They say my theology is 'bent - but don't ignore this uni-fying strategy for maintaining a healthy "balance!"

Three years ago, soon after travelling the yellow brick road all the way to Oz - and spite of friends like Ann (who touts those wonderful Spiderflex seats for the traditional push bike) I converted to this pre-owned 'bent (recumbent) version of human-powered vehicle for travelling around. (Yes, with two "ll"s.  That is how they spell it here in the land of Oz.  And, by the way, in normal conversation here they don't ask how it's going - they ask "How are you travelling?)  Quite well now - thank you!

Yes, I experienced a true conversion to the Greenspeed GT and have never looked back. (Though I do use mirrors!)  My tadpole trike - with two wheels in front that steer with one wheel in back - means no more hunched and aching shoulders! There are numerous other advantages to pedaling in alternate realities. Allow me to expound.

For example, whether I take my "flying furniture" right into the midst of an open-air concert - or pause to smell the roses - the result is the same: I'm already sitting there in my exotic lawn chair with built-in foot/leg rests and bottle of drink, instantly enjoying the show without having to unpack a thing! (In fact, I did so just last Sunday evening, resting in the...Lord, it was a fabulous two-hour Canberra Symphony Orchestra concert right there in the middle of Commonwealth Park!)

There are several other advantages, including a significant increase in the efficient use of High-Spirited power - leg power, that is...  To be honest, being in 'bent mode means going a bit slower up hills - but you don't get near as tired. And I'll level with you, it's like greased lightning going downhill fast, because there is much less wind resistance (even without a cowling!)   Did you know that 'bents were banned from conventional bike races, because they started winning all the big races before the ban?!

And you never tip - no need to put your foot down in disgust.  Except this tip might help:  Since 'bent trikes are swinging low like a sweet chariot, it's a good idea to run up a flag as a survival tactic.  Get something orange or florescent green or some other "pillar of fire" right up there - blazing in the eyes of vehicle drivers to ensure they grant you sufficient bearth in the bike lane!

And oh, it's great for relationships!  I've felt quite welcome as a member of a comfortable congregation of 'bent lovers here in Canberra, the ACT branch of OzHPV - Australian Human Powered Vehicles. I don't get to all of them, but there are monthly spins around the lake for social and physical support, and general revival of the spirit, and other spontaneous "special" experiences that tend to warm the heart.

That's a sample from among the many in the photo collection of our "mob" as we refer to it (though traditionally, in Australia, that's the official nomenclature for a group of kangaroos!)  But it's the context for my "sitz im leben."  Indeed, it can be a very spiritual experience -- feeling all grounded and relaxed while in full control, watching nature glide past while physically in a unique position to fully experience that laid-back Aussie approach.  No (back or shoulder) strain, just a lot of gain:  enjoying a very "balanced" conversation with each other, and a great sense of connection and group identity.  No time to worry about or even notice those typical isolating stares that tend to come when travelling alone - yes, there is real strength in numbers!

I've disengaged from the journeys of all those dualistic traditional wheelers who push themselves around in all their "conventional" wisdom, enduring their neck and back strains.  Instead these days I enjoy a wildly syncretistic experience, alternating between my (Trinitarian) laid back three-wheeler and my upright (Unitarian) version - see the photo on the right.  I literally hop on it when I choose to exercise (my options) in a well-balanced and unifying mode - though it is indeed a bit more challenging.

There is one drawback, however, in regards to the later. One must be prepared for some fall-out.  And some traditionalists deem uni-cycle riders to be members of a very weird sect with an oft-misinterpreted agenda. To specifically illustrate the level of "persecution" one must be prepared to tolerate if choosing this version of faith in the unimodal method, I'll share this link to a most enlightening excerpt from a recent Colbert Report titled "The Enemy Within!"  (a sarcastic sampling from the most hellish array of prejudicial and sarcastic invective a uni-cyclist might ever expect to endure!)

So now you know the truth that has set me free!  It also helps explain why on the 29th of February 2008 Carole Anne and I "leaped" ("lept?") out of America to cross the Big Pond and landed in Australia.  Yes, though I once was a lost sole (uni-cyclist) floundering on the flatlands around Goshen Indiana, now I truly see the light!  This laid-back mob in Oz has extended lotsa inclusive grace toward Dualists and Trinitarian-wheelers alike -- and even a Uni-fied bloke like me.  Come and see; come and see:  http://www.ozhpv.org.au/stategroups/act/act.html

-Chaplain Clair de L'uni

So let me get this straight...

William Rivers Pitt of Truthout.org recently wrote:
"So let me get this straight.

Rick Santorum, who we are somehow supposed to believe is a serious candidate for the highest office in America, thinks people should not go to college because education is somehow a code word for socialist indoctrination. Mitt Romney, another walking joke, was for birth control before he was against it before he was for it before he was against it before he was for it.

Rush Limbaugh, the godhead of hate radio and the leader of the modern Republican Party, wants private citizens who use birth control to film themselves having sex for his personal edification.

Meanwhile, the latest polls tell us that fully half of the Republicans in Alabama and Mississippi believe President Obama is a secret Muslim … oh, and they're not quite sold on the legality of mixed-race marriage, either.

