Thank you Clock at Think Bike
Every year we gather at memorial runs to remember our friends and family members who have passed before us. It is God’s will.
But, it is NOT God’s will if we knowingly taunt our own mortality. We love speed, we love the feeling of the open road – but let it be the open road where we do not endanger others or ourselves.
We love a beer or two or three or more – but let us do it in an environment where we know we will be safe.
Let us all be the guardian angel of the other.
Let us not point fingers but use that hand with the pointing finger to grab and hold on to those who stray from reality. It is our responsibility, yours and mine! Educate our youngsters and let them know the dangers we face every day on our bikes.
Warn them about the cars that surround us. Educate them on the use of the all powerfull right hand on the throttle!
In a year, which is probably the worst we have seen in many years, we have lost too many of our fellow riders!
YOU must be the wind of change
One person cannot change a community’s behaviour or attitude – but one person, you and I, can make a difference – one person, one day at a time – and with time, we can make so many more people aware.
You can be the person who tomorrow can lays his hand on the shoulder of a friend and ask him or her to either sleep over or get a lift home – you can be the person who takes a walk around a friends bike and check the chain, or if the tire is worn, or to check if a nut is loose – SPEAK!!
You are the one who can speak to the motorist – wife, son, daughter, mother or father - and ask them to please use their indicators – or to wait those extra few seconds at an intersection. Many motorists misjudge the speed of an oncoming motorcycle.
You can be the one who speaks to the neighbour’s daughter or son on a scooter, those with shorts and takkies or mini-skirt – tell them what a roastie feels like – tell the father or mother what their child will look like if not dressed properly
Ask your friend to be more carefull with the girl on the back - fasten the helmet – wear the gloves and ride carefully – she is someone’s daughter or sister!
Speak to your child – and be the example – YOU make the decision – make the decision to just think!
You don’t have to be a public speaker, a politician or a millionaire to help a friend or family member to be safe – just care about them!
Help Think Bike to get the message out there – SPEAK WHEN IT IS NECESSARY AND BE THAT FRIEND!!
Friday, 26 November 2010
Thursday, 25 November 2010
TSA
Can't even say i know offhand what those letters represent, in language. But in life they represent backscatter xrays and sexual assault.
One guy with time fucked them around so much they let him go. Curiously, they have no "rights" to do this, they are bullying people into it. But bullying is only the start, what follows is ... disturbing. Got nothing to do with terrorists, further than the people are terrorized? He who uses violence to instill fear is a terrorist. And the blame passing doesn't pass muster. It's the ay-rabs ... gawd-damned ay-rabs ruinin' our cuntry. So why are muslims exempt?
The following blog outlines some of the basic concerns, from a medical perspective. Anyones else noticing how many are dying from cancer lately? Or even "surviving" it?? Everyone, just about. It wasn't always a problem? Anyhow, this is what we know about these machines, as told to us by the suppliers:
http://myhelicaltryst.blogspot.com/2010/11/tsa-x-ray-backscatter-body-scanner.html
"Our overriding concern is the extent to which the safety of this scanning device has been adequately demonstrated. This can only be determined by a meeting of an impartial panel of experts that would include medical physicists and radiation biologists at which all of the available relevant data is reviewed."
"The X-ray dose from these devices has often been compared in the media to the cosmic ray exposure inherent to airplane travel or that of a chest X-ray. However, this comparison is very misleading: both the air travel cosmic ray exposure and chest X-rays have much higher X-ray energies and the health consequences are appropriately understood in terms of the whole body volume dose. In contrast, these new airport scanners are largely depositing their energy into the skin and immediately adjacent tissue, and since this is such a small fraction of body weight/vol, possibly by one to two orders of magnitude, the real dose to the skin is now high."
"In addition, it appears that real independent safety data do not exist."
"There is good reason to believe that these scanners will increase the risk of cancer to children and other vulnerable populations. We are unanimous in believing that the potential health consequences need to be rigorously studied before these scanners are adopted."
_____________________________________________________________
And much, much more ...
EDIT: Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/30286
"Obama not only endorses the enhanced security screening, but the measures outlined in this directive to be taken in response to public objections.
For “any person, group or domestic alternative media source” that actively objects to, causes others to object to, supports and/or elicits support for anyone who engages in such travel “disruptions” at U.S. airports (as defined above) in response to the enhanced security procedures, the [applicable DHS administrative branch] is instructed to identify and collect information about the persons or entities, and submit such information in the manner outlined [within this directive].
It would appear that the Department of Homeland Security is not only prepared to enforce the enhanced security procedures at airports, but is involved in gathering intelligence about those who don’t. They’re making a list and most certainly will be checking it twice. Meanwhile, legitimate threats to our air travel security (and they DO exist) seem to be taking a back seat to the larger threat of the multitude of non-criminal American citizens who object to having their Constitutional rights violated."
One guy with time fucked them around so much they let him go. Curiously, they have no "rights" to do this, they are bullying people into it. But bullying is only the start, what follows is ... disturbing. Got nothing to do with terrorists, further than the people are terrorized? He who uses violence to instill fear is a terrorist. And the blame passing doesn't pass muster. It's the ay-rabs ... gawd-damned ay-rabs ruinin' our cuntry. So why are muslims exempt?
