Now the others catch us in mid-August at 1650 caches, and Rich keeps making blood donation appointments and stuff so we can't go anywhere or do anything. (Actually, next week I have a court date, so it's not just him.)

I gave a blood donation this morning. To my surprise, my blood pressure was a lot better than last time, 118/80. I wonder if the right arm is better than the left. Rich pooh-poohs this notion. He says it's the same all over my body, but I remember my last two pregnancies it was different depending on which arm they used.

Then this afternoon I took Casey to the members' night at the zoo. There were very few people there. They were showing off their Chimp Maze temporary exhibit. This is nice... you go in and answer questions ("is a chimp a monkey?") and that tells you how to go. Casey read some of the questions and I read some of the others. I was reading about "humans and chimpanzees" when the kid asked "what are those?" Back to the drawing board! Chimps == chimpanzees!

Virginia Postrel, What the 60s and 70s were REALLY like. I heard a commentator talking like the Soviet Union was toppling anyway and Reagan just happened to be there. No, he definitely helped push. Donald Sensing has more, as does James Taranto. On the television, I saw a guy who was a tourist in Berlin, and they had a choice of going to see the Wall, or to a really nice restaurant. They opted for the restaurant, because "the Wall will always be there." It was gone in a year!

I remember in 1968, I was in Laramie and Rich was in VietNam. One of the wives was really taken with Reagan. I thought she was nuts. This wife also thought all the men had committed adultery, which may or may not say something about herself. I didn't think her marriage would last.

Pew Research on the press from VodkaPundit, who also looks for just the facts...

Chirac snubs Kerry.

Paul Johnson on Bill Clinton:

Most of Clinton's time and energy as president were spent not on policy or executive activity but in defending himself against accusations. . . . This had one outstanding virtue. It turned the Clinton years into one of the longest periods of laissez-faire in U.S. history. If Clinton had been a continent man, and so with time to be an activist president, the consequences would almost certainly have been disastrous for the American economy. As it was, with the president busy elsewhere, the nation thrived mightily, as always when the White House does nothing.

Taranto, Presidential Leadership.

The newsies keep harping about the civility in DC when Reagan was president. I remember Robert Bork. What they REALLY said when Reagan was alive. (Including John Kerry.) Biden and Kennedy are on that list, too. Biden now talks about his son in in the Army... so why is he endangering him? Krauthammer on Reagan.

Kerry names a running mate. Heh.

The endangered Preble's Mouse.