Just some random thoughts...
I keep hearing that the TeaBaggers want to dismantle Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. While this is troubling, I'm reminded of the flip side of the problem of politics. Because politics is (usually) a game of compromise, you never get much of what you want. But because it's a game of compromise, you seldom lose all of what you need, also.
Weight's up a bit; over the past week or so, I'm trending at above 175, almost 176. I've decided no new toys, especially bike toys, until I'm back below 175 (I've started a weight-loss regimen to achieve this). Maintenance items like chains and cleats don't count. (Hand-me-down wo0l jersey is showing its age, with many holes and ravelling seams, but it's a neat graphic with Fuji and Suntour logos, so I'm reluctant to give it up - and any replacement will be somewhere between $75-150!)
Total mileage on this drive train now: 884; total miles since January 1: 558 (so I have over half of the expected miles for Anchor House training already). The leader of Saturday's ride said that I'd probably spend most of the spring and summer training with the Anchor House folks and wouldn't see much of the Freewheelers until after the ride. That's disappointing, if it's true. On the one side, I'd like to meet some of the Anchor House folks; on the other side, I don't want to cut off the Freewheelers - I haven't ridden with the old guys, or even seen Don Sprague yet!
Regina's home; time to go be a good husband. We've been married fourteen years tomorrow. How the heck did that happen?
Monday, April 11, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
ride 4/9
A late addition to the Princeton Freewheelers April list was emailed out last week, and it seemed like the best offering; when there was a question of heavy weather I emailed the leader, and she said she'd go, but might push the time back. It turned out the weather cooperated; it also turned out that there were only three of us on the ride, The leader thought this might have been because a popular leader also had a ride scheduled for today; she doesn't usually like to conflict with this other, popular leader... but there was more than one goof on this schedule, so who knows?
When the ride is this small, there's discussion about how long and how challenging of a ride to do. I'm blessed with some strength and little experience of the roads, so I'm able to stay out of these discussions, other than to say encouraging stuff like, "Whatever you want to do is fine with me." While I don't like to be so indecisive, there's a certain amount of relief in not having to make these decisions.
About 40 miles today; hard to tell, because I finally got fed up with the aging, inaccurate, no-longer-available Sigma BC1600 computer I had on the bike and installed the Nashbar Tempo 8 I had bought to fill out a "buy enough items and get 20% off" deal (and I found out it takes me about a half-hour to install a computer when I don't know what I'm doing). Every computer requires a slightly different calibration, and I think I under-factored this one, but there was no good data to compare with (one rider doesn't use a computer, and the leader lost her set point somewhere along the route). This evening, I tried actually running a tape measure around the wheel to get the measurement (harder than it sounds with a metal tape; try it) and my factor (2141) was higher than the one in the book (2133), so my measured mileage of 40.2 may actually have been 40.4.
Good ride, though. Lots of roads I've never been on, a few roads I had, a trip by the last covered bridge in NJ. The leader lady is a trainer, and as we were loadin' up the cars at the end, she cautioned me to do my stretching. When I said I didn't know what to do, she gave me about ten minutes of lessons. I'm grateful; that would have cost me money at a gym. She's pleasant to ride with, and careful to warn of upcoming challenges; I'd happily ride with her again.
Two more things on the computer:
When the ride is this small, there's discussion about how long and how challenging of a ride to do. I'm blessed with some strength and little experience of the roads, so I'm able to stay out of these discussions, other than to say encouraging stuff like, "Whatever you want to do is fine with me." While I don't like to be so indecisive, there's a certain amount of relief in not having to make these decisions.
About 40 miles today; hard to tell, because I finally got fed up with the aging, inaccurate, no-longer-available Sigma BC1600 computer I had on the bike and installed the Nashbar Tempo 8 I had bought to fill out a "buy enough items and get 20% off" deal (and I found out it takes me about a half-hour to install a computer when I don't know what I'm doing). Every computer requires a slightly different calibration, and I think I under-factored this one, but there was no good data to compare with (one rider doesn't use a computer, and the leader lost her set point somewhere along the route). This evening, I tried actually running a tape measure around the wheel to get the measurement (harder than it sounds with a metal tape; try it) and my factor (2141) was higher than the one in the book (2133), so my measured mileage of 40.2 may actually have been 40.4.
