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August 31, 2005
Thanks, Judge Bissell
Judge John W. "Jack" Bissell, the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, retired from the bench today. I've known Judge Bissell since about 1990 when I joined the Metropolitan New York - New Jersey Chapter of the National Ice Hockey Officials Association. He was a member of that organization at the time and helped me resolve a dispute with a coach that had the potential to disrupt my officiating career.
The Star-Ledger published a long article about Judge Bissell's 27 years as a state and federal judge. All of my friends from hockey officiating got a kick out of reading it. The part I liked best is this:
Today, with the rap of a gavel given to him when he first became a judge, Bissell will conclude his duties on the bench by swearing in a new group of citizens -- a send-off he selected because it is a time in a federal courthouse where everyone is happy.
I didn't want to miss this opportunity to wish Judge Bissell well as he retires. He's done a lot for the people of New Jersey and the United States.
August 30, 2005
Mapping Race Courses with a GPS and Google Maps
Dave Mabe has published a couple of articles on compiling race maps by taking GPS tracklogs, processing them, and running the resulting data file through the Google Maps API. The articles are:
Looks like he's getting a lot of ideas from the Mapping Hacks book published by O'Reilly. I saw this book in a local Barnes & Noble the other day and I definitely want a copy. I just don't have time to work through all the interesting recipies in it right now.
August 29, 2005
I'm Tired of Getting Ripped Off by Splogs
I want to join my friend Doc Searls in pointing out splogs and urging concerted action from the search engine providers and context-sensitive advertising services to take as much of the profit out of splogs as possible. According to Mark Cuban, a splog is any blog whose creator doesn't add any written value.
The owner of a splog is typically trying to create a site with high search engine relevance without doing any work. The goal is to divert information seekers to these splogs, display context-sensitive ads, and get the information seekers to click those ads. Google, Yahoo!, and other ad service providers then pay the splogger for the clicks and the splogger has a quick profit.
I pay attention to referrals to Operation Gadget from other sites. Many of the sites that provide referral tracking services such as Technorati and IceRocket have recently shown a large increase in links to Operation Gadget which would normally be welcome. However, a disproportionate number of recent links to our site are actually from splogs. Here are a few examples:
- A page from "Your snow tires info" contains the bulk of a post called Maxxis Inflatable Tire Not in Place on Brasstown Bald Due to High Winds, a report I filed from the top of Brasstown Bald during the 2005 Dodge Tour de Georgia. No information about snow tires whatsoever.
- A page from "Your pmp info" contains the bulk of a post called Discovery Uses Personal Media Players to Fine-tune TT Technique, an extremely popular article about the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team's use of AMD technology. This splog appears to be trying to divert people searching for information about the Project Management Professional (PMP) business certification, but it's scooping up information about Personal Media Players as well.
- A page from "Your tmobile info" contains the bulk of a post called What T-Mobile is Missing by Not Quickly Upgrading to EDGE, an important article about management decisions that T-Mobile USA made about their wireless data services deployment. This splog appears to be trying to divert people searching for for T-Mobile ringtones, hotspots, and billing plans.
I'm sure you can see the similarity between these splogs. They take original content from Operation Gadget and other sites by scraping RSS feeds and simply put the articles on new web pages. Any ad clicks that these splog sites capture result in money paid to people who didn't do any of the research, reporting, or analysis.
Doc Searls doesn't run ads on his site, but he realizes that lots of sites would cease to exist or be scaled back if the value chain of context-sensitive advertising is disrupted by profiteering such as that embodied by splogs.
What I'm doing to help fight the splog phenomenon is:
- I'm calling attention to it in this article.
- I've started submitting splogs that misappropriate content from Operation Gadget to a site called Splog Reporter. This site was inspired by Mark Cuban's call to arms and built by Frank J Gruber V. [ Thanks to Doc for the correction. ]
Please let me know if you think of anything else I should be doing.
Technorati Tags: splogs
LSU Professor Maintaining Hurricane Katrina Blog
Dr. Kaye Trammell, an assistant professor of visual communications at Louisiana State University, has set up Kaye's Hurricane Katrina Blog and has been blogging regularly all night from Baton Rouge. That's about 65 miles west of New Orleans.
From what I've been able to read, Baton Rouge is west of the path of the storm. Katrina made landfall east of New Orleans earlier this morning.
