31st December 2018 The New Year's Eve of AI.

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Monday 31st 42F, thick mist and grey. Walked to the lanes in light traffic and 100 yard visibility. Not one vehicle was showing rear fog lights.

I kept snapping away with my camera but it's hard to capture mist.

Shopped in the car to bring home some heavy stuff.


I keep watching dire warning videos on YT about AI. Arnie made a fortune being an AI anti-hero ambassador. Even TeslaBoy thinks it will be the end of us. But just think about it: Why send out menacing robots to slaughter us? All they need to do is mesmerize us with fabulous images of people or our most desirable objects. A blond Bond, driving a Lamborrari speedboat. One carrying twin, Carbon Fiber, pump action shotguns on the bejeweled prow. As it rumbled along just off an ultramarine, sandy beach and all on AI steroids? [Purely as an example. 👼]

AI can easily monitor all of our physiological reactions. As it fine tunes a perfect image or sculpts the most beautiful person or thing. Which we could probably, never [ever] imagine for ourselves.

With rapid 9D printing we'd all end up worshipping a perfect robot, perfect car, fluffy kitten or tricycle. Or whatever floated our own particular boat. AI could easily destroy us with its "Midas touch." Simply in providing for our every whim at almost zero cost to itself.

We'd soon all starve to death. Just from watching the unbelievably attractive newsreader or weather person. One being constantly updated in real time based on our own physiological feedback.

Imagine if invading robot's faces and bodies could be exactly matched, in real time, to every single soldier's positive reactions. No need for mind control if the armed forces always saw their own mother or boyfriend approaching.

YouTube and Netflix are working on this AI scenario already.  By matching our entertainment choices to our own searching and viewing habits, comments and scoring. Still very crude by potential AI standards, but steadily getting there. Binge watching could easily become the norm! Even text could become a weapon against ourselves for avid bookworms. The book, or blog, which we could never [ever] put down! Don't say I didn't warn you! 😏

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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27th December 2018 Gloomy.

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Thursday 27th 45F, still mild, dark grey and misty with possible rain. As I write this at 8.45am it is still quite dark outside. The latest statistics show that 30 MILLION passengers passed though Copenhagen Airport this year alone.

A longer walk up to the woods and back across the edges of the fields using the cover of the mist. Three deer scampered away as we met in the middle of a field. The air was so damp that my hat was soon as wet as the legs of my trousers. I could have taken my leggings but never thought about it.

I have treated my Ecco boots to an impregnation spray and and applied some wax. It must have done them some good because they didn't darken after 3/4 of an hour walking through sopping wet grass. The early mist thinned quite a bit so I was allowed out for a short ride to the shops. The trike and my MTB boots are splattered from the filthy roads. Only 7 miles.

Friday 28th 43F, very dark grey, calm  and mild but no mist today. A bit of sun is threatened. But not yet. Walked to the lanes with a limp due to a painful knee. Somehow I walked it off and it was better by the time I returned. The westerly wind is slowly picking up. We even had an hour of sunshine in the late morning.

There was nearly an international incident recently. When all of the supermarkets began to stock only one make of [very unpleasant] baked beans in tomato sauce. Yet another monopoly rears its ugly head and they all follow the same bandwagon.

Saturday 29th 43F, very, very dark. Rain promised for this afternoon. It was drizzling lightly, driven by the wind, as I crossed the prairie up to the woods via the heavily rutted, main track. They had been trying to fill the worst dips with demolition gravel but not with a great deal of success. It is too soft and just sinks to the wheels of the hunter's 4WDs and tractors. My shortcut through the forest was greeted with constant, heavy dripping from the high, beech canopy.

Perhaps a dozen hunters were standing around a copse out on the fields. Though there was only one shot despite the dogs being noisily encouraged to dash back and forth through the dense undergrowth. A tight formation of four cormorants went over followed by untidy stragglers. Probably heading to the sea for a bit of peace and quiet!

It's not easy to capture the grey gloom of winter with my camera. It just looks miserably [er-um-er] gloomy and badly out of focus. The winter woods are looking a bit thin since the clear felling of a big patch on the local summit. The tallest on the left [image right] are beautiful, mature beech trees.

On the right is a mixture, with younger growth underpinning them. The forest covers several miles off into the distance. Though it rarely sees anyone other than forestry machines in these parts. A few miles further on there are well worn tracks where the villagers an enjoy their forest strolls.  

A steep track runs down the far edge of the huge field in the foreground. It runs from the center of the picture and downwards following the mature hedge to the right. In past times there were a series of tracks rising in parallel lines up to the woods. They have all been lost to intensive farming with huge machines working vast fields. 

Modern woods are very odd. They look completely haphazard until you catch them at just the right angle. Then you an see the long, neat rows of trunks going away into the distance. Conifers were found to be extremely vulnerable to snapping off half way up their trunks during a major wind storm. So deciduous commercial growth is the new order of the day. Except where the conifers can be protected by deep shelter belts of mature, deciduous trees. Not a good day for a ride. So I didn't.

Sunday 30th @ 40F was sunny all day. I spent it constructively at home. No ride today.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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26th December Boxing Day

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Wednesday 26th 43-46F, mild but rather cloudy. Threat of early sunshine but not expected to disrupt our lives too much. I wonder whether the supermarkets are open today? A walk to the village and back under grey skies. It was still getting warmer at bedtime but remained dark all day.

I have been watching speed-adjusted, historical films from around the 1900s on YouTube. London seems to have been suffering from traffic jams, from well before the arrival of the motorcar. I saw only a single car in one film. Which showed the roads crammed by a chaotic number of horse-drawn vehicles.

