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August 31, 2003

Weather

Rotten wet weather. Looks like we missed our window of bouldering opportunity today, and tomorrow's plan will be nixed thanks to a forecast of heavy rains tonight and tomorrow. It's been awhile since we've last touched rock, and we're psyched to go with out Seb since we just bought him a little pup tent to take naps in.

On a different note, here's an interesting article about the ramifications of life resembling the Jetsons. I guess we really never thought about the whole "people replaced by robots" aspects to this contemporary industrial revolution. Interesting stuff....

August 29, 2003

Latest Rally News

Peugeot has decided that Harri Rovanpera is their man, and has signed the Finn to be their second driver for the 2004 season. This is Rovanpera's first chance a full campaign for Peugeot. Peugeot also signed current Hyundai driver Freddy Loix to drive their third car next season, though Loix may only see a limited campaign.

This means that either Carlos Sainz or Colin McRae will be driving for a second-tier team next season, with the rosters of three of the top four manufacturers set. Remember, however, that Citroen this is Citroen's first full season, and few would have suggested that they would be competing for the maker's championship at this point. McRae or Sainz could turn a program like Hyundai into a winner very quickly.

August 26, 2003

Another Smart Person

Gregg Easterbrook, better known these days as ESPN's Tuesday Morning Quarterback, had this to say about the ten commandments flap in Alabama:

As a church-going Christian -- TMQ was in this church on Sunday -- I find it deeply embarrassing when Christianity is associated, in the public eye, with hucksters like Moore. I find it embarrassing, too, when Christians supporting Moore's hunk of stone suggest that a big object in a public square is what matters, rather than the power of God's message itself. Anyone who needs to look at a big object in order to believe, doesn't really believe.

Amen, brother.

Wanna Buy a Car?

Anybody want to buy a car?

2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS.

Basic specs:
All wheel drive
5 speed manual transmission
165 bhp engine
Premium stereo system

Color: Blue Ridge Pearl

It's had all the major Subaru-recommended service done on time (complete fluid change, plugs, etc), and the oil has been changed every 3000 miles as recommended.

It comes with a complete set of winter wheels as well: Bridgestone Bilzzaks mounted on 15" steel rims. The Blizzaks have at least one more season in them.

The summer tyres are Kumho Ecstas. These will have to be replaced by the end of the year.

Anyone interested?

August 25, 2003

Family Man and WRC News

Jen and I have begun talking about selling the Subaru and buying something a bit more, *ahem*, family-oriented. Now before you saw "they're buying a minivan" let me say we are NOT looking for a minivan. If all goes well, we won't even have a station wagon. But something with four doors would be really nice. Ideally, we'd get a WRX, but it's kinda nice not having any car payments, so I'm currently researching Volvo 750s and 850s. Nice, quick, safe 4 door sedans. Time will tell though, and we're going to be very picky if we do buy something, since we're not under the gun with lease termination or whatnot.

Rally News

As expected, Gilles Panizzi has signed a contract with Mitsubishi for next season. This is the sort of opportunity Panizzi has been looking for (and what Peugeot wouldn't give him) -- a full season of driving in a WRC-spec car. While the Lancer may not be the fastest car on the road next year, Panizzi's input should really move the team forward quickly.

Here's a quick rundown on the big names that don't have drives secured for next year:

* Colin McRae
* Carlos Sainz
* Harri Rovanpera
* Freddy Loix
* Alister McRae

More and likely, Sainz or Colin McRae will land at Peugeot, and the other will stay at Citroen. It's really quite odd that Peugeot wouldn't just go with Rovanpera, as he's had success in the 206 in the past. He really hasn't gotten a fair shake this season, being limited to a handful of rallies and suffering numerous technical issues. He's never been a real time driver for Peugeot either. It seems Peugeot has lost faith in Rovanpera, and if he can't secure a ride with Hyundai or Mitsubishi, he may be watching next season from the pub. Loix has the ability to be a fine third driver with a team like Peugeot or Citroen (or Subaru or Ford, if they have a third car next season) as he is fast and could provide top ten manufacturers point in a quick car.

August 23, 2003

The Ten Commandments

Why is this even happening? The argument is "the laws of our nation are based on the ten commandments." Really? Let's have a look at one through three:

1. I AM THE LORD THY GOD, THOU SHALT NOT HAVE strange gods BEFORE ME.
2. THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD IN VAIN.
3. REMEMBER THOU KEEP HOLY THE SABBATH DAY.

