RyanHarne.com

As there probably are at most universities, I have a handful of current professors - and others in the past - who refuse to accept Wikipedia as both an academic citation and as a source of general knowledge. This stance seems to undermine the most basic academic pursuit of knowledge as well as the belief that human minds can, together, do something greater than the sum of their parts. Wikipedia is a massive human effort, requiring an unparalleled technological correspondence and collaborative spirit, but some still roll their eyes with even a vague reference of Wikipedia in public conversation.

While I could write yet another epic on why the internet changes everything, it is imperative to remember that digital collaboration is just as legitimate as any other type of professional interaction. Everything from job interviews to Wall Street bond sales now rest on the back-and-forth, instantaneous correspondence that the internet provides. Those were operations that once required telephone communication to move forward, and that once required physical proximity to initiate in the first place. Wikipedia is this type of new online communication able to break all physical boundaries and eliminate any latency of information flow.

Since most people have favorites or preferences or settings, so to speak, it is assumed that everyone is an expert at something. This is a legitimate assumption, too. Few people today, if any, go their entire life wearing an “Undecided” sandwich board in a sea of “Brad Pitt is king” and “Pluto is not a planet” sandwich boards. But even for articles you would think are heavily fan-centric, it’s remarkable how unbiased most end up being. For example, Lance Armstrong’s article used to have the fan-based warning, but has recently been approved as a legitimate batch of references. When an article has potential for being fan-based, a groundswell of level-headed people will come around and set things straight. There must be something about order and proper organization that drives a great deal of American people.

I simply cannot understand why my professors would disapprove of Wikipedia. I could just as easily vocalize my ignorance and dissatisfaction at their research results to produce the same bitterness that I experience every time a professor openly mocks Wikipedia in class. Classmates who show the same Wiki-ignorance also deserve my hatred, but I would rather focus my efforts of change on the people who have maximum influencing power, namely the professors who have hundreds of open-eared students per year. Tradition drives most of this foolishness, and, as everyone battling a PTA or school board or political party or a herd of Hokie fans knows, fighting tradition will leave you bruised.

You need a tradition of fighting tradition before it finally collapses. A heritage calling for new fundamentals. A mathematical limit of algebra to require the extra capacity of calculus. A worldwide collaboration of experts needing a greater collection of their documentation accessible to everyone, with topics ranging from entertainment to science to politics to commerce to whatever. Let’s hope that Wikipedia keeps it up for the long-haul. Once they get into the natural habit of typical searches (i.e. Google and Wikipedia) then they will have secured themselves as one of the most legitimate sources for information. Certainly approvable by modern university professors.

There are many inspiring and hopeful films ready for our entertainment and consumption, ranging from sports to overcoming life obstacles - I Am Sam, Seabiscuit, and Stand And Deliver, to name the first few that came to mind, when I searched for “general inspirational films” in my internal googler. These are the types of movies that allow us to walk away from an advertising-riddled movie theater feeling positive about ourselves and our future. Our eyes are opened to new possibilities that have frequently presented themselves but always go unnoticed. We feel proud to be alive.

All for about the two minutes it takes to drive to the nearest McDonald’s and then begin complaining about the line at the drive-through. And, Crap, it looks no faster inside.

I should add that those inspirational movies are the ones less attended, less appreciated, and less considered when the latest blockbuster is sold out and the only movies still available for seating are Life Is Beautiful or The Blair Witch Project. I hear the cinematography of Blair Witch is kinda neat, so… I guess if Superbad is sold out, then, yeah… two for Blair Witch.

The movies that sell domestically are the action films, cheap gag-comedy films, and sports films that promote the toughness of the United States Marines. Our nation is wallowing in barbarism, engulfed in a rapid intolerance for anything not aligned with individual satisfaction, and drowning in our own materialistic drool. It’s been like this for decades and for centuries, but in different avenues. The 17th, 18th and 19th century barbarism was clearly slavery and the desensitization associated with it. Later 19th century barbarism was, what is known today as, southern pride, even in northern regions, as the economic debilitated southerners moved towards New England. The 20th century barbarism was dropped for World Wars One and Two, but ironically reappeared right before the Depression when we indulged ourselves so lavishly after winning a big battle that our lack of control brought down the banks of the nation. Now, our barbarism is as described above.

