Fiennes Shines In Cairo; New York Awaits

Sir Ranulph Fiennes is one race away from completing seven marathons on seven continents in seven days, after finishing the sixth leg of the challenge on Saturday.

The British adventurer raced through the night in Cairo, after just four hours sleep following his completion of his London marathon on Friday in four hours 41 minutes.

He forged ahead through the heat and the busy Ramadan traffic, even managing to better his time of the previous day, says BBC correspondent Robert Hall.

The 59-year-old and his running mate Dr Michael Stroud, 49, then headed for a 6am flight to New York, where they hope to complete the marathon challenge.

[full story]

Dr. Stroud deserves no less credit, though he's getting less. He's completed the same six marathons in six days, and of course, he's also responsible for monitoring Fiennes's heart. That's the way it goes, though, just as with Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on Everest, and as with Mallory and Irvine, too, for that matter. But as Dr. Stroud knows all too well, nobody else climbs a mountain or runs a marathon for you, even if they are getting almost all the credit.

Here's wishing you both the wind at your backs tomorrow, gentlemen!

And at yours, too, P. Diddy!

Posted by Me at 23:22 link

Five Down, Two To Go

The adventurer crossed the finishing line at BBC Television Centre in west London at Friday lunchtime, after following the route of the 1908 Olympic marathon from Windsor, Berkshire.

He told BBC News Online, after completing the run in four hours and 41 minutes: "I feel fine. Yesterday was really terrible. But today has been great. The runners were incredible."

Asked if he would do it all again, he said: "Of course."

[full story]

Speaking of Which....

This always sounds really pretentious, but I haven't watched much TV the past several years. Have I missed anything?

Seriously.

I was talking to a dear old friend of the family (my godmother, actually) tonight, and she mentioned several times how much her perception of the world — especially in regards to how safe she feels — has been shaped by TV news.

This got me thinking about a conversation I had with my friend Jon (hey Jon! get a website so I can link to you!) a couple of weeks ago. Jon works in television; he made the excellent point that TV news covers whatever stories will get the most people to watch, and that this invariably means the stories that produce the most compelling visual images.

Of course, those stories would naturally concern sex and violence, except Americans are childishly squeamish about sex— so, violence and violence. If it bleeds it leads.

This explains, at least partially, why so many Americans are so unnecessarily afraid of so many things.

Also, it explains why those of us who get our news from print and Internet tend to have different worldviews from the vast majority who get their news from TV.

Lest I overstate my weirdness, I do watch some TV. I don't have cable, but my mom does. Every time I visit, I check out the Weather Channel, CNN, Comedy Central, VH1, MTV.... For a few years, I'd have her tape Friends, South Park, The Daily Show and Saturday Night Live for me every week. I gave that up when I got broadband Internet at home last summer. The only show I've watched regularly since then has been The Sopranos. You got a problem with that?

I tried watching Survivor, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and a couple of other shows, but nothing grabbed me.

I have a much better idea for a Survivor show: thoroughly wire up a small island a long way from anywhere with hidden, remote-controlled, solar-powered cameras and microphones. Dump five or ten spoiled, pretty yuppies (male and female) there with no food and only the most basic tools (say, one sharp knife each). Leave. Don't allow anyone to rescue them. Operating cameras remotely (satellite?), film whatever happens. Wouldn't that be worth watching, especially after about the first six months?

Please tell me, though: of the shows actually on the air for the past few years, have I missed anything worth watching?

Don't forget the true meaning of Samhain

In this era of rampant commercialism, it's easy to lose track of what's truly important about this time of year.

Posted by Me at 23:54 link

Senators Full Of Hot Air

The US Senate has rejected efforts to curb carbon dioxide emissions from industrial power plants.

Senators voted 55-43 against the bill, which would have required power stations and factories to reduce their emissions to 2000 levels by 2010.

Many scientists have identified greenhouse gas emissions as a major source of global warming.

The measure was opposed by the Bush administration, which said it would seriously damage the US economy.

The bill was co-sponsored by Republican John McCain and Democrat Joe Lieberman.