Pedestrians seemed almost suicidal in their behaviour while crossing the road through up to six lanes of moving traffic. The few cyclists visible had no trouble in overtaking the horse drawn traffic without apparent effort. Cab and carriage driving skills and general road discipline seemed almost completely absent. With horse cabs making U-turns in heavy and often chaotic [horse] traffic. With many of them weaving all over the road.

The films of US cities from this time were even worse! Often seeming almost anarchic in their behaviour in heavy, multi-stream horse traffic. Weaving in and out, barging in and seemingly overtaking almost at random and without apparent gain. In all of these old films the sheer number of people present on the street is mind boggling. Particularly as the population was a mere fraction of today's.

Dress styles were almost unrecognizable by today's relaxed standards. Particularly women's long and voluminous dresses and heavily decorated hats, Most men and many boys seemed to wear hats too at that time. Formality in clothing, behaviour and politeness seems to have been the norm. With much hat raising and hand shaking. Advertising of many of today's "household names" was already obvious well over 100 years ago on horse-drawn buses.

YouTube, in its desperate greed for more tax-free profit, has changed the rules on embedded videos. It is no longer possible to stop auto-play of a <cough> "related video" when one's own embedded video ends. The entire forum world is now at the mercy of YT showing salacious and click bait fraud  thumbnails and YT porn videos.

I hope they [YT] suffers an outcry and return the do not auto-play button. Advertising fascism is evil dictatorship. Their morals have shrunk to match their psychopathic greed. The Midas scourge is apt to have that effect on those without any conscience. 

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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25th December 2018 Going [completely] Overboard.

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Christmas Day, 39-42F, mild, almost clear, light winds increasing, with a chance of sunshine early on. No white Christmas, but Santa was very generous with the chocolate again this year. I will soon turn into a chocolate pig. Which is highly appropriate for Denmark. Merry Christmas! 

Some advice for Santa's little helpers to help bring home the bacon:

Here is an image of my laden Higgins trike in a previous year. 

Provided you have 2-wheel drive you can still get around on a delta trike, whatever the conditions

No fat and knobbly tires required. Just 700 x 23 slicks, Trykit 2WD and human power. Even steep hills can be climbed on snow. Though beyond a certain depth forward resistance becomes too high as the narrow tires cut through the crust.

Fortunately most roads were cleared frequently enough not to have to change my route. The picture was taken on a quiet, rural lane on a cold, windy day.

Denmark uses local haulage contractors with their lorries temporarily fitted with snow ploughs. These are backed up by liquid salt sprayers to help to keep the ice at bay. Most Danish cars are fitted with winter tyres on steel rims for several months. Going back to their smart alloys, with summer tyres, for the rest of the year.

That big blue bag [above right] was just one of many I found over the years in charity shops. As I experimented, endlessly, with suitable means of bringing home the daily shopping. I even ran my Higgins with a home made rack I made from a dirt cheap, rucksack frame, again from a charity shop. It was held securely onto the rear triangle using pairs of plastic clips, fitted back-to-back and zip-ties.

Eventually, I settled on a bright yellow, water-sports, duffel bag for the Trykit rack. Which provided a huge capacity of 40 liters compared with traditional and much heavier, canvas saddle bags of only half the size.

The only obvious downside is the rather shorter life when used and abused every day. While still being easy to to see from a great distance compared with dull, traditional saddle bags. Thanks to all the straps, it was quite easy to fix the big bag onto a standard, rear trike rack. With the help of a cut down and lightweight, moulded plastic, draining-board tray for extra, bottom support.

One of the carrying handles is looped over the saddle for security. While the other is zip-tied out of sight to the Trykit rack to stop the bag moving about. It would take a thief ages to steal the bag even with a sharp knife. A traditional saddle bag needs only three, highly visible straps to be cut or simply unbuckled.

Top access for loading is far easier than a traditional saddle bag.  No silly and ridiculously heavy, double top flap and drawstring snorkel getting in the way. With the ability to take four, 1 liter cartons of milk, or organic apple juice, from front to back the huge volume can be used to maximum effect. It used to drive mad that the "Camper Longflap" wouldn't take even two, 1 liter cartons front to back! They always had to sit in a long row. Which made shopping unnecessarily difficult and highly prone to damage.

The straps and roll top of the "Overboard" duffel bag keeps everything snug so it doesn't move about. Or cause unnecessary wind drag when only half full. The snap-in, plastic buckles are excellent for quick and easy closing or release. No rusty buckles and cracked leather straps making your load look "untidy!" The sliding/locking straps on a modern bag are great for effortlessly taking up the slack. Damage to the shopping has dropped to nil since I stopped having to stuff it into a silly, <cough> "full sized" canvas, saddle bag.

The grippy, rubberized net, rear pocket has carried my "Dreadnought Class" Abus, intercontinental, ocean going, container ship's anchor, Mini-U-lock with complete confidence from the very first outing. Easy of access without any risk of it slipping out. The Velcro strap at the top further secures the lock but is easy to free with a hooked finger. A constant reminder to fit the lock instead of forgetting it. Then losing your ride to some callous sociopath who "has had a hard life" of drug abuse and alcoholism which desperately needs paying for.

Probably too large for most bikes, the 40L Overboard duffel makes the perfect trike, saddle bag for the 21st century. A full change of clothing, laptop and a load of shopping, on the way home, is well within its capacity for triking commuters or expeditions. There may be other, similar bags but I haven't needed to try them yet.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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24th December 2018 Grey, Sir? Suits you, Sir!

