Foundation

While waiting for Game 5 of the NBA Finals* to start, I look over and see ABC hyping “questions for the President.” If it weren’t already obvious from the on screen graphics that they’re assuming the President’s right on the need for government action, the fact that the logo for the show uses the Obama campaign font and shade of blue (with blue on white instead of white on blue) would kinda give it away.

You only adopt the look and feel of the campaign if you’re trying to be part of it, or trying to satirize it. I see no satire there.

* Yes, yes, the Lakers have this thing in the bag. But I still want to watch.

You know, some people read this story and think “Take that, jerks.” Others read it and think “There’s a role for government here.”

Take that, jerks.

I did my 10 x 3 squats with 20 pounds on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Sunday gave me a healthy dose of soreness whenever I stand or sit. Tuesday continued it, but I beat it with a healthy does of Flexall. Thursday left me fine.

So, for today I added another 10 pounds. Oh boy did that feel like a lot more. But I got through the 10 x 3, and we’ll see how my thighs feel tomorrow.

This is a terrible game. Awful. No good. Worthless. The controls are 100% useless. The game is a true stinker. Never buy this.

The FCC is currently in the process of developing a National Broadband strategy. Being that this is under the Obama administration, this strategy is unlikely to be a sensible one. Early word suggests that the administration plans to take the Internet in this country and consolidate it into a single, centralized, government-run entity. ‘Competition’ will be allowed, but only under strict government controls and over government wires. Just like in China.

There’s no coincidence there, either. Obama’s good buddy and source of advice Google is well-acquainted with being a tool of totalitarianism. I’m all for the profit motive in general, but Google lets it trump basic human rights when it does whatever the fascist dictatorship in China tells it to. Google loves it because the reduced competition acts as a subsidy for favored firms such as itself, and now it wants the same to happen in our country through its ‘Net Neutrality’ plan, which the Obama FCC just might start to promote.

Americans for Tax Reform and the Competitive Enterprise Institute held a conference call today to detail their opposition to such efforts.

Your reporter was able to listen in on that this morning, and while I disagree with some of their advice, I think they have a clear idea of what’s going on, and what should be done about it.

Fundamentally, the left is pushing a particular lie: that ‘broadband’ Internet access in America is ‘lagging’ through ‘market failure.’ Especially in rural areas, the left claims that only through totalitarian government can the Internet be properly managed. All decisions made with respect to the physical capital of the Internet must go through the State, as must all policies regulating what runs over those wires and fibers. That is the Google ‘net neutrality’ principle that Obama’s FCC is leaning toward.

However the facts used to draw their far-left conclusions simply aren’t there. Pew Research did a survey on ‘broadband’, and found that of those who don’t have it, 33% didn’t want it, and 20% found it too difficult or confusing to have an opinion. That’s right, a majority of the people Obama wants your tax dollars to subsidize, don’t even want the subsidy.

Will that change? Quite possibly. But when it does, guess what? Those new market demands will make it feasble for companies like Verizon and AT&T to deploy new LTE techology to bring the latest in high-speed Internet access to those homes and businesses. But not before the people want it, should it be done. That’s just common sense.

In less rural areas, the leading problem is purely government. As I’ve written in the past, government-mandated franchise agreements are the leading impediment to price-lowering and service-improving competition in the US Internet market. Local goverments huddle together with cable and phone providers, scratch each others backs in special agreements, and shut out the local residents from getting any other choices. However this is a matter for the states to fix, not the FCC. This is federalism at its worst, but it is federalism. It’s not Washington’s place to dictate to the states just because we think they’re wrong.

So Americans interested in a free market and a free Internet should contact the FCC about its Request for Inquiry on ‘broadband’ Internet, which ends June 8. In other countries, and in other markets, when Government places burdensome restrictions on an industry, that industry often withers and dies. The Government then steps in to replace that market with something new and completely socialist. Let’s not let it happen to the Internet.

I’m well back into my exercise routine now. I stopped for a couple of months because I injured my back in March, when I was taking a few tax checks to the post office. Every morning I’d wake up with my back complaining, so I didn’t want to push it.

But, I guess a month ago I got back into the routine. Every day I do an hour on the elliptical a high resistance level at a decent, but not fast, pace. It’s about a good jogging rate, which brought me back to about the level of activity I was at when I was running a few miles every day, back before my knee made me quit (Yes, if it’s not one body part it’s another, I’m so old…).

It’s a nice routine. The hour lets me play games on my DS. Played a lot of Civilization: Revolution, a lot of Populous, and now I’m back to Etrian Odyssey. I’d tried playing that one back in my old elliptical routine, when I was going for 30 minutes at about a 50% faster pace, but the faster pace jostled the stylus too much and I couldn’t play. So it was bad at 45rpm but fortunately doable at 30, so I get to play it again! Maybe I’ll actually get it won finally, to move on to Etrian Odyssey 2!

But, I want more activity. So I asked some people I know who know these things, what I might do that’s back-safe to make my pants fit better. Their nearly unanimous suggestion? Squats.

I started Sunday, and I started light. I only put 10 pounds on the bar, and did ten of them three times. That was enough for some good, solid soreness that lasted to today. Turns out I only use these muscles when I’m in the process of standing or sitting, so it hasn’t been exactly debilitating.

Did some heavy stretching today when I did some more today. Same weight, same amount. I feel like this is sustainable and probably a good start.

The left blames pro-life activists for the shooting of “Doctor” Tiller. Do they blame Janet Napolitano for the shooting of William Long? Is there “blood on her hands” for putting out an incendiary report painting members of our military as ticking time bombs?

Of course not. That just illustrates how completely out of bounds the left’s rhetoric has been lately.

The World Batoo League is underway, but it’s MS Windows-only. That seems so common in Korea.

The Nuggets’ rebounding seems to be a good measure of whether they were able to win this series. Columns are the game of the series, total Nuggets rebounding, Nuggets’ rebounding differential above or below the Lakers, and the Nuggets’ offensive rebounding differential.

The Denver activity rose, then just started to fall apart in game 5, especially in the fourth quarter, when the collapse was on and continued into game 6.

Today I heard about a new game being promoted in Korea: Batoo.

It’s baduk on an 11×11 board with some changes:

1. The game starts with each player playing three stones (his ‘base’). Both players play their stones without seeing where the opponent is playing his, with all six revealed at once, so I assume the stones must be on the same side of the board.
2. Players then bid to play first. The player who bids more points plays first, with the second player getting that number of points as compensation.
3. Play then alternates. The scoring is radically different. Playing a stone is a point. Playing a 3-3 point loses 5 points. Playing a 1-6 point gains 4 points. Every stone of yours captured loses you a point. Also, the game timing is similar to one stone byo-yomi with three periods, only if you run out of time in the current period the clock just stops until you make a play, plus you lose two points.
4. Plus there are special moves you can make I think once a game. You may play a hidden stone that your opponent cannot see until he tries to play there, it gets captured, or he scans that point. Attempting to play on a hidden stone does not lose your turn. You may also ‘scan’ a point before you play, revealing a hidden stone if it’s there. I don’t know how many hidden stones or scans you get per game, I think it’s one of each.

Obviously the game is played by computer, otherwise the hidden stones wouldn’t work. The computers aren’t awkward because the general idea is to capture the spirit of high level Starcraft play in Korea and bring it to baduk, and apparently they have baduk pros on board.

Here’s a sample game. Crazy stuff.