Full text as prepared for delivery:

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.

I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he's fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the Vice President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nation's next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House. And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my campaign manager David Plouffe, my chief strategist David Axelrod, and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics - you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington - it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.

It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.

I know you didn't do this just to win an election and I know you didn't do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor's bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House - a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, "We are not enemies, but friends...though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection." And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

For that is the true genius of America - that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing - Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.

Trepte pulls out a drill and bores down. Suddenly, water erupts. The tank is already full and pressurized — water must be flowing in through a broken vent on the underwater side of the ship. It sprays furiously. They have unwittingly caused the worst thing possible: The deepest cargo hold is flooding.

In an instant, Trepte covers the hole with the tip of a finger and presses hard. The sound of gushing water abruptly stops, and the shouts and curses of the moment before echo through the hold. Salt water drips off Mazdas, and the panic the men all felt transforms into a contagious laugh.

Trepte is keeping the ship afloat with one finger.

"Well, I guess the tank is already full," Reed chuckles.

"Very funny," Trepte says. "Now whyn't some of you smart chaps go figure out how to fix this bloody mess."

I caught a link to this photo-montage today. I'm always such a sucker for pretty lights in the sky.

Howard Nemerov said “Nothing in the universe can travel at the speed of light, they say, forgetful of the shadow’s speed.” But what about the amazing effects and contrasts of light and dark. In their invisible race to the finish line, what effects or phenomena do they create? We decided to explore 20 of the most stunning images for your viewing pleasure

It hit home the moment I felt the hand on my shoulder. When I turned around, I was eye to eye with my friend and Bassmaster Elite pro, Kevin Short.

He said to me: "DB, you want to know horrible? Horrible is having to write your own daughter's obituary."

That would be the exact definition of "horrible."

As I drove down the country road to I-40 and back to Little Rock, I tried to watch the fireflies dance in the hazy early evening misty fields of Mayflower, Ark., but I couldn't -- because away from Kevin and Kerry Short, from behind wraparound Gargoyle sunglasses worn at night, I was bawling like a baby, knowing that my friends lived through the phone call no parent ever wants to get.

That March 22, 2004 call was to tell them their 19-year-old daughter, Michelle Short, was dying in an emergency room bed. As a parent, that situation is just unimaginable.

Because if my son, Jimmy, is my heart, my daughter, Ashley, is my soul & and that's why I cried through the firefly-lit night.

Earlier this year, a pre-school classmate and friend of my four year-old was killed in a tragic accident. In the aftermath for that family and the greater community of the school itself, I came face to face with how fleeting the everyday moments in life as parents, ones which I so often take for granted, truly are. Time has passed for the Short's, but I know a bit more from experiences of the last six months that, when dealing with the loss of a child, "healing" is a relative term.

My deepest respect to the Short family for their bravery in putting a public face on the the healing of a very private hurt.

While I still subscribe to all of the feeds from sites like Bassfan, ESPN Outdoors, and the like I mostly mark them as read in my RSS Feed Reader and go back later to catch up when I have spare moment.

Don Barone sent me an email back in April announcing his new site and some articles he had posted as he travelled on the road following the Bassmaster and Women's Bassmaster Tours this year. I took some time to catch up on the older articles this weekend and, in true Barone fashion, his commentary kept me in stitches. For posterity and by way of an apology to him for not keeping up, here's a few of the highlights from the past six months:

North of The Creel Limit - Barone Takes Ride on the WBT Release Boat

"Then Chris reaches inside the bass bullies' holding pen, finds a rope and pulls. The pen goes nuts, with bass jumping all over the place. The rope is attached to a trap door and when Chris pulled it, river met bass once again and in seconds, all that was left was an empty pen.

And about a 100 yards downstream, two guys sitting quietly with lines in the water, were about to have a very good day."

Through the Wringer - Brian Clark has a Unique Boat Security System

"She guards my boat at night from people coming by thinking they can snatch up something. I put her food out and her water and lay her dog bed down on the front deck and she sleeps right there all night, and man, you ain't getting near that boat."

KVD & the caveman - Meet "Happy" White

"Happy" came from a CAVE. An underground CAVE!

For the past 28 years "Happy" worked for the Schreiber Cheese Company. "For the first 12 years I ran the machine that made those individually wrapped cheese slices."

At this point I'm pretty much speechless, me and my tape recorder just sat there listening.

"db, it was a pretty complicated device & the cheese would come in one end, mix all up with the wrapping, and come out the other end as individually wrapped slices."

He stops talking, we're sitting in his truck, it's about 95 degrees out with what ever the most humidity can be without flooding. There's silence, "Happy" being the interviewee quite naturally is expecting me, the guy asking the questions, to SAY SOMETHING.

Here's my follow-up question: "So what did you do the other 16 years."

"I worked in the cave."

Bass Babies - db gets invited to a... baby shower?

I'm shuffling down the hall when I run, actually sort of bounce off, Elite Pro Paul Hirosky, who's all perky-like AT THIS TIME of what I still consider LAST NIGHT, and he says to me, "So what's up with you today," or something like that. I say exactly this, "I'm going to a Baby Shower later."

Silence.

db: "They have Cake."

The Elite Pro guy: "Ohhhhh."

