... and so I am somewhat back to normal, somewhat recovered from my long ride Saturday and from losing Smokey Friday, and somewhat caught up from a busy week during which I fell behinder* each day.  Was actually able to do some coding (in both English and C++).  Edited and posted some pictures.  And blogged...

* yes of course behinder is a real word

... which is something my friend Robert Scoble is back to doing (yay) after having shifted most of his communication to Twitter and Friendfeed (and apparently after having lost 50% of his traffic, wow).  Welcome back, Robert. 

Oh and I have to agree with this post about Facebook, in which he wonders why they're trying to be like Twitter and Friendfeed.  I don't know either, seems like Facebook will be around long after Twitter is a footnote.

This is a really good thing: The Supreme Court has ruled that white firefighters in New Haven were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.  This is great news because any decisions based on race are racist.  Minorities benefit from this too because if promotions are made purely on merit, there won't be any hint that they weren't really qualified when they are promoted.  I really hope Sotomayor is not confirmed, although that seems unlikely.  It isn't that she's liberal, it's that she's activist.  

Are you ready?  Tivo checked out, schedules arranged?  Yes that's right the Tour de France starts next Saturday.  Woo hoo!  Stay tuned for pixel-to-pixel coverage.  In case you haven't figured it out from the pic at left, I'm rooting for Denis Menchov, since it's unlikely Levi will be allowed to go for the win.  Menchov just won the Giro in fine form. Go Rabobank! 

The other day I mentioned Quantum Hoops, a great documentary about the Caltech basketball team, which hadn't won a league game for over twenty-one years.  So I bought the DVD, and last night I watched it.  Great stuff, especially if you're a Caltech alum, they have the whole backstory, the history of the school, historical figures who achieved great things (while floundering at basketball), etc.  Oh and the basketball is pretty cool too :) 

This is excellent: Malcom Gladwell reviews Chris Anderson's Free.  I love this excerpt: "YouTube is a great example of Free, except that Free technology ends up not being Free because of the way consumers respond to Free, fatally compromising YouTube’s ability to make money around Free, and forcing it to retreat from the 'abundance thinking' that lies at the heart of Free.  Credit Suisse estimates that YouTube will lose close to half a billion dollars this year.  If it were a bank, it would be eligible for TARP funds."  Not all free things can make money :) 

Since it is a Free Internet, Chris Anderson responds:  Dear Malcolm: Why so threatened?

If you want to invest in Free, Fox has a story about how to invest in Facebook and Twitter before they go public.  Apparently a lot of their own employees are doing this, rather than wait for liquidity.  Interesting. 

Oh and speaking of Free, Mark Cantor has plain advice for the Plain Dealer.  "The point is that it’s NOT about changing the copyright laws and asking for special treatment.  If the Plain Dealer can’t sustain itself, it’ll go the same route as the auto industry, the housing market and oh yah - the world of investment banking."  Hits the nail on the head, IMHO... 

And we have another roller: LogMeIn IPO 'should blow the socks off people'.  Let's hope so, the IPO market needs more players (and more successes)... 

Here's a pretty interesting new company: Aardvark.  The NYTimes reports all your friends are now in the answer business.  Basically it is an automated way to ask your friends and your friends-of-friends for advice.  This actually seems like it will work.  Huh... 

Of all the lame attempts to wedge branding in where it makes no sense, my vote goes to Sun's Java.  You load a web page, it happens to contain a Java application, and ... what's this?  Some weird spinning logo thing - what's Java? - and why is this taking so long? - and what's Java anyway?  Nobody can understand this.  Explain it to me, please... 

So I was wrong to think I was wrong about the Kindle.  I'd thought there's a limit on the number of times you can [re]download a book, but that's wrong; the limit is on simultaneous devices.  Okay, that makes sense.  Whew.  [ thanks Gary for straightening me out :] 

ZooBorn of the day: a Lynx kitten.  Adorable!