The following blog outlines some of the basic concerns, from a medical perspective. Anyones else noticing how many are dying from cancer lately? Or even "surviving" it?? Everyone, just about. It wasn't always a problem? Anyhow, this is what we know about these machines, as told to us by the suppliers:
http://myhelicaltryst.blogspot.com/2010/11/tsa-x-ray-backscatter-body-scanner.html
"Our overriding concern is the extent to which the safety of this scanning device has been adequately demonstrated. This can only be determined by a meeting of an impartial panel of experts that would include medical physicists and radiation biologists at which all of the available relevant data is reviewed."
"The X-ray dose from these devices has often been compared in the media to the cosmic ray exposure inherent to airplane travel or that of a chest X-ray. However, this comparison is very misleading: both the air travel cosmic ray exposure and chest X-rays have much higher X-ray energies and the health consequences are appropriately understood in terms of the whole body volume dose. In contrast, these new airport scanners are largely depositing their energy into the skin and immediately adjacent tissue, and since this is such a small fraction of body weight/vol, possibly by one to two orders of magnitude, the real dose to the skin is now high."
"In addition, it appears that real independent safety data do not exist."
"There is good reason to believe that these scanners will increase the risk of cancer to children and other vulnerable populations. We are unanimous in believing that the potential health consequences need to be rigorously studied before these scanners are adopted."
_____________________________________________________________
And much, much more ...
EDIT: Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/30286
"Obama not only endorses the enhanced security screening, but the measures outlined in this directive to be taken in response to public objections.
For “any person, group or domestic alternative media source” that actively objects to, causes others to object to, supports and/or elicits support for anyone who engages in such travel “disruptions” at U.S. airports (as defined above) in response to the enhanced security procedures, the [applicable DHS administrative branch] is instructed to identify and collect information about the persons or entities, and submit such information in the manner outlined [within this directive].
It would appear that the Department of Homeland Security is not only prepared to enforce the enhanced security procedures at airports, but is involved in gathering intelligence about those who don’t. They’re making a list and most certainly will be checking it twice. Meanwhile, legitimate threats to our air travel security (and they DO exist) seem to be taking a back seat to the larger threat of the multitude of non-criminal American citizens who object to having their Constitutional rights violated."
Monday, 22 November 2010
Something Nice
I have this overwhelmiong urge to post something, nice. But i got nothing to say ... *chuckle*
Nothing bad, just quiet, you know? It's going to be a hell of a week, toyrun is this weekend. I want it over now ... too much stress, too many variables, too many things that are now fixed. Bring it on, let's DO this thing.
I'm off to make last minute frantic phonecalls, settle the work, as i'm taking a few days off for this, and trying to keep sane meanwhile.
Peace and love peeps, have a groovy week.
Aha ... found it. Your happy thought for the day:
http://saphotographs.blogspot.com/
Added to blogroll under South African.
Nothing bad, just quiet, you know? It's going to be a hell of a week, toyrun is this weekend. I want it over now ... too much stress, too many variables, too many things that are now fixed. Bring it on, let's DO this thing.
I'm off to make last minute frantic phonecalls, settle the work, as i'm taking a few days off for this, and trying to keep sane meanwhile.
Peace and love peeps, have a groovy week.
Aha ... found it. Your happy thought for the day:
http://saphotographs.blogspot.com/
Added to blogroll under South African.
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
School killings
IOL
Soshanguve teachers are fearing for their lives after three gunmen stormed into a school, terrorising staff, in the wake of the deaths of three people in shootings the day before.
______________________________________________________________
I feel sick. And one (stupid) dead rich foreigner gets more media. Come to South Africa, it's really safe here. If you don't go to Gugulethu ... or school.
Soshanguve teachers are fearing for their lives after three gunmen stormed into a school, terrorising staff, in the wake of the deaths of three people in shootings the day before.
______________________________________________________________
I feel sick. And one (stupid) dead rich foreigner gets more media. Come to South Africa, it's really safe here. If you don't go to Gugulethu ... or school.
Sunday, 14 November 2010
Why I Ride
Why I Ride
By: Bill Hicks
Riding along on my two wheel machine
the pavement takes from me the painful reprieve
Thoughts and fears leave my "brain cloudy" mind,
but only those that are worried or unkind
The sky expands my horizons, inner peace and compassion's
my soul rides beside me and intercepts all distractions
Reality is around me, but I have a cleansed mind to confront it
frustration is behind me, the foe that cloaked and compounded it
Please understand that this is my sanction
its not the chrome or image or acceleration
It's not an escape or a good place to hide
it's approaching Zen that makes me ride
If this touches close to why you must ride
you are my brother or sister in kind
And I hope to share a few miles or a friendly high sign
as we pass while I'm out "untanglin my mind"
By: Bill Hicks
Riding along on my two wheel machine
the pavement takes from me the painful reprieve
Thoughts and fears leave my "brain cloudy" mind,
but only those that are worried or unkind
The sky expands my horizons, inner peace and compassion's
my soul rides beside me and intercepts all distractions
Reality is around me, but I have a cleansed mind to confront it
frustration is behind me, the foe that cloaked and compounded it
Please understand that this is my sanction
its not the chrome or image or acceleration
It's not an escape or a good place to hide
it's approaching Zen that makes me ride
If this touches close to why you must ride
you are my brother or sister in kind
And I hope to share a few miles or a friendly high sign
as we pass while I'm out "untanglin my mind"
Friday, 12 November 2010
The Kraken Wakes
The Kraken Wakes
by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides: above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by men and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.
