If you are a regular reader you know I place significant stock in genetics; not that genes are destiny, but they are certainly part of it.  In today's weird liberal ethos this point of view is considered "bad" - since all men are created equal, we must pretend that all men are created the same, which is foolishness - but I prefer honesty to political correctness.  Whenever I am in Holland the culture embraces me with its familiarity.  And that culture (like all cultures) is born of its people; the libertarian social approach (not to be confused with liberal), the steadfastness and self-reliance, the competitiveness, the entrepeneurialism combined with enlightened altruism, the easy acceptance of sex and sexuality, the embrace of family and quiet religion undertones.  It all feels comfortable, there isn't the tension between the people and their way of life you feel in America.

I suppose a key element of this cultural feeling is the underlying homogeneity, which can't be found in larger countries like the U.S.  Certainly the sizeable Muslim immigrant population in the Netherlands doesn't feel comfortable; they haven't integrated very well with the Dutch and their imported culture clashes at many levels; a problem which is being exacerbated by their much higher birth rate.  It is reminiscent  but perhaps worse than the situation created by the large influx of Mexican immigrants in the Southern U.S.

Anyway it is really nice to be here, even if only temporarily.  I can soak up the feeling and carry it around with me.  You can take a Dutchman out of the Netherlands, but you can't take the Dutch out of him :)   Ik ben echt wel Nederlands.

The Giro has begun, and Christian Vandevelde of Slipstream is in the maglia rosa!  Congratulations to Slipstream; last year they were a step below the Pro Tour, this year they've clearly made it to the top echelon of the sport...  it will be interesting to see how they do over the next three weeks, they do not really have a GC contender but do have many riders who can win stages.  And clearly they have a good team! 

Carlustblog remembers the Porsche 928.  "The 928 was a fantastic car that helped define the sports GT category, marrying supercar performance with comfort and everyday practicality. The 928 had such an embarrassment of ability that it captured the imagination."  It certainly captured mine; since being a teenager I always wanted one, and then, when I was 32 and finally able to afford one, I almost bought one.  I came this close -> <- but ended up buying a then-brand-new Lexus SC400 instead.  (I never regretted the Lexus - it was a great car - but I do sometimes wonder how much fun it would have been to have a 928.)  [ via Instapundit ] 

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Holland is the most cycle friendly country on Earth; everyone rides, there are bike paths everywhere, and cars are unfailingly polite to cyclists.  I don't know how it all got started (some say it was gas rationing during WWII), but now that it has, it is a good thing.  You've got to love these Dutch girls with their long legs; they don't think anything of riding a bike to a club wearing a dress and heels!  One of the many pleasures of Amsterdam... 

I've been thinking about the ghost bike idea - I've realized the main effect of a ghost bike memorial is on cars, rather than bikes.  People who drive by a bike memorial every day will take notice and possibly be more careful.  In this way a memorial to a bike accident victim could prevent more accidents, which would be a great result.  So I am now for ghost bikes; they may be spooky, but if they increase awareness of bikes on the part of cars, they're a good thing. 

This Saturday the Giro d'Italia begins, and with the last-minute inclusion of Team Astana (Contador, Leipheimer, Kloden, and company) this is the BIG race of the year.  Especially watch out for Dennis Menchov, last year's Vuelta winner, who is/was gunning for the Tour but realizes with this field this is the race to win. 

Leigh Himel wonders Have we Crossed the Chasm?  It's kind of a non-question, because "we" don't cross it; according to Geoffrey Moore it is a transition each technology goes through in market adoption.  Leigh asks "when it comes to technology", like there's one thing called "technology", but clearly that's wrong.  Different new technologies find their market adoption separately over time as they go through these stages, and it will ever be so...  Still I like the post for this nice diagram :) 

Scott Adams ponders The Economics Party.  "I decided to start my own political party. I call it the Economics Party. There’s no paperwork involved, and you don’t even have to stop being a Democrat or Republican or whatever to join. The Economics Party won’t have its own candidates. All we’ll do is agree to vote for the candidate with the best long term economic policy, according to the consensus of leading economists."  I love it.  Of course this is a sort of electoral college; we're delegating our votes to "economists", on the theory that they know better than we do.  And perhaps they do :) 

Instapundit links Obama's Support Similar to Kerry's in 2004.  I don't know why it wouldn't be; although Obama is a much more appealing candidate, his liberal voting record suggests similar positions on many issues to Kerry's.  Unfortunately in 2004 this meant he could win the nomination, but not the election, and it may mean the same in 2008. 

