tingilinde

finding the perfect dessert

heh - Colleen knows about stroopwafels

Jessica introduced me to the art of stroopwafel eating and I'm grateful - these are amazing. If you manage to find some, try heating them slightly so the core is warm. I find 10 seconds in a microwave oven works well, or there is the hot chocolate trick;-)

A variation I tried, and probably one that your doctor would not approve, is to slightly heat two stroopwafels and put a very high quality vanilla ice cream between them. A bit messy and nearly perfect.

dark skies, saving money and fighting global warming

We've written about this often, but the waste of using lights to light the sky rather than the ground is insanely wasteful. The NY Times has an essay.

And there is the beauty of a really dark sky....

useful travel service

I've never checked the various services for accuracy, but insidetrip is reasonably clean. They have a trip quality metric based on number of stops, travel time, on-time performance, legroom, seats filled percentage, gate location, connect time, etc ...

Flying can be very frustrating - it isn't clear that this helps, but it may be a step in the right direction.

the height of presidential predictions

Today I received the following email

       It should be easy to predict the winner of McCain v. Obama because the tallest candidate almost always wins

I've heard that before but never gave it much thought. Armed with a few minutes of spare time I started looking for a list of candidate heights, but found a wikipedia entry on the subject. (not that I trust wikipedia entries, but this one seems straight forward enough to believe)

It turns out the taller candidate wins about two thirds of the time. If you believe this effect and look at the magnitude of the difference of winners and losers, the probability of McCain winning drops. In television era elections (Nixon/Kennedy to first order) we have 8 taller wins and 4 shorter wins (based on electoral, rather than popular votes)

It will be interesting to see if McCain's people deal with debates - will the candidates be seated?

Of course this shouldn't matter. But it is interesting to note that the "almost always" line is myth.

Of course we have the pet owner divide to worry about ..

making cycling irresistible in the us

A paper by John Pucher and Ralph Buchler of Rutgers (pdf)

There is an existence proof that it can be done.

Abstract

This paper shows how the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany have made
bicycling a safe, convenient, and practical way to get around their cities. The analysis relies
on national aggregate data as well as case studies of large and small cities in each country.
The key to achieving high levels of cycling appears to be the provision of separate cycling
facilities along heavily traveled roads and at intersections, combined with traffic calming of
most residential neighborhoods. Extensive cycling rights of way in the Netherlands,
Denmark, and Germany are complemented by ample bike parking, full integration with
public transport, comprehensive traffic education and training of both cyclists and
motorists, and a wide range of promotional events intended to generate enthusiasm and
wide public support for cycling. In addition to their many pro-bike policies and programs,
the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany make driving expensive as well as inconvenient
in central cities through a host of taxes and restrictions on car ownership, use, and parking.
Moreover, strict land use policies foster compact, mixed-use developments that generate
shorter and thus more bikeable trips. It is the coordinated implementation of this multifaceted,
mutually reinforcing set of policies that best explains the success of these three
countries in promoting cycling. For comparison, the paper portrays the marginal status of
cycling in the UK and USA, where only about one percent of trips are by bike.

The Dutch, Danes and Germans decided it was important and have worked policy for decades. It could be done in the US and other areas if there was political will - it would not be expensive and would have a very positive effect on health as well as using less oil.

An excellent talk by John Pucher on the subject and the foils.

This is in line with the work of my buddy Colleen. She has been trying to convince kids that it is actually fun to use a bike and it will give them more freedom than waiting for their parents to haul them around.

a simple and beautiful surprise

It is odd how hope can emerge from the most curious places. There are times when it is simple, beautiful and completely unexpected.

A few days ago a friend appeared on a national television show. The premise is running an obstacle course, but the course is ridiculously difficult and the commentators make fun of the contestants. Colleen handled it well. She did not do well, but she gave it a try.

I posted a youtube link because I'm proud of her for doing it. I mentioned what didn't come through - her graceful and beautiful athleticism. And then someone wrote a comment that took me completely by surprise. Look at the first comment by Helen

Colleen is a very beautiful young woman. I just showed this to our daughter Mary who loved it.

Mary has cerebral palsy and has coordination problems with the activities most children find easy. Other children stare and laugh at her. We have been trying to get her interested in the special olympics to build her self esteem, but she is too upset with her condition to try. To see Colleen try something that makes people laugh was a wonderful lesson for Mary. There are things that are hard for any of us even athletes like Colleen.

Thank you Colleen!

Sort of makes your day to see something like that - and probably makes Colleen's week.

assisted bicycles

People have been putting motors of various types - steam, electric, gas, and even rocket - on bikes since they decided they wanted something beyond pedaling.

This one is from the Smithsonian and weighs about 150 pounds with a range of 7 miles ... from the 1890s. Dangerous seems like a reasonable description. Check out what appears to be the front brake. At least the seat is heated.

For a few thousand dollars and a bit of work you can have the modern equivalent with little gas turbines. Or how about rockets? or rockets for kids?

wrong in so many ways

Bacon cheeseburgers with Krispy Kreme doughnuts used as buns. Reportedly from the NYC Google cafeteria (do they have these on the West Coast -- Fernando, Bart, Pat,...?)

(hat tip to George)

who really won the olympics

Bjarne notes the per capita medal distribution

Population per Olympic medal - the top 10

87 countries joined on the podium at the Olympics in China.

* 1. Bahamas, 153,725
* 2. Jamaica, 254,939
* 3. Iceland, 304,367
* 4. Slovenia, 401,542
* 5. Australia, 447,844
* 6. New Zealand, 463,717
* 7. Norway, 464,445
* 8. Cuba, 475,998
* 9. Armenia, 494,764
* 10. Belarus, 509,777
* 18. Denmark, 783,531
* 37. Russia, 1,954,195
* 45. United States, 2,762,042
* 68. China, 13,000,446
* 87. India, 382,665,299

colleen on wipeout

Colleen appears on the ABC's Wipeout last night giving their obstacle course a try. She is very athletic and will try anything, but being so tall is probably not an advantage here. It is already on youtube. (a tip of the hat to Jheri who found the youtube version)

The original link is broken try this

The show's website is here and the episode in question is 8/27/08 - Colleen is the first contestant.

I'm completely proud of her for doing something like this - she is fiercely athletic in her sport of beach volleyball, but this is a bit different from real sport.