Hey, I don’t know what the hell is happening from one moment to the next. The world is on fire. Terrorists are on their way out. Although the media is trying to convince us that the economy is dropping, they’re completely wrong. Sure, the airlines fucked up and risked our lives with their poor security. And of course they want the government to bail them out from their own mistakes. You know as well as I do that millions of people will be flying again soon.
On another front, one of my girls went out with another woman last night, and we’re about to completely rearrange the Bikernet Gulch. We’ll be featuring a way to order HA leathers so you can be assured that you’re ordering the right size. In addition to Hardtail, we are now offering subscriptions to HORSE through Bikernet.
Next week we’ll have a new feature on the Easyriders Dallas Shovelhead project. We are planning a run to San Jose this weekend to the Custom Chrome dealer show. That’s just scratchin’ the surface. Watch as the Digital Gangster’s bike comes together. We’re hoping to move on our morale officer’s Pro Street bike shortly. The wrecked Buell was returned from Phoenix. It’s in bad shape, but the driveline could become another project for our master illustrator Jon Towle. Ya just never know what will happen next. We’re about to launch a new set of books on building custom bikes by Tim Remus. His entire line will be available in the Gulch.
BIKERNET INVESTIGATES SAUNA BEHAVIOR–Three men are sitting naked in a sauna. Suddenly there is a beeping sound.The first man presses his forearm and the beeping stops. The twoothers look astonished. “Oh,” he says, “I have a micro chip under theskin of my arm and that’s my pager.”
A moment later there is a ringing sound. The second man lifts his arm to his ear and starts talking. When he is done he explains, “I have amicrochip in my arm and that’s my mobile phone.”
The third man, feeling somewhat left out, steps out of the sauna. Aftera few minutes he returns with several pieces of toilet paper trailing outfrom between his buttocks. The other two look astonished and one says,”What the hell is that?”
“Oh, I’m just getting a fax,” he explained.
HOW TO BUILD THE ULTIMATE V-TWIN–The Bible for Scratch Building a V-Twin Powered Motorcycle.An explosion of new parts from the motorcycle aftermarket now makes it possible to build your own motorcycle from scratch. This book is intended to help you make intelligent choices from among the vast number of frames, engines and accessories available today.
As of next week, Bikernet Gulch will be selling this Tim Remus masterpiece and all his works, which include books on performance, painting and custom artistry. Check it out.
ORACLE BOSS URGES NATIONAL ID CARDS–Idea was driven by current security concerns. BY PAUL ROGERS AND ELISE ACKERMAN Mercury News
Broaching a controversial subject that has gained visibility since the Sept.11 terrorist attacks, Oracle Chairman and CEO Larry Ellison is calling forthe United States to create a national identification card system — andoffering to donate the software to make it possible.
Under Ellison’s proposal, millions of Americans would be fingerprinted andthe information would be placed on a database used by airport securityofficials to verify identities of travelers at airplane gates.
“We need a national ID card with our photograph and thumbprint digitized andembedded in the ID card,” Ellison said in an interview with KPIX-TV in San Francisco.
“We need a database behind that, so when you’re walking into an airport andyou say that you are Larry Ellison, you take that card and put it in areader and you put your thumb down and that system confirms that this isLarry Ellison,” he said.’Absolutely free’
Ellison’s company, Oracle, based in Redwood Shores, is the world’s leadingmaker of database software. Ellison, worth $15 billion, is among the world’srichest people.
“We’re quite willing to provide the software for this absolutely free,” hesaid.
Calls for national ID cards traditionally have been met with fierceresistance from civil liberties groups, which say the cards would intrude onthe privacy of Americans and allow the government to track people’smovements.
But Ellison said that in the electronic age, little privacy is left anyway.”Well, this privacy you’re concerned about is largely an illusion,” he said.”All you have to give up is your illusions, not any of your privacy. Rightnow, you can go onto the Internet and get a credit report about yourneighbor and find out where your neighbor works, how much they earn and ifthey had a late mortgage payment and tons of other information.”
Ellison said shoppers have to disclose more information at malls to buy a watch than they do to get onan airplane.Civil libertarians said caution is needed.
“It strikes me as a form of overreaction to the events that we haveexperienced,” said Robert Post, a constitutional law professor at theUniversity of California, Berkeley. “If we allow a terrorist attack todestroy forms of freedom that we have enjoyed, we will have given thevictory to them. This kind of recommendation does just that.”
Post said that while such a system may catch some criminals, it could be hackedor faked or evaded by capable terrorists. Nor is it clear that such a systemwould have foiled the Sept. 11 attacks, he said.But polls last week show many Americans support a national ID card.
