Here’s my Week 6 Quick Picks.
Panthers at Falcons: Falcons 24-17.
Eagles at Redskins: Redskins 21-17.
Bills at Giants: Bills 24-14.
Colts at Bengals: Bengals 21-14.
Jaguars at Steelers: Steelers 24-14.
49ers at Lions: Lions 28-17.
Rams at Packers: Packers 35-14.
Texans at Ravens: Ravens 21-17.
Browns at Raiders: Raiders 24-14.
Saints at Buccaneers: Saints 28-14.
Cowboys at Patriots: Patriots 38-14.
Vikings at Bears: Bears 21-17.
Dolphins at Jets: Jets 28-10.
Last Week: 9-4.
Season: 49-28.
Folks, while there may be some of you out there that love Herman Cain’s schtick, remember this, he’s an idiot! Why Jake, how can you say that you may want to ask? A couple of reasons jump to mind right away. Cain gave an interview on ‘The Situation Room’ and claimed that blacks “have been brainwashed into not voting for conservatives.” That’s the way to convince people that you’re an intelligent and competent choice for president! Take an entire group and lump them all together with a bold statement. So Mr. Cain, if all African Americans (my change, not his) have been brainwashed, does that make you better than them? Are you putting yourself on a pedestal?
Second, Cain made an insane comment that he wouldn’t allow any bill to pass his desk that was longer than three pages. Here’s his exact quote.
Engage the people. Don’t try to pass a 2,700 page bill — and even they didn’t read it! You and I didn’t have time to read it. We’re too busy trying to live — send our kids to school. That’s why I am only going to allow small bills — three pages. You’ll have time to read that one over the dinner table. What does Herman Cain, President Cain talking about in this particular bill?
So Mr. Cain, you wouldn’t have signed the Civil Rights Act? Or the treaty ending WWII? Or the Patriot Act? Or any of the Appropriations bills that keep the government running? And you surely wouldn’t sign your own 9-9-9 Tax Bill if you were elected? (More on the 9-9-9 in a minute.)
John Stewart immediately called him out on this inane statement. (His is much funnier than mine.) As usual, John was firmly sticking to his perfected tongue in cheek routine. Wingnut Cain immediately retaliated with a ridiculous claim that Stewart is a racist that hates black conservatives. Here’s the quote in it’s entirety.
I said, well, Sean [Hannity], first of all if [Stewart] really thinks that I’m serious about a bill only being three pages the joke’s on him. And I said secondly as far as him mocking me look I’ve been called every name in the book because I’m a conservative, because I’m black.
Sticks and stone may break my bones, words are not going to hurt me. I was on that radio show because I happen to be an American black conservative. I labeled myself. I’m an American Black Conservative, an A-B-C. They keep trying to put labels on me. I have been called “Uncle Tom,” “sell out,” “Oreo,” “shameless.” So the fact that he wants to mock me because I happen to be a black conservative, in the words of my Grandfather, “I does not care. I does not care.”
Without touching on the horrible grammar and sentence structure, what the fuck is he trying to say here? He’s really accusing John Stewart of being a racist? Has he ever watched The Daily Show? Did he even listen to John’s rant or his own inane comment?
Lastly, his much discussed 9-9-9 plan. This is short for 9% income tax, 9% national sales tax and 9% corporate income tax. To begin with, 9% income tax is a tax cut for people who make over $1 million a year as on average, they pay an 18% income tax. And a flat 9% income tax is an increase for middle class and poorer Americans as today, the average for us 99% is a 7% income tax. His “simple” plan will of course also get rid of tax credits for everyone.
While I favor tax reform, I need some substantive evidence of the real workings of any plan before I give my seal of approval. My figures above are just a guess by me and other people on what he means as Cain has steadfastly refused to elaborate on his plan. His response for more detailed information is a classic of rhetoric right alongside his three page bills comment.
“Well, see, the critics are already trying to try and prove why 9-9-9 is not a good idea,” he said. “When you see some of these reports talking about it won’t do this and it won’t do that and it won’t do this and it won’t do that, they have changed the assumptions. If you want to know what the assumptions are, why don’t you come to me and my people, and we’ll explain to you what the assumptions are. But they don’t want to do that.”
