5 Thoughts for July 26, 2015

1. Had an interesting comment section discussion with a self-reported neuroscientist. Until I bothered to show some cred to be able to talk on his level, he pretty much dismissed what I had to say. When I finally bothered to cite specifics in response to his critique, his tone changed dramatically. The brain only respects what it knows. #snark
2. This story is about Tim Tebow, but also about being on USC campus (where many NFL pros go, to work out, such as JJ Watt). I've never been a fan of Tebow's throwing motion, but I've been a fan of his perseverance, and watching the video, it looks like he's finally fixed his ugly mechanics that saw him throwing ducks. His mechanics were once so bad that there was no spiral on the ball, and you never knew if it would come out like a knuckle ball, dropping to the ground some 5 yards short of target.
3. What I love most about Newegg, is that they fight patent trolls without hesitation, and win. The latest win comes from a judge's reversal of a jury's verdict, on TCP's patent assertion involving SSL and RC4 encryption. 
4. Mitch McConnell angered some of his brethren these past few days. As we saw the other day, Ted Cruz accused McConnell of lying to Republicans, on the floor of the Senate, over a vote to reinstate the Ex-Im Bank (which passed 67 - 23 -- interesting to note that half of Republicans voted for it, even though they allowed it to expire in the first place). But what has apparently really angered Republicans, is that McConnell refused to take up an amendment (attached to a highway bill) to defund Planned Parenthood.
5. Jeb Bush wants to "phase out" Medicare. I'd love to be in on that conversation with his brother, GWB, when he explains that he's going to cut the very program that GWB expanded in 2003. I guess this means that Jeb Bush is out of the closet and now openly expressing disdain for Medicare. An interesting intersection between the GOP desire to eliminate Medicare and repeal the ACA: The Kaiser Family Foundation shows that Medicare spending growth has been dramatically reduced as a result of the ACA, and as the CBO has noted, repealing the ACA would increase federal deficit spending.

P.S. Enjoy the Trump show; it's just getting started.