The Last of the Boers

http://www.freedomcentral.info/

I have no words ... watch it.

RideApart

 How and Why Motorcycle Lane Splitting is Safe and Good – RideApart 

http://hellforleathermagazine.com/rideapart-tv/

It's a long one, but thoroughly enjoyable. Every part of this i relate to, still dreaming of a gopro, to show you and others how it is every day for me. Wondrous and free.


peace!!

Je crois entendre encore

I still believe I hear
hidden beneath the palm trees
her voice, tender and resonant
like the song of a dove
oh enchanting night
divine rapture
delightful memory
mad intoxication, sweet dream
in the clear starlight
I still believe I see her
half drawing her long veil
to the warm night breeze
oh night...

Might as well jump

Thank you lonelycoast.tumblr

My own way to burn

"The real damage is done by those millions who want to 'survive.' The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don't want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won't take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don't like to make waves-or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It's the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you'll keep it under control.

If you don't make any noise, the bogeyman won't find you. But it's all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn."

Sophie Scholl - 1921 - 1943 - German student, a member of the White Rose society, a non-violent anti Nazi resistance group.

Liquid Sunshine

Wow. 

Just, wow.

My thanks to Terri for tweeting about this, found at the following site:

http://www.dailygrail.com/Alien-Nation/2013/2/Liquid-Sunshine

"

Eruptive events on the sun can be wildly different. Some come just with a solar flare, some with an additional ejection of solar material called a coronal mass ejection (CME), and some with complex moving structures in association with changes in magnetic field lines that loop up into the sun's atmosphere, the corona.

On July 19, 2012, an eruption occurred on the sun that produced all three. A moderately powerful solar flare exploded on the sun's lower right hand limb, sending out light and radiation. Next came a CME, which shot off to the right out into space. And then, the sun treated viewers to one of its dazzling magnetic displays -- a phenomenon known as coronal rain.

"

Wow.

Deranging America

The article was called Deranging America, but it echoes so well with what i've seen in South Africa, it could be Deranging South Africa.

dissidentvoice.org - Deranging America by Linh Dinh / February 20th, 2013

Violence, always violence. From infancy, Americans are conditioned to enjoy violence, then lured or pressured to support it at every stage of life. Merely by voting, Americans sanction carnage against foreigners, and to have a healthy stock portfolio, one should also invest in mass murder.

______________________________________

Short article, but very pointed.

Thought

Like Janis

And you measure for wealth by the things you can hold
And you measure for love by the sweet things you're told
And you live in the past or a dream that you're in
And your selfishness is your cardinal sin

And you want to be held with highest regard
It delights you so much if he's trying so hard
And you try to conceal your ordinary way
With a smile or a shrug or some stolen cliche'

But don't you understand, and don't you look about
I'm trying to take nothing from you
So why should you act so put out for me?

'Cos emotionally you're the same basic trip
And you know that I know of the times that you slip
So don't try to impress me, you're just pins and paint
And don't try to charm me with things that you ain't

And don't try to enchant me with your manner of dress
'Cos a monkey in silk is a monkey no less
So measure for measure reflect on my said
And when I won't see you then measure it dead

'Cos don't you understand, and don't you look about
I'm trying to take nothing from you
So why should you act so put out,
And sit there in wonder and doubt, for me?

Rodriguez

Because

So I've decided that i really like Sarah Britten, who is a lady in Joburg who is alive and living and thinking and sharing and doing stuff. The blog The Red Robot Project is hers, and now there's another project:

Because Anene.

http://becauseanene.wordpress.com/



Because they were bored.

Because they took drugs.

Because they are poor.

Because they were angry.

Of all the hype and verbiage created by this soul destroying act that has claimed international attention, i think that this kind of response is more positive, inspiring and angering at the same time. This kind of statement is an EMOTIONAL statement ... and this problem needs an emotional response, angry, hurt, fearful and brutal.

Sarah's "thing" is using lipstick as paint, and in this "rape" debate it is a shamelessly pointed standpoint, as much as ! is nothing more than an sharp intake of breath.

It is time for rapists to feel the horror of police, prisons, prisoners and the awfully long sentence. It is long overdue that the fear is transplanted from our daughters and friends onto the men and boys who have nothing else to fear, yet delight in creating it for others.

And yes, if anyone asks, i am pro capital punishment on this, and also pro vigilantism. Taking a rape victim to a police station is only giving her over to a longer, more demeaning rape of public scrutiny of a woman's most personal space. If a man rapes someone, it is only good and proper that he is either killed outright or permanently scarred for life, castration seems particularly appropriate, i'm sure the medical services would be offered free by our good doctors and nurses, who must have seen hell in a little girl's eyes.

There can be no other reasonable, rational nor indeed compassionate response.

