Regardless of Beneful's quality control, I would never feed my dog Beneful.

In light of recent lawsuits filed against them asserting the presence of mold-based mycotoxins and Propylene Glycol, I thought I would write up about dog food.

If true, then the presence of mycotoxins is a quality control issue, where Purina is either ignoring the need to inspect raw ingredients or failing to properly and adequately test their final product -- critical issues for any processed food, not just dog food.

According to literature on Propylene Glycol -- the active ingredient of low toxicity antifreeze -- it is safe to use as a food additive (generally recognized as safe) and does not bio-accumulate, but that does not mean that it is not toxic. In high enough doses, it can be toxic. If your dog seriously overeats, it is possible to reach the lower range of toxicity, though the risk is slight. But the more concerning issue to me, is why any company would use PG in the first place, in food.

If your food needs PG to make it tasty, how crappy is your food to begin with? Knowing that Beneful used PG, I wanted to know what else was in Beneful. Their ingredient list explained it all.

Beneful
Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols, rice flour, beef, soy flour, meat and bone meal, propylene glycol, sugar, tricalcium phosphate, salt, phosphoric acid, potassium chloride, animal digest, sorbic acid (a preservative), mono and dicalcium phosphate, dried spinach, dried peas, dried carrots, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, calcium propionate (a preservative), choline chloride, zinc sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, Red 40, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, copper sulfate, Vitamin B-12 supplement, calcium pantothenate, Blue 2, thiamine mononitrate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite.

The first ingredient -- ground corn -- is not an easily digestible product; that the source of protein and Lysine comes from animal meal and gluten, explains why this stuff requires PG and added L-Lysine. In fact, all of those vitamins listed below dried carrots, should signal just how poor the nutritional level is, of the primary ingredients.

Compare that to what I make, at home.

My dog food
Brown rice, ground beef or ground / cut chicken breast, millet, atlantic cod or salmon, carrots, potato, celery, kale or spinach, broccoli, bell pepper, green beans or peas, eggs, eggplant, yogurt, Benadryl.

Much shorter list, eh? So let me explain some things.

I don't always use all of those ingredients, but rather, a list of commonly used ingredients. Not all of the vegetables are easily digested, so they are chopped into very small pieces -- less than 1/4". If you look at your dog's poop, you can tell what is and isn't digested, and adjust as needed.

My dog does not tolerate fats other than from beef, fish and plants. Poultry and pork fats cause his stool to be, well, loose and messy and yellowish. Yogurt (added after the food is cooked) is there to boost his gut bacteria. The eggs are an incredibly cheap source of protein, and also tastes good! Benedryl is for allergies related to fleas, dust, etc. -- I find it a lot easier to simply incorporate Benedryl pills into his food (after cooked, while cooling), than to try to force down the pill in his mouth, daily. If your dog itches like mad from seasonal fleas, Benedryl makes a huge difference.

This is not for everyone. It is more expensive than specialized wet dog foods at the pet store and the specialty blend dry dog foods at the vet, and requires considerable amount of labor to prep and cook; nowadays I make 10-day batches and freeze half.

I'd previously tried kibble from Trader Joe's and Costco (neither of which use corn), but he'd sometimes let it sit, rather than dig right into it. Now, he'll skip his dog snacks if he knows he's getting his dog food served up. If your dog does not want to eat his/her food right away, either your dog is sick or the food it is bland and boring.

Therefore, regardless of Beneful's quality control, I would never feed my dog Beneful.

10 Thoughts for February 23, 2015

Today, I took a break from painting, as the next stage requires significantly more effort to move furniture without breaking anything. Plus, I need to go get more paint, now that I've found the Metro paints to work perfectly, as well as needing to get trim paint (virgin paint).

1. Politics: Let me highlight the unspoken GOP message. Defunding President Obama's immigration policy changes is more important than funding the Department of Homeland Security. Remember this Republican choice.
2. Politics: Voters elected the GOP into majority hold of Congress, to force cooperation. So we should all laugh that the GOP's biggest obstacle to passing laws is party infighting. In the 6 weeks they've been in office, the GOP Congress has sent the President just two bills -- HR 26 and HR 203. They've already fallen behind the do-nothing 113th Congress (2013-2014).
3. Net Neutrality: Republican members on the FCC board are calling for a delay on a vote to reclassify broadband ISPs under Title II. Why the delay? I suspect it has a lot to do with giving time for anti-Net Neutrality allies to produce propaganda against Net Neutrality and get their lobbying game on.
4. Weather: In Portland, pollen is predicted to jump to medium levels, in a couple of days. Whaaa, pollen this high in February?!? Achooooo! So it occurred to me, what if this was the future of our local climate -- what if climate change meant that spring came in February instead of April? And what if climate change also meant that the East Coast would suffer from deep freezes from Arctic air plunging into the US? I'm guessing more people will want to move to Portland for its extremely nice climate changes.
5. Shopping: Today was like Christmas in February, as I got my Eddie Bauer package. $100 for six items. I essentially switched out half of my winter wardrobe, most notably, by getting rid of many of my hoodies in favor of mock turtleneck fleece sportswear. The hoodie is on the way out as a fashion statement, for me, though I'll still keep a few around.
6. Automobiles: Toyota apparently wants to double-down on Entune and won't support either ApplePlay or Android Auto. I'm not in the market for a new vehicle, but if this keeps up for the next two years, I probably won't be buying a Toyota as my next vehicle, despite owning only Toyota-branded vehicles for the last 18 years.
7. Football: Anyone drafting Winston ahead of Mariota, is a fool. The combine showed just how far ahead in pure athleticism, Mariota is over Winston. Out of 13 quarterbacks, Winston beat just three others in the 40-yard dash and just one other quarterback in the vertical and broad jumps. Mariota, on the other hand, was the fastest 40-yard quarterback, and scorched all of Winston's measurables, including hand size. Winston is going to be a bust. Still, Mariota's skills can only be exploited fully if drafted by the right team. Which makes Big Cat Leonard Williams the top choice, overall. If Winston is taken #1, that team ensures bottom-feeder status for several more years. As a pure passer, I'd take Bryce Petty over Winston. As a dual-threat, I'd take Brett Hundley or Nick Marshall over Winston. And then there's Winston's character -- Winston suffers from far worse character issues than Johnny Football ever had.
8. Football: Josh Shaw will get drafted. His combine numbers show that he is a skilled athlete. I just wonder however, if he'll be playing DB or linebacker. His 4.44 speed and his 26 bench press reps, would be invaluable on the edge; he does well against press coverage.
9. Education: In all my years of schooling, I can think of a small handful of teachers who had the largest influence on me becoming a creative, critical-thinking adult. It is no surprise that the one who had the greatest influence on me, was a teacher who won the Miliken Award years ago. It popped up in my mind, as I watched the news online from Hawai'i on a teacher who'd won the Miliken Award for this past year.
10. Technology: Ignore what you read about how Google bought Softcard to compete with Apple Pay. Google Wallet competes with Softcard using the same technology, which is to say that Google most certainly didn't need Softcard to boost Wallet -- Softcard will be discarded, shortly. Softcard was purchased for only one reason: Because the carriers who'd spent money building Softcard and then blocked Wallet, needed a return on their investment and sought its purchase as a quid pro quo for placing the Wallet app on their phones, front and center.

