Posts from — July 2016

l’Isle Jourdain to Lac de Payolle

Distance: 162.5 kilometers.

The start of 3 days in the Pyrennes with a cat 4 warm-up for the cat 1 Col d’Aspin near the end and a mad dash to the finish.

It turned out Stephen Cummings broke clear and finished alone taking the fourth stage win for Dimension Data. Adam Yates had a tougher finish when one of the inflated arches near the finish, deflated and caused him to crash. It took a ruling by race officials to give him the finishing time he deserved and the White Jersey.

Greg Van Avermaet ( BEL – BMC – 098 ) [Yellow] 34h 13′ 40″
Mark Cavendish ( GBR – DDD – 101 ) [Green] 204 points
Thomas De Gendt ( BEL – LTS – 163 ) [Polka Dot] 13 points
Adam Yates ( GBR – OBE – 209 ) 2 [White]

Team: BMC Racing Team ( BMC – 091-099 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Stephen Cummings ( GBR – DDD – 104 )
Combative: Vincenzo Nibali ( ITA – AST – 022 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Greg Van Avermaet ( BEL – BMC – 098 )
2 Adam Yates ( GBR – OBE – 209 ) + 05′ 50″
3 Julian Alaphilippe ( FRA – EQS – 182 ) + 05′ 51″
4 Alejandro Valverde ( ESP – MOV – 012 ) + 05′ 53″
5 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver ( ESP – KAT – 141 ) + 05′ 54″
6 Christopher Froome ( GBR – SKY – 001 ) + 05′ 57″
7 Nairo Quintana ( COL – MOV – 011 ) + 05′ 57″
8 Warren Barguil ( FRA – TGA – 111 ) + 05′ 57″
9 Pierre Rolland ( FRA – CDT – 081 ) + 05′ 57″
10 Daniel Martin ( IRL – EQS – 184 ) + 05′ 57″

The Rest of the Top 30:
[Read more →]

For reasons known only to the computer gods, my Internet connection and wireless network went down yesterday evening and I had to reset then turn off and back on my modem, router, and wireless extender. Of course, I had to do the ‘quick setup’ for each piece, in order. It wasn’t any quicker this time than it was the last, as you have to wait between operations for each piece of equipment to re-boot after changes are made.

I finally got them working about noon today, in time to take a call from a client setting up a DOS program I wrote 3 decades ago in a VM box running XP on a Windows 10 machine. Fortunately I had a Plan B when the guy who installed the VM Box couldn’t get the network working in XP. Printing from a DOS program is a pain. Normally you can use ‘net use’ to redirect the LPT1 port, but that requires the network to be up.

I found a solution, but it takes time when you’re in Florida installing software in California.

Arpajon-sur-Cère to Montauban

Distance: 190.5 kilometers.

A transition stage that will help the sprinters regain some of the time they lost today. There are climbs, 3, 4, & 3, but the heat will probably be a bigger problem.

Supermanx, Mark Cavendish, took sole position of second place for career stage wins with 29 with today’s win and got the Green Jersey back, but the climbers are about to get their chance at fame.

Greg Van Avermaet ( BEL – BMC – 098 ) [Yellow] 30h 18′ 38″
Mark Cavendish ( GBR – DDD – 101 ) [Green] 204 points
Thomas De Gendt ( BEL – LTS – 163 ) [Polka Dot] 13 points
Julian Alaphilippe ( FRA – EQS – 182 ) 2 [White]

Team: BMC Racing Team ( BMC – 091-099 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Mark Cavendish ( GBR – DDD – 101 )
Combative: Yukiya Arashiro ( JPN – LAM – 152 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Greg Van Avermaet ( BEL – BMC – 098 )
2 Julian Alaphilippe ( FRA – EQS – 182 ) + 05′ 11″
3 Alejandro Valverde ( ESP – MOV – 012 ) + 05′ 13″
4 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver ( ESP – KAT – 141 ) + 05′ 14″
5 Christopher Froome ( GBR – SKY – 001 ) + 05′ 17″
6 Warren Barguil ( FRA – TGA – 111 ) + 05′ 17″
7 Nairo Quintana ( COL – MOV – 011 ) + 05′ 17″
8 Pierre Rolland ( FRA – CDT – 081 ) + 05′ 17″
9 Fabio Aru ( ITA – AST – 021 ) + 05′ 17″
10 Daniel Martin ( IRL – EQS – 184 ) + 05′ 17″

The Rest of the Top 30:
[Read more →]

Limoges to Le Lioran

Distance: 216 kilometers.

