Sunday, July 31, 2005

Lance on Letterman (August 1st)

Bet you haven't seen this pic in a long time. A body genetically built to cycle, from a larger heart and lungs to a longer femur. A body that produces less lactic acid and has a main artery from the torso to the lower body that doctors just can't believe it is that big. If God ever created someone to excel at Grand Tours, then he created Lance.

At max output, this body can generate around 1100 watts of power. At threshold, which is a sustainable level, he can, in peak condition, hold at around 475 watts. Go to your local gym to appreciate what these numbers mean.

His fight with cancer steeled an already superb mental toughness with a philosophical insight more akin to Zen than anything in Plano. The cancer also stripped 15 pounds of upper body weight from his frame. His power to weight ratio, for the first time, exceeded the magical 6.7 level (watts to kg).

As great as his cycling accomplishments are, I believe his greatest contribution lies in the awareness and hope he has brought to those fighting this terrible, relentless and seemingly indefatigable disease we call cancer. Just in the last year, the LAF has sold more than 50 million yellow bracelets. Go to their website and you will see one thing--hope. Hope and courage flow from the top down. His legacy this will be.

Lance will be on the Letterman show tomorrow night--Monday, August 1st. Enjoy and marvel.

Zabel Quits T-Mobile

Erik Zabel, the world's most successful active cyclist (191 career wins), announced Sunday that he will be leaving T-Mobile after 13 years. Zabel said his decision to leave T-Mobile was due to his unhappiness with the German team's latest contract offer, coupled with his frustration at being left out of the Tour de France.

"I think I deserved better," he said.

Erik, you did deserved better. T-Mob leaving you out of the Tour this year was simply another disgrace to a team it appears no one wants to be a part of anymore. We missed your professionalism and presence this year.

The German rider, who won a record six green jerseys as the best sprinter in the Tour de France, will announce his new team at a later date. All the best my friend.

Another World Swimming Record Tumbles

MONTREAL (Reuters) - Ian Crocker demolished the world record to win the 100 metres butterfly at the world swimming championships on Saturday and ruin Michael Phelps's dream of winning six gold medals.

Crocker stormed through two laps of the Montreal pool in 50.40 seconds to wipe 0.36 off the previous mark which he set at last year's U.S. Olympic trials at Long Beach, California, and retain the world title he won at Barcelona in 2003.
_____________
Unbelievable! To clean the WR by .36 is just unheard of. Incredible performance. Hats off Ian. Stunning to say the least.

Six Days and Counting . . .

Since our family vacation to the beach is only a few days away, I thought I would post a beautiful picture to get me in the mood. No, we are not going to this destination, but one can dream can't one.

So, in a week, this blog is either going to become a virtual photoblog from St. George Island, or if the internet service is kaput, then, well, . . . my wife won't be shedding any tears--lol.

Saturday, July 30, 2005

Marilyn Joins Team Andrax

Marilyn, thanks so much for joining us in this fight against such a terrible disease. We have a fabulous international team with some of the most caring and compassionate souls you will ever meet. Nate's wife Tiffany is fighting this fight as we speak and we rally around her and Nate as Team Andrax's own.

It's also great to have another cyclist join our team, and the fact that you have fought this disease first hand is inspiring. I agree, what Lance has done off the bike, I believe, will outshine his legacy on it. Been wearing my yellow bracelet since before they were a fashion statement and I will probably wear it the rest of my life.

Again, Marilyn, welcome aboard. For our fellow mates, please check out Marilyn's blog Creative Agents of Change, which is incredible and goes under the subtitle of "Stories of people who make the world a better place." Well worth the visit.

Marilyn, we have a very friendly team, so don't be surprised if a few of our team mates drop by and leave you welcome messages.

Would you camp here?

Everytime I see this picture I think "not in a million years." Beautiful shot, crazy people.

Jan in a post-Lance World

German team T-Mobile leader Jan Ullrich rides at the "Night of Hanover", in Hanover, northern Germany, on Friday, July 29, 2005. It is Jan Ullrichs first start after Tour de France. (AP Photo/Kai-Uwe Knoth)

Don't you just wonder what he's thinking now that Lance has retired. Penny for his thoughts--lol.

