super-structure

Click on the Maymont sign above to see my Flickr photo set of the Friday portion of the X-Country Festival.

This weekend is the 3rd Maymont X-Country Festival I’ve ran in; in as many years. The previous two (results on my running page), Angela and I both ran the cross-country 5k. Maymont is an incredible park and it is so much fun to run a race there. However, there always seems to be something wrong each year. The first year, the 5k was divided up by sex/age groupings (which isn’t normal for a 5k, in my experience). Our groups were both on Friday night, with Angela’s starting last at 6:30. Of course, she finished in pitch black darkness, but she did finish. Last year, we ran on Saturday morning but the clock got messed up on the men’s 5k (I don’t think I set a PR by nearly three minutes on that course).

This year, I ran the new 8k course, which was on Friday at 5:30. Of course, I’m usually at work on Friday at 5:30, but I made an exception today. However, I was still running late to the park and was quite literally still getting my number pinned on as the starting gun sounded. This feeling of being rushed coupled with being badly dehydrated (I had been sweating it out on a job site earlier that day) led to a less than optimumly pleasant run in the heat of the setting sun. All the same, as I said, Maymont is a beautiful park and the race was lots of fun. I’m sure I’ll be back next year. There’s a half-marathon as well I’m hoping to try.

Also on the subject of running, today marked the last time I’m running in my current pair of sneakers. They are starting to both look and smell like all of the 400 miles on them, so they are being retired to gardening duty. I have a nice new shiny green & white pair waiting for me in the closet.

78.9MB in under 3 minutes via bittorrent. The average speed was 456kB/s, which is pretty impressive for downloading via bittorrent.

I’ve been reading a lot about IPTV lately all over the internet and in Wired. For the uninformed, it’s simply recieving video via your internet connection (preferably broadband). This may be in streaming, real-time format or stored for later consumption.

One of many early adopters getting some press is Robert X. Cringely’s NerdTV from PBS. Essentially, it is extended interviews with technology pioneers. Described on the shows web site as "Charlie Rose for geeks - a one-hour interview show with a single guest from the world of technology." These interviews last around an hour and are surely not for the attention deficit crowd. However, they are well done and Cringely is a great interviewer who, while doing plenty of his own talking, allows the main interest to remain on the interviewee. Anyway, although the show is done through PBS, it is only available online. Preferably via bit torrent to save bandwidth for the provider/host.

Well, this evening after getting home from work, I decided to download episode 3, an interview with Sun Microsystem co-founder Bill Joy. I expected to let it work while I went out running for the next hour-and-a-half. I fired up Azurues and asked it to open the copied torrent file. Then I walked downstairs to let the dogs back in. After coming back to the computer, I was amazed to see that over half of the file was already downloaded. Usually, downloading files take a great deal longer via bittorrent than any other large file to download due to the fact that you have to hand-shake for every little bit (read more about how bittorrent works here), let alone find people who have the bits. This being a popular show and recently put up online (in the last couple of days), this ceased to be a problem. I ended up downloading the entire program file of 78.9MB in under three minutes.

Any doubts I had about the possibility of using torrent technology to bring IPTV to the masses has since been erased.

Just some Friday afternoon ruminations on religion.

Eastern Hardliners?

You really never hear or read anything about Buddhist fundamentalists. I’m sure they exist, given that fascism seems to know no geographic, ethnic, or religious boundaries. However, I suppose the rare cases are the exceptions proving the rule. I suppose it’s just hard to get that worked up about non-existence, as opposed to that whole heaven vs. hell thing.

Water At Communion?

I find many of the traits of Southern Baptists odd. One is the notion that alcohol is wrong. I’m not debating drunkenness here, just alcohol in general. Of all the world’s major religions, east and west, the Judeo-Christian section is the only one that does not out-and-out forbid alcohol. Further, for Christians, they have the only deity who not only drank it openly, but is renowned for His ability to turn water into it! Don’t tell the Southern Baptists (among some others) though, as they have all penciled into their bibles that Jesus turned the wine into water.

No Cell Phone For You!

