Yay, us; Megan and I successfully sailed around Westlake Island today and finished third in the 'Round the Island race.  We dropped our mast easily, cleanly passed under the low bridge, and raised it again, no problem.  Unfortunately I got the jib halyard wrapped around the main clew while refastening the outhaul and fell overboard in the course of trying to fix it (!), so despite not capsizing I ended up wet anyhow.  It was a hot day and the whole thing passed away in smiles, although I did manage to lose my spiffy Livestrong Oakley shades in the process.  I *hope* someone got pictures and will post if so.  Our biggest problem was fluky wind on the weather leg which prevented us from using our superior boat speed to forge a lead.  Still, third isn't bad, and once more I'm really proud of Meg who is becoming quite an accomplished little sailor.

Later we ate vast amounts of BBQ steak and drank vast amounts of Jumilla, so overall it was a great day. 

And now for a brief pass with the Ole filter....

Several of you have asked what I think about Sarah Palin's resignation, and honestly I don't know what to think.  A sitting governor who resigns can't be considered a good thing.  Perhaps there is scandal to follow, or perhaps she decided all the attacks on her family were too much, but on balance we don't know enough to judge.  I discount the idea that she did it to run for President; maybe she does (or did) want to run, but resigning doesn't seem like a good tactic toward that goal.  We'll all have to stay tuned for more. 

BTW although I liked her as a pick to be McCain's running mate, I did like her, rather than her ideology, and overall she didn't grow on me; I'd have to say I wouldn't be thrilled with her as a presidential candidate.

My friend Gary posts about Palin in Suncadia; notable as much for the fact that he's posted (yay) as for what he has to say.  Subscribed! 

Glenn Reynolds on fireworks' safety: "'Leave it to the trained professionals' is one of the cancerous mantras of our age, and there's a big difference between setting off your own fireworks and sitting passively while others do it for you - the difference, if I may say so, between having sex and watching porn."  Cancerous mantra...  I agree. 

This is a cool headline: Planck achieves ultra-cold state.  "Europe's Planck observatory has reached its operating temperature, making it the coldest object in space.  The observatory's detectors have been chilled to a staggering minus 273.05C - just a tenth of a degree above what scientists term 'absolute zero.'"  How cool is that?  [ via Slashdot: coolest spacecraft ever ] 

Kind of a sad wistful note: Compuserve shuts down.  I was on Compuserve a million years ago, 70740,55, how quaint to have octal numbers as userids.  (Yes, I did have a seven digit id, and yes, I am that old.)  Believe it or not, Compuserve began as all text, and it was dialup and separate from the Internet; in fact it was big news when you could get to the Internet via Compuserve, which was the first way in which I did it (running Gopher searches!) 

ZooBorn of the day: a little pygmy hippo!  More proof, if any were needed, that baby anythings are cute...