I found the book by John Wyndham. I'm enthralled, but also just a little freaked out. Like with the cthulu stories, it digs so deep into the subconscious ... primal fears. Astounding story though, and the common sense attitudes of 50 years ago are a breath of fresh air.
As an aside, i discovered that my most famous ancestor was good friends with Lord Tennyson. A very strange affair, since my ancestor was a hymn writer.
by Alfred Lord Tennyson
Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides: above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by men and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.
I found the book by John Wyndham. I'm enthralled, but also just a little freaked out. Like with the cthulu stories, it digs so deep into the subconscious ... primal fears. Astounding story though, and the common sense attitudes of 50 years ago are a breath of fresh air.
As an aside, i discovered that my most famous ancestor was good friends with Lord Tennyson. A very strange affair, since my ancestor was a hymn writer.
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Daily satmaps
I FOUND IT.
Been looking for this blasted page for yonks.
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/#Africa
Now what that does .... go lookee ;-)
:D :D :D
Been looking for this blasted page for yonks.
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/#Africa
Now what that does .... go lookee ;-)
:D :D :D
Monday, 8 November 2010
letter from the interwebs
Posted today ... ATS ... by scott ... in arizona ...
In the interwebs talk, i ROFLMAOLOLD
I hear ya MrWendal!
If they come - they come. If they blow - they blow! If we die - we die!
I have my guns, my ammo, my portable solar panel, my Berkey water filter, my iodine tablets, my MRE's, my dried beans and about 25 bottles of peanut butter (don't ask).
I feel more than prepared, and I really don't care anymore what happens or when. I realized that spending time with the ones I love was more important than worrying about impending doom or waiting for some advanced entity to save us all.
We are all on this ride - when it ends it ends. It is still fun to look everyday and see where this is all going. I admit - at times on here I have done some wacky posts just for fun. I have also been caught up in the specific event dates and have worried at times. But, my wife grounded me (thank God). So whatever comes our way is going to come our way - there is no stopping it - no predicting or channeling has ever helped anyone. It is always a minute -day to late.
So, I am going to enjoy my life - and look at this site everyday just to be entertained or - on occasion maybe have a leg up on what might come - or not. Like everyone else says - it is better to be informed and prepared than to be naive and oblivious.
Cheers -
In the interwebs talk, i ROFLMAOLOLD
I hear ya MrWendal!
If they come - they come. If they blow - they blow! If we die - we die!
I have my guns, my ammo, my portable solar panel, my Berkey water filter, my iodine tablets, my MRE's, my dried beans and about 25 bottles of peanut butter (don't ask).
I feel more than prepared, and I really don't care anymore what happens or when. I realized that spending time with the ones I love was more important than worrying about impending doom or waiting for some advanced entity to save us all.
We are all on this ride - when it ends it ends. It is still fun to look everyday and see where this is all going. I admit - at times on here I have done some wacky posts just for fun. I have also been caught up in the specific event dates and have worried at times. But, my wife grounded me (thank God). So whatever comes our way is going to come our way - there is no stopping it - no predicting or channeling has ever helped anyone. It is always a minute -day to late.
So, I am going to enjoy my life - and look at this site everyday just to be entertained or - on occasion maybe have a leg up on what might come - or not. Like everyone else says - it is better to be informed and prepared than to be naive and oblivious.
Cheers -
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Record
Much of what i say here is for purely personal record. Feel free to comment but i just need to get someting out there.
November the 6th 2010 is a day of great importance. I'm not sure why though. It's new moon, always nice, but it's the most energetic period in my memory. ENERGY. Plenty of it. I can't say good or bad, guess as ever both. But noteworthy anyway.
It feels like someone has just untied a balloon, and today the pressure is being released. That pressure is going to drive action. I can feel it. I was up last night reading online, ats and various news, info sources. For the first time in my knowledge, several totally differing sources agree on this period as having great influence, and i mean politically, financially, socially, astrologically too.
Almost like a kite, how high must one's mind climb to see above the smog of our day? And how thin is the string? And what happens when you get there, and realise that the view is awful. Sometimes.
Obaman is in India for the biggest weapons deal in history. Not only that, but to cement the US missile grid around the globe. More war, more terror for millions. It's being put into place right now. It's being sold as "jobs for the us and india".
It runs so deep, the conspiracy against us, the non-limits of their greed, it's almost impossible to pinpoint, since it's so pervasive. Tracing all it's myriad twistings probably makes you mad ... staring into the abyss. But today a light comes out of the abyss, a blinding light that has purpose, and menace. It will reveal the landscape to many many people who have been lost in darkness. But will bring much sorrow too. Especially.
It's not the end of the world, won't be for a while still. But i can hear a tiktok and the scratch of a spring as it winds down. Maybe it's just me, but it's getting louder.
