Here’s what happened to the Detroit Tigers. WHEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

And yes the bandwagon is fun:

It’s been months of rants, and counter-rants on Lance Armstrong. 

Tell me it ain’t so, Lance…

I have mixed feeling about the whole lance armstrong thing. On the one hand, my dad who wrote a book on lung medicine was surprised to find out that Lance was able to compete at the highest possible level given his medical history. My dad more or less convinced me that he was probably cheating.

On the other hand, I saw those races. And in those races his team was t

he best prepared, organized and trained. Yes everyone else took drugs, yes everyone else cheated, but he did everything better than them. When Jan Ullrich was a fat ass who couldn’t attack, Lance wasn’t. When Pantani was unhinged, Lance was not. When the rest of the field was getting caught cheating because they were a bunch of amatuers he didn’t.

My wife and I often remarked Lance probably cheated better than anyone else. And looking at what the documents said, we were right: he did cheat better than anyone else.

Professional sports is a form of entertainment. And Lance entertained me. He was the greatest cyclist of his era, and he remains the greatest cyclist of his era. And because cycling has had cheating since, well forever, he is the greatest cyclist ever.

Let me repeat that. Cycling has had the use of banned substances since for-ever. The cyclist who died on mont-ventoux, Tom Simpson, had more junk in his blood than a junkie… And I wish I could remember the cyclist from the 1930’s, Fausto Coppi, who said; One does not win the tour on water alone. And there is my all time favorite: Age and treachery will always win out over youth and talent…

And what really infuriates me is the self-righteous journalists who spew…

There is this unbelievable hypocrisy by folks who have other options than to cheat, to say that Lance should never have cheated. If he had never had cheated he would be yet another frustrated athlete who never amounted to anything, may never have found the medical coverage to survive, may never created the Lance Armstrong foundation.

They’re saying he should have accepted a life of irrelevance because that was the right thing to do…

Every great success is achieved in part by exploiting the accepted rules of the game. And Lance did that better than anyone else. He operated in an era where drugs were not considered cheating. And then we changed our minds and said: HOW DARE HE! HOW DARE THEY!

Those self-righteous journalists KNEW what was going — and if they didn’t they were deaf blind and mute. And then when it was impossible to hide they acted like the Captain Renault: I am shocked shocked to discover that gambling is going on…

Lance is the greatest professional cyclist. And unless we want to vacate every champion since Fausto Coppi, we have to just admit that our *morality* changed, and not punish Lance. He’s right it’s a witch hunt. It’s our new morality punishing Lance because we changed.

 

And now time has passed … and I’ve been thinking about what I will tell my son about cheating and winning and losing. 

What I will tell him is that cheating is wrong. That in the end, cheating gets you a short term advantage but in the long haul you can’t fake what you don’t have. And that he shouldn’t cheat, and I’ll respect him more for losing than for winning while cheating. 

But I’ll also tell him that there are some activities where cheaters do win, and that he’s probably best served by not participating in them. That in some human endeavors you can’t avoid getting dirty, you can’t avoid cheating because the people enforcing the rules have decided to not enforce them. That when the stakes are very high, things get ugly, very ugly. And he needs to understand that point. That sometimes cheaters do win. And that people do cheat. And that he can’t just assume people will play fair. 

And it’s not just in sports. It’s everywhere. Consider what’s going on with the attempts to disenfranchise poor voters with voter registration laws… 

As for Lance, I understand why Lance did what he did. He wanted to win, and the people enforcing the rules chose to not enforce them. They chose to ignore what was going on. And so he had to chose to make an impact on the world OR be a man of high integrity. 

No amount of his cheating can change the fact that when Saku Koivu needed inspiration to come back from Cancer he read Lance’s book. And Lance gets credit for that. And no amount of his cheating can change the fact that he inspired me to finish the Death Ride. And he inspired countless other people whom I don’t know. And he gets credit for that. 

And I look at guys like Bill Gates who pushed the rules to the very hairy edge. He’s helped eliminate malaria from India. And you know what, I’m okay with what he did. And he helped eliminate a company I loved (SGI) and an industry I loved (UNIX) – so it’ s not like my life wasn’t impacted. 

And I look at guys Muhammed Ali, and Arthur Ashe who did something with the fact that they were champions, something the mattered. 

So I’ll tell my son: Don’t cheat. That integrity matters. But that more than cheating and winning, what matters is what you do with what you’ve won. That the world will remember you more for what you did with your winning more than they will that you won. But if you cheat they will also remember that you cheated. 

And the real lesson in all of this mess is that Lance did something with the fact that he won that was meaningful. And that the money he raised and the people he helped are real and for that he deserves more credit than any other winner. And that if you admire Lance, don’t admire him for winning the Tour de France admire what he did with the fact that he won.

