August 2006 Archives

A subject that I have been following a lot lately is private entities attempting to restrict taking photographs of their property from public places. Recently the Union Pacific railroad has banned photography of its trains from station platforms [Chicagoist]. Now I have an issue with this. I believe that the platforms are owned by the municipalities, and therefore public property. Frank and I have been having a conversation about this very issue and he has some interesting commentary as well.

I know that I've linked many of these before, but here are some links to information on the issue, and some "well known" occurances of the issue:

• Photographer's Rights - This is a pdf that I carry around when I carry my camera. It sumamrizes the law in the US.


• Thomas Hawk has had some interesting run-ins with "authorities."

There are many others out there that I will add in when I come across them. This issue isn't going away any time soon, and as long as we keep letting the terrorists win (see Google define: terror) we will keep allowing ourselves to lose freedoms and be subject to assinine laws in the name of "security".

• The UK Terror plot: what's really going on? - "Be sceptical. Be very, very sceptical."

Although, I suppose that it's pretty easy to get a personal best time when you have no pre-existing personal best time.

I ran, and finished the Chicago Triathlon, doing the International/Olympic race in 3h 15m 01s. For those that are not familiar with the different triathlon distances, the International distance race is a 1.5K swim, followed by a 40K bike, followed by a 10K run (in US terms that's ~1mi/24.8mi/6.2mi). That time also includes transitions between the different sports.

That time is on the slower side of things, and puts me at 2526/3708 overall for the international distance, 1972/2568 for all men and 418/506 for men 25-29. Part of that is due to being fat, and part of that is to a small misfortune I had at the beginning of the bike. I could have registered in the Clydesdale group (men 200+) and done well amongst that group, but I didn't. I also didn't come in at the end (good for her for finishing) with a time nearing 5.5 hrs. The winner of the "age groupers" came in around 2h. The top male pro came in around 1h 50m--he gets $10,000 and a r/t airline ticket for that finish.

• The Myth About Homework - "doing more than 60 to 90 min. a night in middle school and more than 2 hr. in high school is associated with, gulp, lower scores"
• sudo make me a sandwich - geek humor
• I played WoW, I became a terrorist - Don't drop your iPod in an aircraft lav
• The Stick Figures in Peril Pool - There's a Flickr pool for everything

Oh my God it's early.

• Sean Tucker and The Blue Angels - Great in air shot of Sean and the Blue Angels.

• The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing - "it is much better to reject a good candidate than to accept a bad candidate"

I've done my last training run, swim, and bike for the Chicago Triathlon this weekend.

Yesterday morning's run was about 4 miles or so and felt pretty good. I still suck at running. At least I can run a mile (and then some) now. Still slow at it, but I think if/when I lose these extra 40 lbs I'm carrying it will be easier. I don't really get out of breath when I run, my legs just get really sore and feel like they have cinder blocks attached to them.

I swam this morning in the outdoor pool by my house. Water was a little chilly, but that's what I can expect Sunday, so that's fine.

My last bike ride this evening was my "normal" 23 mile ride that I do through the Busse Woods forest preserve. I think the events that happend culminate my summer of training:

1. Some punk kid yelled out "Go Lance Arrrrrrmstroooong" as I rode past leaving my neighborhood. I'm surprised that this has only happened twice during the whole summer. Maybe it's because Lance doesn't race the tour anymore, I dunno.

2. I went to pass someone on the bike trail, but unfortunately he decided that it was time to violently clear the saliva from his mouth. I got a big loogey all over my hand. Whee.

3. About half way around the loop, I passed a guy that just got onto the trail from the parking lot. 1/4 of a mile or so later he rides up next to me and says "it's puke time"--I was riding about 23mph at the time--so I tell him to hop on and proceed to pull him for about 2 miles or so. Just before we hit the cross at Higgins Rd, he drops off. That was a lot of fun, and a bit of an adrenaline rush. It's too bad that the tri is a no draft race.

