5 Thoughts for November 30, 2015

1. Seattle Seahawks: The offense has apparently resolved its issues even as Jimmy Graham went down for the season. The offense scored its most points in a game, this season, with 39, which appears to be a reflection of Russell Wilson's growing confidence in his offensive line. Indeed, in the first 7 games this season, the Seahawks were giving up an average of 4.4 sacks per game, while the last 4 he's been sacked on average 1.5 times a game. The defense remains a huge question mark, as the spot opposite Richard Sherman still looks bad, regardless of who's assigned to it. So bad is the secondary, that Pittsburgh essentially gave up on the run -- 14 running plays compared to 59 passing plays -- and Ben threw for more yards against the Seahawks than any previous quarterback in the franchise's history.
2. Health Insurance: In the last month, Moda Health announced that it was in poor financial -- ahem -- health. Its finances were being dragged down by people who'd signed up for their services but who were sicker than expected, combined with a missed projection of federal financial support, as part of the ACA. As a result, they were significantly raising premiums. I believe this was a bad idea. Most of the time, you can get away with raising premiums, so long as they're relatively modest increases, but when they increase 25% or more, you've given people an incentive to shop around. In the end, Moda Health will only be further burdened by a deeper reliance on people who are sicker, and therefore more likely to drain their finances rather than fill them. I'm all but certain that OHSU will have to exercise their option to own a piece of Moda, and then eventually buy out Moda. Two years ago, Moda signed a 10-year, $40M contract for the naming rights of the Rose Garden; that OHSU made a 10-year $50M loan which was then converted into an option to own a portion of Moda, seems to highlight greater issues with Moda's management, no?
3. Health Insurance, part II: Once again, Republicans are looking to repeal the ACA, aka Obamacare, but this time they're using a December 11 government spending deadline, to do so. You see, straight up they can't pull it off, so they're gambling that an omnibus spending bill, that is required in order to keep government running, will be the leverage to repeal the ACA. That is to say, that they're of the mindset that President Obama would rather destroy the centerpiece of his legacy, than allow the government to close. That seems like an odd way of thinking, given how President Obama stood by his ACA during the debt ceiling fight that shut down government, a few years ago, yet this simplistic thinking appears pervasive in the GOP Congress.
4. Cyber Monday: There's a different kind of Cyber deals going on these days, and they're discounts for online services. Moo has a spectacular 30% deal (automatically applied price), Shapeways has a 20% off coupon (code: cyber2015), and Ponoko has 35% off laser cutting (code: E3RFAQ). These are much more valuable deals, to me.
5. USC football: Well, it turns out we didn't have to wait long to figure out who the next head coach would be. Monday, USC announced that Clay Helton would lose the interim title and become the *permanent* head coach. As much as a big name hire could have been the popular choice, you could see how settled Helton was, and how his confidence and inner peace had an effect on the team. I personally think that his fourth quarter decision to pound the ball on the ground against UCLA was what sealed the deal; watching USC thoroughly dominate on the ground in the 4th quarter, was nostalgic, to be sure. Will Helton keep Wilcox? Against UCLA, USC *finally* ditched the 3-4 and used a 4-3 with hybrid end, and moved Su'a Cravens back to safety, covering the bigger slot receiver -- it was vintage Pete Carroll. If Wilcox reverts to 3-4 and USC loses to Stanford, Wilcox will surely be fired; if he keeps the 4-3 hybrid, I think Helton might retain Wilcox.

5 Thoughts for November 29, 2015 (mostly about football)

1. Netflix: I finished watching the four available seasons of Hell on Wheels and moved on to Marco Polo, which was short enough to finish in roughly a day or so. I definitely love Marco Polo, in particular for its spectacular use of color and landscapes, the narrative, and the beautiful women. There is so much excellent content these days, it feels like a golden age of video.
2. Ageism: If you don't know what ageism is, please look it up, so that you can laugh at the next sentence. Earlier this week I got carded, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
3. USC Football: Gee, if you hadn't watched the entire season, you would have thought that the USC team we saw on Saturday was surely headed to the playoffs, what with its great secondary man coverage and blitzing pressure, combined with solid special teams play, and an offense that willed its way to hold onto the ball in the fourth quarter for all but 1 minute and 15 seconds. I also couldn't believe that it was Su'a Cravens who looked like he was playing as a corner-safety, knocking the ball down and staying tight to his receiver -- he led the team with 3 passes defensed. Nor could I believe that the USC defense had ditched the 3-4 for parts of the game, opting to go straight up with two defensive ends and two defensive tackles. Someone (or people) must have really laid into the coaching staff after that Oregon debacle, huh?
4. USC Football, part II: It's not yet over for Clay Helton. He gets to do what few people ever get to do, and that is to prove to everyone that the USC team under his direction, would have done things differently against Stanford. If the team pulls off the incredible upset against Stanford at the PAC-12 Championship game next weekend, I think that could seal the deal for him and set the stage for the Clay Helton era. Of course, I'm still skeptical of the defensive side, particularly the secondary coach and the defensive coordinator; on the offensive line however, it's very clear that everyone four-deep can play -- the fourth center this season, and the offense didn't skip a beat. 
5. Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football: Hawaii decided to go with former Bows QB Nick Rolovich, as their new head coach, passing over former UH coach June Jones, one-time UH defensive coordinator Rich Ellerson, and former UH players Rich Miano and Brian Norwood. Obviously they wanted to hire someone who had previously been associated with the program, but that seems tragic, because it severely limits potential hires who could have had a much stronger resume. In particular, I don't see why they'd hire Rolovich. In four seasons as the Nevada Wolfpack's offensive coordinator, Nevada's offense has gotten progressively worse, averaging 515 ypg in 2012, 429 in 2013, 398 in 2014, and 378 this year. Maybe a switch will flip and suddenly he's a really good offensive coordinator head coach -- you get my point, don't you?