So, have you signed the Save XP petition?  I think it is in everyone's best interest to do so; if you're an XP user who hasn't yet "downgraded" to Vista, you don't want to have to, and if you're a Vista user who has, you want to put pressure on Microsoft to make sure their next version of Windows isn't a step backward.  Apparently about 200,000 people have signed the petition, but while Microsoft has made some noises to indicate they might extend the life of XP, so far there has been no change in the official position... 

For an interesting perspective on why this is important, check out Ars Technica's three part series: From Win32 to Cocoa, a Window user's conversion to Mac OS X.  There is some great background on why and how Windows squandered its technical lead, as well as good information for would-be Mac OS X developers.  Part II features a section called Vista, Schmista, which accurately summarizes the failed promise of Vista. 

Finally, this lightbulb has burned continuously for 107 years.  Now that's amazing. 

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And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful awesome amazing daughter Megan, who turned 11 today; wow.  I can't believe it has been eleven years, and yet I can't believe there was a time before Megan, either.  We had a nice dinner to celebrate, along with an amazing Santa Rita Pinot from Amapola; really I can't remember ever having a bad Pinot from that appellation... 

I think the question of the day, or of tomorrow, will be has Obama now clinched the nomination?  It appears he has won North Carolina and lost Indiana, but won by enough and lost by little enough that it blunts Hillary's momentum.  Now the question will be will Hillary quit (no!) and who will he choose as VP (not Hillary!) 

Perhaps the main effect of the two-donkey race for Democrat candidate has been to level the playing field for the Republicans.  A few months ago it seemed a foregone conclusion that whomever the Democrats nominated would end up winning the general election; now, while Obama is still ahead, McCain appears to have a real chance.

This is especially appropriate to post on Megan's birthday; the NYTimes reports on Prepping Robots to Perform Surgery.  Some of you may know, seven years ago when Megan was four she had open heart surgery performed using a Computer Motion robot (it went perfectly); that company is now part of Intuitive Surgical, who are profiled in the article.  What awesome incredible important technology.  Count me as a fan.  [ via Slashdot! ] 

Mark Pilgrim: the day the music died.  "This is a letter I sent to my father to explain what it means that Microsoft is pulling support for MSN Music."  An ardent opponent of DRM, Mark nails it, as usual... 

And another from Mark (who is blogging more frequently, it seems!): when the fall is all that's left, regarding the fact that while Opera and Safari were desperately competing to see who could pass the Acid3 test first, Mozilla sat on the sidelines and carped.  I have to agree. 

Jeff Atwood explains model-view-controller.  Well that is helpful, but still leaves me wondering why one needs "a pattern" at all; seems like you use concepts like MVC when they apply, but don't force them when they don't.  Not all applications need to be (or should be) "skinnable". 

John Gruber: regarding the iPhone keyboard.  I don't care how many people say they've gotten used to it, and how it really isn't that bad, it does take getting used to and it is really that bad.  Over the years I've become amazing proficient at one-thumbed typing on my Treo, and I'm not willing to give that up.  Clearly Apple will have to find a way to provide some physical feedback, and I bet they will. 

TTAC asks: do we still like supercars?  With a review of the amazing Ascari A10.  The quick answer is YES.  A more considered answer is ... yes, of course!  I mean, 0-60 in 2.8s, wow.  (And we also still like Top Gear :) 

Ottmar Liebert is touring again and will be in California during July.  Mark your calendars!  (I'm shooting for July 1 at Soho in Santa Barbara; a cool venue which is perfect for Ottmar...) 

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Yeah, I'm still awake, and just checked my RSS reader, and I can't believe how "everyone" seems to assume that YHOO is going to take a beating tomorrow, while MSFT will not.  I really don't get this. 

From the start it seemed to me that Microsoft was dealing from weakness; they needed Yahoo more than Yahoo needed them (and they definitely wanted Yahoo more than Yahoo wanted them; in fact, all of Yahoo's actions signaled they were not interested).  Microsoft increased their price, and was probably willing to increase their price more, but they realized that 1) Yahoo was really not interested in being bought (people are one of Yahoo's key assets), and 2) Yahoo was willing to make themselves less valuable in order to prevent being bought (via deals like the Google adwords test).

At the end Yahoo got what they wanted (being left alone to execute) and Microsoft did not (they don't have a new cool strategy for online success).  Meanwhile Yahoo's quarterly financials were good, and Microsoft's were not.  So tell me again why Yahoo's stock is going to suffer tomorrow, and Microsoft's will not?

