Shatner comments on the new Star Trek XI trailer.

See the whole trailer

YouTube - John Hodgman, Jonathan Coulton and The Long Winters.

Recipe:

1 package of flavored Gelatin (Jello)

3 packets of Unflavored Gelatin (Knox is most common in the US - they come 4 packets to a box)

1 500 mg Vitamin C (optional but it adds some great sour flavor)

1/3 to 1/2 cup of water

LeGummies brick shaped gummy candies.

Used against the IRA:

One of the most interesting operations was the laundry mat [sic]. Having lost many troops and civilians to bombings, the Brits decided they needed to determine who was making the bombs and where they were being manufactured. One bright fellow recommended they operate a laundry and when asked “what the hell he was talking about,” he explained the plan and it was incorporated — to much success.

The plan was simple: Build a laundry and staff it with locals and a few of their own. The laundry would then send out “color coded” special discount tickets, to the effect of “get two loads for the price of one,” etc. The color coding was matched to specific streets and thus when someone brought in their laundry, it was easy to determine the general location from which a city map was coded.

While the laundry was indeed being washed, pressed and dry cleaned, it had one additional cycle — every garment, sheet, glove, pair of pants, was first sent through an analyzer, located in the basement, that checked for bomb-making residue. The analyzer was disguised as just another piece of the laundry equipment; good OPSEC [operational security]. Within a few weeks, multiple positives had shown up, indicating the ingredients of bomb residue, and intelligence had determined which areas of the city were involved. To narrow their target list, [the laundry] simply sent out more specific coupons [numbered] to all houses in the area, and before long they had good addresses. After confirming addresses, authorities with the SAS teams swooped down on the multiple homes and arrested multiple personnel and confiscated numerous assembled bombs, weapons and ingredients. During the entire operation, no one was injured or killed.

via Schneier on Security: Clever Counterterrorism Tactic.

As part of my “sharpening the saw”, I am realizing the things that I am not good at. Part of the sharpening is deciding whether I have the mettle to improve my skill level in activities which I have picked up haphazardly. I can either get better at playing the guitar or get rid of the guitars completely.

One activity that I am not good at is running. I ran cross country in high school, but was the “last man” on the team. “Last man” is a euphemism for the slowest member of the herd, or voted most likely to get eaten by any chasing animal. Being on a team, getting a letter in a sport, those were important things in high school, unfortunately there isn’t quite an equivalent in adulthood.

I have a list of things I want to complete in my life. If you call it a “Bucket List”, you’re liable to get kicked in the teeth. Items range from “Visit the Pyramids” to “Plan big anniversaries” and “Have better relationships with my friends and family.” An item that has lingered on the list is “Run a marathon.” I have blogged about my progress (do a quick search for marathon or running), but I am not a good runner.

What does this mean? 

I am putting “Run a marathon” lower on my list of life goals. I’m not scratching it off, I might want to do it later in life. What I am doing is redefining what that goal means. By “run a marathon”, I really meant, pick a sport and do it to the furthest it can be done.

I have ridden a bicycle for a considerable portion of my life, and a good amount of the riding I have done has been long distance. In recent history I have biked across Wisconsin and I know my body was built .. or sufficiently beaten into submission, to ride bicycles long distance. My change in goal is to ride competitively in long distance events, centuries, double centuries, even something like the  Adirondack 540. My Uncle Tom was a competitor in Race Across AMerica and my Dad did rather well in the Audax Randonnée Series, so I am taking on the family mantel of riding long, far and as fast as possible.

I am running from a marathon, but I am running to a sport that I am better suited for.