Update! July 2007
Nothing much has changed around here since I put this page up a few years ago. But recently I've been working on a special web site project that I'd like to share with you.
On July 15, the annual Chicagoland Ride for Kids charity event was beamed worldwide over the internet ... sort of.
No streaming video or even an on-the-scene blogger that I'm aware of. What the world did see is the fruit of a collaboration with Jason Uechi of Mologogo and Bob Reese of the Motorcycle Movin' News: a valiant attempt to bring you a map of the event, live as it happened.
A "live" map? What?
Try to picture 3,000 (or more) motorcycles rolling through the Illinois countryside. It's big -- logistically big, geographically big. Even split into two packs, you're talking about a line of bikes that stretches for miles.
Local police in the towns along the route want to know when the parade is coming, so they can redirect traffic and close off roads. So do the local media covering the event. And the residents would sure like to know when that wall of motorcycles is coming their way. That's where the CRFK Real-time Tracking System comes in: three bikes carrying GPS-equipped cell phones that mark the beginning, middle and end of the parade -- where they are right now, more or less.
The Chicagoland event is the biggest Ride for Kids in the nation, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for pediatric brain tumor research. And I'm gratified to be a small part of it all.
greetings
You've reached the unofficial web site of Randall Blank,
who still hasn't decided what he's going to do with it.
There's nothing to see here, but thanks for dropping by.