Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Favorite early 80s ballads.

I liked girls from a very early age: nine.  I still remember how it all started in the third grade: I had my first crush on a swimming instructor (her name was Susan), and dreamt at night about saving girls in my class from the perils of space travel...one in particular: Marlys.  Unfortunately, most girls and my guy friends were fairly clueless for quite a few more years.  Once 7th grade came around, just about everyone was clued in, and oh the drama I got myself into, in just a matter of two years!  I had two girlfriends and two other girls who cried their eyes out in front of me, that I didn't pick them.

:O  Yikes!

So it turns out (and it's probably true for nearly everyone) that ballads (and other types of songs) can hold a lot of emotional memories (some might call it baggage) that come pouring back when you play those particular tunes.

Being that most of my love drama came about in the early 80s, I thought I'd go through my music collection and post a list of my favorite early 80s ballads (a point in time when it was all good, even when it was bad):

So maybe you're wondering - ahem, Beth - why Lionel Ritchie's "Hello" is off the list (I actually owned this on a 45 vinyl record).  It comes down to how I ended up associating that song with a breakup, and a weird sense of ambivalence.

Postscript: The list was actually 50% bigger before I sliced it down to the most memorable songs.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Apple's PR woes over labor continue.

People are having - surprise - mixed feelings about the NYT's second piece over Apple's labor issues in its outsourced manufacturing in China.

We skewered the tax (investment/deductibles) benefits that oil companies received when they were receiving record profits from sky-high oil prices; it only seems fair that we skewer Apple for its drive for ever-higher profits at the expense of others, right?

Here's my take (the salt in the wound):


Friday, January 27, 2012

Art spotted in Google Earth?

Or it might just be advertising for Murphy's Law bar in downtown Chandler, AZ.  I was zooming around looking for what's around in downtown Chandler - visiting there over the weekend - when I spotted this humorous rooftop work.


Thursday, January 26, 2012

The Merry go round at Jantzen Beach Mall.

Merry go round, at the Jantzen Beach Mall.  It's a scary place where you might not actually see another person inside for 100 feet.  Seriously.  It's worse than a ghost town.  More than half the shops are closed.


Cardboard light shades.

Cross-posted on my design blog -- click thru to read more about it.  Something I whipped up in a couple of hours.





Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Why America is losing ground.

This is a few days late, but I was working on a project deadline.

In a NYT article on Apple's manufacturing move to China, I think I can illustrate why America is losing ground.
“We don’t have an obligation to solve America’s problems." -- Anonymous Apple executive.
Corporate America has adopted a new ethic that overturns President Kennedy's ethos from his inaugural address, in which he stated, "Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country."

My take on the State of the Union.

According to President Obama, people should be responsible to the nation by:
  • Keeping jobs at home;
  • Helping companies keep jobs at home;
  • Cooperating in retraining people for the skills they need to meet the new realities of the world;
  • Paying the taxes you are supposed to pay, based on a progressive society;
  • Protecting the safety net social programs that are at the core of America, the compromise between the rich and everyone else;
  • Working together, but if that's not going to happen, the President is going to push ahead without help from Republicans;
  • Supporting the responsible deleveraging of debt.
The GOP response (why just one political party?):
  • There are dumb ideas (yes, Mitch Daniels really did say that), and the other side is full of them;
  • That rich people should not get special treatment, but deserve all the money they earn;
  • Obama's Administration made the economy worse;
  • That cutting debt and a smaller government is the way to grow the economy faster, because federal spending is crowding out private spending;
  • Only private spending can create jobs.
I couldn't help but think that Republicans must be self-conscious about criticism of their intelligence, to resort to using "dumb" as an adjective in a formal response to the SOTU address.  I've never heard such cheap, rank language in their response, before.

Does this mean the GOP is going to assert their party as the party of higher intelligence, in the 2012 campaign?

Heh.

Some Republican myths.

MYTH #1: Federal spending is out of control under the Obama Administration.

REALITY: Federal spending's contribution to total US GDP, peaked at the height of the federal stimulus program, then began to shrink, under the Obama Administration and Democratic control of Congress.  Meanwhile, under Republican control of Congress and the Bush Administration, federal spending's contribution to the total US GDP continued to grow, nearly unabated every quarter.



