It's all in the mind

I came to a rather startling conclusion last night, about motorbike riding. The entire journey is taking place in your head, probably about 1-2 seconds ahead of your body. There's a definite split that happens when you ride, and you are constantly focused on in front of you. I think to a certain degree it's almost like the SUBconscious takes over, and leads for some time, trailing the conscious behind, to merely witness the experience.

Bang, wait, ok. So this means .... ?

We're busy with the Toyrun. Planning, scheming, organising, etc. Essentially what has to happen is the toyrun needs to take place in our heads, first. Not only the run, but possible runs, possible problems, and and every alternative scenario needs to take place in our heads before we even start. Is this the same? I think so.

Humans are the only creatures that are able to exercise this ability, of looking forward into time. Of course, since it's hidden we never really see clearly, but we have the imaginative ability to look forward, and hypothesis about what could come, based on our previous experiences. In the sense of the Toyrun, it's a vast body of information that needs to be processed a long time in advance. Starts, routes, end venue, food, security, saftey, toy collection, distribution, etc. All of these need to be forethought, pre-invisioned if you wish, until the day when all these parts actualise and become reality.

Faster and faster and faster ....

Until you're on the ride, which you've now done several hundred times in your head already. You're moving at the speed of thought, faster .... your mind is focussed on there ... that spot in front of you that you know you will be at in about ... half a second. The faster you go, the further away that spot goes ... until you're focused at that point in the horison ... and you are already there!!! It's just your body that is BEHIND YOU ... being dragged forward by scientific certainty.

I hope i've explained it ok, i know that now that i've identified it, i'll feel it a lot more. But it hints at something much bigger than that, almost bordering on the mystical. It becomes a waking separation of consciousness, where the subconscious takes over primacy of the body's actions. It explains so well why everything clears when i get on the bike, mind clears completely. No bills, no problems, no hunger, thirst or anything. There's nothing, a beautiful blankness in which the mind truly awakens.

There's so much more to it, but suddenly i feel a Eureka moment, this has to be true, it explains quite a lot. Like why guys are dying, there minds are out front, and don't have the right parameters, rules, for their mind, and their mind goes where their body can't follow. That's it, right there.

I'm also VERY curious about other implications, especially for how it affects the rest of our waking life. It also PERFECTLY explains my "moment of ecstacy" the other day ... this kind of mental schism that i've tried to describe is the perfect mindset for ... mystical experience.

I'm off for a smoke, the other mystic practice.

peace and love

Toys

VrooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM

No really that's AWESOME!

I must get a pic of the pressed tin racing car i got the other day. Was about a half a second before "seeing" and "reaching" ... my friend i was in the shop with burst out laughing, his is at home he tell me.

These are somewhat more refined than pressed tin, but carries the same "motion" that is irrisistable to boys of all ages. The guys name is James Corbett, and you can find his website here:
http://www.jamescorbettart.com/

He also does animals, and other stuff, but it's the bikes and cars that he really makes alive.

Family

So in the last 2 weeks, my family has grown by a kitten, a puppy, and a human. The human is temporary. This excludes the broken family we're (kinda) supporting a return to "normality". And i didn't want any more pets, or people for that ... lol.

I know what happened, i blinked. That's what, i freakin blinked for a 10th of a second and the universe thought, NOW.

The kitten was looking for a home, and the puppy was too. Tiger and Shadow respectively. Tiger because it's like a bosbevokked bengal tiger gone suburban, and shadow because it's like a hole where the light should be. The human is named Herman, and his mom is in ICU and his dad had to go to Botswana on contract, and he's black too, although i wont make any jokes about that, since his parents aren't ;-)

There's a something that is happening, that happens rather in our house: people get there and relax. Odd isn't it? Thankfully i know i had nothing to do with it, generally i just ignore most of what gets said and done, otherwise i'm like, responsible, you know? So i just stay out the way, making sure there's a fire and coffee, chase the kids outside and make sure ashtrays are cleaned out (not so much - ashtrays are better full).

And these people come visit, and end up sinking deeper into the couch than they expected, enjoy the coffee more than they thought they would, and unwind and start talking and sharing and laughing and joking ... inexplicable really.

Of course, it's still my fault. Banning television, playing Pink Floyd, keeping it all very low key ... well you know there isn't enough of that kind of thing. I know because of the surprise most people express when they leave and smile in a relaxed sorta way. They didn't expect that.

Good.

i like keeping people off balance ... ;-)

Brother, where you bound?

For the sake of all that's holy
Listen good to what I say
I can feel them all around me
They could be here any day
But you act like you don't know me
Why d' you look at me that way

If there's one thing that is clear
We gotta get away from here
We've gotta leave this place
It's just a hopeless case
Ain't no one else to blame
We're gonna lose this game

Brother Where You Bound Lyrics
Supertramp

Food wars

93 days in jail over a vegetable garden. for a regular mom with several great children who has never been in trouble,who abides by the laws, who has no record, who has committed no crime, and who doesn’t cause trouble. and I didn’t do anything wrong.

i wanted to just put that in writing to see if it made any more sense.

it doesn’t.

http://oakparkhatesveggies.wordpress.com/2011/07/06/more-love-from-the-city-of-oak-park/

Another of these stories that are growing more common daily. This woman is being prosecuted because she is growing vegetables on her FRONT lawn. This conflicts with the city ordinances which stipulate "suitable" plant matter, and "suitable" equates to "common" in the city's dictionary, and vegetable gardens aren't common, so they're not allowed.

Did you follow that? http://oakparkhatesveggies.wordpress.com/

Russel Peters

Russel Peter's Blog.

I watched a lecture from this man last night, entitled "The Primacy of Consciousness", freely available on youtube. Get it watch it. What do you think? Ok, maybe watch it again ... lol It's very heady stuff, but his breakdown of the subject into a clear hour long journey is astounding.

His conclusion is: I AM GOD. But not in any way that i've ever heard before, and his message isn't religious, it's scientific. Like i said, you have to see this :)

I'm reading the blog now, i love his thinking, and way of expressing these ideas, it's so seldom you find someone so clear.
___________________________________________

I'm home sick today, got the flu, again. I both needed and deserved it, so no complaints, i've bookmarked a spot in the sun to warm up with a book maybe, or maybe just the garden to keep me company. Have a fantastic day all.

Aqualung

Do you still remember
December's foggy freeze
when the ice that
clings on to your beard is
screaming agony.
And you snatch your rattling last breaths
with deep-sea-diver sounds,
and the flowers bloom like
madness in the spring.

Sun streaking cold
an old man wandering lonely.
Taking time
the only way he knows.
Leg hurting bad,
as he bends to pick a dog-end
he goes down to the bog
and warms his feet.

Thank you Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull

A good winter song for the winteriness outside. A hot fire, warm drink, and hopefully a warm atmosphere, and you can sit inside and marvel at the inhospitability of the outdoors. That being said, i want a bike ride. Fast, alone, long winding roads and the freezing air flapping at you and reminding you to stay alive.

My next bike

Beautiful.

Gitanes racing

Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!

Sitting to death

I found the most astonishing "infographic" they call it on News24. Now i drive a desk all day, sitting vegetating in front of twinkly lights. But it's a massive problem for a lot of people, you sit and sit and sit and sit, and when you stand up it hurts.

http://www.health24.com/fitness/General/sitting.asp

The artwork is really good, kudos to whoever put it together, very cool.

Story of a Fazer

Origionally posted on the FZ6 forum, reposted here because i can, just a short history of my favourite motorcycle, my fazer :)

I bought my fazer 4 years ago this month, 2nd hand with just over 30 000km on, still very neat. Looking around the showroom she just caught my eye, and i still rate her the most beautifully designed bike of the last few years ... it's the eyes i tell you!

The price was R48 000, and worked out to about R2000pm for repayments and insurance and fuel. Because i've done some mechanic work before, and thanks to the forum supplying the manual i decided to maintain the bike myself. That's what this thread is about, sort of.

My first problem was the charging system, replaced battery, rectifier, stator, in that order, although not without a lot of confusion on the way. Eventually it was fixed, and i didn't have to bump start every morning, and afternoon, and in between.

The next problem was more serious. I had stripped a spark plug thread on #3, and i quickly decided that any fix was above my humble abilities, and got referred to a guy in my area who had a workshop, and was highly recommended. He removed the engine, and had a helicoil fitted with the cylinder head still on the motor. After costing a small fortune, the bike was left with a horrible stutter on pulloff, something i found to be caused by a plug cap which someone had kindly stood on, and i managed to repair (at R350 per plug cap, R1400 plus VAT to replace plug caps wasn't an option)

What also happened, was that the mechy hadn't tightened the engine-frame mount bolt correctly, that is why my frame cracked. After finding an airplane engineer who could weld the alloy, we first tried to weld with the engine in place. This didn't last long, so the next was stripping the frame. I didn't clear out everything, just engine, swingarm, plastics etc. The weld is still strong, and i must still spray it, to make pretty, but it's holding. (i discovered that they had also "lost" the bolt that fits into the cyl head through the frame, and used another similar bolt. Similar, they used a 1.5mm pitch when they should have used the 1mm thread. I found out when i realised the frame was loose against the head and investigated).