Good ride, though. Lots of roads I've never been on, a few roads I had, a trip by the last covered bridge in NJ. The leader lady is a trainer, and as we were loadin' up the cars at the end, she cautioned me to do my stretching. When I said I didn't know what to do, she gave me about ten minutes of lessons. I'm grateful; that would have cost me money at a gym. She's pleasant to ride with, and careful to warn of upcoming challenges; I'd happily ride with her again.
Two more things on the computer:
- This new one only keeps two mileages: one daily, and the total odometer reading. The BC1600 kept two daily mileages, and I find I like that: one for the day's trip, and one to keep track of, say, the amount of miles since a particular date or service interval. The replacement for the BC1600, the BC1609, will do that... but it got iffy reviews. Cateye makes a few computers that will do two daily mileages, and one, the Enduro 8, got some good reviews, and is cheap. I may get one of those (although my weight's been creeping up, and I've made a promise not to buy any more bike toys until I have my weight under control).
- The folks on the ride were chatting about knowing the roads and leading rides, and the subject of the GPS came up (probably because I mentioned it myself, although I don't remember now). It was the sense of the elders of the meeting that the GPS would not replace actual knowledge of the roads, because if a planned route were unavailable, for example due to construction or closure (or being a dirt road), the leader would have to know an alternative route, and the GPS might not provide that. So it seems that my recent decision to forgo the GPS was a good one.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
this too...
Over the past week or so I've been agonizing over buying a bike GPS. Today, the feeling has passed.
Part of what I did was look at refurbished netbooks on sites like Newegg and Tiger Direct. For less money that I would spend on the GPS, I could get a computer, with Windows 7.
Part of what I did was go to another bike shop and look at saddles. It wasn't what I expected. There are big soft saddles, big hard saddles, and small hard saddles. The saddle with just the right amount of padding and flex, the right size, with the right profile, is not going to just fall into my lap (not that it would do much good there).
If the saddle isn't going to be perfect, then the GPS isn't either. And it's a lot of money to spend, and a new technology to learn (and maybe not a lot of opportunity to learn it).
OK. The accuracy of the Sigma BC 1600 I have is suspect. I keep it because I know how it works, and because it will keep three mileages. But I think it's time to swap it out for the Nashbar computer I got to fill out a big order for 20% off; that computer might be more accurate (the Sigma is old enough that there are separate factor entries for British mileage aand kilometers).
So long, GPS. You weren't that good of an idea.
(Addendum: I gave a donation to the USO, too. Giving away money to keep from spending it on stuff I don't need might be a good strategy.)
Part of what I did was look at refurbished netbooks on sites like Newegg and Tiger Direct. For less money that I would spend on the GPS, I could get a computer, with Windows 7.
Part of what I did was go to another bike shop and look at saddles. It wasn't what I expected. There are big soft saddles, big hard saddles, and small hard saddles. The saddle with just the right amount of padding and flex, the right size, with the right profile, is not going to just fall into my lap (not that it would do much good there).
If the saddle isn't going to be perfect, then the GPS isn't either. And it's a lot of money to spend, and a new technology to learn (and maybe not a lot of opportunity to learn it).
OK. The accuracy of the Sigma BC 1600 I have is suspect. I keep it because I know how it works, and because it will keep three mileages. But I think it's time to swap it out for the Nashbar computer I got to fill out a big order for 20% off; that computer might be more accurate (the Sigma is old enough that there are separate factor entries for British mileage aand kilometers).
So long, GPS. You weren't that good of an idea.
(Addendum: I gave a donation to the USO, too. Giving away money to keep from spending it on stuff I don't need might be a good strategy.)
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
you know you're addicted...
From the folks at PBK: You know you're addicted to cycling...
