I somehow missed Marvel 1602 when it came out in 2004, probably mistaking it for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which is set 200 years later and doesn't involve Marvel superheroes. Well, there was a Kindle sale, so I picked it up since it was by Neil Gaiman.
The story involves the last days of Queen Elizabeth, and starts with her spymaster, Nicholas Fury meeting her personal Physician Dr. Stephan Strange. Half of the fun of the comic has to do with seeing familiar superheroes and seeing what twists Gaiman chooses to put on them in 1602. It's also interesting to see which superheroes get left out, and how Gaiman ties this universe with the rest of the Marvel mythology. I'm not sure I enjoyed the "multiverse" ploy here in this book, and would have preferred that it be left out, but Gaiman does a reasonable job of it, though he can't resist toying with our expectations.
The art is good, though not spectacular, and the change of venue for marvel characters is reasonable. It's still not as good as Gaiman's magnum opus The Sandman, but there's only so much you can do with licensed characters. It'll make a good light summer read, which according to Gaiman was all he intended. Recommended.
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Review: Rough Stuff Fellowship Archive
You've probably already seen many samples of pictures from the Rough Stuff Fellowship Archive, though you might not have known it. For instance, the following image has probably been seen in many places without proper credit being given to the Rough Stuff Fellowship.
I've actually been a member of the Rough Stuff Fellowship for a year, long enough to purchase their guide to the alps, which is one of the best gravel riding books, except of course, it was written well before the current fashion for gravel riding exists. (One note about the guide: it's rated in typical "British understatement" fashion --- their "easy" rides are challenging, their "moderate" rides involves the certainty that you'll have to get off your bike and carry it, and their "strenuous" rides can involve multiple places where you'll have to carry the luggage and the bike separately! The intended audience is composed of tourists on multi-day trips quite possibly with camping gear)
The pictures in the book are outstanding. The trip to Finland, for instance, apparently started with the tandems being hoisted aboard ship via crane:
I enjoyed the pictures of the alps as they were in the 1950s and 60s, back when Grosse Scheidegg was unpaved. There are numerous pictures of fence climbing, though the famous picture of a cyclist climbing a ladder with bicycle strapped to his back is notably missing.
The winter pictures are great, though I wished that all the pictures came with the accompanying RSF guidebook description and map coordinates, but of course, back in those days of Kodachrome, photographers didn't have GPS devices.
If I have any complaints about this book, it's that the quality of paper and cover (I bought the hardcover version of this book) is lacking. It was quite clearly intended for distribution to club members, but obviously reached a much bigger audience. I wished that they had charged a fee to view the photos digitally, for instance, as the samples on a high quality monitor are a much better way to view them than on the paper in the printed book.
Nevertheless, as a reminder of the days when cyclists didn't need purpose built bikes to go anywhere they wished, the book is great and well worth the purchase. It's not going to be much of a coffee table book, but every enthusiastic gravel rider should have a copy. Recommended!
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Review: The Etymologicon
The Etymologicon was an Audible sale purchase. This is one of those cases where the book and information itself is good, complete with a history of various words and how they came to be, but the presentation lacks structure. In many ways, the book just segues from one word to another in no particular order, so we go from Moby Dick to Starbucks, but without a firm structure to hang all that knowledge it just whizzes by as entertainment and by the end of the book you realize you heard a lot of stories but didn't retain any of them. That makes it not a good use of time.
Monday, October 14, 2019
Review: How To - Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real World Problems
I loved What-If, and wasn't a big fan of Thing Explainer, so I checked out How-To from the library instead of buying it. To my relief, Randall Munro is back on form and How-To is a great read, full of fun musings and intelligent thinking.
In recent months, Bowen's been balking at reading real books, asking to read comic strips instead, and sometimes repeating a book he's already read rather than working on harder material. He even turned his nose up at Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry, which disappointed me as I thought it'd be something that he'd enjoy.
But when I got to the chapter in the book entitled "How to Play Tag", I knew I had him. So I gave it to him at the dinner table (where he would look enviously over his brother's shoulder to watch whatever show grandma was giving him to placate him) and before 3 minutes was over, he'd taken the book off the dinner table and was reading it instead of eating (which is not as impressive as you might think, since Bowen has deprioritized eating below any kind of fun, reasoning that he can always get something to eat as parents won't even deny a child that, but play time is always limited!). Bowen read the entire chapter and then complained that I'd started him on the book at chapter 14, and now he'd have to start over at chapter one and read the entire book!
To my mind, any book that gets your kid to classify reading as "fun-time" is great, and one that's scrupulously accurate, not afraid to use math and equations to explain problems, and demystify the scientific approach to thinking is one to treasure. Highly recommended!
In recent months, Bowen's been balking at reading real books, asking to read comic strips instead, and sometimes repeating a book he's already read rather than working on harder material. He even turned his nose up at Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry, which disappointed me as I thought it'd be something that he'd enjoy.
But when I got to the chapter in the book entitled "How to Play Tag", I knew I had him. So I gave it to him at the dinner table (where he would look enviously over his brother's shoulder to watch whatever show grandma was giving him to placate him) and before 3 minutes was over, he'd taken the book off the dinner table and was reading it instead of eating (which is not as impressive as you might think, since Bowen has deprioritized eating below any kind of fun, reasoning that he can always get something to eat as parents won't even deny a child that, but play time is always limited!). Bowen read the entire chapter and then complained that I'd started him on the book at chapter 14, and now he'd have to start over at chapter one and read the entire book!
To my mind, any book that gets your kid to classify reading as "fun-time" is great, and one that's scrupulously accurate, not afraid to use math and equations to explain problems, and demystify the scientific approach to thinking is one to treasure. Highly recommended!
Friday, October 11, 2019
Review: The Intelligence Trap - Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes
I checked out The Intelligence Trap from the library half expecting it to be a let-down. I thought it might turn out to be another rehash of Khaneman's book, but it turned out not to be that, though it did reference his work.
The interesting thing about this book is that it reveals a new area of study called evidence-based wisdom, a lot of the insights in this book are interesting:
The interesting thing about this book is that it reveals a new area of study called evidence-based wisdom, a lot of the insights in this book are interesting:
- higher humility scores appear to predict scholastic performance (and on-the-job performance as well) even better than IQ.
- teams that have too many super-stars/high performers (more than about 30%) actually underperform teams of fewer super-stars.. In other words, you can actually build a team/company with too many super-stars. This is a counter-intuitive result, and is supported by examples in the book with references to literature.
- once designated a leader, executives frequently become less likely to cooperate, reaching impasses at a far higher rate than less powerful employees lower down in the hierarchy
- experts take many short cuts to get quick decisions fast. However, in that rush, they can fall prey to motivated reasoning, avoiding taking the hard decision to re-examine their work from first principles.
- Asian educational systems are actually better at cultivating evidence-based wisdom, emphasizing thoughtfulness over quickness and confidence.
All in all, the book's well worth the time, and certainly for leaders looking to build teams, has important implications for team building. Recommended.
Thursday, October 10, 2019
Review: The Path to Power
I picked out The Path to Power on Audible because it seemed like the perfect book to use the audiobook treatment on: it was non-fiction, had an interesting topic I didn't know much about, and Robert Caro's On Power had intrigued me, especially the part about rural electrification.