MYTH #2: Federal spending crowded out private spending, resulting in lower economic expansion under the Obama Administration.

REALITY: Non-federal GDP recovered faster under the Obama Administration and Democratic control of Congress than under the Bush Administration and Republican control of Congress.  In fact, the quarter immediately following the 2003 Bush tax cuts, GDP (minus federal spending) shrank.  Sorry, but Q4-2011 data is not yet available.

MYTH #3: Employment suffered under the Obama Administration.

REALITY: Employment is often a lagging economic indicator -- something you yourself might ascertain  after comparing the employment trend line to US GDP minus federal spending trend line.  But you'll notice something fascinating in how employment recovered under the Obama Administration: it looks a lot like how the economy recovered under the Bush Administration.

I challenge anyone to make the case that, if banks, GM and Chrysler had been allowed to fail (and by fail, I mean liquidation), that the jobs number would have been BETTER than what actually occurred under Obama.



Republicans want  you to believe that today, the economy is worse than it was at the height of the recession.  It should be obvious that this isn't true.

Again, my simple proof that the economy is heating up (that is, until the Euro-crisis explodes), is the number of job listings in Craigslist.  There are several hundred job listings a day, in Portland, OR CL.  At the height of the recession, there were maybe a few dozen listings.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Daily Caller: Romney failed to pay the full tithe required.

DC says Mitt Romney underpaid his tithe - 9.7% average of 2010 and 2011 - as low as 7% in 2010.  They break down all the excuses Romney's campaign offered, and refute them.

So it begs the question: If you're rich - and I mean FILTHY RICH - do you try to pay the least amount of tithing required, or do you always try to exceed it?

Steel Bridge at dusk.

With some Photoshop filter and exposure modifications.
Took this photo the other evening with my GS-II phone.  The light was just right, the sky was - surprisingly - clear.

Romney's taxes: even LOWER than he thought (and proud of it)

Last week under question, he relented and suggested that in the recent past, he had paid in taxes "probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything."

Today his campaign released a couple of older tax returns.  As the NYT noted, Romney actually "paid an effective tax rate of slightly below that of nearly 14 percent."

And ironically, with proof of his indifference to the tax rules and dodging that separate the millionaires (like himself) from the rest of us who earn salaries and cannot benefit from such perks, he proclaimed that "I'm proud of the fact that I've paid a lot of taxes."

He really doesn't get it.  That silver spoon has been in his mouth so long, he must have thought that it was natural.

But then again, neither does Newt Gingrich, who supports a zero capital gains tax to "match the Chinese".

Newt's selling Reagan's trickle-down theory, yet again.

Right now it's a tossup in my mind, whether or not we should allow Republicans to take over government again.  I think they've finally got enough Tea Party folks who don't know a damned thing about macroeconomics, to truly push for the libertarian theory of austerity through.  But if they're successful, we may yet see the collapse of the Republican Party, under the weight of reality of their theories.  They keep talking the big picture, but when you zoom out far enough, you can see how we have capital gains taxes lower than income taxes and income taxes at a century-long low, but a growing federal debt and a slow-to expand economy...and I'm talking about the economy under George Bush.

M9 solar flare to hit Tuesday (1/24/2012)

You already know this, because you've read this blog and know that Spaceweather.com is the only source you need to go to, in order to read about upcoming solar flares.

It's too bad the forecast for Tuesday is rain, rain, rain in Portland, because the flare will be coming on the heels of a lower-rated flare from last Friday, and could end up making for a nice show. 


You can already see from NASA's auroral oval that there is great activity right now, even before the flare is expected to hit.

So if you're somewhere where the skies are clear, and you're above 40° latitude, maybe you should poke your head outside on Tuesday evening?

Monday, January 23, 2012

SCOTUS: GPS tracking requires warrants.

I think this is stunning...via Wired, a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court today, that GPS tracking constitutes a search that in turn requires a search warrant.

Huge statement, and a rather adamant one with all nine justices voting to reject the government's claims in support of warrantless GPS tracking, and a clear support for an unabridged Fourth Amendment.


Treeview Hospital, only on a Blue Moon.

