The Urban Road Is A Dangerous Place
A feisty octogenarian is unrepentantly jaywalking in front of my car.
He’s got a walker, and he’s hacking away with it, as if clearing a
path through the undergrowth with a machete.
I pull to the stop and watch as he progresses toward the opposite
curb. I confess to an admiration of his guts and his energy. I think
about our society’s sedentary ways and hold this man up as an example:
We just don’t have an excuse to sit on our duffs when Jack (as I
imagine he is called) is out here, braving the urban jungle!
But just as Jack, or maybe Harry, or Franz, or perhaps Pedro, is
completing his rebellious trek across my lane, a Mercury Cougar
arrives on the scene and lays on the horn. The driver behind me
apparently believes quite strongly that Harry here should be punished
by death for his illegal crossing, and I should be his executioner.
The engine revs angrily behind me and my hypothalamus takes over. I
don’t have a choice now. I’m going to have to rip that machete out of
Pedro’s hands and protect us both from the roaring Cougar!
However, the attacking beast escapes by passing me on the right, and
Franz has finally got his walker onto the curb.
As for me, well, I continue on my way. I’m going home and taking a
walk.
ttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120579902&ps=rs
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"Whenever the monkey is in the cage... he's got time to figure out how
to escape"
COMING OUT OF THE DARK AGES
If that's what you do, it's no wonder life sux for you.
--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca
yeah, OIAW, yawl fall into a totally wierd traffic problem. escape if
possible and as soon as. first instincts no hesitation,
It must suck for a lot of people who are afraid to come out of the
cage too.
Survival of the Biggest, not the fittest. No place for Jesus on his
ass, no place for riding a bike, no place for an old man to walk. The
lady stopped for him but she was blasted for it. I've seen it so many
times. That's the way it is in the jungle: KILL OR BE KILLED. And then
do like the Three Wise Monkeys: See no evil, hear no evil, talk no
evil.
But WE WILL SURVIVE...
Yeah, I should have had when I was attacked last time.
And the man was a bear.
I just say shit like that shouldn't be happening, for myself. for the
old man, for my daughter that also lives in the cage...
We should be walking out with a machete in the jungle, you never know.
I'd rather just be nice.
> yeah, OIAW, yawl fall into a totally wierd traffic problem. escape if
> possible and as soon as. first instincts no hesitation,
IOW, head for the nearest bakery or deli, order up some tasty
tidbits, 'n set down a spell, looking out the picture window
at the ensuing traffic mess. Maybe flirt with the waitress
a li'l. Maybe get lucky, or even score. Suits me just fine.
At least talk 'er into free pie (& coffee) for breakfast.
Bear mace on hot wings might do the trick. Along with
bleu cheese dip that has a hint of Tang[tm] orange crystals
stirred into it.
mmmm .... (Almost)Suicide-Wings ... [drool] I can already
almost feel my burning lips falling off my face. Waitress
would probably be happy with a plain ol' deli platter. Maybe
poke around with a fondue, later.
Anyways, I don't need bear mace. I've already got a bottle
of Blair's MegaDeath sauce. I'm not sure if I'll finish it
in the remainder of my lifetime.
cheers,
Tom
Many excuses they have: "Only Jesus can fix things," "the Devil runs
the world," etc. And I think they have a point in the latter: The
Devil runs the world and it is them.
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"When everything else fails to exorcise the Devil... try a banana. He
hates humor."
You see it in plain view and with no shame of any kind: THE BIG FISH
EATS THE LITTLE FISH. Religion, democracy and all that stuff is pure
CAMOUFLAGE IN THE JUNGLE.
Without the complicity of religion, we would find ourselves like NAKED
APES, constantly seeking new prey and new territory to control,
exploit and eventually destroy.
And then we've found enough sheep to believe that Jesus --an ape
dressed in rags-- would approve of this Darwinistic world.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It happened before in Easter Island where the monkeys ended up eating
each other while they watched...
http://greencraft.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/easter-island.jpg
Darwinism had nothing to do with Darwin and the theory of evolution.
Darwinism was an ideology loosely based on the notion of survival of the
fittest however anyone wanted to define it. The theory of evolution has
undergone considerable refinement from those early days. It is probable that
human sociability and cooperation had more to do with civilization than
individualism and competition.
