Well, today was not a good day.  This morning I heard one of my colleagues had lost his sister-in-law to leukemia, at 33.  Wow.  In fact he linked this movie about her; it is really rather poignant in that the movie positions her as a survivor, but she ultimately lost her battle.  That's the thing about cancer; it can strike anyone anywhere at any time, one minute you're rolling along living your life, and the next everything changes.  Anyway it spun me into kind of a retrospective mood which even a wonderful ride in the Del Dios hills above Lake Hodges didn't quite dissipate.  It is with me still, you have been warned...

The other day I noted Eric Raymond's ideas for saving the music industry, and wondered about Ottmar Liebert's reaction; net net he thinks the assumptions are incorrect and "doesn't like anything about the proposal".  Here's his key observation: 

"It looks quite possible that as a culture we will lose something I find very valuable, and that is professional musicians and professional photographers, people who live and breath their art 24/7.  Instead we will have amateurs piling loops from garbage band on top of one another - sorry, I mean garage band of course - and believing that they are making music.  Society will be poorer for it."

I totally agree and fear this also. There are so many skills which are no longer valued in today’s society, I wonder if we are becoming less civilized…

Want to read about a real asshole?  Check this out.  I first read about this on the Conejo Valley Cycling email list; a clear case of road rage where a driver used his car as a weapon to attack cyclists.  And the guy is a doctor!  They should lock him up and throw away the key... 

Ann Althouse: Obama echoes the phrase that made me turn against Kerry.  The phrase: "you're not listening".  I agree, it does seem condescending, and I also agree that Obama is increasingly reminding me of Kerry.  How could the Democrats choose two such horrible candidates two elections in a row?  Seems like they failed to learn from the last election entirely. 

Powerline discusses how voters see McCain and Obama.  Note this well: "If John McCain quits paying lip service to the global warming myth and runs as the candidate who wants to expand our access to energy, he will win rather easily in November."  As I noted in the 2004 election, it is more important to focus on the right question (war then, economy now) than it is to have the right answer. 

Meanwhile Instapundit notes the worst congress ever.  9% approval rating?  Wow, that sucks. 

The Telegraph reports Red Wine could help prevent breast cancer.  I love it; drinking red wine seems to have medicinal as well as psychological benefits; I can add this to the long list of reasons I already have for doing so :) 

Google launches Lively, a virtual world to compete against Second Life.  I find it interesting that 100% of the time when you read about virtual worlds, they show cute girl avatars.  That says a lot about the attraction of these worlds, I think... 

Mary Jo Foley notes Microsoft on Vista: the time of worry is over.  Seems like maybe the time of head in the sand continues.  Honestly has there ever been such a product train wreck, in the whole [brief] history of computing?  Don't answer that, I'm sure there has been, but man this is rough.  As a customer I wish they would say "the time of worry has started", that would be less worrying... 

Are you amazed and depressed by the bloat of Adobe Reader?  Yeah, me too.  So check out Foxit Reader, a free alternative.  Much smaller and faster, with more functionality and best of all no annoying nags to upgrade!  [ via Brad Feld ]