And you thought outsourcing to India was bad

An article came out recently that Intel has plans to create a technology center in the Gaza Strip. At first, I assumed this meant a microchip fabrication unit ("fab lab" to some"). I know Intel has one in Tel Aviv and I believe I read somewhere that the climate conditions are more desirable for making chips. But from what I can tell in the article, it looks like it will just be a tech support shop where trained Palestinians will answer your calls about why your printer isn't working.

Good for Intel for trying to promote jobs in an area that doesn't exactly have large corporations beating down the door to set up shop. It could be the beginning of a Palestinian economy and work out well for Intel as well because as the article states, a US dollar goes a long way in the area.

Of course, it could also become a huge target for terrorism. Forgive me for sounding cynical, but when a KFC is burned because of a Danish cartoon, you've got to think that an American corporation with a shop who's soul purpose is to talk little Jonny through setting up his printer so he can do his report on dinosaurs is gonna be a target. The dollar may go further in Gaza than other places, but I don't think it matters if you have to spend 4 times as much on security.


Of course, being a computer science person who likes working in the US, I'm gonna be against outsourcing just about anywhere. So, take that for what it's worth.

Pro Bowl Wrap-up and the Cheney Shooting

I mentioned recently that the Pro Bowl was not worth watching this Sunday. Even if you were snowed in under 2 feet of snow. So what did you miss? One of the sloppiest games of football ever played. Seriously, worse than Arizona/San Francisco recently. There were ten turnovers. TEN!!! Football games barely average 10 drives a game. I know, I made that up, but come on! TEN TURNOVERS! None of the AFC quarterbacks completed more than 50% of their passes. Steve McNair went 2-8, which begs the question: Why was Steve McNair at the 2006 Pro Bowl? Was J.P. Lossman injured? Oh yeah, McNair also lost 2 fumbles. No NFC running back averaged more than 3 yards per carry. Neither team eclipsed 100 yards in total rushing.

So it was a defensive struggle, you say? The defenses must have played really well, right? Jon Fox, an excellent defensive coach, must have had the perfect strategy to stop the AFC all stars. He was quoted saying "It all goes to the players because there isn't a lot of scheming." Well, than the players must have put in a great deal of effort to ensure such a well played defensive game. In response to why the game was low scoring, Matt Hasslebeck said "We all had a feeling it might go that way, the lack of preparation we put into it." One other note, I just saw on Sportscenter that Larry Fitzgerald made a random catch in Quintupple coverage. No, that's not a word, because it's NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!

I hate to say I told you so, but... What am I talking about? I LOVE to say I told you so! I was right, AS ALWAYS!!!

In other news, if you hadn't already heard Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a hunting buddy the other day. If you have been living under a rock, don't come out cause Cheney's got a gun! Hiyooooooo!

What, too soon?

Anyway, people are evidently already criticizing the White House for not making a statement soon. I'll set something straight first: I am a Democrat, I don't like Bush, and I disagree with just about everything he says. That being said, the White House had their statement about Cheney out within 24 hours. Honestly, that's relatively quick in my opinion. Think about it, you gotta get the guy to the hospital, make sure he's ok, contact family, etc. etc. etc. Say what you want (and make all the jokes you can think of) about Cheney and what kind of person it takes to shoot a man in the face while hunting. But I think it's a bit much to criticize the White House for not telling the public within a few hours.

Besides, they guy just SHOT someone. You wanna piss him off?

Tech News: Why aren't you using FireFox?

A new study came out recently stating that "Internet Explorer users can be as much as 21 times more likely to end up with a spyware-infected PC than people who go online with Mozilla's Firefox browser." For the record, I would like to point out that the study used an unpatched version of IE, which I think was dumb and potentially done on purpose to produce a more biased opinion in favor of Firefox (on the other hand, the survey was done by the University of Washington, which shouldn't really have any alliances anywhere). I suggest fully reading the article before you take anything it says in the first two paragraphs to heart. Regardless, if you're using IE you probably don't have a fully patched version anyway, seeing as how they release a different patch every week.

I've been using Firefox for about a year now. Pop-ups are down, spy-ware is down, and tabbed browsing is awesome. Personally, I also really like how easy it is to add links to your own bookmarks toolbar for one click access. The computer nerdy side of me also likes that it's open source so me and other nerds can write our own plugins and extensions to do the cool things that I want it to do, but you probably don't care about that. If I've convinced you or if you want to find out more about Firefox, go here.

And don't forget, Site Meter knows all, so I'll know if you keep using Internet Explorer.

One other quick tech news note: Menino announced the other day that he wants to put up a WiFi network over the entire city. Allow me to preface the rest of this paragraph with this disclaimer: I hate Menino, mostly because whenever there were riots in Boston after the Super Bowl or World Series, he blamed the new allowance of alcohol sales on Sundays and that Northeastern did a bad job of keeping students on campus. He of course neglected to mention anything about BU (which you would think deserves mention considering Kenmore was a pretty big rioting hotspot) or that during the second Pats Super Bowl win he cut police presence in the city by 50% (I can't find an article to back this up, but I remember reading something on Boston.com after the kid was killed on Symphony. Regardless, there is this article that says only 150 officers were on duty the night of the Super Bowl; a number that would be tripled for the World Series 9 months later). Also, there's the big dig, which last I hear will finish by time we're driving Jetson's cars.

