Lance Armstrong, Miracle Man

Serve up (a little bit of) the crow: Against better judgement and past things I said, I am watching a little of the Tour de France. One of my heroes, Lance Armstrong, is back after winning a record-smashing seven straight Tours. Even though he came back to keep his fight against cancer in the spotlight, it warms my heart to see him on his bike, confident, and seemingly as strong as ever. Live Strong indeed.

Tuesday saw the nearness of the man’s greatness. On only the fourth TdF stage he’s raced in four(?) years, he missed taking the race lead, and therefore the yellow jersey, by a fraction of a second. It was so close the race organizers had to refer to the Tour rulebook and get out the calculators to figure out if Lance had indeed captured the lead.

Here’s Lance, being the better man, talking about this day when he nearly took the yellow again: Link.

Honestly, while I have deep respect for the man, and continue to be amazed by his willpower, physical ability, and depth of character in the face of a corrupted Tour organization (including a newspaper and a poor excuse for a lab, all co-owned by one of the “owners” of the race, M. Pierre Borrdry) I hold no real hope he’ll win a Tour again. I would be delighted to be surprised, however the politics behind the scenes of the Tour have shown themselves to be downright dirty beginning with the persecution of Floyd Landis, and unless Lance is practically perfect, the cynic in me fears he’ll be dragged down by the dirty backroom dealers. That’s why I never thought I’d watch another Tour again–even now, former Tour officials are treating Lance like he’s a crook and a cheater, which has never been proven–it seems impossible for anyone who isn’t on the inside of this crooked brotherhood to get a fair chance. There’s something about French jurisprudence that, at least where the Tour is concerned, violated all that Americans hold dear about being innocent until proven guilty. In France, if there’s a hint of misbehavior in their Tour, the inevitable “leak” occurs from the Tour to the French anti-doping lab to the French paper “L’Equipe,” and within 24 hours a champion can be tarred as a cheat based on the most tenuous piece of flawed evidence.

Anyway, it is a wonderful thing to see Lance Armstrong, a man blessed by genetics and hard road back from cancer, come within a second of leading the Tour de France yet again. I should never have doubted his ability and determination.

Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos” TV series, now free online

This is a real treasure. Many thanks go to Hulu.com.

more about "Carl Sagan’s "Cosmos" TV series, now …", posted with vodpod

Sarah Palin & The Art of Victimhood

Wow. I am impressed with this woman’s skill. Scared, but impressed.

For those who avoid the news, David Letterman told a joke involving one of Ms. Palin’s daughters, an unwed, 18-year-old mother. This joke was also about baseball’s Alex Rodriguez. Never mind that, or that this single mother has been the subject of mainstream media and late-night comedy since news of her pregnancy broke while her own mother was running to be our Vice-President. The elder Palin has turned this particular moment of late-night television into a seemingly endless soap opera, with herself and her daughters, and all young women, including those serving our country in the military (huh?) as the victims of a “perverted,” “so-called comedian.”

Unfortunately, Letterman goofed. The unwed mother in question didn’t go to the ball game, a younger sister did. And so did Opportunity visit, and it was welcomed with open arms. Ms. Palin publicly discounted the obvious meaning of and personalities in the joke, hypocritically calling the mistake a convenient excuse. Instead she created and sold a convenient scenario where a sicko Letterman was intentionally targeting her younger daughter, a child rarely if ever seen in the public spotlight before now. Palin telescoped the joke, and invoked young women everywhere as its victims. The rhetoric and histrionics hit such a nerve in a like-minded segment of the public that a “Impeach Fire David Letterman” group was organized.

It is said that minor children of politicians are off-limits to the media, by convention if not by actual rule. There are always exceptions; Chelsea Clinton’s ugly-duckling looks, to turn the tables, were the butt of several jokes I can recall with discomfort. Rush L. famously called her the White House “dog.” There is a difference: Chelsea’s appearance wasn’t a matter of her choice. Further, Palin’s political background is of the “Just Say No,” “Family Values” variety. I know nothing of Sarah Palin’s skill as a mother and nurturer of children, and I’m no one to judge. Still, that sort of conflict of words versus reality is something that invites scrutiny, particularly in candidates for national office.

