Man is it HOT here!  We're talking 107^o hot.  This afternoon I did a ride at 5:30, and it was still over 100^o.  We climbed Decker Canyon to the Mulholland Overlook of the Pacific Ocean, and it was still over 100^o; I went through four bottles in an hour.  I have to admit it was almost fun, in a "man against the elements" kind of way.  Almost.

Speaking of man against the elements, I've found a new ride to do: the Death Ride.  I am not making this up, that's really what it is called, 129 miles and 15,000' in the middle of the Sierras South of Lake Tahoe, in the middle of July.  What could be better than that?  It nicely fills a gap in my schedule between the Grand Tour Double and the Knoxville Classic Double :)

Tonight I was idly reviewing my referer logs, and found some cool old posts.  Back in February I opined about Microsoft's attempt to buy Yahoo: "My own view is that it won't happen; either the DOJ will intervene, or the deal will fall apart during negotiations.  But it will hurt both companies anyway; valuable talent is already leaving Yahoo and MSN."  Good call.  I also like this rant about Universal Healthcare.  With the price of oil rising and the housing bubble bursting and the credit crunch, our economy is making candidates' headlines, but I'm sure healthcare will still be a subject in their debates.  For both the economy and healthcare candidates find it so hard to say NO to government intervention, but that is the right answer...

Okay, let's make a pass on the world, shall we...

On the hottest day of the year, the Mars Lander has found ice!  And told the world using Twitter!!  (And used "WooT" in doing so!!!)  How cool is that?  (ice-y cool...) 

This seems like good news, the Scientist reports Boost for NSF Funding.  "The US Senate and House of Representatives have approved a 14 percent funding increase for the National Science Foundation (NSF) for 2009. The spending bill would net NSF, which is the second largest federal funder of academic research after the National Institutes of Health (NIH), $6.9 billion for FY 2009. More than 80 percent, or $5.6 billion, of this total budget would go towards research grants."  It is arguable whether the government should administer these programs, but pooling funds for scientific research seems worthwhile. 

This is not good news, Ars Technica reports US adoption of electronic health records is abysmal.  "The impact of computers to increase efficiency has been fairly widespread; try to imagine an architect, accountant, or administrator working without one in 2008. But some occupations seem to be holding out, and the medical profession is one of those. A new report in the New England Journal of Medicine paints a disturbing picture of just how slow adoption is."  Interesting, because the value proposition is there.  (P.S. Don't you just love that word, "abysmal"?) 

Velonews asks: Will pro cycling split into two leagues?  It sure looks that way.  But man will that be complicated, because the same teams and the same riders would compete in events from each league.  Why can't we all just get along? 

Congrats to Gerard Vanderleun; his American Digest blog just turned five.  Nice work.  In addition to similar political views, we like the same music too :) 

I'm sure by now you've seen Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, right?  Here's a slightly abridged script.  [ via Kottke ] 

HARRISON teaches his film class entitled 'How To Ruin Millions Of Childhoods In 2 Hours' when he is interrupted by the DEAN, JIM BROADBENT. 

JIM BROADBENT - Sorry Harrison, but the government thinks you might be a Soviet. Apparently someone rented “K-19: The Widowmaker” and panicked.

HARRISON FORD - Bullshit, nobody saw that movie.

Perhaps the aliens competed in the Death Ride?

Check out this press release from Apple: iTunes store tops over five billion songs sold. And the subhead: Apple Renting & Selling Over 50,000 Movies Per Day.  Wow.  Apple has been the top online music store for a while, they are now the top online movie store as well.  You could argue the details, but their model is working. 

Finally, this seems like a headline from the Onion, but it's real: Man gets Windows Vista to work with printer.  I love it :)