One of the benefits of owning a house is that I now get to have a washer and dryer. Prior to moving into my house, I had been doing laundry at work. At one point, I even would rig up a trailer to my bike so I could ride in with a load of laundry and get it done. It felt a bit ridiculous, but since I had absolutely no room at my apartment for a washer and dryer, I felt entirely justified.
When I moved to Munich last year, the office there didn't have a laundry machine at work, so I was forced to buy a used washing machine. Talk to a European who's lived in the USA about washing machines, especially a German, and you'll get a lecture about how German washing machines are much better in terms of cleaning laundry, energy efficiency, water efficiency. A typical German would tell you, "The only thing the American machines are good at, is not washing your laundry very well quickly!" German machines took a long time to run.
To my surprise, when I started shopping for washing machines, the one that stood out was the LG WM2016. It was the lowest priced machine that qualified for the PG&E energy efficiency appliance rebate. In fact, for Santa Clara county, the water company chipped in for a grand total of a $200 rebate, so the fact that it was $600 cheaper than all the other Tier 3 machines meant that it was a no-brainer. Consumer reports said good things about it, as did all the other web-sites that rated energy efficient washers. I bought the machine at BestBuy, in part to get the delivery and installation taken care of (these high efficiency must be properly leveled, so it's worth the $30 to get them to do it for you), and in part to pick up a 5 year warranty. I don't usually pick up extended warranties for products, but my brother convinced me that these front-loader units (at least the ones sold in America) are still not fully debugged, and since I intended to get a renter, I decided that the reviews on epinions meant that I should get a warranty.
Operating the machine is pretty straight forward: stuff all the laundry into the drum, close the door, drop in some detergent and bleach, and push the play button, and all the defaults will do the right thing. This machine was more sophisticated than my German machine in that it gave me a time estimate for when the laundry would be done (and yes, expect it to take at least an hour).
The trick lies in the various rules you have to abide by if you want to keep your machine reliable. First of all, you must use HE-rated detergent. This is a big deal because normal detergent generates too many suds for these machines, eventually clogging up the machine's outbound pipe, and resulting in a dead machine. I thought the detergent would be more expensive, but it turns out that Safeway sells a 96-load pack of HE detergent for $10 under their house brand. To prevent the renter from cheaping out and using normal detergent, I've simply folded the cost of detergent into her rent, so she uses ours.
Next, when you're done with laundry, you must leave the laundry door open. Actually, all washing machines have to be treated this way, otherwise, mold will grow in the machine and your clothes will never smell clean again. It's just that a top-loading machine would typically have its lid open when laundry is done without interfering with anything else, while a front loader's door could get in your way. I solved this problem by putting the washing machine in a place where the open door wouldn't be an issue.
The machine has all the functions you might expect --- separate settings for washing towels, delicates, even a hand-wash mode. You can pre-rinse, pre-wash, add an extra wash cycle, set spin speeds, and decide what temperature of water to use. When it first starts up, it will turn the drum over --- that's the machine weighing your laundry so it can figure out how much to use! The result is the machine is very quiet, extremely water and energy efficient, and takes forever to do laundry. That would have driven me wild if I had to share a laundry machine with 10000 other Googlers, but for just Lisa, me, and the renter, it's just fine.
All in all, we've had the machine for 4 months now, and it's working like a champ. We're not heavy laundry users, maybe doing a couple of loads a week, but we're quite pleased with it. I'll post a long term report after a few years to see how it goes.
In case you're wondering, for the dryer, we just went with whatever scratch-and-dent unit Best Buy had in stock and went for the cheapest one. There's no difference in energy efficiency amongst gas dryers, so that's the correct selection method.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Review: Honda Fit Floor Mats
It seems really odd that my $17,358 (before tax, docs, and extended warranty) Honda Fit came without floor mats, but I guess that's the price you pay for getting absolute rock bottom pricing.
Not being the type to pay for dealer pricing, I kept the car garaged and bought the 2009/2010 Honda Fit All Weather Mats online at Amazon.com. When the package arrived, I was surprised to find that every mat was different. I guess that's so that you think you got a good deal, custom fit and all.
What came as an unpleasant surprise, however, was the installation procedure. The non-driver's mats were easy --- just open the door and slip them in. The driver's mat, however, came with two anchors so the mat wouldn't slip onto the brake, accelerator, or clutch pedals. Now, you might expect that the mat anchors would just clip in onto existing purpose fit mount points onto the floor beneath the driver's seat, and you would be wrong.
Instead, the included instructions tell you to get out your exacto-knife, and cut into the carpet of your brand new car! What the heck was Honda thinking? OK, so I got out my leatherman and began the work of installation. As I worked on it, I kept hitting my head onto the driver's seat, despite having already pushed the driver's seat all the way back. The position was very awkward, and there wasn't a lot of room. It occurred to me that this would have been a heck of a lot easier if Honda had simply installed the anchors before installing the seats in the car, and charged me an extra $20 to do it, since it would be much easier to do at the factory.
After cutting out the two holes in the carpet, and another flap, I slipped the anchors in, and then backed up the anchor with the screw-driver portion of the leatherman, and snapped the bolts in place. Having done that, the driver's mat simply fit in, and I could then snap the anchors into place and the mats would be safely bolted to the floor.
It was a bit involved, but the whole process took only about 20 minutes, and given that the MSRP for these were $130, and I paid $120 (after shipping) by buying on-line, I guess I saved about $10 + labor (probably something outrageous at the dealer) for 20 minutes of work, which wasn't too bad. Nevertheless, it's annoying that something like this would be considered an after-market accessory, not something built into the price of the car.
Not being the type to pay for dealer pricing, I kept the car garaged and bought the 2009/2010 Honda Fit All Weather Mats online at Amazon.com. When the package arrived, I was surprised to find that every mat was different. I guess that's so that you think you got a good deal, custom fit and all.
What came as an unpleasant surprise, however, was the installation procedure. The non-driver's mats were easy --- just open the door and slip them in. The driver's mat, however, came with two anchors so the mat wouldn't slip onto the brake, accelerator, or clutch pedals. Now, you might expect that the mat anchors would just clip in onto existing purpose fit mount points onto the floor beneath the driver's seat, and you would be wrong.
Instead, the included instructions tell you to get out your exacto-knife, and cut into the carpet of your brand new car! What the heck was Honda thinking? OK, so I got out my leatherman and began the work of installation. As I worked on it, I kept hitting my head onto the driver's seat, despite having already pushed the driver's seat all the way back. The position was very awkward, and there wasn't a lot of room. It occurred to me that this would have been a heck of a lot easier if Honda had simply installed the anchors before installing the seats in the car, and charged me an extra $20 to do it, since it would be much easier to do at the factory.
After cutting out the two holes in the carpet, and another flap, I slipped the anchors in, and then backed up the anchor with the screw-driver portion of the leatherman, and snapped the bolts in place. Having done that, the driver's mat simply fit in, and I could then snap the anchors into place and the mats would be safely bolted to the floor.
It was a bit involved, but the whole process took only about 20 minutes, and given that the MSRP for these were $130, and I paid $120 (after shipping) by buying on-line, I guess I saved about $10 + labor (probably something outrageous at the dealer) for 20 minutes of work, which wasn't too bad. Nevertheless, it's annoying that something like this would be considered an after-market accessory, not something built into the price of the car.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Review: Crazy for God
Crazy for God is Frank Schaeffer's memoir about how he grew up in a Swiss mission, helped to found the anti-abortion fundamentalist movement, became a mover and shaker within the movement, and finally broke away from it when he realized how corrupt and irrational fundamentalism was.
Because the local Methodist school was one that had a good reputation for teaching English, my parents sent all three of their sons there. Ironically, our experience there made all three of us virulently non-Christians, and none of us could tolerate the middle-eastern origin religions as a result. I've long wondered whether people ever got sick of these hell-fire and damnation religions, and reading this book told me that it took an unusual person to actually submit themselves to rationality after years of indoctrination, but that it's actually possible.
Schaeffer grew up in a typical hot-house environment, since a missionary essentially lives off charity. What amuses me is how aware the kids are about who has how much money, right from the start, as the Edith Schaeffer, Frank's mother, continually talked about how much money someone had and could give if only he was more devoted to god. The amount of cognitive dissonance his parents had must have been considerable --- since they were fundamentalists (Edith Schaeffer was a dancer, but gave it up because God frowned upon dancing --- these really were the Taliban of America), they raised their children in strict accordance to the scriptures, but because they themselves had a love of art and the classics, would go on vacation to Italy and visit museums and teach their kids art history.
Contradictions were apparent and all over the place, whether it came to Frank's own experience with pre-marital sex (he got his wife pregnant and had to have a hurried wedding --- much to the horror of the community around the mission, but with the support of his parents!), or the kind of person who showed up at the mission, one of which was a woman who was hoping to marry someone Asian so she could go to Asia as a missionary. Yet Schaeffer referred to his parents as tolerant, well coming of everyone from hippies to drug addicts.
Things got more relevant to contemporary politics in the middle of the book, where Schaeffer describes how he persuaded his father to go into the abortion battle, and ended up producing two TV-series that became the heart of the evangelical movement. You can tell Schaeffer is not proud of those years, since the chapters on his presence in the anti-abortion and fundamentalist movements went really quickly. He does, however, pause to explain what most non-fundamentalists already knew --- the leaders of the fundamentalist movement consider their followers little people, who can't think for themselves and are to be exploited at every opportunity, and at the top levels, the fundamentalist movement is extremely corrupt. He made the comment at one point that while he had preached that American culture had become secular and humanist and therefore corrupt and was doomed to failure, he himself had never lived in America, and having to do so was a shock. The chapter where he moved to America as a person with Swiss upbringing and the many shocks American culture came with was a lot of fun.
Things got to the point where Schaeffer was basically doing his speeches by rote, and blanking his mind whenever he said something that he patently knew was not true. The result was that he ended up trying to get away from the movement, first as a film producer, and finally successfully as a novelist. He is now a member of the Greek Orthodox church, and no longer encourages intolerance.
All in all, the book is entertaining and worth reading for a view of what the evangelical movement looks like from the inside. It's a pity that the movement shows no sign of dying out.
Because the local Methodist school was one that had a good reputation for teaching English, my parents sent all three of their sons there. Ironically, our experience there made all three of us virulently non-Christians, and none of us could tolerate the middle-eastern origin religions as a result. I've long wondered whether people ever got sick of these hell-fire and damnation religions, and reading this book told me that it took an unusual person to actually submit themselves to rationality after years of indoctrination, but that it's actually possible.
Schaeffer grew up in a typical hot-house environment, since a missionary essentially lives off charity. What amuses me is how aware the kids are about who has how much money, right from the start, as the Edith Schaeffer, Frank's mother, continually talked about how much money someone had and could give if only he was more devoted to god. The amount of cognitive dissonance his parents had must have been considerable --- since they were fundamentalists (Edith Schaeffer was a dancer, but gave it up because God frowned upon dancing --- these really were the Taliban of America), they raised their children in strict accordance to the scriptures, but because they themselves had a love of art and the classics, would go on vacation to Italy and visit museums and teach their kids art history.
Contradictions were apparent and all over the place, whether it came to Frank's own experience with pre-marital sex (he got his wife pregnant and had to have a hurried wedding --- much to the horror of the community around the mission, but with the support of his parents!), or the kind of person who showed up at the mission, one of which was a woman who was hoping to marry someone Asian so she could go to Asia as a missionary. Yet Schaeffer referred to his parents as tolerant, well coming of everyone from hippies to drug addicts.
