History presents us with many examples of bad ideas. Sometimes ideas are simply stupid and poorly thought out, others are presented at the wrong time, and some ideas are so certain to enrage and offend the public trust that they are best buried in a deep dark vault and never, ever spoken of.
The latter category most certainly includes the moronic trial balloon floated by Dick Durbin, senior senator from Illinois. The esteemed Mr. Durbin has stated that he is considering asking lame duck President Bush to offer clemency to George Ryan, based on a heartfelt appeal from Ryan's wife.
You may remember George Ryan. Yes, the George Ryan whose corrupt administration of the Illinois Secretary of State office directly resulted in the deaths of six innocent children. Yes, the George Ryan who routinely steered state business to his cronies. Yes, the George Ryan who used his political campaign funds to illegally enrich himself and his family. Yes, the George Ryan who is a convicted felon, liar, and unrepentant criminal.
Don't even think it, Dick. We the people just elected Obama because we are sick of politicians who are stupid, corrupt, and ineffective. If you push to free Ryan, you will convince the public that you are all of those things too.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
POTS - R.I.P. 2008
My first real full-time job was in 1978 at Illinois Bell (yes, Fish Head has out-lived the average alewife by a few years). At the time, IBT was one of the largest and best known corporations in Illinois, and made hundreds of millions of dollars each year selling POTS - Plain Old Telephone Service.
Flash forward to 2008. Illinois Bell is a distant memory, divorced from the Bell System, subsumed into Ameritech, which was subsumed into SBC, which subsumed AT&T. Get it, got it, its gone.
And how about POTS? It too is rapidly disappearing. Depending on whose numbers you believe, installed POTS lines are declining 5-10% per year. Why? In the recent past, its been wireless and broadband that have been cannibalizing the POTS business. Younger consumers, especially those who remain single longer, are comfortable relying on their cell phones and see no need for POTS; tech-savvy oldsters who like their stationary phones have been exploiting their broadband connections and using services like Vonage and Skype.
More recently, the economy has been the culprit in the decline. Empty houses require no POTS line, and families with financial pressures will ditch their POTS line before they ditch their mobile phones.
At a rate of decline of 10% per year, POTS service is likely to rapidly become un-economic, as it requires specialty equipment and infrastructure which will be hard to maintain in a rapid down draft, and consumers unwilling or unable to switch are likely to face difficulties as telecom companies react to the financial realities.
The Fish Head recently retired his trusty POTS line that served his home office. After many years of faithfully paying $18 per month to the local phone company, Fish Head has converted to a combination of cell and VOIP. For routine calls, Fish Head uses Skype, an ultra-low-cost VOIP provider which primarily runs on personal computers. Couple your PC with a bluetooth headset, and you have a high-tech if somewhat inconvenient phone system. For cell, Fish Head routes his cell calls thru a femtocell which in essence turns home cell calls into VOIP.
And so AT&T is out $18/month, the Polycom desk phone sits collecting dust on a shelf, and the Fish Head has made his little contribution to the decline of POTS.
Flash forward to 2008. Illinois Bell is a distant memory, divorced from the Bell System, subsumed into Ameritech, which was subsumed into SBC, which subsumed AT&T. Get it, got it, its gone.
And how about POTS? It too is rapidly disappearing. Depending on whose numbers you believe, installed POTS lines are declining 5-10% per year. Why? In the recent past, its been wireless and broadband that have been cannibalizing the POTS business. Younger consumers, especially those who remain single longer, are comfortable relying on their cell phones and see no need for POTS; tech-savvy oldsters who like their stationary phones have been exploiting their broadband connections and using services like Vonage and Skype.
More recently, the economy has been the culprit in the decline. Empty houses require no POTS line, and families with financial pressures will ditch their POTS line before they ditch their mobile phones.
At a rate of decline of 10% per year, POTS service is likely to rapidly become un-economic, as it requires specialty equipment and infrastructure which will be hard to maintain in a rapid down draft, and consumers unwilling or unable to switch are likely to face difficulties as telecom companies react to the financial realities.
The Fish Head recently retired his trusty POTS line that served his home office. After many years of faithfully paying $18 per month to the local phone company, Fish Head has converted to a combination of cell and VOIP. For routine calls, Fish Head uses Skype, an ultra-low-cost VOIP provider which primarily runs on personal computers. Couple your PC with a bluetooth headset, and you have a high-tech if somewhat inconvenient phone system. For cell, Fish Head routes his cell calls thru a femtocell which in essence turns home cell calls into VOIP.
And so AT&T is out $18/month, the Polycom desk phone sits collecting dust on a shelf, and the Fish Head has made his little contribution to the decline of POTS.
