Mock Draft Results
I just posted the results of the OBR Mock Draft Contest. Cranking out the results took a lot longer than I thought it would because I had to revive some dead code to do the scoring of the results. Unfortunately, I had to write a program to score the entries because it’s impossible to do it well via a spreadsheet. Then I fed it some bad data and had to go back and re-do all the results after desk-checking a few entries and finding a mistake or two. I figure I would have this pretty much down to a science by now, but no.
Webdorkian Desperation Scoreboard
Queue of Emails Needing Attention: 210
Unread RSS Feeds: 7,051
Overdue To-Do Items in Outlook: 12
Caffeine Saturation: Dangerously low
Windowblinds shell: Ecliz 1.1
Mood: “90 minutes until Jack Bauer kicks Presidential ass”
Listening to: Orbital, “Planet of the Shapes”
I had the email pile down to 170 by noon, but focusing on getting out the results of the Mock Draft Contest allowed it to sneak up again.
Someone at Microsoft has Good Taste
Admittedly, the only movie I’m really looking forward to seeing this summer is Richard Linklater’s pseudo-animated version of Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly. Robert Downey Jr looks like he owns this movie playing druggie Barris.
In the trailer for the film, Downey’s character says “I tip my hat to any entity which can bring so much integrity to evil”. I love that line.
It crossed my mind when I learned last week that Microsoft is going to be using guitarist Robert Fripp to record sounds for their new “Vista” operating system.
For an entity which is considered the bane of existence by many techno-nerds, Microsoft sure does some of the little things right. They had innovative sound crafter Brian Eno record sounds for Windows 95 and now Fripp for Vista.
Eno and Fripp are two of my personal Music Gods, with Eno’s 1970s solo work and Fripp’s 1980s version of King Crimson both being among the most-played music in my life. The early 80s King Crimson was just an amazing band, with Fripp at the top of his game, and Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, and Bill Bruford comprising the rest of the foursome. All of these musicians were innovative in their own way and the result when they came together for three albums was nothing short of amazing.
That Microsoft chose to use these musicians to create sounds which will be a part of all of our daily lives is an incredible choice, especially when there are so many bad, but more popular, choices they could have made. Mega-props to Redmond on this one.
A Must Read
Phil C. sent me a link to a terrific article by Dan Pompeii on the specifics of the Browns war room during the first round of April’s draft. He includes details of why the Browns chose Kamerion Wimbley (thank or curse Romeo) and the mechanics of nabbing a sixth-round draft pick from the Ratbirds. Don’t pretend that the Browns didn’t want Ngata – they wanted him. Crennel basically said he wanted a pass rusher more than a run stopper, and the Browns chose Wimbley. Savage wheedled a sixth-round pick from the Ravens and did so without losing a friend in Ozzie Newsome. Must reading for any Browns fan.
Thanks Phil… this would have flown right past my radar if you hadn’t emailed me about it.
Coming Up: Roster Moves, Jack Bauer, and another article from Rookie Camp…
We have another report from rookie camp coming up tomorrow morning. Fred got a lot of interviews when he was in Berea last weekend, and we’re running them every few days or so because there won’t be much other Browns news.
The Browns had made a series of minor transactions today as they added a couple of rookie free agents and dumped a few after the rookie camp. This is identical to what they did a couple of days after rookie camp last year. I’ll be adding that info into the roster and hot news tonight, along with trying to answer some more email.
None of that is going to get in the way of “24”, the only program that I actually plan around. I watch Family Guy, Simpsons, and South Park as well, but those are Tivo-ed and watched if I have time. 24 has to be seen live because my family won’t tolerate waiting a day or two to talk about it with me.
I’m still convinced that anyone with blonde hair is immortal in 24. Jack, Kim, Chloe, and Audrey: All blonde, all alive. Everyone else: Dark-haired and dead. Who knew that hair color would be the key to survival in the 21st Century?
I’m going to get me a bottle of peroxide and settle down to watch Bauer dodge missiles. Later!