Senator McCain told the Senate that it was "a very minimal proposal" that should be the first step.

"We have to start somewhere," he said, showing photographs taken from outer space that depict a melting Arctic ice cap.

"We will be back, because these pictures will continue to get worse and won't improve until we begin to address this issue."

However, opponents of the bill backed the White House view that it would increase household energy bills and hamper job creation.

President George W Bush provoked widespread international criticism in 2001 by rejecting the Kyoto protocol on tackling climate change, which would also have committed the US to cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

In its place, Mr Bush has proposed a voluntary plan for curbing the gases.

[full story]

And You Thought You Were Tough

British adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes has struggled through the fourth leg of his seven marathons in seven days challenge.

Sir Ranulph and running companion Mike Stroud fought Singapore's searing heat to post the slowest time of their four runs so far.

"Our performance rate is dropping," Sir Ranulph told reporters waiting at the finish line.

"If it would have been possible, we would have left Singapore to the last because the whole thing is that you must not kill yourself too early."

Sir Ranulph, who recently underwent a double heart bypass operation, finished the 26.2-mile race in five hours and 24 minutes, while Dr Stroud, who stopped running altogether at one point and walked, took six hours, five minutes.

[full story] [emphasis added]

Music in my head

• Ice Cube/Mack 10/Korn — "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?"
• Talking Heads — "Once In A Lifetime"
• "Wonder Woman Theme"
• Dolly Parton — "The Salt In My Tears"
• Django Reinhardt — "Féerie"

Chapter 214, In Which A Future Java Master Speaks Randomly

I thought about ditching the GuestMap, too, but I like it, even if it's not exactly aflutter with the flags of all nations.

Yet.

Ahem.

I added Green Fairy to my list of Favorites, a long overdue move. I played with my template a bit, trying to increase the "above the fold" area, but nothing so far has moved me. If you're not willing to scroll a little, what's the point anyway? And I like my kindergarten colors, even if there are 2700 other 'blogs using the same template.

So there.

I'll probably make a few other small changes in the near future. Let me know if there's anything you'd like for me to add, or anything you'd rather I got rid of.

(Other) Random Notes:
C++ is hard. It made my head hurt today. That is bad. Bad C++! Bad!

I've lost over 15 pounds in 3 months eating a lot of hot dogs, hamburgers, tater tots and curly fries. Less exercise than usual, though I did lose 4.5 pounds on the Towpath Century ride.

Okay, I confess: soy hot dogs and hamburgers. Baked tater tots and curly fries.

But still....

Every time I try to read right-wing blogs (there are plenty in my webrings), I start to feel weary, like you'd feel trying to teach a kid piano, but he keeps hitting the B-flat instead of the B. Like 500 times in a row. I imagine conservatives feel the same about left-wing blogs. Still, I try to read the right-wing blogs sometimes. I try to find common ground; I mean, we're all human, aren't we? Don't we all share the same basic problems?

Maybe the basic problems have been solved, so we're left arguing the fine points? No, I don't believe that; too many people are still hungry and suffer injustice for me to believe that. I get the impression right-wing bloggers don't regard those as basic problems. Which is a problem.

Unfortunately, the Future Java Master is too tired to stay up seeking solutions. (Bad C++! Bad!)

Posted by Me at 23:37 link

Happy Birthday To Me

I care not!

Actually, I probably will get a lighter, faster, more modern bike when I've got a few more bucks, but for now, this is just right for me. Besides, serious cyclists get on my nerves! Spandex? Ewwwww.... Well, usually, anyway.

I got the bike on eBay for very little. It was advertised as "all original" (except for tires, thankfully), and people actually collect Scwhinn bikes, so I'll be able to sell it later, easily and for a profit, if I want to.

I hope I have better luck with this one than with my last two Varsity bikes. My first was the best Christmas gift I ever got, my personal equivalent to the Red Rider BB Gun in A Christmas Story. My Varsity was brand new, rather unexpected (though exactly what I'd asked for), a shiny blue and chrome vision under the tree. My first brand name new bike!

