I enjoy writing now and then, but I realize that I am not a clever or talented writer. I think that’s why I enjoy reading works by those who are -- I’m a weekend golfer amazed by watching Tiger Woods, oops, I mean Phil Mickelson, play.

Here’s a great example by Jonah Goldberg of National Review: A No-Fly List? Count Me In. Jonah’s funny, clever, and intellectually interesting all at the same time. I love it.

I've added this quote to my Favorite Quotes page. I think it would particularly resonate with and amuse those who, like me, have found mid-life to be more challenging than they expected.

“Sometimes I lie awake at night, and ask, 'Where have I gone wrong?' Then a voice says to me, 'This is going to take more than one night.'”- Charles M. Schulz

First, I am rather proud of myself: I competed in the Siesta Key Triathlon yesterday (0.5 mile swim, 13 mile bike, 3.1 mile run) and, while I wasn't near getting a medal, I did finish 12th out of 35 in my age group.

More than the decent finish (I had a better finish in the Venice Triathlon, 3rd, although it was against a smaller and weaker field), however, I am pleased with how fresh I felt at the end. Yes, I was breathing very heavy for the first minute or two after finishing the run, but I recovered quickly and felt great. I'm just better now at managing the race and myself. Nice feeling.

All right, this is old, old news by internet standards (> 30 days), but I still want to comment. This picture is the world's first image of an actual molecule, a million times smaller than a grain of sand. Mind blowing.

There is more evidence that global warming is non-event, and Jonah Goldberg discusses the matter quite reasonably. It all shows how legislation such as the proposed "cap and trade" bill are not really about the environment, but about the expansion of government at the expense of capitalism and sound science.

Rich Lowry has Obama the Arrogant nailed in An Obama Speech in 13 Easy Steps. If there was every a president that was actually the complete opposite of what he claimed to be during his campaign (in Obama's case, a "uniter"), it's Obama.

I haven't quite made up my mind about Sarah Palin. My horse sense tells me that she is what she appears to be: a plain-spoken, honest, corruption-fighting conservative who is not afraid to speak her mind. Her message and language aren't focused-grouped and slickly packaged to move polls, thank God. She's more like the people of America than she is like the people in Washington. She "gets it," so to speak.

No, she's not perfect human being, and yes, she needs experience, but there is no denying that she has one quality that conservative politicians (as distinct from conservative pundits or voters), at least on the national stage, have recently lacked: she's very, very attractive. I hate symbolism over substance, but the harsh reality is that more attractive people have a distinct edge over less attractive people, in a number of situations, most especially including politics.

Let's face it, she's hot. She's as far from the stereotypical old-white-man GOP politician as you can get.

I added a few more Mark Twain quotes to my Favorite Quotes section. You know the old cocktail party question, "If you could have dinner with someone from history, who would you choose?"? I'm certainly not a Mark Twain expert, but just based on Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and his wonderful quotes, he'd be on my short list.

I've decided to run the Sarasota Half-Marathon in February, a 13.1-mile race. I've never run that kind of distance before, and I have had doubts that my knees and back would be able to handle it. On Sunday, I took a big step in the right direction by running further than I ever have: 9 miles. I'm pleased.

I love this cartoon.
Speaking of media bias, I wonder if, at the end of 2008, the media will report that it was one of the coldest years we've had recently (yes, I am making a prediction here). Nah, if I'm right, they will bury the story. It would put another nail in the man-made global warming coffin. 2008 will mark the 10th year in a row that has been cooler than 1998. Does that sound like a crisis to you? Does that sound like a situation that demands an upheaval of capitalistic economies or burdensome, ridiculous schemes like "cap and trade"?

Disjointed thoughts...

How about those Rays? Winners of Game 1. My wife and I are going with some friends to Game 2 tonight. Can't wait!

Had to take a break from running due to a bad sinus infection. I felt so weak, particularly in my legs, that I felt as though I was a new runner again. Glad to report that the weakness is gone, and I'm about 90% back to where I was. My next race is Bill's Beer Run on October 26 (5 miles).

Did anybody see this AP story? Secret U.S. mission hauls uranium from Iraq... Last major stockpile from Saddam's nuclear efforts arrives in Canada. Yet more evidence that Saddam was up to no good, and that getting rid of him was wise.

And here's more evidence of what I consider to be the #1 problem facing the United States: news bias. The liberal press have abandoned any pretext of impartiality. It's all out war now, and Republicans better learn how to fight back. (As always, I could provide a several bias stories like that every day without any problem. I just don't have the time.)

