North Road Ride Smash

More road carnage this morning on the North Road Ride.

I hope everyone is allright and makes a quick recovery.

I especially hope you weren't out this morning Cam.

But this is a serious problem with riding on Punt Road or Nepean Highway early in the mornings- there are still some of the dregs from the night before going home.

I've seen drunks leaning out the back of cabs trying to tackle cyclists early in the morning. I've seen soft drink bottles thrown out of speeding vehicles at cyclists. It doesn't really surprise me that an incident such as this could occur.

These two particular arterial roads seem to me to be worse than others.

And then a bunch of rubber necks on the opposite side of the road have rear-enders as well.

This has to be the main problem with drivers, the way they treat driving as a passive activity like sitting at home in front of the television.

Concentrate when you drive people, you aren't at home on the couch.

I've been tagged

I have been sort of tagged by Phil over at Spinopsys, which apparently means I am obliged to tell the public five things about myself that may be hitherto unknown.

So here it goes...

1) I obsess over subcultures, ratbags, rebels, fringe dwellers and outsiders. Art imitating life or life imitating art I don’t know.

2) I am the world’s biggest sell-out. For example: I am possibly the world’s only socialist corporate tax consultant. Oh well, as someone wise once said ‘Truth is son it’s a buyers market, they can afford to pick and chose’.

3) I bought my first bike when I was 22. I always loved bike racing, but couldn’t afford one up until that point. I basically started out riding to university because I couldn’t afford a car- then caught the cycling bug big time. My first bike was totalled when I got t-boned by a car on 11 September 2004... spooky.

4) Like Ted Baillieu I used to play Rugby Union. I played a handful of games for the Victorian Colts side before stopping to concentrate on University. My playing weight was 115kgs (I’m currently 85kgs and going down on the bike!)

5) This year I want to ride a Victorian team qualifying time for the kilo (1:07:00), ride in Belgium in June-July, and race the Melbourne-Warnambool in October. I also want to try and help organise a Melbourne-Castlemaine Spring classic race in September. We’ll have to see how it all goes- don’t be surprised if I fail miserably on all fronts!

A Blog War!

Noel Gallagher and Timboy may think me a romantic idiot or a gun loving loon, but I see our soldier's plight a little differently. Fighting is a profession that can be taken on for financial or altruistic reasons. Some join up for money or the absence of a better option; some join up for love of freedom and country. Our government may have a skewed view of our national interest, yet soldiers deserve our respect and admiration for their willingness to defend it, come what may.

Certainly, there are problems in the armed forces. There are problems with the way the government uses the armed forces. There are ethical dilemmas to be faced and grave consequences to be weighed. 'Grunts' often join looking for the thrill of battle, not exactly an honourable reason. At the top of the ladder, motives aren't always clean. None of this takes away from the bravery and honour displayed by every man and woman who signs up.

War may often be fought in vain and for the wrong reasons, but in the gravest circumstances it is not immoral but a moral imperative. Let's respect those that express a willingness to face this hard truth by joining the armed services.

Lest we forget.

Noel Gallagher on War

A few weeks ago Noel had this to say about soldiers serving in Iraq:

"The troops want to go, all they want to do is fight! They're soldiers. They're loving it, until they get shot -- then they're claiming compensation.
"If you're bothered about getting shot -- here's a thing -- don't join the army."

And today comes this explanation of sorts:

"I'm regularly grossly misquoted in the press," he said. "They made it sound like I was saying British soldiers deserved to get shot at. I was talking about soldiers in general in America, and I was just, like, 'If you don't like getting shot at, don't join the army.' "

Couldn't have put it better myself. Mark Latham expressed similar apathy towards the plight of soldiers in The Latham Diaries, and I can't help but agree. In modern times being a soldier is an occupation, without wanting to oversimplify matters, soldiers chose their own plight.

If you don't like the kill or be killed ethos of military service- then don't join up. In these times we can all refuse to kill, in fact it should be our moral duty not too.

Dickhead Watch: David Koch

Apparently the bloke told a blue joke on air, concerning John and Janette Howard pissing in the snow.

Rather than apologising outright for any offence he might have caused, he had this to say:

"You don't intentionally try and offend anyone and a joke's a joke and you're never quite sure what's on the line, what's over the line and what's the other side of the line."

Asked to explain the inference of the joke, he responded by saying his wife had once scrawled her own yellow sentence in a patch of snow.

"My wife writes her name in the snow. They have this thing for skiers - female skiers. It's like a funnel if you are caught way up on the slopes away from anywhere."'

What next, 'some of my best friends are black'?

Talk about digging ones own grave.