When his camp was contacted for comment by USA Today, they did not return the request. Ladies and Gentlemen, your Republican Front Runner, Herman Cain! What a bumbling blowhard.
Originally conceptualized around 1915, the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) has been used by the United States military since the early 60s. During the Vietnam War, we deployed roughly 3400 of these aircraft, only losing about 550. [Wikipedia]
More recently UAVs, also referred to as drones, have been very actively used in both military combat and surveillance. It was even reported that a drone killed top terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki. The obvious advantage to their use is that no soldier is harmed if anything goes wrong. Generally, they’re piloted by joystick and keyboard by pilots in unmarked buildings in undisclosed locations. The worse case scenario would normally be that we lose a physical machine. That is, until recently.
In a report from Wired Magazine’s ‘The Danger Room’, our country’s Predator and Reaper drones have been infected with a keylogging virus. For those wondering, a keylogging virus does one simple task, it listens for and stores all keystrokes on a computer, UAVs included.
This would seem like a pretty small problem, right? Run military grade Norton Antivirus and be done with it. As a last ditch effort, call Best Buy’s Geek Squad to clean the drones up. Though officials report the virus as being benign, they can’t seem to get rid of it.
“We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back,” says a source familiar with the network infection, one of three that told Danger Room about the virus.
I don’t know about you, but benign or not, if a virus CAN NOT be removed from a closed, military operated computer system, doesn’t that sound like a pretty big deal?
And how in the hell did they even get on there in the first place. It’s policy that no systems interacting with the drones be connected to the public Internet. It seems that the current system of loading new maps and mission information on the system is using, external hard drives. This practice has since been stopped, but officials are suggesting that this was the source.
So, to review: Our military has armed drones, currently operating while having a keylogger virus on them. They’re not sure if it’s benign or not, and their current solution is to wipe the drone hard drives and reload from scratch.
I wonder if anyone has considered that if someone was smart enough to get the virus on the drones in the first place, and make it near impossible to remove, they might have a plan for logging keystrokes? And that they might already have some pretty important data? I’m not trying to stoke the FUD fire here, but isn’t it reasonable to be a little concerned?
I just want to share a few thoughts on the passing of Steve Jobs before I get to my picks. Undoubtedly, Apple is one of the foremost technology companies in the world which is in no small part thanks to Jobs. His tireless innovation, drive and personal appearances kept Apple’s products in the limelight and helped them to reinvent personal electronics as we know them.
However, I was a little surprised to read the reactions to his death. It was as if a Messiah-like figure had been stolen from the human race before he delivered on our final salvation. I’m not trying to take away anything from his intelligence, incredible business savvy, or his willingness to take a risk which he should be commended for. But this was a man who was driven by secrecy in all facets of his personal and business life. His company was not an open book. He didn’t allow outside companies or individuals to build or innovate with his technology. Apple was a complete brand with every piece of it being owned and developed by Jobs and his team. Apple was Apple…no one worked “with” Apple, they made the decisions and they controlled access.
Apple does a great job, I admit, but Jobs was a benevolent tyrant at best and a ego maniacal, self centered dictator at worst. Twitter was alive on Thursday night wishing that every industry had a Steve Jobs and even a few quips about how much better government would be with a Steve Jobs. Hold on the phone folks! You want a singular leader that answers to no one in charge of our ENTIRE NATION? How well has the worked out in the history of the world? Get back to me on that.
Again, I don’t want to belittle Steve Jobs’ legacy as a superb innovator and savvy businessman but I just wish people didn’t resort to hyperbole when it comes to death. He was a great leader of Apple but that doesn’t make him into the next Messiah. So thanks for the cool gadgets Steve and I will miss your press conferences and speeches.
Now onto our regular scheduled programming and my picks for Week 5 of the NFL.
Saints at Panthers: Drew Brees and the Saints will beat Cam and the Cats but Newton will again showcase his incredible abilities. Saints 31-24.
