Thursday, January 10, 2013
After The Storm
It's hurricane season.
It's a strange phenomenon. The wind, resting gently on the sea for months, awakens from its sleep as if disturbed by something unseen. It swirls imperceptibly, gathering strength, moving stealthily on some invisible path. When it reaches full strength it has the rage and passion of something alive.
Something wild. Magnificent and powerful.
It seems to have a purpose, like a creature moving on instinct - without reason or consciousness - a phantom moving across the sky - stalking some prey or other - a shark feeding its hunger. It seems to have a personality, a nature which we recognise, an emotional reality - so we name it. Maybe we name it because with believe we can humanise it - communicate with it - empathise with it - control it.
The hurricane is not human. It is not rational. It has no conscience. Its purpose is its own force. It is unsolicited and unapologetic. It is born - lives for a brief time - and then disappears into whispers and sighs to sleep once more in some secret cave on the ocean.
But the fierce passion of its short life - from gentle birth to screaming child, monstrous adult and back to toothless old age - leaves other lives in a dusty cloud of confusion, pain and tears. The peaceful world is shattered. The houses where we live, and those we were building, are torn from their foundations and lie strewn across the landscape. The hurricane has run its course of indifferent destruction, of passionate arrival and dispassionate departure.
Its screams become the laments of innocents left in its wake, its driving rain the tears of fools who did not see it coming, did not want it and could not stop it, its anger the bitterness with which we return to our own powerless lives, and its receding roar the cackling witch that haunts our dreams and taunts us. Its legacy is the rubble from which we start to build again.
The house that was dreamed of will not be the same. It will bear the scars of the storm. Its walls may whisper its mother's given name. It will carry a shadowy memory of its birth.
But it will be stronger than we had planned. It will stand defiant against the storms to come and be our safest place.
And it will be home.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Armstrong - The After-math
So the Emperor has been naked all this time.........
For a decade we believed he was Superman in golden robes. Were we fooled, or did we just not want to see the truth?
Whatever discussions, analysis, post-mortems, reviews, tribunals, investigations, books, symposia etc follow from the USADA report, the important questions are:
Why was the system so flawed? How can we fix it?
Why was the system so flawed?
For one, I don't accept that the technology in 2012 is so much further than it was in 2002 - that what is used or available today was not available then. Blood analysis is not something that was invented in the 21st century.
When EPO appeared, the response was to set a ceiling measurement. This is like a speed limit on the roads .... people won't drive below it...they will drive as close to it as possible. It's human nature. The 50% level was obviously way too high, when the accepted norm was much lower.
Once the parameters were set, the first question to any intelligent person would be: "how would a cheater get around it?". To understand alcoholism you talk to a recovering alcoholic. To understand drug abuse and addiction you talk to a former junkie. May Michele Ferrari should have been employed by the UCI to design an unbeatable testing system since according to the USADA report it took him all of five minutes to see the flaws in the UCI's program.
But really you have to go back to cause of the doping, not the effect or the doping itself.
Money....the 'math' part of the after-math.
Currently there is no disincentive to a sponsor to hire a drug cheat .... be it rider, manager, doctor, soigneur or coach. When a rider fails a drug test, the rider is sanctioned, fined, suspended or banned. For the sponsor, their investment is not damaged, the team continues unaffected and in the end there is no such thing as bad publicity. How many sponsors have seen their business adversely affected by positive controls on their riders?
If a rider fails a test, the sponsor has the possibility to kill the result with donations to organisers / federations / even perhaps the UCI e.g.the alleged payment for Armstrong's Swiss positive. If they are willing to pay after the fact, why not make them pay a priori (is this a proper use of the term?)
For the UCI to refuse to acknowledge anything that happened in the past, or to deny their own responsibility for any of it, or their accountability to their membership for the state of the sport is to perpetuate the system that has failed thousands of talented young riders like Mark Scanlon.