The ANC’s all-time top 10 most disturbing quotes

http://inside-politics.org/

By: Gareth van Onselen

FEATURE: I have compiled into a list what I consider to be the ANC’s 10 most disturbing quotes of the last 18 years. Each one made a significant impact on current affairs and, significantly, revealed the ANC’s real thinking, so they are worth documenting and recalling. But I am open to suggestions. The point of this article is to generate a discussion. So read them and leave your comments. Did Zuma’s shower quote make the list? Malema on nationalisation? Mbeki on Aids? Read on and find out. Also, leave your thoughts on Twitter, I will use the hashtag #ANCQuotes

___________________________________________

Please read it, it's frightening because as the author points out, these are all unopposed by the ANC, not their usual foot in mouth disease, denied within hours. These statements stand historically as the ANC's official standpoint on certain items. Some, like AIDS, is now history, but all have impacted mllions of South Africans negatively, ongoing and getting worse by the day.

Life for Rent

"Life For Rent"

I haven't ever really found a place that I call home
I never stick around quite long enough to make it
I apologize once again I'm not in love
But it's not as if I mind
that your heart ain't exactly breaking

It's just a thought, only a thought

But if my life is for rent and I don't learn to buy
Well I deserve nothing more than I get
Cos nothing I have is truly mine

I've always thought
that I would love to live by the sea
To travel the world alone
and live more simply
I have no idea what's happened to that dream
Cos there's really nothing left here to stop me

It's just a thought, only a thought

But if my life is for rent and I don't learn to buy
Well I deserve nothing more than I get
Cos nothing I have is truly mine

If my life is for rent and I don't learn to buy
Well I deserve nothing more than I get
Cos nothing I have is truly mine

While my heart is a shield and I won't let it down
While I am so afraid to fail so I won't even try
Well how can I say I'm alive

If my life is for rent and I don't learn to buy
Well I deserve nothing more than I get
Cos nothing I have is truly mine

If my life is for rent and I don't learn to buy
Well I deserve nothing more than I get
Cos nothing I have is truly mine
Cos nothing I have is truly mine
Cos nothing I have is truly mine
Cos nothing I have is truly mine

___________________________________________

No idea why, but this song has been on my mental playlist for the last few days. Very soothing.

Skating away

http://lifeissavage.com/2013/02/05/footage-of-cape-town-skateboarder-setting-off-kloof-nek-speed-camera-goes-viral-video/

This skater is now a legend!!!

Cut away

In 1978, Soviet geologists prospecting in the wilds of Siberia discovered a family of six, lost in the taiga

Siberia Family

Then, Pismenskaya said,

beside a stream there was a dwelling. Blackened by time and rain, the hut was piled up on all sides with taiga rubbish—bark, poles, planks. If it hadn't been for a window the size of my backpack pocket, it would have been hard to believe that people lived there. But they did, no doubt about it.... Our arrival had been noticed, as we could see.

The low door creaked, and the figure of a very old man emerged into the light of day, straight out of a fairy tale. Barefoot. Wearing a patched and repatched shirt made of sacking. He wore trousers of the same material, also in patches, and had an uncombed beard. His hair was disheveled. He looked frightened and was very attentive.... We had to say something, so I began: 'Greetings, grandfather! We've come to visit!'

The old man did not reply immediately.... Finally, we heard a soft, uncertain voice: 'Well, since you have traveled this far, you might as well come in.'

The sight that greeted the geologists as they entered the cabin was like something from the middle ages. Jerry-built from whatever materials came to hand, the dwelling was not much more than a burrow—"a low, soot-blackened log kennel that was as cold as a cellar," with a floor consisting of potato peel and pine-nut shells. Looking around in the dim light, the visitors saw that it consisted of a single room. It was cramped, musty and indescribably filthy, propped up by sagging joists—and, astonishingly, home to a family of five:

The silence was suddenly broken by sobs and lamentations. Only then did we see the silhouettes of two women. One was in hysterics, praying: 'This is for our sins, our sins.' The other, keeping behind a post... sank slowly to the floor. The light from the little window fell on her wide, terrified eyes, and we realized we had to get out of there as quickly as possible.

Karp Lykov and his daughter Agafia, 

Agafia Lykova (left) with her sister, Natalia.

Dmitry (left) and Savin in the Siberian summer.

A very moving story, but most of all, look at the light in the old man's eyes. There is much to learn for us from this simple story, most of all to realise we are the enemy.
Another small note, the family is referred to as "lost" ... what an astonishing error.

Life and mountains

Sometimes it feels like we're all out on a walk, all of us, trekking across some great distance. All have our own roots, and most of us have a vague direction we're heading in, but mostly it's like some great herd criss crossing the plains and mountains in no particular order. Some are in a furious hurry, rushing to get to some imagined point, and others dawdling, just walking wherever the mood takes them.