So, Sarah Palin has revealed herself as a gifted mud slinger and opportunist. Perhaps it is redundant to identify these traits in any politician. While I had hoped she and her folksy veneer would be soon forgotten as the nation tried to pull back together in unity, now I think she’ll be in the national light until at least the next election. She got off to a shaky start in the big leagues, but she’s clearly got unfinished business and the political know-how to keep it in the public eye. Still, it seems to have escaped notice that the younger Palin’s true victimhood stemmed from her mother pulling her from obscurity and holding her up in the spotlight to make a disingenuous, self-serving point that never needed to be made. Well, unless you count building her public visibility and support at the expense of two innocents: the smearing of David Letterman and the privacy of her own 14-year-old daughter, Willow.

It should be unsurprising that in today’s editorial-as-news, one writer effuses over Palin’s magnanimous acceptance of Letterman’s apology, and suggests we should all be more like her when we are similarly aggrieved.

In short, she got down and dirty, and at least in the view of some, ended up on the moral high ground. Wow. She is good.

I wish I had a hole to crawl into, a protective place, a shelter from the storms of media-fanned, irrational frenzies like this.

The opinions expressed in Steve’s Peeves are normally intended to enlighten, entertain and, in some cases, uplift. They may not be appropriate for young readers or the satirically challenged. Parental supervision is advised.

UPDATE: Like “OctoMom” jokes, I’ve long since tired of reading anything about this subject. Still, I was surprised and pleased to find one piece I could agree with.

Words we love and hate

Via Boing Boing, I read an article about English words people commonly like or despise. It’s a fascinating read.

Strangely, at least to me, “moist” tops the list of unpleasant words, particularly among women. I have known women who have expressed this opinion. The author of the piece speculates that the “oi” sound is a cause; both “goiter” and “ointment” are also in the “unpleasant” list. But, what about “joy?”

This leads to another interesting point. Some words are rated based more on their sound, such as “mellifluous,” and some on their meaning, like “hate.” I have a hard time keeping those factors separate, too. Plus, some words are just fun to say, such as “serendipity,” while others are unpleasant to hear, like “like,” “whatever,” and “no.”

I enjoy playing with English, so this article sparked my interest. Naturally, the commenters added their opinions, and I soon found one of my least favorite words: “utilize.” The unpretentious verb “use” can be substituted in every instance I have yet found.

“Paradigm” seem to me another word in search of a use. “Model” works just fine, thank you. I think I have a low tolerance for speakers who try to impress or intimidate their listeners with such bombast.

Finally, a few words that I just like for no reason: jumbo, ersatz, silly, esoterica, sweet, imbue, and cheese.

Observation Log 3/15/09: STS-119 launch!

STS-119 visibility during launch

I’m amazed and excited. A few days ago, I saw a graphic on space.com showing the distances at which the Discovery Shuttle would be visible after its launch. I’d always wondered if launches would be visible if they went up the east coast. Now I know the answer is, “Yes, definitely!”

With all the usual planning, I set up my iPhone to sound alarms at critical times, like when to leave the house, the moment of the launch, the moment the shuttle should become visible, and the approximate time of Main Engine Cut-Off (MECO). I tried a new location with a good southern exposure, which worked great. And my wife came along, making it even more fun.

We each had binoculars trained on the SSW sky when the alarm sounded that something should be visible. I wasn’t sure how high the shuttle would be, so I was scanning a tallish area, alternating between through-the-binos viewing and just looking. I first spotted it with only my eyes, a larger-then-usual, orange light traveling right to left, maybe 7° above the local horizon and rising. Jan saw it too, mainly without her binoculars. I got it in my binoculars immediately, and followed for a few moments. I saw a poof of flame, which I gather was MECO, and the shuttle became faint but still visible with the binos. I kept it in sight, and watched as it performed a series of Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) burns, each one a bright flash of orange light, during the following 30 seconds. By the time I lost it, the shuttle was well to my southeast, far beyond the time I’d expected.

I have always wanted to see a Shuttle launch, especially at night. This is probably the closest I will come. To know that capsule was sitting at Cape Canaveral eight minutes before I watched it reaching orbit is awe-inspiring.

This was a true gift; one of my most treasured sightings which I’ll always remember.

Observation Log 2/25/09: Comet Lulin!

Hiya kids. I’ve been observing casually whenever possible, and catching every ISS overflight I can. Nothing worth writing about, and life/work has been far too busy to wax eloquent on anything except, “When is bedtime?”

Still, this was an exception.

It was an easy hop from Saturn to locate Comet Lulin. The coma was well-defined, and easily 1° across. The nucleus was also easily spotted, centered within. Averted vision revealed a bit more light, but not a lot. I was only out for 10 minutes tops, so between that and the sky conditions it wasn’t a fantastic opportunity; just a very good one.