5 Thoughts for November 27, 2015

1. Activity Tracker Apps: Have you noticed the hundreds of apps out there, allowing you to track your activities, to ensure that you're on track to meet whatever goals you have? It's all part of the promise that, if only you had a way to track your status, you would be able to better keep up with your goals. The only problem of course, is that you have to be a goal-oriented person. If you didn't utilize a calendar book before the advent of smartphones and tracking apps, you're probably not going to be better at meeting goals with these new apps. You are who you are, and not who you think you ought to be.
2. Nexus 5X sale: As part of Black Friday, various outlets including Google Play Store, have the Nexus 5X discounted by $80. This brings it down to the same price as when the original Nexus 5 first came out, two years ago. Still, it's not enough to convince me to buy it. Using a charging system that is incompatible with Qualcomm's Quick Charge 2.0, means that the Nexus 5X requires special chargers to plug into an outlet, and they still don't have a charger for your vehicle.
3. Reverse Racism: I find it curious, that White Americans would argue that policies allowing Black student unions but disallowing White student unions, is reverse racism, and therefore bad. This argument in defense of White student unions makes no sense, because it statically treats the world in absolute values, it ignores the history of racism in America, and fails to acknowledge the current, ongoing, disproportionate economic and social treatment of minorities. Furthermore, we routinely afford special benefits to different groups of people, based on need: disabled, elderly, etc. Besides, no one seems to be able to answer a very simple question: What is the reason to create a White Union? The most ridiculous assertion I have seen, is that America's values are based on White Culture; apparently, the history of American culture stops in Northern Europe and only dates back 1000 years.
4. Xidi: On Amazon, there is a Chinese clothing brand, called Xidi. It means "washing", but the pronunciation should make you laugh: "shee dee". Say it out loud with the proper pronunciation: Amazon sells many Xidi products from China.
5. Trump: Do you understand why Donald Trump defies political common sense? If you do, then you would know that, by itself, there really is no controversy that could permanently sink his candidacy. Hence, despite the latest news that the Reuters/Ipsos rolling poll has Trump losing 12 points in less than a week, you should expect that this dip is temporary. Remember, four months ago I explained all this. Here's a hint to how to defeat him: Truth ≠ Opinion; Money ≠ Truth.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for dogs and the humor and companionship they provide.

5 Thoughts for November 25, 2015

1. USC Football: Is LSU going to get rid of Les Miles? What a curious thing, if USC hired Les Miles, and Les Miles brought Ed Orgeron with him, don't you think? Of course, Pat Haden would have to leave before Ed stepped back on campus; Ed is probably more popular with the alumni, than Pat is, right now. It would be nice to hear that gruff voice once again, especially since he doesn't make excuses or sound confused about what went wrong, after games, like the current defensive staff seems to do -- when someone tells you that they need to look at the tape to figure out what went wrong, it seems to me that the team will never be able to make successful adjustments during the game.
2. USC Football, part II: Six of the past seven years (including the current season), USC has lost at least 4 games in a season. This looks an awful lot like the nearly two decade stretch of Ted Tollner - Larry Smith - John Robinson - Paul Hackett - first year of Pete Carroll. The most successful season in the last 7, was, oddly enough, Lane Kiffin's second year. I just don't have a lot of confidence about the current team's ability to win another game, however, which would likely mean that it will finish as it did in Kiffin's 2012 season, at 7-6, and Clay Helton will definitely not be offered the head coaching job. It's not that this team is lacking in talent; it's that the coaching staff is severely deficient on the defensive side.
3. Donald Trump: A few days ago, Trump retweeted a misleading statistic that was tossed at me in an online comment section just over a month ago; of course, I responded back easily, but rather than simply cite the same information that media outlets have used to refute Trump, I actually spent some time to go back through the FBI's UCR data, to show what's actually happened the last two decades. Today, I retrieved it from my Drive and pulled up the chart that I had built. What you'll notice is that the gap between black-on-black and white-on-white crimes, has decreased over twenty years:
   
   
4. Netflix: After finishing Jessica Jones, I'm now binge-watching Hell on Wheels. I love Westerns, so this has been a very enjoyable show and it's got lots of twists and turns, with clear antagonists and a protagonist who is troubled and flawed, but knows it, and doesn't give a damn about it. I love it all; it's got Mormons (Brigham Young, no less), Irish Catholics, Blacks, Chinese, corrupted politicians, Native Americans, and Cowboys of course.
5. Race Issues in America: I truly find it amazing, that this issue has come up and become a very critical issue this year. For decades I've seen racism, and to this day I still see it. Whether it was the outright verbal insults or the subtle act of a vehicle stopped to ensure that I did not enter a condo's garage while its door was closing, or having to wait for service while others were tended to, I've seen and felt its ugly fangs. Does anyone actually think that Black Americans weren't being targeted and killed by police, until just recently? I hope not, because the real problem has always been the lack of attention the media has paid, to these cases. No, as far as I can tell, the only thing that has actually changed, is that now we have dashcams and smartphones with cameras, everywhere, to capture that which had all along been occurring. That people weren't being successfully prosecuted for murder, seems to highlight this problem of not having video of the incident to show to a jury. To many white folks, race issues have improved, but since they were never the targets of racial repression, subtle or overt, they couldn't possibly know the state of race issues in America; to pretend otherwise is paternalistic.

5 Thoughts for November 21, 2015 (mostly about football)

1. Netflix: Just one day after it was made available and I've finished streaming Jessica Jones. If you're a Doctor Who fan, David Tennant plays a role that will freak you out and confuse you. There is a precedent for this sort of character: Sylar from the TV show, Heroes. The show's writing seemingly follows the same flaw as OITNB, where the protagonist -- Jessica Jones -- is so deeply flawed and continues to make the same errors, that I have difficulty having empathy for Jones. But at the end, just as it seems like she's yet again failed herself and everyone around her, she shows that she hasn't repeated her errors.
2. USC Trojans defense: Every media pundit said Monte Kiffin was a brilliant defensive coordinator. His first year at USC, the defense allowed 400 ypg; his second year they gave up 375 ypg; his third and final year they averaged 394 ypg. Every media pundit said that Justin Wilcox was a bright, young defensive coordinator. His first year USC's defense allowed 407 ypg; after the Oregon game, the defense has now allowed an average of 403 ypg through 11 games this season. Meanwhile, his sole year between Monte and Justin, Clancy Pendergast's defense averaged 335 ypg. I'm tired of talking about how bad Wilcox's defenses are; I just wish sports pundits would quit gushing about Justin Wilcox.
3. Justin Wilcox: No really, people, stop talking about how brilliant he is as a defensive coordinator. In his first season at UW, they averaged 357 ypg; in his second season they got worse, averaging 389 ypg. In three games against Oregon, Wilcox's defenses have allowed 52 (2012), 45 (2013) and now 48 (2015) points. You know, maybe Oregon should hire Wilcox. Wilcox's 3-4 scheme was supposed to help the defense out with greater team speed, and yet the defense looked like it was always 5+ yards behind the play, if they were even near the play; so bad was Wilcox's defense, that it broke the record for most passing TDs allowed, ever, at USC. I'm not saying that USC should have beaten Oregon -- Oregon's a very good team, now that Vernon Adams is healthy -- but USC shouldn't be blown out this badly; had Oregon not taken the foot off the pedal, the score would have been 52 - 28.
4. Clay Helton: With that embarrassing loss in Eugene, many people think that Helton's chances of getting hired by the Trojans, has been diminished. Seeing how poorly the special teams performed yet again, and how slow the team started against Arizona, Colorado and Oregon, it just doesn't seem like his chances are good. But UCLA beat Utah, setting up a winner-take-all game at the Coliseum next weekend between USC and UCLA. Winning the next two games would mean a trip to the Rose Bowl...wait, who are we kidding? Wilcox is still the DC, so naturally his defense will make the true freshman Josh Rosen look like a Heisman candidate and Helton will be gone at the end of the season.
5. John Hancock Center: What a cursed building. When it was first built its windows blew out due to the air pressure. Years ago when I was in Chicago, high winds knocked around a loose scaffolding platform, breaking windows, dropping onto the ground and killing several people. In 2011 there was a transformer fire on the 75th floor. Today there was a fire halfway up the tower resulting in some minor casualties. That's a terrible fate for any building.