I think this blog is interesting because Trammell is critiquing local television coverage, comparing it to what's been airing across the country, and reporting on what she's experiencing at her home. [ via Josh Hallett at Hyku.com ]
4th Week of August 2005 Workouts
Here's a quick summary of the workouts that I did last week:
- Monday, August 22: Biked 10.6 miles in 52 minutes 29 seconds.
- Tuesday, August 23: Biked 10.4 miles in 44 minutes 4 seconds.
- Wednesday, August 24: Biked 10.6 miles in 51 minutes 3 seconds.
- Thursday, August 25: Rest.
- Friday, August 26: Mowed lawn for 1 hour 43 minutes 1 seconds.
- Saturday, August 27: Officiated hockey for 1 minutes 47 seconds 4 seconds; Officiated hockey for 1 hour 41 minutes 6 seconds.
- Sunday, August 28: Officiated hockey for 1 hour 6 minutes 33 seconds.
This week hockey got underway in a pretty significant way for me. Early in the week, I got three 10 mile bike rides in, then rested on Thursday because I knew the rest of the week was going to be intense. I did my usual lawn maintenance tasks on Friday.
I officiated in a Junior hockey tournament in Exton, PA on Saturday. I refereed the first game and worked as a linesman in the second. On Sunday, I participated in the annual USA Hockey Level 4 Officiating Training Seminar put on by the Atlantic Amateur Hockey Association. In order to maintain my certification as a referee at the Junior age level and qualify to participate as a referee in a USA Hockey National Championship, each year I must attend a Level 4 officiating training seminar each year and pass graded skating proficiency and rules knowledge test.
For the week, I exercised for 8 hours 45 minutes burning 6,893 calories, and covering a total of 31.4 miles on my bike. This is about the same number of miles on the bike as last week, but the number of calories burned in exercise doubled. This is an indication of why I need to increase the intensity and duration of my training for the first few weeks of September.
August 22 - 28, 2005 Weekly Summary
This is the Operation Gadget weekly summary for the fourth week of August 2005. I'm experimenting with a weekly summary so that readers who want to receive a periodic email with Operation Gadget headlines can receive the links to all of the articles published each week. I will post a mechanism for readers to sign up for this service when I work out the details.
The headlines:
August 27
- Where I'm Looking for Bluetooth Headset Reviews
- Treonauts Backs Off on Strong Cardo Scala 500 Rating
- No Need for Bluetooth 1.2 Compatibility When Connecting an Accessory to the Treo 650
August 26
August 25
- Armstrong to Appear on Larry King Live to Address Doping Allegations
- Dine with the Pros and Support the Phinney Foundation in San Francisco on September 2
- TVPredictions Discusses the Features of the New DirecTV Plus DVR
August 24
- PhoneGnome Straddles Regular Phone Line and Broadband Connection to Provide a Hybrid Phone Experience
- VeloACE Is Ideal for Palm Zealots Who Want a Bike Computer
- Lyon, France's Rent-a-Bike System Loaded with Technology
August 23
- Study Says Handheld Communicators Help Doctors Respond Faster than Pagers
- R-Driver II USB 2.0 to IDE Cable Is Ideal for Copying Data from Hard Drives Being Replaced
- No Good Will Come from Retroactive Drug Testing in Pro Cycling
- Developing a Workout Plan to Simulate the Effort of Other Athletic Performances
August 22
- Replacing the APC Uninterruptible Power Supply Battery Protecting Our VoIP Lines
- Mavic Crossland Mountain Wheels Take a Year of Riding with No Problems
- Installed Performance Topo FasTracs on My Mountain Bike
- 3rd Week of August 2005 Workouts
Does a weekly summary work for you? Is it a waste of time? Let me know by posting a comment. Thanks....
August 27, 2005
Where I'm Looking for Bluetooth Headset Reviews
I'm looking high and low for credible reviews of Bluetooth headsets to use with my Palm Treo 650. Many of the Treo-related sites have limited Bluetooth headset reviews, despite the fact that many Treo users I know either have purchased or are strongly considering purchase of a Bluetooth headset.
Here are some places where I have found a number of good Bluetooth headset reviews:
- MobileBurn: An excellent mobile phone technology site edited by Michael Oryl. I couldn't find a category where Bluetooth headset reviews were collected, but a MobileBurn site search for "Bluetooth headset" produced lots of useful results.