Service time came around again, and i stripped another spark plug thread, #2. Aside from feeling like a complete retard, i was convinced that no other workshop was going to touch my bike (see above). However, there was nobody that i could find to insert a helicoil as before, and the best option seemed to be to remove the head, which i did.

Eventually i found an engineer who could help, and for almost no money inserted the special 10x1 thread helicoil. they also ran a tap through the remaining 2 plug threads, to ensure they were clear, and i mounted the head with the plugs in place. I torqued the plugs into place on the workbench, visually inspected and everything seemed fine. The valves and been found to be leaky, so new valve stem seals, re-seated valves, and everything looked to be 100% ok.

Imagine my surprise about 2 months later, when a spark plug climbed out ... this time #1. I have now stopped believing that i messed up the first 2, and was desperately trying to find a reasonable explanation for the failure. The same engineer who had helped before was unwilling to work on it again, as the thread had gotten badly damaged, and there is NO space to work with, between the plug threads and the valve seats. I investigated helicoils, easy inserts, and about 5/6 other thread repair options. All were unworkable. The head had been irrepairably damaged. Welding is not an option either, as it makes the alloy too soft in a crucial place in the engine, and the long plug stems make only 1 side (by the gasket) accessible. 5mm is as deep as anyone can weld, and if you look at your plus, they're just over double that length.

I found 3 replacement heads:
1x R4500 on exchange
1x R4500 straight
1x R7500 straight

Guess which i got. Very cool place though, they split the head from the engine in front of me, i got given all extras like tappet cover, cam chain tensioners, etc. Went home and mounted. Had some troubles, but i've already done the head removal /replace so many times i'm getting embarrasingly good at it.

Since i'm now paying off the loan i had to take, i won't be celebrating paying off my bike with lots and lots of mods until i pay of the loan ... patience in a virtue i keep getting told

I don't know for sure, but i think i've unwittingly become the most experienced fazer rider/mechanic around. Not best ... most experienced, not exactly a good thing but hey

Bike is now 114455km (last night) and going like a rocket, still stock standard, albeit with a history. I had also dropped my bike while stationary, and have just fitted some replacement plastics.

I love my bike. When i was considering getting another commuter, there wasn't any worth looking at, none are remotely as all rounded as the fazer, and frankly if mine breaks, i'll get another just like it.

That's my little story. I've decided that the cause was metal to metal corrosion, exacerbated by the extremely small plugs that the fazer uses, and the solution as given me by several mechanics is copperslip. The head i collected had been treated with something similar, and the threads were squeaky clean, plugs too.

Moral of the story?

1. Be super careful with replacing spark plugs
2. Check and recheck and check again that all bolts are torqued to spec.
3. Love your fazer, it's the best out there.

Thanks for listening
peace

Truth, Goodness, and Beauty

I seem to recall having posted this before, last year perhaps. No Matter, these beautiful ideas surfaced in a conversation earlier in the week. It's enough to stun you into shutting up and smiling at the sky for a while. Enjoy it.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Nobel Prize acceptance speech (1970) An excerpt

DOSTOEVSKY ONCE ENIGMATICALLY let drop the phrase: "Beauty will save
the world." What does this mean? For a long time I thought it merely a
phrase. Was such a thing possible? When in our bloodthirsty history
did beauty ever save anyone from anything? Ennobled, elevated, yes;
but whom has it saved?

There is, however, something special in the essence of beauty, a
special quality in art: the conviction carried by a genuine work of
art is absolute and subdues even a resistant heart. A political
speech, hasty newspaper comment, a social program, a philosophical
system can, as far as appearances are concerned, be built smoothly and
consistently on an error or a lie; and what is concealed and distorted
will not be immediately clear. But then to counteract it comes a
contradictory speech, commentary, program, or differently constructed
philosophy--and again everything seems smooth and graceful, and again
hangs together. That is why they inspire trust--and distrust.

There is no point asserting and reasserting what the heart cannot believe.

A work of art contains its verification in itself: artificial,
strained concepts do not withstand the test of being turned into
images; they fall to pieces, turn out to be sickly and pale, convince
no one. Works which draw on truth and present it to us in live and
concentrated form grip us, compellingly involve us, and no one ever,
not even ages hence, will come forth to refute them.

Perhaps then the old trinity of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty is not
simply the dressed-up, worn-out formula we thought it in our
presumptuous, materialistic youth? If the crowns of these three trees
meet, as scholars have asserted, and if the too obvious, too straight
sprouts of Truth and Goodness have been knocked down, cut off, not let
grow, perhaps the whimsical, unpredictable, unexpected branches of
Beauty will work their way through, rise up TO THAT VERY PLACE, and
thus complete the work of all three?

Then what Dostoevsky wrote--"Beauty will save the world"--is not a
slip of the tongue but a prophecy. After all, he had the gift of
seeing much, a man wondrously filled with light.

Be Kind

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
– Plato

Peanuts

Risks accentuate the bravery and tragic clarity of choice

Reprinted in it's entirety, from Irish Road Racers and origionally printed in the Irish Times.

This is the heart and soul of why people do seemingly bizarre things on a daily basis. This is the spirit of humanity that will not even stop at death to achieve greatness. To those who go before, we salute you!

The Irish Times

DEREK BRIEN is the third. This year, he’s the third. The 36-year-old died at the mystically named Gorse Lea. They often do die somewhere beautifully named. Snaefell Mountain, Rhencullen, Stonebreakers Hut. Ballaugh Bridge. Greeba Castle. Lambfell Cottage. Peaceful names, remote places, sometimes on a majestic sweep of mountain with nothing but the stone walls and greenery. Laurel Bank. Gob-o-Geay. Glentramman.

Brien’s tragedy is piled high on the list of names of those who have perished at the Isle of Man TT and again brings us to one of the most defiant pieces of rock on the planet. Like Everest the island accepts the riders every year and every year it takes a few. The unofficial list now is 234 deaths, not including officials or spectators. Everest’s appetite is just short of that and lists vary but one estimate stops at 216 deaths with around 150 bodies still on the mountain.

Within a month Brien’s crash brings together two Irish people that died for the sports that thrilled them. On May 21st John Delaney failed to come down the mountain, the added anguish to his family being that his body remains in the Everest ice near the summit. Perhaps there is a strange comfort in that, and also for the family of Brien. What consumed both was more than a dalliance with the intrinsic appeal of danger but a relationship, familiar and natural, one that gave enormous pleasure.

The Isle of Man TT is as stunning a spectacle as you will ever see. It is a place where mortality is force fed, where the riders appear to go too fast into bends but somehow come out the far side, where they rear out of the seat to use their bodies as air brakes, smash into birds at 180mph, hit sticks on the road, find slippery bits of white line on hairpin bends. It is the community as much as the sports themselves that are the attraction.

Extreme bike racing and mountaineering are lifestyles and asking people to stop contributing to the body count is to ask them to change their lives because of our own buttoned-up sensibilities and infatuation with living safe and long. It is to say that doing one thing with a life is better than another. In that debate the bravery and the tragic clarity of choice of Brien and Delaney seems a creditable one to take."

Bike news

The cylinder head is fubar. Cracked at the valve seat.

No, i have nothing else to say :(

Malloy

So in the realms of material things, usually i'm not too fazed. However this is something i would sell intimate bits of my body for:

The Malloy Hoverbike.



Words fail me.

YES, YES, YES ... OMG YES ... <--is about as far as i get.

Go see his web site, very nicely done.

UPDATE: The Kneeslider also featured this ... vehicle. Go see, some nice comments too!

Happy lane changing day

Happy lane changing day everyone. Yeah i think so too.

You know the OTHER queue is always moving faster? Well today there was a lot of that on the highway. I'm a little more used to the bike today, so was feeling more confident, but after seeing the traffic patterns i decided to be VERY careful. Good thing that, 10km along the highway green kawa had been taken out already. I stopped, the rider had a broken leg, but nothing life threatening. The pig on the scene got happy about "onlookers" so i had to leave. Hope he heals up soon.

It did have a slightly more calming effect on the traffic though, although not much, as they were bumper to bumper shortly after that. Got to work with no more surprises and feeling quite comfortable, despite the cold.

Remember the R6 i told you about with the worn sprocket and other stuff? Well, it was written off last night. According to the guy it was exactly the same as my first accident. Car pulls up at intersection, pulls forward, then stops, then, waiting for the perfect opportunity and timing, pulls off into you. Shit happens, fast. Bike is ugly badly fucked. Rider less so, sprained arm, and i think the helmet i lent him did it's job, his lip is badly swollen. At least he listened to me when i told him to tie the helmet straps ...

I have to go to JHB central today, to collect some helicoils to get MY BIKE BACK. It's a few blocks away from where i used to work, so an unwelcome trip down memory lane is instore for me. And JHB central? *shudder*. And this wind? Hahaha all the wrongs chills hey. But we go on, day in and day out.

