Biking Update - November 21, 2008

This week's biking possibilities were sidelines by my old friend - influenza. It hit me hard last Thursday, Friday I had a reprieve, and then I was down for the count Saturday and have been slowly healing all this week. While I was not so sick by Monday that I could not have biked in July, in December - in the middle of a cooling trend - it was a bad idea. I also have been fighting some knee pain. Anyway, I have been using the Wii Fit as my main tool for exercise this week. It is generally low-impact and fun. And it has been sufficiently effective.

I started losing weight slowly again, and reached 227 this week and flirted with 226 but never actually had an "official" reading for the graph. I am hopeful of reaching 225 before Thanksgiving, so I have some cushion to eat turkey and associated carbolicious or sugary foods without having to worry about blowing by my target weight of 230. I have set a new target of 220 to reach by February, which seems doable and not insufficiently ambitious considering the upcoming holidays when my eating will not be entirely under my own control.

Next Saturday, I will be in Bath, NY celebrating Thanksgiving Weekend with my family. So I may or may not have an update for our readers. I am hoping to bring my bike up there, so if the snow holds off, I may have some pictures taken against the picturesque Upstate New York hills. We shall see.

Happy Birthday, CRChair!

Great brother, and great friend. May this be a wonderful year for you.

eHarmony forced to support same-sex matching services

I have used eHarmony a few times over the years, without great success. I like their "compatibility-matching" business model, and the fact that they allow you to build intimacy over time, rather than being designed to get couples to "hook up" (with its myriad meanings) in the shortest time possible. I even know a few married couples, and long-term daters who met thru the service. It has always been focussed on bringing its services to single, non-divorced, heterosexual people seeking long-term relationships. And it has worked well to differentiate them in a crowded marketplace.

Somehow I missed that the NJ attorney-general had successfully forced eHarmony to begin supporting same-sex couples, as well as their traditional model. The AG has not gotten a court to force the issue, but instead bullied eHarmony into capitulating rather than face an uncertain court case and/or negative publicity.

Since there are plenty of competitors offering same-sex matching (Match.Com comes to mind immediately), this seems like less a case of "fighting discrimination" than making a point that same-sex unions are (or should be) normative. I am interested in someone from the other side presenting an argument that eHarmony's previous practices were illegal or harmful to society. But as of now, this all seems like the wrong move by all involved.

Congress Does Something Right

Congress finally did something right today. They told the Auto industry that they needed to show how a $25 Billion bailout would transform the industry. This is exactly what needed to happen. Someone had to stand up to the Auto industry and say "OK, you need money now. If we give you money now, what is to make us believe that anything will change and we won't have to give you more money in 6 months?" Bravo congress for getting it right.

Has Microsoft's $300 million gamble fallen flat?

Earlier this year Microsoft approved a $300 million advertising campaign aimed at countering the 'Get a Mac' ads.  First there were a couple commercials featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates, then there were the barrage of "I'm a PC" commercials and apparently print campaign.  So, has all this succeeded in the original goal of countering the Apple ads?  At least one writer doesn't think so.  Personally I think that the first couple "I'm a PC" ads were successful, but quickly became redundant and mockeries of themselves.

First step toward Replicators

One of the cooler technologies of Star Trek: The Next Generation is "replicators" - devices capable of producing nearly any food, material, or device from pure energy. In the mythology of Trek, these devices have essentially ended the laws of supply and demand by providing any material item, providing there is enough energy available. For the first time, scientists have taken a first step toward such technology by creating a primitive form of matter out of a beam of light.

It is only a first step, but who knows where it may lead?

Arrrrrrgh, Matey?

We were discussing the hijacking of a Saudi oil tanker by pirates at Guys Night Out last night. I wonder if the pirates understand they'd be a perfect target for Obama to prove he is "tough in foreign policy" without actually having to wage war. Or for Bush to have something on his legacy that doesn't require Congressional approval. One detachment of marines and suddenly the vessel is "liberated" and all the USA would be doing is enforcing international law.

My advice to the pirates. Get while the getting is good.