Team Andrax CFT Stats Updated 8/1

Trée: 714,837
My Mom: 80,532
Brad: 59,437
Sherry: 57,854
Emily: 57,771
Amber: 50,137
Sally: 48,618
John: 43,954
Nate: 43,908
Bobby-TB: 31,861
Mertzy: 29,817
Kevin K: 27,910
Rob: 24,443
Jeff: 23,350
Lee: 16,238
Mishelle: 14,412
Art: 8,954
Marilyn: 397

Stats Update in Progress

To all my fellow cancer fighting mates on Team Andrax, the team stats are currently in refresh mode at the grid. New protein work units are on the way and we are making progress one molecule at a time.

Look forward to a complete update of our small but dedicated group later today. Again, I thank each and every one of you great guys and gals for pitching in with your spare cpu screensaver time to help the scientists at Oxford work toward a cure. Our thoughts and prayers to the many around the world in a desperate fight as we speak. Godspeed.

Where else but Thailand could you get this picture?

Girl is the photographer's girlfriend. Wonder for how much longer? :)

Friday, July 29, 2005

It's Friday, Right?

The Story

Credit to Girl Punch for this find. Enjoy.


Remember the book - "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus"? Well,
here is a true life example from the University of Phoenix. An English
Professor assigned his students to a joint writing exercise that quickly
degraded - check it out...


"Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The
process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to
his or her immediate right.


As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph of a
short story. You will e-mail your partner that paragraph and send
another copy to me. The partner will read the first paragraph and then
add another paragraph to the story and send it back also sending another
copy to me. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on,
back and forth.


Remember to reread what has been written each time in order to keep the
story coherent. There is to be absolutely NO talking outside of the
e-mails and anything you wish to say must be written in the e-mail. The
story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached."


The following was actually turned in by two of my English students:


Rebecca (last name deleted), and Gary (last name deleted).


THE STORY:
(First paragraph by Rebecca)
-----------------------------------------------
At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she wanted. The
chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now
reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he
liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind
off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about
him too much her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the question.


(Second paragraph by Gary)
--------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron
now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about
than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with
whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. "A.S. Harris to
Geostation 17", he said into his transgalactic communicator. "Polar
orbit established. No sign of resistance so far..." But before he could
sign off, a bluish particle beam flashed out of nowhere and blasted a
hole through his ship's cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him
flying out of his seat and across the cockpit.


(Rebecca)
---------------------------------------------------------
He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he felt
one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who
had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its
pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4.
"Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel,"
Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously
excited her and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her
youth, when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no
newspapers to read, no television to distract her from her sense of
innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her. "Why must one
lose one's innocence to become a woman?" she pondered wistfully.


(Gary)
---------------------------------------------------------
Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to live. Thousands
of miles above the city, the Anu'udrian mother ship launched the first
of its lithium fusion missiles. The dimwitted wimpy peaceniks that
pushed the unilateral Aerospace Disarmament Treaty through the congress
had left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who
were determined to destroy the human race. Within two hours after the
passage of the treaty the Anu'udrian ships were on course for Earth,
carrying enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet. With no one to
stop them, they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan. The lithium
fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his
top-secret mobile submarine headquarters on the ocean floor off the
coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive explosion, which vaporized
poor, stupid, Laurie and 85 million other Americans. The President
slammed his fist on the conference table. "We can't allow this! I'm
going to veto that treaty! Let's blow 'em out of the sky!"


(Rebecca)
---------------------------------------------------------
This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My
writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic semiliterate adolescent.


(Gary)
---------------------------------------------------------
Yeah? Well, you're a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at
writing are the literary equivalent of Valium. "Oh shall I have
chamomile tea? Or shall I have some other sort of F***ING TEA??? Oh no,
I'm such an air headed bimbo who reads too many Danielle Steele novels."


Rebecca)
---------------------------------------------------------
A**hole.


(Gary)
---------------------------------------------------------
B****.


(Rebecca)
---------------------------------------------------------
Get screwed.


(Gary)
---------------------------------------------------------
Eat sh**.


