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On this day, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of President Eisenhower's signing of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, which led to the creation of the Interstate Highway System. I am inclined to honor my favorite freeway, I-5.

Dear I-5,

Congratulations on the anniversary of your conception. We've known each other for so long, and I'm happy for you. We've seen bad weather and hundreds of accidents, but still you remain a reliable friend.

Sometimes too many people use you at once, usually between the hours of 4-6 p.m., and that pisses me off, but you are always determined to get me from point A to point B. I know you've seen many surgeries to keep you functioning, and I know there's more to come, and I thank you for taking the construction with a smile to help the rest of us.

Your friend,
Paolo

in

My boss David decided to declare June 27 "Nacho Libre Day" and take the entire office out to see the movie this afternoon. What a nice guy.

So, we're closing here in an hour and heading out. I demanded that Cari meet us at the movie with Hot Tamales in hand. Her life depends on it.

Read the company press release I wrote about this momentous occasion. It's a keeper.

in

In a meeting of wealth that made most countries tremble in awe, Bill Gates, the world's richest man, and Warren Buffet, the world's second richest man (unrelated to Jimmy Buffet of Margaritaville fame), announced today a donation by Buffet that will essentially double the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's annual financial distribution.

The Seattle-based foundation, which has assets of $29.1 billion, gave away $1.36 billion in 2005, and Buffet pledges approximately $1.5 billion annually.

To put it bluntly, that's a shitload of money that will be spent on world health, poverty and access to technology in developing countries. In the United States, the foundation focuses on education and technology in public libraries and has been a savior for Seattle schools.

Buffet's announcement comes just a week after Gates annouced he would be stepping down from his position at Microsoft to focus on the foundation. Call it a mid-life crisis for the 50-year-old Microsoft founder, or consider it a gift to humanity that one of the world's greatest minds is taking on the world's greatest problems. Now controlling the two deepest pockets in the world, Gates is up for the challenge, and his accomplishments could overshadow what he did with that little start-up called Microsoft.