5 Thoughts for January 9, 2017

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.