American Xtianity is losing its grip on our society, 15% of Americans are now brave enough to declare No Beliefs and that is the fastest growing "religious"group in the US. I wait in anticipation for the day all forms of bronze age superstitious dogmas we know as Religion gets a stake driven into it's heart and withers in to dust like the mythical Vampire.
It's about time a secular humanity rise above living by and for myths and legends and start dealing with the problems of this world with reality. We don't look to the ancients for guidance regarding physics, astronomy, economics, or medicine. Why should we follow and kill each other over their moral instructions? We have outgrown the superstitions of ancient desert-dwellers just as we have advanced scientific knowledge beyond what was knowable in 100 AD. When we as a nation have the courage to admit that, then and only then we can create a better world for all of us.
I think some day societies will look back at today and acknowledge that religions infantilize the human mind and have held back human development. Humanity will remember Religions, whatever their perverted stripe, smile with some sadness, shake its head, and then file it as we now do Zeus, sprit possessions, witches, ghosts, and alien abductions, as delusional absurdities!
Tax the Churches!!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Lane Sharing On my Mind
Confession: I have split lanes in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, so I speak from experience. Vast experience, I moved here from California 12 years ago where I lane-shared sometimes with a full-dress Gold Wing for 20 or 30 miles of a 100 mile daily commute on the 101. That is Ph.D. level lane splitting. There is no traffic in this state as bad as 101 south of SFO or the 405 in LA. When I first came here I saw no one doing it, big wide lanes and slow-moving cars, so I just did it- now it is common to see it in Austin across Town Lake on 35. I know it is far less safe to sit in 100 degree heat in traffic and get rear ended or die from diesel fumes.
No one will be required to do it, you can still sit there in your sweat and get rear-ended. The "threat" of road rage is nearly non-existent, that is a false issue of concern. On a quite bike you are gone before the car driver even knows you are there. In 12 years of splitting lanes in Texas I have had only ONE car ever try anything and that was a diesel pick-up that tried to chase me on a Honda ST1300 after traffic cleared. In 29 years, thousands of miles of lanes split I have touched one car bumper [a 1-ton dually with a edge of a saddle bag], never gone down. It is more common in LA to see the cars part slightly to let you go through.
This will make Texas the Great Motorcycle State it should be.
This will dramatically increase motorcycle commuting as it cuts the time in half and you won't get so hot and tired from the ride and when 100s of bikes do it everyday, car drivers will soon learn it is legal and safe. It will also encourage helmet use, which is good thing.
No one will be required to do it, you can still sit there in your sweat and get rear-ended. The "threat" of road rage is nearly non-existent, that is a false issue of concern. On a quite bike you are gone before the car driver even knows you are there. In 12 years of splitting lanes in Texas I have had only ONE car ever try anything and that was a diesel pick-up that tried to chase me on a Honda ST1300 after traffic cleared. In 29 years, thousands of miles of lanes split I have touched one car bumper [a 1-ton dually with a edge of a saddle bag], never gone down. It is more common in LA to see the cars part slightly to let you go through.
This will make Texas the Great Motorcycle State it should be.
This will dramatically increase motorcycle commuting as it cuts the time in half and you won't get so hot and tired from the ride and when 100s of bikes do it everyday, car drivers will soon learn it is legal and safe. It will also encourage helmet use, which is good thing.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
This is my letter to Sen Van de Putte
Soon a bill to allow motorcycles in limited situations to use the space between rows of cars to keep moving in stopped traffic will come to the Texas Senate. This is a safe and well-accepted practice in California and Europe. I ask you to support SB-506 for Texas motorcycle users! I ride and I do this now in hot weather, many others do to and it needs to be legalized.
SB-506 will save gas, as it will make motorcycle commuting more popular in Texas in the summer as it has in California. The act is good for the nearly 1000 motorcycle businesses in Texas, as it will produce more bike use and the attendant increase in all phases of the business.