Now, I don't really see anywhere in the local, state, or federal laws of this country that uphold these commandments. Also, keep in mind that these laws (for the Old Testament Jews) weren't suggestions -- they were the law. Punishable, in many circumstances, by death.

The founding fathers of this country were deists. That much is in the history books. Perhaps the law is loosely based around commandments 4-10, but that's it. Pressing this any further begins to blur the line between the church and state, and even the Puritans, religious zealots that they were, were trying to avoid to this very thing when they left Britain for the colonies.

August 22, 2003

Geekiness

Well, I've decided to bite the bullet and teach myself C. I've tried to do this once before, but I just wasn't focused enough. This time, I'm going to leave my trusty O'Reilly books behind and try a Sam's book on the subject. This is more of just a mental exercise, with the possibility of trying to perhaps get on an open source project to use this newfound knowledge, but I don't expect to do anything "professionally" with it anytime soon.

Also, do you deal with regular expressions in your code (assuming, of course, that you do code)? If so, check out this article.

August 21, 2003

The Passion

Much has been said about Mel Gibson's as-of-yet-unreleased-film The Passion, about the last hours of Jesus' life. Here's a short list of some of the complaints from various groups:

1. The film is anti-Semitic.
2. The film doesn't hold to the Biblical narrative.
3. The film holds too closely to the Biblical narrative.
4. The film uses texts by Catholic mystics.
5. The film is anti-Semitic.

There are two reasons for the opinion that the film is anti-Semitic. First, it was a group of Jews (the religious leaders at the time) who were at least partially responsible for putting Jesus to death. That much is in the history books. But nowhere do the gospel accounts claim that every Jewish person was responsible for Jesus' cruxifiction. Second, Gibson holds to the beliefs of a Catholic sect which does not recognize the changes in the Catholic Church that were inacted after Vatican II. One bone of contention: during Vatican II, the pope declared that the Catholic Church had no business blaming the Jews for the death of Jesus (the history of the Catholic Church is rife with anti-Semitism).

Salon has an interesting article about the movie and the reactions for and against potential anti-Semitism. What I found most interesting was what many Christians said about the anti-Semitism -- it all comes down to politics. "We support Israel" is a common theme. And therefore, how can Christians be anti-Semitic? Personally, I think Christians (and the U.S. government) should stay out of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as its roots are religious in nature and not easily solved simply with "dialogue." Now, I don't know much about Dispensationalism, but I don't think that God is going to rely simply on the Jews controlling Jerusalem for His will to be done (but I could be wrong).

August 20, 2003

The End of Excellence?

It's beginning to look like things aren't so peachy at Peugeot these days. First, there was the "You quit? Well, you're fired!" handling of Richard Burns' departure, and now Gilles Panizzi claims the 206 isn't any faster than it was last year, and he doubts he can repeat his sweep of the tarmac rallies this fall. And of course, Corrado Provera is displaying his typically machismo, claiming that perhaps if Panizzi was a better driver, the car wouldn't matter. Sounds like sour grapes from Peugeot, however, as they will be scrambling to organize a strong team next year, with only one of two top-tier drivers available next season (either Carlos Sainz or Colin McRae).

August 19, 2003

More Rally News

Seems as if Peugeot is trying to get the last word in their parting of ways with Richard Burns. According to Corrado Provaro, the team chief, Peugeot actually didn't want Burns to return to the team next season. It's no secret that Burns didn't get on well with the team, always complaining about the feel of the 206, and this statement just seems to be a way for Peugeot to one-up Burns and make him look like the jilted lover. Interestingly, if Burns can continue his consistent form, this season will very closely resemble his driver's championship season of 2001, when he left Subaru immediately following his win.

DIY

In my effort to fully embrace the hacker ethic, I'm doing more and more stuff myself, instead of paying someone to do it. For example, changing the oil in our car. Now, I learned this particular trick while I was a poor college student, and there was a time when I was happy to pay someone else to do it, but these days, I like to put synthetic oil in the car, and most quick-lube places charge far too much to use synthetics. So I've been doing it myself.

And that's what I did last night. But it took nearly an hour, thanks to a recalcitrant oil filter. Last time I changed the oil, I invested $5 in a filter wrench, but even with the wrench, it's still difficult to remove the filter, thanks to cramped engine compartment and a smaller diameter filter. Needless to say, things didn't go well. After smashing several knuckles, and drawing some blood, I resorted to the "hillbilly handle" of punching a screwdriver through the filter to get it loose. Thankfully, that worked, and allowed me to vent some frustration in the process. The new oil filter may mitigate some of these problems, as the slotted section for a wrench is a bit thicker than the rest, which should allow the wrench to get a better grip. We'll see, however.