Final Fallout Shelter.

I got bored. After maxing out the 200-person limit, I was going to hang out and wait until I collected all of the weapons available. But apparently after conquering the Radroaches, Raiders, Molerats and Deathclaws, and despite their strengths suddenly raised and again defeating them resoundingly, the game rarely sent them to the vault, and it got really boring.

So here's my final vault configuration. Note the kill zone I had set up. It turns out that if you add all those elevators, the Deathclaws stop at every floor to break through; it takes a significant amount of time for the Deathclaws to reach the storage room, whereupon they would find two occupants at level 50 (max level), with massively powerful weapons -- that's after they've gone through three rooms with occupants at the top levels with powerful weapons.

It also turns out that you have to have a room at the end of all those elevators, otherwise the Deathclaws will bypass the elevators -- I had to try, just to see how the Deathclaws responded.

Notice the omission of the radio station; I deleted it once I hit the 200-person limit. Notice the guy waiting outside; I got him via a lunchbox and he's just waiting to get in, even though I've maxed out at 200.

See all those rooms? They're all fully maxed out. See how few storage rooms there are? I didn't need a lot of storage space because I always made sure that my occupants had the best weapons and outfits, and sold the rest.

Anyway, after a dozen flame throwers and a few missile launchers, it's nearly impossible to lose to Deathclaws, and that's when it gets really boring.

5 Thoughts for November 19, 2015

1. SketchUp: SketchUp 2016 is here, and it's got some really awesome changes! If you extensively use SU, you know about inferencing; SU 2016 dramatically adds to inferencing to slash your time spent on creating reference planes or lines. In Windows, the trays are now very similar to how Adobe uses panels, and can be locked to the application window, instead of floating on your desktop, but best of all, is that the tray section is a flyout -- more space on your screen to use for drawing; you can create trays to separate sections, so for instance in my "Main" tray I have Materials, Components, Layers, Soften Edges and Entity Info, while my "Scenes+Styles" tray has Scenes, Styles, Shadows and Outliner. In LayOut, you can now group objects on different layers, and shared layer objects are highlighted in a different color from non-shared layer objects -- no more accidentally drawing on the wrong layer! Finally, there's a public API available for LayOut, which means that like SU extensions, soon we'll be seeing a lot of third-party tools for LayOut. AutoCAD has officially been deprecated.
2. Racism: It's hard to believe that the Democratic mayor of Roanoke, VA penned an open letter to Roanoke government workers, suggesting that, like the internment of Japanese-Americans during WW-II, America should protect itself against foreign threats by blocking Syrian refugees from settling in the US. He wasn't just logically wrong, but he directly offended Americans -- Japanese Americans. He was promptly dropped from Hillary Clinton's team; Roanoke should drop him, too.
3. Political Cowards: The America SAFE bill which House Republicans passed (with support from 47 House Democrats), should not satisfy anyone, regardless of their opinion on the issue of Syrian refugees. This bill does not add additional screening requirements on top of what was already being done; in fact, they're merely reiterating what the FBI already does. The only new requirement in this bill, is to have the heads of the agencies in charge of refugee screenings, to certify that these people aren't terrorists. You should be cynical of Congress, as this bill's real intention is to alleviate political responsibility of Congress, were an attack to occur on American soil -- they'd blame the agencies who signed off. In fact, if you watch the NewsHour's interview of Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA), he essentially tells us that this bill does nothing to constrict refugees from Syria. If Congress really wanted to make America safer, they'd re-examine the visa waiver program in light of how many EU citizens have traveled to the Middle East to fight in Syria, and have returned to Europe.
4. USC Trojans football: A reminder to the football players, that if you want Clay Helton (#Helton2016) to remain the head coach next year, you have to outperform your recent work by starting and finishing games on both sides of the ball and especially in special teams. If you need an incentive, by winning out, you'll be able to have a redo with Stanford for all the Roses.
5. USC Trojans football, part II: Two of USC's most important middle linebackers are out (Lamar Dawson and Cameron Smith), so it appears that they're going with a five linebacker rotation (Anthony Sarao, Osa Masina, Michael Hutchings, Olajuwon Tucker, Uchenna Nwosu). The way I see it, one of the guys in the middle should be Su'a Cravens. He's a junior who knows the system, and with his speed and toughness could easily handle the job in the middle. Sure, it means the loss of a great edge rusher, but on the other hand it means that he'll be able to run the green dog blitz -- Cravens has the knack for getting around blocks -- since you already know that they'll be playing a lot of cover-1 to defend the edge run.

10 Thoughts for November 17, 2015

10 thoughts, because it's been a few days since I posted a list of thoughts on my mind, and it's time to get them all out.