There is a lot of discussion in this country going on (again) about the teaching of evolution vs. creationism in public schools. This time, creationism has been branded Intelligent Design^®. However, there are also school systems which have added disclaimers to classes and textbooks informing students that evolution is only a theory and, therefore, should be taken with a grain of salt. This is using legal-ese and plain speech to mis-construe the language of science. Vast sections of scientific fields are nothing more than working theories: it’s hard to prove everything. When you stack these up against faith (religion, spirituality, etc.), which is by definition, without proof, it is of course going to fall short. However, I think we’re going to have to make a choice as a country:

1. Use science and the scientific method to continue to improve the human condition through medicine, engineering, and technology, or
2. Allow the fundamentalist influenced policies to push us all back into the stone ages.

I’d argue there is a direct link between the fundamentalist nature of a country/region and it’s ranking on the worldwide scale of civilizations. When you don’t allow people to pursue where discovery and imagination take them, you don’t move forward as a people. So, here’s my new rule: future benefits of science that have stemmed from biological (evolution) and physical (big-bang, quantum physics) studies should not be allowed to be used by those who cannot at least agree that these ideas merit teaching. The freedom of religion in this country guarantees the right to pass on religious views. What will guaranty our right to ensure that we are also well versed in the sciences?

Long Haired Hippie Savior?

Jesus of Nazareth said and did many things that have inspired millions, and not all white Republicans. As I mentioned, He was known for his ability to provide drinks for His friends. He also was a proponent of social care systems, such as: defending the meek (access to legal care), feeding the hungry (welfare systems), healing the sick (pro bono miracles, as in free health care), and so on. Further, every picture I’ve ever seen of the Christ reminds me a lot of Duane Allman. He is also always wearing sandals and loose clothes in these images. What does all this point to? Jesus was the epitome of the socialist, hippie movement. Ironic isn’t it, then, that the 50’s obsessed right-wing movement has adopted Him as their mascot?

Force · Distance = Work, Except on Sundays

Not surprisingly, different Jews and Christians have varying attitudes on working on the Sabbath. I always saw this as a sort of union/worker’s rights demand from up on high: you all should take a day of rest each week and thank God you’re able to (this falls under the previous section, as well). However, my understanding is that many Jews and Christians go well out of their way as to do no work on Sunday and further use as little effort as possible. Example, people who tape down the auto-off switches on their ovens so they aren’t technically "baking" on the sabbath. However, I’m an engineer, and I have two definitions for work:

1. Professional Work

   Physical and mental effort for which an individual is paid a wage or otherwise compensated by another individual or organization.

2. Mechanical Work

   The product of a force times the distance through which it moves.

Now, if we define work for the purposes of what-to-avoid-on-Sundays as Mechanical Work, you really need to just stop breathing after midnight on Saturday. Anything other than that, and you’re doing work. Okay, that seems a little hard to for 24 whole hours each week, so let’s use the former. That’s what I use, which is just a lay-persons definition of work. Therefore, I garden, I run, I bake, I do whatever I feel like on Sunday. I have even broken that rule and worked for money on Sundays, in order to try and keep my job so I wouldn’t have to spend everyday of the week not doing work for money. However, I don’t spend my time on Sunday sneering at others gardening, running, baking etc. while on my way to church. I think some of the residents of Richmond might do well to do the same.

Today I had to visit my dentist today for one of those bi-annual cleanings¹. The hygenist was new, but one of the first things she said asked was "So, you’re Angela Dyer’s husband?" I said yes, which is my usual answer to that question. She informed me that every single page and chart in my file stated that fact: Angela Dyer’s husband.

This is the sort of thing that used to bother me. That is, just to be only known via reference as opposed to as an individual. You can ask my old roommate, Jason J., that I didn’t take well to constantly be refered to as Jason’ roommate. I often, and not usually nicely, reminded people that I had a name too, and if you could remember Jason’s name, mine shouldn’t be too much of a stretch. However, I guess partly I’ve mellowed since then and also just resigned myself to the fact that it’s part of how people relate.

I guess back then, it just made me feel a little bit out of loop to constantly be refered to by relationship rather than name. Now, I routinely introduce myself to folks as Angela’s husband. A large number of them just call me Jason Dyer. You quickly loose your pride when that happens regularly.

1. It’s not lost on me that I am fortunate enough to have a job that includes benefits such as medical insurance, including dental.↵

The new iPod Nano.

