[This post was originally published on The Living Room Tumblr.]
This sign is a recent addition to the MLK Boulevard “skyline,” part of a big Stapleton marketing push, in connection with the HGTV Green Home. http://stapletondenver.com/community/whats-happening/global-coolness-home-tour. Will the Stapletonion weigh in? http://stapletonion.com/
[This post was originally published on The Living Room Tumblr.]
An accidental photo of me in the basement, taken with the iPhone’s front camera, as I was attempting to take a video with the back camera.
So David Stern, idiot-in-chief Commisioner of the NBA, in his infiinte wisdom, has decided that Clay Bennett, who orchestrated the wholesale theft of the Sonic’s from Seattle to move them to his beloved Oklahoma City, is exactly the right person to be put in charge of the NBA’s relocation commitee.
Stern also announced the following appointments to other positions:
The CEO of BP will now head the Environmental Protection Agency.
Michael Vick has been named head of the ASPCA.
Sarah Palin has been named to head PETA.
Bill Gates will head the governments Anti-Trust division.
and finally, Snooki has been named the Dean of Harvard Univerisity.
I guess we will see now whether Bennett uses his new found power for good, and returns a team to Seattle, or for evil and make sure that never happens. I’m leaning toward the latter, and I don’t even LIKE the NBA.
Despite the University of Utah being invited up to the big leagues the Attorney General of the Mormon Beehive state still wants the BCS disbanded under anti-trust laws. It’s no surprise to anyone that the BCS is a system of big and small. The auto-qualifying conferences certainly derive more benefit from the system, but its also true that some of the smaller schools have gotten opportunities that in the past would likely never have happened. Would Boise State have had the opportunity to play in the Fiesta Bowl to beat Oklahoma? Utah in the Sugar Bowl to victoria over Alabama? Or TCU in the Rose Bowl? All three schools appear to have benefited from the exposure with two invited to AQ conferences and all three (and others like Nevada) seeing their stock rise, the ability to climb the rankings like never before and nationwide exposure.
A judge might be able to rule against the BCS alliance of Bowls, but he won’t be able to force a playoff into existence. It’s not unlikely that without the BCS we would just go back to independent bowls. The Rose Bowl would be Pac-12/Big Ten every year and we’d almost never get a 1-2 matchup, clear cut or not. Perhaps it might open up the way for a playoff, but it certainly doesn’t guarantee one.
No doubt you’ve heard about the latest Apple security/privacy controversy, whereby it’s been revealed that iPhones, ever since the release of iOS4 last summer, have been automatically and secretly creating a hidden (but unencrypted) file called “consolidated.db,” which keeps a running log of the phone’s location — apparently using cell towers and WiFi network data, not GPS — timestamped down to the second.
There’s no indication that this data is shared with Apple or anyone else (rather, it is simply stored on your phone and, after you sync said phone, your computer), but privacy advocates are nevertheless understandably freaking out, fearing that the data could be accessed and abused by a jealous spouse, a wannabe criminal, the government, or perhaps Apple itself (at some point in the future).
This feature/bug/breach/plot was discovered by a pair of nerds programmers, who have created a free downloadable program that you can use to look at your own location data on a map. Naturally, in keeping with the trend, I couldn’t resist…
I don’t mind sharing that map (which I’ve helpfully annotated) because, really, you can’t see anything on it that’s particularly private or significant. For instance, you can’t tell exactly where I live, nor even the neighborhood — just that I clearly live somewhere in Denver (duh). Nor does it show any secret travels by yours truly (probably because I don’t have any). It’s pretty unremarkable, really, except for a few basketball and football trips, and professional excursions to Vail and Colorado Springs.
Moreover, what’s really striking about the map is just how freakin’ imprecise it is.
Federal borrowing is on pace to hit the legal limit on the national debt in less than a week. …
As of the close of business Tuesday…the U.S. Treasury [had] the authority to borrow only an additional $25.635 billion before it hits the statutory debt limit. …
[D]uring the first 821 days of Obama’s presidency the debt increased by $3.700223 trillion—or $4.5 billion per day. …
[Moreover,] in the past six days, the debt has increased at a far faster pace… [I]n the six days of Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, the national debt increased $56.381 billion—or almost $9.4 billion per day.
At that pace, the Treasury would exhaust its $25.635 in remaining borrowing authority in less than 3 days. …When Treasury is about to reach the debt limit, the Treasury secretary can take certain extraordinary steps to stretch the Treasury’s borrow-and-spending authority. According to Geithner, however, these extraordinary measures would only give the government another $165 billion in borrowing-and-spending room.
Meanwhile, the GOP is sounding more inflexible in its demands for reforms to accompany any debt-limit increase.
Who’s up for a much higher-stakes game of chicken than the government-shutdown brinksmanship–on an apparently accelerated timetable–with the consequences of a failure to compromise involving a likely double-dip recession or worse?
Like I said… #PANIC!!
(Here’s a good backgrounder (PDF) from the Congressional Research Service on the technical details of the debt limit, the “extraordinary measures” Treasury can take to delay a default, and the various known knowns and known unknowns surrounding the consequences of default.)
[This post was originally published on The Living Room Tumblr.]
The parking garage at the old Stapleton Airport is now almost completely demolished. (Here’s what it looked like just 11 days ago.)
[This post was originally published on The Living Room Tumblr.]
Parents, don’t dress your girls like tramps
“No successful retailer would consider introducing an item like a padded bikini top for kindergartners if they didn’t think people would buy it. If they didn’t think parents would buy it, which raises the question: What in the hell is wrong with us?
It’s easy to blast companies for introducing the sexy wear, but our ire really should be directed at the parents who think low rise jeans for a second grader is cute. They are the ones who are spending the money to fuel this budding trend. They are the ones who are supposed to decide what’s appropriate for their young children to wear.”
[This post was originally published on The Living Room Tumblr.]
[This post was originally published on The Living Room Tumblr.]
Trump is Al Sharpton of the Republican Party – provocateur and clown, unserious.