappear into their own black hole.

That is my One Demand.

And from the comments, most excellent:

They drew a circle that shut me out —
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took them in.

Paraphrased from "Outwitted" by Edwin Markham

For whatever it's worth in the emotional state many find themselves in at this time.

Wild blue

2011-10-17T09:22:00.000+02:00

Thanks Le Container

The Heavens Proclaim

2011-10-17T08:54:00.001+02:00

Mortal soul 4 -- The heavens proclaim

Four centuries ago, Francis Bacon said that what a person would like to be true, he preferentially believes. Is there a way to truth that escapes the constraints of personal preference? Can we know the world as it is and not as we wish it to be? Perhaps not. Certainly there is no such thing as Truth with a capital T, final and absolute. But Bacon was instrumental in inventing a way to reliable truth with a lower case t -- tentative, partial, evolving truth. It is called the scientific way of knowing, and it follows simple rules:

1. Rely on reproducible quantitative observations that can be shared by believer and skeptic alike.

2. Do not assume more when less will do.

3. Do not invoke the supernatural when a natural explanation will suffice.

4. Be willing to say "I don't know."

5. And, especially, be ready to admit "I was wrong."

I can't offer an ironclad proof that the scientific way of knowing is more reliable than tradition, prophets, or holy books. I can only refer you the modern world -- technology, medicine, voyages to other worlds. The proof of the pudding...

The 13.7-billion-year story of creation as we currently understand it leaves me more breathless with awe than any of the anthropomorophic fairy tales I learned as a child. It is the God of this grander creation -- who is not a person, who is not this and is not that, whose name we cannot speak and whose nature we do not know -- that we glimpse in the poetic language of the mystics, such as these words of Teilhard de Chardin: "Radiant Word, blazing Power, you who mold the manifold so as to breath your life into it; I pray you, lay on us your hands -- powerful, considerate, omnipresent, those hands which do not (like our human hands) touch now here, now there, but which plunge into the depths and the totality, present and past, of things so as to reach us simultaneously through all that is most immense and most inward within us and around us." Who will deny the depth and richness of a universe that is most immense and most inward within us and around us?

What do the heavens proclaim? We are an accidental and perhaps commonplace part of a universe that is vast beyond our comprehension, certainly now and perhaps forever. The ancients had it backwards: Our story is part of the universe's story, rather than the other way around. It is a measure of our coming of age as a species that we are able to accept this natural revelation, and gaze courageously into the cosmos of the myriad galaxies rather than remaining fixated on our own navels. Finding ourselves in a universe without a center, we are challenged to make our own center, by loving the place we are in and every creature in it.

Hat tip to Runnin 'Cause I Can't Fly.

Apache blessing

2011-10-11T10:07:00.002+02:00

Thanks, i needed that.

BLACK SUNDAY (9 October 2011)

2011-10-10T10:16:00.002+02:00

This is quoted from TB, by Nunique.

I will never be able to look at this date in any other way

This morning I woke up knowing of possibly 13 riders that had died on our roads yesterday, this morning while following up on 3 of the unconfirmed accidents I was told that the death toll for bikers on our roads yesterday is standing on
16

WTF This is just way to many I mean seriously in the year that I've been doing the Fallen Wall - the worst I have come across has been 9 in a weekend not in one day. These are all as a result of motorcycle accident, I can't tell you who was at fault but gathered from discussions I've had with people that are more clued up than me at least 80% of them are as a result of rider negligence.

GUYS PLEASE THIS IS A PLEAD FROM A WIFE, A MOTHER, A DAUGHTER, AN AUNT, A FRIEND.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE THINK BEFORE GETTING ON YOUR BIKE WE ARE CURRENTLY OUR OWN WORST ENEMY AND IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE IF WE DO NOT START THINKING ABOUT THE HURT WE WILL CAUSE BY BEING SELFISH.

So many people I've spoken to who have lost family and friends as a result of biking accidents say even though they hate to admit but that the riders were speeding or drinking before the accident happened.

THINK ABOUT YOUR FAMILY!!!

STAY ALIVE!!!
______________________________________

Respect again to Nunique Of Fallenbikers.co.za.

More backlash

2011-10-07T08:39:00.002+02:00

I was right about the previous post, the ANC didn't even see this coming.

Koos Kombuis summed it up perfectly:
"They have treated the question of the Dalai Lama’s visa application as a trifle, something unimportant, a little administrative matter, an irritation that would go away if they ignored it for long enough."

He adds:
" ...the old system of apartheid.
Like the tornados that recently ripped through parts of Gauteng and the Free State, the winds of change have irrevocably destroyed that old system. The same winds will destroy the present system. When those winds have done their job, I wish to stand up and be counted; secondly as an Afrikaner, but first and foremost as a South African. In fact, I would like to live in a country where race and culture is less important than the common principles of loyalty, honesty and hard work."

Mail and Guardian has also been vocal, and now i'd like to remind the reader about how much trouble they used to be in for saying the same thing against the nats.

"There was also the absurd notion that South Africa's own challenges -- of unemployment, poverty, criminal violence, a dysfunctional education system -- somehow precluded its citizens from expressing solidarity with oppressed people around the world. This is disingenuous -- as is the oft trotted out line that only the ANC, as elected by the majority, is in touch with and can represent the will of South Africans. It is a claim used to attack Tutu, the Constitutional Court and any other dissenting voice that threatens the ANC's hegemony. It turns South Africans into democratic appendages whose only role is to mark an X on a piece of paper every five years.

All this would appear to be what the antidemocratic forces within the ruling ANC want to achieve in South Africa, in which case we can truly understand why it has such close ties with China."

And in reading other news, the anc spokeperson is attacking Max du Preez for using a word: "maaifoedies" which was not a very nice word, when it was used by slaves in the 1700's. It's ok for the same spokesperson to sing "kill people" ... but no nasty words which we've never heard before.

The idiocy as well as the insensitivity shown by these "maaifoedies" is alarming, truly frightening. It's psychopathically disconnected from reality, the same mindset of killers towards their prey.

Decisive moment

2011-10-05T08:29:00.004+02:00

For the last 17 years we've seen horror after horror. What was advertised and sold to us, and we bought euphorically with everything we owned, has turned into a lemon. This rainbow nation that is being plundered and raped as we stare helplessly.

I'm ambivalent towards the Dalai Lama, i don't really bother much about what he does. But he is a nobel laureate, the head of a major religion, and a symbol for peace, akin to madiba. Clearly not the sort of person our government would like to associate with. They prefer arms dealers and dictators.

