Just 36 days until game day.

The scorecard on Pac-10 football recruiting for 2010, suggests that Stanford is really running away with the sheer size of their class:

1. Stanford, 23 recruits (4 - 4 stars / 15 - 3 stars / 2 - 2 stars / 2- unranked)
2. USC, 12 recruits (7 - 4 stars / 4 - 3 stars / 1 - JC transfer)
3. Washington, 13 recruits (3 - 4 stars / 8 - 3 stars / 1 - 2 stars / 1 - unranked)
4. California, 9 recruits (6 - 4 - stars / 3 - 3 stars)
5. ASU, 8 recruits (2 - 4 stars / 5 - 3 stars / 1 JC transfer)
6. UCLA, 7 recruits (3 - 4 stars / 3 - 3 stars / 1 JC transfer)
7. Oregon, 5 recruits (3 - 4 stars / 2 - 3 stars)
8. Arizona, 7 recruits (5 - 3 stars / 2 - 2 stars / 1 - unranked)
9. Washington State, 7 recruits (4 - 3 stars / 1 - 2 stars / 2 - unranked)
10. Oregon State, 5 recruits (4 - 3 stars / 1 - 2 stars)

The Big-12 and SEC are beating everyone else by a huge margin. Florida, Alabama, LSU, Texas and Oklahoma are easily the top 5 schools right now. USC's recruiting appears to have been hurt badly by the changes at coaching (creating uncertainty) and the fears of what might result from the NCAA's investigation of the Reggie Bush affair.

It's going to be hard to beat those teams in the upcoming years, folks.

Another sunset.

It didn't go above 100° today, so the the streak ended at 3 days of 100°F+. But the temps are still warm, in the mid-upper 90's. Tonight, I noticed this strange glowing spot over the area where the sun had just set. It wasn't exactly a cloud, but a glowing-red spot, and down below where the sun was setting, orange.

Record Heat Wave in Portland.

10:54 PM Update: It's 82°F outside. The stagnate, warm air makes for great colors at sunset, to be sure...this was taken around 9:15 tonight. Thank God for central air heating/cooling; it'll be another long, hot Summer night in Portland.

7:31 PM Update: It's 101°F, and no one is sitting outside restaurants and Starbucks. Not many people are walking outside too. Normally on a Summer evening, this restaurant below would be packed with people outside. Today's official high: 106°F. One degree shy of tying the record, and tomorrow is supposed to be warmer.

5:34 PM Update:Fell asleep. Got up, surfed the net, and just now, I checked the temperature over at Accuweather. The image speaks for itself.

9:15 AM Update: It's 80°F outside. Sun is shining bright, and not a cloud in the sky. Who says it rains too much in Portland?

6:45 AM Update - The sun just peeked above the buildings, and it actually dropped a degree to 76°F! I doubt it'll get any cooler, now that the sun is out.

6:30 AM, and it's already 77°F. It never actually cooled down lower than 72, as far as I could tell. It's gonna be a record scorching day.

Gates versus Crowley, live on PPV.

Well, no. But it's the most talked about thing going on, besides health care reform, or a lack thereof.

It turns out that Officer Crowley was previously assigned to teach other officers about how to NOT profile people based on race. In this sense, Professor Gates was completely wrong about Officer Crowley, and should fully apologize for the insulting remarks and accusations he yelled to Officer Crowley at the time.

BUT (and this is a HUUUUUGE BUT)... Officer Crowley is still wrong.

Having taught other officers about racial profiling, he should have known fully WHY Gates would have been upset at the very notion that he present his ID to an officer that was standing on his property. That's inexcusable.

But that's not everything.

You see, Officer Crowley contradicted himself. In an interview with a radio station, Crowley tells the interviewer that he asked Gates to step outside of the house because he was concerned for his own safety. But in the written police report, Crowley specifically wrote, "My reason for wanting to leave the residence was that Gates was yelling very loud and the acoustics of the kitchen and foyer were making it difficult for me to transmit pertinent infonnation to ECC or other responding units."

But wait, there's more.