If I was a market player - which I am most assuredly not - I would buy Yahoo and short Microsoft.  This seems a clear case where the so-called experts are wrong, and a contrarian could make some money.  Stay tuned, we'll see what happens tomorrow later today...

[posted on 5/5 at 9:30 AM]

So what happened?  YHOO opened down (20%) and has trended up since; MSFT opened up (2%) and has traded down since:

There was a lot of volume right at the start.  If I had bought in the market when it opened, taken YHOO long and MSFT short, I would be looking pretty good right now.  Easier to do on paper than with real money :)  Stay tuned...

[posted on 5/7 at 8:30 AM]

The endgame?  YHOO has now levelled, but definitely came up from open on Monday, while MSFT is roughly the same as Monday open; it went down for a day, and then came up for a day.

The most interesting thing that's happened is the rumors that the conversation continues...  Apparently there are enough Yahoo shareholders who are disappointed that the deal didn't take place at $33 (given that YHOO is at $25, and hasn't been anywhere near $33 for over a yead).  Also of interest are stories trying to find other companies for Microsoft to buy - like AOL (!?)

I just want to thank everyone who's emailed about Ole's Ride for Cancer.  I need to post a little form to gather your information, and I will; please stay tuned.  In the meantime your support has been very gratifying.  I have a Google Alert set for "pathology", and I just saw this blog: Pray for Christin, about a 15-year old girl diagnosed with osteosarcoma.  Her prognosis is grim.  This is what it is all about, helping people like Christin.

Meanwhile out in the blogosphere, it's all happening...

So Microsoft has given up trying to buy Yahoo (at least for the moment; maybe the stock will get hammered, the price will go down, and they'll try again).  Speculation online seems to focus on how badly Yahoo's stock will get hit, but really I think Microsoft was harmed more than Yahoo; they needed Yahoo more than Yahoo needed them.  (Remember the recent earning announcements; Yahoo beat expectations, while Microsoft was flat.) 

I think this is the best take: Does Ballmer need to go?  I don't know about that - my hunch is yes - but Microsoft needs something or they'll die.  Sure they generate a ton of profit, and that's great, but there is little innovation left over there.  With the Vista fiasco and Office becoming less and less relevant, the trend is clear.

Gigaom replays a McKinsey article on Pixar, including an interview with Director Brad Bird.  One of the key bits: "Q: What undermines Innovation?  Brad Bird: Passive-aggressive people - people who don’t show their colors in the group but then get behind the scenes and peck away - are poisonous. I can usually spot those people fairly soon and I weed them out."  Perhaps Microsoft needs some Brad Birds.  [ via Jason Kottke ] 

I totally agree with Fake Steve Jobs: The problem with Facebook.  "A new study discovers that the vast majority of Facebook apps are an utter waste of time...  Facebook is a Ponzi scheme. A handful of VCs have created the illusion of an actual market by funding apps companies and then doing deals with each other -- passing cash back and forth among to make it look as if money is being made."  There is nothing there for which anyone would pay.  Nada. 

Want to see the web 2.0 echo chamber at its stupidest?  Check this out: Six new startup stars.  I want you to read about these six companies, and tell me whether any of them make the slightest sense to you as a business.  Stars?  C'mon.  TradeVibes epitomizes the narrowness of these companies; "the best way to discover and research hot new startups online".  Riight. 

So Andreas Klöden won the Tour of Romandie (remember him).  And rumor has it the Giro may invite Klöden's team Astana after all...  Let's hope so; then we could see Contador and Leipheimer in action in a grand tour... 

The Tesla Roadster is supposedly "in production", but it isn't clear how many have actually been delivered.  They did just open a store in L.A. - but with a 15-month backlog it will be for marketing, not for sales.  "The Tesla store looks more like a cool ad agency or hip restaurant than a car dealership. Its industrial look features poured concrete floors, exposed beams and ductwork, mirrored front glass and planter boxes filled with horsetail stems. The service department is out in the open to allow customers to see what is going on with their cars."  Will I visit?  Of course! 

How cool would this be: Bison could once again thunder across the great plains. 
Yes, please! 

Finally, from Megan today: "two wrongs don't make a right, but three rights make a left". 

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(You guys may be getting tired of my post-race reports, but too bad; this is my blog, and I'm a cyclist, so some cycling is inevitable :)

The Breathless Agony mascot is the grim reaper; he was at the summit to help me celebrate:

This race is timed to the summit; I made it in 6:15, and I'm pretty proud of it.  Even more bragworthy, on the last two climbs I was not passed by anyone.  (We won't mention the people who finish in five hours, who were already up the road; they're disgusting :)  All in all a great ride, I can't wait to do this one again next year.