The bill also encourages helmet use and I think that is of important value by itself. I support the concept of trading the right to not wear safety gear [helmets] for the right to split lanes and move efficiently through traffic. The TMRAII members that appear before you do not represent all motorcyclists, most commuter riders wear helmets anyway. TMRAII is a small sub-set of motorcycle users that self-identify with as bikers and hold the right to not wear a helmet as the single most important issue to motorcyclists, that is just not true. Safety is more important to most riders. This act will lower the rear-end accidents incidents dramatically as it has in California.
Please vote YES on SB-506 and for Helmet Use!!
SB-506 will save gas, as it will make motorcycle commuting more popular in Texas in the summer as it has in California. The act is good for the nearly 1000 motorcycle businesses in Texas, as it will produce more bike use and the attendant increase in all phases of the business.
The bill also encourages helmet use and I think that is of important value by itself. I support the concept of trading the right to not wear safety gear [helmets] for the right to split lanes and move efficiently through traffic. The TMRAII members that appear before you do not represent all motorcyclists, most commuter riders wear helmets anyway. TMRAII is a small sub-set of motorcycle users that self-identify with as bikers and hold the right to not wear a helmet as the single most important issue to motorcyclists, that is just not true. Safety is more important to most riders. This act will lower the rear-end accidents incidents dramatically as it has in California.
Please vote YES on SB-506 and for Helmet Use!!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Motorcycle Deaths
I'm in the motorcycle biz, so I enter the word "Motorcycle" in a search engine two or three times a week and go to "News" and I see that awful count of deaths and injury news stories. I see all the "cager did it" ones and agree they are about half and I see the single-vehicle, often unexplained, rider lost control ones.
The reason I want research is to find out about those accidents and their causes.
From 44 years of riding experience I know there a a few causes we don't discuss;
TIRE FAILURES, i firmly believe that there are 100s of single bike crashes caused by rapid loss of air pressure. Lack of post accident investigation is why we will never know
EQUIPMENT FAILURE, Especially Owner-modified bikes; because most states have no safety inspections of bikes that are at all meaningful I think there are lots of dumb mistakes made that lead to accidents. Like speed wobbles from poor alinement, frame and swing arm failures from welds and bolt-up dubiously engineered contraptions and floor boards so big and low they lift the rear-wheel off the ground and cause accidents. I actually SAW that kind of crash from less that 30 yards ahead when a big cruiser went down on a curve in front of me. I saw the rear tire and air under it. Scary for sure.
SUICIDES, I know for positive of 3 single bike deaths [over 40 year span] that were suicides but not listed as such on the death certificates. I have seen a couple of news stories from Kentucky and California of soldiers running sport bikes into objects a high speeds with no apparent cause. Suicide by vehicle is uncounted for the most part but I know is a very real occurrence. It is not a safety issue but it adds to our death stats. and accident numbers. They need to be counted for what they are.
Plenty of riders loose their lives over being under the influence of various intoxicants and from poor skills and riding beyond ability and all that's a hugh problem. But we know about that, what about the unknown causes?
The reason I want research is to find out about those accidents and their causes.
From 44 years of riding experience I know there a a few causes we don't discuss;
TIRE FAILURES, i firmly believe that there are 100s of single bike crashes caused by rapid loss of air pressure. Lack of post accident investigation is why we will never know
EQUIPMENT FAILURE, Especially Owner-modified bikes; because most states have no safety inspections of bikes that are at all meaningful I think there are lots of dumb mistakes made that lead to accidents. Like speed wobbles from poor alinement, frame and swing arm failures from welds and bolt-up dubiously engineered contraptions and floor boards so big and low they lift the rear-wheel off the ground and cause accidents. I actually SAW that kind of crash from less that 30 yards ahead when a big cruiser went down on a curve in front of me. I saw the rear tire and air under it. Scary for sure.
SUICIDES, I know for positive of 3 single bike deaths [over 40 year span] that were suicides but not listed as such on the death certificates. I have seen a couple of news stories from Kentucky and California of soldiers running sport bikes into objects a high speeds with no apparent cause. Suicide by vehicle is uncounted for the most part but I know is a very real occurrence. It is not a safety issue but it adds to our death stats. and accident numbers. They need to be counted for what they are.
Plenty of riders loose their lives over being under the influence of various intoxicants and from poor skills and riding beyond ability and all that's a hugh problem. But we know about that, what about the unknown causes?
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