Seb News...

He's now reached the I-realize-I-should-be-able-do-stuff-but-can't-quite-yet-stage. He's trying hard to scoot around when he's on his stomach, but hasn't quite gotten the hang of it, so that frustrates him. He's also frustrated when he tries to get his rattle in his mouth and can't quite get it there. He's getting stronger though, and he's able to hold his head up quite a bit, and he now enjoys "standing" while being held under the arms. He'll be mobile in no time....

August 18, 2003

Rally News!!!

Today was big news day for the Subaru Rally team. First, Tommi Makinen announced his retirement at the end of the season. This was to be expected, after two frustrating years with Subaru. But even despite the lack of results, both parties had nothing but good things to say about one another.

And, mirroring what happened two years ago when Richard Burns left Subaru and Makinen joined the team, Burns has signed a two year deal with Subaru, rejoining the team with whom he won the 2001 driver's championship. It will be interesting to see what happens next season, as both Burns and Solberg are serious threats to win the driver's championship. Of course, Burns has been quite amicable with teammate Marcus Gronholm for the past two years, and given that Solberg is a bit more easygoing than the Finn, the two should get on well.

More Thoughts....

Subaru is in great shape right now, as the only manufacturer to have their top drivers set and signed for next season. Peugeot still has a tough decision to make, with all news pointing to Gilles Panizzi going to Mitsubishi next season. Do they keep Harri Rovanpera? I would think not, especially if Carlos Sainz and/or Colin McRae are available (and one of them will be). While Rovanpera can be quick he's never proved himself to be a consistenly strong driver, and that's what Peugeot needs at this point. Ford could also be in the hunt for McRae or Sainz, as Francois Duval would still qualify as a third driver, unless he manages to win a rally this year (unlikely, in my opinion).

I also expect Burns to do quite well next year. While the 2003 spec Impreza is certainly faster than the 2001 model he won the driver's championship with, it's very similiar. Burns has said he's never felt comfortable in the Peugeot 206, but he never had anything but positive words for the Impreza when he was with Subaru. The Impreza does have to be quicker to really compete with the Ford Focus (which is the fastest car at this point), but strides have certainly been taken, seeing as Solberg could beat Burns (driving the Peugeot 206) in Finland.

August 16, 2003

Linux on a Laptop

Well, I finally went ahead and did it -- I wiped the hard drive on our laptop and installed Linux. It was about that time, as it took Windows 2000 nearly 10 minutes to completely boot, and with the iMac (and Office for Mac), we didn't really have any good reason to keep a copy of Windows around.

I was really expecting an adventure, figuring that at least one piece of hardware on the laptop (an older Dell Inspiron 7500) wouldn't play nice with Linux. Well, I was partially right. First, I tried to install Slackware, but that crashed and burned quite early, the installer complaining that it couldn't find a driver for the PCMCIA cards (despite the fact that when autoprobing for drivers, the driver the NIC needed scrolled by on the screen. Oh well...next....

I had downloaded Mandrake's 9.2 beta release, and figured I'd give that a shot too, since it had the latest and greatest Gnome packaged with it. The install went well, and it found and activated the PCMCIA NIC. w00t! Then the troubles began. Something went all wrong with the Window Manager, and while X11 would start just fine, I could only log into an X-Term session, which just isnt' exciting enough on its own. After tweaking the configurations, I managed to get the Window Manager working about half the time, but I decided enough was enough (and knowing that the issue probably had something to do with the beta release), I gave up again and tried Mandrake 9.1.

This install went fine, but it couldn't find the NIC driver modules. After spending an evening reading newsgroup posts, I thought I had it all figured out, but nothing seemed to work. At this point I started to download the latest version of Red Hat, but I thought I'd give 9.2 another try....

And, it worked. The X11 installer managed to do everything correctly, and here I am, adding this post on my Linux laptop. There are only two problems so far....

1. Mozilla Firebird can't seem to find the right fonts. Even the application fonts are system courier fonts, which look terrible.

2. And related to this, I can't get Flash 6 installed properly. I believe there's a font package I just don't have, and can't seem to find. I don't think I'm going to spend too much stressing over this though, considering the full release of 9.2 should be out soon, and that should fix many of the problems.

August 15, 2003

Interesting Stuff...