The story of the settling of the West had to do totally with the pioneers
(farmers and ranchers) and had nothing to do with the mountain men and
cowboys, let alone gunmen and other assorted bad characters. Try to get up
to speed why don't you!
Comandante Banana needs some good college courses in sociology and
anthropology, both physical and cultural.
Regards,
Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota
With a li'l interpretation, when you say "jungle" you might mean "city"
or "road" or highway."
A cutlass is basically a machete. Maybe you should roam
around your stomping grounds, wielding a cutlass in a
threatening manner, so the bad guys will leave you alone.
Yaghhhrrr, ye lily-liver'd land-lover.
Jesus didn't need a machete. I suppose if the need arose,
he could've magically made one appear, but as far as I know,
he didn't. Didn't even make a decent grapefruit spoon appear.
You use to promote wielding bananas and T-shirts.
Now it's machetes.
What's next: handguns?
It is a mistake to respond to CB on his terms since he is as nutty as a
fruitcake - and a crank besides. Either elevate the conversation beyond his
poor powers of comprehension or else forget about it. No one on these
newsgroups is dumb enough to meet him on his level. The fact is that a
greater idiot has never existed.
If you stoop to his level, then you will be consigned to the depths along
with him.
With your folding bicycle safely tucked away under your table. :)
--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
I am a vehicular cyclist.
That's why I rely on the experts like you. But this time you really
didn't add anything new.
The above Darwinism has little to do with Darwin, thus the proper name
is SOCIAL DARWINISM.
Hey, you are right about the important role of cooperation though.
You want to know my secret weapons, huh?
In reality a machete is of little help against a 5 ton SUV.
A banana really helps, maybe the driver will be hungry.
Jekyll and Hyde personality, huh?
>> Jekyll and Hyde personality, huh?
I stay the same and I have already stated many times before that I do not
like one note Johnnies. If you do not have any idea of how tiresome you have
become, then you are truly a crazy crank and a poor simple bastard. Now get
off your one topic and onto something else - you confounded moron! I doubt
if even Tom Sherman is reading your rubbish anymore, if he ever did!
>> That's why I rely on the experts like you. But this time you really
didn't add anything new.
>> The above Darwinism has little to do with Darwin, thus the proper name
is SOCIAL DARWINISM.
>> Hey, you are right about the important role of cooperation though.
The only important thing to remember is that Charles Darwin was a genius and
you and I are idiots. Social Darwinism (Spencer) has been discredited the
same way Communism (Marx) has been discredited. They are both suspect
ideologies which have next to nothing to do with reality. Beware of
intellectuals!They are the most dangerous people in the universe.
From Wikipedia:
"Herbert Spencer's ideas, like those of evolutionary progressivism, stemmed
from his reading of Thomas Malthus, and his later theories were influenced
by those of Darwin. However, Spencer's major work, Progress: Its Law and
Cause (1857) was released two years before the publication of Darwin's On
the Origin of Species, and First Principles was printed in 1860.
In regard to social institutions, there is a good case that Spencer's
writings might be classified as 'social Darwinism'. He argues that the
individual (rather than the collectivity) is the unit of analysis that
evolves, that evolution takes place through natural selection, and that it
affects social as well as biological phenomena."
Which just goes to show that the concept of evolution was primed and
ready to go in that period. It mattered little who actually went on
the Beagle, so long as he was scientifically aware and interested in
biology.
And I prefer the quote from MIB: "Individuals can be smart, people are
stupid." People are stupid and can be led by a smart individual. (See
Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Pol Pot... Cheney, Rove, Gonzales)
CB is annoying, but if he stops preaching to the choir and gets out in
the real world he might get some change.
Yes, you have got it exactly right! If Edison had never lived, we would
still have the electric light bulb and right on schedule too. Same goes for
Einstein and all his high theories. Science is a collective endeavor of a
society.
> And I prefer the quote from MIB: "Individuals can be smart, people are
> stupid." People are stupid and can be led by a smart individual. (See
> Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Pol Pot... Cheney, Rove, Gonzales).
If you have a democratic form of governance, it will always prove in the end
that the people are smarter than individuals. It is the best argument
against tyranny that I know of.