I have witnessed the old system's failure in the past at close quarters. In my final year racing in France I won the final stage of a stage race in Eastern France. Successfully infiltrating the race winning move early in the stage, I was riding in a group with the second placed overall rider (a National Champion). The yellow jersey (a former professional teammate of Sean Kelly) was back in the bunch with a strong team and a wallet to recruit extra riders if needed. About two thirds way through the stage, the yellow jersey, all his team and several members of other large teams all got off! The stage was on a circuit, and when riders passed the finish line with perhaps 2 laps remaining, the dope control notice was spotted at the podium.....
I presented myself for testing as the stage winner to be told that no controls would be performed. The organisers and sponsors were saved the possibility of very damaging publicity.
I remember reading in L'Equipe magazine in the late 80's, when I was based in France, that at the Rolland Garros tennis tournament, dope controls were performed on competitors. However the results of positive tests were never published if the culprits agreed to leave the tournament. So if a seeded player got beaten in the early rounds by a "nobody", you could reasonably infer that they had failed a control. Drug testing was not a done on a large scale in that sport ..... in fact Rolland Garros was one of the few tournaments with antidoping. How they handled it meant they KNEW there were cheats, but the sponsors were protected!.
That kind of "protecting the Golden Goose" can not continue....
How do we fix it?
If a team hires any employee previously connected with a drug investigation, the sponsor pays the UCI €100,000 per. If a team hires a previously convicted ride, the sponsor pays the UCI €200,000. If a rider fails a test, the sponsor pays the UCI €300,000.
Riders still serve their suspensions or bans and non riders serve mandatory suspensions .... even those who confess after the fact .i.e. Rijs.
In this way, low paid (i.e. ordinary team members) will be discouraged from doping. High paid riders (Team Leaders) would normally earn enough money in their contracts for the sponsors to be able to recoup the payment in legal action. The UCI would have an incentive to maximise the success rate of their doping program which could be financed by positive results.
UCI tested LA more than 200 times. If even 100 of these tests were conducted at times when he was actually cheating, then the success rate of the UCI's program is less than 1 in 100 at best.
The UCI would have unparalleled credibility in sport worldwide among the public and among honest sponsors by enforcing a system as proposed.
Has nobody ever raised this before?
If this has never been seriously considered, if no one in the UCI ever discussed in detail the fallibility of their testing program and policy, and if no one accepts responsibility for what has gone before, then the UCI are not the body to govern the sport.
If any of this did take place, then the UCI are not the body to govern the sport.
For a decade we believed he was Superman in golden robes. Were we fooled, or did we just not want to see the truth?
Whatever discussions, analysis, post-mortems, reviews, tribunals, investigations, books, symposia etc follow from the USADA report, the important questions are:
Why was the system so flawed? How can we fix it?
Why was the system so flawed?
For one, I don't accept that the technology in 2012 is so much further than it was in 2002 - that what is used or available today was not available then. Blood analysis is not something that was invented in the 21st century.
When EPO appeared, the response was to set a ceiling measurement. This is like a speed limit on the roads .... people won't drive below it...they will drive as close to it as possible. It's human nature. The 50% level was obviously way too high, when the accepted norm was much lower.
Once the parameters were set, the first question to any intelligent person would be: "how would a cheater get around it?". To understand alcoholism you talk to a recovering alcoholic. To understand drug abuse and addiction you talk to a former junkie. May Michele Ferrari should have been employed by the UCI to design an unbeatable testing system since according to the USADA report it took him all of five minutes to see the flaws in the UCI's program.
But really you have to go back to cause of the doping, not the effect or the doping itself.
Money....the 'math' part of the after-math.
Currently there is no disincentive to a sponsor to hire a drug cheat .... be it rider, manager, doctor, soigneur or coach. When a rider fails a drug test, the rider is sanctioned, fined, suspended or banned. For the sponsor, their investment is not damaged, the team continues unaffected and in the end there is no such thing as bad publicity. How many sponsors have seen their business adversely affected by positive controls on their riders?