1. USC football: USC may have won, but they looked terrible. The first half was a replication of the previous game, noted by a series of comical errors. We saw defensive players lose track of their responsibilities, the offense appear befuddled against the worst defense in the division, and a special teams group that was *special*. And then, from the late 2nd quarter through the late fourth quarter, they went on a 24-0 run. If the players want Clay Helton to be hired permanently, they'll need to perform consistently and better. You can't do this against great teams and expect to win.
2. USC football, part II: When Robert Woods was a Trojan, he was a solid player and there was no doubt that he'd be drafted very high, even though he was a tad slower and undersized than what you'd want in a premier player. When Marqise Lee lined up opposite Woods, I thought that he would also be drafted very high, as he was a spectacular player, even if a bit undersized and prone to injury. When Nelson Agholor passed through, you could tell that he would be drafted high, even though he always had issues with the dropsies. With Juju Smith-Schuster, he's everything you want in a top-10 draft pick, and is easily the best receiver of them all; he's big, strong, great hands, tough as nails, and more than fast enough. Of all the receivers to come through USC in recent years, he's the one guy I look most forward to seeing in the NFL; the guy already looks the part of an NFL player.
3. Oregon football: No one expected the Ducks defense to win the day for Oregon, and yet when it counted most, they came up with the stop. With that gritty win on the road in Palo Alto, the Ducks are now 7-3. Next up: USC in Eugene -- both are 7-3, winning their last 4 games, and both have now defeated a top-10 team -- on Saturday, at 12:30 pm. The odds are in Oregon's favor, but here's the thing: Oregon's running the ball again, now 6th best in the nation, while USC's been on a rushing defense tear since Clay Helton's completely taken over as head coach, allowing just 84 yards per game, since. It's going to be an exciting game, I think.
4. Seattle Seahawks: The difference between a winning team and a losing team, is that in previous years, Russell Wilson was able to direct the team on a late 4th quarter drive to win the game, while this year he's failed in all but one game -- against Dallas. I'm not saying that it is his fault; dropped passes, still terrible offensive line play and lousy play-calling were all part of the problem in those late 4th quarter drives. The team is the same as it was in previous years, with the exception being execution in that late 4th quarter, and it seems it's largely a mental issue that started with the Super Bowl. Of course, we expected this offense to be better than prior years, with the inclusion of Jimmy Graham, but it's not working, and I keep pointing to the OC for that issue. They look like they're able to run on all cylinders about a quarter of the time, and that's about it.
5. Seattle Seahawks, part II: The lesser problem in Seattle, is that the cornerback opposite Richard Sherman is not in the same ballpark as the rest of the secondary; it wasn't Dion Bailey that was the problem in the early games, but DeShawn Shead and Cary Williams. No, Bailey was never a true replacement for Kam Chancellor, but Kam's presence hasn't been the difference between winning and losing -- they're just 4-3 with Kam back. In five games as a backup SS with the Jets, Bailey's defended two passes and is credited with half a sack. In that same period, Kam's had one interception, no sacks and one pass defended. Kam brings leadership and toughness, but Bailey's four years his junior and is just trying to get comfortable in a scheme. 
6. Politics of Terrorism: With the Paris attack, American politicians have angrily demanded that the US do more to combat terrorism. Their primary criticism is that the US needs to get deeply involved in Syria, in the fight against ISIS. These are the same people who did not want the US to bomb Syria in 2011, or refused to commit to boots on the ground, let alone push for a vote to go to war with Syria. With some nudging on Sunday's Meet the Press, Jeb! practically issued a policy laundry list of actions that had been under consideration by the Obama Administration years ago, back when politicians were noncommittal about specific plans. It turns out, terrorism is a tool of politicians, which is ironic, given that these same politicians are a bunch of tools.
7. Politics of Econ: Each political party has a different economic policy, and one is demonstrably worse than the other, but generally people don't understand the basics of Economics that would afford them the ability to judge policy differences, thus most people tend to place faith in their party, ahead of policy. I used to do that, ten years ago, before I decided to do a deep dive into Economics, and then I realized that nearly all of what came out of people's mouths were fabricated assumptions and politically-driven. When speaking to people on economic policy, the first sign that someone has bought into politically-driven policy, is the recitation of trite slogans. Nuance is the enemy of slogans.
8. Politics of Honesty: As Americans, we're taught the virtues of being honest, from the simple parable of young George Washington chopping down a cherry tree. Yet, unlike George's father who forgave his son, Americans choose to punish those who tell the truth, while rewarding liars. This reinforcing action ushers politicians to tell lies. I tell the truth, because I don't give a shit what people do in response, while in other instances I avoid telling the truth (not blunt) because some people are hurt by the truth; in politics these two are never the case. American politics are not the exception; everywhere you look, whether in Russia, France or China, politicians lie.
9. Sapiosexual: It's one of those new, amusing labels, in the vein of metrosexual. It does not describe one's sexuality, but rather, the sort of person that one is attracted to: intelligent people. Presumably, the higher one's self-confidence, the more comfortable one is with dating / marrying someone with a higher level of intelligence. Speaking of high self-confidence, what happens if someone suffers from the Dunning-Kruger Effect, and believes that someone, who is actually profoundly dumb, is attractive -- is that a Fauxsapiosexual?
10. Benghazi: Republicans are planning a European vacation on the taxpayer's dime. I realize that the Dollar is nearing its all-time high against the Euro, but this is ridiculous. If they were concerned about fact-finding on Benghazi at US airbases in Europe, they would have visited those sites, three years ago, not in 2015, after hundreds of interviews. The GOP have already told us that Hillary laid a trap that the GOP stepped right into, during her interview, and yet they persist in doing stupid things.

Review of Sling TV.

I finally got around to using my Chromecast offer for 2 free months of Sling TV. While it's just been two days, I'm confident that I can offer a fairly good review of Sling TV's service.

What it is

Sling TV is a service that allows you to watch a handful of traditionally cable-based TV channels. Its $20 basic service includes the History Channel, TNT, ESPN and ESPN2, AMC, the Food Network, A&E, HGTV, IFC, Disney Channel, TBS, the Travel Channel, Maker, Polaris+, El Rey, Adult Swim / Comedy Channel, ABC Family, H2, CNN, Lifetime TV, Bloomberg, and Galavision. There are multiple add-on packages including HBO, a Sports Extra package, and a variety of Spanish packages.  Immediately, you'll notice that Sling TV is geared towards people who are looking to cut the cord on cable TV, by streaming video through their internet service.

In my experience, I haven't had cable TV for over a decade, so my sensibilities on this are different. As a Netflix, Hulu, Crackle, Viki, YouTube user who binge-watches shows and enjoys on-demand video, SlingTV requires going back to the old paradigm of tuning in at a scheduled time, to watch any given show. Essentially, the primary benefits to me, are live events such as news and sports; I had just subscribed to SlingTV when the Paris attacks had occurred, and having CNN gave me real-time access to what was going on. If you're not a news junkie or a sports fan, this might not be the service you're looking for.

While there is no cloud-based DVR service, there are a few shows / videos that can be streamed, under the "Available Now" section. In some of those videos, you can go forward 30 seconds / rewind 10 seconds. In other videos, typically movies, you're able to simply pick on the timeline to move to that point in the movie.

