Mark Fellows

@r3c1d1v1st @GonzoVice It was a BSA (as I recall...) Quote if Hell's Angels, which an early but great work by HST.

@GonzoVice Anyone know what bike it was?

So it was always at night, like a werewolf, that I would take the thing out for an honest run down the coast. I would start in Golden Gate Park, thinking only to run a few long curves to clear my head….but in a matter of minutes I’d be out at the beach with the sound of the engine in my ears, the surf booming up on the sea wall and a fine empty road stretching all the way down to Santa Cruz…not even a gas station in the whole seventy miles; the only public light along the way is an all-night diner down around Rockaway Beach. There was no helmet on those nights, no speed limit, and no cooling it down on the curves. The momentary freedom of the park was like the one unlucky drink that shoves a wavering alcoholic off the wagon. I would come out of the park near the soccer field and pause for a moment at the stop sign, wondering if I knew anyone parked out there on the midnight humping strip. Then into first gear, forgetting the cars and letting the beast wind out…thirty-five, forty-five…then into second and wailing through the light at Lincoln Way, not worried about green or red signals, but only some other werewolf loony who might be pulling out, too slowly, to start his own run. Not many of these, and with three lanes on a wide curve, a bike coming hard has plenty of room to get around almost anything…then into third, the boomer gear, pushing seventy-five and the beginning of a windscram in the ears, a pressure on the eyeballs like diving into water off a high board. Bent forward, far back on the seat, and a rigid grip on the handlebars as the bike starts jumping and wavering in the wind. Taillights far up ahead coming closer, faster, and suddenly–zaaappp–going past and leaning down for a curve near the zoo, where the road swings out to sea The dunes are flatter here, and on windy days sand blows across the highway, piling up in thick drifts as deadly as any oil-slick–instant loss of control, a crashing, cartwheeeling slide and maybe one of those two-inch notices in the paper the next day: “An unidentified motorcyclist was killed last night when he failed to negotiate a turn on Highway 1.” Indeed…but no sand this time, so the lever goes up into fourth, and now there’s no sound except wind. Screw it all the way over, reach through the handlebars to raise the headlight beam, the needles leans down on a hundred and wind-burned eyeballs strain to see down the centerline, trying to provide a margin for reflexes. But with the throttle screwed on there is only the barest margin, and no room at all for mistakes. It has to be done right…and that’s when the strange music starts, when you stretch your luck so far that fear becomes exhilaration and vibrates along your arms. You can barely see at a hundred; the tears blow back so fast that they vaporize before they get to your ears. The only sounds are wind a dull roar floating back from the mufflers. You watch the white line and try to lean with it…huwling through a turn to the right, then to the left and down the long hill to Pacifica…letting off now, watching for cops, but only until the next dark stretch and another few seconds on the edge… The Edge…There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are ones who have gone over. The others–the living–are those who who pushed their control as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later.

@danswiles No worries Daniel - I would love to buy you a pint sometime, if you are amenable. You have made a great piece of art which caused me to think about my family's coal mining roots in a different (albeit darker!) way. Good on yer.

@PerroTinto Thank you, Mark. And for the message. I’m really pleased!!

I just finished reading @danswiles brilliant debut, Mercia's Take. As the descendant of a long line of Pelsall and Brownhills miners, it really moved me. Thanks Daniel. theguardian.com/books/2022/feb…

@red5audio Great. So when are you going to deliver mine, after 3 months with no response? Shabby!

Getting ready for your first live gigs after lockdown? The RV3 Handheld #Condenser #Microphone is a great way to a next level vocal sound without breaking the bank! buff.ly/2GLqpxq #livemusic #ProAudio #Red5Audio

@RockyMtnInst @SkarnAssoc Agreed. It is very much in the miners' interests to improve this. And it needs improvement!

@SkarnAssoc @SkarnAssoc 🙌 Miners are critical. As the backbone of the industry straddling several supply chains mining companies can take a leading role to drive a universal #GHG accounting framework.

RMI rightly points out the lack of consistency in Scope 3 CO2 accounting - and the miners' potential role in improving this.

Anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the

@thegoodexpert @fulelo @Piethagoram @Channel4News Name-calling is not the way forward on this. We are all faced with some very scary uncertainties. We need to listen carefully to scientists and mute the Oxford PPEs. Govt strategy is a gamble, but I do believe it is science-driven.

@fulelo @Piethagoram @Channel4News Edwards is an idiot. Ebola wasn't stopped by herd immunity.

@SRSroccoReport @economymarkets What's your oil price forecast for next 5-10 yrs?

@PerroTinto @economymarkets Mark... that's because 99% of all analysts take ENERGY FOR GRANTED. Furthermore, I haven't even gotten into the Falling EROI of Oil or the Thermodynamics of Oil depletion that will negatively impact most STOCKS, BONDS, and REAL ESTATE going forward.

@economymarkets Harry Dent needs to look at this chart showing the major gold companies' cost of production and the gold price. For gold to go to $700, as Dent forecasts, then 50-75% of the gold mining industry would collapse

@SRSroccoReport @economymarkets An observation - I have never met a gold mining company CEO who would consider their businesses to be "price-makers" via their production costs

@PerroTinto @economymarkets Gold miners not that relevant to the Gold Price??? Really?? Homestake Mining cost of production of gold increased from $42 an ounce in 1970 to $247 in 1979, Don't think the rising gold production impacted PRICE??? I believe you are mistaken.

@SRSroccoReport @economymarkets Interesting debate. I may be able to pull some energy intensity per ounce data together going back to 80s. Will share if I can find it.

@PerroTinto @economymarkets Top Miners Average Annual Gold Yield is approximately 1.2 grams per ton. Now compare that to the previous chart.

@SRSroccoReport @economymarkets Hmm... but lower ore grades have also been facilitated and mitigated by larger trucks, bigger mills, efficiencies of scale. I am not denying there has also been a geological depletion effect, but scale has been a big factor.

@SRSroccoReport @economymarkets Other points to consider - exchange rates are biggest single driver of changes in production cost. Energy typically 20-30% of gold mine prod costs.

@PerroTinto @economymarkets Mark, If you look carefully at this chart, you will notice the gold price DID NOT FALL below $1,160 on an average annual basis. It fell that low due to the low oil price in 2015. If gold falls down to $700, then 50+% of gold mines aren't sustainable.

@SRSroccoReport @economymarkets Mines are dynamic systems. They can selectively mine high grade, defer stripping and live off their balance sheets. This is what happened back then. Thay can't do this forever, but miners are very reluctant to close operations.

@SRSroccoReport @economymarkets (Global gold production actually rose over that period)

@SRSroccoReport @economymarkets Not necessarily. Cut-off grades would rise, projected mine lives would be shortened, but many mines would hang in there. We saw this in 97-2001 bust.

@LouiseTyler47 @SundayTimesLC Completely agree. Symptomatic of hugely dysfunctional fashion industry and media. Shame on you Sunday Times!

@BBCRadMac Genesis! the poor man's Marillion.