I've had it in mind to do the 75-mile C&O/W&OD loop, but at this point half that distance would be a stretch. Today I covered 30 miles in a leisurely 3 hours, stopping at several points to indulge nostalgia of long-ago trips on the bike trail.

My first stop was on Ruritan Circle in the oldest part of Sterling. I spent many Monday nights in the Ruritan Club building for Boy Scout meetings. Ruritan Circle never looked like much, but it seemed even more down on its heels now. There are a few antique shops around, between the weeds. Finally I found the long, unmarked drive alongside the high power lines that led to the Ruritan Club. It was amazing to see it again. The yard seemed so small, and all the features of the building suggested old memories of time spent waiting for the ride home. Inside some folks were setting up for some kind of party, and before long some veritable Troop 966 scouts entered. Before long a small crowd arrived. According to one of the leaders, they were just getting back from Camp Goshen, where I spent a couple weeks building character.

I continued on in a light rain, noticing that the Ruritan Club is right alongside Route 28 across from the Carmax / Ferrari / Maserati / Nissan / Mini / Volvo dealership complex. After I few more miles I found the secret entrance to the old quarry. Long ago I spent an afternoon here with Jeff and Steven rolling boulders (and a rotten old boat) off the cliffs into the lake.

More and more I am thinking that a thorough study of irrationality would be rewarding. An interesting paper investigates peoples' tendency to be irrational about politics. A disturbing chart:

Prospects for attaining truth with different intellectual traits

   Intelligence   Bias

        +          -   (best)

        -          -

        -          +

        +          +   (worst)

So intelligence is a key factor, but the secret is in detecting bias. Do your politics favor people in your social-economic group? Is that a coincidence? If a certain out-ot-print treatise ever becomes available at a rational price I'll have to grab it.

Two weeks ago I gave up as lost a fairly new PDA. It vanished inexplicably, but I was determined not to let the loss of a toy bother me, even though it did cost about two years' worth of Sony points. Today I was thinking up a eulogy, and had even documented the Final Hotsync (sniff!)


As I headed out for lunch with Milk and Cheese,
I thought of how funny it would be if the thing had been under the car seat all this time. I opened the passenger door of the beater, and sure enough, there it was, wedged in next to the seat.

I hardly used the To Do list, calendar, and address book, but there are a few things I was going to miss. Here are some screenshots.

The camera -- my main source of blog-padding images.

Getting those vexing IMDB questions answered without getting out of bed is handy, thanks to onboard 802.11b.

Aigo, more GUI than AI.

A faithful reproduction of classic Mattel games.

Translate tattoos.

JDictP is a Java-based flashcard tutor that uses the Leitner system.

Weasel Reader saves you from waiting room magazines. Just dig up an online copy of your favorite book.

alt="fuel log" border=0> Fuel Log is pretty geeky, isn't it?


Sure, it's cool to have a Linux system in your pocket, but the sizable library of Palmware comes in handy on vacations.