Wow, when people talk about detail, this book has it. I expected it to be a straightforward biography about Lyndon Johnson, but instead, it meandered left and right (politically and metaphorically), discussing his time as well as introducing several political figures of the period that were lesser known to me, like Sam Rayburn.
The description of the political environment was also critical, as it explains how then (as it is now), the Democrats have always been short of money, and the money has always been on the side of the Republican party.
In terms of coverage of Lyndon Johnson, it's extensive and described how he wasn't much of a new dealer, despite his successful attempts to ride on the coat-tails of the very popular Franklin D. Roosevelt. The section on what it took for Johnson to get elected as a Congressional representative was evocative and descriptive: in many cases he traveled to distant farms and villages to make his case, and that was the difference between him and other candidates.
The book spent a lot of time discussing how Johnson became a "professional son", flattering and ingratiating himself to older men with power, as well as how he came to wield power himself, not through electoral popularity, but by being willing funnel public work projects to contractors he favored and then accepting political donations from them. He even got Roosevelt to help cover up these illegal campaign contributions when the contractor (Brown and Root) was investigated by the IRS. The description of the senatorial campaign of 1941 was also impressive, with Caro discussing which districts had votes that could be bought, and how Johnson lost because he made the mistake of letting his bought votes be called in first, as well as how radio and newspapers were used in the campaign.
Of course, the book also describes his affair with Alice Glass and his poor treatment of his wife, Lady Bird Johnson, again, with chapter long digressions into providing thorough biographies of both women.
The book deserves its Pulitzer prize, but imagine my dismay when I discovered that it's part of a 5-book series, and that Caro is still several years from finishing the series, despite projecting that it would be done in 2013! I've checked out the next book in the series from the library, but I'm not sure I'll get around to finishing that! Nevertheless, the book is recommended.
Wow, when people talk about detail, this book has it. I expected it to be a straightforward biography about Lyndon Johnson, but instead, it meandered left and right (politically and metaphorically), discussing his time as well as introducing several political figures of the period that were lesser known to me, like Sam Rayburn.
The description of the political environment was also critical, as it explains how then (as it is now), the Democrats have always been short of money, and the money has always been on the side of the Republican party.
In terms of coverage of Lyndon Johnson, it's extensive and described how he wasn't much of a new dealer, despite his successful attempts to ride on the coat-tails of the very popular Franklin D. Roosevelt. The section on what it took for Johnson to get elected as a Congressional representative was evocative and descriptive: in many cases he traveled to distant farms and villages to make his case, and that was the difference between him and other candidates.
The book spent a lot of time discussing how Johnson became a "professional son", flattering and ingratiating himself to older men with power, as well as how he came to wield power himself, not through electoral popularity, but by being willing funnel public work projects to contractors he favored and then accepting political donations from them. He even got Roosevelt to help cover up these illegal campaign contributions when the contractor (Brown and Root) was investigated by the IRS. The description of the senatorial campaign of 1941 was also impressive, with Caro discussing which districts had votes that could be bought, and how Johnson lost because he made the mistake of letting his bought votes be called in first, as well as how radio and newspapers were used in the campaign.
Of course, the book also describes his affair with Alice Glass and his poor treatment of his wife, Lady Bird Johnson, again, with chapter long digressions into providing thorough biographies of both women.
The book deserves its Pulitzer prize, but imagine my dismay when I discovered that it's part of a 5-book series, and that Caro is still several years from finishing the series, despite projecting that it would be done in 2013! I've checked out the next book in the series from the library, but I'm not sure I'll get around to finishing that! Nevertheless, the book is recommended.
Wednesday, October 09, 2019
Trip Report: Emigrant Wilderness
This year's backpacking trip was suddenly changed to the Emigrant Wilderness (so named because it adjuncts the old wagon road into California) because a cold spell was forecast and Arturo decided that it was a good idea to go lower and not freeze ourselves. We hadn't been hiking much this year, so the proposed length of 4.5 miles sounded good to me.
We drove up on Friday night as soon as Bowen's school let up, and navigated horrendous traffic all the way to the Pinecrest Ranger Station after a burger dinner. It was already late, so we visited the Meadowview Campground, paid $28 for a site, and went to sleep.
The next day, we headed over to the Crabtree trailhead, repacked all our belongings, and headed down the trail. As a last minute decision, I decided to bring the hammock, since it was only an overnight trip and my pack felt light. This turned out to be a good decision. Because we were at a lower elevation, the hiking didn't feel as hard as in previous years, and even Bowen whined a little less than usual.
For it being the weekend the day after labor day, the trail was fairly crowded, with relatively few day hikers but lots of backpackers heading up the trail. Arturo had picked up a permit, saying, "The chances of meeting a ranger are low", but of course we did meet one. Arturo offered to show him the permit but when the ranger found out that the permit was stowed in a hard to reach compartment of the backpack he declined and just said, "I'll trust you." He told us that on the far end of the lake there would be more campsites if the main ones were full.
At Camp Lake, it was time for lunch so we found a spot next to the lake, set up the hammock, and proceeded to eat lunch and enjoy the spot. Bowen felt the water and said it felt warm, not cool, so we had hopes that Bear Lake would be swimmable, even though it would be cooler, since it was significantly bigger.
Bear Lake was only a mile and a half away from Camp Lake, so after lunch, we kept going. Camp Lake was attractive, but there were lots of signs saying: "No camping between trail and Lake", which meant that any camping we did there would be quite far away from water. In retrospect, it would have been a much less crowded campground, with better swimming, but that's only in retrospect.
At Bear Lake, we found that all the spots near the trail was taken, but Arturo hiked around and found a big area that would have been suitable for a group three times our size. We hurriedly took it, pitching tents and putting up the hammock to indicate the boundaries of our spot. None too soon, for another big family came by and eyed our campsite jealously, but moved on and took a spot further along the lake. After all that we gathered firewood for the night's campfire, which was quite an effort since the area was quite denuded of dead wood!
Then it was swimming time, and sure enough, the lake while cold, wasn't too cold to swim in. It was fun and felt fresh, since we hadn't had showers the day before. We then made dinner and watched the sunset. The clouds that had appeared earlier while swimming had gone away, leaving us a crystal clear sky. Arturo told us this was normal in the Sierra during low pressure --- there's not enough moisture during the summer for the clouds to stick! Arturo taught Bowen how to create sparks to start a fire using steel and magnesium. To our relief, the cold spell seemed to have killed off the mosquitoes, and I got away without a single bite.
The purpose of a campfire, of course, is to roast marshmallows and make smores. Bowen ate 10 marshmallows, and then we called it a night.
The next morning, we ate a quick breakfast and packed. It had been cold and my tent had significant bits of condensation, so I had to take it down and move it into the sun so it would dry, but we said goodbye to Bear Lake and headed back to Camp Lake.
At Camp Lake, Bowen was hungry, having ate none of his oatmeal or even drank his apple cider at breakfast, so we setup the hammock, and ate the rest of the lunch we'd brought with us. We were definitely getting a fair bit of use out of the hammock (Arturo said he spent some time in it last night star-gazing as well), so I was glad I paid the weight penalty and brought it! From there, it was less than 2 hours from the trailhead, and we were done!