I was on a long walk last night, and decided to take a stop to Treeview Hospital...you know, the one in the NBC show Grimm.

Screen grab from S1.Ep.8, "Game Ogre"

Also known as Montgomery Park.

Taken from my GS-II phone
I guess Montgomery Park turns into Treeview Hospital on the Blue Moon.

Speaking of Blue Moon, did you know that Bridgeview Vineyard now sells their Blue Moon brand of wines in boxes?

I like Blue Moon...their Pinot Gris and Riesling, to be exact.  I'm not much of a red wine imbiber.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Oregon Ducks offseason in a 5 second play.

LaMichael James: "Dude, bail?"
Darron Thomas: "Bail."
Chip Kelly: "Bail."

I'm calling it a classic Cathartic Tragedy drama.  What do you think?


Update: It's now officially a Complex Comedy drama.


LaMichael James: "Dude, bail?"
Darron Thomas: "Bail."
Chip Kelly: "Bail."
Chip Kelly: "No wait."

And still under 5 seconds.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Horizon Air turboprop spotted in Google Earth

I was peering into a neighborhood around the Portland International Airport near the Children's Arboretum, and I wandered into this gorgeous, clear view of a Horizon Air Dash-8 turboprop, call sign N427QX.

Cheap thrills, eh?


Friday, January 20, 2012

Fed-Ex and UPS playing games.

A very recent trend I've noticed, is that both Fed-Ex and UPS have provided tracking information to me, indicating an expected delivery date that is within their guaranteed deadlines.

But then that expected delivery date is passed by and the expected delivery window now becomes wide open with no end date.  They're not providing revised deadlines, they're just dropping all deadline windows and leaving it completely wide open.

It's not that I can really complain, after all, in both cases I was getting free shipping from the seller...but bad news for the seller, I guess.  Still, they're playing games if they're making promises that they knowingly cannot keep.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Romney's an embarrassment.

It's not enough that because nearly all of his income comes from capital gains, his effective tax rate is lower than what most middle-Americans pay.  Now it comes out, he's hiding up to $30M of his fortune in the tax haven known as the Caymen Islands.  (IRS audit coming?)

So if you follow Romney's actions, a 15% tax rate on millionaires is too much, such that they feel encouraged to move their investment incomes offshore to countries to avoid that 15% capital gains tax rate.

F'ing embarrassing, Mitt Romney is.  No shame whatsoever, for trying to dodge American taxes, even though he's already paying a lower rate than most Americans.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Tebow stock just went up.

ESPN is reporting that Tim Tebow played through a major injury suffered during a hard tackle in the playoff game against New England.  According to ESPN's article,  "Tebow tore cartilage on his first rib where it attaches to his sternum, bruised his lung and had fluid buildup in his pleural cavity."

There aren't many people who could play through such pain.  At that point in the game, they were already down 7-35.  You could forgive a guy who suffered such a serious injury, from going back into the game, risking a greater, more serious, career-ending injury, no?

Tebow just moved up to one notch below super-man -- he does not understand this thing called "pain".

SOPA Blackout.


Tuesday, January 17, 2012

No SOPA.

Wednesday, I plan to limit access to the internet, as a means to protest SOPA.

SOPA's proponents are using lies, such as NBC Universal's general counsel Rick Cotton did on PBS NewsHour, this evening.  He spoke of "the big picture" of going after counterfeiters, but that's ridiculous, coming from a lawyer whose sole focus is not on the big picture, but on the fine points of what's written in a law.

When people are allowed to make such fatuous representations without challenge, we have to stand up and demand that they be held to their words.  Will Rick Cotton be willing to pay a personal $1M fine for every innocent blogger who ends up getting caught up with a SOPA dragnet?  If you don't think these mistakes will be made, think again...UMG's false takedown of legal content on Google, anyone?

If you post a video clip that is held in copyright by some owner...say the NFL?...you could find your website / pages taken down and/or blocked from being accessed, without warning.

Take your rights seriously!

Monday, January 16, 2012

But I won't do that....

Now that I've worked on design projects / proposals for USC, Oregon, the Resers (Oregon State) and Michigan, I had to wonder, are there schools that I would absolutely put my foot down and not accept work from?