And that the people who hate him now and want to discredit him now, well they can not take away all the good that he did. And that that good matters a lot more than any silly tour-de-france victory. 

But that all that good he did will never change the fact that he cheated. And that his good will always be tainted. Much like Mr Gate’s good will always be tainted… So don’t cheat. 

Because as much good as Lance did, he will still always be a cheater, and that reflects poorly on his integrity. And integrity matters. 

And that as great as Lance was, he will never be as iconic as Muhammed Ali or Arthur Ashe, because well he cheated. 

This afternoon I will be doing my last 12 mile run for a very long time.. next week it’s 8, and then after that it’s 26!

I want to thank my wife — without whom I would have quit when I did that first 8 mile run and discovered that the pain of 8 miles >>> 6 miles… And who has provided awesome post-run support in the form of smoothies. She has also been willing to endure

1. me disappearing for 4 and 5 hour stretches,

2. me coming back like a physical wreck after my runs

3. a trip to Greece.

I also want to thank my FB friends for their support. Without them cheering me on, this whole process would have felt a lot, and I mean a lot, lonelier.

Finally I want to thank my cousin Margarita’s husband who inspired me to run this thing. Now granted he did it in less than 4 hours, and I will hopefully do it in less than 6, but inspiration is where you can find it.

And as a special added bonus, I want to thank my appetite … In spite of running over 400 miles, I only lost 4 pounds. An amazing tribute to a voracious eater…

I wonder how much of the Greek left believes that if Greece were to revolt it would be the spark that would finally over turn capitalism?

Sigh. This stupid software can’t resize images within the editor…

Trying out this blogging software — MarsEdit. The lack of good blogging software on the mac has crippled my blogging activities… 

So there is a massive earthquake in Japan, with who knows what consequences, and the great and glorious SIGGRAPH papers community has taken action.

Why yes they have, they have given the folks in Japan 48 hours.

Dear authors,

Due to the severe earthquake in Japan, papers with Japan-based authors may have an additional 48 hours to submit their rebuttals (beyond the regular deadline which is today, March 11, 22:00 GMT).  These late rebuttals can be sent by email to papersadmin2011@siggraph.org.

SIGGRAPH 2011 Technical Papers Chair

How about a week guys, or has the program committee already booked their tickets?

One thing that every geek can do is quote their favorite geek-culture media, whether it’s movies, books, television, theater or music. The GeekDads have tried to compile a list of such quotes for your enjoyment. This list is certainly not definitive. Indeed, it’s only the beginning! Feel free to add your own (clean) ones in the comments below.

1. “Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.” — Dennis the Peasant, Monty Python and the Holy Grail
2. “Three rings for the Elven kings under the sky, seven for the Dwarf lords in their halls of stone, nine for the mortal men doomed to die, one for the Dark Lord on his dark throne, in the land of Mordor where the shadows lie. One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring the bring them all, and in the darkness bind them. In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie.” –LOTR
3. “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” – HAL, 2001: A Space Odyssey
4. “Spock. This child is about to wipe out every living thing on Earth. Now, what do you suggest we do….spank it?” — Dr. McCoy, Star Trek: The Motion Picture
5. “With great power there must also come — great responsibility.”  – Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962)
6. “If you can’t take a little bloody nose, maybe you oughtta go back home and crawl under your bed. It’s not safe out here. It’s wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it’s not for the timid.” — Q, Star Trek: The Next Generation “Q Who?”
7. “Five card stud, nothing wild. And the sky’s the limit” — Captain Jean Luc Picard, uttering the last line of the series, Star Trek: The Next Generation “All Good Things…”
8. “If you think that by threatening me you can get me to do what you want… Well, that’s where you’re right. But – and I am only saying that because I care – there’s a lot of decaffeinated brands on the market that are just as tasty as the real thing.” – Chris Knight, Real Genius
9. “We’re all very different people. We’re not Watusi. We’re not Spartans. We’re Americans, with a capital ‘A’, huh? You know what that means? Do ya? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We’re the underdog.” – John Winger, Stripes
10. “If I’m not back in five minutes, just wait longer.” – Ace Ventura, Ace ventura, Pet Detective
11. “I’m going to give you a little advice. There’s a force in the universe that makes things happen. And all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen, and be the ball.” – Ty Webb, Caddyshack
12. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE – God (Douglas Adams), So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
13. “Some days, you just can’t get rid of a bomb!” – Adam West, Batman & Robin
14. “Bill, strange things are afoot at the Circle K.” – Ted, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
15. “Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple.” – Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
16. “Didja ever look at a dollar bill, man? There’s some spooky shit goin’ on there. And it’s green too.” – Slater, Dazed and Confused
17. “Alright, alright alright.” – Wooderson, Dazed and Confused
18. “Heya, Tom’, it’s Bob from the office down the hall. Good to see you, buddy; how’ve you been? Things have been alright for me except that I’m a zombie now. I really wish you’d let us in.” Jonothan Coulton, Re: Your Brains
19. “Never argue with the data.” – Sheen, Jimmy Neutron
20. “Oooh right, it’s actually quite a funny story once you get past all the tragic elements and the over-riding sense of doom.” – Duckman (Jason Alexander)
21. “Fantastic!” – The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), Doctor Who
22. “I must not fear. / Fear is the mind-killer. / Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. / I will face my fear. / I will permit it to pass over me and through me. / And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. / Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. / Only I will remain.” – Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear, Dune
23. “This is the way society functions. Aren’t you a part of society?” – Kramer, Seinfeld
24. “Okay. You people sit tight, hold the fort and keep the home fires burning. And if we’re not back by dawn… call the president.” – Jack Burton, Big Trouble in Little China
25. “No matter where you go, there you are. ” – Buckaroo Banzai, Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension
26. “Do you know of the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold? It is very cold in space.” -Khan, ST:TWOK
27. “Ray, if someone asks you if you’re a god, you say YES!” – Winston, Ghostbusters
28. “Greetings, programs!” -Flynn, TRON
29. “I guess you picked the wrong god-damned rec room to break into, didn’t you?!” -Burt, Tremors
30. “I find your lack of faith disturbing.” -Darth Vader, Star Wars
31. “Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side, kid.” -Han Solo, Star Wars
32. “Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try.” – Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back
33. “It’s a moral imperative.” – Chris Knight, Real Genuis
34. “Talk with your mouth full / bite the hand that feeds you / bite off more than you can chew / dare to be stupid” – Weird AL “dare to be stupid.”
35. “Well, let’s say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area. Based on this morning’s reading, it would be a Twinkie thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds.” – Egon, Ghostbusters
36. “This episode was BADLY written!” -Gwen, Galaxy Quest
37. “Worst. Episode. Ever.” – Comic Book Guy, The Simpsons
38. “Goonies never say die.” -Mike, The Goonies
39. “Nothing shocks me–I’m a scientist.” – Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
40. “Bright light! Bright light!” – Gremlins
41. “The Road goes ever on and on/Down from the door where it began/Now far ahead the Road has gone/And I must follow, if I can/Pursuing it with eager feet/Until it joins some larger way/Where many paths and errands meet/And whither then? I cannot say.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings
42. “Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!” – Dr. Peter Venkman, Ghostbusters
43. “If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?” – Albert Einstein
44. “Wait a minute, Doc. Ah… Are you telling me you built a time machine… out of a DeLorean?” – Marty McFly, Back to the Future
45. “Don’t call me a mindless philosopher, you overweight blob of grease!” – C3PO, Star Wars
46. “I’d just as soon kiss a wookiee!” – Princess Leia, The Empire Strikes Back
47. “But one thing’s sure: Inspector Clay is dead, murdered, and somebody’s responsible.” – Detective, Plan 9 from Outer Space
48. “I know kung fu.” – Neo, The Matrix
49. “This is your receipt for your husband… and this is my receipt for your receipt.” – Officer, Brazil
50. “Your soul-suckin’ days are over, amigo!” – Elvis, Bubba Ho-Tep
51. “I don’t believe there’s a power in the ‘verse that can stop Kaylee from being cheerful. Sometimes you just wanna duct-tape her mouth and dump her in the hold for a month.” – Malcolm Reynolds, Firefly (episode: “Serenity” (pilot))
52. “Would you say I have a plethora of piñatas?” – El Guapo, ¡Three Amigos!
53. “Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!” Vizzini, The Princess Bride
54. “There is no Earthly way of knowing… which direction we are going. There is no knowing where we’re rowing, or which way the river’s flowing. Is it raining? Is it snowing? Is a hurricane a’blowing? Not a speck of light is showing so the danger much be growing. Are the fires of hell a’glowing? Is the grisley reaper mowing? YES! The danger must be growing for the rowers keep on rowing AND THEY’RE CERTAINLY NOT SHOWING ANY SIGNS THAT THEY ARE SLOWING!!” – Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
55. “Time…to die.” – Roy Batty, Blade Runner
56. “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds” J. Robert Oppenheimer
57. “Check, please.” – Lone Starr & Barf, Spaceballs
58. “So say we all.” – Battlestar Galactica
59. “After very careful consideration, sir, I’ve come to the conclusion that your new defense system sucks.” – General Beringer, WarGames.
60. “I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar.” – Wash, Serenity
61. “No matter what you hear in there, no matter how cruelly I beg you, no matter how terribly I may scream, do not open this door or you will undo everything I have worked for.” – Young Frankenstein
62. “Ahh, a bear in his natural habitat: a Studebaker.” Fozzie, The Muppet Movie
63. “He’s dead, Jim.” McCoy, ST:TOS
64. “Who’s gonna turn down a Junior Mint? It’s chocolate, it’s peppermint – it’s delicious!” – Kramer, Seinfeld
65. “Bring out your dead.” Monty Python and the Holy Grail
66. “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!” -Inigo, The Princess Bride
67. “Why a duck? Why-a no chicken?” – Chico Marx, Cocoanuts
68. “Redrum.” Danny, The Shining
69. “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows.” – announcer, The Shadow radio drama
70. “We’re going to need a bigger boat.” – Chief Brody, Jaws
71. “Oooh, ahhh, that’s how it always starts. Then later there’s running and screaming.” – Ian Malcolm, The Lost World: Jurassic Park
72. “Greetings, my friend. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future.” Criswell, Plan 9 from Outer Space
73. “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!” – President Merkin Muffley, Dr. Strangelove
74. “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.” – Obi-Wan, Star Wars
75. “Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!” – Taylor, Planet of the Apes
76. “You maniacs! You blew it up! Oh, damn you! Damn you all to hell!” – Taylor, Planet of the Apes
77. “Klaatu barada nikto.” The Day the Earth Stood Still
78. “Monsters from the Id.” – Doc Ostrow, Forbidden Planet
79. “ET phone home.” – ET
80. “What… is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?” – Bridgekeeper, Monty Python and the Holy Grail
81. “We thought you was a toad!” – Delmar, O Brother Where Art Thou?
82. “Face it tiger, you just hit the jackpot!”–Mary Jane, Spider-Man.
83. “You don’t have to be a gun.”-Hogarth, The Iron Giant.
84. “Danger Will Robinson! Danger!” – Robbie the Robot, Lost in Space
85. “Yeah, well. The Dude abides.” – The Dude, The Big Lebowski
86. “All things serve the beam.” various instances, The Dark Tower series
87. “You can’t fool me! There ain’t no Sanity Clause!” – Chico Marx, A Night at the Opera
88. “Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love – they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.” – Harry Lime, The Third Man
89. “And I said, I don’t care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I’m, I’m quitting, I’m going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they’ve moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were married, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn’t bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it’s not okay because if they take my stapler then I’ll set the building on fire…” – Milton Waddams, Office Space
90. “Michael, I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything that I thought it could be.” – Peter Gibbons, Office Space
91. “Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho.” – John McClane (in writing), Die Hard
92. “Gimme some sugar, baby.” – Ash, Army of Darkness
93. “Well hello Mister Fancypants. Well, I’ve got news for you pal, you ain’t leadin’ but two things, right now: Jack and sh*t… and Jack left town.” – Ash, Army of Darkness
94. “Kneel before Zod.” – Zod, Superman II
95. “Shall we play a game?” – Joshua, WarGames
96. “Daddy would have gotten us Uzis.” – Samantha, Night of the Comet
97. “It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark and we’re wearing sunglasses.” “Hit it!” – Elwood, The Blues Brothers
98. “Make it so” / “Engage” – Captain Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
99. “Ya Ta!” – Hiro Nakamura, Heroes
100. “End Of Line” – The MCP, TRON