- Treonauts: In spite of the fact that Treonauts changed its review of the Cardo Scala 500, this site has the best collection of Treo 650-specific Bluetooth headset reviews. Check out the head-to-head comparison of eight Bluetooth headsets. It's not exhaustive because they leave out a couple of the Motorola models, but it's the best one stop comparison I've found so far.
I'll add links to this story for additional sites with Bluetooth headset reviews as I find them.
Treonauts Backs Off on Strong Cardo Scala 500 Rating
In my search for a Bluetooth headset for my Treo 650 and VoIP use, I revisited a favorable Treonauts review of the Cardo Scala 650 that I pointed out a couple of weeks ago. I was surprised to see the following paragraph had been added to the review:
UPDATE: Following a flurry of comments and emails as well as additional testing on my part, I have very disappointingly found that the Scala 500 suffers from a significantly higher level of 'static' compared with the Palm Treo BT Headset as well as others. There is no doubt that the Scala 500 still offers the best accessory kit but unfortunately with a sub-par call quality I now have to reconsider my earlier rating and lower it to just 6/10. It's a real shame but I hope that Scala will work to improve their offering in the future.
This caused me to look elsewhere for reviews of the Cardo Scala 500. The sense I got from reading dozens of reviews and comments on different websites is that some people had a great experience using the Cardo Scala 500 with the Treo 650 and some people experienced the static problem that's mentioned in the revised Treonauts review.
What's more troubling to me, however, is the idea in several articles that the problem may lie more with Treo 650 Bluetooth performance than with the Scala 500 itself. Some headsets have a harder time maintaining a connection with the Treo 650 than with other phones. Some have intermittent or persistent static issues with the Treo 650 and not with other phones.
I'm surprised that the experience people have with Bluetooth headsets is so configuration-dependent. I'd think that a device that's Bluetooth 1.1 or 1.2 certified would "just work" with another certified device. On the other hand, this is wireless networking, so is it unreasonable to expect some variability.
Your mileage may vary with the Cardo Scala 500 and the Treo 650. I'm not changing my view that this headset is a great value, but I may not buy one myself either.
No Need for Bluetooth 1.2 Compatibility When Connecting an Accessory to the Treo 650
I've been talking to Martin O'Donnell and Andy Abramson recently about getting a Bluetooth headset in order to be able to use it with both my Palm Treo 650 and my PC when I'm using Skype and Google Talk.
Many of the Bluetooth headsets that are currently on sale will do double duty in this manner, but some of them are Bluetooth 1.2-compatible while others are only compatible with Bluetooth 1.1. I wasn't sure if it mattered whether I had Bluetooth 1.2 compatiblility, so I had to do some research.
It turns out that the Treo 650 only supports Bluetooth 1.1 anyway and that Palm says it has "no plans to upgrade the Bluetooth technology in the Treo 650 smartphone to version 1.2". In addition, most Bluetooth USB adapters like the Belkin F8T003 that I have installed on my Blogging Workstation are only Bluetooth 1.1 compatible.
If the Treo 650 and my PC had both supported Bluetooth 1.2, I would have excluded Bluetooth 1.1 headsets from my product search. I clearly don't have to restrict myself now.
Technorati Tags: VoIP
August 26, 2005
WSJ Article on VoIP Focuses on Embedded Voice in Applications
I forgot to mention that yesterday's Wall Street Journal had a free article called Talk of the Internet that surprisingly focused on computer applications that support voice communications between users. The article begins by describing how users of Battlefield 2 from Electronic Arts can communicate with each other via a Voice over IP (VoIP) client that's embedded in the game itself. How cool is that?
Of course this is old hat to people that have been using XBox Live for a while, but I missed the peer-to-peer voice communications aspects of this on-line service until it was recently pointed out to me.
I keyed in on the discussion of Battlefield 2 in this article because it's a perfect example of an application for VoIP that's not simply about saving money on telephone calls by routing them over the Internet. The voice communications capability in Battlefield 2 is arguably a new dimension of Internet-aware computer applications.
Analysts like Maribel Lopez of Forrester Research believe that VoIP is overhyped because cheap long distance calling will not drive VoIP adoption as far into the mainstream as will new ways to use voice communications that come embedded in products and services we buy.
The article goes on to point out that VoIP is also being embedded in Instant Messaging and similar Internet communications apps that already have a huge number of users. The IM-feel of Skype was probably helpful in its rapid adoption. Google probably thought it would catch a wave of early adopters by designing Google Talk with a similar feature set.
