Injured? Try These Replacement Ads!

 Like most people these days, I don't watch very much broadcast television in real time any more. My daughter and I continue to have a Daddy/Daughter night to watch the Bachelor or Bachelorette so we can add our own sarcastic commentary. My wife and I watch some local news and AFV (and, recently, The Hustler), but that's about it. Most of our other entertainment viewing is streaming of some sort.

The advertisements seen during these shows sometimes seem dubious to me. The examples that stand out: the pervasive ads for various prescription drugs, facial creams touting the benefits of hyaluronic acid, and attorney advertisements which were, wisely, prohibited from the early 1900's until the 1970's.

I'd like to come up with an app for smart TV's that would allow them to swap those ads with print ads from the late 1800's and early 1900's (with the exception of lawyer ads due to the reason noted above). For example, when a commercial for various prescription medicines begins, it would be replaced with something like one of these:

Quick reminder: If you're allergic to Snake Oil, don't use Snake Oil.

For skin care creams with hyaluronic acid, or some other rejuvenation miracle: 

Just remember, according to this ad, to work this cleansing, antiseptic lather into your skin always with an upward and outward motion. AND THEN rub your face for several minutes with a lump of ice.

And let's talk about attorneys...

And finally, the choice of a replacement ad for an attorney is an important decision that should not be based solely upon websites, blogs, or Warren's opinion.

Search Engine Optimization for Radio Stations

 With time on my hands, I've been thinking about SEO strategies for radio stations and tinkering with data. Came up with this which I thought some of my radio buddies might find interesting. This first chart shows a comparison of keyword searches on Google which, at first glance, looks like good news. The search phrases included were "Radio stations," "Radio online," and "Streaming music."

Next I compared "Radio stations" to "Spotify" and "Pandora" and the results weren't as encouraging. Note: there was an anomaly regarding the "Spotify" search due to a data breach they had toward the end of November (something radio listeners don't have to worry about...) causing their search numbers to spike to 100. I blanked out the data for that week, thus the broken line.

Then, I decided to narrow the search from "Radio stations" to just "Radio" because the previous search seemed a bit unfair and got the following. 

Bear in mind, "Radio" is a very broad keyword search and brings up results that certainly aren't specific to terrestrial broadcast radio stations. In fact, (and this is not great news for my radio buddies) the top results return URL's for streaming services. The thing to take away from that, however, is that if you're working on an SEO strategy for your radio station, prioritizing "Radio" over "Radio Station" would be a good idea. And remember, SEO is a constantly moving target, so what works today may not work next month.

Some Thoughts on Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble's new boss tries to save the chain -- and traditional bookselling

 A couple things:

Barnes & Noble Inc. is abandoning the strategy that made it a bookselling behemoth two decades ago -- uniformity designed to create economies of scale and simplify the shopping experience. Instead, the company is empowering store managers to curate their shelves based on local tastes.

Good! Now instead of going to the store, not finding the book I'm looking for, ordering it from the person at the customer service desk...and then never hearing back; perhaps they'll be better able to help me in person.

In Mr. Daunt's view, the very survival of bookstores is on the line. "I don't think we have any God-given right to exist," he recently told a group of publishing-industry professionals. "How is it that bookstores do justify themselves in the age of Amazon? They do so by being places in which you discover books with an enjoyment, with a pleasure, with a serendipity that is simply impossible to replicate online."

Don't get me wrong, I really like my Nook, but the last couple of years I've tended towards more paper over digital. Not that anyone cares, but in 2011 and 2012 I read three times as many books on my Nook as I did paper books. 2013 through 2016 it was pretty much 50/50. Since 2017 I've gone back to reading two or three times as many paper books rather than digital. And yes, there is something special about spending some time browsing in a brick and mortar bookstore.

What's the opposite of 'wonderful' I wonder

 What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs and makes a slinkity sound?
A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing!
Everyone knows it's Slinky.

