The jump ball between two 7’6″ centers. Fail.
Epstein Flip with Bronson Arroyo? (speculative)
And two College Humor videos for fun:
Links 2015119
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Links 20151117
5 minute overview of the war in Syria and the rise of ISIS.
Ransoming websites to NFL teams.
Red flags of dating. Also, does she have the crazy eyes?
NFL Picks- Week 11 of 2015
Jets at Texans line is not out yet.
Overall Against the Spread: 65-59
Week 2: 9-7
Week 3: 5-11
Week 4: 10-5
Week 5: 5-6 (2 pushes, 1 not bet due to correct line)
Week 6: 8-6
Week 7: 6-7 (1 not bet due to correct line)
Week 8: 6-6 (2 pushes)
Week 9: 6-7
Week 10: 10-4
This Week’s Predictions (line in parentheses):
Tennessee Titans at Jacksonville Jaguars (-2.5): Predicting 20.9-24.3. Bet on the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Indianapolis Colts at Atlanta Falcons (-7.0): Predicting 20.5-26.3. Bet on the Indianapolis Colts.
Washington Redskins at Carolina Panthers (-8.5): Predicting 19.9-26.8. Bet on the Washington Redskins.
Denver Broncos at Chicago Bears (even): Predicting 22.3-22.0. Bet on the Denver Broncos.
Oakland Raiders at Detroit Lions (+1.0): Predicting 25.8-25.0. Bet on the Detroit Lions.
New York Jets at Houston Texans (even): Predicting 21.7-21.8. Bet on the Houston Texans.
Dallas Cowboys at Miami Dolphins (even): Predicting 19.4-23.8. Bet on the Miami Dolphins.
Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings (even): Predicting 19.2-22.9. Bet on the Minnesota Vikings.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Philadelphia Eagles (-5.5): Predicting 18.6-26.5. Bet on the Philadelphia Eagles.
St. Louis Rams at Baltimore Ravens (-1.0): Predicting 20.8-23.4. Bet on the Baltimore Ravens.
Cincinnati Bengals at Arizona Cardinals (-3.0): Predicting 21.9-26.4. Bet on the Arizona Cardinals.
San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks (-13.5): Predicting 15.4-25.0. Bet on the San Francisco 49ers.
Kansas City Chiefs at San Diego Chargers (+3.0): Predicting 25.9-23.7. Bet on the San Diego Chargers.
Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots (-7.5): Predicting 20.6-29.8. Bet on the New England Patriots.
Book Review- Hypnotizing Maria
Hypnotizing Maria
by Richard Bach, 2009
“Every man’s perception is his own reality” is something Bryan Wallace, high school friend, used to say. This book takes that to the extreme, telling a story that suggests that our own perceptions are the sum of the auto-hypnosis that we have performed upon ourselves. The book equates hypnosis to suggestions accepted. While it is a little “out there”, it is a good reminder to put yourself in the most positive state of mind possible.
A quick story about the library: I reserved this book at the library and Maria went to pick up my holds. She grabbed two, and What Every Body Is Saying was on top. She flipped through that as she walked to the checkout, thinking “that’s interesting”. A few feet from the checkout, she finally checked the second book in the pile. She stopped cold when Hypnotizing Maria was the title. I think she half-expected me to be watching her and laughing, somewhere in the library. Yes, I did pick the book half for the chance to say that I can now hypnotize Maria (spoiler alert though: I could do it before, as well).
Links 20151112
Continuity more indicative of wins than incoming talent at UK.
Microsoft is going to get more pushy.
Applications to protecting drones from electronic attacks. Also, a good discussion of SCIFs, built to access top-secret intranets.
NFL Picks- Week 10 of 2015
Updated 11/12/15, 11am.
Overall Against the Spread: 55-55
Week 2: 9-7
Week 3: 5-11
Week 4: 10-5
Week 5: 5-6 (2 pushes, 1 not bet due to correct line)
Week 6: 8-6
Week 7: 6-7 (1 not bet due to correct line)
Week 8: 6-6 (2 pushes)
Week 9: 6-7
This Week’s Predictions (line in parentheses):
Buffalo Bills at New York Jets (-2.5): Predicting 21.4-25.6. Bet on the New York Jets.
Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers (-13.0): Predicting 19.1-29.9. Bet on the Detroit Lions.
Carolina Panthers at Tennessee Titans (+5.5): Predicting 24.1-21.2. Bet on the Tennessee Titans.
Miami Dolphins at Philadelphia Eagles (-7.0): Predicting 19.2-26.3. Bet on the Philadelphia Eagles.
Cleveland Browns at Pittsburgh Steelers (-4.5): Predicting 18.2-26.5. Bet on the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Chicago Bears at St. Louis Rams (-7.5): Predicting 17.9-25.0. Bet on the Chicago Bears.
Jacksonville Jaguars at Baltimore Ravens (-5.5): Predicting 22.2-28.1. Bet on the Baltimore Ravens.