The answer is yes: I would not accept any jobs that would improve the infrastructure / buildings / design of Notre Dame and UCLA.

Don't we all have our limits?

Second and third wind...and often.

Quick note: I was averaging 50 hour work weeks the last four weeks, but if I take into account my research time that I exclude normally from accounting of hours, it was closer to 55 hour work weeks.

Excluding holiday (Christmas and NYE), and a 3-day sore back/neck from working nonstop, and the way deadlines came, I ended up doing 40-hours in three days, twice the last four weeks.

So needless to say, I've gotten my second and third wind many times in the last four weeks.

All this busy work makes one appreciate free time.  And I wouldn't trade the freedom of being an independent contractor, even if it means these crazy deadlines coming at the same time.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Tebow's more hype than skill.

Here's what's wrong:

  1. He's passed for the fewest yards of 33 quarterbacks who've thrown at least 224 passes in the season.
  2. He's got the lowest completion rate of those 33 quarterbacks.
  3. He thinks too much when he throws, and when he throws with time to think about it, he points to where he's going to throw to, often resulting in underthrown or overthrown balls, or tipped passes.
  4. And I swear, some of those throws resemble knuckleballs with little rotation, and I haven't yet seen a perfect spiral in the NE game.
I think he will improve with time and he's clearly a solid leader with a giant heart.  Yes, I like Tebow.  And I think he's a much better person than Cam Newton!

But he hasn't earned any of the ridiculous accolades being thrown at him.  He's no Elway, and he won't be a future Elway.  In the future, he'll be a better Tebow, but let's not get carried away, as if he's already there.

Oh, and might I add, Tom Brady is an elite quarterback.

But I don't like him.

Why did S&P downgrade Europe?

Slightly obscured in the S&P downgrade, Paul Krugman notes that they had cited (in their FAQ section) some very obvious and clear reasoning:
The financial problems facing the eurozone are as much a consequence of rising external imbalances and divergences in competitiveness between the EMU’s core and the so-called “periphery”. 
As such, we believe that a reform process based on a pillar of fiscal austerity alone risks becoming self-defeating, as domestic demand falls in line with consumers’ rising concerns about job security and disposable incomes, eroding national tax revenues.
Roughly translated: cutting = less money in circulation = less consumer spending = job cuts = lower tax revenue = more cutting = .......

Death Spiral.

It's coming, and it's because Germans think they're better than everyone else.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Paging Mr. Right...Mr. Right...

Don't misunderstand this, but I think Mr. Right ads are terribly ironic and thoroughly amusing.

Let me explain something: Ms. Right is married to Mr. Right, and they have cute little Right children.  They have a sense of humor, the Rights do.

Just a quick grab of some listings from Craigslist (with commentary in italicized parentheses):


  • "Were is MR right???" (He may be looking for Ms. Spell Right.)
  • "Pretty Lady Looking for Mr Right."  (At age 50, you might be gorgeous or beautiful, maybe even graceful and sexy, but "pretty"?)
  • "Mr right."  
  • "Looking for mr. right!"  
  • "Looking for Mr. Right not Right now!"  (No worries if you're not looking Right now, Mr. Right is preoccupied looking for Ms. Correct Grammar.)
  • "Looking for Mr. Right."  
  • "Mr Right, Where are you."  (Looking for Mrs. Right upstairs, that's where.)
  • "Looking for my Mr. Right...LTR."  (At least this woman implies that she's looking for someone who's right for her, and perhaps wrong for someone else.)
  • "BBW looking for mr right."  (OMG, why do people believe that being morbidly obese is beautiful?)
No one ever looks for Mr. Almost Right or Mr. Decent, because almost right just doesn't cut it. 

(Mostly) White backlash?

I've been noticing something lately online in comment sections of tech and news blogs... white people who might otherwise be more fair-minded, appear to be lashing out against other races, openly.

If a violent crime committed by African-Americans against White-Americans is reported in the news, I'm seeing a trend of comments citing it as proof that African-Americans are violent.

