It was so very weird to wake up this morning without a Tour stage to watch...  I'm sure you all felt the same.  Every year at the end of July, the same withdrawal symptoms occur...  well I guess it is time to get geared up for the Olympics!  I started with a sort of general malaise ("I feel like going to the beach or sleeping") but ended up getting a reasonable amount of stuff done.  Every day can't be like yesterday; onward!

Speaking of the Olympics, did you see the sad news about Paul Hamm?  "U.S. gymnast Paul Hamm will not be going to the Beijing Olympics and defending his all-around title.  Hamm announced on Monday he was withdrawing from the U.S. team because his broken right hand was not sufficiently healthy enough for him to compete."  The three-time Olympic medallist was one of my favorite athletes, for his attitude as well as his skill, and the way he's withdrawn to allow someone else to take his place is a great example why.  He will be missed. 

Velonews points out that it has been a magical year for Spanish sports; they won Euro 2008 (soccer), Rafael Nadal won Wimbledon (tennis), and now Carlos Sastre won the Tour (cycling).  Let's see if they carry that momentum to Bejing! 

An interesting point of view: Cancer's Big Pink Problem.  "The silent killer of pancreatic cancer needs attention too... It’s sad that cancer research and support has to be a zero-sum game, but it is.  Every dollar into the pockets of Susan G. Komen [breast cancer] means that research isn’t being done into other cancers – other cancers that have far higher mortality rates."  The same could be said for prostate cancer... 

Mark Cuban: how to jumpstart the economy.  "If we really want to stimulate job creation in this country, take the same approach to small business with 25 or fewer employees that we take to Internet taxes.  Outlaw them.  No taxes of any kind on small businesses with 25 or fewer employees.  No employer payroll tax.  No state or local taxes.  No taxes on earnings.  Nada.  The business owners will pay income taxes on their personal income they pay themselves, but not corporate earnings."  Amen!  [ via Brad Feld ] 

This is pretty cool and weird; finally there's something good on TV.  [ via Blogging.LA ] 

Virgin Galactic rolls out EVE, the mothership for SpaceShipTwo.  Looks beautiful and given their track record, I'm sure it will work; space tourism at its finest.  (Are you like me?  After watching Wall-E, I now pronounce Eve as "Eevah".) 

So what is more exciting than Virgin Galactic?  Why SpaceX, of course!  While VG is trying to launch tourists "into space", SpaceX are trying to launch satellites into orbit, a far more demanding application.  The have a launch window coming up Aug 1-5, stay tuned! 

Caption contest!  (click to enbiggen)  Note the sponsor :) 

Summers vindicated (again).  "Consistent with many earlier studies (JSTOR), what this study found was that the ratio of male to female variance in ability was positive and significant, in other words we can expect that there will be more math geniuses and more dullards, among males than among females."  Viva la difference!  [ via GNXP ] 

ZDNet reports on gaping holes in RealPlayer.  My first reaction was "RealPlayer is still around?"