10 Thoughts for February 22, 2015

I've got time in-between paint coats, so I thought I'd twizzle (spin) some words.

1. IKEA: When you buy IKEA stuff, there are basically three tiers: cheap-ass shit, medium quality stuff, and better quality stuff. There is no such thing as high quality stuff at IKEA -- I am not so naive to not know this. For instance, the Kallax / Expedit series is the cheap-ass shit, as it uses cheap materials that scratch easily and is hollow. The largest Kallax bookshelf weighs about as much as my recently departed (to Goodwill) CD tower shelf from Dania. The medium quality stuff is the Billy line, while the better quality stuff is the Stockholm series. Stockholm is not anywhere close to high quality, however. If it is flat-packed, it cannot obtain a high level of quality. I will never again buy the cheap ass shit.
2. Retail: I was at Uwajimaya in Beaverton this weekend, and as I was pulling out my Google Wallet debit card, when I noticed that the POS terminal indicated that it took wireless payments. So naturally I popped my card back into my wallet and pulled out my phone. Worked -- requires signing into the app, first. I hope wireless payments continues to spread, especially since Apple's foray into it appears to have lit a fire under retailers. I did note however, that most people do not seem aware of Google Wallet in the first place.
3. Geopolitics: Ukrainian truce? Ha! No one except morons actually believed that a truce would actually hold up. The rebels has no incentive to maintain a truce, when they have arms and other supplies readily coming in from Russia. For example, the evacuation of Ukrainian troops who were enclosed by rebels after the truce was supposedly in effect. With the turmoil she's allowed to fester in Greece and Ukraine, you have to wonder who's side she's on...or what she's smoking.
4. Geopolitics: Sure, I get why Americans suddenly changed their tune about boots on the ground in Syria -- having swung from strongly opposing it to strongly supporting it -- because of the Americans who've been executed by ISIS. But I don't see why we would want to send troops in there, to fight someone else's wars. If the Middle East saw ISIS as an existential threat, shouldn't they be on the front lines with ground troops? The US can't be the forever-force in the Middle East.
5. Classical Music: As I'm painting the walls in my place, I've been streaming classical music from my collection in my Google Music cloud. It's been a very long while since I've listened to a lot of classical music. I've realized that, while switching to bookshelf speakers was a massive space saver, I really do need to get a subwoofer to bring greater clarity to the lower frequencies, as the bass drum practically disappears without it.
6. Construction: I've been taught that flat wall paints are good for residential interiors and can hide wall imperfections. What they don't emphasize, is that flat wall paint catches all stains and makes them stick out.On the bright side, flat paint also works well as a prime coat, allowing me to paint directly onto it, with a satin paint. I've also been taught that a roller will give you the best texture of paint. But what they don't tell you, is that you waste a lot of paint if you don't have the time to do all of your walls in the same color, in one single setting, and that the flatter the sheen, the less it matters whether you use a brush or a roller.
7. Food Carts: So, I had a bad experience with a food cart at NE 52nd and Sandy. I ordered a Kafta Kabob Plate from Ramy's Lamb Shack, and what I got looked more like tiny ground meat sticks. Plus, the guy didn't pay attention to my order, and got it wrong. For $9, the plate was skimpy, the salad practically nonexistent, the rice was dry and hard, and the Baklava at $2.50 each, was a lousy deal.  If only I had checked out his ratings on Yelp, first. I suspect some of the 5-star ratings on Yelp are fake, because what I got was far worse than what one could get anywhere else.
8. Investment: My sister told me that a coworker was encouraging everyone to buy Bitcoins, because the economy was going sink. I told her that the guy was an idiot who didn't know what he was talking about. I'm contemplating taking a vacation to visit her in Arizona just so that I can confront and publicly humiliate this guy for attempting to get people to buy into his crackpot ideas -- at the very least, make him take responsibility for his actions by forcing him to take out insurance against losses incurred by anyone who invests in Bitcoins because of him. You might want to buy Bitcoins because the whole crypto-currency thing sounds interesting, or you like to dabble in new technologies, but to buy into Bitcoins as a store of value and a hedge against the economy is downright stupid. Put it this way: In six months, Bitcoins have lost 50% of its value; in one year it's lost nearly 65% of its value; from its peak, it has lost 77% of its value. Even if you were to accept the notion of buying something at its low, you don't buy it when it continues to drop in anticipation of its eventual rise; you buy it when it starts to rise.
9. Dinosaurs: Speaking of stupid people, I truly enjoyed the laughs from a group called the Christians Against Dinosaurs. It's not just that the woman in most of the videos is wrong on her central points, but that even her tertiary arguments are all wrong. Spackling paste is not cement and a leather jacket does not fall like a sack of bricks. Of course, it could be that she, and the group in general, is all a big fake. Either way, it was a hell of a laugh.
10. Weather: New England may have won the Super Bowl, but now it's endured 5 storms bringing a frozen hell to the region. Meanwhile in the Pacific Northwest, we're receiving one of the earliest springs, ever, with a possible broken record for the warmest February. Magnolias, cherries, daffodils are all popping out.

