Where is my mind?

Deception

"Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur," a Latin phrase, means "The world wants to be deceived, so let it be deceived." The saying is ascribed to Petronius, a Roman satirist from the first century, CE. "The pontifex maximus Scævola thought it expedient that the people should be deceived in religion; and the learned Varro said plainly, that "there are many truths, which it is useless for the vulgar to know; and many falsities which it is fit the people should not suppose are falsities."

Hence comes the adage "Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur."

Rats!

So we all know Jo'burg has a rat problem, i know at our house it's quite bad, and clearly walls do little to restrict them. So finally i've seen something that actually makes sense:
Johannesburg is introducing OWLS in an attempt to control the problem ... in conjunction with traps etc, but owls!

"The city has opted for the owl solution," he said.

"Owl nesting and release boxes have been installed in three schools in Alexandra as this three-year project will be educating schools on the role owls play in eradicating rats."
________________________________________________

Very cool, a positive approach that does reflect a more natural solution, and long term too. Maybe the owls can develope a taste for hardy-da flesh, that would be awesome ;-)

Pic courtesy of (and shamelessly stolen from) : Aquila ka Hecate (because it's a great pic!)

All at sea

Toll salute

Orion training centre for people with disabilities

I found a happy news story, the Orion training centre for people with disabilities

Our proud projects:
a day care centre for 30 children – 18 months to 18 years old;
activity day care for profoundly disabled people over the age of 18 years old;
residential care facility for 60 disabled adults, including a semi-frail care home;
an art centre where the profoundly disabled can creatively express themselves by painting on canvasses. These artwork are being sold and exhibited.
two training work centres (income generating project) where low to high functioning disabled adults are taught a variety of skills with the aim to eventually place them into the open labour market.
As well as possible accommodation for 15 frail adults over the age of 60 as from April 2012 (awaiting final approval and finalisation of screening etc)

And the artist:

 The painting was done by Christopher Edwards (Down Syndrome) and his team who expressed how they perceive our community when it comes to the issue of alcohol and drug abuse. This particular art piece called “Drunken City” is currently used at our events when we address the abovementioned pillars.

Thank you Jonckie at Arrive Alive.

People power

Sanity and truth

"Sanity is not truth. Sanity is conformity to what is socially expected.
Truth is sometimes in conformity, sometimes not."

 - Robert M. Pirsig

Hat tip to CoyotePrime.

To illustrate this point, i offer a photograph.

From twitter, this morning. Comment is superfluous.

Kite surfing and shark fighting

Indeed.

Interview with Jan Lisewski about the attempt to cross Red Sea (extracts)

I’ve waited for a week in El Gouna near Hurghada for good conditions, for good wind. Such a forecast, for all day, was for 2nd of March. I started in wind of 4 in Bft scale, which has later reach 5 Bft. When there was around 60 km till destination, the wind has suddenly died, just like fire blown from a match. There was no wind, the kite collapsed. After 1,5 hours nothing indicated that the wind will come back. Waves have, however, started to build up. Sun was setting down, so I called SOS. After about 3 hours I called it again.

At first I’ll say that I owe surviving it to my brother Piotr, who forced me to take a knife. Maybe he had some kind of premonition. I was pushed by the wind to the worst place, a reef, where sharks have been preying. They were about 2,5 to 6 meters. They attacked me through my kite, which must’ve also attracted them because of its colour. I stabbed them in the eyes, nose and gills. The fight, which I’ve miraculously survived, took whole night.

This is your brain on a bike

Dr Ryuta Kawashima says:

Riding a motorcycle every day might actually keep your brain functioning at peak condition, or so says a study conducted by the University of Tokyo. The study demonstrated that riders between the age of 40 and 50 were shown to improve their levels of cognitive functioning, compared to a control group, after riding their motorcycles daily to their workplace for a mere two months.

The upshot was that the use of motorcycles in everyday life improved cognitive faculties, particularly those that relate to memory and spatial reasoning capacity. An added benefit? Participants revealed on questionnaires they filled out at the end of the study that their stress levels had been reduced and their mental state changed for the better.

