i could look at this out my back door and not get sick of it too quickly 

colorado is a really ugly state... 

the almighty excel sports in boulder 

the entrance looked promising 

a stretch of the river curtis and i fished while the girls were shopping 

the only fish either of us managed to hook 

mountain goats on the drive back from estes park 

eating right out of their hands 

so many options 

getting cozy 

hey! 

tammy and curtis 

jake and darlene at the top of the hill 

Amazing

On Ground in Iraq,
Soldier Uses Wits
To Hunt Insurgents

By GREG JAFFE
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
September 10, 2004; Page A1
KHALIDIYA, Iraq -- The Army trained Sgt. John McCary, an intelligence soldier, to interrogate prisoners of war in secure military facilities far from the front lines.

But on a recent day, his best hope for getting information was an Iraqi boy, sobbing at the sight of heavily armed Americans in his home.

Sgt. McCary and a team of soldiers had pushed their way into the cramped house, in search of four suspected insurgents. Once inside, they discovered the men had fled, leaving behind a group of shrieking women in black abayas and children in dirty sweatpants.

"We're not going to get s---," Sgt. McCary said. "These women know they can't be detained so there is no reason for them to cooperate." The battalion's general practice is to interrogate the oldest male in a family -- in this case, the crying boy, who looked about 8 years old.

As gunfire sounded in the distance, Sgt. McCary, 28 years old, had to make a split-second decision whether to pull the child off to a corner and try to get him to tell the whereabouts of the insurgents.

Intelligence soldiers like Sgt. McCary are assigned to gather information about the enemy and its plan of attack. In conventional warfare, they study satellite photos of enemy troop movements, intercept radio transmissions and interrogate captured soldiers.

But the shadowy enemy that the U.S. is unexpectedly battling in Iraq requires a far different approach. So Sgt. McCary, who speaks fluent Arabic and specializes in "human intelligence," improvises how he does his job and the Army is improvising how it uses soldiers like him.

Sgt. McCary's experience in Iraq shows why this war is so hard to win. It also highlights why the U.S. Army, a force built for wars against uniformed enemies with tanks and planes, is still struggling to adapt 18 months into its fight with a brutal insurgency that hides among the local population.

Looking to cut costs, the Army slashed its active-duty counterintelligence and human-intelligence force, critical to battling guerrilla fighters, by about one-third in the 1990s. Frontline commanders rarely trained with these troops.

Today senior Army officials in the Pentagon say they are adding 4,000 more intelligence specialists to the current force of 6,000, to meet demands of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But because counterintelligence and human-intelligence soldiers require extra training, including as much as 15 months of foreign-language school, adding them will take years.

To preserve their anonymity, counterintelligence soldiers don't wear nametags or ranks on their uniforms. Because he is leaving Iraq this month, after finishing his one-year tour, Sgt. McCary and his commanders recently allowed a reporter to follow him for several days.

Sgt. McCary graduated from Vassar College with a degree in French literature before enlisting in the Army in 2000. Before basic training he had never touched a gun in his life. Because he had a college degree and a knack for languages, the Army sent him to its Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., for Arabic instruction. He picked up the language so quickly that his instructors nicknamed him "the sponge."

Last fall, he was sent to Khalidiya, an insurgent stronghold near Fallujah. On the way to his battalion's base, his unit was hit with mortar and rocket-propelled-grenade fire.

"I jump out of my seat every time I hear a whump, crack or thump," he wrote in an e-mail home to his parents in North Carolina on Sept. 28, 2003. But the attacks didn't dim his initial optimism. The Iraqis "are a good-hearted people, steeped in traditions different from ours but not inhuman, incomprehensible or impenetrable," his e-mail said.

At first, Sgt. McCary's biggest challenge was showing his 800-man battalion, built to fight rows of opposing tanks, how to use him. Army doctrine states that human-intelligence soldiers are supposed to stay behind the front lines -- not accompany troops on dangerous raids.

That approach didn't work in Iraq. The tank commanders, unable to speak Arabic and unfamiliar with the culture, would often round up everyone in a house they were raiding and bring them in to be interrogated.

Soon the battalion's detention facility was bursting with more than 200 detainees, most of whom had no useful information. Sgt. McCary and his fellow human-intelligence soldiers were working 18-hour days to question them all. "If we could have done preliminary questioning in the field, the majority of the guys we were detaining would never have been brought in," Sgt. McCary says.

By October, Sgt. McCary and a colleague persuaded his bosses to try a different approach. Instead of sitting on the base, Sgt. McCary would go out on raids. "I want to be as close as I can to the hit team without being shot," he says.

In the last year, the sergeant has conducted more than 1,000 interrogations of Iraqi insurgents, trying to figure out how they are organized and where they are hiding. He's walked hundreds of patrols, dodged rocket-propelled-grenade fire and watched friends -- both Iraqi and American -- die grisly deaths. So far, 19 soldiers and three Iraqi translators in his battalion have been killed.

His presence on raids helped in efforts to bring in only Iraqis who had actual knowledge about the insurgency. It also had another benefit. Interrogating detainees in the first few minutes after capture allowed him to question suspects while they are disoriented and unable to construct a good alibi. He says his battalion is the only one he knows of that uses counterintelligence soldiers in this way. "I didn't realize how innovative we were until I started talking with friends from other units," he says.

Lt. Col. Gerard Healy, an Army spokesman in the Pentagon, says it isn't unheard of for counterintelligence soldiers to accompany troops on raids. "But we don't have enough of these assets to use them in this war on a regular basis," he says.

Learning to Lie
In the field, Sgt. McCary learned other critical skills. One was the ability to lie. "If you are not a Muslim brother in this culture you are nothing, so I had to construct an entirely new working persona," he says. Though he has no Arab heritage, he tells Iraqis his mother is Lebanese. He sprinkles every conversation with asides such as "Praise be to God." When a local says he is afraid to talk because the mujahedeen will kill him, Sgt. McCary recites a phrase commonly used in Iraq: "A good Muslim fears only one person." Then the sergeant points to the sky. As part of the ritual, the other person says, "Allah."

Last month, Sgt. McCary and 30 other soldiers set out to find an insurgent who they believe heads a terrorist cell that has been attacking them. The battalion raided the insurgent's house five months ago and found bomb-making equipment and grenade launchers, but not the insurgent. Recently they got a tip that a local government minister was harboring the cell leader at his home.

But just getting basic information -- such as the exact location of the minister's house -- is difficult. There are no street signs in most Iraqi cities. Many homes look alike and none of them have numbers. Operating under conventional rules of warfare, the Army doesn't allow Sgt. McCary to don local clothes or ride in civilian vehicles. He must wear his uniform when he goes into town. So Sgt. McCary couldn't disguise himself and have the tipster discreetly lead him to the house.