Yes, I’m bitter. And, yes, I am pessimistic. I don’t particularly think Europe is any better - it would be another name for the same thing. Asia is interesting in this respect, of course, but not truly comparable to the States, although our globalization will have them wearing cargo shorts in no time. Overall, America is debauchery and we have this grandiose vision that whoever can come as close to emulating our debauchery as possible, without exceeding our current excess, is a wonderful nation and friend of freedom. What forms this debauchery takes in other nations is up to their particular fancy, but our ability to rapidly develop nations using economic forces without political fundamentals allows the excess to turn into violence and unequivocal corruption.

These feelings of mine surface when I read articles like this one, from the Kansas City Star, an unnecessarily long article about why Americans couldn’t try to care less about cycling even after the USPS/Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team gave them one of the greatest athletes in recent history. Cycling just wasn’t going to get attention stateside. Not even front page. Maybe in the appendix of the Sunday edition. Of the tabloids - Lance dopes his way to the top and Dannielynn extraneous court details on the same page, something like that.

The team ride today was exhilarating. Taking a highway to some mountain climbing then some rolling hills followed by some small town America passing-through. It’s a shame that America has become a barbaric country. Every day that I bike through seems like another day closer to our great bubble bursting.

I decided to sell a kidney and all of my high school guitar equipment (well, most of it; and maybe not the kidney) to purchase a racing bike. There was only one bike I was considering, really. It had to be a Trek Madone, the ultimate carbon fiber frame accompianed by top-of-the-line hardware. This is probably the way I’ll approach my first car purchase - since I drive so infrequently, I’ll buy something entirely out of my league and, before I know it, 509 Progress St. in Blacksburg, VA will be the home of a Ferrari supercar. It’ll be a sight watching me pull into Kroger to pick up carrots, bananas, an Italian sweet bread loaf, and a half-gallon of milk.

Anyways. So, I bought a bike. This terribly quick snapshot shows what type of transition I took from the Pilot to the Madone. A touring geometry to a racing geometry; that makes a moderately-describable lot of difference. I shall try to describe the amazing difference.

It’s so much difference, in fact, that in today’s Wednesday Worlds racing/training ride I stayed in the pack the entire time except for a brief moment right before the mid-break point where I pulled back to recover. So much more difference, too, due to that geometry again, that not only could I stay in the pack - maintaining a sprinting pace of 28-30 mph throughout, but I … get this … came in 4th place.

Fourth place. Third runner-up. Apart from the discovery that remaining in the pack reduces wind resistance by a significant amount, the bike weight drop (from Pilot to Madone) is so obvious that at every turn and stretch I was traveling anywhere from 3 to 8 mph faster than what I was used to on the Pilot. That’s an enormous increase in performance.

My method was to stay in the back of the pack and prepare myself for the climb up Harding St. Once we reached the last bend before the ascent, I acquired my comfortable stance and began passing people. Carbon fiber wants to climb. Before I knew it, I had passed everyone except for the trio who dropped the pack and sprinted right before the climb and therefore were about a minute ahead of me. Once I reached the peak, I was about 45 seconds back from the leader.

And I’ll admit, some of the top team riders were not having their best day and the weather was unusually good for me. But. I did so much better than last Wednesday when only the teammates kindness helped me finish the race, for the most part.

Yes, I’m ranting and tired and the combination makes me more the terrible storyteller; but, I had a wonderful evening of riding. A wonderful new bike helps; yet, the important thing is that I received some confirmation that I have a good pair of cycling legs. I apologize for writing about cycling so much. But. There will only be more of this, obviously.

I heard from one of my professors yesterday that she has been in university for 11 years; still is still pursuing her post-doc. A post-doctoral degree doesn’t seem to match my fancy, but the elapsed time had a sting to it. It is not difficult to imagine myself working on a Master’s and then Ph.D. for another 5 years, anything beyond that is somewhat unlikely.

