USS Clueless has a terrific screed.

I've been a really slow blogger. Work calls, and calls with much loudness, so blogging falls by the wayside, as do many other Thing I'd Like to Do, such as the now defunct Garage of Xanadu website and several other tasks. One thing that has increased of late is saddle time -- time on the bikes. I've resumed regular commuting on the R1100RT, and I'm a happier boy for it. Riding is like a soporific -- not in the sleep inducing sense, but rather in the way that it has a hypnotic focus. Riding a motorcycle draws from the base of life -- the weather becomes very real, and far more intense, the air itself assumes rumbling, swirling life, the very pavement speaks through the pegs and bars and seat, and as the skies open and for just a moment, and in a fantastic reverie, if you are lucky, you have the ability to draw past the daily grind and the persistent problems of life, you can see the very face of God. You can grasp life, and suck the marrow from its dusty bones, and taste the sweetness that is living. I've literally seen God from the saddle. Not in the Michelangelo Sistine Chapel ceiling face of God way, but in the reverie of life that can only be found through religion or hard liquor. Like a drunk or a Witness, you make friends, hard and fast friends, but the friendships last past the Revival and the hangover and can bind forever. Motorcycling is my religion, and the saddle is my pew, the handlebars my altar, and the open road my church.

Prime Palaver #3 Eric Flint makes an excellent case for an open system for electronic copyrights. Link via Instapundit.