The monument is like something out of Robotech. Bigger than I ever imagined it would be.

I love it when a plan comes together. 'Specially when it involves Spring Break. More later.

Charles Barkley, who is on the cover of Sports Illustrated in chains, said that the fairways at Augusta were lengthened because of RACISM!! The idea being that they're tired of seeing Tiger win everything and so want to hurt his chances. What an idiot. First of all, Tiger has done more for the popularity of the game than anyone in the past decade, and second of all, lengthening the fairway actually HELPS Tiger (and had nothing to do with him anyway). It's always got to be racism though.

Jet thrust nozzles and body cavities don't mix (click).

I recently found the geek motherload!! Click here. Wow!! I can't believe in all this time I never thought to browse around the net for Champions/Hero sites. Champions is one of the coolest RPGs ever. I still have some of my sourcebooks. But, like a lot of things, when I'm totally out of the loop, I tend to forget that something exists and is still 'around'. Imagine my surprise when I opened the link and found that not only is there a message board for Champions/Hero, but it's extremely active and populated! And a brand new 400 page rulebook is on its way this April! I believe I'm going to pick it up and see what comes of it. I'd love to start a new role-playing campaign.

Anyway, this message board is wonderful. You cannot believe the unabashed and rampant geekiness (I say that with utter respect) flying around. The Thor vs. Superman thread was a hoot. Lots of fun and no lack of articulate people.

I learned a new one. IDHMBIFOM = I Don't Have My Book In Front Of Me.

Moochie Norris of the Houston Rockets was attacked by a giant bat during a game a few days ago!! The thing wouldn't leave him alone. Wild.

By the way, the Mavericks are flirting with being the best team in the league, record-wise. They go back and forth with the Kings depending which night it is. Since the trade, they're 7 wins, 1 loss. Gawd I love this team!! Thank you Mark Cuban, thank you ever so much! 19 games in the season left. I'm going to a playoff game. Who needs March Madness?

It's well known that Mark treats his players better than any other owner in the league. The Mavs' locker room is a technological marvel. Get this: each "locker" has its own home theater system!! Not only that, but they actually use it to watch recorded videos of opponents they have to guard.

It looks like illegal street racing is going to get yet another shot in the arm, two-wheel style this time. 14K The Movie. Following in the footsteps of Fast and the Furious I guess. I can't see how this is NOT going to cause a rash of 16 year olds going out and buying (as their very first motorcycle) brand new R1s and Gixxers and trying to do something that requires years and years of training and a great deal of self control. An R1 will KILL YOU if you're jumping on it straight from your mountain bike--kids will die because of this. I'm definitely not trying to assign blame to the filmmakers for something some stupid kid does. But in short, it might be an exciting movie, or even a good one (Keanu Reeves and $60 million budget and everything), but it almost certainly will hurt rather than help the sport and its image.

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."
Ben Franklin, 1759

They released this.

The Iranian government has outlawed Barbie dolls and introduced their OWN dolls to enforce Islam and Iranian values--they don't want to encourage girls to think of a woman as someone with a free will who can make up her own mind and doesn't need approval from a man to do anything. Amusing.

My current subscription list: Cycle World, Motorcyclist, Sport Rider, Motorcycle Consumer News, Road & Track, Autoweek, Car & Driver, Electronic Gaming Monthly, and Computer Gaming World. I used to get music rags like RS, Spin, CMJ, etc., but got a little tired of em. I really should get a news/current events rag. Popular Science wouldn't be bad.

It's happening. Insurance rates are jumping. Most are being hiked a minimum of 30 percent. Most can be attributed to 9-11. And more is on the way. Everything's going up--food, clothes, gas, homes, cars, etc. A couple guys got letters from their motorcycle insurers informing them of a whopping QUADRUPLING of their rates. That's lovely. Imagine, you've been riding for years, never had a claim or a ticket, and out of the blue they try to crank your rate to four times what it was the month before.

Even if you never click on my Bike Pics, you should click on this one. Now those are some classics!

My father must be a freak. 60 years old and no grey hair. Passes for early 40s. Just normal to me, but it seems other dudes in their mid 40s are getting all kinds of grey hair, and that this is considered normal. I'll have to be careful. When I see some wrinkled grey-haired man or woman, I think "70s", but no, they could be 40s or 50s!

How do you like that Daschle guy, huh? Gets all flustered and uptight when he thinks the shadow government was set up without HIS notification, then does a quick 180� when they inform him that he was invited to the meetings but refused to show up. The shadow government is a necessary precaution. How 'bout barkin' at that one big fella?

You can read an amusing editorial on the pussilanimousafying of school activities here. Here's a quote: "I know what all these NPR-listening, Starbucks-guzzling parents want. They want their Ambers and their Alexanders to grow up in a cozy womb of noncompetition, where everybody shares tofu and Little Red Riding Hood and the big, bad wolf set up a commune." I can't help but agree. Who are these spineless, hand-wringing, bleeding arch-liberals who make these decisions?

A much graver problem, though, is stuff like this!! Read and marvel.

How about this bullshit? I posted about this a few days ago. I especially appreciate how her lawyer says "She was simply a frightened, emotionally distraught young woman who had an accident, panicked and made a wrong choice." The hell she was! What we're looking at here is the 'victim mentality' run amok again. Poor Ms. Mallard, everyone's got her all wrong, she's really a sweet girl who just made one little wrong choice, she's the VICTIM here, doncha see? FUCK that, she's guilty of negligent homicide as far as I can tell.

Sheesh. Let's end with a good cycle vid or two, eh? First up is KeithU's trip up Cape Perpetua in Oregon. He's on a Triumph TT600. Nice twisty road in the sunshine. Second is a very interesting 'stickcam' ride with a Busa. Quality isn't great on these, but downloads should be short. Enjoy.