From the ABC a bit of news from Germany: Man fixing airbed blows up apartment.

This is why they have “Use in a well ventilated area” on the can – the fumes can blow-up your house.

In the US we blow-up houses and apartments by using insect foggers in Galveston and Sacramento. Actually it is more common than you might think.

More foggers does not equal a better job, it equals a higher concentration of the propane gas that is the propellant in insect foggers. They aren’t kidding when they tell you to extinguish pilot lights and unplug the refrigerator and air conditioner. Propane is heavier than air and requires more effort to ventilate an area than the previous propellants used.

“That’s the way it is” – he said it and most of the United States believed it.

The story from the CBS Evening News (obviously):

Walter Cronkite, who personified television journalism for more than a generation as anchor and managing editor of the “CBS Evening News,” has died Friday night in his New York home following a long illness, surrounded by family. He was 92.

Known for his steady and straightforward delivery, his trim moustache, and his iconic sign-off line -“That’s the way it is” – Cronkite dominated the television news industry during one of the most volatile periods of American history. He broke the news of the Kennedy assassination, reported extensively on Vietnam and Civil Rights and Watergate, and seemed to be the very embodiment of TV journalism.
…

Walter Leland Cronkite was born in St. Joseph, Missouri on November 4, 1916, the only child of a dentist father and homemaker mother. When he was still young, his family moved to Texas. One day, he read an article in “Boys Life” magazine about the adventures of reporters working around the world – and young Cronkite was hooked. He began working on his high school newspaper and yearbook and, in 1933, he entered the University of Texas at Austin to study political science, economic and journalism. He never graduated. He took a part time job at the Houston Post, left college to do what he loved: report.

He told the truth as he saw it, and became the most trusted man in the United States. The other networks had news shows, but CBS had the news. The network news has been going downhill since he left.

Heinrich Haussler of Germany took the stage and the red numbers with some impressive hustle on a day filled with changes and rain.

Update: Levi Leipheimer of the US didn’t start the stage; he had been running in fourth place overall. [I’ve learned that he broke his wrist in a minor crash at the end of stage 12.]

Franco Pellizotti took back the polka dot jersey from Egoi Martinez, and Thor Hushovd retrieved the green from Mark Cavendish.

1. Rinaldo Nocentini (I/AG2R) 53:30:30 [yellow jersey]
2. Alberto Contador (E/Astana) +:06
3. Lance Armstrong (US/Astana) +:08
4. Bradley Wiggins (GB/Garmin) +:46
5. Andréas Klöden (D/Astana) +:54
6. Tony Martin (D/Team Columbia) +01:00 [white jersey]
7. Christian Vande Velde (US/Garmin) +01:24
8. Andy Schleck (LUX/Saxo Bank) +01:49
9. Vincenzo Nibali (I/Liquigas) +01:54
10. Luis-Leon Sanchez (E/Caisse) +02:16

Selected Others:

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Trouble and Randy

Bandit, Nicky, and Cujo

Grandpuppy Pippin

[Editor: Staff to tuxedo cats and wrangler of chihuahuas. Randy has been waiting at the bridge since December of 2007.]

Friday Ark