Things got more relevant to contemporary politics in the middle of the book, where Schaeffer describes how he persuaded his father to go into the abortion battle, and ended up producing two TV-series that became the heart of the evangelical movement. You can tell Schaeffer is not proud of those years, since the chapters on his presence in the anti-abortion and fundamentalist movements went really quickly. He does, however, pause to explain what most non-fundamentalists already knew --- the leaders of the fundamentalist movement consider their followers little people, who can't think for themselves and are to be exploited at every opportunity, and at the top levels, the fundamentalist movement is extremely corrupt. He made the comment at one point that while he had preached that American culture had become secular and humanist and therefore corrupt and was doomed to failure, he himself had never lived in America, and having to do so was a shock. The chapter where he moved to America as a person with Swiss upbringing and the many shocks American culture came with was a lot of fun.
Things got to the point where Schaeffer was basically doing his speeches by rote, and blanking his mind whenever he said something that he patently knew was not true. The result was that he ended up trying to get away from the movement, first as a film producer, and finally successfully as a novelist. He is now a member of the Greek Orthodox church, and no longer encourages intolerance.
All in all, the book is entertaining and worth reading for a view of what the evangelical movement looks like from the inside. It's a pity that the movement shows no sign of dying out.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
2010 Tour of the German-Speaking Alps Proposal
After the Pyrenees last year, and Japan this year, I've decided that next year will have to be a return to the Alps, still by far the best and prettiest riding I've done anywhere. The proposal would be to fly into Munich mid-to-late June, take the train or ride to Austria, and immediately head towards Grossglockner highway, the tallest road in Austria.
From there, we will likely have to zig-zag over passes between Austria and German-speaking Italy, before making our way into Switzerland and ending up in Rosenlaui for 2-3 days of hiking to finish up the tour. We can then either make our way back to Germany by bicycle if we've got plenty of time, or we'll take the train back from the Interlaken area if we've run out of time.
Since Lisa and I haven't decided on whether we're going to bring the tandem or whether I'll be doing the ride on a single, this tour is likely to be either challenging (like 2007) or an easy-going tour (like 2003). Obviously, whether I/we are in shape will make a big difference in how tough the tour will be.
Training for the tour is easy: as usual, we'll make use of the Western Wheelers LDT (Long Distance Training series) as the backbone of the training program. If you do the entire series of C or D rides, you should be able to finish the Sequoia century in early June in a reasonable amount of time. There are 4 multi-day trips scheduled for the LDT series, and I will also run a qualifier ride in March. The qualifier ride is mandatory unless you've gone on tour with me before --- though even if you have gone on tour with me before, you are encouraged to show up anyway.
After the qualifiers, we will commit buy buying plane and train tickets.
I used to provided expected costs for this tour in dollars, but since the dollar has fluctuated greatly, I'll provide an estimate in Euros instead: 75 Euros a day a person should be expected. This includes food and lodging, but train rides, etc., might prove to be expensive --- I'll try to get those under control as much as possible.
As with previous tours:
If you're interested, add yourself to the mailing list I've created. As usual, I'm going to restrict the group size to about 4 bikes. (I've never had more people want to go than I can take) If 3 weeks is too long a trip for you, you can come for less time (i.e., bail out early), but you're not allowed to join in the middle of the trip.
If you want more information, please read up on previous tours to decide whether my tours are right for you. In particular, you want to pay attention to the information packet for 2007 (or the 2005 one will work as well). If after reading all that you're still not sure, then the answer is no.
From there, we will likely have to zig-zag over passes between Austria and German-speaking Italy, before making our way into Switzerland and ending up in Rosenlaui for 2-3 days of hiking to finish up the tour. We can then either make our way back to Germany by bicycle if we've got plenty of time, or we'll take the train back from the Interlaken area if we've run out of time.
Since Lisa and I haven't decided on whether we're going to bring the tandem or whether I'll be doing the ride on a single, this tour is likely to be either challenging (like 2007) or an easy-going tour (like 2003). Obviously, whether I/we are in shape will make a big difference in how tough the tour will be.
Training for the tour is easy: as usual, we'll make use of the Western Wheelers LDT (Long Distance Training series) as the backbone of the training program. If you do the entire series of C or D rides, you should be able to finish the Sequoia century in early June in a reasonable amount of time. There are 4 multi-day trips scheduled for the LDT series, and I will also run a qualifier ride in March. The qualifier ride is mandatory unless you've gone on tour with me before --- though even if you have gone on tour with me before, you are encouraged to show up anyway.
After the qualifiers, we will commit buy buying plane and train tickets.
I used to provided expected costs for this tour in dollars, but since the dollar has fluctuated greatly, I'll provide an estimate in Euros instead: 75 Euros a day a person should be expected. This includes food and lodging, but train rides, etc., might prove to be expensive --- I'll try to get those under control as much as possible.
As with previous tours:
- You must be flexible with your diet --- staying in rural lodging often means eating whatever the family cooks for you.
- You must be willing to handle adventure --- at the very least some dirt riding should be expected. Hopping fences and having to push your bike over a hiking trail is to be expected.
- You have to be OK with not knowing where you're going to stay --- I rarely make reservations in advance.
- You must be willing to carry your own lugguage. No SAG vehicle will be provided.
- You must be self-sufficient as far as equipment is concerned. Don't expect me to fix your flats.
If you're interested, add yourself to the mailing list I've created. As usual, I'm going to restrict the group size to about 4 bikes. (I've never had more people want to go than I can take) If 3 weeks is too long a trip for you, you can come for less time (i.e., bail out early), but you're not allowed to join in the middle of the trip.
If you want more information, please read up on previous tours to decide whether my tours are right for you. In particular, you want to pay attention to the information packet for 2007 (or the 2005 one will work as well). If after reading all that you're still not sure, then the answer is no.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Review: Engineering your retirement
Engineering your retirement is a book about retirement planning. The author cleverly published it with IEEE press, which means that he can use equations with impunity.
Unfortunately, retirement planning doesn't require much math, so that freedom doesn't actually help him much. For instance, safe withdrawal rates are discussed for free at the retire early home page.
The sections on how to leave below your means is basically a list of ideas. Unfortunately, if you're an engineer (as Golio is smart enough to point out), frugality and efficiency in spending is already second nature to you, so this list is full of ideas that you've no doubt already considered. The section on increasing your earnings is similarly vague --- for instance, he talks about negotiating your salary, but doesn't list steps to go about doing so.
The section on investments does not cover asset allocation. The Retire Early study at least publishes a typical asset allocation strategy that's simple and easy to follow.
Ultimately, while I wanted to like this book, I can't find anything to recommend in it that you can't find for free elsewhere on the internet. In addition, he doesn't cover important topics such as the SEPP 72(t) exception, or the Social Security Application withdrawal option.
If you find John Greaney's web pages disorganized or hard to navigate, then this book might be interesting to you. Otherwise, you are better off spending some quality time on Greaney's web pages, and spending your $31 on something else.
Unfortunately, retirement planning doesn't require much math, so that freedom doesn't actually help him much. For instance, safe withdrawal rates are discussed for free at the retire early home page.
The sections on how to leave below your means is basically a list of ideas. Unfortunately, if you're an engineer (as Golio is smart enough to point out), frugality and efficiency in spending is already second nature to you, so this list is full of ideas that you've no doubt already considered. The section on increasing your earnings is similarly vague --- for instance, he talks about negotiating your salary, but doesn't list steps to go about doing so.
The section on investments does not cover asset allocation. The Retire Early study at least publishes a typical asset allocation strategy that's simple and easy to follow.
Ultimately, while I wanted to like this book, I can't find anything to recommend in it that you can't find for free elsewhere on the internet. In addition, he doesn't cover important topics such as the SEPP 72(t) exception, or the Social Security Application withdrawal option.
If you find John Greaney's web pages disorganized or hard to navigate, then this book might be interesting to you. Otherwise, you are better off spending some quality time on Greaney's web pages, and spending your $31 on something else.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
The New York Times once again carries water for the Republican party
It never ceases to amaze me that the public option would be sliced and diced to death, but Republican proposals are taken seriously and at face value. The New York Times article today covers the Republican "healthcare" proposal.
Left unsaid:
And the supposed reduction in cost from allowing insurers to "compete" across state-lines? What that would do is to encourage a race to the bottom. Recall that adverse selection is the biggest problem in healthcare. Many states, such as New York, enforce a community rating system --- if you want to operate as a health insurance company in those states, you have to take all comers, no picking off only healthy folks.
The Republican proposal would allow out-of-state health insurance companies to pick off only healthy folks from community-rating states, therefore forcing in-state health insurance companies in New York into a death spiral.
Does the New York Times provide the proper context and analysis? No. That's because the world's too complicated for English majors to understand. As far as I'm concerned, traditional mass media outlets can't die quickly enough.
Left unsaid:
- No restrictions on health insurance denying you coverage for pre-existing conditions.
- No restrictions on a health insurance company dropping your coverage if you come down with an expensive illness. (Note how carefully the New York Times skirts around this issue when parroting the Republican talking points --- the references to intentionally concealing "material" information about your state of health could easily refer to an infection you got as a kid)
- No standards on what constitutes health insurance.
And the supposed reduction in cost from allowing insurers to "compete" across state-lines? What that would do is to encourage a race to the bottom. Recall that adverse selection is the biggest problem in healthcare. Many states, such as New York, enforce a community rating system --- if you want to operate as a health insurance company in those states, you have to take all comers, no picking off only healthy folks.
The Republican proposal would allow out-of-state health insurance companies to pick off only healthy folks from community-rating states, therefore forcing in-state health insurance companies in New York into a death spiral.
Does the New York Times provide the proper context and analysis? No. That's because the world's too complicated for English majors to understand. As far as I'm concerned, traditional mass media outlets can't die quickly enough.
Review: First American Home Buyers Protection
I was very pleased that my home came with a 1 year Home Warranty from First American. Unfortunately, I found out exactly how much it was worth: nothing.
We had a water heater break down in the in-law unit. Since we were planning to rent it out, we had to fix it. Pardo diagnosed the problem as being a 120V water heater hooked up to a 240V line (yes, the contractor who wired things up was an idiot --- unfortunately, it was owned by the previous owner), and the heating element was burned out. On-line, a 240V heating element didn't cost that much, but since I had a home warranty, I thought I should use it.
I called First American Warranty, told them what was wrong, and where, and they immediately sent a plumber out the next morning. The plumber showed up, charged $55 for the visit, and then proceeded to tell us that he was a plumber, not an electrician. He further called First American and told them that the inlaw unit wasn't covered by the warranty.
I ended up calling a contractor (the same one who worked on my house's flooring), and buying a 1500W 12V heating element from Amazon for $7.99, and he charged me $50 for the repair.
Needless to say, I do not recommend First American Home Warranty, for picking such stupid contractors, and charging for a visit where nothing got done, when the repair could easily have been done for the same amount charged. I am one unhappy customer, and if you're buying a home and the seller offers you a warranty from First American, I recommend that you either deduct the price from the house (as the warranty is pretty useless), or buy your own insurance.
We had a water heater break down in the in-law unit. Since we were planning to rent it out, we had to fix it. Pardo diagnosed the problem as being a 120V water heater hooked up to a 240V line (yes, the contractor who wired things up was an idiot --- unfortunately, it was owned by the previous owner), and the heating element was burned out. On-line, a 240V heating element didn't cost that much, but since I had a home warranty, I thought I should use it.
I called First American Warranty, told them what was wrong, and where, and they immediately sent a plumber out the next morning. The plumber showed up, charged $55 for the visit, and then proceeded to tell us that he was a plumber, not an electrician. He further called First American and told them that the inlaw unit wasn't covered by the warranty.
I ended up calling a contractor (the same one who worked on my house's flooring), and buying a 1500W 12V heating element from Amazon for $7.99, and he charged me $50 for the repair.
