history

cycling / history / I do not know what is happening. / journalism / links / things to read / video / weekend — Comments Off on This car makes jumps
5
Jul 14

This car makes jumps

The world around you is one of the things a bicycle teaches you about. Things look different. Terrain is different. You come to understand that those aren’t two hills, but really one hill you approach from multiple directions.

The most important thing I have learned, so far, is that it has taught me not to judge. You never know what someone is going through, which is the personification of the “Walk a mile in my shoes” concept, which is writ large in my head every time I’m struggling to top a hill. Those people driving those cars don’t know, I tell myself.

Some of them probably do, but the point is that it can be hard.

Another important thing the bike teaches you is about more roads. Eventually you start looking for new routes, new challenges, new approaches to that same hill. I found some of those today, in part because I saw a neat road name on a map. The road is about four miles from our house and I’ve passed it dozens of times on my bike alone. But playing with cycling routes on a map led me to answering the question “What’s down there?” The answer was a private driveway.

And this:

General Lee

Had a difficult with the new shoes. They, surprise, didn’t feel right for most of the ride today, but I figured it out as soon as I got home and took them off. And it was an easy fix. Hopefully that will be taken care of today.

I went through three new neighborhoods today, though, and two of them I’ll return to again. The third featured a bad stretch of road that overruled the two extra rides up that same hill mentioned above. In just over half of the distance I climbed more than I will in next weekend’s triathlon. And, with that and the time trialing I did yesterday, I will begin to taper off the workouts.

Tapering, like I have a training plan. Like I’m an athlete.

Aside from the pretending, I do not know what is happening.

Things to read … so you’ll know what is happening.

The best thing you’ll read today: A Janitor’s Ten Lessons in Leadership

Rare, Remarkable Maps Trace America’s Path to Independence

Roger Simon: America’s glorious failures

‘Flying Farmer’ recalls WWII service

Total US Ad Spending to See Largest Increase Since 2004

Guardian Australia: lessons in online-only publications

Have I mentioned I need a drone? I need a drone.

Fireworks may be the most temporal of celebrations, and you’ve already moved on, I know, but that’s just awesome.

I can’t adequately describe this video, but I’d suppose the individual reaction to it is informative.

Now go back to your three-day weekend!

cycling / friends / history / links / Monday / things to read / Twitter — Comments Off on Monday titles always suffer
30
Jun 14

Monday titles always suffer

In the middle or late part of the evening yesterday we decided we’d run a brick, which is a workout where you combine two of the three elements of a triathlon. We decided to ride for an hour and then run for an hour.

So we we rode out of town as far as we could for a half hour. I went 32 minutes, which is nothing, but that got me to an intersection, a gas station and a turnaround. I thought I would race myself back, beat my time and all of that. Which is about the time my knee ligaments started hurting, so I slowed it down and still almost beat myself back home.

After which we started to run. Sometimes when you run, or when I run, at least, you just don’t feel it. You have to figure out when your body is telling you something and when your body is lying to you. Today I decided that it was not a day to run. Didn’t feel it, didn’t want it, didn’t press it.

And so that was that.

We had barbecue for dinner with a friend last night, that made it all a bit better. Tonight we dined with other friends who made jerk chicken, which was even better.

Things to read … because reading makes everything better.

If you don’t pay for it, you are the product. Or the research subject. Everything We Know About Facebook’s Secret Mood Manipulation Experiment:

And on Sunday afternoon, Adam D.I. Kramer, one of the study’s authors and a Facebook employee, commented on the experiment in a public Facebook post. “And at the end of the day, the actual impact on people in the experiment was the minimal amount to statistically detect it,” he writes. “Having written and designed this experiment myself, I can tell you that our goal was never to upset anyone. […] In hindsight, the research benefits of the paper may not have justified all of this anxiety.”

Kramer adds that Facebook’s internal review practices have “come a long way” since 2012, when the experiment was run.

There is a possibility that the sorry state of scientific research funding contributes to all of this. There’s also the possibility that, at some future date, some future lawsuits over this situation are landmark things we teach in research.

There’s more on IRB, the APA ethics and the notion of informed consent at the link.

Since we are at the 100-year anniversary of the beginning of World War I, here’s a good historical read with an Alabama hook. ‘There was never a braver lad:’ Alabama’s Osmond Kelly Ingram was first US sailor killed in WWI:

Ingram, 30, was aboard the Cassin off the Irish coast on Oct. 15, 1917 when the ship was attacked by a German submarine U-61. Ingram was cleaning the muzzle of a gun after morning target practice when he spotted a torpedo on a direct course for the ship. The Cassin began evasive maneuvers which seemed to have worked until the torpedo “porpoised,” or jumped out of the water, and turned towards the Cassin, Navy historians report.