Now, really busy.

I've only time to do a super short post.

• Serendipity is when the paint color you picked out over a year ago happens to end up matching the Metro recycled paint within a tiny margin. Bliss is when the other paint from Metro is richer but perfectly matched, tonally, to your other Metro paint. Did a sample section, and it looks really sweet.
• Spilled about a half-pint of paint on the carpet, and spent two hours cleaning it up, which is slightly amusing because the very area I spilled onto, will be replaced by the LVT I bought, earlier this week.
• Frog Tape really does work, much better than the old blue paint masking tape. Thank goodness I grabbed it a couple of years ago, in anticipation of repainting my place.
• So far with the LVT and the paint, I'm in the 'green' (heh) on residential LEED, if it mattered. The only thing that matters to me, is trying to renovate while being as environmentally conscious (and cheap) as possible.
• Sister is coming in from Phoenix, and the plane was delayed for 1 1/2 hours. Funny how on Portland Airport's site, it says that it was cancelled (it was not).
• Started ripping the rest of the CD collection, and uploading them to my Google Music cloud. I've moved to using Foobar to convert to FLAC, instead of using Winamp, and I really like Foobar. I'd installed Foobar previously, so that I could convert FLAC to MP3s, and have grown to love the ease of Foobar.
• Last night, I tried to shop at Safeway before it closed. When I got there, apparently their computer systems were down, so they couldn't do any transactions, including cash. I suppose anything is possible, but I'm expecting it to be a hack (DDOS attack as a diversion), which is just one more reason why you should use a debit card with limited funds (Google Wallet!) which also sends you immediate alerts, following every transaction. I suppose it could have also been a cut line, a bad drive or something else...but I'm sticking with the hack theory.
• This was the end of my 15 minute break.

Still busy.

An update of what's going on with my To Do List:

• Mounted the IKEA hardware in my bathroom. Looks good when you match stainless steel fixtures with stainless steel screws.
• Dropped off bulbs and batteries. It turns out the local franchises of Batteries+ now charges per bulb. Will have to start dropping them off at Home Depot instead! Also dropped off empty printer cartridges at the Office Depot.
• Sold my IKEA shoe rack just over an hour ago for $5. More than anything, I wanted to get rid of it as it was taking up space. I also sold my unused kitchen sink faucet a minute ago -- bonus! Two CLers who aren't flakes!
• Bought Super 77, spray-glued the IKEA Projs pad to the drafting board and trimmed the edges. Looks good. Whatever you do, don't leave hot beverages on the Projs surface, as it'll warp!
• Recycled old paint and bought 1-gallon Metro paint at Miller Paint, Espresso and Desert -- going as green as I can get. It's a test to see how the sheen and colors look. There are stark variations between Metro, Miller Paint and the different forms of media used to showcase the colors available, so I have to do a test section. Paint odor seems roughly the same as the Benjamin Moore Ben interior line, that I used to paint the closet, though the Ben is supposed to be zero VOC while this one is roughly 91 g/L. At $11 a pop + change for recycling fee, the two paints combined was in the ballpark of ~$25. If you've bought paint lately, you know how cheap that is -- I hope the color works so that I can use them.

Pretty much everything going as scheduled. Slowly but surely, I'm clearing out my place for a more efficient space (and desperately trying to avoid becoming a pack rat).

By the way, I checked and the LVT boxes were 41lbs each, so I was really close when I wrote that they were probably ~45lbs each.

Been busy.

Been busy the last few days, that I haven't posted much. Things I've done the last several days:

• Made multiple trips to Goodwill to drop off stuff that I've compiled from clearing out my closets.
• Prepped my closet walls with patching, sanding, priming and painting, then installed the first third of my new closet -- IKEA Algot system.
• Bought / received a refurb'd Dell desktop and an MSATA SSD. Installed MSATA drive (directly on the motherboard) and turned it into the primary boot drive. Also, updated all of the drivers and installed about 2/3rds of the software I need, in order to work.
• Bought enough Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) and accessories to install the first third of my planned flooring in my place. The boxes were crazy heavy -- ~45 pounds -- that it was too much of a struggle to carry two at a time, using a friction grasp with two hands. I'll explain in some separate post, later on, about why I chose LVT.
• Cleared out my massive drafting table, in anticipation of selling it, or otherwise getting rid of it, in order to make room to install my flooring.
• Received my PocketScan, installed the app, played around with it for a bit. I discovered a possible problem with the app, such that the Bluetooth device's install created an IP conflict of some sort, that would drop my signal to my router. Once I uninstalled the app, the problems disappeared. Of course, it didn't help that my WiMax signal dropped out, a few times.

My To-Do list is equally long, too:

• Mount IKEA hardware in bathroom (went to Pearl Hardware to get the stainless steel screws to match).
• Drop off recyclable bulbs and batteries.
• Prep (really old) Pentium 4 computer to be given away, by going through hard drive and stripping out encryption and copying files as desired, prior to wiping -- 2 hours.
• Prep (slightly less ancient) Xeon workstation to be given away or sold, by reinserting old drive, stripping out encryption and copying files as desired, prior to restoring to original config -- 2 hours.
• Sell or give away temporary IKEA shoe rack.
• Buy bottle of Super 77 to spray-glue padding to drafting board, spray-glue padding to drafting board.
• Get rid of drafting table.
• Strip out carpet and install flooring.
• Recycle some old paint, and buy Metro recycled paint, all at Miller Paint. I'm going to sample the Metro recycled paint to see if I can incorporate it into my remodel...because it's the green thing to do, and it's hella cheap.

In the meantime, some quick observations of things going on:

• Russia and their allies in eastern Ukraine pushed out Ukrainian forces, after the peace truce was supposed to be in effect. Putin is a liar, and Merkel and Hollande are idiots for continuing to place even the least bit of trust in him.
• Kate Brown was sworn in, and she gave a speech that lasted about 5 minutes, before everyone got back to work. The tale of tangled interests between Kitz and his fiance are definitely not going away, though.
• Speaking of work in Salem, in between data centers (Apple and others) and Google Fiber, there are a handful of senate bills  (SB 566, 568, 569, 570, 571) that need to be worked through the system.
• According to Google Flu Trends, Oregon's flu season is practically over and done with. The nation as a whole, is just about done with the flu, too.
• It's been so consistently warmer than usual in Oregon, that daffodils and tulips are all popping up right now. But the cherry trees on the waterfront are still about two weeks away. I went back and looked at the dates of prior years' photos, and they were all in late March or early April, making this possibly the earliest spring blossoms, ever.
• Either Greece exits the Eurozone or we'll see riots. Patience with 25% unemployment is being tested, and I don't think it can last much longer. A few days ago, Paul Krugman pointed out the similarities between the Weimar Republic's post-WWI / pre-WWII condition and the current Greek situation, and it's more than a bit scary to see how closely one resembles the other.

Line Ninja Striker bugs.

If you play Line Ninja Striker, don't upgrade your OS to Lollipop, or else the Ninja Striker's login will kill your desire to play. The longstanding bug of having to go through the login page twice, periodically, was annoying enough. But now, with the update to Lollipop, this login hassle occurs every time you start the game up.

The most recent update has not addressed it. Considering that this bug has been present since the beginning, I'm not holding out much hope that the developers fix it anytime soon.

The irony is not lost on me, that with the Lollipop update, I was able to record the screen to show this bug.

10 Thoughts for February 13, 2015

1. Mythology: It's Friday the 13th. Bad things happen on Friday the 13th. See next item.
2. Oregon Politics: Uh...so yeah, that happened. In a span of roughly 48 hours, an amazing series of events led to this morning's announcement that Kitz was resigning...next week Wednesday. It was a bitter announcement, though, as Kitz denounced the lack of due process and the abandonment of his allies. To be fair to his allies, it was his actions during the last 48 hours that led them to abandon him.
3. Oregon Politics: Kate Brown being the first openly bisexual governor in any state, is meaningless and meaningful. It is meaningless because the line between being openly bisexual and being a closet bisexual is separated by sexual privacy -- a line that should be irrelevant to people. It is meaningful because it breaks down the stigma and barriers of not being anything but strictly straight.
4. Sports: No, Little League International, you cannot give the runner-up of the US LL World Series, the championship, if you've disqualified the Jackie Robinson West team from Chicago. The counterfactual -- that the runner-up would have won -- is impossible to prove, as the team that JRW had beaten to get to the championship may have beaten the runner-up. In fact, taken back to the regional, had JRW not qualified, there are a series of teams who may have gone all the way to beat the runner-up in the championship.
5. Fifty Shades of You: It occurred to me, 50 Shades is most popular in a country with high moral rules and norms. Tackling the cognitive dissonance, head on.
6. Technology: Mattel is working with Google to produce an updated ViewMaster that operates like Google Cardboard. Looks pretty cool. VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) are headed towards mainstream. Google Glass failed because of price -- not the $1500 developer price that this device sold at, but at the internal price that Google X could not achieve with their current design. Alternatively, Google Cardboard is accessible to everyone at $25.
7. Architecture: I can't figure out what it is, that elevates a lot of mediocre Architects into the spotlight. I just don't get it.
8. Fun: Cookie Monster Chase. Why? Because you get to hear Cookie Monster repeat, "Yum, yum, yum, yum...COOKIE!"
9. Politics: If you're not laughing at this BuzzFeed video of President Obama, you're either too old or too partisan. It's hilarious stuff!
10. Shopping: Dude. Eddie Bauer online store, clearance section, an additional 40% off. This is the kind of clearance you wait for. The clearance stuff, being already 60% off, is now an additional 40% off -- no need to drive to the outlet mall.

