I think winds affect my biking regardless of what direction they're coming from. This morning, for example, in calm winds, I set three personal records on a 60 km ride: best distance over 1 hour (30.9 km); best time for 40 km (1:18:14, beating my previous PR by 4:01); and best time for 60 km (1:58:28, beating my previous by 3:22).
Next week I'm planning to ride 110—120 km as part of my North Shore Century training. Maybe another PR or two?
Newsweek just published an article laying out how oil, gas, and other similar industries have bamboozled the American public for close to 20 years about climate change:
Since the late 1980s, this well-coordinated, well-funded campaign by contrarian scientists, free-market think tanks and industry has created a paralyzing fog of doubt around climate change. Through advertisements, op-eds, lobbying and media attention, greenhouse doubters (they hate being called deniers) argued first that the world is not warming; measurements indicating otherwise are flawed, they said. Then they claimed that any warming is natural, not caused by human activities. Now they contend that the looming warming will be minuscule and harmless. "They patterned what they did after the tobacco industry," says former senator Tim Wirth, who spearheaded environmental issues as an under secretary of State in the Clinton administration. "Both figured, sow enough doubt, call the science uncertain and in dispute. That's had a huge impact on both the public and Congress."
Just last year, polls found that 64 percent of Americans thought there was "a lot" of scientific disagreement on climate change; only one third thought planetary warming was "mainly caused by things people do."
For the record: there is no dispute among climatologists that planetary warming is mostly caused by human activities.
I'm glad Newsweek published the story, even though it's old news to people who have followed the administration's (528 days to go!) assault on science and reason. Maybe more people will realize they're being hoodwinked.
After falling 3% yesterday, followed by the Nikkei and the European indices, the Dow dropped another 1.5% within minutes of opening today.
Don't say nobody warned us: we've just started a serious economic correction, which, if history is any guide, will turn seriously ugly in October. I think once the President (529 days, 3 hours) said we had sound economic fundamentals, he might as well have written "MENE MENE TEKEL PARSIM" on the podium.
In happier news, the Cubs pulled within a half-game of the Brewers last night.
The Cubs and Brewers continue to lose games, so the Cubs remain one game back in the NL Central. The ickle Cardinals won yesterday, so they're creeping up, and are now only five games behind the Cubs. We could be looking at a real horse race this year, at least until the Cubs, Brewers, or Cardinals (or some combination thereof) choke. September will be interesting...
I'm not alone in the office today, but I may as well be: Parker is so tired he's not even getting up when I leave the room. Day camp works, I tell you.
I should also point out one of the not-so-hidden costs of having an office puppy. Or, rather, a black office puppy on a white cotton rug. Yes, the rug in the photo above used to be blue and white. Now it's blue-grey and grey. And he's chewed it so much it can't be cleaned any more. But I discovered a possible solution: A couple of my friends have two enormous Labradors and a three-year-old. In their newly-remodeled kitchen they have a patch of Flor, which seems to have held up to the onslaught pretty well.
However, until I'm more certain Parker won't destroy it out of ennui—yesterday morning he tried to disembowel my comforter again—I think I'll just keep the dingy carpet.
After attending the ALS fundraiser (i.e., Lou Gehrig Day at Wrigley Field) last night, I decided to sleep past the normal play-group time and take Parker to day camp instead. Several bits of good news in this: first, the Les Turner ALS Foundation raised butt-loads of cash; second, even though the Cubs lost, so did the Brewers, so the Cubs are still only one game out of first place; third, Parker gets to hang out all day with his friends; and fourth, said hanging-out will make Parker sleep most of tomorrow when he's back here.
The only bad part is, of course, no office puppy today. Sad.
Parker and Goldie have started playing together mornings. Goldie, until recently, never had anything nice to say to Parker, so this surprised everyone:
As a special bonus, I have some video of Parker (AVI, 10.3 MB) at my office. He has a new behavior: at the end of the day, when I pack everything in an get up to leave, he rushes forward with his paws stretched out front and slides across the terazzo floor. I have no idea why he does this, except perhaps because it's fun.
From this week's Economist, a strangely understated note:
The British army officially ended Operation Banner in Northern Ireland, its longest continuous operation. Soldiers were sent to the province in 1969 in what was intended to be a brief stint to quell sectarian violence. A garrison of 5,000 men will remain to offer support to the police.
More from the BBC about Tuesday's event:
The British army's operation in Northern Ireland came to an end at midnight after 38 years. Operation Banner—the Army's support role for the police—had been its longest continuous campaign, with more than 300,000 personnel taking part.
At the height of the Troubles, there were about 27,000 soldiers in Northern Ireland. From Wednesday, there will be no more than 5,000.
At 276,000 population, Belfast is about the same size as Raleigh, N.C., by the way.
The Cubs lost yesterday, but so did the Brewers, which keeps the Cubs in first place. Crazy.
Parker is fast asleep on my office floor, which is the first he's stopped panting since waking up this morning. Poor guy doesn't have sweat glands, and it's going to be another sticky day in Chicago, with heat indices approaching 38°C.
Perhaps the unpleasant heat has led the Cubs into first place. Yes, somehow, slowly, steadily, yea even stealthily, they have ticked up more wins than losses and last night surpassed the Milwaukee Brewers to sneak into the top spot.
Let's see if they're still there when I attend Lou Gehrig Day this Sunday...