Tank slapper (noun) A rapid, uncontrolled and dangerous oscillation of the front wheel of a motorcycle resulting in the handlebars switching violently side-to-side and possibly striking the petrol tank. Also known as a speed wobble or shimmy. So much for the dictionary definition (and we've heard one or two other less salubrious explanations that we won't dwell on here). But we called this landing page "Tank Slapper" because it aptly describes the way we feel over certain issues as we switch from one side of the debate and back again trying to find a comfortable place to stand. If life has taught us anything (and that's a very big "if") it's that simple and obvious truths are rarely simple and obvious. You start off with one viewpoint, and then you see if from the other side, and then you switch back, and forth, and before long you've got a pretty scary intellectual speed wobble going on between your legs. 
Hence a tank slapper. But we might equally have called this page "opinion", or "comment", or "soap box", or something of that ilk. But nothing we thought of had quite the right ring to it. It was frustrating. And then, at around midnight, just as we were dragging up another crate of beer from the cellar, someone said, "Hey, how about calling it 'tank slapper'?" And of course, everyone stopped. Twenty minutes later, after slapping it around in the usual way and trying a dozen or more variations including "tank slapping" and "tank slaphead" and "tanked up again" and even "Battle tanks of World War 2", we settled on "Tank Slapper" because it sounded, well, a little ... dangerous. Anyway, you'll see what it's all about when you explore the links on the right. We'll add to them when we get around to it. In the meantime, there's plenty of opinion to keep you occupied. It's not all about motorcycles, by the way. And neither is life in general. The comments and opinions we're expressing is just stuff about stuff. Thoughts. Musings. Ramblings. Questions. But like everyone else, we think we're right whenever we think we're right. That's the weakness of the human race, and there's probably no cure for it. But we're ready to be challenged. So if you want to send some feedback, we might even read it. And if you've got an interesting opinion of your own on some (ideally controversial) subject that we ain't thought of, we might even read that too (and maybe we'll send you a T-shirt or a tennis racquet or something). That's it for now. Read and react. | 