Also included with Sling TV, is a rental section of movies, with separate prices for SD and HD rentals. They're generally the same prices as what you'd find in the Google Play Store / iTunes, for better or worse. Given the greater flexibility of rentals in Google Play Store, I'm inclined to stick with GPS instead of renting from Sling TV.

There are no service fees or term-based contracts, which is a huge positive, unlike cable TV service. If you only care to watch ESPN for football and football news, you can sign up for service in September, then cancel at the end of February. The money you save, is staggering, compared to cable TV service, but the video quality is not necessarily the best, and you can't record games on your DVR. Even though the app gives you the ability to set the data speed, you're still stuck with issues of network congestion that are irrelevant to your ISP's speeds.

When it's working and there are no buffering issues, the service is fine. But at times, there is significant congestion to the edge network (Sling TV host), even as the ISP's speeds are normal. Therefore, regardless of your device, your Sling TV experience will depend on your ISP's relationship with Sling TV as an edge network -- if you've had problems with your ISP and Netflix, you can probably expect the same issues. Even if you're watching videos at 2:00 am, the video will downgrade at times, which points to my ISP (Comcast) actively scaling bandwidth to edge networks, to minimize the gap between use and capacity.

Sling TV and Chromecast

With a Chromecast plugged into your TV, you can use an Android or iOS device, with their app, to cast their service to your TV (you can also access Sling TV, via apps, in your Amazon Fire TV, Roku Player, Xbox One, and Nexus Player). The Chromecast setup is not ideal; the initial connection takes about 30 seconds or more, while changing channels takes about 10 seconds, and buffering may delay live video by several minutes. With ESPN, there are some live video (games) that are blocked from casting to your TV; there is no way to determine which games will be blocked, making this a significant issue.

Their mobile app also, obviously, allows you to watch videos directly via your device. I used it to watch one football game on ESPN while I was watching another one on the big TV, via OTA digital, but of course I have a tablet with a 12.2" screen so my experience is much better than someone with a 10" or smaller screen.

Sling TV and Windows / Mac

Sling TV also has an app for Windows (W7+) and Mac (10.6+), but as it stands right now, I would not recommend installing it, as it is buggy and has other flaws.

While the app looks nearly exactly like its mobile version, the desktop app does not allow you to cast it to your TV -- that does not make sense to me. However, because I have a 24" monitor for my desktop, it's not too much of an issue, as I often watch videos from my monitor.

Installing the app in Windows 10 will mess with your Chrome's Chromecast extension -- it made my Chromecast device disappear from within my Chrome browser -- and if you enjoy casting from your Chrome browser, at least for now, I would strongly urge you to avoid installing the Sling TV app on your desktop.

While watching videos with the desktop app, there were odd buffering issues where the audio would overlap itself with a separate, delayed track. The video would also, at times, jump around or cut out completely. The only means to fix this, was to switch channels, and that's a terrible option when watching live sports.

In my opinion, they could easily fix this by throwing away their app and making a cloud service accessed via a browser. By doing so, they'd also give ChromeOS users a means to access their service. Why they built their own desktop apps, is beyond comprehension, and seems rather short-sighted.

Conclusions

I think Sling TV has huge promise, but as it currently stands, is hobbled by limited and buggy apps. Also, unfortunately because of my ISP's relationship with Sling TV's owner, DirectTV, it seems that despite FCC's Net Neutrality rules, Comcast will make Sling TV difficult to use as an absolute replacement for cable TV.

If you don't have to worry about your ISP's indignation of edge networks, I'd say that Sling TV is a very good choice for anyone who loves sports, and cable cutters. Otherwise, you might find that the laggy and buggy experience is not worth the $20 a month.

And while they've added some foreign channels in add-on packages, they're desperately missing Asian-language channels -- something that would prevent many people from leaving cable.

I'm making use of my free two months, and perhaps at the end of that period, Sling TV folks will improve their relationship with Comcast and fix their apps. Since I'm not planning on subscribing all 12 months of the year, it's still a palatable service to pay for, even with all its flaws. Still, I wouldn't be able to recommend this to everyone; I'll only recommend this service to those folks I know who can take care of their own technical service issues.

Top row is the live schedule; below is what's available off the schedule.

Hit the "On Now" button and it'll show what's currently showing on each channel.

Under "Settings/Connection" you can set the data speeds.

The race to the PAC-12 Championship.

With Oregon beating Stanford and Arizona beating Utah, the race to the PAC-12 Championship was shaken up quite a bit. To get to the championship game:

• Stanford: Even though the Cardinals lost to Oregon, they still control their own destiny in reaching the PAC-12 Championship game. Beat Cal and they're in. If they lose to Cal, they'll need Oregon to lose both remaining games (USC, Oregon State).
• Oregon: Ducks needs to win out (against USC and Oregon State) and have Cal beat Stanford.
• Utah: Utes need to win out and have USC lose to either Oregon or UCLA.
• UCLA: Bruins need to win out (against Utah and USC).
• USC: Trojans need to either win out (against Oregon and UCLA), or if they lose to Oregon but beat UCLA, they will need Utah to lose to either UCLA or Colorado.

I'm sorry, WSU, but you can't make it to the PAC-12 Championship even if you win out.

If Oregon beats OSU and Cal beats Stanford, Oregon is in because in the three-way tie no one owns a head-to-head tie-breaker (Oregon beat Stanford, Stanford beat WSU, WSU beat Oregon), so the next step is the in-division record. By beating the Beavers, Oregon would own a 4-1 North division record while WSU and Stanford would hold a 3-2 record.

If Oregon loses to either USC or Oregon State, Cougars would be in a two-way tie with Stanford, but Stanford holds the head-to-head tie-breaker with the Cougars, so the Cardinals would go to the championship game.

Even though the Cougs can't make it to the championship game, everyone is impressed with how they recovered from that disastrous first game of the season against Portland State, to its best record in 12 years. (And speaking of Portland State, what a turnaround, from a 3-9 season to 8-2 and a very good chance to make the FCS playoffs, making the Coug loss to PSU less shocking.)

