I'm not sure if it bothers you but when you leave a message for somebody, you're always left waiting for that stupid beep before you're able to talk. David Pogue, NY Times Columnist who focuses on tech, has decided enough is enough and that the extra long message forced upon us by the carriers so that they can make more money has to go. Here's a quote by him.

"Suppose you call my cell to leave me a message. First you hear my own voice: "Hi, it's David Pogue. Leave a message, and I'll get back to you" — and THEN you hear a 15-second canned carrier message. ... These messages are outrageous for two reasons. First, they waste your time. Good heavens: it's 2009. WE KNOW WHAT TO DO AT THE BEEP. ... Second, we're PAYING for these messages. These little 15-second waits add up — bigtime. If Verizon's 70 million customers leave or check messages twice a weekday, Verizon rakes in about $620 million a year. That's your money."

— NYT columnist David Pogue mobilizes a "Take Back the Beep" campaign to press cell-phone carriers to get rid of the superfluous voicemail instructions that play before a caller is allowed to leave a message.

Below is a question and answer regarding robots and the issue of robots disobeying orders/doing unethical actions... I think I've seen too many movies as I read the answer as Asimov blah blah blah oh my God, the robot is killing my dog. Ok, so maybe I made up that last part of I'm jaded after seeing Will Smith have to take on the whole robot force in iRobot. For now, I'll vacuum my floors, pick up heave objects, and figure out what's logical on my own.

Q: Do you envision robots ever disobeying military orders on the battlefield to "do the right thing?" If so, under what circumstances?

A: Asimov originated the use of ethical restraint in robots many years ago and presented all the quandaries that it can generate. In our prototype ethical governor (and in the design itself) we do provide the robot with the right to refuse an order it deems unethical. It must provide some explanation as to why it has refused such an order. With some reluctance, we have engineered a human override capability into the system, but one which forces the operator to explicitly assume responsibility for any ethical infractions that might result as a consequence of such an override.

— Ronald C. Arkin, director of the Mobile Robot Laboratory at Georgia Tech, who is working on programming ethical behavior into military robots.

2009 Triathlon Season

Nutrition Nutrition Nutrition

Went to a talk about nutrition with a focus on endurance athletes. Some things I took away from it was:
1) That I don't eat enough - Eat within an hour of waking and every 3 to 4 hours, ie. snacks :)
2) I don't eat the right foods. Bacon falls under fat and not proteins :( Spam is also not a good choice.
3) Make sure I take in both carbohydrates and proteins when I eat.
4) Whatever my daily caloric intake should be (ie. 2000), what I eat during exercising doesn't count towards it.
5) I asked about vitamins, pills, etc. that people take daily. Here is what I got from everybody: Multi-vitamin - a basic, generic one
Omega 3 fatty - fish oil or flax seed...
Vitamin e
Glucosamine

There were other good tidbits and I'll update this list as I remember them. Also, please feel free to comment.

Uh oh, calves are totally rock hard

Uh oh, calves are totally rock hard
Originally uploaded by john hayato

Usually I'm smiling at the end of races but all I could muster up was a grimace as the cramping took over my whole lower half of my body.