Summer is in full swing. Yesterday, my friends Nick and TJ were at a Memorial Day barbecue with Nick's relatives. They paddled down the canal and made their way close to my house. When I found out that they were in a boat in the canal across the street, I went over to say hi. I soon found myself taking a ride with them and trying to keep far enough from the shore not to get hit by the things Mike was throwing but close enough for him to try. Later we played a game of pool at the Pompano Bowl, and then went to Hooters at Beach Place in Fort Lauderdale. Good times.

That's summer to me: having fun with your buds and not having to worry about school. But you know what else I've been doing? Historical research.

It all started a few months ago, when I heard that presidential hopeful John McCain might pick Florida Governor Charlie Crist to be his running mate. If Charlie Crist became Vice President, the Lieutenant Governor would take his place as governor. But I wondered: who was the Lieutenant Governor, anyway? I wouldn't recognize him if I bumped into him on the street, yet he's a heartbeat away from running the state. Okay, so it turns out it's this guy named Jeff Kottkamp. But that wasn't enough for me. Wanting to know more about the office of Lieutenant Governor of Florida, I delved deeper.

To make a long story short, I've been tending to some Wikipedia articles for various lt. govs. of the past. Luckily for me, there haven't been that many. (The office was created in 1865, abolished in 1885, and reintroduced in 1968.) But still, I've got lieutenant governor fever. I checked out a book about Florida history from the library so I'd be able to contribute some precious morsels of information like... dates and things. Seriously, the records for 19th century Florida lieutenant governors are spotty at best. They weren't such a big deal.

But a little Googling goes a long way. I've got to admit it's thrilling to start with little more than a name and end up with somebody's whole life story (including a picture). That's what happened when I created the article for E. C. Weeks (Lieutenant Governor from January 24 to December 27, 1870... apparently). I've now submitted it to be featured in the "Did You Know?" section of Wikipedia's main page. Will it make the cut? It seems to meet all the criteria. (Did you know that the Florida state comptroller refused to pay Lieutenant Governor E. C. Weeks his salary because he was not elected? I don't see how that couldn't make it. That's the kind of stuff they eat up.)

In researching this stuff, I've found a few resources particularly useful:

• Google Scholar allows you to search the text of digitized books. For public domain works, you can see the whole text.
• The New York Times: All the articles they've ever published are searchable, and the oldest ones (19th century) are available for free.
• Florida Photographic Collection: From the State Archives of Florida. They have two photos of E. C. Weeks. Very impressive.
• Find a Grave was the only place where I could find Weeks's date of death (and a picture of his tombstone to prove it).

Okay, that's enough.

This is the best thing ever. No, really. I Will Derive!

Here's a map of baseball team allegiances throughout the country. I didn't know the Marlins were so popular over such a large area. I didn't even know they were popular.

National Geographic reports that the oldest living tree has been found in Sweden. Well, sort of: its roots are 9,550 years old, but its trunk is a youthful 600. And I'd say it doesn't look a day over 550.

Summer is upon us, so check out the 11 Most Awful Museums to Visit This Summer.