I'll leave you with this little ditty, which i recently introduced my son to, and i think he gets it ;-) You have to have the right sorta smile on to sing this:

"Life is sad, life is a bust, all you can do, is do what you must, You do what you must do, and you do it well ...
I do it for you, ah hunny baby can't ya tell?"
Courtesy Robert Zimmerman (Bob Dylan)

Lifeand life and death

Ignore the heading, it's stupid and lame and irrelevant. Moving along :)

You are alive, undeniably, and you will die, just as certain. The rest are all variables that could be anything from 1-99 on a scale of probability. We in JHB have higher death probabilities than just about anyone else on the planet, Mexico, LA and Iraq are probably comparable. Death by bullet is "lead poisoning" which counts as natural death around here. Arguably the highest peacetime death toll from violence in recent history. Funny thing is: you're more likely to die in a road accident, in JHB. Wonderful thought to stir the passions, no?

So you're not high risk, you're the high end of high risk, so what do you do? You ride a motorcycle, of course. And when the wind blows, you ride, and when it rains, you ride, and when your visor and glasses are so fogged up you can't see the handlebars, you ride, only way to clear foggy glasses is to ride. And when your bike breaks, you ride, if you can find a spare. And when they tell you that the bike isn't insured, please be careful, well you fucking ride!!!

So all you adrenaline junkies out there ... here, have a fix that'll make your eyes water, and your stomach knot in twisted agony. That's if everything goes fine ...
... if everything doesn't go fine, well you're fucked, try not soil yourself ok?

So that's what i'm doing, riding a new(ish) bike that isn't insured through the metal madness. It's a 650 kawa, i won't say anything more than i want my freakin bike back please.

I was thinking about the death chances we face, and then i went to Think Bike and saw all the guys down. One guy was repairing a bike's brakes, went for a test ride, brakes failed, dead. Another was off to some rally, "misjudged a corner" about 10km out of town, dead instantly. Us bikers are mostly middle aged white guys, and i can tell you honestly we're all fucked in the head. The death urge is so strong where we're at, it's the white consumer culture, it's the black violence culture, it's the total don't give a shit cos there's no point to even trying culture that our beloved state has imposed. Every single avenue of "normality" has been twisted and bent out true. I see it around me, i feel it inside me too. This death urge that makes us want to live too fast, fly too high.

And it's not an exultation of the spirit as i've spoken of before, it's panic. Raw fear. K posted a cartoon where the guy says he has everything, except a reason to live. Goes that way for a lot around us, but more stuff is about all that we are socially allowed to want, oh, and "happiness" that ethereal fairy that teases and drops you. And so you got an entire generation of death junkies, who live and die all day every day, and yet never live, and die stupidly.

I mean no disrespect, but this death urge has got to be addressed. Hug someone, thats a good start, you may never get another chance. Now THAT'S living ;-)

peace and love

Stormy weather

I'm still alive and kicking ... stuff.

Stormy weather we been having lately huh? Woke up this morning and thankfully didn't have to GET up ... until later. The view from my window made me think fondly of Cape Town winters, Cape of Storms ... they don't fuck around down there.

God must agree with me, JHB is a dirty place, so we got a good gale followed by rain by the bucketful. The skies are crisp and clear, clouds racing along like the little twigs and leaves we used to race along the water drains, as kids. Plenty of water back then, i recall weeks and weeks of fine rain back then. You and your friend would each choose a stick or leaf, and drop them together in the water drains, and run along beside them as they raced along until the big hole. Everything ended up down there eventually.

I need to go now, but peace and love and great big wood fires to all of you.

Where is Molefi Nonyane?

Citizen activist time. This story needs to go viral, FAST.

Molefi Nonyane, the man who cradled Andries Tatane as he lay dying, has been arrested by Bloemfontein police and allegedly denied access to his lawyer. It's a particularly worrying development, as he was due to appear in court in Ficksburg as a key witness in the case against eight policemen accused of Tatane’s murder. Community activists said they did not know where Nonyane was and were concerned for his safety.

Go read the whole story at The Daily Maverick written by the excellent Mandy de Waal.

UPDATE: Captain Dlamini, an SAPS spokesperson, says that Molefi Nonyane was arrested after an old fraud charge against him was reopened. Dlamini says the charge relates to a case that the police opened against Nonyane in 2008. Nonyane is being held in Bloemfontein but was arrested in Ficksburg. Captain Dlamini says: "Nonyane is being held in Bloemfontein because his crime was committed in Bloemfontein. I can't comment on his lawyer not being able to speak to him. I don't know anything about that. He will have a bail hearing tomorrow (Friday) at the Bloemfontein magistrate's court." DM

___________________________________________________

Fucking cowards! These swine never stop. The dog has turned rabid on it's masters, time for the pound.

Look here:
Huffpost

How far away are we from this?

There's an angel keeping count of this shit, can't wait till he comes down to balance the accounts.

peace and love, treasure what you have.

Post post post brrrrrrrrrrrr

I have to post something, because well it's time to post. So far, i've actually managed to warm myself by not moving from this patch of sunlight. When i move, i get cold again. I'm not even going to talk about the exquisite agony of a smoke break. Being on a bike in this icy cold isn't fun at all. The entire body and mind just want to shut down and find a warm place to hibernate for winter. Even people in cars have beanies and jackets and mugs of warm something. Us bikers? We're MEN. Bloody cold men at that!

My day was made today though, i found someone indubitably worse off than i. Some poor little piggie was sitting on the concrete center barrier of the highway, trying to hide behind the camera from the wind. Ouch.

I was trying to remember the tune for "frosty the snowman" but that didn't work, got stuck with "Alice's Restaurant" instead, not a bad trade i think ;-)

It's quite amusing to me how others spend so much time and effort in listening to music while travelling. From sounds systems to fancy speakers and headsets, they all seem to need that music going. Listening to the radio is just mental suicide. Loud bike, loud music, and they're happy it seems. Me, i've given up on music while riding. It's inconvenient. For starters, i need to hear my bike, and traffic, i also need to focus, kind of hard with metallica at earthquake generating volume. Not only that, but suddenly you find that this morning you don't want metallica, you want something quieter, but the controls are buried beneath 5 layers of tightly closed padding, and you're wearing leather gloves, so metallica stays, and throws your mood out.

Of course, many also opt for hands free cell phone kit, and so music until someone phones. But again, that strikes me as a bad idea. First up, i'm not crazy about being phoned to start with, if you're phoning me, most likely you want something from me, not that i mind per se, but honestly, it can wait until i'm not doing the death dance okay? So i'll ride along, cellphone far enough away for me to not hear it ring, everything else packed away so as not to fall out, and nothing but the wind and road and my breathing for sounds. This is where the fun starts.

My brain is infinitely creative, and i am blessed to have my own private stereo that no-one else can hear. It's not even quadraphonic, it doesn't rely on your ears, beams it straight into the brain, brain, brain, brain, brain .... It's quite astonishing really, and as long as i avoid the bloody infection of popular radio seeping into my consciousness, then the selection is as arbitrary as it is pleasant. I have no idea who the deejay is, because i don't usually choose the tune, it just sorta starts playing, and usually within seconds i'm humming along happily. Unless it's something really bouncy, in which case you'll find me bouncing along happily, waves arms andf pulling silly faces at the traffic, not that they can tell, behind the tinted visor, but it's the thought that counts ... ;-)

Coral Castle

And i thought i had covered all the wierd and wonderful places, apparently not.

Here's the most fascinating account of a man who built a whole playground our of coral. 30 ton blocks arranged in what clearly was a personal taste, but more astonishingly, one man alone seems to have achieved that.


The Incredible Mystery
Of Coral Castle
By Christopher Dunn
From Atlantis Rising
7-14-3

Go have a look and see what you think!!

Bad jokes

So against my initial thoughts, i'm going to talk about the rapture, the one that didn't happen, ergo, small r.

Now it's all very bizarre to someone like me, who likes things to kind of make sense, sometimes. So when you want to talk about the "rapture", you are looking at christian teaching, as based on the bible. So we look at the bible and discover that:
a. The "rapture" isn't actually stated, just inferred by 20th century thinkers
b. The bible explicitly states that no one will know when it is, until it is.
It's very clear to me, it's a minor theological point of discussion with the only certainty being it's uncertainty.

So when someone, anyone stands up and says "i know when it's going to be, based on the bible" ... they're bullshitting ... everyone, including themselves. It only remains for the rest of us to ignore such stupidity, and carry on with hopefully more meaningful pursuits.

But despite that, there is an even worse aspect to the whole story, which i want to examine. The aftermath, not really all the now poor and suicidal idiots who believeds the story, i'm actually reffering the the millions of others who didn't, YET STILL GIVE THE WHOLE STORY VALIDITY. How do they do this? By actively engaging in the story, by making jokes about it, laughing and deriding it. Now i do need to tread carefully, because the rapture doctrine is something that has affected me personally very strongly in the past, but same time i don't actually accept it as such.