It's Slinky, it's Slinky, It's fun, it's a wonderful toy.
It's Slinky, it's Slinky, it's fun, It's a wonderful toy.
It's fun for a girl or a boy.

For those of you, like me, whose formative years were the early 1960's, you probably had, at some point, a Slinky. I'm sure the only reason I wanted one was due to the television commercial with the clever jingle noted above. I hope your experience was better than mine, although I doubt it could have been.

The commercial I recall showed at least a couple Slinkys in a lively march down a long staircase. I grew up in a modest single-level ranch house where the only thing approaching stairs was the single step between the kitchen door and the garage floor. Later, when my parents had added on a Family Room in the back of the house, there was a similar single step down to the patio. So the jingle's premise fell apart quickly. What walks down stair? 

So the number of things this "wonderful toy" could do were limited. You could place each end in your outstretched hands and raise and lower them in a see-saw motion. That was good entertainment for ten to fifteen seconds and actually did result in a "slinkity sound." Or, you could stretch it out to see just how long you could make the thing. This required the assistance of a friend, I should say a TRUSTED friend. And then one of three things was going to happen: this marvelous spring would be stretched so far that it would never go back to it's original coil, your trusted friend wasn't really trustworthy and you got a face full of metal springy recoil, or, more likely, the spring would twist a bit in the middle creating a stress point and then break resulting in a piece of what I'm convinced they use for razor wire screaming back into the bodies or face of you and your now former friend at the speed of light.

Why did I ever want one of those things? More importantly, why did I think it would be a good idea to get one for my kids ... even if they were plastic now. Broken jagged spring is just as deadly if it's plastic as it is when it's rolled steel.

Fun for a girl or a boy, or lucrative for emergency room staff? I don't know. Now, where did I put my old chemistry set?

Cheerful Greeting or Smirking Insult?

While out walking the dog I smiled, raised my hand in greeting, and issued what I thought was a cheerful "good morning" to a passing neighbor. No cheerful hello was returned. Perhaps that was because earlier I had dutifully picked up dog poo in a plastic bag which was held in the hand I was waving. I may never know. 

True, Not True

Sometimes you wake up and have a thought that you think is funny or profound. If you write it down to look at later on you notice that it wasn't as funny or profound as you thought...

So, I woke up this morning and, for some reason, asked myself: What is something that is true and then immediately untrue? I came up with this:

I have never, that I can remember, used the phrase "totally radical" in a sentence.

Funny? Profound? I don't know.

Not that kind of bug

Out on my bike this morning.

To the person who drove up next to me at the stop light and thought I shouldn't be out in public because I coughed: Yes, it was due to a bug, but not due to Covid 19. I'd just swallowed a flying insect. Different kind of bug.

Bike to Work Day 2020

Time to swap tires

Once again it was time to swap out tires on my back wheel. Fortunately I still had one of these Michelin City (City Reflex, I think) tires in the attic. I really like these tires, but I don't think they make them any longer. Too bad. They've always served me well.

My current set should last me a while since I don't ride nearly as much as I used to a few years back.

On the other hand...

See the previous post where I said 'no thanks' to taking my grandson on a ride on the Indian Creek Trail on a weekend. He's not ridden that much, so we rode a mile on the trail adjacent to Metcalf since there aren't normally many people riding that stretch. Then we ducked down to ride next to the creek for another 3/10ths of a mile so we could look for ducks and other wildlife (and maybe see if we could skip some rocks on the water).

That last 3/10ths of a mile was a challenge as we were met by or passed by several other cyclists. But he had fun, and that is what actually matters.

Bike Buddies

So, while 2.6 miles doesn't sound like a lot … we were out of the house for close to an hour and, hopefully, he'll have some fond memories down the road. We're already planning our next outing.

Reconnaissance Ride

My wife and I are going to watch two of our grandsons for a couple hours tomorrow and I thought it would be fun to go on a bike ride with Beau, the seven-year-old. It was so nice out this morning I decided to take a reconnaissance ride on the multi-use path that used to feature so prominently in this blog.

