Well as promised I did spent the weekend coding, and it was good.  Really good.  Man I miss coding.  Today I was back in  status report / planning / reviewing / emailing mode, and it was not good.  I am beginning to think there is a hierarchy of tools, ranging from unproductive blue sky to productive creation:

• Powerpoint
• Excel
• Outlook
• Word
• Photoshop
• Visual Studio

The more time I spent in Visual Studio, the happier I am.  Time spent in Powerpoint invariably makes me irritable.  Anyway tomorrow I am on my way to Vista for day of meetings, so I may not use any tools at all, which could be great, or could be horrible; we'll see.

And in the meantime, there is always Citydesk for blogging...

Yikes: Obama open to newspaper bailout bill.  [ via Instapundit, who labels it "Payoff". ] 

Smithsonian:  magnificent photos from space probes.  This is just complete porn to me, how wonderful...  My favorite is the one at right, Saturn with its rings backlit...  [ via Boing Boing ] 

Well we must congratulate Alejandro Valverde for winning the 2009 Vuelta, his first grand tour.  He was not able to race the Tour de France this year - because, weirdly, he has been banned from racing in Italy - and so his form for the Vuelta was great.  He will be a force in the upcoming world championships, no doubt.  Chapeau also to David Miller for winning the final time trial, he too will be a force in Switzerland. 

The Tour of Spain was kind to Samuel Sanchez, who finished second, and Cadel Evans, who finished third (and is poised for the world's), but not to Robert Gesink, who finished sixth but was in it before he wiped out.  The Rabobank rider still has a bright future.

Here's some important research: The real reason women have sex.  "So why do women have sex? The vast majority (84 percent) have sex to guarantee a quiet life or to persuade their men to do some housework."  Huh.  So much for romance and shared intimacy.  And um, orgasms. 

Russian billionaire installs anti-photo shield on giant yacht.  I find the yacht to be amazing, much more so than the anti-photo technology, although I can appreciate why it might be necessary... 

A dog is a rat is a doctor is a vet.  In which we see that our pets get better care than some people.  As the post concludes: why can't we just be consenting adults? 

ZooBorn of the weekend: a baby Bongo...