Anyway, the point is the complete mockery applied to ALL aspects of the situation. From "jesus" jokes, to "christian" jokes" to EVERYONE talking about the rapture like it was a cold morning, not some theological gray area. As i'm typing this, someone sends this:
http://www.hayibo.com/rapture-happened-but-only-rick-astley-fans-taken/

Now before i get pilloried for being an overly sensitive christian apologist, i'd like to make the same complaint about the alleged death of bin laden.

Now to me the entire bin laden story is a bad joke. From his rich family background, to it's cia kickstart, to what we have come to accept as 9-11 to the truly monstrous security state we all seem to live in now, to his death, and even more security for our safety., it's a macabre story. Even the final chapter, containing scenes of him being shot in the head unarmed and his wife also being shot, for "lunging" at these "special cunts" ... it's inhuman.

So after all the news stations had run their rubbish repeats of propaganda feeds from the white house, the jokes started. From actual jokes to stupid fucking gif images that everyone seems to think is funny, except me. I mean, it's like laughing at a cripple .... wtf?

I get accused sometimes of being overly serious, a charge i accept gladly. But this is not the same, i mean it's not about having a sense of humour, it's about exercising a selection process as to what is funny. Men being "double ttapped" naked in their bedroom isn't funny. Ever. For anyone. Under any circumstances. Ever. There's a silent scream of anguish that escapes me over all this. It's not only about watching people DEHUMANISE themselves, and dehumunising others, which is what they are doing, but also about the completely narrow perceptions they have, completely preprogrammed mentality, down to the off colour jokes.

Somehow despite us all being unique and driving our own colour and make car, we are surrounded by this ... sludge mentality that pervades those around us. All the same mindsets, and it's not a utopia of thinkers and artists and mystics, it's a dirty polluted river where each square metre perhaps appears different, thanks to same unique item of rubbish to be found, but right under the thin surface bubbles the same turgid, smelly thought patterns. And the jokes have the same smell.

It's a rant i know, but i appeal to those who read this to stop and think about these issues for a moment. Is a dead man funny? Is a deranged 90 year old who has ruined thousands of lives funny? I keep hearing my voice of reason say things like: humour is a means of dealing with "trauma" which could be a very good argument, but i cannot accept it. Humour in this case is nothing more than a deflection of intent. While people are amusing themselves to death, the death is only coming closer.

So please, next time you get a stupid joke about something that's not funny, don't send it, ok?

The Pig Farmer

It's not often you find a truly beautifully written story, complete with moral and happy ending. But i found one this morning, and couldn't stop reading until i was done. A story which is fairly common in fact, but usually just dismissed in our daily bustle, and the deeper issues glossed over like cheap paint on a picket fence.

A sincere thanks to Running cos i can't fly for reposting from the orgional story to be found on John Robbins Blog.

I'm not going to repost, or even print excerpts, the story must be read and enjoyed as a whole, so when you have your drink of choice, and a comfy chair, and some time for a good story, please go have a look and read and feel the hope that shone through to me.

peace and love

Tiger, tiger, burning bright ...

William Blake. 1757–1827

489. The Tiger

TIGER, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Don't play the blonde ...

Yes i know it's a stripshow, yes i know it's a very good strip show. However, have a listen to the music, if you can :p

Very cool, my new theme tune for a while, just happy .. you know?

peace

Will power

There's been a thread of thought lately about the Will, yes, with a capital W. Our will, as people, how to harness it, activate it, use it in some way. It's starting to look remarkably like the holy grail to me. While pondering a post and how to present my thoughts, i quite accidentally found the following essay, entitled Will To Power: How The Public Corrupts Us To Act In Bad Faith by macthephi.

About the accidental: through a google image search i found an image which resonated, i then scrolled through the image directory, and finally to the homepage, where i found the essay. Well thought out and presented, extra points are scored by his referencing Kierkegaard (!) amongst others. It's an existential crises that is coming to the fore of consciousness, over a centuries long awakening in our minds. But it's here, i sometimes take solace in pretending to be a medieval serf, and try imagine the simplicity of thought he might have had. But it could only ever be a fanciful flight and never sustainable for long. Ever more into life ... through it ... to the other side, to see if it perhaps is anything.

Something worth mentioning briefly, which happened on the way to work this morning. Lane splitting along the highway, the high clouds bubbling between patches of deep blue sky, the rising sun casting patches of bright orange between the gray. It wasn't cold, and the traffic was remarkably docile for this early Monday dawn. The sun peaked out from behind a cloud, shining straight into my visored face. I could feel the warmth, feel the energy and power of this celestial marvel, and as much as the light pierced my vision, it's rays pierced straight into my soul, and for just a brief moment, i felt the most wonderful joy bubble up inside. I think it was Maslow who first used the term "peak experience", but that's what it was. Of course, as soon as i realised it i was over analysing what i felt, as much as trying NOT to zone out while doing 50km/h through standing traffic.

An almost ritualistic task, a calm collected countenance, and the wonder found every morn ... and i am drawn back to Blake:

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

This ... door to a new world was opened to me in traffic this morning, very gently but unmistakably. I guess the modern man reaction is wtf? But i'm left laughing at the irony of it. The buddha is as comfortable in the cylinder head as he is at the top of the mountain, to paraphrase Robert M. Pirsig.

I think the point i'm reaching to, is that we hold the keys, every moment of our lives we are able to access this ... hidden world, but we don't. We are enslaved to ourselves as much as to others, and yes, freeing oneself from oneself is infinitely harder than freeing oneself from another.

The Will to Power essay lays hold on one of the primary reasons for our weakness, and yes it's external to us, and yes, it's something that can be overcome, but only at the price of your sanity, which is your "acceptance of socially condoned behaviour and thinking". which brings me back to one of my favourite phrases in all literature, from Herman Hesse Via the Treatise of the Steppenwolf:

PRICE OF ADMITTANCE YOUR MIND. NOT FOR EVERYBODY.

Please go read Will To Power: How The Public Corrupts Us To Act In Bad Faith - macthephi and think about where your power and will have gone.

Freedom ... reprise

“Don’t you wish you were free, Lenina?” he asks.

“I don’t know that you mean. I am free, free to have the most wonderful time. Everybody’s happy nowadays.”

He laughed, “Yes, ‘Everybody’s happy nowadays.’ We have been giving the children that at five. But wouldn’t you like to be free to be happy in some other way, Lenina? In your own way, for example; not in everybody else’s way.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she repeated.

From 1984, By George Orwell.

Freedom

Existentialism

One sticks one's finger into the soil to tell by the smell what land one's in; I stick my finger into existence - it smells of nothing. Where am i? Who am i? How did i come to be here? What is this thing called the world? What does the word mean? Who is it that has lured me into the thing, and now leaves me there?
... How did i come into the world? Why was i not consulted, why was i not made acquainted with its manners and customs, but was thrust into the ranks as though i'd been bought from a kidnapper, a dealer in souls? How did i obtain an interest in it? And is it not a voluntary concern? And if i am compelled to take part in it, where is the director? I would like to see him.

More from Soren Kierkegaard, from his novel "Repetition".

I'm really starting to like this guy.

Boredom

The Gods were bored, so they created man. Adam was bored because he was alone, so Eve was created ... Adam was bored alone, then Adam and Eve were bored together; then Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel were bored en famille, then the population of the world increased, and the people were bored en masse. To divert themselves, they conceived the idea of constructing a tower high enough to reach the heavens. This idea itself is as boring as the tower was high, and constitutes a terrible proof of how boredom had gained the upper hand.

Soren Kierkegaard, Translated by D.F. Swenson.

William Blake

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

A robin redbreast in a cage
Puts all heaven in a rage.

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

Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born,
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight.

Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.

We are led to believe a lie
When we see not thro' the eye,
Which was born in a night to perish in a night,
When the soul slept in beams of light.

God appears, and God is light,
To those poor souls who dwell in night;
But does a human form display
To those who dwell in realms of day.

William Blake - Auguries of Innocence

Piece of sky

I look up, at the sky framed by trees
And walls and wires
Stars twinkling softly in the dusky sky
Cold and distant, impossible to grasp
I recall soft campfire lights
Where the stars were only an arms length away
The crisp globe of sky part of my evening meal
And the ground too
Crunchy soil and dead leaves moulding
The immediacy of their touch
Around me trees and people and stuff
All part of my soul, imprinted forever
Tonight i leap up and try
To recapture my sky
Mind reaching out across the cavernous reaches between
To hold a star gently in my mind
Caress it and marvel at it's brilliance
So far ... so far away from me the stars tonight
No more than ever, but somehow it's me
Too small to see
Where i end and where i am lost in
The light reaches out
Piercing my eyes and my soul
Longing for that union ... oneness
Where i am it, and it is me
Shining through me, like a candle in a million mirrors
But i alone and cold and dark in a foreign land
Feel the light reflect off my face
And show contrast between light and dark
Warmth and cold, me and it ...
Open my mind ... my heart my soul
Smash down these walls of fear and regret
Hate and malice and strife
Oh for open eyes to see the wonder of shimmering glory
That is our creation
For that instant sparkling ray of heaven
That shines upon my mortal mind
To know that light shines always ... pure and clear
And that only i turn away ... like a blind man
But even the blind know the sun
How then do i doubt the light?
How then do i mimic the madness
And question what is divine?
Like a flower bursting open in spring
Dazzling all with it's colour and scent
Allowing the cosmos to glow in vibrant harmony
So too must i
explode
Dissipate
Disperse
Myself
To fling my consciousness across the universe
And claim
My piece of sky

Fracking bad idea

This is why Shell's ideas on fracking the entire Karoo (it will never be less than total destruction, that's how these guys work):

Bradford County's director of public safety said a Chesapeake well went out of control late Tuesday night. That means the well blew near the surface, spilling thousands and thousands of gallons of frack fluid over containment walls, through fields, personal property and farms, even where cattle continue to graze.