Tutu was a caricature from when i was a kid in cape town, but as i've grown up and watched this man, he i have really developed respect for. Utterly moral, unafraid to speak his mind, both to the nats and the anc, also a religious leader and a nobel laureate. Great men both, of our time.

The anc has been it's usual stupid self, and the glaring discrepancy of they say versus what they do has become blinding. The "official" govt response was limp as wet tissue paper, and lies and distortions all.

I quote:
Mthembu added: “As a result of the ANC reputation, record on human rights, democratic principles and South Africa's progressive Constitution, South Africa is today recognised by international organisations, such as the United Nations and the African Union as a critical role player in international peace and as a protector of human rights.

Comment:
We're at 6 on the human rights watch list, our UN voting has been an insult to victims, our constitution is being trampled on, and the au internationally is also a waste of time.

But my favourite quotes are from the good bishop:
“I sat in the audience and listened to this president paying tribute to all the people who had helped to bring about democracy. This president didn’t thank a single religious leader.”

Tutu said religious leaders had encouraged up to 30 000 people at a time to march against, and bring an end to, apartheid. “Let the ANC know; they cannot airbrush us out.”

Tutu warned the ANC that Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, both toppled from their top jobs, had previously held a large majority.

“Watch out. I am warning you. Watch out. Please watch out.”

“Tibet is being oppressed. Our government, representing me, says it will not support Tibetans who are being oppressed viciously by the Chinese. Hey, Mr Zuma, you and your government don’t represent me. You represent your own interests.

“I am warning you out of love. I am warning you like I warned the Nationalists. I am warning you that one day we will start praying for the defeat of the ANC government.

“You are disgraceful.

“I am warning you. We will pray as we prayed for the downfall of the apartheid government. You have got a huge majority; that’s nothing.

“Watch out ANC government; watch out,” Tutu concluded.

I conclude that this is the turning moment. The major factors in the fall of apartheid were the white lefts, churches, sanctions, and the armed struggle. We were winning militarily, it was the others we were losing. The anc has become worse than the nats, not only because we expected it back then, but because even the nats could be made to listen, these anc people are too stupid to see their coming demise. China won't save them, neither will destroying the constitution. From this moment on, nothing will.

I'll leave you with this image, of a man outraged. It would be almost comical if you did not understand the background to it, but no, you can see the hurt in the man's eye's, and for an 80 something retired priest, well he is usually much more dignified.

EDIT:
Dailymaverick says it better than i could, but we share the same view.

What is the difference between Sharpeville and Tianenmen square? Nothing at all. The new nats are making deals with the other nats, or worse than. They're all as bad as each other.

Ride-Report-of-an-accident

2011-10-04T08:44:00.003+02:00

Skinny's story.

Skinny is one of the coolest people i know. It was a while ago that she had an accident, while on a group ride out Eastern Tranvaal. She tells her story, not only of the crash, but also the year since ... and i have to warn you, it's NOT easy to read.

Personally, i'm more scared of THIS than of dying ... when it takes great courage to just get up in the morning. Funny though, i came within a hair's breadth of getting t-boned last night, and i was travelling less than 30km/h at the time. Coming off the highway, stop at robot, robot green, check right (they always bleed through there) pull off. While i HAD checked that no cars were pulling out, i hadn't checked far enough to see mad bitch come careening around the corner, through a solid red light. I had cars both sides behind me, and if i tried to stop i'd stop directly in her path. I had already committed to the corner, so i went. Straight for the kerb. The first time she saw me was when i was already out her way, like a shot across the bows, directly in front of her moving car. She was looking right into the corner she so desperately wanted to take, when i was coming from her left. She slowed ... gaped in shock, and then clearly decided to run away as quickly as possible. Once i had passed in front of her, just a half turn parallel to the curb and an emergency stop, easy stuff that. I sat in shock and disbelief for a few seconds, but needed to move, traffic doesn't even stop for the dead in jhb, never mind the shellshocked.

I saw her hitting me .. t-boning me from the right ... through sheer ... stupidity. Didn't see the robot, didn't look at me and the cars bearing down on her. She wasn't even on a cell phone. Just braindead. Keep it safe guys, and stay calm, that's the secret. Meanwhile, give Skinny's website a visit, and if you can, please support her.

tankgirls.co.za

Motorcycle training

2011-10-03T09:07:00.002+02:00

Synchronicity: By Mr Dave Abrams of IOL.

The following Sunday the main group - nearly 60 of them - gathered at Killarney to take their riding to the next level, with high-speed braking and cornering exercises. When chief instructor Tony Sparg had them stop from 80km/h using only the rear brake and then check out the resulting stopping distance there were some raised eyebrows.

100% - brilliant. The oddest thing though, i did "my" training yesterday too. I had a total of 3 bikes, including me, and a biker in a cage (he had his son). A very good session we had, changing the course slightly to make it more challenging. I have the right equipment now, could use more tennis balls, lol, but any parking lot can become marked out within minutes to any number of bizarre shapes.

My good friend G made me look really bad, but with skills like his i'm not too ashamed! But, he practices, all the time, on a bloody great big GS1200, and it shows, his lean angle, confidence and control all worked together to make him a pleasure to watch. I kept up, just, and it took all i had to focus and get it right, and even then i looked sloppy!

We'll do it again though, soon, and then i'll have to have a word with the weather man first!!

Pretty Colours

2011-09-30T13:05:00.000+02:00

Who is happier?

2011-09-26T16:02:00.003+02:00

From: Olive Bike

Click the pic ;-)

Rest in Peace Daphne Tyack

2011-09-23T09:39:00.003+02:00

Daphne passed on this morning, after a several month long stay in ICU. She leaves her husband Roger, and adopted son Herman, devastated.

Another casualty of the south african unhealth system, the entire event was because doctors messed up. From start to finish. She was operated on due to misdiagnosis, and she died in hospital through incompetance, in another city from her family, and among people who didn't care about her, either way. But they will want their "rewards" .. financial.

A good woman with a sharp mind, quick wit, and a lot of kindness, private though, and sadly her passing will hardly be noticed. She did not tolerate fools, and had that old fashioned sense of right, and clean, and proper.

We notice, the absence of life, a blank space where something should be. There will be no funeral, no memorial service, only 2 sad men, one old one young, who will carry her in their hearts forever.

R.I.P. Daphne, we'll look after your boys.