If a rider fails a test, the sponsor has the possibility to kill the result with donations to organisers / federations / even perhaps the UCI e.g.the alleged payment for Armstrong's Swiss positive. If they are willing to pay after the fact, why not make them pay a priori (is this a proper use of the term?)
For the UCI to refuse to acknowledge anything that happened in the past, or to deny their own responsibility for any of it, or their accountability to their membership for the state of the sport is to perpetuate the system that has failed thousands of talented young riders like Mark Scanlon.
I have witnessed the old system's failure in the past at close quarters. In my final year racing in France I won the final stage of a stage race in Eastern France. Successfully infiltrating the race winning move early in the stage, I was riding in a group with the second placed overall rider (a National Champion). The yellow jersey (a former professional teammate of Sean Kelly) was back in the bunch with a strong team and a wallet to recruit extra riders if needed. About two thirds way through the stage, the yellow jersey, all his team and several members of other large teams all got off! The stage was on a circuit, and when riders passed the finish line with perhaps 2 laps remaining, the dope control notice was spotted at the podium.....
I presented myself for testing as the stage winner to be told that no controls would be performed. The organisers and sponsors were saved the possibility of very damaging publicity.
I remember reading in L'Equipe magazine in the late 80's, when I was based in France, that at the Rolland Garros tennis tournament, dope controls were performed on competitors. However the results of positive tests were never published if the culprits agreed to leave the tournament. So if a seeded player got beaten in the early rounds by a "nobody", you could reasonably infer that they had failed a control. Drug testing was not a done on a large scale in that sport ..... in fact Rolland Garros was one of the few tournaments with antidoping. How they handled it meant they KNEW there were cheats, but the sponsors were protected!.
That kind of "protecting the Golden Goose" can not continue....
How do we fix it?
If a team hires any employee previously connected with a drug investigation, the sponsor pays the UCI €100,000 per. If a team hires a previously convicted ride, the sponsor pays the UCI €200,000. If a rider fails a test, the sponsor pays the UCI €300,000.
Riders still serve their suspensions or bans and non riders serve mandatory suspensions .... even those who confess after the fact .i.e. Rijs.
In this way, low paid (i.e. ordinary team members) will be discouraged from doping. High paid riders (Team Leaders) would normally earn enough money in their contracts for the sponsors to be able to recoup the payment in legal action. The UCI would have an incentive to maximise the success rate of their doping program which could be financed by positive results.
UCI tested LA more than 200 times. If even 100 of these tests were conducted at times when he was actually cheating, then the success rate of the UCI's program is less than 1 in 100 at best.
The UCI would have unparalleled credibility in sport worldwide among the public and among honest sponsors by enforcing a system as proposed.
Has nobody ever raised this before?
If this has never been seriously considered, if no one in the UCI ever discussed in detail the fallibility of their testing program and policy, and if no one accepts responsibility for what has gone before, then the UCI are not the body to govern the sport.
If any of this did take place, then the UCI are not the body to govern the sport.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Spirits in the Material World
This is an empty world.
At least on the surface...
'Reality' tv...that is so unreal it is more warped than the strangest Hollywood fiction; commercialism to the point where we are encouraged endlessly to buy our way into poverty; a global political vacuum filled not by philosophers, philantropists and statesmen but by philanderers, pilferers and status-men; and a disintegration of consciousness by agenda-driven mass media and the glitzy distractions of celebrity culture.
So when you meet a real person, a pure soul, an open heart, a radiant light, a beautiful spirit, you are transformed a little more into a being of love not hate, caring not wanting, giving not seeking, light not darkness.
There are angels.
They live among us.
But we are blinded by selfishness, living in a bubble of our own making. A tiny world of petty worries, plastic goods and plastic relationships.
To have eyes open enough to see these 'spirits in the material world' is a gift of the Creation.
When John Lennon said "all you need is love" he did not mean "all you need is (to have) love".... he meant "all you need is (to give) love".
Love can not be requested or taken. It should not be expected or demanded. It can only be given.
Give it away, give it away, give it away now...........
Friday, August 19, 2011
The Sarbacane Diaries
all musings, reflections, conundrums and comments recorded here are the sole product of my own tiny unoccupied mind.
1. Was "All Bran" invented and named by someone from East End London who realised it's the same coming out as it is going in?
2. Is it safe to sleep on a camp bed if you're hetero?
3. If a bird can fly, why can't a fly bird?
4. I am always amazed at the sexual tension when I walk into an empty room.....
5. ...mountaineering in Mexico actually DOES amount to a hill of beans......
6. How big can a woman's breasts get before a man's head explodes?
7. why do the media continuously misspell "Nicki Minaj" ........... it's "Nice Minje"
8. After centuries of discussion, debate, rhetoric and meditation the sages, philosophers, holy men, academics, intellectuals and prophets still cannot understand the greatest mystery of creation - the meaning of wife.
9. Drum Stig's definition of "WORK". Those few minutes of the day you get paid for not being on Facebook.
10. Proof of the existence of (a) parallel universe(s). Listen to a man's side of the story ..... then listen to his wife's.
11. Marriage changed me. Divorce changed me back.
12. If I snack on cheese and oysters with my cocoa at bedtime, will I have really hot dreams...?
13. I'm a man. You're a woman. It'll never work.......
14. There are 10 types of people in the world. Those that understand the binary system and those that don't..... [stolen]
15. As a married man I was buy-sexual. As a divorcee I'm sell-a-bit.
16. In Linguistics the root of EVIL is EVE. In Genetics the code is MiXYph.
17. I'm not the same person I was 10 years ago. But I AM the same person I was 20 years ago......(and that's a fact!)
18. If there's one thing I can't stand it's a hairy nippled witch.
19. If your girlfriend has a poster of Daniel O'Donnell in the kitchen and the bedroom ..... move on quickly!
20. Despite an innate gift for making wrong turns, I always seem to be on the right road
21. she'd never make a DJ, cos she refuses to CHANGE THE BLEEDN' RECORD!!!!!!!!
22. FYI - I can't stand acronyms.
23. Steve Jobs Dies. Shouldn't the WHOLE WORLD get the day off......??
24. With the iPod, iPhone and iPad, Steve Jobs made the finger the most powerful tool we have..... give someone the finger today!
25. Hindsight is the foresight of the gobshite.
26. I couldn't break your heart! You don't have one....
27. U2 enter a bar and get lost. It was a bar of 7/8...
28. I'm thinking of starting a worldwide movement for young ladies between 25 and 35. It's gonna be called "OCCUPY MY BED"
29. the Presidential Candidates can KISS MY ARAS
30. Everyday the pills I take save a life. Some days it's mine. Some days it's my hex-wife's.
31. News Update for Dundrum Centre: Shoppers are only being allowed onto the premises if they are wearing GLUGG Boots....
32. some of my best friends are bass players
33. I'm happiest when I have sixteen and a half inches of wood in my hands. I'm not gay - it's a drummer thing....
34. I respect one man in the whole of creation. My Father.
35. This is the Age of the Wage Slave.
36. My hex is the queen of limbo. Just when you think she can't go any lower, she surpasses all her previous lows...
37. Under Fianna Fail (though not exclusively), the legal vultures, the banksters and the natural apathy of the Irish citizen, Ireland has become a vile little cuntry. (not misspelled)
38. My heart beats at 7/8, my mind spins at 53x12.
39. i'm not gay, but trannies do present an interesting option ..... no PMT and you still get boobs!
40. some of my best relationships are with people i've never met, some who i never got to know and some who are already gone. it's a cute soundbite, maybe a pretentious attempt to be profound, but if it's true, it's a poor indictment of me... however everyday I work honestly and earnestly to do better. bear with me if some days I fail.
41. that Georgia Salpa really annoys me ........ she never returns my calls !!??! WTF??!
42. Oh Joy!! I've rediscovered Interactive Music .... turning the record over to listen to side 2.
43. like the song says "feelin' all of 45, goin' on 15........"