For the next three years, I rode all over the place on it, around town, way out into the county; I even rode 35 miles on a busy highway to Taylorsville and back one particularly rotten afternoon (weather was nice, climate at home was anything but). Pretty impressive for a 13-year-old, no?

I grew more than a little attached to the bike. On it I was tall, fast, expert. I knew my Varsity was attractive to thieves; unfortunately our house was a bit too small for me to bring it inside. The man at the local bike shop sold me a very tough-looking cable lock which looped through the frame, through both wheels, then around a sturdy post on the front porch (or other fixed objects when I was elsewhere).

Early one Sunday morning in 1981, I heard some noise from the porch and the dog was raising hell; I dashed out to the porch to find the bike's cable neatly cut. No bike. No sign of the theives. We reported the theft, but the police said— well, you know. I mourned. And mourned. What a horrible year!

A few months later, the police called, said I could come pick up my bike! More grief when I realized all they had was the bare frame, stripped of all its parts (but still with the City of Statesville bike license attached), still shiny blue but badly bent fore and aft. They'd found it in a pile of discarded bike frames in a ravine. Mine was one of the few they'd been able to identify. Out of state bike theft ring, the cops said. They'd caught the thieves. No, they couldn't get the thieves to buy me a new bike, although I could take the thieves to court. The cops seemed unduly pleased with the success of their detective work.

A soul crushing experience all the way around. I got another bike, but it wasn't new, it wasn't as nice and I made a point not to get too attached to it.

In 1990, I lived in Winston-Salem and worked in a restaurant downtown. One of our regular customers ran a pawn shop around the corner, and she frequently offered us ridiculously good deals. I couldn't pass up a red '78 Varsity for $10! I started riding again, first of necessity because I was car-less that year, but then, after I moved back to Statesville (and got a car), I rode just for the joy of it. I kept at it for the next couple of years, getting back into really good shape by hitting the roads of Iredell county several times a week.

Then I moved back to Chapel Hill in October, 1991. One night, I caught a ride with some friends to a party at the famous (it wasn't so much then) Pink House. About the time my friends were ready to go, I noticed a very drunk woman surrounded by guys. I didn't like the way the guys were talking to her (way too much touching and sexual innuendo), and she was in no condition to resist anything. But my friends were leaving, so I caught a ride home with them (to the still-not-famous Purple House, by the way).

I found I couldn't stop worrying about the woman at the party, so I hopped on my Schwinn and headed back to the party. By this time in my life, I was thoroughly disillusioned and cynical; I used my U lock so fastidiously, people ribbed me about it. I couldn't find a place to lock the bike, though, and I figured time was of the essence. This one time, I figured "I'm just going to be a minute." Besides, the place was by now practically deserted.

You can guess what happened.

I found the woman was gone, having been given a ride home by a woman I knew and trusted. When I got back outside, my bike was gone, too. I ran across it months later, rusted and mangled outside a dorm. As it turned out, I ended up getting to know the woman better — and wishing I hadn't. No good deed ever goes unpunished? Or just simple physics? Anyway, if you see me walk two blocks out of the way to find a suitable hitching post, even here in my little town, now you'll know why!

We'll see if third time's the charm for Schwinn 10-speed bikes and me....

Posted by Me at 23:05 link

Why Wal-Mart Sucks, And What To Do About It

Until recently, I didn't buy into the "Wal-Mart is evil" thing. Yes, I lamented that their superior business model forces hometown stores out of business, and thereby reshapes our cities and towns, but I figured that you can't stop progress. No amount of weeping and gnashing of teeth can change the fact that Wal-Mart has built a better mousetrap. Maybe the ultimate mousetrap.

Then I read this article. Turns out Wal-Mart's "superior business model" hides some very ugly realities. Turns out their "price is everything" approach results in lower wages and declining benefits for American workers, while having an even worse impact on the lives of their suppliers' workers abroad:

With more than one million employees (three times more than General Motors), this far-flung retailer is the country’s largest private employer, and it intends to remake the image of the American workplace in its image—which is not pretty.

....