Tuesday, October 08, 2019
Review: Replay
Replay is Ken Grimwood's novel that was the inspiration for Groundhog day. Well, OK, it's not, but it's what Groundhog day would have been if it was written by an intelligent thinking person. For instance, one of my pet peeves about Groundhog day was that the protagonist never considers doing anything that a smart person would do to break his enchantment (e.g., staying up past midnight). By contrast, while reading Grimwood's novel you get the impression that his protagonists would have tried everything.
The premise of the novel is what if you got to relive your life again, but with all the experience acquired from actually living it, including knowledge of future events, past mistakes, etc. And what if you got a chance to do it again and again?
With a multiple decade span, Grimwood's protagonists try everything, from winning horse races, betting on stocks, hiring Spielberg/Lucas to make movies, etc. The drawbacks of all these opportunities are also presented in focus. The novel even does a good job of ensuring that there's a reasonable ending, though of course, no reasonable explanation of why the protagonists are the only people to get a chance to re-live life that way is posited (or explained). All the actions are drawn to their logical conclusions, and I was happy with the way the novel ended.
Recommended, and thanks to Terence Chua for the recommendation!
The premise of the novel is what if you got to relive your life again, but with all the experience acquired from actually living it, including knowledge of future events, past mistakes, etc. And what if you got a chance to do it again and again?
With a multiple decade span, Grimwood's protagonists try everything, from winning horse races, betting on stocks, hiring Spielberg/Lucas to make movies, etc. The drawbacks of all these opportunities are also presented in focus. The novel even does a good job of ensuring that there's a reasonable ending, though of course, no reasonable explanation of why the protagonists are the only people to get a chance to re-live life that way is posited (or explained). All the actions are drawn to their logical conclusions, and I was happy with the way the novel ended.
Recommended, and thanks to Terence Chua for the recommendation!
Monday, October 07, 2019
Review: Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry
I checked Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry out from the library hoping that Bowen would read it, but Bowen turned his nose up at it after reading one chapter. To my surprise, I found myself sucked into it and just finished reading it in a couple of days.
The book does a fantastic job of introducing the Big Bang Theory, the 4 fundamental forces, and Hubble expansion, relativity, and myriad other topics without either talking down to the reader or resorting to equations and dense mathematics. In some cases, like relativity or quantum mechanics, the topic is mentioned as relevant and the reader is left to do more reading and research if interested, but the subject isn't beaten to death.
The book's a short quick read, and I hope to get Bowen to give it another chance one day. Recommended.
The book does a fantastic job of introducing the Big Bang Theory, the 4 fundamental forces, and Hubble expansion, relativity, and myriad other topics without either talking down to the reader or resorting to equations and dense mathematics. In some cases, like relativity or quantum mechanics, the topic is mentioned as relevant and the reader is left to do more reading and research if interested, but the subject isn't beaten to death.
The book's a short quick read, and I hope to get Bowen to give it another chance one day. Recommended.
Friday, October 04, 2019
Review: The Witcher Omnibus
I was browsing Hoopla and found The Witcher, which intrigued me, since it apparently told new and different stories and weren't based on the novels or the video game.
The book itself is split into 5 different unrelated stories with no transition between them --- you can read all the stories out of order as there's no apparent chronology linking them. In fact, in one of the stories Geralt loses both his swords, and there's no story that explains how he gets them back.
One of the stories is a one shot, but two of them are fairly long, involving plot twists that are very similar to those found in the novel or the video game, which I enjoyed. On the other hand, the other stories seem a little more straightforward, and in all but one of the stories, the art is lackluster.
I came away from the graphic novel thinking that it was good and not a waste of time, but thinking that the video game was by far the best version of all the stories.
The book itself is split into 5 different unrelated stories with no transition between them --- you can read all the stories out of order as there's no apparent chronology linking them. In fact, in one of the stories Geralt loses both his swords, and there's no story that explains how he gets them back.
One of the stories is a one shot, but two of them are fairly long, involving plot twists that are very similar to those found in the novel or the video game, which I enjoyed. On the other hand, the other stories seem a little more straightforward, and in all but one of the stories, the art is lackluster.
I came away from the graphic novel thinking that it was good and not a waste of time, but thinking that the video game was by far the best version of all the stories.
Thursday, October 03, 2019
Review: Pamu Slide Wireless Headset
My biggest issue with the Taotronics headset was that while the sound was fine, the headset didn't work very well for phone calls, with 30% of people complaining that I sounded muddy. Even worse, the device took up to 9 seconds to pair with the phone when taken out of its case, which makes them less useful for receiving phone calls than I had hoped. Pamu Slide's indiegogo page indicated that they'd been shipping product for quite some time, and had sold quite a number of units, meaning that whether the product sucked, you would at least get something for the money. They seem to be running a permanent indiegogo campaign, where even after reaching production, they're using the crowd-funding website as a sales channel.
They're currently charging $80 + shipping for a pair, but when I made the purchase it was $50 + shipping. The reviews on the web seemed reasonable, so I ordered a pair. The thing with indiegogo as a platform is that once you commit it's hard to back out and difficult to get refunds, and at the current price, they're not priced any better than any number of competitors on Amazon, so I wouldn't recommend you try these.
At $50, the device has a few advantages compared to the Taotronics unit. First, it charges using USB-C. Secondly, the case is much less prone to flipping open accidentally and dumping out the ear buds. (The Taotronics does so with impunity). Third, no one has ever complained about phone calls made using the unit. Fourthly, the battery life is supposedly longer, but that wasn't an issue since I don't tend to have these types of earbuds in my ear for more than half an hour at a time anyway. The case's battery lasts pretty much forever, and I don't have to charge the case more than once a month. Finally, the latency between pulling out the headphones and connecting to the phone is about 3s, which means that it's actually useful for receiving calls. In extended use, I discovered that after about 30-40 minutes of use the unit would power-off and reboot! This is no big deal for me, since I don't tend to use these ear buds for more than 30 minutes at a time, but it could be a deal breaker for many, especially at the $80 price point. The unit is also heavier than the Taotronics.
Disappointingly enough, the unit isn't better about dropped signal than the Taotronics, and it doesn't sound any louder. In single-earbud mode, it might actually be softer! The fit feels more secure, and the device comes with 6 extra pairs of differently sized buds so you can find an optimum fit. One problem which happens with the Pamu but never happens with the Taotronics is that occasionally the device would hit a software snag and shut itself down for no apparent reason. Despite that, I found myself leaning towards the Pamu slide for day to day use, reserving the Taotronics unit for trips where I needed both the powerbank and headset features.
All in all, at about $50 or less, I think these are a reasonable upgrade over the Taotronics. But at the current asking price of $80, I'd pass on them. They're better, but not that much better.
They're currently charging $80 + shipping for a pair, but when I made the purchase it was $50 + shipping. The reviews on the web seemed reasonable, so I ordered a pair. The thing with indiegogo as a platform is that once you commit it's hard to back out and difficult to get refunds, and at the current price, they're not priced any better than any number of competitors on Amazon, so I wouldn't recommend you try these.
At $50, the device has a few advantages compared to the Taotronics unit. First, it charges using USB-C. Secondly, the case is much less prone to flipping open accidentally and dumping out the ear buds. (The Taotronics does so with impunity). Third, no one has ever complained about phone calls made using the unit. Fourthly, the battery life is supposedly longer, but that wasn't an issue since I don't tend to have these types of earbuds in my ear for more than half an hour at a time anyway. The case's battery lasts pretty much forever, and I don't have to charge the case more than once a month. Finally, the latency between pulling out the headphones and connecting to the phone is about 3s, which means that it's actually useful for receiving calls. In extended use, I discovered that after about 30-40 minutes of use the unit would power-off and reboot! This is no big deal for me, since I don't tend to use these ear buds for more than 30 minutes at a time, but it could be a deal breaker for many, especially at the $80 price point. The unit is also heavier than the Taotronics.