Next up is the Eastern Sierra Double, in the area around Mammoth Lakes.  Stay tuned for more...

Biking news - today I did the Stunt / Piuma loop, with my friend Tim; man, I felt strong.  Last Tuesday I did the Mount Palomar / Lake Henshaw loop, and that felt good, too.  I think I'm ready for Breathless Agony Saturday; now I just have to eat and drink a lot tomorrow, to make sure my tank is full. 

As you saw, today I was accepted to ride in the Furnace Creek 508 (yay!) and am turning it into Ole's Ride for Cancer (yay!).  I'm pretty excited about that!

So that's my news, now, let's see what's happening everywhere else, shall we?

TTAC on the Dodge Challenger: the retro-flop has landed.  What I think is really interesting is the accompanying picture, see at left, comparing the 1970 Challenger to the 2008 model.  Each seemingly epitomizes the design ethic of its time.  Now, which is more attractive?  To me there is no question, the 1970 car is way nicer looking.  The thick bodies, skinny windows, and big rear ends of today's cars are ugly.  It can only be a matter of time before the pendulum swings back... 

I'm shocked: Twitter said to be abandoning Ruby on Rails.  This should spark a great debate in the Web 2.0 echo chamber, but really, we all know Ruby performance sucks, so why would it scale? 

Other shocking news: Blu-ray: the future has been delayed.  "Hot on the heels of last week's report from ABI Research noting that many consumers may not see the picture quality difference between Blu-ray and standard DVDs comes the latest Blu-ray sales figures from NPD Group. And they're not pretty."  The real problem is online video, the attack from below.  Apple just announced they will be selling new movies on iTunes the same day they're released on DVD.  That's just another nail.  Blu-ray will never be big, before long it will be irrelevant, its "victory" over HD-DVD long forgotten.  Remember laser discs? 

Here we have the R2D2 DVD projector.  Once you see it, you realize this was inevitable, how utterly cool.  Too bad it costs $3,000, however... 

Derek Miller on the joys of the old IBM 101 keyboard.  Man, I loved those keyboards, makes me want to go find one.  Nothing quite like that real metal base, with the unique buckling-spring key action.  And you can be heard typing for miles :)  Right now I use a nine-year old Micron keyboard; I love it, but I know the day will come when a key will break, and then what?  Today's wimpy limpy keyboards are massively worse.  Well there is always eBay... 

Finally, via my friend Peter, these pictures of a record-breaking Coke / Mentos explosion-fest, as 1,500 students discover the joys of Chemistry.  Whoa. 

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To give myself extra motivation, I'm asking all of you to sponsor me, and will donate the proceeds to the Lance Armstrong Foundation.  You may know, in addition to being one of the greatest cyclists of all time, having won seven consecutive Tours de France, Lance Armstrong is also a cancer survivor, and his foundation is prominent in funding cancer research, raising awareness of cancer, and most importantly helping cancer victims and survivors.  It is a wonderful organization and [I think] a very appropriate recipient of whatever donations I am able to raise in this way.

If you are interested in sponsoring me and making a donation to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, please let me know.  Your interest will be a pledge, and if I am successful in finishing the race, I'll let you know so you can make a donation.  The race is this October 4-6, and I'll post / email progressively more information as that date gets closer.  I also plan to post periodic updates so everyone knows how much money we've raised together!

I am pretty excited about competing in this race, but also pretty daunted by the difficulty.  In the middle of the night on Saturday, with 250 miles ridden and 250 left to ride, the idea that I'm helping to raise a bunch of money for cancer will be a great motivator.  Thank you in advance for your sponsorship (!), and stay tuned for more details...

From:

Sent:

To:

Subject:

Attachments: 

Hello and congratulations!

You have been selected to compete in the 25th Anniversary Furnace Creek 508 on October 4-6, 2008, "The Toughest 48 Hours in Sport".  You are part of a select group who will participate in this world-famous spiritual odyssey through Death Valley and the Mojave Desert.  We look forward to sharing the experience with you!

To confirm your spot in the race field, please submit the appropriate Furnace Creek 508 entry fee and the attached three-page Pdf form WITHIN ONE WEEK.

2008 will be an extra special edition of "The Toughest 48 Hours in Sport" as we celebrate the race's 25 year history.  Thank YOU for being a part of history!

Best of luck with your preparation and please let us know if there is anything else that we can do to help.