In that same report, Officer Crowley contradicted himself. The first part of the police report, Crowley wrote that, "Gates...was placed under arrest...after being observed exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior, in a public place." Later in the report, Officer Crowley clearly states that he, "stepped up the stairs, onto the porch and attempted to place handcuffs on Gates." So why did i specifically note the "public place"? Officer Crowley arrested Professor Gates for disorderly conduct. According to Massachussets General Law, Chapter 272 Section 54, such an offense can only occur if the offending person, " is found in a public way or other public place". Further, Cambridge Municipal Code section 9.08.010 states, "No person shall behave himself in a rude or disorderly manner, or use any indecent, profane or insulting language in any street or public place. No person shall make or cause to be made, any unnecessary noise or noises in any public street, private way or park, so as to cause any inconvenience or discomfort for the inhabitants of the City." In this case, "private way" refers to private streets. Clearly Officer Crowley was using the proper coded language to make a prima facie case for arresting Gates. But of course, Gates was on his porch that entire time, and it was Officer Crowley who walked back, onto Gates' porch to arrest him. This is the real reason why the charge was dropped by the DA. Officer Crowley arrested Gates improperly on private property. Forgive my French, but Officer Crowley was using legal code to cover his ass.

But wait, that's still not the end of it.

Officer Crowley contradicted himself a THIRD time. In that same radio interview, he commented that he requested a driver's license to verify that Gates was the resident of that address (as opposed to a picture ID to verify his identity). Again, in his written report, Officer Crowley neglected to mention this, but rather, specifically said that, "With the Harvard University identification in hand, I radioed my findings to ECC on channel two and prepared to leave." Now clearly, the two stories do not match.

But again, that's not all of it.

You see, Officer Crowley could have ratcheted down the situation by simply apologizing for the inconvenience and walking away, but he didn't. If you are like me, it is absolutely incomprehensible WHY he would call University Police after identifying Gates as the rightful resident of the home. And, it is also inconceivable that, after Officer Crowley had walked nearly to the sidewalk, would turn around and brandish his handcuffs, when he could have simply continued to walk away. So what, if Gates was yelling at him; ignore it.

And so, folks, I think Officer Crowley owes Professor Gates an apology just as much as he deserves one from Professor Gates. And quite frankly, I think Officer Crowley is getting a pass by the press, considering all the lies that he has told.

College Football is just 45 days away!

USC apparently has filled out their future schedules through 2013, and I love their non-conference schedule:

Boston College
Hawaii
Minnesota
Notre Dame (obviously)
Syracuse
Virginia

This is the list of USC's non-conference games during Pete Carroll's era:

Arkansas
Auburn
BYU
Colorado
Colorado State
Fresno State
Hawaii
Idaho
Kansas State
Nebraska
Notre Dame (obviously)
Ohio State
San Jose State
Virginia
Virginia Tech

By comparison, here's Florida's non-conference schedule the past 5 years:

Charleston Southern
Central Florida
Florida Atlantic
Florida International
Florida State
Hawaii
Louisiana Tech
Miami
Southern Miss
The Citadel
Troy
Western Carolina
Western Kentucky
Wyoming

Big difference, huh?

Was up early on Sunday morning - technically speaking, I fell asleep at 10:30 pm, woke up at 2:00 am, fell back to sleep at 9:00 am, and woke again at 1:30 pm. As I was drawing on my computer, I saw the sky's colors, and I assembled my camera and tripod. Had barely enough juice in the camera...but I got a few shots off. Was trying to work the HDR function in Photoshop, but it just didn't work out.

Didya ever notice...?

That most of us have gotten into the habit of ending sentences with, "So" or "But"?

Example:

"I ate the entire pie, so...."
"Yeah, I was sleeping about that time, but..."

Listen to the television when they do interviews on the news or when you're talking to people; nearly everyone trails off their sentences at some point, this way.

Read about this guy - a one man band called Roche Limit - who created his own video utilizing SketchUp.





via SketchUp Blog

"Elite" Security at Comic Con in San Diego.

A friend of mine (ex-coworker and co-unemployed) sent me a link to a site that complained about ComicCon down in San Diego. Because of my sharp eyes, I was keenly aware that one of the photos, specifically of the "Elite" security folk, had been altered with Photoshop, such that, the true person's identity had been changed. Conspiracy? Maybe. But fortunately for you, I uncovered the truth!