44. the legal process of divorce is psychologically traumatising. i'm pretty sure i have developed tourettes now cos i'm using the word kunt far more liberally.
45. I don't need to hold onto my anger - Karma has it covered........
46. there are 2 sides to every story....then there are the facts. so there are actually 3 sides to every story. you need at least 2 before you can make a judgement...and all three before you can know the truth.
47. My browser keeps freezing. I think it has a thing called 'FIREFOXACHE'. ...at least that's what I shout when it happens....
48. Vegetarians have a good sense of hummus..
49. Can everyone on FaceBook please Shut The Hell Up!!!!!???? I'm speaking.....
50. 4 hrs x 26 weeks = 104 hrs / 3 children = 38 hrs = a day and a half per child every year .......the amount of time the hex thought I should have with my children.
51. is LITTLEWOODS a sex shop for elves...?
52. Ha Bumhug
53. I have learned to have low expectations of people .... that way I'm never disappointed
54. how did the inventors of the typewriter know to put the "L" beside the "O"?....... LOL
55. the disappointment when bottles thrown into the bottle bank don't smash ... i mean come on!! ... the sound is your reward for being environmentally conscientious
56. poking friends is fun .... but being able to punch someone (who is not your friend) in the face would be so much more satisfying
57. as long as private banks control credit and cash politics is redundant.
58. The revolution will not be televised. But it may be streamed...
59. i used to have money. now i have drums...
60. Drum Stig Philosophy... everything comes back to 1
61. ALWAYS !! spell-check "public recital" ..... inviting someone to a "pubic rectal" is not advisable....
62. if you can't forgive unequivocally, you can't love unconditionally..
63. abstinence makes the hard-on longer
64. in Apocalypse Now, I'm pretty sure Robert Duvall actually says "I love the smell of my-palm in the morning".
65. sorry dear, €70,000 into €40,000 doesn't go !
66. I never quite know what to say during masturbation.... #hatesmalltalk
67. I don't advertise the fact I have a massive cock .... I rely on "word of mouth"........ [if only..]
68. take any "Chuck Norris" saying and substitute "Dave Lloyd" ..... it's still true :) ..... Jens Who??
69. Conjugation of the latin verb "Yakare" meaning to no longer hold a former partner in high regard:
Yako
Yaka
Yakas
Yakamus
Yakatis
Yakunt...
70. pancakes .... there's always a flip-side
71. a condom is NOT a "fifty-mission-cap"..!
72. "I only added you so I could see pictures of your Ma....!"
73. I think my penis needs a mouth hug
74. from henceforth, Bill Cullen will be known as "The Northern Lights" .... or to give him his scientific name .... the Roaring Boringbollix.
75. We need to make the bitch-slap legal tender.
76. IRELAND IS A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY - WE ARE BROKE, RIFE WITH CORRUPTION, OWNED BY THE IMF. WE SHOULD LEAVE THE EU AND ASK TO JOIN THE AFRICAN NATIONS
77. much better for the soul to be honest and modest than a liar in luxury
78. Ireland - a country where a solicitor on fraud charges worth €52 million can be awarded free legal aid, can get free legal aid, but a father trying to get access to his children can't....
79. Honestly, Officer. I was driving so slowly that someone actually had time to build a wall so close to the front of the car that it was impossible to avoid
80. Solicitors ...... the best paid typists in the world.
81. never walk into a courtroom unarmed. sometimes you gotta get your own justice.
82. If you claim to do God's work, then act like a complete CUNT ..... aren't you saying that your God is a complete cunt?
83. bigger is always better .... ALWAYS!
84. I am the Face Master!
85. I'm not a racist. Every day I speak to Sum Dim Phok.
86. [85a] I'm not arrogant ...... some days it's me.
87. Why can't the EU do something useful?? ...... like make biscuits one of your "five-a-day"....
88. nobody listens to me .... I speak the truth
89. i'm going into town tomorrow to look for something to hang my sheep's head on the wall ...... EWE RACK HUNT!!