DEP is taking ground water and stream samples to determine the extent of the spill.
______________________________________________________________

A massive chemical explosion. So ... what chemicals?

http://democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Hydraulic%20Fracturing%20Report%204.18.11.pdf

About every damn chemical ever invented in that list, and that's only raw chemicals, they do not show what secondary substances are generated by mixing etc.

For an excellent article on what fracking is, see here:

http://8020vision.com/2011/04/17/congress-releases-report-on-toxic-chemicals-used-in-fracking/

They have greased all the beaurocratic gears with plenty of oil dollars, and we commoners are expected to sit back and allow government to destroy our land. The time for a half brick approaches.

The Parrot Rossi

We have taken into our household a parrot recently, looking after it on behalf of a friend, who is unable to look after him right now. His name is Rossi, and he is an african grey with a bright red tail.

What an astonishing creature!! Apart from the ability to mimic, his choice of words and his reactions to specific people is also very ... disconcerting almost. He is a very intelligent bird, and you can immediately understand that in the jungles, he would be the king.

His mimicry can be annoying, like over the last few days where he has taking to impersonating the cough that i have (i'm sick as a dog the last few days) ... but hearing yourself cough form the other side of the house is ... odd. He has a full reportoire of birds, whistles, clicks and squeaks and squawks, but words and almost prefect imitations of people. You hear a child ask and adult answer in one breath, and Rossi gets the tone and pitch just right.

He doesn't like me at all, which is apparently cos i'm a male, and he ... takes offense, or something ... ? LOL. He won't talk to me, and if i stand near his cage he goes silent, and watches me intently, taking no action while i'm there, the second i'm gone, he calls for attention "come to me", turn around and go to him, silent. He loves attention, and the kids all have their relationships with him, and he responds differently to each.

It's a shame he's not ours, in the sense that he hasn't bonded to us from young, and there is a whole other level of trust and interaction that can be accessed. Trust, thats an important word in this, and it's him that has to trust, and he does so very well, i wouldn't trust me either if i were him. But considering that this is all new to him, and different, he has adapted remarkably well to OUR environment, specifically. I do want him back with his "mommy", but until then i'm happy to have his noisy humour punctuate the air. For he is a very happy little bird, and friendly, in his own way.

peace :)

Helping a friend

So i offered a colleague some help with replacing his chain and sprockets, my garage is better than many i guess, and i don't mind getting dirty to help. So we went through after work, stripped the wheel and chain and sprockets and proceeded to fit the new ones.

The job went from bad to worse to stupid to broken. Very very quickly. You see, he was in a hurry, to go on a date, where he'd promised the girl a ride. So quickly quickly, everything in a hurry. I discovered that part of the reason for haste was a non working headlight. I also discovered his back brakes were worn. Not worn as in the pads finished and the metal is scraping, i mean the metal was finished, and the disc is nearly gone. The sprockets were finished, not as in replace now, as in, they should have been replaced several years ago. GONE. No teeth on the front sprocket. Back sprocket slightly less bad, but way past worn, and teeth broken in some places. The chain was similarly beyond any hope.

The job failed, miserably. And i'm glad. I'm torn over not being able to help a friend, as i had planned. I feel like a bad mechanic and friend, those feeling are normal kneejerks to failing in the garage, with any job. But when i get through all the egotistical crap, there is a slow realisation that the bike standing forlornly in a foreign place is preventing it being ridden. And that is a positive thing. For now at least i guess.

I love bikes, i tolerate bikers, and i sincerely wish to see many many more on the roads around us. But the caveat is that it can only be done within a safety orientated framework. The thrill of the ride lasts only as long as the metal that makes it move, when the metal fails, so does the thrill. And when metal fails at high speed, so too ends the life of the person on it, and pillion too, if you're counting.

I also watched first hand how NOT to approach a mechanical repair job. The slow, ponderous, thoughtful approach of all the mechanics i know is there for a reason. Even when things go wrong, which they always do, taking slow allows a solution, eventually. Battering your will against the hard reality of cold metal brings blood, and pain, and fustration, and broken metal. And broken wills too.

I'm glad that the bike is broken, and not the rider. I'm glad that the bike is now going to be taken and fixed, by those who are trained to do so. This doesn't change my views on home repairs though, i've just reassembled my own bike's engine. But i have a much greater respect now for both the bike and the methods of approaching the bike. On the road and in the garage, respect first and foremost, for without that respect, fear and even awe of the engineering, we are but children playing with a very hot fire.

peace and love

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
And I wake in the night at the least sound
In fear of what my life or my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

~Wendell Berry

hat tip to K :]

Back in the Saddle

It's day 3 since i rode my bike again, after a 2 week break, and it's a miracle i've not yet maimed myself. I can't stop, i can't turn, i can't balance at slow speed, nothing like that.
All i can do is try miss all the damned cars that seem intent on sending me to the hereafter. Had an altercation with a rich black bitch in a fucking huge white merc. After not stopping at a stop street, and pulling straight in front of my path without even slowing, she the attempted to drive away as if nothing had happened. So i pulled her over and explained what a brain dead bitch she was. I hope i ruined her day.

For my own part, i'm just trying to "reconnect" with the machine. Trying to get that feeling back ... don't get me wrong the bike, apart from sounding like either a beetle or a tractor, thanks to the valve lifters, has developed an engine tone an octave lower, only noticable once you open the throttle, but a deeper than usual ROAR lets me know there is plenty of grunt waiting for me.

The thing is, i NEVER "floor it", i never gun the motor as i ride, there's too much. I'm always riding very gently with the throttle, opening is small manageable amounts, gently pouring more power through to the wheels. That's why i love my bike so much, absolutely linear power band, utterly responsive to even the most sensitive throttle adjustments. Speed up, slow down, and all with the finest twitch on the throttle producing immediate results. Even when i do want to go fast, never the "dump" movement, throwing everything at once, but i keep the throttle at absolute minimum for the required acceleration, otherwise i'd have been thrown off a long time ago.

But it's tempting, that low throaty growl i hear under me when i give that little bit extra. It's that growl of an animal about to pounce, of pure power unstretching itself.

This weekend, i'll fix some of the valve clatter, collecting the footpegs today, and the plastics soonest, but i want frame sliders before i fit the new plastics, otherwise i'll crash probably 2 days after fitting said new plastics ..lol.

peace and love and safe travelling!

That's it!

Source

Vroom

Bike is running.

*breathe*

BOOM

http://soho.esac.esa.int//data/realtime/sps/lasco/c2/2011/04/20110407_1248_c2_512.jpg

Thunder day

It's appropriate. I had to check which day it was first. I can imagine a great hammer smashing down through the ether, shattering and breaking and smashing anything it connects with.

After fire comes the melting. White hot metal pouring like rain across our horisons.

The bike is not yet fixed, more bits at the engineers. For some unknown reason, i had not 1 or 2, but 13 valves not seating properly. No signs that the valve hit the pistons or anything that extreme, just broken anyway.

Thanks to the last while, i'm now officially depressed. I'm a crap mechanic, apparently a crap husband, father, and all round fuck up. Can't say i'm surprised to hear it, just ... it's deflating i guess.

Aaaargh this merry dance we make ... what a load of bullshit.

Happy monday!!

Unlike everybody else i know, i like mondays. It's the fresh day, start the week. We usually start it wrong you know, like by going to work ... but it's a good first day i think.

I'm busy playing wrench monkey again today, but even the hardest job is made easier by friends visiting and sending support.

QOTD:
Originally Posted by DefyInertia
Don't waste your money paying some tool to molest your bike!

FROM: www.fz6-forum.com/

:D

Time

Been busy, been busy waiting a lot too. Got everything together this afternoon, and it wouldn't start.
Looks like the cam chain is 1 tooth out ....
Just had an awesome roast dinner, so feeling human again, almost.

