Let's Call it a Comeback

Seven years of domination by Lance Armstrong was certainly fun, but the drama of this year's Tour de France makes everything so much more exciting to watch. Yesterday, everyone had written off Floyd Landis' chances at a podium finish. Yet today, he managed to tear apart the stage and somehow made up all of the time he lost in yesterday's collapse. Now, everything will be decided by Saturday's time trail, and even then we might still see a sprint for podium spots in Paris, which I don't think has happened in almost twenty years. Landis has to get major props for an outstanding ride today; everyone thought he'd been psychologically crushed, but he's stormed back into a fantastic position. What Landis accomplished today was simply phenomenal.

"It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen in 20 years of cycling... Can you think of a comparable performance? This will go down as one of the greatest rides in the history of the Tour."

"Floyd Landis' Stage 17 ride on Thursday was the most amazing ride I have ever seen in my life and will go down as one of the best rides of all time..."

Let's call it a comeback.



Slow links:

• Musician in Beirut improvises minimalist piece to the sound of Israeli bombs. Really moving. How do people sleep through wars? Do people sleep through wars? And in related news, here's the Hezbollah's official website.
  
• Cartogram illustrating the location of liberal voters in the 2004 presidential election. It's interesting to note that in most cases 'blue states' do not exist, but rather blue voters are centered on metropolitan areas.
• Old picture book illustrated entirely with actual bird feathers.
• List of underground US bases. I'm especially intrigued by the tunnels under NYC that connect to the Capitol building in Washington.