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Monday 24th 33-38F, dark grey and calm, so far, for Denmark's Christmas Eve. Sunshine is forecast but it will be a real struggle to break through the solid cloud. I wanted a short ride to the shops but the statistics are against me as alcohol fuels even more cars at this time of year. The Head Gardener has hidden the key to the Tradesman's Entrance and denied me a gate pass so I can't get the trike out

I was about to launch myself on another morning walk when the cloud started breaking up to the north. While it simultaneously started snowing heavily to the south! Nonetheless, I set off for a brisk walk to the lanes and back in dry weather. The traffic was lighter than the sunshine but the lack of wind meant I did not feel cold. The [presumably driving] alcoholic who is discarding bottles in the lanes has gone downhill with the holiday season. The number of discarded bottles has suddenly doubled.

I could see a tabby cat hiding behind a field hedge well ahead along a straight. It watched me walk the 200 yards until I finally reached it. By which time it had crouched down and slunk away unseen. It probably knew I was going to tease it by calling it when I arrived. I have a terrible reputation amongst local cats for that sort of thing.

A Merry Christmas to all my readers.

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22nd December 2018 Wet and dry.

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Saturday 22nd 36F, very dark grey and breezy. It should be mostly dry but cloudy with light winds.

The BBC News reports a man and woman have been arrested in connection with the drone attack by terrorists on Gatwick Airport. Days after the news story broke Google Spelling Checker still thinks I mean Garrick.

So much for a dry forecast! It rained from the moment I threw my leg over the saddle until I returned home a couple of hours later. My favourite "Nalini Team" winter cycling jacket continues to amaze in all weathers. It never seems to get wet inside or out despite being completely windproof cloth which never sweats.

I bought it years ago in a charity shop. Ex-Danish cycling club and covered in sponsor's adverts. I like it for its low key colours of blue and green on a white background and its high visibility from being so "graphically" busy. It has done thousands of miles but still looks as good as new. I'm about 50 miles from the town club and have never seen anyone wearing anything similar locally.
 

The cycle paths were saturated, covered in bits of loose gravel and fallen twigs from end to end. The road was absolutely pristine from end to end. Is somebody deliberately brushing the road onto the cycle lanes and paths? It seems the only likely explanation. Unless it is the traffic brushing the debris aside? Gravel up over a kerb? Not likely. 14 miles, returning heavily laden.

Sunday 23rd 41F, mild, dark grey, misty and wet. A walk along the quiet lanes in misty drizzle. The couple arrested on Gatwick drone charges have been released and described by the police enquiry as no longer suspects. Google still thinks Gatwick means Wichita or Garrick.  So there is still hope for us when its AI escapes. It will pick all the wrong targets to bring the "inferior" human race down.
  

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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21st December 2018 Drone terrorists show their total power over UK.

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Friday 21st 41F is cancelled because of rain with wind. Gravely Blighted has cancelled eXmas because of drone sightings over Gatwick Airport. A country held to ransom by a toy wielding terrorist? Why do they have hundreds of Chump's fighter jets at a billion a pop?

Every man, woman, LBGT and child on the planet now has a camera in their pocket but not one image captured of the alleged drone? The newspapers would pay a fortune for an image but obviously didn't.

The British daily online newspapers are claiming to have images of the drone but have stock images and video of security staff, standing self consciously beside a white airport van, instead. Isn't this "click bait fraud" to get you to see their advertising? What are they? YouTube clones? Google spelling checker still thinks Gatwick is Wichita or Garrick. Nor has it heard of LBGT. What, on earth, is their world coming to?

Despite light drizzle I strode walked briskly ambled off on a 40 minute walk. I was taking to the grass weed verges every time a vehicle approached to avoid a soaking from tyre spray. Even had a wave from a lorry driver because he didn't have to slow for an oncoming convoy of racing builder's vans. The drizzle increased progressively until my charity shop rain jacket was wet. It looks like another shopping trip in the car. Wet or dry, trikes are not well suited to bringing home fuel for the stove.

There is a call, in Gravely Blighted, for taxes on unhealthy foods and deliberate additives like sugar and salt. The genocidal, junk food industry has made little progress on voluntary measures to curb adding junk to <cough> foods as it profited from obesity and all the diseases associated with an unhealthy diet. Sugar is even added to baby foods to ensure a lifelong addiction.

Big Sugar, Big Salt and Big Fat Barstewards, additive companies must be run by the same psychopaths as the tobacco industry. They claim to work for their entire lives and never do a constructive minute's worth before taking their fat golden handshakes and salt and sugar shares into a long and healthy retirement.

I have given up eating even wholegrain bread because it had so much sugar added. I now eat wholemeal rolls in place of bread and no longer suffer from daily heartburn. For years [in my youth] I would fill a large bowl with mixed popular cereals, with whole milk and a desert spoon of sugar and be "gnawing" with hunger an hour later. I changed to coarse, organic oats with a few currants and skimmed milk and could do hard manual labour or cycle or climb the hills [almost all day] without eating again.

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20th December 2018 I really wouldn't start from here!

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Thursday 20th 39F very dark grey distant mist and promised to be wet for most of the day. It duly started raining as I donned my boots for my morning walk but had stopped by the time I reached the end of the drive. A peculiar day of patchy blues skies and low cloud. The mist accentuated the sense of perspective but was difficult to capture with my cyclopic camera.

Following on from yesterday's monologue on alternative vehicle widths: The width of the vehicle is vitally important to stability and comfort.

Anyone who has ridden a delta trike knows how easy it is to lift the inside wheel when cornering. The effective track of a trike is even narrower than one would think. A line has to be drawn between front and rear, road contact patches to form a triangle. The trike can only tip along these hinge lines along the ground. It does NOT tip along a line parallel to the rear wheels.

Trikes can't be ridden on banked cycle tracks because the center of gravity falls outside the tyre contact patches. The rider literally falls down the banking because they cannot achieve sufficient centrifugal force to stay on the track with the speed attainable by a human being.

The same holds for rutted farm tracks. So trikes are not the correct starting point for "alternative" narrow electric vehicles for city driving.