Paris.

via Jean Jullien

5 Thoughts for November 11, 2015

1. GOP Debate: No, I didn't watch the debate; there's not much point to it, if the candidates are allowed to create their own facts and make bold statements that are counter to the historical record. But if I had watched, I would have guessed that Rubio won --  he's been getting comfortable over time and into the swing of things, while Bush continues to dive. The only question is, whether Rubio's past will haunt him; if not, then he's going to be the GOP nominee; he might even win against Clinton if he gets past the primary and is allowed to talk up immigration reform without losing his base.
2. The 100: It's a terrible show. Still, I'm binge-watching it. Once I get through season 2, I'm done with the show. Here's what's wrong with the show: Everything. Roughly every 5 minutes there's a logical flaw, a character who changes his or her stripes, or a flip-flop on who's patronizing who. It's a show that is targeted to teens, by fantasizing that adults are incapable, and if only kids could take over the world, things would get better. So many logical errors, that it's difficult to watch the show.
3. Starbucks: If they wanted to "get rid of Christmas", they would not make the cups red, nor use "Christmas" explicitly in environmental design, packaging and products. I am in disbelief that so many idiots, including politicians and the media, would believe some two-bit preacher hack (and his acolytes) on YouTube, who clearly has an agenda that is disparate from the truth. I'm so irritated by this devilish person, there's just no way I'm going to link to his video or mention his name. As for the intern-designed Dunkin' Donuts cups...it's time to stop using MS Paint.
4. iPad Pro: No, it's not a replacement for your desktop or your laptop if you require lots of computing power -- 3D renderings or long algorithm processing -- but I really do think that these larger screen tablets (12" and up) are useful. Now, I realize lots of people want to believe that they're power users, but this is not the case. However, you have to understand that these large tablet screens is where iOS and Android fall short in the UI department, and where Windows 10 would shine; this is exactly the opposite on small screens like smart phones, where iOS and Android shine, and Windows 10 sucks.
5. Portland Rents: I know that rents are rising and that new construction doesn't actually help since most of them are targeting upper market rentals, but I also know that this isn't a strictly Portland phenomenon; rents are rising all over the west coast. While this may be driving artists out of Portland, it also means that cool is being spread outward, too. Either East Portland or Hillsboro, would be my guess of what's the next cool place; both are connected to TriMet's Max and both are secondary cities, just as Tacoma is to Seattle. Rent control is not the answer; it will exacerbate rental availability in Portland, by putting an artificial cap on profitability on new development, which will then trigger greater investment (such as large tax subsidies) by the city, to encourage development.

5 Thoughts for November 9, 2015

1. PAC-12 Football: It's been a crazy season in the PAC-12, hasn't it? If you only watched the first week of the season, fell into a coma, then woke up today, you would have been shocked to find out that WSU, who'd lost to Portland State in week one, is now 6 - 3 with wins over both Oregon and Arizona schools. Meanwhile, Stanford, who'd lost to Northwestern mustering just 6 points, has now won 8 straight games, scoring at least 30 points in each game, and is at the top of the PAC-12. Oregon and USC? Well, they're both 6 - 3 and looking a lot better now than several weeks ago, but neither team controls their own destiny, and one of them will finish no better than as a 4-loss team, as they will meet each other in two weeks. The odds are likely on USC's side, as Oregon will be beat up playing against Stanford next week, while USC goes to Boulder to play the worst team in the PAC-12 South.
2. Russia: Last December, ARD (a German TV station) aired a documentary on Russian cheating, prompting the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) to perform an in-depth investigation. Today, WADA has released a report (PDF) stating that Russian sports is corrupt, from the top, and recommended that Russia be banned from sports. What makes this story striking, is that it represents the widest cheating scandal since East Germany under...USSR. It turns out, the key figures in this Russian cheating scandal were the same people involved back in the old USSR. If you watch the documentary, it's clear that the issue goes all the way up to Vladimir Putin. If you read the report, it sidesteps Putin's involvement by adding it into a footnote. We're talking bribes, cheating, drugs, FIFA, the Olympics and Russia -- apparently they're not incongruous.
3. The sexes: This report in Scientific American states that men are attracted to non-conformist women. Very true. See, here's the problem: Vanilla may taste great but one gets tired of vanilla when there are so many other flavors out there -- chocolate, caramel, strawberry -- metaphorically speaking, of course. Speaking of flavors, I must go and check out Salt & Straw's special flavors for Thanksgiving -- buttered mashed potatoes and gravy, how interesting!
4. Mosquitoes: Just the thought of mosquitoes makes many people itch, but on the Big Island the mosquitoes are now spreading a most improbable outbreak of Dengue Fever. In a matter of a week, they've suddenly jumped to 27 confirmed cases of infections. Seeing as it never really gets cold on most of the Big Island, this seems like an intractable problem -- if you've been in the rain forest in Hawaii, you know what I mean -- with zero opportunity for mosquitoes to go dormant.
5. Animation: Portland Oregon makes an appearance in Hombre McSteez's latest animation. Hilarious stuff. :D

5 Thoughts for November 7, 2015

1. Climate: I've written for some time now, that insurers have long taken the lead in researching and understanding climate change; this Newsweek article digs deep into their involvement and how banks are now getting into the act. Just about the only people not involved with fixing climate change, are dogmatic conservatives.
2. Politics: Speaking of dogmatic conservatives, if you're stuck in their bubble, you would be inclined to believe that the US is falling apart. And yet, the unemployment rate is now 5.0%, the number of uninsured Americans is down to 9%, and the 30-year bond rate, at 3.1%, remains half of what it was, 15 years ago. True, the participation rate remains relatively low, but that's in large part because of the retirement of baby-boomers; we know this to be the case, because the U-6 measure of marginally-attached has steadily dropped, at 11.5% in October 2014, to 9.8% in October 2015. Finally, year over year, average private income has gone up 2.1%, which is ahead of inflation (September 2015, was 1.9% annualized).
3. Comcast: So I learned an interesting tidbit with Comcast's internet service: The MAC address of the last device that was connected to the modem is saved, and won't allow any other device to connect. In my specific case, I had my laptop directly attached to the modem, and then tried to attach back my router to the modem; normally one would have the router powered down and then attach it to the modem after the modem had booted up, but in this case the router had to be powered on and attached to the modem at the time that the modem was powered up. It's an obscure point, but one that a person who self-diagnoses hardware issues, can appreciate. Of course, this means that I disconnected my WiMax, even though it was still working -- the Comcast service is much faster, making it easier to stream video. Now, I just need to wait a few days and then sign up for the 2 free months of Sling TV with my Chromecast, which by the way, if you have a Chromecast, you should have your TV turned on and visit this site to check for available offers with your device (they frequently have a free Google Play Store movie rental or something else): https://cast.google.com/chromecast/offers/
4. USC Trojans: USC pulled out a win against what might be considered a lousy Arizona team -- half of Arizona's linebackers are walk-ons for goodness sake -- thus avoiding a letdown. And I know what most fans were thinking: Why were you throwing the ball, when you have Ronald Jones? USC, through a series of comical errors, was down two touchdowns seconds into the second quarter. Fans were frustrated and infuriated, believing that the team had changed its old ways from when Sark was in charge. And in fact they did; they immediately came back to score 17 points in the second quarter. They showed off resilience and toughness, fighting through injuries and pain (not kidding, Juju Smith-Schuster was the leading receiver even though he'd just had an operation on a broken metacarpal bone) to come from behind and win. The second half was a thing of beauty, where USC gained 196 of its 229 game rushing yards, and the passing game took a supporting role; the running game gave the defense the time to rest, and they looked solid as a result. The defense isn't exactly great, but it has been doing much better these last several games, which one wonders if the absence of Sark has also led to the improved toughness of the defense?
5. Fallout Shelter: I've built 3 shelters that have reached 200 occupants, but I tell you, the game is rigged. In my current shelter, I'd gotten my top level of the shelter built up with strong occupants and powerful weapons -- my kill zone -- such that at one point, the game stopped sending Deathclaws for at least two whole days. Then today, the game decided that it was going to suddenly increase the burn rate of my energy. I destroyed four modules worth of rooms, and it only made the burn rate move faster. So I built an extra nuclear power plant. Nothing. Even when I rush production in my 12 modules worth of nuclear reactors (11 of which are upgraded to the maximum), it's still not fast enough to keep up with the burn rate. I left it alone for 5 minutes, and 300 units of energy was used up. This isn't the first time I've noticed this, either. For reference, I now have 10 occupants at the max 50 level and three of them are in those nuclear reactors; my average occupant level in my nuclear reactors is 40. There are about a dozen other signs that the game is rigged, but this is the most egregious example.