10 Thoughts for February 11, 2015

1. Football: The Seattle Seahawks' 2015 season is the most critical of the franchise's recent change-around. Last year's losses of Red Bryant, Golden Tate and Brandon Browner hurt. This year, it's almost a guarantee that a couple of other LOB defensive players will leave. They still suffer from a lack of speed on offense, exposing their passing game. They must draft extremely well (not at the top of the draft, but at the bottom) or else they will have a collapse this season.
2. Politics: People need to call out the GOP's recent comments about their concern over wage growth stagnation, because it's all bullshit. It's bullshit because they've long complained about higher labor costs to employers (recently via the ACA or increased minimum wage rates) as an obstacle towards business growth. You can't complain about wage stagnation if you support policies to keep wages low.
3. Education: You often hear about the size of endowments at universities. Private universities must have large endowments, since they do not receive public funds, other than research grants. For instance, USC has an endowment of $4.6B, with an annual operating budget of $3.9B. A few bad years, not offset with rising tuition or cuts, means that endowment is gone. But then there are universities like Harvard, with a $43B endowment and $4.4B annual expenses. Notre Dame has a $8.9B endowment, but with just $1B in operating expenses.
4. Internet: So, I've been clearing out stuff that I haven't used in over 5 years, and posted ads on CL, hoping to sell them, or else donating them and benefiting the tax breaks. It turns out, people who answer ads on CL, often are completely clueless. Seriously. A guy wanted to buy my netbook, but after telling him the specs, decided that it was too slow. It's a freaking 5 year old netbook and you thought it was going to be fast? And then there's the guy who asked me if my tower speakers could be hooked up to his TV. Or the guy who asked me if the tweeters on my speaker worked fine, despite my ad stating clearly that the tweeters should be replaced. Then there was the poor woman who'd switched from Verizon to T-Mo, but her phone had only intermittently worked until it stopped -- I didn't have enough heart to explain what was going on with her phone, because it meant having to hand hold her through the process. I have lost some hope in humanity.
5. Environment: Would you drink waste water that was treated? I would. In fact, I'd rather drink water from a stream or lake that was treated with my UV pen, than straight from the stream or lake. The benefit of intensively treated water, is that it is cleaner than what you could possibly get from anywhere else.
6. Technology: Many people have made a big deal of Apple's market cap record. Don't get me wrong, it's a big deal, but if you compare their P/E ratio to others, there's an incredible room to grow, so don't expect that to stop at $700B. I don't particularly subscribe to Apple's closed ecosystem, nor do I buy into the "ease" of their UI arguments. But, from a bottom line analysis, their stock price is probably undervalued to their profit per share and P/E ratio.
7. Oregon Politics: Apparently last night Kitz had met with leaders in Salem, leading many to believe that he was about to resign. But then this morning he may have had a change of mind with his public announcement that he was not resigning. No one is saying it, but he basically has this choice to make: Quit his job for love or call his relationship off for his job. In either case, I laugh at the counterfactual suggestion that the Republican nominee would have won were all these facts known ahead of time; if we had known ahead of time, Kitz may have also quit his job pushing Kate Brown into his role, and becoming the de facto nominee via write-ins.
8. Politics: While in the UK, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker said, "I’d rather be bland than stupid or moronic." I don't think he understands what the meaning is, between the lines: "I'd rather be bland, so that you won't be able discern my stupidity." As a result, he exposed his stupidity.
9. Climate: IDK if this is a sign of climate change, but this year, Portland will surely have flowers blooming before the end of February. Wherever I walk, I can see plants readying their blossoms, and with the recent warm-up, we're definitely going to see flowers in two weeks or less. Two decades ago when I moved here, February was cold. This hasn't been the case for most of the last decade.
10. Climate: Furthering this issue of warmer temperatures in Oregon, compare the snow water equivalent (SWE) to actual precipitation in Oregon's watersheds, for this current water season. To date, the Willamette basin is at 103% of precipitation, but just 10% of SNE average. In many areas measured, there is no snow on the ground. So while Boston is deep in record snowfall, some of Oregon's mountains are completely bare.

What are your 10 favorite Carpenters songs?

I think that Karen Carpenter had one of the most lusciously deep and warm voices in rock, and have always loved their songs. Back before there were digital tools to correct pitch in real time, there were singers like Karen Carpenter with perfect pitch.

What are your top 10 songs from the Carpenters? These are mine, in order of most favorite:

1. Merry Christmas Darling - Without a doubt, one of the best original Christmas songs that have earned a spot in most people's playlists during Christmas. Their Christmas CD is absolutely my favorite seasonal CD, and this song in particular is such a heartfelt favorite.
2. Close to You - Even though they weren't the first to record this song, they're the ones who turned it into a #1 hit. And heck, it's Homer and Marge's song. If you get married, don't you want this to be your song, too?
3. Superstar - "Don't you remember you told me you love me, baby?" If you're not a romantic, that line might not have much meaning, but for romantics around the world, those words are pure heartbreak. You've got horns, strings and an oboe, and a woman with dour pleas for her love to return. They did not write this song, but it was their treatment, under Richard Carpenter's creativity, that made it popular.
4. Top of the World - The only Carpenters song that'll leave you with a, "Not a cloud in the sky, got the sun in my eye" gleefulness, with a southern twang on your tongue.
5. Rainy Days and Mondays - I feel like this was the song you'd most likely hear, the day Karen Carpenter died. It may have been sunny in Southern California on that day, but it was raining in the hearts and thoughts of fans.
6. We've Only Just Begun - "So much of life, ahead." This would be the other song that was most likely played, the day Karen Carpenter died. At 32, her career was cut tragically short.
7. Yesterday Once More - This song is all about remembering the good ol days -- yesterday.
8. Sing a Song - Every kid who watched Sesame Street would recognize this song. Written by a Sesame Street staff songwriter, Joe Raposo, and sung by Sesame Street crew, it was the Carpenters who made this song popular in pop music.
9. Ticket to Ride - This revisioned Beetles hit, was not as popular as the Beetles original. Still, its remake turned this song completely upside-down with a very somber tone.
10. Touch Me When We're Dancing - You can feel the disco underneath the jazzy slow-jam, can't you?

Are you going to Sling TV? (Updated)

Dish's Sling TV has exited its preview mode, and now everyone can sign up for their service.

I'm thinking about doing the 7-day trial, but the main reason why I'd want Sling TV is for football season, and we're 6 1/2 months away from football season. There is one downside to the sports package: No PAC-12 network. Of course, I know that Dish has rejected the PAC-12 network for its satellite-TV service, so obviously no reason to expect them to negotiate any time soon to get it for Sling TV.

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Here's the lineup:

$20 / mo: ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, Food Network, HGTV, Travel Network, El Ray Network, Maker.tv, adult swim, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, ABC Family, CNN and Galavision.

+$5 / mo: Sports Extra package includes ESPN-U, SEC Network, ESPN News, ESPN Bases Loaded, ESPN Buzzer Beater, ESPN Goal Line, beIN Sports, Universal Sports, Univision TDN.

+$5 / mo: News and Info Extra package includes HLN, Cooking Channel, diy, Bloomberg.

+$5 / mo: Kids extra package includes Disney Junior, Disney XD, Boomerang, BabyTV, duck tv.

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There are some other caveats.

It requires using a Sling TV app. With Android, you have to install it outside of the Google Play Store. With your PC, you have to download an app.

