HARDWARE: Added a POGOPLUG to my garage “datacenter”

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

http://download.pogoplug.com/meet/

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The Pogoplug is the perfect accessory to your connected life. Imagine accessing all your files and media at home from any laptop or desktop computer, anywhere in the world, or sharing this content with friends and family without having to upload. There’s even an iPhone application so you can always “phone home” to get your files!

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It installed quickly and easily.

It works as advertised.

(Doesn’t seem to like when the platform hibernates?)

Have to figure out how to sync various machines on the home network. No immediately apparent.

RECOMMENDED!

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RANT: Sports “rules” that I don’t like

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Hey, I have a lot of time on my hands. So here’s some sports rules that I don’t like.

① Offsides in soccer and hockey. Never understood it.

② “Overtime” in football. The College rule is dumb and the Pro rule is that the coin flip determines the outcome. I like either “no ties” (first to the tie score wins; credit to the GSN show “catch21”) or “king me” (second to the tie score wins; forces the leader to play; not stall)

③ Sports with no “mercy rule”. (Even pro games that are 37-0 are boring.)

④ Sports with teams that play the mythical “Home for the Blind” to pad their records.

⑤ Division 1 NCAA Basketball “leagues”. (I like the idea that there are different tiers with the bottom of an upper tier gets demoted and replaced with top of the lower tier.)

⑥ NCAA rules on “eligibility”. “Schools”, (Most are really Gooferment subdivisions), can “graduate” “student-athletes” who can’t read or stars leave without graduating. If I were “king” and heaven help the politicians if I was, “Doctor Guillotine, the King has summoned you.”, I’d have “exit exams”, just like they have “entrance exams”. “Student athletes”, who fail the exit exam or just leave, cost the “school” a scholarship for 8 years. (Think that will get their attention?)

⑦ NCAA needs better treatment of “student athletes” when the coach leaves or is dismissed. Signees, freshmen, and sophomores should be given “immediate clearance” to play elsewhere.

⑧ Sportsmanship in all sports. It’s sports; not warfare. Coach’s antics are unacceptable. Athlete’s might get a warning. I like soccer’s red and yellow cards. Maybe the football players need to play without equipment; like rugby. Maybe we need rules that really penalize “unsportsmanlike conduct”! What message are we sending to society or children? And, perhaps, we should have a mandatory “sit out” anytime there is a hint of a concussion. For example, if the ref has to stop play for any injury, then that player is “administratively unavailable” a quarter (i.e., elapsed time of 15 minutes; the equivalent of a “time out” in the hockey penalty box). Multiple “unavailables” lead to some number of game exclusions as directed by a doctor of unimpeachable credentials dedicated to protecting the player. College and pro.

⑨ Refs and umps need a feedback mechanism. They’re not “gods”; they make mistakes. But, they are also not the “devil incarnate” and deserve respect.

⑩ And, don’t get me started on “instant replay” rules.

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