Minimum-age-for-competition rules (at least in the sports I practice) are generally to promote "healthy" athletics, and are pretty common.
Training a 13-year to compete at the world level in most sports puts incredible strain on a developing body, causing the athelete to become a physical wreck by age 18, often with injuries that will linger for the rest of their life. Waiting until the athelete is more mature and developed before starting the intense top-level training can avoid these sorts of effects. Since the governing bodies of various sports don't want their sport to become associated with crippling children, they will make such minimum age rules.
Some other non-athletic fields have similar practices. Opera singing, for example. The stress of top-level singing at a young age can ruin young vocal chords, so young talents are usually held back for a few years.
Read more about it here. The rule applies to "video antennas including direct-to-home satellite dishes that are less than one meter (39.37") in diameter (or of any size in Alaska), TV antennas, and wireless cable antennas."
There are some restrictions. For example you aren't guaranteed the right to mount your dish/antenna on a common area such as a roof or a wall. However, balconies and patios are fair game. As another poster else-thread mentioned, if your unit faces north, you're pretty SOL as far as dishes go.
Some martial arts scoring systems have aspects that are non-quantative. For example, in judo competitions penalties (which are essentially points for the non-penalized player) can be assigned on things like "non-combativity," where you aren't attacking enough or hard enough in the eyes of the judge. Perhaps not as subjective as gymnastics scoring, but there's no hard metric for it.
Maybe I'm missing something and there's a loop-hole, but AFAIK In Canada selling this information is illegal, and I thought that medical records were confidential in the US as well (apparently not). In Canada patients and health care professionals have client/doctor confidentiality similar to client / lawyer confidentiality. A doctor's office would lose it's practice if it handed over information to anyone without the patient's consent.
Similar laws exist in the US. From my understanding, the loophole here is that they're not selling the specific health information (such as "Mr. Smith has AIDS"), but they're selling the sales records of the drugs Mr. Smith is taking ("Mr. Smith is taking drugs that are used to treat AIDS").
You shouldn't worry about your cable service dropping its analog signal completely until 2012 at the earliest. The FCC mandated that all local channels must be carried in analog format at least until 2012. Your non-local channels might switch to digital, however, requiring a set-top box.
Winmodems are indeed a pain when not using Windows.
Until rather recently I was on dial-up, and ended up getting this dial-up modem. It works like most routers/modems; you connect your machines to it via Ethernet and control it via its internal web server, so any OS that has a web browser can use it. Dialing out and hanging up can be automated by URL parameters sent to its web page, so with a tiny bit of programming you can make a command-line modem control program. My Solaris, FreeBSD, Windows, and Linux machines all work very well with it.
If you're on dial-up, the $50 or so for such a modem is well worth it if you're interested in using non-Windows OSes.
If you're interested in running a non-KDE desktop, have you considered Xubuntu? It's the Ubuntu variant with the lighter-weight Xfce desktop. I run it on a 600Mhz Pentium III laptop with 128MB of RAM, and it works quite well (be sure to grab the "alternate install" disk if you're running with as little RAM as I am).
I had no issues with the non-standard desktop components on my laptop working out-of-the-box, but of course YMMV here. Wireless, sound, etc.
If Xfce is not light enough, you can always install fluxbox, wmaker, etc, all available from the offical apt repositories.
- finding "off street" routes, trails, etc. I suspect there are trails around Bush Lake, I just don't know how to find them.
There are a huge number of bike-able trails in and around Hyland park reserve. During the commute hours, they can sometimes turn into a highway for bikes. You could probably run almost the whole length of the park on these paved trails. See the park map for details. As far as getting there from 169, I imagine you could figure out a low-traffic route through the residential neighborhood between 169 and Hyland park. Residential roads are great for bike commuting, primarily because they are low-traffic and low-speed.
- equipment? I have an older mountain bike, I know the tires are dry-rotted and need replaced, but the bike itself is in great shape.
