The Data Ports Up The Lemmon, 2012

One of Tucson’s oldest motorcycling traditions takes place the first day of the year: It’s “Up The Lemmon”, when adventurous riders of all  makes and models ride up to Windy Point on Mount Lemmon. Depending on road conditions a few hardy souls go all the way to the top.

This is a good ride for the three-wheeling fraternity, since there is always the chance of slippery ice snakes in the road. Data Port, and possibly Mrs. DP, will take the sidecar outfit.

Meet at the McDonald’s on the corner of Tanque Verde and Catalina Highway at 9am. Come early for coffee at McDonald’s.

Looking ahead just a bit, this year is the 40th Anniversary Gathering of The Brass Monkey Sidecar Rally. Sidecarists are a rare breed among the three-wheel fraternity in part because, apart from the Russian Ural sidecars, they have to rig their outfits themselves.

The Brass Monkey welcomes all riders, both solo bikes and three wheelers. If you’re a solo rider this is your chance to check out the rarest member of the motorcycle fraternity, the sidecar. Here are dates and location:

Dates: February 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th

Where: Crazy Horse Campground, Lake Havasu City

Call Campground for reservations (928) 885-4033

You don’t have to camp. Many riders elect to motel it, go to the campground and hang out.

The Journal News published the names and addresses of registered gun owners in two New York counties. The paper secured the names of residents in Westchester and Rockland counties under the Freedom of Information act.

The Journal News covers a region of the state of New York known as the Lower Hudson Valley. The kind of firearms owned was not made public… whether they were long guns for hunting or hand guns  present in a home for home defense.

I’m frank to say I can’t see the purpose of this kind of journalism. At its best it seems pointless and at its worst it seems dangerous…leading potential gun thieves to locations where guns might be stolen or, by elimination, to unprotected residences.

Does this reporting make it any easier to effect reasonable gun laws,such as the banning of assault rifles and  twenty-round magazines, or does it reinforce the NRA argument that “they’re out to get your guns.” Are the citizens any safer now that they know their neighbors are armed?

I’m interested in hearing what readers think about the story.

Shortly after Thanksgiving Faux News trotted out its annual Jeremiad about “The “War On Christmas” allegedly launched by atheists and liberals. This is just fundamentalist claptrap.

Despite its sacred name and origin Christmas has become an essentially secular national holiday, one of many collective  celebrations (like Thanksgiving) that bind us together as a nation. If anything has secularized  Christmas it’s the transformation of this holiday into “Merchants’ Day,” which is preceded by a month-long orgy of frenzied commercial exploitation of the symbols fundamentalists say they revere. This was not an act of secular “warfare” by progressives or atheists. We are all responsible.

Here at the profoundly secular Data Port we celebrate Christmas as one of the great solstice festivals. We are not at war. We read the stories, decorate the tree, sing carols and rejoice with friends and family right through 12th Night. There are other celebrations at this time of year, of course…Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Saturnalia, and so forth…and we’ll joyfully join with you in whatever celebration is part of your solstice tradition. We’ll respond with a cheerful “Merry Christmas.”  No offense taken or intended.

If anyone understood Christmas it was Charles Dickens. In “A Christmas Carol” there is little or nothing that is explicitly ‘religious’; no Magi, no manger, no Christ Child, no camels or star. Scrooge does not undergo a religious conversion, he rediscovers the value of being a caring human being.

Scrooge’s nephew sums it all up this way:

“I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that–as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time.”

And so it is. Merry Christmas to all from the gang at The Data Port.