Slate has a brief article about how then-Governor Howard Dean was basically forced into granting same sex partnerships the same legal rights as a married couple. Most interesting quote from Dean:

"Gay marriage makes me uncomfortable, the same as anybody else"

Geeky Pet Peeve

One of my newest pet peeves (not like I have many of them) is the inability of system administrators/DNS administrators to add a root domain entry in their domain name server records. The biggest offender?

The University of Pittsburgh

oops. Sorry, I meant http://www.pitt.edu.

I wonder how many hits the university loses when someone not saavy enough to add the "www" to the URL just shrugs their shoulders and types cmu.edu?

It's really not hard to modify your DNS records to allow this. I've even done it myself.

August 14, 2003

Excellent Shop

Lately, I've found myself buying most of my bike parts at Kraynick's bike shop. Keep in mind of course, I'm not looking for high-end components most of the time, so Gerry's is a great place. I can get odd-ball components (like 39 tooth track-compatible chainrings) for next to nothing. It's also nice to be able to use his shop when I've got to do something that requires tools I don't have. But, occasionally, Gerry just won't have what I'm looking for.

In comes Harris Cyclery, a small shop near Boston. These guys rock, and they cater to weirdos who enjoy the pain and suffering that is singlespeed and fixed gear riding. Why do they rock? Well, I thought I wouldn't be able to find a 39 or 38 tooth chainring for the new bike, so I just ordered one from these guys. When I got it, I just couldn't quite get it on my cranks. I figured it was a combination of the older cranks on the bike and the chainring, so I just sent it back. Turns out it was defective. So, they're refunding me completely, including shipping both ways. And I didn't even ask for that. Sweet.

One more shameless plug...if you're looking for oddball higher end components, check out WebCyclery. MeanTood may not have the lowest prices around, but the selection rocks.

August 12, 2003

Presidential Blogging?

Lawrence Lessing has invited Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich to be a guest blogger on his site. I think this is going to do more harm than good for Kucinich, as he writes as if he's writing a speech (which makes you wonder if he's even writing the posts at all -- perhaps it's an aide). For example:

We are now being hoisted on the petard of NAFTA and the WTO. America’s trade policies have been dictated by powerful multinational corporations whose flag is not red white and blue, but green with a dollar sign.

Quick, what's a petard? Don't cheat.

It is through such dialogues on democracy that we can fulfill our responsibility to form a more perfect union.

Huh? Perhaps he should have modeled his speech on what Howard Dean wrote when he was a guest blogger:

No matter what the issues are that we as individuals care most about-- whether intellectual property, healthy care, the environment — I believe that the only way we are ever going to come to a real solution on any of these issues is if we all stand together against the special interests in Washington. There are now 33 lobbyists for every member of congress. How do we change that? By working together. One of the amazing things about this campaign is how the Internet has allowed people to meet and work together in common cause. Only by taking an active part in our democracy will we be able to restore a government of, by and for the people.

Sure, it's still a bit _campaigny_, but it doesn't sound like he wrote and re-wrote it until it sounded just right.

On Liberty

Scott Rosenberg has an interesting take on John Stuart Mill's On Liberty. I think his analysis of the treatise is good, but it has a certain liberal bent to it (which shouldn't be a surprise considering he's a columnist for Salon). Mill makes quite a case for Classical Liberalism, but I think these days it's going to be used more as an attack against conservatism. But it's important to note that Mill is talking to everyone -- every single person, regardless of their religious/political/philosophical bent, must be willing to listen (and hear) other opinions. Mill also critiques those who don't really think for themselves -- people who simply accept what like-minded say as dogma. Today, too many people think this only goes for conservatives and religious folk, but have a close read or listen when someone is asked to defend their ideas, and more often than not, they either can't answer the question directly (because they don't have an answer) or they reply with simply the "party line."

August 11, 2003

How to Wreck a City

If you live in Pittsburgh, you've no doubt heard that the city is laying off over 700 employees because of a massive budget shortfall. Pittsburgh's financial situation has been pretty grim for years now, but things are finally starting to bottom out. So who is going to suffer the most? The average taxpayer. We lose police officers, swimming pools, rec centers, and will more and likely have to start paying for services like garbage collection. To me, this is a bit stunning, since I already pay more in income taxes to the city than I do to the state, and an occupation tax just to have the opportunity to work in the city.

