It looks like a solid chunk of our country realized that Sarah Palin was very unprepared for the Presidency.  I know I’m at odds with a lot of people when I say this, but I find it very important that leaders can speak clearly and communicate an idea; it really doesn’t matter how clear your vision is if you can’t articulate it.

One of the things that really gets on my nerves is when George W. Bush tries to communicate a thought and strings random phrases together with arbitrary usage of “you know” and “like” in the hopes that the result will miraculously make sense.  It doesn’t take a lot of time listening to Sarah Palin to realize she was cut from the same cloth:

I’m like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I’m like, don’t let me miss the open door.

But, I do concede that speaking like an idiot doesn’t necessarily mean she isn’t equipped to deal with a large-scale catastrophe like the global economic meltdown or unpacking your luggage.  There is always a chance that she could really shine under pressure, so let’s have a look at such a scenario.  For fairness’ sake, lets take the example where she is unpacking after returning home from the campaign trail:

She was just frantically … trying to sort stuff out.  That’s the problem, you know, the kids lose underwear, and everything has to be accounted for. Nothing goes right back to normal.

Ah. Maybe not, then.

Update: In related news, George W. Bush has mentioned that when he goes back to Texas, he is considering writing a book.  I recommend he tries reading one, first.  Just to get the feel for how they work.  Left to right, top to bottom, front to back…

Source: Seattle Times

I started to realize in the last few months that it has less to do with his political beliefs or his views on the various issues.  While his views are solidly in the Democratic party’s side of the field, I have increasingly been realizing that I feel like that’s more of a intersection of values than it is loyalty to any particular party.

All this has been very intangible for me until I read the Week in Review in the newspaper this past Sunday morning.  Week in Review is always my favorite part of the news paper, and not just because it’s the only part of the papers with comics; I appreciate the summary of the events.  (I read it for the articles, not the pictures.)  This week’s edition had a great summary of the candidates and the issues.  It was when reading Obama’s summary that I finally realized why I have so much failth in his guidance:

Everyone contributes; silent lurkers will be interrogated. (He wants to “suck the room of every idea,” said Valerie Jarrett, a close adviser.) Mention a theory and Mr. Obama asks how it translates on the ground. He orchestrates debate, playing participants off each other — and then highlights their areas of agreement. He constantly restates others’ contributions in his own invariably more eloquent words. But when the session ends, his view can remain a mystery, and his ultimate call is sometimes a surprise to everyone who was present.

I think that leadership revolves around the guiding a team, as a group, to finding the best possible solution to a problem - not individual team members’ selfish desire to have their solution be chosen.  Some people call this “working for the common good”, but I think that is too abstract.  It is about selflessly finding the best way to approach a problem - which is exactly what Obama is doing in these meetings.  He is mining for all the ideas and information and then using this judgement and leadership to steer the team in the right direction.

It is this leadership that I will be voting for on November 4th - not just his party or his voting record or his policies.  It is knowing that he will be choosing the best solution regardless of where it comes from that makes me sure I am voting for what will surely become one of the greatest presidents of our time; afterall, the last president to show this style of leadership was Abraham Lincoln.  And, when it comes down to it, I am confident that if the best idea comes from the Republican side of the house (unlikely!), he will not hessitate to support it.

Hunting season is a lot like Election Season in the sense that, given Sarah Palin’s special intrests, I feel like putting on an orange jumper any time I turn on the television.

After the 2000 elections, I was devastated but blissfully unaware of how terrible a president could be.  During the 2004 election, I wrote a song called Shadows and Rain as a critique of the Bush Administration.  The song’s message is split between pre-election optimism of our country doing the right thing and post-election disappointment at having failed to do so.

So, do your duty as an American Citizen and vote. And remember: Obama supporters vote November 4th, McCain supporters vote November 5th.

Download this song

This whole thing is nowhere near as glamorous as it seems, though.  Being in India has seriously hampered Birth Month.  And that’s a major problem.  I’m working on a strategy for making up for lost time, but all my requests to the U.S. Government for “Free Money For Being Awesome” are getting rejected saying they’ve given all their free money to “Wall Street”, whatever that is.

There has been some time for relaxing, though.  My birthday was Saturday, and together with my coworkers who are here in India with me, we headed off to one of the old British Hill Stations, Ooty.  The British used to call it, “Snooty Ooty” but I have no idea why, aside from the obvious rhyme.  There must be another reason because most British quips are clever enough that I don’t get it, and I’m assuming this is the same.  It probably has something to do with Cricket.

While I’m on the topic of crap I don’t understand, what is the deal with Cricket?  I’ve watched at least three dozen games during my two visits to India, and I have absolutely no idea how it works.  I keep waiting for the guy to hit a “homer”.