I have a couple of problems with the new WiFi network. For one, this isn't exactly the most enthusiastic plan. Menino set up a task force, which will research and report back to him by this summer. So really, it's just a political statement to make people think that Menino is actually doing something. Second, the city of Boston has a lot of wireless hotspots already. In my neighborhood alone, Northeastern University, Au Bon Pain, Boloco, Espresso Cafe, and even Our House (yes, that's a bar) have free wireless access. So what's the point of having the entire city on WiFi if many locations already have access? My theory: Menino wants to rope in a "corporate sponsor" for the entire city so he doesn't have to use tax money to pay for government wireless access. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for saving tax money, just say what you mean.

All things awesome: puppies, ping pong, robots, football, and Lost

I defy anyone to look at these dogs and tell me that they don't want a dog as a pet. Or that cats are better for that matter. Cats suck, dogs are awesome, that's all there is to it.

Incidentally, these pictures came from the site cuteoverload.com, which for some reason we were looking at in my Artificial Intelligence class. I have no idea why we were looking at this site, I wasn't really paying attention at that point. Thank you, Professor Futrelle.

In other news for random awesome stuff on line, check this out.

More awesome stuff in video form: dancing robots. This was from my professor who is teaching us to control robots with cell phones. And then use these robots to rule man kind.

Ok, now for some more coherent points:

A quick congratulations to Tony Kornheiser for being hired to call Monday Night Football next year. If you don't know, he's the white guy on Pardon The Interruption who always berates his co-host. I can only hope that Kornheiser will exist on MNF simply to yell at Joe Theisman every time he says something like "Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein." and "The team that wins this game will be the team that scores the most points."

I'm a big fan of making sports predictions, especially in places where I can point back at them and say how right I was (note: if I'm wrong with any luck no one will remember this post; but you know damn well that if I am right I am linking back to it all over the place). Anyway, we all know that the losing Super Bowl team ends up sucking the next year. So allow me to be the first to predict the fall of the Seahawks next year due mostly to the loss and/or hold out of superstar Shaun Alexander. Let me also be the first to predict the Arizona Cardinals atop the NFC West next year. Dennis Green will finally work his magic and win without any decent quarterback.

In non-football news, tonight's episode of Lost was pretty good. I really expected to see Michael come out of no where at somepoint and shoot Sawyer after he stole all the guns. Regardless, I'm very happy to see storylines with all of the old characters, I was not a fan of going weeks without Kate, Jack, Locke, or anyone else form the front of the plane. However, I am in favor of any storyline that involves Mr. Echo, just so I can here his accent (come on, you know it's awesome). Also, next week's episode looks awesome. I think when the clock gets to zero puppies run out of the jungle and that black stuff turns in to dancing robots.

BREAKING NEWS: Jerome Bettis is adopted, actually born in Miami; will play one more year and hopes to plague us all with another week of hype...

Congratulations to Pittsburg and all the Steeler fans. A few quick notes about the game:

There's been a lot of talk in the sports media about the ref-ing in this game, so I thought I'd throw my two cents in. As far as the calls in question: Darrell Jackson did push off, albeit a very little bit, but it was approximately 3 centimeters from the referee and the right call was made; on Jeremy Stevens catch to the 1 called back for holding, the Seahawks linemans arm was hooked on the defender, even only for a second, but again good close call; I don't think Rothlesberger got the ball into the end zone on his run, but it really was to close to call someone right or wrong, so I'm leaving that one alone. Finally, Hasslebeck made a decent tackle for a QB who just threw an INT, and that was a bad call of an illegal block. But honestly, if that were the only thing people thought was a bad call, no one would be complaining about the refs.

My point is, I don't think the refs did a bad job with the officiating, but I think the Steelers benefitted from a lot of close calls. Considering the number of mistakes that BOTH teams made, I think the Steelers need to be pretty thankful that these calls kept coming their way, especially after the Bettis fumble/Rothlesberger tackle against Indy and the Carson Palmer injury.

(One more point on the officiating before I move on that the media I thought has been overlooking: towards the end of the first half, while Seattle was running their first of two AWFUL 2 minute drills, Darrell Jackson caught a ball near the front corner of the endzone and ruled out of bounds. The replay showed that he had one foot down and the second one landed out of bounds. But if you look closely, you will see the second foot go past the pilon which most definately moves. Since the pilon is inbounds, the second foot touched something inbounds, and it should have been ruled a completion. This play was after the two minute warning and Pittsburg called a timeout directly after the play, giving the replay officials ample time to ask for a review, but none came. On this, I say the refs dropped the ball.)