Ingram, realizing the torpedo would hit near the depth charges at the ship’s stern, ran to release them in an effort to minimize the explosion and save the vessel.

Sadly, one of the first Americans killed at sea in World War II was from Alabama. The first American killed in Afghanistan was from Alabama too. One of the first Americans killed in Iraq was from here, too.

What will change Twitter? Twitter Rolls Out App Install And Engagement Ads, And New Click Pricing, Globally:

Twitter says that in the last quarter it made about 72 percent of all its revenues (equivalent to $181 million out of total revenues of $250 million) from mobile advertising.

On top of the app install ads, Twitter will also be expanding the kinds of reporting and analytics that app publishers will get around them.

The company says that keyword targeting in the ads will follow that of its other mobile units, with publishers able to set placement based on interest, keyword, gender, geographic location, language and mobile device, among other things.

This is all very logical. This will be very useful for those advertising in Twitter, and will refine things somewhat for consumers.

There is another plan that could come to fruition, which would be less useful. I remind you of, or introduce you to, what my friend @IkePigott said earlier this year:

In their last quarter Twitter reported $250 million in revenue — and $181 million in mobile advertising. This is all very big business.

history / links / weekend / World Cup — Comments Off on The present, the past, the immediate future
28
Jun 14

The present, the past, the immediate future

Spent the day watching World Cup. I have come to at least one conclusion: Brazil shouldn’t win the tournament. They just aren’t as good as the great Brazilian teams, and they’ll prove to not be of the same quality as the better teams that are still in the thing. Also, Colombia is a fun team to watch.

One hundred years ago … This was the front page of the New York Times: ARCHDUKE FRANCIS FERDINAND AND HIS CONSORT, THE DUCHESS OF HOHENBERG, ARE ASSASSINATED WHILE DRIVING THROUGH STREETS OF SARAJEVO, BOSNIA.

And, if you’ll remember your high school history, that led to all of Europe arming up for war. The link has some great contemporary content, if you’re interested.

The Guardian, meanwhile, is coming to terms with how they played down the assassination:

The Manchester Guardian, then edited by the legendary CP Scott, was far from alone in playing down the significance of the death of the archduke, shot by the young radical Bosnian Serb, Gavrilo Princip, in Sarajevo. The Sleepwalkers, historian Christopher Clark’s seminal work on how Europe went to war in 1914, reflects the mixture of complacency and rhetoric Europe indulged in.

But the Guardian did devote the bulk of its main news page, illustrated by a small map and family tree of the Austrian royal house, to the shooting.

[…]

The next day, 30 June 1914, a Guardian headline read “World’s Sympathy with Aged Emperor”. The paper noted that the archduke and his wife had recently visited London and, his uncle, emperor Franz Joseph, held the title of a British field marshal.

[…]

Though the newspaper’s first analysis – headlined What the Murders May Mean – played down the “immediate or salient” effect on European politics, it did warn of the dangers of increased hostility between Austria and Serbia. It also warned of “the more serious danger of a Russian attack” on Austria in defence of its Slavic ally.

It is a fascinating little summary as the paper looks back upon itself.

We’re still learning about that war, meanwhile. Earlier this month Finland announced they had divers that have discovered a lost WWI German U-boat, apparently preserved in exceptional condition.

I wonder what the researchers will learn.

Maybe there will be an augmented reality tour of it one day. Here’s the latest from the AR world, by the way.

Or would you prefer holorooms at Lowe’s? Non makeup makeup? Actual spy glasses? Or South Park?

Fascinating world.

Hope yours is riveting too!

history / I do not know what is happening. / links / photo / running / swimming / things to read / Tuesday / World Cup — Comments Off on The picture of the World Cup
24
Jun 14

The picture of the World Cup

If you’ve ever really wondered about the agony of defeat, here’s Boubacar “Copa” Barry to show you what it looks like. The guy had played a fine game, only to watch one of his defenders give away a foul in the penalty box in extra time today. And that means a penalty kick, which is decidedly to the striker’s advantage. All Barry can do is guess and hope. He guessed, but his hopes were not met. So, in the final moments of stoppage time, the Ivory Coast gave up a goal that meant Greece would advance and the guys in green would go home.

This was a great “What just happened here?” shot they got of Barry through the back of his net.

