NO ANIMATION, NOT AWESOME

A few days ago I discovered Google Auto Awesome and was pleasantly surprised.  Take a bunch of photos from the same place, of the same scene, and Google would merge the photos into a little animation.  In my case, the animation was of runners in the NYCRuns Shore Road 10K reaching the midway point to head back for the finish.  The photos share a common background, blue sky with some buildings in the distance, the road, clearly delineated by grass on one side and the sea railing on the other side.  Check it out at https://plus.google.com/109153989599275468311/posts/cF6t72rD4Mj

At yesterday's PPTC Al Goldstein 5K Summer Series, Race #5, I thought I would be able to re-produce the animation by taking photos of the runners at the starting line.  My duty at the race was to stay with the last few runners to make sure everyone finish safely, so I had no need to be with the front users.  I took ten photos of the users dashing off but alas no animation was made.  I don't think it's because of the camera I used, a traditional digital camera from which I uploaded the photos via iPhoto into a Picasa album.  I think it's more because in Prospect Park the trees and bushes on the side of the road appear as a big blob to Google's computer eyes.  It cannot discern the forest scenery.  It probably didn't help that every now and then someone would go against traffic and passed too close to my camera.  So no animation.  Live and learn.

The photos, sans Awesome animation, are at

https://plus.google.com/photos/109153989599275468311/albums/5902126806398015457

NYC, IT IS EASY TO BE GREEN

Contrary to Kermit's claim, it is easy to be green, especially if you live in New York City.  There are many good news in recent months and weeks.  Some weeks ago my brother took some old electronics to an e-recycling event hosted by Tekserve and he got a coupon in return.  He had no plan to buy anything from Tekserve but thought I would so he gave it to me.  And so I did, a stylus that works on the iPad and other iDevices.  Sure Steve Job would turn in his grave but hey it does work.  The coupon lopped $10 off the cost of the stylus, I ended up paying only $5.  Next we have the long-awaited bike share program that despite some noises is used by many people.  There's even talks of paying for the program to expand quickly into parts of Brooklyn and Queens that won't have subway services for weeks because of scheduled repairs to fix problems brought about by Hurricane Sandy.

This week it was announced that NYC may soon get food scrap recycling.  Food waste takes up to 35% of the waste stream.  The City pays by the ton to get the garbage trucked elsewhere for dumping, so cutting the size by 35% will save us some money.  The latest green good news is that there are now some Street Charge stations, for people to charge their electronic devices, from solar-powered connections, for free.  Of course one would have to have common sense and not just leave their devices unattended and invite others to steal them.  Hey, we do have ATMs on the street, people can withdraw hundreds of dollars, so having one's iDevices out in the open is not that crazy of an idea.

I followed some URL and found out that there was supposed to be a Street Charge station in my nabe, over on 21st Street or thereabout and Surf Avenue.  I made it part of my afternoon run but alas it wasn't there.  I found out later on that it's scheduled for a July 2 installation.  So while I didn't get a photo of the Street Charge station, earlier in the run I found this nice public sculpture.  Let's say Nemo was found and it was not good news.

NEMO!

In other unrelated news, I helped PPTC out at the third race of the Al Goldstein Summer Series.  I started at the New Registration table then when the race was under way, I ran with the back-of-the-pack runners.  I took some time out to use the restroom of the nearby Central Library, then again to try to contact the owner of a cell phone a friend found.  It was a guy visiting from Haiti and my three years of high school was not too useful, but I managed to find the settings to change the language to English then things got better.  I both met the guy and caught up with the last runner, now a speed-walker, not the stroller woman any more.  When I got back to the finish line, look who's helping with the award ceremony - Mr. Al Goldstein himself!  I did see him walk earlier without the use of the cane, too.

You can call me Al.

NATIONAL RUNNING DAY

Happy National Running Day!  This is the day all runners are supposed to, well, run.  NYRR, the biggest race org of New York City, has many events listed at http://www.nyrr.org/races-and-events/2013/national-running-day .  By now it may be too late for most of those events, but you still can catch the second race of the Al Goldstein Summer Series, presented by Jack Rabbit Sports and timed by NYCRuns, capably staffed by PPTC volunteers.  In case you don't know, Mr. Goldstein served as president of Prospect Park Track Club from 1990 to 1996, http://pptc.org/paul-suskind-interviewed-past-pptc-president-al-goldstein-and-roque-pizarro .  I had the honor of meeting Mr. Goldstein himself two weeks ago.  For my run this morning, I spelled out his name in 2 hours and 25 minutes, over a distance of almost 14 km.  The A is wider than necessary, the two L's were not made the same way, and the T's horizontal stroke is not wide enough, but it's still a very recognizable name.

I'll volunteer at the race as sweeper, riding on the bike at the end of the pack to make sure everyone gets to the finish line safely.  Maybe I'll see you there!  Again, Happy Running!

Al Goldstein, PPTC President from 1990 to 1996

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Al Goldstein.