"When you know the difference between Presta and Schrader you’re probably well on your way... There’s also the clothing and before long you’ll have more Lycra than a ballet troupe and so many bike jerseys you’ll start taking over your partner’s wardrobe space."
Check it out.
When the casual weekend ride is no longer enough and you become increasingly irritable without the bike between your legs, you know something has to be done. This might be among the first signs of your imminent addiction to cycling, but it isn’t the last. Far from it!
"When you know the difference between Presta and Schrader you’re probably well on your way... There’s also the clothing and before long you’ll have more Lycra than a ballet troupe and so many bike jerseys you’ll start taking over your partner’s wardrobe space."
Check it out.
fox news lies
From Media Matters:
Get the original here.
Speaking in 2009 onboard a pricey Mediterranean cruise sponsored by a right-wing college, Fox Washington managing editor Bill Sammon described his attempts the previous year to link Obama to "socialism" as "mischievous speculation." Sammon, who is also a Fox News vice president, acknowledged that "privately" he had believed that the socialism allegation was "rather far-fetched."
"Last year, candidate Barack Obama stood on a sidewalk in Toledo, Ohio, and first let it slip to Joe the Plumber that he wanted to quote, 'spread the wealth around,' " said Sammon. "At that time, I have to admit, that I went on TV on Fox News and publicly engaged in what I guess was some rather mischievous speculation about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism, a premise that privately I found rather far-fetched."
Get the original here.
- Are you really surprised?
- Why do we ever believe anything that comes out of Fox News?
- And doesn't it make sense that Juan Williams wound up on Fox News?
losing the battle
Look, I'm really trying not to buy the Garmin Edge 605, which really has all of the GPS capability I need (I don't give a d-mn about the heart monitor or the barometric altimeter in the 705; I just want turn-by-turn directions and mapping, so I can learn where the h-ll I am). But, as I've been looking, a number of things have come up:
I prepaid a few bills and donated some cash to the Ride for McBride, so I don't have the cash for it right now (and I don't pay by credit card unless I can pay the bill online that same day), so I've bought myself some time to think this through. But I'm weakening; the GPS is sounding like a good idea (or maybe I just want to buy myself another toy, which is probably more the case).
Maybe I'll just buy a Velo Orange or Brooks leather saddle, instead. Or maybe I'll do both he saddle and the GPS.
Oy.
- MapMyRide.Com will allow me to upload routes, and download new ones;
- I've found a few sites that show how to do GPS stuff in Linux (especially this one);
- HeartRateMonitorsUSA.Com has the Edge 605, with City Maps SD card, for only $299.
I prepaid a few bills and donated some cash to the Ride for McBride, so I don't have the cash for it right now (and I don't pay by credit card unless I can pay the bill online that same day), so I've bought myself some time to think this through. But I'm weakening; the GPS is sounding like a good idea (or maybe I just want to buy myself another toy, which is probably more the case).
Maybe I'll just buy a Velo Orange or Brooks leather saddle, instead. Or maybe I'll do both he saddle and the GPS.
Oy.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
bookmark sync duel
I use Firefox for my primary browser (although I use Gnome Epiphany when I just want something to load quickly, I use Opera because it's got the most sensible RSS system, and I use Internet Explorer for work because our company still uses an ActiveX control for much of the database printing). I use more than one computer, and when I first heard about XMarks, a bookmark sync service, I thought it was a great idea. Last year, however, XMarks was looking at hard times and threatened to close up shop, so I migrated to Firefox Sync.
Firefox Sync not only backed up my bookmarks, but also my settings and my passwords, between all of my computers. This was actually pretty cool, as I keep my passwords in a Personal Information Manager, but it lives on my USB drive, which I don't always have with me (note: the free version of EPIM works in Linux under Wine, the paid version doesn't. You have been warned).
Recently, though, Firefox Sync stopped working on the netbook. After a number of tweaks and attempted fixes, I did a quick search - and lo and behold, XMarks has risen from the ashes, and has been bought by a password sync company, LastPass. So a quick uninstall/install, and Xmarks is working away, and another quick checkout, and LastPass is (apparently) happily managing my passwords (LastPass adds a button to the toolbar, and all of the pages for which you have saved passwords are available - you can even choose which you want if you have multiple logins for the same site, which I have for some vendors).