(Rebecca)
---------------------------------------------------------
SCREW YOU - YOU NEANDERTHAL!!!


(Gary) ----------------------------------------------------------
GO DRINK SOME TEA - *****.

***********************************************

(TEACHER) A+ - I really liked this one. Only group to get an A.

Cyclist farewelled with mountain of love

"We're just lucky that we knew her" . . . Simon Gillett and his son, Rhys, farewell cyclist Amy Gillett's at her packed funeral in Ballarat yesterday.
Photo: John Donegan

Simon Gillett with a friend at the funeral of his wife, Amy, who was killed in an accident last week while on a training ride in Germany.
Photo: John Donegan


"The candles flickered as Rachael Kininmonth turned toward the coffin draped with an Olympic flag and gently laid down a wedding tiara. With this simple gesture, Kininmonth bade farewell to Australian cyclist Amy Gillett.

"To my beautiful, beautiful friend," said Kininmonth, a bridesmaid at Gillett's wedding. "You radiated energy, beauty and a naive innocence in your love of life... In my heart, I haven't let you go yet, but when I do, ride on the rainbows, Betty. Now the halo will protect you."

Hundreds gathered yesterday in Ballarat to mourn the 29-year-old Olympic rower-turned-cyclist and celebrate her life, which ended in Germany 11 days ago when a driver lost control of her car and careered into six Australian cyclists on a training ride."

___________

We tend to read news stories, reflect for a bit and then move on with our lives. For Simon and Rhys this becomes a little more difficult. The accident happened in a split second--the consequences remain forever. I've been careless on my bike and I've been in crashes because of that carelessness. One thought remains--there are no second chances if that moment of carelessness goes terribly wrong--there is no "do over," no mulligan.

Peace is every step as my good friend Thich Nhat Hanh says. And so is awareness in each moment of the day. Tell someone you love them today. There is no guarantee you will be gifted the opportunity to do so again tomorrow. Peace, Love, Compassion.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Idle Mendacity

Haiku #45

With a rich facade
But a hollow shell inside
The Paris Hilton


Jack Bennett


Jack has an incredible blog and his Haiku's, like the one above, are often funny and more times than not touching and insightful. Worth a visit to Idle Mendacity.

Oliviah Unleashed

If you love the beauty of fractals, there is no better blog on the net than Oliviah Unleashed. Her site is a literal photoblog of some of the most incredible and beautiful fractals and scientific art you will see. Stunning.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Godspeed

CAPE CANAVERAL - Future space shuttle missions were grounded again Wednesday by the same problem that doomed shuttle Columbia and its seven astronauts -- a problem NASA claimed was fixed after spending more than $1 billion.

At least two dangerous chunks of foam insulation flew off Discovery's newly designed external fuel tank during blastoff Tuesday, one of them about three feet in length and 10 inches wide. Only pure luck kept it from hitting Discovery and possibly causing another accident, mission managers said.

Discovery and its seven astronauts were in no immediate danger, but the dramatic and unexpected development raised new questions about the troubled shuttle program and about NASA's ability to resolve the issue responsible for the Columbia catastrophe.

''Until we fix this, we're not ready to go fly again,'' said Bill Parsons, NASA's shuttle program manager. ``You can say that means we're grounded.''

Photo of the Day

Blue Eyes

Lee Rejoins Andrax


Enough said.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

HBO Real Sports (Tonight)

Tyler Hamilton: Tainted or Untainted?

Tyler Hamilton, one of the world's premier cyclists and a 2004 Olympic gold medalist, is currently serving a two-year suspension imposed by the United States Anti-Doping Agency. His suspension comes at the peak of an international crackdown on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports, which in turn has sparked a furious debate over the fairness of testing methods. The point of interest in Hamilton's case is that some forms of blood testing have become so extensive that they could be condemning innocent athletes. Following on the heels of the Tour de France, REAL SPORTS correspondent Frank Deford, collaborating with Sports Illustrated, joins Hamilton to go over the highs of winning a gold medal, the lows of testing positive for blood doping, and the question of what comes next.

__________________________________________

Just watched it. No new information. His appeal in September. Mmm . . .

