Tom was channel surfing a few days ago and saw this great show about “The Quiet Zone” which he later dug up online…

The Quiet Zone is home to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Green Bank Telescope, a fully steerable 17,000-pound Goliath that captures radio waves from space with the precision of a Swiss watch. It’s capable of receiving the quietest radio signals in the universe. But it can’t do that if there are other devices broadcasting in the same frequencies - even signals too faint to interfere with anything else. The telescope is so sensitive that only diesel-fueled cars are allowed on the property because even spark plugs emit radio frequencies that can wipe out the signals from space.

If you are in the area (and it’s waaaaaaaaaay out there) I highly recommend stopping by and taking the bus tour!

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Jalopnik has a nice one: Remembering Robert Craig “Evel” Knievel, Jr.

Growing up in the 70’s and begging my parents for a motorcycle was due in no small part to Evel Knievel. He was bad. He was cool. He was Evel!

I had the wind up toy Evel and motorcycle. I had the Evel Snake car you could jump canyons with. I was in front of the TV anytime he appeared on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. I have scars from the bicycle jumps that didn’t go quite right… He was my hero.

In the old days they, the promoters, wanted more and more from me. They wanted me to jump or spill my blood and break my bones. Every time they wanted me to jump further, and further, and further. Hell, they thought my bike had wings. ~Evel Knievel

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I also just wrapped up a cool little jQuery project I want to blog about in the next day or so. I need to strip out the production code and simplify it a bit for the demo. The more I use jQuery the more I love it!

And I still need to get Critter some files from my Selenium/Ant presention!!

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Last weekend I went to Myrtle Beach to see Megadeth! Dave and crew put on an awesome show. Checkout the Megadeth site for some great concert videos! I’m sure I lost a bit more hearing but it was well worth it

Turns out it was also the last weekend of Bike Fest so I managed to check out some of the zillion bikes before I had to come back home Saturday. Sweeeeet! Unfortunately I only had my camera phone and the few pics I did take sucked but there were some incredible bikes.

This week I’m swamped at work digging through an older MVC Fusebox app. Since I’ve done Mach-II going back to Fusebox has been a challenge. I definitely prefer the event driven Mach-II.

Tuesday at our latest TACFUG meeting I volunteered to do a presentation on using Selenium to test your web applications. Will certainly post presentation files afterwards! I also need to give my Ant presentation on Meetup.com for Charlie Arehart.

And finally I’m helping my wife setup a site - more on that soon!

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Last weekend my riding buddy Tom and I headed to Virginia - it was time for our annual motorcycle trip! (photos here)

We left Thursday morning headed for Meadows of Dan and the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was wonderfully cool in the mountains compared to the 90 degree heat we had at home. We putted up the parkway all day, dodging deer, RVs and the occasional bike rider. Around 6 we arrived in Natural Bridge, VA and found a cheap hotel to crash for the night.

Friday we headed to Green Bank, VA to check out the radio telescope located there… the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope is the world’s largest fully steerable single aperture antenna. We had a great ride up on some terrific mountain roads. On arrival we were informed there was a tour bus just leaving so we ran to catch that… During the tour we were informed that no cars or digital equipment is allowed near the telescope to avoid interference. All the vehicles on the site were diesel (no sparkplugs)! The tour was great and very informative. Tom had an old school disposable 35mm camera so hopefully he got some good shots… We had a bit of rain while at the telescope but it quickly cleared up and we headed back to the hotel.

Saturday found us on the Blue Ridge Parkway again - we only had about 60 miles left and we could say we rode the entire thing - so we headed out. At the end of the BRP - it turns into the “Skyline Drive” and we decided to ride a bit of this as well - which ended up to be a mistake. First - it was $10.00 for motorcyclists, and then the speed limit was 35mph, and being Saturday - traffic was heavy. We rode up as far as the Skyline Lodge but had to turn around - driving 35 was just too boring… It was a nice area - and if you are visiting I would check it out - there were frequent places to stop and get gas and food (unlike the BRP).

Sunday found us headed home - back to the heat! All in all we averaged around 300 miles a day. Neither of us had any bike troubles and no spills - though I ran off the road once - and we both had several close encounters with deer.

You May Also Enjoy Reading:

• The Quiet Zone
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Almost a year ago I blogged about Feasting on Asphalt - a show on the Food Network of all things.

In it - Alton Brown traveled across the US on motorcycle (along with a film crew also on bikes) eating along the way. It was a great show - and tonight I was flipping around and Feasting on Asphalt 2 is on - this time he is riding up the Mississippi. If you like motorcycles, travel and/or food - check it out! I need to post pics from my recent trip as well!

Feasting on Asphalt is on each Saturday night through Sept. 8, 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on the Food Network (check your local listing)…

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• The Quiet Zone
• 4 Days and 1,000 Miles Later
• The Story or Rush’s Red Barchetta
• Ride To Work Day - July 18
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This story was recently posted on one of the BMW (motorcycle) forums and is the tale of how Red Barchetta came about. There is more on Neil’s site as well.

How cool would it be to go riding with Neil Peart? Whoa! I really need to pick up his new book “Roadshow“.

What a great post for the 16th Annual Ride To Work Day. But I think Neil’s rides to work are more fun than mine

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• Ride To Work Day - July 18
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To quote the immortal Freddie Mercury… “Get on your bikes and ride!”

Tomorrow is the 16th Annual Ride To Work Day!!

Ride To Work advocates and supports the use of motorcycles and scooters for transportation, and provides information about transportation riding to the public.

I’ll be riding tomorrow (I usually ride every day!) to promote:

• The number of motorcyclists to the general public and to politicians.
• That motorcyclists are from all occupations and all walks of life.
• That motorcyclists can reduce traffic and parking congestion in large cities.
• That motorcycles are for transportation as well as recreation.
• That motorcycling is a social good.

Ride To Work - Work To Ride

I ride a Kawasaki KLR650 - it’s a single cylinder bike that has been around since the mid 80s. It gets around 50-55mpg - will easily out perform about 90% of the vehicles on the road today and is an absolute blast to ride!

Never ridden?? Sign up and take a Motorcycle Safety Foundation course and learn how!

You May Also Enjoy Reading:

• The Quiet Zone
• 4 Days and 1,000 Miles Later
• Guilty Pleasure - Feasting on Asphalt 2!
• The Story or Rush’s Red Barchetta
• Importance Of Down Time

When I quit - one thing I vowed to do was take more vacations! This weekend I went motorcycle camping in the North Carolina mountains with a local group of the DoD - a group of motorcyclists who hang out on the web, discuss all things motorcycles via email, and occasionally meet up and do some actual riding!

Rule #1: There are no rules.
Rule #0: Go ride.

It was so refreshing to unwind, ride some great roads, make some new friends and drink some good beer! And while many in the group were coding geeks - we never ‘talked shop’ and instead discussed bikes, tires, oil and great roads. (photos here)

Now it is back to reality and my ugly database…

You May Also Enjoy Reading:

• The Quiet Zone
• 4 Days and 1,000 Miles Later
• Guilty Pleasure - Feasting on Asphalt 2!
• The Story or Rush’s Red Barchetta
• Ride To Work Day - July 18

You May Also Enjoy Reading:

• The Quiet Zone
• 4 Days and 1,000 Miles Later
• Guilty Pleasure - Feasting on Asphalt 2!
• The Story or Rush’s Red Barchetta
• Ride To Work Day - July 18