See here, this is the photo prominantly shown of an "Elite" security person. But clearly it was altered.

But after some careful reconstruction, I was able to discover the true identity of this "Elite" security person. See?

What will Holder do?

US Attorney General Eric Holder is considering whether or not to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate torture violations.

The problem with going ahead with such an investigation, is that if it results in prosecutions, it allows bonafide terrorists to claim that the US violated the laws and therefore evidence must be thrown out. This is a practical consideration, to be sure.

But in the longer scale of time, if we do not prosecute those who violated the US Constitution, we risk giving relief to future Administrations to violate the US Constitution at will.

That being said, Dick Cheney professes that the torture was necessary to extract information that prevented attacks. Curiously, Dick didn't explain how frequently torture FAILED to produce actionable information. And, if Dick was correct - that actionable intel came from torture, then what does that say about the quality of our abilities of spying? Is Dick saying that all those illegal wiretaps, in effect, weren't necessary after all?

Tired of hearing the media attack Google.

I just read David Lazarus over at LA Times opine about his concerns over Google's growth and push into the OS market.

But for me, it's just a bunch of nonsense. What Lazarus is proposing, is that we should be worried about Google becoming an ogre, when in fact we already have an ogre in the room: Microsoft. Google has a dominant market position in one area, Search (81%). Microsoft on the other hand, has three dominant market positions in productivity software (80~95%), desktop OS (94%) and browsers (64%). Let alone, Microsoft has broader market infiltration with Zune, XBox360, their own media player software with DRM installed with every windows OS, is already in cars (Ford Sync), and controls 28% of the server market compared to Google's 4%.

Someone kick the DOJ and the media in the groin for keeping an open ear to Microsoft's sweet whispers; these people are completely ignorant of just how small Google is in comparison to Microsoft.

Human in a petri dish...nothing but stem cells.

According to Bloomberg News, scientists have created sperm from stem cells. It won't be long before scientists create embryos from stem cells, insert the sperm into the embryo, and voila: human in a petri dish, nothing but stem cells.

This reminds me of the whole Stargate SG1 series, where the Asgard have used technology to extend their lives and repair their bodies, such that they can no longer reproduce, and their DNA is slowly decaying...I wonder if we're headed down that road, some 1000 years from now?

Hmmm.

Spammers go on vacation too.

I noticed a trend that has continued today...spammers go on vacation. My spam box numbers have dropped dramatically, from 25-30 a day, down to 5-7. Clearly the majority of spammers are good ol Americans, after all. Just like many other Americans, they too must travel to visit family and friends, and can't sit at a computer on holidays, spamming.

Yikes. That's a big sales tax bite in Los Angeles. But don't you worry, Los Angelinos, for King County in Washington (think Seattle) is not that far behind, at 10%, and you've been beaten to the punch by Cook County in Illinois, where some areas are as high as 11.50%.

Of course, those don't take into account the taxes for car rentals and hotel stays...which are higher than sales taxes. Why even in Oregon, Multnomah County (think Portland) the vehicle rental tax has just gone up to 17%.

Ouch! The problem is, many of these tax rates weren't written in with a sunset clause, and therefore are difficult to ratchet back down, once the budget crises pass.

Taxes should always have a sunset clause, requiring a periodic review and renewal. Over time, you will notice that we have tax crawl, where governments will find ways to spend your tax and expand their purpose and ignore the needs of society. Now, some libraries have Wii and Playstation rooms. This concerns me greatly that the Democratic Party is growing arrogant and failing to address the basic needs of society. Why are we willing to buy Wiis and Playstations, but not provide for health care of the uninsured? Now, I know how this works; different departments make a budget and if they don't spend all their money by the end of the year, it goes back into the general fund. So consider, that in essence, if libraries spend their excess on Wiis, the city has less money in the pot, which in turn appeals to the state for more funds (distributed under property tax collections), and in turn squeezes the state's funds. Ultimately, the Wii's cost goes up the chain and cuts money out of the big pot that could have been spent on addressing larger societal issues. That's very distressing.