Tuesday, 8 July 2008

Sea Fever

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied:
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.


- John Masefield (1878-1967).
(English Poet Laureate, 1930-1967.)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

And Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water
and he spent a long time watching from his lonely wooden tower
and when he knew for certain only drowning men could see him
he said "all men will be sailors then, until the sea shall free them"
but he himself was broken long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human, he sank beneath your wisdom
like a stone.

And you want to travel with him,
and you want to travel blind
and you'll think maybe you'll trust him,
for he's touched your perfect body
with his mind.


- Leonard Cohen. "Suzanne"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Enjoying today's moments shared in this split infinity I hope ? Anyway, here is Der Spatz thought for the day:

Avast, me Hearties, howest faireth thee one and all ?

"Unless laughing or learning, try looking forward more to where you are going than to where you have already been. Don't sacrifice too much of the future merely for the sake of a past probably best forgotten."

regarDS

Tuesday, 17 June 2008

Hangin' around for The Rainy Days.

A break from machinery for the moment. Time for a waffle. This one is inspired by the plight and challenges faced by most of us in Oz society in its current form. The stuff being endlessly repeated in our news media with no apparent happy ending in sight.
Yeah, "Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down" type stuff.
The secular humanist society promoted in these ~enlightened~ (~ = sneer quotes) times by the likes of Dawkins, most of standard left-wing academia, and the public school system is clearly showing the kind of fruit it bears, and the grafting going on exchanging branches within the same tree ain't going to make it any better either.
Lately I've been personally lamenting the plight of our young, our brethren in remote Aboriginal communities, and the apparent sickness of the soul of our whole nation. I have been wondering what it would take to turn people around and if such a turn around will happen.
I know I can be extremely negative and critical of the time and age we have no choice in partaking in, and I am generally and usually of the view that not much can be done about it and that it is better to hasten the end rather than patch up something doomed to fail.
However, I am also reminded that we are not abandoned nor forsaken and that the proliferation of hopelessnes, pointlessness, wickedness, and all the things reported in our news media, etc, although are very distressing observations and relatities for any parent, are still serving a useful purpose and aren't impossible to turn around.
Part of the useful purpose I reckon, is that it serves as an example to Dawkin's crowd that they are just plain wrong, wrong, wrong about most things and that their brave new world built upon subjective morality and base self interest is doomed to failure that can easily be extrapolated by what we are currently already seeing. I won't go on. Heh.
Not impossible to turn around ? See: http://www.welshrevival.com/ from which I'll quote a tiny bit from the "history" section.
SOQ
"a storm had hit the churches yet for so many it was a storm of love and power which completely transformed their lives.
People were changed in so many ways. The crime rate dropped, drunkards were reformed, pubs reported losses in trade. Bad language disappeared and never returned to the lips of many – it was reported that the pit ponies failed to understand their born again colliers who seemed to speak the new language of Zion – without curse and blasphemy – even football and rugby became uninteresting in the light of new joy and direction received by the Converts.
Colliers and tin-men of the working classes expressed their joy in so many ways – so many original prayers
But perhaps the song that captures what most of these felt was a song sung by Sam Jenkins a tin plate worker from Llanelli – a song translated at the time from English to Welsh – Can y Rebel “Am Achub hen rebel fel fi” - "For saving an old Rebel like me"."
EOQ
You see, I'm reminded that in the final days before God is obliged to step in an put things right again with mankind having been given all the chances due a rebellious child by a patient parent, the promise is to pour out His Spirit on all flesh - and when that happens, I reckon the likes of the Welsh Revival will be small potatoes !
Apparently during the times of Welsh Revival, people were even falling over in the streets overcome with a sense of their need of God's love and forgiveness. Imagine the turn around and return to hope in remote Aboriginal communities should that happen ? Same too in our city's "night spots" ?
How long does it take to turn people around ?
Surely but a blink of an eye once the choice is made ?
On a more secular level, look how easy it is to shape the public view of an entire nation if not tongue ? A couple of newsprint articles, a bit of 6 oclock news time, then the odd collection advertisements, and wallah ! Done !
I reckon BRING ON the last days outpouring of the Holy Spirit as prophecised by Joel (2:28) ala "It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions."
"After this" ? After what ? Heh. I'll let the interested go look that one up ...
Anyway, Dawkins and crowd not withstanding, I'd rather see us all, especially our young and our Aboriginal brethren, and our leaders under the influence of the Holy Spirit rather than what seems to be the norm at the moment.
That kind of Rainy Day (regardless of what day it falls on) certainly won't be getting me down.
Other than on my knees in thanks that is.
regarDS

