RandomFailure

OK, I did this last Sunday, but I’ve been too lazy to post this brag until now.

What is the Google puzzle, you ask? I read about it in an article on CNet a few weeks ago. If you don’t want the solution to the first part of the puzzle, which is in the article, Google put up a billboard on Highway 101 in Silicon Valley with the following text:

{first 10-digit prime found in consecutive digits e}.com

Since I read the article, I had the solution to the first part of the puzzle, which leads you to a Web site with a second puzzle. I did solve the second part of the puzzle. It required a bit of programming, which I haven’t done in years. Once I figured out how to get the solution, I cranked out some pseudocode in about 10 minutes. The problem with not having written a real program in about 10 years left my coding skills rather rusty, and it took about two hours worth of stupid mistakes to get the program to work. Of course, that was due to my weak C skills to begin with; I have since downloaded a freeware Basic interpreter for my Mac (Chipmunk Basic), so I can crank out that type of stuff a bit faster (at least, that’s what I think will happen).

In case you’re wondering, no, I’m not going to give you my solution. Not until Google gives out theirs. I’d hate to ruin the fun for others. And besides, I’d like to find out if I’m the only patent attorney to solve the puzzle.

Well, it is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. I think this picture of Lance Armstrong winning today’s Stage 15 of the Tour de France to Villard-de-Lans tells it all. The video of him crossing the line was even better; you could tell he was very excited.

And OLN had the pleasant surprise of having Robin Williams in the booth for a few post-race comments. Here’s a snippet:
Al Troutwig: “Robin, tell us how you became interested in cycling.”
Robin Williams: “It started several years ago, it was sort of a bike-sexual thing. Ride long. Ride hard.” (And he goes on from there.)

I guess it’s a good idea for me to just start numbering these “random comments” collections, otherwise I’ll run out of nouns to put after the word “random”.

New iPods supposedly coming on Monday. Check the story from ThinkSecret.

Lance Armstrong has had two great days in the Tour de France. Second place finish yesterday, a stage win today, and he’s now only 22 seconds behind the leader. More importantly, all the pre-race favorites have been bitch-slapped severely and are several minutes back.

And I started on a nine week training program for the Philadelphia Distance Run, ten weeks before the race. I figure with a week off for vacation, I’d better try to squaeeze the whole thing in, rather than cheat myself of a week.

No, I don’t know anyone named Sunday. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone named Sunday. Anyway, I’m getting off-track here.

Just two things you should be aware of:

1. Support the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Go to wearyellow.com. Buy some yellow wristbands. Wear them whenever. I’ll be wearing mine while running.
2. Hate CSX. Those assholes are purposely parking trains to block street-level pedestrian access to the Center City portion (Locust Street, in my case) of the Schuylkill River Trail. Check Free the River Park for more info. Though there’s got to be a better way than just sending letters.

Happy almost Monday…

A disaster very narrowly averted. Coach K stays at Duke! Read the ESPN story for more info. There’s a press conference this afternoon (July 5) at 5:00pm; I don’t know how interesting it will be, but I’ll still watch.

The most shocking news of the week. Even more shocking than federal indictments in Philadelphia. Yes, I talking about the possibility of Coach K leaving Duke to go to the L.A. Lakers. There’s tons of articles about this, but I think you should start at ESPN or GoDuke. And this coming at a time when Duke gets ready to celebrate 100 years of basketball. As a Duke grad (class of 1992), I am firmly against Coach K leaving. But I understand the temptation, with players leaving after one year (Luol Deng) and some not even showing up on campus at all (Shaun Livingston). A decision is supposed to be made after the holiday weekend. So try not to choke on your hot dog.

Second sports item, which will occupy most of my July, is the Tour de France. Lance Armstrong goes for a record 6th (and consecutive, no less) victory in what has to be the world’s toughest sporting event. Over 2100 miles in three weeks. The day to watch will be July 21, which is an individual time trial (each rider against the clock, one at a time) up the infamous L’Alpe d’Huez. It’s a 15.5 km (about 9.6 mile) climb up a 7.9% grade, with a total elevation gain of just under 3600 feet, and 21 switchbacks. Don’t be surprised if there are a million people out there on the mountainside watching. Should be something amazing! And if you watch it on TV (OLN carries it), you get to see/hear Bob Roll butcher the French language and likely come close to causing an international incident. But the guy is fun to listen to! And on top of it, you also get the pleasure of listening to two of the most knowledgeable commentators in any sport, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen. (There’s also something soothing about their British accents…)

Not that this matters all that much to anybody, even me for that matter. But if you’re a Mac person like I am, then you may be interested to know that Apple will be releasing a new iMac line of computers in September. So I’m going to hold off. I would love to buy a new computer now, but I’m looking at possibly buying way more computer than I need. Which is a lot for me to say, being a computer geek. I think knowing how to program for 24 years now (I learned when I was about 10), and having a computer at home for 21 years qualifies me as a computer geek. Not a bleeding-edge geek (that’s what the patent attorney gig is all about), but a geek nonetheless.