NorthGeek

Everyone rides bikes in Amsterdam

Check out this short little ditty of a film on Kona COG, a blog style site by Washington State’s bike manufacturer Kona. You see, Everybody rides bikes in Amsterdam. It’s beautiful. It’s part of the culture. So ride bikes more!

Saturday’s Surreal Vancouver sunset

A gorgeous Saturday on Canada’s West Coast was followed by an eerie, almost apocalyptical sunset. As a bonus, it was followed by the annual fireworks competition. This time lapse is taken from the often frequented KatKam.ca webcam near the Burrard Bridge. Please forgive the terrible music!

Here are some stunning photos captured during the sunset:

via KatKam.ca

via KatKam.ca

Inside view of the Tour de France on Twitter

Today, the affable and longtime pro and facilitator in Lance’s 7 victories George Hincapie almost took home his second Yellow Jersey, as leader in the Tour.

But some shenanigans on the part of some competing teams resulted in him missing it by 5 seconds. The viewers were full of uncertainty and disbelief as the results came in. It came upon Twitter and some Twittering riders to clear things up. Thanks be to Twitter! Here are some of the comments. Apparently, thankfully, they don’t seem to hold back opinion on Twitter:

dutoit08: @johanbruyneel What did Garmin respond when everyone asked them why they were riding so hard?
johanbruyneel: @dutoit08 – they said they wanted to avoid a split in the group like the other day when Bradley Wiggins lost 15 seconds… Huh?

johanbruyneel: Bummed, really bummed about George Hincapie not getting yellow. Won’t elaborate on the strategies but what Garmin did was just BS. Sorry!

lancearmstrong: St14 done. Sounds like there’s quite a bit of confusion over this one… Noone, and I mean noone, wanted George in yellow more than me.
lancearmstrong: Our team rode a moderate tempo to put him in the jersey by at least 2 mins. Ag2r said they would not defend then they started to ride.
lancearmstrong: Until 10km to go he was solidly in yellow until GARMIN put on the gas and made sure it didn’t happen.
lancearmstrong: And I reiterate. @ghincapie deserves to be yellow tonight. He deserves more than that. Look to who pulled the last 50k to see who to blame..

billmackiernan: @lancearmstrong it’s ok for garmin to chase he didn’t help anyone at garmin win 7 tours
lancearmstrong: @billmackiernan exactly, that’s why we were riding medium to let the gap get as big as possible…

bfogelstrom: @lancearmstrong There was a lot of confusion on TV for sure. Thanks for setting the record straight. George was pissed!
lancearmstrong: @bfogelstrom And george should be pissed. Very pissed. He can talk to his teammates who were n the bunch w/ us then perhaps it will be clear

dzabriskie: Pawns in their game…

BritneyGears: @lancearmstrong Don’t add insult to injury by blaming Garmin. Astana set the pace. That was heartbreaking to watch.
lancearmstrong: @BritneyGears you’re clueless

bbelshaw: Phil reported that you told the team to chase the break…i guess he was just making shit up, huh
lancearmstrong: @bbelshaw told astana 2 chase? Not true @ all. My vision was george would have YJ by 2 mins. Was reality til ag2r and garmin started 2 pull.

lancearmstrong: Last thing. There were 13 guys in the breakaway. We had 2 guys riding “tempo”. That is not chasing by any stretch of the imagination.

matkearns: @lancearmstrong. Not sure why you guys pulled so hard today?
lancearmstrong: @matkearns why we pulled so hard? When we started it was 6:00. When we stopped it was 8:40. Those are the facts…

Garmin Slipstream director Jonathan Vaughters responded on Twitter:
Vaughters: That had nothing to do with George or Columbia. Wiggo almost lost 15 seconds the other day due to a split. We can’t have that happen again.

The greatest rock climber of all time?

Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky, Lance Armstrong, Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali.

These are, without a doubt, some of the greatest athletes of all time. You’ve seen them, and you may even play the sport they’ve (for all intensive purposes) mastered, so you can appreciate their mastery.

Consider Chris Sharma. Still at only 28 years of age, he is a master. His sport: rock climbing. He has garnered so much respect by his peers, but even if you have never tried rock climbing, seeing what he is capable of is breathtaking. He dances up rock faces, beyond vertical and without any hint of something to hold, with fluidity and ease.

Here he is attempting the first ascent of a route in Squamish, BC, Canada’s own climbing mecca. One watch, and you will see why he’s considered among the best ever… even if you know nothing about the sport. He’s got the right approach and respect for what he does, without risking his life, while pushing the bounds of what a human can do:

Best tips to stay cool in summer

It’s that time of year.

And if you don’t have air conditioning (because you only have a few sweltering hot days a year where you live, or to save money), you could probably use a few tips to stay cool when it’s hot. You can stay cool without air conditioning! Here’s how:

Cool your body

• Put on wet clothes or a washcloth/bandanna on your head
• Take a cold bath or shower
• Place ice on your pressure points: head, neck, wrists, back of knees, ankles
• Breathe slower, relax, purse lips to breath in cool air and out through nose. Think Yogi.
• Put your feet in cold water

Cool your house without AC

• Go downstairs (heat rises)
• Create a draft by opening multiple windows. If you have a fan, point it outwards to encourage that draft, not inwards to pull outside air in — it won’t work as well.
• Keep air flowing with fans
• Blow a fan over cold water, ice, or frozen water bottles (with a bowl to catch the dripping water)
• Turn off electricity, lights, and kitchen appliances
• Close off unused rooms
• Darken rooms during sun exposure hours and especially towards the south and west with blinds (preferably white)

Eat and drink

• Staying hydrated, whether you feel thirsty or not, will keep you cool. Ideally the water is not too cold as your body will have to expend energy to warm it up.
• Eat spicy food: it will make you sweat and maybe keep your mind off the hot temperature. It’s no wonder cultures in hot climates eat hot food.

