Google Broke the Hike and Bike Trail!

There's a Google satellite image tiling glitch on Austin's Town Lake Hike and Bike Trail. Either that, or the Balcones Fault is way more active that we thought...

Well, we got newer, higher-res images, and this problem no longer exists...  C'est la vie.

Round-Trip Translation Hilarity Engine

The "Lost in Translation" site is a great way to make fun of machine translation. For example, consider the following:

Original Text: "Now is the time for the small, furry animals to unite and rise up in unison against the oppressive reign of mankind."

Super-crazy Result: "Hour the hour stops of the small one, with the skin of the animals it is due to moor and GONE until the expensive outpost in the agreement to satisfy to press of the rule of the humanity."

The Path: English > French > English > German > English > Italian > English > Portuguese > English > Spanish > English

Google Maps API Update

Well, I got bitten by the Google Maps API update that happened on Wednesday. The code for my Photo Gallery Map used several conventions that were rendered obsolete. So, I employed my not-so-mad programming skills, looked at the API Reference, and managed to "H4X0R" my map back into operational status.

The good news -- it works again, and I'll be OK until API version 2 is made obsolete at some undisclosed future date. The other good news, there was an upgrade cheat-sheet that made my life easier.

What did I have to change in my simple page code:

In addition to the trivial required change from GMap to GMap2, GPoint now refers to a location on the bitmap, and not a geographical location. I was using it "the old way." A new GLatLng class was introduced to reference geographical points. This new version also swaps the position of the Latitude and Longitude data with respect to the old convention (Gee, imagine that Lat/Long specified in that order...). So, all references that used to look like this:
new GPoint(-115.173019, 36.095472)
now look like this, instead:
new GLatLng(36.095472,-115.173019)

Also, the zoom factor got reversed, so my old zoom factor of 13 is now a zoom factor of 4 to display the same view (it's more intuitive now, bigger number=more zoom).

Finally, the "Map Type" convention changed. What used to be _HYBRID_TYPE is now known as G_HYBRID_MAP... This was also made easier, as setCenterAndZoom and setMapType have been combined into a single setCenter operation.

Red-Letter Day or Red Pill?

Today I received my new MacBookPro. It's the first Apple computer that I've owned since the ][e that my folks got for me "back in the day." It also means that I've added to my OS collection yet again; my current tally includes not only OS X and Windows, but also Solaris, OpenBSD, and Linux... I've only been using the system for a couple of hours, but I'm digging it so far... Of course, it's hard to argue with the horsepower that this baby has! I think my poor little Athlon XP (Barton) desktop is going to start feeling a bit lonely...

110 Years, Zero Lessons.

You may recall my earlier post regarding how the whole "marriage protection" movement was entirely too reminiscent of the blatant civil rights travesties that have left an indelible mark on the United States. Well, now New Jersey's Supreme Court has declared that participants in same-sex unions are entitled to the same rights as "married folk." It has been widely reported that this decision allows the state legislature to decide whether to declare same-sex unions as a type of marriage, or whether to establish some sort of separate-but-equal categorization. Unfortunately, the justices failed to pay any attention to the events that transpired after the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision (ah, that's where that "110 years" reference comes from); they certainly failed to read the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision [*]. Cleary, these justices are unaware of the inequities and iniquities that continue to this day. Nice to know that my little illustration continues to "hold water."

* (I have chosen to redact liberally to strip out the direct race and education references in my quotes below; look here for the un-cut text of the Brown decision):

In Sweatt v. Painter, ..., this Court relied in large part on "those qualities which are incapable of objective measurement ..."

...To separate them ... generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.

...The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating ... is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the [minority] group.

...Whatever may have been the extent of psychological knowledge at the time of Plessy v. Ferguson, this finding is amply supported by modern authority. Any language in Plessy v. Ferguson contrary to this finding is rejected.

We conclude that, ..., the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate ... facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. This disposition makes unnecessary any discussion whether such segregation also violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Airport Security

Schneier on Security presents this post regarding a "boarding pass" generator. Some of the comments are quite entertaining...

