Friday, September 03, 2004

Arrived in Banff. Another great drive, but man this place is like a city. Feels like Tahoe, Taos or Park City, I liked Medicine Hat better, more laid back. I'm no longer in the middle of nowhere, and that's a little sad. But the scenery here is famous, and deservedly so. Here's a picture I just took out of the window of my hotel room. On the drive across I heard about President Clinton's bypass surgery. I have some idea what he's going through, that's the surgery I had in the summer of 2002. These days it's a very well-practiced procedure, I'm sure his prognosis is good. I hope he talks to people who have had the experience, that was super-important for me. If you haven't had your chest ripped open you can't imagine what it feels like, not just physically, but psychologically.  

BTW, I don't leave Banff until Sunday morning. I'm taking a day here to check out the scenery, catch up on sleep, etc. 

In Calgary, where I took my daily walk (great place for walking, btw) I learned about busking. 

Zell Miller: "My job tonight is an easy one: to present to you one of this nation's authentic heroes, one of this party's best-known and greatest leaders -- and a good friend." 

Today's drive: Medicine Hat to Banff, via Calgary. 

Microsoft's new music service supports RSS with feeds for the top 100 songs, albums and artists. Nice job. The top songs feed even has enclosures with an excerpts of the song. Excellent. 

Paolo notes that Microsoft is using RSS compatibly with Apple. This is super-important, we usually think it's cool when a tech company does something new. That's actually more common than doing something compatibly. There's so much unnecessary incompatibility. 

RSS from Down Under: The Sydney Morning-Herald and The Age.  

Adam has a special site for his audioblogposts. He could use some help from a good template designer. Hint: Today is Adam's 40th birthday.  

While recording one of my audioblogposts from the Trans-Canada Highway, I got out the camera, and did a little video.  

Billings Gazette: "It bothers [Swift boat veteran Bob Anderson] that Sen John Kerry's swift boat history has become such a political hot potato. But he's even more irritated that his name was included -- without his permission -- on a letter used to discredit Kerry." 

I'm glad Kerry responded to the Republicans. Maybe it's time, though, to consider a new format, where they do a Democratic talk show, with Mario Cuomo, Wesley Clark and James Carville reviewing the Republicans. They require serious rebuttal. Don't pretend they're going to roll over and let the Dems win. Fight fire with fire. It's good that Kerry has shown his anger. It's not good that he trailed off into his standard incoherent stump speech.  

Scott Rosenberg: "Republicans who applauded [Zell Miller] need a remedial civics class." 

Video of Chris Matthews interchange with Zell Miller.