Wednesday, 11 June 2008

CX500 rAt Attack stage 2 begins ...

Yay, at last I've rid the ratte of the Hateful Honda Custom seat. I scored off ebay for around $50 a "Bar Enterprises" Cobra model designed to suite Harley Sportsters and then had to fend off some fierce bidding (actually, I just swooped down der spatz like at the last minute to clean up) for the Harley Sissy bar to compliment it. Not so cheap at about $135 but considering the bidding that was happening I reckon myself to be a winner AND a grinner this time around.

I had to hose clip to the top of the frame a stainless steel rod (borrowed out of a boat trailer roller) in order to hold down the seat at the tank end, and I simply drilled through the mud-guard at the rear to use the existing holes in the seat along with the bolts from the original oh-so-gay Honda seat to hold down the other end.

All temporary measures. I'll weld on proper brackets when I pull the mudguard off and replace with a wheel hugging version late in "stage 2" or early "stage 3".

I decided to junk the Honda pillion grab rail (LSCP is happy enough holding on to either me or just below the back rest) and instead mount the indicators into the perfectly matched stem holes in the Harley sissy bar. For now, I've also raised the positioning of the default stop-light cluster on the mudguard to bring things more into line.

To aid in the ongoing uglification I've bunged a mini cargo net thingy over the tank ... got a spare one coming so that will probably be stored in streched out form over the same location. Heh.

What else ? Added some Triumph Cub gaitors to the front
forks to cover over more annoying shinyness. Lots of fun with a wheelie mega hydrolic car jack, lumps of wood under the centre stand, and light tapping on a cut off broomstick to push the forks down through the triples in order to get them on. Left the front wheel on the forks and just let the brake calibers hang and disconnected the speedo cable from the gauge end. Learned that what can be tapped out easily enough ain't so easy to push back in when gravity is going the other way and a heavy round thing is on the bottom. Heh++
Actually, it wasn't so hard to get the forks back in the triples again. Once they were lined up and well sprayed in suitable lubricant it was simply a case of holding the front wheel with one hand whilst letting pressure out of the jack under the engine with the other. A little pushing of the wheel back towards the radiator saw the forks easily glide back in. Then it was a simple matter of tightening up one side at the right spot then letting down the jack and applying pressure to the other side to get the top of fork line-up exactly the same as it was before the operation to hide shiny metal behind dull rubber.
Next ? Observe the small-arms ammo box, the brand new Harley chopper custom guard, and the pod air-filters an image ago. Yup, that means that the stock air-box is going bye-byes along with the standard mudguard and side covers and instead the battery and half the electrics are going to live in the ammo box which will be where the airbox used to be. While that area is all opened up I'll take the tank off and weld in some new seat brackets and a bracket to the swing arm in order to mount the new guard that will remain a constant distance from the wheel and swing up and down with it. By then I'll be ready for some lower shocks, so I guess I'll see what I can trade at the local 2 wheel wreckers from what I've junked ...
Oh, and why remove the tank again ? Coz I don't like welding and angle-grinding around petrol containers. Safety First Folks (yup, those are armoured and double lined chamos I'm modelling under that beaten up old Belstaf jacket, leather cut-offs, and nice unshiny new helmet), and until next time ...
regarDS

Thursday, 29 May 2008

CX500 rAt Attack stage 1 completed

Okay, never mind the current and well justified "Art Rage" re: Uncle Bill's highly questionable, inappropriate, and universal betrayal of adult to child responsibilities (not to mention clearly being at odds with any "permit for working with a child" police clearances) going on in Oz at the moment, here are some more happy snaps of my current "rAt Rage" instead.

