Rambouillet to Paris Champs-Élysées

Distance: 120 kilometers.

The parade into Paris. The only real questions left are will Mark Cavendish take his fourth Paris stage win in a row, and who will win La Lanterne Rouge.

Britian has a lot to cheer today – Bradley Wiggins and Christopher Froome have finished in first and second place in the Tour, and SuperManx, Mark Cavendish won his 23^rd Tour stage. Cavendish moves into sole possession of fourth place in total tour stage wins, and achieved his fourth consecutive win in Paris.

Wiggins took 87 hours, 34 minutes, and 47 seconds to finish the 3488 kilometer [2167.34 mile] race. He has been close before only to be sidelined by injuries in accidents, so this isn’t a fluke. anymore than Cadel Evans’s win last year. There is minimal crowd control, and they race on public roads in various states of repair. Being lucky is almost as important as riding fast.

Bradley Wiggins ( GB – SKY – 101 ) [Yellow] 87h 34′ 47″
Peter Sagan ( Svk – LIQ – 057 ) [Green] 421 points
Thomas Voeckler ( Fra – EUC – 021 ) [Polka Dot] 135 points
Tejay Van Garderen ( USA – BMC – 009 ) 5 [White]

Team: RadioShack-Nissan ( 011-019 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Mark Cavendish ( GB – SKY – 103 )
Super Combative: Chris Anker Sorensen ( Den – STB – 178 ) [Red numbers]
Φ Jimmy Engoulvent ( Fra – SAU – 093 ) + 3h 57′ 36″ [La Lanterne Rouge]

Top Ten:

1 Bradley Wiggins ( G B – SKY – 101 )
2 Christopher Froome ( G B – SKY – 105 ) + 03′ 21”
3 Vincenzo Nibali ( Ita – LIQ – 051 ) + 06′ 19”
4 Jurgen Van Den Broeck ( Bel – LTB – 111 ) + 10′ 15”
5 Tejay Van Garderen ( USA – BMC – 009 ) + 11′ 04”
6 Haimar Zubeldia ( Esp – RNT – 019 ) + 15′ 41”
7 Cadel Evans ( Aus – BMC – 001 ) + 15′ 49”
8 Pierre Rolland ( Fra – EUC – 029 ) + 16′ 26”
9 Janez Brajkovic ( Slo – AST – 181 ) + 16′ 33”
10 Thibaut Pinot ( Fra – FDJ – 146 ) + 17′ 17”

The Rest of the Riders:
[Read more →]

Well, ‘people’ by a warped decision of the Supreme Court …

So, I had some time and decided to see how this new box plays DVDs. That was in my mind when I chose the hardware. I don’t go to movies or watch TV, but I do occasionally feel like watching a movie when it is raining and I can’t do what I had planned. Man does not exist by blog reading alone, after all.

So, I grabbed a Blu-Ray of the Wizard of Oz, which is something my Mother wouldn’t miss if it was destroyed in the testing and would test all of the capabilities of the system.

I stuck it in the drive and nothing happened. After all of the hype about Windows 7 being this multimedia miracle for the masses – bupkix, nada, zip.

I checked to see there actually was something on the DVD, and Windows Explorer assured me that there was, so I cranked up Windows Media Player which told me the disk was blank, but I should subscribe to an on-line media service that would be happy to rent me all kinds of things.

So then I went out and found VLC Media Player, a free open source package that everyone praises, and downloaded it. It at least told me what was going on with the disk – I didn’t have an encryption key that was required to play Blu-Ray disks. Apparently DVD players have to have these keys built-in to actually be used to play the newer DVDs which are all encrypted.

So, the media mogul six-pack not only get to over-charge you for the disks, and determine what disks you may have based on geography, but they get to determine what equipment you must use to see the content. They treat their customers like a pack of thieves and wonder why more people don’t buy their products.