That should do it. Changing the tires and tubes is probably a good idea, and double-check your brake pads. Check the chain, as well. If it's rusted, a replacement is cheap enough. Your local bike shop (I'm not sure what you have in over by you, I know there's both a Erik's and a Penn Cycle in Bloomington) can help you with the chain or any other parts you need replacing.
- safety gear? Helmet, obviously. What else?
It never hurts to be visible. If you're on the road before dawn (and it sounds like you are), blinky lights on the rear and front are essential, and you might also want a bit of a headlight on the front. A cheap reflective safety vest or similarly visible garmet would be a good idea as well. Also, you should take along everything you need to fix a flat tube. A small hand pump, a set of tire levers, and an extra tube or a instant patch kit will do. Again, the folks at your local bike shop can show you how to change a tube "in the field" if you're not sure how to do it yourself.
- rain gear?
If you cycle in your work clothes, or don't like getting wet, a basic rain coat should work. It's best to find something light and partially breathable. Panchos can be problematic as they are so loose-fitting they're likely to get stuck in your chain or something. Myself, I commute in cycling clothes, with my work clothes in a water-proof bag, so I don't really care about getting rained on. If it is raining, you should also have something over your eyes. Clear lensed glasses, perscription or not, will work here. Also, if you commute in work clothing, you might consider getting some fenders installed on your bike if you don't already have them. If you really don't like cycling in the rain, there's little shame in driving on rainy days.:-)
- other tips?
Have fun. Try out your proposed route on the weekend before you try commuting to work on it. If you're riding on a road, follow all rules of the road: stop at every stop sign, signal turns with your arms, always ride with (never against) traffic, etc. Check over your shoulder periodically. If you're going through a crosswalk, you should be walking your bike as you're now technically a pedestrian. If you're on the sidewalk or trail and are approaching a pedestrian from behind, announce your presence with a "on your left!" or somesuch a few seconds before you pass them. Check out this thread on bikeforums.net: Advice for New Commuters
Best of luck with your commute plans. If you've any other questions you can get my contact info from my modest web page.
I'm a bike commuter (16 mile commute) who lives and commutes around suburban Minnesota, year-round. Here are my replies to some of the points you make. I'll preface my remarks by saying that the Twin Cities and surrounding areas are known for having a generally bike-tolerant motorist population, and summer heat rarely gets over 95 degrees (though in the winter temps below -10 without wind chill aren't uncommon!).
Shower at work? That's not terribly common.
This is indeed a limiting factor for commuting cyclists. I happen to work at a large employer that has showers (and lockers!) accessible to all employees, so I'm spoiled in this regard. Some cyclists aren't so lucky. I know some that take a birdbath with wet towelettes, or happen to have memberships at a nearby gym that has showers. No global solution here.
Also..where do you carry your change of clothes with you on that bike so they don't get wrinkled?
A bike with a rack and pannier can carry work clothes as you describe easily without wrinkles. Alternatively, some of my suit-wearing bike commuting brethren will drive to work once a week or so, and stock their offices/cubes/whatever with a few fresh suits, and change in the office on the days they do commute by bike.
.I'm going anywhere from 45-70mph...but, even if I did the limit...a bike cannot go that fast, and hold up traffic behind it till you can safely pass.
Generally, a bicycle has little business on roads where 70mph is normal. Most roads that have speed limits that high (freeways, etc) around where I live are specifically "no bikes allowed."
The speed differential problem you mention isn't a problem provided that there is adequate horizontal spacing between the bike and the cars. Many roads where 50 mph is the norm have a sufficient bike-able shoulder where 5-8 feet of spacing is easily accomplished. It might not sound like a lot, but it is plenty of space, and traffic can pass the cyclist at full speed without slowing down or veering off to the side. Of course, many roads don't have such shoulders. Fortunately, the road system in the US is very dense. A little bit of studying on Google maps will usually yield good bike commute routes that stay off of the high-speed, zero-shoulder roads. They will often be a bit longer, of course, often winding through residential areas, business parks, etc.