The CX500 that I'm applying my own forms of artistic freedoms of expression to is of 1981 vintage, which in bike years (that at least match human years) makes her 27 years old - more than old enough to have her photos taken in such compromising states of being ... and she certainly didn't consent NOT to have such happy snaps taken. :)

Until the new seat along with a modest Harley sissybar and backrest arrives, I've resorted to camoflaging the current seat with some classic beaten up leather saddlebags virtually donated to the cause by an old friend who probably doesn't share my distaste for shiny, polished, and clean machinery. Cheers again CW ... perhaps you'll have time to take it for a spin next time ... oh and you were right about the bad earth probably causing the indicator to play up! Actually, I reckon the bags lend themselves well to The Look I'm aiming for, so I hope they are still high enough when the new seat goes on.

Like the red light installed on the centre stand ? It's wired into the park lights (and on a separate switch) and puts out a nice glow to remind night drivers there is something on the road in front of them. Which is also the reason for the gratuituous use of those ugly looking reflectors.

The narrow 55watt drive lights have been relayed into the high beam ... decided I didn't care about doing the split thing of putting one on the main beam and the other on the high beam. Yes, I realise that the charge system might not keep up with the drain, but I doubt that the drive lights are actually going to get all that much use anyway. Like the light-up toggle switch ratted onto the fusebox next to the ignition ?

Yes, that IS plastic spiral wrap that has been used on the pillion grip, crashbars, and handlebar tie-bar. Yes, I've deliberately introduced MORE plastic to a motorcyle. Who says my idea of "rAt" has to be the same as your, hmmmm ? Heh.

Aside from the seat/sissy bar arrangement on order, some pods for the carbies are coming so I can get rid of the stock airbox and move the battery and electrics into the middle under the seat and get rid of the side-covers. I'm still on the search for some shorter reach shocks so I can lower the rear a few inches. I've also got a different kind of guard on its way. That one is going to be mounted off the swing arm so that it hugs the tyre.

I'm also on the lookout for an old B250 Tractor seat to interchange with the main seat as whim takes me. Why a B250 seat ? Coz ten years or so ago I spent many hundreds of hours sitting on one as I used the tractor it belonged to as my beast of burden to get artistic and creative with the 5 country acres I had.
See pic of one gorgeous piece of quality 3D functional Art. Oozes talent, eh ? Oozed a bit of hydrolic oil too.
Remember folks, chrome won't get you home.
Oh, and IL BL, you're a IL DL. Both of you even. Heh.
As for more on the Art Rage as opposed to Rat Rage going on at the moment, see: http://www.behindthebox.com.au/showthread.php?t=31467
regarDS

Wednesday, 21 May 2008

CX500 Rat Attack stage 1

More of a slide show than a waffle this time. Stage 1 in the deliberate Rat Attack of my CX500 1981 Custom. No real modifications at this stage, just getting busy with the Matt Black rattlecans after fish-oiling everywhere for rust control , fixing the tank weep, pulling off logos, getting gratuituous with reflectors, and installing some spots.
True Rat work with the spots - bit of aluminium angle I had laying around used as a reinforcement to the "Honda" logo on the triples then just bolted the spot mounts straight through both after some drilling. Drilled a couple of reflectors onto the rear shocks, and hoseclipped a couple more on to the frame under the side guards then bunged a bit of gaff tape over a couple of rust holes behind the stop light.
Most time so far has gone into the tank which needed one of those liquid repair kit thingies where you wash it out with one kind of thing, etch it with another kind of thing over night, then seal it with another kind of thing. Tis busy curing as I type and to speed it along I've got a small fan off an old IBM mainframe blowing air through it at a pleasing pace.