He also couldn't tell locals why he was looking for the minister's house. In the last few months, insurgents in the area have killed or attempted to kill anyone seen cooperating with U.S. troops.

Sgt. McCary's source told him generally where the minister lived. The insurgent they were looking for drove a green car, which the source said should be parked by the house. To confirm he had the right house, Sgt. McCary pretended to be an Army civil-affairs officer, doing a survey of the local infrastructure. The ruse would give him a good excuse to inquire about the minister's house.

"It is extremely duplicitous, but if you walk up to people and say, 'Damn it, we want to know where this bad guy lives; we want to help you,' it is not effective," he says.

Sgt. McCary and his fellow soldiers packed themselves tightly into a small, armored troop carrier. "I hope you put on deodorant today," he joked to the soldier next to him.

"No, but I changed my underwear this morning,"' the young soldier replied.
"Just for me, or just in case?" Sgt. McCary deadpanned.
Once in the neighborhood, a hive of brown, two-story houses surrounded by mud walls, Sgt. McCary talked to the locals. A man in a white dish-dasha, a long dress-like shirt, complained his family was getting only four hours of electricity a day. Another local in a Los Angeles Lakers T-shirt told him U.S. troops were shooting in their neighborhood at night.

Sgt. McCary spotted a boy of about 11, standing lookout in front of what he thought might be the minister's house. He wanted to get a picture of the boy for his records. But the boy was adamant he didn't want his photograph taken by the Americans.

"Don't be such a girl," Sgt. McCary teased the boy, telling him they were just in town taking a survey of the local power and water facilities. Another counterintelligence soldier crouched down next to the boy, pretending he was posing for a souvenir snapshot to send back home.

"Wow, we are definitely going to hell," Sgt. McCary said in English, as he snapped the picture.
In 30 more minutes of questioning, Sgt. McCary duped two locals into telling him where the minister actually lived -- by first asking about the local garbage, electricity and other municipal services.

When they identified the minister's house, the tank platoon accompanying him prepared to raid it. But Sgt. McCary told them to hold off. The green car -- which was supposed to belong to the insurgent -- wasn't parked outside. They would have to try another time.

"When you are a [tank] commander, the mindset is, there's a bad guy, let's kick his a--. That doesn't work here. This is like police work," Sgt. McCary says.

The day was humbling in another way. The insurgent's hideout was only about 100 yards from where U.S. forces had targeted him five months earlier. The reluctance of locals to tell U.S. troops where insurgents hide is frustrating, Sgt. McCary says, allowing the enemy to move easily. "We are so removed from Khalidiya these bad guys know they can thumb their noses at us."

Despite the setbacks, a year in Iraq has made Sgt. McCary and his battalion a smarter, tougher, more cynical fighting force. The same tank commanders who had never worked with a counterintelligence soldier before now go out of their way to request his presence on raids and patrols. Sgt. McCary's battalion commander nominated him recently for the Bronze Star.

"You couldn't design a better counter-insurgent," says Maj. John Nagl, who is third in command of Sgt. McCary's battalion. "He's interested in other cultures, willing to question his own beliefs and mores."

The next day, Sgt. McCary and a team of soldiers set out on the mission to find four insurgents suspected of launching attacks on U.S. forces. Two of the four men he was looking for are members of the local U.S.-trained Iraqi National Guard security force. Sgt. McCary knew he didn't have enough information to detain the men. But his command was hoping that by questioning them he could put a scare into them and elicit some intelligence.

On a blistering morning, the soldiers pushed through the gate of the suspects' house, finding nothing but shrieking women and small children milling about in a dirt courtyard outside. In the corner was a freshly washed black motorcycle, still coated in suds. Sgt. McCary took the bike's presence as a sign that one of the men they were looking for had been in the house recently but fled.

He quickly began firing questions at the women in Arabic. "Whose motorcycle is this?" he asked.
"It's broken," a woman replied.
He repeated the question. This time the same woman told him she found it on the street.
Interrogating women rarely produces good intelligence, Sgt. McCary says. Arresting women in this male-dominated society is deeply offensive to most Iraqis, so U.S. troops avoid it at all costs. Because the women know they are unlikely to be detained, they have little incentive to cooperate.

The battalion's unwritten policy is to interrogate the oldest male on the scene. In this case it was the sobbing boy. Sgt. McCary grabbed the child by the wrist and led him into the dark house off the courtyard. When his mother tried to follow, Sgt. McCary yelled at her to stay away.

Outside the mother began crying, in English, "Mister. Baby. Mister. Baby."
Rapid-Fire Questions
Inside the house, Sgt. McCary fired questions at the terrified boy. Once the boy realized Sgt. McCary wasn't going to hurt him, he told different stories; that he didn't know any of the men they were looking for, or that the men had all moved away. So Sgt. McCary took off his helmet, leaned in close and began to yell in an effort to unsettle him.

Using a photo that he pulled off the wall, Sgt. McCary got the boy to identify the men he was looking for. He scribbled a name over each face.

Then the sergeant took the picture next door, hoping to get the names confirmed with a second source. The place had no roof or furniture. The floor was covered with dirt and the morning's breakfast. Sgt. McCary led the oldest male present, a boy of about 6 years old, aside and showed him the picture.

A few minutes later, the soldiers heard a loud thud. It was the first of four roadside bombs that would explode in Khalidiya that day. Soldiers crouched behind walls for protection. The second boy and his mother confirmed the names Sgt. McCary got at the first house.

Sgt. McCary and the rest of the platoon piled back into the Humvees. The mission was a success of sorts. Sgt. McCary now knew what the suspected insurgents looked like. But it was exhausting. "The fact that I have to terrify a kid ... to get the truth is b—s---," he said. "Morally it is questionable. But you've got to go with what you've got."

A small percentage of the insurgents who launch attacks against U.S. forces in Khalidiya are foreign fighters from places such as Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Some of the terrorists come from nearby Fallujah, which isn't currently under U.S. control and has become something of an insurgent safe haven. But many of the insurgents in Khalidiya seem to be locals, Sgt. McCary and his commanders say, drawn to attack the U.S. by a combination of nationalism and religious obligation.

In May, a good friend of Sgt. McCary's had his leg blown off by a rocket-propelled grenade. U.S. forces quickly grabbed the insurgent who fired it. Back at the base, Sgt. McCary asked the enemy fighter if he was a mujahedeen, or holy warrior.

The man shook his head no. "Then why did you blow off my friend's leg?" Sgt. McCary recalls asking.
The insurgent, a small man in his 20s, said he did it because he was told to by his religious leader.
Above his bunk, Sgt. McCary keeps photographs of two friends, an Iraqi father and son who worked as translators for the Army in Khalidiyah until insurgents kidnapped them in broad daylight from their home of 40 years. The mujahedeen murdered the 75-year-old father and beat the son unconscious.