Dallas Cowboys at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-1.0): Predicting 22.9-24.6. Bet on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
New Orleans Saints at Washington Redskins (even): Predicting 23.9-26.7. Bet on the Washington Redskins.
Minnesota Vikings at Oakland Raiders (-3.0): Predicting 21.8-24.5. Bet on the Minnesota Vikings.
Kansas City Chiefs at Denver Broncos (-5.5): Predicting 19.5-24.7. Bet on the Kansas City Chiefs.
New England Patriots at New York Giants (+8.5): Predicting 28.4-24.4. Bet on the New York Giants.
Arizona Cardinals at Seattle Seahawks (-3.0): Predicting 23.1-22.1. Bet on the Arizona Cardinals.
Houston Texans at Cincinnati Bengals (-12.0): Predicting 17.7-28.6. Bet on the Houston Texans.
INFORMS Annual Conference 2015 Recap
I thought the conference went relatively well. I was very busy, with an energy talk on Sunday, sports poster on Monday, healthcare talk on Tuesday, and call center talk on Wednesday. All the talks went well and were pretty well attended (20-30 at each).
Maria was able to attend the conference as well, and she attended a mix of information systems talks and sports talks. We explored Philly on Saturday (Halloween), seeing the art museum (Rocky steps), Love sculpture, and Ben Franklin statue/museum during the day and doing a ghost tour at night (saw Independence Hall). Philly has a lot of history, but seems like not a great city nowadays. We had a few cheesesteaks, but couldn’t make it out to the famous cheesesteak venues.
One promising development from the conference was the SpORts business meeting. It’s good to see the section getting back on its feet, with plans for the future.
Book Review- You Can’t Make This Up
You Can’t Make This Up
by Al Michaels, with L. Jon Wertheim, 2014
Al Michaels, self-proclaimed rascal, writes a cool book about all the great events he had the fortune of announcing over the years. He did Sunday/Monday Night Football, World Series, Super Bowls, Stanley Cups, NBA Finals, Olympics, and the Miracle on Ice. Al got his first real major-league break with the Reds in the early 70’s; he was replaced by Marty Brennaman after he left for the Giants after a contract dispute. Al gets most animated in his writing during the section about the racehorse he owned, hearkening back to the time when his mother would pull him out of school to go to the racetrack (also called “the dentist”). I listened to this book on tape.
As an aside, the Sunday Night Football intro is Maria’s favorite song. If you go back and watch old intros, it’s funny how the song has been tweaked over the years.
You can even co-opt the song for Super Bowl broadcasts
NFL Picks- Week 9 of 2015
Week 8’s Titans/Texans spread ended up being -3.5, which led to a loss for me (I had Texans by 2.1).
Overall Against the Spread: 49-48
Week 2: 9-7
Week 3: 5-11
Week 4: 10-5
Week 5: 5-6 (2 pushes, 1 not bet due to correct line)
Week 6: 8-6
Week 7: 6-7 (1 not bet due to correct line)
Week 8: 6-6 (2 pushes)
This Week’s Predictions (line in parentheses):
Cleveland Browns at Cincinnati Bengals (-11.0): Predicting 18.5-29.0. Bet on the Cleveland Browns.
Miami Dolphins at Buffalo Bills (-3.0): Predicting 21.8-25.9. Bet on the Buffalo Bills.
Green Bay Packers at Carolina Panthers (+2.5): Predicting 21.0-24.6. Bet on the Carolina Panthers.
St. Louis Rams at Minnesota Vikings (-2.5): Predicting 17.7-20.7. Bet on the Minnesota Vikings.
Tennessee Titans at New Orleans Saints (-9.5): Predicting 21.1-26.6. Bet on the Tennessee Titans.
Washington Redskins at New England Patriots (-15.0): Predicting 19.1-30.8. Bet on the Washington Redskins.
Jacksonville Jaguars at New York Jets (-9.0): Predicting 18.7-28.2. Bet on the New York Jets.
Oakland Raiders at Pittsburgh Steelers (-4.5): Predicting 19.6-24.2. Bet on the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Atlanta Falcons at San Francisco 49ers (+7.5): Predicting 24.0-19.8. Bet on the San Francisco 49ers.
New York Giants at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+2.5): Predicting 25.9-26.5. Bet on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Denver Broncos at Indianapolis Colts (+5.5): Predicting 22.7-20.3. Bet on the Indianapolis Colts.
Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys (+2.5): Predicting 21.4-20.4. Bet on the Dallas Cowboys.
Chicago Bears at San Diego Chargers (-4.0): Predicting 23.0-27.7. Bet on the San Diego Chargers.
Book Review- What Every Body is Saying
What Every Body is Saying
by Joe Navarro, with Marvin Karlins, Ph.D., 2008
An interesting view into nonverbal behavior. Only about half of the book is obvious, which is impressive. Lots of interesting tidbits to look for in everyday interactions. Quick read.