I'd also like to point out that the WSJ article mentions my new friend Andy Abramson of VoIP Watch and how VoIP helped facilitate his long distance relationship with his fiancee Helene Malabed. This story has gotten a lot of play in VoIP-related blogs recently, but it's illustrative of the new opportunities that people will have to build close relationships with people who live some distance away.
I hate to think about how much money I spent on long distance charges talking to Kathleen when she lived in Philadelphia and I lived in Denville, NJ, before we got married. If that part of our relationship were taking place today, we could have saved most of that cost. It would be extremely difficult to quantify those savings without going through many dozens of phone bills, but I wouldn't be surprised to have paid a four-digit number of dollars over the three years Kathleen was in medical school.
Technorati Tags: VoIP
Busy Working on a Client's New Blog
I'm hard at work on a new blog for one of my Weblog Improvement clients. I hope to be done with the first production-ready version of their templates and style sheet early this afternoon. In the meantime, you won't see much posted here....
August 25, 2005
Armstrong to Appear on Larry King Live to Address Doping Allegations
Frank Steele over at TDFblog.com pointed out that Lance Armstrong will appear on CNN's Larry King Live tonight (August 25, 2005). He'll be appearing to discuss the article that appeared in L'Equipe on Tuesday, which claimed that he used the performance enhancing drug EPO during the 1999 Tour de France.
Larry King Live airs from 9:00 to 10:00pm Eastern Time. Further information about the program can be found on the Larry King Live program page on CNN.com.
Technorati Tags: Tour de France, Lance Armstrong
Dine with the Pros and Support the Phinney Foundation in San Francisco on September 2
VeloNews reports that a charity dinner benefitting the Davis Phinney Foundation will take place on Friday, September 2 at 7:30pm at the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club, 1630 Stockton Street, San Francisco. "An Evening with Davis Phinney and Friends-- Dinner with the Pros" was organized by Scott "The Tour Baby" Coady and is sponsored by fi'zi:k.
The dinner features:
- Delicious Family Style Italian Dinner
- Silent Auction & Raffle
- Roast of Davis Phinney
- Special and Surprise Guests
- Exclusive VIP After Party starting at 10:00 PM
Tickets are $40 in advance and can be purchased at Scott Coady's website www.thetourbaby.com. If you're going to be in San Francisco for the Barclays Global Investors Grand Prix in San Francisco on Sunday, September 4, this event is a perfect start to the weekend.
The Davis Phinney Foundation supports Parkinson's Disease research and wellness. Davis is the winningest pro cyclist in American history. He was diagnosed with Young-Onset Parkinson's Disease in March 2000.
TVPredictions Discusses the Features of the New DirecTV Plus DVR
Phillip Swan of TVPredictions.com obtained a copy of the manual for the forthcoming R15 DirecTV Plus Digital Video Recorder. The DirecTV Plus DVR is going to be marketed instead of the DirecTV DVR with TiVo that's currently being marketed by DirecTV. The sales and marketing switch-over is expected to take place in October.
Swann went through the DirecTV Plus DVR manual and identified the unique features of this unit. They include:
- 90-minute program buffer,
- frame-by-frame program replay,
- program bookmarks, and
- caller ID display for incoming phone calls on a connected phone line.
A few of the things that Swann referred to as new features in the DirecTV Plus DVR don't seem like new features to me. One example is the enhancements to the on-screen programming guide. Swann said:
The programming grids include a symbol for when a show is broadcast in the widescreen format or if you have set it to record.
My DirecTiVo has those feature.
The decision by DirecTV to switch DVR platforms is significant to them and to their former partner, TiVo. I'll try to keep an eye on it and report on new developments.
August 24, 2005
PhoneGnome Straddles Regular Phone Line and Broadband Connection to Provide a Hybrid Phone Experience
Earlier today, I was talking to Martin O'Donnell about a plug-and-play VoIP terminal called PhoneGnome. PhoneGnome is a small appliance that you can use to make Internet telephone calls, but you "buy and own it" and no monthly subscription fee is charged.
A lot of the VoIP services encourage you to use them for all of your telephone calls. PhoneGnome is designed for users who:
- have broadband already,
- want to keep their local phone line for basic services like unmeasured local calling and 911, and
- want to use VoIP when it's convenient and when it results in significant savings.