I said that they shouldn't share the road with bikes
I disagree with this sharply. Cyclists and motorists can indeed share the road safely and not get in each other's way. All it takes is both the cyclist and the motorists to respect each other's rights on the road, and have an ounce of consideration for the other party. I admit that cyclists deserve much of the blame here. Many people on bikes think that they're not subject to traffic laws when they ride on the road, and do stupid things (run stop signs, pass cars in turn lanes, etc) that make the responsible and considerate cyclists look bad. Even so, bike-car collisions are relatively rare. Around here, even non-crippling/fatal bike-car collisions will make the evening news. Car collisions only make headlines when they are particularly spectacular. Your locale might be different, of course.
In the end...even with my short comings I'll admit to...there is just no practical way, in the professional world for most of us to ride a bike to/from work when you take climate into consideration.
Everybody's situation is different, and I concede that it is quite difficult many to commute to work via bicycle for various reasons, be it distance from work, family commitments, health conditions, etc. However, it is much easier, safer, and practical than many people think. I'd suggest that the nay-sayers take closer look at bike commuting. Even if you drive 3/4 of the way to work with a bike in the trunk, park the car, and bike that last portion, and only do this on nice-weather Fridays, you're cutting down on your fuel costs and getting some healthy exercise at the same time.
or the C/C++ compiler itself injects code to prevent such attacks (as many research projects are currently attempting to do [llvm.org]).
Or perhaps the C/C++ compiler itself will inject code to allow such attacks.
I thought the same thing, and then double checked.
OT: But yes, my Philmot expedition in 2002 had Baldy as a turn-around point (it was the northern most point of our trek). We got to stay in Baldy camp two consecutive nights, which meant we could go up baldy with just day packs. The group we passed on the way up Baldy was lugging all their gear with them, and didn't seem to be enjoying the ascent as much as we were.
Slashdot Mirror
Minimum-age-for-competition rules (at least in the sports I practice) are generally to promote "healthy" athletics, and are pretty common.
Training a 13-year to compete at the world level in most sports puts incredible strain on a developing body, causing the athelete to become a physical wreck by age 18, often with injuries that will linger for the rest of their life. Waiting until the athelete is more mature and developed before starting the intense top-level training can avoid these sorts of effects. Since the governing bodies of various sports don't want their sport to become associated with crippling children, they will make such minimum age rules.
Some other non-athletic fields have similar practices. Opera singing, for example. The stress of top-level singing at a young age can ruin young vocal chords, so young talents are usually held back for a few years.
This Onion link gets posted all the time, but every time I read it I laugh: Area Man Constantly Mentioning He Doesn't Own A Television
47 C.F.R. Section 1.4000.
Read more about it here. The rule applies to "video antennas including direct-to-home satellite dishes that are less than one meter (39.37") in diameter (or of any size in Alaska), TV antennas, and wireless cable antennas."
There are some restrictions. For example you aren't guaranteed the right to mount your dish/antenna on a common area such as a roof or a wall. However, balconies and patios are fair game. As another poster else-thread mentioned, if your unit faces north, you're pretty SOL as far as dishes go.
Some martial arts scoring systems have aspects that are non-quantative. For example, in judo competitions penalties (which are essentially points for the non-penalized player) can be assigned on things like "non-combativity," where you aren't attacking enough or hard enough in the eyes of the judge. Perhaps not as subjective as gymnastics scoring, but there's no hard metric for it.
Maybe I'm missing something and there's a loop-hole, but AFAIK In Canada selling this information is illegal, and I thought that medical records were confidential in the US as well (apparently not). In Canada patients and health care professionals have client/doctor confidentiality similar to client / lawyer confidentiality. A doctor's office would lose it's practice if it handed over information to anyone without the patient's consent. Similar laws exist in the US. From my understanding, the loophole here is that they're not selling the specific health information (such as "Mr. Smith has AIDS"), but they're selling the sales records of the drugs Mr. Smith is taking ("Mr. Smith is taking drugs that are used to treat AIDS").
You shouldn't worry about your cable service dropping its analog signal completely until 2012 at the earliest. The FCC mandated that all local channels must be carried in analog format at least until 2012. Your non-local channels might switch to digital, however, requiring a set-top box.