Shortly after the kidnapping, Sgt. McCary e-mailed his family back home in North Carolina. "This is such a barbaric place. I cannot fathom the depths the Iraqis endured to reach this level," he wrote.

In the e-mail he added that he wished those responsible for the killings, maimings and kidnappings would simply "dissipate.... I wish they would transform into average citizens, fathers, sons and brothers. I don't care about bloodlust, justice or revenge," he wrote.

Sgt. McCary and his commanders know that won't happen. They say the key to defeating this or any insurgency is convincing locals to tell them where the enemy hides. "But the natural inclination of the Iraqis is to support their own people," he says.

He remains hopeful that more Iraqis will eventually help the U.S. track down the enemy. "I just don't see how they could remain loyal to the insurgency, but it is possible. In this culture, Allah trumps all. Religious loyalties can never be questioned," he says.

Does he think he and his fellow soldiers are winning the war in Khalidiya? "I've learned a lot. I have been extremely successful. I couldn't have asked for a better command," he says.

"Am I winning? I don't know. I am just fighting."

You know you're living in 2004 when...

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.
2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.
6. You go home after a long day at work you still answer the phone in a business manner.
7. You make phone calls from home, you accidentally dial "9" to get an outside line.
8. You've sat at the same desk for four years and worked for three different companies.
10. You learn about your redundancy on the 11 o'clock news.
11. Your boss doesn't have the ability to do your job.
12. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home.
13. Every commercial on television has a website at the bottom of the screen.
14. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.
15. You get up in the morning and go online before getting your coffee.
16. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. :)
17. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.
18. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.
19. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.
20. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list.

This is pretty cool

http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~moraes/illusion.html

Zipp 404 front wheel

I was looking at the Zipp 404 front wheels on eBay in the fragile hopes that someone was selling just the front wheel (since when I last looked, they only came as a $1700 set), and found a cracked one, and not much else. About resigned to have to buy a used set I toggled over to Excel Sports to check the specs and... they are selling singles now!!!

So, I shall have the new front wheel before the HOT Championships and I will be able to standardize on a tubular platform!!!

The Rain

It's been raining tons here recently. The last two nights we've had spectacular high-level lightning storms. You can't see any lighthing bolts, but they light up the clouds and are almost constant. Last night I didn't think they would hit us: too far north, but they dropped about 4" on us starting at 11:30.

Tonight, they just started again. Although we probably won't get as much tonight, it has been nice knowing I won't have to water the grass for a couple days.

Now let's hope it dries up in time for my ride tomorrow...

Can't wait to get some of these

Olympic Tech: Bobby J and his funky chainrings
By Andrew Juskaitis
VeloNews Technical Editor
This report filed August 18, 2004
When Bobby Julich crossed the finish line just 26.45 seconds behind teammate Tyler Hamilton in Wednesday's Olympic individual time trial, it wasn't just a victory for a man and his country-technology also won in the streets of Athens.

Helping to power Julich's bike were two very unusual chainrings that could very well transform the way we propel our bicycles in the future. Julich was riding a pair of French made, out-of-round, "Osymetric" chainrings which Julich claims have helped him all season.

Now before you say, "Biopace," think again. In a phone interview with VeloNews from France designer Jean-Louis Talo was clear to point out that his patented out-of-round chainrings are considerably different that Shimano's original Biopace and Biopace II chainrings.

"Biopace did very little to address the dead-spot in a rider's pedaling stroke," Talo asserted. "My chainrings are designed to optimize the power portion of the stroke while minimizing the dead-spot. If you look closely, you can see my chainrings aren't just oval or elliptical as others have been, but shaped entirely to take advantage of a rider's leg musculature. The geometry we use is two successive curves having a unique symmetry, both with a central point of rotation. When the pedal is up [at 90 degrees] a rider's strength is minimal so the ring radius is small as well. When the pedal comes near to horizontal, the rider's strength is more, so the chainring is bigger to take advantage of that. Unlike Biopace, my rings constantly change radius to take full advantage of the complete power stroke of a rider. This is the first time this has been accomplished in a chainring."

Talo pointed to some of the impressive data that he claims was obtained from independent testing carried out in Europe. He reports improvements of between 5- and 15-percent gains in efficiency which can result in a 3-percent gain in speed (given identical input effort). Talo also claims his chainrings can help alleviate chronic knee stress issues by providing more mechanical advantage when a rider's knee is bent at 90 degrees (one of the most stress-prone positions of a rider's power stroke).

This isn't the first time Julich has raced the Osymetric chainrings. It was almost one year ago that we saw these strange looking rings on Julich's bike in Hamilton, Ontario Canada during the 2003 World Road Championships. There he claimed that the rings, "we good for 5 seconds per kilometer."

Julich used the unusual rings at the Vuelta a Pais Vasco this year, where he beat Hamilton (Phonak) by less than one second in a time trial at the Spanish stage race. Julich also raced the technology in the climbing stages of this year's Tour de France, although he chose to run only the inner ring to satisfy his Shimano sponsorship.

The Osymetric rings are not brand new to the cycling world. In fact, Talo has been testing variations of his rings with professional teams, including the old Festina team, as well as individual riders - Jens Voigt, Alexander Vinokourov and Julich - since late 2000. Talo reports that riders favor the rings for climbing, and also feel they're an advantage in heavy-power flat stages (i.e. TT). The chainrings aren't' yet available here in the United States, but should soon be available through a major distributor (by Interbike Talo commented.)

If Julich's Athens success is any evidence of the rings' advantages look for resurgence of interest in out-of-round rings in the near future. One of us at VeloNews will be among the first North Americans to obtain the rings, so stay tuned for a report in an upcoming issue.

Drifting off the pace...

Week 7: Clasica San Sebastian
Say what?
After a long slumber through late spring and early summer, MP3ers were, in part, back for Round 6 of the World Cup, the HEW Classics.... Beck.... IS BACK. (okay, so I've used this before, but it's a good line)

It's crunch time -- only MP3 weeks left in the World Cup, and Mike Beck, despite picking Davide Rebellin over MP3 über-favorite Paolo Bettini for his #1, scored strong with Ivan Basso as his #3, to pull off the third best score for the week. Only former MP3 leader Julian Humphries and the surprising Bill Reams were able to pull off a better selection for the week -- they got Bettini and Rebellin in the right order, with solid choices of Basso and Freire for the #3 spot.

The fight for the top is a virtual dead-heat, however, with three MP3'ers within 100 points of the lead, with former "free of the organizer's curse" Frank "just call me Carpel Tunnel" Kurzawa not far behind.