Rhino poachers caught!

4 Rhino Poachers are being held at Bedfordview SAPS, opp NewsCafe, caught with Horn in possession. All Anti-Rhino poaching groups should descend and protest.

Thank you Pigspotter!!

I can't include images for some reason, but you can see the following:

Rhinohorn

Rhino Poachers

Apparently the horn was fake ... i have no words ... probably trying to con some rich guy.

Africa ...

Child murderers

I found this story and couldn't put it down.

On Friday at 10am four teenagers held the Zwelihle High School Grade 8 and 9 classes at gunpoint.

One of the pupils, who did not want to be named for fear of victimisation, said the robbers demanded cash and cellphones from the pupils.

“We know these guys. They bully the schoolchildren all the time and steal their money and other valuables. They are known to attack pupils inside the school too.”

The pupil said that as the robbers brazenly made their way out of the school gate, the pupils decided to fight back.

“They confronted the robbers and asked them if their gun was working. They started running. This did not stop us. Everyone gave chase. We were all sick and tired of their bad habits.”

She said as the gang ran towards the Zamani informal settlement, pupils hurled stones at them and continued to chase them.

“Some of the pupils eventually caught them at the settlement. They started hitting them and pelting them with stones. More than 500 children were there.”

____________________________________________

Words catch in my throat ... all i can think is murderers ... i don't mean to punish them, that would be pointless. But each of those children now has blood in their hearts, they have killed. I can't even blame them, i blame the police, and teachers, who clearly haven't done anything up until now, but these children are children no longer.

Cry My Beloved Country.

Dirty future

Since i had a dirty morning, with plug caps falling apart, this was hope springing eternal.

People power

Jeb Corliss Grounded

And in a less serious vein, and as follow up, i present Jeb Corliss' Table Mountain crash at 120MPH. Less serious because he survived ... he even pulled his chute, although not quickly enough it appears.

Bushmen and boere continued

So they did, AfriForum Youth and the Khoisan community presented a memorandum to the dept of land affairs yesterday. They applied for a march but were denied, someone pointed out: It's just another way the KhoiSan are descriminated against ... fair point.

Daily Maverick and News24 both had stories, the Maverick's is much better though.

This is fascinating, the ANC's only claim has been historical possesion, a claim which has always been very thin, but has proven highly effective against the boers, in this climate of political correction. However, the inherently racist ANC is now presented with a challenge that it is ill prepared to face. While the bushmen and boers share a common goal, that of their own land as promised to all by the constitution, the undermining of both groups has been easy, with the one labelled "colonialist invaders" and the other merely sidelined in the same manner as the apartheid government used against the blacks.

KhoiSan have never been media friendly, being too simple and generally ignorant of these things. That has led to them literally being swept under the carpet, by the old apartheid government, the new ANC government, the government of Botswana, and anyone else who thought them a bother. Similarly, the boer youth have had a problem winning any kind of sympathy, ans they are seen as "priviledged", despite the overwhelming odds against them lately. So we have the undisputed "heirs of africa" and a very media savvy white youth joining together to fight a common evil, correctly slated as worse than apartheid.

I look forward to more of this story. Pieter Mulder has taken a LOT of flak recently for his correct summation of the facts, highly inconvenient facts i'll grant, but undisputed history (except by the anc, they'll dispute anything if they feel like it). I hope he stands firm, and i suspect this issue is receiving far more interest in Europe than we suspect, from the Dutch and Belgians, who now really have a wedge with which to open the fallacy of the new south africa for all the world to see.

Maturity

"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that is wants to live humbly for one." - Wilhelm Stekel

Bushmen and boere

In what might seem an unlikely tie-up, South Africa’s Khoisan community will protest with AfriForum Youth over Khoisan land ownership at the Land Reform Department.

Unsubstantiated so far, but in a daily mail i get. Yes, that is the most perfect thing i can imagine. Pieter Mulder is now referring to all the "local" tribes as "bantu" ... which is the same as lumping all Koreans, Chinese and Japanese as "oriental" ... but of course will not be very well received. Also correctly, they recognise the difference between between the "bantu" and the KhoiSan, who really were the undisputed owners of this land until driven off by settlements, both European AND Bantu. Guess how much land they got?

