Unhappy witnesses have better memories of events

Paul Hamm should not have to bear the weight of the IOC’s mistakes – This is the kind of smarmy conduct that makes me yearn for the high-minded types of professional sports back home. […W]hen the gymnastics competition ended in noise and controversy, the officials from the [International Gymnastics Federation] scrammed out into the Athenian night.

Zach Braff discusses Garden State

Svetlana the Great – If gymnastics has been criticized for being conformist, a sport full of little girls doing the bidding of coaches and judges, surely, then, Khorkina is a symbol of an athlete who knows her own mind and can be respected for it.

Fairfax ‘backlash’ ousted IB program – State colleges won’t give proper credit to IB diplomas, so the parents got rid of IB. Seems like the wrong approach, but I don’t blame them…

U.S. Retail Gasoline Prices – California, as always, gets stuck with the higher prices

Sitting around the house, contemplating Wicked, wondering why I’m home.

Hamm’s Gold Was in Error, but He’ll Keep It – The gymnastics scoring process is kinda wonky, and it keeps causing problems.

Reading Wicked, listening to The Diamond Age (still!), watching the Olympics, hitting up all the favorite dining spots, complaining about the gym, visiting with family, driving Shaina’s new car, sorting through all my boxed up stuff.

90% of office workers will give away their password in exchange for a cheap pen

Device to take the pain out of injections

Hakuna Muqtada! – Lots of interesting tidbits in today’s papers, neatly summarized by Slate.

Transcripts of OnStar Service Conversations Not Selected for Commercials

Researchers developing blood test to detect presence of breast cancer – This is really an excellent first step.

Leukaemia risk for kids living near petrol stops – But it was a very small study that didn’t take into account any other factors, so it probably doesn’t count for too much.

Behold, a miracle – Incredibly, Paul Hamm recovers from a fall to win the first US gymnastics all-around gold medal ever. I only wish I was awake enough to have seen it.

Using psychopharmaceuticals and brain imaging to make prisoner interrogation more humane

We Have How Many Troops in Europe?

Phelps the contender steps up – Swimming – – “I think it was silly of whoever was predicting he would win seven or eight gold medals before the meet. It was an unrealistic task, completely unrealistic, and what it’s meant is that because of that hype beforehand, he’s on track to walk away with five or six gold medals from here and people will be disappointed and that’s just insane.

Costco test-markets caskets