I received my 28 pound Weight for Distance implement form Old Celt over a week ago, but just got around to breaking it in this evening after work. Nice toy!

I've been thinking of migrating my Plone website to something else. Release Candidate 1 for TurboGears 2.0 is out and it looks very promising.

I planned to participate in the TurboGears 2 sprint in Boulder today, but wasn't able to hook up with the Front Range Pythoneer sprinters. I stopped by Boulder Crossfit to check out their new facility, which is bigger, nicer and more conviently located. After getting back to Lyons I tackled the TurboGears 2 tutorials.

So far I'm liking TG2 better than Zope/Plone because it lets the operating system and database do what they do well rather than reinventing the needed functionality. It fits the Unix and Python development paradigms like a glove.

Duncan McGreggor has embarked on an interesting series of posts about cloud computing. Cloud computing is many things to many people, but Duncan's perspective is close to mine.

While LSD (Long Slow Distance) type training is most popular for cardio, research has shown that sprint intervals like the Tabata Protocol are more effective for developing VO2 max. In Viking Warrior Conditioning, Kenneth Jay presents interval training protocols that he's developed using kettlebell snatches. I enjoyed the book though it's a bit pricey for the amount of material presented.

I'm using his basic protocol of 15 seconds of snatches with the left arm followed by 15 seconds of rest, then 15 seconds of snatches with the right arm followed by 15 seconds of rest and find it to be a nice challenge. In addition to the cardiovascular conditioning, this develops the explosive power needed for the Highland Games Heavy Athletics events.

In The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, David Landes asks why some nations are very rich and others very poor. He examines the economic history of Earth in search of answers. He concludes that a combination of freedom, the rule of law, and competing interests have tended to generate the most wealth. Along the way he recounts many interesting historical episodes. Seems our government is heading the wrong way.

UC Berkeley researchers have demonstrated small machines that work directly from solar power. Both use sunlight shining on nanotubes to reduce the surface tension of water on which they are floating, causing force parallel to the surface of the water. Though they are less than a centimeter, the principle can scale up to larger machines that do useful work. Cool.

O'Reilly ha an interesting interview with Brian Kernighan about programming and languages used for it. My favorite quote: "The hardest bugs are those where your mental model of the situation is just wrong, so you can't see the problem at all."

It looks like SpaceX will be carrying NASA's water in 2011, following the retirement of the Shuttle. This is intended to be an interim measure pending Orion/Ares development, but given the huge deficits being incurred by the current administration, it may end up being a long term solution.

I attended the Denver Auto Show last night with a couple of friends. With the down economy, they had about two thirds of the floor space as they've had in recent years and shorter hours of operation, but it was still worth the trip. I enjoyed the chance to compare the 2010 Camaro, Challenger, and Mustang. They're all nice cars, but the Mustang GT seems to be the best bang for the buck. Most interesting vehicle was the Lightning Hybrid, a new startup out of Loveland. I'll be watching that one.