Daily links for 11-19-07

Celebrating the Ram's 2 game win streak and another dominant victory in Fantasy football.

The ongoing feud between Mark Cuban and Bill O'Reilly

Is getting really interesting, another example of how the FoxNews folks just aren't all that smart. If O'Reilly and the folks at FoxNews are that vehemently opposed to a movie that they haven't seen, it stands to reason they wouldn't support it by advertising it. And you gotta love Cuban calling O'Reilly out for his supporters threatening Cuban and his businesses.

Another article illustrating why current electoral politics frustrate me

It not only shouldn't even be an issue that someone eschews attacks on their opponent it just turns me off. This brings to mind 2 of my favorite TV shows, for different reasons. First West Wing, a very good show, but frustrating because it's idealized world where super intelligent people could get elected without destroying their opponents, and who could share that intelligence with the electorate is unfortunately right now more or less a dream world and a cruel tease. And Deadwood for the episode where there are campaign speeches for mayor and Sheriff and one candidate bases his entire speech on pointing out that his opponent is a Jew and viciously attacks him. Unfortunately I think that current politics are closer to the Deadwood campaign that the West Wing.

Interesting article on teachers and social networking

I think this is a good topic for discussion. I know of at least 2 highly inappropriate relationships that took place at my high school, and there were probably more. And my favorite show, Friday Night Lights, looks like it is gearing up for a sub plot of the same issue. But like the article states, if a teacher is willing to cross that boundary, preventing use of these sites will not stop what they do. But these sites are becoming ubiquitous, and expecting someone to not have one because of their profession is kind of ridiculous. I think it is time that people stop blaming the Internet for people doing Horrible things . Blame the people, not the technology. Gun advocates would have us blame people for crime, not guns, well I think the same applies to the Internet.

Because I have to say something about football

I think this theory is very interesting. And like I noted in a post last week, Professional coaching has become too conservative in my opinion. Which is not uncommon when you start investing large sums of money i.e. paying coaches and players millions of dollars. But at some point these ideas start to percolate. I remember when the USFL teams first began to use the Run N Shoot offense, the NFL scoffed. Then a few NFL teams adopted it, and later trashed it, but the essence survived. Heck the Patriots this year run a variation of the Run N Shoot most of the game. So eventually a college coach will try this, and within 10 to 15 years an NFL team will adopt the strategy at least for portions of the game.