Dyanmic Music Videos

http://evanjacover.com/archives/2007/im-more-important-than-you

Check this out - it's a nice song that's a wonderful alternative to road rage, but the best part is that it uses random pictures from Flickr to create a potentially-new video every time you play the song. If you want to do the same, the site owner supplies the source code.

And the song is actually pretty good - i'd love to have it on my iPod to play in traffic - for those 'special' people on the road.

Morris Arboretum

Visited the Morris Arboretum this weekend. Highly recommend it.
The special exhibit was:



Many of the buildings were local Philadelphia institutions, but these are some of my other favorites are below. The entire exhibit is made out of natural materials, and appear to be bio-degradable. There's no information available about how the buidlings were constructed, which would have been really interesting, but they appear to be thin wood with a lot of epoxy of some kind. The trestles are made of wood.

No reflecting pool in front, but still impressive, on a small scale.









Guess where you're NOT ?



Detail from Independence Hall:

Buy This Book !

Who knows enough about shopping in Victorian England ? Not me !

This book is actually an easy read about the social impacts of shopping in Victorian England - how did they do it ? What kind of shops were there ? Who owned them ? Worked in them ? Who went to which kind of shop ? (or, shoppe ?). Is this a pre-cursor to the modern American habit of "shopping as entertainment" - a time when shopping occupied an important part of people's (i.e., women's) daily lives ?

Anyway, highly readable and entertaining.
Available on Amazon, B&N, etc.

Bicycle Cravings....

Just because 'bicycle season' is over doesn't mean that I don't look/ think about bikes, or that I stop riding.

I have found two bikes that I truly CRAVE.

The first is a short wheelbase tandem recumbent from Barcroft. The Columbia. I saw one on the MS 150 ride. My fondest desire is to do some serious touring on a tandem recumbent.... hope i don't have to wait until i retire to do that !


Since it doesn't look like tandem riding is in my near future, I have this bike lined up as a replacement if my Haluzak ever fails.... Titanium, and less than 24 lbs. I never wanted an over seat steering recumbent before, but this one has changed my mind.

Taking a test drive is worth the trip to Virginia !

Link to the Barcroft site.

Fun with George Orwell.....

Every time I read 1984, or anything else by or about George Orwell, I always think of the grammer streamlining in 1984 - double plus good !

Here's the idea for some fun: take a day and use only 1984-ish constructs in your written and oral communications - especially e-mails. I think texting would need something like 'GD++", and 'GD--'.

Better, and more fun, than 'talk like a pirate day'......




More fun with George/ Eric on the Orwell Diaries site.

MS 150 2008 City to Shore

Rode the MS 150 City to Shore on Saturday. 75 miles from Cherry Hill, NJ to Ocean City.


Rode the Sun EZ-1, which weighs 41 lbs unloaded. Added 75 ounces of water (which weighs slightly more than 16 pounds). Plus, spare tubes for the front and rear tires - because they're different sizes. So, that's more than 57 pounds to pedal for 75 miles, without clipless pedals - just regular platform pedals.




Total time - 7 hours; 15 minutes. Which is 9 minutes slower than 2007, when I rode the Haluzak. I think I could have done the century in 7 hours, if I had ridden the Haluzak.

Fixing the Economy - 'Trickle UP"

Everyone seems to have an opinion, so here's mine (and it costs a lot less than $700b U.S.)

Step 1: Take about $260B and invest in US bonds - something safe. We'll spend it gradually - later.

Step 2: Focus on the sub-prime loans. Let's skip the discussion about the greed, etc., that causes the loans to be made. The point is that there are people who have loans that they can't afford. The normal rule of thumb is 28% to 30% of your income should be spent on housing (including mortgage, taxes, etc.). For people with sub-prime loans, figure out what 30% of their income is. That's the amount of the loan that they're required to pay for their mortgage - set up at today's rate as a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. The difference between the % that they can pay, and the amount currently owed on the sub-prime will be paid MONTHLY for the next 30 years, out of the $260B invested in bonds.

Step 3: The holders of the currently-worthless paper can't sell it. They'll get paid, but only over 30 years. Too bad.

Step 4. This will probably solve the problem for 80% of the sub-prime loans; the rest will default anyway. That's life, but it's better than buying off greedy people who knew they wouldn't be helpd accountable.

Winter Project 2008/2009 - Carbon Fiber bike

Also known as "Crazy Idea #1". If I work through all of my current in-progress projects (making a 'watercolor' picture of the house, converting all of my vinyl and casettes to digital) and digitizing all of my 35mm slides, learning a few words of Welsh, and possibly other things, I know what I want to work on during the winter of 2008/9 when it's too cold and dark to ride.

