Monday, July 21, 2008

Vanishing cyclists

Around the city where I live there is an oddness to the cycle lanes.
From my car I see them there and then next minute the lane has disappeared.
What are the cyclists suppose to do at this point - start to fly?
It is always at odd points too. Like coming up to a particularly nasty intersection where you'd think cyclists would like a lane of their own to protect them. Or weirdly just after special signs alerting motorists to the existence of a cycle lane and after the cycle lane goes across in front of merging traffic. Then it's gone - right where the merging traffic will be appearing beside them.
Do the planners think cyclists can materialise or not at will?
If these lanes are suppose to make the cyclists safer - why do they disappear in the most unsafe spots?
If cyclists could fly - wouldn't they just do this all the time? It would be so much faster.
Maybe the streets are just one big computer game with cyclists as the players. When the cycle lanes suddenly stop they vanish and reappear on another cycle lane somewhere else. Maybe me and my car are merely obstacles passing through.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Dancing

From my study sample of two, I am amazed that dancing seems to be innate. As soon as a song with a good beat comes on, dancing happens. If you try to stop the dancing, sometimes the reaction is extraordinary - like you are trying to stop them from breathing or reaching a chocolate biscuit.
They seemed compelled to dance and they just do it without any prompting. Why? Why do humans arrive knowing how to dance but not how to talk? Is dancing that important?
Why do we not feel the need to dance to every song we hear as we get older?
Maybe that is the problem with the world. All the time we spent learning to talk, to read, to be educated and to make money, when we should really have been working on our dancing.
Is that why bizarre programmes like "dancing with the stars" are ridiculously popular beyond what logical, common sense would dictate? Our sub-conscious trying to tell us - dancing is the important thing!
Maybe we should all dance more and see what happens. Next time you're in a queue and a catchy tune comes on, start quietly moving to the beat.
Imagine if everyone starts doing it.
Imagine that becomes the normal way of the world - Everyone just gently jiving along.
Imagine coming across this post years from now and being surprised that in the past everyone didn't use to just dance all the time.
I think that would be cool.
But what about the people that can't dance? What kind of world would it be for them?
What about the poor today? What kind of world is it for them?

Thursday, July 10, 2008

The latest news

Everywhere I go lately, I see billboards telling me I need to listen to a particular radio station because news doesn't wait until I log on apparently, nor does it wait - according to the radio people, until I buy a newspaper. Which is odd because if it did wait until I logged on or bought a newspaper presumably there would be nothing to read since it had only just happened as soon as I did something.
Imagine if there was no news until you turned the TV on or got online?
Live reporters would just have to be standing around hoping for something. Then someone would flick their remote and simultaneously there would be an earthquake somewhere.
So if everyone stopped watching or reading the news in this scenario would nothing happen? That would ruin it for the radio station.
News always seems to prefer the bad news stories so maybe only good things would happen. But there would always be some people, that couldn't stand it and need to have a quick check of the news ...and there would be your heavy snowfall stranding holidaymakers. Some would probably get addicted to the power of newsmaking and check all the time.
Anyway the news does wait. When I read it or watch it - it is news to me.

5 Favourite Sights Seen

  • 1996 Watching tropical lightning turn night to day, outside a little wooden church in a small village in Sabah.
  • 2004 Flying down the Rainbow Valley at 8000ft in a cessna on a clear blue day.
  • 2003 Seeing and hearing Michael Schmacher rolling out of the pit garage in his Ferrari in Hungary.
  • 2009 Chancing upon 100 or more dolphins just off the Kaikoura Coast swimming around, jumping out of the water, doing somersaults and generally having fun.
  • 2006 Finding a pool at the bottom of a waterfall in the bush at Kaikoura that was full of playing baby seals.