Tonight is my first non-overcast night in a while, and coincidentally the evening of Lulin’s closest pass, approximately 38 million miles from Earth. I know it’s impossible, but it actually looked closer than the background stars!

Richard Garriott, astronaut & former colleague.

It was once written of Richard Garriott, (a.k.a. Lord British, creator of the “Ultima” series of role-playing games) that he was “happy to bask in the reflected glow of his father’s fame.” His dad is NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, who flew missions to SkyLab as well as early Space Shuttle missions. In about 14 hours, Richard will be flying from the Baikonur Cosmodrome into space, to arrive at the International Space Station in a few days. He’s fulfilling a lifelong dream, one I never knew we shared, and I wish him… well, I don’t have the words to express what an awe-inspiring experience a week on the ISS could be, but I hope he realizes all his desires for the trip, and that he comes home safely.

In a way, I have basked in the reflected glow of Richard’s fame. I knew and worked side-by-side with Richard for a handful of years in the mid-1980s. I co-wrote an adaptation of Steve Jackson’s “Ogre” board game for his company Origin Systems, and I had my hand in Ultima IV, Ultima V, and a rewrite of Ultima I. My office shared a wall with Richard’s (when the offices were still in NH), and I still live in the house I bought to be near Origin so long ago. For a while I was his right-hand man, always within earshot and always ready to write and refine the tools he used to create his games.

So, even though we knew each other as young men (he was in his early 20s, I in my late 20s) he had a lasting effect on the arc of my life. I always believed I had a hit game in me, if I ever had the chance to design one. Unfortunately, Origin moved to Austin, Texas, and though I probably had a job there if I wanted it, moving wasn’t an option for me. So, against my wishes, my time in the computer gaming industry came to a close. Richard hated what he called in an interview “the frozen northern wastelands,” and that was that.

I was very surprised to learn in later years that another of my Origin colleagues, back then a cocky but likable kid of 19 with a wife, a child, and a beat-up Yugo, would later find fame and wealth in his own right. John Romero and I have gotten back in touch in the last few years, and though he’s had to weather some storms in his life, he’s approachable and genuine. Who could have guessed back then that John, of all the hopeful programmers, would be Lady Luck’s next choice? Which really isn’t a fair thing to say, by the way… Luck won’t get you far without the kind of talent John has, or the hard work he has done. At 19, he had written and published more games than I had by 29, and he was just warming up.

It was bittersweet when I first learned of Richard’s impending space flight. He was news, and so it was hard to avoid for a few weeks last year. Remembering Richard was uncomfortable for the sense of loss it evoked. Still, he was quite young, and perhaps a bit spoiled and sheltered by his considerable wealth at such an early age. I like to think things would have been different had we all been older and wiser.

In the end, I have had a very full life of my own, with a wonderful daughter and grandchildren, and a rewarding career in biotechnology software. My most gratifying career accomplishment was a team effort which introduced a new cancer screening test. Over 80% of women in the US get this test annually, and internationally the numbers are growing. My “awe-inspiring experience,” though private and rightly so, is the satisfaction I feel for making a difference in women’s lives, and the lives of their families and loves ones. I have had the privilege of bringing good to the world. I don’t have $25M to spend for a week’s vacation in space, but when I look back, and look at today… well, I can’t imagine things turning out any better than they did. Thanks Richard and Robert, for all you did for me. Good journeys.

Observing Log: ISS overflight

I just watched a beautiful pass by the ISS. That just never gets tired. It was moving, as always.

In the early spring, I shot video and saved screen shots to make a “How To Spot The ISS” video tutorial. I’ve been very busy at work for the last six months, so there’s no time to work on content of any kind (can you tell?). Still, it’s something high on my list of things to do.

Is this the first-ever picture of an extrasolar planet?

It sure looks like it!

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080919.html

Bombers’ lawyer: “We seek a painless execution.”

CNN is reporting that three confessed criminals who helped plan a 2002 suicide bombing that killed 202 people in Bali don’t want a firing squad… because it will hurt.

The lawyer for convicted killers Ali Ghufron, Imam Samudra and Amrozi Nurhasyim maintains that his clients will suffer needlessly if their deaths are not immediate.

It seems to me there is a simple and just solution: Grant these three the same consideration they afforded their innocent victims.