TMI: Postive Result 2011 Tour de France for ManxMan Mark Cavendish

Positive results confirmed in the 2011 Tour de France for green jersey winner (best sprinter) Mark Cavendish (MBE), aka the 'the ManxMan' in recognition of his home on the Isle of Man.

From The Daily Mail:

Page Three pinup girl Peta Todd has revealed that she is pregnant with Mark Cavendish's baby. The model and the cycling champion conceived their child during the Tour de France in July.

"We planned it," she said in an interview with The Sun. "I'm four months gone, which means it was conceived in July, during the Tour de France. It's a Tour baby."

"We haven't found out the sex yet but we will. I think it's a boy because I've already had a boy, but Mark thinks it's a girl. Athletes often conceive girls during the racing season because their testosterone levels are low." (paging Floyd Landis, message for Floyd Landis...)

In the 2011 Tour de France, Mark Cavendish won stage 5, stage 7, stage 11, stage 15 and stage 21 — bringing his total to 20 career Tour de France stage wins, and the first person ever to win the final stage three years in succession. Even though he was docked 20 points for finishing outside the time limit after stage 18 and again after stage 19, Cavendish went on to win the points classification and in doing so he became the first British cyclist to ever win the maillot vert (green jersey).

We are very happy for the expecting couple, yet we find ourselves obligated to say that it's Too Much Information to be told the details of the Blessed Event. Ever-obsessing cycling fans will speculate: does this explain his poor form in the time trial?

Eventually this child will grow up enough to read the newspapers, and see his Mum's Page3 work in the online archives, and - as if that's not enough - to have his schoolmates chattering about his conception; that seems too much by half.

It's a bit like Ron Howard giving his children middle names related to the place of their conception. And he was so nice and decent as Opie.

---

Psycho in Zelienople

Alfred Hitchcock's movie "Psycho" at the historic Strand Theater in Zelionople

Tickets $5, Seniors $4



Friday, October 21: 7:30pm
Saturday, October 22: 7:30pm
Sunday, October 23: 4:00pm


From TheStrandTheater.org:

Alfred Hitchcock’s taut thriller about a young motel owner’s obsession with a beautiful bank secretary initially received mixed reviews. But outstanding box office returns prompted a re-review, which was overwhelmingly positive and led to four Academy Award nominations. Psycho is now considered one of Hitchcock's best films and is highly praised as a work of cinematic art by international critics.

The movie in large part was made because Hitchcock was fed up with the big-budget, star-studded movies he had recently been making and wanted to experiment with the more efficient, sparser style of television filmmaking. Indeed, he ultimately used a crew consisting mostly of TV veterans and hired actors less well known than those he usually used.

One reason that he shot the movie in black and white was he thought it would be too gory in color. But the main reason was that he wanted to make the film as inexpensively as possible ($800,000). He also wondered if so many bad, inexpensively made, b/w "B" movies did so well at the box office, what would happen if a really good, inexpensively made, b/w movie was made.

Unrated | 1960 Runtime: 109 Minutes

The Strand's modern interior and digital projection system are all the more impressive given the theater's old-school exterior:


Did I mention: Tickets are $5.00? When was the last time you watched a movie from the balcony?

---

The Fall of Icarus on the Ohio River

Today I was riding my bike south along the Ohio River, a bit south of the Western Penitentiary, when something caught my eye and I took this photo:


Something in the scene jumped out at me, and I recalled a recent blogpost by Roger Ebert: Why Are We Cruel?

One of the several worthy topics Mr. Ebert addresses in his essay is a style of painting that presents the unusual within the context of all the activity surrounding any event, with the effect that it may be hard to focus on and identify the remarkable. One example he gives is the painting, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus. Mr Ebert writes:

This is a theme found in another famous Bruegel painting, "The Fall of Icarus," concerning the legend of the young man who built wings and attempted to fly. He flew too close to the sun, which melted the wax in his wings, and he fell to his death in the sea.

This painting is a vast land and sea scape in which the titular event is simply one detail in the busy rush of life--two legs disappearing into the ocean, easy not to see. Bruegel's technique is in reaction to the tradition of narrative painting where the subject is the focus of attention. His painting shows the full sweep of Fleming society, of people and animals going about their daily affairs, most of them unaware of the great event that is taking place.

You may not instantly notice Icarus falling into the sea - look in the bottom-right corner, or at the closeup on the right - and that's the point the artist is making. In general, remarkable moments are surrounded by (and may be obfuscated by) the swirl of the ordinary and routine around them.

When I read Ebert's description and studied the painting it struck me how much the noteworthy is surrounded by the commonplace, and how difficult it is to separate the signal from the noise. My own takeaway is that I should strive to see the remarkable amid the frequent, and that I should place my own excitements into the perspective of all that is happening around me.

And so this afternoon, on a pretty day with fall foliage, I took the picture (excerpt below)

because as soon as I saw this view, I saw the remarkable amidst the common.

Here's a closer photo, and now you may see what I saw:


I've been taught (by my betters) to recognize a DC-9 by the distinctive Douglas nose, at about that distance (even without wings or tail). That's no BAC-111 or RJ, that's a DC-9, grandfather of the Boeing-717 (d/b/a the McBoeing).

I couldn't make out any registration on her, but I suspect she's a Series 15MC (Minimum Change, with folding seats which can be carried at the rear) or a Series 15RC (Rapid Change, with seats removable on pallets). From a different position:


How did a plane get on a train? Why were the wings removed? Had the airplane - really an airframe now, bereft of wings, tail, engines - been abused, twisted, corroded, burned?

The DC9 fuselage that fit so well on a railroad brings to mind the story of the space shuttle boosters and the width of a chariot team: specifications and bureaucracies live forever.

To me, the plane on the train was the small flash of the remarkable in a picture of the routine, just like Icarus' leg when it was still slightly out of the water.

Thank you, Mr. Ebert (via Infy).

the juxtaposition of Irish, beer, and cops is coincidental

Occupy Wall Street meets Newton's Third Law: The One Percent Strikes Back

In this week's New York Times, cartoonist Brian McFadden describes the inevitable implications of Newton's Third Law in our current political discourse:


Permit me to point out that Brian McFadden is brilliant.

• Republican Presidential Debate-AThon
  
• Class War Action Toys
  
• You're Invited to the Anniversary
  

---

A Countdown of Sorts: 33 Days and a WakeUp

Holy Snark Trap! Steel Man, official Superhero of the City of Pittsburgh

There is an axiom that goes: Never Piss Off A Writer because they will put you in their work and have their revenge by making you ridiculous to a large group of people.

I believe there is a corollary for bloggers: Don't Blog Snarky because it will bite you in the ass and make you ridiculous to a large group of people.

Thursday I blogged about the Rain City Superheroes, a group that patrols the streets of Seattle in costume (uniform?) doing things they believe are Good and perhaps Heroic. I referred to them as Harbingers of the Apocalypse which, on reflection, was a bit hyperbolic.

Friday I blogged about Callista Gingrich and Ellis the Elephant, and I boldly asserted TSSAAT, The Strangest Stories Are Always True.


Saturday I was presented with an opportunity to reflect on Superheroes and Strange Stories when I met a SuperHero in the gas station on Route 65 in Bellevue.

It was a beautiful windy day. I rode my bicycle around the city for several hours. I had stopped by Occupy Pittsburgh where a couple of people were wearing Guy Fawkes masks, which I now understand was a foreshadowing of subsequent events.

I was driving my car along Route 65, stopped for gas, and saw a Curiously Dressed Person at the adjacent pump. I thought, I've got to ask, even though I myself was dressed somewhat curiously in my paunchy bicycle kit.

I introduced myself, apologized for my unusual garb (which he agreed about), and then asked, What's This? May I take a picture? Certainly, he said in a definitive Superhero voice. I am Steel Man, official superhero of the City of Pittsburgh.

Unprompted, Steel Man flexed into a sort of Captain Morgan pose. I took the photo and committed an unintended faux pas, saying thanks Steeler Man which he graciously corrected to Steel-Man in a voice that suggested he's heard mortals make that error before, and he closed by saying you can look me up on the internet before he roared off into the distance on his motorcycle. As he drove away, I thought "nobody's going to believe this".


I googled Official Superhero of Pittsburgh just like he told me to, and found Steel-Man.com (just like he said I would).

He does have a sidekick, but that may be a tail for another day. It is a funny world.

Rock On, Steel Man.

Callista Gingrich: Ellis the Elephant - A Children's Story Told the Right Way

More than 53% of teh Interweb's charm is that you serendipitously come across things that you weren't looking for, and once you see them its like catnip that cannot be set aside and you fall down the rabbit hole.

I try to find a variety of information sources, which takes me to places with stories I wouldn't find believable except for my belief in TSSAAT (the strangest stories are always true). I was on RedState.com (below-left) reading about how Obama and the Unions are conspiring against Ford, when I saw a curious advertisement (below-right).




From Amazon.com:

How did America become the land of the free? In Sweet Land of Liberty, Ellis the Elephant sets off on a quest to find out.

Through an amazing afternoon at the library, Ellis travels through time and discovers the moments that shaped our nation’s unique history

• the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving
• the Boston Tea Party
• Washington crossing the Delaware
• the first man on the moon

With its vivid illustrations and charming rhymes, this is a must read for children and parents ho want to explore history — and discover why America is a free and exceptional nation.

About the Author
Callista Gingrich is the President of Gingrich Productions. She and her husband Newt produce historical and public policy documentaries such as A City Upon A Hill, America at Risk, and Nine Days that Changed the World. Mrs. Gingrich’s photography is featured Rediscovering God in America, as well as in Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous with Destiny. Callista is the voice of several audio books including A Nation Like No Other and To Save America. Mrs. Gingrich is President of the Gingrich Foundation, and she resides in McLean, Virginia, with her husband, Newt Gingrich.

I must admit to a strong impulse to enter my own customer review on Amazon, and if not for my commitment to avoid snarky cynicism I would write:

Ellis the Elephant - and he's an elephant, mind you, not a Rino - takes us back to a happier time that we all understood.

When Ellis goes to a library (an unConsitutional intrusion of the Government into the publishing industry, killing jobs and leaving families dependent on Uncle Sam's plantation master librarian, and furthermore sharing instead of selling which is a socialized taking of the publisher's copyright privileges), Ellis learns that he is an elephant and that's okay, because the elephant is the symbol of God's right path among men.

Ellis also learns that he's named Ellis after a happy island that was the gateway to glory back in those halcyon days when immigrants were legal, Christian, and Causasian. This little gem of a book will help to indoctrinate teach our next generation the Right way of looking at History.

About the Author
Callista Gingrich, the third Mrs. Gingrich, was Newt's mistress while he was married to the second Mrs. Gingrich. The second Mrs. Gingrich became sick, which justified Newt's divorcing her because

• cancer is a kind of death
• marriage is "till a kind of death do us part"
• America is a land of opportunity

After Newt's divorce he embraced Catholicism, sought an annulment, and married his mistress who now writes books on morality and values for children.

Some observers see a similarity between Callista's depiction of Ellis and her husband Newt; the gray-white color, the jowls and fleshy neck; if it is a Freudian substitution, we don't want to know what he's holding the flag with.

We look forward to Callista's series of children's books, including

• This Mrs. Newt Doesn't Get Sick!
• Silly! That's Not Sex!
• Who Let That Skank Into Our Big Tent?
• I'll vet the campaign staff, thank you!

---

34 Days and A WakeUp

Harbingers of the Apocalypse

Many cultural creation stories include eschatological tales of the End Times To Come, and include a description of what the signs of imminent Apocalypse will be. Often these signs are metaphoric and subject to interpretation, but some warnings are unequivocal.



The Rain City SuperHeroes include Red Dragon, Phoenix Jones, Thorn, Buster Doe, Green Reaper, Gemini, No Name, Catastrophe, Thunder 88, and Penelope. Insiders point out that Captain Ozone and Knight Owl are not members of the Rain City Superheroes.

---

35 Days and A Wake Up

Digital Handlebars: Info Display for a Smart Bike

One of the design challenges of the information explosion is the display of information. What's the best way to present the Memex' output?


Generally, the ideal output device would repurpose an existing flat surface already in the home: a wall, a table top, the television. One perennial concept is to use the refrigerator doors as a display and touchscreen. (The new iFrigidAire: 18 cubic feet, in-door icemaker, 1080p display!)

From the nice people at E Ink we see this new design of bicycle handlebars as an information display:


It's really an excellent example of what "E ink" might be used for, and it led me to wonder, What would I want displayed on the digital handlebars of my smartBike™?



Starting from the left, I'd want "panic buttons" to dial 911, transmit an ELT, or display ICE (in case of emergency) info. I'd want cadence and speed data.

In the middle panel, assuming the bike has a FlightDeck/ ErgoBrain type arrangement where the bike knows what gear it is in, I'd want to see the current gear displayed, and I'd want to see the next gear selection (in my effective-gear-path) highlighted (assuming the bike knows that I'm accelerating or deccelerating, and uses that information for upshift/downshift). I'd want to know the status of 3G, GPS, and Bluetooth coverage, and I'd want my heart monitor output (bluetooth connection).

In the right panel, I'd want distance, elapsed time, local time, and battery status (usb-charged).

The displays could be programmed (miles/km, ICE info, etc) via a Bluetooth smartphone.

---

Urban Bicycle Safety (in Numbers)

photo by edmonds59

An excellent story on local NPR 90.5, WESA. It came across as reasonable, balanced, and positive.

Reporter Larkin Page-Jacobs did a fine job exploring the bicycle safety paradox: aggregate (urban) bicycle safety is a function of the number of people bicycling. The more bicyclists in a city, the fewer car-bicyclist injuries. The best thing a bicyclist can do to improve their odds is to get ten friends to ride as well.

I see more and more bicyclists in Pittsburgh, so it seems we have a positive trend going. I hope the upcoming completion of the Pittsburgh-DC trail provides a significant jump in visible bicyclists on local roads.

There is one aspect of the bicycle safety paradox that is troublesome and controversial, and it is "the helmet thing". If you want more people to get out on bikes, you need to stop requiring helmets. Our society requires helmets for dangerous things: football, construction, etc. Requiring helmets makes bicycle riding an implicitly dangerous activity, and some rational people will hesitate to ride. If you remove the helmet mandate, more people will ride, and fewer people will get hurt. OTOH, those few people that bounce on their heads will get really hurt.

I am glad I don't have to make that policy decision. Bravo, WESA and Larkin Page-Jacobs.

---

Southside Issues, Bike Ninjas, Burgh Bike Radio

Sometimes, the definition of what's newsworthy and out-of-the-ordinary is a warning sign indicating that a neighborhood has a problem. From the Post-Gazette:

The Allegheny County medical examiner's office is trying to identify a man who died after he was struck by a vehicle early today on the South Side.

Police took the man's fingerprints after having doubts about the ID card they found on him. The accident happened about 1:30 a.m. in the 2500 block of East Carson Street. The driver remained on scene.

City homicide detectives are investigating.

Kudos to BikePgh for conducted a bike light giveaway this evening at Pitt. Observent people have noted an increase in unlit, dark bicyclists (aka Bike Ninjas) at the beginning of the fall semester, with new students and earlier darkness. BikePgh (with support from PlanetBike, makers of some excellent lights) distributed free bike lights, front and rear, to people who were riding unlit bikes in the dark this evening. Very nicely done.


Essential Public Radio WESA (aka National Public Radio WDUQ), FM 90.5 Thursday 10/6: a short segment on Bike Riding In Pittsburgh, being played repeatedly between 0650 and 0840. Also online at EssentialPublicRadio.org

---

41 Days To Go