http://www.thetangentbundle.net/ Homepage of Lionel Brits. Also hosts the Physics Wiki and the Mathematics Wiki, resources in physics and mathematics. http://www.thetangentbundle.net/board/topic/261/0/ Well, I almost did it. After doing some open water tests and a 1000m stretch in the pool, I was ready* for the triathlon this Sunday. I planned to do one final big bike+run combo on Wednesday before the big day, which was cut short by what can only be described as my own foolishness. Not being used to "working" hardware, I hit the front break on my new aluminum bike, which, combined with my elevated center of gravity, should properly be called the "somersault button". I hit the asphalt head first, followed by my elbow. The helmet did its job, and when I came to a standstill, a crowd of astonished onlookers brought my various bits and pieces to me. Thinking that I was in better shape than I was, I opted to walk home, where I asked a frightened Kelley to help me remove my shirt and clean my road rash before getting checked out at the hospital. Bending over sent my back into a painful spasm and my normally enviable blood pressure into the pits. Kelley managed to get an ambulance at our front door within 5 minutes while I was sweating like a faucet, all the while watching my vision fade away. After a short list of questions I was on my way to VGH, as the campus hospital was not equipped for trauma. I never knew 10th avenue had so many potholes. A battery of seven X-rays showed that my spine was ok, but that I had a fractured elbow. Unfortunately a band-aid wasn't an option. After a two-and-a-half day stay in the orthopaedic ward with my loving Kelley by my side, and several nurses who deserve just as much praise, I had finally climbed to number one on the O.R.'s to-do list, and my elbow became the permanent new home to two stainless steel pins and some wire. The operation (my first) was done under an arm block, which meant that I got to stay awake for all the drilling and hammering, and especially the smart-ass remarks of my Irish anesthesiologist, who resembles Robin Williams in more way than one (the good ways, I should say). This was roughly at 10am, and 4 Tylenols, 2 Tylenol #3s, and a strangely welcome lunch of "mac and cheese product" later, Kelley and I took the express bus home around 3 o'clock. While sensation returned within minutes of the operation, I only felt the full brunt of my elbow's revenge around 11pm. Two more #3s (which I was arrogant enough to take two hours apart) and two ibuprofens did little to numb the pain, which can be described as the worst tooth-ache of your life — if your tooth were the size of your arm. I already had almost 3 grams of acetaminophen in my system, and god knows what else, so I thought I'd give my virgin liver a break. The pain subsided and I managed to get a decent amount of sleep. As we had recently moved in, our mattress is still on the floor, and neither Kelley nor I am in any condition to assemble our bed frame. Hopefully my back will shape up by the time our box spring arrives. * Roughly half of the comments I got from nurses were about my "athletic" heart rate of 45bpm, which I'm proud of. The other half were about the accident, which I'm not so proud of. This might all sound very dramatic, but if I hadn't been wearing my helmet, I would instead be looking forward to learning how to walk... or talk. http://www.thetangentbundle.net/board/topic/261/0/ http://www.thetangentbundle.net/board/topic/258/0/ Last Monday a good friend of mine somehow managed to talk me into taking part in an upcoming sprint triathlon. The only competitive swimming and running I've ever done was back in elementary school, so my goal is only to finish without drowning. I've been jogging for some time now, so the 5 km run doesn't worry me nearly as much as the 500m swim in frigid water. Oh, and the 22 km bike route that is "scenic yet challenging". http://www.thetangentbundle.net/board/topic/258/0/ http://www.thetangentbundle.net/board/topic/257/0/ I dreamt that I was harvesting maternity carrots to use as fortification against a charging T-Rex. I consider this a welcome reprieve from all the bathroom stalls that don't seem to lock. Of course, these are only the dreams that I remember. Sigh. http://www.thetangentbundle.net/board/topic/257/0/ http://www.thetangentbundle.net/board/topic/241/0/ In case you haven't heard, Kelley and I are expecting a bouncing bundle of joy. I present to you, Mr. Brits jr. A Brits in the making (click for more) http://www.thetangentbundle.net/board/topic/241/0/ http://www.thetangentbundle.net/board/topic/223/0/ I've been getting a little more serious with the photoshopping as of late, and as I put most of my photos on the web, the issue of colour management eventually came up. In short, you spend hours getting things to look just right in photoshop only to see the browser mangle the colours for you. The good news is that Firefox 3 supports colour management and promises to respect embedded colour profiles. The bad news is a) it's not enabled by default, and b) I can't seem to get it to work anyway. So for the time being I will just convert my web photos to sRGB and leave it at that. http://www.thetangentbundle.net/board/topic/223/0/ http://www.thetangentbundle.net/board/topic/216/0/ With Imagemagick's lackluster support for SVG I decided to try my hand on installing rsvg on my dreamhost account instead. I found this document very useful. All told it took about 2 hours (a few wrong turns). It still takes a bit of tweaking to get Inkscape's svg's to work, but at least the final result is acceptable. http://www.thetangentbundle.net/board/topic/216/0/ http://www.thetangentbundle.net/board/topic/214/0/ I tried out this miro thing today, a "free, open source internet tv and video player" that connects you to a myriad of channels on subjects like science and entertainment. I must say that I am impressed, but more on that later. I came across The story of stuff, a charmingly informative exposé of consumerism. Here's a synopsis from the site: From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever. The story of stuff http://www.thetangentbundle.net/board/topic/214/0/ http://www.thetangentbundle.net/board/topic/213/0/ On my flight back to Vancouver an article about microlending caught my attention. If you're not content with merely buying a goat for a farmer in a developing nation, you may want to consider lending her some cash as well. Microcredit, as it is called, allows people who are willing and able to extend credit to unemployed or poor entrepreneurs, often in developing nations, who are otherwise unable to secure loans that could potentially give them the leg up they need. These people often fall prey to usury and loansharking and become trapped in a cycle of debt. Microlending programs like Grameen bank and Kiva aim to break this cycle by providing loans that are low risk to lenders and potentially life changing to borrowers. As it is more accessible to the internet community, I think I might give Kiva a shot. Here's a video of Bill Clinton explaining microcredit and Kiva.org. http://www.thetangentbundle.net/board/topic/213/0/