It was a weak field for the dark horse competition, with Andy White taking the prize with his #3 choice of Juan Antonio Flecha. Fortunately, Juan didn't win today, as we are thus spared another demonstration of his goofy salute....

As the series winds down, the Cyborgs have produced disappointing results. Despite pattern recognition algorithms which are state of the art in predictive engineering, they wallow deep in the standings. WC2003 and Podium 2003 are breathing down the neck of Julian and yours truly. WC2004, deeper in the standings, showed signs of life however, with an impressive 305 points for this week. It's a strong enough showing to make some of the humans in the game nervous.

Just the facts, Ma'am
OVERALL SCORES
# player tot w01 w02 w03 w04 w05
1 Michael Beck 1523 294(1) 33(19) 176(2) 222(13) 308(6)
2 Jake North 1503 258(3) 53(6) 172(3) 350(1) 108(20)
3 Tom McMinn 1444 168(8) 82(3) 160(6) 290(8) 370(3)
4 Jeff Galloway 1441 268(2) 46(12) 148(9) 318(5) 112(19)
5 Frank Kurzawa 1317 168(8) 21(23) 112(15) 330(3) 204(12)
6 Alon G 1293 222(4) 43(13) 172(3) 92(23) 440(2)
7 Randy Wright 1228 168(8) 50(10) 196(1) 152(20) 262(7)
8 Dan Connelly 1167 72(19) 33(19) 94(19) 236(12) 252(8)
9 Julian Humphries 1150 0(24) 35(17) 144(11) 338(2) 153(15)
10 WC2003 1101 88(16) 82(3) 32(25) 326(4) 153(15)
11 Podium2003 1084 100(15) 30(21) 96(18) 180(17) 130(17)
12 Bill Reams 1077 212(5) 41(14) 70(21) 246(11) 184(13)
13 Andy White 1045 88(16) 120(2) 118(14) 190(15) 58(21)
14 Bill Strachan 1038 204(6) 36(15) 66(22) 310(6) 212(10)
15 WC2004 923 88(16) 9(24) 34(24) 42(25) 169(14)
16 Steven Mullins 921 24(20) 50(10) 140(12) 263(10) 444(1)
17 Kenneth D Lloyd 860 118(11) 52(7) 94(19) 302(7) 34(22)
18 David Henderson 811 24(20) 35(17) 156(8) 190(15) 310(4)
19 Lee Rusk 683 112(12) 36(15) 108(16) 106(22) 15(23)
20 Ryan Robinson 638 104(14) 52(7) 122(13) 50(24) 310(4)
21 Jason Rivers 613 24(20) 52(7) 160(6) 141(21) 14(24)
22 Karen White 606 0(25) 54(5) 148(9) 192(14) 212(10)
23 John Bartle 584 108(13) 0(25) 64(23) 290(8) 122(18)
24 Richard Whittington 572 24(20) 0(26) 0(26) 0(26) 232(9)
25 David Orr 508 180(7) 26(22) 104(17) 178(18) 0(25)
26 Shawn Liberty 328 0(26) 0(27) 172(3) 156(19) 0(26)
27 Kenneth D. LLoyd 232 0(27) 0(28) 0(27) 0(27) 0(27)
28 Dustoyevsky 126 0(28) 126(1) 0(28) 0(28) 0(28)

OVERALL SCORES
# player tot w06 w07
1 Michael Beck 1523 168(12) 322(3)
2 Jake North 1503 274(4) 288(7)
3 Tom McMinn 1444 64(17) 310(4)
4 Jeff Galloway 1441 289(2) 260(9)
5 Frank Kurzawa 1317 172(11) 310(4)
6 Alon G 1293 64(17) 260(9)
7 Randy Wright 1228 302(1) 98(17)
8 Dan Connelly 1167 242(8) 238(11)
9 Julian Humphries 1150 155(13) 325(1)
10 WC2003 1101 210(10) 210(14)
11 Podium2003 1084 274(4) 274(8)
12 Bill Reams 1077 0(21) 324(2)
13 Andy White 1045 248(7) 223(13)
14 Bill Strachan 1038 140(14) 70(19)
15 WC2004 923 276(3) 305(6)
16 Steven Mullins 921 0(22) 0(21)
17 Kenneth D Lloyd 860 260(6) 0(22)
18 David Henderson 811 96(16) 0(23)
19 Lee Rusk 683 214(9) 92(18)
20 Ryan Robinson 638 0(23) 0(24)
21 Jason Rivers 613 40(19) 182(15)
22 Karen White 606 0(24) 0(25)
23 John Bartle 584 0(25) 0(26)
24 Richard Whittington 572 134(15) 182(15)
25 David Orr 508 6(20) 14(20)
26 Shawn Liberty 328 0(26) 0(27)
27 Kenneth D. LLoyd 232 0(27) 232(12)
28 Dustoyevsky 126 0(28) 0(28)

TOP WEEKLY POINTS
breakers: weekly rank, overall, week
# player wk pts(wr)
1 Steven Mullins 5 444(1)
2 Alon G 5 440(2)
3 Tom McMinn 5 370(3)
4 Jake North 4 350(1)
5 Julian Humphries 4 338(2)
6 Frank Kurzawa 4 330(3)
7 WC2003 4 326(4)
8 Julian Humphries 7 325(1)
9 Bill Reams 7 324(2)
10 Michael Beck 7 322(3)

WEEK 7 PICKS
Week 7 picks, w/ points scored:
player rider#1 pts rider#2 pts rider#3 pts tot
Julian Humphries... Paolo Bettini.. 210 Davide Rebellin............ 100 Oscar Freire Gomez.......... 15 325
Bill Reams......... Paolo Bettini.. 210 Ivan Basso................. 64 Davide Rebellin............. 50 324
Michael Beck....... Davide Rebellin 150 Paolo Bettini.............. 140 Ivan Basso.................. 32 322
Frank Kurzawa...... Paolo Bettini.. 210 Davide Rebellin............ 100 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte. 0 310
Tom McMinn......... Paolo Bettini.. 210 Davide Rebellin............ 100 George Hincapie............. 0 310
WC2004............. Davide Rebellin 150 Paolo Bettini.............. 140 Oscar Freire Gomez.......... 15 305
Jake North......... Paolo Bettini.. 210 Igor Astarloa.............. 28 Davide Rebellin............. 50 288
Podium2003......... Paolo Bettini.. 210 Ivan Basso................. 64 Danilo Di Luca.............. 0 274
Alon G............. Paolo Bettini.. 210 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte 0 Davide Rebellin............. 50 260
Jeff Galloway...... Paolo Bettini.. 210 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte 0 Davide Rebellin............. 50 260
Dan Connelly....... Paolo Bettini.. 210 Igor Astarloa.............. 28 Jan Ullrich................. 0 238
Kenneth D. LLoyd... Davide Rebellin 150 Stefano Garzelli........... 12 Paolo Bettini............... 70 232
Andy White......... Paolo Bettini.. 210 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte 0 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni 13 223
WC2003............. Paolo Bettini.. 210 Michael Boogerd............ 0 Peter Van Petegem........... 0 210
Jason Rivers....... Igor Astarloa.. 42 Paolo Bettini.............. 140 Cadel Evans................. 0 182
Richard Whittington Igor Astarloa.. 42 Paolo Bettini.............. 140 Jan Ullrich................. 0 182
Randy Wright....... Danilo Di Luca. 0 Igor Astarloa.............. 28 Paolo Bettini............... 70 98
Lee Rusk........... Igor Astarloa.. 42 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte 0 Davide Rebellin............. 50 92
Bill Strachan...... Jan Ullrich.... 0 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte 0 Paolo Bettini............... 70 70
David Orr.......... George Hincapie 0 Axel Merckx................ 0 Igor Astarloa............... 14 14