So there you have it, stare into the abyss and you blabber on blogs.
peace and love ;-)
November the 6th 2010 is a day of great importance. I'm not sure why though. It's new moon, always nice, but it's the most energetic period in my memory. ENERGY. Plenty of it. I can't say good or bad, guess as ever both. But noteworthy anyway.
It feels like someone has just untied a balloon, and today the pressure is being released. That pressure is going to drive action. I can feel it. I was up last night reading online, ats and various news, info sources. For the first time in my knowledge, several totally differing sources agree on this period as having great influence, and i mean politically, financially, socially, astrologically too.
Almost like a kite, how high must one's mind climb to see above the smog of our day? And how thin is the string? And what happens when you get there, and realise that the view is awful. Sometimes.
Obaman is in India for the biggest weapons deal in history. Not only that, but to cement the US missile grid around the globe. More war, more terror for millions. It's being put into place right now. It's being sold as "jobs for the us and india".
It runs so deep, the conspiracy against us, the non-limits of their greed, it's almost impossible to pinpoint, since it's so pervasive. Tracing all it's myriad twistings probably makes you mad ... staring into the abyss. But today a light comes out of the abyss, a blinding light that has purpose, and menace. It will reveal the landscape to many many people who have been lost in darkness. But will bring much sorrow too. Especially.
It's not the end of the world, won't be for a while still. But i can hear a tiktok and the scratch of a spring as it winds down. Maybe it's just me, but it's getting louder.
So there you have it, stare into the abyss and you blabber on blogs.
peace and love ;-)
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Photos
So i don't have photo's, here are a few thousand words to make up for it ....
No, not really. I was sick recently, stomach bug or something. A good equaliser i think. Back to: you're just an organism mate, eat, be eaten, and sometimes just be borrowed a bit. Without permission of course. I'd be happy if my son hadn't caught it next. Sometimes you feel guilty for something you had no control over, know what i mean?
The photo: So i get home early, and the kids go swim. So i fetch my youngest from the creche earlier than usual. Seeing she didn't join her siblings outside, i go looking. I was inside looking out the window, and i see my little girl playing in the mud. Yup, sand, water, sticks for digging and mixing, and a purposeful air reminiscent of a master alchemist. I was transfixed. To be four years old, and absolutely enthralled with mud, all alone and happy. I can't do that anymore!! ... neither can you ...
Stranger still to think that some parents discourage their kids playing in the mud ... i cannot conceive of the mental processes required to come to a conclusion like that? I willingly fetched water, but declined to dig more mud out for her ROFL!!
Had a long chat with my son about stuff too. Got a very perceptive brain that young boy. His conclusions are often startling, not only for accuracy, but also for out the box, his thinking hasn't been malformed yet, so you still get true naivity and sometimes obvious connections that you overlook.
My eldest daughter is a teenager now. I've moved her to the spare bathroom, where she can remain until passing university.
No, not really. I was sick recently, stomach bug or something. A good equaliser i think. Back to: you're just an organism mate, eat, be eaten, and sometimes just be borrowed a bit. Without permission of course. I'd be happy if my son hadn't caught it next. Sometimes you feel guilty for something you had no control over, know what i mean?
The photo: So i get home early, and the kids go swim. So i fetch my youngest from the creche earlier than usual. Seeing she didn't join her siblings outside, i go looking. I was inside looking out the window, and i see my little girl playing in the mud. Yup, sand, water, sticks for digging and mixing, and a purposeful air reminiscent of a master alchemist. I was transfixed. To be four years old, and absolutely enthralled with mud, all alone and happy. I can't do that anymore!! ... neither can you ...
Stranger still to think that some parents discourage their kids playing in the mud ... i cannot conceive of the mental processes required to come to a conclusion like that? I willingly fetched water, but declined to dig more mud out for her ROFL!!
Had a long chat with my son about stuff too. Got a very perceptive brain that young boy. His conclusions are often startling, not only for accuracy, but also for out the box, his thinking hasn't been malformed yet, so you still get true naivity and sometimes obvious connections that you overlook.
My eldest daughter is a teenager now. I've moved her to the spare bathroom, where she can remain until passing university.
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Hyperion
Saturn's weird moon, Hyperion, measures about 255 x 163 x 137 miles in diameter along its three axes. Because moons of this size usually have enough gravity to pull them into a spherical shape, astronomers suggest that it may be a fragment of a larger moon that was shattered by an impact.
The planet's odd shape prevents rotational locking, because the gravitational torques from Saturn and it's largest moon, Titan, tug at it unevenly. This results in a rotation that's impossible to predict. with The days that are never the same and Hyperion's north pole continually points to a different location in space.
Astronomers know the equation to predict the moon's rotational motion, but small uncertainties in measurements of the moon's initial location or velocity turn into large uncertainties over time.
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Sedition
Time to be serious now, but here is something that has to receive attention. Make it viral, make people know. Arundhati Roy is a writer, a beautiful humanist who sees the pain in people, and conveys it with such grace, and empathy, you cannot but feel you have been tranplanted into her world. As painful as that would be.
Dear all of you,
I am sending this from Srinagar. This is my statement in response to the news that I may be arrested soon on charges of sedition. It would be lovely if the whole statement is carried— which is why I am not sending it to the wire services.
