Have you ever noticed that people outside the US say touch wood instead of knock on wood? It's so gentle. I think you have to knock to get the full luck going.
I'm sick like meg. And I was on that hike. And I also said, "I never get sick either now that I'm in California." Forgot to knock on wood. And I was surrounded by trees. Now I sound like Barry White. If Barry White had congested sinuses.
Here's an O'Reilly interview with Brewster Kahle about the Wayback Machine. [via evhead] I enjoyed this answer about using existing knowledge (which seems almost counter-intuitive in the tech world): "The first company I worked in was Thinking Machines. And we blew it. We built the fastest computer in the world that very few people could program. It required people to think in a new way. What a horrible thing to have to do to be able to attract customers. The idea is to be able to think the same and be able to do more." Think Different?
A question in yesterday's letters to the editor in my local paper: "Who hurt America more, Ken Lay or John Walker?"
Interesting article about Martin Luther King, Jr.: "If the King of 1955 or 1965 were alive today, he would be accused of treason for his pacifism, as he was reviled for 'Communism' then; instead of the FBI trying to bring him down, he, and most of his associates, would be prosecutable under new anti-terrorism statutes." I'm not sure that statement is entirely true, but it does show the contrast between an established national holiday and his once outsider status as someone bringing about fundamental unwanted changes in our government. Recent laws have been passed to make sure things don't change. And from what I've seen on the news today, this holiday is not a celebration of peaceful civil disobediance; King's most powerful tool for change.
His final speech always brings tears to my eyes, and I remember vividly where I was when I first heard it on the radio. If you don't have time to read all of it, scroll down to the section that begins, "It came out in the New York Times..." Of course it's much more moving to hear him speak the words. (The last audio file on this page contains a brief section of the speech.)
skp and I went for a nice hike along the coast near Bodega Bay. It was windy and muddy, but beautifully clear.
Dinah articulates what many people (including me) feel about CNN's war cheerleading. In the long run it will hurt AOL/TimeWarner.
Andrew Stroehlein at Poynter.org asks, May We Have Independent Journalism Back Now, Please? [via sotd] An interesting quote: "CNN Chairman Walter Isaacson sent a memo to his staff asking them to downplay Afghan civilian casualties, saying it was 'perverse to focus too much on the casualties or hardship in Afghanistan' and demanding that when viewers see civilian suffering in Afghanistan, 'it's in the context of a terrorist attack that caused enormous suffering in the United States.' That is, take sides and bury bad news." This obviously shows that CNN feels it has to "dumb it down" for their audience, but I don't recall seeing any reports of civilian casualties or any estimates of the number killed in Afghanistan...on any newscast or in any publication. Is it unpatriotic or perverse to know what exactly happened over there?
falls in Armstrong Woods
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The pain, the pain of it all! I went for a good hike this weekend after months of non-training. (Non-training isn't the same as not training. It is the opposite of training.) My muscles are a bit upset today, but it was a good wake up call. It's time to get out and hit the trails again so I can enjoy days like Saturday without the hiking hangover.
After some initial trouble finding the trailhead, it was a spectacular day at Point Reyes. I've never felt the temperature so warm at the coast. We didn't see any whales as we hoped, but we saw fantastic views of the ocean. I took some pictures.
Matt posted his pictures from the hike too.
Sonoma County countryside near Valley Ford
I bet the President is hoping for a big distraction to come along, because the heat is on. [link via rc3.org] This Enron debacle makes his recent sweeping actions in curtailing government accountability very suspicious. This isn't a matter of private vs. public life or something that happened 20 years ago as it was with Clinton. This is about serious recent policy decisions that directly affect the public. Also check out: Joined at the Hip and Bush and Enron's collapse.