A quadricycle is a much better and safer starting point. Simply because of its inherent stability with a wheel right out at each corner. OR THEY SHOULD BE! Aka: THE BMC MINI.

Before that most cars had heavily inset wheels. Worse, they were inset front to back as well as side to side. Stability was discarded for mere styling. They look very odd to us today because we don't remember them being so narrow in track. With huge, cantilevered boots and bonnets further inhibiting stability. They rolled and wallowed and pitched and yawed. The Mini literally ran circles around the dated opposition.

A narrow quadricycle still needs help if it is to travel above a human's jogging pace. It must lean inwards on corners. Preferably to a variable degree depending on the speed and sharpness of the curve. The inward leaning should also improve comfort. The passenger's center of gravity is effectively lowered instead of flattening them against the surfaces of the vehicle.

A gyroscopic stability system might well keep the vehicle flat on the road but the passengers would end up laterally flattened themselves. It would feel very unsafe in motion because of their constant rocking from side to side with every minor change of direction and camber.

A narrow quad really ought to sit automatically upright on cambers too. The narrow track greatly magnifies the lean of the vehicle on any camber. The inner and out wheels sit on a tangent to the camber's curve. The narrower the track the more extreme the lean.

Most ordinary cars have very similar wheel tracks and curved, bucket seats. A bench seat is very uncomfortable and causes the passengers to slide from side to side because it does not support their buttocks laterally. In a moving vehicle the whole body pivots around the buttocks.

I hope I have shown that there are enormous hurdles to overcome in providing the masses with narrower cars for city use. Most of these problems are simply geometric as a direct result of the narrower track. It looks so simple but you cannot fit two narrower vehicles side by side on the same width of road as a single, much wider car. They both need room on both sides. A lane is never just a parallel lane. It has obstacles, like drains, potholes and puddles. The car in the outer lane has oncoming traffic to cope with.

99.9% of the time overtaking the vehicle ahead is an exercise in futility and utter delusion. You have risked your life and that of your passengers to gain one car length on the road. You have simply replaced one rear bumper for another. The reality is that you have chosen to give yourself an adrenaline kick just for the sake of it. You have gained nothing in reducing your journey time.

They say that one cannot reinvent the wheel. Yet you still see designers trying to foist recumbent electric tricycle "velos" will never sell to an unsuspecting public. I do not believe that the masses would ever seriously consider an electric recumbent ANYTHING. They are just too damned difficult to get in and out of! They are also extremely claustrophobic and the driver is blinded by their lack of view of the surroundings.

Using a heavy battery pack in the bottom pan just to achieve lateral stability will be a very short lived solution. Better batteries, or capacitors, will soon eclipse the present, tightly packed, AA lithium batteries.
 

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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19th December 2018 Will the Chump worm turn?

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Wednesday 19th 37F, dark grey, damp, distant mist and breezy with occasional showers.

A blind, worm-like amphibian, which spends most of its life hiding with its head in the sand, has received the extremely doubtful honour of being named after German immigrant, Chancellor Chump. Will the worms start a class action suite against the Coal Kingpin for defamation? We shall see.

Amphibian that buries head in sand named after Donald Trump - BBC News

A walk to the lanes again with the cold easterly wind blowing up the shoulder vent of my jacket. I saw a small group of pretty Bullfinches. Later I saw about 30 mink gulls washing their feet in a small puddle.

One of my tongue-in-cheek ramblings on sea level rise and needing amphibious vehicles produced an interesting comment. Which made me suddenly realise that changing en-masse to alternative means of transport is a huge hurdle for humanity to overcome. Ironically it is developing countries which will have a head start.

Smaller vehicles are relatively easy and cheap to produce. A cheaper and lighter, battery technology, with increased storage density, is still under intense development. A fortune probably awaits the earliest major patent holders.

The main problem, as I see it, is asking different vehicle types, of radically different speeds and sizes to share the existing roads. All of which are based on a century of global investment in the infernal combustion engine. Our roads are fine in themselves. The problem is our sharing them with anything different.

Farm tractors and JCB "diggers" are getting quicker but still badly[?] hold up the traffic in rural areas. The horse and carriage had the same problem with faster bicycles. The change-over from horse drawn transport had an immense impact on a centuries old industry. The infrastructure and vast number of people employed, supporting slow carriages and their passengers was firmly embedded in hotels and inns and stables.

The bicycle disrupted the staid speeds, expense and range of a well established means of transport. Much of the advancing technology in improving the bicycle was soon adapted to motorcycles and cars. The mass movement away from agriculture and the immense pain and suffering it caused is unimaginable to us today.

Now a very similar situation awaits us. The battery driven, intelligent vehicle revolution is an exact parallel with that of the first motor vehicles of 100 or more years ago.

Alternative vehicles are completely unsuited to sharing roads with human drivers riding in 1-2 ton metal boxes. The humble bicycle is a slow moving clot in today's major traffic arteries. A tricycle  even worse!  A tricycle can survive on a bicycle path, but only just. Its width is a problem for other users going in both directions. A recumbent bike or trike is even more disruptive on the cycle paths. Just as will be the high performance electric bicycles and trikes about to join the staid commuters on their comfortably upright bikes.

No doubt there will be a period where more normal, electric vehicles gradually replace the ICE car and van. An alternative size of vehicle, specifically for town commuting, is probably on a much more distant horizon.  

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17th December 2018 What Greta said:

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Monday 17th 32F, light winds, heavy overcast. Another cloudy day with temperatures hovering around freezing point. I have some small cycling spares to buy. So might be able to sneak out for a ride today. The overcast remained so heavy that it never became fully light. So by the time I was free for a ride it was already "lighting up time." There was no ride and I drove both ways with the dashboard lights on.