Anyway, the road to Ooty is the worst I’ve ever been on.  Potholes you could loose a herd of Mongolian antelope in.  I think I might be done with road trips in India.  On the other hand, the road passed through a wild-life sanctuary where we got to see monkeys, elephants (captive), buffalo, and peacocks.  The journey concluded by passing over a mountain pass that was remarkably steep and twisty.  If not for the certainty of death by motor-vehicle impact, it would be a perfect road for riding.  What was really freaky for me is that Ooty is so far south that the tree line is crazy high.  The pass was somewhere around 2600 or 2800 meters, and we were still well below the tree line.  In France, the roads we ride have the tree line around 2000 meters; at 2600 meters, you’re on some of the highest roads in Europe and riding through glaciers.

Ooty itself was beautiful.  Nestled into the valley, it has a very strong Tibetan presence since the government of Tamil Nadu has given Tibetan refugees permission to live and work in Ooty.  Between the scenery, the usual Indian city energy, and the Prayer Flags hanging from most buildings, it was an amazing place to visit.

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No matter how you spin it, it all comes down to this: Dutch people are always right.  Seriously.  It’s a little freaky.

I’ve been working on a collaborative software development effort between a team in Seattle, WA and Bangalore, India for the last nine months, and - despite our various successes -  we’ve had numerous recurring problems both in the U.S. and in India.

That recurring problem is a lack of communication.  That’s what Oma was trying to tell me all along: if you don’t know how to ask for what you need, you will never be helped.

It’s more pronounced in a dual-shore scenario, but the problem has been there in every project I’ver ever worked on.  In a way it’s funny that communication has been my biggest obstacle in my professional career - it’s funny because Oma has been whispering the answer to me my whole life.

Thanks, Oma.  I get it now.  It only took 32 years, but I got it.  And, by the way, Haap is here with me and is still wearing the green outfit you made for him when I was six.

I notice he’s made a few changes to his candidacy statement.  Let’s review.

First of all, his photo is full-color now.  As a man proposing we leverage our considerable technological skill to colonize space, I’m happy to see he noticed that computers support color images these days.  Well done.

Second, he appears to be concerned with the three-fold increase in human population in the last hundred years.

Instead of starvation, genocide, and war, we should use nicer methods (such as the head tax and birth fees and study and work and social security) to decrease the number of people boarding Spaceship Earth. Goodspaceguy is pro choice on almost everything.

How could you ever disagree with someone who is pro-choice on “head tax”?

Thirdly, diplomacy is important in politics, and this guy’s got it in spades.  Read this passage and think about how much better it sounds than “Get off the couch, you lazy, bottom-feeding Americans!”

Meanwhile on computerized Spaceship Earth, Goodspaceguy wants us to raise the quality-of-life by longevity research and by getting more people working, producing the goods and services that will make up our improving living standard and health. Let’s improve the incentive system. Let’s coax more people into productivity. Goodspaceguy wants safety-net employment of helpers. Goodspaceguy wants more people studying at our colleges during the underutilized evenings and weekends.

Well, Michelle and I are off to vote tonight, and you can sure as hell bet I’m voting for GoodSpaceGuy.  This guy is a “Straight-Shooter” with “Upper Management” written all over him!

Read more from the horses’s mouth at http://colonizeorbitalspace.blogspot.com/

While communism in theory is sound, in execution it breaks down.  It means I would have to share my new Cervelo R3 with all the other assholes in this country.

A few weeks ago, Jess’s life was altered by ownership of a full carbon bike.  This re-awakened a monster inside me.  Since 2003, I have been coveting a Cervelo full carbon road bike.

Michelle and I traveled to France for the month of July in 2003 to train, watch the Tour, and ride L’Etape du Tour.  That year’s L’Etape went from Pau to Bayonne and featured some of the Tour’s most difficult and steep climbs.  (3000 of the 8000 starters finished; Michelle was the 19th female overall of the 900 women who finished - she won her age category.  “Allez la femme!”)

A few days after Michelle and I rode it, the Tour covered the same stage; it was won by Tyler Hamilton aboard a Cervelo R2.5.  Spurred by the success, Cervelo began improving upon the frame’s design in a project they referred to as “The Bayonne”.  This project first morphed into the R2.5 Bayonne, but ultimately became the R3.

Hamilton was already one of our favorite riders, but to watch him race over the same course we had suffered over just a few days prior and win the stage was a magical experience.  (While the stage was the last mountain stage in the Tour, it covered over 4000 meters of elevation gain in 225 kilometers, with the final 1000 meters’ elevation gain over hilly farmland made up of short 1-2 km, steep, cobblestone climbs.  It was raining.)  When I later read that the new bike Cervelo was working on was codenamed the Bayonne in honor of Hamilton’s win, I instantly fell in love with the bike.

The R3 has a few very unique features that set it apart from other bikes.

First, it’s made entirely of carbon-fiber.  While carbon is very light and strong, if it fails, it fails catastrophically - breaking into pieces.  In order to protect against such a failure, Cervelo wrapped all the critical joints of the frame in Kevlar so that if it fails, it will still hold together so the rider can come to a controlled stop.

