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One Sunday in a parking lot |
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We were 17 and a bit cocky, the six of us, and just hanging around a closed gas station on a Sunday morning south of Tallahassee. There were several roughtly 35-year-old men working on a car over by the highway and, for some forgotten reason, we walked over there.
Jay, our smallest companion, immediately managed to get into a spat with one of the men and then proceeded to pointedly start counting them, then counting us. Nothing to worry about, we thought -- just an amusing scene. As we stood there watching Jay annoy the men, another man we hadn't noticed emerged from under the hood of the car with a long wrench in his hand. He was about 6' 6" and must have weighed 300 pounds.
The man began to speak. Unlike the others, he was clearly unimpressed -- and a bit too articulate. "Son, I couldn't help noticing you counting your friends and counting us. But, by myself, I'll take you and any three of your little friends."
Based on my observations of bike gangs in Indiana, large, articulate men who liked to fight were not to be trifled with.
Walter, the biggest and toughest of us, was by then about 6' 2" and 220 pounds. A smart guy, he quickly moved to defuse the situation. "Don't pay any attention to Jay. He's an idiot and is always mouthing off. We'll take him off and kick his ass for you. Sorry."
At that point we all turned and walked away, back over to the shade of the tire-changing area near the store.
Walter wasn't convinced that the incident was over though -- so he told us to all position ourselves near something that could be used as a weapon.
So, as we slouched around, hands discreetly near or touching a tire iron, Coke bottle or somesuch, the men gathered up and started to walk over toward us. The large man was leading them and was still carrying the wrench.
"Take the big guy out first", said Walter. "He might pick up the Coke machine and start swinging it!".
With hearts pounding, we pretended not to notice the men approaching as we nonchalantly tightened our grips on our tools and bottles.
Just as they were reaching us, a Leon County deputy swerved into the parking lot and screeched to a stop. A short, muscular cop jumped out and walked up to us.
The deputy wasn't particularly interested in how the situation came about. He was only interested in a resolution. "Tell you what", he said to the big guy, "I'll take off my badge and gun and we can work this out man-to-man. Just you and me."
He was the deputy they sent to break up bar fights, as I would later learn.
The large man calmly stood there for a moment, as if considering the offer. "No, thanks", he said at last.
"Ok, but then you need to leave", the deputy told him.
That was one of the few times we were actually glad to have the cops called on us. |
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| mail this link | permapage | -Ray, May 1, 2007
Linux System Administration: LVM Articles |
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2007 Suzuki GSX-R750 Road Test |
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7147
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A tractable motor combines with fine handling to make this an excellent sportbike...
The motor on the GSX-R750 has a very smooth seamless delivery with an electric feel to it. There are no big hits in the powerband, just a steady heightening of power. The motor is a little lacking in the mid-range forcing you to keep the revs up on corner exit. You have to ride it more like a 600 than a 1000 to get the true potential out of GSX-R. Keep the motor close to its rev ceiling at 15,000 rpm and you'll have the GSX-R singing nicely. read more... |
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| | mail this link | permapage | -Ray, March 13, 2007 (Updated: March 14, 2007) |
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An odd effect of drug prohibition |
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Long ago I lived in a neighborhood full of boys around the same age. There were only 3 or 4 girls and maybe 5 small children there -- but there were at least 30 of us teenage boys. Needless to say, we got into all sorts of mischief.
By the time the oldest of us were reaching the age of 17, drugs and drinking were fairly common. Interestingly, however, drugs were dramatically easier to obtain than alcohol. We never talked about it but I suspect that all of us knew instinctively why that was.
In those days you had to be 18 to buy beer -- our favorite beverage -- and it was hard to get anyone to buy it for us. The drinkers who didn't use drugs wouldn't buy us beer. The only people who would were 18+ drinkers who were also involved with selling or using drugs. To those folks, however, alcohol was a fairly low priority. Drugs, on the other hand, they were usually ready to provide.
Why would drug users, who by definition are accustomed to breaking the law routinely, be willing to provide drugs to minors when law-abiding drinkers would almost always refuse to procure beer for them? Obviously, the answer is embedded in the question itself.
Dealing drugs to a minor is not a big legal distinction to a drug dealer. His business is already quite illegal. Alcohol dealers, on the other hand, have business licenses and significant fixed investments -- that they are unwilling to put at risk.
And the efficient, low-margin competition in legal alcoholic beverages remains a powerful deterrent to any large-scale illegal alcohol trade.
Alcohol was legal, regulated, and hard to obtain by kids. Drugs were illegal -- and therefore unregulated -- and trivially easy to obtain by teenagers.
While the availability gap between the two may have diminished as more people have become desensitised to law-breaking by drug laws, I suspect that some of the effect persists to this day. |
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| | mail this link | permapage | -Ray, April 26, 2007 |
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2007 Harley FXDSE Screamin Eagle Dyna |
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6485
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That's 1.8 liters in automobile metric terminology...
To create the biggest of the big, Twin Cam 96 crankcases are machined to accept a pair of big-bore cylinders. Inside, 4.0-inch pistons move through the same 4.4-inch stroke employed in the TC96. But because bigger, heavier pistons would net more vibration along with more power, the 110’s forged slugs are light. Reciprocating mass is essentially the same as in the smaller-bore 96, so both engines use the same crankshaft, flywheel and anti-vibe hardware. read more... |
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| | mail this link | permapage | -Ray, March 20, 2007 |
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2006 Suzuki GSX-R600 Road Test |
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6318
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Better traction and a slimmer feel...
While the engine is new, it does retain the same 67 x 42.5 bore and stroke dimensions as before. Interestingly this is identical to Honda's CBR600RR and Yamaha’s latest YZF-R6. Yamaha did have a different bore and stroke previously but have gone with the consensus for their all new 2006 model. Kawasaki's ZX-6RR also utilises those exact dimensions which means that all four Japanese middleweights produce their 599.4cc in exactly the same way. Spooky huh? read more... |
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| | mail this link | permapage | -Ray, March 14, 2007 |
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2004 Honda ST 1300: Long Term Test |
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Complete with electrically-adjustable windscreen...
2,600 miles into this review, the ST1300 has been bullet-proof (as you might expect), and returns relatively good gas mileage (38 miles per gallon). Coupled with the large gas tank capacity (7.7 gallons), we frequently exceed 250 miles before heeding the call of the low fuel warning light on the very thorough instrumentation... read more... |
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| | permapage | -Ray, September 29, 2004 |
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2004 Middleweight Motorcycle Comparison |
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There are some sweet rides in this affordable category.
Somewhere between a Hayabusa and a Honda Rebel exists a class of motorcycles that cuts one of the largest swaths among streetbike riders, they are what we like to call "reality bikes."
A reality bike, by our definition, is an elemental yet widely capable machine that is friendly to both its owner's wallet and its insurance provider, perfectly willing to pound out commuter miles during the week followed some out-of-town fun on the weekend. read more... |
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| | mail this link | permapage | -Ray, May 5, 2004 |
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Photos of Chernobyl |
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Elena adds a few more photos and commentary to her stories of riding through Chernobyl a few years ago.
My favourite are roads that haven't been ridden for years. Sometimes, I am leaving some log on the road, to see if someone else travels here and when I return in a year or two, I see my log is still there, which suggest, that I still have no followers. read more... |
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| | permapage | -Ray, March 29, 2007 |
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