Looking back
Its always interesting to watch the results achieved by teams that the Cats recently played. Buried in the back of today's Chicago Tribune was the game wrap-up of the first round FCS (1-AA) match between SIU and UNH.
The UNH Wildcats came to Evanston in 2006 and pummelled the Cats 34-17. Fans were shocked, but UNH has been a traditional powerhouse in 1-AA, and as the last couple of years have shown, a strong 1-AA team can knock off a 1-A team (google on Toledo and Appalachian State for more :-) ).
This year, the Cats played the SIU Salukis in Evanston, and the result was better, with the Cats the victor by a 33-7 margin.
Yesterday, UNH beat SIU 29-20 to advance to the second round of the FCS playoffs (Obama would love 1-AA). Good to see both our past victims, and our past conquerors, doing well.
The UNH Wildcats came to Evanston in 2006 and pummelled the Cats 34-17. Fans were shocked, but UNH has been a traditional powerhouse in 1-AA, and as the last couple of years have shown, a strong 1-AA team can knock off a 1-A team (google on Toledo and Appalachian State for more :-) ).
This year, the Cats played the SIU Salukis in Evanston, and the result was better, with the Cats the victor by a 33-7 margin.
Yesterday, UNH beat SIU 29-20 to advance to the second round of the FCS playoffs (Obama would love 1-AA). Good to see both our past victims, and our past conquerors, doing well.
Bowling
The churn and speculation leading up to December 7 will be intense. Last night's epic battle between the Ducks and the Beavers (lol I am not making that up) should have a positive impact for the Cats as OSU gets another BCS game to embarrass itself at.Watch for Cats fans to howl, and rightfully so, if Iowa jumps us as predicted.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Cornucopia
Saturday was a cornucopia of fandom, a veritable turducken of sports feasting.
First up was the traditional season-closing rivalry match between Northwestern and Illinois, with the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk trophy going to the winner. We arrived at the infamous West Lot close to an hour before it opened, which forced us to crack a kegger in the street to fortify us to withstand the brisk (20 degree) weather. After entering the lot and tailgating for several hours, we were treated to a frigid but tasty treat (full of creamy goodness, as that idiot on the Big Ten Network always says) as the Wildcats smothered the Illini and closed the regular season at 9-3 with a 27-10 victory. Thus, Cats fans face the pleasant dilemma of figuring out how to transport their grills, tents, coolers, and voluminous containers of assorted booze, to exotic Florida for the upcoming bowl game.
After a brief and even more frigid post-game tailgate beer, we loaded ourselves into the Tank and headed downtown for the UIC-DePaul basketball game, DePaul's first match against UIC at the Pavilion. The Fish Head was rewarded with another victory, as his alma mater by another mother cruised to a thrilling 67-63 victory over UIC. As is the case with all basketball games, the game was a snoozefest of tall guys with funny shorts rushing around, until the last 15 seconds when all the excitement was crammed in. Fortunately, the boredom was of the pleasant variety as we feasted on ale and buffet in the Dragon's Den during the game.
Lastly, after a late arrival home, the Fish Head watched a DVR loop of replays of the Wildcats victory, over and over, into the wee hours of the morning.
Go Cats!
First up was the traditional season-closing rivalry match between Northwestern and Illinois, with the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk trophy going to the winner. We arrived at the infamous West Lot close to an hour before it opened, which forced us to crack a kegger in the street to fortify us to withstand the brisk (20 degree) weather. After entering the lot and tailgating for several hours, we were treated to a frigid but tasty treat (full of creamy goodness, as that idiot on the Big Ten Network always says) as the Wildcats smothered the Illini and closed the regular season at 9-3 with a 27-10 victory. Thus, Cats fans face the pleasant dilemma of figuring out how to transport their grills, tents, coolers, and voluminous containers of assorted booze, to exotic Florida for the upcoming bowl game.
After a brief and even more frigid post-game tailgate beer, we loaded ourselves into the Tank and headed downtown for the UIC-DePaul basketball game, DePaul's first match against UIC at the Pavilion. The Fish Head was rewarded with another victory, as his alma mater by another mother cruised to a thrilling 67-63 victory over UIC. As is the case with all basketball games, the game was a snoozefest of tall guys with funny shorts rushing around, until the last 15 seconds when all the excitement was crammed in. Fortunately, the boredom was of the pleasant variety as we feasted on ale and buffet in the Dragon's Den during the game.
Lastly, after a late arrival home, the Fish Head watched a DVR loop of replays of the Wildcats victory, over and over, into the wee hours of the morning.
Go Cats!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Woeful-rines
The Cats pummelled the Woeful-rines, walking out of the Big House with an impressive 21-14 victory. Why was the victory impressive?
