10 Thoughts for October 3, 2014

1. USBs are inherently vulnerable, and practically unpatchable.  Well that sucks.
2. Bought myself a pair of Gunnar glasses, via Woot -- on the super cheap.  They list at $100, Amazon has them at $55, but via Woot they're $40.  They arrived earlier this week and I've been using them practically non-stop.  This is how they work, according to my observations: They are light in weight as to not cause strain by wearing them; the lens coating / color encourages you to blink often, which keeps your eyes fresh; the color you see through the lens makes your display screen's light seem a lot less harsh -- something you really take notice of when you remove the lens and look at the screen again.  One of the best things I've ever bought, and I feel bad that I did not get them sooner, as in years ago.
3. I used to be all into console gaming.  Not so much right now, though, because the only titles that attract me are Nintendo classics such as Mario Kart, but I just can't see the point of the Wii U.  It seems like Nintendo took two steps back by fitting a tablet with their console, as opposed to pushing the wireless controller closer to an interactive glove.
4. I just saw Monica Wehby in the news.  Her new message: As soon as Oregonians see the light, she'll win.  That's patently offensive to the intelligence of Oregonians.  Just to show that she's right, she brought John McCain in to campaign for her...they guy who couldn't beat either George Bush or Barack Obama.
5. I was starting to warm slightly to Rand Paul, and then he had to criticize Obama for sending troops to Africa to help out on the Ebola outbreak while also suggesting that the president was not warning the US public enough about Ebola.  You see, these soldiers are not there to be on the front lines of the Ebola outbreak, but to "improve logistics, to build additional field hospitals and to create what the President called an "air bridge" to bring in additional supplies and health care workers."  He went from legitimate presidential candidate back to looney tunes.
6. You know, there is some irony to the conservative excuse of tightening immigration rules and enforcing the US - Mexico border, when in the heart of Texas, we have an Ebola-infected man who arrived via plane, from Liberia.  Perhaps we should be blocking all traffic (air and ground) between Texas and the rest of the US?
7. IKEA Portland's monthly special for October: (Cod) Fish Tacos.  Comes with salsa and chips, too.  Yum!  Again I repeat: No other IKEA has these monthly specials.
8. Arizona beat Oregon for the second-straight year.  Here's an interesting tidbit: Anu Solomon, born in Honolulu, beat Marcus Mariota, born in Honolulu.  Hawai'i...home of the best modern dual-threat quarterbacks?
9.  5.9% -- the unemployment rate from September.  The first thing I look at when I read the report, isn't the headline info, but the last paragraph where the BLS explains the adjustments made to the previous two periods.  In this report, new jobs increased a total of 69,000.  Lots to like in this report.
10. Food carts are a Portland thing.  And now, Portland is about to forge new ground: Food carts at the airport!  Portland really is different.