And sometimes we find ourselves near others, perhaps a similar starting point, or destination, but it suits us to walk together a while, share food and thoughts, help each other over the difficult bits, and make the journey a little more pleasant.

But sometimes one of us just needs to sit awhile, and rest, or just take in the view. It is strenuous, this hike we're on, full of unseen holes and large rocks, steep rocky hills and wide fast flowing rivers. The views are sometimes incredible, and sometimes dreary, but ever changing sky and land, seemingly endless.

And we sit, perhaps chew on an apple, or roll a cigarette .. there isn't actually any hurry, is there? But you sit and survey, and remember the last part of the journey, rugged mountains and treacherous paths, the friends you've walked with and those you left behind. Is nothing worse than some then berating you for abandoning them? Or accusing you now of giving up? Or telling you of their fears of walking alone?

What is it with us humans that we constantly need re-assurance from others? As if forgetting the sun rise ceremony would prevent the sun from rising? As if when a day passed without some magic ritual the world would implode? Sometimes i truly despair ... these constant expectations we impose upon the world. As if the world actually cared.

Only we care, you and i, and raging at each other over the emptiness of the rest can never resolve the pain we create inside ... because we rail at them, but we want to be them, we want to be like them, we want to be liked by them. We care, you and i, but caring is listening, and listening is caring, and caring is feeling and goddammit feelings hurt.

I sit quietly awaiting dusk, savouring the smoke and hot african afternoon air, listening for the silence, patiently hoping that the rest will find a quiet space long enough to see what i am seeing, to hear what they can't hear yet.

I'm sitting down for a while, and you can all sit with me, plenty of space out here. But for gods sake stop making all that noise. I'm here, in the flesh. Ranting about the idiot over the hill is spreading the stupid, that's all it's doing. Stop that, bad for us all.

peace and love and quiet to you all

Weapons

I'll start this post off with a short personal note before heading to the meat of the post. There's some awesome things been happening on my side, some developing and others that just plopped into existence as if by magic.

On the down side our kitten Charlie was taken from us way too early. What does one think when the ckitten you adopted is killed by the dog you adopted? Aside from the rage at the dog, the kitten already killed a mouse ... circle of life does it's thing again. Just so damned heart breaking when it does.

A few new blogs listed on the right, Colour Thy Soul is a collection of art works and pearls of wisdom in between, Cabin Porn is exactly that, cabins around the world in remote places, the simpler the better. The last added was Sound Money SA, not because i'm a money man, but because it's such a leading edge blog.

Here's their latest article, re-posted because it's so important to us, and i do endorse the article entirely. South Africans have been at war (albeit unknowingly) with the government for almost 20 years now. The government has waged war against the middle class, their can be no middle class in a dictatorship, only rich cadres and poor masses, you cannot control a free thinking and acting person, you can only control a poor broken person, and that has always been the ANC goal, assimilate or destroy.

They did really well getting all guns out of people's hands, now we are dying by the thousands because we are not allowed guns, but criminals of course have them anyway. Now they have a new plan to CRIMINALISE "dangerous weapons" and of course using "intent". This is curious because anything can be a dangerous weapon .. hands elbows teeth ... and intent is anything they want it to be.

Of course if they used this law to arrest all the striking unemployed activists masquerading as farm workers who are destroying the lives of the real workers, then we could relax somewhat. But it's truly terrifying how armed mobs can run amuck with police protection, and entire suburbs can be murdered in cold blood one at a time, but these "laws" will never be applied to criminals, they'll be applied to some schmuck on his way to work one morning. And the ANC and it's boot lickers will all shout about how white people still hate blacks and deserve being thrown in prison without a trial. I even hear educated whites calling for the death penalty, stupidly thinking it will be used on the criminals.

http://soundmoneysa.co.za/2013/01/protest-welcome-to-the-thought-police-dangerous-weapons-bill-to-make-south-africans-guilty-on-suspicion/

War is not coming, it is here. The ANC has NEVER changed it's primary stated goals, to make the country ungovernable. The criminilisation of the populace is intended, and will end in great suffering for innocent people. Come on you fucking libtards that were all anc happy 20 years ago, hows it feel to create a problem and then run away from the consequences?

Row row row your boat

“Respect yourself enough to walk away from anything that no longer serves you, grows you, or makes you happy.” Robert Tew

o'Bomber

Bomber in Chief: 20,000 Airstrikes in the President's First Term Cause Death and Destruction From Iraq to Somalia

List of Children Killed by US (Drone Strikes) in Yemen and Pakistan

Challenge

So when my wife got home last night i said to her:

I accepted a challenge on twitter, from an accident investigator ...