The Elite Pro guy is out the door in a flash with a big bag of ice that I'm assuming has to do with something fish-related

biscuits and crankbaits - db explores a southern tradition

But here's the SERIOUS part: later, when I asked someone who lives just down the road here, "What the hell was that?" and we got to talking about eating biscuits and something called "turnip greens," he told me EXACTLY this, I wrote it down: "It's SOOOO good that if you go to getting any of the food on your forehead, your tongue will slap your brains out getting to it."

Enjoy! I always do. Thanks, Don. I'll do a better job keeping up from now on.

If you want to see what I've been up to in my "other life" you can do so here. Here's a few remainders that I've been meaning to blog, but just haven't had a moment to flush out with meaningful content:

Floating Fishing Gazebo

Looking for a unique alternative to your gas guzzling boat? Look no further.

Top Ten Canadian Camping Destinations

Add each one of these to my "someday" list!

Relief for the Rural Broadband Problem?

The gem:

Intel® has announced plans to sell a specialized Wi-Fi platform later this year that can send data from a city to outlying rural areas tens of miles away, connecting sparsely populated villages to the Internet. The wireless technology, called the rural connectivity platform (RCP), will be helpful to computer-equipped students in poor countries, says Jeff Galinovsky, a senior platform manager at Intel.

And quite possibly rural areas of America, I dare say. Maybe my dad can finally get off dial-up.

Stunning Photos of Shipwrecks and Sea Disasters

This one is a bit disorienting...

The Obama Doctrine

What the far-right pundits and their parrots can't stipulate or acknowledge is that, aside from his stirring speeches, what he's proposing as a leader is a stronger and more comprehensive foreign policy stance for this country than we've seen since - well - Reagan's Cold War strategy:

An inextricable part of that doctrine is a relentless and thorough destruction of Al-Qaeda. Is this hawkish? Is this dovish? It's both and neither -- an overhaul not just of our foreign policy but of how we think about foreign policy. And it might just be the future of American global leadership.

McCain's Consistency Problem

I think very highly of John McCain - I still do. His behavior over the last five years, though, has been increasingly erratic as can't seem to resolve his internal conflict of being a good soldier for his party and following his own conscience. I don't think he will be able to resolve that conflict until the Republican party moves back toward the center from it's current far right, one note, no compromise stance.

Online Continuing Education goes 2.0

Pimping my own stuff here, but earlier this spring I completed a code architecture overhaul and major redesign for one of my main clients. I think it turned out pretty nice - and on the technical side the code runs like a scalded dog.

Peeps Show

Save that one for next easter - and watch for another installment of the annual Peeps art competition.

The cost of CAFOs

The photo below is an example of what happens when liquified manure is sprayed on tiled or frozen fields. That brown stuff flowing on top of the ice of this formerly pristine stream is raw, liquefied manure. America has an emerging and growing water quality crisis and it's happening in small streams like the Wolf in South Eastern Michigan and likely much nearer your home than you think.

This rainbow� was visible over much of the area and was noticed by many people.� It was seen as a partial bow in some areas and completely full and even double in others depending on where the rain was falling.� The photos on this page were taken at the Elam Bend Conservation Area near McFall, Missouri.

The pilot's handling of the crab was by the book. So was what he tried to do 38-40 seconds into the clip: "kick in the rudder," which means quickly swinging the plane's nose around so that, at the instant it touches the ground, it is pointing straight ahead along the runway's axis. Kick out of the crab too early, and the plane will drift sideways off the runway before it touches down, risking a crash on the tarmac. Kick out of the crab too late, and the wheels will still be pointed sideways when they strike the runway, also likely causing a crash.

The pilot crabs the airplane's gear down toward the runway, and kicks the rudder in just barely in time. When everything goes wrong, he does one last thing exactly right: engines are immediately and instinctively thrown in full power to get the airplane as far as possible away from where the danger is: close to the ground

Here's the vid, which is both scary and awe-inspiring:

Via Flickr by imjan.

A nice collection of nature desktop wallpapers over on Flickr.

The one of Glacier National Park in Montana, is also very striking.

The tiny indigenous Kofan community of Santa Rosa de Guamuez in Colombia had it hard enough with pressures from settlers on their reservation, without Roundup Ultra containing Cosmoflux 411F, a weedkiller that is being sprayed on their villages in a concentration 100 times more powerful than is permitted in the United States.

Aurelio, a Kofan village elder, shows us around his village. The Kofan have been here 500 years. Now it looks as though their time is up. Pineapples are stunted and shriveled. The once green banana plants are no more than blackened sticks. The remains of a few maize plants can be seen here and there, but the food crops have been devastated. There is hunger at Santa Rosa. He is close to despair.

Colombian babies and children are falling ill. Peasants, already miserably poor, are getting hungrier. Indigenous tribes are being torn apart and whole communities pushed into exile.

The argument is there to be made that somehow these people are in cahoots with the Drug Lords and there may be some of that in places.

Thing is though, when the chemicals we're paying to drop are making kids chronically sick and what's below becomes their class art project, we might want to re-think how we are allocating funds to this project (It started back in the Clinton years and carried through to the Bush Administration so it's not a partisan thing - despite the title of the linked article):