TrojanHunter

I got an email today with the subject “TrojanHunter”, and almost deleted it because I figured it was some kind of porn site come-on.  It turns out, though, that the person was asking where to find information about a product called TrojanHunter from, get this, Mischel Internet Security.  The owner, apparently one Magnus Mischel, has an intriguing product, and some interesting security papers on his web site.  The papers are well worth a look.  I guess I should get in touch with him and dig out the old genealogy records to see how we’re related.

Charlie finds a home

Charlie the somewhat suspect pit bull sure knows how to pick a sucker.  After several visits to the vet, and almost two weeks of looking to find him a home, we decided to keep him.  I spent most of Saturday and Sunday repairing fences so we can keep him outside while we’re gone.  Staying inside, he was very quickly destroying things.  A 55 lb puppy can do an amazing amount of damage to wood cabinets and doors in quite short order.  A side benefit of keeping him outside is that he loves chasing the deer away.  And now that I’ve patched the holes in the fence, the chances of him catching a fawn are minimal.

Since we don’t know exactly how old he is, we can’t quite celebrate a birthday.  So July 14, in addition to being Bastille Day in France, is now in our household Found Dog Day.

The scabs and bald patches, by the way, are the result of the demodectic mange, for which he is being treated.  This picture was taken about a week ago, and he looks better there than he did when we found him.  Today the scabs are almost all gone, and the hair is growing back in the bald spots.  Next thing on the list:  obedience classes.

Tour de France: Effortless?

You all probably have read or seen by now that Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France again this year.  Descriptions of his victory go from “pre-ordained” to “effortless”, without mentioning that he, his team, and the rest of the 153 riders who finished the Tour this year rode 2,035 miles in three weeks at an average speed of close to 25 miles per hour.  Believe me, there’s nothing “effortless” about that, nor about the 11 months of training that went into preparing for the race.  Perhaps the few clips that ESPN or CBS Sports showed made it look easy, but that’s a different matter entirely.  What those clips don’t show are the four or five hours leading up to the finish, where the team is working hard to deliver the leader to the final sprint.  Those guys are working while the leader takes it comparatively easy in the middle of the pack.  Armstrong is the first to say that he couldn’t have done it without the support of his team, and every cycling commentator has mentioned that the U.S. Postal Service team is by far the strongest team fielded in the last 50 years of the Tour.  And, no, I’m not saying that any top-ranked cyclist with that team could have defeated Lance Armstrong.

The nice thing about the Tour, the only sporting event I care much about, is that it only lasts three weeks out of the year.  Now I can go back to being oblivious about professional sports until next July.

Ranting on the rant

A couple of additional points about Ron Borges’ rant (see Thursday’s entry).  First, why is it that journalists seem to have an irresistible urge to get a rise out of their audiences?  Borges had to know that he would get an overwhelmingly negative reaction to his article.  Of those who actually agree with his rant, the few who actually are literate probably don’t have Internet access, and in any case likely are disinclined to put down their beers long enough to write a letter in support.  Which brings me to my second point.  A large number of Lance Armstrong fans take themselves and professional cycling way too seriously.  It’s painfully obvious that the piece is a rant, and it’s pretty darned funny.  Funnier, though, are the comments about the article from those Lance Armstrong fans who didn’t understand that the piece was meant as humor and designed to bait the audience.  Life is endlessly amusing.

Admiring a rant

MSNBC ran a beautifully written rant by Ron Borges titled Great feat, but not a great athlete.  I don’t agree with most of what he says, and it’s pretty obvious to me that he doesn’t either.  His article catches the essence of our culture’s beer-swilling, violence-loving sports fans who’re fixated on ball sports.  Of course anybody who’s into basketball, football, or hockey will consider cycling a “fringe sport.”  These are the same folks who think watching a bunch of cars race 200 times around a track is exciting, although I believe they’re all secretly hoping to see a spectacular crash.  They probably don’t know (or even care, for that matter) that cycling is the national sport of France, and second in popularity only to soccer (“football”) in most of Europe.  But I’ve long since stopped trying to explain the joys of cycling to couch potatoes.  Let them drink beer, yell, and give each other high fives as they watch another overweight idiot with a criminal record cross the goal line.  I’ll go riding.