Recently, CNET reported on a patent granted to Microsoft, dubbed the "avoid ghetto" patent for providing pedestrian-friendly directions to avoid high-crime areas.  In the comment section of this tech blog, people have taken to being outwardly expressive about their antagonism towards other races :
"There's nothing wrong with being a "discriminating" consumer."
"Just stay out of black and hispanic neighborhoods."
 "Who says we all want to be integrated?"
"I make it a point not to drive through black neighborhoods anyways. I'm all for my handheld devices keeping me as far away from them as possible."
"Majority of violent crimes are committed by blacks and hispanics."

I get the sense all the rhetoric allowed in the media has stoked race hate, and people are ready to snap on both sides.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Bleh....more work.

I sound ungrateful.  I probably am.

But I'm not looking forward to two straight nights with just a couple of hours of sleep.  Gimme back my freedom and the room to design what I want to design!

I will say however, I had a lot of fun today, teaching a group of people about SketchUp.  It was the cause for my first night of 2 hours of sleep, but it was really enjoyable seeing people get excited about learning something new.

Last week was the first presentation / workshop, but that being the first time in years that I'd done a public presentation of any sort, I was nervous as hell for the first 30 minutes.  Eventually though, I realized that I really did know what the heck I was talking about, and I didn't need to have a script - or even an outline - to talk about things.

This week, it was all gravy.  Some people were so into it, that they kept me there for an extra half hour after the fact, and I wasn't able to delve as deeply as I wanted to.  I guess that's expected, given how much there is to learn...maybe another class?

Oh, and the money's good, too!

Sigh...now my break is over and I have to get back to work.  :P

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Proof Romney says whatever you want to hear.

LA Times has a story on the Romney election machine that documents what voters in a particular region want, then craft a message to appeal to them.

All those transactions with your credit and debit cards, all those clicks on your mouse, they're all being cataloged - indirectly - by the Romney team, via purchases of gigabytes of tracking data:
"Because more data are now collected online, the campaign has been able to cull up to 300 pieces of information about a voter, compared with fewer than two dozen in 2008."
I am not naive, not to realize that Obama's campaign will end up doing the same thing this year, or that other candidates are already doing this.  However, because Romney has hundreds of millions in the bank, he has a big leg up on his primary opponents, allowing him to buy his way into the Republican nomination through a built up series of white lies.

Let's face it: the one and only reason why most people consider Romney the front-runner, is because of his hundreds of millions in the bank.  People are willing to overlook his white lies, so long as they think he can beat Obama, as a result of those hundreds of millions of dollars.

And that's why I just can't stand the guy.  Those white lies expose the lack of a backbone -- he can't stand up on his two feet with just the basic truths of his platform.

He disgusts me.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

If you're Iranian and in trouble on the sea, who're you gonna call?

USA!

It's happened yet again...Americans have rescued Iranians in the Persian Gulf.  This time, it was six sailors whose boat was taking on water, and issued a distress call, off Iraq's shores.  A US Coast Guard cutter performed the rescue operation in this round.

In yet another hypothetical conversation:

Allah: "Stop this nonsense!"
Grand Ayatollah: "Nya nya nya...I can't hear you!  I'm sorry, you're breaking up -- it must be a bad signal!"

Prus C: under $19,000!

At the 2012 NAIAS, Toyota revealed that the Prius C will be available this March in the US, for under $19,000.  With a combined 50 mpg rating (53 city / 46 highway), could this be as big of a hit as the second generation Prius, introduced in 2003?

via Autoblog

via Autoblog

2012 BCS NC game: worst ever.

So says the overnight Nielsen ratings.

Officially the lowest-rated BCS NC game, with a 13.8% share of the national audience.

It was a no-brainer to figure out that it would be the worst-rated.  The move to ESPN dropped the ratings last year, and having an all-SEC southern affair meant that few people outside of the southern US would care to watch.  It also didn't help that these two teams played during the regular season, to a boring 9-6 finish.

And for what it's worth, Alabama's tops in the nation scoring defense was compiled against opponents like North Texas, Georgia Southern and Kent State.  Their 8.15 ppg defensive stat may have been better than USC's 2008 team that averaged 9.0 ppg, but USC played a regular season non-conference schedule without patsies: Virginia, Ohio State, and Notre Dame.

FWIW 2.0: USC-Texas in 2005 is the highest rated BCS game, ever.

Bottom line: I didn't watch it.  Glad I didn't, too.

