From VeloNews:

On a disappointing note, the peloton will have one less rider today, as Barloworld's Moises Duenas has been pulled from the Tour de France after a urine sample provided after stage 4 showed signs of (what else?) EPO.

Would you all please STOP TAKING DRUGS!? I don't even care about Moises Duenas, whom I'd never heard of before this VeloNews report. It's just--every rider I care about keeps getting bumped from the Tour because of drugs, and I wish they'd all just LEARN already. There's a long list of people who aren't in the Tour this year, who should be, and I'm finding it very hard to care about Cadel Evans and Alejandro Valverde and whoever the hell else is in the running for the GC. I thought I was going to care about the points competition because, you know, Thor Hushovd, but it doesn't even seem like he's competing for it. So this continues to be the most boring Tour EVAR.

Because I am in a very bad mood, here is a very pretty picspam of people who should be in the Tour and aren't:

( Remember these guys? They're actually interesting! )

Okay, I'm enjoying the pretty, but now I'm really depressed. *sigh*

Wow. I don't know how they even called the stage today. Check this out:

( Stage 8 Photo Finish )

They gave it to Pieter Weening, but I really think that was a tie if there ever was a tie. Weening is on the far side. Andreas Klöden is closest to the camera, in pink.

It's interesting that Armstrong ended up in the front group, but his teammates didn't. It didn't hurt anything, but it could have if he'd needed help. And, woo! Ullrich's in the top 10 for the first time this Tour! Looks like this is going to be an exciting Tour. Phil & Paul say the only way any of the GC contenders can hope to beat Armstrong is to just keep attacking over and over again, like they did today.

GIP! It's Ivan Basso! And he's wearing jeans! And there's bikes!

I had a lovely evening. Went to see Batman Begins, which I totally loved. I have issues with Rachel, but I figure Bruce is better off without her. It had great music, and I loved the special effects anytime someone got hit with the panic gas. They were integrated, not screaming "SEE I AM A WONDERFUL HIGH TECH SPECIAL EFFECT THAT COST A LOT OF MONEY." The jokes were usually pretty predictable, but still quite funny. This was kind of what I wanted Spiderman to be as far as backstory. They focused on motivation and darkness and trying to decide what he's supposed to become, perfectly done.

Then I went to Barnes & Noble. The new issue of Bitch is out, so of course I bought that. I also bought a book called Teenage Waistland: A Former Fat Kid Weighs In on Living Large, Losing Weight, and How Parents Can (and Can't) Help. I started it in the store and got interested. The beginning, at least, talks about how the author became obsessed with food, first dieting too much and then eating too much. And it seems like to me that one of the worst things you can do is decide you want to lose weight and then become so obsessed with it that your whole life becomes about food. It bothers me when I hear people go on and on about what they *shouldn't* eat or how fat they are, because that kind of preoccupation doesn't help.

Now I'm watching today's Tour de France. Yesterday--wow. That huge pile-up at the end was just awful. It didn't even look like hitting each other was what made them crash, just that their brakes weren't catching because of the wet pavement. Anyway, because it brings me (and probably picara) joy, I've collected some pictures from the Tour.

( Tour de France picspam )

That was showing restraint, as far as 'pictures of Ivan Basso looking really hot' goes, anyway. Perhaps I'll leave that to picara, if she wants to do it.

First, some background. Most libraries have a Collection Development Policy, which is a set of guidelines for deciding what goes into the library collection. Usually it will say what formats they don't collect, like Reader's Digest Condensed Books or textbooks.

I've had to read quite a few collection development policies recently, and most public library policies say they don't collect spiral-bound books. This is odd, because the only reason I could think of for omitting spiral-bound books is that they don't fit right on the shelves or tend to fall apart more quickly than hardback books. But we collect lots of other things that don't fit right on the shelves or fall apart quickly (giant art books, magazines).

Dr. Akin cleared this one up for us. The reason public libraries added this to collection development policies is because of this book. They wanted to avoid having to buy Madonna's book, and since it's spiral-bound they just decided to say that don't buy spiral-bound books. And so it remains, 13 years later. *shakes head*

I really really need to do laundry, but I don't have time till Wednesday. I have to do my Collection Development assignments tonight and go to class tomorrow night. Wednesday's my day off, though I've already got two appointments that day. And I need to find some time to get ahead so I can go to Shawnee next weekend.

I'm attempting to acquire several new shows this summer. Trouble is, I'm not used to having appointment television anymore, so I tend to forget to watch things until a couple hours too late, when I then shout "damn it!" at myself. Because it's the end of the world when one misses a television show. I'm trying to start watching House, which comes on while I'm in class Tuesday nights. That means I have to remember to record it, which has so far not happened. Heck, I don't even know if I LIKE House, because I have yet to remember to watch it. I've watched Lost once, because picara claims I need to get into it. Morgan Spurlock, the guy who made Supersize Me, has a new show called 30 Days, which I'm also trying to remember to watch. Wednesday night again. It just premiered last week, so I have watched every single episode of it. HA! July will be the Tour de France. I have no idea how I'm going to find time to do schoolwork, what with the three hours a day of Tour coverage I need to watch. Lance! Ivan Basso! Thomas Voeckler! Fabian Cancellara! Floyd Landis! Phil & Paul, who are somarriedomg!

I have much much love for Lotion by the Greenskeepers. I don't have an .mp3, since I bought it from iTunes, but maybe I'll get around to creating one here eventually so others can experience the wonder of a song based on The Silence of the Lambs.

TDFBlog just posted this. Nothing new on Tyler, really, just a reminder that he's still fighting the blood doping allegations. The New York Times apparently did a story on the controversy and Tyler's response to it. I really want to believe Tyler, but the evidence against him seems pretty clear. That's why I've been trying not to think about it. The Times piece, while it does include some quotes from the people accusing Tyler, is very sympathetic to Tyler's situation. Maybe that's why I suddenly feel so sorry for him. His whole life is cycling, and he might be about to lose that. Even if he doesn't get suspended (which, yeah, he probably will), this controversy will follow him for the rest of his career. He wants to win the Tour next year. And I want that for him. But if he did this...man, it'll be hard to ever respect him like I did in 2003, when he took 4th place in the Tour with a broken collarbone.

I just now started thinking--if Lance doesn't ride the Tour in 2005, who do I want to win? It would have been Tyler, but I doubt he'll be allowed to race. It'd probably be nice for Ullrich to get a win, but I can't say I really care all that much about him. Basso could come back and do well. I wouldn't mind that. I guess we still have to see who's leading the Discovery Channel team, if Lance isn't. (And I don't know if he's made up his mind.) It's going to be a weird Tour, anyway.