10 Thoughts for August 26, 2014

1. Okay, first a huge deal: A 1TB SATA-III Samsung SSD for $390 after applying discount code (EMCPBHD22), through tomorrow (Wednesday, August 27, or until supplies run out).  If you've got a laptop and want to speed it up dramatically, but you only have one drive slot, this is the best investment you could possibly make.  This'll allow you to keep your laptop for a couple more years, and feel like it's still good enough to keep up.
2. I've been enjoying my 42" 720p plasma TV for the last 7 years, now.  Plasma is the way to go, but there aren't many plasma manufacturers anymore.  I don't like LCD screens, because they look bad, even with 1080p and 120hz+ refresh rates.  But a worthy upgrade will be here, soon: 4K OLED TVs.  If you're on the fence on whether to buy a new LCD screen or not, I tell you, wait for 4K OLED TVs to swamp the marketplace.
3. So why 4K, and why wait?  There is a convergence coming: Netflix (and other) 4K streaming content is building, while gigabit fiber is growing, just as OLED TVs and their luscious color saturation and contrast is making its way into the marketplace, but right now 4K content is limited, fiber is limited, and OLED TVs are very expensive.  Wait a year or two and these things will have converged.
4. When you're down in Eugene this (or next) week for the football game, go to the bookstore and look at the checkout counters...they're based on my original designs from a year ago.  They decided to go in a different direction from the final design submitted to the Duck Store.  The original design for the remodel was to make it a showcase to allow the store to remain a hot commodity for several more years until they moved with construction for a brand new building.  FWIW, this was the exterior display proposal at the Autzen stadium store.  
5. You know, you don't have to worry about extending voting hours or postponing precinct polling locations due to inclement weather, when you have vote-by-mail with ballot drop-offs.
6. I saw a headline about a "Douglas McArthur McCain" without stating that he was a terrorist. My first thoughts: The headline misspelled General McArthur's name and Senator John McCain was showing his inner General MacArthur by demanding that the US put boots on the ground in Iraq and Syria to eliminate ISIS.  It turned out this Douglas McArthur was an American terrorist who died in Syria.  I know people are concerned about Americans flying to Syria / Iraq to fight for ISIS, but the way I see it, it makes it easier to kill potential radicals before they can actually do anything in the US, no?
7. Years ago -- like, over a decade -- I was standing in line to get some photos printed, and this poor lady asks if there was any way to recover some photos out of the film strip that she had pulled out from her camera. I felt bad for her and the lack of understanding of why film comes in canisters.
8. If you've noticed, I'm cutting back on posting thoughts about stories that are fresh.  The reason is, because most stories that are breaking, haven't been vetted and are usually half-truths.  It's a terrible symptom of the modern age of Now, where news is reported live through social media, but is actually often self-serving propaganda.
9. Vontaze Burfict was mentored by many players and coaches to help him channel his destructive behavior.  Now, he's a poster boy of a guy who got it right.  Does Manziel have a support group that is pushing him in the right direction?  By his actions during the second preseason game, it doesn't appear to be so.  His comment, about being in the spotlight seems wrong, because it shouldn't matter if he was in the spotlight or not -- pointing the middle finger at the Washington sideline was a signal that he was easily pushed over the edge.
10. I saw that Breaking Bad won a lot of Emmys yesterday.  That was a great show, and I have to say that I miss it.  I also saw that OITNB didn't win any.  You already know how I feel about that show: Crap.  It's not that the actors are bad, but the protagonist's character is absolutely infuriating that I cannot watch the show without being aggravated by her idiocy, and as such, the prognosis of the show is poor, to me.