Disappointingly enough, the unit isn't better about dropped signal than the Taotronics, and it doesn't sound any louder. In single-earbud mode, it might actually be softer! The fit feels more secure, and the device comes with 6 extra pairs of differently sized buds so you can find an optimum fit. One problem which happens with the Pamu but never happens with the Taotronics is that occasionally the device would hit a software snag and shut itself down for no apparent reason. Despite that, I found myself leaning towards the Pamu slide for day to day use, reserving the Taotronics unit for trips where I needed both the powerbank and headset features.
All in all, at about $50 or less, I think these are a reasonable upgrade over the Taotronics. But at the current asking price of $80, I'd pass on them. They're better, but not that much better.
Wednesday, October 02, 2019
Review: Logtech MX Ergo Mouse
I've been quite happy with my old Logitech M570 trackball for years. It's frequently on sale for $20 or less, and has been reliable, though obviously nothing can withstand Boen picking it up and throwing it hard enough on the floor to smash into teeny little bits.
The purchase of the XPS 13, however, made the M570 more inconvenient to use: that machine has no USB-A slots! While Dell thankfully provided a dongle, it definitely made switching between machines more of a hassle than it had to be, so when Boen broke one of the M570s and it was time for a replacement I picked up the MX Ergo Mouse instead.
The device when it cames, comes with a steel plate so you can tilt the mouse at 20 degrees or zero, a base that has provides 30 degrees of tilt, and a unifying receiver. I plugged the receiver onto my desktop and was almost immediately in business, no pairing or software installation needed. I then pushed the selector switch, and paired it with the XPS 13. Not only did it pair with the XPS almost immediately, flipping between the two machines was near instantaneous. The unifying receiver on the desktop allowed me to bypass the cheap bluetooth dongle that I still haven't found a good replacement for.
You can install software for it: it's called logitech options. The intended use case is to let you copy/paste between computers, or line up two machines and move the mouse from one to the other to switch. (If you have a logitech keyboard, which I don't, switching the mouse moves the keyboard over as well) The software works, but isn't more convenient than just pushing the button on the mouse.
As for the rest of it, it's a well functioning trackball. It has a rechargeable battery so I don't have to replace AA batteries like on the M570, but on the other hand, the need to replace the M570's batteries every couple of years or so hasn't been a big bother, so that part's a wash. Being able to not have to deal with dongles on the laptop, however, is a big win all around. Recommended!
The purchase of the XPS 13, however, made the M570 more inconvenient to use: that machine has no USB-A slots! While Dell thankfully provided a dongle, it definitely made switching between machines more of a hassle than it had to be, so when Boen broke one of the M570s and it was time for a replacement I picked up the MX Ergo Mouse instead.
The device when it cames, comes with a steel plate so you can tilt the mouse at 20 degrees or zero, a base that has provides 30 degrees of tilt, and a unifying receiver. I plugged the receiver onto my desktop and was almost immediately in business, no pairing or software installation needed. I then pushed the selector switch, and paired it with the XPS 13. Not only did it pair with the XPS almost immediately, flipping between the two machines was near instantaneous. The unifying receiver on the desktop allowed me to bypass the cheap bluetooth dongle that I still haven't found a good replacement for.
You can install software for it: it's called logitech options. The intended use case is to let you copy/paste between computers, or line up two machines and move the mouse from one to the other to switch. (If you have a logitech keyboard, which I don't, switching the mouse moves the keyboard over as well) The software works, but isn't more convenient than just pushing the button on the mouse.
As for the rest of it, it's a well functioning trackball. It has a rechargeable battery so I don't have to replace AA batteries like on the M570, but on the other hand, the need to replace the M570's batteries every couple of years or so hasn't been a big bother, so that part's a wash. Being able to not have to deal with dongles on the laptop, however, is a big win all around. Recommended!
Tuesday, October 01, 2019
Review: Kochland
Kochland is Christopher Leonard's history of Koch Industries, and how it became not just a multi-billion dollar conglomerate, but also a political heavy weight, with deep influence on not just by defeating Democratic initiatives such as cap-and-trade for carbon, but also Republican initiatives that you might or might not have heard about because they were defeated before even being publicly debated.
Before I read the book, I thought that the main reason Americans didn't vote for a greener lifestyle or better working conditions (such as longer mandated vacations, etc) was because they were either too uneducated, selfish, or simply in-thrall with religion to understand the issues involved, even though many of them were really simple (seriously? oppose a mandated family leave policy? or do away with for-profit health insurance companies?). To some extent I think that, still, but now I know that's not the entire story.
The Koch brothers were MIT trained. What that meant was that all their malice and avarice had purpose, and was guided by an engineer's ability to optimize their goals in ways that less competent evil people could have done. They also started with a fairly substantial legacy left by their father, Fred Koch, who was also a right wing libertarian. The author does a very good job of balancing the coverage of early Koch industries as being driven by profits above all else (including a lack of compunction when it comes to polluting the environment) before Charles Koch came to the conclusion that compliance with the law not only made business sense in terms of avoiding punitive fines, but also ensured that the legal system didn't have an excuse to investigate him so he could maintain his privacy.
I cam away from this book not only with a better understanding of how Koch Industries changed the political landscape until attempting to reduce greenhouse emissions is considered anathema to the Republican party, but also a strong sense that if there was any justice at all, the entire company and all its executives should be convicted of crimes against humanity. Not that I'm about to hold my breath --- I read with dismay of passage after passage describing how chillingly competent the Koch political operations are, and the surprisingly little amount of money it takes to buy American politicians.
If you want to understand the modern political landscape (as well as what's likely to happen after the 2020 elections), this book is invaluable. And you know what, when my sons start to blame me for what are sure to be more horrifically hot summers to come in future years and decades, I'll want to have a copy of this book handy to give to them and show them that there was no way I could have stopped this evil juggernaut from screwing them over.
The one thing the jumps out at me is that philanthropists like the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation have made a fundamental strategic area in where they've put their money: it does no good to save millions in Africa from malaria when you've got the Koch brothers putting their money and leveraging it and turning the USA away from solutions to the climate change that is already causing mass migration and will surely kill many more in the future. It's quite clear to me that Koch has gotten a huge ROI on their investment in their political infrastructure, and now that this book is in public hands, I wouldn't be surprised to see more wealthy people join them.
You should stop whatever you're doing and read this book. That's how important it is.
Before I read the book, I thought that the main reason Americans didn't vote for a greener lifestyle or better working conditions (such as longer mandated vacations, etc) was because they were either too uneducated, selfish, or simply in-thrall with religion to understand the issues involved, even though many of them were really simple (seriously? oppose a mandated family leave policy? or do away with for-profit health insurance companies?). To some extent I think that, still, but now I know that's not the entire story.