This is a fascinating read:

http://dashes.com/anil/2007/12/google-and-theory-of-mind.html

Especially the section on the transformational power of the PageRank/AdSense mechanism on the link mechanism of the web.

2. Connecting PageRank to economic systems such as AdWords and AdSense corrupted the meaning and value of links by turning them into an economic exchange. Through the turn of the millennium, hyperlinking on the web was a social, aesthetic, and expressive editorial action. When Google introduced its advertising systems at the same time as it began to dominate the economy around search on the web, it transformed a basic form of online communication, without the permission of the web’s users, and without explaining that choice or offering an option to those users.

Worse, the transformation was retroactive and the eventual mechanisms for opting out were incomplete in that the economic value could not be decoupled from the informational value. Inevitably, spammers arose to take advantage of the ability to create high-economic-value links at very low cost, causing vast damage to the ability to use links as a purely informational exchange. In addition, this forced Google to become more and more opaque about the refinements and adjustments it makes to its indexing algorithms, making a key part of their business less and less transparent over time. The eventual result has been the virtual decimation of communications systems like TrackBack, and absurdities like blogs linking to their own tag search results for key words in lieu of useful links, in an attempt to appease a search algorithm that they will never be allowed to fully understand.

An awareness of how a transformation in the fundamental value of links from informational to economic could have led Google to develop a system that separated editorial and aesthetic choices from economic ones, preventing the eventual link-spam arms race.

What the author observes is that linking which was a globally distributed process of creating an outline of the world’s information has been distorted by the economies generated by Google. In effect, the global outline was perverted to be almost useless.