Needless to say, I do not recommend First American Home Warranty, for picking such stupid contractors, and charging for a visit where nothing got done, when the repair could easily have been done for the same amount charged. I am one unhappy customer, and if you're buying a home and the seller offers you a warranty from First American, I recommend that you either deduct the price from the house (as the warranty is pretty useless), or buy your own insurance.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Piaw buys a car
I buy a car once every 10 years or so. While there are some who enjoy the person-to-person haggling, I don't enjoy it. 10 years ago, I bought my Chrysler Convertible, and it's served me quite well, but this year, it's starting to cost a lot in repairs and mainteneance, so it was time to buy a new one. Selecting a car turned out to be quite easy, since John and Pamela Blayley picked out the Honda Fit as the only tiny car that can handle a full size tandem without couplers or an external rack. We did try out the Nissan Cube, and it didn't work. I also liked the way the Fit handled.
Here's the process I used to get a reasonable deal for the car. Note that the Fit was apparently one of the top sellers during the cash for clunkers program, so don't expect super good deals.
- Visit Edmunds.com, and select your car and zip code.
- Click "View Full Dealer Directory". This gives you all dealers within 50 miles.
- Copy and paste the specifications of the car into the text box, and fill out the details, for every dealer. Specify all details like trim level, transmission, and color preferences. (Annoyingly, most dealers won't actually read what you wrote, but since you're spamming everyone, you'll get a good chance of getting a fair number of reasonable responses.
- Visit Cars Direct. Select your model.
- Click "See our price"
- Click "Continue" on the Save with Cars Direct link. This is your backup price. If nobody else gives you this price, just buy it from Cars Direct!
- If your best price came from a dealer, you might try to drop the price further by calling another dealer close by and seeing if they'll match or beat it. You can play this game over the phone a couple of times or until you get sick of it.
- Confirm your final price over the phone and make your appointment.
When you show up, don't get talked into paying for features that the dealer installed and want to sell you as part of the package. It's not your fault they installed it. Don't get talked into extended warranties or anything like that. (Though in my case, there was one deal that I couldn't pass up --- a reimbursable extended warranty which meant that I was buying an extended bumper-to-bumper dealer warranty for 8 years for $50 and foregone interest on the premium --- given how low interest rates are, the NPV of foregone interest is very low)
Anyway, here's to hoping this new car lasts way more than 10 years!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Review: Stories of Your Life and Others
I don't usually review short stories, since it takes less effort to read them than to read a review and then decide to buy them, but I'm more than happy to make an exception for Ted Chiang, and I feel an obligation to do so, since he's not prolific, and has never published a novel, so the collection Stories of Your Life and Others (which is now sadly out of print and can only be found as a used book --- check it out of the library if you can't get it otherwise) Some of the individual stories can be found on-line, and I've linked to those whenever possible.
Most short story collections are hit-or-miss. But this is Ted Chiang we're talking about, so every story is amazing, and excellent. The collection starts with the Tower of Babylon, an interesting take on the familiar biblical story. The ending is a surprise, but the tone is incredible. It's followed by Understand, a super-intelligence story with a twist. Division By Zero strays into Greg Egan territory, but in a complementary fashion (and though I dislike Egan's novels, being able to keep up with Egan in a math story is no small feat).
Story of Your Life, the title story, is easily one of my favorite alien contact short stories. The language used, the use of science as well as the narrative scheme is all put together in an amazing package --- you'll have to read it to believe it. Seventy-Two Letters is similarly interesting --- Victorian Science fiction done right, as it were --- about biology and genetics, of all things.
Hell is the Absence of God won the 2002 Hugo award, and rightly so. It postulates a world in which miracles do occur, and the presence of God is undeniable, and shows how much of a nightmare the world would be if God really did exist. Fantastic reading, and highly recommended.
The book wraps up with Liking what you see, a great little story about how nice the world would be if we could turn off our predilection to judging people by physical beauty. It's a great little piece, and well worth the time. It's followed by a bunch of notes about each individual story --- interesting background reading, and insight into what Chiang is thinking as he writes these stories.
There you go, a short story collection with no duds, by a fantastic writer. My brother luckily managed to buy the Kindle edition of this book when it was available for $9.99, and looking at the used prices now, it was a hell of a bargain. Highly recommended. Go check it out from the library now.
Most short story collections are hit-or-miss. But this is Ted Chiang we're talking about, so every story is amazing, and excellent. The collection starts with the Tower of Babylon, an interesting take on the familiar biblical story. The ending is a surprise, but the tone is incredible. It's followed by Understand, a super-intelligence story with a twist. Division By Zero strays into Greg Egan territory, but in a complementary fashion (and though I dislike Egan's novels, being able to keep up with Egan in a math story is no small feat).
Story of Your Life, the title story, is easily one of my favorite alien contact short stories. The language used, the use of science as well as the narrative scheme is all put together in an amazing package --- you'll have to read it to believe it. Seventy-Two Letters is similarly interesting --- Victorian Science fiction done right, as it were --- about biology and genetics, of all things.
Hell is the Absence of God won the 2002 Hugo award, and rightly so. It postulates a world in which miracles do occur, and the presence of God is undeniable, and shows how much of a nightmare the world would be if God really did exist. Fantastic reading, and highly recommended.
The book wraps up with Liking what you see, a great little story about how nice the world would be if we could turn off our predilection to judging people by physical beauty. It's a great little piece, and well worth the time. It's followed by a bunch of notes about each individual story --- interesting background reading, and insight into what Chiang is thinking as he writes these stories.
There you go, a short story collection with no duds, by a fantastic writer. My brother luckily managed to buy the Kindle edition of this book when it was available for $9.99, and looking at the used prices now, it was a hell of a bargain. Highly recommended. Go check it out from the library now.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Review: Enough
It is no secret that John Bogle is a hero to many investors, myself included. Enough is his book themed the current rapacious greed that seems to have taken over most of American society.
You might think that for someone like me (who has an incredibly low opinion of people in finance, and the profession in general), there's no way a financier could be a hero. But that is not true. Last I checked, Vanguard has well over $1 trillion in management. To put things in perspective, Fidelity has $1.5 trillian under management, which is enough to put Abigail Johnson, who owns 24% of Fidelity, well into the Forbes 400 list of richest people. John Bogle isn't even #400 on the list, and neither are his heirs. It truly takes a great man to organize a company so the benefits go to the customers, rather than to himself and his heirs.
The title of the book comes from Kurt Vonnegut's poetic obituary for Joseph Heller. When Vonnegut told Heller that the host of the party (a hedge fund manager) made more money in one day than Heller's novel re had earned in its entire history, Heller said, "I've got something he'll never have." In response to Vonnegut's "What on earth could that be?" Heller said, "The knolwedge that I've got enough."
Bogle starts off with an indictment of the entire financial industry, and it's a rant I entirely agree with --- unlike being an engineer (who creates things), a doctor (who heals people), a teacher, or any other professional, finance's contribution to society can only be subtractive --- whether a broker working on commission, a financial advisor taking a percentage of assets, or even merely lending money, a financier's take always comes out of the client's capital or gains. In fact, in the case of the hedge funds, the managers get 2% of assets every year (win or lose), a 20% off profits, and on top of that (through successful lobbying) pay 15% taxes on the money they make, unlike a school teacher who pays federal marginal tax rates no matter what.
What's more, the brain drain from physics and engineering to the financial field has cost society even more, as smart people go from building and making things to shuffling money from one end of the table to the other, while figuring out more and more ways for some of that money to land on their laps.
Bogle moves from there to other topics --- from chief executives padding their wallets at the expense of shareholders (a topic Warren Buffett has also ranted about), to how having wealth be the measure of success is really not satisfactory. Unfortunately, I think the only people who would actually pay attention to this are folks already capable of making that judgement for themselves.
I enjoyed this book, but it's probably not for everyone. It's short enough that it won't be a waste of time, though!
You might think that for someone like me (who has an incredibly low opinion of people in finance, and the profession in general), there's no way a financier could be a hero. But that is not true. Last I checked, Vanguard has well over $1 trillion in management. To put things in perspective, Fidelity has $1.5 trillian under management, which is enough to put Abigail Johnson, who owns 24% of Fidelity, well into the Forbes 400 list of richest people. John Bogle isn't even #400 on the list, and neither are his heirs. It truly takes a great man to organize a company so the benefits go to the customers, rather than to himself and his heirs.
The title of the book comes from Kurt Vonnegut's poetic obituary for Joseph Heller. When Vonnegut told Heller that the host of the party (a hedge fund manager) made more money in one day than Heller's novel re had earned in its entire history, Heller said, "I've got something he'll never have." In response to Vonnegut's "What on earth could that be?" Heller said, "The knolwedge that I've got enough."
Bogle starts off with an indictment of the entire financial industry, and it's a rant I entirely agree with --- unlike being an engineer (who creates things), a doctor (who heals people), a teacher, or any other professional, finance's contribution to society can only be subtractive --- whether a broker working on commission, a financial advisor taking a percentage of assets, or even merely lending money, a financier's take always comes out of the client's capital or gains. In fact, in the case of the hedge funds, the managers get 2% of assets every year (win or lose), a 20% off profits, and on top of that (through successful lobbying) pay 15% taxes on the money they make, unlike a school teacher who pays federal marginal tax rates no matter what.
What's more, the brain drain from physics and engineering to the financial field has cost society even more, as smart people go from building and making things to shuffling money from one end of the table to the other, while figuring out more and more ways for some of that money to land on their laps.
Bogle moves from there to other topics --- from chief executives padding their wallets at the expense of shareholders (a topic Warren Buffett has also ranted about), to how having wealth be the measure of success is really not satisfactory. Unfortunately, I think the only people who would actually pay attention to this are folks already capable of making that judgement for themselves.
I enjoyed this book, but it's probably not for everyone. It's short enough that it won't be a waste of time, though!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Review: The Luck Factor
After I read Richard Wiseman's article on how you can be lucky, I was intrigued enough to pick up his book on the topic, The Luck Factor.
Perhaps the ironic result of reading the book is that it's convinced me that there's no such thing as luck. The book starts off by convincing us that people who consider themselves lucky are in fact, actually not any better at picking lottery tickets, for instance --- it turns out that luck has nothing to do with chance.
However, Dr. Wiseman quickly shows us that behaviorally, lucky people do several things that are very different from what unlucky people do:
In one case, Wiseman set up an experiment where he invited both a lucky person and an unlucky person to a coffee shop, ostensibly to meet with an experimenter. Before each person arrived, they planted a 5 dollar note in front of the door to see if they would arrive. One of the folks in the coffee shop was a successful business man as well. The lucky person would show up, find the money, sit down next to someone, and start talking to them. The unlucky person would show up, walk past the money, and sit down silently not talking to anyone, and missing all the opportunities that had been set up. Wiseman set up more than one such experiment, and it's interesting to hear all the stories.
The section of the book I enjoyed the most was what Wiseman called luck school: he took a bunch of people who were unlucky, and tried to teach them to unlearn their habits so that they would start to see opportunities. In fact, it turns out it is possible to deliberately introduce variety into your life (by deliberately introducing randomness, for instance), meditate to improve your intuition, visualize your success, and all the other things that coaches have been after you to use. So unfortunately, you already know everything you needed to do to be lucky.
I enjoyed the book, but felt that reading his article already exposed me to 90% of the benefit, hence can only mildly recommend it.
Perhaps the ironic result of reading the book is that it's convinced me that there's no such thing as luck. The book starts off by convincing us that people who consider themselves lucky are in fact, actually not any better at picking lottery tickets, for instance --- it turns out that luck has nothing to do with chance.