For the time being, there is no ability to cast a screen with your Chromecast, or to cast directly from your phone / tablet, but apparently it's on their list of things to do in the near-future. Or you could buy a Nexus Player.

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Update: Sling's blog just announced that they were adding AMC's lineup into their main package, which would include AMC, IFC, BBC America, BBC World News, Sundance TV and We TV.

Huge.

Soon, you'll be able to watch Mad Men, Walking Dead, Portlandia and the Breaking Bad spinoff, Better Call Saul. Incidentally, the first episode of Better Call Saul is free right now, via Amazon.

Suddenly, I feel compelled to slash my Netflix subscription down to single-disc, and pick up Sling. When they support Chromecast, that is.

Acer's new touch Chromebook now available.

It's been available in Europe for several months now, while US buyers have had to wait patiently for Acer to open up sales in the US. That day is finally here.

Acer model CB5-311P-T9AB is a 13.3" (1366 x 768) Chromebook with 4GB (1600Mhz, DDR3, fixed) of RAM and 16GB eMMC drive (similar to, but not the same as an SSD, in two negative ways: cannot be replaced and is slower).

Price is $350.

Here's a quick comparison layout to Acer's C720P-2625:

	CB5-311P-T9AB	C720P-2625
Processor, cores, speed	Nvidia K1, 4, 2.1Ghz	Celeron 2955U, 2, 1.4Ghz
Video, speed, cores	CUDA, 950Mhz, 192	Intel HD, 200-1000Mhz, 10
Screen size, resolution, type	13.3", 1366x768, TFT	11.6", 1366x768, TFT
RAM, type	4GB, DDR3	4GB, DDR3
Drive size, type	16GB, eMMC	16GB, SATA3 SSD
Bluetooth	v4.0	v4.0
WiFi	802.11ac (backward comp)	802.11a/b/g/n
#USB, Type	2, USB3.0	2, 1 USB3.0, 1 USB2.0
Battery type, capacity, hrs	4-cell, 3220 mAh, 13 hrs	3-cell, 3950 mAh, 7.5 hrs
Max height, width, depth	0.8" x 12.9" x 9"	0.8" x 11.3" x 8"
Weight	3.53 lb	2.98 lb
Price	$350	$330

While it would have been nice to be able to replace the main drive, the current Acer model lasts 13 hrs on the low-powered K1, and the embedded CUDA video processor is a beast.

If you want a higher resolution touch screen, you have to jump to HP's 14" 1920x1080 Chromebook. That comes with a larger 32GB eMMC drive, a shorter battery life, slightly heavier weight (3.77 lb), priced at $440. That's a bit too steep, in my opinion, for a Chromebook. Take away the touchscreen capability and you can save yourself roughly $70~$100.

10 Thoughts for February 5, 2015

1. Football: This is how the Super Bowl was supposed to end. I still think that there were multiple means of winning, but the inside slant was a poor choice, seeing as a bad throw or the receiver falling down would have also resulted in a turnover.
2. Football: I still can't get over LOI signing day's patronage of an anachronism, the fax machine. Dude, fax machines. I can't remember the last time I actually used a fax machine.
3. Technology: Ross Ulbricht, aka Dread Pirate Roberts aka I'm-not-Dread-Pirate-Roberts, was found guilty on all charges, in connection with running Silk Road, an online (primarily) drug sales website. His defense team's strategy was hilarious: The prosecution faked evidence, but we can't prove it; still you should trust us because our -- miraculously aligned -- ex post facto story fits the facts that Ulbricht is not DPR, even if we have no way of showing that Ulbricht isn't DPR. You know what was worse than that? The sort of anti-government, conspiracist-loving, tin-hat-wearing folks on Wired, who placed Ulbricht on a pedestal as a libertarian hero.
4. Technology: Anthem's hacked data is an interesting case. Apparently the hack comes with the backing of China's government. Because it's from China, it seems to me that the hackers were looking for phish-usable data. Were it from elsewhere, such as Russia, the odds would be high that this was purely a play for money. (Added: So, just before I was going to post this, I saw that Brian Krebs had finally posted a long writeup about the incident -- something I always make time for -- and it basically confirmed what I thought, that this was an attempt to grab phish-usable data, specifically to target government / defense contractors.)
5. Technology: So, I keep telling myself that I'm going to build a computer from the ground up, but every time I try to price one, it comes out so much more than just buying a refurb with those frequent discount codes, directly from Dell (note that I do not buy from "dellrefurbished.com" which is part of Dell's financing arm and not the main company, because those are off-lease computers so they're about 5 years old and crap). You can probably guess what I just did: I bought a refurb i7-4790 for $625. Nearly half of the price is equal to the retail value of the CPU, so once you add in the cost of the MoBo, video card, memory, hard drive, DVD writer, case and power supply, it'd be close to $800. But if I were to build my own system, it'd actually cost about $1500.
6. Technology: Stupid Oracle. Java wanted to update itself, only to report back that I have the latest edition, then attempted to update itself again, only to, again, report back that I have the latest edition. Here's the problem: Oracle had idiot programmers. You see, Java 7 is no longer being updated, and the platform has moved to 8, but you have to uninstall 7, then install 8. Stupid Oracle.
7. Geopolitics: If Jordan wants to get revenge, they need to create a Middle-East based ground force that is willing to go into Syria and crush ISIS. The air war is not so useful if they want revenge.
8. Geopolitics: Come now, why hasn't anyone written a word on the Obama Administration's pivot away from Pakistan, and towards India? I know that the mainstream media is lame, but this is ridiculously bad.
9. Geopolitics: Here we go again, with another round of peace talks over Ukraine. Europe, it seems, believes that this time Putin will not lie. This must be the fourth or fifth time they've tried to hold peace talks, only to be embarrassed by Putin. It's kind of simple, really: Announce arms shipments will be at Ukraine's western border on February 10th (arbitrary date) were Russia to fail to stop the rebels. With each week that Russia fails to stop rebels, another, larger shipment will be at Ukraine's border until the rebels stop. If Russia chooses war, you force Russia to escalate by massive increases in state spending, while speeding up the Russian economy's collapse, all leading to the eventual arrest of Putin by the Russian people. If Russia chooses peace, you've got peace.
10. Taxes: I did a major drop off at Goodwill today, and might have another major load this weekend. Big tax benefits, considering the load of stuff I got rid off. I might have another, bigger load this weekend. What I can't sell on Craigslist ends up at either Goodwill or Free Geek.