I wish every politician on the planet was like Sarah Palin. I'm not talking about her political views, which I largely agree with, I am talking about genuineness and her real-ness and her natural charisma. There is nothing fake about her. I can't recall anybody in politics today who better represents the anti-politician. If politics-as-usual is an illness (and it certainly makes me sick), Sarah Palin is the cure. Here's what former Sen. Fred Thompson had to say about her and her strong debate with Sen. Biden. He nails it:

“One of the reasons I feel so good for her, just as a human being is I have never seen anybody undergo the ridicule, the slanders and the lies, and the blogosphere and what they’re doing, and breaking into her private e-mail, rumors and things about her, and now, most recently, belittling her, taking little snippets of interviews and laughing at her and satirizing her. Those people ought to be ashamed of themselves, if they’re capable of shame, because they’ve proven that what they were doing does not represent who she was and who she is. Thank goodness, just as she said, that this was an unfiltered event for an hour and a half. She could stand toe-to-toe with Joe Biden, who’s been around for all these many, many years, and basically take him to the woodshed.”

I bought a used sailboat! It's a 1986 Spindrift 22. It needs work, and I have a lot of learning to do, but I love it. Now if my family and I could just find the time to use it! Soon. Very soon.

Wikipedia, the most often referenced encyclopedia in the world, is both a fantastic source of information and a swamp of liberal bias.

I have looked up all sorts of subjects on Wikipedia, with generally good and informative results. I consider it to be a valuable resource, however it is terribly, terribly flawed when it comes to any subject that is the least bit political.

Most people, I would wager, don't realize anybody can edit a wikipedia entry on, say, President Bush or global warming. They also don't realize there are favored people with great authority who can cancel out those edits on a whim. And those people are, seemingly without exception, liberals. They strongly enforce the liberal world-view in Wikipedia, ignoring their own guidelines.

The chief editor is William Connolley, who is an office-seeking member of England's Green Party. If that doesn’t get your attention, nothing will.

Lawerence Solomon wrote a piece for National Review Online that summarizes the unfortunate situation.

So, the next time your child's teacher suggests using Wikipedia as a reference, pay attention to the subject matter. The life-cycle of the butterfly? Fine. The history of farming? Wonderful. Global warming or the Iraq war? No way. I have come to learn when I can rely on Wikipedia and when I can't. I'm not confident that the average teacher, parent, or student has learned the same lesson.

Unfortunately, Wikipedia has such a large mind-share (a internet-style monopoly, much as Google has among search engines), that it's hard to see how the situation can be corrected. Yes, there is a Conservapedia, but not only is it tiny by comparison, it also swings too far to the right. Encyclopedia.com seems be more of link factory to other informational sources. Microsoft's Encarta might be worth a good look.

By far the most interesting alternative to the Wikipedia hegemony, that I know of, is the online version of the Encyclopedia Britannica. It is very comprehensive, but it costs $70 a year. I don't know if Britannica displays a liberal bias or not, but they certainly have a strong record as a serious provider of information.

As my kids get a little older and start to write reports and need a reliable encyclopedia, I will steer them away from Wikipedia. I may take the plunge on a subscription to Britannica. $70 a year might be money well spent.

My previous blog entry regarding my unwitting "membership" with Reservation Rewards (RR) was noticed by a gentleman who wrote me some very informative emails about not only WebLoyalty (WL) and RR, but also various other companies which operate in the same fashion. Suffice it to say that the business model of getting people to sign up for a discount coupon only to ensnare them in an ongoing membership is alive and well.

My entry was also noticed by WL, and I received a friendly email from someone in its consumer affairs department named Mary. In her email, she explained that WL "protects its reputation and monitors the blogosphere to ensure information posted on our company is truthful and accurate." She said that, despite my cynicism on their phone system being down when I tried to reach them to cancel my membership, it was indeed down only temporarily. I take her word for it.

She also explained that the reason I couldn't find my email address in their online database was that it was actually my wife who was registered. She canceled that membership and refunded the dues we had been charged.

She followed up with another email explaining that the unwitting membership occurred at the end of my wife's transaction with Shutterfly.com (not Fandango.com, as I had originally speculated). She said that my wife must have agreed to the membership since she hit "Yes" buttons and entered her email address. She also said that the "Offer and Billing Details" were available for review. She stated that an email was sent to my wife afterward.