However, Dr. Wiseman quickly shows us that behaviorally, lucky people do several things that are very different from what unlucky people do:
- They notice, create and react to opportunities. By deliberately introducing variety into their lives, and being open to new things, they create situations where they are exposed to people or ideas that they wouldn't have been exposed to otherwise.
- They listen to their intuition. In fact, they train their intuition actively.
- They persevere. One of the reasons they persevere is that they are optimistic about the future, which enables them to keep trying even when others have given up.
- They bounce back quickly from failures. The classic method of bouncing back here is to reframe a failure or an unlucky incident as something that would have happened for the best.
In one case, Wiseman set up an experiment where he invited both a lucky person and an unlucky person to a coffee shop, ostensibly to meet with an experimenter. Before each person arrived, they planted a 5 dollar note in front of the door to see if they would arrive. One of the folks in the coffee shop was a successful business man as well. The lucky person would show up, find the money, sit down next to someone, and start talking to them. The unlucky person would show up, walk past the money, and sit down silently not talking to anyone, and missing all the opportunities that had been set up. Wiseman set up more than one such experiment, and it's interesting to hear all the stories.
The section of the book I enjoyed the most was what Wiseman called luck school: he took a bunch of people who were unlucky, and tried to teach them to unlearn their habits so that they would start to see opportunities. In fact, it turns out it is possible to deliberately introduce variety into your life (by deliberately introducing randomness, for instance), meditate to improve your intuition, visualize your success, and all the other things that coaches have been after you to use. So unfortunately, you already know everything you needed to do to be lucky.
I enjoyed the book, but felt that reading his article already exposed me to 90% of the benefit, hence can only mildly recommend it.
Review: More than you know
More than you know is written by Michael J. Mauboussin, who teaches Security Analysis at Columbia University, the class that was pioneered by Benjamin Graham and graduated famous investors such as Warren Buffett. This is a collection of fifty essays about investing, with each essay being about 4 pages long, capable of being read in about 2 hours in total.
Yet it would probably be a mistake to just read the book in one sitting --- each essay by itself is worth contemplating for a little bit. For instance, the first few essays cover many of the same topics in Nassim Taleb's Fooled by Randomness, and yet does a better job of communicating Taleb's point than Taleb himself, in providing a decision tree for Taleb's reasoning.
Another essay points out that the market's participants is composed of many individuals, all with different time horizons, which plays a major role in your investment decisions, hence not only is a one size fits all approach is doomed to fail, but any mutual fund with high turnover is shooting for an extremely short term approach, one that long term investors should steer away from.
More essays explore behavioral finance, mean reversions, and the importance of diversity and intellectual curiosity when it comes to investing. Furthermore, he points out that while many financial models use the normal distribution for modeling stock market returns, the actual stock market more closely resembles a fractal distribution --- the implication of these fat tails is why million year floods occur every 10 years or so in the stock market. It also means that predicting stock market returns is fraught with danger. One interesting point he makes is that stable systems found in nature (such as bees in beehives) are composed of individuals that were selected for taking into account how their behavior affects the hive (i.e., fundamentally altruistic with respect to the hive), while markets are unstable because they rely on individuals who are only looking for their own benefit regardless of what happens to the market as a whole. That degree of selfishness naturally leads to bubbles and instability, even though over the long haul markets are relatively resilient.
The last part of the book explores the power law and the implication for large cap companies. This is particularly relevant for fast growing companies that are in the fortune 50 --- because they so dominate the S&P 500, they have a hard time out-performing the index, which means that owning those companies individually is less ideal than owning the index itself.
All in all, I found that this book gave me a lot to think about, and I will look for more books by Mauboussin in the future. Recommended.
Yet it would probably be a mistake to just read the book in one sitting --- each essay by itself is worth contemplating for a little bit. For instance, the first few essays cover many of the same topics in Nassim Taleb's Fooled by Randomness, and yet does a better job of communicating Taleb's point than Taleb himself, in providing a decision tree for Taleb's reasoning.
Another essay points out that the market's participants is composed of many individuals, all with different time horizons, which plays a major role in your investment decisions, hence not only is a one size fits all approach is doomed to fail, but any mutual fund with high turnover is shooting for an extremely short term approach, one that long term investors should steer away from.
More essays explore behavioral finance, mean reversions, and the importance of diversity and intellectual curiosity when it comes to investing. Furthermore, he points out that while many financial models use the normal distribution for modeling stock market returns, the actual stock market more closely resembles a fractal distribution --- the implication of these fat tails is why million year floods occur every 10 years or so in the stock market. It also means that predicting stock market returns is fraught with danger. One interesting point he makes is that stable systems found in nature (such as bees in beehives) are composed of individuals that were selected for taking into account how their behavior affects the hive (i.e., fundamentally altruistic with respect to the hive), while markets are unstable because they rely on individuals who are only looking for their own benefit regardless of what happens to the market as a whole. That degree of selfishness naturally leads to bubbles and instability, even though over the long haul markets are relatively resilient.
The last part of the book explores the power law and the implication for large cap companies. This is particularly relevant for fast growing companies that are in the fortune 50 --- because they so dominate the S&P 500, they have a hard time out-performing the index, which means that owning those companies individually is less ideal than owning the index itself.
All in all, I found that this book gave me a lot to think about, and I will look for more books by Mauboussin in the future. Recommended.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Gastronauts Launch Party
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| Gastronauts |
Nate Keller and Mirit Cohen were two of the most talented chefs at Google, so when they sent me an invite to the launch party for their food service, Gastronauts, I got very excited and immediately blocked off the evening.
The meal served was absolutely outstanding. When I visited Paris last year, I noted how various restaurants, despite being really good, were outdone by various Google cafetarias. Well, this restaurant won't be outdone any time soon, that's for sure. We started out with a mushroom bisque with toasted garlic and fried almonds, which was then followed by smoked salmon on a bit of bagel bread with fried capers and wasabi, were bedazzled by a triplet of fruit pairings --- guava with pear, cactus fruit with pear, and pomegranate on a grape jelly. The explosion in my mouth with the guava and pear pairing was an out of body experience. The main dish was ribs on polenta garnished with tomatoes with a chocolate sauce. I think I started salivating with the description and didn't stop until every morsel was off my plate and in my tummy. The desert was a pumpkin panna cotta, cream, and nutmeg, with a cookie. You had to take the panna cotta, add the cream, put it in your mouth, bite of a piece of the cookie, and then sip the nutmeg, a complicated sequence that paid its rewards in the form of a burst of flavor in your palate.
Mirit and Nate say they'll be launching a retail operation soon, so if you live in San Francisco, I think you should plan on a visit! Highly recommended.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Reverse Brain Drain?
There's always been a crap load of doom-saying about Silicon Valley, and the latest one by Vivek Wadhwa talks about how Chinese and Indian "young guns" are returning to the mother country.
This sort of thing has been around for a long time. For instance, Ed Yourdon wrote Decline and Fall of the American Programmer in 1992, just as I was graduating college with (you guessed it!) a degree in Computer Science. 1992! Within 3 years we had the internet revolution, and the poor guy, rather than recanting, wrote another book so you could pay more money to see why he was wrong. (Read Peter Norvig's review of the book at the above link. It's a hoot!)
It's very tempting to write off California and Silicon Valley (especially right now with an unemployment of 12%), but it's always reinvented itself. It's no a coincidence that when Paul Graham settled on only one location for Y-combinator, it had to be Silicon Valley. No where else is failure not regarded as a black mark on your career, and no where else can you get lawyers who'll help you out in exchange for startup stock. In fact, when my friends and I discuss startups and places that attract engineers, even San Francisco startups get the short-shrift.
My take on this current cycle of doom and gloom is that the Sanjay Mavinkurves (mistakenly identified as an engineer in the New York Times article --- he's actually a product manager) of this world will continue to fight tooth and nail to stay in Silicon Valley, while the ones who return will eventually learn that performance is extremely contextual, something that American culture doesn't recognize, but Silicon Valley does --- as evidenced by Facebook's move from Boston to Palo Alto once they got funded. (Also make sure you read the New York Times all the way to the end --- look at the number of corrections necessary --- all reflection of the eagerness of the media to portray Silicon Valley as being in trouble over immigrants)
This sort of thing has been around for a long time. For instance, Ed Yourdon wrote Decline and Fall of the American Programmer in 1992, just as I was graduating college with (you guessed it!) a degree in Computer Science. 1992! Within 3 years we had the internet revolution, and the poor guy, rather than recanting, wrote another book so you could pay more money to see why he was wrong. (Read Peter Norvig's review of the book at the above link. It's a hoot!)
It's very tempting to write off California and Silicon Valley (especially right now with an unemployment of 12%), but it's always reinvented itself. It's no a coincidence that when Paul Graham settled on only one location for Y-combinator, it had to be Silicon Valley. No where else is failure not regarded as a black mark on your career, and no where else can you get lawyers who'll help you out in exchange for startup stock. In fact, when my friends and I discuss startups and places that attract engineers, even San Francisco startups get the short-shrift.
My take on this current cycle of doom and gloom is that the Sanjay Mavinkurves (mistakenly identified as an engineer in the New York Times article --- he's actually a product manager) of this world will continue to fight tooth and nail to stay in Silicon Valley, while the ones who return will eventually learn that performance is extremely contextual, something that American culture doesn't recognize, but Silicon Valley does --- as evidenced by Facebook's move from Boston to Palo Alto once they got funded. (Also make sure you read the New York Times all the way to the end --- look at the number of corrections necessary --- all reflection of the eagerness of the media to portray Silicon Valley as being in trouble over immigrants)
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Review: Kool-Stop Salmon Brake Pads
I must have done at least 100,000 miles of cycling by now, and the one piece of safety equipment that I've always relied on was brake pads. They're unobtrusive, doing their jobs quietly --- unless they're cantilever brakes, in which case they don't do their jobs, or do it only grudgingly and noisily.
Over the last 10 years, I've been using Kool-Stop Salmon brake pads. They worked so well that I don't mention them, not even in the substantial information packets I provide to fellow cyclists on grand tours.
Well, during the recent Tour of Hokkaido, I once again forgot to mention them, and during one rainy descent, I commented on how smooth and easy Japanese descents was. No one else agreed with me, to my surprise! Well, it turned out that I was the only one running Kool-Stop Salmon pads. Everyone else was running the OEM pads (not surprising --- it takes a long time to wear out brake pads in California), and those were apparently not stopping the bikes, thereby giving my friends a scary experience.
Come to think about it, during the 2007 Tour of the Alps, and 2008 Tour Across France, the only time I was beating my companions down the hill was when it was raining. Again, I was the only one running Kool-Stop pads. Even if you don't ride in the rain, there's still a good reason to replace them --- here's a comparison between the Shimano OEM pads versus the Kool-stops. Yep, those OEM pads tear up your rims, so your wheels will last longer with the Kool-stops than with the OEM pads.
Given that they're only $6.95 on Amazon.com with free shipping on purchases over $25, they're a cheap and easy upgrade to your brakes, and pay for themselves on the first rainy descent.
Over the last 10 years, I've been using Kool-Stop Salmon brake pads. They worked so well that I don't mention them, not even in the substantial information packets I provide to fellow cyclists on grand tours.
Well, during the recent Tour of Hokkaido, I once again forgot to mention them, and during one rainy descent, I commented on how smooth and easy Japanese descents was. No one else agreed with me, to my surprise! Well, it turned out that I was the only one running Kool-Stop Salmon pads. Everyone else was running the OEM pads (not surprising --- it takes a long time to wear out brake pads in California), and those were apparently not stopping the bikes, thereby giving my friends a scary experience.