I'd say I couldn't remember the last time I took a ride on the Indian Creek/Tomahawk Creek Trail, but I've been keeping a spreadsheet of my rides since 2006, so that wouldn't be true. I used to ride that trail pretty much daily. I am a bit shocked to note that the last time I rode it was in September ... of 2018.

So... we won't be riding on the trail tomorrow. We'll ride the residential streets in our subdivision.
I have NEVER seen as many people on the trail as I saw today; not even during the Pokemon-Go craze. There seemed to be an equal split of pedestrians and cyclists and most of the people on bikes seemed to be families with kids Beau's age. So, again, no thank you.

I did take a moment to stop at my favorite bench which has been one of my favorite places to go to get a little quiet. No longer. I guess I'll have to go to an airport terminal or something to get some peace away from the house. But someone did leave this little stone with a nice message.

I am happy. Thanks. I hope they are too.

Vainglorious Arrows

If you've stumbled upon this post, you're welcome to read, but please understand I'm actually creating this for our Tuesday morning men's group as a way to give them a link to an illustration that I, as will hopefully become clear, was reluctant to put on social media.

Our inner life—what makes up our inner being of will, thoughts, emotions, social connections, and even the dispositions of our body—will constantly entangle us and defeat us. Paul’s penetrating description has never been improved on: “For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish” (Rom. 7:19). Paul, of course, did not stay there. He knew the bitter reality, but he also knew how to move on. ~Dallas Willard in chapter 2

I was playing Skyrim one day when my Archery skill level increased and I remembered a quote from Mary Roach's wonderfully entertaining book Packing for Mars:

“No one goes out to play anymore. Simulation is becoming reality. But it isn't anything like reality. Ask an M.D. who spent a year dissecting a human form tendon by gland by nerve, whether learning anatomy on a computer simulation would be comparable. Ask an astronaut whether taking part in a space simulation is anything like being in space. What's different? Sweat, risk, uncertainty, inconvenience. But also, awe. Pride. Something ineffably splendid and stirring.”

I figured if I'm going to level up my archery skill, I may as well do it in real life. I'd been shooting again recently anyway and decided to start keeping track of my progress in a spreadsheet I keep regarding my various workouts.

During a recent workout then, I happened to have a really good volley. I'm only shooting from a distance of 45 feet from the target, but was satisfied with the result of volley number 8 and took a picture with my cell phone.

Having recently finished Glittering Vices: A new look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies by Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung I was convicted that posting something like this on social media would amount to vainglory. You see, this is what I want to world to see. This is what I want people to think of me. This is the type of thing social media seems to be filled with. But...

Here's the result of the very next volley

This, on the other hand, is what I don't want to world to see. Sometimes I fail. It's not that I want to miss the mark. Even though I try my best, sometimes I'm just off. It is comforting to know that even Paul had to struggle with this at times.

So here's the reality

The spreadsheet doesn't lie. This is my average; I hit the circle 40% of the time. Am I happy with it? No. That's why I'll keep trying. That's why I'm moving on.

So why not post this on social media? Posting the first picture alone would be misleading and vainglorious. I thought about posting this story for "friends" on social media, but what would be my goal there? To have people 'like' it? To impress them with my humbleness...?

St. Bernard of Clairvaux comes to my rescue with the following:

But to seek praise for humility is to destroy the virtue in it. The truly humble man prefers to pass unnoticed rather than have his humility extolled in public. He is happy to be overlooked; if he has any pride at all it consists in despising praise.

Quiet Time

Remember when people used to blog?...

I've been off the bike for a while but am slowly getting back in the groove. When I say I'm taking it slow I mean that even though my knee feels fine now, I'm not going back to riding 20 miles or more a day. I started with 6 or 7 and have stretched that to 10 to 12 without any resulting discomfort.

Here's part of my morning quiet time routine now:

This spot is half way through my ride and where I like to stop, read, and drink my coffee.