The Koch brothers were MIT trained. What that meant was that all their malice and avarice had purpose, and was guided by an engineer's ability to optimize their goals in ways that less competent evil people could have done. They also started with a fairly substantial legacy left by their father, Fred Koch, who was also a right wing libertarian. The author does a very good job of balancing the coverage of early Koch industries as being driven by profits above all else (including a lack of compunction when it comes to polluting the environment) before Charles Koch came to the conclusion that compliance with the law not only made business sense in terms of avoiding punitive fines, but also ensured that the legal system didn't have an excuse to investigate him so he could maintain his privacy.
I cam away from this book not only with a better understanding of how Koch Industries changed the political landscape until attempting to reduce greenhouse emissions is considered anathema to the Republican party, but also a strong sense that if there was any justice at all, the entire company and all its executives should be convicted of crimes against humanity. Not that I'm about to hold my breath --- I read with dismay of passage after passage describing how chillingly competent the Koch political operations are, and the surprisingly little amount of money it takes to buy American politicians.
If you want to understand the modern political landscape (as well as what's likely to happen after the 2020 elections), this book is invaluable. And you know what, when my sons start to blame me for what are sure to be more horrifically hot summers to come in future years and decades, I'll want to have a copy of this book handy to give to them and show them that there was no way I could have stopped this evil juggernaut from screwing them over.
The one thing the jumps out at me is that philanthropists like the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation have made a fundamental strategic area in where they've put their money: it does no good to save millions in Africa from malaria when you've got the Koch brothers putting their money and leveraging it and turning the USA away from solutions to the climate change that is already causing mass migration and will surely kill many more in the future. It's quite clear to me that Koch has gotten a huge ROI on their investment in their political infrastructure, and now that this book is in public hands, I wouldn't be surprised to see more wealthy people join them.
You should stop whatever you're doing and read this book. That's how important it is.
In 2007, for example, Koch Industries quietly funded the work of a Democratic-leaning think tank called Third Way. The think tank promoted “New Democrat” policies such as those embraced by Bill Clinton: neoliberal policies that sought to combine New Deal goals with free-market methods. Lobbyists at Koch’s office knew that Third Way’s economic study program supported free-trade policies such as NAFTA. Such trade policies were under attack in 2007 because they did not deliver the economic benefits that they had promised to huge swaths of the American population. The textile industry of South Carolina, for example, was decimated by trade agreements, such as NAFTA. This was stoking opposition to such trade agreements among both Democratic and Republican politicians. Koch Industries supported free-trade agreements and wanted to ensure the passage of future trade deals, while blocking any reversal of existing deals. The possibility of any trade war was dangerous for Koch Industries not just because the company had extensive business holdings around the world. To take one specific but very high-stakes example: Koch’s Pine Bend refinery, still a major profit center for the company, was deeply dependent on oil imports from Canada. Any trade disputes ignited by renegotiating NAFTA could dramatically hurt Koch’s profitability. (Kindle Loc 7343)
ExxonMobil also funded third-party groups that sought to raise doubts about the science behind climate change and to fight the cap-and-trade bill. But Greenpeace, the environmental activist group that fought hard to limit air pollution, found that Koch Industries fought to undermine the scientific consensus around climate change for longer, and more fiercely, than even Exxon. A 2010 Greenpeace analysis of spending on climate-denial groups between 2005 and 2008 found that Koch Industries and its affiliates spent $24.9 million to support such groups, almost triple Exxon’s $8.9 million in spending.V And Koch was more uncompromising than Exxon, whose lobbyists made it known that Exxon might support some sort of carbon emissions plan, such as a carbon tax. (Kindle Loc 7407)
Of the eighty-five newly elected Republicans who arrived in Washington, seventy-six had signed Americans for Prosperity’s carbon pledge, vowing they would never support a federal climate bill that added to the government’s tax revenue. Of those seventy-six members of Congress, fifty-seven of the signees had received campaign contributions from Koch Industries’ PAC, according to an analysis by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University. Koch Industries had terminally stalled the Waxman-Markey bill in the Senate, and now it had salted the earth behind it, ensuring that a new climate change bill would never grow. (Kinde Loc 7502)
Monday, September 30, 2019
Review: Training + Racing with a Power Meter
Now that I had a power meter, I decided to do some reading to see what it's supposed to do for me, and why it's considered "the high grade hotness" in cycling training. Training + Racing with a Power Meter came recommended (and is sold by) the people who made the PowerPod, but I was too cheap to buy the book and just checked it out from the library.
The book is a huge thick volume, and is chock full of diagrams, graphs, etc. It's mostly targeted for the coach, but obviously that applies to you as well if you're self-coaching. The graphs and technical what-not look intimidating, but I think I can distill the use of power meters in training as follows:
The book is a huge thick volume, and is chock full of diagrams, graphs, etc. It's mostly targeted for the coach, but obviously that applies to you as well if you're self-coaching. The graphs and technical what-not look intimidating, but I think I can distill the use of power meters in training as follows:
- You can use it to establish a baseline power called the FTP --- Functional Threshold Power, which is basically the highest sustained power you can maintain over a period of about an hour. The protocol for doing this is complex and sounds painful, but fortunately you can download an app to your Garmin watch/head unit that'll give you a fairly accurate assessment in a few minutes. Obviously, you can't do this without a power meter.
- In conjunction with a heart rate monitor, the power meter can tell you whether you're over-stressed (overtrained) or under-stressed (i.e., could stand to work out harder). Basically, if you can maintain or even increase your power output at the same heart rate as before, you can up the intensity/volume of your training without risking being over-trained. Conversely, if your heart rate is high but you have trouble sustaining your FTP, then you're over-trained and should back-off. This is actually of limited use to a self-coached cyclist, as you can judge for yourself whether you're tired. But hey, the data can be there to for you to recognized that you truly are tired, not that you're being lazy, and so might encourage you to rest more than you would otherwise. (Resting is apparently something very hard for the type-A race winning cyclist to do)
- Over time, you can see whether your power is increasing, which tells you how effective your training program is. Conversely, by checking your power output sustainability (basically, graphing your power output over time), you can find out how fresh (rested) you are. For instance, after a tour of the alps you might be very fit, but you certainly are not fresh. A week of rest later, however, your fitness might have dropped, but your freshness means you can go out cycling and break all your PRs on the local hills. Being able to track all that means that you can personalize exactly how much rest you need in order to have maximum freshness for a big event. (Known as the "taper")
- Finally, during the event, you use the power meter to pace yourself, so as to not exceed your FTP too often or for too long. Doing so burns one of your "matches" (and yes, you can use the power meter and a training regiment to figure out how many matches you have, and increase the number of matches you have), and you will not be able to sustain that pace for very long without damaging your overall power output.
And indeed, if you look at those 4 items above, you'll see that there's no reason to buy an expensive power meter --- the cheap unit (yes, it's in the book) will work just fine!
OK, did I just give you the short summary of an $18 book for free? Of course not. The devils are in the details, and the book mostly provides graphs, charts, and case studies on how to build a training regiment that's effective. It even classifies cyclists according to their power curve to be able to more easily customize an effective program for you and the type of riding you do. I discovered, for instance, that I was a sprinter-type (not a surprise: 23 and me told me that several years ago), but unfortunately, there's no training program that'll help a dad who has to carry 2 kids on a triplet over a 3 week tour. All the training advice seems geared to cyclists who are targeting a one day event, and who's racing for prizes, positions/whatever. I'm just trying to enjoy myself and have a good time while grabbing photos of the scenery, and there's no training program for that!