Come to think about it, during the 2007 Tour of the Alps, and 2008 Tour Across France, the only time I was beating my companions down the hill was when it was raining. Again, I was the only one running Kool-Stop pads. Even if you don't ride in the rain, there's still a good reason to replace them --- here's a comparison between the Shimano OEM pads versus the Kool-stops. Yep, those OEM pads tear up your rims, so your wheels will last longer with the Kool-stops than with the OEM pads.
Given that they're only $6.95 on Amazon.com with free shipping on purchases over $25, they're a cheap and easy upgrade to your brakes, and pay for themselves on the first rainy descent.
Updated: If your brakes are cheap and don't come with brake holders, splurge and spend $19.13 + shipping on the Dura Type Brake Holders.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Review: The Numerati
The Numerati is Stephen Baker's exploration of the world of large scale information technology. Unfortunately, his approach supports my thesis that the world is now too complicated for English majors to understand.
Every topic that he covers is touched extremely shallowly --- he'd cover the marketing approach by interviewing a couple of folks who manage advertising campaigns or product placement in supermarkets, but not the underlying algorithms and scale that made it possible. In fact, at one point he describes a smart shopping cart, but doesn't explore the economics behind it and why they haven't become prevalent (shopping carts with too much technology would get stolen for their screens, for instance).
He covers a bit about Google, but again, tries to get away with mentioning SEOs (Search Engine Optimizers), but doesn't explain how they work or even interview one. The technology behind all this is hand-waved (he drops names like Support Vector Machines but doesn't demonstrate that he understands even basics such as Bayesian learning)
What annoys me is that even the interviews (which many English/Journalism majors do well) are also really shallow, with none of the depth of Carrie Grimes' profile in the New York Times.
Ultimately, however, the biggest disappointment was that Stephen Baker clearly doesn't understand what all these corporations are doing, which is to distill specific insights into algorithms that can scale. The problem with doing so is manifold --- the distillation is at best imperfect, and doesn't come with the intuitive insight that the best human judgement can render. (A look at the adsense ads on this blog will dispel any feeling that such algorithms have even matured to the point that they are useful) That fact is why Warren Buffett is still beating out hedge funds with lots of computers, software engineers, and statisticians.
Not recommended --- you can do better by sitting down with any of the thousands of Computer Scientists who do this stuff for a living and having a casual chat. It'll be more fun and won't be a waste of your time.
Every topic that he covers is touched extremely shallowly --- he'd cover the marketing approach by interviewing a couple of folks who manage advertising campaigns or product placement in supermarkets, but not the underlying algorithms and scale that made it possible. In fact, at one point he describes a smart shopping cart, but doesn't explore the economics behind it and why they haven't become prevalent (shopping carts with too much technology would get stolen for their screens, for instance).
He covers a bit about Google, but again, tries to get away with mentioning SEOs (Search Engine Optimizers), but doesn't explain how they work or even interview one. The technology behind all this is hand-waved (he drops names like Support Vector Machines but doesn't demonstrate that he understands even basics such as Bayesian learning)
What annoys me is that even the interviews (which many English/Journalism majors do well) are also really shallow, with none of the depth of Carrie Grimes' profile in the New York Times.
Ultimately, however, the biggest disappointment was that Stephen Baker clearly doesn't understand what all these corporations are doing, which is to distill specific insights into algorithms that can scale. The problem with doing so is manifold --- the distillation is at best imperfect, and doesn't come with the intuitive insight that the best human judgement can render. (A look at the adsense ads on this blog will dispel any feeling that such algorithms have even matured to the point that they are useful) That fact is why Warren Buffett is still beating out hedge funds with lots of computers, software engineers, and statisticians.
Not recommended --- you can do better by sitting down with any of the thousands of Computer Scientists who do this stuff for a living and having a casual chat. It'll be more fun and won't be a waste of your time.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Upgrades should always have a positive connotation
The sad secret of the cycling cottage industry is that they don't cater to the avid cyclist, i.e., the person who rides about 5000 miles a year or more. They cater to the frequent upgrader --- the guy who buys a new bike every 2-3 years, upgrading to the latest and greatest whenever he can.
Our tandem has about 15,000 miles on it. During that time, we've worn out chains, tires, chainrings, and cassettes, all in relatively short order. One incident recently had me by the side of the road piercing together a 9-speed chain that had been fatigued by riding a worn out cassette aggressively and then shifted under load. Not having a replacement 11-34 9-speed cassette handy, I replaced it with a 12-27 from one of the singles, and went on-line to look for cassettes.
The cost of 9-speed chains and 9-speed cassettes had gone up quite a bit since the last time I bought replacements, and thinking about the situation, I can't think of a time when that 9-speed cassette really bought us anything. The result, I ordered a bunch of 8-speed cassettes at $20 each, and yesterday, upgraded my 9-speed tandem to 8-speed. I won't bother upgrading the 9-speed chain yet, but when it finally goes, it too, will be replaced with an 8-speed chain.
From the "industry"'s point of view, I'm downgrading my bike, but in terms of cost, expected life time, robustness, and everything else that I care about, it's an upgrade. Yes, there are many who can't wait for the latest 10-speed systems with electronic shifting and what not, but for me anyway, the satisfaction of being able to have a running bike that I don't spend a lot of time working on is a big plus.
Our tandem has about 15,000 miles on it. During that time, we've worn out chains, tires, chainrings, and cassettes, all in relatively short order. One incident recently had me by the side of the road piercing together a 9-speed chain that had been fatigued by riding a worn out cassette aggressively and then shifted under load. Not having a replacement 11-34 9-speed cassette handy, I replaced it with a 12-27 from one of the singles, and went on-line to look for cassettes.
The cost of 9-speed chains and 9-speed cassettes had gone up quite a bit since the last time I bought replacements, and thinking about the situation, I can't think of a time when that 9-speed cassette really bought us anything. The result, I ordered a bunch of 8-speed cassettes at $20 each, and yesterday, upgraded my 9-speed tandem to 8-speed. I won't bother upgrading the 9-speed chain yet, but when it finally goes, it too, will be replaced with an 8-speed chain.
From the "industry"'s point of view, I'm downgrading my bike, but in terms of cost, expected life time, robustness, and everything else that I care about, it's an upgrade. Yes, there are many who can't wait for the latest 10-speed systems with electronic shifting and what not, but for me anyway, the satisfaction of being able to have a running bike that I don't spend a lot of time working on is a big plus.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Sting Followup
After my sting and swelling reaction, my allergist did not want to test me for a month, so I went touring in Japan and came back before getting the skin test.
The skin test tested negatively for bees and yellow-jackets, but positively for mixed vespids and wasps. Because of a recent lawsuit involving the reliability of skin tests, my doctor also made me get a blood test. Strangely enough, yellow jackets also came up positive on the blood test, so in this particular case, I'm grateful for that medical malpractice suit.
While I was at it, since I was going to have to get shots anyway, I decided to go for a skin test of all my other allergies and get inoculated for those as well. The result: I'm allergic to everything except 2 kinds of mold. So now I'll end up with 3 shots twice a week for several weeks.
According to my doctor, the sting inoculations will be over in 2-3 years, but the environmental allergy shots have to go on for quite some time. In any case, I can't wait for the day when I don't have to carry any Epipens!
The skin test tested negatively for bees and yellow-jackets, but positively for mixed vespids and wasps. Because of a recent lawsuit involving the reliability of skin tests, my doctor also made me get a blood test. Strangely enough, yellow jackets also came up positive on the blood test, so in this particular case, I'm grateful for that medical malpractice suit.
While I was at it, since I was going to have to get shots anyway, I decided to go for a skin test of all my other allergies and get inoculated for those as well. The result: I'm allergic to everything except 2 kinds of mold. So now I'll end up with 3 shots twice a week for several weeks.
According to my doctor, the sting inoculations will be over in 2-3 years, but the environmental allergy shots have to go on for quite some time. In any case, I can't wait for the day when I don't have to carry any Epipens!
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
International Kindle Launches
The big news is that the Kindle went international yesterday! For $279 and a $2 delivery charge per book (and a $5 per week delivery charge for periodicals like newspapers), you can now have books, newspapers, etc., all sent to your Kindle while travelling. No more running out of reading materials in Hong Kong!
Furthermore, my friends in Germany can now own a Kindle! I was surprised by how expensive English books are in Germany, so I think this is a huge deal as well. I expect German adoption of Kindle to outpace that of the US by a significant margin because the payback period will be much lower. Books are incredibly expensive in most of the rest of the world.
Another bit of news that went soaring past most analysts' heads is that Lonely Planet travel guides are now available on the Kindle store. This will drive massive adoption in the "backpacking through Europe" summer student crowd, since not only can you now buy those lonely planets as you go, the weight savings are massive (those lonely planet country guides check in at a pound each!), and you can now use search on those massive tomes, which was something you never could do before when they were paper.
I've been resisting upgrades to the Kindle (mostly because of the loss of the replaceable battery and SD card), but I guess the international version will be a worthwhile upgrade for me the next time I travel.
Furthermore, my friends in Germany can now own a Kindle! I was surprised by how expensive English books are in Germany, so I think this is a huge deal as well. I expect German adoption of Kindle to outpace that of the US by a significant margin because the payback period will be much lower. Books are incredibly expensive in most of the rest of the world.
Another bit of news that went soaring past most analysts' heads is that Lonely Planet travel guides are now available on the Kindle store. This will drive massive adoption in the "backpacking through Europe" summer student crowd, since not only can you now buy those lonely planets as you go, the weight savings are massive (those lonely planet country guides check in at a pound each!), and you can now use search on those massive tomes, which was something you never could do before when they were paper.
I've been resisting upgrades to the Kindle (mostly because of the loss of the replaceable battery and SD card), but I guess the international version will be a worthwhile upgrade for me the next time I travel.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
San Jose Rock & Roll 2009
| 4235 Sy Usagichan M 30-34 | |||||||||||
| Half Marathon Start: Gun 8:03:09 Chip 8:07:44 | |||||||||||
| Splits: | 5 Km | 10 Km | 10 Mi | Finish | O'All | Sex | Div | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Times: | 29:18 | 58:38 | 1:34:41 | 2:04:35 | 3560 | 2351 | 0 | ||||
| Pace: | 9:26 | 9:27 | 9:29 | 9:31 | |||||||
i'm quite happy about this time in spite of it being my slowest time of the 3 times I've done this!
That's mostly because I had the least amount of training and still knocked this one out. Strong up till Mile 10, whereby I slowed down a little, but otherwise I'm amazed at how consistent my pace was! I have slowed down since 3 years ago from running 6.7 mph to 6.3, and 9:33 per mile is the pace for 6.3 mph!
My training this year has been rather haphazard, doing 5 mile runs about 2 to 3 times a week and making up the rest of the other workouts on the stairmaster.
I probably could have pushed for a 2 hour finish time, but I didn't want to hurt myself either. At this juncture, I'm still feeling pretty good!
Anyhow, I'm stoked that I finished with as weak a training as I did!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Why you should not tour like Piaw
I've been a long time self-supported touring advocate. I am one for several reasons. First of all, I think it's more fun --- being tied to an itinerary never is fun --- having to ride some miles because some other guy wrote it down on a piece of paper never really appealed to me personally, and the days when I had to ride 100 miles on a guided tour despite not wishing to go that far annoyed me. Secondly, it's far more ecologically friendly and economically friendly to the country you're visiting. Cycle touring is extremely eco-friendly. But it's not as eco-friendly when you're supported by a support van with all your baggage, enough gear to fix everybody's bikes, and SAG you as well if you needed it. It's far more economically friendly because by its very nature, you'll end up staying in villages that the big tour groups can't stay at (they're too big), or in the country B&B that only locals get to.