....the average employee makes only $15,000 a year for full-time work. Most are denied even this poverty income, for they’re held to part-time work. While the company brags that 70% of its workers are full-time, at Wal-Mart "full time" is 28 hours a week, meaning they gross less than $11,000 a year.

Health-care benefits? Only if you’ve been there two years; then the plan hits you with such huge premiums that few can afford it—only 38% of Wal-Marters are covered.

....

As Charlie Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee reports, "In country after country, factories that produce for Wal-Mart are the worst," adding that the bottom-feeding labor policy of this one corporation "is actually lowering standards in China, slashing wages and benefits, imposing long mandatory-overtime shifts, while tolerating the arbitrary firing of workers who even dare to discuss factory conditions."

NLC interviewed workers in China’s Guangdong Province who toil in factories making popular action figures, dolls, and other toys sold at Wal-Mart. In "Toys of Misery," a shocking 58-page report that the establishment media ignored, NLC describes:

• 13- to 16-hour days molding, assembling, and spray-painting toys—8 a.m. to 9 p.m. or even midnight, seven days a week, with 20-hour shifts in peak season.
  

• Even though China’s minimum wage is 31 cents an hour—which doesn’t begin to cover a person’s basic subsistence-level needs—these production workers are paid 13 cents an hour.
  

• Workers typically live in squatter shacks, seven feet by seven feet, or jammed in company dorms, with more than a dozen sharing a cubicle costing $1.95 a week for rent. They pay about $5.50 a week for lousy food. They also must pay for their own medical treatment and are fired if they are too ill to work.
  

• The work is literally sickening, since there’s no health and safety enforcement. Workers have constant headaches and nausea from paint-dust hanging in the air; the indoor temperature tops 100 degrees; protective clothing is a joke; repetitive stress disorders are rampant; and there’s no training on the health hazards of handling the plastics, glue, paint thinners, and other solvents in which these workers are immersed every day.

As for Wal-Mart’s highly vaunted "code of conduct," NLC could not find a single worker who had ever seen or heard of it.

I don't propose a boycott of Wal-Mart (it wouldn't work); neither do I propose rolling back the tide of global free trade (again, it's too good an idea to stop).

What I propose is more radical: global organized labor. Only through strength and Unity can workers hope to maintain decent living standards in a world of increasing corporate multinationalism. Yes, I mean America, too. Yes, I mean Wal-Mart, too. Especially America and most especially Wal-Mart in fact.

A modest starting point: support these folks and others like them who are brave enough to stand up for their dignity (and for yours, too, ultimately). Don't bitch about the inconvenience, and respect picket lines. There are a lot more workers than employers, and Capital can't do much without labor. We can win. But we can only do it if we unite.

Do I know that this has been tried before, and that it didn't quite work? Yes. Do I know how to make it succeed this time around? No. (Do I realize that I sound like Donald Rumsfeld? You bet.)

The alternative, though, is for the haves to keep growing richer and more powerful and the have-nots to keep growing in number while declining in power. After some point in the not-too-distant future, all we'll be able to do is to learn to love our smiley-faced multinational corporate overlords. Too bad they won't love us back.

Music in my head:

• REM — "(Don't go back to) Rockville"
• Joan Jett & the Blackhearts — "I Love Rock 'n' Roll"
• The Smiths — "How Soon Is Now"
• The Pogues — "The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn"
• Thomas Dolby — "She Blinded Me With Science"

Birthdate Of Great People

Besides my mom, there was only one other mother on the whole maternity ward (those were the "baby bust" years). Apparently the other kid and I got a lot of attention from the nurses. I know "the other kid": she grew up to be something of an arrogant spoiled brat. I probably did, too!

I grew up an only child in a neighborhood with, like, 3 other kids. I learned to make my own fun from a very early age. As I got older, I acquired more and more acquaintances, but never had more than a few close friends. I still get kind of freaky if I'm around too many people for too long.

Birthdays were always very cool, though. Sometimes a cast of friends and acquaintances invaded the house for games like "pin the tail on the other kids" or "see if the fish would like some cake." Usually though, we had the party at the bowling alley, or, best of all, at the baseball field. There's nothing quite like a game of fast pitch with three close friends and 15 acquaintances!

