10 thoughts for November 21, 2013

I have a lot of thoughts going through my head, all the time.  Here's my way of getting a bunch of them out of my head, without taking the whole day to write long form.

1. Democrats made good on a threat to change the filibuster (vote for cloture), so that it only applies to legislative bills and Supreme Court nominees.  It interestingly, gives back more power to the Executive branch, and reduces the minority party of the Legislative branch of federal government.  There is one particular way that this could come back to haunt Democrats: A Republican in the White House makes a cynical nomination to his / her cabinet, a person who is against enforcing the rules that he / she is being selected to enforce, and a Republican-controlled Senate confirms this appointment.  For instance, a big-oil person in charge of the EPA.
2. By the way, ABC News (network news) got its story about the filibuster wrong.  The filibuster used by Republicans isn't like that which you saw in Mr. Smith goes to Washington.  The filibuster Mr. Smith did, is still available, a la Rand Paul standing up for hours talking on the Senate floor about NSA spying.  What was changed was the cloture rules to end debate, to proceed to a straight up or down vote.  Republicans, were they inclined to do so, can still stand up for hours on end, talking, to block a nominee if they wish.
3. Righting a wrong, no matter how late, is always welcomed.  But what about punishing those who knowingly provide false witness?
4. Patent reform has been watered down by...Microsoft.  Which, shouldn't be a surprise, because they're partly responsible for one of the largest nonpracticing entity patent trolls around: Rockstar BIDCO.  And if we're talking evil spawns of Microsoft, there's also Nathan Myhrvold and his NPE Intellectual Ventures, patent troll.  I say the law should be changed, such that any NPE either must use their patents to build something, or else lose it forever to the common good.
5. Watching old shows, it seems to me that they used to mostly deal with absolute values of right and wrong.  Nowadays, your enemy one day can easily become your ally the next, and the back again.  The NBC show Revolution comes to mind.
6. I might have over-committed myself to working on more projects than I can handle for the next several months.  You know what this means: The economy is getting hot.
7. You know what's throwing the whole gaming market upside down?  Mobile operating systems.  It may not quite seem like it, but Android and iOS are the now and future of gaming, and Android will become the platform of choice.
8. I confirmed: Most Oregon Duck fans were watching the USC - Stanford game and cheering big for the Trojans.
9. What's better than a sunny day?  A cold, sunny day!  Hot, sunny days makes one feel like staying in the shade or sitting in an air-conditioned room.  A cloudy, hot day is just as bad as a cold, cloudy day.  But the cold, sunny day is the perfect porridge.  This week, it's cold and sunny in Portland.
10.  Last night I saw on the news that in Multnomah County, if you take your pet to get a rabies vaccine, the vet is required to report your name to the county who then back checks to see if you've gotten a pet license.  It's not that expensive.  Note though, that at the time of the ordinance's passage, veterinarians were against it.  It isn't that hard to understand why: People will either stop bringing their pets in to get rabies vaccines, or will go outside the county to get vaccines for their pets.  Why did county commissioners pass this ordinance?  Money.