EDIT TO ADD:

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Little boy heaven

2011-09-20T09:05:00.000+02:00

Thank you to numero--13

Why i hate think bike.

2011-09-19T14:22:00.004+02:00

More than a few people have asked me to define why i am so angry with think bike, because i am, angry that is.

Think Bike was never perfect, there never was a golden period with no problems. But i had a fairly good idea of what it wanted to be, and the many imperfections were put to the back, since there were so many other problems that needed addressing first. So this mix match of unlikely sorts ended up being a community with a shared vision.

The good man Bucc steered this ship with a master's hand, making sure that none of the silly things took over from the basic shared vision and goals, and ensuring a ship that could weather the daily storms. Then Bucc died, and left us with a gaping hole where, he should be. At that point, i don't believe think bike had ever been stronger. It was a single uniting cause that all bikers related to and respected, and the ship sailed on with a new master.

Sadly this didn't work too well, and so began the FIT IN OR FUCK OFF philosophy that think bike is now famous for. Basically, they said WE (leadership) are think bike, you (members) are not, non members even more so. We don't need anyone who doesn't pay us an annual fee, and we don't need anyone to tell us anything we don't want to hear. This, coupled with a complete absence of any real leadership, led to more than a few disappointed people.

A major issue of contention was the forum. Now the good master Bucc was into IT, and saw the advantages of an online forum, whereby people could share experiences and ideas and plan events without leaving their home or office. The forum really is the wood of the good ship tb. The interactions online, which were initially all really positive, from a perspective of motive, slowly began to be dragged down by something. Attitude perhaps, or lack of focus, but it became commonplace for anyone who penned a "complaint" to be shouted out by all and sundry, regardless of the value of any comments made.

The "good" people, family types, left almost immediately. Many others, in the tru tb spirit, believed that they should stay and try create a better organisation. They were wrong. One by one they were insulted, berated, and discredited. The organisation itself meanwhile, began floundering as the leadership make bad decision after bad decision. The typical response was denial, obfuscation, then outright verbal assault on the person making the complaint, or observation. To the point where civil discourse was impossible, and ANY thread was "hijacked", by mindless little midgeons who got off on being "clever". This was actively encouraged by management. Clever comments add nothing, but really insult people nonetheless.

The other angle of course was the alcohol abuse, widespread, flagrant, and utterly unrepentant. Their main "casual chat area" is the PUB, and the most common statement on tb became, "let's go have a beer". Not entirely outside the "biker" mindset, but hardly fit for a road safety campaign. That they would stand outside their think bike gazebo at a biker event drinking beer from sixpacks lying on the grass in front of the "please join us" stand was reprehensible. Again, anyone who even questioned this practice was viciously attacked on the forum. They even collected the name drink bike from others in the biker community.

This is now several years later, and the "leaders" now have such a complete deathgrip on the campaign, that even "official representatives" have no idea what is happening. There is a complete attitude of need to know, and other than the execs, nobody needs to know. There are major problems within the campaign, but more concerning is the complete absence of response, and a seeming lack of will to even address ANY concerns. Secrecy and underhandedness have become the trademarks of this campaign. even calling it a community now is over generous, while they certainly are, they are no more a community than any other bike club in existance.

A top down heirarchical structure of control which brooks no argument, admits nothing, promises everything and does nothing (save covering their own arses).

I have not yet had direct evidence of any of this, only my experience coupled with what people tell me, and while i seldom believe anything people tell me, when 10+ people all sing the same song, well they must have heard it before, somewhere. I could speak for ages on specific incidents of complete maladministration and similar ... but i won't.

I have evidence that think bike employs foul play on the forums. I'm trying to decide whether or not to fully post that information here, but i imagine that it may create problems later. So here's the deal, i have the evidence, and will share it with anyone who asks. Keeping silent is not an option for me. It never was, hopefully never will be. I have tried to voice my opinions in a constructive way, but it's become clear that they will not listen. They have no desire to listen, and frankly their arrogance and stupidity has made them blind to anything but their own agendas. So be it. I share this info now from a sincere desire for the truth to be known, they MAY NOT abuse the ship any more. They MAY NOT ignore their mandate while reaping rewards for the work of other people. They MAY NOT carry on regardless in trampling the real community of bikers that brave these bloody rivers of death.

david.vigilant@gmail.com

If you ask, i'll give you evidence that think bike has grossly exceeded their mandate, and should be removed. Think bike is a failure now. Perhaps they can resurface one day in the future, but before then, their current form to be destroyed completely, and reset to a simpler, more open model.

Rant

2011-09-19T14:09:00.002+02:00

I'm spitting mad. ANOTHER "friend" turned around and basically accused me of not living up to their expectations of me.
What the fucking fuck? I ask ...

I am who i am, if you don't like me, goodbye.

I have no responsibility towards anyone other than myself, and i am insulted to realise that other people would think that i would try please them, or use them, as the case may be.

I am living my own dream thanks, complete with occasional nightmares. You're welcome to join in and try find some peace and love in this crazy fucking universe, along with me, but frankly if you're in it for anything other than just the ride i WILL disappoint you.

So be it.

Words of Wisdom

2011-09-13T14:41:00.002+02:00

In these times of insanity, and in the general breakdown of everything, and especially when you consider the worthlessness of state, it helps to climb out our south african box, and view the whole issue of government and society from a much broader platform.
Admittedly this was an email send along, but well worth every small pixelated glow.

1. In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress.
-- John Adams

2. If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.
-- Mark Twain

3. Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself.
-- Mark Twain

4. I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-- Winston Churchill

5. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
-- George Bernard Shaw

6. A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
-- G. Gordon Liddy

7. Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
-- James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

8. Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
-- Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

9. Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
-- P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

10. Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
-- Frederic Bastiat, French economist(1801-1850)

11. Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
-- Ronald Reagan (1986)

12. I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
-- Will Rogers

13. If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free!
-- P.J. O'Rourke

14. In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
-- Voltaire (1764)

15. Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!
-- Pericles (430 B.C.)

16. No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.
-- Mark Twain (1866)

17. Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it.
-- Anonymous

18. The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.
-- Ronald Reagan

19. The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.
-- Winston Churchill

20. The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
-- Mark Twain

21. The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
-- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

22. There is no distinctly Native American criminal class...save Congress.
-- Mark Twain

23. What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
-- Edward Langley, Artist (1928-1995)

24. A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.
-- Thomas Jefferson

25. We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
-- Aesop

FIVE BEST SENTENCES

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealth out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without working for...another person must work for without receiving.

