Category Archives: Reference

Tri Training Update

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I’ve had several people comment on my lack of preparation for my upcoming triathlon event.  Truth is the lack has actually been in the posting not the training so here’s a recap from my garmin training buddy:

June 11th

  • Bike 16 miles – 1:12:25 (16.0mph, 671cals)
  • Swim 34 minutes continuous* (396cals)

June 14th

  • Bike 27.73 miles – 2:03:28 (13.5mph, 1175cals)
  • Run 2.23 miles – 24:49 (11:09pace, 262cals)

June 17th

  • Bike 26.57 miles – 1:47:40 (14.8mph, 1193cals)
  • Run 2.17 miles – 26:23 (12:10pace,  249cals) run cut short due to leg cramp

June 22nd

  • Bike 19.14 miles – 1:20:12 (14.3mph,  810cals)

June 25th

  • Swim 40 minutes continuous (466cals)
  • Run 6.2 miles – 1:35:53 (treadmill intervals)

*Since the swim course is down river, actual swim distance is difficult to calculate accurately.  By looking at previous race data, I estimate my swim time should be in the 30-35 minute range. This is at a conservative pace since my main goal for the swim is not speed but efficiency. (Online references have breaststroke at 700 calories an hour at my weight range)

E-Car Roundup

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So as gas climbs to $4 and beyond, suddenly there seems to be a host of companies rushing to the rescue with their enviro-friendly car. So much so that I thought I would assemble them into one place for easy shopping. Interestingly many of these cars are not a friendly to your pocketbook as they are mother Earth.

Tesla Roadster – $109,000 telsa-roadster.jpg

  • Fully electric
  • 0-60 in 3.9 seconds
  • 125 mph (limited) top speed
  • 220 mile range
  • 2 seater

Tesla just opened a dealership in LA, but there is currently a 1000 vehicle waiting list since production was slowed due to transmission problems. Full production should be back up in December with the backlog cleared up by Spring.

Fisker Karma – $80,000 fisker-karma-electric-hybrid.jpg

  • Mostly electric
  • 0-6 in < 6 seconds
  • 125+ mph top speed
  • 50 mile electric only range
  • 100-650 mile hybrid mode range*
  • 4 seater
  • External speakers make sports car sounds when in electric mode

*The claims for both the range on gas and even the gas tank size are all over the place online. The lack of info regarding this on the company web site makes me believe the truth is on the low side of the speculation.

Preproduction models have been sold but regular production models won’t arrive until mid-2010.

Think City – $25,000 think-city.JPG

  • Fully electric
  • 65 mph top speed
  • 110 mile range
  • 4 seater

Goes on sale 2009 in the US

Green Vehicles Traic – $20,000 triac-rear-three-quarter.jpg

  • Fully electric
  • 80 mph top speed
  • 100 mile range
  • 2 Seater

Available “now” according to the company. Expect supplies to be limited until the company can get a full production line moving.

UPDATE: Green Vehicles are supposed to start shipping this July.

Toyota Prius 3rd Gen – $20-29,000 prius-ver3-concept.jpg

  • Hybrid
  • 160 HP (up 17 from 08)
  • 50-55 mpg
  • 0-60 in 12 seconds*
  • 99 mph top speed*
  • 4 seater

*08 Model specs

Technology & Prosperity Speed Up

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Everyone knows (or should) that our world is speeding up. Technological advances have gotten us to a place where we can build on other tech speeding the process of creating newer, better, shiner things. Along with this technology has come a more and more affluent American middle class. In comparing real luxuries, the average American is doing better and better. This comes from a combination of increased real spending power and cheaper and cheaper stuff. (Thanks Capitalism!) Below is a chart detailing our progress.

techadoption.jpg

A Third Of The Poor – Aren’t

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Robert E. Rector of the Heritage Foundation has released his latest research on poverty in the US. The numbers on many of the 37 Million “poor” are surprising. Before jumping into Rector’s work let’s define poverty. The US Census Bureau uses the Office of Management and Budget’s Statistical Policy Directive 14. In 2005 the OMB defined the Poverty Thresholds at $9,367 – $43,254 depending on family size. (U.S. Census Bureau Report)

Does the high end of that spectrum seem, well, high? It should, the same report lists the median household income in the US for 2005 at $46,326. But it gets better because “The official poverty definition uses money income before taxes and does not include capital gains or noncash benefits (such as public housing, Medicaid, and food stamps).” – Appendix B. Which means if you have a large family and are using food stamps you can actually be both poor AND above the median household income. But that could be an extreme case, right? So let’s take a look at the top third of the poor and see just how nice “poverty” can be.