My roommate and I had a long conversation after he announced that he is likely to leave Virginia Tech a year earlier than expected. Finding another roommate or paying the second half of the rent is not a concern to me. What does concern me is how I have thus far been isolated from the discomfort of seeing friends leave Blacksburg. When more people begin to make their departure clear, I will have to exercise my thusfar sickly tactics for detaching myself from good friends.

Typically, I am able to do so with some extensive internal buffeting and depression. In a year or two, I will need to find better ways of handling this. Some people are far better at saying goodbye to friends than I am, potentially most people are very capable. However, I tend to have a handful of very close friends and then a vast periphery of people I speak to regularly through occasionally. I can recall how difficult it was for me to send Jeremiah off to Boston with my best wishes, when we once shared high school lunch after lunch talking and then spending a lot of weekend time working with that LiveWire radio show. The following year of my life was very incomplete, despite having a regular crew to still share a lunch with.

The habit of taking on true confidants, perhaps, separates me from most. I never use the term “buddies” or “guys” when talking about my friends - in each case of reference, I will mention my friends by name. So what if they are few? They are the people I would go to for anything and I am just as readily available for them as well. And not only could we rely on each other, I adamantly believe that we would do so willingly and genuinely. I hate superfluous relationships or friendships and tend to just dissociate with people who were first friends of mine but later became distant. Cut from address book. Cut from buddy list. Cut from facebook.

My best friends earn a true and distinctive place in how I mentally order the people I know. It’s as if they are permanent physical landmarks to my worldview whereas acquaintances are merely shades and textures to that landscape. But, when a best friend moves on, it is very hard for me to depreciate that friendship to a grassy knoll where once stood an oak, if you’ll allow me to continue the metaphor. I am terrible at long-distance communication when I don’t put direct effort into the job; breaking off with best friends usually means total detachment, save for a yearly visit or all-out reunion.

Regularity. I never seem to maintain social regularity. It’s possibly because I rely on geographical proximity to do the job for me. There’s nothing I value more than sitting down and talking with someone. Technology can not replace interaction. Being here at university for so many years shamefully requires me to find new interaction to replace the old. Something regular would be wonderful.

You know Fall is ready to bloom when you begin to smell the sweet aromas of maple syryp in the evening air. Although, I have some debilitated olfactory senses to begin with and often smell maple syrup in the strangest places - under the I-81 bridge on my Blacksburg-East rides; in Engel Hall Room 223; in my living room right this very moment - so, perhaps, the maple syrup sensation is a default my nostrils rely on. All the same, Fall is around the corner. I’m here and waiting. Come and get me.

There is a large fly in the house. I used to be able to get along with flying insects, but moving into this house gave me a sense of propriety, a Victorian propriety that suggests flies are for the rabble and teenage shepherds. Not for higher society. Not for 509 Progress St. But, I can’t bring myself to squash this huge fly. It moves about sporadically and rests in remarkable stasis when it finds a suitable surface. It’s large enough that it is likely on its last breath. I also don’t have the energy to get up and swat at it; I’m too busy smelling wonderful maple syrup.

Everything smells like syrup. It’s making me very tired. This is my Oz moment.

I enjoy seeing proof of concepts and I enjoy witnessing an exhibition of a scientific principle. Van de Graaf generators, Magic Eye prints, and prototype robots are some of my instant attention-grabbers.

Yesterday’s Wednesday Worlds ride proved that riding in a slipstream makes cycling so very much easier. I even had my first experience of rotating within a small group so that everyone shared the heavy drag up front. It’s physics, people! Wonderful, wonderful physics. However, given that this was a race-sprint ride and given that I am weak with sprinting, I couldn’t maintain pace like that for the whole time. Eventually, I was gracefully dropped on the return trip but I caught back up with everyone on the huge climb back up to Blacksburg. Apparently, I can really climb.

But, I’m still sweating a lot. A fast shower on the return clears that up, though.

This is also the first time in several years that I haven’t watched a Holy Keynote the same day that it took place. I may not have a chance to even do so until this weekend. The new iPods are really neat, but, frankly, I prefer my clunky, old models. My 2G is still the main music player while on the go. Just too classic to get dropped.