Nice work.
I wonder if they came after him as he walked away? That would be particularly amusing.
Update: apparently the front of the shirt says "Not A", and apparently he survived the attack.
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Offset your Bad Code footprint today
Twisting the much-abused concept of "offsetting" carbon dioxide emissions (your "carbon footprint") by buying "carbon credits", now you can "offset" your footprint of badly-written software by buying Bad Code Offsets.
Donations go to the widely-used open source projects jQuery, PostgreSQL, and the Apache Software Foundation.
Nice idea, but that last one is enough to trigger my rant mode:
via Coding Horror
Donations go to the widely-used open source projects jQuery, PostgreSQL, and the Apache Software Foundation.
Nice idea, but that last one is enough to trigger my rant mode:
Perhaps this will help Apache Commons to actually finish and maintain a project for once!
Apache may have, according to their home page, "a desire to create high quality software that leads the way in its field", and be "celebrating a decade of open source leadership", but the part I have experience with - the Commons java libraries - are, despite being very widely used, hardly a shining beacon of what open source can achieve in terms of Good Code!
Over the last few years I have spent a lot of time with several of these, using them in a large java project in my day job. This has proven a very time-consuming and frustrating experience. Without exception, I have found them to be incomplete, buggy and poorly written, and often essentially orphaned, with no releases in several years despite numerous reported critical bugs. I have had to build custom versions of four of them to fix basic failures - typically things that have already been reported with submitted patches, and often things severe enough to break my production installations. Fixes contributed back to the projects generally just sit in the issue tracker, unreleased! Why even bother contributing?
Bad open source code which is free, I can tolerate, if it admits its limitations and its completely unsupported status. After all, I can (and do) fix it myself, given the permissive license.
Bad open source code which makes a lot of noise about community, claims to strive for high quality and to lead its field, provides an issue tracker and release plan, yet doesn't release contributed critical bugfixes even after several years - this I have much less tolerance for.
More than most projects, I blame the Apache Foundation and its process for this. As Paul Graham points out, process (especially ease of releasing, and hence frequency) has a lot to do with software quality and currency. Apache places a big emphasis on their community consensus process, committees, the process of gaining project committer status etc, so they should be blamed when that process fails dismally and still hasn't released known, already-implemented fixes after several years.
Apache may have, according to their home page, "a desire to create high quality software that leads the way in its field", and be "celebrating a decade of open source leadership", but the part I have experience with - the Commons java libraries - are, despite being very widely used, hardly a shining beacon of what open source can achieve in terms of Good Code!
Over the last few years I have spent a lot of time with several of these, using them in a large java project in my day job. This has proven a very time-consuming and frustrating experience. Without exception, I have found them to be incomplete, buggy and poorly written, and often essentially orphaned, with no releases in several years despite numerous reported critical bugs. I have had to build custom versions of four of them to fix basic failures - typically things that have already been reported with submitted patches, and often things severe enough to break my production installations. Fixes contributed back to the projects generally just sit in the issue tracker, unreleased! Why even bother contributing?
Bad open source code which is free, I can tolerate, if it admits its limitations and its completely unsupported status. After all, I can (and do) fix it myself, given the permissive license.
Bad open source code which makes a lot of noise about community, claims to strive for high quality and to lead its field, provides an issue tracker and release plan, yet doesn't release contributed critical bugfixes even after several years - this I have much less tolerance for.
More than most projects, I blame the Apache Foundation and its process for this. As Paul Graham points out, process (especially ease of releasing, and hence frequency) has a lot to do with software quality and currency. Apache places a big emphasis on their community consensus process, committees, the process of gaining project committer status etc, so they should be blamed when that process fails dismally and still hasn't released known, already-implemented fixes after several years.
via Coding Horror
Friday, 20 November 2009
Unicycling Mount Victoria, visit 3
Ankle still sore after 6 days of resting it, but my ankle braces (SixSixOne Race Brace Pro) arrived today, so I decided to risk riding to work.