Race Results

Another installment of the Heart of Texas Triathlon series and a surprisingly similar result to the first two races. Second place overall to the same guy. It's been the same one-two since the first race!

I had a good swim and a decent bike. My bike wasn't as sharp as it could have been because I have not been training on the bike because I needed so much work on my run. So, I was able to get away, but I wasn't able to put enough time on this guy (no more than 30 seconds). Subsequently, I got run down again. I got passed a mile into the three-mile run, but thought I would be able to peg him back after I started to close after the turnaround. No such luck. Ended up losing by 40 seconds. Getting tired of this.

Bad news is I have the fourth race in the series next weekend. I am going to have to figure something out on the run. Need to call a coach and start working.

New look and feel

Hope it isn't a shock to the sytem, but I changed the template for the blog in order to get less margin on either side so you wouldn't be scrolling down all the time. Hope no one was too attached to the narrow green...

Back on top...

The cycling betting pool I'm sucked into has kicked in again with the resumption of the fall classics. I was in the top spot after four races in the spring, but a disastrous set of pics in the fifth race dropped me to fourth. Today, I regained the top step on the podium with a third place today's HEW Cyclassics race. Here's a tidbit from the race organizer:

"When the CPU cycles cleared, it was Jake North emerging first overall, third best picks of the week. Randy Wright was #1, followed by Jeff Galloway. The result is a very close race, with 6 players within 200 points of the lead."

Here are the overall standings:

OVERALL SCORES
# player tot w06
1 Jake North 1215 274(3)
2 Michael Beck 1201 168(10)
3 Jeff Galloway 1181 289(2)
4 Tom McMinn 1134 64(15)
5 Randy Wright 1130 302(1)
6 Alon G 1033 64(15)
7 Frank Kurzawa 1007 172(9)
8 Bill Strachan 968 140(12)
9 Dan Connelly 929 242(6)
10 Steven Mullins 921 0(19)
11 WC2003 891 210(8)
12 Julian Humphries 825 155(11)
13 Andy White 822 248(5)
14 David Henderson 811 96(13)
15 Podium2003 810 274(3)
16 Bill Reams 753 0(20)
17 Ryan Robinson 638 0(21)
18 Karen White 606 0(22)
19 Kenneth D Lloyd 600 0(23)
20 Lee Rusk 591 214(7)
21 John Bartle 584 0(24)
22 David Orr 494 6(18)
23 WC2004 438 96(13)
24 Jason Rivers 431 40(17)
25 Shawn Liberty 328 0(25)
26 Richard Whittington 256 0(26)
27 Dustoyevsky 126 0(27)

Darlene with little Michael. Mike & Carey's newest addition. 

She almost looks like she knows what she's doing...

The 'Dillo Hunter

Mom remarked on a number of occasions last time she and Dad were here visiting that she had never seen an armadillo, live or dead. This is sort of a funny statement because in Austin, although they are the unofficial state mascot, they are a lot like rats. You really can't drive many places without coming along one or more dead ones in the road.

Anyhow, since then, I've been somewhat obsessed with photgraphing or getting some video of a live armadillo for my mother. I thought my best chance slipped away last weekend in Boerne when I nearly tripped over one outside the hotel on my way to load the bike before the race. No camera and no time, I watched him wander, unconcerned, back into the brush after nosing around the entrance to the hotel.

Last night, Darlene and I were driving around the neighborhood so I could clock off the mileage for this morning's long run. We saw something decent sized in the road ahead moving along the curb. It crossed in front of us and we saw it was a smallish, young armadillo. This time I was armed with my new camera phone. Although it doesn't take the highest quality pictures and doesn't have a flash, you can get an idea of what it looks like.

This little guy was pretty unconcerned by me following it closely and trying to snap pictures. I've seen much bigger; this guy was only about 16" snout to tail. He nosed around the curb, crawled over it and rooted around until it took him back into the brush.

So there you have it Mom. We'll try to get you another when you're here in town.

Young 'dillo hopping the curb. 

Grainy, top view just before he disappeared into the brush again. 

Interesting to see if the Italians prosecute

Italian police question Simeoni over clash with Armstrong during Tour de France

July 28, 2004
ROME (AP) -- An Italian cyclist who says he was ``threatened'' by six-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong during the race was questioned by police about the episode, which might be linked to a feud between the riders.

Filippo Simeoni was questioned Tuesday in Rome about the July 23 stage, during which he was chased down by Armstrong, a move apparently related to a dispute about Simeoni's testimony about drug use in cycling, Col. Stefano Ortolani of the paramilitary Carabiniere NAS anti-doping squad said Wednesday.

Last Friday, when Simeoni moved ahead to try for victory on a stage that would not have impacted the overall standings, Armstrong chased him down and herded him back to the main pack.

The sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport quoted Simeoni after he left police questioning as saying ``He prevented me from continuing the breakaway and afterward he threatened me.''

Armstrong's agent, Bill Stapleton, had no comment Wednesday, a spokeswoman said.
Simeoni, of the Domina Vacanze squad, has testified against controversial sports doctor Michele Ferrari, with whom Armstrong has ties. Ferrari faces allegations of providing performance enhancers to riders.

Simeoni told an Italian court in 2002 that Ferrari advised him to take performance-enhancing drugs. Later, Armstrong reportedly called Simeoni a liar, and the Italian now says he is suing the Texan for libel.

Ortolani declined to give details about Tuesday's questioning.
Simeoni was quoted by Gazzetta as saying that while he rode with Armstrong, the Texan said, ``You made a mistake to speak against Ferrari, and you made a mistake to take legal action against me. I have money and time and lots of lawyers. I can destroy you.''

The Gazzetta report, which Ortolani described as accurate, said Italian investigators could open proceedings against Armstrong for sporting fraud, violence, and intimidation of a witness.