Sincerely,

Chris Kostman
Chief Adventure Officer, Race Director, and Totemizer
AdventureCORPS, Inc.
http://www.the508.com

Yay, I made it!  Or maybe, crap, now I'm in for it...  Whew.  There are two tragedies in life, not getting what you want, and getting what you want.  Which is this?  Stay tuned :)

Greetings!  Did you have a wonderful Queen's Day?  I hope you did, and that you "thought Orange" all day.  Being Dutch is much more than a nationality or ethnic background, it is a state of mind.  After all, you can tell a Dutch person, but you can't tell them much :)

I had a nice day myself, though a long one; worked through some of niggling details.  Satisfying.

(You will notice and appreciate, I hope, that I am not going to dignify the whole Obama-Wright thing by commenting on it.)

This is fascinating; over an GNXP Razib has analyzed a bunch of data to figure out What predicts creationism?  Put another way, what factors correlate to a disbelief in evolution...  Nothing shocking but the data are nice to have laid out so cleanly.  Of course the other factor which correlates strongly, not considered this time, is intelligence. 

I don't know whether to think this is cool, or spooky, or weird, or what: ghost bikes memorialize accidents.  "A Ghost Bike is a white-painted bike that is placed at a location where a cyclist has been hit."  I'm trying to imagine what it would be like to have a ghost bike on a daily ride.  I sort of have one now; a couple of years ago a neighbor was killed while riding on a street near my house, I know the exact spot it happened, and pass it several times a week.  Maybe the main reason to do it would be for cars, so they would be more careful. 

One of my quarterly delights is reading the latest issue of Caltech's Engineering & Science, which always has some great articles about the doings there.  The tone is resolutely old school, harking back to the days of white-shirted engineers with slide rules and pocket protectors, quietly reinventing the world.  I am always interested in the obituaries; reading about these great people and their lives and accomplishments, such as Seymour Benzer, who pretty much invented modern genetics.  One of the obits in the latest issue is for David Elliot, professor of History emeritus.  I remember taking classes from Professor Elliot thirty years ago; I can still hear his Scottish brogue and cheerful enthusiasm, as he endeavored to teach history to a bunch of science students.  He taught me how to write, one of the most important things I've ever learned.  Thanks, David, see what you did :) 

Speaking of how to write, and people who can; check out Regret and Time Travel, from Mark Elliot (no known connection to David).  "So, I can have no regrets and I can assign no blame, unless I am willing to invalidate and betray what I have gained."  Well said and thought provoking...  (You will notice and appreciate, that I am not going to dignify the whole Obama-Wright thing by pointing out the analogy.) 

Remember when Microsoft Mesh was announced, I couldn't get interested enough to investigate?  Well, Joel Spolsky investigated, and concludes the Architecture astronauts take over.  I actually didn't even realize there was a difference between Microsoft Live Mesh (Hailstorm revisited), and Windows Live Mesh (Groove revisited).  Now that I've enjoyed Joel's skewering, I'm even less interested.  And meanwhile they are trying to buy Yahoo to, er, what?  Get technology?  Users?  Programmers?  Good ideas for new products, maybe... 

Well here's a surprise: Schmidt says Google still scratching head over YouTube profits.  Remember when Google bought YouTube, we all wondered how in the world it could be worth $1.5B?  Well, it wasn't based on normal business metrics like cash flow.  Of course it was based on abnormal metrics like the amount Google's stock appreciated in value... 

Meanwhile YouTube has become the total standard for things like this: The best Rube Goldberg Ever.  I don't know about best ever, but it is pretty good.  [ via my daughter Megan, who is a sucker for these things, and who asked "who's Rube Goldberg"? - turns out he was a cartoonist... ] 

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I wanted to wish everyone Happy Koninginnedag (the Dutch Queen's Day)!

Yes of course I am wearing Orange, aren't you?  (Fortunately I have an orange Tivo tee-shirt :)

Sorry, I know I've been gone; I was out riding Mount Palomar 'till late last night (yes I did wear my Rabobank riding kit :), and didn't get back in time to blog, and had to jump right into work this morning.  I'll try to post some updates later, but in the meantime have a Happy Queen's Day.  You could celebrate with some orange juice!

Kara Swisher calls it like it is: Twitter: Where Nobody Knows Your Name.  "I conducted a little experiment among the more than 100 folks gathered for the wedding, all of whom were quite intelligent, armed with all kinds of the latest devices (many, many people had iPhones, for example) and not sluggish about technology.  They were also made up of a wide range of ages and genders, from kids to seniors.  And so I asked a large group of people–about 30–and here is the grand total who knew what Twitter was: 0."  More proof, if any were needed, that Twitter is an echo chamber, and not even a very big one. 

