Norco CRD 3

The ride is like stepping onto an infinite, frictionless plane. You feel like one soft push would propel you to the horizon.

Norco's CRD 3 is the acme of modern bicycle design. Incorporating a space-aged aluminum frame, carbon forks and Sora componentry, the frame is light and fast; it's a precision instrument no less suited for conquering hills than a scalpel is for performing delicate surgery.

A day riding this bicycle is a religious experience. Your legs will feel energized as you waft through the misty dawn. Your beating heart will urge the sun along its azimuth as the heat of the day arrives. When your ride concludes, you'll be left spent but thirsting for more of what the CRD3 has to offer.

Panasonic RP-HV250-K Earbuds

Panasonic's RP-HV250-K headphones are great. You can use them to listen to any number of wonderful things: youtube videos, mp3s, podcasts, internet radio, etc.

That these deliver sound to the ear is quite a wonderful thing. Many illuminating works of art, science, journalism and so on have an auditory component; the audio delivered by these RP-HV250-Ks can really shine a light of enjoyment through clouds of profundity, illuminating the intellect and casting shadows on ignorance. They are well worth the ~$10 price tag, especially if you "borrow" a pair that someone else bought.

GoLITE P2

Do you suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), or the dreaded Seasonal Effectiveness Disorder (SED)?

The problem is that not enough neurons from the sun are passing through your eyes and reaching your cornea. It's a serious problem. Without the neutrons to synchronize your biotic clock with the Earth's natural rotation, your inner schedule won't mesh with Mother Nature's, and you'll be glum.

Don't let Nature get you down! Nothing diminishes life like a defeated soul. Inflate your self-worth by blasting yourself twice daily with a healthy dose of blue anions and pro-anions! The harsh light will kick-start your psychic drumbeat and get you back on the road to fruition!

Enjoy Life!

"Rain" by W. Somerset Maugham

Rain is a story about the logical and emotional edifice that is human ideology, which is built in a foundation in the brain of a savage animal.

W. Somerset Maugham studies a contrast of characters in this short story. A cynical first world war doctor is travelling to the South Pacific to adjourn himself from stress and recuperate from an illness. He and his wife meet and befriend a pair of devout missionaries along the way. The missionaries are proud of the progress they've made converting an island's native population the Christianity, but their methods are cruel.

The four are quarantined together on an island due to a smallpox outbreak. On this island, they meet a prostitute, whose soul the missionaries take a direct interest in saving.

The story is brief, but it gives a very unflattering view of devoutly religious behaviour. Psychologically assaulting the young prostitute, and with the threat of sending her to jail, the missionaries cow her to their will. For them, the ends justify the means, but their behaviour is very much unethical.

It is clear that it is wrong to pursue of an ideal to such an extreme that the methods used surpass human decency. Maugham gives a great example of this in Rain, and a good read as well.