And, according to my dB meter app, this is the quietest spot during the ride:

It may seem counter-intuitive, but it is a nice spot to stop, get off the bike, and just stand there for a few before finishing up and sitting down in front of a computer for work for the next 8 or 9 hours.

2 Reasons I'm not a Runner

Knees.

Bike to Work Week - Overland Park, Kansas 2013

Bike to Work Week in Overland Park is off to the best start I've seen since 2007. I thought the job Brian and Nico did last year was stellar. This years has topped it already. Nice job guys.

 I met up with my buddy Noah on Monday morning. We've been meeting each other at these events since 2007 or 2008. It's always good to catch up and see some of his new gear.

 Noah and I both noticed Monday morning that the list of names on the check-in sheet were already at the point where they were around Wednesday last year. This is thanks, in large part, to several riders who work at Garmin. In talking with them I found out that they'd recently had a bike commuter challenge that ran from November through March. They logged almost 9000 miles. These guys are really committed to bike commuting!

So thanks again to Brian (far left) and Nico (blue shirt) for the free breakfast and all the swag. Here's hoping the weather cooperates the next few days. Also, I'm hoping to get the annual picture with Noah and Mark in on Friday morning.

Indian Creek Trail Closure at Switzer Continues

Several people have asked me recently about updating my posts on the closure of the Indian Creek Trail at Switzer in Overland Park. I also get quite a few visits based on people searching for keywords like:
Indian Creek Trail Closure Switzer Construction Dates.

I've got news, but you may not like it.

I called Overland Park's Park Service Department and asked for an estimated date for the project to be completed and was told that they last they'd heard from the Kansas Department of Transportation was "late spring." I found that a little hard to believe after riding to the site this morning.

Since I've got some connections to folk working at KDOT, I asked how I could go about getting a more realistic answer. I was able to call the KDOT construction office in Olathe and was told the new estimate for completion is now "November of this year."

If you'll look back to my post from August 5, 2011, the original time frame for the closure was July 18, 2011 to March 2012. On May 17, 2012 I reported that the date had been pushed back to November 2012. In December I was told "Spring 2013". Here's hoping that it will be open some time in 2013.

Parking at the New HyVee

Two of my three youngest work for HyVee and the other one did so until just recently. They hear a lot of talk about the new HyVee at 95th and Antioch. Actually, most of us in the area hear a lot about it because it is a big topic of discussion throughout the area.

The biggest complaint so far seems to be the lack of open parking spots and the resulting parking lot derby. I went today and didn't have a problem at all. In fact, I parked a couple yards from the front door.

Seriously, I heard a few comments from people who obviously had spent time trying to find a space. One mom with dad and two toddlers in tow said "Now that's the way to go." Yes. It is.

Your choice.

The Rationally Optimistic Bicyclist

"The world of things ... is indeed often subject to diminishing returns. But the world of ideas is not. The more knowledge you generate, the more you can generate. And the engine that is driving prosperity in the modern world is the accelerating generation of useful knowledge. So, for example, a bicycle is a thing and is subject to diminishing returns. One bicycle is very useful, but there is not much extra gain in having two, let alone three. But the idea 'bicycle' does not diminish in value. No matter how many times you tell somebody how to make or ride a bicycle, the idea will not grow stale or useless or fray at the edges." From The Rational Optimist, by Matt Ridley

I'm really enjoying The Rational Optimist, even though I don't agree with all of Matt Ridley's points. This book has been well worth my time and I heartily recommend it.

That being said, let's take a moment to talk about the paragraph quoted at the top of this post.

I understand that he's just using the bicycle as an analogy here, but, I'm going to have to take exception to the sentence "One bicycle is very useful, but there is not much extra gain in having two, let alone three." Ridley talks a great deal about specialization in earlier chapters but left it out here.