Oh dear ... was her response, apt that.

I shot my mouth off about bike stopping distances. It came from a 35m skid mark that a bike left before impacting a sedan, it was fatal. So i'm thinking about what kind of speed must one be doing to leave a 35m skidmark? I wouldn't be able to do a 10 metre skidmark on purpose? I added, in my haste, that a bike could stop within 10m, from around 80km/h, without needing to skid.

To initiate a locked back tyre at speed is a dangerous move on a bike, the overall handling dynamic of the bike changes instantly.

The momentum generated by a spinning wheel and tyre increases the faster it turns, and creates mass, a force which helps balance the bike and keep it upright. The moment that the back brake freezes that momentum disappears, and the back of the bike becomes lighter than the front. The motionless tyre has no traction with the road surface, it is neither steering nor slowing, merely skidding along aimlessly, and trying to speed ahead of the slower front wheel.

The harder the front brakes are being applied the more the back of the bike tries to overtake the front. If the back brake is released at this point, the bike performs what is called a "highside", where the back of the bike kicks up so hard the rider is thrown over the handlebars. Do not release the back brakes if you lock them up. So perhaps now you will understand why i don't see myself leaving 10m skidmarks for fun.

Stan Bezuidenhout @StanfromIBF
@davigilant @KenRoselt You say "a 35m skid says it all..." What "all" does it say, to you? Remember: 25m (for a car) is 60kph on a DRY ROAD.

vigilant @davigilant
@StanfromIBF @KenRoselt It says he locked the back wheel, suggests not enough training. 60kmh - 0 is less than 10m on a bike, dry road.

Stan Bezuidenhout @StanfromIBF
@davigilant @KenRoselt 10m at 60Km/h (back wheel locked)? Says who? And ABS? Cadence/Bias braking? Large/small bike? Mass? Injuries?

Stan Bezuidenhout @StanfromIBF
@davigilant @KenRoselt I challenge your claim. Let's do a test. I think you're wrong about 10m at 80Km/h. Remember - this is what I do. :-P

I see what he did there now, clever :D

No matter ... i have the biker fairy with me on this one. I will happily admit i know nothing about the subject, and i'll be happy to be wrong, nothing wrong with being wrong. Because it's not about me being right, at all, in any way. It's about twitter taking people and making things happen ... it's about a conversation taking place, a conversation so deadly serious it stuns us all into silence ... it is WAY overdue for not only laws to be obeyed (the law is an ass) but for us to interact with each other more intelligently, starting with the roads.

South Africa in all it's brutality is a very dynamic place to be, and part of that dynamism is where people must start looking after themselves, in spite of goverment, in spite of crime. This has been a conversation 19 years in the making, the road safety component being a one sided disinformation campaign by government up to this point. The next step is for us to come together and debate intelligently about our commmon problem, and the first part of that is information.

I ride a 2005 Yamaha FZ6 and we'll be testing 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160, if conditions allow. I hope to have other riders there, to be part of what is only a conversation, but one of the most important conversations of out time.

PS:

I did some numbers:

80km/h = 22m/s
10m = 0.55s

80 - 0 in half a second is impossible, but the slower you move the longer that second stretches.

... rubber band man ...

Last of the Good Men

Of everyone in South African politics, i admire and even respect Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi the most. His steady, mature outlook has long been a cornerstone of common sense in the dialogue. I've met him before, back in the TRC days, and cannot forget his simple human-ness, so badly missing from the rest of the politicians.

A new letter from him today, commenting on a few concerns that we've all heard about recently in the news, let's recap:
783 publicly endorsed corruption.
12 year olds can legally have sex, but they may not kiss.

How does one respond to this insanity that really is just a downhill slide, gaining momentum and debris, threatening to destroy us all? From the article:

"
Corruption is a plague at the heart of our democracy. The President should know better than to speak like this. But as the Bible says, out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

I may be chastised for quoting the Bible, or for openly declaring my Christian faith. It seems, looking at our media, that hostility towards faith-based worldviews is gaining pace. People prefer to speak about inalienable human rights, rather than about issues of morality. Yet for centuries the greatest minds have grappled with the means to balance the rights of all individuals within a society. The problem is not easily solved, because legality cannot adequately replace morality. The two must be brought into harmony.

Let me phrase this in a way that will be more readily accepted. There are specific challenges in South Africa that we need to address; job creation, poverty, service delivery. But underlying all we do is the necessity of shaping a society that is responsible, caring and unselfish. Because, in the end, every good policy is implemented by a human being.

Is it better to have someone doggedly fight for your right to education, or to have someone sit down and teach you? That is the difference between what is purely lawful and what is morally right.
"

PoliticsWeb