Tuesday and wednesday

+ Got my Gmail inbox down below 35. Yay me! :-)

+ We're finally back to highs in the 80s for the forseeable future, calling for a high of 76 on friday. What a relief!

+ Windows Is Offically Broken . Interesting take on the current state of Longhorn and reorg at M$.

+ kottke's got an old post on the sad state of health care in America with reference to Malcolm Gladwell.

We have many societal failures, including the ones he notes: health care and lack of preparedness for Katrina. The post-9/11 FEMA situation is inexcusable. And we really do suffer from 'robber barons' who take all they can get at the lowest tax rate possible.

But I'm just not convinced that bigger and more government is the answer. We still have the world's most robust economy which, while leaving some behind, does ultimately solve a lot of problems. Do I want to trade my society's foibles for Brussels-style bureaucracy and post-everything (Christianity, modernism, nation-state, etc.)? Nope. I sure would like better government and I think we need more accountability and citizen awareness/participation and more local action and decision making. Bureaucracy, while an inevitable result of our republican form of government, should be reigned in when possible, including starved of funds to some degree.

+ The new giant squid pix are pretty cool.

+ To-Done has 2 posts [1 2] on GTD with Google Desktop. Not much different than GTD with Gmail, except the added functionality of Google Desktop, integrated with Gmail, adds power.

+ We totally need more of these: fully enclosed phone booths without the phone (for cell users).

+ Did you see the 100 minute Bible? (via kottke)

+ More via kottke: Building a better screw. ITW has come up with 'threaded fasteners' that can cut their own threads, stay in where previous screws could not (eg, in slippery plastic), and more. The Tapcon for masonry and Sammy Super Screw for wood, steel, concrete and drywall.

+ If you've been with me in real life, you know I like to spin my pen. There's a webpage for pen spinning (of course). I do the 360 degree normal and reverse. May need to work on some of these others, though ;-)

+ They use a predictive market inside Google, similar to the Iowa Electronic Markets. Interesting. These things are cool. Remember when the Pentagon thought about doing a terrorism prediction market? That was a good idea that got shouted down by public opinion.

And now, finally, my Bloglines is down to zero, so time to shut it, and this, down. :-)