I was blogging, reading the news and doing ideation for all-cardboard furniture.  I even made a stop at the bookstore, ending up with two books (one on Gehry, another on retail store design.)

Monday, January 9, 2012

What would you do if unemployment was 18%?

I ask, because this NYT article reports that Greeks are moving out of cities and going into farming.  Yes, you read that right..FARMING!

With unemployment at 35% in the 15-29 age group, who can blame Greeks?  But here's the rub: Greeks are moving downward in skill set, and that would tend to portend poorly for the future of Greek income.

What they really need to do, is have the freedom to move to Germany and get jobs there, that way they'd rebalance European labor resources, which would in turn rebalance finances.  But Germans would resent such a move, and would rather pretend that they can insulate themselves from any eurocrisis.

I suppose we won't have to wait too much longer for the eurocrisis to boil over though, seeing as the Greek 10 year bond has floated around 35% the last 30 days, and Italy's 10 year has bounced right back up above 7%.

Android tablets in 2012: what people will want.

In a word: cheap Nvidia Tegra 3 five core (four cores plus one dedicated to touch) tablets.  Not from any one manufacturer, mind you.

This Asus 7" tablet for $249 will be in stiff competition for top-selling tablet, I suspect.  Running Ice Cream Sandwich dual cameras with an external card slot, it should win out against either the Kindle Fire or B&N Nook Tablet, unless those two cut their prices.  Even so, this tablet could be the one I get this year.

This tablet gets me drooling.

image via Notebook Italia

People this stupid, shouldn't be allowed to vote.

There are groups around the US, trying to sue to prevent Barack Obama's name from appearing on a ballot.  As noted, the world is filled with lemon juice bandits.

Today's lawsuit involved an Alabama (shock!) man, Albert Hendershot Jr., who sued Alabama's state Democratic Party.  He tried to have the judge - a registered Democrat - recused, and when that failed, he tried to have his complaint dismissed, but that was also denied.  He had no choice but to proceed with his complaint...and apparently it didn't take very long.

"Is that it?" asked the judge.

“That’s all I have,” replied Albert.

In no shortage of idiocy, he had no proof, no lawyer, and to top it off, he argued that the Democratic Party shouldn't be dealing with the courts -- in other words, he's disappointed that the Democratic Party sent a lawyer to respond to his lawsuit against them.

I sometimes think people this stupid shouldn't be allowed to vote.

A very cool HTML5 word cloud tool!

via DesignBoom blog, an HTML5-based Word Cloud tool.  You can input a multitude of sources, including individual web pages, RSS feeds, or a blogger blog.

My (this) blog, according to a word cloud:



And here's my other blog, which is focused around design thoughts and my work:


Why not Jon Huntsman?

Several months ago, I thought that there was just one Republican who stood a chance in the presidential election and that was Jon Huntsman.  He's a diplomat-minded man, with the ability to reason with multiple sides.  He's the Republican version of Barack Obama...with his conservative ideals, but also a willingness to compromise to get something done.  He's a family man who has never divorced, who dropped out of high school, but earned his GED and then went on to college and graduated from U. of Penn.

You don't have that with any of the other Republican candidates, and it's amusing that they're mostly running to the Right, and not the Center.  Or put it this way: When John McCain embraced the Right, did he win or lose the 2008 election?

Perry -- he's used threatening language against other Americans, and has recently suggested that he'd send troops right back to Iraq.  He's not just fringe, he's out of touch with what Americans want.  And he couldn't hold a decent conversation on economic policy, anyway.  He's GWB 2.0, and he'll push through policies whose consequences he has no understanding of.  He just can't stop putting his foot in his mouth, don't you think?

Gingrich -- shut down government as Speaker of the House, because he was angry at President Clinton -- even said so himself.  He's abandoned his two previous wives with each new wife younger and a former staff member.  He didn't work with Democrats before, and there's no reason to expect him to work with them, were he the President.  I can't imagine a more belligerent President.  He'd bring out Democrats in droves, on voting day, and would be cast aside as a has-been.