You don't even have to read the book to make use of the information. There are two major websites, Training Peaks and Xerts that will suck in your data from Garmin or Strava, and then either spit out a training plan to sync (Xerts) to your Garmin Edge automatically (watches not supported or I'd be tempted to try a 'structured workout') or let you buy a training plan/link to a coach (Training Peaks) to help you achieve your goals. Xerts claims to be powered by machine learning, and I wish they supported my Fenix 5X so I could see if their stuff worked, while Training Peaks seems to basically be an advertising platform for remote sports coaches to charge you hundreds of dollars a month to torture you, which is something I would think that I would pay to avoid, but of course, as one of my friends once said to me, "The problem with you, Piaw, is that you want to enjoy the ride! Don't you know that if you don't feel like throwing up you didn't go hard enough?" If that last statement describes you, don't walk, run to your web browser, buy the book, power meter, and head unit and go to it! If you don't think that enjoying the ride is a problem, then this blog post probably describes everything you needed to know about power meters.
P.S. It turns out there's a chrome extension (Elevate for Strava) that graphs and tracks your power development, fatigue, fitness, etc for free by scraping your data off Strava and storing it in a Chrome sandbox (i.e., it's not online, doesn't depend on servers and you have to manage saved files manually and back it up manually). One of my friends used it with great success for this year's PBP. It looks much easier to use but won't suggest workouts, etc to optimize your training.
P.S. It turns out there's a chrome extension (Elevate for Strava) that graphs and tracks your power development, fatigue, fitness, etc for free by scraping your data off Strava and storing it in a Chrome sandbox (i.e., it's not online, doesn't depend on servers and you have to manage saved files manually and back it up manually). One of my friends used it with great success for this year's PBP. It looks much easier to use but won't suggest workouts, etc to optimize your training.
Friday, September 27, 2019
Review: Shadow Captain
Shadow Captain is Alastair Reynold's middle book in the trilogy that started with Revenger. Revenger was very much a pirate story set in space, and Shadow Captain has the unenviable job of fulfilling both the pirate story part, as well as changing it from a typical space opera into more science fiction. It succeeds in the former, but fails in the latter, as the author decided to hold back more exposition in favor of having a 3rd book in a trilogy.
The start of the story is slow, though it makes sense. We get a nice picture of the Ness sisters spiraling into the life they'd hoped to leave behind, as they're pursued by the law and have to make questionable decisions. They each have been corrupted by the events in the previous book, and have to reconcile their decisions with their image of who they are.
The book picks up in the last 3rd, and there's plenty of action and the conceits of the science fiction setting finally kicks in --- we get the impression that the cycle of civilizations has a longer arc and is more malleable than we thought as the book goes on. I'll pick up the next book in the series: even mediocre Reynolds is still more interesting than most other people's fiction. Recommended.
The start of the story is slow, though it makes sense. We get a nice picture of the Ness sisters spiraling into the life they'd hoped to leave behind, as they're pursued by the law and have to make questionable decisions. They each have been corrupted by the events in the previous book, and have to reconcile their decisions with their image of who they are.
The book picks up in the last 3rd, and there's plenty of action and the conceits of the science fiction setting finally kicks in --- we get the impression that the cycle of civilizations has a longer arc and is more malleable than we thought as the book goes on. I'll pick up the next book in the series: even mediocre Reynolds is still more interesting than most other people's fiction. Recommended.
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Review: Velocomp Powerpod V3
I'd resisted getting a power meter for years. To begin with, they're expensive, usually exceeding $600 when all is said and done. Secondly, most of them require you to either replace your wheel, cranks, or pedals. The pedal ones are particularly bad, since none of the power meters that are pedal based have walkable cleats!
When the Velocomp Powerpod v3 had a flash sale for $200, I decided it was worth a try. It was relatively light, was reasonably priced, and most of all, had technology that appealed to the software engineer in me. The approach Velocomp takes with power meters is to have a device with an integrated wind sensor, barometer, and several accelerometers that would also pair with your wheel sensor and cadence sensor.
The wind sensor would be used to calculate the opposing force via wind resistance. The barometer would be used to calculate opposing force from climbing (along with distance measurements from the wheel sensor). You would calculate rolling resistance from the deceleration when coasting (you would know when the cycling was coasting via the cadence sensor). You could even take into account a gravel road or bumps via an internal accelerometer that has a model for gravel. Tie everything together and you'd have a power meter that didn't need strain gauges. You could also tie everything together by automatically recalibrating at the start of every ride just in case the cyclist changed wheels, tire pressure, or even hand positions.
Of course, that meant that you couldn't have anything in front of the Powerpod that blocked the wind. Since I ride with a handlebar bag, the typical handlebar setup wouldn't work, but I'd already solved that problem for my light, so now I solved it by getting another Origin8 stub and a shim. The result was a pod that hung on the fork above the hub, in pretty much an ideal position.
The device has the mark of a home-made job. For instance, there's just one LED and one button. You pair your sensors by holding down that one button to turn it on. The LED is supposed to tell yellow so you can pair it with the wheel sensor (the cadence sensor is optional, but as indicated above, is also used to provide more data for calibration). But mine never turned yellow, no matter what. You can also pair a HRM sensor to it so that you can graph the HR data alongside the power. Then you're going to pair your head unit and go out for a calibration ride which is about 10 minutes long. You ride out and watch your power meter go from 0-50W, then turn around and ride back. When you get back to your start it'll read 100W and then start reporting real power. That's it! I recently tried calibrating it without following the out and back instructions, and to my surprise it calibrated fine as well. I guess it just needs a lot more data as the calibration required more time.
There are additional inputs you can provide for more accuracy, including your body weight and the weight of your bike. However, you don't have to stress very much about being absolutely accurate. This is where I wished the device would just sync with my Garmin connect account to extract body weight, for instance.
The device is extremely dependent on software, so software bugs would cause the power meter to lock up. At first I thought I had a defective unit or had broken it, but customer support told me to just hold down the power button for 15s to reset it. The reset didn't cause it to lose its calibration, but it did reset the internal clock so I had to tell it what the time was the next time I connected it to a PC (fortunately, the PC would also let me correct the date/times in the ride fall as well). In theory, the unit could be removed from the bike and then replaced, but every time you did that it'd have to recalibrate to its new position, so I simply solved that issue by bringing the laptop over and connecting it to download data. I suspect that the "bike-to-bike" move feature isn't going to be used very often, but so far recalibration hasn't been a major hassle.
Customer support answered relatively quickly, even on a Saturday or Sunday. So whatever else I can say, the company seemed to be very responsive. I thought at first that meant it was a one-man shop, but a visit to LinkedIn revealed that the company had about 15 employees or so, and had been around for quite a while. On reflection, the product itself contributes to the feeling that Velocomp is a one man shop. For instance, there's only a single LED, and it's blink states are used to indicate whether it's on, acquiring a pairing with a sensor, is low on power, or is charging. That's way too overloaded, and as a result I ran out of power once without realizing it, and I could never figure out when the device has been charged. I just end up plugging it in and leaving it plugged in overnight.
The device comes with software mysteriously called "Issac" after "Issac Newton", back when the product was called the Newton. The software graphs your power alongside your cadence, and can even merge your GPS files so you can visualize your power graph on Google Earth.
