I’m getting ready to pack up my stuff and move to WordPress.Com, to save some money on web hosting.
So let’s listen to a great song while we pack.
It would be hard to overstate how much I dig Fred Eaglesmith.
Author: Kent
Reader, writer, arithmeticer. Proprietor of Newsome.Org, a tech, music and life blog.
Fitbit One: We Welcome Our New Fitness Overlord
Raina and the kids got me a Fitbit One for my birthday. I was skeptical at first, being a dedicated MyFitnessPal user (the iPhone app is phenomenal), as fitness tracking goes. But I set it up, clipped it to my pants pocket and have grown to love it. In fact, I have developed an involuntary pocket touch, to make sure I have it clipped on.
A Fitbit tracks your steps, stairs, distance, and estimated calories burned (as well as weight, BMI and a lot of other stuff I don’t track). Best of all, the Fitbit One tracks your sleep. Based on when I know I am awake, it seems to be amazingly accurate. It automatically syncs to your computer and/or your iPhone (via bluetooth). It generates daily, weekly and monthly reports, with lots of detail. Here’s a summary of my current weekly chart.
I woke up a lot Friday night, and fell below my typical 98% sleep efficiency.
It also awards you badges for the number of stairs and steps you take in a day. This sounds sort of dumb, but is strangely effective. I don’t often have a 40,000 step day, but I often do a little extra if I’m closing in on 30,000.
I still use MyFitnessPal to track my food and my runs and walks. But I have integrated my Fitbit into my athletic nerdity. It probably does more to motivate me than anything else. I believe the distance numbers it reports are a bit high, based on how far I run each day, but it’s close enough and clearly gives you a baseline to work towards or improve on each day.
I recommend Fitbit highly, but beware of its power. Once you get a string of high step days, the idea of missing a day is really troubling.
Delaney Gets Some Well Earned Press
The latest issue of The Southwest News has an article about Delaney’s cross country season.
Click for a larger version
Here’s a video of the conference finals
In addition to her cross country, Delaney is swimming for Rice Aquatics. She had a meet last weekend, and got three 4ths and an 8th. That’s as an 11 year old in the 11-12 division, populated by serious, year-round swimmers.
And while I’m bragging, she recently won the Sugar Tri Kidz triathlon, one of the largest kids triathlons in the country, for the second straight year.
Yeah, I’m pretty proud of her.
Why You Shouldn’t Buy a Microsoft Surface, Yet
I exist pretty happily in my Apple-filled tech cocoon. I use an iMac on my desk, carry a MacBook Air in my backpack when on the road, have an iPhone 5 in my pocket, an iPad lying around somewhere, and an iPad Mini on the way to replace my ancient Kindle. But that doesn’t mean I ignore or reject other tech, or treat Apple as a religion. OK, well at least it doesn’t mean I ignore other tech.
I have been following the development and release of Windows 8 and Microsoft’s Surface tablet closely. I installed most of the Windows 8 betas on an old laptop. Without going into a lot of detail, my view of Windows 8 is that it is a transitional OS that will ultimately be much more Metro (or whatever we’re supposed to call it) and much less traditional desktop. But they can’t move all our cheese at once, so we get the best (or perhaps worst) of both worlds for now. I have no problem with this, although as a committed desktop user, I wonder how desktops fit into the largely mobile-focused evolution we are experiencing (a touch screen iMac- which I firmly believe will happen, one day- would put my mind at rest, but that’s a topic for another day).
I bought a Microsoft Surface RT shortly after they were released. Here’s the bottom line. The hardware is very, very nice. Way better than any Android device. The tablet looks and feels sturdy and nice, and the keyboard/cover works amazingly well. The software, however, is very, very frustrating. For two reasons. One, there are simply very few compelling apps in the App Store. This problem will likely be addressed over time, as developers fill what looks to be more than sufficient demand. Two, the Surface RT cannot run regular Windows applications. You get a bundled version of Office in the desktop environment, and Metro (or whatever we are supposed to call it) apps from the App Store. This problem will not be fixed, as far as the Surface RT is concerned.
But there is hope. And not just a fool’s hope.
