Do you love sad songs? Katie Davis does. Love the mood she brings to her songs. I've posted some of her songs before, and it's time for another one.
From katiedavismusic.com:
Katie Davie - It's You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uv_3A67Miw&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Friday, October 14, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Armed Chinese Troops in Texas?
Here's a thought-provoking video for you. Check it out before you look at its source.
"Armed Chinese Troops in Texas!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKfuS6gfxPY
Also see this video on YouTube:
"Ron Paul's What If ? Remastered" posted by mattgeb84
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqAF-Alc7CM&noredirect=1
This is from a speech that Ron Paul gave on the House floor on February 12, 2009. Oops, did I give away the source of the first video? :)
"Armed Chinese Troops in Texas!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKfuS6gfxPY
Also see this video on YouTube:
"Ron Paul's What If ? Remastered" posted by mattgeb84
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqAF-Alc7CM&noredirect=1
This is from a speech that Ron Paul gave on the House floor on February 12, 2009. Oops, did I give away the source of the first video? :)
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
What do those lights mean, anyway?
I'm sick of governments telling us that they need red light cameras. The simple fact is: POLICE DEPARTMENTS DO NOT CARE! If they want red light cameras, it is for revenue only.
How do I know? I have been hit by someone running a red light, and the police officer tried to cite ME for being hit rather than the Mexican who couldn't speak English (I obtained a tape of his conversation with my insurance company prior to my court case, in which I prevailed). I see people run red lights literally every week, nobody cares. I have seen people run red lights right in front of cops, the cops don't care.
And earlier this week, driving home from work on Monday, I saw a cop flat-out run a solid red light. So you simply cannot tell me that the police care one bit about this issue. I have eyes. I can see for myself that they don't care.
For the record, he was heading northbound on Mableton Parkway. He was in a "Cobb Police" Crown Victoria. And he ran the light at Old Alabama Road, here:
http://maps.google.com/?ll=33.810924,-84.572057&spn=0.005661,0.009645&t=m&z=17&vpsrc=6
How do I know? I have been hit by someone running a red light, and the police officer tried to cite ME for being hit rather than the Mexican who couldn't speak English (I obtained a tape of his conversation with my insurance company prior to my court case, in which I prevailed). I see people run red lights literally every week, nobody cares. I have seen people run red lights right in front of cops, the cops don't care.
And earlier this week, driving home from work on Monday, I saw a cop flat-out run a solid red light. So you simply cannot tell me that the police care one bit about this issue. I have eyes. I can see for myself that they don't care.
For the record, he was heading northbound on Mableton Parkway. He was in a "Cobb Police" Crown Victoria. And he ran the light at Old Alabama Road, here:
http://maps.google.com/?ll=33.810924,-84.572057&spn=0.005661,0.009645&t=m&z=17&vpsrc=6
Monday, October 10, 2011
A2A 2011
I skated A2A (Athens to Atlanta) for the fourth time, yesterday. It was a tough day for me. But, hey, that's the nature of the event.
Weather was cool and overcast, so overheating was not a problem. Winds were mixed, swirling sometimes, maybe even more time spent with a slight tailwind than fighting the wind. Overall, the weather conditions were very favorable.
However...
I didn't have "it" yesterday. Legs were tired, didn't have that spring in my step. (Had a very tough hockey game on Thursday, plus inline skating on Wednesday and Friday--looks like my legs don't bounce back as quickly as they used to.) That affected me in a specific way. In order to have a good time, you need to skate in a pack, so you don't have to fight wind resistance nearly as much. My problem was that I wasn't able to keep up with the packs I wanted to. Some packs speed up and slow down at different times, depending on who is leading. And let's face it, people want to get moving. Bottom line is that when the packs sped up, I wasn't able to keep pace--even with people that I believe I could have kept up with on an average speed basis (I tend to be a little better going up hills--that is, I don't have the top speed they do on flat ground but I don't get slowed down by hills as much as they do).
I almost forgot one other problem with skating alone. At one point, after checkpoint #4, I didn't remember the course. And when I didn't see an arrow painted on the road in a little while I actually stopped and turned around! Before long I saw some other skaters heading towards me, so it was a mistake to have turned around. Naturally, there was an arrow just past the intersection where I turned around. If I had just kept going a little further I would have gotten confirmation that I was on the right track. Maybe that cost me a mile. It was a mistake that a pack doesn't make, because someone in the group would know the course well enough to keep going. Very frustrating.
This is where I lost track of where I was, on Herrington Road as I was crossing Hwy 316.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=211764548753062986648.0004589b85c9470bf9bde&msa=0&ll=33.962868,-84.077511&spn=0.021392,0.032659
And, just to be complete, here is an A2A map in Google Maps.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=211764548753062986648.0004589b85c9470bf9bde
Anyway, because I wasn't able to hang with a couple packs I wanted to, I ended up skating more than half the skate completely on my own. Which is really tough, and really slows you down. End result is that I did it in 6:50:26. Which is about how fast I usually do, regardless of conditions. Really, it's amazing how many different obstacles you have to overcome from year to year. But it appears as though I haven't run into all of them in the same year, nor have I had a year where everything has gone right, although I have had things that have helped me in every year. So I end up skating about about the same speed year after year.