The Top One Third of the “Poor” in the US:

  • Own a 3 bedroom 1 1/2 bath home worth $95,276 and have more living space than a European (Poor Americans have 439 sq ft per person while the average, not poor, European has 396 sq ft per person).
  • Own two cars.
  • Own two or more TVs – and most (75%) own a big screen. (Which you need to get the full enjoyment out of your cable or satellite feed)
  • Own a computer
  • Own a cel phone & a land line
  • Own a stereo, dishwasher, microwave, DVD player & have air conditioning

When it comes to food – obesity, not malnutrition, is the greatest risk for today’s poor. But thankfully everyone in this group is able to get “important medical care” for such problems. Now this is not to discount what we must apparently dub “extreme poverty”. The bottom 10% of the poor don’t own a phone while 7% of the poor live in “over crowded conditions” (defined as more than one person per room). Extreme poverty is something that needs to be addressed, but remember the above numbers the next time a politician wants to raise taxes on the “rich” (middle class tax hikes) to help the “poor”.

When you think about poverty what comes to mind is homelessness and hunger – not big screens, houses, and cars. It seems to me that charities not the government are really fighting the war on poverty. If we want to help the truly poor, we should stop taxing the mid-middle, and upper-middle class to give nicer stuff to the lower-middle class. Gutting such misguided government programs will free up cash to go to soup kitchens and homeless shelters. No one wants someone else to go hungry, but also, no one wants to buy someone else a big screen. The sooner we make the politicians honest about the real problem, the sooner we can actually start fixing it.

God: Best Selling Author

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So I had this thought today: If God is not capable of making his book (or his prophet’s book) a best seller, what does that say about his power? (or its or hers)

Starting with this premise, I sought wisdom with the mighty google. Ok, first off, the phrase “one of the most published books of all time” is one of the most overused statements on the web. Secondly, no one really knows the exact figures for all these books and the most commonly cited reference was ten years old:

When we get asked these questions about bestselling books, we always have to remind our patrons that their question is basically unanswerable. No one really knows which books have sold the most copies in history, because we simply don’t have records that cover all of history! As such, any answer that we find is essentially just a “best guess” that is based upon estimates made by historians and other experts.

Probably the most often cited estimates come from a book titled The Top 10 of Everything by Russell Ash. The following lists come the The Top 10 of Everything, 1997 – Librarians

It’s actually pretty funny how little this information is out there. Many people think their favorite book with a mere 28 million copies or so is actually in the top 10 or 5. The last 10 years, of course, changed the list significantly with Harry Potter. Tho Potter fans need to settle down a bit as several people think several individual H.P. books have outsold the Bible’s total numbers. Which laughable to anyone with a smidge of education, if for nothing else that the Bible has been pretty well published for years and years and years where a Potter book sets a record for a single year. But I digress…

The following seems to be the best data available on the most sold books ever:

  1. 6,000,000,000 The Bible
  2. 900,000,000 Quotations from Chairman Mao
  3. 800,000,000 The Qur’an
  4. 505,000,000 Harry Potter Series (total)
  5. 400,000,000 Xinhua Zidian
  6. 200,000,000+ Book of Common Prayer
  7. 200,000,000+ Pilgrim’s Progress
  8. 200,000,000+ Foxe’s Book of Martyrs
  9. 120,000,000 Book of Mormon
  10. 110,000,000 And Then There Were None

(see the excel file for a full list of 28 with some notes)

So back to my premise. If a god wants to mettle in this world (a prereq for a religion), and has the power to effect things here – why not make your book big to generate converts? All religions on some level want to convert everyone (their approach varies from patience to death threats), so why not get the teachings out there?

Or to put it another way: if Chairman Mao can climb to the #2 spot of all time books through governmental power – is he more powerful than your god? Mao accomplished this feat in a mere 5 years, by requiring every Chinese adult own a copy.

Now, I’m not saying that religious truth boils down books sold or people in the pews – lord knows the Bakers had the numbers – but I think it merits some thought. How much can and will your god help you if he/she/it can’t or won’t help its sacred texts… (at least make the top 10?)