So what got us here? Simple. For many years, the city's population has been declining as more and more younger people leave town after high school or university. Pittsburgh also has the stigma of being a manufacturing town, and many businesses aren't interesting in opening up shop here. So, Mayor Murphy had a plan. In an effort to woo more businesses to Pittsburgh (and keep the existing ones), the city offered to not require new businesses to pay business taxes. The thought was that even though the businesses wouldn't be paying taxes, they would bring so many new jobs to the city that the shortfall would be made up in property taxes. This logic, of course, ignored one very visible trend -- people were flocking to the suburbs, and therefore not paying income taxes to the city.

In reality, this means that roughly 45% of the businesses in the city don't pay business taxes to the city. Many of these are large businesses, who could generate quite a bit of revenue for the city via the taxes. But instead, it's mostly smaller businesses shouldering the tax burden, and now, that burden is also being passed along to the average taxpayer. On top of this, Mayor Murphy decides to talk out of both side of his mouth, lamenting that things have happened this way. Right. The biggest cheerleader for these large business exemptions is the mayor himself.

So, am I saying the layoffs were unnecessary? Well, without them, those people probably would not have been paid. So, for the mayor and city council, it was most expedient decision. But they need to face up to the mistakes that they've made in the past with the city finances. City council should not have approved budgets knowing they couldn't be balanced. And the mayor can't give away the keys to the city to every business that threatens to leave.

How Hard Was Petter Trying?

A quote from Petter Solberg at the end of his second place drive at Rally Finland:

We almost lost it on the first corner, but I kept on going. At one point, I was standing in my seat with all my weight on the throttle pedal - I actually bent it! I know it's not quite a win, but it certainly feels like one!

Can't say the boy wasn't trying.

By the way...Finland is pretty well known for its jumps....

August 10, 2003

Rally Finland Recap

Markko Martin has held on to win Rally Finland (his second WRC win) by 58 seconds over Petter Solberg. Despite what Solberg said in the service park today and yesterday (he would just fight for third place as Richard Burn's Peugeot was just too quick), Solberg won the last stage and beat Burns by over a second. Burns just couldn't keep up with Solberg on the last stage, despite winning a trio stages on the day. Carlos Sainz ran into suspension problems on the final stages, and lost over a minute to Burns and Solberg, but he will still pull in a nice haul of points for the driver's championship.

Sebastien Loeb had a fine rally, despite this being his second trip to Finland, finishing in 5th place. Tommi Makinen had a frustrating home rally, never feeling that his Impreza was handling well, though he still took 6th place. A pack of Finnish WRC irregulars took 7th, 8th, and 9th place. Hyundai had a good rally, with Freddy Loix taking 10th place, and Armin Schwarz taking 12th. Skoda didn't finish a car again, with Toni Gardenmeister retiring on day 2.

So, Richard Burns maintains a slim lead in the driver's championship, but it will be an exciting fall. He holds a four point lead over Carlos Sainz, and Sainz is six points ahead of Solberg and Gronholm. And thanks to Gronholm's retirement, Citroen is having a run at it in the manufacturer's championship, trailing Peugeot by only four points. Subaru and Ford are tied for third with sixty points apiece.

The championship moves to Australia next month, before a final string of tarmac rallies and the Rally Great Britain to close out the season.

August 09, 2003

Rally Finland - Day 2

It was a quite a day in Finland, and it looks like the rally will have only its third non-Finnish winner when the dust settles on Sunday (barring a rash of retirements). Where to begin....

First, Marcus Gronholm retired during SS13 with wheel problems. Seems he suffered the same fate as teammate Harri Rovanpera (a snapped suspension bolt), but Gronholn's 206 lost a wheel, and he was unable to continue. Gronholm's title defense this year looks eerily similar to his 2001 campaign -- a few wins between numerous crashes and retirements (which allowed Richard Burns to take the driver's championship despite only winning New Zealand). Things don't looks good for Marcus at the moment, with Burns and Carlos Sainz fighting for second place points, but more on that in a moment.

Colin McRae also saw his championship disappear. After setting a fastest stage time, McRae was penalized a minute for turning in his timecard too early (cars can't arrive at a stage start too soon after traveling on a road section). To add insult to injury, McRae crashed out on SS16.

All this leaves Markko Martin in the lead by over one minute, but his day was not without drama as well. Electronics problems in the Focus affected the differentials, and Martin was nearly caught by Richard Burns. But....

Burns ran into wheel bearing issues on SS17, and lost nearly a minute Martin, thus putting him a three way for second place with Carlos Sainz and Petter Solberg. Only half a second separates the three heading into the last day of the rally. Solberg surged late in the day, setting the fastest time on SS17. Petter doesn't sound hopeful, however, saying that Burns will take second, just because of how quick the 206 is. This could just be scare tactics from Petter as well, given that he said he didn't think the Impreza would be very quick here.