I'm biased, but I think this is the perfect time of year for a birthday. I've always thought of my birthday as both the unofficial end of baseball season and the unofficial kickoff of the holiday season.

37 seems to be the most ho-hum birthday so far. I remember when I turned 21 wondering What do I have to look forward to now? Well, quite a lot, as it turns out! Every year, I've found I like myself a little bit more. I feel I know better what makes me happy, and how to achieve it. Sadly, I also feel my desires and focus slip farther away from those of mainstream society.

If I understand correctly, as a good American, I'm supposed to want lots of stuff; I should desire more than anything else to be rich, famous and perpetually young. One of my oldest friends summed it up best a few years ago: "Someday, I want to have more money than I can spend." I thought about what he'd said, and I realized what I wanted instead was to learn to be satisfied with what I've got.

Guess what? I am! Every year I find my desires shift more towards contentment and serenity, and further away from acquisition and consumption. The only thing sad about it is that I've felt for many years a growing divide between me and American societal norms. I feel more each year that America is this place on TV; I know I've been there, but I can't quite remember what it was like.

God, this must sound pompous as hell!

Anyway, I do still want stuff sometimes. This year, my materialistic desire is for a halfway decent road bicycle. I love my mountain bike, but on pavement it's kind of slow. Actually, I was relieved recently when I realized it was the bike and not me!

Years ago, I regularly rode all over the county on my Schwinn 10-speed; I had a favorite "default" ride that took me through some really nice rural scenery, and gave me a good workout on some hills that seemed not too easy, not too hard, but just right. From my house downtown to Chipley Ford Road at Hwy. 115 up to Snow Creek Road and back home (in case you happen to be familiar with Statesville/Iredell roads). About 22 miles total, it took me about 75 minutes. I rode that ride probably two dozen times or more.

When I got the mountain bike for my birthday a few years ago (gift from myself), I decided to give my old favorite ride another go. Mistake! That's what my legs told me on the first hill. Each successive hill was more hellish and never-ending. Somehow, the downhills didn't make up for the uphills. The traffic seemd exceedingly annoying and scary. The unseasonably beautiful day seemed a bit of a cruel joke, as I wasn't able to enjoy it at all. I managed to slog out the rest of the ride without resorting to walking, but it took me almost two hours and put me off road cycling for a long time.

I blamed it entirely on myself until recently, when in a blaze of insight it struck me that knobby tires, low gearings and heavy, squat frames are not designed for maximum speed!

Yeah, I know — seems painfully obvious, doesn't it? Well, it wasn't obvious to me for a long time, but now that I've finally seen the light, I want a road bike. Nothing fancy, just something fairly light and fairly speedy. Since everyone gets everything they want, I'll surely have my road bike! Then I'll give those familiar hills another go.

If you, gentle reader, feel compelled to do something for this old blogger's birthday, I'd like nothing better than for you to make a donation to the United Way of Greater Mercer County, NJ in honor of my Towpath Century Challenge (which, I'll have you know, I slogged out on my knobby tire mountain bike). Click here to donate.

By the way — many, many thanks to those of you who responded to my earlier appeal! Apparently, because of the crappy economy (thanks again Mr. Bush!), donations are down this year, so the money you've given means even more than it usually would. You guys rule!

So anyway, here are a few (other) great people born on this date: Theodore Roosevelt (1858), Emily Post (1862), Dylan Thomas (1914), Sylvia Plath (1932), John Cleese (1939), Fran Lebowitz (1950) and Simon LeBon (1958). Pretty cool, huh?

Maybe I'll have fun on my birthday, after all! Mom got me some chocolate cupcakes (just a half-dozen, fortunately!) and a sweatshirt that says "What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?" For some reason, it's purple. Oh, well.

I know I've rambled all over the place in this entry. I hope you'll forgive me. After all, it is my birthday!

Still, I think anyone who takes birthdays at all seriously after about 21 has some issues they should probably deal with in therapy!

Or, would you believe, on the saddle of their brand new used road bike?

Posted by Me at 11:12 link