All the best
Arundhati
STATEMENT BY ARUNDHATI ROY
I write this from Srinagar, Kashmir. This morning’s papers say that I may be arrested on charges of sedition for what I have said at recent public meetings on Kashmir. I said what millions of people here say every day. I said what I, as well as other commentators have written and said for years. Anybody who cares to read the transcripts of my speeches will see that they were fundamentally a call for justice. I spoke about justice for the people of Kashmir who live under one of the most brutal military occupations in the world; for Kashmiri Pandits who live out the tragedy of having been driven out of their homeland; for Dalit soldiers killed in Kashmir whose graves I visited on garbage heaps in their villages in Cuddalore; for the Indian poor who pay the price of this occupation in material ways and who are now learning to live in the terror of what is becoming a police state.
Yesterday I traveled to Shopian, the apple-town in South Kashmir which had remained closed for 47 days last year in protest against the brutal rape and murder of Asiya and Nilofer, the young women whose bodies were found in a shallow stream near their homes and whose murderers have still not been brought to justice. I met Shakeel, who is Nilofer’s husband and Asiya’s brother. We sat in a circle of people crazed with grief and anger who had lost hope that they would ever get ‘insaf’—justice—from India, and now believed that Azadi—freedom— was their only hope. I met young stone pelters who had been shot through their eyes. I traveled with a young man who told me how three of his friends, teenagers in Anantnag district, had been taken into custody and had their finger-nails pulled out as punishment for throwing stones.
In the papers some have accused me of giving ‘hate-speeches’, of wanting India to break up. On the contrary, what I say comes from love and pride. It comes from not wanting people to be killed, raped, imprisoned or have their finger-nails pulled out in order to force them to say they are Indians. It comes from wanting to live in a society that is striving to be a just one. Pity the nation that has to silence its writers for speaking their minds. Pity the nation that needs to jail those who ask for justice, while communal killers, mass murderers, corporate scamsters, looters, rapists, and those who prey on the poorest of the poor, roam free.
Arundhati Roy
October 26 2010
(See more on the background HERE)
Dear all of you,
I am sending this from Srinagar. This is my statement in response to the news that I may be arrested soon on charges of sedition. It would be lovely if the whole statement is carried— which is why I am not sending it to the wire services.
All the best
Arundhati
STATEMENT BY ARUNDHATI ROY
I write this from Srinagar, Kashmir. This morning’s papers say that I may be arrested on charges of sedition for what I have said at recent public meetings on Kashmir. I said what millions of people here say every day. I said what I, as well as other commentators have written and said for years. Anybody who cares to read the transcripts of my speeches will see that they were fundamentally a call for justice. I spoke about justice for the people of Kashmir who live under one of the most brutal military occupations in the world; for Kashmiri Pandits who live out the tragedy of having been driven out of their homeland; for Dalit soldiers killed in Kashmir whose graves I visited on garbage heaps in their villages in Cuddalore; for the Indian poor who pay the price of this occupation in material ways and who are now learning to live in the terror of what is becoming a police state.
Yesterday I traveled to Shopian, the apple-town in South Kashmir which had remained closed for 47 days last year in protest against the brutal rape and murder of Asiya and Nilofer, the young women whose bodies were found in a shallow stream near their homes and whose murderers have still not been brought to justice. I met Shakeel, who is Nilofer’s husband and Asiya’s brother. We sat in a circle of people crazed with grief and anger who had lost hope that they would ever get ‘insaf’—justice—from India, and now believed that Azadi—freedom— was their only hope. I met young stone pelters who had been shot through their eyes. I traveled with a young man who told me how three of his friends, teenagers in Anantnag district, had been taken into custody and had their finger-nails pulled out as punishment for throwing stones.
In the papers some have accused me of giving ‘hate-speeches’, of wanting India to break up. On the contrary, what I say comes from love and pride. It comes from not wanting people to be killed, raped, imprisoned or have their finger-nails pulled out in order to force them to say they are Indians. It comes from wanting to live in a society that is striving to be a just one. Pity the nation that has to silence its writers for speaking their minds. Pity the nation that needs to jail those who ask for justice, while communal killers, mass murderers, corporate scamsters, looters, rapists, and those who prey on the poorest of the poor, roam free.
Arundhati Roy
October 26 2010
(See more on the background HERE)
Bike porn
Since i have very little to say, i won't. Well, i do, but i'll stop. Soon.
Biker porn. Those images that stir your inner bits, and make you shout YES! at no-one in particular.
I present: The BALI DOG, courtesy of our old friends the DEUS EX motorcycle crowd.
If someone said i could have ONLY 1, i don't know which it would be. They're a set, i'll have one of each please. What i will say, is we need more of this, small bikes that turn your head. Not much to ask for?
PS: ok so the images don't fit perfectly, go see at the origional page at HELLFORLEATHER, they have specs and and and ....
Biker porn. Those images that stir your inner bits, and make you shout YES! at no-one in particular.
I present: The BALI DOG, courtesy of our old friends the DEUS EX motorcycle crowd.
If someone said i could have ONLY 1, i don't know which it would be. They're a set, i'll have one of each please. What i will say, is we need more of this, small bikes that turn your head. Not much to ask for?
