10 Thoughts for January 20, 2015

1. Internet: I must have pissed off someone, because I'm starting to get a trickle of phishing emails with my name in it. Spam, unlike phishing, doesn't know your name, you see. :D
2. Internet: It feels like Wired.com has become a home for libertarian-leaning conspiracists. Rules don't matter to these people, just support for their beliefs. And I've seen this happen many times: BoingBoing and Vox. People get so worked up in their righteousness, a group-think follows. Each time I've had to drop them from my reading list because the rah-rah bullshit became too much.
3. Football: The talk in sports is all about the improbable miracle in Seattle, the comeback of epic proportions that people can't stop shaking their heads, and Green Bay players can't let go of. Easily the most amazing comeback, even if it wasn't the deepest hole to come out of.
4. Football: Another popular narrative coming out of Sunday's championship games has been dubbed "Deflategate". Apparently Indy linebacker D’Qwell Jackson, upon his interception, felt that the ball was underinflated and gave it to an equipment manager who also felt that it was not up to regulation. From there it escalated and made its way to the refs who then pulled the ball aside for further investigation. The thing is, it really doesn't grant a big benefit to a team, because those Nike gloves are extremely sticky. The longer the NFL keeps quiet on the issue, the more likely there is substance to the allegation, leading the NFL to dig deeper to see how pervasive this violation was. If the report comes back before the Super Bowl, I suspect the Seahawks will gain millions of new fans. Updated: 11 of 12 balls were found to have been underinflated. Ruh roh!
5. Football: USC's recruiting class is so strong, they're going to have to let some guys go in order to sign the 5 highly-touted recruits (Porter Gustin, Osa Masina, Rasheem Green, John Houston and Iman Marshall) at the top of their radar. And today Taeon Mason dropped USC in favor of Washington State -- not a big surprise at all. The interesting thing is, USC offered two other recruits (Kevin Scott and Jay Jay Wilson) in the past week, so it seems like there might be more decommitments coming soon.
6. Football: I took a look at Oregon Ducks' depth chart, and there wasn't a single guy over 300#; the entire defensive line roster had just one guy over 300#. Neither do any of their current DL commits. By contrast, USC had 5 DL players over 300# this past season, and will have 5 next season. No wonder Oregon had trouble in the trenches against Ohio State!
7. TV: Grimm appears to be filming at multiple locations in the Pearl concurrently, that they've blocked off street parking on a half-dozen blocks and parked a bunch of trailers on an empty lot next to the train tracks north of Union Station. With so many guards keeping an eye on equipment, it's a solid bet that there won't be any vehicle break-ins this week.
8. Politics: You know, Democrats never did ask the voters to punish Republicans for their shutdown of government, in 2013. Either that, or the American voters rewarded Ted Cruz and gave Democrats the green light to use the same scorched Earth tactics, don't you think?
9. Politics: The hour-long State of the Union speech can be read, here. One great line: "I’ve heard some folks try to dodge the evidence by saying they’re not scientists; that we don’t have enough information to act. Well, I’m not a scientist, either. But you know what — I know a lot of really good scientists at NASA, and NOAA, and at our major universities. The best scientists in the world are all telling us that our activities are changing the climate." -- I've never understood why people claim to not be a scientist, and yet fill in the answers with their non-scientific opinions.
10. Politics: Joni Ernst's response kind of freaked me out. She wore a smile whether she was offering criticism or positive comments. You know what was worse, however, was her trite GOP response that the US needed to readjust its policies to grow the economy, despite the fact that the US economy is growing faster than at any point during the GOP-led years of 2001 - 2006. Are we free to interpret this to mean that the GOP want to implement misguided dogma for policy, slowing down the economy?