Marc's Musings

Photography in public places

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".

Links for 29 Aug 2006 [del.icio.us]

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

I have a new Personal Best

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.

In a race like this, there are always things to improve on (like over an hour's worth), so here are my goals for next year, in no particular order (except the first).

1. Lose weight. This one will have the most benefit. If I don't have to carry around the extra pounds, I can move faster, etc.

2. Swim faster. I need to work my endurance up in the freestyle. I'm good for about 1/2 mi continous right now. I want to do the whole thing free next year--that will help my swim time (almost 40min, including 1/4mi run to transition area, good for 2285/3708).

3. Run. Faster. I know that I'm slow on my run. Before I started training for this tri, I couldn't run a mile. Now I can run 6, if that's all I'm doing. I'd like to be able to last a bit longer (see #1). I also created a nice little injury for myself during the bike.

I wouldn't mind riding the bike a bit faster, but my 19.7mph was good enough to be at 1498/3708 (upper half), so that's the least of my worries at this point. I think that will come together with my 3 goals above. I'm also ok with my transition times. It's not the 30s times that the pros can get, but I don't need to preattach my shoes to my bike, etc.

About that little bike injury (that still hurts). As I was clipping into my pedals, I don't know if I had the pedal upside down, or just misaligned, but my foot slipped as I put some weight onto it. I think I was a little excited because in this case some was most of my weight and so I came down really hard onto my saddle. This gave me a bruise and/or a charlie horse in my Gluteus Maximus (yes, my butt) that made it very difficult to run on. I ran 11:30 minute miles, that's a bit slower than my normal 9:30-10 minute miles. Even if it wasn't, I chalk that up to the pain.

So yes, I plan on doing this again next year. It was fun. I already am feeling a bit odd because I didn't have any training to do. I will probably keep up some workouts over the winter so that I can't start at a higher level of endurance at the beginning of my training program. I'm also doing a 5K with TK as soon as he figures out which one (probably a turkey trot or something in late october/november), so I will need to keep my running up lest I pass out and die.

My goal for next year is under 3h. That will put me in the upper 50% of the race. There, I said it, and now friends, it is your job to help push me along to that goal (gently please--I'm still a little sore).

Links for 28 Aug 2006 [del.icio.us]

• 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

What's the "oh" stand for?

Oh my God it's early.

Links for 25 Aug 2006 [del.icio.us]

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

Links for 24 Aug 2006 [del.icio.us]

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

It's the final countdown

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.

Links for 22 Aug 2006 [del.icio.us]

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

Links for 18 Aug 2006 [del.icio.us]

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

Links for 17 Aug 2006 [del.icio.us]

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

Links for 15 Aug 2006 [del.icio.us]

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

Corporate chotchkeys

Best chotchkey ever.
Originally uploaded by molson.

Heightened State of Stupidity

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.

Links for 08 Aug 2006 [del.icio.us]

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

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.

Links for 07 Aug 2006 [del.icio.us]

• 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

Links for 04 Aug 2006 [del.icio.us]

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

Links for 03 Aug 2006 [del.icio.us]

• 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."

Links for 02 Aug 2006 [del.icio.us]

• 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."