Brock Yates’ Cannonball! is an interesting automotive history lesson on the five cross-country races that define long-distance road rally. Yates, who organized the five events (running in 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, and 1979), provided the historical background and presented a very technical history of the races, which I found interesting, but pretty lifeless. Fortunately, he also invited other Cannonball Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash participants to write up their stories and accounts, which adds much-needed flavor to the book. Jack May’s description of his 1975 victory (1973 Ferrari Dino 246GTS, co-driven by Rick Cline) is a highlight—his zip!-whoosh!-bang! journal writing style really puts color into the narrative.

What is amazing is how low-key the actual running of the event really was, and how low the average speeds tended to be. Outside of the winners, average speeds including stops were in the range of 70-80 mph. Heck, I can run those speeds in my Neon these days, though to even have a chance at sustaining them I’d need an extra fuel cell (range is everything).

Overall, pretty good book that has entertained me thoroughly. Between the “priests” and the TransCon MediVac, and tales of drive-aways and Ferraris, I don’t see how any movie could top the real thing.

For the record, I’ve never seen any of the relevant films inspired by the races, though I’d like to see Cannonball Run just because it’s “official.” However, as Yates noted in the book, I can see where Steve McQueen would have been a better choice for the film. I think it’s time for me to watch Bullitt again.

1. (Current Book)To Engineer is Human, Henry Petroski
2. Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway
3. Life of Pi, Yann Martel
4. Restoring the Lost Constitution, Randy Barnett
5. Candide, Voltaire

Often, I agree with the ACLU—even when it comes to things like the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools. Then they do something stupid.

I find it interesting that in the source L.A. Times article, the ACLU doesn’t even bother to offer a rationale for their demands outside of, “the cross [is] a religious symbol.” It is especially funny since, as Prof. Volokh points out, there is a huge pagan goddess dominating the logo.

While they are at it, they should knock off the fish on the lower left, which is another Christian symbol, and the cow on the lower right, if indeed it is a cow, since that is symbolic of Hinduism. (I allow for the possibility that it is also an ox; in that case, we can link it to pagans again, just search the page for “ox.”) Have fun winning those battles, ACLU.

I had just finished my dinner at Osteria del Figo, which it turns out is an excellent Italian restaurant (good food, low prices), and on the way out happened to spot this bumper sticker on a moped outside. Something clicked in my head, and I suddenly realized that English usage has made it so there is no semantic difference between the language that we use to describe vasectomy and abortion—or between abortion and any other non-abortion child prevention tactics—making it more difficult to dicuss abortion and similar procedures in isolation from preconception pregnancy prevention.

Essentially, the term “birth control” is used to apply to all forms of pregnancy prevention, but I submit that this is not only incorrect, but making it more difficult for pro-life advocates to frame the debate. For many (though certainly not all) pro-life people, there is a fundamental difference between using “the pill,” condoms, or abstinence, which should really be called “conception control,” and the methods of abortion, et al., which are truly “birth control” since they directly control whether a birth occurs.

Unfortunately, the language didn’t evolve that way, and attempts to narrow the definitions of words, even to a more correct definition, are notoriously prone to failure (see “hacker”). This means that the language does not itself imply the bright line that is conception is relevant; instead we (as a nation) have decided that the line is fuzzy, and that it is nowhere near the conception line, the one definite point of reference.

Is this Newspeak? No, for one, I don’t think that this was an intentional abuse of language with the intent of changing the way that we think about things. But humans categorize and we name. Without it’s own name, it’s a lot harder to talk about.

Anyone coming here from Mr. Tompkins’ site, I’d just like to say “hi.” Umm, yeah, you’re also wondering about why my page renders so horribly. It’s because you’re using IE and I’m explicitly incompatible with that browser.

Now you’re wondering, “where does he get off trying to fix some other guy’s CSS, when his own is broken on the most popular browser on the planet?” My answer is that I thought it would be an interesting exercise, and it was. And though he isn’t going to use my patched CSS files (which were, incidentally, broken on IE, though I don’t know why this time) I appreceate the link and the discussion.

And yes, this site’s run on Blogger. So sue me. Limitations of my host. (You’d think Georgia Tech would be up to date on this stuff, but if you go to the root on this server, you’ll see the last message of the day was posted four years ago. I’d say no one has touched this server’s backend in years.)

You know, I just want to say to all my friends who are back at home, wasting their summer away at some dead-end job—that they are only working at because their “parents make them”—and who are otherwise bored to tears…

…I love Atlanta.

After accidentally setting my computer into standby twice today with my new Logitech Cordless Access keyboard, due to the location of the key, I decided to hack it. Normally, standby wouldn’t be a problem, except my computer is unable to get itself back out of standby, so I have to reboot, losing everything I was working on. Bad stuff.

The hack was simple. Pulling all the screws off the back, I noticed that the key to the keyboard’s thin and light construction (which I like very much) was a set of key contacts which were simply two membranes. Pressing the keys presses the contacts on the two membranes together, completing the circuit and resulting in a triggered keypress. I simply cut a small square out of the sticky part of a Post-it Note and stuck it on one of the contacts, then reassembled the keyboard. Now, pressing the key results in no action whatsoever.

Note that this hack almost certainly voids your warranty…which is why it’s good that it’s easily reversed (just open the keyboard, pull the paper, and reassemble). And I won’t have to keep restarting my computer due to an accidental keypress.

The Frisbee: it brings people together, even when you don’t know the language.

And no, comments aren’t ready yet. Once I finish reading Instapundit, from where I got this link.

Blogger just “relaunched,” unveiling a new visual identity and new features. To wit, there should be a comments link at the bottom of this post, which is the entire reason I’m making it. Go nuts.

EDIT: Assuming it’s there. I’m working on the template presently.

“Feminists don’t like the way men are men, they think women can be better men than men are.”

-A caller on today’s Rush Limbaugh program