The PAC-12 2015 recruiting crown.

The recruiting war has been won. Now, everyone back to work.

School	Rivals	Scout	247	ESPN	Average	# recruits
USC	1	1	2	3	1.8	26
UCLA	13	6	7	11	9.3	20
Oregon	17	21	16	15	17.3	22
ASU	20	19	20	26	21.3	22
Stanford	19	30	25	32	26.5	20
Washington	29	23	27	27	26.5	24
Cal	30	37	40		35.7	24
Arizona	41	41	42	39	40.8	23
Utah	41	53	44		46.0	24
WSU	51	43	46		46.7	23
Oregon State	68	64	69		67.0	19
Colorado	68	75	68		70.3	19

Add: The signing continues for a little longer, but no one is going to move much at this point, with all of the 5-star guys and nearly all of the 4-star folks locked up with their faxed LOIs. Faxed LOI...we're still living in the 90s, apparently.

10 Thoughts for February 3, 2015

1. TV: I initially thought that Netflix was slowing shipments only on weekends. But my last two shipments during the weekday have been arriving a day late, too. What's worse, Netflix's notifications still say that they're supposed to arrive the next day. Misleading? I think so! Will follow up if this trend continues.
2. Football: We don't often see a bad boy athlete come to terms with his bad ways, but it looks like Johnny Manziel finally reached that point, and is going to rehab. There is still hope that the young, brash man will achieve greatness in the NFL, even though I see it as a slim chance at best.
3. Football: After a tough, devastating loss in the Super Bowl, Seattle fans can look forward to the April draft, with dreams of the Seahawks finding the right parts to complete the picture. I personally think the offense needs a lot of help (o-line upgrade, a true #1 receiver), while the defense only needs some small tweaks (faster OLB / DE). Also, it would be nice to have someone like Harvin, but without the discord and disruption. I reiterate: It sure would be nice to have George Farmer.
4. Football: Meanwhile, Oregon fans (and the rest of college football) have just a few hours left until LOI signing day begins at midnight, when it feels like Christmas all over again, and dreams of a national championship run, begin. (Or your worst nightmares happen and your signing class is left with big holes.)
5. Super Bowl Halftime: Katy Perry's lion was made in Scappoose. I really liked the halftime show, even though I'm not a listener of Perry's music. The show rivaled some far more expensive Olympics opening ceremonies, in my opinion.
6. Super Bowl Ads: Walter White FTW. Or Budweiser's best buds. Meanwhile, GoDaddy pulled their ad and made a last second replacement that sucked balls. But Nationwide takes the cake for worst ad.
7. Geopolitics: Way back when, I said that the drop in the price of oil was more about global politics. It turns out, I was half right: Saudi Arabia is using oil prices as leverage against Russia regarding Syria. I thought it was mostly leverage towards Crimea, but of course SA is more concerned with its own back yard. I just don't know how that power vacuum would work in Syria, though. I know how it'd work in Crimea / Ukraine, but in Syria you're not necessarily going to get reconciliation between pro-Assad groups and moderate rebels.
8. Technology: If any Apple fanboi tells you that Apple Pay makes the iPhone better than Android, kindly remind them that anywhere Apple Pay's NFC works, so does Google Wallet. Really.
9. Health: I cannot believe that small businesses are against mandatory paid sick leave. If I had employees, I'd be scared of employees coming to work and spreading their viruses that ended up hobbling the entire team. Maybe half-pay sick leave would work?
10. Health: I think it amusing that we have laws requiring dogs to carry papers of immunization against Rabies, but children are exempted from vaccinations against diseases that could kill them. We can't be saying that dogs are more important than children -- I see a government policy disconnect. Either you let dog owners choose whether or not to vaccinate for Rabies, or you require children to get vaccinations against diseases that once killed or disabled millions of Americans.

On that final Seattle offensive play.

No one calls a pass play on 2nd and goal from the 1 yard line, when you've got Marshawn Lynch and a time out. I get it: Because no one would make that call, making the call could catch the defense off guard. And, if your rushing offense is lacking, then I can see this play being called. But Lynch had 102 yards in the game, and the entire country was waiting for Beast Mode to hit a touchdown. If they had gone with Beast Mode and he'd scored a touchdown, the country would have felt a massive 2.0 quake from Scottsdale.

Upon replay, you can see what Wilson was seeing -- a potentially wide open outside receiver on the inside slant. But Butler jumped on the route and Wilson didn't see it.

What's worse: even though the play was designed for Lockette on a pick play, Lynch was wide open on a fade throw to the opposite side of the field.

But why would you call an inside slant at the 1? You're banking on the hopes that the linebacker / safety vacates the area. Rather, you'd want to call an outside slant with a pick play at the 1, not an inside slant.

Or better yet, why not go with the read-option run? Or the bootleg rollout with Lynch in front? Why the pick play on an inside slant?

I'd call for the firing of Darrell Bevell for that one really bad call, but the body of work means that Bevell gets it right, 99% of the time. We're just all really disappointed that the only reason why the Patriots won, was a horrible call.

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Add: I'm seeing on social media some people blaming Carroll. Other than the fact that he didn't change the call, they're wrong. Darrell Bevell is the OC with the play calling sheet, and Pete's involvement would have been to direct Bevell to call a pass play. It was Bevell's responsibility to find an appropriate pass play on the 1-yard line with the personnel on the field.

