Well this is a start, I suppose.

Here's an idea: A six nation round-robin...

A hovel in the English countryside selling for 375,000 British Pounds. No, I mean a real hovel.

I just finished reading "Born Fighting", James Webb's interesting and insightful account of the history of the Scots-Irish in America. Among other things, he details the great hardships the Appalachian settlers had to overcome over a more than 200 year period from the mid 1700's to the late 1900's. Webb also details the deep hostility many Americans still harbor towards "rednecks and hillbillies", and the slanders and slurs the hardworking, hardluck people of Appalachia and the South still incur to this day. He specifically accuses Hollywood of creating, characterizing, and perpetuating the image of the redneck hillbilly.

I mention all this because, by blind coincidence, I finally got around to watching Clint Eastwood's terrific movie, "Million Dollar Baby" last night. And sure enough, not one hour after reading Webb's accusation, there was the scene where the redneck hillbilly family walked into the hospital and were called "lazy redneck hillbillies". I laughed out loud (which was probably not what Mr. Eastwood had intended). After reading Webb's book I don't think I'll be quite so inclined to denigrate the modern day descendants of the original Scots-Irish settlers.

So we're back in space, or at least high Earth orbit, and I for one am delighted. NASA had come under relentless media and government scrutiny after the tragic debacles of Challenger and Columbia, and there has been a growing sentiment among Americans that our space program should be abandoned. NASA's safety record was perceived to be particularly suspect, but James Oberg, a long-time NASA analyst, posts a brief and revealing report that says the decision to launch even if the sensor glitch were to recur is actually an example of how much NASA's safety culture has improved.

Meanwhile, just last Friday, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly (383 - 15) to endorse a bill that would get us back on the Moon and ultimately to Mars.

As I said, I'm delighted.

What's in a uniform? Does it make you play better or differently? Can the way an opponent perceives you alter a competitive outcome?

Who knows -- but here's a list of the 10 worst uniforms of the last 10 years.

Who has an over-sized heart that can beat 200 times a minute? Who has an extremely high VO2 max? Who was able to increase muscle efficiency 8%? Who builds up half as much lactic acid as the average person? Oh yes, and who developed a far greater mental focus by surviving cancer?

That's right -- it's THE LANCENATOR!!

Freedom of the press under attack in Michigan, of all places. And all in the interest of higher tax rates for businesses...

Plumbing new depths of depravity and psychosis in youth sports...

"How dare you! I'm British!" London calling...

Thomas Friedman, finally making sense...

Money quote: "...either the Muslim world begins to really restrain, inhibit and denounce its own extremists - if it turns out that they are behind the London bombings - or the West is going to do it for them."

And while I'm on the subject of beaches, here's a list of the world's best.

Conspicuously absent from the criteria of what constitutes a "best beach" is the likelihood of a shark attack. Luckily I'm able to provide this useful guide...

At the beach, and this is what I'm reading.

Independence Day. And here's why we have the day off.

Self evident truths.