A major side-effect of ending up staying in the country-side is that you have no choice but to interact with locals. This year in Hokkaido, we experienced that as we met fewer and fewer English speakers once we got out of the touristy areas. You get to meet the local culture "up close and personal", and you have no choice but to speak the language. My Japanese improved dramatically as a result.
Finally, it's cheaper. The typical Japanese tours charge $300-$500 a person a night. We were getting away with $50/night. With costs that low you can stay for longer, and still occasionally splurge on a mountain top hot spring. You just can't beat the value for dollar when you're self-supported.
The incident that changed my mind and prompted me to write this essay, however, was what happened in Rausu. In Rausu, we visited no less than 5 B&Bs, only to be turned away, because our party (even Japanese-speaking me) was obviously foreign. It's not that the Japanese are xenophobic (undoubtedly some are, but few xenophobes would get into the hospitality industry anyway), it's because far too many foreigners have showed up without an understanding and appreciation of local culture and norms, and then throw a fit when the family-run Minshuku (B&B or mid-end lodging) serves them food without a menu, family style. Even Lonely Planet writes this about Rebun-to:
A few of the more attractive minshuku here no longer accept foreigners, a casualty of the fact that many foreigners did not understand they had no choice in what food was served. (Lonely Planet Japan: Hokkaido)
I'm afraid going forward I'll have to attach another requirement to folks who wish to tour with me: they'll have to be culinary flexible. Those of you who know me personally will undoubtedly say, "Wait a minute, Lisa's Vegan!!" Yes, but she also comes from Chinese culture, where it is far more rude to make a fuss about the meal your hosts serve you when you're visiting their homes than to just eat it and grin and enjoy it. She's had to break her dietary rules when traveling with me in Europe, because many places in Europe have similar dining provisions (show up at lovely Rosenlaui, for instance, and there's no dinner menu. You can request a vegetarian meal in advance, or you can eat what they make)
I was explaining this to a friend of mine, and he asked about substituting materials. It turns out that in France, for instance, this is considered rude and something only rude Americans would do to a French Chef:
Americans believe the customer is entitled to have a meal his or her way. The French, deeply admiring of the culinary profession, are more willing to submit to the chef---you never hear Parisians asking if they can have it without the garlic, with no salt, or made with lemon juice instead of vinegar---and are brought up to believe that any restaurant meal follows the same script... (From Hungry for Paris)
This doesn't mean that if you're vegan, ova-lacto-vegetarian, or whatever, that you can't tour. It just means you can't tour like me. Not only would you annoy every guest house you stayed at (and you'll triply annoy them if you can't speak the language), you would probably end up not getting sufficient nutrition to keep riding and have a terrible time. If you have many dietary restrictions (and I know people who do), then the Backroads and Trek tours are for you. They cost more, and you'll never have an adventure, but that's what they're for --- you'll be cocooned in your own corner of America as you travel the world, but if that's what you need, that's what you need!
Ultimately, if you don't have the culinary, linguistic, or mobile flexibility (as Mark has observed, I hardly ever avoid something just because I can't ride over it), touring like I do is unlikely to be fun or interesting for you. Worse, you could end up spoiling a location for other visitors who are more flexible with their diet or language, so please don't tour like me if you can't just sit down with your host at a guest house and eat everything.
A major side-effect of ending up staying in the country-side is that you have no choice but to interact with locals. This year in Hokkaido, we experienced that as we met fewer and fewer English speakers once we got out of the touristy areas. You get to meet the local culture "up close and personal", and you have no choice but to speak the language. My Japanese improved dramatically as a result.
Finally, it's cheaper. The typical Japanese tours charge $300-$500 a person a night. We were getting away with $50/night. With costs that low you can stay for longer, and still occasionally splurge on a mountain top hot spring. You just can't beat the value for dollar when you're self-supported.
The incident that changed my mind and prompted me to write this essay, however, was what happened in Rausu. In Rausu, we visited no less than 5 B&Bs, only to be turned away, because our party (even Japanese-speaking me) was obviously foreign. It's not that the Japanese are xenophobic (undoubtedly some are, but few xenophobes would get into the hospitality industry anyway), it's because far too many foreigners have showed up without an understanding and appreciation of local culture and norms, and then throw a fit when the family-run Minshuku (B&B or mid-end lodging) serves them food without a menu, family style. Even Lonely Planet writes this about Rebun-to:
A few of the more attractive minshuku here no longer accept foreigners, a casualty of the fact that many foreigners did not understand they had no choice in what food was served. (Lonely Planet Japan: Hokkaido)
I'm afraid going forward I'll have to attach another requirement to folks who wish to tour with me: they'll have to be culinary flexible. Those of you who know me personally will undoubtedly say, "Wait a minute, Lisa's Vegan!!" Yes, but she also comes from Chinese culture, where it is far more rude to make a fuss about the meal your hosts serve you when you're visiting their homes than to just eat it and grin and enjoy it. She's had to break her dietary rules when traveling with me in Europe, because many places in Europe have similar dining provisions (show up at lovely Rosenlaui, for instance, and there's no dinner menu. You can request a vegetarian meal in advance, or you can eat what they make)
I was explaining this to a friend of mine, and he asked about substituting materials. It turns out that in France, for instance, this is considered rude and something only rude Americans would do to a French Chef:
Americans believe the customer is entitled to have a meal his or her way. The French, deeply admiring of the culinary profession, are more willing to submit to the chef---you never hear Parisians asking if they can have it without the garlic, with no salt, or made with lemon juice instead of vinegar---and are brought up to believe that any restaurant meal follows the same script... (From Hungry for Paris)
This doesn't mean that if you're vegan, ova-lacto-vegetarian, or whatever, that you can't tour. It just means you can't tour like me. Not only would you annoy every guest house you stayed at (and you'll triply annoy them if you can't speak the language), you would probably end up not getting sufficient nutrition to keep riding and have a terrible time. If you have many dietary restrictions (and I know people who do), then the Backroads and Trek tours are for you. They cost more, and you'll never have an adventure, but that's what they're for --- you'll be cocooned in your own corner of America as you travel the world, but if that's what you need, that's what you need!
Ultimately, if you don't have the culinary, linguistic, or mobile flexibility (as Mark has observed, I hardly ever avoid something just because I can't ride over it), touring like I do is unlikely to be fun or interesting for you. Worse, you could end up spoiling a location for other visitors who are more flexible with their diet or language, so please don't tour like me if you can't just sit down with your host at a guest house and eat everything.
Thoughts on Cycling in Hokkaido and Japan
I really enjoyed the Hokkaido trip. It's a truism of cycling that cycling brings out the best in the people of the country we visit, and in the case of Japan, the people are just amazing. No matter where we went, folks were helpful and kind towards cyclists. From visitor center receptionists to B&B hosts, they exhibit a curiosity and friendliness that just blew me away. The drivers are polite, and the food is amazing. What really surprised me was how cheap everything was! My brother had told me that he lost weight in Japan because he could not afford meat. Well, I guess if you stay in Tokyo all the time in Japan that could very well happen. Once out in the rural countryside, prices drop dramatically, and Japan becomes cheaper than Europe! A typical night's stay was 5000 Yen, including dinner and breakfast. And the typical dinner served was comparable to restaurant food, so you're not getting short-changed at all. In many cases, you would be asked whether you would prefer a Western option for your meals. We rarely tried it since we preferred Japanese food anyway.
The food is very healthy --- lots of fish, rice, vegetables, and not a lot of red meat. You won't get a whole lot of milk and cereal, and you have to like seaweed. The portions (especially at lunch) can be quite small. On the other hand, I like having a small lunch. On my European trips, I resist stopping for anything other than a supermarket lunch because not only is the service slow, you usually have no choice but to get a big meal that bloats you and makes afternoon cycling bog down. Not in Japan. You can order the biggest meal on the menu, and not only will the service be very fast, you won't feel bloated! The flip side, of course, is that you'll have to snack a couple of hours later. I don't think any cyclists would be disappointed by the need to do so, since convenience stores are plentiful, and the snacks are delicious!
The roads are clean. We never got a single flat tire that could be attributed to Japanese roads. There were times when cracks across the roads were very annoying though --- I think those happened at the expansion joints, and the regularity is very jolting.
The frequent Onsens (Hot Springs) means that if you ever get hypothermia, you can just hop in one and get warm. This means you can be more free to take risks with the weather, if you know you have an Onsen coming up (or near by).
The biggest penalty, however, is that the riding outside of Biei/Furano is not very interesting. That's because as with many islands, there are frequently only one road from one part to another, so everyone has to use those roads, cyclists/motorcyclists/drivers. So those roads are crowded, noisy, and not very much fun to ride. But the worst part is that the Japanese don't build roads over their mountains! Most of the roads go up into the mountain and then don't connect to anything on the other side. This puts a serious damper on getting to great views and scenery on the bicycle. And of course, the roads that go around the mountains are boring: straight and long, frequently with head-winds. I am unlikely to do another bicycle tour in Japan because of this (a car or hiking oriented trip would not be out of the question), but the cultural experience of doing it once was great! Bear in mind that I'm a very spoiled cyclist, having spent too much time in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Alps. I don't consider the California Sierras pretty, for instance, and Yosemite doesn't bowl me over any more. The perils of being a world traveler is that you'll always be comparing places to one another, and for cycling, it's really difficult to beat the Bay Area and the Swiss Alps.
All in all, my conclusion is that Japan/Hokkaido is an ideal country for the novice tourist, or the cycling tourist who is out of shape and/or afraid of mountains. It is filled with polite people and drivers, clean clean roads, fantastic food, wonderful hot springs and lots of places to do good hiking. You might not find the cycling memorable, but the people and the culture will be unforgettable!
The food is very healthy --- lots of fish, rice, vegetables, and not a lot of red meat. You won't get a whole lot of milk and cereal, and you have to like seaweed. The portions (especially at lunch) can be quite small. On the other hand, I like having a small lunch. On my European trips, I resist stopping for anything other than a supermarket lunch because not only is the service slow, you usually have no choice but to get a big meal that bloats you and makes afternoon cycling bog down. Not in Japan. You can order the biggest meal on the menu, and not only will the service be very fast, you won't feel bloated! The flip side, of course, is that you'll have to snack a couple of hours later. I don't think any cyclists would be disappointed by the need to do so, since convenience stores are plentiful, and the snacks are delicious!
The roads are clean. We never got a single flat tire that could be attributed to Japanese roads. There were times when cracks across the roads were very annoying though --- I think those happened at the expansion joints, and the regularity is very jolting.
The frequent Onsens (Hot Springs) means that if you ever get hypothermia, you can just hop in one and get warm. This means you can be more free to take risks with the weather, if you know you have an Onsen coming up (or near by).
The biggest penalty, however, is that the riding outside of Biei/Furano is not very interesting. That's because as with many islands, there are frequently only one road from one part to another, so everyone has to use those roads, cyclists/motorcyclists/drivers. So those roads are crowded, noisy, and not very much fun to ride. But the worst part is that the Japanese don't build roads over their mountains! Most of the roads go up into the mountain and then don't connect to anything on the other side. This puts a serious damper on getting to great views and scenery on the bicycle. And of course, the roads that go around the mountains are boring: straight and long, frequently with head-winds. I am unlikely to do another bicycle tour in Japan because of this (a car or hiking oriented trip would not be out of the question), but the cultural experience of doing it once was great! Bear in mind that I'm a very spoiled cyclist, having spent too much time in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Alps. I don't consider the California Sierras pretty, for instance, and Yosemite doesn't bowl me over any more. The perils of being a world traveler is that you'll always be comparing places to one another, and for cycling, it's really difficult to beat the Bay Area and the Swiss Alps.
