Vive memor quam sis aevi brevis.

Thursday, 9 June 2016

Vehicular Homicide

This Wednesday morning i awoke to the radio news reports of the carnage in Kalamazoo. A group of nine cyclists was mowed down by a man with a pickup truck. Five persons lost their lives, four more are in hospital.

Notice the nuance here: a man mowed them down, not a pickup truck, not a vehicle. The vehicle was merely a weapon and at the controls of that weapon was a man. 

Some of the reports i've read or heard state that the people were run down by a pickup truck- as if the pickup truck were an autonomous thing with its own will and beyond human control.

Some reports called this event an "accident" as if it were a fated thing beyond human involvement or prevention. This was no "accident," but homicide, if not willful murder.

As of this writing i haven't heard if any charges have been laid on the driver. We have heard that he was apprehended whilst attempting to flee the scene on foot as he had struck the people with such murderous force as to render his vehicle undrivable.

Think about that for a moment: the force and speed required to cause such extensive damage to a two-plus-ton steel and iron machine by something as soft and fragile as a human body.

As of this writing i have yet to hear if the driver, the person at the wheel, was intoxicated or suffering a physical ailment or distracted. IF charges are laid, one wonders what sort of defense this person will put up. One wonders what charges may be laid and if he is proved culpable (remember, the laws here state "innocent until proved guilty,") what fitting penalty is in order?

Other people more articulate than i have been expressing themselves over this event, and i find myself too heartsick and angry to continue much longer today.

Here are a couple of websites that may allow you to help the victims of this driver's action:


If you should have any ideas that may help bring comfort, please let me know and i'll post  them here. Thanks.


Tuesday, 31 May 2016

Hebron, IL


Monday's day-long ramble... about 190km.

Wound up in Hebron, just below the state line. Hebron is home of the 1952 Illinois State High School Basketball Champions, and they're justly proud of that fact.

Sorry i didn't get a better shot of their water tower tribute.

A longish way to go for a chocolate malt, but well worth the trip. Hope to do it again soon.


A going concern. Great Shakes and malts, and they even filled my water bottle with ice... i didn't even have to ask!
. Be sure to leave a tip!







Turtle

On Queen Anne road, somewhere north of Woodstock, IL.


The one living turtle i encountered yesterday. A semi had just missed him and he'd just began poking his head back out. Carried him to the verge where there was a marshy area. He took off running as fast as his legs could carry him. Sorry that the other turtles i saw on the road weren't as fortunate.





Machine...

The machine has got to be accepted, but it is probably better to accept it rather as one accepts a drug -- that is, grudgingly and suspiciously. Like a drug, the machine is useful, dangerous, and habit-forming. The oftener one surrenders to it the tighter its grip becomes.

 -George Orwell, novelist (1903-1950)