Author: John Roberts

Doctor Zhivago stretched over two nights’ viewing. At three hours and twenty minutes, even the DVD had to be flipped over to watch the part after the intermission. Loved the scenery and the sweep, though a bit too sappy overall. Also, I’ve never seen such fresh, unlined faces among those supposedly enduring the ravages of a Russian winter.

This was my third David Lean movie. I hardly remember A Passage to India, but I’ll never forget watching Lawrence of Arabia during a Boston snowstorm in my college dorm room. This was before reading Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and writing a not-so-enlightening paper on said book. I won’t be following up by reading Doctor Zhivago: the film can stand on its own merits, for me.

On New Year’s Day, I entered the San Bruno Hill Climb for the second time. With more prep in recent weeks, and a year of bicycle racing under my belt, I knocked almost two minutes off my time. Official results are in a PDF file. My time was 18:02.91 for the climb, putting me 72nd overall out of 225 racers, and 9th among Cat 4 men.

The top two finishers in Cat 4? My friends Gregory Coleman and Kenneth Norton. I warmed up with Ken, who provides evidence. Both of them flew up the hill ahead of me. My computer measured the distance at 3.75 miles, despite the advertised 3.5 mile race. I was paying attention because fog swallowed the top of San Bruno, leaving only a few dozen meters of road visible in front of you. I don’t know the course well enough to know the finish section yet, but the fog helped overall: just focus and turn the pedals.

I joined ZteaM Cycling this weekend to provide a bit of extra motivation for this 2nd year of racing. That doesn’t give me more time to train, but fewer excuses, perhaps. Thanks to Gleeco for suggesting I join him in the San Francisco-based chapter.

One more cycling note… had my first crash today, during an Early Bird crit race this morning. Someone went down in front of me, and I went over that rider’s bike. Banged my left side hard enough to sting, but was able to re-join the pack the next lap, and overall I’m fine. One positive note about riding in cold weather: my jersey ripped instead of my skin.

San Bruno Hill Climb photo courtesy of renroublard; view the original or simply click thumbnail for larger.

I enjoyed The Guardian’s coverage of the chronophage. “Beware the time-eater: Cambridge University’s monstrous new clock includes a marvelous video. The official University of Cambridge video from the inventor and maker, Dr. John C. Taylor, provides more of the history and details. Neal Stephenson must be pleased that a new mechanical clock was introduced the same month as ANATHEM, his new novel which incorporates time’s march very literally. (I’ve finished ANATHEM, but need more time to share my thoughts.)

Racing Tactics for Cyclists by Thomas Prehn entertains with its anecdotes about the author’s racing experience. The lessons build slightly on Bike Racing 101. The crosswind echelon described in Chapter 5 was the truly new tactic for me, though I’ve rarely ridden in groups large enough or experienced enough to practice this energy-saving technique. The diagrams are charmingly basic, albeit occasionally helpful. I need to do a lot more riding before I need the lessons shared here.

One physical note: with its hefty margins, this book felt either stretched out beyond its true length or (charitably) ready for note-taking.

Bike Racing 101 details about what the title promises. I’m foolish enough to read this near the end of my first season of bicycle racing. (I finished the book maybe a fortnight ago.)

If I’d read it at the beginning, I might have saved Ken a few questions during the year. Still, even though the “Essentials for Cycling Competition” weren’t new to me, this book is a welcome addition as a reference book that reads well and is organized smoothly.

In the last race of the season this morning, the 48th annual Mt. Tamalpais Hill Climb, I finished in 48:39, which put me in 12th place among the Cat 5 riders. I may have enough experience now to qualify for Cat 4, just based on starts. Since today’s time would have placed me 12th (still!) in that division, I don’t know whether I should push ahead or not.

Scott Adams does more than just Dilbert. I don’t read his blog regularly, but someone pointed to “Existing” and it’s worth sharing. An excerpt:

It’s nice to think that you can be your own person, true and accountable to no one but yourself, but I don’t think life works that way. We are what other people allow us to be.

Read the rest. Not sure I agree entirely, but there’s something I treasure in the collaboration of building a life. Selfish as I’d like to be (or am), seeing my actions reflected in the eyes of people I care about helps keep me on track.

Eating has been a more conscious act for me since seeing Super Size Me. No claims to remarkable health or true moderation, but I do pay attention. Left over from the wife’s book group, The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan lived up to (most of) the hype. My favorite portions (ahem) included the exposition of corn’s pervasive place on the American menu, and the visit to the Polyface Farm. Pollan’s introspective take on hunting and gathering sagged a bit at the end, but from a very high plane.

We saw Pollan in person in January, as part of the City Arts & Lectures series touting his follow-up book about food. It was a pleasant evening, although I found the “host” distracting. The following month’s visitor to City Arts & Lectures, Neil deGrasse Tyson, entertained us wonderfully. You can watch Tyson hold forth yourself. Strongly recommended!

I’ve shared my respect for Paul Graham’s work before (more). I’ve pondered learning how to program many times. So this Slashdot thread last week, “AppJet Offers Browser-Based Coding How-To, Hosting,” pointing to AppJet as a Graham-recommended way to learn how to program caught my attention.

When you follow the link, you see the reference to AppJet. What you don’t see is that Graham’s company, Y Combinator, funded AppJet. I like that he’s put his money behind the effort, but straight up disclosure of the investment, in context of the recommendation, would be even more powerful.

I’ve read the first chapter of Graham’s book ANSI Common Lisp. If Graham thinks Lisp is so great, I’ve wondered why he doesn’t suggest starting with Lisp as a programming language.

Graham almost answered the question in my title here in his Lisp FAQ.

But not quite.

Is Lisp’s power and beauty only recognizable to those who’ve already scaled the heights in another language?

Actually, I’d added a link to Delicious for the AppJet intro course before this high-powered reference. I have a question which I’d still love to see answered.

“Javascript programming = good habits or bad? (as applied to other languages)”

Anyone?

(Side note: interested to see that Graham suggests Python as an alternative that is becoming more Lisp-like. The rise of Django, a framework built on Python, only accelerates.)

Phew. Caught up with all the reading I did this late spring and summer, just before Labor Day comes to a close. My apologies to those flooded with these blog reports of several months of reading in a handful of days. Now back to our regular irregular updates. 😉

Alan Furst is a find. Since the paperback of The Foreign Correspondent touts “New York Times Bestseller,” I’m slow in that revelation.

Start with the eventful lead-up to World War II, add Italian emigrés in Paris in 1938, when travel throughout Europe is still allowed (if dangerous to some), throw in the security services of four different countries, and add a surprising love affair. Furst delivers a compact, literary “small” thriller.

One note: Furst’s website is awful. I couldn’t find a link to The Foreign Correspondent page on the site itself, resorting to repeated Googling to arrive at the exact destination cited above.