Updated on Wednesday, Jul 28, 2004 3:07 pm EDT

Small Texan Triathlon

Really felt like a bad time at the race yesterday, but placed third in my age group and 19th overall.  Fourth best swim time overall, sixth best bike overall, and really slow run overall.  7th best run in the division, so at least the hills and heat beat everyone else up as well. 

Bike wasn't as fast as I would have hoped, but I guess when there are a few pros on the course, it is tough to set the top mark...

I'm taking the next three days off to rest and then will focus on getting the run right.  No sense in doing anything else until I figure that out (rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship).

Complete results: http://www.brittonbikes.com/timing/results/04-small-texan/2004-small-tx-male.htm

Give me a break

Thursday, July 22 12:00 AM ET

Fengtek Releases Motherboard Designed Using Feng Shui Principles
By Brian Briggs

Beijing, China - Fengtek released their first motherboard based on the ancient Chinese philosophy of Feng Shui. Many interior designers use the principles of Feng Shui to arrange furniture in rooms, so the areas have positive energy. Fengtek is the first company to move these principles to motherboard design.

Charles Huang, CEO of Fengtek, said he had been "looking for a way to combine modern technology with traditional Asian wisdom. My father had a motherboard company, so why not start there?"

Vincent Xiang, lead designer at Fengtek, explained how positioning the components away from traditional locations brought peace to the motherboard, "We put the CPU in the center, because that is the chi, or life force for the entire board. A centered chi provides better performance."

"We didn't rely on reference boards or schematics from chip manufacturers. Those designs had too many straight lines and sharp corners, which are unnatural and direct poison arrows at our soul. Instead, we tilted the memory slots and added an extra expansion slot at an angle to direct those negative energies away from the user," continued Xiang.

Xiang also said the angled slot also slows down the chi as it enters the CPU so it lessens the harm from any sha or negative chi. Placing the RAM in the bagua area of knowledge and wisdom should also increase performance.

Fengtek also released a specially designed case to house the motherboard, which provides "a positive path for airflow spirits."

Reviewers at several websites were unable to get the motherboard to power up in any configuration. Fengtek technical support said this would allow more time for meditation.

Ewwwww!!!

11 H 25 - Reason For Tombak's Retirement...The Cofidis rider who abandoned the stage before the first climb, Janeck Tombak, is now in an ambulance. He was attempting to adjust the sensor on his bike which is used for timing but as he did this his right hand slid into the spokes of the rear wheel. His fingers are severely cut.

Niiiiice

Bigger Breasts for Free: Join the Army
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Army has long lured recruits with the slogan "Be All You Can Be," but now soldiers and their families can receive plastic surgery, including breast enlargements, on the taxpayers' dime.

The New Yorker magazine reports in its July 26th edition that members of all four branches of the U.S. military can get face-lifts, breast enlargements, liposuction and nose jobs for free -- something the military says helps surgeons practice their skills.

"Anyone wearing a uniform is eligible," Dr. Bob Lyons, chief of plastic surgery at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio told the magazine, which said soldiers needed the approval of their commanding officers to get the time off.

Between 2000 and 2003, military doctors performed 496 breast enlargements and 1,361 liposuction surgeries on soldiers and their dependents, the magazine said.

The magazine quoted an Army spokeswoman as saying, "the surgeons have to have someone to practice on."

Ironhead Dallas Triathlon photos

These are a couple of the pics Darlene snapped while she was making fast friends with the other spectators.

coming in from the swim 

heading out on the run (slowly) 

The Tour

is all but over now after today's time trial.  Lots of fun to watch Lance take it to 'em, but is a little boring without the head-to-head battles I was expecting from the deep field of challengers.  Saturday's time trial should be fun, as I expect Lance to kill them there too.

All he has to do now is stay upright until they reach Paris.

Another smoking risk:

Smoker Ignites Portable Toilet Explosion

Thu Jul 15, 7:25 AM ET Add Strange News - AP to My Yahoo!

BLACKSVILLE, W.Va. - Warning: smoking in the toilet can be dangerous. A portable toilet exploded Tuesday after a man who was inside it lit a cigarette.

Emergency workers said the man was not severely injured and drove himself to Clay-Battelle Community Health Center. He was later transferred to Ruby Memorial Hospital. His name and condition were not available Wednesday.

The explosion, which occurred in Blacksville, resulted from a buildup of methane gas inside the portable toilet. The methane did not "take too kindly" to the lit cigarette, said a spokeswoman for Monongalia Emergency Medical Services.

NIN finally coming out with a new album

Reznor Self-Producing New Nine Inch Nails Album
By Jonathan Cohen

NEW YORK (Billboard) - A day after it was revealed that Dave Grohl had contributed drum tracks to the new Nine Inch Nails record, group mastermind Trent Reznor (news) said Wednesday he is self-producing the set, tentatively titled "Bleed Through."

"Why, do you ask?," Reznor writes on NIN's official Web site (http://www.nin.com). "Well, I feel very inspired right now and I want this record to be what's in my head, for better or worse."

Grohl laid down drums on 15 tracks last week at a California studio. "Working with him has been one of the most inspiring and exciting experiences I've had in the studio," Reznor said. "The tracks he's played on have come alive in a 'better-than-I'd-even-hoped-for" type way."

Reznor said he is playing the rest of the music himself, although Alan Moulder has been brought into the project as a "sounding board / co-producer / mixer," and Atticus Ross is serving as a programer and "right-hand man."

"Bleed Through" is now being eyed for an early 2005 release via Interscope, with an extensive world tour planned to support it. Two other NIN-related items will precede it in the fall: the DVD debut of the 1997 home video "Closure" bolstered with additional content, and a deluxe, double-disc edition of the 1994 album "The Downward Spiral," remixed in 5.1 surround sound.

Nine Inch Nails' last studio album, "The Fragile," produced by Reznor and Moulder, debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and has sold more than 875,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Reuters/Billboard

The Mountains

Today is the first big mountain stage in this year's Tour. Friday and Saturday will likely be decisive, but today's stage is long enough and hilly enough to really give us a feel for who's in the race, and who's not.

Is this me in the Friday, July 9 issue of USA Today? My parents and my wife really think so. 

HOT #2: Trying to ride away from the chasers. 

The Skunk

Funny story from Amy:

Robby was coming by Amy's house to run with her, and Amy mentioned there was a skunk with a cup over its head stumbling around the neighborhood. When Robby arrived, the skunk was just in front of Amy's house bouncing off the curb, the mailbox, etc., with a yogurt cup stuck over its head.

Not wanting to be sprayed by a skunk, the two donned trashbags and sought to corral the crazed beast, armed with brooms and a towel. They managed to corner the critter and Robby jumped on it with a towel. Amy reached down and removed the yogurt cup with a distinct sound not unlike removing a cork from a wine bottle.