I want to build a carbon fiber recumbent bike. I know some places where I can buy parts, and I can buy some plans to help me design (or at least avoid known pitfalls), and lots of people have already done this. So, it has to be possible, if you design well, and work really well and carefully, no ? It would be so cool to ride a bike that you designed and built by yourself. The lightness of carbon fiber-coated foam core would just be an added bonus. I've stripped bikes down to the frame and re-assembled them, but this is a whole new level of bike insanity.

Off to do some research, so I can think about this while finishing my current projects.

Woodpecker in Window

I was working at home today, and I looked out the window and saw a woodpecker in one of the crab apple trees.
We have heard them before, but I never saw one this close for this long. I had to shoot through the windows, without a filter, so there is a reflective glare in the picture.

He was very industriously working at a knothole. I can't tell if he was lucky and got an insect or not. He's about 4 inches long.

ICE Bikes - New Model B1

ICE Bikes - Inspired Cycle Engineering - which makes recumbent trikes now makes a short wheelbase recumbent bicycle - apparently only over seat steering. Mesh or carbon seat. Best - it easily comes completely apart for transport !

The web site has a shot of the disassembled bike (shown with the mesh seat).
They also offer two handlebar styles. Not sure how the rack show in this photo attaches - unless it's an under-seat rack.

And, ICE offers short cranks as an option !

Web site is: http://www.ice.hpv.co.uk/bikes/b1.htm

Return of Pedro's Ice Wax

I've tried 'dry lubes', and they just make my 8 feet of chain caked with dirt. Even the "apply sparingly and don't re-apply until your chain squeaks" kind. So, even if it might contribute to chain wear (which defeats the purpose of a chain lube), I'm going back to Pedro's Ice Wax. At least I don't have chain marks on my leg, which seems to be an inherent part of recumbent riding.

Bike Philly 2008

I rode Bike Philly 2008 yesterday - the 30 mile route. The good parts: excellent route signs and volunteers.



I usually manage to get lost at least once on any ride, but even I didn't get lost. I give this ride A+ for the route itself - who knew there was a Greenland Drive in Fairmount Park ? not me !

It's probably a perfect ride for families and kids - how many kids get to ride their bikes on Delaware Avenue ? The 10 or 20 mile option would be perfect for any kid, especially since they have rest stops every 4 miles.

The bad part ? Just because there aren't cars doesn't mean you don't have to be AWARE OF OTHER RIDERS... and LOOK before you just move across the road....This ride is a lot like the Bike New York ride in May -- you spend so much time being careful and watching out for other riders that you don't get a chance to look at the scenery. But, with only 2,000 riders, it eventually thins out and you can look at the park and scenery, etc.

They could give it a better name, too. Who calls it "Philly" ? (and actually lives here ?). "Bike Fillelf-ya" or even "Yo ! Bike Fillelf-ya" would be a much better name. Next year: Sept 13, 2009. I think I'll sign up. Just hope it isn't another 90-degree, 90 % humidity day.


Next year, I will NOT have a squeaky chain (first time I've ever had one), so I won't be too embarassed to ride the 50 mile loop.

No web site for the 2009 ride yet - here's the 2008. http://ridebikephilly.org/

Kickbike season started today

I've been trying to ride every day since April, and I needed a change. So, today, I hooked up the bike computer and the light to my Kickbike (picture below) and took it around the neighborhood. 2.4 miles in 8 minutes, with several stops to make adjustments, etc. I can't keep that pace up, especially on hills. But it was a fun change. Tomorrow, I'm going to take it out on a flatter bike path.
The Kickbike:

6,000+ miles

I've hit 1,500 miles on my bikes since April, which was my goal for this bike season (which isn't over yet). One of my bikes now has 6,177 miles on it.
Here's a map showing this distance mapped as a circle around a single point.

The URL for GPSVisualizer is: http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/calculators

Recumbent Shirts

What to wear on a recumbent for visibility ?
Answer: these T-shirts (long-, short-, and sleveless) for only $9.99 (regular price). All in a Cool-max-like wicking fabric !

They're sold as safety shirts - for construction. Also available with duct-tape-like reflective tape on them. Way better (and cheaper) for recumbents than useless bike jerseys.
The only on-line company that sells them at this price is called "Alert Shirt". The URL is: http://alertshirt.com/index.html

Shore Fire Century

65.5 miles through Delaware today on the White Clay Bicycle Club's Shore Fire Century (or, Metric Century). An excellent ride !! Almost no traffic, well-marked route, only adult riders, wide shoulders. I rode this one in 2004, and the heat almost killed me - the weather was perfect today, too.