That went well enough, so after work I headed up to Mount Vic again. Up the usual route from Pirie Street, then over the top and round this loop on the south part of the hill, which I hadn't tried before.
I found the hill climbing quite tough today - lack of practice? The ankle braces, although they certainly prevent twisting and rolling pretty well, also restrict front-to-back flexing a little; that caused a few falls at first, as my feet kept losing contact with the pedals.
The new track was fun though, if rather hard work - lots of climbing to get back up from the velodrome.
That went well enough, so after work I headed up to Mount Vic again. Up the usual route from Pirie Street, then over the top and round this loop on the south part of the hill, which I hadn't tried before.
I found the hill climbing quite tough today - lack of practice? The ankle braces, although they certainly prevent twisting and rolling pretty well, also restrict front-to-back flexing a little; that caused a few falls at first, as my feet kept losing contact with the pedals.
The new track was fun though, if rather hard work - lots of climbing to get back up from the velodrome.
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Munisano's muni video
Munisano has a new video showing some fun-looking muni action - and the obligatory fail reel at the end!
I'm jealous because I'm still waiting for my ankle to recover so I can get out there myself. I was able to walk to work on it today, but it's still a bit sore and swollen. Maybe by the weekend...
I'm jealous because I'm still waiting for my ankle to recover so I can get out there myself. I was able to walk to work on it today, but it's still a bit sore and swollen. Maybe by the weekend...
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Ouch - Unicycling Makara Peak, visit 3
So it seems I need ankle braces.
My third muni trip to Makara Peak went really well, apart from when I badly twisted my ankle in one of my more spectacular falls about half-way through. (And this even despite wearing high-sided hiking boots which provide reasonable ankle support. Might have broken it otherwise.)
Thanks to a couple of mid-week trips to Mount Victoria, I'd improved my hill-climbing a bit, and managed to do much longer segments of the Koru track without rest or dismounts.
Next, I had a go at Sally Alley, the next track up from the top of Koru - this was a lot of fun; it had some rocky and steep bits I had trouble with, but I managed most of it, albeit with a good few falls including the ankle-wrenching one.
Though I still had plenty of energy, the light was fading, so I started heading back down - first to a new (to me) track, Ridgeline Extension. This was a bit beyond my current skill level - I could manage some parts, but I need to work on my hopping to get over some of the rocky areas, and I had to walk several downhill sections due to the steepness and the loose dry surface, on which my tyre (WTB Exiwolf) felt too slippery to brake confidently.
Finally, down via SWIGG and Starfish, again new to me, and again too steep and tricky for me at the moment. I managed a reasonable amount of SWIGG, but it got worse towards the bottom, with the odd drop-off and steep curves. Next time I will probably go higher up the mountain, but stick to Lazy Fern for the final exit from the park - it's annoying to have to keep dismounting and walking.
So, the ankle. It hurt when I first did it, but after a minute or so, it didn't hurt to walk on or to ride, and I didn't notice it at all for the rest of the trip, except occasionally when I dismounted and landed hard.
By the time I got home though, it was a bit swollen under the outside of the ankle bone, though still not really painful. Once she discovered this, Sally made me sit down and put ice on it for a while, then strapped it up.
By this morning, it was uncomfortable even to stand on, and walking involves a painful and awkward hobbling motion - I can put weight only on the heel. It appears I've sprained it quite nicely. Not going to be riding for a while I guess, or even leaving the apartment much. Dammit.
My third muni trip to Makara Peak went really well, apart from when I badly twisted my ankle in one of my more spectacular falls about half-way through. (And this even despite wearing high-sided hiking boots which provide reasonable ankle support. Might have broken it otherwise.)
Thanks to a couple of mid-week trips to Mount Victoria, I'd improved my hill-climbing a bit, and managed to do much longer segments of the Koru track without rest or dismounts.
Next, I had a go at Sally Alley, the next track up from the top of Koru - this was a lot of fun; it had some rocky and steep bits I had trouble with, but I managed most of it, albeit with a good few falls including the ankle-wrenching one.