Wow, this thing is thin. And it has a camera?(Damn Mac Observer) Color screen?

Oh, I do believe I’m in love. Yes, I’m in love with a gadget. It’s sick and I need help.

So, after browsing Apple’s site after today’s announcement, I’d say that the Nano has replaced the Mini altogether. Given that the Nano is solid state all the way through it’s thin little body, this is good. No more spinning hard drives to damage. It also shares the classic iPod look, where as the Mini had that multi-color aluminum look, which I personally didn’t care for. It would have looked great on any other company’s MP3 player, but not an iPod.

The new Motorola ROKR E1, the first iTunes phone.

Also announced today was the long-awaited and much talked about iTunes phone: the Motorola ROKR E1. Motorola has a pretty bad reputation when it comes to user interface but builds rock-solid and stylish phones. I’ll have to play with one before I can comment on the phone-side interface, but the iTunes portion looks pretty good. According to the Apple FAQ, the phones are to ship with a 512MB TransFlash card, which by Apple standards is good for 120+ songs. Not too bad. This is the same capacity as the smaller iPod Shuffle, but in this case you have the ability (I believe) to add larger cards in the future. My understanding is 1GB TransFlash cards should be available soon. Too bad this thing isn’t standard SD compatible. I know that most other phones aren’t, either, but hey, it’d make life simpler. Anyway, I’m looking forward to checking one out, even if it only available through Cingular in the states.

My questions regarding the ROKR:

• Q: This phone has Bluetooth. Will Cingular cripple it so I can’t transfer anything? If so, then can I use the USB 1.1 cable to transfer data? If not, then can I put data on the TransFlash card via a card reader and then use it on the phone? I’m thinking about transfering pictures from the camera and contact info. A: Songs (and presumably photos) cannot be transfered via Bluetooth, only USB, which is slow. Engadget reported taking nearly 45 minutes to transfer 100 songs. It does not sync photos with iPhoto on a mac, either. Songs transfered via card-reader method do not play in iTunes at all and the other media player reportably stinks.
• Q: Will Cingular prevent me from using the songs on my phone (that I legally bought) as ring tones, etc? That seems like a logical use of an iTunes phone to me, but also something Cingular might want to control. A: Sure enough, Cingular has no intention of giving up the lucrative ring-tone market. iTunes songs cannot be used for anything other than listening in iTunes.
• Q: What is the rest of the user interface like? What is the OS of this phone. A: To quote Engadget, the interface is typical Motorola, or in their words, "pedestrian." After viewing some of their photos, the interface on my Sprint vTech phone looks much nicer, and that’s hardly saying anything.

If I find the answers to any of these questions, I’ll post them here and link the source.

Update 9/8/2005 - According to Engadget, Motorola says that Apple has limited the number of songs that can be transfered to the phone to 100, no matter the size of the flash card or how large the files are. This is kind of a deal breaker.

Update 9/14/2005 - Engadget (gotta love those guys) have answered a bucket-load of reader submitted questions about the Motorola ROKR. The short of it: I have zero interest in this phone. As a matter of fact, the only selling point of it is the ability to sync to iTunes. Otherwise, it is really not an especially nice phone at all.

So, I’m waiting in the que at the Genius Bar at the Apple Store in Glen Allen, VA (Richmond suburb). Angela’s laptop is having some issues syncing with her Palm Tungsten. We don’t know who the culprit is: Tiger, PalmOS, bluetooth, iSync, MissingSync, etc. Hopefully, the people in the bright green "Student Union" t-shirts can help. My fingers will remain crossed.

Yes, by the way, today is a day of errands. Fortunately, at least one has me hanging out in a toy store (Apple). Next I’m off to CompUSA Circuit City for some gadgetry. If I can work in the Home Depot, I’ll be having a pretty cool errand day.

Overheard at the Apple Store while typing this:

Girl: "So, uh, do you have one of these types of computers? (points to a sleek new iMac)"

Guy: "No, we have a Windows Operational System."

So, do you think the folks at Apple think of it as a Windows Non-OS, then?