2011 87-Mile Results:
http://www.a2a.net/11result/RESOV87.TXT
Summary of past years--different challenges but similar results:
2008
87 miles, 6:46:20, 12.85 mph
This was my first time doing this event, but I found a great skater (Tom Grosspietsch) to work with almost the whole way, and that made all the difference.
2009
89.4 miles, 7:02:32, 12.69 mph
I learned all about sciatic nerve pain early in the skate but later found some good partners to skate with including one guy (Bill Zinser) who I skated with more than half the distance--he carried me in the middle of the skate and I carried him towards the end of the skate. Note: They needed to add a detour for road construction hence the distance change.
2010
87 miles, 6:44:46, 12.90 mph
I had some great packs to skate with most of the way, but we fought headwinds most of the way. More importantly, I "hit the wall" between checkpoints #4 and #5 when I had to stop for 5-10 minutes and lost my GREAT pack I was skating with at the time.
2011
87 miles, 6:50:26, 12.7 mph
I got hooked up with some good packs, just like I had hoped, but couldn't "stick" with them. I struggled on my own about half the way. The weather was favorable, otherwise my time could have been a lot worse. I got into a great group of three (Patrick Thompson, Lisa Bongiorno) after Checkpoint #5 to finish strong.
Here is a picture of the group just prior to take-off:
Here is a picture early in the skate, when I was still part of a strong paceline. You never know how the day will turn out. I was feeling good at this point but most of this group later dropped me when I couldn't keep up when they put the hammer down. However, I passed a number of these people later in the skate with my slow but steady approach. You just never know; it's a long skate.
And here is a picture of me in the early to middle part of the skate, not sure exactly where, maybe staggering into Checkpoint #2. This picture pretty much sums up my day.
Grabbing water at a checkpoint:
In closing, I would like to quote from another skater. I couldn't have said it better than Greg did: "This really is a special event that I think I enjoy more each year." I agree totally.
Weather was cool and overcast, so overheating was not a problem. Winds were mixed, swirling sometimes, maybe even more time spent with a slight tailwind than fighting the wind. Overall, the weather conditions were very favorable.
However...
I didn't have "it" yesterday. Legs were tired, didn't have that spring in my step. (Had a very tough hockey game on Thursday, plus inline skating on Wednesday and Friday--looks like my legs don't bounce back as quickly as they used to.) That affected me in a specific way. In order to have a good time, you need to skate in a pack, so you don't have to fight wind resistance nearly as much. My problem was that I wasn't able to keep up with the packs I wanted to. Some packs speed up and slow down at different times, depending on who is leading. And let's face it, people want to get moving. Bottom line is that when the packs sped up, I wasn't able to keep pace--even with people that I believe I could have kept up with on an average speed basis (I tend to be a little better going up hills--that is, I don't have the top speed they do on flat ground but I don't get slowed down by hills as much as they do).
I almost forgot one other problem with skating alone. At one point, after checkpoint #4, I didn't remember the course. And when I didn't see an arrow painted on the road in a little while I actually stopped and turned around! Before long I saw some other skaters heading towards me, so it was a mistake to have turned around. Naturally, there was an arrow just past the intersection where I turned around. If I had just kept going a little further I would have gotten confirmation that I was on the right track. Maybe that cost me a mile. It was a mistake that a pack doesn't make, because someone in the group would know the course well enough to keep going. Very frustrating.
This is where I lost track of where I was, on Herrington Road as I was crossing Hwy 316.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=211764548753062986648.0004589b85c9470bf9bde&msa=0&ll=33.962868,-84.077511&spn=0.021392,0.032659
And, just to be complete, here is an A2A map in Google Maps.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=211764548753062986648.0004589b85c9470bf9bde
Anyway, because I wasn't able to hang with a couple packs I wanted to, I ended up skating more than half the skate completely on my own. Which is really tough, and really slows you down. End result is that I did it in 6:50:26. Which is about how fast I usually do, regardless of conditions. Really, it's amazing how many different obstacles you have to overcome from year to year. But it appears as though I haven't run into all of them in the same year, nor have I had a year where everything has gone right, although I have had things that have helped me in every year. So I end up skating about about the same speed year after year.
2011 87-Mile Results:
http://www.a2a.net/11result/RESOV87.TXT
Summary of past years--different challenges but similar results:
2008
87 miles, 6:46:20, 12.85 mph
This was my first time doing this event, but I found a great skater (Tom Grosspietsch) to work with almost the whole way, and that made all the difference.
2009
89.4 miles, 7:02:32, 12.69 mph
I learned all about sciatic nerve pain early in the skate but later found some good partners to skate with including one guy (Bill Zinser) who I skated with more than half the distance--he carried me in the middle of the skate and I carried him towards the end of the skate. Note: They needed to add a detour for road construction hence the distance change.
2010
87 miles, 6:44:46, 12.90 mph
I had some great packs to skate with most of the way, but we fought headwinds most of the way. More importantly, I "hit the wall" between checkpoints #4 and #5 when I had to stop for 5-10 minutes and lost my GREAT pack I was skating with at the time.
