2 10's

I feel like I need a t-shirt made: I survived Christmas 2008.

I was'nt that bad, really. Wifes parents came up for the usual Christmas eve dinner and drinking. That went well, although I learned, brown rice is a little tricky to cook. But "The chicken was good." *eyerolling* ugh!. Ok.
Thursday, my brother (Doc256) and his woman came up. After they arrived we decided that Ma and Steve should be over here too. So I call up Ma. "Ma. Come over. We're havin' a pahty. You don't even have to put your pants on." " I don't?!" she says. I guess the last part was the real kicker, they came over. We had a party. She actually decided to put pants on..."In case we broke down."
Saturday, Dad and B came up from Mass. and stayed the night. LilGuns received his first money envelope from his GreatGrammy. Two 10's!

Thanks boy, Ill need that for some beer. Now don't tell anyone.

Sea Level Rise

I actually had a little while to screw around with Google this weekend and I came across a cool widget and a cool feature that are available for google maps. The widget is a sea level rise display.

Here is the scenario for Boston, Massachusetts for 2 meter , 6 meter and 10 meter sea level increases.

A web article I found HERE indicates that a sea level change as much as 70 Meters is possible.

The other cool feature running right now is that google has done a street level view of all the 2008 Tour de France stages. Very cool if you are a cycling geek. See it HERE.

Have Fun Kids.

Cycling Season 2008 Begins...for me anyway

FINALLY after a pathetic four month hiatus I have resumed cycling. Today was a beautiful sunny and crisp Sunday. No wind. Temps. were about 35 deg. F (~2 deg. C). The roads were sandy but mostly dry. And most importantly all the chores around the house were done. Fortunately I have the 8-speed KONA in 'rugged mode' and took it down into town to pick up some groceries.

I picked up mostly produce for tonights dinner, chicken soup. When I got home it weighed in at about 14 pounds. Which fit pretty nicely in the panniers and rack trunk. That reminds me of the ol' joke:

'Whats a hennway? 'Bout 3 pounds.'

Anyway, I was friggin' slow. 11.98 mile round trip. 1 hour 2 minutes. At least 15 minutes slower than during my summer peak. Thats only less than a 12 mph average. I should be at least at 15. Regardless of my 'less than peak' performance it felt great to get back out riding again.

This is all a part of trying to get and keep cycling into as much of my everyday routine as possible. Grocery gettin' is a good start. Commuting into work will start up again (prev. posts 1,2,3) so thats good.

*If any reader(s) is/are curious about how to incorporate cycling as exercise into your daily routine feel free to ask and I will write up a post based on questions. I would love to see more people out there pedaling from place to place like the Dutch.

But yeah today was like "w00000t w0000t"

Satellite Takedown

...or how to really freak everyone out.

Yesterday our illustrious President gave approval for the US Military to use a missile to shoot down a old spy satellite. Is it just me that can hear GWB snickering...'heh heh...yeah lets shoot it down that'll be fun.'

According to news reports I have found on the web (1) "The missiles will target the secret satellite identified as USA 193. Since an immediate failure after its launch in 2006, the satellite's orbit has decayed and it now poses a threat to Earth."

Army guy James E Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said of the mission:

"We have modified three SM-3 missiles aboard Aegis ships to strike the satellite,"

Immediately I started SlingShot Thought-ing a few different ideas:

1) If they miss the satellite...please, please, please tell me they have a remote detonator on that missile. I mean why the fuck would we want to send an armed missile flying off into unknown space?
2) Shooting it down is probably more of an effort to destroy any super secret spy technology, than just to let it fall to Earth and possibly have some of the guts survive.
3) and Most importantly - it sends a message to the WORLD...
"Oh by the way, we can shoot down satellites. We can shoot down YOUR satellites. Can you do that?" (update 11:26AM - Link to show that was on track)

There are news stories all over the webs about this (1, 2, 3 -to list a few). Pretty much in each report the only concerns that are brought up are the hydrazine fuel and possible debris (a.k.a space junk) that will remain in orbit. Now of course this could also mean:

4) Debris could damage or destroy any one or many of the thousands of satellites that currently orbit earth. Sweet.

I'm not so worried about the hydrazine fuel but I think the Pentagon is playing up this safety and environment piece of the danger puzzle to take the attention off of the bigger issues.
It's all a game of war.

Tread with caution

11:32am
As I find more fun quotes:

"It should be understood by all, at home and abroad, that this is an exceptional circumstance and should not be perceived as the standard U.S. policy for dealing with errant satellites," said House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton.

source link

Uhh O.K. Mr. Chaiman, I understand this isn't how we are going to deal with errant satellites but what about Chinas spy satellites? Didn't the just test an anti-satellite missile? Yes. Is this whole situation just a thinly veiled message of one-upsmanship similar to the nuclear build up of the 1980's? It is starting to seem that way.

Aww hell. GO FOR IT!

'08 Tour de France

The course for the 2008 Tour de France has just be published. One interesting change this year is that time bonus' have been scrapped. This should create more equal finish times. Which will probably lead to frequent changes of the yellow jersey (overall leader). I nabbed this image of the route from velonews (who got it from letour.com)

Here is the basic schedule:

• Saturday, July 5 Stage 1, Brest to Plumelec (195km)
  
• Sunday, July 6: Stage 2, Auray to St. Brieuc (165km)
  
• Monday, July 7: Stage 3, St. Malo to Nantes (195km)
  
• Tuesday, July 8: Stage 4: Cholet TT (29km)
  
• Wednesday, July 9: Stage 5, Cholet to Châteauroux (230km)
  
• Thursday, July 10: Stage 6, Aigurande to Super-Besse (195km)
  
• Friday, July 11: Stage 7, Brioude to Aurillac (158km)
  
• Saturday, July 12: Stage 8, Figeac to Toulouse (174km)
  
• Sunday, July 13: Stage 9, Toulouse to Bagnères-de-Bigorre (222km)
  
• Monday, July 14: Stage10, Pau to Hautacam (154km)
  
• Tuesday, July 15: Rest day at Pau
  
• Wednesday, July 16: Stage 11, Lannemezan to Foix (166km)
  
• Thursday, July 17: Stage 12, Lavelanet to Narbonne (168km)
  
• Friday, July 18: Stage 13, Narbonne to Nîmes (182km)
  
• Saturday, July 19: Stage 14, Nîmes to Digne-les-Bains (182km)
  
• Sunday, July 20: Stage 15, Digne-les-Bains to Prato Nevoso (216km)
  
• Monday, July 21: Rest day at Cuneo
  
• Tuesday, July 22: Stage 16, Cuneo to Jausiers (157km)
  
• Wednesday, July 23: Stage 17, Embrun to L'Alpe d'Huez (210km)
  
• Thursday, July 24: Stage 18, Bourg d'Oisans to St. Étienne (197km)
  
• Friday, July 25: Stage 19, Roanne to Montluçon (163km)
  
• Saturday, July 26: Stage 20, Cérilly to St. Amand-Montrond TT (53km)
  
• Sunday, July 27: Stage 21, Étampes to Paris (Champs-Élysées) (143km)

Total distance: 3,554km -2,208 miles

If you are new to the sport the best days/stages to watch will be Stage 9, Stage 17 and Stage 21.

More info available: Here, Here, Here.