Digital Blasphemy






If you like digital wallpaper, visit Ryan Bliss' site Digital Blasphemy for more than 30 free downloads. His member (subscription) area has a ton more. The five above are all from the free portion of his site and with more than 30 freebies you could go a long time with new images. The man just does incredible work. Enjoy.

Monday, July 25, 2005

Konfabulator goes Yahoo and Free

Widget Gallery
Download
Houston Chronicle

"Hoping to pave a new path to its popular Web site, Yahoo Inc. has acquired Konfabulator, a tiny software maker that provides a computer platform for monitoring the weather, stock prices and a wealth of other customized information without opening a Web browser.

The deal, finalized late last week for an undisclosed price, gives Yahoo access to a toolbox of mini-applications — known as widgets — that have built a cult following since Palo Alto-based Konfabulator first introduced them for Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh in 2002. . . ."

"To help popularize the widgets, Yahoo plans will give away the Konfabulator software that empowers the applications. Konfabulator had been charging $20 for the software. Anyone who bought version 2.0 of the software since mid-May will be given refunds, said Konfabulator CEO Arlo Rose."

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE
AP Business Writer

Great software. Just don't make the same mistake I made and many others by adding a ton of widgets to your desktop just because you can. Before you know it, your desktop looks like a car windshield after an 8 hour drive through Louisiana in summer. I can say that since I grew up there--lol.

Find one or two, maybe three widgets and you will never look back. And you can't beat FREE.

22.96 seconds

World Record

Roland Schoeman of the Republic of South Africa celebrates after winning the Men's 50M Butterfly final at the XI FINA Swimming World Championships at Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal, Canada. Schoeman won the gold medal in a world record time of 22.96 seconds.(AFP/Timothy A. Clary)

Update

Australian cyclist Katie Brown lays in a hospital room at the University Clinic in Jena, eastern Germany, on Monday, July 25, 2005. The Australian cycle team were injured in an accident near Zeulenroda in eastern Germany on Monday, July 18, 2005, in which their teammate Amy Gillett was killed when a car crashed into the group of the Australian women's team who were training for the Thuringia Cycling Tour.
(AP Photo/Jens Meyer)

Tragedy in Germany

More Updates Here

Sunday, July 24, 2005

On Newstands Wednesday

40 Things That Only Happen In Movies

See comments for the list. Funny stuff here.

It's Official #7

End of an era

"It's a dream podium I'm standing on here," Armstrong said. "Jan is a special person and a special rival."

"Ivan, well you are just tough to race against. You're too much of a friend but maybe you're the future of the race for the years to come."

Turning to both, Armstrong added: "Ivan, maybe it's your turn next year, or Jan, maybe it will be yours."

After briefly criticizing the doubters who claim that his exploits have been achieved through illicit means - he has faced accusations of doping in the past - Armstrong had only one thing to say:
"Vive le Tour. Forever."

Saturday, July 23, 2005

Trying to Increase my Site Traffic

Springtime

2005 Tour speed record

This year's Tour de France is expected to go down in the record books as the fastest ever.

"An estimated 500,000 fans will be waiting on the Champs-Élysées to see the 155 remaining riders complete what looks like being the fastest-ever Tour. Following Saturday's time trial, the leader's overall average speed is 41.762 kph, almost 1 kph faster than the 40.940 kph record set by Armstrong in 2003.

"The fastest Tour, the most Tour victories and the first champion to go out on top are all hallmarks of the Armstrong era, which will be completed at the same time as what has been an excellent 92nd Tour de France."

That's an average speed of 25.9 miles per hour, over some incredibly daunting terrain including the Alps and the Pyrenees mountains, for over 2100 miles in 20 days of riding. I would challenge anyone to average 25.9 mph on a flat section of road for just one mile.

By the way, to average 23 mph for 3 miles on flat is the benchmark for being in excellent shape. Let that sink in and refer again to the numbers above. Beyond my comprehension.
Sweet Tooth

Last Ride


Lance turns the pedals over in anger for the last time. These images convey the loneliness of an individual time trial and a sense of sadness at the closing of an extraordinary professional career. Tomorrow's stage is more pageantry than anything else. Remember this moment, won't be another like it in our lifetimes--in the cycling world, that is ;)


Lance won today, his 22nd Tour stage victory and a fitting tribute to the yellow jersey. Tomorrow, Lance retires from professional racing and the history books close on the only 7 time winner of the Tour (barring some crazy act of fate or fan)--no one else as ever won more than 5.
Brew
Saturday Breakfast
Morning Light

Friday, July 22, 2005

What You Looking At

Mmmm, you know where my head is--lol.