PS: ok so the images don't fit perfectly, go see at the origional page at HELLFORLEATHER, they have specs and and and ....
Sunday, 24 October 2010
The Fazer
I keep going on about how much i love my bike, among fazer owners, i'm not alone. But imagine my surprise and then wonderment to read the following article:
Reader test: Yamaha Fazer FZ-6S
Dries is a fantastic guy i've had the pleasure of working with a few times, his wife and son have been equally enthusiastic of biking, and doing it safely.
Go read the article, and leave a comment, this is the kind of article i'd like to see more of!
For more of Dries' work, see Tripper on my friends blogroll.
PS: Another set of bike reviews done by Dries can be seen here:
http://www.bikereviews.weebly.com/
Friday, 22 October 2010
Thursday, 21 October 2010
Ex Unitate Vires
From unity, strength. Most here should recognise it instinctively, and understand the basic truth it represents. Sadly, it's an idea that is completely absent in our society today. There is no unity, and there certainly isn't any strength.
In my own sphere of biking, i look at bikers, in south africa, as a group, a very small demographic of people. As soon as you begin to speak with people across the biking spectrum, you realise that there are many differences. You have the patch wearers, your average guys and girls who love biking, and the biking lifestyle. Then you have the scooterists, those who ride because it's cheaper than a car. Then you have the rich boys, race bikes and full leathers, who ride around on sundays to make up for their weekday traffic. You have the adventure riders, who use bikes as a means of holiday, who really prefer to be offroad. You have the offroaders, who don't ride on road, only on dirt tracks and veld. Then you have guys like me, just commuters, who prefer the freedom of movement a bike offers in the urban chaos, without any club affiliation.
Now these groups are all unique and fantastic in their own right, and we all have the 2 wheeled thing in common, something certainly more binding than many other groups today. The problem is that while we should be a tightly kit community who understand that we have more in common than not, we're not. Half the bikers will not even deign to speak to the other half, and you can divide that half any way you can imagine. On every level, you have people who feel that they stand out, and should stand out, no matter the detriment to anyone. In the vclubs, each club and each club president is struggling to be the biggest peanut in the packet, each group feels superior to the rest, and any negotiations are a direct assault on their superiority.
Why is this? It's a unnatural bent towards the self destructiveness that is so prevalent in society. Cagers hate bikers, bikers hate cagers, and everyone hates cyclists. Now i as all of the above can understand each unique perspective, and no-one is wrong in the whole. Bikers are lawless gangsters, cagers are brain dead morons, cyclists are lemmings and pedestrians are a deadly nuisance.
But: bikers are free, cagers are safe, cyclists are social, and peds are simple. Ups and downs in all of these. Why then the enmity between us all? I have been told a similar situation exists across all spheres, both serious and fun. It was pointed out as a "white south african" problem, something sadly very telling, but not entirely accurate. It's a WESTERN problem. We have been so indoctrinated into "group think", it's impossible to think outside this artificially created social reality.
I think of all the sadnesses we as a country have endured in the past few decades, none has been so galling as the blind obeysance paid by our dear leader to the bitch the queen. Hey zuma, your grovelling to the empire disrespected every single boer and black death against the empire. You fight the boers with every last breath but bow to the common enemy. They won, with their monetary social classifications, and egotistical selfishness, they have conquered by fraud what they could never win in battle, save by scorched earth.
And we, poor stupid mass of mankind, follow these rules and precepts unflinchingly. Perpetuating the stupid, in and amongst ourselves. Are people truly this blind? Yes. overwhelmingly yes. And these are the educated among us, the affluent, how much poor the poor man, so dependant on the good will of his neighbours for his health.
It doesn't have to be this way. It really doesn't. I see examples every single day where it is not so. In the office, old white guy and a young black girl, the old black driver and the white ladies who do support. They're all just people, they get along because, there's no reason not to. Myself, a bad christian, and Terri, a good pagan, we see through this stupid facade of society, deeper. That in fact, we are one. Not only with each other, but with the earth, the sky, the birds, and plants, everything. When you consider how much you have in common with a plant, differences between modes of transportation in an industrial society really are negligent.
But people can't see the similarities between each other, nor rejoice in the differences. I see this all so clearly, yet stand helplessly by as my entreaties towards unity are brushed aside with many variations of the same "we're unique, leave us out thanks."
I cultivate being different, how i despise the arrogant uniformity around me. But it's an attitude that needs constant attention, for as soon as anyone does step out from the mould, it's instantly recognisable and laudable. It also requires a constant re-evaluation of your beliefs, understandings and fears. Perhaps i am wrong in many things, but in this i know i am right. We are one. Really. The fact that many don't have this understanding is the cause of most of the world's unhappiness. One does not mean "alike", it means we are different. An amorphous blob is nothing compared to the intracacies of the human body, with it's various systems, specialised cells, and many chemicals.
Why then is society an amorphous blob, not so much colourless as grey, like when you throw all the colours together, making a dirty mud colour. When we have so many colours to start with, why are we making such an ugly mess?
