Cicadas!!!

Took my first walk where I could hear cicadas today. I walked west on Gallatin St, and while I saw a number of dead cicadas under trees, I did not hear them until I crossed Georgia Ave. As soon as I got across, I could clearly hear that background buzz. Not so loud, I will need to search out denser population areas. But this is another case where Georgia Ave seems to be some sort of dividing line in DC.

One of the first things that occurred to me when I realized I was hearing cicadas was that sound engineers from Japanese monster movies definitely used cicada or similar species sounds for things like monster death rays from the eyes or mouth. I kept looking for Mothra.

I walked to the end of Colorado Ave, which dead ends at Rock Creek Park. What is interesting is that there really aren’t cicadas in Rock Creek Park, I could hear them clearly south Colorado Ave in the residential neighborhood, but not really in the park. I think this must be the result of the Civil War. Cicadas need trees, and Rock Creek Park was completely denuded of trees during the Civil War. Otherwise it would have provided a well covered passage to downtown DC for the rebel scum. The cicada years were 1851 and 1868. I don’t know how long the park remained treeless, but the 1868 emergence certainly must have ruined cicadas in the park if there were any there. Here we are 150 years later and still few cicadas. I wonder how long it will take for them to repopulate.

Updated Site – March 2021

Well, it has been a while since I updated my site. It has been on my task list for a while, as the adaptive/mobile set up was not working so well, and maybe adding some new work examples might be useful. The final push was I finally started putting together a narrative and photos from my 2018 New Zealand trip, and I had some specific ideas on how I wanted to set up my photo galleries. This necessitated some rebuilding of the site structure.

I also have been exploring headless wordpress, and other ways of building a more secure, faster web site. WordPress is still my preferred tool to manage content, but the constant need to update plugins and keep monitoring the site can be time intrusive. I also don’t think that just enabling auto updates is the ideal scenario. That, in my mind outsources keeping track of your site.

The end result is what you see. Here are my New Zealand photos and narrative, which is not completely done, as it is a ton of work. The big deal is this site is now a series of static pages. I am still managing the site via wordpress, but that copy of wordpress runs on my local computer, and I then produce the pages using a plugin that generates the pages. This works for me because I don’t need to update my site regularly, although now that I am going to start adding blog entries, that might change a bit, but also I don’t allow comments, or have forms or other pages that require server side processing. The result is a more secure, faster site. I also tweaked the design a bit, but since nobody was visiting my site anyway :), few will realize it. But I fixed some issues with it showing on mobile devices.

Hangboard

Ten Minute Sequence

The 10 minute sequence consists of a series of tasks performed each minute, with the remaining time used to rest until the start of the next minute. It is an excellent format for training both strength and stamina in the same workout, for improving your recovery, or just for warming up. It is also a great way to simulate the demands of your current project. We have included three sample routines (beginning, intermediate & advanced), but the ten-minute sequence is most effective when you custom tailor it to your own personal needs. Be creative and don’t limit yourself. It could be five minutes or thirty minutes; you could do it in 45 second cycles or two-minute cycles. Experiment with your training and keep it as varied as possible.

Time Entry level routine Intermediate routine Advanced routine
1st
minute		 10 second dead hang, deep flat edge (7) 25 second dead hang,
medium edge (5)		 25 second dead hang shallow edge (6), 5 pull-ups three finger pockets (9)
2nd minute 15 second dead hang + one pull-up, outer jugs (1) 20 second dead hang, flat slopers (2), 3 pull-ups flat slopers 5 offset pull-ups, pockets (15 & 12), reverse holds repeat
3rd
minute		 2 offset pull-up (1 each arm) center jug (14) & deep three finger pockets (4) 15 second bent arm hang, shallow edge (6) & 10 knee raises, jugs (1) 45 second dead hang, extra shallow
edges (11)
4th
minute		 15 second dead hang, extra deep 3 finger pockets (9) 15 second dead hang flat slope (2), 15 second dead hang round
slopers (3)		 5 offset pull-ups, round sloper (3) & deep pocket (4), reverse holds repeat
5th
minute		 12 second dead hang flat slopers (2) & 5 knee raises outer jugs (1) 20 second offset hang , jug (1) & shallow pocket (17), reverse holds – repeat 10 second dead hang, x-shallow edges (11), staying on, campus to three finger pockets (9), campus to shallow edges (6), campus to flat slopers (2),
hold for 15 seconds
6th
minute		 16 second offset hang / (8 sec per side), deep pocket (15) & shallow edge (5) 15 second offset hang, pockets (4 & 9), reverse holds and repeat 15 second one arm hang, round sloper (3), rest 10 seconds, repeat other arm
7th
minute		 3 pull-ups outer jugs (1) 4 pull-ups, medium edges, 10 knee raises any holds 5 L-sit pull-ups (bend knees if you have to), jugs (1), 20 second bent arm hang (elbows @ 90), deep two finger
pockets (12)
8th
minute		 8 second bent arm hang (elbows @ 90),
round slopers (3)		 30 second dead hang,
deep pockets (7)		 20 second slightly bent arm hang, shallow 3 finger pocket (8), stay on, bump to x-deep three finger pockets 25 second
dead hang
9th
minute		 1 pull-up & then 10 second hang, ext-deep 3 finger pocket (9) 10 sec one arm hang jugs (1), repeat other arm 10 second hang center pockets (18 & 17), reverse holds repeat, three power pull-ups (use weights or helper for resistance, should just be able to complete third pull)
10th minute dead hang to failure,
any holds		 5 pull-ups deep edges (7), without dropping off, bump up to round slopers (3) & dead hang till failure 8 fast pull-ups, jugs (1) (keeping form perfect), dead hang round sloper to failure (fighting hard!)
Totals 7 pull-ups / hang time = 1:26 + final dead hang (ok to use feet on chair to lower resistance, place 1′- 3′ behind plane of board) 12 pull-ups / 20 knee raises / hang time = 3:30 + final dead hang 33 pull-ups / hang time = 3:38 + final
dead hang