Quotulatiousness

August 8, 2011

Another technical problem? Must be a day with a “y” in it

Filed under: Administrivia, