This weekend felt like the calm before the storm; it's going to be quite a week.  I puttered around, cycled a little, sailed a little, and worked out a little, watched the tour, and hung out.  In between I worked on my tan (coming around nicely) and worked on my head (not coming around quite as nicely, sigh).  Onward!

This is so beautiful: Sea and Sky...  yes, you *must* click through to watch it, and you must watch it full screen.  Wow!  [ via the horse's mouth ]

Excellent!  Dawn spacecraft slips into orbit around Vesta.  "Dawn has become the first probe ever to enter orbit around an object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Researchers are now gauging the spacecraft’s orbit around the huge space rock."  We have a spacecraft orbiting an asteroid?  Who knew!

I had an interesting email exchange with my friend Gary about the role of governments in sponsoring "big" projects, like infrastructure, or basic research, or healthcare.  It seems they definitely do have a role.  We would not have Dawn if it weren't for government sponsorship.  But the limits of that role are most difficult to establish, and right now it would seem our government is trying to do too much...

John Patrick: Personal Health Records.  On Google's withdrawal from this field, and Microsoft's ongoing entry, and the role of government.  There is no doubt that PHR will be big, but how big, and how fast?

The world's largest shark tank, available via webcam.  How cool is that?  For maximum enjoyment, please maximize your window.  I can remember when screen savers which looked like aquariums were all the rage.  And now we can have video from an actual aquarium.  Awesome!

Something equally amazing: transparent eel larva.  Just when you think you've seen it all...  [ via American Digest ]

And finally a rather amazing sunset over the Apostle Islands, to end the weekend...