Here's a Ars link with some details: FCC to cable: You must support analog TVs until 2012
And Wikipedia, see the last paragraph of "Congressional Mandate"
EXIT_SUCCESS. Let stdlib.h worry about those "numbers."
Winmodems are indeed a pain when not using Windows.
Until rather recently I was on dial-up, and ended up getting this dial-up modem. It works like most routers/modems; you connect your machines to it via Ethernet and control it via its internal web server, so any OS that has a web browser can use it. Dialing out and hanging up can be automated by URL parameters sent to its web page, so with a tiny bit of programming you can make a command-line modem control program. My Solaris, FreeBSD, Windows, and Linux machines all work very well with it.
If you're on dial-up, the $50 or so for such a modem is well worth it if you're interested in using non-Windows OSes.
If you're interested in running a non-KDE desktop, have you considered Xubuntu? It's the Ubuntu variant with the lighter-weight Xfce desktop. I run it on a 600Mhz Pentium III laptop with 128MB of RAM, and it works quite well (be sure to grab the "alternate install" disk if you're running with as little RAM as I am).
I had no issues with the non-standard desktop components on my laptop working out-of-the-box, but of course YMMV here. Wireless, sound, etc.
If Xfce is not light enough, you can always install fluxbox, wmaker, etc, all available from the offical apt repositories.
I'm serious about trying this.
Excellent!
- finding "off street" routes, trails, etc. I suspect there are trails around Bush Lake, I just don't know how to find them.
There are a huge number of bike-able trails in and around Hyland park reserve. During the commute hours, they can sometimes turn into a highway for bikes. You could probably run almost the whole length of the park on these paved trails. See the park map for details. As far as getting there from 169, I imagine you could figure out a low-traffic route through the residential neighborhood between 169 and Hyland park. Residential roads are great for bike commuting, primarily because they are low-traffic and low-speed.
- equipment? I have an older mountain bike, I know the tires are dry-rotted and need replaced, but the bike itself is in great shape.
That should do it. Changing the tires and tubes is probably a good idea, and double-check your brake pads. Check the chain, as well. If it's rusted, a replacement is cheap enough. Your local bike shop (I'm not sure what you have in over by you, I know there's both a Erik's and a Penn Cycle in Bloomington) can help you with the chain or any other parts you need replacing.
- safety gear? Helmet, obviously. What else?
It never hurts to be visible. If you're on the road before dawn (and it sounds like you are), blinky lights on the rear and front are essential, and you might also want a bit of a headlight on the front. A cheap reflective safety vest or similarly visible garmet would be a good idea as well. Also, you should take along everything you need to fix a flat tube. A small hand pump, a set of tire levers, and an extra tube or a instant patch kit will do. Again, the folks at your local bike shop can show you how to change a tube "in the field" if you're not sure how to do it yourself.
- rain gear?
If you cycle in your work clothes, or don't like getting wet, a basic rain coat should work. It's best to find something light and partially breathable. Panchos can be problematic as they are so loose-fitting they're likely to get stuck in your chain or something. Myself, I commute in cycling clothes, with my work clothes in a water-proof bag, so I don't really care about getting rained on. If it is raining, you should also have something over your eyes. Clear lensed glasses, perscription or not, will work here. Also, if you commute in work clothing, you might consider getting some fenders installed on your bike if you don't already have them. If you really don't like cycling in the rain, there's little shame in driving on rainy days. :-)
- other tips?
Have fun. Try out your proposed route on the weekend before you try commuting to work on it. If you're riding on a road, follow all rules of the road: stop at every stop sign, signal turns with your arms, always ride with (never against) traffic, etc. Check over your shoulder periodically. If you're going through a crosswalk, you should be walking your bike as you're now technically a pedestrian. If you're on the sidewalk or trail and are approaching a pedestrian from behind, announce your presence with a "on your left!" or somesuch a few seconds before you pass them. Check out this thread on bikeforums.net: Advice for New Commuters
Best of luck with your commute plans. If you've any other questions you can get my contact info from my modest web page.
