Scott Adcox

Doing More With Less Since 1972

Category: Thinking (Page 10 of 13)

A Crazy WikiLeaks Spin

November 30, 2010 / / 0 Comments

I’m really surprised some wingnut out there hasn’t hypothesized the whole WikiLeaks fiasco was orchestrated by the current administration in an effort to weaken both the United States and Hillary Clinton at the same time. Maybe some conspirotist out there has come up with that, but I haven’t heard it so far.

Of course, that’s ridiculous. It would take a very high level of competency to pull something like that off. Then again, the wackos on the other side didn’t have any trouble painting G.W. Bush as both an idiot and an evil mastermind capable of single-handedly raising gas prices, so I guess it’s not too far out there.

My Next Great Idea – The USPS Stimulus Package

November 12, 2010 / / 0 Comments

After reading this article on the USPS losing $8.5 B (yes, that’s $500 million AFTER THE DECIMAL PLACE!). With all the hyperbole over evil corporations, at least their management has to answer to shareholders…at least they have to answer to someone. I was talking about it with a couple of people on Twitter:

[blackbirdpie id=”3124711739363328″]

[blackbirdpie id=”3116082235711488″]

 

Obviously, they aren’t huge fans. Come on…what’s a few billion amongst friends? But then I saw these articles about the Swedes storing emails and texts and our own government  getting ready to grace us with an Internet Czar and a light bulb went off…

USPS Stimulus package!

Just set up (yet another) federal agency to track and log every single piece of electronic communication. This will have the (un)intended consequence of forcing…err…encouraging people to go back to sending coded messages through the USPS and hoping they are delivered within a few days. Think of how many USPS jobs this could save or create!

The Facts and Science of QEII

November 5, 2010 / / 0 Comments

The newly announced monetization of debt…ERRRRR…devaluation of the currency…ERRRRR…quantitative easing announced by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday has many Americans confused and baffled. What does this really mean for us? After all “facts and science and argument does [sic] not seem to be winning the day” with the collection of hilljacks that is the American people.

Maybe what we really need is an easy to understand analogy to explain in terms that we can relate to.

Let’s say the money supply is a big pile of rich, high-grade manure we are using to to fertilize our gardens. Now, imagine that a big stud horse (the Fed) comes along and, with increasing frequency and volume, adds to our supply of manure. I guess the theory is that we’ll respond by just planting more crops. But how long would it take for us to stop calling this big stinking pile of crap “fertilizer” and start calling it “a big stinking pile of crap”?

Over time, the manure’s value to us would be greatly diminished, and we’ll be lucky if we can load a bunch of it up in wheel barrow and trade it for a loaf of bread from our neighbor. Meanwhile, no one knows who owns the damned horse that keeps adding crap to the pile.

Oversimplified? Maybe so. But it’s pushing the limit of what our government educated brains can handle. Best to leave it to the horse to decide what is best.

Mexican Standoff In Congress?

November 3, 2010 / / 0 Comments

There’s a possibility we could be looking at two years scripted by Quentin Tarantino. Maybe the standard finger pointing that we’re used to seeing is about to be replaced by something far more complicated.

Democrats have lost a lot of their Blue Dog numbers. I’ve actually read some people spinning this as the people in their districts were frustrated that they weren’t taking a “progressive enough” stance. If you really believe that, go pop some popcorn and enjoy what’s about to happen amongst Democrats as their leadership tries to pull them even further to the left. That would be disastrous for the Left and good for the country, so I’m not going to discourage it at all.

And, unless they get co-opted by the “Trent-Lott-Carl-Rove” Republicans, we’re probably going to see some infighting on that side of the aisle too. Again, probably bad for Republicans, but good for the country. Marco Rubio’s speech was dead on–last night wasn’t an embrace of the Republican Party, just a second chance.

If things don’t change, we could *gulp* be looking at a serious third party next time around. And if the establishment Democrats and Republicans aren’t careful, they may actually be that third party–on the outside looking in.

I’m generally happiest with a federal government that’s not doing much of anything. The less they try to create jobs (that’s a function of government?), bail people out, spend our money on our behalf, impose morality (love the irony), prop up favored industries, etc. the better off we all are. This usually happens when we are lucky enough to have opposing parties in the executive and legislative branches. Maybe now we’ll have so much debate of ideas going on that only the really good ones that have been properly vetted can float to the top.