Though I still had plenty of energy, the light was fading, so I started heading back down - first to a new (to me) track, Ridgeline Extension. This was a bit beyond my current skill level - I could manage some parts, but I need to work on my hopping to get over some of the rocky areas, and I had to walk several downhill sections due to the steepness and the loose dry surface, on which my tyre (WTB Exiwolf) felt too slippery to brake confidently.
Finally, down via SWIGG and Starfish, again new to me, and again too steep and tricky for me at the moment. I managed a reasonable amount of SWIGG, but it got worse towards the bottom, with the odd drop-off and steep curves. Next time I will probably go higher up the mountain, but stick to Lazy Fern for the final exit from the park - it's annoying to have to keep dismounting and walking.
So, the ankle. It hurt when I first did it, but after a minute or so, it didn't hurt to walk on or to ride, and I didn't notice it at all for the rest of the trip, except occasionally when I dismounted and landed hard.
By the time I got home though, it was a bit swollen under the outside of the ankle bone, though still not really painful. Once she discovered this, Sally made me sit down and put ice on it for a while, then strapped it up.
By this morning, it was uncomfortable even to stand on, and walking involves a painful and awkward hobbling motion - I can put weight only on the heel. It appears I've sprained it quite nicely. Not going to be riding for a while I guess, or even leaving the apartment much. Dammit.
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Unicycling Mount Victoria
Having recovered from Saturday's entertainment at Makara Peak, today after I finished working I decided to have a go at unicycling some tracks on Mount Victoria.
Starting from the top of Majoribanks St (which was itself a steep climb) I picked some random paths and found my way up to the summit near the lookout, then back down to where I started. Quite by accident it turned out that I'd more-or-less followed this circuit, though I managed to choose a steeper downhill route.
I did better than I expected on the rocky and rooty tracks. Most of my dismounts on the uphill were because I ran out of leg stamina on the steeper climbs and needed to rest, rather than loss of control - which I was very pleased about, since it feels like a further improvement over Saturday's Makara Peak effort. I also managed to ride down a path that was very steep by my previous standards, without plummeting to my doom or faceplanting into a tree or anything.
I amused some people, alarmed a few dogs, and one curious mountain biker stopped to chat for a bit while I recovered on the uphill bit.
This will become a favourite place to ride. The tracks are great, there are so many routes to explore, and it's only a few minutes from work. Pretty steep though!
Starting from the top of Majoribanks St (which was itself a steep climb) I picked some random paths and found my way up to the summit near the lookout, then back down to where I started. Quite by accident it turned out that I'd more-or-less followed this circuit, though I managed to choose a steeper downhill route.
I did better than I expected on the rocky and rooty tracks. Most of my dismounts on the uphill were because I ran out of leg stamina on the steeper climbs and needed to rest, rather than loss of control - which I was very pleased about, since it feels like a further improvement over Saturday's Makara Peak effort. I also managed to ride down a path that was very steep by my previous standards, without plummeting to my doom or faceplanting into a tree or anything.
I amused some people, alarmed a few dogs, and one curious mountain biker stopped to chat for a bit while I recovered on the uphill bit.
This will become a favourite place to ride. The tracks are great, there are so many routes to explore, and it's only a few minutes from work. Pretty steep though!
Saturday, 7 November 2009
Unicycling Makara Peak, visit 2
I went up to Makara Peak again today on the 29er unicycle.
Having bashed up my shins pretty well on the pedals last time, this time I was using my new leg armour, and also some new gloves which seemed a good idea after I hurt my wrist in a fall a week ago. Neither of these have been seriously tested yet, but I found they improved my confidence a bit!
I also had my new CamelBak Mule, and drank the entire 3 litres by the time I got home. This is thirsty work.
