10 Thoughts for November 18, 2014

1. Technology: The first consumer hardware that Nokia produced after jettisoning its mobile phone division and its former CEO Stephen Elop, to Microsoft? An Android tablet.  That says a lot about what Nokia's engineers and management really thought about Windows Phone and Stephen Elop, don't you think?
2. Security: I am soooo excited that my credit union has put 2FA into place!  We're talking ahead of the curve, where most banking institutions have not yet moved to 2FA.
3. Internet: You know, it's a damned good thing that I don't use my Yahoo email account for important stuff.  It's been suffering a lot of short interruptions these past few days.
4. Easter Egg: This is an older one. Using Google's voice search in Android, say, "Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right."  Only works if you do a voice search.
5. Easter Egg: This one is a day old. Using Google search, say or type in, "roll a die". Also, "flip a coin."
6. Tests: Take this test on reading facial expressions.  I scored 17 out of 20. Maybe it's because I'm INFP?  Actually, I don't believe in the limiting Myers-Briggs / Carl Jung systems, so, whatever.  It's all just for amusement.
7. Geopolitics: Putin must be concerned that his popularity is about to tank, because he's just offered the oddest quote about the US, that only appeals to Russian nationalism: "They do not want to humiliate us, they want to subdue us, solve their problems at our expense."  I had to laugh, because the US has done practically nothing to subdue Russia -- ask any US conservative.  The US has not reinstated missile defense systems, nor pivoted back to the cold war.  Further, Russia is in economic trouble, not the US.  The US is doing quite well, thank you very much, compared to almost all other parts of the world.  Perhaps Putin's wall is crumbling?
8. Politics: Keystone XL vote to overcome the 60-vote filibuster failed in the Senate, but then, I really didn't think Mary Landrieu's runoff chances would have improved, anyway.  Meanwhile, Senate Republicans blocked a bill to limit NSA spying, saying that they didn't want to handcuff the NSA in its anti-terrorism duties.
9. Climate: This rendering by NASA, of simulations of atmospheric CO2, is rather cool.  In the comment section, you'll find the usual climate denier talking points, which, having done the research already, I can sit back and laugh at them.  Suffice to say, these people really don't know what they're talking about; not that I'm an expert, but I do spend much more time researching the various arguments on all sides, to know their weaknesses.
10. Football: I want to reiterate what I wrote last Wednesday about the college football playoffs.  The following teams will make the playoffs: Oregon, TCU, Alabama, Ohio State.  Like I said would happen, MSU was knocked off their perch on top, and while they remain in the top-4 for now, they still have to play at Ole Miss, and Ole Miss has been on the upward swing for a few years now, whereas MSU is more like a golden season with lots of seniors.  I'm still confident that FSU will lose a game, and that the committee will chose TCU over FSU by way of strength of schedule.  Regardless of who makes it into the playoffs, it seems that we could end up with as many as 7 1-loss teams with only 4 playoff spots available -- that would make for an interesting challenge for the committee.