“Yolanda, it’s cool baby. It’s cool! We’re still just talkin’. Come on point the gun at me. Point the gun at me.”

Password Security and Complexity

October 14, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Twister MC has some good advice on what to do about your passwords and protecting your accounts with multiple passwords, but…

Remembering multiple passwords suck, especially the harder they are, but it’s important that you take your security into your own hands.

There’s an easy way around that–come up with your own “password algorithm” and remember that instead of the actual passwords.

Here’s an example: Begin all of your passwords with the last 8 (or fewer) letters of the name of the street you live on spelled backwards with all vowels substituted with alternate symbols or letters (a=@, e=3, i=!, o=0, u=V), followed by the number of letters in the domain name you are creating the password for, followed by all of the vowels in the domain name. So if you live on Maple St.:

Google password = 3lp@M6ooe
Yahoo password = 3lp@M5aoo
Facebook password = 3lp@M8aeoo

Then, all you have to remember is the rule for creating passwords, not the passwords themselves, and they’ll be different for every site. This has kept me from having to go through the “Forgot My Password” process countless times!

You can come up with an infinite number of ways to structure your password algorithm that is easy for you to remember, and you can make them as simple or complex as you like. The only problem comes from some sites that don’t allow special characters (boo) or have a maximum password length that can’t handle your algorithm.

Microsoft and Facebook Need To Go One Step Further

October 13, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Today’s event hosted by Microsoft and Facebook highlighted some changes coming to Bing that will factor in your social group opinions, Facebook “Likes”, into your search results. That’s great, and it’s definitely a step in the right direction, but…

Just because your FB friends like something doesn’t mean it’s something you would like. Being friends with someone doesn’t necessarily mean you respect their opinion on sushi or books. How about a option to tell FB whether or not you want an individuals opinions factored in to your search results? It sounds like they are going to algorithmically figure out who the experts are, but FB’s whole model with photos and groups is sort of built on the idea that humans can organize this data much better than a computer.

And don’t look now, but Facebook has just given all of those people who’ve been calling for a “Dislike” button for all these years a platform to stand on. The “Like” button is great for steering me towards products and services I should buy, but what about steering me away from products I should avoid? If I’m looking at a vacuum cleaner and one of my trusted friends bought one last year and hated it, shouldn’t that factor into my decision to purchase it as equally as the opinion of my friend who bought and loved it?

Again, a huge step in the right direction, so I’m not hating on what they are trying to do. This is going to push Google to really step it up. If Google Me (or whatever it is called) doesn’t catch on, Big G could be put on the ropes a little with this innovation.

Side note: I got a kick out of Zuck calling Microsoft the underdog. I’m sure Bill Gates appreciated that compliment.

I Was Wrong

October 11, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Ok, not really in this instance, but a couple of years ago I wrote a little post on why I give full articles in my feed. I think that, at least for the time it was written, this was a reasonable and logical notion.

Things are different now.

At the time, RSS was the best thing going. For many of us, it still is. I love RSS and Google Reader and still rely on them pretty heavily to keep up with the sites and blogs I follow. But the rules of the game have definitely changed in the last couple of years. I’ve noticed much more traffic being driven by Twitter and Facebook than feed readers ever did. I think the question to ask now is whether your audience and the market as a whole are more likely to follow your blog with RSS or with Facebook or Twitter.

Obviously, there’s no way to get a full feed on a Tweet, so that’s not an issue. But the way Facebook handles blog integration through the Notes application means you probably don’t want to give full feeds there either. If you do, you aren’t leaving any reason at all for anyone to visit your site. Post on Facebook, comment on Facebook, and stay on Facebook–that’s what I’d do.

I’m going back to summaries only in my feed. I think the best strategy these days may be to write a good headline, get an interesting thought or two in the first couple of sentences (thanks for the practice Twitter), and pull people in to your site that way. I also found a nice little plugin that integrates Facebook comments straight to your blog.

Interested to see how this little experiment plays out. I can always switch back later.

Some Simple Campaign Advice

October 11, 2010 / / 3 Comments

If you go door-to-door campaigning, or if you have people going door-to-door for you, it’s probably not a good idea to wear mirrored sunglasses.

You may be knocking on doors in an area that is safe for your candidate, simply reminding people to get out and vote on election day, but even if those people agree with (most) of your positions, there’s a chance they’ll be distracted and put a little bit off-balance by the fact that you aren’t looking them in the eye and telling them exactly what you (or your candidate) stand for.