They retreated and let the previously hooded creature free. Apparently it didn't spray them because it was fresh out after having wandered around the neighborhood, blindly spraying everything it bumped into...

So, that's their good deed for the week.

2004-2005 Triathlon Schedule confirmed to date

Date Race Name Location Distance
03/28/04 Texas State Triathlon Canyon City, TX Olympic
05/31/04 America's Triathlon Austin, TX Olympic
06/06/04 Heart of Texas #1 San Antonio, TX Sprint
06/20/04 Buffalo Springs Half Ironman Lubbock, TX Half
07/11/04 Heart of Texas #2 San Antonio, TX Sprint
07/18/04 Ironhead Dallas Triathlon Grand Prarie, TX Olympic
07/25/04 Small Texan Triathlon Boerne, TX Long Sprint
08/08/04 Heart of Texas #3 San Antonio, TX Sprint
08/15/04 Heart of Texas #4 San Antonio, TX Sprint
09/12/04 Heart of Texas Championships Canyon City, TX Olympic
10/10/04 Dave Scott Texas Man Sprint Tri Irving, TX Sprint
04/09/05 Ironman Arizona Tempe, AZ Ironman

A heartbreaking race

Yesterday was another heartbreaker of a triathlon. I won my age group, but was only good enough for second overall. Lost to the same guy again. Some consolation in knowing he is a former Olympian, but I should still be beating this guy...

Still have lots of work to do on the run, but the good news is that the next race will provide 2 more miles on the bike to open things up.

Tour live updates on the Web

www.velonews.com - click on live updates
www.letour.fr - click on Version Anglais, and then Newsflashes

I'll have you know that my wife picked Boonen as the winner this morning. I told her she needs to start placing my picks for the Mouse Potato when it resumes in August. I had McEwan for those keeping score... 

the other one we purchased 

the two pictures we ordered. same as previous, but without the watermark. hopefully i have another ride like this sunday. 

This is my favorite pic from the Tour so far: Lance, Hincapie, Ullrich on the cobbles in stage 3. 

Lots of crashes

Interesting to see the bloodbath the Tour has become. Cippolini and Petacchi out now leaves the sprint field pretty wide open. With McEwan hurt in today's crash, we might see more breaks succeed in the coming days. Still can't wait for the mountains!

Getting close to racing again

Looking forward to racing Sunday, although I haven't been feeling too strong the last few days. Lots of aches and pains and slow times on track and in the pool have led me to back off for the last couple days. Now I'm into the final 48 hour routine so hopefully being on autopilot will help me get back on track.

Armstrong in Yellow

Postal had a great day and put lots of time on the rivals. Minute on Hamilton, 1:20 on Ullrich, 1:46 on Leipheimer, 2:25 on Heras, and another 2:30 on Mayo.

I don't think they should try to defend the jersey for the next week, and should probably let the unknowns head up the road in the breaks. The team definitely doesn't want to be spent by this time next week, as that's when the racing starts.

Results of today's stage.


Pos Team Time Lag
1- USP - US POSTAL - BERRY FLOOR 01:12:03.270
2- PHO - PHONAK HEARING SYSTEMS 01:13:10.660 at 00:01:07.390
3- IBB - ILLES BALEARS - B. SANTANDER 01:13:18.320 at 00:01:15.050
4- TMO - T-MOBILE TEAM 01:13:22.430 at 00:01:19.160
5- CSC - TEAM CSC 01:13:49.500 at 00:01:46.230
6- RAB - RABOBANK 01:13:56.770 at 00:01:53.500
7- LST - LIBERTY SEGUROS 01:14:28.940 at 00:02:25.670
8- EUS - EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 01:14:38.920 at 00:02:35.650
9- SAE - SAECO 01:14:39.130 at 00:02:35.860
10- FAS - FASSA BORTOLO 01:14:55.700 at 00:02:52.430
11- ALB - ALESSIO - BIANCHI 01:15:00.390 at 00:02:57.120
12- QSD - QUICK STEP - DAVITAMON 01:15:32.540 at 00:03:29.270
13- C.A - CREDIT AGRICOLE 01:15:35.770 at 00:03:32.500
14- A2R - AG2R PREVOYANCE 01:16:08.600 at 00:04:05.330
15- BLB - BRIOCHES LA BOULANGERE 01:16:20.920 at 00:04:17.650
16- DVE - DOMINA VACANZE 01:16:25.370 at 00:04:22.100
17- GST - GEROLSTEINER 01:16:39.860 at 00:04:36.590
18- LOT - LOTTO - DOMO 01:17:22.750 at 00:05:19.480
19- COF - COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE 01:17:37.290 at 00:05:34.020
20- RAG - R.A.G.T. SEMENCES - MG ROVER 01:17:40.570 at 00:05:37.300
21- FDJ - FDJEUX.COM 01:19:36.980 at 00:07:33.710

Big day in the Tour

Today was a really important one in the Tour because Armstrong put 3:47 on Iban Mayo, one of the pre-race favorites to challenge Armstrong. The race broke up on the 2.8 km section of cobbles, and the favorites pushed the pace to distance themselves from the yellow jersey group, which included Mayo.

The impact of this won't be clearly felt until after tomorrow's team time trial where Mayo will likely lose the better part of two minutes to the stronger teams. This could effectively end Mayo's challenge for the jersey in this year's Tour...

Good times to be had in other parts of the US on the 4th

Kobayashi Sets Record for Hot Dog Eating

1 hour, 5 minutes ago Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!


By LUKAS I. ALPERT, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - For the fourth straight year, rail-thin Takeru "The Tsunami" Kobayashi chewed up the competition at the Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest Sunday, breaking his own previous world record.



Kobayashi, of Nagano, Japan, gulped down 53 1/2 wieners in 12 minutes and shattered his own world record by three dogs. In 2002, he had wolfed down 50 1/2.


The closest competitor Sunday was newcomer Nobuyuki Shirota, 25, of Tokyo, who made an impressive showing but couldn't cut the mustard with 38 downed dogs.


Once again, then, the contest's coveted Mustard Yellow Belt returns to Japan. Since 1996, the Japanese have dominated the competition and only one American — New Jersey's Steve Keiner in 1999 — has captured the belt at the signature July 4 extravaganza.


The 5-foot-7, 132-pound Kobayashi, of Nagano, Japan, employed his trademark method of snapping the dogs in half before swallowing them to destroy the 19 other contestants.


Meanwhile, 105-pound Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas, 36, of Alexandria, Va., could relish two new records: She ate more hot dogs — 32 — than any other woman and any other American in the contest's history.


Eric "Badlands" Booker, a 6-foot-4, 400-pound subway conductor from Long Island who came in fifth with 27 dogs, said he and the other competitive eaters were determined to unseat the Japanese.