I had previously realized just how silly the whole "boarding pass as authentication token" thing was the last time I was getting ready to fly home. You see, I used my SSH/proxy connection to log on over the hotel's wireless and then printed my boarding pass to a PDF file, which I then carried down to the hotel's business center on my spiffy SD/USB card and transferred onto actual paper. I realized that since I have a (rather dated) full copy of Acrobat, I could easily modify the contents of the PDF and create variations of the boarding pass. The security screeners don't have bar code readers, so the codified information doesn't even need to be correct (until you actually want to step onto an airplane).

Update 1: The man has yet again demonstrated that ignorance is the preferred state for all of us citizens. That's right, the student that posted the code had the "opportunity" to visit with the nice people from the FBI. Apparently, the agency can actually live up to their moniker and act Frequently Bungling and Inept.

Got Style?

No? The Strange Banana Style Generator can help (so long as the style you seek is of the CSS variety).

White and Nerdy

Weird Al is at it again, with the Straight Outta Lynwood Album's lead track, White and Nerdy. I was already experiencing episodes where the original Ridin' (by Chamillionaire) would get stuck in my head from time to time. Now, it's just that much worse...

Chris Pirillo's Post (w/ YouTube video of the music video for White and Nerdy)

Built-in Bike Rack -- Cool

This is a pretty cool concept: a built-in bike rack that Opel is incorporating into some of their European models.

Yet another Sudoku article

From ABC Australia: Why Sudoku makes your brain ache

Obscenely Huge Zoom Lens

Zeiss custom monster zoom: 1700mm focal length at f/4 with a coverage area designed for a Hasselblad 203FE 6x6 inch medium format camera. They don't specify whether or not the customer is also using one of the Hasselblad 39 megapixel digital backs on said camera (the older 22 megapixel backs retail for $25k, the cameras go for about $4-5k on the used market -- no FE-series lens included)...

Other useful stats: It's 5.5 feet long, and weighs over 560 pounds. Want one? Better win the lotto first...

Bicycle Helmets Make Car Drivers Care Less

Want to increase your odds of getting hit while riding your bike? According to this UK study, you should wear a helmet and ride on roads frequented by busses and delivery trucks. This combination should help ensure that you are given a minimal amount of space in which to ride safely. No wonder advocacy groups oppose adult helmet laws...

Odd Bikes or Cool Tech?

Judge for yourself:

• Shaft-drive/Chainless: http://www.dynamicbicycles.com/
• All Wheel Drive: http://www.christini.com/bikes.php
• Automatic Transmission: http://lrbikes.com/LR.asp
• CVT: http://www.fallbrooktech.com/NuVinci.asp (and PDF article)

The Universal Swiss Army Knife

With 85 different "blades", many of which are multi-function, it does EVERYTHING! (PopSci Story)

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find it on the Wenger North America site, nor on the Swiss site. Not quite crazy enough to call the 800 number from the article, though...

The Twin Terrors

To help feed the mounting pile of FUD surrounding the "new danger" of liquid explosives, we have a sensational(ized) story to share:

This morning, the news wires were abuzz with reports of the evacuation of a small airport because "two bottles of liquid found in a woman's carry-on luggage twice tested positive for explosives residue..." The more responsible reports indicated that these positive tests were not really probative, and that several standard household items could fail these tests. Other sources, however, seized on the opportunity to invoke fear. Citing that the woman in question was a "28-year-old Pakistani woman in traditional Islamic dress" and had purchased a one-way fare, we were clearly all supposed to leap to the conclusion that she had been handed a tube of facial cleansing gel and a bottle of some other liquid (which, undoubtedly, was the necessary complementary reagent to said gel -- resulting in the formation of a deadly and devious binary compound of mass destruction) by the vast hoardes of Al-Qaeda operatives in the Tora Bora region. (I'm not completely convinced that the timing of the Seattle Port 18 cargo container bomb scare -- also citing Pakistani origins -- didn't influence these reports.) Apparently, both the TSA tests and a bomb-sniffing dog had both alerted upon the deadly Neutrogena-like substance (save us all if it happened to have those little exfoliating grains in it, I'm sure they make fantastic oxidizers). Later in the day, it was revealed that further investigation into each of these incidents resulted in the distinct lack of any actual explosives. Props to the Times of London for at least bothering to eventually get their facts right, so many of these stories go un-updated...