But what's done is done. Whether or not you liked the game (or the commercials) the undenialable fact has undoubtedly hit you: football is over again until September. For football fans around the country, OSAD (Off-Seasonal Affective Disorder) is setting in. Some doctors are now recommending light therapy and prescribing heavy doses of Madden NFL video games until the glow of plasma screen football fills our living rooms again. But there is still a huge void to be filled on Sundays, and we will examine a few of the options for football fans below:

1. The Pro-Bowl This is only one Sunday in the many weekends of offseason but it warrants mention because so many fans make the same mistake every year. "I miss football...Hey! The best players in the league are all playing each other this weekend! This has got be a great game! One more week of football!" If only the knew how wrong they were. Most of the best players elected to the Pro-Bowl drop out because of "injury" (last year, someone actually dropped out because he scheduled his wedding for that weekend). The players haven't seen much time together, because they are lounging around Hawaii rather than practicing. The coaches don't exactly have their hearts in it: they are the losing coaches of the NFC and AFC championship games; one game away from the Super Bowl. Do not get sucked in to this trap, I cannot say it any plainer than that.
2. Skills Competitions, "NFL Players Challenge", or anything else where football players aren't actually playing football A lot of people are trying to cash in on the NFL these days. There are not only QB challenges but running back challenges, wide reciever challenges, I even saw an offensive line challenge once. They are boring, they are not taken seriously by the players, therefore should not be taken seriously by you. Now they have that weird ESPN show where they have NFL players do everything except for play football (bowling, canoeing, carrying water. That's right, YOU ARE WATCHING SOME GUYS CARRY WATER). Best case scenario in all of this is that you get to see Takeo Spikes fall off his Jet Ski. Worst case scenario is you get to see Robert Edwards almost need his leg amputated. Either way, is this really worth watching?
3. Arena Football, Canadian Football, European Football This stuff is advertised as "the place for extreme fans to see Kurt Warner before he hits the pros." Remember what happened to Kurt Warner? 'Nuff said.
4. Basketball and Hockey Hey! Hockey's back! Maybe with all the changes it will be better this year! Not likely, half the teams in the league still get to the playoffs, which aren't until July or something anyway, at which point there is baseball and training camp, which is WAY more entertaining. As for basketball, I'm all about March Maddness, it is basically my return to sports after the SuperBowl, but pro ball just isn't exciting.
   
5. Guy movies including The Seige, Rounders, The Matrix, any of the Die Hards or Lethal Weapons, and anything starring Nicholas Cage or Jean Claude Van Damm This happens every year. USA, TNT, FX, even TBS try to get back as many guys as possible on Sundays by showing the same guy movies over and over and over again. This can be hit or miss. I'm all for watching any Die Hard on any given sunday, but if I see Con-Air one more time, I may never be able to stop saying "She is my butterfly." (By the way, that may be the single WORST line in movie history, yet it is said in the movie like 20 times).
   
6. Sundays are for bowling Espn has these great new commercials out where bowling balls are blamed for destroying lawnmowers and washing machines and such because Sundays are meant for bowling. Great commercials, high comedy, but I'm not spending my Sundays rooting for Jimbo to throw a turkey so he can face Billy Joe in the final round. And those creepy mustaches will bring back to many painful memories of Jake Plummer.
   

Those aren't all the options, but they are the most common. Of course, you could do things like read a book, go outside and get some excercise, or spend more time with your family and loved ones. Just don't let them get used to it; Pitchers and catchers report pretty soon.

Random Quick Thoughts

I have told this story many times, and often no one has believed me, saying it was an urban myth. And yes, this is somewhat distubring.

In other news, I need an idea for a project that has something to do with online/web sites/mobile devices that can "promote healthier living." I know it's broad, i can't do anything about it. It's for a Microsoft collegiate competition called The Imagine Cup.

Can we talk about how much Northeastern University disrespects the ultimate team for a minute? We are trying to get more practice time in over the winter, so we apply for time in Cabot Cage, as that is our only option. We were basically given two times this month: 8-10 this Sunday (yes, during the Super Bowl) and 9:45 - 10:45 February 14th (yes, Valentines Day). I don't even care that much about Valentine's Day; Becky has never celebrated it in her life and with the exception of Phil all the guys on the team are more committed to Ultimate than women anyway (common, you know it's true). The point is, they give us the leftover times that no one else wants. Thank you Northeastern.

Speaking of which, this may be the first time ever that I don't watch the Super Bowl live. One of the team captains is gonna Tivo the game and we're going back to his place after to watch, and I know the game isn't going to be that good (I think it will be a blowout, though I'm not exactly sure which way), AND I don't exactly have a vested interest in the game (read: No bets, No Dolphins). But common! It's the Super Bowl! Yes, that's my entire counter argument... to whatever it is I'm arguing with myself.

A quote from Professor Rasala this morning in my Web Development class on how he teaches using .NET: "I teach this with great pride because their are so many little victories in discovering these things." You might have to know Rasala to appreciate that.

If ever I were to set up two people, it would be Bill Simmon's daughter and Jon Stewart's son. Reason being that the grandchild of the two icons would be the comedic authority on all things sports, pop culture, and politics. This person would have the funniest genes in human history (it's true, scientoligists have proved this). Of course, the current daughter and son are I believe 1 and 1 1/2 years old. Is it to early to be thinking about this sort of thing?

This is what happens when I stop paying attention in class...