Today's track route: Koru (to the end instead of turning off at the Skills Area), then down Lazy Fern (where the sloping switchbacks still defeat me on occasion). I would have gone further up but I was running out of daylight. Next time I plan to try out Sally Alley (will be tricky as it has more uneven rocky bits than Koru) then come down Swigg / Starfish.
I did somewhat better than on my first visit. This is probably partly from being less tired due to not having just finished a 30km bike ride this time, and partly from the experience from the first visit, and partly because I've been starting to hop and jump the unicycle in the last couple of weeks, which has improved my balance noticeably.
I still fall off a lot, but am becoming smoother over the bumps, and my better balance lets me take most of the uphills at a slower, more maintainable pace, instead of trying to power through them.
Afterwards I decided to ride back down from Karori to the city, instead of getting the bus back, since I still had some energy left. This was about 8km on pavements, and mostly downhill, but was probably not such a great idea - though it started out easy, my legs were turning to jelly by the end, and I had to walk the last bit down the Terrace because I couldn't control it on the steep bits. Next time I'll make time to go a bit further at the Peak instead, and get the bus home.
Having bashed up my shins pretty well on the pedals last time, this time I was using my new leg armour, and also some new gloves which seemed a good idea after I hurt my wrist in a fall a week ago. Neither of these have been seriously tested yet, but I found they improved my confidence a bit!
I also had my new CamelBak Mule, and drank the entire 3 litres by the time I got home. This is thirsty work.
Today's track route: Koru (to the end instead of turning off at the Skills Area), then down Lazy Fern (where the sloping switchbacks still defeat me on occasion). I would have gone further up but I was running out of daylight. Next time I plan to try out Sally Alley (will be tricky as it has more uneven rocky bits than Koru) then come down Swigg / Starfish.
I did somewhat better than on my first visit. This is probably partly from being less tired due to not having just finished a 30km bike ride this time, and partly from the experience from the first visit, and partly because I've been starting to hop and jump the unicycle in the last couple of weeks, which has improved my balance noticeably.
I still fall off a lot, but am becoming smoother over the bumps, and my better balance lets me take most of the uphills at a slower, more maintainable pace, instead of trying to power through them.
Afterwards I decided to ride back down from Karori to the city, instead of getting the bus back, since I still had some energy left. This was about 8km on pavements, and mostly downhill, but was probably not such a great idea - though it started out easy, my legs were turning to jelly by the end, and I had to walk the last bit down the Terrace because I couldn't control it on the steep bits. Next time I'll make time to go a bit further at the Peak instead, and get the bus home.
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Exhausting day, part 2 - Unicycling Makara Peak
Two epic cycle rides today: the first with two wheels and the second with one wheel. Here's part 2:
After a big lunch, I still had plenty of energy, so I took my 29-inch mountain unicycle and caught the bus up to Makara Peak mountain bike park. I've been up there once before on a mountain bike, and ridden to the summit, but this was the first time on a unicycle, and also my first 'real' offroad riding on a unicycle. I don't think riding around Waitangi Park (which I often do after work) really counts.
I went up the Koru track, had a look at the skills area and stopped to drink a lot of water and recover, then rode back down via the Lazy Fern track.
On a mountain bike this would be a pretty easy ride, since the average uphill gradient of Koru is quite gentle, it's easy to control your descent of Lazy Fern since you actually have brakes, and it's easy enough to balance when riding slowly down sloping switchbacks.
On a muni though, for a complete beginner at least, it's a real challenge! Many many falls and dismounts. Overall I guess I was pretty rubbish, but I had a lot of fun and got a bit better as I went on.
On the uphill part, my ability to retain balance and control at low speed over uneven uphill gradients and bumps is a bit of a work in progress, so instead I often end up relying on just standing up and powering through, trying to maintain enough speed and momentum to carry me over the bumps. This only works for short intervals, because it gets me seriously out of breath quite quickly. I gradually started to improve, focused on keeping more weight on the saddle, trying to maintain smooth wheel revolutions, and anticipating the changes in balance better, but I fell off a lot and had to stop and catch my breath frequently. After some weeks of hurtling home from work on the uni, up the steep hill of the Terrace (with shopping), my leg muscles can now mostly keep up with the demands, but my aerobic fitness doesn't yet.
