Whew, man it has been an eventful couple of days...  yesterday I worked all day, dashed out and got a Pre as you saw, took another rehabilitation ride (barely 15 miles, Carlsbad to Oceanside harbor and back), and had an amazing dinner (rare flatiron streak, Hitching Post pinot) with friends / colleagues after which I was in no shape to drive, barely in shape to walk (fortunately all I had to do), and unable to blog a word, coherent or otherwise.  Then today I worked all day (meetings from dawn to dusk!) and tonight rode my famous "Kessel Run" from Dana Point to Camp Pendleton and back.  And so I am now blogging to you from the Charthouse, anticipating Mahi Mahi.  We'll see what that means...

Forbes on the ARRA: the $787B mistake.  "The bottom line is that ARRA will leave us with a legacy of substantially rising debt without a commensurate benefit...  Our current crisis may soon be over, but we are in the process of creating a debt crisis of substantial proportion, and one that is not cyclical but rather is permanent."  My sense is that the economy is recovering, and that inflation caused by excess government spending will be the next crisis.  After which will come debt caused by excess government borrowing to fund the spending.  Blech. 

Cory Doctorow gives Julian Comstock a glowing review.  I've one-clicked to my Kindle.  Can't wait... 

... although I have to because I'm still reading William Gibson's Spook Country, previously one-clicked to my Kindle.  It is great, full of the same "coolseeker" observations as Pattern Recognition, although the book is newer so the observations are fresher.

And so now Google Apps sync with Outlook.  Wow.  That could be "goodbye Exchange" over time.  A central email server and shared calendars, and there you go. 

Related, at least in my mind, this month marks the 10th anniverary of Napster!  Wow.  Napster was one of those mind-blowing things that heralded a completely new age.  I totally remember how blown away I was by it, a peek into the reality of the future, that digital information was going to be shared freely.  I suspect Microsoft sees the same sort of writing on the wall when they look into the future of selling server software... 

Here we have the Penguin USB drive.  Wow, I love it.  What is it with Penguins, that they're so cute in any position? 

Jason Kottke on the science of persuasion.  This is important because people are not logical, even though they try to be.  Figuring out ways to appear logical while actually being illogical is amazingly useful. 

A real life "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" moment.  "I pull out the 17inch Macbook Pro, like it was the gold artifact in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction, his eyes go wide, I open the lid, it’s on instantly, I’ve got like half a dozen spreadsheets and documents open, it doesn’t matter, I pop the movie in, it starts right up, as a final flourish I produce my remote control, and set it next to him, “You Drive,” I said.  The punchline: My new friend, is a senior executive at Dell."  Ouch. 

The top 10 most absurd Time Magazine covers.  Amid heavy competition, as the magazine itself has veered strongly toward the absurd altogether.  This is total linkbait, but I'm linking it anyway, and if you want my vote put it on the first one, Occult Revival. 

Anil Dash considers the future of Facebook usernames.  Whenever one of these new "namespaces" is announced, there is always sturm and angst, and the Earth continues spinning.  Yeah, we'll all wish we could get the name we really wanted (I am betting that Ole.Eichhorn will be available :) but no, it won't be so bad to be ole99.  Stay tuned. 

ZooBorns of the day: baby Lemurs!  They look cute and mischevious, as all babies should...