Plugged in the computer again...

We're back. It was great fun. The digital camera decided to malfunction so, sorry, there will be no pictures posted here.

It was also great spending five days with no TV, no radio, no newspapers and no Internet, though the latest Harpers and the last three New Yorkers were excellent beach reading.

I have finished "Good Father" by Mark O'Conell almost a month ago and still have not posted a review - I promise I will soon. But now I have also finished "Marriage - A History" by Stephanie Coonthz and will definitely write a review soon. I am midway through "Brazzaville Beach", a novel by William Boyd - a story of science and intrigue.

So, what's been going on in the world while I was gone?

So far, over the last few minutes, I have learned that...

...the rain we had over the weekend at the beach were remnants of Tropical Strom Franklin.

...Frist supported the new stem-cell research legislation knowing full well it would pass by a narrowest of margins just to be vetoed by Bush. I guess Frist will not be the GOP nominee in 2008, as he will not get a stamp of approval from the final arbiter - James Dobson.

...Bush had the gall to call the astronauts on the Space Station and tell them to "get back to work". That is the phrase Slobodan Milosevic used to use when farmers and factory workers came to Belgrade to ask him some pointed questions....

...the new Carnival of the Godless is up.

...Melinama liked my post on becoming a biologist.

...Rove/Plame affair is still in the news a lot.

...more papers were released about John Roberts. I still have not read what is in them, but I see that John Edwards is going around the country telling everybody who will listen not to trust Roberts. Does he, as a lawyer, know something about Roberts that we don't?

...the new Tar Heel Tavern is up on Snort A Sprocket. The next one will be on Anonymoses. You can also submit your entries through the Universal Carnival Submission Form.

...there is an interesting local race going on in Ohio...

...Bush is working on raising a new generation of unquestioning indoctrinated sheep by endorsing Intelligent Design Creationism. PZ has a good post and a collection of responses from the blogosphere. I may write my own commentary on this topic soon.

So, what else have I missed?