I don't doubt for a minute that the details were available for review. I don't doubt that "Yes" buttons were pressed or that an email address was entered. My wife did not, as best as I can determine, receive the email, but it was right around the time she changed emails addresses. In any event, that email (a copy was provided by Mary) does not mention the fees or credit card charges that would appear each month. Nevertheless, I don't doubt that what WL and RR does is perfectly legal. However, it not, in my opinion, ethical. Here is a portion of my email response to Mary (edited slightly):

Look, I understand that what your company is doing is, in all likelihood, legal. I do not, however, approve of a business model which seeks to fool people. Yes, I am sure the "Offer and Billing Details" explained that her credit card information would be used to charge her each month. Yes, I am sure she entered her email and hit OK. I am also sure (although, like I said, I will confirm it) that she didn't read those details. She probably thought she was still dealing with Shutterfly. She figured that she was just getting $10 bucks off her next order, with no strings attached, just as she gets those offers/coupons from Shutterfly in the regular mail.

You can rationalize it all day long, but I would wager a large sum that a *vast* majority of your "members" are unwitting. They made a purchase with some trusted vender, an offer popped up for some coupon, they figured they were still dealing with that vendor, hit OK, entered an email, and didn't give it another thought. Let's face it, people take their time and are mentally engaged *before* a purchase is made (picking out an item or comparing it) and *during* the purchase itself (carefully entering credit card information and whatnot). But, once the "Confirm Order" button is pressed, people are on mental-automatic. The purchase is done, no need to be that careful anymore. Oh, look, a $10 coupon! Sure, hit OK...

Not convinced? Then why not include text right next to, or above, the first OK button which says, "I agree to be billed monthly per these agreement terms," with the last two words made into a hyperlink to the "Offer and Billing Details". Hmmm? You see, the "success" of your business is based on people not noticing the billing. Do you really think most people (any?) will sign up to be billed $10 each month to save $10 on a purchase?

Still not convinced? Then why have I read on the internet many, many stories about others who have become unwitting members?

Mary, all that said, I appreciate your response and followup.

I have spent far more time on this incident than I have wanted and want to end it here, but I felt an obligation to share my story and WL's response. To WebLoyalty and Reservations Rewards credit, they have refunded the fees charged, have canceled the account, and have been responsive once they noticed my blog entry. Would I have gotten such a resolution without the blog? I don't know. When they present their offers, should they state far, far more clearly and obviously that an fee will be charged each month in perpetuity? Absolutely.

Over the last few months, my wife and I have used our credit card miles to pay for some airline tickets. Therefore, when I saw a $10 charge in January from Reservation Rewards, I thought it must have been one of those little surcharges that you pay for trading your miles for flights. Same thing in February. Well, I just opened my bill for March, and it's there again. Hmmmm.

I went to the ReservationRewards.com website to check it out. They claim to be a discount service for all sorts of internet services. But a quick internet search using "reservation rewards scam" pulled up thousands of hits. It hit me that I've been scammed, and so have a lot of people, and it has been going on for years. Reservation Rewards is part of a larger operation called Webloyalty.com. Many people have filed Better Business Bureau complaints and FTC complaints, yet they are still in operation.

Here's how the scumbags do it (or at least one way they do it). They offer legitimate businesses, such as priceline.com or fandango.com, either shopping cart services (providing the technology to handle online transactions) or a discount coupon service where, at the end of a transaction, a window pops up offering the consumer a discount on their next purchase. If you click OK, then you are unwittingly signing up to be a member of Reservation Rewards and here's the key: they take, without your knowledge, your credit card information from the purchase you just made with the business and start charging you a monthly fee. And what do you get for that fee? Why, nothing, of course.

I immediately called Reservation Rewards and, predictably, got a recorded message stating that, get this, their phone system is down for maintenance. Riiiight... I then tried to discontinue my "membership" online but, of course, their system does not recognize my email address. I sent an email to their customer service, but I am not holding my breath that they will actually respond.

The good news is that my credit card company agreed to dispute the charge for not only this month, but last month too. So I may escape from this having lost only $10 plus about two hours of my time -- unless the charge appears again next month.

So what business did I patronize that started this nightmare? I'm guessing it was fandango.com, movie tickets online. There was probably a popup offer for a discount on my next purchase .and I probably assumed that fandango wasn't going to transmit my credit card information without my knowledge to an unknown company just because I clicked an OK button for a discount code. How silly of me.

