Re-emerging from stealth mode :)  Good day spent watching the tour, sailing, and cycling, wrapped by eating Shirley's pizza.  Can't get much better than that!  Hope your weekend was as enjoyable...

Samizdata asks Latest attack on John McCain: The worst 'Economist' article of all time?  I share the concern; not this article in particular, but that the formerly rather objective Economist is drifting to the left, and drifting into partisanship.  Sad, really.  [ via Instapundit ] 

Meanwhile McCain campaign calls Obama's words into question.  "Sen. John McCain's campaign said Sunday that Barack Obama's remarks on Iraq 'have left a significant question as to exactly what he intends.'"  Boy, no kidding.  It has to trouble Obama's many backers that he doesn't seem to take a firm position on anything... 

Eric Raymond notes an inconvenient fact: "Comes word from Iraq that the Maliki government has just shipped to Canada 550 tons of yellowcake uranium that Saddam Hussein had stockpiled."  I continue to believe Hussein represented a huge threat to the U.S., and removing him forcibly from power has kept us safe.  You shouldn't compare what's happened in Iraq to the world as it was on 9/10/01, you should compare it to what might have happened instead. 

So Thor Hushovd won stage 2 of Le Tour; a nice uphill sprint showcasing his power.  He was a favorite for the green jersey already and this was a nice start to his campaign.  Another sprint stage tomorrow. 

Ottmar Liebert with some interesting ideas on Ideas (and Music).  The key problem is that information is fundamentally sharable.  Any attempts to limit this (via DRM) inevitably fail.  True, only a small percentage of users are "hackers", but a much larger percentage can use the fruits of that small percentage's labor.  The good news is that people will [apparently] pay for a good user experience.  Apple's iTunes Music Store has succeeded despite "free" competition. 

This is pretty awesome - a floating ball display at the BMW museum.  Technology in service of art. 

Sailing Anarchy links a rather awesome video of Moths training for the World's in Weymouth, England.  These little boats have hydrofoils on their centerboards and rudders, and spend most of their time above the water.  (The soundtrack is pretty cool, too.)  [ this is the first fruit of my full text feed labor - I'm lovin' it! ]