Matthew Bafford's Musings

MTB Tubeless Conversion - First Experience

A friend of mine (a tubeless fanatic) finally wore me down and I converted my mountain bike to tubeless this weekend using Stan's strips and Caffélatex sealant.

Yesterday was my first hard ride on the tubeless set-up, and it was going great - I was pushing hard, the responsiveness and grip of the tires felt great, and all in all the bike was responding awesomely.

Then... I heard a clinking sound a lot like I'd broken a spoke. I couldn't find anything to cause the noise, and started rolling the bike forward to ride again when I noticed this:

The sealant worked! There was no perceptible loss of pressure from the puncture.

Unfortunately, due to the size of the holes, I had to bend the nail out of the way and I rode a couple more miles fairly normally with a slow leak from the sidewall and everything performing admirably. Still, the leak was enough that I got low enough that I ended up popping the bead and coated the side of the tire with sealant.

I was able to vigorously hand pump it back up and re-seal the bead, then ride the last mile and a half back to the car on pavement with a "pfftt" sound every revolution.

This was a pretty extreme puncture, and I'm happy with how well the tubeless handled it. It didn't save me any time or effort over a tube in this case, but I'm quite convinced that my more typical punctures would be handled perfectly with this set-up, so I'm pretty happy in general.

Filed under // mountain biking tubeless

Vienna, VA

Posted August 10, 2011

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Android Location Cache - Exploring my own phone

Off of the recent "iOS caches your every location, OMG" hubub...

Android has a cache, too, although it's limited to only 50 points for cell locations and 200 for wifi locations:

http://netmite.com/android/mydroid/frameworks/base/location/java/com/android/internal/location/LocationCache.java

// Cache sizes
private static final int MAX_CELL_RECORDS = 50; 
private static final int MAX_WIFI_RECORDS = 200;

So I used the following tool on my own phone:

https://github.com/packetlss/android-locdump/blob/master/parse.py

I probably should have plotted these as points and not lines...

Cell (data ranges from 2011-04-10T21:16:03.633000Z to 2011-04-21T20:31:08.418000Z):

Wifi (data ranges from 2011-04-20T23:47:34.541000Z to 2011-04-21T20:31:08.418000Z):

Wifi zoomed around my general area - most of these are right, although I haven't been outside of the Herndon/Reston area in the past couple of days:

Wifi around my house -

Wifi around where I biked yesterday -

Filed under // android maps

Posted April 22, 2011

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The Idea Problem

Ideas are a burdensome thing. It's human nature to feel that something we thought of - an insight into the world - is an important thing and somehow unique, so we horde our ideas. We grow them, we ponder them, and then, after a brief amount of time, we forget them. With every idea conceived, played with, and then abandoned, there's a feeling of failure. One's inner voice pesters, suggesting that, with just a bit more time, or a bit more gumption, the idea could be implemented and developed and could save the world (or at least make one's life a little bit better). Still, there's no time for all of that, and most ideas just fall by the wayside.

I'm plagued by ideas that never go anywhere. Yet they are nowhere to be found when I actually need them. When given an opportunity to actually put some ideas to practice (and to make money doing so), I draw nothing but blanks. I simply can't remember any of the supposedly brilliant ideas I've had over time. The level of brilliance becomes doubtful, and my confidence in my memory deteriorates.

There's a common belief in the start-up community that ideas are worthless. You can and should share them since most people will simply acknowledge the idea's awesomeness (or, more heartbreakingly, dismiss it), in almost the same moment as they forget about it. It's the passion to implement that makes an idea become powerful, and that passion typically comes along with the envisioning. Despite the obvious truth behind this, there persists a niggling feeling that sharing an idea somehow gives other people the opportunity to steal your idea and to get there first with the implementation.

So I don't share, and I forget.

So the idea of the moment is to keep track of my ideas using a less transient form of storage. My feeble memory has proven it can't be trusted with the task. This definitely will save the world (or at least make my life a little bit better).

An excellent idea, indeed. I should do something about it.

Maybe.

Filed under // ideas musing

Posted August 22, 2010

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Microwave Popcorn

Don't be a slave to consumer ignorance! Cook up the last of that microwave popcorn (if you can stomach the artificial ingredients), and make your own.

Needed ingredients:

* A bowl

* Something to cover the bowl

* Loose popcorn kernels

* Butter

* Salt

Put some butter (or other oil) in a bowl, put some kernels in the bowl, cover, microwave until the popping slows down again.

Nikon D40, 1/60s . f/1.8 . ISO 1600 . 35 mm

Season, shake, eat.

I really like how this shot of the popcorn cooking turned out. I had to manually focus and between the multiple levels of glass, the metal screen in the microwave's door, the low lighting, and the movement from the turntable, it obviously didn't focus very well. Still, it has an interesting feel to it.

Filed under // food photography

Posted August 7, 2010

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Breakfast, Matthew Style

Some mornings, breakfast is all about a quick and healthy start to the day.

Other mornings, it's about being as lazy and decadent as possible.

For Audrey:

For Vivian and myself:

Posted July 31, 2010

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Thank You, Silver Line - Trail Closed

As part of the creation of the "Silver Line" of the Washington Metro, the part of the Cross County Trail that crosses VA SR 267 has been "impacted" by construction efforts:

It looks like it might be passable in that picture, but when you get closer, this is what you have to deal with:

It's not entirely clear from the picture, but my bike is actually on steep incline into the water. My feet are on some obnoxiously slippery mud.

At least they provided a boat.

Now, for who to blame:

Something tells me this isn't what they meant by "impact".

Posted July 30, 2010

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Hi!

In a parking deck, Reston, VA.

Reston, VA

Posted July 28, 2010

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With Stars and Stripes

Reston, VA

This "DEMOCRACY" sign kind of looks like you'd find it in an old insane asylum.

Filed under // photography pubic art signs

Reston, VA

Posted July 25, 2010

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Off-centered People

A fun little shot with the nearly empty glass of 90 Minute IPA (from Dogfish Head):

I think I like this take better, although the word "people" isn't quite visible:

After a bit of encouragement from a friend, I took this (admittedly, better) picture:

Then paying around with the bokeh by shooting through the center hole on a CD gave this trippy effect:

Now... that's enough of THAT.

Filed under // beer photography

Posted July 22, 2010

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Celebrating the Tomato

After a few months of hard work growing the seeds, cleaning up the yard, tying up the plants, and applying appropriate amounts of water, the first big tomato harvest has happened. Tonight's dinner consisted of eating tomatoes while harvesting, eating tomatoes while tying up the vines, eating tomatoes while thinking about dinner, and then, finally, eating tomatoes on black beans.

From this:

To this:

To this:

To this:

Matthew Bafford's Musings

MTB Tubeless Conversion - First Experience

Android Location Cache - Exploring my own phone

The Idea Problem

Microwave Popcorn

Breakfast, Matthew Style

Thank You, Silver Line - Trail Closed

Hi!

With Stars and Stripes

Off-centered People

Celebrating the Tomato

ydant

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