Sunday 30 December 2012

Motorbike Road Trip

To celebrate my first year of riding a motorbike, I am heading off on a 3 day road trip. I believe that riding a motorbike is the modern day equivalent of the old wild west with the cowboys riding off into the sunset on their horses. I am really looking forward to it.

Day 1 is going from my home in Palmerston North (all locations in New Zealand) to Napier and then on to Gisborne. I will spend the night in a small town near Gisborne called Matawai.

Day 2 I head off to Tauranga via Opotiki and Whakatane. One of the horses my brother and I have shares in is racing at Tauranga so I will take time out and go and watch him race. Hopefully the pressure of me being there will not affect his performance as I seem to be a bit of a jinx whenever I am actually at a race. His name is "He Sure Is" and he has won his last two races. We would love him to win three in a row. My granddaughter and her mum are also going to be in Tauranga so I hope to be able to catch up with them as well.

Day 3 I have an all day ride back home to Palmerston North.

Weather forecast is for fine weather on day 1 and 2 and rain on day 3.

I will be filing the panniers on my bike, a BMW G650GS, and also packing a small tent, sleeping bag, foam roll up mattress. I will be filming the entire ride using my Go Pro Hero 2.

I will try and blog from my iPad each day and update you on how I get on.

Sunday 2 December 2012

Internet Defense League

When you visit my site during an Internet Defense League campaign, you may see a pop-up asking you to join. This is not a scam, or a trojan, or some nefarious scheme I have thought up to part you from your money or personal information.

The IDL is an organisation whose aim is to ensure that the Internet remains free and open. When open attempts to regulate the Internet failed, like SOPA and PIPA,  governments are now trying to slip internet regulation into less threatening sounding legislation. Go to www.internetdefenseleague.org for more information.

In New Zealand we have the TPP being negotiated. This is ostensibly a free trade agreement, and who doesn't like the idea of free trade. If free trade is so good, why is it being negotiated in secret with none of the agreement clauses being made public. There have been some leaks of whats on the table and they look less like free trade and more like restriction on internet activities. Go here to find out more.

My general rule of thumb is that if governments do something in secret, be afraid, be very afraid.

Back on an iPad

I last had an iPad in 2016, an iPad Air 2. When it broke, I never replaced it, I just used the MacBook Air and my iPhone. This year for Fat...