The first serious climbing/mountain stage with category 4, 3, 3, 2, 2, and a 3 at the finish. The Polka Dot is up for the taking.

Greg Van Avermaet went from 20^th, 18 seconds behind the leader, to 5 minutes 11 seconds ahead of Julian Alaphilippe in second place. Peter Sagan dropped to 76^th place, 23 minutes 37 seconds back.

Greg Van Avermaet ( BEL – BMC – 098 ) [Yellow] 25h 34′ 46″
Peter Sagan ( SVK – TNK – 032 ) [Green] 150 points
Thomas De Gendt ( BEL – LTS – 163 ) [Polka Dot] 13 points
Julian Alaphilippe ( FRA – EQS – 182 ) 2 [White]

Team: BMC Racing Team ( BMC – 091-099 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Greg Van Avermaet ( BEL – BMC – 098 )
Combative: Thomas De Gendt ( BEL – LTS – 163 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Greg Van Avermaet ( BEL – BMC – 098 )
2 Julian Alaphilippe ( FRA – EQS – 182 ) + 05′ 11″
3 Alejandro Valverde ( ESP – MOV – 012 ) + 05′ 13″
4 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver ( ESP – KAT – 141 ) + 05′ 14″
5 Christopher Froome ( GBR – SKY – 001 ) + 05′ 17″
6 Warren Barguil ( FRA – TGA – 111 ) + 05′ 17″
7 Nairo Quintana ( COL – MOV – 011 ) + 05′ 17″
8 Fabio Aru ( ITA – AST – 021 ) + 05′ 17″
9 Pierre Rolland ( FRA – CDT – 081 ) + 05′ 17″
10 Daniel Martin ( IRL – EQS – 184 ) + 05′ 17″

The Rest of the Top 30:
[Read more →]

Saumur to Limoges

Distance: 237.5 kilometers.

This the longest stage on this year’s Tour as far as just distance is concerned, but there are several other stages that will definitely take a lot more time, yesterday’s stage with the climb at the end, for example.

Peter Sagan is actually ahead of Mark Cavendish in points after today, but Mark is wearing the Green Jersey because Peter is wearing the Yellow

Peter Sagan ( SVK – TNK – 032 ) [Yellow] 20h 03′ 02″
Mark Cavendish ( GBR – DDD – 101 ) [Green] 147 points (Worn by)
Jasper Stuyven ( BEL – TFS – 067 ) [Polka Dot] 4 points
Julian Alaphilippe ( FRA – EQS – 182 ) 2 [White]

Team: Orica-Bikeexchange ( OBE – 201-209 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Marcel Kittel ( GER – EQS – 181 )
Combative: Oliver Naesen ( BEL – IAM – 078 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Peter Sagan ( SVK – TNK – 032 )
2 Julian Alaphilippe ( FRA – EQS – 182 ) + 00′ 12″
3 Alejandro Valverde ( ESP – MOV – 012 ) + 00′ 14″
4 Warren Barguil ( FRA – TGA – 111 ) + 00′ 18″
5 Christopher Froome ( GBR – SKY – 001 ) + 00′ 18″
6 Roman Kreuziger ( CZE – TNK – 036 ) + 00′ 18″
7 Nairo Quintana ( COL – MOV – 011 ) + 00′ 18″
8 Fabio Aru ( ITA – AST – 021 ) + 00′ 18″
9 Michael Matthews ( AUS – OBE – 207 ) + 00′ 18″
10 Pierre Rolland ( FRA – CDT – 081 ) + 00′ 18″

The Rest of the Top 30:
[Read more →]

Brexit is certainly winnowing the field of political “leaders”. So far Cameron, “Boris Badenov/Drumpf-Lite” Johnson, and Nigel Farage are all getting while the getting is good and Brits can still vacation in Spain.

