Ouch.  Sore from the wipeout.  Otherwise happy; Christmas Cards mailed, Team Aperio 2008 mugs all packaged and wrapped ready for me to distribute them tomorrow (!), and anticipating our Christmas Holiday Party tomorrow night, should be fun. 

Meanwhile, let's make a pass on the blogosphere, shall we...

Yay!  Auto bailout bill stalls in Senate.  I do not want my taxes used to bogusly subsidize UAW workers making cars nobody wants to buy.  What is it with these "bailouts"?  If I screw up my personal finances, or Aperio screws up its finances, nobody is there to bail us out...  but if Citibank or General Motors screws up their finances, we taxpayers have to jump in to save them.  I don't get it.  Let the companies fail and the chips fall where they may...  let the markets work. 

Look, up in the sky!  It's a bird!  It's a plane!  No, it's the moon!  Tomorrow night will be a full moon, and it will be the biggest full moon in 15 years (because the moon is closest to the Earth).  Be sure to check it out! 

Mike Arrington thinks this is the best commercial ever made; hundreds of Danish women skydiving topless to spell out the name of a Siemens washing machine.  So be it.  I know sex sells, but does it sell washing machines to women?  Somehow I think it is more effective when selling beer to men...  but what do I know. 

I must say I kind of feel bad for Mike; his site TechCrunch grew rapidly by chronicling the Web 2.0 startup boom; now that the boom has busted, there's a lot less to report.  Hence, Danish washing machine ads featuring topless women :)

I see the same thing with Engadget and Gizmodo, and Techmeme...  less going on means either less content or a lower signal to noise ratio...

The other day I noted the sonic boom we heard when Endeavor landed at Edwards air force base, and the fact that it costs $2M to transport a space shuttle back to Florida.  Well this is how they do it; see the picture at right, the shuttle rides piggyback on top of a specially modified 747.  How cool is that? 

This spring Lance Armstrong will ride in his first Giro d'Italia, and it happens to be the 100th anniversary of that event.  He says he's not the favorite, and likes Ivan Basso, who's back in the peloton after a two-year suspension.  Among other things, the route features a 67km time trial (about two hours).  Should make for some great racing... 

Cute overload: ZooBorns, a blog about baby animals in zoos.  How awesome.  Subscribed! 

Sailing Anarchy links this promo piece from the 505 class...  I think this is the toughest class of them all, in addition to being a fantastic boat to sail.  If you can win in a 505, you can win in anything.  About twenty years ago I raced in the 505 worlds, in Kingston, Ontario, and finished about 40th out of 100 boats, and I count that among my best finishes in sailing.  And one of the most fun regattas, too :)