Sebastien Loeb is comfortably in fifth, and Tommi Makinen in sixth, well ahead of a contingent of Finnish irregulars. Should things continue as is for Subaru, this will be a decent rally, and should keep them ahead of Ford in the manufacturer's standings.

At this point, this is Markko Martin's rally. A steady drive should net him the win, as there are no killer stages tomorrow. The question is, can the Focus hold up for another day? The pressure is on Richard Burns and Carlos Sainz, and I imagine Solberg will do what he can to force them to make a mistake. Burns can't afford to be too relaxed, as only .5 seconds separates 8 championship points and 4. High stakes indeed.

August 08, 2003

Rally Finland Day 1

Sorry about the delay in getting a post about the rally up. I was having some issues with my recently upgrading mail program. Seems it just didn't want to work for awhile....

Anyway....

It's been a busy day at Rally Finland, with several lead changes. Heading into the final stage of the day, the superspecial at Killeri, Markko Martin has a slim 2 second lead over Marcus Gronholm. Richard Burns is about 20 seconds adrift of Gronholm, and Colin McRae, Carlos Sainz and Petter Solberg are grouped together another 30 seconds back.

Both Gronholm and Martin have been very quick, setting most of the fastest stage times. Burns had a great run through SS7, but then had some problems on SS9, dropping him a bit further back. Pre-rally favorite Harri Rovanpera had problems almost immediately on SS2, finding himself in the trees with suspension damage. He is still in the rally, though at 20 minutes back, he won't be a factor in the overall standings. Sebastien Loeb and Tommi Makinen round out the top 8.

Didier Auriol didn't start the stages today, as expected, because of shoulder pain, but Toni Gardenmeister has been running well in the new Fabia, setting one top 10 stage time, and if the car holds up, he should be able to fiight for a spot in the top ten. Hyundai's Freddy Loix and Armin Schwarz haven't been particularly quick, and they are in the top 15, fighting with some of the local drivers.

The weather has been a mix of rain and sun, and some of the stages have been a bit muddy, allowing Burns (who would typically be sweeping the roads running first) to stay in the running. I expect he'll catch right up to the leaders tomorrow when he runs near the end of the start order. Petter Solberg has said he feels he is pushing the Impreza to the limit, but the car just isn't as quick as the Focus or the 206. Perhaps he will just have to wait for mistakes to make his move.

August 07, 2003

Rally Finland Preview

The World Rally Championship has headed to Finland for one of the most popular rounds of the championship. The gravel roads are smooth and fast, and littered with huge jumps. Most of the drivers refer to the event as the Grand Prix Finland because the average speeds are the fastest on the schedule (top speeds are generally around 200 kph). Finland is also considered a specialist's event, even though it is gravel, as the style of driving is quite different from the other loose surface rallies. In the nearly 20 years the rally (as the 1000 Lakes Rally and Rally Finland) has been on the WRC calendar, only two non-Finns have won the event (Didier Auriol and Carlos Sainz). Both Petter Solberg and Richard Burns have looked quick over the past few years, but I don't expect them to stand on the top step of the podium come Sunday.

This is Peugeot's rally to win. Marcus Gronholm has four consecutive wins on the event, and Harri Rovanpera (also Finnish) is always quick here as well. Richard Burns desperately wants this to be the first rally he wins for Peugeot, though it will be interesting to see what sort of risks he takes if he can still hold on the driver's championship lead without the win. Unless Gronholm makes a mistake, he should be tipped to win.

Subaru is looking for a good result. Petter Solberg was the best of the rest last year, taking third place, and Tommi Makinen also has a streak of consecutive wins here in the 1990s, so it's not a question of ability. During the shakedown today, Solberg commented that the Impreza just didn't feel quick, and that could be to their disadvantage.

Much is expected of Ford and Markko Martin. The Focus has been really quick since its debut this year, just about on par with the Peugeots, but it has been plagued by some mechanical difficulties (which robbed Martin of at least one win so far). But, if the car holds up, Martin could be on the podium come Sunday. Francois Duval, on the other hand, just wants to finish the rally and score some points for the team. Expect a steady rally from Duval.

The big question mark of the rally is Citroen. Both Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz can be quick on the rally, and the Xsara has proven to be fast on the loose surfaces this year, so perhaps one of them can break up the Finnish monopoly. Sebastien Loeb doesn't have much experience on the rally, so expect him to also run a steady rally and try and maintain his position in the driver's championship.

Skoda will just be trying to get the new Fabia to the finish ramp on Sunday, but DIdier Auriol has complained of shoulder pains, so he may not even start the rally. Hyundai is also looking to get a manufacturer's point or two come Sunday. Freddy Loix and Armin Schwarz can be quick, and some consistent top 10 stage times may get them to their goal.

My picks:
1. Marcus Gronholm
2. Harri Rovanpera
3. Richard Burns
4. Petter Solberg
5. Markko Martin

August 06, 2003

Seb

There are some updates on the boy's progress here. I'm working on compiling a Quicktime movie of video footage for the site as well. Stay tuned.

Even Animals Aren't Safe

Looks like Bill Gates and Microsoft will begin to assimilate primates into the way of .Net. Is there no justice in this world? The animal kingdom isn't even safe from the clutches of the Evil Empire!!!

August 04, 2003

New Wheels

A photo of the new wheels:

Still currently geared at 39x16. I did survive Stanton Avenue, but I don't want to do that every day. I should I have 18 tooth cog for the rear wheel by week's end, which will make things a little easier. This is essentially the bike I bought for $50. I painted it myself ($7), and purchased a smaller chainring ($10). That's it. Good deal. methinks.

Basic Specs
Specialized Allez frame (mid 90s)
Specialized chromo fork
Shimano 105 components (hubs, headset, cranks, brakes)
Shimano DX cog
Specialized bottom bracket (old skool adjustable cup)
Wobler and Araya rims
Profile Stoker Bars
Nitto track stem
Dia-compe TT brake levers

Road Rage Part II

In case you think I was over the edge before with my rant about the roads in my fine city, I'm not the only one who thinks this way:

I strongly urge any football fan to take a trip to see this camp. It's about as pure as anything in this mega-jillion game can be. Just fly to Pittsburgh, rent a car, drive through the monstrosity of a traffic pattern that is downtown Pittsburgh, and go 50 minutes east on Route 30 into the heart of Latrobe.

This is a quote from Peter King's weekly football column on Sports Illustrated. Thanks Peter.

Unfair Practices

Piracy Rings Hurt the Music Industry More Than File Sharing

I wonder when the RIAA will just admit this? This is like Microsoft going after folks that got a copy of Windoze from their friend instead of purchasing it. I used to work with a Pakistani fellow, and one day he asked us if we needed any software for the office. We shrugged and said bring in what you have. The next day he came in with a hundred CDs with every imaginable piece of proprietary software on them. With license keys. And this wasn't stuff he burned at home -- everything was nicely packaged. He said he could get CDs like this at home for $5 each. These were obviously the work of professionals, not somebody just cranking out CDs in their room.

In America, we not really aware of this sort of piracy, but it occurs everywhere. The media and the RIAA would like you believe that that copy of the latest Madonna album is keeping her from feeding her kid, but truthfully, it's the pirates in other countries that are killing the industry. When will the EFFstart their own campaign to really fight the RIAA? Sure, they're trying to fight the RIAA, but they've got use other ammunition. Show the RIAA the piracy statistics.

Updates

Two new software installs this weekend:

1. Mandrake 9.2 beta 1. I had a whole 20GB drive sitting in my machine at home with a lame Gentoo install on it, and I read that beta 2 will contain the newest 2.6 kernel, so I thought "what they hey" and installed beta 1. Very nice. Gnome is actually a bit faster, probably due to the fact that it is tweaked a bit for Mandrake. I guess that's the disadvantage of using a roll-it-yourself distro like Slackware.

2. Ximian Desktop 2. I had tried this once or twice before without success, but I just let the installer run at work over the weekend, and when I got in, poof, there it was. Very nice. There were some bugs in Gnome 2.0 that sorta got on my nerves, so it's nice to have a desktop based on Gnome 2.2. Very clean interface, and the fonts look a bit sharper too.

In other news, the new bike hit the road this morning. I'll snap a photo this evening and post it tonight. It's nice to be on skinny tyres again. Currently, it's geared at 39 x 16, and that didn't hurt too much, but I may try to pick up a 18 tooth cog at lunch, and that should allow me to climb up Stanton to get home.

August 02, 2003

Road Rage, or When Civil Engineers Go Bad

Let me rant for a bit on the sorry state of the infrastructure in Pittsburgh. Simply put, our street/highway system is not good. How bad can it be, you say? Well, let me give you a list of the worst bits of road in the city, and you can decide for yourself. These aren't necessarily in any order, but the worst of the lot is closer to the top.

