Joe Frambach

Every year in June, the National MS Society hosts a two-day, 150-mile bicycle ride from just north of Pittsburgh to Lake Erie in Ohio. Nearly two years ago, in June 2007, I borrowed my father’s 20-year-old Univega roadbike, completely unprepared. I used to run crosscountry, but by that point I’d been two years out of practice. I hadn’t been on a bike for any length of time in at least five years, and I really had no idea if 150 miles would even be possible. However, I did manage to find a pair of padded cycling shorts at Dick’s. Of course that would more than make up for a few years of physical inactivity.

The best thing about visiting the President riding the MS150 is the food! Now, since it was all free, and I wasn’t hungry but thirsty, I must’ve drank me fifteen Dr. Peppers.

It’s now February 2009, and the MS150 is coming up again in June. I’ve been on a bike consistently since September, hitting about 10 miles a day between work and school, and the Giant TCR2 is a pretty awesome bike (thank you Soursw. It’s still treating me well). With all these factors combined, I have a feeling it won’t be quite as painful as it was the first time around. But that doesn’t mean I can slack off. I have a few ideas for prep. Firstly: spring break, March 7-15. I’m thinking about riding from DC to Pittsburgh on the newly finished Great Allegheny Passage, a 318-mile bike path converted from abandoned train tracks. Although the entire trail is incredibly flat, it is not graded for road bikes, so I’ll possibly alter the course to avoid flat tires. Stay tuned for updates.

About MS and the National MS Society
Multiple Sclerosis is a disease which weakens the immune system and damages the nervous system, often leading to visual problems, cognitive difficulties, and muscle weakness. The National MS Society is an organization devoted to raising awareness and funding for MS research.

I fell asleep on my creative side and now it’s all tingly and won’t wake up. In lieu of something original, I present to you a poster I made nearly two years ago (18 Feb 2007) for Dr. George Novacky’s Scientific Computation course at the University of Pittsburgh. This poster was entered in a departmental competition, yielding second place. Impetus was provided by Randall Munroe’s brilliant webcomic, xkcd.

Lifespan Persistence through Numerical Analysis of Initial Value Problems deals with a true life-and-death scenario: which direction do you run if you’re surrounded by three raptors?

Surprisingly, there is one solution that yields immortality, but it is highly theoretical. If you alter the conditions of the problem such that the “Utahraptors sacrifice speed in favor of quick turning ability”^[1], and allow the human to have infinite acceleration to a maximum velocity of 6 m/s regardless of angular change, then the human may run around in circles without being devoured. Queue the Benny Hill music.

^[1] “The velociraptors can turn at any angle at any velocity. This has a large effect on the solution, and was only implemented after consulting with [Randall Munroe], who said, ‘I actually remember seeing some research saying that Utahraptor may have sacrificed some speed in favor of quick turning ability, so there’s some justification for that one. So I would say you let them turn as fast as they want, but they always run toward your current position (in reality, raptors are far more cunning than this).’” Contributed by Matthew Beckler, University of Minnesota.

joe.framba.ch is brand new, and like all brand new websites, does not have any content yet. Below is some filler text to test the stretchability of this content area. See site run. Run site run. [edited 3 Feb 2009: filler text removed]