Today was a funky day; first there was the fact that I wore a tie to work...  then after work [I hope you're sitting down] I went to a Hooters to watch the Lakers.  Wow what a scene that was; the bar at Mos Eisley comes to mind :)  Anyway I had a wonderful greasy cheeseburger with a couple of beers while watching the Lakers get blown out.  So be it.  Later I went for a night ride past Lake Hodges on the Dos Dios highway; that was really cool because there was a full moon out (although I again verified that alcohol is not a performance enhancing drug).

I can't get over the pictures I'm seeing from Eastern Iowa.  This looks exactly like the pictures of New Orleans in the wake of Katrina.  I'm not surprised but exasperated by the fact that the media are not featuring this disaster the way they did Katrina.  Iowans have just stolidly got down to work and are recovering, instead of whining for federal aid like Louisianians.  I will say no more. 

If you're a regular reader you know I continue to be delighted with my spiffy Centro.  Yesterday I discovered a new coolness; it can use Sprint Location Services, a feature that you must explicitly enable but which allows it to triangulate between cell towers to know where you are.  It isn't GPS, but it works like GPS.  Excellent. 

Holland continue their winning ways at Euro 2008 and handily defeated Romania, 2-0, and so emerge from the first round undefeated.  Go Oranje! 

Smithsonian: Diamonds on Demand.  "Lab-grown gemstones are now practically indistinguishable from mined diamonds. Scientists and engineers see a world of possibilities; jewelers are less enthusiastic."  I appreciate the technology but wonder about the art.  A few years ago, on our tenth wedding anniversary, I splurged on an "internally flawless" diamond for Shirley.  You can't tell and nobody else can either, but we know, and it makes us feel special.  If such diamonds could be manufactured at will, perhaps we would feel less so... 

Wow, LinkedIn is now worth $1B, at least on paper.  Congratulations to my friend and ex-colleague Reid Hoffman and his whole team, that's just amazing... 

Wrapping up, here's some eye candy; the ten highest waterfalls on Earth.  #1 is Angel Falls, pictured at right.  Incredible.