Turnbull is not getting the result he expected when he called the election in Australia. It still isn’t clear if anyone has a majority in Parliament.

Sending three suicide bombers into Saudi Arabia, especially the one to Medina at the end of Ramadan, is not an effective way of changing Muslim ‘hearts & minds’. OTOH, the Bangladeshis shouldn’t be surprised that the terrorists who attacked the restaurant in Dhaka were from upper middle-class families – most terrorists are. Poor people can’t afford to be terrorists.

Granville to Angers

Distance: 223.5 kilometers.

So far with the exception of the finish yesterday [200 meters with a 14% gradient into Cherbourg] the first three stages have been for sprinters. The start has been good news for Mark Cavendish who wore the Yellow for the first time after stage one, and today managed to take his second stage win of this Tour and tie with 5-time TDF winner Bernard Hinault for career wins with 28. Eddy Merckx of Belgium is in first place with 32 stage wins.

Peter Sagan ( SVK – TNK – 032 ) [Yellow] 14h 34′ 36”
Mark Cavendish ( GBR – DDD – 101 ) [Green] 123 points
Jasper Stuyven ( BEL – TFS – 067 ) [Polka Dot] 4 points
Julian Alaphilippe ( FRA – EQS – 182 ) 2 [White]

Team: Orica-Bikeexchange ( OBE – 201-209 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Mark Cavendish ( GBR – DDD – 101 )
Combative: Thomas Voeckler ( FRA – DEN – 179 ) [Red numbers]

Top Ten:

1 Peter Sagan ( SVK – TNK – 032 )
2 Julian Alaphilippe ( FRA – EQS – 182 ) + 00′ 08″
3 Alejandro Valverde ( ESP – MOV – 012 ) + 00′ 10″
4 Christopher Froome ( GBR – SKY – 001 ) + 00′ 14″
5 Warren Barguil ( FRA – TGA – 111 ) + 00′ 14″
6 Nairo Quintana ( COL – MOV – 011 ) + 00′ 14″
7 Roman Kreuziger ( CZE – TNK – 036 ) + 00′ 14″
8 Tony Gallopin ( FRA – LTS – 165 ) + 00′ 14″
9 Fabio Aru ( ITA – AST – 021 ) + 00′ 14″
10 Daniel Martin ( IRL – EQS – 184 ) + 00′ 14″

The Rest of the Top 30:
[Read more →]

As always, here are the Tour basics if you want to follow along. The Tour started on July 2nd, but I’ve been tied up with other things and couldn’t handle the daily updates.

The cartoon characters from my header are wearing the various colored jerseys that indicate the leader in the different classifications in the race.

The Maillot Jaune, Yellow Jersey is worn by the rider with the lowest time overall in the race. The eventual winner of the race may never have come in first in any stage, but was near the lead throughout the race and achieved the lowest time over the entire course of the event. The winner is normally an “all-arounder”, someone who is very good at the sprints and the hill climbing, even if they aren’t the best. Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, and Fabian Cancellara are “all-arounders”, showing up on the lists of the sprinters and the climbers, while staying in the top ten for overall time.

[Read more →]

The Declaration of Independence

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security…

[Read more →]

So I finished June by editing and formatting input for a long time client. The data cost an absurd amount of money and it was really garbage.

I barely got that shipped when a tenant had major plumbing problems. I managed to locate a problem with the drain for the central air conditioning and can report that not everyone can repair everything with duct tape. Then it was installing a new wax seal on the toilet, as should have been done when the toilet was removed to install different flooring in the bathroom. The real problem required cutting a series of holes in the wall to find a leaking hot water pipe.

As a result of those annoyances I lacked the time to create a post for the start of Le Tour de France, which ran 188 kilometers from Mont Saint Michel to Utah Beach Sainte Marie du Mont. Mont Saint Michel is the mountain and fortress just off the coast that is reached by a causeway and Utah Beach was one of the D-Day landing sites in World War II. I will catch up, but it will take a couple of days create the necessary spreadsheets.

La fête du
Canada
Day

Thank you for not yet building a fence along your southern or western border, and for brewing great beer.

Schedule of Ottawa events and some background.