Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

adventures / cycling / Friday / iPhone / photo / Pie Day — Comments Off
05
Sep 14

You just go faster

Nothing like having your last event of the work week being a meeting, and then being stood up. I waited for half an hour, no word, and left.

I’d have rather had the meeting, and been done with it. Who knows when it will happen now. On the way home I had this view as a brief consolation:

But, hey, we got to talk about story ideas in class today — always a fun topic — and I still made it home in time to get an hour on my bike. I need more than one hour at a time, of course, but you take it where you can get it.

The Yankee and I set out together, but she said “See you at home,” which I took to mean, “Go have fun,” which really meant “Go hard.”

That was the plan, at least in two places. There were two courses I wanted to try to conquer today. One seemed easier than the other, but I had zeal for both of them. At least until my lungs gave out, which has a direct relationship to zeal. I was halfway up the long slow hill that marked the course I hoped to mark a new best time when everything seemed to give way. I pedaled harder, but it seemed I was going slower. I told my legs and lungs I wanted nothing to do with their protests, but they protested anyway.

And when I got home and checked the app I discovered that I had sliced 48 seconds off my best time on that course. That gave me the course lead over the next best time, by one whole second.

On the back half of my route today was the other course I wanted to master. And there it started to rain on me. Also, it was getting close to get dark. I ride on that particular stretch of road frequently, but this was only the second time I have timed myself on it. The course is designed for someone who can go all out for three straight miles. This isn’t my strength — I don’t really have a strength, I think — but we are all full of weaknesses and average talents of one sort or another. I dropped 1:38 off my last timed trip down the course and now I have the fast time on that segment, too.

On the last rode before the clouds came back again and I was rained on again. The twilight had turned to a full on flirt with the night. Two police cars passed me going the other direction and I expected one of them to turn around and give me some grief. But I pedaled furiously and made it home in the last embers of the day. The Yankee wasn’t very far behind me. I’d gone hard, and she did too.

Then we went out for Pie Day.

Catember — Comments Off
05
Sep 14

Catember, Day 5

I do not know what is happening. / links / running / Samford / things to read / Thursday / Twitter / video — Comments Off
04
Sep 14

There are two videos, and people move fast

Let us go ahead and get this out of the way right at the beginning. This is the best video of the day. It is almost two years old and, until you watch it you won’t have any idea why a father refusing to walk his daughter down the aisle is the theme behind the best video of the day:

“What else after that?” Indeed. I could watch that over and over. I’ve watched it about four times. Isn’t she a beautiful little thing? Now all we need is a followup video in about 20 years or so.

I ran today, but it was an abbreviated run. Just a couple of miles and then I had the general feeling of nausea and sickness. So I called it a morning. I was right; it was a morning.

Things to read … because that’s useful, no matter what time of day it is.

There is both a static and an interactive version to this map. I wonder why. Map: The counties that have received the most undocumented immigrant children

Naturally. H&R Block CEO says Obamacare to add ‘significant complexity’ to tax season

I remain unsurprised. Inspector general: Homeland Security spent millions on underused vehicles

Sure, this is about the largest animal ever discovered, but they buried the lead: we can play with the bones! Newly discovered dinosaur, Dreadnoughtus, takes title of largest terrestrial animal

I wonder if it is an algorithm that Twitter uses to send me the dated emails I get every so often. Algorithms Are Invading Your Twitter Stream, And Resistance Is Futile … Don’t get me wrong, algorithms are good things on the whole, but I’ve carefully curated my Twitter stream to serve my needs and interests. It is very human and practical and effective. I don’t want your continual move toward Twitter in Facebook. Just allow me to keep the regular version, and thank you. I am afraid, however, that if this gets out of hand this becomes a goodbye for a lot of users.

This, this is awesome. Researchers send brain-to-brain message from India to France:

“We wanted to find out if one could communicate directly between two people by reading out the brain activity from one person and injecting brain activity into the second person, and do so across great physical distances by leveraging existing communication pathways.”

The information sent were the words “hola” and “ciao” in binary. Four people participated in the study: one person in India sent the information, and the other three people in France received it.

Age is just one more number for U.Va. stat trackers:

At 104, Risher does not take a backseat to many in matters of seniority. He saw his first Virginia game in 1920 and played for the Cavaliers during the 1931 season, making him the school’s oldest football alumnus.

With “only” 51 seasons under his belt, however, he’s not the senior man on the crew.

“Paul’s the workhorse,” Risher said. “He puts all the data together.”

Wisman began keeping stats at VMI games in 1950 while teaching economics at the school. He came to Virginia for graduate school and hooked on with the stats crew in ’56.

He’s missed one home game since: the 2011 season opener.

And, finally, I produced this Hyperlapse video today of the organization fair Samford had. No one has seen it — thanks to absolutely no retweets or other social media shares, thanks all! — so you can be the first:

Should be a fun tool.

Catember — Comments Off
04
Sep 14

Catember, Day 4

links / Samford / things to read / video / Wednesday — Comments Off
03
Sep 14

That’s a question, sure thing

There is such a thing as a stupid question. Quora has found it:

Is it safe to do the ALS ice bucket challenge with liquid nitrogen instead of ice water?

But, hey, at least someone thought to ask. One wonders if they simultaneously have access to liquid nitrogen and were unsure about the specific properties of the stuff. Happily, most of the answers have to do with experience in laboratories and an explanation of the Leidenfrost effect. Only one answer goes superlative, along the lines of “sure, if you want to die.”

Mr. Freeze aside, the question was asked, and answered. The question even referenced Leidenfrost. So, yes, stupid question.

Glad it wasn’t asked over at Yahoo Answers, the land of enchantedly silly questions.

Class today. Meetings today. Meetings into the night. It was a full, full day. Quora helped. Yahoo Answers never helps.

Things to read … because even when you read only this much, it helps.

Cyber attacks on hospitals rising 600 percent:

The computer networks of hospitals and health systems that hold millions of patient records and valuable personal information are quickly becoming a favorite target for hackers.

A recent report from security research firm Websense finds that while attempted cyber attacks are on the rise in many industries, the amount of digital invasions on hospitals is unparalleled and has risen 600 percent in the last 10 months.

Just in time for all those medical records in the cloud. Should be fun.

Why Interactives are the Next Big Thing in Content Marketing:

Interactive graphics, or ‘interactives’ for short, are like the Transformers of visual content: They can take on a variety of forms. You can find an interactive that’s a microsite, dashboard, or a map, to name a few. But at the core, they’re all visualizations that allow viewers to explore the information presented for themselves.

By definition, interactives engage viewers in a very active way – and that engagement can be incredibly powerful to marketers. People viewing interactives spend more time on the page, seeing a brand associated with content that interests them, all at their own pace.

[…]There are three situations where making an interactive is the way to go: (1) complex data visualization, (2) personalized branded content, and (3) customized product explainers.

Fortunately, there is already a brilliant visualized explainer to answer the question above. Enjoy:

More tomorrow.