Wow, happy birthday iTunes Music Store, it turns five today.  Five!  I can so remember when it launched.  Even at time zero it seemed like it was going to be successful, but this successful?  Who knew!  [ Daring Fireball: Seems to be doing OK :) ]  (I'll commemorate with the old logo, from back in 2003.  Yeah, it used to be green.) 

Dave Winer wonders Is Rev Wright the new Billy Carter?  I don't think so...  first, Billy was a relative, and you don't pick your relatives, while Wright was chosen by Obama to be his pastor, second, Wright has a big radical following, Carter was simply a fool, and third and perhaps most importantly, Obama's appeal is based on being a uniter, and Wright is a divider, hitting right at the core of that appeal.  I think Wright could be fatal to Obama, I really do, especially since he has resisted fading away. 

Halley Suitt thinks it was okay for Miley Cyrus to pose topless.  Not me.  She's 15.  Fifteen!  She doesn’t need to be a sex symbol yet, and shouldn’t be.  There’s nothing wrong with the picture, it’s beautiful, but there’s something wrong with fifteen year olds posing topless.  Worse yet, she’s a role model for a lot of younger kids.  My 10 year old loves Hannah Montana, like all 10 year olds.  She doesn’t need her heros to be sex symbols yet.  That can come later, when she’s sixteen and her heros are twenty :) 

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I am no longer desperately seeking sympathy.  Although I am mindful of the fact that precelebration is the root of all failure.  As Dave Winer says, "praise Murphy" :)

Okay, so back to the real world, let's see what's happening...

More interesting than Microsoft's bid to acquire Yahoo is Microsoft's struggle to figure out what to do about Windows XP.  Of course they had previously announced XP would no longer be sold after June 30, but millions of their customers would rather keep buying XP than switch to Vista.  In fact Dell, HP, and Lenovo have all listened to their customers and are planning to ship machines "downgraded" to XP after June 30, exploiting a loophole in their license agreements with Microsoft.  This situation pits Microsoft against their customers, it will be interesting to see if Microsoft blinks.  I think how they handle this is more important to their future than the Yahoo deal. 

[ Update: Eric Sink thinks it might be the most arrogant corporate decision in history. ]

Here's what happens when you don't listen to your customers: Firefox market share climbs higher.  Safari is also doing well.  Perhaps by the time IE 9 comes out, nobody will care. 

Scientific American: When slide rules ruled.  I am old enough to remember this - barely.  I definitely remember getting my first HP electronic calculator when I was in college, must have been 1977 or so...  what a breakthrough! 

In the same vein, my friend Craig points out the Curta calculator, a mechanical marvel.

Probably the biggest weakness of the iPhone is the keyboard, and the biggest reason is the lack of tactile feedback.  Now C|Net rumors Apple to add tactile feedback to iPhone.  "An anonymous Apple employee says company executives are in talks with Immersion to license its haptic technology for use in the iPhone, according to a report at Palluxo.com."  That would be cool.  

TTAC reports on a rumored relationship between Tata, the new owners of Jaguar, and Pininfarina, ace designers for Ferrari and Maserati.  Yes, please! 

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Here's the route map as plotted on Google Maps:

There are four main passes, the Jack Rabbit is 4 miles at 4% (max 8%), the Oak Glen is 5 miles at 6.7% (max 16%), the Damnation Alley is 11 miles at 5.2% (max 10%), and the Onyx Summit is 9 miles at 4.4% (max 10%).  That is two Cat 2s and two Cat 1s.  In fact Damnation Alley could be an HC.  This could be a Tour stage, it is that tough.

Extreme rides require extreme measures, I am considering removing my aero bars for this ride.  I won't need them, and they're just another pound to lug up the hills.  That will require rewiring my computer, but so be it.  Another key decision is whether to use bottles or a camelback; bottles are lighter, but with a camelback it is easier to drink continuously.  There are SAG stops at the top of each climb, so some don't take water at all.  I think I'll stick with my trusty camelback, this is no place to bonk.

Should be fun!

So as part of my hard drive recovery I visited the candy store Fry's Electronics today, and found a 1TB external USB2 hard drive for $189.  Yes this is not a typo, that is 1TB for $189.  Wow.  There was one per customer so I bought two :) 

This is what 4,000 digital slides looks like!  The little blue light along the front even flashes purple when the drive is accessed, so you get a light show to go with your inexpensive bits...