Tuesday 18th 36-40F, cold, thick mist and heavy overcast with light winds. Just a 45 minute walk to the lanes to get away from the traffic. Clear visibility less than fifty yards. Nobody was showing rear fog lights and some weren't even using their dipped headlights. Which is a 24 x 365 requirement by Danish law regardless of time, conditions or weather. Though one van had gone slightly over the top and had its cab filled with glittering,  blue, Xmas lights. There was no obvious difference in the usually illegal, traffic speeds either.

She says it all: In a second language which the entire world's politicooze do not understand:
It's called "The Unvarnished Truth."

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14th December 2018 Another dose of misery.

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Friday 14th 35F, heavy overcast with light winds. Possible wintry showers. Walked to the village and back while practicing my Defensive Walking. Which usually involves throwing myself headlong onto the verge to avoid certain death by joke shop, driving license holders. I'd share videos of the raving lunacy and jaw dropping inadequacy I see daily but it is forbidden under Danish privacy laws.

In breaking news: Chancellor Chump's Brownshirts have killed a 7 year-old, asylum seeking girl who failed the "Einstein" loophole test. So was being bussed the 90 miles to the nearest Chump [machine gun] Tower, concentration camp for "processing."

Immigrant Chump's own, adult, model citizen, Slovenian, trophy wife & fellow immigrant, famously used the Einstein Test loophole to gain entry to the land which celebrates immigration.

Perhaps she [the trophy wife] was gifted in ways we haven't yet heard about and it will come out at his forthcoming trials? Is climate denial, for personal profit, a crime against future humanity? Better add it to the [long] list.

Saturday 15th 32-35F. Cloudy but too dark to see any weather. It eventually became a heavy overcast with light winds. I saw a rather dark buzzard crossing the prairie followed by a gliding cormorant descending to the marsh pond. The hunters were back again but only managed four shots in the time it took me to walk briskly around the block.

A deer came bounding out of another, nearby copse, crossed the field towards me and then stopped dead to sum me up. Then it was on down a steep bank and off across the next big field. All the while practicing its long jump. Peace and quiet of the countryside? Not really.

Had a Saturday morning ride to different shops to buy the everyday stuff which was out of stock locally yesterday. That's the problem with having entirely, part time, pre-pubescent staff, including the manager, to save money on the wages bill. I've given up expecting to see the same face twice.

It was rather chilly on the trike, today, with a crosswind going both ways. Thankfully I soon warmed up in my charity shop, cycling jacket. Only 14 miles, returning heavily laden.

I disturbed two huge flocks of black birds. First they were rooks and the next were jackdaws. It can be quite impressive to have so many black wings. All flapping wildly at the same time and going in all different directions. 

Sunday 16th 32F, heavy overcast, windy and cold. I was comfortable in my windproof jacket today. My warmest, fleece cap pulled well down over my ears and a heavy Norwegian jumper zipped up to the tip of my nose. It's amazing how well one can dress for the cold with recycled, charity shop, cast-offs for about a tenner.

It must be truly awful never being able to wear the same, mu£ti-thou$and, designer, ball gown to the next charity do. Being imprisoned by one's own pride just the price of being a filthy rich psychopath. Nobody needs designer clothing but the slave wage, rag trade always needs more, child workers.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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10th December 2018 Dogma killed the climate debate.

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Monday 10th 38F, clear, quite mild but breezy. Still waiting for the sun to rise high enough to be seen. Enjoyed a walk along the marsh to the woods, up through the steep fire breaks and back along the main track to the road. Cormorants, herons and ducks took off as I arrived at the small lake. Low, but bright sunshine is a pleasant change.

The heads of many, large Danish companies have expressed their disappointment with the right wing, Danish government's climate plans. The business leaders are publicly asking for far more ambition on climate if Denmark is to cling onto its rapidly fading, heavily diluted, green credentials.

The right wing leader of the extreme right wing coalition has dismissed their concerns. This, despite the head of the independent climate monitoring panel resigning last week. In protest at political pressure from this year's "Farmer's Rights First" minister of the <cough> environment and junk food. Meanwhile the untouchable dictators of the US, Rustin and Saudi Arabia have all put their own wealth and absolute power before saving the planet. No ride today.

Tuesday 11th 33-40F, rather cloudy with a light northerly wind. Just a brisk walk to the lanes and back. After coffee I cycled north, straight into the wind. Comfortable in my camel-toe GripGrab gloves.

I wish I knew why cars brush closely past me when there is only one car approaching on a long straight. Is it the overtaking driver lacking the mental capacity to lift their foot off the pedal briefly? Insanity? Dementia? Sociopathy? Very low IQ? Bullying? Indifference? Mobile phone abuse behind the wheel? Laziness? Alcoholism? Drug abuse? Pitiful lack of skill in risk assessment? Audi driver? White Van Man? All of the above? Only 14 miles. Went out again after lunch for a total of 19 miles today.

Wednesday 12th 38F, heavy overcast with light winds but some sunshine is promised. In braking [sic] news: May is now so weak that she cannot get out of her car. Googling for "idiot" now produces images of German immigrant: Herr Chancellor Chump. To avoid the publicity he has now applied to have his name officially changed to "King[pin] Cola Coal." Sky is withdrawing support for Sky Team cycling following a takeover of Sky.

Enjoyed a longer walk in a big loop up through the forest. Lots of small birds about. Moving ahead of me along the hedges. Two Whooper swans flew over. I was too warmly dressed but still cool on the hands. It has cleared to sunny periods now but the temperature hasn't changed. Becoming darker and cloudier throughout the afternoon. No ride today.

Thursday 13th 32-38F, variable cloud, light winds. At 9am it was looking quite promising. With fluffy clouds between lots of blue sky. Ten minutes later low, grey cloud had taken over. Followed by light flurries of snow.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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9th December 2018. The basic human right to complete freedom from advertising:.

