Comments on: Ruminations of A Man Who is Lying on His Back

By: fofppnv

fofppnv — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:39:09 +0000

By: Abdelnour

Abdelnour — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:26:55 +0000

That’s very much the right quoetisn to ask. I’ve got to say that at this point, I “mostly understand” the system although there are still some quoetisns I have.First, about the 2003 rankings. I ranked them by BeatPoints, and then generated a data structure of every better/worse relationship that wasn’t explicitly defined by a beatpath. That means that since the 2003 superbowl, pretty much every better/worse relationship that is even possible has been covered by a beatpath, aside from the three subjective ones that are left. I think, but am not sure, that that basically means that just about any seed ordering would be basically canceled out at this point. You’d have some different orderings earlier on, but I think it should all have settled out by now. I don’t have this logically proven, but I should at least be able to test it by running the system a few times with some randomly seeded orderings back in 2003. I’d think that with enough computer science chops, it might even be able to figure out just how many possible power rankings there are each week (given different seeds).As for the order you walk the path. Here also, I haven’t been sure how much the walking order would change the final order. It seems like it might. So to protect against that I’ve been very careful about the order in which I evaluate the teams, again erring towards the teams that appear better. The evaluation order is by the length of the beatpath below that team. The tiebreaker (if multiple teams have the same beatpath length below them) is the order of the previous week’s power rankings.One kind of funny possibility is if I’m able to prove that a power ranking is “stable” (meaning any other order from a different seed is impossible), then I might even be able to go “back in time” week by week and recalculate the earlier power rankings.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 02:10:49 +0000

Love the story!! Would have loved to heard the screaming too!! Lol!! Unfortunately I don’t have any riding friends so Yelling wouldn’t do me any good at all and I’m dreading the rocky spill that I know is coming if I continue Mountain Biking, It’s been 30+ years since my dirt biking days and all the nice wipe outs! But being over a half a hundred now makes me wonder if this body is going to take it very well yes I’m a cautiously wondering. I mean living off these awesome Utah wages I can’t afford to miss any work! But the plus is since I took Mtn. Biking to the next level which means riding up to and in the mountains instead of the nicely packed canal roads that grace our valley. I have lost 40 lbs and I’m still going even in this record dry winter. I went today in the 34 degree heat wave and it was awesome to get and ride!! The indoor trainer is a total bore. Oh by the way your 29er looks great!! I ride a older Specialized Rockhopper. I’m hoping to have me a Specilaized Carve sometime in the next 3 years or so. Again Utah wages! I like this site and plan to visit it often!

By: Alyssa

Alyssa — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:38:53 +0000

I got a little too enthusiastic about running again after a severe cough put me out for two weeks. Now I’m RICEing a hurt knee. Enthusiasm can be a great motivator, but it can also lead to over-confidence!

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:47:20 +0000

Here’s where I disagree. That is NOT a pretty bike. Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s awesome. 17lb 29″ Awesome.

But it just looks…

Gangly.

No doubtin’ it looks a whole lot different from the cockpit

By: Clydesteve

Clydesteve — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:34:17 +0000

@davidh-marinca

sister – har har

By: Bragi Freyr Gunnarsson

Bragi Freyr Gunnarsson — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 09:26:34 +0000

Your bike is REALLY beautiful. One of the best I’ve seen. Hope it wasn’t damaged, and that you are ok.

By: adventureswithdelilah

adventureswithdelilah — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 07:40:34 +0000

this pretty much sums up why I have yet to try mountain biking

By: davidh-marinca

davidh-marinca — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:50:47 +0000

@Clydesteve Was the siter along for you or the kids?

By: Doug (Way upstate NY)

Doug (Way upstate NY) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:36:20 +0000

Hey Fatty, Did you take your three tries? :)