The PhoneGnome appliance straddles your regular phone line and broadband connection. It extends to the local telephone line some of the advanced services that VoIP users take for granted, like voicemail with email delivery, call waiting, and three way calling. Once you install the PhoneGnome, you can drop some of these services from your local phone line. Most local phone companies charge at least $7.00 per line per month to provide voicemail service.
When a PhoneGnome appliance is installed, it gets programmed with the phone number for the regular telephone line that's connected to it. That number is registered in a directory of PhoneGnome devices so that other PhoneGnomes know to route calls to it via peer-to-peer VoIP. This is how PhoneGnome delivers VoIP calling that's free of monthly fees and per-minute charges.
If you spend a great deal of time on calls with other PhoneGnome users, you can save a lot of money by reducing the cost of those calls to $0. That's why PhoneGnomes can be purchased in a two-pack (although they can also be purchased individually). I think people with overseas relatives or friends and family members far away will save a lot of money this way.
PhoneGnome is Session Initiation Protocol-compliant (SIP), which means that VoIP calls can be placed using an SIP address rather than a phone number. This feature is unlikely to get extensive use by the non-technical portion of the PhoneGnome user base, but more computer-oriented users will probably figure out ways to put SIP addresses on speed dial and save themselves additional money.
PhoneGnome can also be used to make VoIP calls to any phone number in the world, but those calls must be routed through a VoIP service provider for delivery back to the local telephone network or a mobile phone. A list of PhoneGnome-compatible VoIP services and rates is available.
PhoneGnome seems like a very unique product that approaches VoIP telephony in a new and different way. I'm sure it will be a God-send to people who have large long distance bills today and don't have the technical skill to use Skype or a more computer-oriented VoIP service.
I hope to get a PhoneGnome for review so we can put it through its paces and report on the experience of using it.
Technorati Tags: VoIP
See also:
VeloACE Is Ideal for Palm Zealots Who Want a Bike Computer
VeloACE: An Open Source Bike
Computer System for PalmOS.
For when you absolutely
want to have your bike
speedometer be a PDA.
[ Image: Mark Hammerling ]
Sammy and the other folks over at PalmAddict don't normally scoop us on fitness gadget news, but you'll see why they did in a moment. One of their readers tipped them off to VeloACE, an open source bike computer software project for the PalmOS.
I think this is an interesting proof of concept, but I honestly have no idea what would motivate a cyclist to use this program unless he or she was also the biggest Palm geek in the world. I can't imagine mounting a Palm IIIx or Palm IIIxe to my bike handle bars as suggested, then installing a wired wheel sensor. The late model Palm's aren't water-resistant by any stretch of the imagination.
I think it's amazing that someone wrote a bike computer PalmOS application. It certainly illustrates the bredth of third-party software offerings for Palm handhelds, but a solution like this belongs in Make.
I realize that a program like this is going to intrigue some people. If you're interested in comparing VeloACE's feature set to the kind of technology available in gadgets designed from the outset to be used as bike computers, check out these devices:
- Polar S625x: more of a running computer than a bike computer. Includes a heart rate monitor wrist receiver and chest transmitter, training log software for a PC, and a weather-resistant foot pod for measuring running distances. Add a Polar Cycling Speed Sensor and a Polar Bike Mount Kit and you've got a computer suitable for running or biking.
- Garmin Forerunner 301: a GPS-based biking or running computer that includes a heart rate monitor. Great for creating maps of training runs and rides. Also includes training log software. Get the Garmin Forerunner 201 if you don't need/want the HRM.
Lyon, France's Rent-a-Bike System Loaded with Technology
Velo'v Grand Lyon is a bike rental network in Lyon, France. Wired News published a great little article about the system works and how technology is being used to try to ensure that it stays solvent.
To use Velo'v in Lyon, you have to make a €150 deposit via check or credit card. This allows you to go to one of the stations and borrow a bike. If you don't return the bike to a station within 24 hours, the deposit is forfeited. The bikes themselves are loaded with sensors that help make the system as automatic as possible.
The owners of this system are JCDecaux, a French company that is primarily in the advertising business in the USA. They are most prominent in a business they refer to as Street Furniture: everything from signs on city streets displaying information to bus shelters.
I have no illusions of this type of bike rental system working in most cities in the United States, but the design of this system seems unique and is certainly worth reading about. [ via Engadget ]
August 23, 2005
Study Says Handheld Communicators Help Doctors Respond Faster than Pagers
E-Health Insider reports that a study published in a journal called BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making indicates that handheld communicators helped surgeons at a London hospital respond to calls more quickly than they did with pagers. The study also indicated that communication between clinicians was improved. According to the article:
A team of surgeons at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, had their pagers replaced with Palm Tungsten W PDAs, with GPRS on the Vodafone network, for three alternate weeks out of six. Several reference textbooks were also loaded onto the devices, including the British National Formulary, as well as medical calculators.
If they were more productive with the Tungsten W, imagine what the surgeons would have accomplished with a more modern handheld like the Palm Treo 650.
My wife (Dr. Kathleen Aiello) has been using a Treo 650 since March and loves it. She uses it as a mobile phone, an IMAP email client, and a reference tool by running Palm medical software like Epocrates.
Since we got our his and hers Treos, Kathleen and I have wondered whether devices like her Treo would have as profound an effect on her fellow doctors as hers did on her. This study suggests that they certainly might. [ via PalmAddict ]
R-Driver II USB 2.0 to IDE Cable Is Ideal for Copying Data from Hard Drives Being Replaced
Earlier today Engadget pointed out a review of the R-Driver II USB to IDE cable adapter that retails for less than $35. The review they noticed was published on theGadgeteer.com and gives basic information about the product. I did some research on this and other USB 2.0 to IDE solutions and the review I liked best is found on DansData.com.
Quick and dirty tools like this are great if they work and you need a cheap, temporary solution. Other people like Martin O'Donnell swear by little drive enclosures that they buy at places like Fry's Electronics or on EBay. YMMV.
No Good Will Come from Retroactive Drug Testing in Pro Cycling
Many of us who covered the Tour de France have just learned of L'Equipe's latest article charging Lance Armstrong with doping during the 1999 Tour de France. Using Google Translation Tools I learned that L'Equipe used investigative journalism techniques to assemble documents from multiple sources that they say indicate that Lance Armstrong had traces of EPO in his system during the 1999 Tour.
In 2004, the Laboratoire National de Depistage du Dopage (LNDD, the French National Doping Control Laboratory) in Chatenay-Malabry, France apparently began retroactively testing frozen urine samples from pro cycling events. L'Equipe says that the purpose of this testing was to fine-tune testing methods to more accurately detect erythropoietin (EPO), a drug that is considered performance-enhancing. Some of the samples tested were from the 1999 Tour de France. The test protocol being used was not available until 2001, and some articles say that it wasn't applied to riders in the Tour de France until 2004.
L'Equipe says that several of the urine samples taken at the 1999 Tour de France indicated that the cyclists who provided them may have used EPO. The articles conclude that six of the samples were taken from Lance Armstrong. They concluded this by combining information provided by the LNDD with documents L'Equipe obtained from other sources. The information that links Armstrong with the urine samples is allegedly a six-digit control number that appears in the EPO test results from 2004 and medical control documents from the 1999 Tour de France.
It's amazing that L'Equipe would publish a sensational story like this now. It shows how interested parts of the European cycling fan base are in finding some nefarious explanation for Lance Armstrong's dominance of pro cycling over the last seven seasons. Why else would a media company spend this much time investigating the results of an event that ended more than six years ago?
Instead of questioning Lance Armstrong's 1999 victory, I'd like to ask a couple of questions that L'Equipe didn't address:
- If the LNDD really wanted to fine-tune their EPO testing methods, shouldn't they use samples that are taken from trained athletes who have intentionally taken EPO and also used any tactics designed to foil the test?
- Did the LNDD have any frozen samples available from other years, particularly the years prior to 1999? If so, did they find any evidence of doping in 1998 when there was a bona fide doping scandal?
I suspect that this was a calculated attempt to implicate Lance Armstrong on the part of some dissidents within the LNDD. The results probably took this long to come out because of the fundimental unfairness of using anti-doping tests that were developed after a competition is over.
The way L'Equipe presented their findings is truly insidious. The LNDD can deny that its researchers had any bad intent because they didn't lookup the tracking numbers for the samples that they were testing. The laboratory had to know, however, that L'Equipe or some other media outlet could correlate the numbers with names based on documents from other sources.
Lance Armstrong has repeatedly said that he has never taken performance-enhancing drugs. The authorities had many opportunities to detect any doping that Armstrong might have undertaken. Since they couldn't confirm any doping allegations while Armstrong was competing, I believe the book should be closed on these issues.