1. The Parkway East (I-376)/Squirrel Hill Interchange:
This has so much going for it. If you entering I-376 heading east, you join the highway approximately 20 meters from the exit ramp, so you have roughly 5 seconds to cut across the exit lane and into the traffic. Add to the fact that the Squirrel Hill tunnel is another 40 meters up the road (which brings with it the Pittsburghers fear of all things tunnel), and it just gets worse. If you're exiting heading east to go to Squirrel Hill, you've got deal with people trying to get on the Parkway, as well as traffic that has looped around from the westbound exit ramp. All in all, good fun.

2. Route 28:
Route 28 is such a bad stretch of highway, it contains several pieces of civil engineering stupidity. Let's see....

* The interchange with I-279. Take a look at map of Pittsburgh sometime, and find the interchange of route 28 and I-279. According to a high level map, it looks as if getting from one highway to the other would be quite simple, as route 28 goes right over I-279. Looks can be deceiving, however. If you heading south (towards city) on route 28, you have to go through a minimum of 4 lights to get on I-279 north, and 3 to get on I-279 south. Now, this may not seem to ludicrious, but if you continue on route 28 past the I-279 exit, you will soon find yourself driving between the lanes on I-279. Yes, that's right, I-279 was built around route 28. I can spit out my window on the interstate, but it takes at least 5 minutes to get driving it on route 28.

* Route 28 and the 31st Street Bridge. First....route 28 is one of the major arteries into downtown Pittsburgh. So you'd think it would be a wide highway, devoid of lights. Well, you're wrong. Not far from the I-279 debacle, there is a traffic light where the 31st Bridge deposits its traffic. Now, one redlight isn't a bad thing, but the intersection includes a ramp coming from River Avenue. Of course, the ramp intersects the bridge before the intersection with route 28, so there is an additional traffic light at the top of the ramp. The word on the street is if you miss the green light on that ramp, it 15 minutes until the next one. And this is during rush hour.

* Route 28 and the 40th Street Bridge. This would be the fastest way to get from our house to I-279, except that you can sit at the traffic for close to 10 minutes at the end of the bridge. Just plain stupid.

To add insult to injury, last year the city closed the 16th Street Bridge, which come from downtown to intersection of route 28 and I-279. That's fine, right? You've got the 40th and 31st Street bridges to compensate. Then the city says, "oh, by the way, we're going to limit traffic on those bridges as well to do more construction."

3. Crosstown Blvd:
This stretch of road must be frightening to out-of-towners. This cuts through the upper part of downtown, with traffic coming from all directions at high speed. The mess is due to lots of poor planning and the addition of several other major roads into town.

4. The Homestead Highlevel Bridge/The Waterfront:
This hasn't completely blown up in the city and county's collective face yet. The Waterfront is an enormous shopping plaza built on the site of an old steel mill (that's "still miwl" if you're from the 'burgh). It is immensely popular, and while you can access it from other points besides the bridge, the bridge is the primary entry point if you live in city. The Highlevel Bridge is old. It looks old, it sounds old. It will need work sooner rather than later. But I don't think the owners of the Waterfront will be pleased to see the main thoroughfare into their mall closed. Can't wait to see that one.

5. The Fort Pitt Tunnels, Inbound:
Again, following the classic "put the exit ramp right after the entrance ramp" scenario. Except the entrance ramp is 2 lanes of highway, and brief stretch of three lane road the ramps create becomes a shooting gallery of cars trying to get on and off the interstate. Thankfully, though, this important piece of highway has been under various stages of construction for the past few years, so the problems are a bit more, uh, sporadic.

6. The West End Circle:
This stretch of route became the primary detour during the Fort Pitt construction. After you cross the West End Bridge, you do a little cicane around a railroad overpass. The county decided to wait until the Fort Pitt construction was nearly finished before straightening this section of road out (which would have alleviated even more traffic). Gee, thanks.

August 01, 2003

Today's Shocking News

WRC Drivers Caught Speeding at Rally Great Britain

Actually, quite a few drivers (including some big names) were caught speeding by police cameras on public road sections between stages. This highlights one of the little known facts of rallying -- the cars actually do drive around to get from stage to stage (remember when Seb Loeb got lost?). And they are expected to follow all traffic rules (in fact, I remember seeing a photo of Richard Burns, sitting in his Peugeot 206, passing some coins to a toll booth operator). The cases won't go to court til after the rally season ends, but expect the FIA to help crack down on this.