An Amazon Kindle !

Wow ! A Kindle ! I've been looking for an e-book device for years, so I was very excited when the Kindle was announced. What can I say about it ? A lot, after testing it for a few weeks.

My basic requirements for an e-book device are simple, since I want to use it while traveling:

1. It has to read like a book. I want to be able to read at the same speed as when using a printed book. I don't want to have to turn it to avoid glare, or turn the page more frequently because it doesn't fit a whole page in a display screen.

2. I want to be able to make, use, and remove bookmarks. It should be easy to mark where I've stopped reading, and pick up from exactly the same place.

3. Add to it. How hard is it to add books to the device ? Does it handle all kind of formats (PDF, TXT, Word, etc.) ?

4. Annotations. Can I make "notes" in the margin ? Can I customize their appearance (different colors, markers vs pens)?

5. Battery Life. I don't want something that doesn't last as long as train or plane ride + wait time. So, it has to last for at least 8 hours.

The results:1. Yes - for the most part, it's as easy to read as a paperback. The page turning is slower than I would like, and you can't really 'flip' to a section. So, if you want to bypass the Table of Contents you have to turn the pages really fast. There is a 'go to' feature, but you have to know your destination page or section. It would be really nice if it has a "go to next section" function.

2. Bookmarks are easy to set, flip through, and delete. It's really a box around the text. Unfotunately, you can't set styles for the bookmarks (different dotted lines, etc.)

3. It's easy to transfer files from your PC to the Kindle. I transferred TXT files from Project Gutenberg and also transferred an audio book from Audible.com.

4. You can add notes, but, like the booksmarks, you do not have any control over the style.

5. Battery Life. I didn't wear it down. Apparently, the battery is not used while you're just reading. It's supposed to have an 18 hour battery.

Extras:
1. It plays audio books. The best part is that it shows the sections, which is something my iPod doesn't do.

2. SD memory card. This is great because it doesn't come with a lot of storage space, and the audio books are huge.

3. Search and Find Text- very easy. It also links to Google so you can run a search on-line. It's not great for web browsing - the pages are squished.

Summary:
I'm going to wait for the price to come down, or for other products to use the same technology at a lower cost. If I traveled regularly, it might be worth the $300+ (US).

I wouldn't use it for serious academic work - the lack of styles for annotations would be a serious problem.

500 miles in July !

Actually, it was 495 miles. If I had known the total mileage for the month yesterday, I would have added the last 5 miles, instead of quitting at 34.1 miles. But, it's close enough. I rode on 15 days, for an average of 33+ miles per ride. Not too bad.

1,000 Miles and River to River Ride

As of yesterday, I have logged 702 miles on my Haluzak recumbent, and more than 300 miles on my SUN EZ-1 since April 17, when the odometer on the Haluzak hit 5,000 miles (a seperate blog).

Rode the River to River Ride through Bucks County (PA) on Saturday. 54 miles. Thoroughly delightful. Masochistically hilly. No - it really was thoruoghly delightful. AND masochistically hilly. Or, thoroughly hilly and mastochistically delightful ! Will I do it again next year ? Probably.

What to do when you have insomnia ?

It's not a cure, but it's better than trying to sleep. The answer is "check out the web cams on the other side of the planet". Even if everyone in your world is out like a light, and the streets are empty and silent, you can watch dawn in Amsterdam, or noon in Nairobi, etc. Or, just watch the streets in your own city from the safety of your PC.

Check out Earth Cam - http://www.earthcam.com/

Cool Bike Tool !

Sometimes the little tools save you a lot of time. I got this tool for my birthday this week.

It measures the amount of wear on your chain, and indicates .75% and .1% wear - which is generally when you should replace a chain. I usually try to replace the chain after 1,000 miles, but this is more accurate than waiting for the chain to slip, or doing the 'how much light shows between the chain and the cogs in the chainring ?' approach.

Park and Spin Doctor have their own versions. The Spin Doctor model is around $4.00. Next to a pedal wrench, I think these are the most useful of the very very specialized bike tools that I have.

My worst bike day - EVER !

Yesterday was my worst bike day - ever. The only day that might have been worse was getting a saddle sore in the middle of a week-long ride in Lancaster County.