2011
87 miles, 6:50:26, 12.7 mph
I got hooked up with some good packs, just like I had hoped, but couldn't "stick" with them. I struggled on my own about half the way. The weather was favorable, otherwise my time could have been a lot worse. I got into a great group of three (Patrick Thompson, Lisa Bongiorno) after Checkpoint #5 to finish strong.
Here is a picture of the group just prior to take-off:
Here is a picture early in the skate, when I was still part of a strong paceline. You never know how the day will turn out. I was feeling good at this point but most of this group later dropped me when I couldn't keep up when they put the hammer down. However, I passed a number of these people later in the skate with my slow but steady approach. You just never know; it's a long skate.
And here is a picture of me in the early to middle part of the skate, not sure exactly where, maybe staggering into Checkpoint #2. This picture pretty much sums up my day.
Grabbing water at a checkpoint:
In closing, I would like to quote from another skater. I couldn't have said it better than Greg did: "This really is a special event that I think I enjoy more each year." I agree totally.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Quote of the Day: Steve Jobs on Death and Courage
From Steve Jobs' commencement address at Stanford, June 14, 2005:
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
I had quoted a portion of this speech before, in a previous post:
Quote of the Day: Steve Jobs, on what's important, back on March 13, 2011
I think it's worth quoting from that speech more fully today.
"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
- Steve Jobs [1955-2011]
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
I had quoted a portion of this speech before, in a previous post:
Quote of the Day: Steve Jobs, on what's important, back on March 13, 2011
I think it's worth quoting from that speech more fully today.
"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
- Steve Jobs [1955-2011]
Steve Jobs
By now you've all heard the news about Steve Jobs, nothing more for me to add. I did happen to really like this graphic produced by Jonathan Mak, though:
http://jmak.tumblr.com/post/9377189056
Select comments:
Larry Page:
https://plus.google.com/106189723444098348646/posts/4wkYwTCCgAc
"I am very, very sad to hear the news about Steve. He was a great man with incredible achievements and amazing brilliance. He always seemed to be able to say in very few words what you actually should have been thinking before you thought it. His focus on the user experience above all else has always been an inspiration to me. He was very kind to reach out to me as I became CEO of Google and spend time offering his advice and knowledge even though he was not at all well. My thoughts and Google's are with his family and the whole Apple family."
Sergey Brin:
https://plus.google.com/109813896768294978296/posts
"From the earliest days of Google, whenever Larry and I sought inspiration for vision and leadership, we needed to look no farther than Cupertino. Steve, your passion for excellence is felt by anyone who has ever touched an Apple product (including the macbook I am writing this on right now). And I have witnessed it in person the few times we have met.
"On behalf of all of us at Google and more broadly in technology, you will be missed very much. My condolences to family, friends, and colleagues at Apple."
Mark Zuckerberg:
http://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10100100934727791
"Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend. Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you."
Bill Gates:
http://www.thegatesnotes.com/Personal/Steve-Jobs
"I’m truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs’ death. Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends, and to everyone Steve has touched through his work.
"Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives.
"The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come.
"For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely."
On a less serious note, it appears that the unofficial way to mourn the death of Steve Jobs is to keep your iPhone (or iPod or Mac or whatever) at half charge today. Just do a Twitter search on "iphone half charge" to see what I mean.
http://twitter.com/#!/search/iphone%20half%20charge
http://jmak.tumblr.com/post/9377189056
Select comments:
Larry Page:
https://plus.google.com/106189723444098348646/posts/4wkYwTCCgAc
"I am very, very sad to hear the news about Steve. He was a great man with incredible achievements and amazing brilliance. He always seemed to be able to say in very few words what you actually should have been thinking before you thought it. His focus on the user experience above all else has always been an inspiration to me. He was very kind to reach out to me as I became CEO of Google and spend time offering his advice and knowledge even though he was not at all well. My thoughts and Google's are with his family and the whole Apple family."
Sergey Brin:
https://plus.google.com/109813896768294978296/posts
"From the earliest days of Google, whenever Larry and I sought inspiration for vision and leadership, we needed to look no farther than Cupertino. Steve, your passion for excellence is felt by anyone who has ever touched an Apple product (including the macbook I am writing this on right now). And I have witnessed it in person the few times we have met.
"On behalf of all of us at Google and more broadly in technology, you will be missed very much. My condolences to family, friends, and colleagues at Apple."
Mark Zuckerberg:
http://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10100100934727791
"Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend. Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you."
Bill Gates:
http://www.thegatesnotes.com/Personal/Steve-Jobs
"I’m truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs’ death. Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends, and to everyone Steve has touched through his work.
"Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives.
"The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come.
"For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely."
On a less serious note, it appears that the unofficial way to mourn the death of Steve Jobs is to keep your iPhone (or iPod or Mac or whatever) at half charge today. Just do a Twitter search on "iphone half charge" to see what I mean.
http://twitter.com/#!/search/iphone%20half%20charge
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Song of the Day: Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill
Heard this song in a podcast lately. I love the mood. See if you don't agree.
Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04mfKJWDSzI
Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04mfKJWDSzI
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