Thursday, February 28, 2008
William F. Buckley passed away yesterday at the age of 82. He is widely known as the father of the modern conservative movement, as well as the founder of the conservative periodical, the National Review, and the host of Firing Line.
Firing Line was the first political commentary show I ever watched, and it is the only one I truly missed once it left the airwaves. Buckley's gift for rhetoric and descriptive language was uncanny. He treated his guests, both liberal and conservative, tactfully and respectfully. Sometimes, it was difficult to parse his language, but the challenge of doing so was a welcome change of pace to the blandness of, first, high school and then, college classes.
Buckley is last of the three great conservatives of the 20th century that influenced my world view - Reagan and Friedman were the other two. They leave behind a vacuum that will not soon be filled.Labels: In Remembrance
.: posted by
Dave
3:33 PM
Monday, February 25, 2008
This past weekend, Tennessee defeated the Memphis Tigers 66-62. Today, they're the number one ranked men's basketball team in the country. I'd intended to blog about the "big game" all weekend, but I've quite frankly been too interested in reading what other people had to say about it.
I know this much - I am jazzed about UT hoops, and have been since we pasted Texas in Austin in 2005 (Bruce Pearl's first season). There's just something about this guy and his team that is contagious. It used to be that we'd yawn through basketball season, asking when kickoff for football was going to be. Now, quite frankly, football is the last thing on my mind. I don't want this basketball season to end. It's been that much fun.
I'm trying not to drink the orange Kool-Aid, but I know that if Bruce Pearl is selling it, I'm probably going to be taking a swig. I can imagine this guy talking to his players about winning an unwinnable game, but never wavering in his confidence in them. I imagine that if he told them they could fly, they'd be leaping right off the roof of Gibbs Hall, flapping their wings all the way. Of course, the way things have gone for the Big Orange, I wouldn't be surprised if the team took to the air and looped around campus.
Seriously though, if we can somehow manage to take down the Commodores, Wildcats, Gators, and Gamecocks, even without an SEC Tournament win, we're getting a number one seed. Did anyone think seriously that we'd be a number one men's basketball seed, ever? Seriously? I didn't. I gotta believe that Bruce Pearl is the only one who believed that.
One more thing. Today's poll reflected a unanimous choice of the Vols as #1 by the coaches, but, undeterred, three nincompoops chose UNC or UCLA as the new #1 in the AP poll. To those writers, I ask - did you even watch the game? What does it take for you guys to vote for the Vols for the top slot? I can figure out the 2 Illinois writers, since the whole state still carries a grudge against Bruce for ratting on the Illini for recruiting violations. But what's with this joker in Tacoma? Didn't he see the Vols smack around the Zags in Seattle? Probably not, based on the voting. But you know, voting isn't nearly as relevant anymore anyway. I'm just asking - what's the reasoning?
You might believe that UCLA or UNC would beat UT, but so what? Look at the body of work. Did UT lose to the ninth place team in their conference? Did they lose to unranked opponents on their home floor? Did UNC or UCLA beat a previously unbeaten foe on the road? When they do, give me a ballot, and I'll vote for them too. Until then, you're crazy not to give the Vols their due.
Oh, and if we somehow make it to San Antonio, I am there. (Please, honey... can I go? :-) )Labels: Basketball, Vols
.: posted by
Dave
4:11 PM
At long last, LinkedIn goes mobile. I am somewhat of a mobile "evangelist", using mobile sites much more than I do traditional ones. LinkedIn is a very handy social networking site that caters to the professional crowd. I'm pleased to see that it's come to the small screen.Labels: Social Networking
.: posted by
Dave
4:09 PM
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
My obligatory Super Tuesday election post:
Since I am on a bridge call with technicians in four states, working to configure 2 servers, and 63 RF devices on 4 802.11g routers using 4 VLAN subnets, and myriad switches, and I am increasingly annoyed at finding ridiculous firewall issues that were supposed to be handled weeks ago, somehow, I doubt that I will even find the time today to immerse myself in any election day antics.
Whew.
Now back to our call.Labels: Election 2008, MIS, Networks
.: posted by
Dave
10:08 AM
Monday, February 04, 2008
Oops!
 Labels: Football, Greatest Upsets, NFL, Sports
.: posted by
Dave
1:31 PM
Giants 17, Patriots 14.
The greatest team to not finish the deal. The "other" Manning wins one for the Big Apple. Lots of stories will be written, lots of reflection. The ever anal Yankees will adore Eli, at least for one season. And the Beantowners, well, let's just say Bucky Dent takes a back seat right now to the sack that should've happened, but didn't... the catch by a reserve receiver that had barely left a mark on the stat sheet all season long. Pats' fans, that's Manning to Tyree for 32 yards, and a first down. Let it sink in for awhile longer.
And through it all, we got to see Super Belicheck show his true colors, racing off the field, not bothering to endure the actual close of the game. Typically, his postgame rhetorts were sanguine, and downright terse. I can imagine this man tipping his pizza guy 50 cents because he got there in just under 31 minutes. How people play for this guy is beyond me.
But I digress...
Through it all, let this be a lesson to NFL teams from coast to coast. Offense is glitzy, and gets headlines, but defense wins championships. A cliche, perhaps, but ever appropriate tonight. And maybe, just maybe, some humility will settle in the next time this team decides to run up the score on an inferior opponent just to settle a vendetta. Karma, and all that.Labels: Football, Greatest Upsets, NFL
.: posted by
Dave
12:03 AM
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Unintended Consequences
Mississippi legislators have proposed legislation that forbids restaurants and food establishments from serving food to anyone who is overweight, and they are proposing H.B. 282 to define obesity.
Let me first say that I oppose any legislation that bars people deemed overweight from any restaurant. Furthermore, I can't imagine that restauranteurs are very happy with being told who they can and cannot server.
However, I can see how such laws may soon become commonplace, especially if this country ever decided to institute government mandated universal health care. If the universal model evolves as the Canadian and European model has, then such bans and regulations are going to be the norm. Just witness the latest move in Scotland to simply deny medical services.
The fact is that there is an inherent scarcity in these services, and if the government is going to fund them, the government will eventually also look for ways to remediate the use (or abuse) of them. One such way is how Scotland has reacted. Another way is to limit self-abusive behavior that will lead to reliance on medical services.
That is to say, if obese people (as determined by the government) are banned from overeating, and consuming unhealthy foods (also determined by the government), then surely those same people will be forced to eat healthier, and that will save the national health care system millions of dollars. Or, so the logic will go.
This is what is called an unintended consequence. The government will eventually force people to live "healthier" in order to discourage them from consuming a scarce resource (public mandatory health care). Surely, this is not the model we want to pursue in America.Labels: Bureaucratic Stupidity, Government, Health Care
.: posted by
Dave
10:25 PM
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