Yesterday started off with a flat 0.3 miles from the start - going over railroad tracks. So, 15 minutes lost while I walked back to the car, because I have a floor pump there. Another 15 minutes to get out the patch kit and change the tube. That part was probably a good thing, because I found that the tube was filled with Slime (I bought the bike used 2 years ago). So, the rear tire is now a LOT lighter after getting rid of the Slime-filled tube. Then, I had a LOT of problems getting the wheel back on the bike, but, after another 5 minutes, I got it on. So, after losing a 1/2 hour, I was back on the trail.

After a few minutes, I realized that I had lost the use of about 1/2 of my gears. Instead of moving across each cog, the rear deraileur only moved on every other cog...But, after the trouble I had getting the wheel back on, I wasn't going to stop and play with it again.

So, after 25 miles of mostly unpaved loose gravel, and only having 1/2 of my gears, I had enough fun. So, I turned around and rode home. Total ride - 50.22 miles.

Put the bike on the rack (which is a trailer-hitch type), and headed home. Going up a hill on a narrow turning back road, I heard a HORRIBLE CRASH, and looked up to see my bike and my bike rack skidding down the road behind me, and the cars swerving to avoid hitting it. Stopped car, threw rack and bike into car, and went home.

Final damage: rear wheel has some problems, which I hope a good bike mechanic can fix. Dealing with the internals of bike wheels is outside of my comfort level.

Biking Rants

50+ miles today with a a headache, so I'm cranky.

1. RUDE RIDERS - TYPE A. A recumbent is a bicycle, too. Most of the time, I'm glad to answer questions, and I usually just smile when someone asks if I have a can of beer on the "lounge chair"... but the A/B riders in a pack who feel entitled to cut me off and then call it a "beach chair" are just rude.

2. RUDE RIDERS - TYPE B. On the same lines - even if your name is Lance, or even Lancetta, which I doubt, you do not have a RIGHT to ride your bike at your preferred speed, if it means that everyone else on the path has to accomodate YOU ! A "good" biker knows how to ride in traffic, and this includes other bikers, children, and pedestrians.

3. DOGS OFF LEASHES. If you have a dog and you take him or her on a public path, PUT THE DOG ON A LEASH. I don't care how well behaved or how much of an alpha dog you think you are. Your dog is a potential danger to him/ herself, riders, and others. It's not just a good idea - IT'S THE LAW.

4. CHILDREN ON BIKES. I'm delighted that your whole family, including children, is out riding. Good for you ! Please teach the small ones to RIDE ON THE RIGHT, and to LOOK AHEAD of them. Like cars, bikes tend to follow the rider's eyes. If you look at something on the left, you're going to drift in that direction.

5. BE ALERT. I have a bell. I use it. Why do poeple IGNORE IT ? Do they think it's NOT FOR THEM ? IT IS.

Thanks for reading my bike rant. Unfortunately, I'm sure the people who most need to read these simple rules will not read it - either here or other places.

60,000 miles on the car

The bike-mobile hit 60,000 miles on Friday. I've had it for 5 years and two months, so that's slightly leass than 12,00 miles per year (average). The gas mileage ranges from 22 to 27 MPG, so that means I've used 2,400 gallons of gas in slightly more than 5 years -- 480 gallons of gas per year (average). At $4/ gallon, that's $1920 per year on gas.
Lots of numbers - but not sure what it all means, except that I obviously am not riding my bike enough. Time to get a Vespa for the daily 12-mile commute to work ?

Ice Wax - Still Works

2 Weeks into the Ice Wax experiment, on two bikes, and it's still working. 40 miles yesterday, including an hour or so in drizzle on packed dirt trail. I expected the chain to start squeaking after 20 miles, but it held up for the whole ride. Now that I'm always listening for squeaks, I notice how many people are riding with squeaky chains. I don't know how they do it - isn't it harder to pedal, and isn't shifting harder ?
So, I'm going to try for 60 miles tomorrow, and see how the Ice Wax holds up. The only drawback is that I have to clean and then re-wax 9 feet of chain on each bike, which uses up a LOT of wax.... At least Dick's sells it for $7.99 for the large spray can, which is a lot less than REI and Performance charge.

Bike Chain Lubes... My Personal Experiment

OK Campers - which one to use ? Wax or grease ? I've always used something like Tri-Flow, which is an oil/ grease that sprays on, but is supposed to dry so it doesn't collect dirt. Not ! I just cleaned my chain and it had TONS of gunk on the chain rings and all over the chain, and in between the rear cogs. This stuff looked (and acted) like it was baked on. So, after cleaning the chain and everything else yesterday, I tried the wax approach. I had some Pedro's Ice Wax lying around, so that's what I'm using for the experiment.