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work, because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work, because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation

Me again

2011-09-13T08:17:00.003+02:00

It's a strange strange world we live in, master Jack ...

What an astonishing few days i've had. On the up side, i've been right about a few things for a few years now, and total confirmation came last night, where i was in a meeting, and i wasn't saying anything, but the men around me were speaking as if from my own thoughts, it was surreal. It's made a lot of fighting worthwhile, it's made a lot of hardship bearable, knowing that however else things may be, i was right, and did right. Doesn't mean it's all fixed up, far from it, but you know when you are convicted about something, and everyone either disagrees or ignores you, and finally you receive more than 100% backing from people who you really respect. Completely unexpected, more than a little humbling, and at the same time so powerful and motivating.

So from a complete high, the same day i found out that a very good friend has been lying to us, for years. I guess i had come to expect it, but been afraid to find out, but the truth outs, it always does, then it's time to pick up the pieces. I'm not angry, at all. Hurt, VERY, sad even more so, but not angry. What we have is a really broken person, sick, in the spiritual sense, who desperately needs to pick up her life, but can't, her own inner demons i suppose. As ever, these things really are more complicated than they sound, and something has to be done, soon. But like any sick creature, you have to be gentle, and wise, and you'll probably get bitten in the process, but it'll be worth it, if you can see the miracle of healing.

Another friend stabbed me in the back too, last week, and continuing. Misinterpreted everything, and frankly fucked everything up, for me, for her, and for more others than i can count. I can't fix that, this time. Accusing me of "having no balls" and similar ... yet last night proved her wrong, on every front. Again, it's just gentle sadness left, stupidity chasing stupidity, forgive them, for they know not how misguided they are.

I think the thing is that you cannot "expect" me to behave in a certain way, ever. And being angry at me for holding my silence is silly, especially when the silence becomes so full of other people's fears and insecurities ... which is what i wanted to see in the first place. Actually no, i wanted all the insecurities and stupidities to just fuck off, but when people believe their own bullshit, sometimes you have to draw them out, and expose them to the world for what they are.

Highs and lows indeed, all so interwoven and so scraggly it's hard to tell sometimes, which is what. I've been completely right, and completely wrong, for years, in a single day. I have my honour though, and i stand proud nonetheless. Where i was wrong, i acted with good faith, and where i was right, i acted with courage, despite the odds. It's not often one's life is laid so bare to oneself, and even less seldom that one can reflect so clearly as i have here. Some problems have been solved, other's have yet to be fully explored, but i have a small amount of faith back, in myself, i guess, but in other people too, despite their weakness.

Peace and love on this sunny highveld morning

Hold on tight

2011-09-09T14:38:00.000+02:00

Where i welcome Spring into my garden

2011-09-08T12:09:00.002+02:00

Welcome

The kindness of the cynic

2011-09-08T09:29:00.002+02:00

They know not the kindness of the cynic, not the gentleness of temper of such a lover of life. Love of one's fellowmen should not be a doctrine, an article of faith, a matter of intellectual conviction, or a thesis supported by arguments. The love of mankind which requires reasons is no true love. This love should be perfectly natural, as natural for man as for the birds to flap their wings. It should be a direct feeling, springing naturally from a healthy soul, living in touch with Nature. No man who loves the trees truly can be cruel to animals or to his fellowmen. In a perfectly healthy spirit, gaining a vision of life and of one's fellowmen and a true and deep knowledge of Nature, kindness is the natural thing.

That soul does not require any philosophy or man-made religion to tell him to be kind.

........................................

Taken from: hi.baidu.com

I've still got so far to go.

Biker down

2011-09-07T09:30:00.004+02:00

N1 North before 7. Pic courtesy twitter.

I saw the plastics in the road ... when a merc swung out into my path to avoid them.

I'm curious though, why he went down, thats a nasty lot of plastic bits, he hit something hard. Whether he was in the yellow, and hit trouble, or if he was in the biker lane, and tried to escape to yellow.

Hope he's ok.

Back to school

2011-09-06T14:51:00.002+02:00

My kinda party.

Vanitas

2011-09-05T09:17:00.001+02:00

Source unknown.

Setbacks

2011-09-02T12:45:00.003+02:00

The last few days have been a miserable blur. Aside from my own ever present issues, i've been dealt a blow that is very hard to take. I'm over the ranting and raving, was enough of that, and the raw seething anger has condensed into cold hard stone.

Thank you think bike, and helivac, for putting politics in front of orphans.

Thank you think bike, and helivac for saying one thing, and then doing another.

Thank you think bike, for pissing on the community, sowing discord and strife, and being nothing more than another pissy little baaiker club, when you have such an important mission, and had so much goodwill that is now lost.

You've forgotten everything that WE consider important: A community based safety organisation focusing on Raising Awareness and Saving Lives. NOT a private members group focusing on commercial success and personal glory.

"i've seen pretty people disappear like smoke,
friends will arrive, friends will disappear."
- Bob Dylan.

My secret ...

2011-08-31T13:07:00.003+02:00

So i have a secret. Haven't told anyone about it, and of course the guilt is eating me alive. So here's where i'll tell my computer screen and pretend no one else will ever know.

A few weeks back, in that really really cold spell we had, it was decided that we would have take out for dinner. Friday night month end, freezing cold outside, yes i wondered what they were thinking too. Anyhow, so pizza was agreed on, and tghe wife and i climbed in the lunchbox to get dinner.

When we found parking, got to the take out part of the pizza place, it was full. Not jsut full, it was packed, like a japanese train. All the huddled masses waiting for instant food and scared of the cold. No really, scared of it, almost as if it had teeth. Wife dragged be unwillingly through the masses of miserable mankind, and told me cheerily, that they were all waiting for their pizzas, not waiting to place their order. Of course, the hour long wait for food is probably why the room was so full. So i bolted, ran away, fortunately the wife kept up.

So we went to the local mall, because now it was already too late to go home and cook, so it had to be takeout of some sort. A whole row of glass shop fronts awaited us, each misty with the heat of breathe and body that was crammed up against them. Chicken, pizza, burgers, all the shops plugged full of people ... *shudder*.

So anyhow, i spied my salvation, a chinese take out ... almost empty. We walked into the warmth of inside, and got a lovely smile from the lady busily making a sushi platter. The quietness inside was really unexpected, and the small dark tables, neatly laid with chopsticks and condiments. The 2 others waiting for their food were calm, and quiet, and we shared a small smile. Perfect.