All in all, my conclusion is that Japan/Hokkaido is an ideal country for the novice tourist, or the cycling tourist who is out of shape and/or afraid of mountains. It is filled with polite people and drivers, clean clean roads, fantastic food, wonderful hot springs and lots of places to do good hiking. You might not find the cycling memorable, but the people and the culture will be unforgettable!
Touring Hokkaido Tips and Resources
The biggest tip I can give you is to not fly United Airlines to Japan. They've recently revised their bike policy to be $250 each way, so no matter if their prices are $100 less than ANA or JAL, you come out ahead with ANA's policy being that bikes are free! But even if United revised their policy, ANA might be the way to go anyway. As mentioned during the trip reports, ANA gives bikes (and their enclosing boxes) the white glove treatment. I can't emphasize how rare and unusual this is! Not only were the boxes intact and fully functional on both ends, they were positively immaculate! I have never seen bike boxes handled so well and so carefully. ANA deserves all the business cyclists can give them. Note that if you book with ANA, you also get a free rental cell phone. This is a big deal, because American cell phones don't work in Japan, not even the world phones! Even my international blackberry does not provide Japanese service. Fortunately, all Japanese phones have internet capability (though it's very costly --- they charge by the byte!), and you'll get your phone # ahead of time so you can tell all your family what number to call.
For the trip proper, here are some resources:
For the trip proper, here are some resources:
- Touring Mapple (Scroll down the web page for directions on how to buy). I like the Touring Mapple but I find it frustrating as well. First of all, the recommended accommodations are always worth checking out. They are reasonably priced, and always worth the stay. But the map itself is geared towards motorcyclists, which means there is no elevation information at all except for passes. Nothing for towns, nothing for lakes, nothing for any points of interests. As a former Michelin map user, I find it extremely frustrating. And don't get me started on the scenic markings. They are used very sparingly, and unfortunately, are not an indicator at all as to whether the road is good for cycling, since frequently, the road is busy as well! Compared to the Michelin "green" markers, these are useless. Finally, no street names are available, only highway numbers. This makes it really tough to figure out where you are in any kind of built up area. Overall, it's still worth getting, but I'm quite disappointed at how useless it is for cycling.
- Japanese Garmin Map download I used a GPS unit throughout Japan, and this was the only source I found for Japanese maps. While the information was complete and more or less accurate, I had some frustrations. First of all, only Romaji is available for viewing. This means that correlating locations with the Touring Mapple is difficult, since the Touring Mapple only has Kanji (which I can read but not pronounce!). This means that before the trip, you'd better have every interesting way-point already on your unit. Again, road names were not available, so it drove me nuts sometimes trying to figure out whether we were at the correct location. Finally, every tiny portion of a town has its own little name, which was too fine a granularity for bike touring, since it crowded out useful ways that dynamic routing could work. The times when it did work it worked spectacularly, but it was definitely way too hard to use.
- Toho.net B&B guide We did not have this, but it would have saved us time and money and would have been 420 Yen well spent! All the quirky B&Bs we stayed at, including (Drum Kan and Lapland) are listed here, with many more that we wished we had know about. The prices are incredibly reasonable, and very much worth the stay. Highly recommended.
- Lonely Planet has pick & mix chapters for all of Japan. I bought the one for Hokkaido (for about $3), and if you have a Kindle DX you can send them e-mail and they'll give you an unlocked version that you can load on the DX. Unfortunately, I didn't find the guide all that useful. The problem with Lonely Planet is that they are geared entirely towards the "backpack" tourist who goes by bus and train, so tiny towns get short shrift. I don't use them for Europe, but had a really hard time with information about Japan otherwise. It's worth it for the price, just don't buy the whole book.
- The best time of year to go for a Hokkaido tour is probably late spring, May or June. It would probably rain more, but the pictures I saw of the Biei/Furano area in Spring look stunning, with snow-capped peaks and the flowers in bloom. It'll be a little cooler, but since the Hot Springs are all up in the mountains, that makes climbing them for the Hot Springs all the more worth while.
- On the Move in Japan: Despite having had a year of University Japanese, my Japanese was more than 17 years old and unused by the time I went to Japan, hence I bought this phrase book. The important key is the katakana/hiragana table, along with very useful phrases often needed by travelers. The food section is very comprehensive. Very useful, and I referred to it far more often than I thought I would.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Review: House of Suns
House of Suns is Alastair Reynolds' latest science fiction novel, not set in any of his other universes. The book itself is written from three perspectives. The first, introduced right from the start, by Abigail Gentian, a girl born far in the novel's past, who is the progenitor of one of the great lines, the Gentians, who are composed of multiple cloned individuals (called Shatterlings) who explore and trade throughout the galaxy over eons, with only occasional gatherings to sync-up and exchange information with each other.
The other two perspectives are provided by Gentian shatterlings: Campion and Purslane, two companions and lovers who are on what seems to be a routine mission en route to one of the gatherings. Despite the shatterlings being clones, each seem to be individuated enough to have a distinct identity, and throughout the story we have no problem conceptualizing each shatterling as a distinct person and personality --- as the plot progresses, we get the distinct impression that Campion is impulsive and flighty, while Purslane is considered and pragmatic.
The universe that Reynolds' builds is intriguing. For one thing, almost all the sentient races encountered were once human, so his vision is one of humanity splitting itself (and experimenting on itself), rather than the multi-species cultural visions so prevalent in other science fiction. Another theme (common in many of Reynolds' novels) is that FTL travel does not exist in this milleu, and everything on a galactic scale takes a long time. I really enjoy this theme in particular, because the sense of scale it provides is immense --- Reynolds' really shows that the common theme of FTL travel is just a crutch for novelists who can't plot around it (we currently live in a relatively small world, but it used to be that voyages in sailing ships took a long time, and historical novelists like C.S. Forester had no problems building plots around that).
As the plot unfolds, we learn of one secret after another, including a mysterious line known as the House of Suns. Eventually, when the big reveal happen, we know enough about the universe to be surprised, but the logic behind the reveal is also sound --- Reynolds has left enough clues for the reader not to feel cheated. What I really like about the novel, however, is that even after the reveal, lots more happen, including a relativisitic chase and battles (and nothing that reprises anything else of Reynolds' I've read), as well as an AI/Robot war which I found readable and fascinating.
Unfortunately, Reynolds does write himself into a corner with this novel, and can only extricate himself through an almost literal Deux Ex Machina. I found the ending strangely unsatisfying, but perhaps if you liked the ending of 2001 (the movie, not the novel), you would also enjoy this ending.
Despite the disappointing (to me) ending, I still recommend House of Suns as an entertaining novel full of interesting ideas.
The other two perspectives are provided by Gentian shatterlings: Campion and Purslane, two companions and lovers who are on what seems to be a routine mission en route to one of the gatherings. Despite the shatterlings being clones, each seem to be individuated enough to have a distinct identity, and throughout the story we have no problem conceptualizing each shatterling as a distinct person and personality --- as the plot progresses, we get the distinct impression that Campion is impulsive and flighty, while Purslane is considered and pragmatic.
The universe that Reynolds' builds is intriguing. For one thing, almost all the sentient races encountered were once human, so his vision is one of humanity splitting itself (and experimenting on itself), rather than the multi-species cultural visions so prevalent in other science fiction. Another theme (common in many of Reynolds' novels) is that FTL travel does not exist in this milleu, and everything on a galactic scale takes a long time. I really enjoy this theme in particular, because the sense of scale it provides is immense --- Reynolds' really shows that the common theme of FTL travel is just a crutch for novelists who can't plot around it (we currently live in a relatively small world, but it used to be that voyages in sailing ships took a long time, and historical novelists like C.S. Forester had no problems building plots around that).
As the plot unfolds, we learn of one secret after another, including a mysterious line known as the House of Suns. Eventually, when the big reveal happen, we know enough about the universe to be surprised, but the logic behind the reveal is also sound --- Reynolds has left enough clues for the reader not to feel cheated. What I really like about the novel, however, is that even after the reveal, lots more happen, including a relativisitic chase and battles (and nothing that reprises anything else of Reynolds' I've read), as well as an AI/Robot war which I found readable and fascinating.
Unfortunately, Reynolds does write himself into a corner with this novel, and can only extricate himself through an almost literal Deux Ex Machina. I found the ending strangely unsatisfying, but perhaps if you liked the ending of 2001 (the movie, not the novel), you would also enjoy this ending.
Despite the disappointing (to me) ending, I still recommend House of Suns as an entertaining novel full of interesting ideas.
Review: Born to Run
Born to Run is Christopher Mcdougall's book about running. It brings together several threads: the first is about the Tarahumara runners --- a tribe in the backcountry of Mexico that seems to be culturally adpet (and adapted) to distance running. The second story is about the scientific aspects of running --- Mcdougall's thesis is that human beings were made to run, and not just sprint away from predators, but long distance running --- the stuff of which ultra-marathons are made of. Finally, the third thread brings together some of North America's Ultra-runners (including ultra-legend Scott Jurek) in a running race with the Tarahumara runners on their home turf.
The first story almost defies belief. What surprises me (even when it shouldn't --- I know ultra-marathon cyclists first hand, and they definitely don't get the same kind of attention Lance Armstrong gets, medically or in the press) is that with a tribe full of people who do amazing feats of running, there hasn't been a medical/scientific research team going in there to measure attributes such as VO2 Max and doing comparative studies against say, the well-known Kenyan runners (who've proabably been studied to death). Nevertheless, Mcdougall weaves a great story about a group of Tarahumara runners who showed up at the Leadville 100 and beat everyone else (with the winner in his 50s!) with style, all wearing nothing but sandals they made for themselves out of worn out tires and string.
The second story is about running and footwear. There are several points that Mcdougall bring out to bolster his thesis. First of all, only humans gather around in big groups voluntarily to do sports of massive endurance, whether it's a marathon or a double century. That endurance isn't an accident --- physiologically speaking, humans can dissipate heat better than any other land animal, and even more importantly, humans enjoy these endurance sports. Unfortunately, the other points that Mcdougall discusses aren't as compelling. He discusses persistence hunting, but then admitted that it wasn't something easy to do, and it took a while to find a tribe in Africa that could do it. Even so, it's not practiced by many tribes --- hardly compelling evidence that running was the way humans ran down their prey and got lots of protein to feed that huge brain that we carry around. Then, there's the discussion about how modern footwear is bad for you. However, there's no discussion whatsoever about what's good for you. I've tried the Vibram Five Fingers, and I don't think they're any better for me in avoiding foot pain, or even going fast. I think it would have been a lot more convincing if, for instance, Mcdougall actually did a study about how Tarahumaras constructed their running sandals, why they did it the way they did (they certainly don't do bare-foot running, and my guess is in any kind of rocky country or scree, barefoot running will destroy your feet), and gotten a physiologist, doctor or other scientist to distinguish the important characteristics of good footwear. But perhaps expecting scientific thinking from a journalist would be too much. Then there's the discussion about running technique. He visits Eric Orton, a fitness coach, and gets the following response: "Should I get orthotics?" "Forget the orthotics." ... "How about yoga? That'll help, yeha?" "Forget yoga. Every runner I know who does yoga gets hurt." That intrigues me. Yoga's been frequently prescribed (and over-prescribed, I think) for cyclists. But there's no follow up, no explanation at all about why Orton doesn't think Yoga's a good idea. All in all, this segment felt incomplete, as though Mcdougall suddenly lost interest in the subject and abandoned the book (or threw in other filler) just when it was getting interesting to me.