If you go back to those last couple of links in the first paragraph of this post: as I write this, Firefox Sync has two stars (I'm not the only person who's had connection problems) and XMarks has four. These friends, as the Quakers say, speak my mind.
Firefox Sync not only backed up my bookmarks, but also my settings and my passwords, between all of my computers. This was actually pretty cool, as I keep my passwords in a Personal Information Manager, but it lives on my USB drive, which I don't always have with me (note: the free version of EPIM works in Linux under Wine, the paid version doesn't. You have been warned).
Recently, though, Firefox Sync stopped working on the netbook. After a number of tweaks and attempted fixes, I did a quick search - and lo and behold, XMarks has risen from the ashes, and has been bought by a password sync company, LastPass. So a quick uninstall/install, and Xmarks is working away, and another quick checkout, and LastPass is (apparently) happily managing my passwords (LastPass adds a button to the toolbar, and all of the pages for which you have saved passwords are available - you can even choose which you want if you have multiple logins for the same site, which I have for some vendors).
If you go back to those last couple of links in the first paragraph of this post: as I write this, Firefox Sync has two stars (I'm not the only person who's had connection problems) and XMarks has four. These friends, as the Quakers say, speak my mind.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
today's ride & gps
Another ride today with the Princeton Freewheelers: a 32-miles at between 15-16 mph. Slower than I wish we had gone, but fast enough. Good group: eight riders (easy to keep track of, but enough people so there's variety in the conversation - and, at this pace, there's breath enough to have conversation).
Several of the fellow riders have a GPS. I've been thinking about one (see the post from 3/31/11), since I'm always lost, and since I wouldn't have to depend on a cue sheet (and could download rides, or save rides to re-do later; I might even be able to lead rides, since I would know, at least theoretically, where I'm going*). But the least expensive one that has the turn-by-turn directions for which I'd be looking appears to be the Garmin Edge 605. The prices seem to start about $270, and it looks like I'd need an additional map at $50-70. So it looks like a $350-400 item, and I can't justify the cost. I'm hoping that prices come down (although manufacturers of geek gear, in their efforts to keep prices up, usually add features rather than allowing prices to drop). Maybe I'll look at it again some day.
*I feel a certain obligation to lead rides, because I'm strong, and because I look out for the riders in the groups that I'm NOT leading... but it's probably also because I want the prestige of being a ride leader, and the free jersey you get when you lead ten rides. Speaking of riding jerseys, this Ubuntu jersey has caught my eye, but the price is ridiculous. £ 59.49 is about $95. If I'm not going to go for a GPS, I'm CERTAINLY not spending that on a jersey!
Several of the fellow riders have a GPS. I've been thinking about one (see the post from 3/31/11), since I'm always lost, and since I wouldn't have to depend on a cue sheet (and could download rides, or save rides to re-do later; I might even be able to lead rides, since I would know, at least theoretically, where I'm going*). But the least expensive one that has the turn-by-turn directions for which I'd be looking appears to be the Garmin Edge 605. The prices seem to start about $270, and it looks like I'd need an additional map at $50-70. So it looks like a $350-400 item, and I can't justify the cost. I'm hoping that prices come down (although manufacturers of geek gear, in their efforts to keep prices up, usually add features rather than allowing prices to drop). Maybe I'll look at it again some day.
*I feel a certain obligation to lead rides, because I'm strong, and because I look out for the riders in the groups that I'm NOT leading... but it's probably also because I want the prestige of being a ride leader, and the free jersey you get when you lead ten rides. Speaking of riding jerseys, this Ubuntu jersey has caught my eye, but the price is ridiculous. £ 59.49 is about $95. If I'm not going to go for a GPS, I'm CERTAINLY not spending that on a jersey!
liberty & equality
I was listening to something-or-other on NPR today, and, instead of characterizing the judges on the Supreme Court as liberal or conservative, a commentator characterized them as either more interested in liberty or more interested in equality.