Everybody does have a cell phone

I knew that this cell phone thing had gotten out hand, but I didn’t realize just how far.  When people say “everybody has a cell phone,” they’re not exaggerating by much.  The most recent reports show that there are 137 million mobile phone subscribers in the United States.  Current U.S. adult population is approximately 280 million.  So approximately 49% of the entire population have mobile phones.  That, to me, is an astonishing figure.

Mobile phones have long since stopped being a toy just for the rich or upper middle class.  Just walk into your local Sprint phone store and you’ll see most income groups represented.  When I was in McDonald’s the other day during lunch, many of the employees, and the high school students that made up most of the clientele had mobile phones.  In a very real sense, “everybody” does have a cell phone.

What I want to know is how we got along so well without the damned things for so many years.

The role of the team in bicycling

If you have any doubt about bicycling being a team sport, view tapes of today’s and yesterday’s Tour de France stages.  On both days, Lance Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service team did a perfect job ushering him from the start line to the base of the final climb, where he was then able to achieve decisive stage victories; beating his nearest rival by more than a minute each day.  Armstrong won both stages, but he is quick to point out that his team (and especially member Roberto Heras) made it possible.

The most obvious way the team helps is by riding in front of the team leader to block the wind.  By drafting (riding in other cyclists’ slipstream), the team leader reduces his workload by up to 40% on a calm day.  The savings on a windy day is even more.  The trick is to deliver the team leader and preferably one or two other team members (climbing specialists, typically) to the base of the final climb with enough energy left over to beat the other team leaders to the finish.  The remaining team members help set the pace up the hill, and chase down any other teams’ riders who might attempt to break away.  The attack and counter-attack tactics are difficult to explain, but plainly evident if you watch one or two races.

Last year I said that I’d rather watch a golf tournament than a long bicycle road race.  After having listened to the stages on webcast and seen some television coverage, I’ll retract that statement.  Bicycle racing is way more interesting than golf.

Broadband service at Columbus Hilton Garden Inn

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when I checked into my hotel here in Columbus.  They offer broadband Internet access.  At $10.00 per 24-hour period, I wouldn’t want to spend too many days here, but this is going to be very useful for three nights.  Now rather than paying $10.00 for an in-room movie, I can get some work done.  DSL Reports tells me I have 1,475 Kbps up and down.  That’s better than what I get at home with my cable modem, and better than what I usually get at work, having to share a T1 line with the rest of the office.  The service is offered through Guest-Tek, which offers the service in many hotels in the U.S. and Canada.

This type of service is becoming more common, with new hotels being wired for broadband access.  Some older hotels are offering wireless 802.11b connections.  I understand that some hotels are even offering the service as a “free” incentive.  I just might start liking travel with this laptop.

Tour de France update

Today was the ninth stage of the Tour de France—a 52 km individual time trial.  Before today’s stage, defending champion Lance Armstrong was in 8th place overall, 34 seconds behind the leader; Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano of Spain.  Today was the end of the flat, fast part of the Tour.  Tomorrow is a rest day, and Wednesday is what they call a transitional stage—147 km of lightly rolling terrain heading up into the Pyrenees.  Up to today, there were 11 riders within one minute of the overall leader.  At the end of today’s stage, there is only one:  Armstrong trails the leader by 26 seconds.  Expect the field to begin spreading out even more on Thursday, when the tour hits the mountains, separating the sprinters and classics riders from the true all-round cyclists.  These guys are perhaps the best conditioned athletes in the world.  Watching them ride is an inspiration.  I sure hope I can get Tour coverage while I’m away on business this week.

Charlie

Charlie (every dog needs a name) is a young (somewhere between 9 and 18 months, as best as the vet can tell) pit bull terrier (probably a mix) who showed up in the backyard today while I was mowing the lawn.  He was hungry and thirsty, and it was obvious that he hadn’t eaten much for days.  We’ve taken him to the vet to have him checked out and cleaned up, but we’re not planning on keeping him.  He’s a very sweet dog who gets along well with people, cats, and other dogs, but Debra and I just can’t handle another pet right now.  Having so far failed to find the owners (driving the neighborhoods and searching the papers for lost dogs), we’re looking to find him a good home.  Placing a pit bull is difficult, though, because a few bad actors who raise the dogs to be mean have given the breed a bad reputation.  Fortunately, Pit Bull Rescue Central and other similar web sites contain a wealth of information, and everybody we’ve talked to or contacted via email has been extremely helpful.  With luck, and with the help of others who care, we’ll find a home for Charlie.