CurveJunkies

A little over a year ago, a 66 year old lady turned in front of a 52 year old biker (wearing a crappy, novelty helmet).  The biker and his passenger died and police released the lady saying there was no evidence of intoxication.   Shortly thereafter, lab results showed the lady had likely taken Ambien an hour or so before the incident.  After a year’s worth of research and legal wrestling, the District Attorney decides to not file criminal charges against the lady.

Read the entire story here.

Firefighting motorbikes will be used to tackle blazes across a city, it was announced today.
Liverpool is the first city in the UK to roll out two of the £30,000 bikes, which have pumps with a range of 11 metres, in a six-month pilot scheme.  Read entire story

The first half is a little bit o’ cheese, but the second half gets pretty funny.  It’s worth watching for five entire minutes of entertainment.

I don’t believe this is how it would’ve gone down, though.

This guy could get years in jail for recording the state police officer who pulled him over and drew his weapon.

…the video that Graber posted on YouTube one week later — taken with his helmet camera — of a plainclothes state trooper cutting him off and drawing a gun during the traffic stop near Baltimore.

In early April, state police officers raided Graber’s parents’ home in Abingdon, Md. They confiscated his camera, computers and external hard drives. Graber was indicted for allegedly violating state wiretap laws by recording the trooper without his consent.  Read more at ABCNEWS

Another video…

I’ll try to have more on this in the next day or so…

for now… See this link for more information <<<

Carlos Miller of Photography is Not a Crime blog has a bit to say on this matter.

Small cell phone jammer for about $30

I oppose all cell phone laws.  I’m against laws stopping people from using their phones in their cars and I hate the laws stopping people from texting while driving.  Why?  Because I feel personal freedom is paramount regardless of the danger that someone *might* pose.  With that said, however, I’m all for personal vigilantism and public shaming.  If someone is driving and using the phone or texting, we should shame them into submission.  If they almost hit us, we should take their phone and stomp on it.   If people felt this kind of impending pressure, they would likely not be so quick to flip out their phones (unless, of course, it’s an emergency). 

There are, though, other ways to handle cell phone users and one way is amazingly cheap.  There are an array of cell phone jammers for well under $100.  The cheapest ones, running about $30, has a range of 5-25 meter.  The big ones, priced around $100, has a huge range and can knock out the signals from an entire building. 

Just like me, I’m sure there have been so many times you’ve wanted to knock someone off the phone because they’re swerving in front of you (or worse, swerving at you).  And while the jammer may not be the perfect solution, it still would be a very comical and perhaps vengefully satisfying solution.  The legality of these jammers are definitely in question.  I’ve seen some reports that they’re very illegal to use and I’ve seen others saying it’s perfectly fine.  I actually suspect, though, that they’re likely illegal here in the United States.  With that in mind, I’ll probably hide the one I’m considering ordering  

Here are some jammers to consider 

• 20dBm Portable - $28.79 (looks like the most worthy of dropping some cash on)
• P22 On-Vehicle Jammer $89.00
• Portable Cell Phone Blocker $121.75
  (a little more expensive for this one, dunno why)

If I get one, I’ll drop a line here later about how well it works.  I think it’d be pretty funny to be on the bike and knock people off their calls when they’re not paying attention to your presence.

Addendum:  I just found this on Wikipedia…
United States: Cell phone blocking devices are used by federal officials under certain circumstances. Privacy rights of property owners may affect the policy and application of law within buildings. Contact the FCC for permit applications and waivers. For radio communications, it is illegal to operate, manufacture, import, or offer for sale, including advertising (Communications Act of 1934).^[8] Blocking radio communications in public can carry fines of up to $11,000 or imprisonment of up to one year.^[9] The Homeland Security Act of 2002 may overide the Communications Act of 1934

Some random guy with road rash.

Once again, only a few days ago, the topic of wearing your gear came up.  I was out riding in nearly 100F weather and I was pretty hot because I had my jacket on.  Most often, I’m wearing a leather jacket, but when summer rolls around, I switch to textile…and when it gets *really* hot and I’m just doing slow, casual riding, I’ll move to a mesh jacket.  I was complaining about the heat to a guy wearing only shorts, a t-shirt, and no helmet and he says back to me, “Well, of course you’re burning up…you’re wearing that jacket.”

Well duhhhhhhhhhhh….Jackets in summer do tend to keep you a bit warmer than usual.  I’m glad I had Einstein next to me to point out the obvious. 

I figure most of you who are reading this already know the value of wearing your gear.  We’ve seen more than our share of accidents both simple and serious and they’re never pretty.  Even with good gear on, lots of things can go wrong and still mess you up pretty bad….but with no gear on, even the tiniest spill can be pretty terrible.

On at least two occasions I was availed the opportunity to inspect helmets and jackets up close after very serious and non-fatal accidents.  The helmets were totally split in two pieces down the center in both incidents — and the rider had absolute no injury to the head.   If even a fraction of the force had been direct to the skull, these riders would not be here today (they thank god, I thank good gear).  I have seen have their bodies skip down the highway with hardly any injury, although they do almost always lose a shoe for some reason.

The first accident I ever witnessed was when I was just a child and in the car with my parents.  Some dude was cruising down the highway with only a pair of shorts and some flip flops when his bike suddenly locked up.  Since I was so young, only four or five years old, I didn’t understand exactly the cause of the accident, but I do clearly remember watching the man tumble and slide about 50 feet down the highway.  The next thing I saw of this man was only a red, oozing mess with a few missing teeth.  My dad stopped to help him so I was close enough to look out the car window to witness everything.  This incident has plagued me for years — the details completely burned into my mind.

It’s often said to dress for the fall and not for the ride.  I’ve seen enough to know the wisdom in that simple statement.  I know that I’m mostly preaching to the choir and most of you will agree, but there are always a few who just don’t get it.

So what is my point?  I’m not really sure I have one.  People will do what people will do.  I look at the gearless guy and think he’s an idiot.  The gearless guy looks at me and thinks I’m overdressed for the weather and therefore stupid.  We’re both probably right on some level.  All I can say is that I’m likely to continue being stupid and will always be wearing at least the very minimum of protection (helmet and jacket) — even if I’m only going to the store around the corner.

But really, what do I know?  I’m sure you’re more interested in what William Shatner had to say about it.

I really don’t know how good of a camera this is, but it’s dirt cheap and straight out of Asia (home of dirt cheap, sweatshop electronics).  I’m really considering picking up this camera just as a second cam to throw on the back of my bike, on my car, or maybe even on my helmet.  Since it comes with a tripod, maybe it’d be fun to stick on the side of the road to capture wheelies or twisties.  For those of you looking for a cam, maybe this is a good one to start with.  And no…I’m not getting kick backs from selling a cheap 60 buck cam heh.

Click through to see the Waterproof Helmet Action Cam with no brand name

Although I’ve been a fan of the book by self-described Scientologist Keith Code for awhile now, somehow I missed the release of this DVD back in October.  Recently I came across information on the video and just had to get it. 

Although the acting resembles a cheap gay porn and made me laugh over and over, the information contained in the Twist video was pretty incredible – much more digestible than the book.  Some people, like myself, are much more visual learners.  Watching the video just once improved my skills considerably and showed me some of the things I’ve been doing wrong all these years.  There’s alot covered in this video so I feel I’m going to have to watch it over and over to really consume the information.  I would really recommend downloading…err…purchasing this video.  Thank Xenu for delivering this information to me.

Here’s a link to it from Amazon.com

As usual during this time of year, police are out in greater numbers catching speeders (rather than recovering stolen motorcyles…but that’s another topic) lol.  Here’s a commercial from last year by the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety.  Though I’ve not seen this year’s commercial, I’m sure they’ve spared no expense on a new one.  More Information

BRM wanted some photos for himself, so got the group together and shot a bit.  I wish I’d had more time and better lighting, but ya gotta work with what you have.  Whatever the case, a few of these turned out pretty good.  I hope they like them.  (sorry the gallery is consuming so much of this one page, but I’ve not yet figured out how to break it up very well…soon, I’m sure)