Paul -- people love him because of his more popular libertarian ideas.  But he's a cafeteria libertarian: if the litmus test has Ayn Rand as the absolute Libertarian on one end, Ron Paul is just 2/3rd of the way there.  Ayn Rand was against religion, because it tended to negatively affect humans, who would unquestioningly follow false concepts.  Ron Paul uses religion to guide his opinions on how to treat sensitive issues such as abortion, and sees religion as central to the nation's governance.  If Ayn Rand was around, she'd slap him in the face, I suspect.  Actually, the thought of conservatives rallying behind a true libertarian (or even a 2/3rds libertarian) is somewhat amusing.  After all, he would dismantle the military complex...something that's been at the core of conservatism since Ronald Reagan.  To GOP, he represents a Faustian bargain.

Santorum -- I think he's the closest to being a true social conservative, bigot and all.  He thinks the only people who use welfare programs, are black people, and believes that gay marriage is equatable to polygamy...which is to say, both should be illegal because they do not conform to social norms.  Nevermind of course, that polygamy -- the act of having multiple marriages at the same time -- is not the same as two people marrying, gay or straight.  He's anti-Muslim, anti-gay, anti-black, anti-poor.  It would be a stretch that he could win 40% of the broad vote in a general election.  There's a lot of questions on his votes for expanding Medicare and government in general...as Ron Paul has noted.

Romney -- No one trusts him, bottom line.  He's switched his opinion, depending upon the audience he's addressing.  As governor of Massachusetts, he's worked well with Democrats, and operated from the center.  Now, no one can pin the tail on the elephant...or was that a donkey?  Worse, he is out of touch with the average American, dating as far back as when he was in charge at Bain Capital.  He didn't operate Bain Capital from a standpoint of most mom-and-pops operations.  That is, Bain doesn't hold onto jobs, trying to weather a recession, but rather, looks to slash jobs to maintain profit margin growth -- if he didn't, he'd be tossed.  He represents the 1% in body, mind and spirit -- just look at all the money he spent on the Iowa caucus.  Obama's people think he's the biggest threat, but I don't think so...he's easily painted as a 1% guy out of touch with reality, and a flip-flopper.



So why not Huntsman?  What is this backlash against a smart, bipartisan Republican?  In the age of a growing China, set to become the largest economic producer in the world, I can't imagine a better candidate for President, than Jon Huntsman, who speaks fluent Mandarin.  And here's the real secret: he'll grab most of the voters in the center.

He's the ONLY Republican candidate that I trust, wouldn't send the economy into another recession.

But then again, maybe the Republican Party shouldn't be saved from itself?

Sunday, January 8, 2012

You know it must be CES time...

When Engadget and all the tech blogs are running in overdrive and there are hundreds of posts in one day.  And CES hasn't officially opened yet.

The gist of 2012 CES:

  • Ultrabooks are ultra thin, powerful, sexy, all made possible by Intel's Ivy Bridge.
  • Android Tablet is going to dominate this year, we promise (fingers crossed).
    • The reportedly thinnest tablet out there - the Toshiba Excite - is a mere 7.7mm thick.  That's less than 1/3rd of an inch.  The problem is, it's also priced high enough to make you wonder how they'll sell Honeycomb tablets when Ice Cream Sandwich is the current OS that everyone wants.
    • But finally we'll get the first of an expected flood of quad-core Android tablets, including Lenovo and Acer
    • And...ahem...even Polaroid is getting in on the Android tablets.
    • Don't forget Velocity Micro, too.
  • And the gazillion Android phones.  If you're going to buy a phone, why don't you wait until after all the CES announcements?  The Galaxy Note and its enormous 5" screen is coming to AT&T, while US Cellular is getting its first LTE Android phone in April.
  • Oh, and TVs will be sporting Google TV or Ice Cream Sandwich Android.  And this dongle for your not-so-smart TV.  It's Google TV redux.
  • But you know, CES isn't all about Google.  There's 3M's new touch-surface 46" table display.
  • One Laptop per Child introduces its $100 tablet, the XO 3.0.   Linux, of course.
  • Uhm...and Nokia will show off and reveal its North America comeback plans, including the expected Lumia 900.  Get ready to laugh out loud, if it does not support LTE or quad-core.
We can distill CES 2012 down to five topics really: Google, Ultra, Touch, Tablet, and Nokia's huge, incredibly important and paradigm-shifting announcement.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Iran force-fed some humble pie

The US Navy rescued 13 Iranian fishermen whose boat was captured by pirates, and who were subsequently held hostage for over a month, according to news reports.

