10th Blog Anniversary

Ten years ago today, I started this little blog.  It grew and then became less but hasn't puttered out.

100 Books to read in your Life

A pretty good list from Amazon.  I've already read 42 of them and have another 10 or so on my shelf.  I don't know if this link will stay good or not but I hope it does.

2024 Olympics?

Next week the US Olympic Committee will decide if they'll bid on the 2024 Olympics (I'm betting they will) and may decide on which city they'll put forth to host.  There are four cities on the host list:

• Boston
• Los Angeles
• San Francisco
• Washington DC

I've long believed that if the US bids on 2024, they will win.  The US hasn't hosted an Olympics since Salt Lake City in 2002 and no summer games since Atlanta in 1996.  Given the importance that the US has, particularly in funding, a 28 year gap is a huge one.
So who gets the nod?  I have absolutely no insider knowledge but I'd like to make some guesses.  Pure speculation to follow.
San Francisco is an interesting choice.  The Bay Area is certainly beautiful.  I'm guessing (I haven't checked into it) that there are enough venues in NoCal to satisfy the sporting requirements.  Between the professional teams (six?) and the number of big time colleges, there must be.  Throw in the big money from Silicon Valley and it's a great region.  Plus, summer temps are reasonable.  The downside?  Traffic would be nightmarish and the region doesn't have nearly enough hotel capacity to handle something like the Olympics.  I'm guessing this would be the first city eliminated.
Los Angeles has hosted the Olympics twice before and done a very good job of it.  They've got the venues.  The city is kinda looking for an excuse to build a stadium (or two) so that it can bring the NFL back.  SoCal is much more distributed than the north.  The geography doesn't make traffic the same issue (though LA certainly has issues).  In the same way, the area is distributed enough that it has more hotel capacity.  I think that it gets knocked out because it has already hosted twice though.
Boston would be intriguing for many reasons.  The city itself would host, but realistically it would be a New England Olympics.  Again, the area has the venues, though it may have to spread the soccer a bit further down the coast.  Not a problem.  The history of the area would make it especially interesting.  The hotel capacity is an issue here though maybe not so much as to knock it out.  Boston also seems to have the most organized local opposition to the games.
Washington DC is (in my mind) the most likely.  From what I've seen they've put in the most cosmetically appealing bid.  DC has an enormous amount of clout and my guess is that the insider/outsider relationship between Congress and residents will mean that spending won't be an issue.  The city also has enormous history and pretty good hotel resources.  (I don't have any feel for traffic or infrastructure there.)  If I had to bet a nickle on the result, I'd place it firmly on the DC spot.

Little Known Christmas Music

There is a very nice article here, listing some little known Christmas music.  It's heavy on choir music, which is fine for me.  The article includes YouTube clips of the songs and they've been nice enough to put them into a playlist, which can be found here.
I don't think I know any of these, but I'm enjoying them.