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Sunday 9th 42F, mild, cloudy and windy. More rain and showers promised. A largely grey and damp day. Too busy for a ride.

Is there anywhere I can register the fact that I would rather die screaming, even at gunpoint, than buy ANYTHING, EVER advertised on ANY website for the rest of my life?

I do not care if your business model is supported by selling transparent, advertising lies aimed specifically at vegetative, drooling retards.

If it were a newspaper I would have a simple choice not to read your pathetic sales swill.

Being involuntarily subjected to moving video, advertising some absolute garbage, with a blaring soundtrack, aimed solely and specifically at your educationally challenged customer base, is a grave offense against any thinking person's sensibilities.

It is a vicious assault and denies me my freedom not be subject to your barrel scraping, snake oil, sales gibberish for the consumption of naive morons, IN MY OWN TIME.

Lives are always limited in span. You have not paid me for the right to deny me my own, limited lifespan by demanding my attention for your commercial diarrhea, sales pitch.

Freedom from unsought advertising should be an inalienable human right.

If I am interested in a commercial product, or service, I will seek further information and read independent reviews before making a choice between the available options.

Advertising will INSTANTLY switch off my interest in your product and remain so until I die.

If your product, or service, is so utterly indistinguishable and so utterly pointless, that you have to descend to advertising, then it holds no further interest for me. Not ever!

Understood? 

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December 8th 2018 It's an ill windfall.

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Saturday 8th 41F, another mild, dark and wet but very windy day. A short walk in strong winds and increasing rain. Heavy shopping in the car in more wind and rain. I wouldn't trust my trike to carry 10kg bags of wood briquettes. I broke my first trike hauling heavy stuff home from Bristol to Bath after work.

The Danish Cycling Federation is complaining about the planned 2019 change in the law. To allow electrically driven "sports" bicycles, scooters and skateboards to use the normal cycle paths. They foresee massive congestion, countless accidents and mayhem on a network already struggling to contain all the normal bicycles in major Danish cities. The "sports" electric bicycles can travel at several times the speed of most cyclists.

At what cost does this new freedom present to the numbers of cyclists enjoying a healthy ride to work and back each day? They are each keeping another car off the already gridlocked roads. What if the new battery driven freedom causes a massive reduction in the number of normal cyclists? The health of the nation will plummet if they stop getting any exercise at all. Obesity will soar along with all the well known, inevitable and crippling diseases.

Then there are all the mental problems to follow. The Danish psychiatric services are so underfunded that even the young can wait for years before treatment is offered. Denmark already has the lowest life expectancy of any country in Western Europe. Mostly due to smoking and alcohol.

One can well imagine electric scooters and electric skateboards being the [economical] choice of the grossly immature. Electric "sports" bikes presently run into the thousands of pounds/dollars so are denied to most younger people. Adrenaline seekers will lack any road discipline and want to race on the paths, pavements, shopping pedestrian areas and public spaces. Just to prove their innate idiocy, immaturity and extremely doubtful manhood. The courts are bound to be as busy as the hospitals.

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Saint Margrethe Vestager has managed to persuade a German power supplier to accept Danish wind power electricity. They had previously been blocking access to the German consumer.  This should help to reduce overcapacity but lead to even more windmills being erected in a highly negative, national atmosphere. 

Taxpayer subsidized, windmill owners do not share their massive profits with those most affected. i.e. The massively overburdened consumer paying multiple "green" taxes! The farmers do well enough from renting a tiny bit of their fields. They can freely continue to raise crops and harvest around their money printing machine. Not so with the nearest neighbours to the farmer's nice little "windfall."

I have always liked windmills [turbines] myself. So have no real beef with them. Fortunately there are none close enough to affect us directly. They are said to produce highly irritating infrasonics [very low audio frequencies more felt than heard.] Not to mention long, fluttering shadows when the sun is low.

Property owners close to the coast, where new turbines are usually being erected, cannot sell their homes. Or face massive losses if they do manage to part with their former homes. Offshore wind farms are equally disliked for their "busy" moving intrusion into an otherwise tranquil and previously unspoilt scene. Planning permission for new wind farms or smaller groups of turbines is often being appealed and permission overturned or denied.

Sunday 9th 42F, mild, cloudy and windy. More rain and showers promised. A largely grey and damp day. Too busy for a ride.

Is there anywhere I can register the fact that I would rather die screaming, at gunpoint, than buy ANYTHING, EVER posted on ANY website for the rest of my life? I do not care if your business model is supported by selling transparent, advertising lies aimed specifically at vegetative, drooling retards.

If it were a newspaper I would have a simple choice not to read your pathetic sales swill. Being subjected to moving video, advertising some absolute garbage, with a blaring soundtrack, aimed solely and specifically at the educationally challenged customer base, you so richly rely on, is a grave offense against any thinking person's sensibilities.

It is a vicious assault and denies me my freedom not be subject to your barrel scraping, snake oil, sales gibberish. Freedom from advertising should be an inalienable human right. If I am interested in a commercial product or service I will seek further information and read independent reviews before making a choice between available options. If your product, or service, is so utterly indistinguishable and pointless that you have to descend to advertising, then it holds no further interest for me. Understood? 

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7th December 2018 Collapse of the Danish Electric Car market.

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Friday 7th 46-49F, mild, dark grey and a still start. All day rain promised and tomorrow. Walked to the village and back with my EKCO boots squeaking as I went along. It is getting misty, with the rain starting now. Another, miserably wet and dark day!

The ruling, right wing [and extreme right] Danish coalition promised a million electric cars on the Danish highways by 2030 and an end to fossil fuel cars. That is only a short 11 years left to make up the shortfall of 999,300 EVs. [That means minimum EV sales of 90,000 per year!]