Were he to open my garage, Matt Ridley would see I've got two hybrids and a beach cruiser (I won't count my old 10 speed hidden away up in the attic because it needs too much work at the moment to count as a full bicycle). What do I gain by having two hybrids? I've got a spare bike for use when one of my bikeless children want to go along on a bike ride - or - in the inevitable event the "diminishing returns" of mechanical failure means my beloved Bucephalus needs to go to the shop.

I've got the third bike, a beach cruiser, for use during the winter. It's cheap and has big balloon tires that work great on ice and snow. With the third bike I gain an inexpensive option to the wear and maintenance that would be incurred by riding a nicer bike in the snow, slush and road salt.

I DO, on the other hand, agree that the idea 'bicycle' never grows stale or useless. So, share the idea 'bicycle' with others today.

He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. -- Thomas Jefferson

The Rational Optimist via Amazon

The Rational Optimist via Barnes and Noble

Lesson Learned During 2012 BAK

Monday's high temperature was 74° F. The last couple of days it only made it up to the mid-twenties. You'd think that I would have made sure that I got out on my bike when the temperatures were so spring like. Nope, it was pretty windy and one of the results of BAK back in June is a reluctance on my part to ride when it is really windy. I'd rather ride in the teens and mid-twenties with light winds than windy mid-seventies.

Biking Across Kansas 2012 took a lot out of me (just look at the date of my previous post). Don't get me wrong, looking back now I admit I enjoyed it, but it was so windy that 7 of the 9 days we rode were a lot of work. Two of those days were horrible. All due to strong winds.

Kansa in the Kaw language is roughly translated "People of the south wind" but the one day we were riding north the wind shifted so that it was coming from the north at 40 miles per hour sustained and gusts to 50 miles per hour. Our anticipated tailwind became a brutal headwind. Oh, I should mention that the first 19 miles of that ride were consistently up hill with the last mile or so being adjacent to a feed lot. A couple miles from that lot I thought we were riding into a sand storm. After we got through it we all looked like coal miners after a hard day. While digging the dust out of my ears I commented to another rider that I didn't think I'd ever get all this dirt out; he replied "That isn't dirt..."

I'm not sure you can tell how windy it was in this picture, but the corn in this field was bent over a good 45° or more.

A little over half way up that monster hill my riding buddy Chris and I stopped with a few other cyclists. You might not be able to see how windy it was, but the audio should get the point across.

I had hoped that the days would include opportunities to explore all the towns we rode through, but it turned out to take so much effort that most of us just wanted to power through and get to our next overnight stop. Our hosts towns were WONDERFUL. Most of the other riders were very friendly and courteous. Most of them.

Boiled down:
The week before BAK: "I can't wait for BAK."
Beginning of BAK: "This is gonna be great!"
Half way through BAK: "Why did I want to do this?"
At the end of BAK: "I'll never do this again."
One month after BAK: "I might do it again."
Two months after BAK: "I'll probably do BAK again in a few years."
Three months after BAK: "I wonder what route they're going to ride this year..."

They've announced the route for this year's BAK and I'm thinking about it. If they'd just guarantee light winds I would sign up in a heartbeat.

Just  few more pictures from BAK 2012

MessengerMirror eye/sunglass-mounted cycling mirror

I’ve put this off for way too long. Back in August of 2009, Fritz posted a review of the Messenger Mirror. I was intrigued and added the MessengerMirror to my Christmas List. Christmas of 2009 I received my mirror and have used it regularly ever since. I love it. And it’s VERY inexpensive; so inexpensive that my wife got two of them for me … one to keep as a spare. I’ve never had to use the spare.

Although I don’t know who “they” are, they are right when they say: Sometimes the simpelist solution is the best solution.

Last month I actually put my Messenger Mirror in my pocket after a long ride so I could take the dog for a walk. When I got home the wire was bent over double. It straightened right out and is as good as new.

As I prepare for Biking Across Kansas, I wanted to make sure I could remember the web site so I can pass it along to the 800 others riding along. You might want to check it out as well. Please check them out and if you decided to spend the seven bucks, mention you heard about them from me. Or Fritz.

http://www.messengermirror.com/