The big question people have is accuracy. I'm not about to buy a $600 power meter so I can verify the accuracy of the unit, but as far as I can tell, it's self-consistent. Obviously if you make a mistake by entering too high a body weight you'll get high readings for power, and of course, if you do an entire ride standing up but you calibrated the unit by being in the drops you might get power readings too low. But all in all, the unit has been very responsive and pretty good about adjusting for wheel swaps, etc.
Another issue with a device like this: what do you do with all this data? The big one as far as I can tell, is to integrate power into your training with a website such as Xert. These units will tell you (after you sync the data with Garmin Connect or Strava) what your fitness status is, how much power you have available, and even more intriguingly, how tired you are. You can then use that data to decide how hard to train and how much to rest. I was very surprised to see that even though I've always considered myself too lazy to seriously train, that I had a high enough volume of riding and physical activity that Xert and other that I was tired and should consider backing off or riding at lower intensity.
Immediately after acquiring the unit, I made my fastest time ever up a benchmark hill. I had the Garmin set to display power information, but went too hard at first and had to slow down. The power meter showed me sustaining a 200+W power output but as I got tired my power curve would drop. So if you're trying to pace yourself you'd figure out your long term sustainable power and try to stick to that instead of having power drop off, but it did show me how someone like a triathlete would use this data in a race. I'm likely to just ignore it and have fun.
The big limitation of a unit like this (as opposed to the pedal based or crank based system) is that it's only going to measure overall power use. So if you were on a triplet with your two kids, it could only measure the overall power produced by all of you, whereas the crank based unit would tell you how hard you were working. On the other hand, the wheel-based power meters also have the same issue, and you don't see anyone dismissing the legitimacy of those devices as power meters. You just have to be aware of the limitations of the unit before you buy.
All in all, the device punches well above its price class. I think if you want a power meter, it's well worth considering a powerpod over the more expensive alternatives. Certainly for training and racing purposes, most of the time you're not after absolute power, but relative power to see whether you're improving or need to back off. In which case, I see no reason to spend the extra money for a "real" power meter --- if you're serious about getting faster (I'm not), spend the difference on a coach or training service that will use the additional data to help you get stronger faster!
When the Velocomp Powerpod v3 had a flash sale for $200, I decided it was worth a try. It was relatively light, was reasonably priced, and most of all, had technology that appealed to the software engineer in me. The approach Velocomp takes with power meters is to have a device with an integrated wind sensor, barometer, and several accelerometers that would also pair with your wheel sensor and cadence sensor.
The wind sensor would be used to calculate the opposing force via wind resistance. The barometer would be used to calculate opposing force from climbing (along with distance measurements from the wheel sensor). You would calculate rolling resistance from the deceleration when coasting (you would know when the cycling was coasting via the cadence sensor). You could even take into account a gravel road or bumps via an internal accelerometer that has a model for gravel. Tie everything together and you'd have a power meter that didn't need strain gauges. You could also tie everything together by automatically recalibrating at the start of every ride just in case the cyclist changed wheels, tire pressure, or even hand positions.
Of course, that meant that you couldn't have anything in front of the Powerpod that blocked the wind. Since I ride with a handlebar bag, the typical handlebar setup wouldn't work, but I'd already solved that problem for my light, so now I solved it by getting another Origin8 stub and a shim. The result was a pod that hung on the fork above the hub, in pretty much an ideal position.
The device has the mark of a home-made job. For instance, there's just one LED and one button. You pair your sensors by holding down that one button to turn it on. The LED is supposed to tell yellow so you can pair it with the wheel sensor (the cadence sensor is optional, but as indicated above, is also used to provide more data for calibration). But mine never turned yellow, no matter what. You can also pair a HRM sensor to it so that you can graph the HR data alongside the power. Then you're going to pair your head unit and go out for a calibration ride which is about 10 minutes long. You ride out and watch your power meter go from 0-50W, then turn around and ride back. When you get back to your start it'll read 100W and then start reporting real power. That's it! I recently tried calibrating it without following the out and back instructions, and to my surprise it calibrated fine as well. I guess it just needs a lot more data as the calibration required more time.
There are additional inputs you can provide for more accuracy, including your body weight and the weight of your bike. However, you don't have to stress very much about being absolutely accurate. This is where I wished the device would just sync with my Garmin connect account to extract body weight, for instance.
The device is extremely dependent on software, so software bugs would cause the power meter to lock up. At first I thought I had a defective unit or had broken it, but customer support told me to just hold down the power button for 15s to reset it. The reset didn't cause it to lose its calibration, but it did reset the internal clock so I had to tell it what the time was the next time I connected it to a PC (fortunately, the PC would also let me correct the date/times in the ride fall as well). In theory, the unit could be removed from the bike and then replaced, but every time you did that it'd have to recalibrate to its new position, so I simply solved that issue by bringing the laptop over and connecting it to download data. I suspect that the "bike-to-bike" move feature isn't going to be used very often, but so far recalibration hasn't been a major hassle.
Customer support answered relatively quickly, even on a Saturday or Sunday. So whatever else I can say, the company seemed to be very responsive. I thought at first that meant it was a one-man shop, but a visit to LinkedIn revealed that the company had about 15 employees or so, and had been around for quite a while. On reflection, the product itself contributes to the feeling that Velocomp is a one man shop. For instance, there's only a single LED, and it's blink states are used to indicate whether it's on, acquiring a pairing with a sensor, is low on power, or is charging. That's way too overloaded, and as a result I ran out of power once without realizing it, and I could never figure out when the device has been charged. I just end up plugging it in and leaving it plugged in overnight.
The device comes with software mysteriously called "Issac" after "Issac Newton", back when the product was called the Newton. The software graphs your power alongside your cadence, and can even merge your GPS files so you can visualize your power graph on Google Earth.
The big question people have is accuracy. I'm not about to buy a $600 power meter so I can verify the accuracy of the unit, but as far as I can tell, it's self-consistent. Obviously if you make a mistake by entering too high a body weight you'll get high readings for power, and of course, if you do an entire ride standing up but you calibrated the unit by being in the drops you might get power readings too low. But all in all, the unit has been very responsive and pretty good about adjusting for wheel swaps, etc.
Another issue with a device like this: what do you do with all this data? The big one as far as I can tell, is to integrate power into your training with a website such as Xert. These units will tell you (after you sync the data with Garmin Connect or Strava) what your fitness status is, how much power you have available, and even more intriguingly, how tired you are. You can then use that data to decide how hard to train and how much to rest. I was very surprised to see that even though I've always considered myself too lazy to seriously train, that I had a high enough volume of riding and physical activity that Xert and other that I was tired and should consider backing off or riding at lower intensity.
Immediately after acquiring the unit, I made my fastest time ever up a benchmark hill. I had the Garmin set to display power information, but went too hard at first and had to slow down. The power meter showed me sustaining a 200+W power output but as I got tired my power curve would drop. So if you're trying to pace yourself you'd figure out your long term sustainable power and try to stick to that instead of having power drop off, but it did show me how someone like a triathlete would use this data in a race. I'm likely to just ignore it and have fun.
