A late night tonight (yawn) poor Meg is down for the count with the flu, and I'm sad about it; not only is she feeling horrible but tomorrow night is Oak Christian's father-daughter dance and we were both looking forward to going.  Alex is a senior this year, and hence being "presented", so it's going to be a big deal.  Well fXf *maybe* she'll recover in time.

We watched two movies tonight; Definitely, Maybe, which I'd previously seen (and thought rather clever, and liked), and Life As We Know It, a formulaic comedy which I enjoyed despite being predisposed not to.

I don't have too much to say about the events in Egypt, but they are fascinating to watch.  Realtime politics on the realtime web.  You can only imagine how weird this must be to those who get their news from dead-tree media like newspapers or magazines.  I think Mubarak himself didn't get it (though he probably does now ;). 

One thing that's apparent; the U.S. are *not* involved.  I loved this headline: Obama learns of resignation watching TV.  Well to clarify I don't love that our government and leader are so poorly informed and out-of-the-loop, but it was clever anyway.  If this is Obama's 3:00AM moment, he slept through it. 

A new Apple Product: Water.  Clean.  Simple.  Wet.  Only slightly kidding :) 

Nokia sells out to Microsoft, and that's all she wrote for Symbian in the short term, and Nokia in the long term.  Just like when Yahoo sold out by swapping search to Bing.  When you outsource your core competency, it is over... so different to what HP did with webOS, which might not work but at least represents their effort to keep innovating. 

Building of the week: this ginormous orange cube with a circular tunnel.  How great is it that [with modern materials and techniques] we can now build all these amazing ideas? 

Readability 2.0 is a web browser extension that removes clutter from any web page, making it easier to read.  Huh.  Jeffrey Zeldman says it is disruptive in two ways, first by routing around the publisher's look and feel, and second by adding a new way to monetize written content.  Will be interesting to see how this plays out.  I must confess, since I read most content with RSS this is not compelling for me. 

Lee Billings: Can we reach the stars without breaking the bank?  An interesting discussion, in which the technical and indeed scientific difficulty of traveling outside our solar system is reinforced.  I might be able to visit Titan before I die - I hope so - but I doubt anyone will ever visit Alpha Centauri.  Voyager 1 (pic at left) is presently our furthest outpost, and it would take 73,000 years to reach it. 

Apropos: Doc Searles republishes a 25-year-old Reflection on the Challenger Tragedy.  I remember exactly where I was when I heard that news, don't you?  I love the juxtaposition between how hard it is to fly a rocket and how easy it is to drive a car; I think of that often.  Will space travel ever be as easy as driving?  So far flying isn't even... 

Meanwhile: Boeing puts another behemoth in the sky.  "The 747-8 is a niche airplane that won't sell well, but it's further proof Boeing is beating Airbus in the race to make aviation more efficient."  Bigger is only better if it is cheaper. 

Sailing photo of the day, from The Horse's Mouth: Out in a Blow.  Awesome! 

Charles Johnson celebrates Joe Satriani, Flying in a Blue Dream.  "After a week like this, it's time to shred."  What are you waiting for?  Click through!