So we placed our orders and i included a fortune cookie for the wife, she likes that sort of thing. The lady brought it immediately, although with a shy oriental smile i also got one pressed into my hand. Ah well ...

So we opened our, and i gave wifey the cookie to eat, she likes those too ;-). Her message was nice and simple, and gave her that happy smile they're designed to instill.

Mine said: "your every wish will come true." I choked even though i wasn't eating anything. It had a series of "lottery" numbers on the back, tempted as i was, i wasn't going to give money to the lotto thieves. All i had was a was a genie's promise on paper. Worthless.

The food was great, fresh and tasty, and filled all the holes n our tummies. but that little piece of paper haunts me still. Who the hell would want their wishes to come true? Must be mad. So yeah, that's the guilty secret that has me waking up in a cold sweat at night. Someone somewhere promised to make my wishes come true.

Whirling ...

2011-08-31T08:37:00.002+02:00

Spinning round and round and round and around ... then stop. You're still spinning, in your head at least. That's how i feel today, which is why it comes to mind.

So many things bubbling and boiling to get out, i have to bite my tongue to avoid going BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH .... to which your response could only be "huh?" Not really a positive communication strategy, you know?

To be succinct, Toyrun is going full steam ahead with less that 90 days to go, and we've discovered that there is a moratorium on all liquor licenses in gauteng for 6 months, thanks to our mec for trade. Also, people are stupid. The politics on every single level of this venture is ... mind numbing. Stupid people sticking their stupid noses into every stupid place they can find. And that's not including the people that just don't deliver. Plenty to say, nothing to give, ain't that cute? And they still expect to be entertained as having some or other value.

I'm failing though, in my personal presentation of myself. I tried convincing someone i was a lazy bastard, and they didn't believe me, because they've seen me working on toyrun. Whats this world come to when i can't even pass myself off as a lazy bastard? Sad i tell you. Now i want to cry.

LOLOLOL .. and it's such a good day outside, try not be too stupid please?

peace and love ;-)

ANC vs ANC

2011-08-30T10:30:00.002+02:00

I love it, i completely and utterly love the chaos in joburg this morning. That being said i'm not in joburg this morning, if i were i'd probably not be so merry about it.

ANCYL members are burning ANC flags ... i cannot quite convey the exquisite joy that i feel when i watch anc members burning anc flags. It's like watching americans burn their own flag, which of course they'll never do. Would make nice pictures though.

I'm of course hoping for a complete assault by the ancyl on luthuli house, they must go in and burn the place down. Like they did to their schools, which is why they're not at school where the "youth" belongs.

I have an ancyl guy at work trying to convince me it's internal politics. I pointed out that politics is when enemies smile at each other, not when they're throwing stones, nothing political about that. And "internal"? When it's on the streets, nothing internal about it. Then he triees telling me it's "african politics", as if i'm an outsider who has no knowledge of these things. Ergo i should stay out of what i don't understand.

It's laughable, the arrogance, stupidity, self righteousness displayed by these young thugs is breath-taking, and only the idiot ancyl fails to understand what is happening. Old historians like me read this situation like a book, and we can tell you exactly where this is going. Although, to be fair, Hitler's brownshirts never attacked him directly, they were always "his" dogs. Zuma's dogs have gone rabid, but i don't think he has the balls to do anything. I'm just really pleased these stupid youngsters are attacking their own, and not others ... yet.

The start

2011-08-27T08:54:00.000+02:00

www.formfreu.de

Way cool.

On the subject of two wheels

2011-08-26T13:35:00.002+02:00

The last post left me feeling CRAP. Totally and utterly crap. No other way to see it. However, a different posting puts a slight silver lining on the dark clouds.

Yes it's cloudy, but we can actually do something about it, starting with acknowledging the problem, even when it's ourselves at fault.

Thank you to Andre Visser, ER24 for this excellent short article, reprinted in full.

25 August 2011

For most teenagers freedom is a necessity whilst completing their last few years in high school and this freedom is found with the ability to use their own set of wheels, so to speak. No more nagging mom and dad for lifts to a social gathering or long walks to school for sport practices, but instead, a set of keys which enables you to find your own way around.

Most school pupils go through the motions of acquiring their driving licence in their last year of high school, but for a few, this little plastic passport to freedom comes a bit earlier in life in the form of a motorcycle learners licence. What few teenagers realise is that with this newly discovered freedom comes a huge responsibility.

ER24 emergency services attend to hundreds of motorcycle accidents annually and have noticed a sudden influx of scooter and motorcycle accidents in Kimberley. The influx of scooter related accidents is in no way isolated to this Northern Cape city as these cases are reported daily across South Africa.

Due to the short time period over which these accidents took place, paramedics in Kimberley felt the need to investigate the anomaly; what they discovered was shocking.

Upon questioning the teenagers involved in the accidents they discovered that most of the young adults received their motorcycle to drive to and from school without ever gaining any experience in driving a vehicle on two wheels. In other words, most of the teenagers had never even been on a bicycle before the day of receiving their scooter.

As adults and parents we serve as examples and mentors to the youth and therefore need to educate the young drivers. The paramedics in Kimberley identified this need to educate the youth in the area on the skills necessary to drive the motorcycles and what to do in the event of an emergency should the situation arise. With the help of local traffic officials and bikers from the surrounding area, the group of educators invited all the kids one Saturday morning and mentored the young commuters on certain safety aspects.

Living in a civilised society comes with its set of rules and morals. This is valid for all licence baring road users as we have a responsibility to go about our daily commute in a safe manner. As the youth of this nation evolves and use the roads whether on a scooter or on four wheels, ask yourself the question: “Am I a role model when it comes to good road etiquette?”

Fallen bikers in 2 months

2011-08-26T08:34:00.002+02:00

Day / Date Fatalities
Friday 1 July = 1
Saturday 9 July = 1
Monday 18 July = 2
Saturday 24 July = 3
Sunday 25 July = 2
Thursday 4 Aug = 1
Sunday 7 Aug = 1
Monday 8 Aug (School Holiday) = 1
Tuesday 9 Aug (Pub Holiday) = 3
Wednesday 10 Aug = 1
Friday 12 Aug = 1
Saturday 13 Aug = 3
Thursday 18 Aug = 1
Saturday 20 Aug = 2
Sunday 21 Aug = 3

Monday = 3
Tuesday = 0
Wednesday = 1
Thursday = 2
Friday = 2
Saturday = 9
Sunday = 7
School / Public Holiday = 4

Special thanks to Nunique, who runs the www.fallenbikers.co.za website who collates these numbers. Not an easy job, especially at times like this. Mostly dad's with families ...