Sometime next year, Microsoft will release the Surface Pro, which will run a full version of Windows 8- meaning you can install and use both Metro (or whatever we are supposed to call it) apps and regular Windows software. This will be much, much better. As good as an iPad at being an iPad? Probably not, but as my pal Ed Bott correctly points out, that is not the standard by which it should be judged. Will I dump my iPads for a Surface Pro? Nope. Will I buy one, thereby having an additional tool in my tech bag and a Windows computer in a house that otherwise would be devoid of one? Probably not. Especially if I’d have to pay for a subscription to get useful Office apps on my iPad (that plan irritates me, but makes sense from Microsoft’s perspective). Will it be infinitely better than any manner of Android device, if for no other reason than Microsoft will manage the upgrade process with some semblance of logic and predictability? Certainly.
So, if you want a Surface you should get one. Next year.
Poetry in Motion: the Welsch Sisters, Girl Power and Fatherly Motivation
The New York Times has a long article about local runners and triathletes, 12 year old Kaytlynn Welsch and 10 year old Heather Welsch. It is a great read, and much of it is very positive, as it should be. These girls work hard, and are unbelievable athletes. But there are also some critical parts. Specifically, whether their parents are too hard on them. Whether they should be allowed to run, swim and bike as much as they do.
I get that extra care needs to be taken with young athletes. That’s a given. But in my opinion, anything other than effusive praise for the Welsch sisters is misguided. We should be having parades for them, not directing them back to the kiddie pool.
Delaney competes often with the Welsch sisters in triathlons. One of the many things I enjoy about watching these triathlons is seeing the Welsch girls bike or run by. It is poetry, pure and simple. They always win their divisions, and Delaney, happily between them in age, almost always wins hers. When I see these girls go by, I don’t see children being browbeat into racing as some proxy for a tyrannical parent. I see young women who are really, really good at something, who know that being the best takes work, and who will benefit from the resulting mindset for the rest of their lives- whether they continue to race or not. I see poetry. Girl power. I see kids who understand the joy that comes from doing hard things well.
I don’t see kids being forced to do something they hate. I see kids being supported in doing something they love. And learning how to work hard and succeed in the process. I see hundreds of kids who got up really early on a weekend to swim, bike and run. I see parents nurturing an active lifestyle that will pay a lifetime of dividends. I see awesome.
Delaney swims at an elite level, does triathlons, runs cross country and plays basketball. Not because Raina or I want her to; because she’s good at sports and she likes to compete. She is willing to work hard to be good. Sure, at the end of a long race, she’ll say she’s never doing another one. Sure, she’ll cry sometimes if she gets beat. I have a great video of her friend and teammate, Emily, running one of the strongest cross country finishes I have ever seen. Right across the finish line, someone asks them how it went. “Terrible,” replied Emily as she tried to catch her breath. Then the next race rolls around and they’re out there ready to go. Doing work (to quote our oft used phrase) and enjoying it is a mindset.
I don’t know the Welsch family personally. Other that an encouraging yell as they fly by, I’ve never spoken to the girls. Raina has talked to Rodney Welsch a few times, and found him to be friendly and helpful. I have seen them at many races, and nothing I have seen looks remotely wrong. It looks right. Hard, but right.
And as far as the whole motivation thing…
I always ask Delaney how she did after a big swim meet. If she didn’t have her best race, I ask her if she needs floaties. She knows, beyond a doubt, that I love her like crazy and that the only reason I can be (or more accurately appear to be) hard on her is because I know she is good. If I came up to her after a bad race and didn’t ask her- yes, with a smile on my face- who put that boot in her rear end, she would instantly realize that something was wrong. You simply don’t motivate an elite athlete solely by telling them it’s OK, you tried. One of the best examples of coaching Delaney has received was when her Rice Aquatics coach got in her grill about something she did wrong, in a race she won. Or the other day, when she was scheduled to swim a 100 meter freestyle race an hour after winning a cross country race. Delaney walked up and started to tell her coach she was too tired to swim and wanted to scratch. He cut her off mid-sentence, telling her that the race was about to start and to go line up. When she told me this story afterwards, she was grinning ear to ear. She got it. She gets it.
Granted, athletes have to know that you can be very good without winning every race, or any race. Missy Franklin knows that. Delaney knows that. The Welsch sisters know that.
They just want to win.
Houston Rockets GM Does Reddit
It’s no secret that I love Reddit. IAmA‘s are one of the main reasons why.
Today, Daryl Morey, General Manager of the Rockets, is doing an IAmA. Some tidbits.