5 (+1) Thoughts for November 6, 2015

1. The GOP debate is a reality TV show. Yesterday Mike Huckabee and Chris Christie were eliminated from the main stage debate while George Pataki, Lindsey Graham and Jim Gilmore were completely eliminated from all debates. They were cordially led to a back room where the last thing heard was a couple of Cybermen exclaiming, "You will be upgraded!"
2. You know, it may sometimes seem that conservatives are the only ones with fringe ideas about how things work, but it's not true; there are just as many fringe far left beliefs out there. For instance there is the fear of fluoride in water and vaccinations. The difference between conservative and liberal fringe ideas, is that liberal fringe ideas are driven by a fear of corporations taking advantage of people, while conservative fringe ideas are driven by a fear of losing God. Whereas one can overcome liberal fringe ideas without destabilizing one's makeup of the world, the same cannot be said of those who lose God.
3. It was supposed to shut down at 12:01 am, November 6, but at 3:03 am, Clear Wireless' (Sprint) WiMax still has everything turned on. I'm guessing no one actually wanted to have entire teams up, at work, pulling the plug -- either that or this injunction from Mobile Beacon / Mobile Citizen has kept Sprint from moving forward with the shut off. No matter, as the Comcast installer comes between 8 and 10 am, to open the community panel and plug in my cable. While I truly detest the idea of using Comcast, the other alternatives were more expensive and slower than the $29.99 (initial 12 month price) Comcast package with 25Mbps service, plus I got a refurb'd SB6141 for $30 via Woot (an open box refurb), which means that I can fully recoup that cost when I move on from Comcast.
4. The CDC announced that in the first half of this year, the uninsured rate dropped to 9.0%. A comment elsewhere spurred me to do some casual research. In 1963, prior to the creation of Medicare / Medicaid, the hospital uninsurance rate was 30%. In 1974, less than a decade, the uninsured rate was 18.3%.  30% --> 18.3% --> 9.0%. That's all you really need to know, when discussing the effectiveness of government mandates in health insurance.
5. Speaking of health insurance, open enrollment period has begun. Moda Health's prices have skyrocketed, so it's time to leave. As someone who loves to try paradigm shifts (such as my move to MetroMile per mile auto insurance), I'm considering moving to Zoom+. Their tiny clinics are everywhere, it seems, and if one is immobile, one can use video visits. I like experimentation that flips the old paradigm on its head, so I'm going to take a serious look at it.
6. This extra thought is because I left one off from my last post. :D If I haven't talked about IKEA food specials in Portland, lately, it's because they have apparently been eliminated. About the only thing to talk about, is the frozen yogurt flavor of the month: Pistachio. The next time I go to IKEA, I'll ask about why they got rid of the monthly food specials. A while back, I used to know someone who worked at IKEA Portland, and was at least partially responsible for the uniqueness of the store; she's long gone, and so it seems, her legacy, too.

5 Thoughts for November 3, 2015

1. Before the GOP public admission that the investigations into Benghazi were politically motivated, NBC/WSJ had shown a 7-point gap between Clinton and Sanders. In NBC's two most recent polls (one with WSJ and another with SurveyMonkey), Clinton has been ahead by 20 points. If you look at HuffPo's aggregate chart, the gap was at its closest in the days just prior to that GOP admission. When Joe Biden exited the race, his supporters split between Clinton and Sanders, nearly evenly. Hillary is going to win the nomination and probably the general election -- so says the betting markets.
2. Blackberry revealed that the Android-based Priv slider phone, will be $700. Now, I'm not a fan of slider phones considering how much faster swiping can be with a single hand, but I'm willing to concede that there are fans out there of a physical keyboard. But $700 feels awfully steep for any phone. Their proposition is that a smart phone laden with Blackberry's software and a physical keyboard is worth more than any other phone out there, with Blackberry apps loaded and locked down. If the target price were $500, I'd say the Priv would be a sure winner and Blackberry had a strong future, but at $700, I just can't see people flocking to it, regardless of the operating system. And if that wasn't enough of an issue, the phone's initial offering is only compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile in the US. By the way, that $700 price is for a 32GB device. Trick out a Nexus 6P with 128GB and it's still cheaper ($650) than the Priv. The biggest market for this phone, I suspect, will be governments, but their market is relatively tiny compared to the consumer market.
3. Belatedly, rest in peace, those who perished aboard Metrojet flight 7K-9268, and sympathies to those who lost loved ones in this airline tragedy.
4. Ohio rejected the legalization of marijuana; no worries though, because Oregon did the same, the first time around. It wasn't until Oregonians could see for themselves that right across the Columbia River, Washingtonians fared exceptionally well following pot legalization, and dispelling the anti-pot agenda, that voters were willing to legalize it in Oregon. Ohioans are, by nature, cautious of progressive policy, so you'll have to wait a few more years before states around Ohio have legalized pot, essentially sucking tax dollars away from Ohio coffers. In the mean time, you should visit the New American Amsterdam: Portland Oregon.