In my own sphere of biking, i look at bikers, in south africa, as a group, a very small demographic of people. As soon as you begin to speak with people across the biking spectrum, you realise that there are many differences. You have the patch wearers, your average guys and girls who love biking, and the biking lifestyle. Then you have the scooterists, those who ride because it's cheaper than a car. Then you have the rich boys, race bikes and full leathers, who ride around on sundays to make up for their weekday traffic. You have the adventure riders, who use bikes as a means of holiday, who really prefer to be offroad. You have the offroaders, who don't ride on road, only on dirt tracks and veld. Then you have guys like me, just commuters, who prefer the freedom of movement a bike offers in the urban chaos, without any club affiliation.
Now these groups are all unique and fantastic in their own right, and we all have the 2 wheeled thing in common, something certainly more binding than many other groups today. The problem is that while we should be a tightly kit community who understand that we have more in common than not, we're not. Half the bikers will not even deign to speak to the other half, and you can divide that half any way you can imagine. On every level, you have people who feel that they stand out, and should stand out, no matter the detriment to anyone. In the vclubs, each club and each club president is struggling to be the biggest peanut in the packet, each group feels superior to the rest, and any negotiations are a direct assault on their superiority.
Why is this? It's a unnatural bent towards the self destructiveness that is so prevalent in society. Cagers hate bikers, bikers hate cagers, and everyone hates cyclists. Now i as all of the above can understand each unique perspective, and no-one is wrong in the whole. Bikers are lawless gangsters, cagers are brain dead morons, cyclists are lemmings and pedestrians are a deadly nuisance.
But: bikers are free, cagers are safe, cyclists are social, and peds are simple. Ups and downs in all of these. Why then the enmity between us all? I have been told a similar situation exists across all spheres, both serious and fun. It was pointed out as a "white south african" problem, something sadly very telling, but not entirely accurate. It's a WESTERN problem. We have been so indoctrinated into "group think", it's impossible to think outside this artificially created social reality.
I think of all the sadnesses we as a country have endured in the past few decades, none has been so galling as the blind obeysance paid by our dear leader to the bitch the queen. Hey zuma, your grovelling to the empire disrespected every single boer and black death against the empire. You fight the boers with every last breath but bow to the common enemy. They won, with their monetary social classifications, and egotistical selfishness, they have conquered by fraud what they could never win in battle, save by scorched earth.
And we, poor stupid mass of mankind, follow these rules and precepts unflinchingly. Perpetuating the stupid, in and amongst ourselves. Are people truly this blind? Yes. overwhelmingly yes. And these are the educated among us, the affluent, how much poor the poor man, so dependant on the good will of his neighbours for his health.
It doesn't have to be this way. It really doesn't. I see examples every single day where it is not so. In the office, old white guy and a young black girl, the old black driver and the white ladies who do support. They're all just people, they get along because, there's no reason not to. Myself, a bad christian, and Terri, a good pagan, we see through this stupid facade of society, deeper. That in fact, we are one. Not only with each other, but with the earth, the sky, the birds, and plants, everything. When you consider how much you have in common with a plant, differences between modes of transportation in an industrial society really are negligent.
But people can't see the similarities between each other, nor rejoice in the differences. I see this all so clearly, yet stand helplessly by as my entreaties towards unity are brushed aside with many variations of the same "we're unique, leave us out thanks."
I cultivate being different, how i despise the arrogant uniformity around me. But it's an attitude that needs constant attention, for as soon as anyone does step out from the mould, it's instantly recognisable and laudable. It also requires a constant re-evaluation of your beliefs, understandings and fears. Perhaps i am wrong in many things, but in this i know i am right. We are one. Really. The fact that many don't have this understanding is the cause of most of the world's unhappiness. One does not mean "alike", it means we are different. An amorphous blob is nothing compared to the intracacies of the human body, with it's various systems, specialised cells, and many chemicals.
Why then is society an amorphous blob, not so much colourless as grey, like when you throw all the colours together, making a dirty mud colour. When we have so many colours to start with, why are we making such an ugly mess?
Monday, 18 October 2010
The Legend
http://www.thecommutingmotorcyclist.co.za/
The Legend
He apologises for not writing for the past 4 months. But he's here now.
He asks if you guys ould leave a comment as he says it has been very lonely on his side of the fence.
The Legend
He apologises for not writing for the past 4 months. But he's here now.
He asks if you guys ould leave a comment as he says it has been very lonely on his side of the fence.
Friday, 15 October 2010
Up! Ride with the Kelpie
Kelpie
There was a warm wind with the high tide
on the south of the hill.
When a young girl went a-walking
and I followed with a will.
``Good day to you, my fine young lady
with your lips so sweetly full.
May I help you comb your long hair ---
sweep it from that brow so cool?''
Up, ride with the kelpie.
I'll steal your soul to the deep.
If you don't ride with me while the devil's free
I'll ride with somebody else.
Well I'm a man when I'm feeling
the urge to step ashore.
So I may charm you --- not alarm you.
Tell you all fine things, and more.
Up, ride with the kelpie.
I'll steal your soul to the deep.
If you don't ride with me while the devil's free
I'll ride with somebody else.
Say goodbye to all your dear kin ---
for they hate to see you go
in your young prime, to this place of mine
in the still loch far below.