I followed the directions, including the part about "must re-apply after every ride". And I read the horror stories of chains that started to squeak like rusty hinges after 12 miles when people tried the Ice Wax. But, if it keeps the gunk from forming, it's worth putting some on after every ride, or even in the middle of a century or metric century. So far, an added bonus is that the chain is shiny instead of black and dirty, and I don't get greasy chain marks on my right leg (a hazard with recumbents). So, I'm going to continue with the daily re-application and see how it works.

Today - 27.24 miles, no squeaks, changing gears was smooth for the whole ride.

Kayak !!!

It's SUMMER !!! I don't care that summer doesn't officially start until June 20: for me, it starts on the Vernal Equinox (around March 20).

This year, I am going kayaking on Saturdays to celebrate the sun, get wet, and have fun. Here's the kayak model:



So, it's going to go into some local creeks, small lakes, marshes and bays near the ocean, and possibly into the ocean for some wave fun !

Better than CSI ?

At least better written.

Check out http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/indexen.html - Unsolved Canadian Mysteries.

Entertaining reading for history and mystery fans. A well-written Canadian "True Crime" site. Best part - kids can use the information to 'solve' the mysteries - with age-specific portals.

So, go learn some little-known Canadian history and meet your weekly murder and mayhem quota at the same time.

What makes a GOOD blog ?

Or, why do we read the blogs we read ?

Things seem to be a little slow in the blogsphere lately (summer vacations ? US election meltdowns ?), so I've been thinking about why I have some blogs on my favorites list and read them on a fairly regular basis (rather than blogs that I view occasionally). What makes them interesting enough to visit several times a week, if not daily ?

The answer. I think there are several things that make me want to put a blog on my reading radar:

1. Blogs that talk about things that are completely outside my personal knowledge. Examples: the conservative Jwish woman who writes about her life - I found it on an index of Jewish blogs - I was looking up some obscure term.

2. Blogs that talk about things that I'm interested in, but they do a much better job. Examples: the Recumbent Blog, Valley Wag.


Of course, I drop blogs that aren't updated frequently. "Frequency" may depend on the topic -- there just aren't that many exciting events happening in the world of biking and recumbents to warrant a daily post. Even computer and technology daily blogs can boring on a daily basis. Better to take them in weekly chunks. Same for literary sites.

So, it all boils down to a daily search for new material on computer technology, bikes, coffee and caffeine-containing product, and reading material.

Reading.... In Defense of Food (by Michael Pollan)

Either you're shocked to find that most of what people in the first (Western ?) world eat isn't food, or you already avoid the interior aisles of the supermarket (and possibly the supermarket itself). We're eating "food-like substances".

Michael Pollan spells it all out for you, with a wonderful section filled with simple "rules" that make it easy to select only 'real' food if you agree with his points. My favorite is "don't eat anything that your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food".

He has a web site, but you have to go to the bookstore, Amazon, etc. to buy the book. Well worth it !

Pollan's site: http://www.michaelpollan.com/indefense.php

OLPC - XO is Obsolete (Almost)

The OLPC project has taken a new path. Apparently, the 'laptop' idea will be replaced by an 'e-book' approach that will cost $75 (US) to build; however, it won't be ready until 2010.
The OLPC project made the announcement today -
http://www.olpcnews.com/laptops/xo2/olpc_announces_xoxo.html
There's a picture of it on the site.
So, I guess the bottom line is that people with the current XO should really work on developing their own software.
The funny thing is: I really want an e-book, but they just cost too much, especially since I don't travel a lot any more.

Posted on YouTube

I've finally gotten around to posting on YouTube.... I posted a video made from stills of the sunroom going up - Sort of "Building a Sunroom in 6 days". It's really a test for the graphics resolution on You Tube. As soon as they (the elusive "them") finish building our garage, I'll post a video about that, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQrmZVFTE-k

I killed my laptop !

I killed my laptop - a Gateway with dual processors. It's been running very hot lately - even the top, near the keyboard was hot.
The fans didn't seem to be putting out much air, so I took out the fan unit, to take it to the store to see if I can get a replacement. No replacements available, so I got an external fan unit. Back home, put the fan back in, made sure all of the contacts were made, and started it up. Nothing. The disk light flshes then goes out. Took out the fans, re-inserted them - same results. Repeated 3 times. It's DEAD. Like the parrot. DEAD. DEAD. DEAD.

