I'm at a conference, the Healthcare CIO Summit, sort of speed-dating for companies.  Pretty interesting and pretty exhausting :)  But of course I have time for a quick pass on the blogosphere...

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful awesome amazing daughter Megan, who turned 11 today; wow.  I can't believe it has been eleven years, and yet I can't believe there was a time before Megan, either.  We had a nice dinner to celebrate, along with an amazing Santa Rita Pinot from Amapola; really I can't remember ever having a bad Pinot from that appellation... 

I think the question of the day, or of tomorrow, will be has Obama now clinched the nomination?  It appears he has won North Carolina and lost Indiana, but won by enough and lost by little enough that it blunts Hillary's momentum.  Now the question will be will Hillary quit (no!) and who will he choose as VP (not Hillary!) 

Perhaps the main effect of the two-donkey race for Democrat candidate has been to level the playing field for the Republicans.  A few months ago it seemed a foregone conclusion that whomever the Democrats nominated would end up winning the general election; now, while Obama is still ahead, McCain appears to have a real chance.

This is especially appropriate to post on Megan's birthday; the NYTimes reports on Prepping Robots to Perform Surgery.  Some of you may know, seven years ago when Megan was four she had open heart surgery performed using a Computer Motion robot (it went perfectly); that company is now part of Intuitive Surgical, who are profiled in the article.  What awesome incredible important technology.  Count me as a fan.  [ via Slashdot! ] 

Mark Pilgrim: the day the music died.  "This is a letter I sent to my father to explain what it means that Microsoft is pulling support for MSN Music."  An ardent opponent of DRM, Mark nails it, as usual... 

And another from Mark (who is blogging more frequently, it seems!): when the fall is all that's left, regarding the fact that while Opera and Safari were desperately competing to see who could pass the Acid3 test first, Mozilla sat on the sidelines and carped.  I have to agree. 

Jeff Atwood explains model-view-controller.  Well that is helpful, but still leaves me wondering why one needs "a pattern" at all; seems like you use concepts like MVC when they apply, but don't force them when they don't.  Not all applications need to be (or should be) "skinnable". 

John Gruber: regarding the iPhone keyboard.  I don't care how many people say they've gotten used to it, and how it really isn't that bad, it does take getting used to and it is really that bad.  Over the years I've become amazing proficient at one-thumbed typing on my Treo, and I'm not willing to give that up.  Clearly Apple will have to find a way to provide some physical feedback, and I bet they will. 

TTAC asks: do we still like supercars?  With a review of the amazing Ascari A10.  The quick answer is YES.  A more considered answer is ... yes, of course!  I mean, 0-60 in 2.8s, wow.  (And we also still like Top Gear :) 

Ottmar Liebert is touring again and will be in California during July.  Mark your calendars!  (I'm shooting for July 1 at Soho in Santa Barbara; a cool venue which is perfect for Ottmar...)