The final story about the running race just felt out of place to me. Sure, I like a shoot out as much as the next guy, but ultimately, just once race isn't exciting to me. His reportage of the Leadville 100 races were as exciting as the Tarahumara race between Jurek, Barefoot Ted, and the other cast of colorful characters, but it's also clear that he spent so much time on the North American racers that by contrast, the Tarahumara racers got very little coverage. While Mcdougall is a great sports writer, this was not the best part of the book for me.
All in all, I enjoyed the book, and definitely, if you're a runner or have an interest in ultra-marathon running, the book deserves a read. But I guess a really readable layman's treatise on the actual physiology of running and how humans move will have to come from another writer. Recommended with caveats.
The first story almost defies belief. What surprises me (even when it shouldn't --- I know ultra-marathon cyclists first hand, and they definitely don't get the same kind of attention Lance Armstrong gets, medically or in the press) is that with a tribe full of people who do amazing feats of running, there hasn't been a medical/scientific research team going in there to measure attributes such as VO2 Max and doing comparative studies against say, the well-known Kenyan runners (who've proabably been studied to death). Nevertheless, Mcdougall weaves a great story about a group of Tarahumara runners who showed up at the Leadville 100 and beat everyone else (with the winner in his 50s!) with style, all wearing nothing but sandals they made for themselves out of worn out tires and string.
The second story is about running and footwear. There are several points that Mcdougall bring out to bolster his thesis. First of all, only humans gather around in big groups voluntarily to do sports of massive endurance, whether it's a marathon or a double century. That endurance isn't an accident --- physiologically speaking, humans can dissipate heat better than any other land animal, and even more importantly, humans enjoy these endurance sports. Unfortunately, the other points that Mcdougall discusses aren't as compelling. He discusses persistence hunting, but then admitted that it wasn't something easy to do, and it took a while to find a tribe in Africa that could do it. Even so, it's not practiced by many tribes --- hardly compelling evidence that running was the way humans ran down their prey and got lots of protein to feed that huge brain that we carry around. Then, there's the discussion about how modern footwear is bad for you. However, there's no discussion whatsoever about what's good for you. I've tried the Vibram Five Fingers, and I don't think they're any better for me in avoiding foot pain, or even going fast. I think it would have been a lot more convincing if, for instance, Mcdougall actually did a study about how Tarahumaras constructed their running sandals, why they did it the way they did (they certainly don't do bare-foot running, and my guess is in any kind of rocky country or scree, barefoot running will destroy your feet), and gotten a physiologist, doctor or other scientist to distinguish the important characteristics of good footwear. But perhaps expecting scientific thinking from a journalist would be too much. Then there's the discussion about running technique. He visits Eric Orton, a fitness coach, and gets the following response: "Should I get orthotics?" "Forget the orthotics." ... "How about yoga? That'll help, yeha?" "Forget yoga. Every runner I know who does yoga gets hurt." That intrigues me. Yoga's been frequently prescribed (and over-prescribed, I think) for cyclists. But there's no follow up, no explanation at all about why Orton doesn't think Yoga's a good idea. All in all, this segment felt incomplete, as though Mcdougall suddenly lost interest in the subject and abandoned the book (or threw in other filler) just when it was getting interesting to me.
The final story about the running race just felt out of place to me. Sure, I like a shoot out as much as the next guy, but ultimately, just once race isn't exciting to me. His reportage of the Leadville 100 races were as exciting as the Tarahumara race between Jurek, Barefoot Ted, and the other cast of colorful characters, but it's also clear that he spent so much time on the North American racers that by contrast, the Tarahumara racers got very little coverage. While Mcdougall is a great sports writer, this was not the best part of the book for me.
All in all, I enjoyed the book, and definitely, if you're a runner or have an interest in ultra-marathon running, the book deserves a read. But I guess a really readable layman's treatise on the actual physiology of running and how humans move will have to come from another writer. Recommended with caveats.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Tour of Hokkaido 2009
On August 25th, Yana & Mark Ivey, Brooks Sizemore and I did a Bicycle Tour of Hokkaido (the northern-most big Island of Japan). The ride totaled 1532.3km of riding and 15,300m of climb over 18 riding days, during which we got 2 flat tires, neither of which could be attributed to the condition of Japan's roads. (All tracks were recorded by my Garmin 76CSx, and you download all the tracks in a zipped package)
This is the index page with day-by-day trip reports and will collect all the photos when they show up.
This is the index page with day-by-day trip reports and will collect all the photos when they show up.
The original solicitation letter got enough attention to go ahead, and due to plane ticket pricing and other timing issues, we settled on an August 25th departure.
We used the Collaborative album feature of PicasaWeb to mix all our photos together in chronological order:
- August 25-26: Prologue
- August 27: Chitose to Sapporo
- August 28: Sapporo
- August 29: Sapporo to Yubari
- August 30: Yubari to Furano
- August 31: Furano to Tokachidake Hot Springs
- September 1: Tokachidake Hot Springs to Biei "Potato" Hostel
- September 2: Biei "Potato" Hostel to Asahidake Hot Springs
- September 3: Asahidake Hot Springs to Biei "Tomato" Minshuku
- September 4: Biei "Tomato" Minshuku to Sounkyo Hot Springs
- September 5: Sounkyo Hot Springs to Bihoro
- September 6: Bihoro to Kotan
- September 7: Kotan to Utoro
- September 8: Utoro to Rausu
- September 9: Rausu to Teshikaga
- September 10: Teshikaga to Ashoro
- September 11: Ashoro to Shintoku "Drum Kan"
- September 12: Shintoku "Drum Kan" to Yubari Forest Youth Hostel
- September 13: Yubari Forest Youth Hostel to Lake Shikotsu "Lapland"
- September 14: Lake Shikotsu "Lapland" to Chitose Airport
- September 14-15: Epilogue
- Appendix A: Hokkaido Touring Tips and Resources
- Appendix B: Thoughts on Hokkaido Touring
- Appendix C: Essay - Why You should not tour like Me
Review: Roku Soundbridge
After the prior disappointment with the Logitech Squeezebox, I decided to give the Roku Soundbridge a try.
To be honest, I wasn't expecting much. The vacuum fluorescent display looked cheesy, even on Amazon's web page, and the remote definitely wasn't the snazzy WiFi-compatible one that the Squeezebox had.
The good news is the packaging is very nice. Not nice the way Apple defines it, where unboxing is supposed to be an experience in itself, but nice in the way that I like it --- the plastic box snaps open, pieces aren't wrapped in fancy packaging, and it comes with all the cables I wanted. Even the power plug plays nice with my power strip.
Unlike most dedicated audio systems, there aren't RCA jacks but instead there's just a 3.5mm mini plug. That didn't bother me, since I already had one of those plugged into the receiver for MP3 players, phones, etc. I already had a Firefly server running on my NAS, so I plugged it in and turned it on.
The setup process is intuitive and easy, and really short. Select language, region, time zone, and the wireless network. Then the system reboots itself, and automatically picked up my Firefly server! Sweet! Streaming 320bps VBR MP3s, it sounds great, and I can't complain. It even displays the Japanese song titles on my Miyuki Nakajima tracks!
The downside is I have to create playlists on my Firefly server instead of just importing it from iTunes or Media Monkey. I can live with that. I paid $165 on Amazon's web-site just 2 days ago, but it looks like the price has gone up. Even at $199, though I'll give this little machine an enthusiastic 2 thumbs up. Highly recommended!
Yes, I'm aware that the Soundbridge is an orphaned product, but seriously, if I got 3-5 years out of it, it'll be money well spent. Maybe someone will steal the design and make a clone. Something this good deserves a second chance.
[Update: Greg says you can buy the Soundbridge at Roku's store for $130. At that price, it's a steal.]
To be honest, I wasn't expecting much. The vacuum fluorescent display looked cheesy, even on Amazon's web page, and the remote definitely wasn't the snazzy WiFi-compatible one that the Squeezebox had.
The good news is the packaging is very nice. Not nice the way Apple defines it, where unboxing is supposed to be an experience in itself, but nice in the way that I like it --- the plastic box snaps open, pieces aren't wrapped in fancy packaging, and it comes with all the cables I wanted. Even the power plug plays nice with my power strip.
Unlike most dedicated audio systems, there aren't RCA jacks but instead there's just a 3.5mm mini plug. That didn't bother me, since I already had one of those plugged into the receiver for MP3 players, phones, etc. I already had a Firefly server running on my NAS, so I plugged it in and turned it on.
The setup process is intuitive and easy, and really short. Select language, region, time zone, and the wireless network. Then the system reboots itself, and automatically picked up my Firefly server! Sweet! Streaming 320bps VBR MP3s, it sounds great, and I can't complain. It even displays the Japanese song titles on my Miyuki Nakajima tracks!
The downside is I have to create playlists on my Firefly server instead of just importing it from iTunes or Media Monkey. I can live with that. I paid $165 on Amazon's web-site just 2 days ago, but it looks like the price has gone up. Even at $199, though I'll give this little machine an enthusiastic 2 thumbs up. Highly recommended!
Yes, I'm aware that the Soundbridge is an orphaned product, but seriously, if I got 3-5 years out of it, it'll be money well spent. Maybe someone will steal the design and make a clone. Something this good deserves a second chance.
[Update: Greg says you can buy the Soundbridge at Roku's store for $130. At that price, it's a steal.]
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Epilogue
We arrived once again at Hotel COM's lobby, retrieved our bike boxes and proceeded to disassemble our bikes in the lobby and put them back in the boxes. We ran into other cyclists while we were doing do, and they were impressed that we had spent 3 entire weeks riding in Hokkaido. Characteristic of the Japanese, we were told that our rooms wouldn't be ready till 1pm, but by the time I was finished packing the bike at 12:15pm, they had a room for us.
We had time enough to take a shower, run downtown to Sapporo for lunch, and take the Moiwa-Yama ropeway to the top of a local ski mountain to see the sunset and Sapporo lit up at night.
The initial thinking was that we'd wake up the next day, check in all our baggage, and then take the train back to Chitose (5 minutes) for brunch. But when we went to check in everything at 9:30am, we were told that our original flight to Narita had been cancelled, and we had to take an alternate flight to Haneda airport, transfer to Narita on a bus, and then board our SFO flight from Narita. That led to us getting onto a 10:30am plane.
The whole morass went surprisingly well (perhaps not surprising, since the only person I've ever heard of who was disappointed with Switzerland's efficiency was a Japanese woman) --- we were handed envelops with cash to buy our bus tickets with, our bikes were checked and again treated with white glove treatment by ANA, and the bus transfer went well.
Once in Narita, we had plenty of time to buy lunch, look around and spend the rest of our cash. Unfortunately, between Narita and San Francisco, my Canon G9 went missing. That was very sad as I had no pictures from the last week of the trip as a result!
We had time enough to take a shower, run downtown to Sapporo for lunch, and take the Moiwa-Yama ropeway to the top of a local ski mountain to see the sunset and Sapporo lit up at night.
The initial thinking was that we'd wake up the next day, check in all our baggage, and then take the train back to Chitose (5 minutes) for brunch. But when we went to check in everything at 9:30am, we were told that our original flight to Narita had been cancelled, and we had to take an alternate flight to Haneda airport, transfer to Narita on a bus, and then board our SFO flight from Narita. That led to us getting onto a 10:30am plane.
The whole morass went surprisingly well (perhaps not surprising, since the only person I've ever heard of who was disappointed with Switzerland's efficiency was a Japanese woman) --- we were handed envelops with cash to buy our bus tickets with, our bikes were checked and again treated with white glove treatment by ANA, and the bus transfer went well.
Once in Narita, we had plenty of time to buy lunch, look around and spend the rest of our cash. Unfortunately, between Narita and San Francisco, my Canon G9 went missing. That was very sad as I had no pictures from the last week of the trip as a result!
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