I Think, Therefore I Rant!

There are a lot of brackets out there that you can print off as a PDF file but this one is based in MS Excel and it has drop downs for each game that progress with the the winners that you pick. If you aren’t using one of the web based pool management systems but are using a paper based system, this is a much easier way to run your pool or manage your personal picks.

Click this link to download the Excel file:ncaa-pool-master-2010

Please do not post this file on any other site but rather just refer them back to this page.

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When I ranted on this before, I told young men to pull their pants up.  Recently, General Larry Platt told young men to get your pants off the ground because you are looking like a fool. He also told them to straighten up their baseball caps. He wrote a simple but catchy little tune and then went to try out on American Idol and it has been a hit!  I am sure the producers of American Idol are going to make the most of this “celebrity” and his catchy little tune.

According to other sites, the General is not really a general but he is an activist.  He walked with Martin Luther King, has been honored by the city of Atlanta, and the Georgia legislature has honored the man. September 4, 2001 was designated as Larry Platt Day in Atlanta.

From the Georgia General Assembly:  

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• Buying Below Book Value (TSO, VLO, FTO, WINN)

January 14, 2010

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Scott McKain, an adviser to many on how to more effectively run a business, just did a great article on how NBC screwed up with this Leno at 10 problem.

What Scott doesn’t point out in his advice is that the change is not always necessary for the good of the company.  In this case, Conan was getting his butt kicked by the more experienced (and more entertaining) Letterman.

Scott’s article is excellent.  Jump over and read it.  Here is some of his advice:

1) Don’t EVER make the assumption that ANY productive employee is ready to be put out to pasture. We work for many reasons, and only ONE of them is money. Zucker’s assumption that Leno was wealthy enough and would want to ride off in the sunset started the disastrous chain of events.

 

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I am not a bit surprised that Leno is in trouble at NBC. Moving that format to 10P in the 21st century was foolish. It may have been okay in the 50s or 60s but that show was doomed the day that Jay Leno walked on to the stage.

Of course, it doesn’t help that Conan is a flop in the 11:30 time slot.

The executives that put this together should be fired. It should be the first thing that Comcast does now that they have control of the company from GE. Fire the buffoons that did this. Talk about destroying a valuable commodity! Warren Buffet says that you should only invest in companies that can be profitable even if idiots run them. I don’t know if I agree with that advice but I definitely don’t think you should invest in companies that are run by buffoons!  

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Arthur C. Clarke often wrote about space elevators. Space elevators (in theory) are mechanical connections between the surface of the Earth and synchronous satellites.  This concept is pure science fiction – or is it? Great article in Wired that discusses some advances to develop the technology. Even with these developments, I doubt that this will happen in my lifetime.

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Every President, except for George Washington, inherited something from the previous administration. Sometimes this is good and sometimes it is bad.

President Barack Hussein Obama has been talking for quite some time about the “mess” that he inherited from George Walker Bush. He has made references to mops and other allegories to describe the challenges that he has faced. While that is all well and good for the first few days of the Presidency, at a certain point BHO needs to own the problem.

That day is today.

There is no defined time for the honeymoon period of a new candidate. Most people felt that September 11, 2001 was close enough to the inauguration of George Walker Bush (just under 9 months) that the attacks on that dreaded day were at least partially the fault of William Jefferson Clinton. The honeymoon is certainly longer than the first 100 days that are all the talk at the beginning of a term. Everyone seems to agree that it doesn’t extend beyond a year from the date the person is elected.  

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• Develop an Algorithm for Your Online Passwords and Never Forget One Again

October 8, 2009

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The FTC has released new guidelines for advertisers. One of those guidelines is that advertisers of diet products cannot have a famous (and formerly fat) person stand there and tell you that they lost 48 pounds in 48 days and you can to if you will just give them $480. Most people understand that they only thing that will lose weight in those schemes is your wallet. It is good for the FTC to demand a bit of realism there.

The FTC also says they will restrict bloggers from talking about products where they received the product or service as a gift in order to elicit the blogger’s review (favorable or unfavorable). There are some services out there that will help you get free products as long as you talk about them on your blog. I think these sites and services will be out of business soon.  

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The iPhone is the best phone that I have ever owned. It has a few things that I hate though.

First, I hate the AT&T network. I have used T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon in the past (as well as a pre-cursor to Verizon – Cellular One and a pre-cursor to AT&T – Ameritech). I have owned a cell phone (used to call it a car phone) since 1990. I have never had so many dropped phone calls when I am sitting in one location and the person I am talking to is in one location. AT&T has to have the worst network in the USA.

The other big complaint about the iPhone is the hysteria around it. Yes, I have a good number of apps that I use to do my job or get through my day. However, I don’t love the apps. To me, a phone should have this stuff just because it can. I am a bit tired of the “coolest app” conversation that inevitably happens when I talk to another iPhone user (esp. one that doesn’t use it for work related reasons).  

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