Reentered the real world today, with todo lists and conference calls and emails to read and reviews to write and presentations to make and ... I made it, whew.  Even escaped for a ride through Hidden Valley, did it in 1:20 which is one of my best times ever, nice after four days of not riding.  The day started early as we watched the amazing TDF stage, and that buzz sort of stayed with me.  Although I discovered that I've managed to push away a friend, not sure how, and that is bothering me...

...meanwhile, back in the blogosphere, it's all happening...

Fred Wilson with more of the Anderson vs. Gladwell "Free" debate.  "The Internet allows an entrepreneur to enter a market with a free offering because the costs of doing so are not astronomical.  And most entrepreneurs who take this approach will maintain an attractive free offering of their basic service forever.  But that doesn't mean that everything they offer will be free.  That's the whole point of freemium.  Free gets you to a place where you can ask to get paid.  But if you don't start with free on the Internet, most companies will never get paid."  Boldface mine.  Sometimes this kind of advice is worth what you pay for it, but sometimes more... :) 

In this debate heard a great anecdote.  A researcher asked a bunch of people which they’d prefer, chocolate kisses priced at 1¢ or kisses priced at 15¢.  Most people chose the 15¢ kisses, despite the fact that they cost 15X as much.  Next he cut the price on both kinds of kisses, and asked another bunch of people which they’d prefer, chocolate kisses which were free, or kisses priced at 14¢.  Most people chose the free kisses.  Tap, tap… crash. 

Valencia Sailing has more pictures of Alinghi's new 90' x 90' catamaran.  Amazing.  I think I'll call it the Alinghimaran, not to be confused with Oracle's Trizilla. 

So the oldest known Christian Bible is being posted online.  Unsurprisingly (to me anyway) the 1,600-year-old text doesn't match the one you'll find in churches today.  "The New Testament books are in a different order, and include numerous handwritten corrections - some made as much as 800 years after the texts were written, according to scholars who worked on the project of putting the Bible online.  The changes range from the alteration of a single letter to the insertion of whole sentences.  And some familiar - very important - passages are missing, including verses dealing with the resurrection of Jesus, they said."  A living text indeed; I wonder what those who agonize over every turn of phrase in today's bible can make of this? 

Michael Arrington warns us to prepare for iPod video.  So be it.  You can easily see where smartphones (and iPods) will replace all low-end still and video cameras.  It is happening in realtime... 

... and where will you store that video?  Well Amazon has a 1TB drive for < $100. 

Here we have an amazing Hot Rod auction.  Amazing indeed.  Truly I remember assembling Revell models of these sorts of cars as a kid - never dreaming that they actually existed.  How cool is that? 

Okay, quick; what's the "most American" car, judged by the country of origin of all of its parts?  If you guessed the Toyota Camry, you are right.  Now you know what to say when your Camry is ridiculed by your Impala-driving neighbor.  This also has implications for those who think the demise of the U.S. auto industry occured because of U.S. labor costs. 

Picture of the day, New Zealand's Ruapehu Crater Lake.  (Please click to enbiggen.)  Honestly every time I see these beautiful pictures from New Zealand I think "man, I must go there".  And the beauty is so varied...