A long and productive week, whew, made it; spent the week in Vista working, with a lot going on, and then visiting a customer in Sacramento.  I am *still* recovering from the 508, too.  And preparing for the Oaks Christian homecoming dance tonight; we are hosting a pre-dance photo shoot, and a post-dance party.

But first, it's all happening:

Dan Miller: The U.S. is losing its sense of humor.  I fear he is right.  And I've always felt a sense of humor was a leading indicator of intelligence... 

This isn't funny: Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize.  Of course, the Nobel Peace Prize has been a joke for quite a while (Yasser Arafat?!) but giving it to President Obama before he's done anything definitely takes the cake. 

Hard to disagree: This just reinforces my ongoing impression that we've been living out a satire for the past year or two.

Powerline: A mixed blessing for the President.  At most.  I actually think he is becoming a laughingstock, in record time.  His presidency is going to be known for amazing incompetence amid incredible hubris.

Comment of the day: Clearly, reality has jumped the shark.  Yep.

Remember the infamous RIP Good Times powerpoint from Sequoia?  This is the one year anniversary of the all-CEO meeting at which it was unveiled...  things haven't gone great since, but you could say they over-estimated the economic turmoil.  And yet maybe not; raising capital is borderline impossible, and any business which didn't carefully conserve cash is in big trouble. 

Philip Greenspun: Attitudes toward Minimum Wage.  I've found the same thing; no matter how little economic sense it makes, or how cleanly you make that point, plenty of people think Minimum Wage is a good thing, and will not change their minds.  Kind of like the way they think Universal Health care is a right... 

More on the Palm "open development" announcements from Ars Technica.  Again I'd have to say this will help them vs. Apple, but it won't overcome the relative sizes of the installed base.  On the other hand, more applications will help increase the size of the installed base, so this could snowball.  A good move in any case. 

Speaking of Apple not being open: Big bother: DVD Jon has Steve Jobs in a twist.  "If there was any doubt that DVD Jon was Apple chief executive Steve Jobs's No.1 nemesis, it evaporated this week when the renowned Norwegian hacker released his competitor to the iTunes Music Store."  Includes a link a remake of the classic Apple '1984' ad, featuring Steve Jobs as big brother. 

CNN: Massive new ring discovered around Saturn.  Whoa. 

Google: A Web Browser Is Not A Computer, Not A Search Engine, And Not A Ham Sandwich.  Okay, so you built the best web browser.  Now what?  Most people don't even know there is such a thing :) 

eZine Latitude 38 has a cool stylized version of Trizilla on the cover.  Excellent!  [ thanks, Marc ] 

BTW as you know I really want to get a ride on BMW Oracle's trimaran, aka 'Trizilla'.  So much so, that I tried emailing my entire LinkedIn network to see if anyone knew a friend of a friend who might be able to help.  So far, nada.  Oh, well... 

Time to start thinking about baseball: Let the playoffs begin!  In the NL I pick the Dodgers over the Cardinals (of course), the Phillies over the Rockies, and the Dodgers to go to the Series.  In the AL I've got the Angels over the Red Sox (of course), the Yankees over the Twins, and, um, the Yankees over the Angels (regretfully).  So that makes for a Dodgers / Yankees World Series, and what could be better than that?  Stay tuned! 

Photosketch.  You draw a sketch, you label the parts, and poof! a completed picture, with your sketch used as a template.  How cool is that? 

TTAC reviews the Tesla roadster.  Although they were critics [of Tesla the company] for a long time, now that they've had a chance to drive one [Tesla the car], they're fans.  "Time and time again, when I’d mash the Tesla’s accelerator, I couldn’t help but curse. As in, “holy *&@!, this is incredible”."  I want to drive one too :) 

Wow, Walt Mossberg says Windows 7 is as good as Mac OS X.  That's pretty amazing...  (I don't think it is true, but it is amazing that Walt says it is.)  This should cause a collective blogospheric tooth gnash! 

Courtesy of Gerard Vanderleun: Musical Stairs.  How excellent! 

Wrapping up, the ZooBorn of the week: a baby pygmy hippo!