–from Rogue
THE CRAZY HORSE EAST COAST SUMMARY–I’m just checking in. The leaves are falling here and summer is becoming asweet memory. I didn’t go riding this weekend. I’ve been busy workingon paint jobs, rebuilding my Web site and getting ready for Biketoberfest.
The Softail is almost ready to be fired up. Tanks get bolted on later thisweek.Two notorious guys from NH, Oneeye and Maddogare, are riding down and meeting me in Daytona. They’ve been busy playing very loud games of golf in South Africa and riding across Australia. Now they are “borrowing” a beach house onAtlantic Avenue. My usual Biketoberfest buddies, J-12 and Donnie, are chainedup at home this year. I have attached two pictures of the latest work I have beendoing.
You’ll see the tanks and a report on the Softail next week.
–JoAnn
MEETING OF THE MINDS COMING–I will be attending Meeting of the Minds in Topeka, Kan., this weekend, Sept. 29-30. It is a national gathering of motorcyclists rights activists, sponsored by the Motorcycle Riders Foundation. www.mrf.org
Would you like a story about MOTM? I was considering a few different slants, such as how the current regulatory climate will affect manufacturers and the marketplace; insurance issues in the wake of discriminatory HIPPA regulations; creative solutions to the problems; how, if at all, the prospect of terrorism/war changes things.
Simon Milward of Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations is scheduled to appear. He has been to six continents since January promoting the use of motorcycles for medical assistance and raising money for Doctors Without Borders and Riders for Health. This is very different than previous round-the-world bike trips. His story has been picked up by media around the world. www.millennium-ride.com
–Susan Buck
We look forward to a report on one of two annual motorcycle legislative conventions. I believe a crucial part of this convention is expanding the world of freedom to new riders. All bikers should be involved in our freedom at one level or another–even if it’s just a membership to the local ABATE group.
CAMERA/TATTOO TEST– Here’s the best one of the few I took today with the new digital camera of my riding buddy Suzanne’s Angel. She just had some touch-up work done on it to add color and detail.
It was one of the best days for riding I’ve seen in a long time. I hung the new camera around my neck and took movies as I rode. You can’t see enough so a few adjustments will be made, but the sound is great. I need to learn how to edit. The movie files are too big to mail to most people.
Racing at SIR today, Mailman caught his left foot under a broken shifter at 70 mph and wrenched it real hard. It’s bruised and swollen, but not hurt too bad. He loaded his own bike on the trailer.?
–Helen Wolfe, Bikernet drag racing correspondent
CLOSE MEMBERS PAY TRIBUTE–We have a Web page. We are posting itall over Northern California and trying to hit as many sites as possible. Mike and a coupleother guys founded the Yahoo California Riders of Harley club a couple yearsago. If you read a few of the posts, you will geta pretty good idea of how close most of the members are. As a side note,there is a true “Prize Possession” type story written by Mouse as a poem. Afew thugs pushed her off her bike (Coldfyre), threw it in the back of apickup and took off. It pissed enough of us off to scour the city ofSacramento and we found it! Great poem. Here is her post:
Well folks, it certainly has been a roller coaster ride. I hope none of youever buy tickets for this one. The following account is what happened whenthe keeper was found and the trap sprung. Ride on and ride safe.
There they are huddled together –
one red, one white and one blue.
Waiting anxiously for their owners
to come into view.
He must be one patriotic Ba****d,
the thief that took these few.
I walked up to them like a master
and said “I remember you.”
“That’s funny,” a man grumbled without a smile,
“You don’t look familiar.”
“That’s all right, it doesn’t matter,”
I growled as I straddled Coldfyre.
“I wasn’t talking to YOU anyway,”
as I pulled out my key.
“If this here fits you’re about to pay,”
“That I can guarantee.”
“What do you think you’re doing there?!”
as he stomped over in a huff.
“I guess you think you’re pretty smart…”
“What’ll you do, arrest us?”
“No, sir. I don’t think ‘I’ will.”
I countered with acid politeness.
Coldfyre roared to life with thrill,
then we backed into the brightness.
“You’re not going anywhere!”
He roared and grabbed my jacket.
With a halfway grin, “It’s nice to share,”
I purred before I nailed his package.
He coughed and groaned with surprise
when he caught sight down the street.
Lots of pretty blue and red lights
were ready for us to meet.
“Thank you again for your time,
and consideration in this matter.
Oh, and Coldfyre would like to say,
May you all BURN in the hereafter.”
A thank you of a personal nature
I feel I must extend.
It’s for someone I’d like to call
my close, personal friend.
Without him I would not be here
or have re-claimed my prize.
And Coldfyre really wants to know,
“When are we going for ride!”
I have sent everyone I know to your site and we all appreciate what you dothere.
Keep writing and riding,
Ken Gillespie (Ridn_fool)
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