Author Archives: Brendan

Changing of the guard

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Somewhat poetically, the Hartford Courant homepage features side-by-side photos of, and stories about, Connecticut’s soon-to-be-former senior senator, Chris Dodd, and the man who will almost certainly be sworn in as his replacement — and the state’s new junior senator — in almost exactly one year, Richard Blumenthal: Blumenthal, the state attorney general for approximately the last 164 years, has held… Read more »

A modest proposal: Think big, Boise

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PROBLEM: Boise State wants to move its game vs. Virginia Tech at FedEx Field in D.C. to Labor Day, for increased national exposure, but it is currently scheduled to play Toledo five days later in Boise. Chris Petersen can ask his former boss, Dan Hawkins, about what can happen to teams that play Toledo on five days’ rest. PROBLEM: If… Read more »

Schrödinger’s Fiesta Bowl “live” blog

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The moment of truth has arrived: I’m about to start watching the Fiesta Bowl, roughly 25 hours after kickoff. I was too busy to watch the game last night, so I TiVoed it, and then ever since the game started yesterday, I’ve assiduously avoided Twitter, Facebook, blog comments, e-mail (for the most part), and any news or sports or other… Read more »

David K. leads Pick ’em, 24 still alive

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With four bowl games left in the college football season — the Fiesta Bowl tonight, the Orange Bowl tomorrow night, the GMAC Bowl Wednesday night, and the “National Championship Game” Thursday night — 24 contestants are still mathematically alive to win the 5th annual Living Room Times Bowl Pick ’em Contest. Details after the jump. Also, an aside: I am… Read more »

I Palindrome I

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In a shocking oversight, I neglected to blog anything — or tweet anything, or even post something on Facebook — about “Palindrome Day” on Saturday (01/02/2010). I have failed as a nerd! Luckily, I’ll have a chance to make up for it in a little less than 22 months, on 11/02/2011. (Or I suppose I could move to Europe, and… Read more »

We the People: “childish, contemptuous and hysterical”

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I haven’t blogged much about the Christmas Day Underpants Bomber incident, nor the “security” debate that it has triggered, but suffice it to say, David Brooks and Glenn Greenwald are right. First, Brooks: [T]he system is bound to fail sometimes. Reality is unpredictable, and no amount of computer technology is going to change that. Bureaucracies are always blind because they… Read more »