I need to think about this. It's a distinction I haven't heard before, and it makes some sense... but it doesn't leave any room for the Religious Right, who aren't interested (as far as I can tell) in either.
It does offer another way of looking at the question, different from the "smart, but evil" vs. "good, but stupid" way I've been thinking for the past few years.
And it strikes me that, while I'm much more interested in equality than liberty, I'm also interested in liberty. It further strikes me that if we give up either, we soon won't have the other.
I need to think about this. It's a distinction I haven't heard before, and it makes some sense... but it doesn't leave any room for the Religious Right, who aren't interested (as far as I can tell) in either.
It does offer another way of looking at the question, different from the "smart, but evil" vs. "good, but stupid" way I've been thinking for the past few years.
And it strikes me that, while I'm much more interested in equality than liberty, I'm also interested in liberty. It further strikes me that if we give up either, we soon won't have the other.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
midnight computer worries
My main computer has never run Windows; I built it from parts to run Ubuntu, and it's been happily doing that since spring of 2008. Linux computers rarely get any kind of attack (I don't use any virus protection), but I stumbled on two articles on rootkits in Linux this morning (it's heading for 4:00 am, and I've been up since about 2:30). I don't do my best thinking at this time of day (that doesn't happen for another two hours or so), so I got panicky and downloaded what appear to be the most common rootkit utilities for Ubuntu: chkrootkit and rkhunter.
They didn't show up in the program menu anywhere I could find, which means they run from the ooh-scary command-line terminal (my first computer didn't have Windows - back in the DOS 3.3 days - and even my second computer only had Windows 2.something, that was basically a menu for command-line commands, so I'm not completely unfamiliar with the command line - but you've gotta know what the commands are to use 'em; graphical interfaces, with all their problems, are better for the person who doesn't know what the program will do). Both programs want to be run as root, and rkhunter wants a parameter set. For the basics, use these commands:
sudo rkhunter -c
sudo chkrootkit
That'll get 'em going... and now I've got a place where I can go look these up when I need 'em!
(A year and a half ago, on another blog, I wrote about the use of the command line. I'm sticking with the thoughts expressed in that earlier post.)
They didn't show up in the program menu anywhere I could find, which means they run from the ooh-scary command-line terminal (my first computer didn't have Windows - back in the DOS 3.3 days - and even my second computer only had Windows 2.something, that was basically a menu for command-line commands, so I'm not completely unfamiliar with the command line - but you've gotta know what the commands are to use 'em; graphical interfaces, with all their problems, are better for the person who doesn't know what the program will do). Both programs want to be run as root, and rkhunter wants a parameter set. For the basics, use these commands:
sudo rkhunter -c
sudo chkrootkit
That'll get 'em going... and now I've got a place where I can go look these up when I need 'em!
(A year and a half ago, on another blog, I wrote about the use of the command line. I'm sticking with the thoughts expressed in that earlier post.)
Friday, April 1, 2011
tl:dr HAH!
I've just discovered an internet meme: TL:DR. It stands for "Too long; didn't read".
Man, that's me all over the place. I am an unstoppable source of verbiage that is TL, so that everybody else can pass by and DR.
My friend Mark A is another offender; his emails look like letters, and his letters need chapter headings. I love them, except when it's time for me to respond; I always feel like I'm cheating him out of some text when I don't send some thousand-word email, or when I don't have to pay book rate on a letter.
"TL;DR" (shouldn't it be a semicolon?). Hrmph. If it's something I'm interested in, you can't make it long ENOUGH!
Man, that's me all over the place. I am an unstoppable source of verbiage that is TL, so that everybody else can pass by and DR.
My friend Mark A is another offender; his emails look like letters, and his letters need chapter headings. I love them, except when it's time for me to respond; I always feel like I'm cheating him out of some text when I don't send some thousand-word email, or when I don't have to pay book rate on a letter.
"TL;DR" (shouldn't it be a semicolon?). Hrmph. If it's something I'm interested in, you can't make it long ENOUGH!
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