If you wish to paint me racist, please don't. This is about historical accuracy, no matter what the "political slant" of the day may be, you cannot correct anything without first clearly understanding the history of what really happened. The ANC is big on correcting, not so big on understanding.

The funny thing is this: the bantu and the boere got here about the same time, and both had equal rights to the land. There were agreements between them, and for the most part that "natural" state worked. It was only when the British Empire came to SA, that the Bantu saw their chance to kill this other tribe "boers" and so sided with the British. That move has cost them everything, for despite the boers taking ALL the blame for apartheid, it was the British who implemented it, and directed it via their now confirmed agents Louis Botha and Jan Smuts.

Cyanide spill in drinking water in Natal

Forget the climate, this is more important:

From: TimesLive Source: Sapa | 17 February, 2012 12:52

The raw water supply for the northern KwaZulu-Natal town of Dundee and surrounding areas has been poisoned with cyanide, uThukela Water said on Friday.

The spill was discovered on Thursday morning when cows died after drinking from a stream near a site outside Newcastle, spokesman Dumisani Thabethe said.

Residents appeared to have escaped harm so far.

"There is no one who has been reported to have been affected by the spillage," he said.

Thabethe said: "We are told that about 11 cows have died, but by late evening it was 50, but I am not too sure about the accuracy of the figures.

"Our concern is people getting water directly from the river."

As a precaution, uThukela Water broadcast a warning on the Newcastle community radio station on Thursday.

The spill might have come from a site where synthetic rubber was being manufactured, but this was still being investigated, Thabethe said.

The Ngagane river was flushed with water from the Ntshingwayo dam on Thursday in an attempt to dilute the chemical content.

Water was being released from the dam at 16,000 litres per second.

Thabethe said HTH, chlorine used in domestic swimming pools, was poured into the river before it was flushed.

"They were hoping to stimulate a chemical reaction between the HTH and the cyanide."
__________________________________________________

There are two "synthetic rubber" plants in Newcastle:

Asia Chemical cc

And:

Karbochem (Pty)Ltd <--- they did it. (updated)

As much as i'm the corporate hater, Karbochem seems to be respectable, see this picture with massive tanks of water for (presumably) filtering waste and such.

Asia Chemicals is close to a river, see here, it would be a safe bet that the stormwater drains lead straight to the river. It doesn't have any reputation, so far as i can find. Synthetic rubber and adhesives seem to its products, and cyanide is a major part and by product of synthetic rubber manufacture.

Either way, don't drink the water. Oh, and find mr asia chemicals MR KARBCHEM and give him a swim, after he pays for the cows and "other expenses".

EDIT: it seems that the strategy of using HTH while flushing the river is a good one. According to here: NMFRC it's been an industrial means of reducing cyanide concentrations "for over 35 years" ... good luck to that.

We need

"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!

OSBM

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

"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

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

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 ...

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

"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

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!

Thank you Le Container.

Petrol-head-ism

From: Funzug 

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

Life and justice

"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 ...

Honda CB350 1973

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

Get well soon Jeb!!!

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

Sanral in financial dilemma

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

Ain't it so.

The Truth Explodes

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

Thanks to LucustintheField.

Silence

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

"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

Happy

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

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

“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

Rivers of death

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

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

Thanks to Onestonedcrow!!!

Hang on!!

The Drug Deal

Howzit

Howzit

Thanks

Sweet

Hello moon

Thank you thisisnthappiness.

Toyrun was awesome!

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

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

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

Sensible Police Tactics Against Occupiers

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.

*silence*

Kommetjie

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

Outlaw

"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

Golden Ratio

11 11 11 11 11 11

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

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

Thank you LeContainer.

Fog Harvesting

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

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

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

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

Thanks Le Container

The Heavens Proclaim

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

Thanks, i needed that.

BLACK SUNDAY (9 October 2011)

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

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

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

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

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!!