I'm a bike commuter (16 mile commute) who lives and commutes around suburban Minnesota, year-round. Here are my replies to some of the points you make. I'll preface my remarks by saying that the Twin Cities and surrounding areas are known for having a generally bike-tolerant motorist population, and summer heat rarely gets over 95 degrees (though in the winter temps below -10 without wind chill aren't uncommon!).
Shower at work? That's not terribly common.
This is indeed a limiting factor for commuting cyclists. I happen to work at a large employer that has showers (and lockers!) accessible to all employees, so I'm spoiled in this regard. Some cyclists aren't so lucky. I know some that take a birdbath with wet towelettes, or happen to have memberships at a nearby gym that has showers. No global solution here.
Also..where do you carry your change of clothes with you on that bike so they don't get wrinkled?
A bike with a rack and pannier can carry work clothes as you describe easily without wrinkles. Alternatively, some of my suit-wearing bike commuting brethren will drive to work once a week or so, and stock their offices/cubes/whatever with a few fresh suits, and change in the office on the days they do commute by bike.
Generally, a bicycle has little business on roads where 70mph is normal. Most roads that have speed limits that high (freeways, etc) around where I live are specifically "no bikes allowed."
The speed differential problem you mention isn't a problem provided that there is adequate horizontal spacing between the bike and the cars. Many roads where 50 mph is the norm have a sufficient bike-able shoulder where 5-8 feet of spacing is easily accomplished. It might not sound like a lot, but it is plenty of space, and traffic can pass the cyclist at full speed without slowing down or veering off to the side. Of course, many roads don't have such shoulders. Fortunately, the road system in the US is very dense. A little bit of studying on Google maps will usually yield good bike commute routes that stay off of the high-speed, zero-shoulder roads. They will often be a bit longer, of course, often winding through residential areas, business parks, etc.
I said that they shouldn't share the road with bikes
I disagree with this sharply. Cyclists and motorists can indeed share the road safely and not get in each other's way. All it takes is both the cyclist and the motorists to respect each other's rights on the road, and have an ounce of consideration for the other party. I admit that cyclists deserve much of the blame here. Many people on bikes think that they're not subject to traffic laws when they ride on the road, and do stupid things (run stop signs, pass cars in turn lanes, etc) that make the responsible and considerate cyclists look bad. Even so, bike-car collisions are relatively rare. Around here, even non-crippling/fatal bike-car collisions will make the evening news. Car collisions only make headlines when they are particularly spectacular. Your locale might be different, of course.
In the end...even with my short comings I'll admit to...there is just no practical way, in the professional world for most of us to ride a bike to/from work when you take climate into consideration.
Everybody's situation is different, and I concede that it is quite difficult many to commute to work via bicycle for various reasons, be it distance from work, family commitments, health conditions, etc. However, it is much easier, safer, and practical than many people think. I'd suggest that the nay-sayers take closer look at bike commuting. Even if you drive 3/4 of the way to work with a bike in the trunk, park the car, and bike that last portion, and only do this on nice-weather Fridays, you're cutting down on your fuel costs and getting some healthy exercise at the same time.
Don't use an Intel or AMD CPU. The schematics of those CPUs are not Open.
UltraSPARC T2s for everybody!
or the C/C++ compiler itself injects code to prevent such attacks (as many research projects are currently attempting to do [llvm.org]).
Or perhaps the C/C++ compiler itself will inject code to allow such attacks.
I thought the same thing, and then double checked. OT: But yes, my Philmot expedition in 2002 had Baldy as a turn-around point (it was the northern most point of our trek). We got to stay in Baldy camp two consecutive nights, which meant we could go up baldy with just day packs. The group we passed on the way up Baldy was lugging all their gear with them, and didn't seem to be enjoying the ascent as much as we were.
It is indeed The Onion. Wikipedia Celebrates 750 Years Of American Independence. Founding Fathers, Patriots, Mr. T. Honored