Second, it has a unique tube shape to give it strength and stiffness where it’s needed, but to remove material where it’s not.  They call it the “squoval” for it’s squared-off oval shape.  It’s extremely stiff and extremely light.

Third, in order to deliver maximum riding efficiency, they designed the chainstays to be very strong so they don’t compress at all when the rider pushes on the pedals.  By the time the chainstays stopped compressing, they were strong enough to eliminate the need for a standard seatstay.  Given that, Cervelo added a thin tube which allows vertical flex in the frame to make the ride ultra-comfortable while not sacrificing any efficiency in power transfer.

I ride a big frame and although I’m not a very strong guy and I’m pretty skinny, I experience lots of frame flex due to the length of the tubes and my weight.  To ride a really light yet really stiff, comfortable, safe bike is a dream come true - add to that the fact that the project was born out of the stage we rode to Bayonne and I’m just in my element.

Michelle knows I have always wanted Zipp 404’s and my dream bike has always been the R3 with Zipp 404’s.  We were getting ready to buy my new frame when Michelle walked up to me with a giant Zipp box.  Having never seen new set of 404’s before, I thought Michelle was simply showing me the box that wheels come in as if to say, “Check out how cool it would be to get a pair of these.”

I looked at her, nodded, and said, “That’s pretty cool.”

Michelle was confused by my low-key reaction.  “Why don’t you look inside?”

“OK.”

I looked and there was a brand-new set of 404’s in the box.  My confusion deepend.  “What is going on?”

Michelle smiled and said, “I figured you might as well have your dream bike.”

The next 25 minutes are kind of blurry and I remember a loud buzzing sound in my head.  I think ultimately, my reaction was pretty mellow compared with what Michelle might have expected, but if that’s the case, it’s because I was in complete shock.  Never in my wildest dreams had I expected to get my dream frame and my dream wheels on the same day.  OVER.THE.TOP.

Every time I get something new that I’ve been super excited about, I get really anxious to build it up and use it, usually rushing through it and breaking something in the process.  I call this “counter productive”.  It has happened pretty consistently and I was really freaked out that I was going to ruin my bike or the wheels before I even rode them, so I resisted the temptation to open a bottle of wine and head downstairs to build up the bike Friday night.  Instead, Michelle and I mounted the stem, saddle, and the tires on the wheels and left it at that on Friday.  We made a nice dinner and enjoyed a great evening examining every detail of the frame and wheels.

As it happened, the final time trial of the Tour de France was Saturday morning, so I got up early and drove down to Cafe Besalu to pick up a baguette.  I popped home and cooked up some omelets, cut the baguette in half and brought Michelle breakfast in bed just as the tour coverage started.  We watched the stage in bed (with the frame and wheels) and after it was over, headed downstairs to build the bike up.

Later in the afternoon, we headed out on the maiden voyage for the bike.  It was amazing.  It’s hard to say what is better, the wheels or the frame, but one thing is clear: together, it is the stiffest, most comfortable, and fastest bike I’ve ever been on.  It feels like it pedals itself.

View Photo Album

It turns out that it’s because when you smash crap together, the original crap busts up into smaller crap that is shaped funny.  Says one scientist involved in the study:

The results were really surprising.  We saw there were families that included many elongated asteroids, and there were other ones which consisted of mostly spheroidal bodies.

But why all the weird shapes?

Gyula and his team have shown that asteroids change shape … due to being impacted during their lifetimes.

As always, I appreciate scientific research that helps people in their everyday lives.  I have no doubt that many Americans will put this revolutionary knowledge to use by blowing shit up and making smaller shit on Friday.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone.  Be safe.  And if you’re boating and drinking, don’t try to impress your friends by swimming for the bottom of the lake.  Not nearly as cool as it sounds.

Space.com: Strange Asteroid Shapes Explained

The bottom line is that I can’t believe how horribly computers and the software that runs on them work.  I think the most common thought that runs through my mind while using a computer is, “Oh - wait - let me try that again.”

Last night was one of those nights.  She came home, hurriedly set her bag down, absently kissed me hello and disappeared upstairs.  After a few minutes, she rushed back down stairs, turned on the stereo and hollered, “Frank, come out here!”

This is never a good sign.

Sure enough, moments later I heard a beat thump out of the speakers which reeked of “eighties”.  Within seconds, Michelle was jumping around the room (which, under these circumstances, can hardly be referred to as “dancing”) and belting lyrics into her thumb (which, under these circumstances, acts as her microphone).  This went on for seven very long songs, each cheesier than then last, and all of them interrupted with shouted comments like, “This music is all about the SMOOTH LOVE!” or “You just can’t SIT STILL when this is playing!”

How this can be the same person who has been Raging Against the Machine since ‘92 and who has been to more AC/DC concerts than my brother and I combined is beyond me.