10 Thoughts for December 27, 2014

1. Holidays: A nod to Canadians (and Brits) and Boxing Day. I don't know where the patience comes from not opening presents at 6:30 am Christmas morning, but somehow parents have found a way.
2. Tech: It looks like Acer's 13" touchscreen Chromebooks are just about ready to land in the US. CDW's US store has it listed with availability in 9-11 days (though you cannot add it to your cart) while the same model -- CB5-311P-T9AB -- showed up for the US, listed in ePeat's certification. (4GB RAM / 16GB SSD / 13.3" 1366 x 768 touchscreen / WiFi AC / Tegra K1)
3. Football: There are three things I don't like about Steve Sarkesian. The first is his penchant to call plays that are horizontal and not vertical, which, more often than not result in no gain (or a loss). The second (and most aggravating) was his decision to bring Justin Wilcox with him, while discarding Clancy Pendergast. There is so much talent on defense, but rather than maintain the high-spirited and top-5 nationally-ranked defense of Pendergast, we've been tortured by a below average defense that doesn't know how to blitz. I don't buy the bullshit that you need your own personnel; any other defensive coordinator with USC's talent could have outperformed Wilcox. The third thing I hate about Sark, is his desire to go conservative in the 4th quarter -- or as I call it, playing to lose. The tandem of playing to lose on defense and offense had cost USC two games for sure, this year, and nearly resulted in two more losses.
4. Spying: On Christmas Eve, the NSA released a redacted report of all the violations of its own rules, committed by employees. The majority of the media called it a report on "accidental" spying. I just don't get the media's penchant for accepting and using loose language. There is no accident in breaking a law that you're supposed to know; there is no accident when you intentionally spy on your spouse or love interest.
5. Internet: Kim Dotcom took credit for ending the DDoS attacks on PSN and XBox networks -- he offered a bounty of vouchers for his own Mega storage service. So if you're a hacker or otherwise terrorist, you now know who to go to, when you want something.
6. Geopolitics: Even though talks between Russian-backed separatists and Ukraine broke down, they still managed to swap prisoners on Christmas Day. In other words, there remains hope for peace (unless Russia keeps sending the separatists arms and allows its soldiers to cross the border). 
7. Geopolitics: The irony should not be lost on Russian advocates, that Russia gained Crimea, but lost the rest of the border countries. A majority of Fins and Swedes want their county to join NATO, while Ukraine voted to end its neutrality, in what would be a prelude to an official application to join NATO.
8. Geopolitics: According to the neutral Levada Center, Russian sentiment of well-being and economic prospects have dramatically dropped, while at the same time, support for Putin remains very high. We'll see what happens when their recession is in full stride and Russia can no longer afford to cap prices on goods. 
9. Internet: I was searching for walk-in tubs in SketchUp's 3d Warehouse, and it returned dozens of crappy McMansions. I shake my head, that people look at shit designs from a two-bit designer-wannabe, and think it is beautiful. But more than that, I'm pissed off that some shithead would add a bunch of irrelevant tags to their shitty models -- these people should be banned for life from 3D Warehouse and/or executed.
10. Climate: Think about it: If you get a 30-year mortgage on a beachfront condo, before you've paid it off, your condo will be under water, in the literal sense -- who's going to pay for this shortsightedness, the government? In several beach towns, there already is regular flooding at high tide. It's irresponsible for local jurisdictions to keep current zoning. Developers don't care, because the costs for remediation will not be their responsibility, decades after construction.