Retroactive drug testing will do no good for professional cycling or any other sport. Anti-doping tests conducted in this manner will cause spectators to further question the officials' ability to determine the winner in future competitions.
Technorati Tags: Tour de France, Lance Armstrong
Developing a Workout Plan to Simulate the Effort of Other Athletic Performances
Heart Rate Chart from Training Log: Here is the heart
rate chart for a game I refereed in the Chicago
Showcase. Click on the chart to see a larger view.
[ Image: Polar Precision Performance Software ]
See more Chicago Showcase exercise data in the
Operation Gadget Photo Gallery.
Regular readers of Operation Gadget know that I was on the ice officiating hockey this weekend for the first time since April. Just like any athlete in the preseason, I saw how far below my end of season peak fitness level I am now.
The hockey season will begin after Labor Day, with the intensity of competition increasing steadily over the month of September. Most competitive leagues in this area will begin their regular seasons between September 15 and November 15. As a hockey official, I need to increase my training effort now to be ready for the intensity of regular season games.
I went out for a 10-mile bike ride on Monday night into the Tyler State Park in Newtown Township, PA. I rode as hard as I could for much of the ride and got my heart rate up to an average of 145 beats per minute. That's at the lower end of the average heart rate range that I need to achieve.
I'm able to make judgements like these because I use a Polar S625x Heart Rate Monitor and I upload all of the performance data into Polar Precision Performance Software. As a result, I have performance data from most of the physical training I've done over the last few years, including the hockey games I've officiated.
This allows me to carefully tune my mountain biking workouts to simulate the kind of aerobic effort I'll need to be able to maintain to successfully officiate high level hockey games. In this article, I'll walk through my approach to planning workouts, and show how I determine whether a workout is helping me reach my training goals.
At the Chicago Showcase high school all-star ice hockey tournament in which I officiated last year, my heart rate averaged 141 when I was working as a linesman and 155 when I was working as a referee. Although 10 to 15 beats per minute may not seem like a lot greater effort, it's easier to gauge the level of effort involved in refereeing high-level ice hockey based on the amount of time spent in heart rate ranges.
Using the targets recommended by Polar Electo, I calculated relative effort ratios based on data collected over three games working in each officiating position at the Chicago Showcase:
For working as a linesman, my heart rate was in the:
- 90 to 100 percent of Maximum Heart Rate: 12 percent of the game
- 70 to 89% MHR: 70%
- 60 to 69% MHR: 11%
- 50 to 59% MHR: 6%
- 0 to 49% MHR: 1%
For working as a referee, my heart rate was in the:
- 90 to 100 percent of Maximum Heart Rate: 57 percent of the game
- 70 to 89% MHR: 27%
- 60 to 69% MHR: 8%
- 50 to 59% MHR: 6%
- 0 to 49% MHR: 2%
The 10-mile ride I did on Monday broke down as follows:
- 90 to 100 percent of Maximum Heart Rate: 26 percent of the ride
- 70 to 89% MHR: 61%
- 60 to 69% MHR: 11%
- 50 to 59% MHR: 1%
- 0 to 49% MHR: 1%
This means that the course I chose and the level of effort is appropriate for simulating the aerobic effort of being a linesman in high level hockey games. The effort does not match up as well as I had hoped to the aerobic effort of being a referee.
In order to do more appropriate referee-training, I need to find a flatter (more level) course where I can maintain high pedal cadence over long stretches. I can also do some sprint intervals on such a course.
The area around our old home of East Windsor, NJ was very good for this type of training. The best example was the East Windsor-Millstone Training Loop that I put together to train for the 2004 Tour of Hope.
Lower Bucks County, Pennsylvania is hillier than Eastern Mercer County and Western Monmouth County, New Jersey. I've got to do more route scouting in order to find a route that will help me prepare for refereeing high level hockey games.
August 22, 2005
Replacing the APC Uninterruptible Power Supply Battery Protecting Our VoIP Lines
Amazon.com put many APC products
When I saw this I said, "I must need a new battery, but why hasn't the UPS been beeping at me?" I ordered a replacement battery the next day. That night at 1:30am, I woke up because I heard the UPS alarm beeping in the basement.
If you run your home or work phone service using Voice over Internet Protocol, make sure you have a UPS providing power to your DSL modem and VoIP Telephone Adapters. If you already have a UPS, make sure your battery is good.
I like to buy Genuine APC Replacement Batteries for two reasons:
- Genuine APC Replacement Batteries preserve any applicable warranty coverage.
