I went for a bike ride this evening and got another friggin flat! That makes a perfect record for the whole month of October. Not one road ride was without a flat. The thorns are positively thick out there right now.
Anyway, the ride is about 90 minutes with no problems. Long ass uphill and then really fast downhill. If I have no problems then I can make it home before it gets dark. "If" I have no problems...
My rear tire started to get soft almost at the top of the climb. There was no way I was going to go 40mph downhill with a soft rear tire. Disaster would be unavoidable. So I pulled off and replaced the tube. I'm getting pretty good at that by now.
I got back on the bike and went as fast as I dared in a very gray and dim twilight on a cloudy, moist evening. The next bit was relatively uneventful except for a bug that hit me just below my left eye with a wet SPLAT. I could see the pavement for the most part and managed to avoid any potholes. I admit I had visions of one flatting my front tire, sending me sliding on a trail of skin into the ditch.
A ways further down the hill there is a spot where the road gets REALLY steep (I've clocked almost 52mph down this spot in the past) and there are big oak trees that hang over the road. It was already dark when I came to this spot. To say it was intimidating would be to put it mildly. I just tried to point the bike into the middle of the blackness and gave myself over to fate. It was honestly like what I imagine riding through a black hole would be like. Amazingly I came out the other side and resumed my ride by braille in the waning darkness fervently hoping another car would pass me nice and slow so I could see the road in their headlights for a ways. Then...
It started to rain. Not hard, but enough that I had to squint fiercely to keep the water out of my eyes. I have no experience riding this particular bike in the rain, let alone at @30 mph. Add in the darkness and it was quite the harrowing finish to a quick weeknight ride.
I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
But I'm going to the bike shop tomorrow to buy a light...
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Alan Watts is awesome!
I've been curious about Alan Watts since I caught some of his recorded lectures on KPFK here in the LA area a while back. (I hardly even listen to KPFK - it's a bit too left for me in general.)
I bought his book Nature, Man and Woman a couple years ago but failed to really get into it to any depth.
More recently though I picked up The Way of Zen and I'm finding it to be quite stimulating. His ability to enunciate some of the concepts of Zen and Hinduism is really astounding. It does require quite a high level of concentration to comprehend though. Not the best thing for a light read before bed...
I bought his book Nature, Man and Woman a couple years ago but failed to really get into it to any depth.
More recently though I picked up The Way of Zen and I'm finding it to be quite stimulating. His ability to enunciate some of the concepts of Zen and Hinduism is really astounding. It does require quite a high level of concentration to comprehend though. Not the best thing for a light read before bed...
"How can you possibly believe that?"
What makes a person so stuck in their political views that nothing will change their mind? How do you use an unstoppable message to change an unchangeable mind?
I would argue that Obama has been more effective at this than any politician in recent history - even more effective than Clinton and Reagan before him. Clinton was great with empathy. His clarity and directness with the common citizen was largely responsible for his success. Reagan is a bit before I started paying attention, but he was a very personable speaker and again I believe folks were able to understand and empathize with him.
I think it great that Obama is so effective in this regard. But what really puzzles me, is why is it that some folks can never be reached?
Ideologues on the far left and the far right are so walled in by their perceptions of the world and their place in it that there is literally nothing that can be done to break through. How is that possible? How is it possible that anyone can be so stuck and stubborn that even literal proof will not sway an opinion, or even less, cause a second thought or raise some curiosity? Why do some people cling so ferociously to ideologies that are so extreme in relation to the general populace and even humanity?
I am struggling to find some way to understand this and I'm afraid I may not find one. I suspect fear is the largest factor, but I bet there's a mix of certitude in there as well. Frailty of ego... Ideological upbringing... This is a huge puzzle for me.
Why absolutism? I don't get it. And I strive to avoid it in my everyday life, but can I? Is it possible to be truly objective?
I would argue that Obama has been more effective at this than any politician in recent history - even more effective than Clinton and Reagan before him. Clinton was great with empathy. His clarity and directness with the common citizen was largely responsible for his success. Reagan is a bit before I started paying attention, but he was a very personable speaker and again I believe folks were able to understand and empathize with him.
I think it great that Obama is so effective in this regard. But what really puzzles me, is why is it that some folks can never be reached?
Ideologues on the far left and the far right are so walled in by their perceptions of the world and their place in it that there is literally nothing that can be done to break through. How is that possible? How is it possible that anyone can be so stuck and stubborn that even literal proof will not sway an opinion, or even less, cause a second thought or raise some curiosity? Why do some people cling so ferociously to ideologies that are so extreme in relation to the general populace and even humanity?
I am struggling to find some way to understand this and I'm afraid I may not find one. I suspect fear is the largest factor, but I bet there's a mix of certitude in there as well. Frailty of ego... Ideological upbringing... This is a huge puzzle for me.
Why absolutism? I don't get it. And I strive to avoid it in my everyday life, but can I? Is it possible to be truly objective?
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