I feel sick, not much to add to the numbers, they speak volumes.

For fuck sakes guys ... take it easy out there.

Sunset and birds

2011-08-25T13:47:00.000+02:00

http://onestonedcrow.blogspot.com/

Gives you just the right feeling hey, i love it!

Gonzo quote

2011-08-24T15:37:00.000+02:00

Call on God, but row away from the rocks. - Hunter S. Thompson

Patience

2011-08-24T08:37:00.001+02:00

Shed a tear 'cause I'm missing you
I'm still alright to smile
Girl, I think about you every day now
Was a time when I wasn't sure
But you set my mind at ease
There is no doubt you're in my heart now
Said woman take it slow
It'll work itself out fine
All we need is just a little patience
Said sugar make it slow
And we'll come together fine
All we need is just a little patience
(inhale) Patience...
Ooh, oh, yeah

Sit here on the stairs
'Cause I'd rather be alone
If I can't have you right now, I'll wait dear
Sometimes, I get so tense
But I can't speed up the time
But you know, love, there's one more thing to consider
Said woman take it slow
Things will be just fine
You and I'll just use a little patience
Said sugar take the time
'Cause the lights are shining bright
You and I've got what it takes to make it
We won't fake it, Oh never break it
'Cause I can't take it

...little patience, mm yeah, ooh yeah,
Need a little patience, yeah
Just a little patience, yeah
Some more pati... (ence, yeah)
I've been walking these streets at night
Just trying to get it right (Need some patience, yeah)
It's hard to see with so many around
You know I don't like being stuck in a crowd (Could use some patience, yeah)
And the streets don't change but maybe the name
I ain't got time for the game
'Cause I need you (Patience, yeah)
Yeah, yeah well I need you
Oh, I need you (Take some patience)
Whoa, I need you (Just a little patience is all we need)
Ooh, this ti- me....

Thanks to Guns & Roses.

Little ditty been playing itself for me ... nice song.

BIKER THINK

2011-08-22T09:02:00.001+02:00

From a lady who is a paramedic, apparently posted on facebook, i found it on drink bike.

***

People I think it is time to say a few very harsh words to all the riders out there. Firstly, I have no idea what you guys are thinking but the accident and death rate is way to high for the brotherhood. Now I have the pics of most of the accidents as well as other information pertaining to each and every rider that has gone down. This, if I may say so is alot of bullshit!!!. We adult enough to own and ride bikes, so why can the decision not be made on the adult basis of when and when not to ride? I am not going to mention names of the riders but these are the points that are involved in majority of the accidents:

Speed
Alcohol
Reckless Driving

10% of the accidents are caused by cage drivers that think they own the roads, the 90% left is caused through our own negligence. We all enjoy a good rally and day jols, we are bikers after all and that is our lifestyle. But there is a time to stop the partying and think rationally. If you believe that super bikes were brought out so that you can ride the shit out of it, think again! Yes they fast and awesome, but you as an adult should at least know the dangers of such a bike. That same super bike, if you dont respect her, will put you hard down on you ass. Let me ask you this, how many of you that have gone down and managed to tell your stories of your bike accident, ever thought of how your family reacts when they hear the news that you were involved in an accident? Have you ever thought of the agony your family goes through when you laying in a hospital badly injured? Or thought of something in the line of "What will my wife and children do if I die?" If you have children, do you not teach your children discipline, respect and right from wrong? Let me tell you this much, I have attended to bike accidents, seen the rider begging for me to save him and I have witnessed the grief of the families. I have watched riders pass away because there was NOTHING we could do to save him. I have called a wife to a scene where we know the rider is about to blow out his last breath, just so that she can say her goodbyes and tell him she loves him. Then the harsh reality kicks in when the rider dies and we have to watch his wife fall apart. Do you think this is fair?

Riders that ride for clubs, just because you have a patch on your back does not make you invincible. Your fellow members, Presidents, Vices and even council members should know whats right and the right thing to do is TAKE YOUR KEYS AWAY if you intoxicated!!!! We always ***** about the cage riders, STOP right there and ask yourself these questions:

Did I keep a safe distance to avoid an accident?
Was I speeding?
Was I thinking wow super bike Awesome time to burn some rubber and show the entire road that I am untouchable?
Was I under the influence?

I can tell you this much, from the latest accidents and reports I got in from SAP and the morgues, these are the answers pertaining to most of the accidents:

No
Yes
Yes
Yes

There is but a handful of the accidents that was not the fault of the riders. Unfortunately some of these riders passed away, the others that are not part of the handful, I have one message to send to you..................STOP ACTING AS IF YOU OWN THE STUFFING ROADS, AND STOP THINKING YOU FLASH GORDON OUT THERE. YOU ARE CAUSING AGONY AND GRIEF NOT ONLY TO YOUR FAMILIES BUT ALSO TO YOUR BIKING BROTHERHOOD.

I will put up pics of accident scenes, because I feel if you adult enough to act like a total ass out there when you on your bike, then you should be adult enough to accept the reality of what we as medics go through at a scene when we have to pick you up and save your life. Did you also know that when you go down and you too intoxicated, no medical person may give you pain medicine and no ops can be done until your alcohol level has dropped....think about it.

I am sorry if some of you think this is a bit harsh, but it is time you were brought down to reality. Don't teach your children right from wrong, or discipline or respect if you dont adhere to your own advice. The following rules should apply to every single biker out there, so PLEASE before you get on your bike to hit the open road, stop and think.

Respect the road
Respect other road users
Dont drink and drive
Keep a safe distance so that you can avoid an accident
Stick to the speed limits
RESPECT YOUR BIKE AND ITS POWER (because no matter how untouchable you think you are, your bikes power is more untouchable than you, and I can promise you this YOU WILL COME OFF SECOND BEST)
Ensure you have some form of identification on you
Clubs....ensure you remove your riders keys if he or she is too intoxicated, been the President or Vice is not just a name given to you, those are names you get because you need to take control of your club and its members.

The sticker saying THINK BIKE is good but now we should have one that says BIKER THINK.

I am sorry if this is harsh to some, but we have to be cruel to be kind, and I care for my biker family that is why I preach the way I do. If you as a rider cannot adhere to basic rules, then please sell your bike you dont belong on the roads on 2 wheels.

****

Happy Thursday

2011-08-18T08:31:00.003+02:00

It's a great day, for me so far!