Eagles at Bills: The “Dream Team” is in trouble and they will falter again in Buffalo at the hands of Ryan “Harvaahd Man” Fitzpatrick and the Bills. Bills 28-14.
Bengals at Jaguars: Ugly game alert. The Bengals are coming off a huge upset over the Bills and they’ll continue their winning ways. 17-10.
Seahawks at Giants: Gmen are playing better than expected with their injuries and the 
Oceanicbirds stink. Giants 28-14.
Titans at Steelers: Matt Hasselback is experiencing a rebirth as a starting QB while the Steelers are faltering. Upset alert!! Titans 24-14.
Raiders at Texans: The Silver and Black looked pretty good against the Pats last week but the Texans looked great in their shocker over the Steelers. This will be a good game with the Texans eking out a win, 28-24.
Chiefs at Colts: Another ugly game alert. The Curtis Painter era has begun in Indy and the Chiefs are well, the Swedish Chefs of the NFL. The home crowd will win this one for Painter and the Ponys. Colts 21-14.
Cardinals at Vikings: McNabb is done as a starting QB, Minny, just sit him and move on. Of course his previous backup might not be a worthy starting QB either. Bad QB play but the Vikings have All Day. Vikings run over the Cards 24-14.
Buccaneers at 49ers: Bucs are a good but uneven team and the 49ers are relevant again! The Bucs will lose a close one with the Niners faithful helping out their hometown D. 49ers 24-17.
Chargers at Broncos: Broncos stink. Chargers have Philip Rivers throwing the long ball in Mile High. Easy call. Chargers 35-20.
Jets at Patriots: This will be a great game. Rex is pissed and his defense knows it. The Pats can throw all day long and will on a beautiful warm day at Gillette. Which side will win? Pats 35-24.
Packers at Falcons: The Packers are the real deal while Matty Ice needs to improve his game. This will not be the game that he does sadly. Rodgers and company will take care of business 35-21.
Bears at Lions: Da Bears at Da Lions in the Motor City! This used to be a joke game but Matthew Stafford and Suuuh have made the Lions a team to be reckoned with. Mike Martz and Jay Cutler have failed to make the Bears O click. The Detroit faithful will rejoice in this ass-whipping. Lions 28-17.
Last Week: 11-5
Season: 40-24.
Here are my picks for Week 4.
Saints at Jaguars: Saints 24-10.
Vikings at Chiefs: Vikings 20-14.
Panthers at Bears: Panthers 21-17.
Titans at Browns: Titans 17-10.
Steelers at Texans: Steelers 28-24.
49ers at Eagles: Eagles 24-14.
Redskins at Rams: Skins 20-10.
Bills at Bengals: Bills 28-13.
Lions at Cowboys: Lions 24-10.
Giants at Cardinals: Gmen 17-10.
Falcons at Seahawks: Falcons 21-17.
Broncos at Packers: Packers 35-14.
Patriots at Raiders: Pats 24-21.
Dolphins at Chargers: Chargers 28-17.
Jets at Ravens: Ravens 17-14.
Colts at Buccaneers: Bucs 21-14.
Last Week: 11-5.
Season: 29-19.
Today I’m in the mood for some sports talk. Shut off WEEI and listen in.
First we’ll start with those lovable losers, the Red Sox. This week, they returned to their past form of building up expectations and then crushing them with the equivalent of an Acme anvils. Their collapse was epic and the fallout has already begun. Rumor has it that Terry “Tito” Francona will not be back next year as the club will neglect to pick up his 2012 & 2013 contract options.
Excuse me?!? We’re really going to can the guy that has brought two World Series to Beantown, the first in his first year as manager?! His record with the Red Sox is 734-531 in the regular season and 28-17 in the post season. Both World Series were won in sweeps and he oversaw the greatest comeback in sports history when the Sox came back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Yankees in 2004.
There will be those of you who say “But Jake, their collapse in September was colossal and heads must roll!” Yeah heads must roll, like John Lackey, JD Drew, Dice-K, and Carl Crawford (none of whom Tito hired), four of the most overpaid stuffed shirts ever to put on a Red Sox uniform. So are people really trying to say that Tito is responsible for Buchholz’s, Youk’s, and Salttalaitek’s injuries? It’s his fault that two of the best sluggers in the game, A-Gon & Big Papi, went into slumps at almost the exact same time? It’s his fault that two of the premier pitchers in the league, Beckett and Jon (The Comeback Kid) Lester, suddenly lost control of their pitches for three weeks? Really?