This weekend is the half-marathon point in out training schedule. I’ll be running the Battlefield Half-Marathon in Eastern Henrico County. Angela is registered for this race as well, but unfortunately, she has to work all weekend long. So, we are starting the first-annual Angela’s Birthday Half-Marathon, scheduled for Monday at 7:00 am. This will be a 13.1 mile tour of Richmond’s West End (now referred to by some as mid-town Richmond, due to the Western Sprawl that is Henrico and Goochland Counties).

So, in the span of two days, I will now have run a marathon. I’m either a very foolish person with no regard for my legs or a very loving husband, willing to endure pain for my wife. I’m most likely a fair amount of both. At least I’ll have an extra day this weekend to recover from my foolishness.

My race on Sunday morning is a traditional half-marathon, with volunteers manning water stops, signs marking each passing mile, and a timer at the finish line to call out how I’ve done. Angela’s on the other hand, is the two of us running in a series of two-three mile loops centered around my truck parked at a nearby intersection.

Stretching before the race.

Update 2005-9-4: I finished my race in 1:52:39, according to the RRRC website. My own numbers were about the same. That’s an average pace of 8:36 minutes per mile, which is really fast for me. I’m not as proud of the results as that may sound, though, because I really pushed myself harder than I should of, and to what end? I had never run a half-marathon before, so it’s not like I was trying to beat a previous time. There was no way I was going to place in anything (I was barely in the top half, 146 out of 215 runners, and number 6 of 8 in my age/gender group). Basically, rather than use the experience to learn how to run this distance, I learned exactly how not to. I’m going to have to work on pacing myself better if I have any hope to surviving the marathon.

Overheard while running the race at about mile 5-1/2:

Minnesota Guy: Yeah, the people who run with those huge fuel belts with like eight or ten bottles, or even those big heavy bags, they look like compete geeks. It’s like they’re running with a full water stop for the whole race.

J.R. (Girl From Training Team): Yeah.

Yes, Minnesota Guy (who sounds just like Garrick Van Buren), I am a geek. I run with a Camelbak with the exact amount of fluids I’ll need to finish the race. I’m also right behind you. I may not be that fast, but I also know that it is not the 2lb pack I’m carrying that is slowing me down. Especially since I’m sweating enough to loose about that much during the course of the race anyway.

Success! We both ran 13.1 miles today in the First Annual Angela Dyer Birthday Half-Marathon. It was great day to be out running, although since we got a late start, we didn’t finish until 1:00pm, when it was about 85°. I’m really proud of Angela, though, because she stuck it out and ran the entire time.

The BBC reports that George Clooney has admitted to stealing ideas from other directors. He told the crowd at a press conference that he had "stolen from every other director." This sounds less like admitting plagerism and more like being humble, which just seems odd coming from such a well paid star. Kind of like man-bites-dog.

A recent Wired Magazine article gave many different aspects of the mix and mash-up culture. However, is this anything new? The Wired piece touches on the idea that we (humans) have been doing this for a very long time. Didn’t Shakespeare (or whoever wrote those plays) write every major plot concievable? Aren’t all rock ballads simply G-C-D with goofy lyrics? Isn’t photography just reproduction of prior art, be it man made or other?

I haven’t seen director-Clooney’s second film, "Goodnight and Good Luck," which revolves around the hunt for communists in Hollywood. I couldn’t tell you if it is more like "The Godfather" or "Gigli." However, I argue it should get to stand on it’s own. Artists, engineers, scientists, and creators from all walks of life should give credit to sources of inspiration. This should in no way reduce great works of any kind. If we determined today that Michaelangelo had just seen a statue of some naked man and went home to work on his "David," would we think that statue is any less magnificent? What if the Declaration of Independance had been hashed out by other and just edited by Jefferson? It is still an amazing piece of both history and literature.

Be humble. Give credit. Share in the wealth. Most of all, don’t be afraid to create just because the influence or idea came from elsewhere. Some of the best works in human history have been remixes and mash-ups.

Here Are Some Of My Examples

Got any of your own? Post them in the comments

• Pretty much anything John Williams scored for a movie (i.e. "The Imperial March" is just Mars: Bringer of War from Holst’s The Planets.)
• Orsan Scott Card’s novel "Ender’s Game" is a mix-up of several sci-fi classics, such as Robert Heinlein’s "Starship Troopers".