Boy, do I feel bad for Cub's fans.  When they were up 3-1 in the NLCS, you had to figure they'd make it back into the Series.  Anyway there's been some great baseball, both Florida - Chicago and Boston - New York have been very entertaining.  I pick Boston over New York, and over Florida, but as you know I've been wrong before...

Hey, Chinese taikanaut Yang Liwei made it back safely, after orbiting earth 14 times!  Excellent.  "China's leaders considered the political risks of a launch failure too great to allow live coverage."  With this success under their belt, they'll probably feel different going forward; it will be interesting to monitor their progress...

Rand Simberg thinks there's less to this than meets the eye, but I don't know... 

I do agree with him that A very significant piece of legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives last week.  "Overall, this legislation is a major step forward, and I would encourage all interested in opening up the frontier to call or write their congressional representative and urge them to sponsor this bill."  This is important, if you agree, you can help!

Gizmodo reports Vonage goes to Iraq!  "Vonage, which offers flat rate broadband Voice over IP telephone service here in the States, is shipping a bunch of their Analog Telephone Adapter boxes to Iraq so that soldiers there can make free phone calls to their families during the holiday season."  What a great thing to do, of itself, and for PR exposure.

For entertainment, read this report on VoIP by a Forrester analyst.  An absolute alphabet soup of acronyms which sheds no light on anything.  Absolute buzzword bingo.  Meanwhile Vonage is shipping boxes which work.

Derek Slater reviews various online music services.  And Apple's iTunes Music Store for Windows will be revealed today.  Stay, er, tuned...

Cory Doctorow reports: "On Saturday, Kevin Rose, the host of a guest on TechTV's Unscrewed will violate potentially violate the DMCA by modding an Xbox to run Linux."  Must-see TV.

Wired anoints Linus Torvalds Leader of the Free World.  Which he is, of course.  Interesting that despite his undoubted technical prowess, the skill which really makes him the leader is his ability to get along with engineers and mediate their technical battles.  And also - rare for a tech guru - he's humble...

The NYT says For Techies, School Bells Mean 'Let the Games Begin'.  "Ask teachers whether cellphones, PDA's and other gadgets have become magnets for in-class mischief and distraction, and most will say they are not a problem.  But talk to students and you get a different story."  Yeah, poor teachers, first it was guns in class, now it's universal remotes.

As you know, I'm a connoisseur of digital microscopy.  I just came across Molecular Expressions, a great website with some fascinating microscopic images.  (Like this one; a "Vitamin C sunset" made from a picture of ascorbic acid.)  Great stuff...  { Of course - and I have to say this - the images on Aperio's scanscope.com are unsurpassed. }