- Death Follows: Another friend lost a family member yesterday -- a terminal illness diagnosed in the middle of December -- so that pretty much completes the tragedy that was 2016. The coincidence of these disparate deaths bothers me. Yes, death always follows life, but I've never experienced a cluster of deaths like this before. There is a sense of helplessness about it, and yet, life is something that is absolutely beautiful and amazing, such that I also feel thankful that we've had the opportunity to partake in this corporeal world, warts and all.
- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Remember him? A little bit crazy, a lot of hot rhetoric, a fiery conservative who sometimes angered conservatives even though he was a conservative, whose first election involved allegations of widespread fraud, and had difficult relations with the foreign press. That sounds just like The Emperor! His name came up as a result of the recent death of Iran's former President, Rafsanjani; in retrospect, it was Ahmadinejad who stood at opposite sides of Rafsanjani's efforts to moderate Iran in his later years. So here's what I don't get: Why are Trumpians so bent on establishing good relations with Russia while demonizing both Cuba and Iran when we've got a foot in the door with both Cuba and Iran with bilateral agreements that have eased tensions considerably? In the mirror, The Emperor's supporters sound and act exactly like Ahmadinejad's supporters.
- Bibi in Deep Trouble?: I find it curious that Bibi Netanyahu would even attempt to negotiate a quid pro quo with the owner of Y-Net / Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. The US equivalent would be if The Emperor negotiated a peace treaty with the NYT to have Breitbart shut down, in agreement for favorable coverage from the NYT. It would be a pointless endeavor because too many people on both sides of the aisle would know what was going on, and in a fit of moral outrage, someone would eventually and surreptitiously record these negotiations to hijack them.
- Football Refs: I don't get them. Their judgment is so subjective as to be objectively bad for the sport. Take for instance the targeting rule -- launching at a player with the crown of the helmet. On Sunday I saw a Steelers player hit the Dolphins QB near his neck / jaw, launching from several feet away directly with his helmet. The refs were right on the side and back and saw the entire episode but didn't even call a roughing the passer foul. Player safety is something of a joke in the NFL. There are entire highlight reels of opposing players launching their helmets into Cam Newton -- a guy I love to hate -- and not a single call. In the Rose Bowl, it was so bad, even the sports journalists were noting how terrible the officiating was -- I'll separately post one instance that should embarrass the ACC. We ought to use robotics and AI to replace refs, as humans seem to be a lousy bunch of arbiters on the rules.
- Samsung Chromebook Plus: It's officially here and up for preorders with delivery in the first part of February. It's relatively expensive for a Chromebook, but with its (palm-rejecting) stylus and touch screen along with the all-aluminum build, it compares favorably to Google's Pixel C tablet running Android. That is to say, that because new Chromebooks with touchscreens will be able to run apps from the Google Play Store, the Chromebook Plus is a better option at a lower price. There's also a Samsung Chromebook Pro, but there are no prices and the only spec highlighted is that it will run on an Intel Core-3 CPU. With its tremendous flexibility and especially because of the stylus, this will be my next device.
Linear thought is a flaw. As a dog, I like to cozy up on the sofa, pull up a glass of coffee and cookies and pretend to be human. I sometimes think that I wasted my time learning new tricks rather than playing outside.
Monday, January 9, 2017
5 Thoughts for January 9, 2017
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