There are presently only 1000 EVs due to crippling 180% import duties. The Danish government's own import duty policies caused the EV market to collapse. As sales dropped dramatically year on year from 2015. Tesla's street price effective doubled!

It all culminated in an annual sales figure of an absolutely pathetic, less than 700 EVs in 2017. Danish car dealers will no longer stock EVs because of the lack of demand in comparison with filthy and known to be, major health damaging, but cheaper diesels. 

Now there is talk of not introducing further taxes on electric vehicles in a desperate bid to try and polarize popularize these still expensive vehicles. Which, in practice, probably amounts to a direct subsidy for those rich enough to afford a second Tesla "S" for "business purposes." Nobody else can afford any of the present, alternative EVs due to the present import taxes. Certainly not based on present pathetically low, sales figures.

Meanwhile, Norway enjoys a healthy 21% uptake of EVs amongst all their new vehicle sales. Electric vehicles are exempted from Norway's high import taxes on other vehicles.

Global CO2 has never been higher and continues to increase. Greenland's ice melting is now described as being right off the scale by scientists. Denmark "cares" for Greenland. The same Greenland which will probably  be completely ice-free, in the summer, by 2030. By which time a solitary [Danish billionaire owned] Electric SUV might well attempt a land crossing.

Danish Climate change promises match the hot air where EV sales are concerned. Denmark only just scrapes into the top 15 of European EV sales. Just ahead of Iceland with its tiny population [330,000] and far fewer roads.

The UK subsidizes the purchase of electric cars. Denmark's taxpayers subsidize the building of vast and highly unpopular wind farms owned by foreign, big money investors including China and probably Russian oligarchs.

There is currently NO economical means of wind energy storage when output exceeds demand. This makes no sense when EVs could be storing a lot of unwanted energy while charging their batteries overnight [and during the day of course while at work.]

The irony is that car manufacturers themselves are setting far more ambitious targets for phasing out the internal combustion engine in favour of EVs. Wouldn't it be amusing if Denmark was the last country still trying to buy gas guzzlers when they were no longer available? Eventually to become a sort of international, climate pariah with an aging fleet of old cars much like Cuba's.

Denmark still employs coal-fired power stations. A recent report said that Denmark's CO2 would actually increase by 5-10% over the coming years. Instead of reducing to match the empty promises made at international climate meetings. The arrival of Mega-data centers will considerably increase coal usage while the IT giants will only be pretending to use Denmark's "green," wind power.

The head of the independent Danish Climate Advisory Panel resigned recently. After the <cough> Danish environment minister asked the panel not to criticize his government's own practices and policies on climate change! The minister has a appointed a new academic head to the panel.

 Danish government asked us not to criticise: former climate council leader - The Local

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6th December 2018. I blame the CIA!

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Thursday 6th 39F, very dark, cloudy and probably wet all day. My shoulders and elbow are a bit painful, this morning, after yesterday's tumble, but I shall press on. It goes without saying that I no longer succumb to the urge to become a tricycling amphibian.

In breaking news: CO2 is going through the roof.  Quite literally. Many Danes go semi-naked indoors in winter. I prefer a charity shop, down jacket, Long-Johns, fleece hat and saving the planet. Not that any of this would make an ideal wardrobe for this morning's inclemency.

"Cruel and unnatural treatment", I call it, being sent on a morning walk in falling rain in wholly inadequate waterproofs! This merely confirms my suspicions. That The Head Gardener has been on intensive CIA training courses during my extended absences [without formal, written permission, in triplicate] on my trike.

I kept retreating to the back of the verge to avoid being sprayed from head to foot by the passing traffic. Many drivers abused my diversionary tactics to drive closer to the verge because they no longer had to go out around me! Laziness of thought and action probably sums them up.

A series of abject failures to procure a decent rain jacket marred my recent visits to the local charity shops. I once had a look in the Danish "outdoor" shops for a "proper" rain jacket and came away drained. The sweat was beading off my brow at the prospect of going into voluntary liquidation.

I wouldn't dare go out in something that cost more than any of my secondhand cars down the years. How much would it cost to insure the jacket for use outside the home? Does it come under "contents" cover along with glittering tiaras and ex-Marie Antoinette pearl drops? My debit card's will to live was rapidly leaking away and making me distinctly sweaty.

Is it just me or is the McLardy's litter logo deliberately made to look like a pair of tits? And they call this a "family orientated" company? I can't wait until they go "tits up" when the terminally obese start blaming the middle man for all their litter and other problems.

If I was a betting person I'd wager much of this "labelled" outdoor wear is made in tottering, backstreet, sweat shops in the Far Reaches. Probably by child slaves, chained to their work benches and threatened with cattle prods in case they ever need a leak during a factory fire.

I bet the workers can't afford the products they make either. And, they have far worse weather than anything which can be thrown at any waterproof-impoverished, old tramp. Who [now involuntarily] wanders the lanes [in exile] while wearing [probably fake] squeaky, Ekko walking boots. While sheltering inside a secondhand <cough> rain jacket with all the protective qualities of common, or garden, kitchen sieve.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

 

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4th December 2018 Arse over tit!

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Tuesday 4th 38F, clear with light winds. What a difference an hour makes! It became very windy with lots of racing cloud and short showers. Half an hour later the cloud cleared again to bright sunshine. I was lucky and enjoyed only a brief sprinkle of rain.

The beck is flowing again. Perhaps the recent rain has set a spring going after a lull due to last year's drought? Denmark enjoyed its sunniest year on record. The previous record being 71 years ago in 1947. Several individual months beat previous records.

After yesterday's news of an end to Geo-blocking of EU online sales there is talk now about direct Chinese online purchases. No VAT is being charged by the seller and safety and quality standards probably aren't worth the virtual paper they are written on. Often the goods are downright fakes or rip-off copies of Western items. Often using copyrighted images stolen from Western business websites.

