(I took the above photo today at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts — I love Lightroom 3!)

We’ll be there, covering it live. Follow along at gdgt on Wednesday at 10AM Pacific.

American Taliban: How War, Sex, Sin, and Power Bind Jihadists and the Radical Right by Markos Moulitsas
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

As I was reading this book, I found myself struggling with how I ultimately felt about it. In some chapters, it was a stunning and enlightening exposé on the ridiculously absurd policies held by the extreme right of the political spectrum. But in other chapters, it resorted to simple and immature mockery.

One of the arguments of the book is how civil discourse in this country has been compromised by ignorant citizens, complicity mainstream media, and impotent politicians — which is a fair point. But I don’t see how highlighting the most ridiculous and extreme examples of the GOP and then rightly or wrongly comparing them to political groups that sponsor terrorism does anything to help the conversation.

My final issue with the book is that it offers no ideas or suggestions on ways to overcome the ignorant rage stirred up by the Tea Party other than simply saying that in the long run, they are fighting a losing battle against changing demographics. That’s great and all, but how can we effectively and rationally engage with these elements now? Sadly, the only answer this book seems to offer is, “you can’t.”

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Don’t get me wrong. I complain about the weather as much as anyone else, but the tweets flowing from my fellow San Francisco citizens in the past few days are kind of amazing in both quantity and content.

A few from my friends.

Maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised at this — but I’m kind of in awe that biking home from downtown San Francisco (entirely uphill, mind you) is faster than taking a bus.

GPS info riding my bike:

GPS info while riding the bus:

Here are the times:
* Bike – 2.64 miles in ~18 minutes, 8.62 mph average.
* Bus – 2.35 miles in ~20 minutes, 7.06 mph average.

(It might seem like I’m cherry picking, but I’ve recorded data from a number of different days. The bicycle is always faster!)

Times recorded using Runmeter for the iPhone.

I noticed that someone reached my site via the following Google query: “Dave Schumaker ugly”

I object to that description! I believe the correct phrase is “horrible faces.”

It’s a face that not even a mother could love.

Oh, you crazy spammers.

This is one of my favorite photos that I’ve taken with my phone. My *phone*.

Technology is crazy!

Slowly but surely, we’re moving ever closer to equality for all. There’s still a lot left to do, but it’s encouraging.

My sister and I have been playing a little game that involves texting each other a sentence based on Dictionary.com’s word of the day.

It’s especially fun when we start trash talking each other using past words of the day.

This weekend, I went camping and canoeing on the Russian River with friends. Near the town of Guerneville, I had an interesting case of real life deja vu.

Standing in front of an RV park near town was a giant statue of Paul Bunyan. How giant was he? I am standing in front of him, for scale.

You might be wondering why this is notable, or why anyone would even care.

I actually grew up near another large Paul Bunyan statue, located in the small town of Mentone. It was the strangest thing to see, heading to school or back home every day. A large statue of the infamous lumberjack, just sitting in front of someone’s yard. It’s still there today!

Here’s a photo I took while visiting my parents a few years ago (yes, that’s also a Statue of Liberty head sitting on top of a roof). It’s nearly identical!

What sort of madness is this? A flaw in the matrix perhaps?