Looks like I'm going to have to see Hancock... 

Brad Feld nails it: Why more stress is not inevitable.  "As I look back over the past decade, my intensity level hasn't changed much since the turn of the century. However, my stress level has changed dramatically."  Me, too.  Cycling is the key for me, YMMV... 

But here is something you can get stressed out about: the Columbia Tariff Ticker.  Not much of a Heh for this one, I'm afraid; this deal makes all kinds of sense, except maybe in an election year... 

The latest in the Microsoft - Yahoo saga - Microsoft announces flat revenues and a big drop in profit.  Still, as long as there are no other bidders in the fray, this deal seems inevitable.  I am not rooting for it, however; I think Yahoo will deliver more cool stuff outside the borg than in it. 

Chilirec - Tivo for Internet radio.  I've often wondered why nobody had done this, maybe there's no business model.  Although that doesn't seem to stop people from doing stuff... 

The Scientist reports Darwin hits Dating.  "Web sites attract beautiful people who use 'natural selection' to eliminate the imperfect."  Um, not.  This would be artificial selection, right?  You would expect The Scientist to get this right. 

My new motto.
[ via blogging.la ] 

I really wasn't snippy at all, was I?

Have a fantastic weekend, and see you on the other side :)

 

 

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Actually before launching into a pass on the blogosphere, I should tell you that my ongoing disaster with hard drives in my laptop has come to a head.  You may remember I was desperately seeking sympathy when my new 250GB drive failed, and I have been running on my old 100GB ever since, putting off the inevitable recovery session.  Every time I boot Windows wants to check my hard drive because something is screwed up, and today whatever that is has escalated into badness.  So tomorrow I get to reattempt the recovery and move back to my 250GB drive.  Oh, goody.  Definitely not something to try late at night, especially if you are feeling bone lazy :)

Wired: Hawking: Unintelligent life is likely on other planets.  "Famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking has been thinking a lot about the cosmic question, 'Are we alone?' The answer is probably not, he says."  However the probability of intelligent life is low, "'Primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare,' he then quickly added: 'Some would say it has yet to occur on earth.'"  And some would say there was intelligent life on Earth, but it is becoming increasingly rare... 

From Tim Oren: Go as a Business Metaphor.  "The whole board is the available market. The stones played down are investment and expense to go after the market. A space surrounded is the net margin achieved by a product or company (the group). Too little space, and you're squeezed out of the market. Too much margin, and you are inviting competition to jump into your space."  I've never played Go, but I can appreciate the metaphor.  It is interesting to contemplate as we watch Microsoft try to buy Yahoo, and Google, and Apple...  what is their strategy? 

You won't believe this, but there is a TV show I care about - the Sarah Connor Chronicles.  I thought this show was pretty excellent.  Apparently it will come back for a second season.  Yay.  You might say it was not terminated :) 

Having you been following this?  Amateur Hour over at Twitter.  The back story is that Twitter has been down lately, or almost down, or half down, or something like that, and the techno-cognoscenti who use it are up in arms.  The CTO has left (quit or pushed, who knows) and the VP/Engineering has left, and things are unsettled.  Underlying all this is the unappreciated root cause; Twitter is written in Ruby, which is slow and doesn't scale.  As Twitter has grown, this has become a problem.  There is a rewrite in their future if they want to stay alive... 

This is pretty cool: Cat 5 wedding rings.  ("to help nerds couple".)  Just when you think you've seen it all, you realize that "it all" is so much more than you thought... 

 

 

 

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Today I received an email from a friend, sent from her smartphone while in the dentist's chair.  Talk about always on :)

So Clinton not only won Pennsylvania, she won convincingly, with a 10-point margin.  At this point, having won all the "big" states, you'd have to say she has a good claim on being more electable than Obama.  In fact if you include Florida and Michigan (and their votes will count in the general election), Clinton has a great claim to being the Democratic candidate.  Fascinating.  This is looking like a world-class choke on Obama's part. 

And now who do McCain supporters root for?  It is becoming apparent that Clinton would be the stronger candidate in the general election, despite what head-to-head polls may say; she has won all the big states like California, Texas, Florida, and [now] Pennsylvania which a Democrat must win in order to win overall.  Furthermore it is also becoming apparent that Obama's weaknesses runs deep; a head-to-head debate with McCain could be gruesome.  I guess we root for Obama, although it feels unsporting.  I hate to precelebrate, but this is looking like a world-class choke on the Democrats part.