Dress properly

• Wear less clothing, remove hats and shoes
• Even better, wear nothing
• Wear lighter colors as dark fabrics absorb more heat
• Don’t exposure your skin to burning

Mind over matter

• Think about cold things, read a book, look at pictures of winter and cold mountains, watch a movie set in the winter

And if that doesn’t work, and it’s the middle of the day, consider going to the mall, pool, movie theater, library, or hockey rink!

Lifehacker has some other hints from their readers. What are your tips?

How to follow the Tour de France online

Today is the first rest day of the incomparable sports spectacle that is the Tour de France. If you haven’t already been watching this epic battle on the roads of France (and neighboring countries), between the colourful members of the peloton, and within the Astana team of race favourites Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador, now is your chance to get on the wagon leading up to the finish in Paris on July 26th.

Don’t have TV? Or want to know the best online resources across video sites, social media, and photography? Here is a list of the standout sources for live and on-the-ground coverage of this year’s magnificent Tour.

Streaming Video:
There’s nothing like the sights & sounds of the race. Watch the excellent US coverage of the Tour from Versus on Veetle.

Aggregator of news & videos:
SteepHill.TV is the best place to go for an up-to-date collection of news bits, videos, and streaming video links. If the Veetle stream goes down, try another one here, or even check out other international coverage, eg. Eurosport.

Cyclingfans.com also has a collection of news, video streams, and short video clips (as prompted by commenter Janet, below).

Text based ticker coverage:
VeloNews has a great live text feed, perfect for your mornings at work.

Twitter accounts:
Some of the racers are actively using Twitter, eg. @LanceArmstrong @LeviLeipheimer @bradwiggins @markrenshaw1 @ghincapie @mickrogers @ChristianVDV @andy_schleck @TheDPate . This is a great way to get an inside look into the riders and teams. These are the riders to follow, and Mashable has a list of other cycling Twitterers to follow.

However, you can also get some great on-the-ground coverage from @JulietMacur

and @TdFblog

Twitter search (the online forum of 2009):
Be sure to follow the Twitter group, aka search stream.

Maps:
Check out the interactive map of the Tour on Versus and stage maps on LeTour.fr’s route descriptions.

Bonus — bikes:
Check out their hot rides: the bikes of the 2009 Tour from Bicycling Magazine

Mario Lemieux Throws a Stanley Cup Party. Again.

Apparently the Pittsburgh Penguins finally beat the Detroit Red Wings and won the Stanley Cup last, and it seems the Stanley Cup went swimming in Mario Lemieux’s pool at a victory party in his Siwickley, PA home over the weekend.

And apparently, his previous Stanley Cup victory parties have been legendary. In 1992, after the Penguins first Cup win, defenseman Phil Bourque, wearing only his underwear, threw the Cup into the pool where it sank straight to the bottom.

More pictures on Flickr

Also, you may have seen Crosby hoisting the Cup into the team bus leaving Detroit and through the sunroof as it drove away:

Have you seen this kid dance yet?

Song is Wait (The Whisper Song) by Ying Yang Twins. This little guy has some serious moves!

You are climbing Everest right now

This really could not be possible 5 years ago.

Follow Ed Viesturs and Peter Whittaker make their summit push for Everest right now on their blog, Youtube, and Twitter (@FirstAscent).

Here’s their most recent video update:

Here is their previous climb to Camp 4 (the highest and summit bid camp) which was met with wind, cloud, snow, and so a postponement:

Go Ed and Peter and the rest of the team! We’re enjoying following you.

More disappointment for mobile telecom in Canada: Bell now owns all of Virgin Mobile

Just when you thought things were getting exciting in Canada with more MVNOs, Bell Canada goes and buys the remaining stake it didn’t own in Virgin Mobile Canada. And the CWTA, for some incomprehensible reason, lets them. In their statement, Bell said that their mobile outfit Bell Mobility has bought the remaining 50% of Virgin Mobile Canada that it didn’t already own for $142M CAD ($122M USD).

Image from Engadget

And if you’re wondering what that acronym (MVNO) in the previous paragraph stands for, it’s Mobile Virtual Network Operator. But if you are a mobile consumer in Canada, you might not even know what that is. You see, in most other countries (about 360), there are companies (about 400) that offer mobile services to their customers without actually owning cell towers and expensive networks! You ask, how’s that possible? These companies piggy-back on the big networks, but can still offer some sort of differentiated service or customer experience. Sounds great! And it still brings competition to a market, which means: new services, faster networks, and cheaper prices.

The preeminent global MVNO is Virgin. They’ve got lots of subscribers in the UK, USA, Australia, etc. There’s also Tracfone, Blyk, etc.

Well, back to Canada. MVNOs were great to bring some competition to the otherwise monopolistic market. Companies came along, even if many like Solo and Amp’d were cloaked as arms of the big guys, but now we’re watching them disappear. Bad bad CWTA. Letting the competition get eaten up by the big dogs is not good for Canadian consumers. NOT GOOD!

So here’s to the winners of the recent spectrum auction (Globalive, Quebecor/Videotron, Shaw) in Canada to bring potentially some fire into our market!