NorthGeek

NorthGeek Product Review: 6′ HDMI 1.3b cable from Optimized Cable Co.

Sorry for the delay, folks – but here it is!! Our first review of a product from http://www.optimization-world.com – here is the product page for the HDMI cable they sent me – a 6′ gold-plated HDMI cable, for just $12.99! And they ship to Canada!

Please don’t mind the lack of editing – I had to use iMovie and I haven’t used it in a while… Am waiting for the new FCP to come out!

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

Mommy said I could!!

This is an oldie but a goodie…

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Evian RollerBabies!

Maybe the funniest and cutest video you’ll see all day…

How do you get to school?

This is pretty crazy stuff! How much could it really cost to build a walking bridge? Those Columbian jungle governments are nutty.
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Some interesting trivia you may or may not have known…

Just a collection of interesting facts. Or factoids… What’s the difference between a fact and a factoid?

• ‘Stewardesses’ is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
• And ‘lollipop’ is the longest word typed with your right hand.
• No word in the English language rhymes with ‘month,’ ‘orange,’ ‘silver,’ or ‘purple’.
• ‘Dreamt’ is the only English word that ends in the letters ‘mt’.
• Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
• The sentence: ‘The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’ uses every letter of the alphabet.
• The words ‘racecar,’ ‘kayak,’ and ‘level’ are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes).
• There are only four words in the English language which end in ‘dous’: tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
• There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: ‘abstemious’ and ‘facetious.’
• TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
• A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
• A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
• A ‘jiffy’ is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
• A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
• A snail can sleep for three years.
• Almonds are a member of the peach family.
• An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.
• Babies are born without kneecaps. They don’t appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.
• February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
• In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
• If the population of China walked past you, 8 abreast, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
• Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors
• Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite!
• Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
• The average person’s left hand does 56% of the typing.
• The cruise liner, QE 2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
• The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
• The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.
• There are more chickens than people in the world.
• Winston Churchill was born in a ladies’ room during a dance.
• Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

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: