Short Time-Out From Blogging

I've been away from my blog for a while as I'm working to finish up my web development class. Wednesday night is the final and after that I'll be back with lots to talk about. See you then!

Just for fun...

MyCoolSigns is a fun site that built a sign just for me:

Tomato Update

Here's the latest picture of my tomato plants, taken just a few minutes ago.

Hearing The News

In 1981, I learned that President Reagan had been shot when the soap opera I was watching on television was interrupted by an "ABC News Special Report".

In 1986, I heard about the Challenger explosion from a co-worker in the parking lot at San Francisco airport.

In 1997, I found out about the death of Princess Diana when a friend called me very early that Sunday morning.

This evening I'm struck by the fact that although the death of Michael Jackson and the death of Walter Cronkite have almost nothing in common, in my mind the two events are connected by the way I learned they had happened: I found about both events on Twitter.

Thinking about Speidi?

Actually for the past few days I haven't been thinking about Speidi, and I'll bet not too many other people have been either. Whatever else you think about the over-the-top media coverage of Michael Jackson, Sarah Palin, and the Ensign/Sanford political sex scandals, it's had the effect of knocking Speidi off the tabloid radar screen. As Martha Stewart would say, that's a good thing.

And speaking of people whose 15 minutes of fame appear to be over, I wonder what Nadya Suleman is up to these days. Ah, fame - such a fickle lover.

Coolest Website Ever?

I had kind of forgotten that this summer marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, until I ran across what may be the coolest website ever. Well, maybe not, but it's a lot of fun. It's a real-time countdown of the entire mission, exactly 40 years after the fact. As I'm writing this on Monday, July 13, the mission countdown clock shows just under 65 hours until launch, and there's a pretty realistic looking graphic of the Apollo 11 rocket sitting on the launch pad. It's mesmerizing and I'm going to be checking it often in the next few days.

You can find the website here.

Ironies abound

I admit, I'm mesmerized as I watch all the various media-obsessed feeding frenzies that are playing out this summer. The Ensign scandal caught my attention, only to be eclipsed by Mark Sanford's adventures in Argentina, who then caught a lucky break in the "media spotlight du jour" sweepstakes when Michael Jackson died, followed by Sarah Palin's strange resignation. There's a lot that can be said about all of this, both serious and silly, and I'll probably be blogging about it some more as the summer goes on. (Or not. I may just keep tweeting about my tomatoes.)

Anyway, things have circled around and l'affaire Ensign is back in the news, and here's my pithy observation of the moment: One of the odd, head-scratcher elements of the Sarah Palin babygate story is the fact that even though she was a high-risk 44-year-old woman carrying a special needs baby, she wasn't being treated by an OB-GYN. The baby was apparently delivered by Palin's regular family practice physician. On the other hand, Senator Tom Coburn, who in addition to being a senator is also a doctor, is claiming that the "doctor-patient privilege" protects him from revealing what advice he gave to Senator Ensign about how to fix his marital problems. Coburn's speciality? Obstetrics.

Seriously. I can't make this stuff up.