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The great grindstone, Earth, had turned when Mr Lorry looked out again, and the sun was red on the court-yard. But, the lesser grindstone stood alone there in the calm morning air, with a red upon it that the sun had never given, and would never take away. The Grindstone. From "A Tale of Two Cities" Penguin Classics 2003 (but first published in 1859).

ID Theft

A friend's Sprint ID was stolen recently. Apparently this is not new. Reports are that Sprint's internal security is relatively easy to circumvent. Once a user's ID is captured, new phone lines are ordered and charges are made.

I'm not sure why anyone would want to order additional phone lines. I suspect this is similar to postage stamp theft. Stamps are easy to steal and easy to use. They are a simple form of cash substitute. Steal a bunch of phones, register a free account, and sell the phones with free phone service.

Chilling With the Past

I always thought Big Country's "In a Big Country" was a great song. But this tribute version from Bruce Watson just gives me the willies:

For the Record

It took Google less than a second to find over 800,000 reasons why U2 sucks.

"Results 1 - 10 of about 880,000 for reasons why u2 sucks. (0.22 seconds)"

Web site of the day

Wooden Boards

Water

Here in LA, each tribal subcultures holds fast to the notion that their particular interest trumps all. I have a more generalized notion. I am not a surfer, but I surf. I think I can surf better than most "surfers" - at least the ones I see around here. No doubt, having grown up with some who could have turned pro (and some who did) I know my place in the order of things.

Rather than stake my claim (badly) to one piece of turf, I conceive of myself as an all around waterman - an older (and truer - I do it too) ideal. The next series of posts are a video representation of what I mean.

Here is where the modern sport is widely recognized to have started. Okay I agree this is a surf centric piece.


Here is some classic surf footage - I can't resist:


A crossover shot - Aaron Piersol bodysurfing:


More bodysurfing:


Women paddling across the Molokai Channel:


Outrigger Sailing (too bad the sound was disabled):


Spearfish (wish the sound was disabled):


Kauai Surfer Girl:




Something a little more competitive:


Janet Evans dominating a bunch of very strong Europeans (it's really a shame there isn't a better video of this because this is a great sports feat):


WOW:

Run Run

More Classic Joe Raposo