And if the people you are talking to disagree with you, you’re going to look downright shady–confirming every paranoid and ridiculous opinion they’d formed about you.

Politics isn’t a poker game. In politics, it’s reasonable for people to expect you to look them in the eye and lie instead of hiding behind mirrored glasses.

Gmail Launches Non-Threaded “Feature”

September 29, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Gmail’s threaded, conversation based approach to email is one of the things that sold me on it early on. But I know there are people who don’t like it and prefer the traditional “one message, one line in my inbox” way of viewing their email.

Fair enough–diff’rent strokes and all. But I always thought it was a little unfortunate that people didn’t take advantage of all the other great gmail features because they didn’t like the threaded messages, especially small businesses that could use Google’s awesome services so easily.

Today, Google announced the ability to turn the threaded feature off. That means people who are used to the Microsoft Outlook type email will be able to use gmail more comfortably while still taking advantage of all the other great features like search and filtering.

Good move on Google’s part to try to include these folks. I approve.

It’s Better To Be Undertrained

September 17, 2010 / / 0 Comments

I once heard from a wise runner that it’s better to go into a race 10% undertrained than 1% overtrained. If that’s true (and I live like it is), I’ll be hitting my October 3 race in the sweet spot. Moving has cut into my training opportunities for the last couple of weeks, and at this point I’m hoping I can just maintain what I had long enough to make it to the taper.

I’m even having to cut my taper down to two weeks for this race. I generally like to taper for 2-3 months. 🙂

How Heat Affects Heart Rate, Or At Least Mine

August 26, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Filed under “Experiments With Bodily Functions”

I’ve been riding the spin bike a lot lately. I had some self-induced mechanical issues with my TT bike for a while. And it was hot. And I usually don’t get a chance to ride until after 10 pm anyway. So it’s been really convenient. But I’ve noticed that I have a really hard time getting my heart rate up on the spin bike. I’ve done some interval workout videos where the folks on the video are working in the mid to high 160s, while I’m at a perceived effort level of 4/5 and not getting over 140. And the averages for these rides are always in the 120s. I know what pushing feels like, and I “feel” like that’s what I’m doing, but the HRM doesn’t show this work I’m feeling. And when I’m just spinning at a perceived level of 1/5, I’m lucky to break 110.

Yesterday I went out on my TT bike for the first time in a looong time. Weird, but no problem getting my heart rate up there. I was sustaining ~160 on 3 minute intervals, and averaged 144 for the 20 mile ride. During the cool down portion of the ride, my heart rate was ~133, and that was with a perceived effort level of 1. I could have sung opera (if I could sing).

The one major difference between riding the spin bike inside and riding a real bike outside is temperature and humidity. With the spin bike, I ‘m sitting directly beneath an air conditioning vent and a ceiling fan. But still, riding in a cool and humidity-free environment couldn’t have that much effect. Or could it?

I must employ the scientific method to find out for sure–had to collect some data.

During lunch today, I put on my my HRM and sat in the floor, leaning against the sofa for one minute. I then started a split and collected HR for one minute, and got an average rate of 52.

Then I went out to the driveway and sat down, leaning against the car. I waited for 5 minutes…just long enough that my feet were no longer cool and I felt like I was about to start sweating. Another minute with my HRM, and I got an average rate of 67.

So it takes me 15 more beats per minute to do nothing in the heat than it does to do nothing in the cool! And it was only in the mid-80s today!

One thing I’m not exactly sure about is how I can accurately extrapolate that data based on temperature though. Do I use a constant change of ~15 bpm when comparing hot weather workouts to cold weather workouts, or do I use a percentage (30%?!?!) difference. I’m leaning towards the first option, but I probably need to collect more data.

That means more spin bike. Outside. In the heat.

Torture.

Logging Workouts For Posterity

August 12, 2010 / / 0 Comments

I first started running in 2003. Not that I didn’t run before that, but that’s when I became “a runner” (arguably). That’s when I started running with running performance as the end goal instead of running with rugby as the end goal. The first thing I did was seek out some people who were already runners and drain their brains of whatever info I could. One of the best pieces of advice I got was to keep a training log. Back then, lots of people who logged their training did so in a hand-written training diary, but I was lucky that I was beginning at a time when CoolRunning was already available. This meant I could have all of my training logged online without having to go back and re-enter old information.