The big limitation of a unit like this (as opposed to the pedal based or crank based system) is that it's only going to measure overall power use. So if you were on a triplet with your two kids, it could only measure the overall power produced by all of you, whereas the crank based unit would tell you how hard you were working. On the other hand, the wheel-based power meters also have the same issue, and you don't see anyone dismissing the legitimacy of those devices as power meters. You just have to be aware of the limitations of the unit before you buy.
All in all, the device punches well above its price class. I think if you want a power meter, it's well worth considering a powerpod over the more expensive alternatives. Certainly for training and racing purposes, most of the time you're not after absolute power, but relative power to see whether you're improving or need to back off. In which case, I see no reason to spend the extra money for a "real" power meter --- if you're serious about getting faster (I'm not), spend the difference on a coach or training service that will use the additional data to help you get stronger faster!
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Review: Permafrost
Permafrost is Alastair Reynold's short time travel novel. It was expanded from one of his short stories, and is set entirely in Russia. Rather than deal with tricks or some sort of "law of unbreakable history" like some other time travel stories, Permafrost pushes head-on into time paradoxes, with interesting rules about what happens when a paradox is induced. The time travel mechanism is also interesting and indirect enough to be plausible, while introducing challenges not present with the direct time travel used so frequently in other science fiction.
The novel is too short to do much about character development, so the characters are basically cardboard cut-outs and aren't fleshed out. But the treatment of the material is fresh enough and the setting interesting enough that it was well worth the read. After all, even average Reynolds is miles better than most other writers' best work. Recommended.
The novel is too short to do much about character development, so the characters are basically cardboard cut-outs and aren't fleshed out. But the treatment of the material is fresh enough and the setting interesting enough that it was well worth the read. After all, even average Reynolds is miles better than most other writers' best work. Recommended.
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
Review: Revenant Gun
Revenant Gun is the last novel in Yoon Ha Lee's Calendaric Empire trilogy. In this last novel, we get an explanation of who the driving force is behind the empire's atrocities, and the fate of the characters introduced in the previous novels. What's interesting is the recurrent character General Jedao, who's been cloned, transplanted, and brought back to life. We also get to see that the star-ships used by the civilizations in the novel aren't really manufactured, but are living organisms that are grown and then harnessed.
The biggest failure of the story is that the ideas behind main plot point (exotic technologies that can only be used in terrain that subscribes to a certain calendar) aren't fully fleshed out: you could easily file all the numbers off and replace technology with magic and the story would still work.
On the other hand, the story reads easily, the characters sympathetic (except for the villain, who's also never fleshed out enough for you to have any sympathy for him), and the payoff, such as it is, has plenty of action and explosions. It's a light airplane read that serves its purpose. Mildly recommended.
The biggest failure of the story is that the ideas behind main plot point (exotic technologies that can only be used in terrain that subscribes to a certain calendar) aren't fully fleshed out: you could easily file all the numbers off and replace technology with magic and the story would still work.
On the other hand, the story reads easily, the characters sympathetic (except for the villain, who's also never fleshed out enough for you to have any sympathy for him), and the payoff, such as it is, has plenty of action and explosions. It's a light airplane read that serves its purpose. Mildly recommended.
Monday, September 23, 2019
Review Keychron K2 Bluetooth Keyboard
I ordered the Keychron K2 Bluetooth Keyboard as a kickstarter project for a couple of reasons:
- I wanted a wireless keyboard, and the K2 advertised itself as being pairable with up to 3 computers, so you could pair it with desktop, personal laptop, and say, work computer.
- My wife kept complaining about how loud the Varmilo VA87M was. The keyboard had a great feel, so I knew I wanted another mechanical keyboard.
With kickstarter, you never know when or if the keyboard would ever show up, but I figured since Keychron had actual products on Amazon, including the K1, I figured it wasn't too much of a risk. I didn't look too carefully at the layout of the original K1 vs the K2, or I might have decided that the extra thinness of the K1 was worth it in exchange for better layout.
When the keyboard arrived, I was impressed by how compact and quiet it was given that it had all the arrow keys and the "home" and "end" buttons. What was missing is the "insert" button, which I do miss once in a while. The keyboard came with a keypuller and extra keycaps in case it bothered you to have the device keys look like a Mac keyboard instead of a real Windows keyboard. Since I mostly use windows on my home systems I switched out the keycaps.
Pairing is quick and easy: hold down Fn and one of either '1', '2', or '3', depending on which slot you want to pair with. The device paired easily, and had a neat little feature, which is that as you type, the keys you're typing on light up and then fade slowly away. Very cool! It's a frivolous feature but it really tickled me.
The problem with bluetooth keyboards of course is that they're not as responsive or as low latency as a real keyboard hooked up to the machine. Fortunately, the device comes with a USB slot that you can plug in to either charge the keyboard or to get a real time response when plugged in instead. When plugged in, I expect that the latency and response time will be just as good as a real wired keyboard.
The bluetooth stacks on computers, phones and keyboards all suck: after a long time in disconnected state, the keyboard will no longer re-connect with my desktop. I can't tell whether it's the cheap CSR dongle that I got off Amazon for $6.70, or this keyboard. I suspect a more modern bluetooth 5.0 dongle with better firmware (I since tested the keyboard against a MacBook Pro, and indeed both the pairing/resumption from sleep functions work much better, so I guess I should bite the bullet and buy a higher quality BT dongle!) will work better, but since re-pairing the keyboard is easy, I just live with it. (I have a Logitech Brio so I can login even without the keyboard)
The keyboard has a very nice typing feel. It's a little software than the Varmilo, but still much better than the crappy chiclet/island-style keyboards that come with more modern computers, and I can maintain a high typing speed on it without errors, provided the bluetooth latency isn't a problem.
To my surprise, the keyboard battery ran low after just about 4 weeks of use. Then I realized that I'd inadvertently left the keyboard's lighting mode on. I suspect that keeping the keyboard's backlight off would grant you better battery life. In any case, the keyboard is only rated for 15 hours of use, which indicates that bluetooth is a much more power expensive protocol than whatever it is that Logitech's unifying technology uses.
To my surprise, the keyboard battery ran low after just about 4 weeks of use. Then I realized that I'd inadvertently left the keyboard's lighting mode on. I suspect that keeping the keyboard's backlight off would grant you better battery life. In any case, the keyboard is only rated for 15 hours of use, which indicates that bluetooth is a much more power expensive protocol than whatever it is that Logitech's unifying technology uses.
All in all, for the price it's a great keyboard. If you need a bluetooth keyboard that can also be a wired keyboard, this is the only one that'll take USB-C, so you don't currently have a lot of other choices! That it's fairly cheap makes it unique in its class. Recommended.
Friday, September 20, 2019
Review: Raven Stratagem
Raven Stratagem is the second book in Yoon Ha Lee's space opera trilogy. The previous novel didn't end exactly on a cliffhanger, but clearly the plot had started going and there were many loose ends left untied. This one begins with a deception, though one that careful readers of the previous books could easily see.
As with the previous book, there's precious little science in this space opera: it's not really science fiction, and it's more of a character study than it is say, a novel of political intrigue (though there's quite a bit of it). I enjoyed it as a diversion, though it's nowhere as good as say, early Richard K Morgan. Recommended.
As with the previous book, there's precious little science in this space opera: it's not really science fiction, and it's more of a character study than it is say, a novel of political intrigue (though there's quite a bit of it). I enjoyed it as a diversion, though it's nowhere as good as say, early Richard K Morgan. Recommended.
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