- APC sends a shipping label with Genuine APC Replacement Batteries so you can send the spent battery back for proper disposal.
Technorati Tags: VoIP
Mavic Crossland Mountain Wheels Take a Year of Riding with No Problems
I'm definitely pleased with the set of Mavic Crossland mountain bike wheels I put on my mountain bike last July. I bought the wheels because the set that came with my Marin Bear Valley SE years ago were falling apart due to metal fatigue, and I kept breaking spokes.
I just looked at my training log and figured out that I've ridden these wheels 1,535 miles with two tire changes but no problems with spoke breakage. That makes the investment worth it to me.
Installed Performance Topo FasTracs on My Mountain Bike
Ten days ago I reported that I was replacing the tires on my mountain bike with Performance Topo FasTrac MTB Tires, a semi-slick tire that I found on sale at Performance Bicycle:
The Topo FasTrac Mountain Bike Tire reminds me a lot of the Ritchey Speedmax tires that are installed on my wife Kathleen's mountain bike. The biggest difference is that the tires are only 1.9-inches wide rather than 2.1.
I thought the Topo FasTracs were easier to work with than many other semi-slicks I had installed before. They were flexible enough to go on my Mavic CrossLand wheels pretty easily. I rode up and down the street a couple of times to make sure the tires were properly installed and inflated, but I didn't have much of a chance to see how well they performed. I'll try to write a follow up article on that issue after a week or two of riding.
3rd Week of August 2005 Workouts
Here's a quick summary of the workouts that I did last week:
- Monday, August 15: Biked 10.2 miles in 59 minutes 34 seconds.
- Tuesday, August 16: Biked 10.4 miles in 47 minutes 13 seconds.
- Wednesday, August 17: Busy.
- Thursday, August 18: Biked 11.3 miles in 1 hour 4 minutes 7 seconds.
- Friday, August 19: Mowed lawn for 1 hour 48 minutes 11 seconds.
- Saturday, August 20: Officiated hockey for 31 minutes 41 seconds.
- Sunday, August 21: Busy.
This week I got three short bike rides in and got back on the ice to officiate part of a Junior-level ice hockey scrimmage. I would have gotten another ride in on Sunday, but I used the time to replace my tires instead.
For the week, I exercised for 5 hours 10 minutes burning 3,491 calories, and covering a total of 31.9 miles on my bike.
August 15 - 21, 2005 Weekly Summary
This is the Operation Gadget weekly summary for the third week of August 2005. I'm experimenting with a weekly summary so that readers who want to receive a periodic email with Operation Gadget headlines can receive the links to all of the articles published each week. I will post a mechanism for readers to sign up for this service when I work out the details.
The headlines:
August 21
August 19
August 18
- Mini Version of Opera Browser Reportedly Working on Treo 650
- Fossil Reportedly Exiting Smart Watch Market
August 16
- Mobile Phone Users Want to Receive Email from Family on Handsets
- Treonauts Discusses Mobile RSS Readers for the Treo 650
August 15
Does a weekly summary work for you? Is it a waste of time? Let me know by posting a comment. Thanks....
August 21, 2005
Finally Got Back on the Ice
I reintroduced myself to my skates this weekend.
On Saturday I participated in a scrimmage game between two Junior hockey teams at a rink in Union, New Jersey. This was the first time I'd been on the ice since I officiated at the Chicago Showcase back in April. I wouldn't normally take three months off from skating, but the move to Newtown, PA was a lot more complicated than I expected.
I would have liked to stay out on the ice for the entire game, but the purpose of this scrimmage was to get a lot of players and a lot of hockey officials on the ice for evaluation purposes. I'm looking forward to getting out on the ice again, and hopefully I'll be able to do that in a game in a pre-season tournament during this coming weekend.
August 19, 2005
NHL Signs U.S. Media Deal with OLN
The National Hockey League announced a national media partnership with OLN that will include a minimum of 58 regular-season games broadcast on Monday and Tuesday nights, Video on Demand, HDTV, and on-line streaming. The first game to be telecast will be the New York Rangers versus the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday, October 5.
The NHL may have chosen OLN because it is owned by Comcast. Comcast is a media company that also owns cable television systems throughout the United States, regional sports networks that have the rights to broadcast some NHL teams, and majority ownership of the Philadelphia Flyers. Comcast has been deeply involved in the National Hockey League for a number of years.