CoolRunning was great–nice analysis tools, kept up with miles on shoes, etc. But then they sold out to Active, and I didn’t like the interface as much. So I started trying other sites like MapMyRun and Livestrong. It’s great to have the ability to map training courses, but they are all lacking something. There are either too many ads, not enough analysis tools, whatever. As a result, I have training data spread out across multiple logging sites, and what I really want is one place to keep all of my data.

Now I’m the one who has to re-enter old information when I find a logging tool I like.

I recently started using DailyMile, and I like it a lot. Sure, there are a couple of issues with it too. The analysis tools and interface are great. It’s also social–sort of like the “Facebook for training”. But you can’t go back and do analysis on lifetime data (yet). It’s also difficult to import old data. They have an API, and some guys have started a Java client library, but there’s still a lot of going back to the sites I used before and collecting the data.

What I’ve been doing is entering my new workouts as I do them, then going back and entering the data from the same date on previous years. If I have time, I’ll go back and enter some other old workouts as well. This seems like a hassle and something that would be best to do automatically.

But there’s an upside to doing it manually too. As I’m going back, I’m actually reading my old training logs and doing mental analysis on them. It’s helping with my current training. For instance, it’s encouraging to see how far I’ve come in the swim compared to the first swims I logged back in 2005. And holy crap…I was on a training tear in the summer of 2004. And while I feel like I’m so much slower right now than I was when I was marathon training in 2003, it’s nice to see that my times and splits are comparable to what they were then.  I’ve also noticed that I was much more negative about my training back in 2003 (maybe pressing too hard?). I expected every outing to be a PR and to feel great all the time. That’s funny to me now, knowing how “normal” it is to go out and have crappy training days every once in a while.

What I’m getting at is that it’s great to keep a training log, but it also may be worth your time to go back and review it periodically so you can see your growth and improvement. That isn’t always going to show up in the calculated pace from the workouts. A big part of it will show up in the notes you kept. Even if you have hand-written training logs, it may be a good idea to spend a few minutes each day going back and reviewing your logs from the previous years on that exact date, just to help keep things in perspective.

Keeping a training log is a good tip. I’d say reading your training log is a good tip too.

Image Credit

The Spin Class I Want To Go To

July 12, 2010 / / 0 Comments

I was chatting over email today with an old rugby buddy of mine about the benefits of spin class. One of the ones he pointed out was that “mean” instructor who you love. In his case, it’s a South African who reminds him a lot of our former rugby coach from SA. This guy was a real jerk. His name was Eugene. I don’t think I ever knew his last name. None of us liked him at all–at least not as a friend.

But we loved him as a coach. He squeezed more out of us as a team and individually than we could ever have imagined. We lived out of our comfort zone for the duration of every training session, and it made us better. We never knew from day to day what kind of crazy fitness drills he’d have us do or what new and creative way he’d contrived to expose our weaknesses and punish us for them.

Two of the things I really like about spin classes are that I never know what’s coming next, and there’s a little bit of an extra push implied just because someone else is telling me how to ride and what to do. So I was thinking, if I could create the ultimate spin class, what would it be like?

A lot like Fight Club.

  1. You do not talk about this class. It’s not on “the schedule”. You have to ride your way in and be invited to attend. (This probably keeps me out of the class, thankfully)
  2. Bikes are arranged in a circle, so everybody can see everybody else. That turns the level of competition up about two notches automatically.
  3. No verbal cues. The class is too hard for that. The instructor is too gassed to tell you what to do. You just have to watch and follow.
  4. Better yet, there isn’t even an instructor. The lead moves around the circle with each person trying to kill the group more than the last person did.
  5. The lights are on. Again, everybody can see what everybody else is doing…or not doing. (Plus I like to be able to see my HRM).
  6. The door is locked. Can’t hang? Get off your bike and stand in the middle of the circle until the session is over. Oh, and the first one to quit has to clean up everyone’s bike when it’s over.
  7. Class will go on as long as it has to.

Some of these are obviously a joke, but I think there’s some actual merit to an idea like this. If a gym offered a two hour class that you had to ride your way into and was super tough, there are plenty of people who’d be happy to subject themselves to that kind of suffering. Unfortunately, the gym I go to has a high population of older folks, and there probably wouldn’t be much of a market for it, but I can honestly say I’d pay by the class for a chance at that kind of punishment.

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