4. On the way back from the woods, the temp drops about 10 degrees and the wind starts blowing viciously. I love cold fronts, now bring us the storms.

A lot of people have been asking if I'm ready or not. I think I'm as ready as I will be this year. Will I finish? I should. Will I have a great time? Doubtful. The weather looks cool, but possible thunderstorms. Based on what my cow-orker tells me, it may be a duathlon (if there's lightning, they cancel the swim portion, but do the rest). That would be a bit of a bummer, but still fun.

I may post before Sunday, but I probably won't. If any of the pictures are good, I'll post them. Don't count on it--I looked pretty fat in the ones from the Waukegan tri.

• GreaseFreak - "GreaseFreak is my photographic homage to Chicago-style fast food."

• Josh v. Dee - Some kid takes on Dee 1v1. Looks like it's 2004-5 based on the other players...

• Web2.0 Logo Creator - Create your own "web 2.0" logo

• Sausage shaped like a beer bottle - only in wisconsin...

We live in a heightened state of stupidity. Threat level orange I believe they call it.

If you've been living under a rock, the UK thwarted a terrorist plan to "blow up multiple airliners traveling between Britain and the United States and cause 'mass murder on an unimaginable scale.'" Now I think that quote is silly because I can imagine the number of people on 10 airliners. Even if they were the A380 (which isn't flying yet), that would be 5-6000 people.

In the UK, they are not allowing carry on (or "hand baggage" as they call it there) luggage on any flights with the exception of wallets, travel documents, various sundries (baby products, feminine products, etc.)--if they are unboxed--and keys without electrical keychains.

Here in the glorious US, the lovely TSA is allowing carry on baggage, but that baggage cannot contain anything that is in a liquid or gel state. This includes suntan lotion, pop, water, toothpaste/gel, shaving cream/gel, hair care products. Of course, like every TSA regulation, there are exceptions that no terrorist would ever think of using--breast milk, baby formula, prescription medication (in any form) and juice for small children.

I heard on the news this morning, but haven't seen anything to substantiate it in the TSA documents that LCDs (such as those found in cellphones, laptop computers, digital wristwatches, etc.) would either be prohibited or subjected to higher levels of screening.

I wouldn't have as much of a problem if I trusted the TSA to keep these as short term restrictions until we find out more about the plot. However, according to the news reports I heard, these are intended to go on for a long time.

I feel sorry for the people that are travelling today that had to throw out their toothpaste, etc. because this was just sprung on them this morning. I know that unless I absolutely have to (which I'm not expecting to for work), I won't be flying commercially until they figure this out.

UPDATED: Bruce Schneier found an interesting and timely article monday.

• Online Cornhole/Baggo - pretty fun, but watch out for the wind
• Movable Type is Free for Personal Bloggers - woot! Time to upgrade...

I noticed this morning that Six Apart changed their licensing on Movable Type 3.3. They are back to allowing unlimited authors, unlimited blogs, no support, as long as it is on your personal site. This is good news as I was trying to figure out a way to kick Beth off (not that she really blogs) so that I could grab the single author version.

After 3 hours of fighting with CPAN to get the new modules, it's installed. Comments are reenabled, etc. Let me know if you notice any issues.

• Absence of America's Upper Classes From the Military - "about 1 percent of U.S. representatives and senators have a child in uniform"
• The Google Maps flight sim - pretty fun--needs more cities...
• Corporate Lessons - humorous

• Was It Done With a Lens, or a Brush? - Follow the links for some great information on a photo technique called HDR.

• Vows every Starfleet captain should take - "If I beam off of a vessel that is still hostile, I will arrange to leave behind as large an explosive device as I can obtain."

• Getting a good night's sleep - from BoingBoinb
• Paul Dorn's Bike Commuting Tips - thing to remember when trying to commute via bike.
• 9/11 Live: The NORAD Tapes - It's long, and brings back some memories, but definately interesting. (Thanks zz)
• The Tao of Office Space - "Programmers know when to write code, software engineers know when to not write code."