Harmonious

Harmony, balance, ying this, yang that...

Out on the bike over the christmas holiday, to stretch my legs, to keep the fitness up - and to avoid ending up lazing about, scoffing mince pies while watching endless film re-runs on TV.

Cycling away from urbania, traffic lights became infrequent and open stretches stretched for longer. The weather was not particularly inspiring - 8oC, dry, overcast grey sky.


But during this ride; longer and quieter than my normal commute, it became clear to me how harmonious cycling is. The revolutions of the pedals, a synchronously beating heart, clockwork inhaling and exhaling, all combining to power bike & rider for magnified progress, at speeds unattainable individually.


The conscience is refreshed to know, that the only immediate waste-products are the hum of passing tarmac, the satisfying clunk of the next gear, and the feel-good endorphins rewarded from effort.

I was going to use the word synergy, but since that word has been well and truly hijacked by the buzzword gypsies and systematically abused in "corporate visions" everywhere, I won't.

Drivers Goodwill?

Is it me, or are London's drivers warming to some seasonal goodwill?

Today I experienced zero incidents, no-one passed too closely, no one cut me up, no one knocked me off. Maybe I was riding defensively, maybe vehicles were all impotently knotted in traffic jams, or maybe the thought of Christmas presents and happy faces has relaxed everyone, as we all wind down before Christmas.

Compounding the success of this simple activity - Cycling to work, was a fine crisp December day. Again; enjoying visible breath. With optimistically bright daylight, made all the more valuable by its early disappearance this time of year. This will turn around in only 10 days, from the Shortest day of the year on Friday 22nd December 2006 and head back up towards to another pleasurable summer.

Wow - How quickly has this year gone by! Amazing.

Disturbing & Suspicious Story

Bob Breedlove, a champion endurance cyclist and respected orthopaedic surgeon from Des Moines, Iowa, USA, was killed when a pick up truck collided in to him.

The driver had no licence and was 15 years old.

He got probation, 24 hours of community service and paid $200, as the "consequence".

The family was unhappy with the "hometown favouritism" of the local authorities.

www.desmoinesregister.com


Questions:

Why does the investigation sound like a cover-up?

There's no such thing as an accident - just human error mainly. So where are the deservedly harsh penalties for killing people?

Who decided killing a human one way results in a 20 year prison sentence, and killing a human another way results in a $200 inconvenience? Absolutely crazy!

Five Items...

Five items, so geekily luxurious that questions have to be asked of the buyer!

From worst to worst:


1.\ Personal Number Plate.

Buying a personal number plate registration for your car.

Nobody cares about your initials - who's ever asked?!?

We're not interested in your life story, that maybe you made your fortunes by retailing office stationary, hence the registration plate "P.CL1P" / "ST4PL4" / "B1R0 K1NG".

Even worse are plates failing disastrously to even resemble ANY name, let alone the unfortunate buyer's. E.g. "Sally" becomes "SA14YVZ". It's just: Euurgh!!

How to waste money - example here.




2.\ Walkies!

$500 to walk your dog. Or rather let your dog walk you.

I admire the twisted creativity of the inventor, but can muster only cackling ridicule for any consumer of this micro-slave device.

Link - Gizmodo.com



3.\ Hypnotised Kids

I miss playing eye-spy on long car journeys, for it's simplicity, that game entertained for surprisingly long durations! Much easier for parents to numb the kids by plugging them in to one-way DVD screens.

Now some Swedes are working on a backseat GPS device which makes a game of the journey somehow. At least it sounds more interactive than staring; hypnotised and dribbling, at a DVD screen!

Link - engadget.com



4.\ Defend What's Important

Yes that's right, defend the banana. Pff! no! Of course I'm not talking about 3rd world banana growers and meaningful campaigns of fair trade and social conscious.

Literally, defend your banana from bumps and inconveniences on its daily journey, by buying a purposely marketed plastic case for it!

Link - Bananaguards.co.uk

Link - Bananaguards.com - VERSION 2

I love the way version 1 can't have been up to scratch, for them to bring out a VERSION 2! - I've just got this picture of the Banana Boss with a Schwarzenegger voice going: "Ve neeed MORE pro-tek-shon!!!!



5.\ Rubber Ducks Suck.

Trying to topple the king-ding of rubber duckies - the classic yellow breed, here are a gang of pitiful PVC misfits.

Surely aimed squarely at the emotionally-unstable consumer, this product just sums up the void between luxury and necessity, in a time when a lot of people seem to forget that no luxuries are a necessity.

Link - "Designer" Ducks



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If you even considered that any of the above luxuries look like a good purchase, hmmm well firstly consider doing this: - Head-butt your stylish new computer a few times and see if it knocks any perspective in to you. Maybe if wasting money on this crap floats your boat, then wasting some money in the direction of a few needy charities might work too.

So True...

...And a good laugh.

Brilliantly honest viral video doing the rounds:

What does your car say about you?