Had not a single person pull out in front of me this morning!! Of course i don't trust it to last, but wow that must be a record!!

Eye-wateringly cold out there, but fresh and crisp clean air ... nature is waking up to spring already!! Sunlight is bright and warm too ... Jody and i were running from sunlight to sunlight beam on the way to school ... that's how it should be!!

Peace and love and happy day to everyone :)

PS, this is how i feel today :D

Life etc

2011-08-17T08:50:00.003+02:00

Just a catch up post here, no actual topic, i think. It's great having the blog, i'm talking to "you" but i'm just laying out my thoughts on paper, so to speak. It's really cathartic sometimes. Every morning i have a hundred thoughts about what exciting things to say, and they never usually make it past getting to work. There's a lot going on lately, in my little life, and if i look at it one thread at a time it seems a bit messy, and disordered. Only when stepping back and taking a fresh look can i see thicker strands and patterns emerging.

I am involved with mankind, we all are, and it's mankind's problems that consume my mind. I guess mankind is a grand word, but it's really just the people i know. My life, sorta, the extended version, but i look around and just see so much pain, so much stupid, so much lost. Whether it's the friend with a marriage that isn't working, the friend who has been raped in every way except physical, the friend who is obsessive compulsive and constantly fretting over the stupid stuff, completely unable to stop and enjoy what she has. I guess i have my own failings too, i'm just better at hiding them, because i know it's all just illusion anyway. Or is it?

I can't answer the questions people ask, never an answerable one, really, it's just a wish wrapped up in a different wrapper. So the best i can do is help unwrap the wish, show them what it is, show them where they are, sometimes.

Like a great big soul mirror, i give people an insight into themselves that i HOPE is a little more honest than they give themselves. What else? I can't give them much, can't usually say much to help, just be there, and listen, and hopefully show them what i see in THEM, that's all. Is it enough?

Had the most astonishing conversation last night, with some new friends. And we spoke of how we are ALL connected, and all dependant on each other, and how one person's decisions affect another, and how the one thing we were all certain of, was the importance of kindness. How all the latest "quantum" discoveries show that it all does boil down to INTENT. In capitals. It's that important. And how the intent shapes the outcome, and how we are NOT single, but moving as a semi solid mass toward the future ... and co-creating that future as we go.

And since almost every person on this planet is broken, what does it bode for our future together? There is a solution, a small yet vital piece of the puzzle that many seem to think irrelevant ... INTENT. "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" ... i hear that and it's another of those things that makes you angry without knowing why. INTENT IS EVERYTHING. It's also intangible, completely immeasurable by our feeble sciences. And yet we run roughshod over the good intentions of others every day, blindly smashing their love covered gifts.

Strange though, that even a child recognises it, they understand ill or good intent, and responds instantly. Only we "a-dolts" will sit and argue about intentions having value, or even existing.

Meanwhile, the only really sane thing to do is go outside, enjoy the crisp clean air, and wish a dragonfly a happy day.

peace and love and good intentions

Shit Religions

2011-08-16T12:45:00.002+02:00

Shit Religions

2011-08-16T12:45:00.000+02:00

zombiedriveby

2011-08-12T21:57:00.002+02:00

For a long time we've increasingly given over our thoughts and our lives to whoever had the ability to shout into our souls the loudest.
From somewhere we got the image of a spotless and perfect hero, and it's driven us to be terrified of failure. So we've avoided confrontation with what we felt was wrong, because it was convenient and everyone was doing it. We've had twisted and ruined versions of our own ideas and our own lives sold back to us, which we gave up in good faith to the wrong people when it wasn't simply taken away, and we've been weakened to the point where the darkness could take us over if we decided we wanted to be part of it.

zombiedriveby

http://zombiedriveby.com/2011/06/13/some-kinda-way-out-of-here/

I couldn't help but marvel at the prose, well written and clear. The ideas resonating in my mind like being on the inside of a great big bell. And a sub harmony from Terri came through in her latest post:

Subject all humans to the machinations of a marketing and media organism which has as its one objective hypnotising people into believing that owning material goods equals power and worth, while at the same time making sure that the poor do not ever have enough nutritious food to eat - substitute junk food made from real junk, and watch those minds fail to grow and thrive.

http://aquilakahecate.blogspot.com/2011/08/never-mind-reasons.html

Peace and love and clarity to you all

Vroom!

2011-08-11T09:37:00.001+02:00

Appeal for information

2011-08-10T08:47:00.001+02:00

Looking for family/friends of lady +-24, medium length black hair, riding black quadbike in Waverley Pretoria. Involved in Quad MVA. has engagement/wedding ring on ring finger & small eyebrow ring. Still unconscious, understand brain scan is being done. No one in vicinity of acc. knows her."

If anyone knows, please help. Just mail me.

UPDATE:

Ok - we have found them - thanks everyone.

Looks like it is a happy ending.

She will be discharged soon.

Thanks to RichardVZ for making this information available.

Cling On For Life

2011-08-08T18:44:00.002+02:00

clingonforlife.blogspot

A guy with the nick "CB 750 Freak!" runs the blog, he's busy rebuilding a CB750. Doing magnificent work, and runs a very neat blog. I'll add it to the right soonest.

Plenty of great pics and stories, all CB750 stuff.

Now of course, the CB750K is the first bike i rode, and the first bike i crashed. eautiful machine all over, i'd love to own one, preferably one of the cafe racers i've seen. The cop pic below is from there, i couldn't resist :) but there's a red CB i want to post.

I keep saying CB, and my 400 is WAY overdue for a rebuild.

Haha

2011-08-08T09:44:00.001+02:00

Ok, i'll stop now.

The Ratanang Family Trust

2011-08-05T08:44:00.002+02:00

How Julius Malema pulls tender strings
FIONA FORDE, CRAIG MCKUNE & LIONEL FAULL JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Aug 05 2011 00:00

The Ratanang Family Trust, founded by Malema, the ANC Youth League leader, holds shares in On-Point Engineering, which administers a large part of the multibillion-rand budget of Limpopo's roads and transport department.

This means that Malema has at least indirect influence over who is awarded tenders from a three-year budget allocation of reportedly R4.6-billion -- although he, On-Point and the department deny it.

Just read it, all of it, every single excruciating detail. Billions, literally, pissed away by these cunts. And they just deny, deny, deny. No morals, no conscience, no regret. Only a bloody minded purposefulness to fucking rape everything they find.

