Steve Fischer's Random Blog

Author: fish1964

  • Baseball Borders

    Brilliant visuals by zip code from the NY Times…

  • Coby

    I thought with a new dog, this might become a “here’s what our dog did today” blog. But having a dog has calmed down and there’s nothing particularly blog worthy.

    He’s still super cute. He’s pooping and peeing in the appropriate places (i.e. not inside). He just turned 6 months, so still a puppy and he still acts like one (both good and bad). He makes me get up too early for the first walk (puppy = small bladder) but overall he’s become only a little more work and he’s way fun.

    So, the obligatory pictures:

    20140416_194250

    20140416_194342

    20140416_194424

  • Net Neutrality RIP

    This is one of those obscure tech topics but it really isn’t that complicated. Imagine you have a startup company making cool ties. You create a nice web site. Your ties are cool and business picks up.

    Then Comcast says that they will reduce the speed they serve up your website unless you pay them 10K a month.

    If that sounds crazy to you, realize that Netflix just did this (not that they wanted to). They paid Comcast extra to get good speeds. Only it wasn’t 10K. Sure, they can afford it. But can your custom tie site?

    The Verge has a bunch of articles on this:

    Some NSFW language, but a good one.

    The original, (with the original NSFW headline).

    Today’s article about the FCC proposal.

    And Mother Jones’s RIP article.

    This is a big deal. Imagine if Walmart’s trucks could drive 75 mph but everyone else had to drive 55. Would we stand for that?

  • Be Curious

    I couldn’t agree with this more:

  • Understanding Social Media

    This is a really important thing. If you use your Twitter feed to try to promote your brand with a hashtag, you really need to consider how popular your brand is in the first place. Because there’s no rule that a hashtag has to be used the way you intended.

    This should be obvious.

    Jenny McCarthy asked a fairly innocuous question, “What is the most important personality trait you look for in a mate?”,  on Twitter and asked people to respond with the #JennyAsks hashtag. But she’s a notorious anti-vaccine person so most of the responses were like this:

     

     

    I guess the NYPD is equally clueless. They asked this:

     

    I’m generally a fan of the NYPD, but it’s not clear why they couldn’t see this coming

     

     

    Honestly folks, find someone in their 20s and ask them what could go wrong with your proposed hashtag. I’m old and I could see these coming…

  • Formulaic Linkbait

    This post from Seth Godin amused me because it is so true. All linkbait headlines:

    ([Integer between 5 and 10] WAYS to [action verb like avoid or stumble or demolish] [juicy adjective like stupid or embarrassing or proven] [noun].)

  • How is this Legal?

    Imagine what would happen if Google, Apple, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft set a rule that they would not hire anyone over 50? Do you think the media would explode? Would people go ballistic over age discrimination?

    Of course they would, and rightly so.

    So why can’t an 18 year old play in the NBA? And now apparently the league wants to bump it so 19 year olds can’t either.

    How is this legal?

    A large number of employers colluding to prohibit employment of a certain class of people. Age discrimination is illegal in most states, (though not federally, except for older workers).

    It’s the most ridiculous thing ever. There’s no argument that they aren’t capable. Hello, Kobe? LeBron? Yeah, they were lame. Who’d want them?

    Again, how is this legal?

    Yes, the Players’ Union has agreed to it. Does that make it legal?

    I frankly don’t understand why the NBA wants this, unless the NCAA is bribing them. I get the NCAA’s interest. They have a total gravy train exploiting “student athletes”. Don’t rock that boat.

    But all the NBA is doing is risking injury to the next Kobe/LeBron before they join the league. I guess they get publicity from March Madness, but it’s hard to argue that LeBron had no publicity when he entered the league.

    Let’s look at the MVP awards recently. Say, since the 2007-8 season. Let’s assume that Kevin Durant wins this year. The list of winners would be:

    • Kobe (violates current rule)
    • LeBron (violates current rule)
    • Derrick Rose (would violate new rule)
    • Kevin Durant (would violate new rule)

    So the NBA is trying to exclude their ultimate best players.

    Again, how is this legal? Or smart?

    I guess it’s just that a kid out of high school is afraid of risking his potential career by biting the hand that will ultimately feed him. Kobe and LeBron are the exceptions and we haven’t had another one since the rule changed.

    So who cares if it’s legal? It’s convenient.

    I’m not a lawyer, so if anyone knows, please explain.

  • Morals

    This is an interesting set of charts. The one below surprised me in that:

    1) More Democrats think alcohol is morally unacceptable than Republicans. I do not know know any of these Democrats.

    2) I get the Muslim part of the world, but what’s up with Latin America? Over half consider alcohol morally unacceptable.

  • Structural Integrity

    Holy crap, this post is amazing and frightening. A skyscraper in Manhattan saved by an undergrad thesis.

  • Baseball Tweet Humor

    The Yankees turned a triple play in the second inning tonight. So in the fourth with runners on first and second and no outs they turned a double play. From one of the Yankee beat reporters: