May 12–16 is Bike to Work Week, part of the League of American Bicyclists’ Bike Month. I have been peddling to work frequently since starting grad school. I have only driven on a few workdays since September. Yesterday I rode my bike to work. After work I rode an extra 72 km. For about a third of the ride, I rode with three guys from a local bike shop. Man, are they fast. I’ll probably go on a ride tonight.
In college, before video games, we would amuse ourselves by posing programming exercises. One of the favorites was to write the shortest self-reproducing program. Since this is an exercise divorced from reality, the usual vehicle was FORTRAN. Actually, FORTRAN was the language of choice for the same reason that three-legged races are popular. –Ken Thompson, “Reflections on Trusting Trust” 1984
Ah, yes, the joys of FORTRAN.
This is really cool. I thought of doing this myself, but it is too expensive for now. Randall Fishman built an electric ultralight. He is now selling them as the ElectraFlyer. Depending on the battery pack and propeller installed, it can fly for up to two hours. Instead of the short noisy propellers on most ultralights, the ElectraFlyer is available with a long carbon fiber propeller. I also found out that Sonex has been experimenting with electric versions of their airplanes. Between gas prices and global warming, one of these planes may be the only way I get to fly again.
One year of full time grad school down…
Yesterday there were no leaves on the trees. Today there are. It must be spring.
Last night I received a link to a story about a canoe built of recycled chopsticks. This is an interesting idea, but I wonder about the durability. Granted, that isn’t the point of a project like this, but I like paddling canoes, not just looking at them. It seems that all the extra joints are extra potential failure points. But, this project does raise the idea of building a canoe from larger bamboo sections. I looked up the density of bamboo, and it is comparable to cedar. From the Forest Products Labratory:
Although bamboo is a grass, its hardness, strength, and dimensional stability make it a useful building material. Large species of bamboo, which mature in 3 years, regenerate without being replanted, and require no fertilizer or pest control, have been used in construction projects for thousands of years. . . . At least eight companies now import the material, claiming hardness and dimensional stability properties that compare favorably with those of red oak and other common hardwoods.
It should be possible to build a classic cedar strip style canoe using bamboo. Cost difference shouldn’t really matter in a project like this, because the major investment is time.
A bamboo canoe would make a great addition to a bamboo bike.
I’m selling my Vitus 979 on eBay.
Todays RealClimate post about Venus and Venus Express is very interesting.
Skiing is over for 2007-2008. This winter I upgraded from waxless skis, improved my technique, and explored new trails. The past three winters I spent almost every skiable day working at Fox Island, so I didn’t have a chance to ski other places. This year I worked at Fox Island over Christmas break. The rest of the winter, I drove to the closest snow as often as possible. I went to Michigan three times, but was able to stay in Indiana most weekends. I finally made it to Chain O’ Lakes and Pokagon. One week I had to drive south to snow. I wasn’t able to make it to any races this winter, but I was able to improve my endurance. Last year I usually skied an hour before and after work. This winter–other than Christmas–my skiing was four to six hours a day on weekends. I’m not quite as strong as I was at the end of last winter, but my endurance is much better.
My hill-climbing technique on classic skis is much faster than it was at the start of the season. I now have much more glide for less effort. Since I had never skate-skied before this winter, my skating technique has improved even more than my classic technique. Over my first two days of skating, I became much more efficient. My style still needed a lot of work. A week ago I made a major improvement to my skating. I was doing a loop that was taking me twenty minutes at 90% effort. I tried some changes to my style and my time dropped to fifteen minutes and my effort dropped to 85%. I then spent a few hours waxing my skis, and my time and effort dropped even more. I think that I switched from a V1/V2A hybrid to a better almost-V2A technique. My V2 and V2A style really needs work, but I’m a lot closer now.
Last week was spring break, so I had time to iron many coats of wax into my skis. They should be much faster next winter. I finished with a thick storage coat of wax and put my skis away for the winter.
Filed in Parks, Ski
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Tagged chain o' lakes, foster park, fox island, Indiana, michigan, Parks, pokagon, Ski, snow, wax
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Acording to a News-Sentinel story, there is a possibility of some windmills being installed in the eastern part of Allen County. There is no good reason that a wind farm hasn’t been installed there yet. Even a few windmills will help lower Fort Wayne’s use of coal power.