On the downhill, I did better - still plenty of dismounts, but less frequently than on the uphill. The thing that repeatedly got me was the switchback turns, which are steep enough to make it hard to slow down on a muni, at least on a 29-inch wheel with 150mm cranks. (My unicycle doesn't have brakes, though they are certainly available. I have a long way to go in terms of balance and control before I could make practical use of them.) The trick then is to quickly plan the line you're going to take, and lean the right amount, riding round the corner smoothly while leg-braking as well as you can. This is going to take some more practice.
Something I did learn: it's worth paying for some leg armour, and I will be doing so shortly. I have several nice bruises, cuts and general pedal bites on my left shin from various falls and failed mounts - one of the downsides of grippy metal pedals. And that was through trousers. Nothing serious or painful, but it could easily have been worse.
One day I hope to be able to reach Makara Peak's summit on the uni, but besides improving fitness and balance, I will probably need to learn to hop / jump the unicycle too, since the trails to get there are a bit rougher.
After a big lunch, I still had plenty of energy, so I took my 29-inch mountain unicycle and caught the bus up to Makara Peak mountain bike park. I've been up there once before on a mountain bike, and ridden to the summit, but this was the first time on a unicycle, and also my first 'real' offroad riding on a unicycle. I don't think riding around Waitangi Park (which I often do after work) really counts.
I went up the Koru track, had a look at the skills area and stopped to drink a lot of water and recover, then rode back down via the Lazy Fern track.
On a mountain bike this would be a pretty easy ride, since the average uphill gradient of Koru is quite gentle, it's easy to control your descent of Lazy Fern since you actually have brakes, and it's easy enough to balance when riding slowly down sloping switchbacks.
On a muni though, for a complete beginner at least, it's a real challenge! Many many falls and dismounts. Overall I guess I was pretty rubbish, but I had a lot of fun and got a bit better as I went on.
On the uphill part, my ability to retain balance and control at low speed over uneven uphill gradients and bumps is a bit of a work in progress, so instead I often end up relying on just standing up and powering through, trying to maintain enough speed and momentum to carry me over the bumps. This only works for short intervals, because it gets me seriously out of breath quite quickly. I gradually started to improve, focused on keeping more weight on the saddle, trying to maintain smooth wheel revolutions, and anticipating the changes in balance better, but I fell off a lot and had to stop and catch my breath frequently. After some weeks of hurtling home from work on the uni, up the steep hill of the Terrace (with shopping), my leg muscles can now mostly keep up with the demands, but my aerobic fitness doesn't yet.
On the downhill, I did better - still plenty of dismounts, but less frequently than on the uphill. The thing that repeatedly got me was the switchback turns, which are steep enough to make it hard to slow down on a muni, at least on a 29-inch wheel with 150mm cranks. (My unicycle doesn't have brakes, though they are certainly available. I have a long way to go in terms of balance and control before I could make practical use of them.) The trick then is to quickly plan the line you're going to take, and lean the right amount, riding round the corner smoothly while leg-braking as well as you can. This is going to take some more practice.
Something I did learn: it's worth paying for some leg armour, and I will be doing so shortly. I have several nice bruises, cuts and general pedal bites on my left shin from various falls and failed mounts - one of the downsides of grippy metal pedals. And that was through trousers. Nothing serious or painful, but it could easily have been worse.
One day I hope to be able to reach Makara Peak's summit on the uni, but besides improving fitness and balance, I will probably need to learn to hop / jump the unicycle too, since the trails to get there are a bit rougher.
Exhausting day, part 1 - Round and round the bays
Two epic cycle rides today: the first with two wheels and the second with one wheel. Here's part 1:
I joined Alex and Jaro from work, and 40 or so other people, for the "Round and round the bays" ride around the Wellington coastline, organized by Cycle Aware Wellington as part of the 350.org climate action movement.