Quick! Somebody remind the popular media: Pakistan has "the bomb" (Say it with me, my fellow Americans: "new-cue-lur").

For other related readings: check out the gel bra ban and tales of inconsistent screening practices. (Or, just laugh along with this Register story, instead.) Time to buy stock in Colgate, P&G, Loreal, and other makers of fine toiletries and cosmetics. I figure if there are enough people like me who abhor checking luggage, then the worldwide demand for tiny toiletries is going to skyrocket. Mini-deodorant, mini-toothpaste, mini-cosmetics, and other mini-niceties and mini-necessities are going to be the rage! I'm considering submitting a patent tomorrow for a passenger airliner with enhanced onboard security apparatus; the embodiment: no overhead luggage compartments! While we're at it, we had better eliminate those switched overhead lights, and the "call steward/ess" button -- those could both provide potentially-lethal power sources, just like your wrist watch and cell phone batteries (especially considering their relative proximity to the emergency oxygen supply)...

The Gran Turismo 4 Virtual Prius Battery-Drain Challenge

Early this week, I was showing my vast collection of GT4 virtual cars to a friend. For some reason, I remembered that the Prius included a wild and wacky engine/battery flow diagram (3rd-party screenshot) that is based on the actual 2nd-generation car. At the time, I was lapping Tsukuba and we watched the batteries drain as I drove (using the standard controller), with its characteristic non-conservative near-digital accelerator modulation. That evening, there were better things to do than stare at a virtual battery guage -- but the seed was planted.

So, I repeated the experiment, but this time on the Circuit de Sarthe II (the old LeMans course, without the chicanes, for even more flat-out acceleration time, and a couple fewer brake/recharge zones). The results were indeed entertaining:

• First lap: thanks to a couple of brief off-track excursions, this lap took just over 6 minutes, and depleted about 75% of the battery.
• Second lap: the battery lasted long enough to get me up up to speed on the Mulsanne straight, just as the virtual charge management software swiched to "oh crap, I need to charge the battery some" mode. Because of improved familiarity with the track and the car, despite the diminished acceleration on the latter part of the course, I managed to shave nearly a second off of the fairly pathetic first lap.
• Third lap: the virtual charge management software refused to let the last bar from the battery go away; complete discharge is apparently not possible -- at least not in a GT4 virtual Prius. Because the battery was not being used to power the motor during hard acceleration, only the gasoline engine was available for almost this entire lap. By the time I hit the straightaway, I had already lost almost 15 seconds, and I finished the lap a full 45 seconds behind the second lap, despite improving my driving lines and braking timing yet again...

Based on this very spurious method of testing, one can only conclude that the combination of endurance racing and ridiculously agressive throttle modulation make for a fantastically bad mix in terms of the classic vehicular dynamics of a Prius.

Outlaw Trail 100km Route (TOPO!)

http://www.lonewolf-digital.com/maps/Outlaw_Trail.pdf

I may try to GPSbabel this into a Google Earth *.kml later this week. Watch this space.

Le Tour: dans trois dimensions courtoisie de Google

This is just plain cool, especially if you're an increasingly dedicated cyclist with a growing penchant for Geo-stuff... (I don't know anybody like that, personally.)

Ever wondered just how evil L'Alpe d'Huez really is? Well, Le Tour de France has a stage-by-stage KML file that you can download and examine in Google Earth. (Note: Macs and Linux boxen are no longer excuses for not having Google Earth.) This is a really good showcase for just what can be done, too -- they've incorporated all sorts of information, including the elevation profiles (with intermediate sprints and categorized climbs called out) and hyperlinks to some of the spots along the route. For lazy-heads, here's a shrunken screenshot of the route up L'Alpe d'Huez:


I suspect it won't be too long before we see real-time telemetry that allows you to follow your favorite riders along the course. Heck, there are probably quite a few folks that would pay for that...

Cool Device

http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/013/scupc1000.html#features

Looks like a useful contraption for bailing-out of various random computer-related problems, and a good way to recycle all of those old HDDs that are gathering dust.

Minnesota Trip: Picture Gallery

Select photos from this trip have been posted here.

Location: Duluth and the North Shore of Lake Superior, with a side trip to the International Wolf Center to avoid the rain.

I'll add a link for this gallery to my map soon.