Metal madness

I've been patient all week, waiting for stuff to happen, as slowly as it needs (it's always slowly when you're in a hurry).
Got the cylinder head back from the engineers yesterday, even got them to use a die on the other threads to clean them out properly, all nice and tip top shape.
The plan was to get working this morning. You cannot rush around most the day then sit down to mechanicals, thats how you break things. I prefer to wake in the morning, able over to the garage, and start on some easy stuff, like waking up. And so last night was my boy's birthday, he and his cousin kicked me away from the pc so i went and wandered around the garage a bit, you know, just looking. Looked at my shiny clean head on the bench, and the spark plugs lying next to, and thought to myself, this is the easiest spark plug insertion i'll ever do on my bike, since i'm apparently so freaking bad at it, i may as well practice.
And i'm glad i did, the other 3 holes took the plugs perfectly, but the one thats just been done, not even halfway, then stuck.
I don't know, i'm not any kind of expert, so i'll have to ask, when someone has a chance, and take it from there. This is where self control is hardest, and while i'm quite upset, it won't help to express it, it any way.
I guess i'll go read a book, that never hurt anyone.
peace and love

Home, sweet home

Which is where i am while the bike is repaired, yup, by me.

A second spark plug hole is stripped, entirely my own fault i guess, just bloody annoying. So between work, i've got some to do, and studying, can't get the info in fast enough, and cleaning the insides of a bike, i have enough to do.

Added to that it's school holidays, so i have 2 kids home with me today.

A walk to the shopping centre later, i need a mousetrap (a big one) and some scraper blades. It's all misty outside, my favourite walking weather, great days are made from days like these. Well not great, but the best sort i think :)

peace and love

Supermoon Pics

Flikr Photos

Above is a shortcut to a search on Flikr of all the uploaded images fro "Supermoon" from around the world.

Just browse, some gorgeous images there.

Neurofeedback Defined

http://www.neurofeedbackdefined.com/members.html

Found via the main page at: http://noosphere.princeton.edu/index.html otherwise known as the The Global Consciousness Project, the shortcut is called: globalbrainpainting.

Awesome!

Happy moony!!

Well here's something that is entirely natural, beautiful, and interesting all at the same time: The Lunar Perigee.
Go have a look here, it says that the difference in apparent size between perigee and apogee is as much as 12%! Quite a bit when you think of it.
I don't know what, if any, affects it would bring, there is a LOT we could discuss and theorise about that, but hey, as a lunatic this makes my day! ... erm NIGHT :D

peace and love

Please mister ...

Going Nuclear

I hate to be the one to break this to you, but about Japan's Fukushima power facility?

Japan has told the UN nuclear watchdog a spent fuel storage pond was on fire at an earthquake-stricken reactor and radioactivity was being released "directly" into the atmosphere, the Vienna-based agency said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), citing information it had received from Japanese authorities, said dose rates of up to 400 millisievert per hour have been reported at the Fukushima power plant site.

"The Japanese authorities are saying that there is a possibility that the fire was caused by a hydrogen explosion," it said in a statement.

“That would be like Chernobyl on steroids,” said Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer at Fairewinds Associates and a member of the public oversight panel for the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, which is identical to the Fukushima Daiichi unit 1.

People familiar with the plant said there are seven spent fuel pools at Fukushima Daiichi, many of them densely packed.

Gundersen said the unit 1 pool could have as much as 20 years of spent fuel rods, which are still radioactive.

ALSO:

Fissionability of cooling ponds:

The threat of a fission explosion at the Fukushima power facility emerged today when the roof of the number three reactor exploded and fears that a spent fuel pool, located over the reactor, has been compromised. The pool, designed to allow reactor fuel to cool off for several years, was constructed on top of the Fukushima reactors instead of underground. As of 2010, there were 3450 fuel assemblies in the pool at the number three reactor. The destruction of the number three reactor building has experts concerned about whether the spent fuel storage pool, which sits just below the roof, could have survived intact the hydrogen explosion. The explosion was much more severe than Saturday’s blast at the number one reactor.
..........
According to Albert Donnay, a former nuclear engineer, “This means the common pool is now full of radioactive and corrosive seawater that will cause the fuel assemblies to fail and burst open, as they are doing inside the reactor cores that have been deliberately flooded with seawater. If the pool drains or boils away, the fuel will melt, burn and even possibly explode if the fuel collapses into a sufficiently critical mass.”

This may explain why the Japanese government began adding boric acid to the reactor spent fuel pools at the facility shortly after the earthquake and tidal wave.

“If those solutions – the sea water and the boric acid – don’t work, there are no more arrows in the quiver. They have shot everything they have, they have run out of options and there is nothing left.”

AND:

The problem is if the spent fuel gets too close, they will produce a fission reaction and explode with a force much larger than any fission bomb given the total amount of fuel on the site. All the fuel in all the reactors and all the storage pools at this site (1760 tons of Uranium per slide #4) would be consumed in such a mega-explosion. In comparison, Fat Man and Little Boy weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki contained less than a hundred pounds each of fissile material.
____________________________________________________________

Don't panic or anything, it's North America that should panic, and Japan i guess. But with the Japanese market imploding, and the US not far behind, the implications of this are going to be PROFOUND. Food stortages, towards the end of this year for US IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Peace and love

Bad moon rising

Well we know about the coming supermoon, and the opposition of Jupiter and Saturn, but my heart goes out to the people of Japan right now. The footage and news is mind-numbing.

The footage of the tsunami is ... i'm gobsmacked. I believe a nuclear plant is leaking radiation into the jetstream, so the japanese and US west coast are going to have radiation sickness soon.

Volcanoes all over the Pacific ring of Fire are blowing their lids, and apparently the seismic waves went around the planet 4 times.

This is all just very unsettling. Interesting times indeed.

YOU FUCKING PANSIES

NEWS24
Eighty-six percent of Gauteng motorists are not willing to pay the proposed toll fees, a survey released on Thursday has found.
The survey, by marketing research company Synovate, showed that only 10% of motorists were willing to pay the proposed rate of 66 cents a kilometre, while four percent were undecided.
Spokesperson Roger Gibbs said 69% of Gauteng motorists were happy to pay to use the toll roads provided the amount was significantly reduced.
_____________________________________________________________________________

Well, my fellow cizitens, gautengers, vaalies, mine dump dwellers, whatever-the-fuck you call yourselves these days.

You bunch of gutless, brainless, spineless, cowering TURDS. Fuck you all, you are going to deserve what you get. Fucking retards.

*spit*

Oh please sir, we want to pay less. Like fucking children. Never mind that you'll be paying for something that was STOLEN from you. It's ok, all of you can go vote DA, and bullshit yourselves that the world is a better place because of it.

Police have 'lost' 20 429 weapons

Cape Town - The police force admitted on Tuesday that a lack of discipline and weapon control was "worrying", after it came to light that police had "lost" 20 429 weapons since April 2004.

Top management couldn't say in Parliament on Tuesday how many officials had been criminally prosecuted, disciplined or fired due to the losses.
...
"The Firearms Control Act puts a huge responsibility on citizens but an official can lose one weapon, a second and a third weapon and still keep his firearm licence. But if I lose my weapon, it is another matter," said Annelize van Wyk of the ANC.

She said the conditions were much stricter for civilians than for police officials. "If you take into account all the losses, police are responsible for the increase in illegal firearms."

WHAT
THE
FUCK
????

Western Cape Grows Hemp

From: IOL

A plan to establish and develop a hemp industry in the Western Cape has been given an enthusiastic thumbs-up by the city’s economic development and tourism portfolio committee.
...
After Budden’s presentation, chairman Pat Hill confirmed that the committee supported – “with some enthusiasm” – Hemporium’s plan to apply for a licence to grow hemp commercially.
Budden said the Western Cape was the ideal place to cultivate hemp crops. However, he said the country was being left behind in the wake of other countries that were already reaping the commercial, social and ecological rewards of industrial hemp production.
...
While a sceptical Koos Bredenhand, of the ANC, initially put Budden through his paces, he was apparently won over after being shown raw hemp products, one of which he declared to be “beautiful”.
...
With the support of the city, Hemporium will now attempt to obtain the necessary permits for local hemp production. - Cape Argus

www.hemporium.com/

Mr Tony Budden (?!) We salute you!!!

:)

Constitution

How's yours? Mine needs a little work i discovered. You see, the constitution has been set up as the massive over riding foundation stone for everything that occurs in our society. We are society, all of us, and supposedly despite any differences we have, the CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA is our common banner.

So what is a constitution? It is a declaration of principles as given by a corporation. Pretty much. It is applicable to members of that corporation by their consent and for their benefit. So, if the benefits cease, consent can be revoked. The thing is, any and all contracts are voluntary, they can be no other way. Any and all contracts need to be an agreement between 2 parties with full disclosure and a meeting of the minds ... that's all perfectly logical and reasonable.

So what about this citizenship thing, is that a contract too? Absolutely, and even better they did not offer full disclosure, so you may, at any point, cancel the membership. This is quite a novel concept i think, certainly not one i had thought about before now, but given the circumstances i can think of nothing more urgent, appropriate nor enjoyable than to hand in my resignation to "society" and get on with my life, and a society of my choosing, consisting of family and friends and neighbours, who right now, are less part of my life than a bunch of beaurocrats who operate entirely in a fictional world.

