An ode to my socks

Floating through the woods at night full of bliss,
Countless thoughts slip in and out of my mind.
Despite my fatigue, constant awareness
Is necessary down hills I have climbed.

Cruising along to chase the spot of light,
Sounds on either side of me amplified.
A rustling of a bear is out of sight,
Or perhaps the sound of a squirrel has lied.

Despite the absence of a sun long gone,
The air is a sponge that saved all the heat.
My skin leaks some, as does the hat I don.
Sweat in its own race approaches my feet.

But lo! For a while I know to relax!
For my feet are protected by Drymax!

9.595! 9.595!

Usain Bolt just did the equivalent of running 2 back to back 9.595 s times for over 100 meters. Of course, they call this competition the 200 m, and that makes his time 19.19 s. If 9.4 can be met in the 100 m, it seems incredibly possible that perhaps sub-19 seconds can be attained in the 200 meter race. What an amazing performance by Usain Bolt for his second world record and second gold of these World Championships.

Korea’s leaders

Even as an American citizen, I identify strongly with my joint Korean-American culture. I’ve always naturally considered the South Korean president to be a representative of me as well, since Korea is a small country with a relatively small population of people. Today, as we celebrate the life and legacy of deceased President Kim Dae Jung (김대중), we are reminded of the peace he hoped to foster with our North Korean neighbors, who preside over fellow Koreans. Recently, former President Noh Mu-hyun (노무현) also passed away, the first of now two leaders whom we as a community of Korean people have recently lost. I hope that we continue to respect the legacies of both, as we engage North Korea in dialogue and continue to seek a path toward either reunification or at least a better life for Koreans in the north.

Meta comments – and some rude ones

It’s difficult to find time to write with some reasonable estimation of quality on a variety of topics in which I’m interested. I’ve meant to write about the Tour de France, the confirmation process of Sonia Sotomayor, and a variety of scientific topics. One difficulty I’ve found is not being able to discuss my work in a meaningful manner on an informal website such as this. I prefer to let my formal talks and (hopefully soon) published papers to communicate interesting results or explored ideas, and I think that peer reviewed science is still the best model, despite something so seductively democratic as the arXiv model of publication, which would be a nightmare to sort through. So there’s an apparent lack of science-related stuff on here, simply for these reasons.

One thing I think I can write about, briefly, is the publication process that I’m currently learning about for the first time in my scientific career. I recently submitted a manuscript with two collaborators to a journal that specializes in computational science, and it was out for peer review about a month ago. We recently received comments back from just the first of two external reviewers, who are not affiliated with the journal directly but presumably experts in the area of research that we are in.

For this first reviewer, the respectfulness of the written comments and questions was greatly appreciated, and I proceeded to incorporate changes and answer questions from that reviewer. The second reviewer apparently did not submit comments to the authors (us), but upon inquiring about this, it turns out that the second reviewer simply did not fill out the review form correctly and the comments to the editors were allowed to be forwarded. The tone of the comments was more caustic, almost accusatory, though there were several valuable points that were made. The reviewer made a few comments that were not at all constructive, simply providing an opinion without any possible suggestions for meeting his or her otherwise arbitrary criteria. I refrain from giving examples here due to confidentiality. Finally, the reviewer was simply wrong about the guidelines of the journal itself in at least one comment that was made, which makes satisfactory revision on this point impossible. Given the tone of this reviewer’s argument, I expect a difficult task in appeasing him or her for the revised submission.

9.58

Usain Bolt of Jamaica just set the world record in a 100 meter footrace at 9.58 seconds. 9.58. That’s 23.35 miles per hour — on foot. The next to last 20 meters of the race peaked at over 27 mph. Let’s give this achievement some perspective.

10.0 was first run in 1960.
9.95 was first run in 1968 (8 years to drop 0.05 s)
9.86 was first run in 1991 (23 years to drop 0.9 s)
9.79 was first run in 1999 (8 years to drop 0.07 s)
9.69 was first run in 2008 (9 years to drop 0.10 s)
9.58 was first run earlier today (exactly 1 year to drop 0.11 s)
9.49 — ?

This is a reminder to everyone to extrapolate wildly from these data to see when a runner will instantaneously cross the finish line.

Of course, anyone who saw Bolt’s Beijing performance knew he was capable of more, with some speculating 9.50 or even 9.40. In a recent interview, American record holder Tyson Gay has often said that he wouldn’t be surprised to see 9.5 fall sometime soon. It’s looking more and more likely to happen within my lifetime. Bolt himself thinks that 9.4 is possible but not much more than that, whatever that means. Amazing.

I’m pretty sure Bolt can set the WR in the 200 m as well in Berlin, though Bolt himself knows his training has been more focused on the 100 m race at the expense of the 200 m. I look forward to seeing that!

Bless you!

A friend of mine suggested a trail run this weekend, and who am I to turn that down? We decided on Wachusett Mountain Reservation (sounds like sneezing!) in North Central Massachusetts and arrived at the Ski Lodge parking area on the northeastern side of the park. As my friend waited patiently, I pulled on my new gaiters over my almost-new shoes, and cinched down my hydration pack. We hit the trailhead with no expectations and ready to roll through some nice trails.