Parenthetically, not everyone is happy about this state of affairs; in particular the NYTimes, which has become disgustingly partisan for Obama, is spinning furiously.  Ann Althouse reports on the moving goalposts: "The news is not that she won big, but that it's bad that she won."  I'll just note that Clinton is currently the Junior Senator from New York.

[Update: Looks like maybe Obama has to win Indiana.  And it looks like maybe he won't...]

One of the really weird things in the software development job market is how many foreign professionals there are, compared to just a few "native" Americans.  When I post a software development position I get a ton of resumes with Indian and Chinese names, and many Eastern European ones.  Only seldom do I get Sally Jones.  This situation is not a problem - my company Aperio is a virtual United Nations of different nationalities, and it works great (in fact it kind of spices things up :)  The problem is that many of these foreign engineers need an H1B visa in order to work in the U.S., and the number of these visas is capped.  In fact it is capped way too low, in a bogus effort to "protect" U.S. workers.  Fortunately this situation is recognized (Congress doing its best to lose the global talent war), and is now being addressed (House Republicans move to increase H1B visa quota).  Stay tuned... 

The Weekly Standard: 24 Hours on the 'Big Stick'.  "Landing on an aircraft carrier was the most fun I'd ever had with my trousers on. And the 24 hours that I spent aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt--the "Big Stick"--were an equally unalloyed pleasure. I love big, moving machinery. And machinery doesn't get any bigger, or more moving, than a U.S.-flagged nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that's longer than the Empire State Building is tall and possesses four acres of flight deck. This four acres, if it were a nation, would have the fifth or sixth largest airforce in the world--86 fixed wing aircraft plus helicopters."  I love this quote from a CPO: "These are the same kids, who, back on land, have their hats bumped to one side and their pants around their knees, hanging out on corners. And here they're in charge of $35 million airplanes."  There is a lesson in there somewhere... 

Another bogus non-story exposed: Upconverting HDMI DVD players: Fact vs. fiction.  The bottom line is that if you have a good HDTV, it can upconvert just as well if not better than DVD players.  The whole upconvert thing is a ruse to unload all the HD-DVD players nobody wants anymore. 

Can you muster up any enthusiasm for Microsoft's Mesh?  Me, either.  It should be interesting, it could be interesting, but somehow I feel without having investigated at all that it won't be interesting.  Microsoft hasn't done anything cool for a long time.  Making it seem even less interesting: "A hundred of Ozzie's engineers have been working on Mesh for the past two years".  Nothing that takes one hundred engineers two years to build is worth building! 

Wrapping up, check out this gorgeous sun canopy designed by Christoph Klemmt.
 Just beautiful.  What is it about Italian designers? 
They seem to be able to make ordinary stuff extraordinary. 

 

 

 

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Gerard Vanderleun has a great post: The Dane's ask why bother.  "We in Denmark cannot figure out why you are even bothering to hold an election.  On one side, you have a b*tch who is a lawyer, married to a lawyer, and a lawyer who is married to a b*tch who is a lawyer.  On the other side, you have a true war hero married to a woman with a huge chest who owns a beer distributorship.  Is there a contest here?"  Politics defies logic :)

Check this out: Aptera.  0-60 in 10s, 85mph max, range 120 miles on electric.  Of course you have to be from Missouri with all these electric vehicles, until they're shipping (really shipping) you just don't know.  But it looks cool.  As the price of gas continues to rise (now routinely over $4.00/gallon in SoCal) the value proposition of electric cars gets better and better... 

Scientific American: Fifty Years of American Space Exploration.  Awesome, that's just about all I can say.  This is truly important work.  We can do everything we can to preserve the environment here on Earth - and we should - but eventually we will use up its resources, that is inevitable, and we will have to find new places to live.  Not to mention, new friends from alien races!  What a great time to be alive. 

I am always struck by how much was accomplished so long ago, with such primative technology.  We put a man on the moon in 1969!

Congratulations to Adam Engst and TidBITS on eighteen years of publishing.  That is nothing short of unbelievable.  I can remember receiving TidBITS in the old SETEXT format through my CompuServe account, on my Mac SE II.  That was before I could even spell Internet.  And through all that time it has remained a valuable and interesting source of information about Macs... 

Just wanted to sing praises to this Online Icon Maker from RealWorld Graphics, which I've found really useful.  I typically design icons in Photoshop, but then use this tool to convert them into an Icon file.  Works great. 

Doc Searles gives us a Free Grand Canyon Plane Tour.  Wow!  Amazingly these pictures were taken by Doc through the window of a commercial jet.  The scale and variation of the Grand Canyon is unbelievable. 

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