90. bored outta me bush .... couldn't be arsed climbing a tree
91. Do gay men have an Eatapuss Complex?
92. John Holmes - a man who could never see the wood for the pecker!
93. Bobby Fischer's traffic report: "D7 is backed up as far as G2"
94. Top 5 Drummers: 1.Neil Peart 2.Gavin Harrison 3.Stewart Copeland 4.Manu Katche 5.Lenny Cahill
95. I have a 16 track mind...
96. I think I might be a lesbian. AAH LUHZ DA PUSSAY!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
CONTADOR - The Great Escape
Who paid the piper?
Today Alberto Contador was told the Spanish Cycling Federation have gone back on their decision to impose a ban on his participation in the sport for one year.
All I can think of is Don McClean's song "American Pie". The day the music died. A song written about the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly.
Today may well be the day the music, the glory, the majesty that was the sport of cycling finally turned over and died.
It's been sick for a long time now, but the brave and the the bold have been fighting for its recovery and rehabilitation nonetheless. Their efforts may well have been in vain and it may be time to pronounce the time of death.
If the Novitsky investigations reveal that the golden boy of the sport has been the Mr Hyde that many suspect then a whole decade of our sport has been written off in shame.
It's a sad day - even if the appeals are successful and a ban is ultimately imposed - because as long as there are elements in the halls of power ready to be easily manipulated and corrupted, then the death of (the) sport is just a matter of time.
Someone has to know who is pulling the strings in these matters, who is paying the piper and calling the tune. We need some cycling wikileaks, people. Silence has been the cancer killing the sport for 50 years. It's time to tell the truth.
It may be our last chance.
Today Alberto Contador was told the Spanish Cycling Federation have gone back on their decision to impose a ban on his participation in the sport for one year.
All I can think of is Don McClean's song "American Pie". The day the music died. A song written about the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly.
Today may well be the day the music, the glory, the majesty that was the sport of cycling finally turned over and died.
It's been sick for a long time now, but the brave and the the bold have been fighting for its recovery and rehabilitation nonetheless. Their efforts may well have been in vain and it may be time to pronounce the time of death.
If the Novitsky investigations reveal that the golden boy of the sport has been the Mr Hyde that many suspect then a whole decade of our sport has been written off in shame.
It's a sad day - even if the appeals are successful and a ban is ultimately imposed - because as long as there are elements in the halls of power ready to be easily manipulated and corrupted, then the death of (the) sport is just a matter of time.
Someone has to know who is pulling the strings in these matters, who is paying the piper and calling the tune. We need some cycling wikileaks, people. Silence has been the cancer killing the sport for 50 years. It's time to tell the truth.
It may be our last chance.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
open letter to the "government" of Ireland
Dear Gobshite Bros, Brian (no brains) and Brian (no balls)
Please can you tell me the secret to your negotiating strategy. I too have no money but unlike you I can not convince the bank to give me a loan. What is the secret??
I am so glad that the bail out money to the government includes money to bail out the banks so they will be able to bail out honest ordinary people who are left homeless by this whole mess............ some fookin hope.
I am a little disappointed that the former MERGER arrangement with Brussels (or should that be Berlin?) has not worked and that you have now agreed to a TAKEOVER by the European Central Bank (aka The Rothschild Family). When can we expect Mr Peter Sutherland installed as President and Mr Denis O'Brien as Taoiseach? As BILDERBERG members I presume that they have first refusal on these positions.......?
It is also a fantastic development that you have thought outside the box and that Irish people no longer have to wear trousers, since we will be doing so much bending over being shafted by IMF and ECB officials over the coming decade.
So that the Irish people can also demonstrate their ability to think outside the box, can you please legislate to allow us to pay our tax debts in cheese which you have designated as an acceptable currency? In this way we can expect a MASSIVE growth in our DAIRY INDUSTRY, small cottage industries (for cottage cheese I guess) and a return to ZERO UNEMPLOYMENT.
Great stuff lads!
Anyone going for a pint? I think Dumb and Dumber are buying with EU money......
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