5 Thoughts for October 26, 2015

1. With Sark completely out of the process, USC seemed to do a lot of things differently, and it led to the blowout of the Utes. Under Sark, the fullbacks practically disappeared from the offense; against the Utes, it was common to see on and two fullbacks in the formation, and of course we saw the fullback dive (Soma Vainuku) for a touchdown. On defense, ESPN's Greg Katz notes that the defense under Helton is now working more on technique than under Sark -- which begs the question of why technique wasn't emphasized under Sark.
2. The risk of cancer due to eating processed meat, as linked by the WHO, was vastly exaggerated by the media today. Of course you would expect processed meat to cause cancer -- it's got all sorts of chemicals to preserve it, after all -- but your risk only goes up from 5% to 6% if you routinely (daily) eat an excess amount of processed meat. Put it this way: There were only 34,000 deaths globally, linked to eating processed meat, but more than twice as many Americans die annually from diabetes.
3. I really thought that I would get the Nexus 5X, but then I let the deadline to get the $50 Play Store credit pass by, which was my personal deadline for getting this phone. Here are my two issues: the phone's USB-C charger is only compatible with Google's Nexus 5X charger and they do not have an auto adapter; the opposite end of the USB is 2.0, which means max 480 mbps transfer rates. They did not embrace the widely-adopted Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 system, so your only means of buying an additional charger is to go through the Google Play Store. That's worse than being stuck with an iPhone. Plus, I really like my phone, especially now that I've received the Marshmallow update. The 5X just isn't quite the balance I was looking for, so I might end up getting the Moto X Pure, instead, or whatever comes along in the next year that strikes my fancy. Right now I'm in no rush to replace my durable Nexus 5.
4. That the two leading candidates at the moment are Carson and Trump, shows just how superficial conservative Americans are. Trump ironically calls himself the grand uniter, which requires no explanation. Carson, without serious understanding of the issues, has become the poster boy (not just a token) of the conservative narrative, that Carson's biography shows that Black Americans have only themselves to blame for their situation. This is made apparent when you look at Reuters-Ipsos' breakdown of Republican-affiliated voters: White-only Republicans are twice as likely to pick Carson than Black-only Republicans, though technically Black Republicans represent less than 1% of RI's polling and as such, is an insufficient sample size. If that doesn't convince you of the superficiality of conservatives, compare the GOP and Democratic debates. For some reason, on the national level conservatives can't find credible candidates -- perhaps it is the foul effect of rich money pouring into campaigns as a result of Citizens United. Consider that, long before Ben Carson announced he would run, there was a Super PAC created to encourage him to run.
5. Seattle's Paul Richardson looks to be coming back either this week or in the next few. Last year he was the speedster; this year, there's Tyler Lockett. What happens when you've got two speedsters at X and Z and the giant tight end in Jimmy Graham clearing out the linebacker? One can only hope for more wheel routes to Marshawn Lynch, eh?