On rewarding bad teams:
Being an extremely crappy team is definitely a well worn path to success in the NBA. Each year, the NBA hands the most valuable asset in the game (a scale wage top 5 pick) and hands it to the most mismanaged teams. We could go with this approach (in fact the Rockets invented it long ago) but we think our approach can succeed as well and can succeed faster even though it is more difficult.
On taking risks:
We were rolling the dice on getting Jeremy Lin but taking smart risks is what we have to do up and down the roster on every move. As only 1 team out of 30 gets to win, you cannot play it safe. A fund manager who beats more than half his peers and beats the S+P 500 is considered pretty good. We have won more games than we lost the past few years (beaten our peers) despite losing our franchise player Yao Ming and it has been appropriately considered disappointing despite the fact that most teams win around one-third of their games after losing their franchise player. We need to keep taking on more smart risk.
Just one more reason to dig Reddit.
The Houston Chronicle Gets the (Document) Cloud
Our local paper has always been in front of the curve when it comes to tech-related things, in large part thanks to my Twitter feed check-in hating cyberbuddy, Dwight Silverman. Today, it seems the Chronicle dove head first into the Cloud, the “Document Cloud.”
At least now I know what Lorem Ipsum is:
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.
I don’t know about any of that, but I bet the Document Cloud is going to be awesome!
Adios Live Writer, 'Ello WordPress App
Having decided that getting the remnants of Windows off my Mac is more important than keeping my beloved Live Writer (which seems, sadly, to be circling the drain), I’m experimenting with the WordPress iPhone app.
So far, so OK. With 4-5 easy added features, this app would rock. As it is, it only hums.
Stay tuned.
Idiots Gone Partisan: Facebook, Plutocracy and the Rise of the Cyber-Pundit
People say a lot of stupid stuff on the internet. After all, that’s what it’s for, right? The stupidity level rises significantly in election years, when scads of people who don’t really understand what they are saying begin to wildly post and share memes and blurbs spoon fed to them by their preferred plutocrat, who has cleverly conscripted them into some political war that, regardless of outcome, has little or nothing to do with the prospects of the person dutifully regurgitating such nonsense. In other words, Facebook walls that used to be filled with posts about cats, photos of lunch and whatnot suddenly become a contest to see who can make the most factually challenged and outrageous claims about the rich guy they have been told they hate, while conveniently ignoring all the bad things about the rich guy they have been told they love.
Prime example of a stupid Facebook post.
Wow, that photo suddenly made me rethink my entire philosophy. My moral compass is spinning. Not. My moral compass is thinking that the Dalai Lama may be onto something, not because I am losing my religion (I’m holding on for dear life), but because somehow extremists have far too often been permitted to be the face of it.
As an aside, if I were the leader of a religion (of any kind), I would be spending most of my time leading cease and desist efforts against the opportunistic zealots who, far too often, claim to speak for religion while simultaneously acting in ways completely inconsistent with it. Unchecked, this hate-mongering will destroy religion (again, of any kind) from the inside a lot faster that any so-called competing religion will. Fortunately, young people don’t generally drink the haterade to the same degree as some of their elders. And more than they need to crap on others who don’t happen to share their beliefs, churches need young people.
Now comes some alleged study happily announcing that Facebook posts can influence election behavior. Well, it might influence me to vote- solely to cancel out this guy’s vote:
But it is never, ever going to convince me to change my ethics. If anything, it will only add to my growing belief that the political party system in this country is broken beyond repair. It’s not about issues any more. It’s about how much you hate the other group.
I’ve been keeping a rough tally, and I’d estimate that 97% of the Facebook political posts I’ve seen criticize or make fun of the other guy. Almost none actually discuss why the poster’s rich guy is better than the other one. It is idiotic, and anyone swayed by this level of discourse will forget who he’s supposed to vote for long before he stumbles his way into a voting booth.
It’s clear to me that these posts are not intended to persuade. They are merely cyber-tattoos, designed and displayed so people at the same extreme end of the so-called political spectrum can identify each other, congregate in the Comments, pretend they have the first clue what they are talking about, and revel in the camaraderie of extremism. In order to stand out, to get noticed, you have to be more extreme. Louder. Angrier. Dumber.
The same forces that have ruined our political process and are trying to corrupt organized religion (once again, all of them) are on full display on our social networks. Maybe this sort of insanity will drive sane people to the middle and to the voting booths. I hope so. The problem is that, on Facebook and at the polls, no one cares about the middle.
We’re alone on there and out here.
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