I am now using my back-up: a Mac Mini, which is nice, but not the same. The data from the Gateway is backed up, but I was working on a lot of projects using software on Windows.... I was also using the Microsoft Movie Maker for a video about our new garage and roof. iLife is nice, but the Microsoft Movie Maker has more options.

DEAD DEAD DEAD. I can't believe I killed it.....

Web 3.0 map - great graphics and useful info

InformationArchitectsJapan, which is a "strategic design agency" has put together a "guide to the web" - made to looks like a city subway map. Great graphics and great content - you might even pick up a new site or two.

Here's a close-up of a section:

Listening to.... Zen for Primates

I've been listening to Zen for Primates. I first heard them as the background on this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ubx8eL_Iss

Then, I found their record label's web site (Bummer Tent), with additional videos, etc.

They are completely dead pan in their delivery, the music is great ! I think of them as a cross between the B52's (looks and the lounge lizard attitude), old Elvis Costello (delivery). Their version of Whole Lotta Love (yes - that one by Led Zeppelin !) is great. They call themselves a "caberet rock band", whatever that is. I guess it's them.

Start with the YouTube video - just to hear them, then check out their site - http://www.bummertent.com/main.htm

Red Fox in Back Yard

Even though we're about a mile and a half from the city limits of Philadelphia, we've seen several red fox in the back yard and around the neighborhood. Yesterday morning, I saw this fox in a neighbor's back yard. The neighbor had trapped a grey squirrel in a 'have-a-heart' cage (I have no idea why he did that), and the fox was trying to get it. At first, I thought it was two fox cubs playing together, then I thought it was one fox with prey, and finally we realized that the squirrel was in a cage.

I grabbed a camera, and was able to get this picture:
The fox is looking directly at the camera..... I'll try to get a better shot next time. I suspect there's a den somewhere in the neighborhood. This looked like a mature male. He is definitely big with a massively bushy tail (which doesn't show in the photo).

Bike Ride on DandR Canal path

Excellent ride this weekend on the D&R Canal Path, which is part of the New Jersey D&R Canal State Park. I took the SUN EZ Cruiser recumbent with fat tires (weighs about 35 lbs, but needed on the unpaved path), and rode from above Lambertville through Trenton. I calculed about 32 miles, round-trip. Since I rode at a stately 8-10 mph on the SUN, it took about 4 hours, but the ride is worth the trip.
I had ridden on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware Canal path before - from New Hope to Easton, but the New Jersey side is much better. For one thing, the PA side deals with canal bridges by making you either dismount or ride down a step incline to go under the bridge. The New Jersey side just continues the path through the bridge surface. Even in places where the path is narrow, it's still wide enough for two bikes. The PA side is frequently just 6 inches of dirt.
I had intended to ride from the Canal Park through Trenton and up the main part of the path to the 5 miles lock (or as close as I could get to it), but it looked a little unwise to ride completely through Trenton alone, so I stopped at Montgomery street in Trenton, and turned around.
It's an excellent path - very flat, very clean, and not heavily used. I only ran into other bikes and foot traffic around Lambertville - probably because they had the Shad Festival that day.
Next time - I'll ride from the 5 mile lock down to Trenton and back.

5,000 miles on my bike !

On April 17, I logged 5,000 miles on my main bike. This will be it's 4th season, and I hope to add another 1,200 miles by end of bike season in October.  It's a Haluzak (which are no longer made, unfortunately).  The picture is from the Bicycle Man site (http://www.bicycleman.com). 

I wondered how far 5,000 miles is in real-world miles,  so I found a web site (http://www.GPSvisualizer.com), which lets you make your own overlays over Google Maps. So, I used it to draw a 5,000 mile circle on the Earth, with my home as the center point. Here's the map:

So, that was the highpoint of my week: hitting 5,000 miles on a bike.  I rode additional miles on other bikes, but this is the only one where I keep track of cumulative miles on the computer.

OPLC - and WPA Security

The automatic OPLC update function works great. I was able to get the command to work, downloaded the latest stable version of the OS (656), and I can now use the computer on my home network to access the internet.
I used the on-line update feature, which required activation of the T-Mobile account, and taking the OLPC for an outing to the closest Borders, but it was worth it. I also submitted a request for a developer key, which should be activated within 24 hours. This lets you boot and, in general, treat the computer like any other.
Next step: figuring out why the version of Fedora that the OLPC organization calls "Sugar" is missing (I think) some key commands in the CLI. More to come on that, as well as what I eventually use this computer for.