And that's just for openers, here in the brave new world that is 21st-century America. Call it stupid, call it silly, dismiss it with a disgusted wave of your hand if you wish, but this stuff is being blasted out there in an endless barrage, and after awhile, it sticks. Cretins like Rush Limbaugh not only spew anti-Muslim hatred on domestic airwaves - Limbaugh is a featured program on Armed Forces Radio, reaching the ears and minds of American soldiers fighting a grinding, ceaseless and pointless war in Afghanistan."

Is anyone still wondering why I'm quite happy to still be living in Australia during this election cycle? My friends here shake their heads in amazement (this crap gets regurgitated on the Australian TV news every night) and wonder aloud how my family and friends in America can endure two years of this awful "comedy" show.  I tell them laughter therapy is good for the soul!  -Clair

24 Funniest Ways To Die

This hilarious material from a site sponsored by an Australian life insurance consortium is simply too wide to fit into this space properly -- so just go here after considering that there are some "adult themes" involved!  -Clair

What the Frack?

President Obama's State of the Union address framed and endorsed hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of shale deposits as a clean energy strategy (it also endorsed opening up "more than 75 percent of our potential offshore oil and gas resources"):

[...] Nowhere is the promise of innovation greater than in American-made energy. Over the last three years, we've opened millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration, and tonight, I'm directing my administration to open more than 75 percent of our potential offshore oil and gas resources. Right now, American oil production is the highest that it's been in eight years. That's right - eight years. Not only that - last year, we relied less on foreign oil than in any of the past sixteen years.

But with only 2 percent of the world's oil reserves, oil isn't enough. This country needs an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy- a strategy that's cleaner, cheaper, and full of new jobs.

We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly one hundred years, and my administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy. Experts believe this will support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade. And I'm requiring all companies that drill for gas on public lands to disclose the chemicals they use. America will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk.

The development of natural gas will create jobs and power trucks and factories that are cleaner and cheaper, proving that we don't have to choose between our environment and our economy. And by the way, it was public research dollars, over the course of 30 years, that helped develop the technologies to extract all this natural gas out of shale rock - reminding us that Government support is critical in helping businesses get new energy ideas off the ground. [...]

Obama's comment that "my administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy" SOUNDS good, but every day articles emerge about the documented emissions produced by this technology, and the threats it poses to aquifers, communities, health, ecosystems. ProPublica has been doing an excellent series on the threats posed by fracking for some time.

The following of Obama's comments also SOUND good: "And I'm requiring all companies that drill for gas on public lands to disclose the chemicals they use. America will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk."  I'm pretty sure, however, that most if not all fracking for shale gas is currently done on privately owned land, and so these sentences may be a precursor to opening up public lands to such fracking.  And disclosure of chemicals isn't the same thing as protection from chemicals. It's also true that the effects of many of the chemicals have been very minimally studied, and some may be proprietary.

In addition to all the other threats to health, water, and ecosystems that fracking for shale gas poses, a recent report documents that fracking also allows large quantities of methane to escape into the atmosphere. Such "methane has 105 times the warming potential of CO2 over a 20-year time frame, after which it rapidly loses its warming potential. If large amounts of methane are released through fracking - as seems likely with hundreds of thousands of new wells forecast in the next two decades - Howarth [Robert Howarth of Cornell University] says global temperatures could rocket upward from 0.8C currently to 1.8C in 15 to 35 years, running the risk of triggering a tipping point that could lead to catastrophic climate change."

(From an email sent by Joe Miller, instructor at St. Mary's in South Bend Indiana, and a member of the Michiana Peace and Justice Coalition)

We're on an Adventure! Figuring out "Plan D" by the 28th of January

This message is for our local Canberra network of friends in particular:  It's time for us to get creative in developing a solution to a particularly vexing and urgent need of ours. So here goes - exploring whether a bit of creative "social networking" will help us.  (I've posted the following on Facebook.) 

The couple for whom we had plans to house/pet sit all of February have informed us that one of them has discovered serious health problems, needs to wait for an MRI and possibly undergo surgery -  and therefore they are needing to cancel their whole trip!

We have no time to negotiate an alternative house-sitting assignment with anyone else as most everyone plans these things months ahead. We are otherwise booked through September already. We've also developed contingency Plans A, B and C (friends' granny flats) previously for such situations, but unbelievably all three are currently engaged - at least for February.


So, our current housing need begins Saturday 28 January - this coming weekend - and ends Easter Monday, 9th April. We have been actively looking for a situation where someone in Canberra is or will be away and planned to keep their home vacant but are willing to let us housesit or "rent" their home (or maybe their motor home?) for the months of February and/or March, or parts thereof. 


If you think of someone who represents "Plan D" for us, please give them the url to this page or at least our contact information below. I suppose we can always rent a motel/hotel room for a while, but that sure is the expensive way to go - and I've already loaned out our tent to a friend. (Ha!)


Thanks, 
Carole Anne and Clair Hochstetler


Email:  Clair.Hochstetler@gmail.com  -or-  designrox1103@gmail.com


Click here to see our personal house-sitting info site - with a lot more background on who we are, what we offer, and more specific contact details...