10 thoughts for October 27, 2013

I have a lot of minor thoughts going through my head all the time.  I thought I should share some of it.

1. The voice of Edna Krabappel, Marcia Wallace, passed away.  Her character reminded me of my 7th grade English teacher, which is to say that I was her Bart: The rebel leader.  She wasn't a very good teacher though, and I'd confront her in front of class.  Probably wasn't a good idea -- she pushed me out of the honors track, and when I confronted her about it, she said that it was an "error".  I spent a year in the English class situated one below honors -- I got so bored with class, I stopped doing homework (I just plain didn't care) and got into trouble.  And then I sneaked my way back into the honors track in 9th grade.
2. Lou Reed, one of those foundations of rock and roll, died at age 71.  That's too young to die in my opinion, but he died from complications of a liver transplant, which probably means that he was paying for his rock and roll lifestyle from decades ago.  Too bad the cost was so high (dying young), but you know, we all eventually die.
3. Google now pwns the world.  Chromecast is the most-wished for item on Amazon and the current highest-selling electronics device -- even higher than any Kindle.  Chromebooks occupy the top spot and 4 of the top 6 in notebooks, at Amazon.  Top computers and accessories are all Android-based tablets.
4. Jack's Munchie Meals is clearly pandering to pot smokers.  But how do people high on pot get to Jack in the Box late at night?  Walk?
5. I really dig Primeval.  I can see why Primeval: New World failed, though: not much of a story tie-in from the original series, and parts of the story are completely implausible.  Funny thing: If you watch any sci-fi-ish show filmed in Canada, it's sure to have actors from one of the three Stargate TV series.
6. Kansas City Chiefs are 8-0; 49ers are 6-2.  Alex Smith is probably not missing SF a whole lot right now.
7. Nearly halfway through the NFL season, it looks like the AFC Championship game will be between Denver and KC, and the NFC Championship game will be between New Orleans and Seattle.  If somehow KC were to win the Super Bowl, he'd truly have the last laugh over his treatment following his concussion and benching at SF.
8. Ted Cruz and many other conservative Tea Party Republicans are saying that they won the fight over the shutdown and the debt ceiling, and will persevere.  Please, no one tell them otherwise -- let them live in their detached worlds.
9. As I might have mentioned, there are always winners and losers.  The absence of healthcare laws means there are winners and losers; single-payer (universal healthcare) has winners and losers; ACA has winners and losers.  The media has decided that they need to publicize the losers -- people who find that their rates have shot up.  So, if the media were true to their equivalence dictate, they would concurrently report on the winners.  Some have, while others haven't.
10. If free software is the future of selling physical objects, then some would say that Microsoft's Ballmer made the right move to direct Microsoft towards a devices and services company.  But then Microsoft is stuck in-between a Google and an Apple.  Google doesn't intend to compete with its manufacturing partners -- most of its own-branded hardware is a collaboration with its partners, and Motorola doesn't exactly have special privileges.  Apple is a closed system, so if it gives away software, it makes up for profit on its hardware sales.  Where exactly does Microsoft's position leave it?