CTodd:/sea’tôd/ – n.

…on lending practices and the “American Dream” of homeownership.

The American Dream of home ownership for all is a fraud. Politicians who pimped this dream created an unsustainable mortgage industry whose collapse is only surprising because it didn’t happen earlier. America’s mortgage industry will not recover, nor deserve to recover, unless it is prepared to challenge this politically unpalatable reality.

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Steroids Enhance Athletes for Years: Scientific American Podcast

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I am at the beginnings of organizing ProductCamp Boston 2009. Sometime in January or February…

If you are interested, drop me a note. This will be based on the BarCamp format. Think unconference.

I love my bike. But not like this guy…

Man loves bike. Literally.

http://www.uvm.edu/~mfemia/rose.html

Sent to me today. I wonder what factcheck.org says about these claims? Clearly this is biased, but there are some interesting statements, that – if true – make it verrrry interesting.

If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you’re “exotic, different.”.
Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story.

If your name is Barack, you’re a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you’re a maverick.

Graduate from Harvard Law School and you are unstable.
Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you’re well grounded.

If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registr ation drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate’s Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran’s Affairs committees, you don’t have any real leadership experience.

If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you’re qualified to become the country’s second highest ranking executive.

If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you’re not a real Christian.
If you cheated on your first wife with a rich, much younger heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you’re a Christian.

If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including theproper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state’s school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you’re very responsible.

If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family’s values don’t represent America
If you’re husband is nicknamed “First Dude”, with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn’t register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

Perfectly clear now…

Once upon a time a little CTodd bought his first set of tubulars from a well respected bike shop. He raced on them and rolled the front one in a race. He later found out they were not glued, they were taped.

One year later CTodd gets new set of wheels and a new set of tubulars, he asks the same bike shop (albeit a different location) to glue these wheels. They assure CTodd there will be no rolling this time around. In one race he rolls both tires. CTodd re-glues tires himself and even enlisted the help of the famous and wise(ass) GeWilli.

Flash forward to September 2008, another set of wheels and tubulars in need of glue. The bike shop essentially begged CTodd to glue them, perhaps to redeem their reputation. After some mulling, CTodd agreed and made them promise there would be no issues.

Not even one lap into the Amesbury race CTodd went over a root and the rear tire rolled off.

CTodd laughed maniacally.

CTodd has learned his lesson.