Google Earth was released for Windows XP at the end of June last year. Playing around with the software, I created a few of the beginning stages of the 2005 Tour de France. The effort was quickly picked up by the Google Earth BBS community who completed the routes and improved upon my initial attempts.
This year, with plenty of time to spare, the stages for the 2006 Tour de France have been completed and it appears to be the work of Satan. Ha!
One noticeable difference between last year and this year is the addition of Google Earth for the Mac. That means—and I’m spitballing here—there’s potential for a lot more coverage of the virtual event due to the influence that Mac-using designer-developer-bloggers have on the blogosphere. I think this is a good thing. Money follows the news.
Here are some ways you can get involved in the Google Earth coverage of the 2006 event and help create a richer experience for everyone:
- Upload and geotag your event photos to Flickr (you can view geotagged photos in Google Earth by grabbing the kmz file from the GeoTagging Flickr group)
- Also, be sure to tag your photos with “tdf2006″
- Extend the Flickr photo proximity scripts by focusing on Tour de France photos (i.e., photos tagged “tdf2006″)
- What about pulling down geotagged videos from YouTube, Vimeo, and Google Video?
- Create a networked link that gets the current position of the pack, the teams, and the major riders
- Find a way to recreate the race using the above data so that historical replays can be preserved
- Are you involved with the Tour de France or one of the teams? Provide Google Earth data feeds from the race (race positions, times, current location, speed, etc.)
- And finally, spread the word! Do you want to see the technology get better (or cheaper)? Talk about it. Money follows the news.
Update: I just found a super simple method for geotagging photos in Flickr and it appears to work worldwide.
If you’re already working on stuff like this for this year’s TdF, please provide a link in the comments. And be sure to share your work with the Sports and Hobbies forum of the Google Earth BBS. Cheers!
If you’ve read the book you can safely skip it. If you haven’t read the book you can safely skip it. “The Da Vinci Code” is essentially “National Treasure Part 2: Templar Boogaloo.”
Warning: possible spoilers ahead, but you’ve already read the book, right?
| National Treasure |
The Da Vinci Code |
| Nicolas Cage plays Nicolas Cage the cryptologist |
Tom Hanks plays Tom Hanks the cryptologist |
| searching for the greatest secret mankind has ever known |
searching for the greatest secret mankind has ever known |
| assisted by the smart, pretty, yet confused Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) |
assisted by the smart, pretty, yet confused Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou) |
| chased by a cop (Harvey Keitel) who belongs to a secret society |
chased by a cop (Jean Reno) who belongs to a secret society |
| and a villain (Sean Bean) who wants the treasure for bad-man purposes. |
and a villain (Paul Bettany) who wants the treasure for bad-man purposes. |
| Along the way they’ll seek the help of an older expert (Jon Voight) |
Along the way they’ll seek the help of an older expert (Ian McKellen) |
| who will make redundant, exaggerated statements about the importance of the quest and ultimately, just get in the way. |
who will make redundant, exaggerated statements about the importance of the quest and ultimately, just get in the way. |
| In the end you’ll have the urge to steal the Declaration of Independence and join the Masons. |
In the end you’ll have the urge to dig up Mary Magdalene’s remains underneath the Louvre and expose The Great Christian Hoax! |
| No, really, what if it’s true? Really! |
Non, vraiment, ce qui s’il est vrai? Vraiment! |
| Musical score by Trevor Rabin, who sounds surprisingly like Hans Zimmer |
Musical score by Hans Zimmer, who sounds surprisingly like Trevor Rabin |
Here’s the difference: National Treasure is only 2 hours and 11 minutes long.
58 miles!!! This route was essentially the ride we completed yesterday, except we avoided the highways and were closer to Lake Washington.
With less than two months until we cycle the 204 miles (in 2 days) from Seattle to Portland, this should become an easy ride for us. It didn’t feel that way yesterday at times, but I’m glad I can still walk today, and imagine I could’ve hopped back on my bike today if needed, even though my saddle might not appreciate it.
So far, between all of my training rides, the most interesting sights have been dog related:
1) little dog (possibly chihuahua) in backpack while helmeted owner is cycling fast on a road bike- poor dog would’ve flown far and been flattened in an accident, but it sure looked cute
2) big, black dog wearing aviation goggles while being pulled in a kid’s carrier
3) Jack Russell terrier in bottom of stroller while chihuahua is sitting in the top part; “mom” pushing them both
“Crazy” is going to be the “Hey Ya!” of 2006. No question. You can buy the album this week and ride the hip wave all summer or you can wait for it to hit the beach and buy it then. Either way, you’re going to buy this album. See the Gnarls Barkley web site to listen to “Crazy” and “Smiley Faces.”
The sublime point in Crazy is the beginning of verse 3 right after the first chorus. The song is in a minor key and up to this point follows a sensible i-III-VI-i64-V progression. In verse 3, the progression begins on I (major) and then moves to VI in the minor key. The melody, as well, which began at the tonic in verses 1 and 2 has risen up to the fifth at the beginning of verse 3. When the backup voices pull back on the drop to VI while Cee-Lo sustains on the fourth, well, that’s just magic.
[via Kottke]
Only Maya Angelou can use this metaphor to discuss life and pull it off without sounding like an elementary school student. It was her inspirational theme while speaking to a large Seattle crowd last week, an event I was able to partake off due to a lovely collision of Harry’s thoughtfulness and my birthday! Think of every adjective to describe someone who is larger than life, and it would describe Maya. She was truly the phenomenal woman about whom she has written.
Of course, I am biased. I have read her works with awe and gratitude since high school, one of the few authors whom I sought for that long without obligation from teachers. I even deferred admission to Wake Forest, where she’s on faculty, hoping that someday I could learn directly from her. That still makes me shiver, but meeting Harry, going to Siberia, meeting my college friends, and allowing my dad’s retirement to occur before 80 certainly outweigh that scant possibility.
Anyways, her voice and message were rich. She alternated between sharing her own life experiences and reading poetry (both her own and others) to encourage us to believe in our unique gifts, see our potential to be rainbow amidst others’ clouds, and be thankful for those who have done so for us. She shared that without rainbows in our clouds, none of us could say “Good morning” everyday. None of us could continue through life keeping our heads high. At the end of the night, the woman sitting next to me, who came by herself, tearfully told me she really needed to hear Maya’s messsage. I could see in her eyes that she had been in a desperate place and was leaving it. I may never cross paths with this woman again, but she blessed me that night through her vulnerability. I believe she left changed, encouraged, and renewed. I believe this was the case for most of the audience. What incredible work.
This is what I want to remember to strive for: to be like Maya was for the audience, so that each person I encounter may know they are loved, unique, and special. In the midst of the daily grind, it is hard to remember that this is so important. Not only for our loved ones, but for strangers. For those whom a simple “Good morning” could make their day.
In the spirit of spring cleanup I’m also removing the “links for [date]” posts from Loveoirs. The old ones will remain but I will not post any new ones—for the time being. If you want to know what I’m bookmarking you can follow along on my Delicious page or you can add the RSS feed to your favorite reader. Cheers!
I moved our RSS feed to FeedBurner. If you’re following along in a newsreader, please update your feed link to http://feeds.feedburner.com/loveoirs. Cheers!
After much weeping and gnashing of teeth, I have separated the sheep from the goats in my very imperfect, non-What-Would-Jesus-Design way. And so, HarryLove.org is now open for public lambasting. Just don’t ask me what it’s for.
Anti-Procrastination Song by Stormtroopers of Death is one. I just found another one—this by Simon Panrucker—over on Vimeo.
