Today is the tenth anniversary of his passing, following a wreck on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.  I will never forget watching that race as Darrell Waltrip called (and cried during) his brother Michael’s win and said, “I just hope Dale’s OK.  I guess he’s alright, isn’t he?”

SceneDaily.com has published a collection of photos of Dale Earnhardt, so go take a look.

Today, remember the Intimidator.  He was a racer from a different time and a different age.  He embodied Nascar.  And he departed way too soon.

*Update*

SceneDaily.com also published an excerpt this morning from Michael Waltrip’s new book, In the Blink of an Eye: Dale, Daytona, and the Day that Changed Everything.  This tells Michael’s side of the story of that fateful day.  Be forewarned, it’ll bring you to tears.

*Update 2*

ESPN has an incredibly touching segment on the day that Dale Earnhardt died, with some incredible videos and interviews.

Read the stories of early space exploration from the original NASA transcripts. Now open to the public in a searchable, linkable format.

Not only is the spacelog searchable and linkable, it is tweetable.  AND, and, they’ve interspersed pictures (taken by the Apollo 13 crew and others) to the time in the log in which they were taken (like this).  This is incredible.

To accomplish this transcription, Spacelog posted the original transcripts, and then crowd-sourced the copy-and-pasting to their interface.

I love it.  They link to some of the best parts, but I have to share my own.

First, the requisite quote:

Jack Swigert: I believe we’ve had a problem here.

Jim Lovell: Houston, we’ve had a problem.

Second, my favorite (watch the movie):

Houston, Capcom: Aquarius; Houston. We’ve got you both on VOX.

Lastly, a great picture and quote:

Jim Lovell: And there’s one whole side of that spacecraft missing.

I can’t say how much that I enjoy reading through this.  Being able to relive history, in the first person, is an amazing experience.  I might be a nerd, but I love this stuff.

This beats Gumby’s.

You have to scroll down, and then I saw this:

Apple wants you to click through 55 pages of Terms and Conditions.  I would like to see their usability statistics and find out how few people click through (somehow I think that’s what they want you to do).  I didn’t.  All I wanted to do was “purchase” a free application.

To me, this is just another sign of our legalistic American society.  We use “terms and conditions” 55 pages long to keep consumers from actually understanding the legalities of something they seek to undertake.

The Georgia fans are sure to notice #34, but did you see the pictures of young #7 (not related to Georgia)?

The soldier with his gun while wearing boxers and flip-flops was my favorite.

People, learn that a cease-and-desist order or a DMCA takedown notice will not quiet the damning story.  Neither will a gag order (that’s an example).  One of my favorite recent examples is the Ralph Lauren scandal involving the photoshopped skinny model and BoingBoing’s response to a DMCA takedown notice:

So, to Ralph Lauren, GreenbergTraurig, and PRL Holdings, Inc: sue and be damned. Copyright law doesn’t give you the right to threaten your critics for pointing out the problems with your offerings. You should know better. And every time you threaten to sue us over stuff like this, we will:

a) Reproduce the original criticism, making damned sure that all our readers get a good, long look at it, and;

b) Publish your spurious legal threat along with copious mockery, so that it becomes highly ranked in search engines where other people you threaten can find it and take heart; and

c) Offer nourishing soup and sandwiches to your models.

Look folks, people notice these things.  Especially in the Internet Age.  The Electronic Frontier Foundation (like the ACLU for the internet) has even compiled the “Takedown Hall of Shame.”  And Chilling Effects has a database of takedown orders.

Stop the thought process that says we can make this better by trying to shut someone up.  It doesn’t work and it makes a bigger story.

Here’s a great drink, a blueberry lemonade:

• 1 or 2 parts Blueberry vodka
• 3 parts Lemonade (I use Simply Lemonade)
• Frozen blueberries

Mix in a highball, and add cracked ice. Drink quickly.

This is a great summer drink.