5 Thoughts for November 2, 2015 (all about football)

1. Russell Wilson kept Seattle's season alive and pulled out another late 4th quarter drive to help win the game. The only thing I'm asking myself, is why can't the team operate at this high level of competition during the rest of the game? They're right in the middle of the NFL in 3-and-out percentages (21.59%), and that's okay if you've got a great point differential (see next item) as it shows that you can score a touchdown on any given series, but not so good if your record is 4-4.
2. New England (+116) and Arizona (+110) have, by a wide margin, the largest point differential (points scored - points allowed). The difference between NE and the next best AFC team in PA (Cincy) is 50 points. The difference between Arizona and the next best NFC team in PA (Carolina) is 58 points. At the midway point in the NFL season, NE and Arizona look to be the odds-on favorite to play in the Super Bowl. Where is Seattle? They're 8th best in the NFL, but at a very paltry +27 margin. For reference, at this point in the season Seattle was +28 in 2014, +60 in 2013, +10 in 2012. Except for Pete Carroll's first year, Seattle's always done better in the second half of the season; unless Seattle steps it up dramatically, it's not looking good for Seattle to make it to the Super Bowl.
3. Clay Helton is showing that he really isn't like Sark. Against Cal, USC once again made heavy use of the fullbacks, and was strongly committed to the run game. This was exceptionally notable late in the fourth quarter, as Helton's offense ran the ball on 3rd downs instead of passing, seemingly used to build up the confidence of the offensive line. If given the choice between Clay's Warriors and Sark's Finesse, I think most people would choose Clay's Warriors, and if he wins out, there will undoubtedly be pressure to hire him. Having been in the program for 6 years, Helton is a Trojan.
4. While the USC defense continues to get better, it's still lacking in sacks, currently at 8th best in sacks per game in the PAC-12. And while the offensive line shows big improvements in run-game blocking -- seemingly as a result of replacements being inserted -- they're still 9th in the PAC-12 in sacks allowed. The linemen remind me a lot of Seattle Seahawks' problems on both sides of the trenches, actually.
5. Norm Chow has failed as a head coach, fired by University of Hawaii's AD on Sunday. You knew it was eventually coming, after posting a 2 - 7 record, but especially after losing at home to Air Force, in a nearly empty stadium, 7 - 58, with that sole touchdown coming with just 5 minutes left in the game. Why fire Chow in the middle of the season? Well, after losing his 7th game, the team wasn't going to make it to a bowl game and Chow would be fired, but that 7 - 58 loss at home, in front of just 22K people (less than half-capacity), was a big embarrassment and a sign that the team had basically quit. No one expected them to beat Air Force (AF was favored by 7.5), but this 51 point drubbing was the second time this season Hawaii was beaten by more than 50 points (0 - 55 loss at Boise State), and was the worst loss at home in UH's history. Chow made his name as an offensive coordinator, but his UH offense averaged just 16 points per game in 9 games. And NO, Chow is not going to be a contender for head coach at USC.

5 Thoughts for October 31, 2015

1. The election of Barack Obama (and his subsequent re-election) was much more than a win for African-Americans and the racism they've endured; America was flipped upside down and now we've come to expect people who look like us, representing us, everywhere. I look at Bernie Sanders, and even though I share many of the same beliefs as him, he doesn't represent the new America. On the Republican side, the only two people who could possibly represent the new America are Fiorina and Rubio, but everyone knows that Fiorina has a ceiling of her own making: HP.
2. For the last 5 months Clear Wireless has been sending out periodic reminders that it will be shutting down -- thanks, Sprint -- come November 6. I'd known about this impending shutdown for roughly 18 months, and was hoping that Google Fiber would be in place by now, but alas, it wasn't to be. Last week I finally grabbed myself a refurbished, open box SB6141 for $40, and yesterday I got around to going online and signing up for installation with...bleh...Comcast. Talk about good timing, as the earliest slot available was the 6th; imagine if I had waited one more day! There's an 8~10 hour gap between the time they shut down Clear service and when the Comcast person installs (plugs in the cable in the common area box) it, but because I have my phone with mobile hotspot, I won't miss a beat. Now for the better news: The timing was perfect as Comcast changed its "best" offer to a 10Mbps service for $29.99 for 12 months, which is actually $10 less than what I was paying to Clear for 6Mbps. If you're wondering, the reason why I stuck with Clear is because it was wireless and I like having fewer wires...plus Comcast throttles certain edge providers (Netflix).
3. I have completely perfected my vault-building skills in Fallout Shelter, as I've now had three shelters soar past the 100-occupant level. My first one reached the 200 capacity ceiling before it was erased when the app crashed and wouldn't allow itself to restart. My second one was at about 170 when it crashed and the vault was erased. This third one is already at 184 and is absolutely unbeatable with my crushing kill zone on the first level -- no Deathclaw can escape the first level. I now know why FS has a 200-occupant ceiling: The larger the vault, the more taxing it is on the device. In the beginning my device won't heat up, but by the time I'm at roughly 70, heating issues begin to show, and the closer I get to 200, the faster the heat build-up is and the more sluggish the device gets. All this points to very bad coding.
4. The WSJ reported that Google was ready to merge Android and ChromeOS into one -- Android absorbing ChromeOS -- and would show off the new OS sometime next year. Today Google came out and said that this wasn't accurate. Instead, it appears that ChromeOS will continue to be supported -- how much more effort does it take to support a browser that is sandboxed in a Linux base, when they're already supporting Linux and their browser? -- while a third OS will appear, which will merge Android with ChromeOS in order to make better use of Google Play Store, a keyboard, a mouse (or pointer), and a large screen. Let's be honest though: Eventually you'd want this third OS to replace all large-screen devices whether Android tablets or ChromeOS laptops; anyone with a tablet 10" or larger knows that Android wastes space and isn't well-optimized for such large screens; ChromeOS is well-suited for large screens but running apps from the internet isn't so useful. Suddenly that Pixel C starts to make sense and you can imagine how Google will push this new operating system to Pixel C devices.
5. So I finally worked around the split of Google Wallet and Android Pay. I added my Google Wallet card (the physical card) to my Android Pay, then made it the default option; with this setup I was able to make it work at Trader Joe's yesterday. It still takes longer than the old Google Wallet, as I need to separately enter my PIN on the card swipe POS, unlike before where this step wasn't required; I often wonder why I even bother using Android Pay, actually. And my banking institution's credit card does not support Android Pay, so even though I have my credit card and Google Wallet card both associated with Android Pay, it's essentially operating like Google Wallet on the back end of the transaction with a unique virtual card number. Dumb, right?