Hopefully will get the tank painted and back on the wee beastie in time for a ride on Saturday. Then it is just a case of looking out for suitable mod parts on ebay and Ratting accordingly. I want to change the seat to something less gay and also get twin headlights going but using two CX500 lights side by side.
The pot-belly matt black spraypaint on the exhaust has given me second thoughts about changing them for the moment ... they don't stand out so much like Gabriel's Trumpets now that they are "cast down to earth" kinda dirty.
regarDS

Friday, 16 May 2008

Biker Boy Rides Again ...

What with diesel prices going extremely North lately making things somewhat expensive to keep my tRusty 4x4 on the road, I've decided to revisit my days of youth and do The Biker thing again.

Result is pictured. Scored myself my third Honda CX500 and this time I got myself the "custom" design. The last one I had was the "sports" but I got rid of that at least 8 years ago.
See the picture within a picture ? That was me at around 20 years old when I had the a CM250 Custom, which my current CX500 Custom is a Big Brother (Heh) to.
Yup, still just as good looking, still just as much a kid ... just not so much the virgin anymore. Oh, and not so much hair these days either.
Here is what it looked like when I was bidding for it on ebay and won it for pleasingly reasonable price, and below that is a pic of one idea I have for it.
I'm planning to get very busy with some matt black spray paint on it in the next day or so and I have also been very busy visiting the excellent http://www.ratbike.org/ site getting ideas on how I can properly show my contempt for brand names and shiny over-priced sporty things and the kind of people who worship them. Heh.

Logos and brands are coming off post-haste and as much chrome as possible is either going to be gone or covered under beautiful ugly matt black.
I'll keep the blog posted re: my progress and the transformation of a somewhat ugly bike into a truly ugly bike that I shall be proud to ride and park among the high priced vehicles it is likely to encounter on a regular basis in a month or so.
Remember folks, "chrome won't get you home".

Rat bikes are the new black.

Matt Black.

regarDS

Thursday, 15 May 2008

Shalom Shalom ... Happy 60th Anniversary Israel !

Yup, it's been 60 years since that 14th/15th day in May in 1948 that prophetic clock really got ticking its countdown again. See: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/israel.htm for more on that.

NASA seems to have joined in with the celebrations with the release of a pic of a certain allegedly young supernova. See: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BadAs.../~3/290294357/ for more on that.
Cool Heavenly Fireworks display, yes ? Imagine how this universe would look if you were outside it and could watch it in fast motion ?
Here is youtube to help with your imagination in that regard. Tis of fireworks put on as part of Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations.
Shalom Shalom



Thursday, 8 May 2008

Downtime ... deep Downtime.

Just a quicky to continue on the the previous entry but "downtime" from a different point of view. "Downtime" as in "dive, dive, dive ..."
Busselton Jetty is a Great Place to do a bit of scuba diving, but rather than me bang on about it, just visit: http://www.busseltonjetty.com.au/ for more info on the kind of view you can get of the bottom of the Indian Ocean from about 2km offshore WITHOUT getting your feet wet.
If you want, you can even do it now, for they've got a web-cam set up there too.
LSCP and I did it from both sides of the underwater observatory glass, and we cheated having to carry all our scuba gear out for a 2km walk by using our 4 metre "tinny" dinghy instead and using "The Dive Shed" mooring (with permission). Much better way of doing it.
The Dive Shed is the local dive shop and they were extremely helpful regarding weather conditions, any equipment hire, and they also do charters to not only the jetty (saving you the lugging of gear) but also to the HMAS Swan wreck and some local reef.
As for us, well the Vis wasn't good that day but it was still a fantastic and peaceful dive ... and wouldn't you know it, I just happened to have a certain sign handy and LSCP was in the mood to take some photos. :)
Yes, even when partaking in "downtime" when on extended "downtime", I was still thinking of all the wonderful foruming folk in the "Behind Big Brother" forums.
LSCP even managed to capture on film a forum moderator swimming by at the time !
regarDS