All that was missing at the Tour of California team presentation and gala in Sausalito on Friday was an "Entertainment Tonight" crew to interview the stars and Joan Rivers to critique what they were wearing.

The 136 riders from 17 professional cycling teams were given the Hollywood-like red-carpet treatment, literally, when they arrived for the gala beneath a giant tent erected off Spinnaker Drive. After competing in a prologue in Palo Alto on Sunday, the world-class cyclists will kick off on Monday morning in downtown Sausalito to begin the first stage of the seven-stage, 650-mile race.

The Friday night "black tie and spandex" gala included a hanging bicycle museum above the crowd. It featured a bicycle built for five, an English Ordinary and a 1941 Schwinn Excelsior used in the first series of mountain bike races in Marin.

Tech Report: More from the SICI Symposium

Before moving on to less important matters, I'd like to acknowledge the passing on Monday of Sheldon Brown, one of the giants of bicycle maintenance, technology and general bicycle mechanical understanding.

Stories by Lennard Zinn

Before moving on to less important matters, I'd like to acknowledge the passing on Monday of Sheldon Brown, one of the giants of bicycle maintenance, technology and general bicycle mechanical understanding. He will be sorely missed, particularly for those seeking simple, ... .

Young DM inventor snatches spotlight

A Des Moines boy got a nice bit of free national advertising for his latest invention - The Snatcher - when he appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" last week.

Alek Luong's device, which he demonstrated on the daytime television talk show, is essentially a wide box with teeth that attaches to the front of a lawn mower. The box has wheels, and as the wheels turn, brushes push items such as dog poop, golf balls and walnuts into the box.

"The idea is to pick up things before they get to the lawn mower," said Alek, a fifth-grader at Lawson Elementary School in Johnston.

Is Homeland Security Too Focused on “Guns, Guards and Gates”?

September 11th was a brutal reminder that there are people out there who have the desire and means to kill us in a mass attack, and we have to stop them. "The best defense is a good offense", we like to say, but in this case it's a little trickier than that. We need an offense mindful of long-term gains and a defense more nuanced than smash-mouth football.

To better understand this quandry, I recently caught up with Juliette Kayyem, Undersecretary of Homeland Security for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and a former adviser with the National Commission on Terrorism.

'My Favorite Dog': Dueling Rhymers

I'm also not crazy about library supporters breaking their promise (made after key people in this town conspired to shoot down the community center advisory vote a few years back) not to seek public money for their building. However, I still believe this is an exceptional deal: $3 million will get you a $6.3 million building. Dunno when we'll get another chance to address this dire need. The public safety bond, on the other hand, is a no-brainer. Gotta have it.

I AM STILL A WRECK WHEN IT COMES TO EMOTIONS

He does not expect to get the final sign-off from his neurologist until September, two years after the accident.

He admits that he has suffered mortally with depression and confesses that he has lost all his coping mechanisms.

He still talks regularly to his psychiatrist.

Ultrafit: Icy beards, numb digits and derring-do

What: A self-supported 135-mile endurance race through Minnesota's Kabetogama and Sturgeon River state forests.