The movie Apollo 13 tells the story of the third manned mission to the moon. After an oxygen tank explosion crippled the ship, the mission turned from one of exploration, to survival. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong--but they made it back alive. It was NASA's "finest hour,"

I won't catalog the events of today or the last year, but it is fair to say that I have been knocked off my feet more times in the last year than in the last 24 combined. Thank you to my friends and family for everything. I believe this will be my finest hour.

Today is the last day of my self-imposed exile from Facebook. I knew it would be difficult to stay away from everyone's life stream, but I didn't realize the social cost of not participating in Facebook. "The Social Network" tells a fictionalized version of Facebook's founding:

The movie properly portrays why Facebook is successful. Within seven years of its founding it became part of the social infrastructure. I have a few observations on how it has moved past helping college students hook up:

I have watched in horror as Comic-Con, a beloved San Diego institution, has taken a serious look at bids from Los Angeles and Anaheim. Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons is on my side. Check out the video after the jump.

Last Tuesday I saw a Porsche Cayenne hit a parked car in a grocery store parking lot. When the Porsche started to pull away, I stayed parked at the end of the row until he rolled down his window and said "I'm stopping but I need to park again." So I pulled into a spot and loaned the driver a pen with some paper.

While the driver was writing down his contact information, I wrote down his license plate number.

Once he gave back my pen, and placed a note on the car, I proceeded into the grocery store.

If you saw my karaoke performance of "We Didn't Start the Fire," with my sister at the Tickled Trout (we rocked the Trout), you probably know that this song is a bit of a family thing.

Years of listening to the song during car trips to/from Arizona has instilled fondness for historical list-songs and their parodies. Here are are a few of my favorites:

Here Comes Another Bubble

This Yucca brevifolia haunts my dreams...wait...frequents my nightmares?

Reading Rainbow ended its 26 year run today after it failed to renew its broadcast rights. It went under the axe after the Bush administration focused on programs teaching reading fundamentals, like phonics, instead of programs on why reading is fun.

As the waves of Wind n Sea lost their strength today, tensions more than swelled to compensate.

First I heard shouting, from nearly 200 meters away, "Your nothing but a ******* Kook!..." After about a minute of that, the waves were finally able to overcome the din.

Five minutes later, I heard shouting coming from shore. This time the "kook" was calling for help as the enraged surfer picked up his board and smashed it on the rocks.

I have not purchased any music for a while, so I need to get more of my music fix by listening to songs on YouTube. Hence, I am going to use this post to build up a YouTube playlist. I started with some of the greatest hits and finished with songs that help me keep my working rhythm. I will add songs as I discover them.

The Arcade Fire is one of the most innovative and interesting bands out there. Anyone could spend more than an hour on their search results. Here are some of their highlights.