It's not entirely Bevell's fault, however. If that play had been executed properly -- had Lockette not slowed his route or if Wilson had thrown the ball low -- Butler would have never been in the position to catch the ball.

And no, it was not a throw into a crowded backfield, contrary to what some people online are insisting. They were basically playing cover-1 with Dont'a Hightower as safety, with everyone else up on the line. As Carroll noted, they came out with 3 receivers and the Patriots were goal line run defense.

Only 1 guy in the backfield

Hightower follows Lynch

Wilson staring at Lockette and Butler jumps the route

May I suggest getting a real speedster on offense, at a bargain late round pick...someone like George Farmer? He's an awful lot like Harvin, but at a bargain price and might even become your new #1 receiver.

Live blogging Super Bowl XLIV.

First quarter.

• To start off the game Patriots test Sherman. First play of the game was a behind the line pass to Gronk on Sherman's side. Next play, Sherman was trailing and missed the tackle.
• First series on offense, Seattle goes 3 and out, all on runs. I would have gone 3 passes to make the safety play deep, to set up the run.
• Brady's pointing two hands to the head seems to indicate run, or otherwise, signaling for the alternate play.
• And just like you expected, the Legion of Boom picks Brady on 3rd and 6 in the red zone, while Brady gets dropped. NE player tackles Lane, and that player's helmet flies off -- if that's not a sign that the NE player was using his helmet, I don't know what is. Patriots are playing to take out Seahawks, it seems.

Second quarter.

• Seattle has gotten away from its bread and butter: the run option and bootleg with a deep fade. The receivers seem to be doing medium routes, not deep routes.
• Gronk has just two catches for 6 yards; he pushed off on the end zone throw and still failed to come down with the ball. Looks like the linebackers and Chancellor are doing a good job on Gronk.
• New England's passing game doesn't work deep and on the edges, but is perfect in the middle, including the middle slant, picking on Tharold Simon who came in for Jeremy Lane.
• Right in front of the ref and the don't call NE for a block in the back on the kick return. The refs are letting both sides play, it seems.
• It's a great game for defenses.
• Finally, a deep route with a pass that is far in front.
• No call, again, with hands to the helmet...James Carpenter's helmet didn't just fly off on its own.
• BEAST MODE hits the touchdown, with a spin and a reach.
• Contrary to belief, Seattle is the quick strike team while NE is the control team.
• Turns out, Brady pointing to his head is to shift to the alternate play -- X and Y receivers split out from tight run formation, for a quick throw.
• The deep safety bit on Brady's look-off, and as a result KJ Wright was left all alone on Gronk, and got beat deep. 
• As fast as NE scored, Seattle was much faster. Again, Wilson comes through. Does that surprise anyone?

Halftime.

• That show, given its limited time and budget, sure matches well with some Olympics opening ceremonies.
• Katy Perry wasn't singing live all the time, but it was still a solid performance with cameos from Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliot.
• The graphics on the ground during Missy Elliot's appearance was absolutely awesome.

Third quarter.

• Chris Matthews, the guy who'd been signed to the 53-man roster in early December, has become the big play maker for the Seahawks in the post season. In this game, he's had three huge catches (3 for 100 yards and a touchdown). If they win, he might get the MVP, I think.
• Seattle is stopped, but still, they drove down the field like it was business as usual, and have taken their first lead in the game, 17 - 14.
• Kam hits the inside receiver on a short route. Blount can't get a yard. Defense has adjusted.
• Gronk gets that pass, but look at his numbers 4 catches for 44 yards.
• Refs missed intentional grounding. In the pocket, no one in the area.
• But that's okay, because Bobby Wagner gets the interception. I've said it before: the team who wins the turnover margin usually wins the game. Seattle is now +2.
• You see it, don't you? The light switch was flipped on and the game has definitely changed. Seattle has now scored 17 straight points in the game.
• Suddenly, the penalties are flying for the Patriots trying to hold off the Seahawks.
• What happened to the Patriots offense? Carroll's defensive adjustments, that's what. Aside from that first series, Brady hasn't even bothered to throw at Sherman's receiver. Sherman does not look injured at all. Neither does Chancellor.

Fourth quarter

• Legion of Boom is exerting itself onto this game, and the Patriots have gone three and out, two straight series.
• Patriots defense get their own 3-and-out, but took a huge risk with a run blitz. I expect Seattle to go to Willson on a TE slant in the next series.
• Legion of Boom missed their perfect opportunity to get another 3-and-out, but instead, go zone on 3rd and 14, giving up a 1st down. The margin of that pass was so small, but Brady, true to his form, made the tight fit. In the end, it would result in NE getting a touchdown.
• Refs miss another call, on passing interference against the Patriots. Butler fell down and still reached out to trip Lockette.
• Seattle's offense is playing to win (not going conservative), but it also means that they've now gone two series 3-and-out.
• Now NE has scored 14 straight points to take the lead back. They have fight in them, after all!
• Something perhaps the Patriots aren't aware of: Wilson lives for these moments of having to come from behind in the fourth quarter. Win or lose, this has been the modus operandi of Seattle under Wilson, either winning or losing it on their final possession.
• OMG! Kearse's juggling act to catch that long pass, are you kidding me? Seattle's got that lucky charm!
• WTH? Bad offensive call by Seattle. Marshawn Lynch should have been given the ball, absolutely no question about it.
• Center clearly nodded his head to simulate a snap, and the refs didn't catch it. Per NFL: "No interior lineman may move abruptly after taking or simulating a three-point stance...No player of offensive team may charge or move abruptly, after assuming set position, in such manner as to lead defense to believe snap has started." Instead, Seattle got called for offside. That's a dirty play by NE and the refs didn't catch it.
• Seattle's defense loses it and gets into fight on the field. That is ugly.
• And that's the game, folks. Game over, NE wins the game. Seattle fell short by a single call that will forever haunt Seattle fans and coaches, for not going with Lynch right up the middle.