"We aren't going to stop until we bring the belt back," he told ESPN.


Kobayashi seemed unworried. "I will come back next year and try and break the record once again," he said.


___


On the Net:


International Federation of Competitive Eating: http://www.ifoce.com

The race is on!

God Bless OLN for great coverage of the Tour. The race is underway and should be a great one! Happy Fourth of July!

The simple things

Amazing how such a simple thing can make things so much more comfortable. Out for the weekly long run, but decided on a change of venue, so I drove down to the Brushy Creek trail that runs by the river so I could run the trail and give my body a little respite from the asphalt pounding.

Coming up on mile 11 I started thinking about how I would cool down from my sweat-soaked condition to jump in my car and drive home. I'd brought a change of clothes, but it usually takes me 30 minutes just to stop sweating profusely, especially now that we're pushing 100 degrees.

Then, like an oasis, pops up a newly installed water park of sorts. Nothing too fancy, just about two dozen pipes and various sprayers, but they were shooting cool water! Undeterred by the sea of children and being the oldest in the water by at least 20 years, I waded out and cooled off under the makeshift shower. Instant attitude adjustment...

It's so close I can taste it

The Tour is here. Pre-race show tonight. 10:00 a.m. tomorrow: the Prologue. Fire it up!

This is funny...and scary

Slow Down: That Golfer
May Be a Traffic Cop

Police Try Unorthodox Tactics
To Catch and Ticket Speeders;
Chicago's Red-Light Cameras
By LOUISE STORY
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
July 1, 2004; Page D1

Some of the millions of drivers hitting the road this holiday weekend will face some new surprises.

With budgets under pressure, police across the country are using some unorthodox tactics to ticket people who speed or run red lights. There are several burgeoning categories of enforcement. The most familiar is the cameras that catch speeders and red light runners: These highly effective tools are being deployed at many more intersections across the country. Police are also increasingly teaming up with officers from other towns to blanket a particular area with ticket-writing officials.

But in a more unusual approach to law enforcement, policemen are starting to don an array of disguises in order to track speeding drivers without attracting attention. Since November, officers in Wilmington, N.C., have dressed up as golfers looking for their ball at the edge of a golf course and disguised themselves as construction workers fixing street lights.

Outfitted with radar guns, they radio ahead to a partner dressed in a normal police uniform, who then tickets the offending drivers. Officers there have adopted the look of a homeless person, wearing a bandana, old Army jacket, and jeans with the knees cut out, a beat-up duffle bag at their side.

State police in Pennsylvania last month also started disguising some officers, dressing them in camouflage and deploying them to wooded areas alongside state roads. In one recent five-hour stretch, they gave out 27 speeding tickets, according to a spokesman from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Law-enforcement officers in Maine, Florida and other states are also using disguises.

Police and transportation officials say that at a time when budgets have been cut and some resources diverted to federal homeland-security initiatives, these new tactics present a more effective way to curb aggressive driving and make the roads safer. But some argue that the motivation behind the new vigilance on traffic violations is more revenue-driven than safety-oriented. In some small towns, traffic ticket revenues make up a decent chunk of the budget.

Speeders and law-enforcement officials have long played a game of cat-and-mouse, and some of the latest police tactics are a response to drivers catching on to earlier methods.

In Maine, the state police tried sticking empty police cars in the highway median to try to get drivers to slow down. But as the cars accumulated dust and dirt, drivers quickly concluded there was not a ticketing threat.


The Maine state police have since begun using the officer disguises -- but even now, they're continually on the lookout for new outfits to keep drivers guessing. "I think a lot of them are gimmicky to the point where they don't work for a long term period," says Randall Nichols, an officer in the department's operations division.

Also newly popular are "blitzes," where police from several departments team up on drivers in one town with an unusually high number of cops. That allows towns that are too small to have dedicated traffic officers set up major speed traps.

Surge in Tickets

In January, Avon, Conn., which typically has only five or six officers on duty to handle all police matters, began teaming up with eight other central Connecticut towns to target traffic violators. It borrows a handful of officers to do nothing but give out tickets. The result: Some 50 to 60 traffic tickets are handed out a day, up from the fewer than 10 that are normally issued, says police chief Peter Agnesi. Police in Utah, New Mexico and Oregon have also led ticketing campaigns in the past year.

Perhaps the most popular new ticketing tools are the cameras, which are set up at intersections or alongside the road to catch both speeders and people who don't stop properly at red lights. The city then mails the tickets to the car owners. In the past year alone, the number of cities with these cameras has increased to about 100 from 70, according to the two companies that sell most of the devices in the U.S., Affiliated Computer Services Inc. based in Dallas and Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc., of Scottsdale, Ariz.

The list of cities includes everywhere from Paramount, Calif., and Medford, Ore., to bigger cities like Albuquerque, N.M., and Providence, R.I. The city of Baltimore plans to install 18 more red-light cameras on top of the 47 it already has, says David Brown, spokesman for Baltimore City Department of Transportation.

Chicago, which installed the first of 10 red-light cameras in November, says the roads are already safer as a result. One of the cameras that caught 55 violators on its first day of operation now records 39 on average, says Brian Steele, assistant commissioner of Chicago's Department of Transportation. The city is considering introducing speeding cameras as well, he says.

But another effect of the new tactics is that more tickets are being generated. The Wilmington, N.C., police, for example, typically write 34 tickets a day, but that jumps to 60 when they're using disguises, says Sgt. David Register. Chicago has issued 32,000 tickets just as a result of the new cameras, says Mr. Steele.

Alternative to Tax Hike?

The District of Columbia, for example, raised more than $85 million from traffic violators in its fiscal year 2002, or about 2.5% of its total revenue that year. But in cities with a smaller tax base, that number can shoot up. In the village of Woodstock, Vt., for instance, income from traffic violations amounts to about 15% of revenues.

"You can be ticketing people and that's extra money for you without having to raise taxes," says Eric Skrum, spokesman for the National Motorists Association, based in Waunakee, Wis. He says engineering problems, such as overly short yellow-light times, are behind many of red-light violations. Some cities, he says, don't want to fix the engineering problems because then they'd lose the revenue from the tickets.

Miffed Car Owners

In some cases, the cameras have created controversy. Some drivers in Chicago, for example, complained that they had received tickets in the mail for violations that occurred when someone else was driving their car. California, one of the earliest states to use the cameras, takes photos of the drivers of the cars as well as the license tags. It charges a fine of between $310 and $361 for drivers who run a red light, and even adds a point to their license. Non-commercial drivers who amass four points from traffic violations of any kind within a year get their licenses suspended.

Write to Louise Story at louise.story@wsj.com2

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108863458341252125,00.html


Hyperlinks in this Article:
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