Predictable fitness behavior

Interesting demonstration of the lemming (and sloth) like behavior of americans. this chart shows a regular and predictable spike in Google searches for the word gym in the last few days of the year. It also shows how quickly interest (of should we say commitment) declines thereafter. Gym operators better be allocating their ad budgets appropriately. The Gizmodo source

Working a new machine

I've been doing a little consulting work recently and one of the side benefits is the place has a very nice semi-pro espresso machine and proper grinder, so I've been able to practice my espresso kung-fu on something new. It literally took me a year to learn how to use my Expobar well so I'm quite proud that with a fresh bag of Intelligentsia Black Cat I was able to produce acceptable shots almost immediately and great shots within a couple of days.

The machine is a double boiler Vibiemme and since it's in an office environment it gets much more use then my Brewtus and was filthy. Has no one hear of the portafilter-wiggle? I spent a little time each morning cleaning the machine and the Mazzer grinder to rid them both of the burnt Starbucks crap they've been eating for years. Now on a steady diet of Black Cat the pair are clean and happy and producing very good espresso. Now if I can just get people to replace the portafilter after they use it instead of leaving it on the tray.

Cyber war? Hah!

The DDoS attack on Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and the Ex-half-term Governor of Alaska in support of WikiLeaks is a drive-by shooting compared to this stealth missile (or maybe the better analogy is a Predator drone, but I digress).

Stuxnet is a spectacular demonstration of what is possible with enough skill, time and money. It represents an unprecedented level of self control, subtlety and effectiveness never seen before by any malware. Three, count em, three individual zero-day exploits, controlled replication and a self destruct timer?

..and speaking of DDoS, didn't the whole "Jillian Assange is a criminal" thing get decided in the early 70s when the supreme court ruled the NY Times could publish the Pentagon Papers?

Oh yeah, did you hear that the FBI is now accused of planting multiple backdoors into the crypto libraries of OpenBSD. If true, this one's gonna leave a mark as the code in question is ~10 years old now. @HowdTheyMissThatOne

New Passport

For some crazy reason I thought passports expired on your birthday. I learned on Wednesday that I was wrong and my passport has actually been expired since June.

Not any more. Thanks to these guys, I have a shiny new passport with all maner of anti-counterfeiting tech. What a spectacular service they provide, I got a call from my personal advisor immediately after filling out the web based forms and received regular updates the whole way. My new booklet arrived this morning, just in time for a trip on Sunday.

Good advice from a great movie

"We must all fear evil men, but there is another kind of evil that we must fear most, that is the indifference of good men."

Can anyone name the movie?

Danny MacAskill -- Madman

Back on the bike

After almost a month off the bike I rode Stevens Creek Canyon and the Grizzly Flat trails last week with V. Since he's waiting for his new cross bike to arrive, he rode my Land Shark CX bike and I took the Indy Fab. It's pretty convient have a pair of cross bikes.

He shot this with his iPhone just as the light was fading. I kind like it.

See ya, iPhone

Dear Apple,

I see that you finally made the "Find my iPhone" app free as part of iOS 4.2. Sadly you chose to only make it available to iPhone 4 owners. As an iPhone 3GS owner I find this a little disappointing.

You choice in this matter has caused me to reconsider my choice of phone. I'm up for a new contract this month and I had planned to get an iPhone 4 if/when it launches on Verizon's network next year. But now, I realize that if I chose the iPhone I would be subject to your marketing whims for another two years.

Sorry guys, I just can't do it. I love your laptops and think the new Macbook Air is spectacular but my next phone will be an Android. Now where are the Android phone comparison sites...

The Internet is a powerful thing

An excellent read on the power of the internet, copyright law and bad judgment (and no this has nothing to do with illegal music downloading). Now, where's my copy of "Cooks Source"

The Myth of American Exceptionalism

I don't often agree with Michael Kinsley but in this case I sure do....

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44500.html

What is the most dangerous game animal in the US?

Sure, you were probably going to say some kind of bear. That a good guess, as a combined group including Black, Brown, Grizzly and Polar bears have killed as many as 10 people in a single year. However that's not even close to the 150 people killed each year by the lowly White Tail Deer.

Read more about it here

The first rule of Facetime is...

Hold your phone at eye level or above. Nobody likes to look up your nose.

Say it aint so... uh, Alberto

Bummer.

Hatred, stupidity, ignorance, anger and fear

Any time I read the comments section of any current news story, I feel sad for America.

AppleTV

Our new AppleTV shipped yesterday and is currently in Hong Kong making it's way to San Jose. Apparently the rumors about a 3 week delay were exaggerated.

100 Rides

Yesterday's commute to work was my 100th ride recorded on the Garmin 705. I missed a couple of rides, but this is a pretty good record of the last 9 months. I got it for Christmas and the first ride was January 16th.

Total Rides: 100
Total Distance: 2623.52
Average Speed: 16.1 Mph
Total Duration: 162.95 Hours
Total Climbing: 123,643 Ft
Number of Bikes Ridden: 9
- Independent Fabrications Independence: 33 rides
- Ibis Silk SL: 20
- Land Shark Dirt Shark: 14
- Intense Tracer: 12
- Ibis Scorcher (Fixed):9
- Surly Pugsley:4
- Fat Chance, Wicked Fat: 4
- DeRosa SLX:2
- Bontrager Race (Single Speed):2

I'm quite proud of these numbers given the first 5 months were in Denver were we got 30+ inches of snow. My 8.2 mile commute is lowering the average distance per ride. Last year my average was a little over 33 miles/ride vs 26.2 this year.

The climbing numbers are also dropping now that every ride doesn't end with a 900 foot climb up get back to the house. My commute used to include 2700 ft of climbing now it's about 12 feet but it's still all on the way home.

Blackburn Flea rechargable lights

When Kathy and I did the San Jose Bike Party ride last month we wanted to add a little supplemental lighting to both our bikes so we are easier to see in the dark.

I used this as an excuse for a trip to my bike shop where I found a nice Night Rider combo package including both front and rear lights for Kathy's bike. Typical of Night Rider these are solid well-designed lights with an excellent mounting system. I've owned a number of NR lights and really like them.

I was going to get a second set for myself when my trusted mechanic ambled up and suggested instead the Blackburn Design Flea lights. Fleas are tiny -- smaller than a matchbox -- USB rechargeable Li-Ion powered LED lights available in front or rear configurations. They looked too small to be really bright, but I only needed them for the Bike Party ride so I took his advice and got a set for myself.

Wow, what a great product. They are tiny, extremely bright, easy to mount, and last a long time on a charge.

I even use them on my IndyFab which has one of the most expensive bicycle lighting systems available - A Schmidt Dynohub connected via a custom harness to a pair of Schmidt E6 lights. This system, designed for commuters and long-distance cyclists, is great for seeing the road ahead but does little (and if you stop, nothing) to be seen by other traffic.

The front Flea is astonishingly bright, almost blinding if you look directly at the 4 LEDs. It mounts to the bike using a very nice rubberized Velcro strap. The rear is almost as bright and actually appears to be brighter than my much-larger and currently in need of yet another set of batteries -- Planet Bike light I have permanently affixed to the IndyFab's seat post. The rear light has a very strong wire based belt clip and another Velcro strap like the front. I attached the rear light to the back of my helmet a month ago and have used it on every ride since. It's so small and light (17g) that it is easy to forget it's there -- until you turn it on.

I was a little skeptical about the USB charging method. It seemed like a gimmick for a cycling light, but after a month the system has proven both convenient and quick. The included USB adapter attaches to the lights with a little magnet. It's a really nice system.

My only complaint -- and it's a minor one -- is this. In order to charge the lights you must remove them from the bike and remove the Velcro mounting straps from the light. That a lot of on-off and my straps are already showing some wear. Since two straps are included, I do have a spare.

Rarely dose a product so completely exceed my expectations as these little lights have.

HDCP really is broken

Intel confirmed that the High-bandwidth Digital Copy Protection (HDCP) master keys posted lst week on pastebin.com are authentic portending the end of the Consumer Electronics industry's most-favored copy protection method. Unlike CSS and Macrovision HDCP is a link encryption protocol. It is used to protect content as it is moved from one device or system to another. The most common use today is to encrypt the HDMI signal from your set top box or Blu-Ray player to your TV set. This leak will inspire new (illegal) hardware and software products that will allow users to record HD programming directly from these devices.

Many in the press this week have attempted to downplay the impact of this leak claiming that most consumers want to do the right thing and wont make use of the tools based on this leak. That may or may not be true, but what this will surely impact is Hollywood's (a generic term to describe all Movie and TV content producers) continued reluctance to make their products available via the internet.

From their perspective, this is further proof that anything they put on the internet will simply be stolen. I'm sure the music (and publishing) company executives had these same thoughts as their industries withered and died.

What happens when the internet kills the current model before a new model can stand up?

Interesting Reading

Why humans regularly appear to be a dumb as fenceposts -- because they only trust "Scientists" who agree with them.

I have frequently failed to recognize the absolute power that Cultural Cognition has over ones interaction with the world. I have friends and even relatives who are so totally dependent on their assumptions about the world that they literally cease functioning when those assumptions are challenged.

If you are not actively, aggressively engaged in expanding your social, cultural, and spiritual horizons and challenge your own Cultural Cognition, you will become a victim of your own echo-chamber where your own Cultural Cognition becomes the only lens through which to view the world and that is a sad dark place.

Sad fact of the day

Only 28% of Americans have a passport
- Outside Mag 10/10

Oats

For a food that has been around for 1000s of years there sure is a lot of confusion about Oatmeal, Quick Oats, Rolled Oats, Steel Cut Oats and Whole Oats.

I listened to some moron at the local "healthy" store attempt to explain the difference to me. He prattled on about how This is better than That and These have a better "mouth-feel" than Those and then realized after his second contradictory statement that this guy really had no idea what he was talking about.

5 minutes with an iPhone, Google and Wikipedia proved that nearly everything the guy told me was flat-out wrong. He must have just been making shit up.

Read about it here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel-cut_oats

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolled_oats

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groats

Follow Up: Steel Cut Oats Rule! Had a batch of McCanns this morning and they beat both rolled oats and my regular 7-grain blend from Sprouts hands down.

Bohlman, On Orbit, Montavina, Black Rd and Highway 9

The ride over Bohlman Road and On Orbit Lane is a candidate for the steepest climb in the Bay Area for good reason. It rockets up 2500 ft in just over 4 miles and offers the discerning climber sustained grades between 15 and 20%, and a number of shorter sections that approach 25%. This isn't a test of aerobic fitness, grinding out the steepest sections is way more heavy weight-lifting session than spin-class.

I've been up it a couple of time before so I knew that standard road-bike gearing is pretty stiff, I opted for a 24f/27r granny gear and a couple of times even wanted a little more. I threw a Mt Bike crankset on the Plastic Bike and adjusted the front derailleur to match.

So if you are looking for a South Bay test of your late-season climbing legs, look no further that the Village of Saratoga and Bohlman Road and On Orbit Lane.

Espresso Porn

I still haven't gotten the wiring at the house upgraded so we can use the big espresso machine, so I'm in the middle of a serious case of espresso machine jones. Sure, I have a Nespresso at the office or I could turn to a pro. But none of those satisfy the urge. I find myself ont on the net lusting after all manner of machines.

This morning I found a picture of this sexy number waiting in my inbox. The espresso pimps at WLL sent it over.

I've only used a lever machine once but I will admit to more than a passing interest in really working with one.

The fully manual lever machine offers the skilled barista an additional method of control by subtly varying the pressure during the shot by varying pressure on the handle. Since stability-of-pressure is one of the hallmarks of any good espresso, a manual lever that wildly varies the pressure can obviously be a little dangerous. But used correctly it can be used to extract a specific flavor by altering pressure at specific times during the shot.

redesign

After 3+ years with the original template I finally updated the layout and color.

Commuting by bike

My commute home yesterday (by car) took 37 minutes. It's the second time it has taken over 35 minutes to get home. This is noteworthy because my slowest commute by bicycle is 35 minutes. There is no more miserable feeling that realizing that not only would commuting by bike be better for me and better for the planet - and faster.

So of course I took the bike this morning -- and paid for it with a flat tire. This is self inflicted because I was riding the a carbon wonderbike with handmade $60 tires instead of my steel commuter bike with it's bulletproof wheels and tires. I'll be back on the steel bike tomorrow.

Coffee Duck for Nespresso

If you own a Nespresso brand espresso machine there is a new part available to allow you use your own coffee. It is a reusable capsule that is form and fit compatible with the small plastic Nespresso capsules.

It's available on Ebay and for less from a number of web sites in Europe like this one.

I also noticed that Nespresso coffee capsules are now available on Ebay although at a significantly higher price thatn direct from Nespresso.

Castle Rock - The other one

The Fitness Woman and I tasted some of the Great Outdoors this weekend by hiking and pretending to climb rocks at Castle Rock State Park.

I managed to complete the trip without getting lost or bleeding so it was a great success. I almost got lost, but through sheer luck ended up where we were headed. Maybe next time.

Note the genuine Colorado style boots. Critical while hiking in the cold and snowy Rockies but a little overkill for California's Coastal Range and useless for bouldering. I'll be going back to the trail-running shoes I have long preferred for this kind of hiking.

Personal Best

I set a new personal best time coming to work this morning. 23:57 or 18.6 MPH trimming almost 20 seconds off the previous time. I sustained 24 Mph for over 5 miles. I think that taking three days off the bike really paid off.

How an idea becomes a company...

The Silicon Valley buzzes with an entrepreneurial energy unlike anything I’ve ever felt. I’ve been back in the valley for 6 weeks now and its still shocking.

I left an executive level position with a Fortune 50 sized service provider to join a 4-person start up and want to document some of the thing I learn and share some of the experiences. Few people witness the birth of a company so I wanted to share some of my experiences during this exciting time.

How we got our start.

In our case, one of my co-founders was actually hired by a Venture Capital (VC) company specifically to identify a new business opportunity and create a business to address it. This role is commonly called an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR).

The VC provides the EIR with office space, a modest salary and access to industry contact to conduct their research. VCs also designates a General Partner (one of the senior leaders at the VC) to mentor the EIR during the development of their plans. This process can take months and some EIR’s finish their time without ever finding the right opportunity.

When an EIR does identify a business opportunity, they must develop a plan to address it; what is the exact problem, how can it be solved and how much money can be made solving it. When the EIR is satisfied that they understand the problem, can create a viable solution and understand the micro- and macro-economic impacts they present their plan to their mentor. It can take a number of attempts to convince them that the idea is sound.

Once your partner is satisfied, they typically have to recruit another General Partner to co-sponsor the investment. Once the sponsor designates the Second the EIR pitches the detailed idea to the entire partnership of the VC. This is a key make-or-break event for all start-ups. By this point the pitch has been vetted pretty thoroughly, and stand a good chance, but all it takes is a one partner to kill it.

In our case, we initially asked for “seed capital” to conduct the additional research necessary to confirm that the solution we propose to use can deliver the performance we need to work. To do this we need to develop a prototype and measure it’s performance. A Seed typically takes the form of a loan that will be rolled into the first formal round of funding. Seed rounds range from a few thousand dollars to over a million depending on the amount of technical research needed.

The seed round is expected to lead to a Series A investment by the VC, as long as the solution proves viable, but not all of them do. Many times the idea simply doesn’t works or doesn’t deliver the expected performance and value. Sometimes the cost of the solution is more then expected or requires new methods that are unlikely to develop.

Seed rounds are expected to provide enough funding to complete the planning. Running out of seed capitol before answering the questions doesn’t bode well for someone trying to borrow money to build and bring it to market within an agreed upon time and an agreed upon cost basis.

We need to achieve a couple of key goals before we can approach our VC for a Series-A investment. First we need to complete the prototype of our device and confirm it can achieve the required performance and second we need to get confirmation from a few key prospective customers that our solution is something they would deploy assuming it delivers the features we are promising. The next few months should be interesting as we build and test the prototype and meet with industry leaders to validate our plan.

Bay area espresso

Since the house needs a little electrical upgrade before we can use our machine I have been sampling a number of local shops to find good espresso. Today was a notable success as I sampled a spectacular shot at Caffe del Doge in Palo Alto.

Prepared in the classic Italian style, the results were pure Rome; a light tan crema over smokey chocolate syrup that smells of fresh straw and licorice. Not my favorite style but very well done and a real treat after weeks of mediocre attempts by my regular barrista.

toothbrushes

I balked at paying $6.95 for a pair of name-brand toothbrushes at the store yesterday. All the ones with stiff bristles are only available as a pair. Instead I chose a single $2.25 replica brand. I just used it for the first time. I shoulda spent the $7. Lesson learned.

Groceries

A strange thing has happened since our return to California. After years of reliably shopping at traditional grocery stores, we have started shopping for groceries at a small ethnic food store near our house called Oakmont Produce. This is strange because this small store has proven to be a complete replacement for our full-size Nob Hill and Safeway stores.

Oakmont offers better quality food at better prices. While they lack the broad selection of a larger store, they have a very complete selection of the simple ethnic foods that we are now eating. And their selection of local fruit and vegetables is much better than the traditional stores.

It's hard to imagine that a small store in a strip-mall could so easily a major grocery store, but for us it certainly has.

Prospect, Fremont Older, Montebello, Redwood Gulch, 9

I rode the above loop on Sunday. It's a really nice cross ride from the house. Prospect has a wide bike path the entire distance. Each time I climb Montebello Road I'm always surprised at the number of cyclists I see descending on mountain bikes because compared with the Stevens Canyon descent, the Montebello side descent is really boring. The climb is just like I remember, maybe a little longer, but mostly the same. The final tally is 4 Hrs, 33 Miles, 4k Feet of vertical.

Benighted

Typical of many start-ups, yesterday's afternoon meeting became dinner at the local place. We finished around 9pm so I cycled home in the dark for the first time. What an interesting experience, a real emotional roller-coaster; a confident start, the moment when the cold reality of of 60 Mph traffic inches away in the dark really sinks in, followed by a serene acceptance for the final miles.

I was on the IndyFab which has a pair of huge headlights powered by a generator built into the front hub. I had forgotten how well they work but I can say they provide more that enough light for even the darkest roads. I'm strangely looking forward to the next chance to do it again.

24 Hours and counting

In honor of the big bike race in France starting tomorrow I turned in a personal best time this morning. 26:57 for an average speed of 17.5 Mph. I went out a little too fast and paid for it over the last 3 miles.

I'll be watching the tour entirely on line this year using the Versus Tour Tracker -- it will be interesting to see how this compares with the televised experience.

and home

The commute home takes a little longer as it climbs a little under 200 feet in 8 miles. I did a wind-aided 33:14 trip home this afternoon -- about 3 minutes longer than the ride to work.

Commute 2

30:34 this morning on the Dirt Shark cross bike. A little slower than the Scorcher but I spent the entire ride chatting with a guy I met at a stoplight about the current trends in venture capital. Only in the valley.

Dirt: Kennedy, Priest Rock and St. Joes

I rode the epic Kennedy - Priest Rock - Saint Joseph's loop from the house yesterday. Here are the details:

Distance: 27.5 Miles
Vertical: 2748 Feet
Time: 3:43
Average: 7.4 Mph

I rode the Tracer but it can certainly be done on a cross bike. Man, the Kennedy climb is a stiffy. I got an early start, leaving the house at 6:30 but it still wasn't early enough for what turned out to be a 90+ degree day.

First Commute by Bike

I rode the Scorcher today and clocked a personal best of 30min9sec to cover 7.88 miles yielding an average speed of 15.7 Mph. Not bad for a 53:23 fixed gear bike with a top speed of 19 Mph.

Cable Free -- Week 3

It's been a couple of weeks since we canceled our cable service and we seem to be over some of the withdrawal symptoms now. Part of the reason for cutting the cord was our move from Denver to San Jose. Now that it's complete we can settle down and see if this really will work.

We just had AT&T Uverse installed taking only the internet product and skipping the TV and Voice offerings. It took the guy over three hours to complete the install. That has got to be expensive for AT&T. I elected to get the 18Mb/s service for about $50/Month. Adding the TV service (with HD and a DVR) would add at least another $50/month to my bill.

On the programming side there has been a minor set-back. We had a great live morning news from CW2 in Denver but now that we are in the bay area I can't find the equivalent.

The biggest change has been from simply watching less TV. I'm staying in a hotel room for the first time since we cut the cord and I realized that I haven't turned on the TV in the room yet. I don't think this is a bad thing.

Cutting the cord

After leaving my position in the TV industry last month I actually had to start paying for TV service for the first time in many years. I had subscriptions to all the major services and had taken that access for granted. I took a look at my bill and realized how expensive these services have become, I had one bill that was $216 per month for only TV and Broadband service.

After analyzing our viewing patterns I realized that we really only watch a small handful of channels -- History, Science, and Discovery and our local broadcast channels and of course, SpeedTV.

We looked at Comcast, DISH, DirecTV and AT&T and came away really frustrated. Because I already had service with many of these providers, no promotional discounts are available and everything is full price. Because DISH and DirecTV don't offer broadband service and the associated bundle discount, their prices are higher when combined with a broadband only product from another provider.

The real frustration is with the channel packages, We were happy the most basic packages from most providers, typically in the $25-$35 range -- if you ignored SpeedTV. Moving to the package the has SpeedTV doubled or tripled the cost every time. I realized that just watching SpeedTV would add $30+/Mo. Weighed against their ever increasing NASCAR focus and there many weeks dealyed coverage of Grand-Am and SCCA World Challenge and Bob Varsha's inane F1 commentary, I realized that I don't need them anymore.

So I "cut the cord" and ended my pay TV subscriptions.

I'm now using a Mac Mini - in the living room, and a old MacBook Pro -- in the bedroom, as STBs. Ironically the largest challenge hasn't been getting content. It's getting the PCs to play video quietly. Both the Mini and the MBP tend to overheat during long periods of decoding video, forcing the fans to run at full speed. This becomes the loudest thing in the bedroom after 20-30 minutes.

I was using an AppleTV (which seem really quiet all the time) but found the fact that it costs $$$ to watch just about anything really frustrating. I find a PC and sites like Hulu and Netflix to be more useful for me.

While all this has been interesting, the service providers are likely going to put an end to this by moving to usage based pricing for broadband access. Just this morning an executive with TimeWarner Cable indicated that much like AT&T, cable broadband providers will have to move to a usage based billing model soon.

Garmin 705

I've now had my fancy new Garmin Edge 705 super-deluxe cycling GPS for a few months and have discovered most if it strengths and weaknesses. Overall it rates 8/10. It does everything you could want. It does so many things that the UI is a little complicated and that is its weakness.

It is too easy to forget to start the timer after turning the unit on. Why not have it start automatically? I occasionally forget to reset it before starting a ride so that two rides run together. Minor annoyances sure, but either one renders the current ride's data inaccurate.

I found a pretty good site for creating maps and loading them into the unit. Bike Route Toaster is free and had worked really well so far.

I use RubiTrack as download data and track rides and mileage.

A couple of notes about setting up the Edge 705.

* Menu | Settings | Data Recording | Zero averaging : should be set OFF for cadence to average correctly.

* It's easy to forget the start the timer. If the 705 doesn't display the current grade - the timer isn't running.

Pugsley : Done

So just over two months later, the Pugsley is complete. I had a little trouble with the front hub -- I selected a Paul Whub that isn't compatible with the Pugsley fork. How big could the market be for a 135mm front hub that doesn't fit the only production bike in the world that uses a 135mm front hub?

Anyway, the bike rides quite well. The 100mm bottom bracket takes a little "getting used to" but seems OK. The tires a spectacular -- They float on snow unlike anything I've ever ridden.

The finish turned out pretty well. It;s all white with a very suble fade to light gray on the bottom. The effect is nearly invisible unless the bike is in the snow. The pure white of the snow makes the gray color really pop. The cranks, bashguard and rims are actually gray and the bars are all white. Ther are still a couple of things to do: find a better saddle, install white cable housing and figure out the final stem height so I can cut-down the steerer tube.

I almost got Kathy out for a snow ride last sunday but we were thwarted by a sticky shifter on her mountain bike. This is a common failure in really cold weather. I soaked it in solvent and lubed it up and it seems much better now. Maybe we can try again this weekend as there is an early forecast of snow on Sunday.