We of the 21st century are well versed in fiction, to the extent that the reality of your immediate place and time becomes secondary to what happened on the soapy last night, or what the upcoming blockbuster movie is about, or even the vileness that is gaga ... these fictions are given more reality than the clouds and eartgh and sky that has been real for aeons, and will continue to be real for aeons more, after mankind loses his childish thoughts.

Sadly reality has been sorely neglected, and requires great effort to restore it to a semblance of acceptable. But waking people from slumber is difficult when they are having pleasant dreams, or even when they are having unpleasant ones. The dream is real and more urgent.

I got to work this morning, having negotiated the heat and dust and noise and aggro of the morning madness, and went onto our balcony outside for a ciggy and coffee. Like a bursting balloon the tension popped, with my racing mind suddenly confronted with a wall of trees before me, and a myriad gay birds flitting this way and that, calling out their wonderful songs. Of course i, great human, am on my arse before an electromagnetic radiation generator, under neon lights and in a cubicle, but the real world is only a few steps away, and available once an hour on good behaviour.

ROFLMAO!!!

The constitution is a sales brochure, no more and no less. It's a glossy magazine with an attractive island paradise on its cover, and page after page of alluring glamour and grace. you cannot read it without feeling that preprogrammed nationalistic balloon swelling inside you, causing you to do stupid things like join in and sing kumbaya. Of course as soon as you've signed, you get overcharged, given the runaround for various medical, financial and other reasons, put on a plane that reminds you of the old war movies, and bombers limping home, dropped into a back alley in the smelly part of a town that is 100 miles from the ocean, and about 50 miles from any toilet. I could go on, i'm enjoying myself, but you get the idea. And every time you phone to complain they refer you to the sales manual, and accompanying agreement you signed, and how you honestly should be more grateful.

Our holiday ... government ... society is like the story above: broken, utterly beyond redemption. I want my money back ... i want to go home, my home, where it's warm and comfortable and i can have a cup of tea whenever i want. So i'm reading the sales stuff, and agreements, and they lied to me, to you too for that. I'm cashing out, i have that choice and so do you. Of course, you can't walk out the casino with their tokens, they're worthless out there, and they aren't going to help you in taking your cash out their establishment, they'd rather you lost everything and went to your home which is now indebted too. makes for great business and even better entertainment.

But, i'm the customer, the real source, the human being flesh and blood. I am not a gaming chip, i am not a croupier, i am not security or management, i'm the man with the money.

Traffic

Faust

Mephisto:

All right. But do not plague yourself too anxiously;
For just where no ideas are
The proper word is never far.
With words a dispute can be won,
With words a system can be spun,
In words one can believe unshaken,
And from a word no tittle can be taken.

(Goethe's Faust, Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (Author), Walter Kaufmann (Translator,),pp.204-205)

Maria Aguinda

RUMIPAMBA, Ecuador (AFP) – She has no legal training, and doesn't speak the Spanish that dominates government in Quito but indigenous villager Maria Aguinda helped bring a landmark judgment against US oil giant Chevron for polluting the rain forest she calls home.

The diminutive grandmother whose modest home sits near marshes clogged for decades in sticky oil has been at the heart of the David-and-Goliath case, and spoke out after Chevron was slapped last week with a $9.5-billion fine, among the heaviest ever handed down for environmental damage.

"Before I die they have to pay me for the dead animals, and for what they did to the river, and the water and the earth," the 61-year-old Aguinda told AFP at her home in Rumipamba, a town in remote Orellana province where pollution caused by 30 years of oil drilling and petroleum accidents had become a sad fact of life.

I under stand

For the first time in my life i've had a true epiphany, a lightening bolt of illumination that sets the entire landscape into bright white light. The landscape is the world around us, not so much the physical, but the surreal world that overlays all of our actions, thoughts and plans.

I under stand how money works, around the world and around us. I under stand how i am liable for all the bad things in society, how i give consent, frequently and emphatically to the powers that be, in our case the wonderful ANC. I under stand how they rule, what they need to continue, and how it is i who give them that. I under stand the source of their power, their weakness, and their bounds. I under stand how to say NO, fully, and finally, and to at last, after 33 turns of our pretty roundabout, how to regain my honour.

In my life, i have 3 main areas of operation:
physical
emotional
mental

and i have been struggling with the highest of these for a very long time, trying to reconcile the confusion of our times, and my own life. What astonishment that it is at the PHYSICAL where i must most urgently apply myself, that my emotional and mental well being is intrinsically dependant on my physical actions and statements.

Not so suggest that i have been negligent in the physical, i keep good hygiene, eat well, visit doctors when necessary, and so on. That's not it. I have silently accepted the world for what it is, with the humble intent of trying to under stand it, as well as abide by the rules in the world.

There's always been an assumption in our society, that the human instinct is to self destruction, but i have always taken issue with that, as most "normal" people i know would never hurt anyone unless forced. So why is this planet so badly messed? Blaming people is easy, explaining the whys and hows less so. In fact, there seems to exist contradictions in our society that are not logical, reasonable, moral or anything else of value in any way. There's a WILDCARD out there, working tirelessly against my own personal ambition of a happy, healthy family and lifestyle. We know this, and pointing a finger at "money" or "government" is easy enough, we KNOW it's them, but we cannot show how, and their entreaties to "pay our debts", "do our duty" and "follow the laws" only serve to re-inforce the confusion.

Like the TV license adverts: "it's the right thing to do". No it's not. It's the legal thing to do. If you don't you will be subjected to all the horrors they can muster, from debt councelling, blacklisting, court ordered deductions from your wages, and imprisonment ... all this for not giving them money for something they have given you whether you want it or not, a cancerous VHF signal of electronic garbage. That CANNOT be "right" under any reasonable scenario. But they do it, and are literally getting away with it.

So i stand, and choose where i stand. No longer can i sit and watch, i said this at the turn of the year, and it is taking shape and form and substance of it's own volition. THERE IS HOPE.

So i have been quiet, apologies to my frequent visitors, but i will make it up to you i promise, not with words or pictures, but statements of fact and proof. That's my story for the day, and i'm sticking to it.

peace and love

Victory in the Southern Ocean Day for the Whales

VSO Day

It’s official – the Japanese whaling fleet has called it quits in the Southern Ocean, at least for this season. And if they return next season, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will be ready to resume their efforts to obstruct and disable illegal Japanese whaling operations.

“The Nisshin Maru made a significant course change immediately after the Japanese government made it official that the whaling fleet has been recalled,” said Captain Alex Cornelissen from the Bob Barker. “She looks like she’s going home!”

The Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker has been tailing the Japanese Nisshin Maru factory ship since February 9th making it impossible for the whalers to continue their illegal whaling operations.

“I have a crew of 88 very happy people from 23 different nations including Japan and they are absolutely thrilled that the whalers are heading home and the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is now indeed a real sanctuary,” said Captain Paul Watson.

The Sea Shepherd ships Steve Irwin, Bob Barker, and Gojira will remain in the Southern Ocean to escort the Japanese ships northward. “We will not leave the whale sanctuary until the last whaling ship has departed,” said Gojira captain Locky MacLean.

“This is a great victory for the whales,” said Captain Watson, “but we did not do this alone. Without the support of the people of Australia and New Zealand, we would not have been able to send voyages out for seven seasons from Australian and New Zealand ports. We are grateful to Senator Bob Brown and the Australian Greens Party. We are very grateful to Mr. Bob Barker for giving us the ship that turned the tide in our efforts to force the Japanese fleet from these waters. We are grateful to all our onshore staff and volunteers, supporting members and ship crews. We are grateful to the Chilean Navy and the government of France for their support. It is a very happy day for people everywhere who love whales and our oceans.”

It’s official – the killing of whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is over for this season and the whalers did not even take 10% of their quota. Sea Shepherd estimates that over 900 whales have been saved this year.

“It’s a great day for the whales,” said Sea Shepherd Chief Cook on the Steve Irwin Laura Dakin of Canberra, Australia, “and it’s a great day for humanity!”

Common Law

1. A workman is worthy of his hire

(Exodus 20:15; Lev. 19:13; Matt. 10:10; Luke 10:7; II

Tim. 2:6. Legal maxim: "It is against equity for freemen

not to have the free disposal of their own property.").

2. All are equal under the Law

(God's Law--Ethical and Natural Law). (Exodus 21:23-25;

Lev. 24:17-21; Deut. 1:17, 19:21; Matt., 22:36-40; Luke

10:17; Col. 3:25. Legal maxims: "No one is above the

law."; "Commerce, by the law of nations, ought to be

common, and not to be converted into a monopoly and the

private gain of a few.").

3. In Commerce truth is sovereign

(Exodus 20:16; Ps. 117:2; Matt. 6:33, John 8:32; II Cor.

13:8. Legal maxim: "To lie is to go against the mind."