And the same super-capitalist cunt is screaming louder for nationalisation, lying, and lying, and deceiving and inciting. Excuse my language, but there aren't other words. In fact, a very specific word comes to mind ... the word that will get me locked up longer than if a kill someone. But when use use that word about these animals, they're right. That's even worse i think.

*deep breath*

ANGER ... pure blind rage, sadness too. What a stupid bloody waste. And when will these fuckers be put down???

Vilnius Mayor A.Zuokas

2011-08-03T08:37:00.002+02:00

I've found a new favourite person ... Vilnius Mayor A.Zuokas. Ok, Vilnius, Lithuania, if you didn't know :p
So why would i vote for this guy? Because he means what he says. He is an avid cyclist we are told, admirable. And his town in Lithuania is a very pretty town, with an old school feel and bicycle lanes ...
But like everywhere, you et the assholes. Rich people in fancy cars who do whatever they like, like parking in the bicycle lanes. So alon comes a bicycle ridin mayor, and decides that the best way to solve the problem is of course, a tank. I agree entirely.
So after ensuring that news crews have the cameras rolling, he selects a merc that's parked in the bicycle lane, across a pedestrian crossing, and drives a tank over it. Really ... look.

You'd vote for him too right?

TOYRUN!!!

2011-08-02T13:24:00.003+02:00

So following on the previous post, i am getting SO excited about the Toyrun. It's happening !!!

So we're doing the Oosrand this year, brand new venue, a blank sheet. Last year was great, but too many little problems made it into a less than perfect venue. So this year we're starting off with some new start venues, a new end venue, and a whole bunch of highways and roads to transverse.

Following on think bike's shame, they have completely abandoned our cause. Double shame. Thankfully, not all bikers are as bad, and we already have a huge team of guys from a number of places, some TB, some helivac, some private, and we're getting more guys from elsewhere too. I believe that the TOYRUN is a biker event, by bikers for bikers and most importantly for the kids who receive the toys.

It's ALL about TOYS ---> KIDS ... it cannot be simpler than that. And despite the many stupids who really are trying to damage us, it's not working. Toyrun is strong because Toyrun is for good. No politics, no BS, toys or bust.

Start thinking about how many ways you could turn R100 into as many happy kids as possible. R100 could be tens sets of colouring books and crayons, R100 could be 10 personal hygiene packs, R100 could be a BAG full of sports equipment. These are kids who have NOTHING, and while the teddy bear is the symbol, i hope that people are smarter than to think a teddy bear is what all kids want or need. Any and all ideas are gratefully received, and we would love fresh ideas on how to make this event bigger ... and the pile of toys bigger too.

Waiting to go ...

2011-07-31T14:13:00.002+02:00

My view ... for a lot of the time. Just a bike, ready and waiting to go.

Do i understand?

2011-07-29T14:25:00.000+02:00

Ok, something someone sent by email, usually i don't notice too much, but this one is just too true.

LET ME SEE IF I UNDERSTAND ALL THIS...

If you cross the North Korean Border illegally you get 12 years hard labor.
If you cross the Iranian Border illegally you are detained indefinitely.
If you cross the Afghan Border illegally, you get shot.
If you cross the Saudi Arabian Border illegally you will be jailed.
If you cross the Chinese Border illegally you may never be heard from again.
If you cross the Venezuelan Border illegally you will be branded a spy and your fate will be sealed.
If you cross the Cuban Border illegally you will be thrown into political prison to rot.

HOWEVER

If you cross the South African Border illegally you get

* a job,
* a drivers license,
* a pension card,
* welfare,
* credit cards,
* subsidized rent or a loan to buy a house,
* a free education and
* free health care.

Perks include

* weapons of your choice.

And in South Africa you can

* murder,
* use drugs,
* drink and drive,
* steal,
* rape

BUT PLEASE South Africans DON'T SMOKE in a public place - it is illegal.

Otoya

2011-07-27T09:40:00.002+02:00

I've held off saying anything, nothing to say really, except may the dead and survivors both find peace.

Then i saw this article, from IOL, and it seems to some up everything very well.

Rider Henrik Bauer Larsen said at Lake Tyrifjorden, looking out towards Utoeya island: “We've got Hell's Angels, Coffin Cheaters and Outlaws riding side-by-side out here tonight - the first time these gangs have ever ridden together.

“These groups are not friends - normally, they fight tough - but we agreed there would be no politics here, that everybody would stand together.

“In each of these clubs, somebody knew people who died on the island - we just wanted to pay our respects to the victims and their families.”

“The truce won't last,” he admitted, “but even the police bikers wanted to join in when they saw the Tommy’s Facebook invitation on Sunday.”

NSRI Request

2011-07-26T12:22:00.003+02:00

As these things go, my dearly beloved name was abused, again.

I received a call from the NSRI, National Sea Rescue Institute. They're raising money as ever, to cover what must be a very expensive operation, and like everywhere else in SA, do not receive their due share of the taxes we pay. Also, thanks to the lottery abortion, they are severely restricted in the way they raise funds.

I sadly cannot donate anything, that's the way it is. Truthfully, i'd rather be out there working with them. But these things go round, and i'm reposting here to hopefully inspire someone a bit more financially endowed than i to give a little bit.

They offer a R25pm "contribution", tied to a lucky draw.

Either way, if you're moved to do so, give Geran a call on 021 430 4715 and help him hit target. You could also go visit the NSRI website and see what they do, as well as donate directly.

Here in jozi the sea is a distant dream. Damn i miss the ocean.

peace

I'd like to meet him ...

2011-07-26T12:18:00.002+02:00

PEACE AND LOVE, in their purest forms.

Velomobiel

2011-07-25T10:54:00.002+02:00

Velomobiel

Here you can read a story about building a streamline to fit my Honda Innova 125i.

But first I present you a list of mpg and some background information with it.

A project to decrease the fuel consumption of a 125 scooter. Aside from the astonishingly well made result, his work and analyses are painstakingly accurate and meticulous. From conception to completion, he displays the most rigorous criteria for achieving his goals.

Quite a large webpage, but worth the time to follow his journey.

Enjoy!!!

Back to work

2011-07-25T09:21:00.002+02:00

*blink*

*yawn*

*blink again*

I'm at my desk in my office. After being off for a week, Monday morning traffic came as a hammer blow to the senses. But i'm feeling way better already, i'm not some energiser bunny with flat batteries, which is kinda accurate for the last few months.

I found a few items of interest which i'll post soonish, a lot happened in the last week, some good some bad. I hope this week brings only the good stuff!

peace