Besides enjoying the beautiful scenery of the round-the-harbour route, the idea of the ride was to promote cycling in Wellington, raise awareness of the need for a more cycle-friendly road network, and provide a public and media-visible show of support for action on climate change, in advance of the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in December.
There were some amusingly dressed folks along. We were supposed to dress colourfully, and someone took this to mean wearing a one-piece all-over white lycra body suit - it covered absolutely everything including hands and feet, head and face.
There was also a family that managed to fit all four on one cycle - a tandem with a child seat at the front and a child's bike attached with a "tow arm" at the back.
Here's a map:
View Larger Map
The ride started from Island Bay at the bottom left, followed the coast road around all the peninsulas to the right and top, and finished at the waterfront Odlins Plaza in the city centre at top left.
I'd considered doing this on the 29-inch unicycle just for entertainment value and for the benefit of the 350.org photos; but decided it would be too slow and too far, especially with my new 150mm cranks, and rode my mountain bike instead. I was right: it was about 30km by the time I'd ridden home afterwards, and even with small kids in the group, we (well, the front of the group at least) near-effortlessly averaged around 17kph for the time we were moving, which I would not have kept up with on the unicycle. We made 42kph on one downhill bit without really trying - a unicycle would be left way behind since it can't freewheel. Keeping up would probably be possible with a 36er though - except the 42kph bit; maintaining even 30kph on a unicycle (even a geared one) for any substantial period will get you a world record.
The weather was just perfect for this ride - comfortably cool, hardly any wind, and some sunshine relieved by patchy clouds.
On to Part 2...
I joined Alex and Jaro from work, and 40 or so other people, for the "Round and round the bays" ride around the Wellington coastline, organized by Cycle Aware Wellington as part of the 350.org climate action movement.
Besides enjoying the beautiful scenery of the round-the-harbour route, the idea of the ride was to promote cycling in Wellington, raise awareness of the need for a more cycle-friendly road network, and provide a public and media-visible show of support for action on climate change, in advance of the upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in December.
There were some amusingly dressed folks along. We were supposed to dress colourfully, and someone took this to mean wearing a one-piece all-over white lycra body suit - it covered absolutely everything including hands and feet, head and face.
There was also a family that managed to fit all four on one cycle - a tandem with a child seat at the front and a child's bike attached with a "tow arm" at the back.
Here's a map:
View Larger Map
The ride started from Island Bay at the bottom left, followed the coast road around all the peninsulas to the right and top, and finished at the waterfront Odlins Plaza in the city centre at top left.
I'd considered doing this on the 29-inch unicycle just for entertainment value and for the benefit of the 350.org photos; but decided it would be too slow and too far, especially with my new 150mm cranks, and rode my mountain bike instead. I was right: it was about 30km by the time I'd ridden home afterwards, and even with small kids in the group, we (well, the front of the group at least) near-effortlessly averaged around 17kph for the time we were moving, which I would not have kept up with on the unicycle. We made 42kph on one downhill bit without really trying - a unicycle would be left way behind since it can't freewheel. Keeping up would probably be possible with a 36er though - except the 42kph bit; maintaining even 30kph on a unicycle (even a geared one) for any substantial period will get you a world record.
The weather was just perfect for this ride - comfortably cool, hardly any wind, and some sunshine relieved by patchy clouds.
On to Part 2...
Saturday, 24 October 2009
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Unicycle comment of the day
From some guys on the balcony at a bar in Oriental Bay:
They were still there and shouted much the same thing when I came back past nearly 2 hours later!
Hey, disco one wheeler!This was on Friday night as I went for an epic (by my beginner's standards) 15-20km ride around the Wellington coast past Evan's Bay then back over Mount Victoria. I was wearing my Exelite flashing light belt, so was very noticeable in the dark, much to their amusement.
They were still there and shouted much the same thing when I came back past nearly 2 hours later!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