4. Truth is expressed by means of an affidavit

(Lev. 5:4-5; Lev. 6:3-5; Lev 19:11-13; Num. 30:2; Matt.

5:33; James 5:12).

5. An unrebutted affidavit stands as the truth in

Commerce (1 Pet. 1:25; Heb. 6:13-15. Legal maxim: "He

who does not deny, admits.").

6. An unrebutted affidavit becomes the judgment

in Commerce (Heb. 6:16-17. Any proceeding in a court,

tribunal, or arbitration forum consists of a contest, or

"duel," of commercial affidavits wherein the points

remaining unrebutted in the end stand as the truth and the

matters to which the judgment of the law is applied.).

7. A matter must be expressed to be resolved

(Heb. 4:16; Phil. 4:6; Eph. 6:19-21. Legal maxim: "He

who fails to assert his rights has none.").

8. He who leaves the field of battle first loses by

default (Book of Job; Matt. 10:22. Legal maxim: "He who

does not repel a wrong when he can, occasions it.").

9. Sacrifice is the measure of credibility

(One who is not damaged, put at risk, or willing to swear

an oath that he consents to claim against his commercial

liability in the event that any of his statements or actions is

groundless or unlawful, has no basis to assert claims or

charges and forfeits all credibility and right to claim

authority.) (Acts 7, life/death of Stephen, maxim: "He who

bears the burden ought also to derive the benefit.").

10. A lien or claim can be satisfied only through

rebuttal by Counter-affidavit point-for-point, resolution by

jury, or payment (Gen. 2-3; Matt. 4; Revelation. Legal

maxim: "If the plaintiff does not prove his case, the

defendant is absolved.").
____________________________________________________________

Curiuosly, common law greatly resembles "biblical" laws, or rather, people in the bible accepted certain laws as "natural". Do not harm people or property, and don't use fraud. That's about IT. All the other laws are statutes, which you CONSENT to.

Tech fail

So the wife's car broke, and stayed broked. The agents are singularly unhelpful, first asking for the vin number, which i could only give them the following day. So a day later, i present the number, and get told it still doesn't help. I must bring the car to them, which i explained was while not quite IMpossible, but highly problematic. It was most likely a specific component, could i bring the component in for them to test? Oh no they tell me, they are unable to do that, the whole car or nothing. So i've gone elsewhere. I've dropped the component, for a small fee they will assess whether the part is working, and whether they can repair it, and if so how much.
So for a few days the good wife was banished to the mercy of public transport, constant need for cash, getting to the bus stop on time, avoiding going barmy while waiting for the bus, and getting over the headache caused by being in the bus. Which is all fine really, because at least you are able to get to work. Of course, within 3 days the bus drivers implemented a strike, against being treated like the busses they drive. The strike began at 2pm. So all the people who caught busses to work no longer had a ride home. Is that not inhumane? Certainly not very nice, on anyone's part.
Thankfully i have a motorbike, and so i am actually able to travel around this city, as opposed to those in cars, who can only pretend to travel, while being stuck in traffic. So i ride into the cesspit, i mean city, along the roads, i mean parking lots, and collect the good wife. I discover that the cause of today's re-enactment of Dante's Inferno but our fellow citizens is in fact due to the traffic criminals, who have in fact decided to play traffic cop in the middle of an intersection, where the signal lights are working! And not doing a very good job either, in fact i'm certain the robots handle the traffic better than humans. Perhaps they should go play traffic cop at an intersection with a broken signal system?
This morning good wifey had to present herself to the Randburg office, which meant that i could take her to work with me, since i can go through Randburg en route to work. Traffic was bumper to bumper the entire stretch of highway, to the offramp we were to take, after which it seemed to clear. The road we turned onto was similarly blocked, and it was near impassable to the many cars parked along it's length. After cheerily going between and around them all, we found the source of the problem: a broken down bus. 1 single bus had managed to severely negatively impact the simple act of going to work for THOUSANDS of people. The waste in fuel, energy, goodwill and happiness amongst it's victims is incalculable.

These problems are so typical of our lives we hardly give it thought, and i really pity all the people who really suffer because of them. It's a fail, a broken, and not just the car, the system to fix the car. Not just the bus, but the transport system, and the means of maintaining and fixing the bus, and the bus drivers. It's all a wild web which we've weaved ourselves into, and cannot get out of. Of course any old spider can come along ... we're woolies for predators. Who are now in charge of busses, no doubt.

Genocide by Stealth

By G Annandale

Ever wondered how you commit genocide by stealth?

You only have to look at South Africa to realise that Hitler and other genocidal maniacs could’ve taken lessons from the ANC or perhaps Southern Africa in general. Mugabe has killed almost as many people in a year as the Apartheid regime killed in forty years and if one ads to the Mugabe tally, the number of Khoi and San killed hundreds of years ago in Mashonaland the numbers become really significant. In South Africa the number of whites killed since 1994 are estimated to be over 30 000. Again add to that number the Khoi, San and other foreigners murdered through the years and the killing by the apartheid regime pales into significance.
...
We can only imagine the joy of the heroes of the ongoing struggle when they celebrate the death of Gerhardus Groenewald, father of four, who was stabbed to death on his property on Friday; the cold blooded shooting of Doris De Jager, the 50 year old mother of two, in full view of her son in her garage not to mention the killing, we do not know by what devious means yet , of the 65-year old Georgie Jackson who was abducted at her home on Friday evening and found dead near Sasolburg yesterday.
...
Yes I know my accusations are unfounded and these deaths have nothing to do with racism and genocide. Answer me this; how many black people were murdered by whites in this country in the past week?

RIP Gary Moore

This man could play, i was listening to his inimitable "Blues Alive" album the weekend. Used to be my sound check tape for the Truth commission, LOL. Never forget the one time we played it at lunch, and we had all these political types coming over to tell us how great the music was. "Blues and Ballads" was the first cd i ever bought, kept me warm a good few nights.

He was only 58, died in his room at the luxury Kempinski Resort Hotel in Estepona on the Costa Del Sol. A post mortem will be carried out later today in the nearby city of Malaga.

Tribute:
“He was a genius player. Even as a teenager, he had something special about him and throughout his career he worked really hard at improving his technique.

“His contribution to the Irish rock canon was immense, both in his own solo work, his days with Skid Row, the great records he recorded with Philip Lynott and with Thin Lizzy and in various other cameos. (Niall Stokes, editor of Hot Press)

RIP Gary Moore, thank you for the blues.

Parisienne Walkways - Gary Moore and Phil Lynott

Sticks and Stones

Thank you AL JAZEERA on flickr.

Maybe

I should ... try mitigate yesterday's post. I certainly shan't apologise, nor change a single word, as ever, i said what i thought and be damned.

After arriving home feeling murderous, i took some medication and focused n the kids. They knew something was up, and it's startling how a small hand can instantly just calm you.

I meant it though, all this posturing and pretending and lying and getting ahead ... i can't anymore. Never could, but it's worse now. I feel physically ill when i see someone bully another. When i see people get trampled ... i get sick, and insanely angry. When i see the wanker in a big car, i want to hurt him.

I need to get out of here.

Enough

Far enough, hard enough, fast enough, had enough.

At what point does enough become too much?
When do you reach that level where ... "no more" is about all that still stands alone in your tumultuous mind?

Get up in the morning and the only thing your brain can think is "FUCK" not again.

Well i'm there, again, still, i dunno really. It's all so fucking stupid. The obvious overwhelming reality that everyone politely ignores. Work, family, tax ... omg i got an sms from SARS reminding me to pay tax, and thanking me if i have already. An sms saying "dear taxpayer" ... i want to puke.

Enough of this fucking retarded mine dump, full of it's retarded fucking go-getting money minded shit-for-brains corporate rapists. Enough of this fucking happy families that we all play. Enough of "happy happy" and enough of fucking be nice or else.

Enough of roads, millions of morons every day being STUCK. No other word for it. Stuck behind the car in front of them on the way to get stuck behinfd an email inbox. NO THIS ISN'T LIFE,. Not fucking life. This is death ... LOOK AT IT!!!!! It's fucking death wearing a halloween mask and playing for time.

And the crowd laughs together ... smiles for the last time, last rounds, last dance ... last kiss.

And in this all the supreme self control. This socially conditioned reflex to stand in the queues to the gas chambers. Dignity they call it. Fuck dignity. Fuck society. And the good people talk of heaven and universe and oneness. And they are AS stuck as everyone else, except in their heads. Never for me ... gods this life so short and so excrutiatingly long. Never enough, always too much.

And at the last, comes hope. And i take hope by the throat and give it a mercifully quick death, enough lies. ENOUGH FUCKING LIES and eternal fucking delusions.

But i am dead too you know. I'll go home, be nice. Wake up, be a good worker. Go home and cry. Go back for more. Dead. But the dead feel no pain. Do they? Or is it just the fires of hell that never burn hot enough to destroy? I feel like fire ... hot wild passionate and frenzied, ever seeking new paths to take ... but destroying everything behind.

Enough of this fucking post too