Which of course means that I must come up with a hypothetical conversation:
Iranian fishermen wives to the Grand Ayatollah: "Our husbands have been missing, please search for them!" 
Grand Ayatollah: "No.  We must hunt for infidels and threaten them!" 
Fishermen wives: "We are poor and we love our husbands.  Please search for them!" 
Grand Ayatollah: "No!  If they have done no wrong, Allah will save them!" 
USN to Grand Ayatollah: "We saved 13 Iranian fishermen."
Grand Ayatollah to USN: "Allah is great!  Now you infidels must leave our waters, or by Allah's hand we will strike you from this Earth!"
USN to Grand Ayatollah: "You're welcome?" 

No shortage of embarrassment, that the Iranian military insisted earlier this week that it would easily seal the Strait of Hormuz.  Pirates are laughing.  Heck, everyone's laughing.

Via CBS News, source: US Navy

Thursday, January 5, 2012

The holidays were not.

This very moment, at 10:15 pm on Thursday evening, it may be the first time in three weeks, that I feel relieved. I don't know why, but the week before Christmas, I ended up committing to two different deadlines for the same day -- that was for today.

Needless to say, Christmas and New Years was a blur.

I haven't yet slept in over 40 hours.  And if I go back 67 hours, I've only slept 5.  I didn't do anything on New Year's day, but work.

And I'm still awake.

How does that work anyway?  How can I be in my 40th hour of being up, and still function without caffeine for the last 9 hours, but some days when I do drink a cup of coffee, I will fall asleep within the hour?

That's crazy.

I'm crazy.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Rick Perry: just another (terrible) politician.

Words to a politician must be cheap, with practically no value in its usage.

Yesterday, Rick Perry stated unequivocally, "And we'll see who's still running at mile 21. I finished my marathon, and I expect to finish this marathon as well."

Today, after coming in fifth in the Iowa caucuses, he vacillated, saying, "I've decided to return to Texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus, determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race."

That, coming from a guy who's been questioning the character of others, no less!  If he quits after just one caucus, I say good riddance.

2012 Resolutions.

I was asked the other week by my sister what my resolutions would be for 2012, and this was my answer:

I have none.  I have stated long-term goals that do not vary from year to year, but which I had only bothered to write down in bold print, last year.

These are my four life-long goals to never lose focus on:

Graphic design;
Photography;
Architecture;
Furniture.

These goals are not incidental and cannot be understood and mastered within a year...or two or three.  In reality, they are my true passions, but often times, I must be reminded of what my passions are, especially when my attention span is relatively short.

And as far as resolutions go, I believe that these are for people with a certain personality type.  For better or worse, I am not of that personality type -- driven by milestones.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Congrats to the Oregon Ducks, 2012 Rose Bowl champs!

That was a crazy way of ending the 2012 Rose Bowl with a clock controversy, after over 1100 combined yards and several Rose Bowl records broken.

Not to mention, the first Rose Bowl win for the Ducks in 95 years!

And for what it's worth, DeAnthony Thomas made Oregon fans feel at ease, were LaMichael James to leave for the NFL, with his 91 yard run for a TD, and another 64 yard run for another touchdown.  Those were his only two runs, and in both of them he made Wisconsin players look downright slow.  On that 91 yard run, the defensive back practically gives up on the 20 yard line, as he sees DAT continue to pull away.

It went down a lot like I thought it would go: that Oregon would score fast and often; that Wisconsin would use its bulk on the offensive line, to run straight up the middle; and that the game would end with one possession separating the winner from the loser.  No blowouts, but this time, I figured Oregon always has the upper hand on its ability to score fast, if it were down late in the 4th quarter.  No need to panic, ever, for the Ducks.

By the way, just a reminder to Ducks fans: Sure, you may be the only team this season to play in three straight BCS bowl games, but USC leads all schools with 7 straight BCS bowl game appearances, and a 6-1 record.  ;)     You have a looooong way to go, to create a dynasty!

Oh, but those helmets were cool.

AP image via NESN