Archive for February, 2009

Thoughts on this week’s “The Biggest Loser: Couples”

The “twist” on this week’s episode(s) was that the teams were shuffled. Through what must have been an intervention of the Reality Show Gods, almost every player ended up having to switch trainers, which caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and the rending of garments, etc. Ron and Mike ended up on different teams, meaning that the father and son pair I’ve come to enjoy watching so much are now technically competing against one another. Speaking of Ron, apparently, the Blue team has forgotten they are actually playing a game. As much as I like Ron, keeping him was a suicidal move. As long as he stays on the ranch, the Blue team is going to find itself sending someone home every week.

Also, not that we didn’t already know this, but Bob Harper is a class A product shill. I’m going to enjoy some frozen vegetables now, and wash it down with some protein powder and water.

Weigh-In: 412.6 Pounds

Not much to say. At least I’m down from last time.

This Week’s “The Biggest Loser”

Mike and Ron are quickly becoming my favorite contestants on this season of “The Biggest Loser”. Ron’s body is betraying him at every turn – bad knees made it impossible for him to do this week’s last chance workout, but these two put their heads down and work hard, plus they are some of the more outspoken contestants. The yellow team of Mandi and Aubrey seems to have become the “stealth” team, and they may stay under the radar long enough to both end up going to the final episode – their weekly numbers keep them consistently above the yellow line, and they don’t seem to have the targets on their back that a Tara or Dane might have. I’m not going to spoil who went home this week, but what was up with the peace signs on the vote cards?

Trying To Get Back On Track

I went grocery shopping tonight and bought a week’s worth of low-carb groceries. Hopefully, this week’s weigh-in will show me back on the path to a healthy weight. It’s freezing in Greenville, here’s hoping that it warms up soon.

General Motors Does A Bad Cleavon Little Impression

Next week, the automakers are supposed to return to Washington, DC (presumably NOT by private jet) to testify to Congress about the details of their restructuring plans as required by the bailout bill passed last December. Details of General Motors’ plan have begun to leak out, and it appears that Rick Wagoner has decided to seek inspiration from Cleavon Little’s portrayal of Sheriff Bart in Mel Brooks’s 1974 cult classic Blazing Saddles:

[the Johnsons load their guns and point them at Bart. Bart then points his own pistol at his head]
Bart: [low voice] Hold it! Next man makes a move, the nigger gets it!
Olson Johnson: Hold it, men. He’s not bluffing.
Dr. Sam Johnson: Listen to him, men. He’s just crazy enough to do it!
Bart: [low voice] Drop it! Or I swear I’ll blow this nigger’s head all over this town!
Bart: [high-pitched voice] Oh, lo’dy, lo’d, he’s desp’it! Do what he sayyyy, do what he sayyyy!
[Townspeople drop their guns. Bart jams the gun into his neck and drags himself through the crowd towards the station]
Harriet Johnson: Isn’t anybody going to help that poor man?
Dr. Sam Johnson: Hush, Harriet! That’s a sure way to get him killed!
Bart: [high-pitched voice] Oooh! He’p me, he’p me! Somebody he’p me! He’p me! He’p me! He’p me!
Bart: [low voice] Shut up!
[Bart places his hand over his own mouth, then drags himself through the door into his office]
Bart: Ooh, baby, you are so talented!
[looks into the camera]
Bart: And they are so *dumb*!

GM’s “restructuring plan” comes down to this: Give us more money, or we’ll declare bankruptcy. The gamble, of course, is that Congress will back down and turn on the money spigots without GM having to undergo any sort of serious reorganization. But GM may have underestimated the patience of the American people, and the willingness of Congress to be held hostage to companies that think of themselves as “too big to fail”. What worked for Sheriff Bart just might not work for Rick Wagoner.

h/t to TPM and Marketwatch.

Blackwater Changes Its Name to “Xe”

In what can only be described as the first step towards ultimately changing their name to an unpronounceable symbol, notorious private security firm Blackwater USA announced they are changing their name to “Xe”, which is of course, pronounced the same as the letter “Z”. Unless you’re Canadian, in which case it isn’t. Why the name change? To protest their contract with Warner Brothers, of course. To escape the stench of getting kicked out of the country of Iraq and being fired by the State Department, of course. Xe will focus on providing training facilities, where trainees will presumably learn the same sort of target discrimination skills practiced so aptly by the Blackwater guards who were charged with manslaughter for gunning down 17 Iraqi civilians in a 2007 firefight in Baghdad.

h/t to TPM.

Will Intel Keep 32nm Tech At Home?

In this ZDNet Asia article from last week, Vivian Yeo speculates that Intel will not make investments in deploying 32nm semiconductor technology in its Asian manufacturing facilities. Intel recently announced a $7-billion dollar initiative to accelerate deployment of the new process in its US facilities. However, when asked about deploying the new technology in plants in Malaysia and China, Intel executives were non-committal. Intel recently announced a planned closure of a test and manufacturing site in Shanghai, although it intends to relocate the majority of affected workers to other Intel sites within China. These are interesting tea leaves, and there are multiple ways to read them. Is Intel moving to concentrate production of its newest tech within the US? Or is Intel hedging its bets, and anticipating that the current economic conditions will persist into and beyond 2010, and that the US-based capacity it is building out will be sufficient to meet the demand for the high-end parts that will be built on the 32nm process, and that the best sellers for the next few years will be budget tech based on 45nm processes like the Atom and other low-end gear? Or, are rising manufacturing and shipping costs beginning to make overseas production make less sense? I have no idea what it means, but it’s interesting to ponder.

Weigh-In: 418.0 Pounds

I know what it takes to lose weight. But it seems that I refuse to do it. I went out and bought some clothes that are slightly tight on purpose, so I can exercise in them and feel them get looser and finally too big. I want to report a number under 410 pounds next week, we’ll see what happens.

With My Apologies To Keyser Söze

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that Beyonce Knowles is talented.

Siftables – Blocks With A Brain

I subscribe to a podcast of talks from TED, an annual tech conference that attracts some of the best and brightest from across the world to come and talk about the interesting things that they’re doing. This presentation from David Merrill of the MIT Media Lab demos a new product concept called Siftables that stands poised to change the way people think about interacting with computers. Here’s the talk:

If you’re wondering when you’ll be able to buy these, watch this space.