Cheney is one of my heroes. He alone held the Bush administration to high
standards.
> CB is annoying, but if he stops preaching to the choir and gets out in
> the real world he might get some change.
CB is a good natured individual, but I fear he may be nothing but a crank.
Cranks are only interesting for a brief period of time, after which they
become tiresome and eventually deadly for intellectual discourse. Note how
Tom Sherman, a fellow intellectual, will not take him on at all. If these
newsgroups had a moderator, CB's posts would never make it past him. His
posts are childish and fundamentally stupid.
I just cared for you to read it.
Not to understand it, of course, as that would be too ambitious.
Social Darwinism may be discredited but still practiced everywhere.
And our lowly place on the roads' food chain is also a consequence of
it.
Globalization is Global Social Darwinism too.
Well, annoying has a negative connotation to it, when we can say,
"Comandante Banana is right, and he insists and he demands change, and
I'm nothing but a selfish survivor, who will most likely die for
dodging the bullet rather that for biting the bullet."
I bite the bullet, chew it and I will get on the road. I can only pray
(funny word when I don't believe) that what happened to you doesn't
happen to me.
But still I'm the best bet for you getting your old ass safely on a
bike.
Hey, nice and simple, I'm a monkey MAKING NOISE ABOUT CONDITIONS IN
THE JUNGLE.
>> I just cared for you to read it.
>> Not to understand it, of course, as that would be too ambitious.
You need to get off your one topic. I am losing patience with you.
>> But still I'm the best bet for you getting your old ass safely on a
bike.
Young ass, old ass - what does it matter. I only concern myself with dumb
asses which you are increasingly falling into that category.
>> Hey, nice and simple, I'm a monkey MAKING NOISE ABOUT CONDITIONS IN
THE JUNGLE.
A one note Johnny like you belongs on just one cycling newsgroup. I suggest
RBS since you are only concerned with the safety issue.
ONE NOTE THAT CAN CHANGE THE WORLD...
Bicycle, solidarity, banana... keep it simple! No long speeches, just
action. Would you join the revolution and hug the lane? Anyone else?
You won't see me here. Just get on the damn road and bite the bullet.
Or are we chicken run here or what? Good movie, huh? ;)
"We have overwhelming arguments against Christianism, but why bother
if we have a banana?"
C'mon, look at it and face it: Not only it's beautiful, it also shows
that FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION. This is something that somebody in this
forum pointed out the other day. Religion and government are both in
complicity to deny this fact to the masses at large. Why? Control!
Here he is...
"If the Devil invented a religion..."? Get real. Keep it simple.
The fact is: the Devil invented religion.
You want fries with that? Form follows function is the way things
work, and function must follow form is what religions and governments
preach.
Peace, Sanity
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(Is anyone out there collecting these quotes?)
In the dilemma of who was first it's obvious the human hand can also
grab an apple, but not a watermelon. Therefore eating watermelon is
evil.
http://webspawner.com/users/bananarevolution
>>> ONE NOTE THAT CAN CHANGE THE WORLD...
>>> Bicycle, solidarity, banana... keep it simple! No long speeches, just
action. Would you join the revolution and hug the lane? Anyone else?
You won't see me here. Just get on the damn road and bite the bullet.
Or are we chicken run here or what? Good movie, huh? ;)
You need to address the issue that I am posing to you - that of being a one
note Johnny while all the time posting to multiple newsgroups. Unless and
until you do, no progress is ever going to be made.
[...]
See? You are a dodger. Maybe too old for revolution and that. You just
write crappy stuff here. ;)
Did you notice that my one note is BICYCLES? I settle for the jungle
in other areas, but you must give me that freedom or else I'll make
NOISE until the end of times.
See? You are a dodger. Maybe too old for revolution and that. You just
write crappy stuff here. ;)
Did you notice that my one note is BICYCLES? I settle for the jungle
in other areas, but you must give me that freedom or else I'll make
NOISE until the end of times.
"You need to address the issue that I am posing to you - that of being a one
note Johnny while all the time posting to multiple newsgroups. Unless and
until you do, no progress is ever going to be made" - Ed Dolan
If the chicken don't get together we will become food one at a time or
just live in the cage.
Progress requires cooperation.