The Cats have suffered greatly from injuries. Arrington, Sutton, Conteh, etc. We started our third string running back against Michigan!
The weather was miserable, and the first half was a goof-fest of fumbles, blocked kicks, and muffed punts. But the Cats hung tough and went to the locker room down 14-7.
Not sure what Fitz told the team in the locker room, but the offense came out firing in the third quarter and Bacher threw two beautiful TD passes to put the Cats up 21-14.
And lastly, Michigan had the ball twice with good field position in the closing minutes, but the defense played tough and shut the Woeful-rines down to ensure the win.
Thus the Cats advance to 8-3 and ensure themselves of a good bowl pick....let the whining begin about the selection process and what's fair and which schools travel well.
Go Cats! Next week is the traditional season-ending game against arch-rival Illinois, in which we will fight for possession of the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk. A win will push the Cats to 9-3 and again improve our bowl position.
The Cats have suffered greatly from injuries. Arrington, Sutton, Conteh, etc. We started our third string running back against Michigan!
The weather was miserable, and the first half was a goof-fest of fumbles, blocked kicks, and muffed punts. But the Cats hung tough and went to the locker room down 14-7.
Not sure what Fitz told the team in the locker room, but the offense came out firing in the third quarter and Bacher threw two beautiful TD passes to put the Cats up 21-14.
And lastly, Michigan had the ball twice with good field position in the closing minutes, but the defense played tough and shut the Woeful-rines down to ensure the win.
Thus the Cats advance to 8-3 and ensure themselves of a good bowl pick....let the whining begin about the selection process and what's fair and which schools travel well.
Go Cats! Next week is the traditional season-ending game against arch-rival Illinois, in which we will fight for possession of the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk. A win will push the Cats to 9-3 and again improve our bowl position.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Damn those Bucknuts
The Buckeyes laid their annual smackdown on the Cats, routing the Purple 45-10. The defense was unable to catch Pryor in the backfield, and as best I could tell, he is the second coming of Joe Namath except he has good knees and can scramble like a mofo. And he performs best on third and long, on which he seemed to either scramble or throw for huge yards.
'Nuf said. Move on. The Bucknuts can come back here next year and beat the crap out of us. Or we'll go there, and they can beat the crap out of us. Whatever.
Next up for the Cats is the Michigan Woeful-rines. Except, the Woeful-rines showed some signs of life this past weekend, beating Minnesota 29-6. Either Minnesota is falling apart (2 losses in a row) and stinks, or, Michigan is beginning to gel as a team. Either way, this is a huge game for the Cats, as a win will improve their bowl selection immensely. Injuries have depleted the Cats, with the starting QB, RB, one DE, and one LB out; additionally the second-string RB is out or he's in, no-one seems to know. Fitzgerald will need to pull some coaching magic to get a reasonable team on the field against Michigan.
Since the Michigan game is at the Big House, the tail gate will morph to a deck gate to be held at the Skoper's mansion.
'Nuf said. Move on. The Bucknuts can come back here next year and beat the crap out of us. Or we'll go there, and they can beat the crap out of us. Whatever.
Next up for the Cats is the Michigan Woeful-rines. Except, the Woeful-rines showed some signs of life this past weekend, beating Minnesota 29-6. Either Minnesota is falling apart (2 losses in a row) and stinks, or, Michigan is beginning to gel as a team. Either way, this is a huge game for the Cats, as a win will improve their bowl selection immensely. Injuries have depleted the Cats, with the starting QB, RB, one DE, and one LB out; additionally the second-string RB is out or he's in, no-one seems to know. Fitzgerald will need to pull some coaching magic to get a reasonable team on the field against Michigan.
Since the Michigan game is at the Big House, the tail gate will morph to a deck gate to be held at the Skoper's mansion.
Monday, November 03, 2008
R.I.P.
Our pet hamster, Scouty, passed away yesterday in unpleasant fashion, gasping and spitting up blood as he died of old age.
Scouty was the family favorite, and in fact the Fish Head liked Scouty better than his own kids. He was a quiet, pleasant fellow who never caused a fuss and never demanded more than the occassional treat.
May he rest in peace in Hamster Heaven.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Zoiks!
The Cats upset #20 Minnesota 24-17, with safety Brendan Smith returning a twice-tipped interception 48 yards for a touchdown with 12 seconds on the clock.
Mike "Demon Spawn" Kafka, subbing for injured started CJ Bacher, had a big day, rushing for 217 (!) yards and throwing a pair of touchdowns (we'll choose not to discuss the 2 INTs he threw).
With the win, the Cats resurrected their bowl hopes, advancing to 7-2 and assuring a bowl bid. With perennial patsy Michigan coming up on the schedule, the Cats seem gauranteed of an 8-win season and a quality bowl.
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