Up, ride with the kelpie.
I'll steal your soul to the deep.
If you don't ride with me while the devil's free
I'll ride with somebody else.
Thank you Jethro Tull
A Kelpie is a ... see here.
There was a warm wind with the high tide
on the south of the hill.
When a young girl went a-walking
and I followed with a will.
``Good day to you, my fine young lady
with your lips so sweetly full.
May I help you comb your long hair ---
sweep it from that brow so cool?''
Up, ride with the kelpie.
I'll steal your soul to the deep.
If you don't ride with me while the devil's free
I'll ride with somebody else.
Well I'm a man when I'm feeling
the urge to step ashore.
So I may charm you --- not alarm you.
Tell you all fine things, and more.
Up, ride with the kelpie.
I'll steal your soul to the deep.
If you don't ride with me while the devil's free
I'll ride with somebody else.
Say goodbye to all your dear kin ---
for they hate to see you go
in your young prime, to this place of mine
in the still loch far below.
Up, ride with the kelpie.
I'll steal your soul to the deep.
If you don't ride with me while the devil's free
I'll ride with somebody else.
Thank you Jethro Tull
A Kelpie is a ... see here.
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Crash
So the wifey just called to say she's been rear-ended. Taxi pulled out, wife braked, monkey didn't. So taxi, who caused the accident riders away, and we get left with the costs. I would also guess said monkey was on the phone, but what would that help?
This is just a small reason why this "life" we all seem to think so highly of is a crock of shit. Months from now i'm still going to be paying excess for the illegal and stupid actions of others. So typically south africa.
At least no-one got hurt.
UPDATE: the sticker on the bumper was scratched, basically. The other driver had to be towed away?
Wifey has a sore back, and neck, but not dangerously so. Nothing a rub can't help.
What an odd event.
peace
UPDATE2: ok so i was wrong. again. Nothing a neck brace for a few weeks can't sort out. Pinched nerve :/
I hope she gets well soon.
This is just a small reason why this "life" we all seem to think so highly of is a crock of shit. Months from now i'm still going to be paying excess for the illegal and stupid actions of others. So typically south africa.
At least no-one got hurt.
UPDATE: the sticker on the bumper was scratched, basically. The other driver had to be towed away?
Wifey has a sore back, and neck, but not dangerously so. Nothing a rub can't help.
What an odd event.
peace
UPDATE2: ok so i was wrong. again. Nothing a neck brace for a few weeks can't sort out. Pinched nerve :/
I hope she gets well soon.
Monday, 11 October 2010
Sunday, bloody Sunday
I go along to this "biker teddy ride" on at the local mall. It was to be used as a "dry run" for the Toyrun. I'm shocked. The happy plonker who ran with it, guy by the name of Tiaan from Caxton newspapers, should be taken out and shot. Where do you get off making an event like this, and NOT having marshalls organised?
What the FUCK when i come to talk to you (after you don't return my calls) and immediately start talking about how you don't have enough badges? And seriously, if you advertise something like free food and discounts, then you bloody well ensure they are provided.
Not least of which, if you want to "organise" this kind of event, the least you can freaking do is be there on time. As usual, i'm ashamed to be a biker.
Fortunately, thanks to the CMA marshalls were provided, and it was quite cute listening to them talk about route a full 15 minutes after we were supposed to ride.
Nobody died, for which we should all be grateful.
Then i get dragged along to the barnyard theatre in broadacres. For a 70's show. Right. So i figured the parking lot would be more pleasant, where i befriended a fountain. But seriously, that's the one thing about going out somewhere in this mine dump ... you remember in painful clarity why you don't go out somewhere in this minedump.
Saturday was great ... i made a bird feeder, fixed ... something else, metal i think (?) and got busy with fixing a drawer. Oh yes, the leaking geyser. Bought some really fancy stuff, to seal the pipe joins, that didn't work. So tonight (hopefully) clean up the gunk off the pipes, and use silicon, i know how that stuff works!!
Then i had sunday, ah well, thank the gods a whole 5 days before weekend again.
What the FUCK when i come to talk to you (after you don't return my calls) and immediately start talking about how you don't have enough badges? And seriously, if you advertise something like free food and discounts, then you bloody well ensure they are provided.
Not least of which, if you want to "organise" this kind of event, the least you can freaking do is be there on time. As usual, i'm ashamed to be a biker.
Fortunately, thanks to the CMA marshalls were provided, and it was quite cute listening to them talk about route a full 15 minutes after we were supposed to ride.
Nobody died, for which we should all be grateful.
Then i get dragged along to the barnyard theatre in broadacres. For a 70's show. Right. So i figured the parking lot would be more pleasant, where i befriended a fountain. But seriously, that's the one thing about going out somewhere in this mine dump ... you remember in painful clarity why you don't go out somewhere in this minedump.
Saturday was great ... i made a bird feeder, fixed ... something else, metal i think (?) and got busy with fixing a drawer. Oh yes, the leaking geyser. Bought some really fancy stuff, to seal the pipe joins, that didn't work. So tonight (hopefully) clean up the gunk off the pipes, and use silicon, i know how that stuff works!!
Then i had sunday, ah well, thank the gods a whole 5 days before weekend again.
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