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Mimus Pauly over at skippy’s place is soliciting entries for a list of the 100 greatest Americans.

Personally I have felt that the greatest Americans are those who have what it takes to survive and raise a family. They are generally not known outside of a small circle of family and friends, but they pay the taxes and provide the sweat that has made the United States a country.

Consider that Napoleon’s life would have been exceedingly short without an army willing to follow his orders.

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As Mustang Bobby points out, today is Thanksgiving in Canada, and, in some places, Columbus Day.

To celebrate Columbus Day today your state must agree to the Federal timing and ignore the original October 12^th date. This usually means that you have a significant Italian-American presence in your state, for they embrace Christoforo Colombo.

Some Hispanic groups also embrace Cristobal Colon, but I have a hard time celebrating a guy who was in serious error about the length of trip, failed to find what he was looking for, Japan, and misidentified what he had found as India.

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Driverless VW wins $2 million robot race: Stanley a Volkswagen Touareg modified by a team from Stanford University took 6 hours 53 minutes to complete the 132-mile course and take first prize in the The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s [DARPA] Grand Challenge Race through a course in the Mojave Desert.

In second place was a red Humvee from Carnegie Mellon University called Sandstorm, followed by a customized Hummer called H1ghlander. Coming in fourth was a Ford Escape Hybrid named Kat-5, designed by students in Metairie, Louisiana, who lost about a week of practice and some lost their homes when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.

The vehicles were totally autonomous, not remotely controlled, and had to deal with natural and man-made obstacles.

This year 5 vehicles finished the course, while last year no vehicle was able to travel more than 8 miles before breaking down, or being blocked.

DARPA funds a lot of basic research that can result in useful things – like the Internet.

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Pensacola Beach is the western end of the barrier island south of me, and the Pensacola Beach Blogger is something anyone who has been clobbered by a hurricane should read. The latest entry deals with insurance companies finally paying people for the damaged caused by hurricane Ivan over a year ago.

There are also real world posts about life with FEMA, getting things re-built, the changes that are taking place. It’s reality after the storm, and you’re not going to like it.

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