Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Excitement of various sorts

With two hours left to go, Keisse and De Ketele are in the lead in Rotterdam. Click here to get updates or watch live here. According to reports it has been one of the most exciting six-day races in the history of the Rotterdam track. Keisse and De Ketele had started out in the lead but then lost a few spots, only to regain them last night. If they win, UCI will surely step in to invalidate the results! How much better can it get?

In other news Danilo Di Luca offered to ride for free for Katusha but that too UCI won't allow. Riders must be paid, the union says. One could argue that it is a good thing that UCI looks after the interests of professional riders. However, their dogged pursuit to rob those it deems unworthy from any and all income puts the good intentions into perspective.

Meanwhile BART riders in San Francisco's shopping district were once again served a special treat this weekend. Thousands took to the public subway in their underwear in the No Pants Subway Ride. The international event has been going on since 2001 and has its own FaceBook page (of course!). It is the type of event that has a great following in the city.

The scene at Powell St. Station in San Francisco this weekend

Market St. in front of Nordstrom

A little distance away from all that excitement healthcare investors and company executives were pondering the future of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology in the nation's most important Health Care conference of the year.

Dealmaking at the St Francis on Union Square
Although most in the pharmaceutical and managed care sector stand to gain big from what is affectionately called ObamaCare, yesterday's keynote speaker at the investor event showed just how contentious the whole healthcare issue is. Despite the sorry state of the US Healthcare System, to which I have personally been a witness -and subject- a number of times, several people in the audience voiced their resentment at any attempt to change it. Many suspect these individuals were either insurance executives in disguise or tea party loyalists crashing the event.

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