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Archive: July 4, 2010
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 Happy Birthday to the U.S.A., greatest country ever... with all our challenges we are the place to be, the guardian of freedom and liberty, and hope and change (no sarcasm intended), and the pursuit of happiness, the place where people are free to dream and to work hard to make reality out of their dreams.
On this day I think about what it is like elsewhere; there are so many people who are not free, who do not have liberty or the ability to pursue their own happiness, who must hide their dreams and who may never have the chance to work to make them real. But I do, and my family, and my neighbors, and all my countrymen, and we must never take this for granted.
My biggest challenge today is compete in a sailboat race, and eat BBQ, and ponder the best wine to drink while doing so. I hope you have an equally great day! Happy Birthday!!
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 Today's stage 1 from Rotterdam to Brussels was 220km of parade followed by 220m of sprint, except that three crashes toward the end winnowed the field; Mark Cavendish, Tyler Farrar, and Oscar Freire were eliminated from the final sprint, among many others, and Alessandro Petacchi out-sprinted the survivors to win. (Yeah, remember him? Virtually no one considered him a threat, yet he was one of the best sprinters in the world just a few years ago... looks like he still is!)
 Fortunately nobody was seriously hurt - although scrapes and bruises now can take a toll three weeks later - and everyone in the field received the same time.
Onward to stage 2 - a classic ride through the Ardennes forest - could be a chance for a breakaway as there are a number of climbs toward the end...
[ Tour de France 2010: all posts | index ]
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Today I celebrated the Fourth of July as usual, headed down to Westlake Yacht Club for the annual 'Round the Island Race; I managed to finish *third*, okay but, well, not first. This race is a reverse start, slowest boats start first, fastest last, and the race was won by a guy who started ten minutes ahead of me, and I could never catch up. So be it... there's always next year :)
We did manage to have a great time enjoying a beautiful day on the water...
with my mighty steed, ready to race (note American flag flying!)
my support team - Shirley, Alexis, Megan, Jordan
the Westlake Yacht Club in full Fourth of July regalia
at the start - not much wind - did get the early edge...
...but squandered it; had to catch up after the bridge...
...and didn't quite; finished third on the Fourth
the nicest day imaginable out on the lake
"there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as messing about in boats"
I hope your Fourth was equally good?
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 I had a very nice Fourth, thanks for asking; watched Le Tour stage 1, finished third in the 'Round the Island race, and then saw Toy Story 3 in 3D, which was pretty enjoyable (although I'm going to say not as amazing as some people thought). I've had a nice couple of "days off", relaxing, but I will pay for it tomorrow as I have much to do... in the meantime, a quick filter pass...
 An interesting retrospective: Reality intrudes on SecondLife. In the end it was a game, an interesting game to be sure, but not "real". Count me among those who played with it briefly but were not hooked... I think Facebook has more staying power, because it is Firstlife :) 
Still no link between cell phones and cancer. Whew. Still, I'm sure the researchers out there will keep trying, there *must* be a link, right? Kind of like cold fusion, the publicity at stake is just too huge...
 This is cool: the concept behind Sony's Vaio logo. Who knew?
Steve Steinberg: new developments in AI. Fascinating and illuminating article, for those of us waiting for intelligent machines... [ via BoingBoing ]
 Good night y'all, back to reality tomorrow... (did you notice? *very* few firecrackers on this Fourth, I guess that tradition is now gone... kind of sad really, I know they aren't safe, but so many great things in life aren't safe!)
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