Watchtower

grid.org official communication 7/22/2005

We would like to thank all of our members for their continued patience over the last couple of days while our servers have been offline for maintenance.

At this point, our grid servers should now be operational and distributing workunits again. Unfortunately, there are some complications that all members will want to be aware of:

- If your UD Agent displays a login prompt and asks you to enter your password again, please select the checkbox indicating that you are an existing user, and then re-enter your old password. (If you have forgotten your password, you can try the password-recovery facility at (https://www.grid.org/services/
login/recover_login.htm
), or worst case re-create a new user account.) Once you do this procedure, your Agent should download a new workunit and begin working again.


- The "Total Points" and "Total CPU Time" values displayed by the UD Agent may be temporarily desynchronized (slightly lower) than the values displayed on the Member Web pages at https://www.grid.org/services/. We will be working to resynchronize these values, and we expect all point and cpu time totals to be properly reflected as soon as possible.

Thanks again for your continued support!
_________________
Jeff Lawson; bovine@ud.com
United Devices/distributed.net; Senior Software Architect

For my friend in Colorado who feels the temps are getting a little too warm. JC, this one's for you bro.  Posted by Picasa

Peace and Tranquility


When I see this picture, a sense of peace and tranquility comes over me and all my troubles and worries fade away at the awesome contemplation of nature's beauty. Makes you wanna take a walk down that path doesn't it.

Sweet Dreams

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Photos of the Day

Fisherman's Friend

Rapeseed Sunset

Again



Again, our thoughts and prayers, our love and undying support go out to our friends across the pond.

Grid Update 7/21 am

For those on our cancer fighting team or those looking to join us, the servers at the grid.org are still under going maintenance. Those waiting to upload work units, nothing to do but wait--your device will automatically upload when the servers come back on line.

For those that might be wanting to join us, check back here and I will post when the servers are up and you can download the device and join us in the most important effort to find a cure for cancer.

The scientists at Oxford believe the volunteers (more than 1 million computers around the world crunching on this project) will shave more than 10 years off their research. Thanks to everyone who has joined in this fight. Outstanding job!

Morning Peeps

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

36 Years Ago Today

grid.org official communication 7/20/2005

Dear members,

Thank you for your patience. We are still experiencing a disruption in grid.org services.

Rest assured that the problem is being actively worked on, and we expect to have a resumption of services very soon.

Your continued participation and patience is greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,
Jonathon

For you guys that have work units that are trying to upload their results and see a "backing off" message, just hang tight until the servers are back up. Your device will try to connect once each hour, so there is really nothing for you to do. The issue is NOT with your computer or connection, the issue is on the grid server side.

If there is any other breaking news look here for updates. I appreciate the heck out of everyone on this team--you guys and gals have done a fantastic job of crunching.

Stage 17: Il Falco

Paolo Savoldelli of Italy, right, reacts as he crosses the finish line ahead of Kurt-Asle Arvesen of Norway, to win the 17th stage of the Tour de France cycling race between Pau and Revel, southwestern France, Wednesday, July 20, 2005. (AP Photos/Christophe Ena)

Discovery wins it's second stage of the Tour and Lance retains the yellow jersey with the same lead on Basso. II Falco, "the falcon," is Paolo's given nickname for his fearless decending skills. His downhill skills were particularly vital to his 2005 Giro win, when his descent down the last mountain of the penultimate stage managed to close a gap between him and the leading group, saving the win for himself. The Giro (Tour of Italy--the first of the three major 3 week stage races with the Tour of France and Tour of Spain later this summer) took place earlier this summer.

Barring some freak accident Lance is just a few days away from his 7th consecutive Tour victory and Team Discovery is on the verge of taking over the overall Team classification lead from T-Mobile.