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Smoking is safe!

Thanks to my dear friend (and technology guru) Geoff, I have discovered a source of Camel cigarettes (my favourites) which are not only much cheaper than those I usually buy but are entirely health-risk-free. Look!

camel-pack-dubai

Not a health warning in sight. These cigs don’t harm your baby, damage your sperm, give you throat cancer or lung cancer or have any association with heart disease or arterial problems. And they also cost about one pound a pack. (They are from Dubai where they are obviously enlightened.)

I’d like to know though, how risky those cigarettes I used to smoke really are – I mean were. Stats often talk about the ‘increased risk of being a smoker’ but they never say how they define a smoker. I think the WHO defines a smoker as anyone who has smoked 100 cigarettes (or was it 10?) But I wonder about the relative risk of smoking 8-10 a week as I do compared to 8 – 10 every day. Maybe health promotion bodies don’t want to get into this kind of detail as it might distract from the message that smoking is BAD.

My feet in blocks of concrete

Now its the moment for investing in some decent motorcycle boots and motocross/enduro boots seem to offer the best protection. Yesterday I bought some Alpinestars Tech 3 boots:
Picture 1
Shopping is a strange experience. In this case I had to endure the gratuitous comments of shopkeepers along the lines of ‘well, you don’t strike me as a supermoto rider. No, really. How long have you been riding then?’ My answers are usually bumbling and mumbling. Yesterday after a good ride upto Peterboro (apart from getting completely lost around the roundabouts there giving rise to some not too bad u-turns) I investigated the off road specialist shop above the Suzuki dealer Stamford Superbikes. At last a shop that actually stocked Aplinestars boots. But they only stocked the top of the range nearly £400 lumps of highly protective concrete – ‘they drop a ton weight on them to test them’ the young assistant told me – and the ‘entry level’ boot for £169 which is what I walked or rather hobbled out with as a kind of gentle introduction to wearing boots that don’t bend at the ankle. Unfortunately once on the bike in the carpark outside the shop I realised that I coudln’t do useful things like change gear in these boots so slipped back into my old carpetslippers I rode there in and strapped the huge Alpinestars to the back, resolvng to find an hour to spare to learn the new technique I’ll need to actually go anywhere in these boots – or adjust the machine or buy some snazzy and overpriced new part from Touratech specially made for riding in these ridiculous boots.

Star wars and lids

People don’t seem to talk about it much but it seems to me that the original Star Wars films from the 1980s were influential in style terms – in terms of computer games, vaguely Zen philosophy and, of course, motorcycle helmets. The lid I’m currently trying to get hold of seems to owe somethings to those nasty anonymous storm troopers.

nasty storm trooper

nasty storm trooper


Picture 2

Garmin announces new generation GPS

In response to many GPS users’ complaints that the computerised system is taking the humanity out of travel and navigation, Garmin has announced a new range of GPS devices. They incorporate an innovative ’emotion’ chip. The new devices, scheduled to go on sale in the lucrative pre-Christmas period, will be able to simulate a range of arguments about direction and the driver’s failure to take note of last minute instructions. The units will be highly configurable and some arguments will be able to escalate into more fundamental rows about selfishness and incompatibility. ‘Our research has shown that drivers miss this kind of friction when travelling with a friend or partner’, said a Garmin spokesperson today. Prices will start at £499.