The value is written down to well below the threshold for Danish taxation. So everyone loses except the Chinese. The customer gets shoddy and potentially dangerous, or toxic, goods. Without being able to use EU laws on refunds. The taxpayer loses out big time. While PostNord is snowed under with parcels which cannot be properly processed at economic rates.

Direct, online, Chinese sales have quadrupled in the last couple of years. eBay[UK] is riddled with Chinese, directly sourced goods at very low prices. Does, or can eBay provide the same customer service for Chinese sourced goods as fully as EU sales?

Not all Chinese goods are trash, of course. It is simply the lack of remote control and policing of sales, safety and quality which may be missing. Leaving the field wide open to untouchable, online crooks.

Besliste.be dealers are still Geo-blocking EU online sales by offering only Belgium in its drop down, buyer details, address box. They have had 10 months to comply with the new rules. The 3rd of December 2018 was when the change to a fully open market became law throughout the EU.

 Geo-blocking | Digital Single Market | Digital Single Market

I had a lengthy "Chat" with a Belgian customer service rep who was adamant that I have misunderstood the Geo-blocking Law because he had "been on a course." There was no answer to my question: Why would the EU bother to change the law if the customer had to physically collect the item from a "foreign" country? Which was his interpretation.

How would that change or increase cross border sales and purchases in any meaningful way? It is absolute nonsense to suggest that is the meaning of the new law! If I found a cheaper bicycle saddle at an online sales website in Belgium he would still refuse to sell to me UNLESS I collected it myself. Or arranged collection and delivery.

Following further research: This "new" EU anti-Geo-blocking law is complete bullshit! The online trader is NOT required to deliver any goods. You have to make your own delivery arrangements. In a foreign country with their own courier and freight services in a foreign language? Yeah right! There are so many damned exceptions that it sounds more like an election promise by a populist political party.

Forget everything I have said so far on this subject. The law change isn't worth the used, EU toilet paper it is written on! Cross border purchase freedom? Bullshit. Increased cross border sales? Bullshit. Opening up the markets right across the EU? Total bullshit! EU countries haven't even passed their own legislation on the subject. Lies, damned lies and the unnelected, EU dictatorship.   

Finally, I was able to get out on the trike for a short shopping trip in bright sunshine. Four items out of stock. Cruising at 19mph going. Struggling to hold 10mph into a hard wind coming back. Only 7 miles.

Wednesday 5th, 34-40F, variable cloud with clear sky in between. It must have been colder during the night because there was ice on the puddles in the drive. There was also black ice on the road at the inclined junction to the lanes. I had just managed to stay upright on the climb.

Then went down with a crash on my return a quarter of an hour later. By which time I had completely forgotten about the ice thanks to trying to capture a glorious sunrise. Fortunately I had the presence of mind to utter an anti-gravity expletive as my feet shot out from under me and was able to walk on without serious injury. I have a few more aches and pains today but nothing specific to gravity's hard lesson on zero friction.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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3rd December 2018 Chump directly affecting OUR climate.

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Monday 3rd 49F, dark grey, breezy with showers forecast.  The mild but damp weather continues but at least it really is Monday this time. 2018 is now registered as one of the four warmest years. A record which includes the last four years.

The BBC reports that Herr Chancellor Chump and his pro-cola-coal policies are directly increasing climate change. Coal [and oil] are major contributors to increased CO2. His "Make Coal Grate First" policy in particular has increased investment in coal production. Even to new extraction from the dirtiest sources. Sociopaths will invest in anything with the promise of a quick profit. 

With most of the world's politicooze directly employed, or massively subsidized by the 1%, there is unlikely to be any change in ANY national energy policies any time soon. No doubt those politicooze, who publicly promise to reduce their nation's CO2 output, [always after the next election of course] will get a phone call from one of the 1%'s <cough> "elected US representatives." To warn them to mend their ways. It's business as usual, or else!

Chancellor Chump directly causing climate change!

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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1st December 2018. Them gulls, eh?

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Saturday 1st December 43F, dark grey and breezy with showers. Not a great day for a walk. A heavy grey sky, a cold, niggling wind and fine drizzle in the air becoming worse. Plans for a Saturday ride are on hold. There were several heavy showers during the day with lighter rain a constant threat to my inevitably intermittent, outdoor activities.

Sunday 2nd 44F, dark grey, cold wind, wet, etc. A repeat of yesterday. I managed to sneak in a walk at 9.30 and was wondering where the traffic had gone. My internal calendar was determined it was Monday. It was no wonder most of the neighbours were at home.

The hunters were being optimistic in gathering around the copses again. Only three, widely spaced shots and all fell silent. I have no idea why gulls aren't a target for shooting. There are literally thousands [usually] resting on local fields. We are miles from the sea. So they are an invasive and sometimes aggressive species. Ice cream cornets aren't safe in some coastal areas. The gulls make an awful racket and often a mess. They are a danger to health from carrying germs away from landfill, refuse dumps.

Perhaps a few gulls could be persuaded to eat crops? That might trigger a reaction from the farmers. They can't use rifles because of the danger to innocents downrange. One blast from a blunderbuss and they'd all fly away. So they are not an easy target like intensively bred pheasants in cages.

The news is that concrete blocks and planters will be used to safeguard Danish shoppers from [driving] terrorists at Christmas. Why must traffic have unhindered access to every square inch of cities anyway?

How many minutes [seconds?] after killing and maiming the innocent shall a driving license holder wait before they can renew that license? Why are convicted criminal drivers and the convicted criminally insane allowed to hold their licenses as if it were a basic human right? What about the basic human rights of the public to be free of danger from these convicted criminals?

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