The lesson: never, ever click OK on any kind of offer that appears after making a purchase. Scammers like Webloyalty.com and ReservationRewards.com might be waiting...

I couldn't resist. I tried to, for awhile, but it didn't work. The siren song of Apple's iPhone was just too much to withstand.

So how is it? Well, have you ever bought a product, or seen a movie, or read a book, and it was so good that when asked about it, you hesitate before gushing, because you wonder if other people will share your enthusiasm? The iPhone is even better than that, because it is so freaking cool that if someone else doesn't agree, then I know it's their problem, not mine.

It's easily the most amazing product I have ever held in my hand. Apple seems to have cornered the market on excellent product designers, user interface specialists, and programmers. It's inconceivable, unfortunately, for any other company in the world to have developed the iPhone. Apple is red-hot right now.

Is it perfect? No, there are niggles here and there. No product is perfect, but here's the difference: Apple will be issuing software updates for the iPhone on a regular basis, so it will only get better, and better, and better, especially since it isn't locked into a bunch of hardware buttons.

I love it.

My family, friends, and I have been up on Lake Glenville in North Carolina. We all seem to enter a type of dream state up there. I don't know if it's the cool weather (highs mostly in the 70's), the lake view, the crisp lake water, the remote location (relatively speaking), something else, or all those things put together, but it feels like we're a million miles from the world of worries.

Perhaps it's the lack of a daily paper, or cell phone calls, or the constant drum beat of typically negative news on television that keeps the spirits high. Yes, we'll get a USA Today or put on the news occasionally, but the serious sections of the paper are normally left unread and the news checking is, at least for me, brief and just a way to make sure nothing big has happened. "Big" means actual, substantial news, not some celebrity getting out of jail or politics as usual.

I love seeing the kids in this setting -- they are outdoors so much (difficult in Florida in the middle of summer), putting aside the GameBoys in favor of playing in the water, exploring the creek, playing kickball, or just inventing an activity on the spot. Of course, as a family we do other outdoor activities like going on hikes, visiting waterfalls, and going on boat rides.

Oh sure, there will be a bump or scrape, a meltdown (rarer each year, thankfully), or some boredom on a rainy day, but those things are overcome, and the dream state settles back in. Summers on a lake are wonderful.

Billy Donovan remains a Gator. The sun is a little brighter today, the sky a little clearer, and the world makes sense again.

Scientists invent wireless device that beams electricity through your home. When I was a kid, I used to dream about this kind of thing as I watched the Jetsons.

Rising immigration fuels 26-year fertility high (in the U.K.) and Mohammed is expected soon to be the most popular boy's name. Hmmm, I wonder what ethic group is having all those kids...

Jimmy Carter: Profile in Incompetence. A Ten Part Series on the Worst President in American History. Ten Part? Ouch!

Revolt Against Al Qaeda Spreading. I think the only way the Iraqis, and the allied forces, will find peace is if the revolt keeps spreading.

Finally, I know one thing this guy in Wyoming is not thinking, as he shovels snow on June 7:
"We need to tackle global warming!"

Most adults have noted a decline in public civility over the last twenty years or so. It manifest itself in various forms: the irritating (talking in a movie theater), the depressing (rude comments by talking heads on television and radio, the demonization of public figures, etc.), and the scary (road rage, intimidation tactics aimed at silencing political opponents, and so on). The internet, for all its wonderful usefulness, is a showcase of incivility, especially when it comes to political blogs, perhaps due to the relative anonymity of bloggers and folks who post in forums. When you aren't talking with somebody face to face, it increases the temptation, for some people, to say something rude, insulting, or simply false.

Thankfully, there are some hopeful signs that some measure of civil discourse might be regained, at least in some quarters. Daniel Henniger of the Wall Street Journal wrote an interesting op-ed about the phenomenon, primarily focused the potential impact of the "Blogger's Code of Conduct" by Bill O'Reilly. I hope it catches on.

OK, this is minutia, but I was getting irritated trying to sharpen some of the novelty pencils that my kids get as party favors or whatnot. The tips kept breaking. I don't know what those things are made of, but it isn't wood. What ever happened to good, old-fashioned wood pencils that sharpen easily?

The next time I was at Staples, I came across the Dixon Ticonderoga pencil, billing itself as the World's Best Pencil. Hyperbole, I thought. Well, I bought some, and it really is a good pencil, much better than those junky ones made in China.