Copa

Much better than Luis Suarez’s biting of Giorgio Chiellini.

So I’ve got my SEO taken care of for today, right there. Excellent.

Today I swam 2,500 yards, which is almost a mile-and-a-half. I did it in sets of 500s, because let’s not think I’m so ambitious here. This let me set a baseline time, which is good because I have something to think about in the water now, as I narrowly chip away at that with each set.

I won’t tell you what the time is, because it is excruciatingly slow.

Let’s just say this, on the wall there are large signs for pool and NCAA records. I walked over to look at the 500-yard freestyle record. It turns out that the guy that holds the pool record in the 500 also holds the pool record in the 1,000. If he was swimming his 1,000 at his record pace, he would be finishing up about the time I was starting my last 100 yards in a 500-yard swim.

So, you, see, excruciatingly slow.

A guy jumped into the lane next to mine near the end of my swim. I didn’t speak with him, but everything about him just screamed swimmer. He was backstroking down the lane faster than I can freestyle it. And he could backstroke about three times and be at his turn. It was a beautiful thing, watching the guy swim was like watching a ballerina do her warmups. They are just easy because they’ve spent countless hours making it look effortless.

Whereas I would like to take about 15 percent off of my 500 time, putting me in line with the pool record in the 1,000.

I counted the championship banners hanging from the rafters tonight. I’ve previously counted the names of Olympians stenciled into the wall. Serious, serious athletes have been in that lane. The rest of us are just in their way.

Later in the evening my buddy, Murphy, and I ran a 5K. You never know what you’ll get when you invite someone to go for a jog. I thought about that after the fact. That guy is fit, and he played flanker in high school football. And now I’m going to run with him? We had a nice jog and a nice chat and I was able to keep up.

Take that, anonymous swimmer in the next lane.

Things to read … all headline links edition … because I’m a slow reader, too.

Have to go see it … Coca-Cola mural in Opelika could be over 100 years old

‘No-fly list’ process unconstitutional, US district judge decides

A tedious SEO headline, to be sure. I wish this story was in the American media … Also, the story buries that President Bush costs more. Taxpayers will spend $944,000 to support Bill Clinton’s lifestyle in 2014 as he claims he and Hillary are not ‘out of touch’ because they ‘talk to people in our town’

Go back to high school and blame your civics teacher. A third of Americans can’t name any First Amendment rights

Someone at Slate thought “Ya know, we have to remind people we’re Slate!” Looney Tunes Cartoons Were More Brutal Than You May Remember

I wonder how often this happens. Veteran believes he sees his image in Berman D-Day exhibit

Score one for city hall. Kansas Boy Forced to Remove Little Free Library From His Yard

For my reaction, see Boubacar Barry, above.

Auburn / family / football / history / memories / photo — Comments Off on Famed raptor dies at Auburn
18
Jun 14

Famed raptor dies at Auburn

Tiger, War Eagle VI, has died, the university has announced.

Tiger never yielded, which is what you want out of an eagle that you ask to fly down a field. So long associated with Auburn, she was thought to be among the oldest golden eagles in captivity.

Tiger started that uniquely Auburn tradition, superlative to almost every other pre-game routine everywhere, at the beginning of the 2000 season.

A friend of mine was a member of the service fraternity who took care of her back then, when she lived in the aviary just off the concourse. You could see them training her at a particular time most any afternoon.

When my family came to visit my freshman year I took my grandmother by to meet Tiger. She had her picture made with her. “That’s just something you don’t get to do every day.”

Tiger

My grandmother did it again the next year too. Then she said “I bet nobody ever gets to do that!”

The first eagle to fly free in Jordan-Hare Stadium soared through the 2006 installment of the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. For her last Iron Bowl, the 2005 “Honk if you sacked Brodie” game, Tiger landed near us on the field. They’d named the field itself after Pat Dye. It was Carl Stephen’s last game as the voice of the stadium. Tiger sacked Brodie twice.

Tiger

During Tiger’s years of mascot service Auburn amassed a record of 75-27 with the SEC championship in 2004.

A grateful nation also asked her to fly in the 2002 Olympics.

After Nova and Spirit took over the pre-game flights, Tiger kept touring and teaching as part of her role at the Southeast Raptor Center.

Tiger

She helped educate audiences throughout the region. Her likeness remains a fund raiser. Believed to be one of the oldest golden eagles in captivity, Auburn announced today that she has died at 34.

War Eagle! Fly down the field! Ever to conquer, never to yield!

(A brief version of this post appeared at The War Eagle Reader.)

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