This team ended up 90-72 while having the most potent offense in all of baseball despite being saddled with the huge liability of Carl Crawford. Being honest, their pitching stunk 
but as I pointed out above, two of their most useless players were starting pitchers. Every game seemed to feature a new face called up/traded for to throw some innings. If they had made it to the playoffs, everyone would be discussing the gutsyness of keeping a team together through catastrophic injuries and bad timing of slumps.
So here’s my wish…keep Tito for another season and jettison some of the dead wood. Too bad we have to pay Crawford no matter what so I guess we’ll keep him. But say goodbye to Lackey (sorry fixed the Lester typo-editor), Dice-K, and Drew. Spend some money on some mid tier pitching so we have a decent 4 & 5 pitcher and keep the lineup strong. Let’s see how we do without the acidic clubhouse presences of those three. I’ll say this though…I hope this collapse gets rid of the Pink Hatted Douches.
Of course, the Sox collapse was made that much worse by the stunning upset of our New England Patriots to the upstart Bills. Ryan “Harvhad Boy” Fitzpatrick made Tom Terrific look pedestrian and our defense was lackluster at best. But I have good news for you, sports fans! Tom has shorn his locks…he’s serious now…no more friggin around.
The Pats play the Raiders on Sunday in Oakland which looks to be a physical game. The Raiders are beginning to resemble their smash mouth predecessors with Darren McFadden running over every defender in his way and tough trench fighting by their defensive line. It will be a good game of football on Sunday but the Pats will pull out a close one 28-21. (Look for the rest of my NFL picks tomorrow!)
Now we have three more Boston sports teams to talk about. The Revolution are also on the cusp of being eliminated from the playoffs with some poor late season play. The B’s are starting per-season with hopes of a repeat of last year’s miraculous run for Lord Stanley’s cup. They bring back a tough group of veterans that seem to still be hungry for more glory. Let’s go B’S!!! And the Celtics won’t be playing this season as the NBA strike continues. The NBA will not be back anytime soon. If you’re interested in specific reasons, take a gander at this excellent column from The Sports Guy himself, Bill Simmons.
So that’s it for your Boston sports wrap up. Check back tomorrow for my NFL Picks column!
I’m going to keep this post short and to the point. This is due in part to the fact that if no constraint was applied, I might ramble on until this very keyboard burnt out beneath my fingertips.
This is a follow up to a ‘status update’ I made on Facebook, which was in response to the outrage of Facebook users everywhere regarding the site’s new redesigns.
Attached to this was an excellent piece, over at GigaOm, entitled Don Norman: Google doesn’t get people, it sells them. Between this title and my ‘status update’, the point of this post should be getting clearer.
Yes, Facebook is in the business of selling ad impressions to, shocker, advertisers. Sure they’ll encourage you to keep posting ‘status updates’ and having open, public conversations with your friends and family. But this isn’t what puts the billion dollar smiles on their faces. But rather it’s that for each and every piece of content you post, share or like, it helps better target advertisements to you. It contextualizes who you are as a Facebook denizen.
If you’re having a hard time swallowing this pill, here are few things to think about:
Facebook has to pay for –
These things are NOT paid paid for by –
These things are paid paid for by –
The investors currently funding Facebook would like to see some returns eventually. Either by the latter two income streams picking up dramatically, or by Facebook execs convincing the SEC that an IPO would be a great idea. This would also require advertisement and in-app purchase revenues to steadily increase. So, while they’re going to put in marginal effort to keep you ‘happy’, the main goal here is to keep making it easier for you to share or like content as to more accurately point ads your way.
And ultimately, as The Oatmeal shows in the comic below, after a lot of yelling about and bemoaning any and all Facebook site changes, the ‘users’ keep using and the ‘how can we make more money’ game keeps playing.
Facebook, by The Oatmeal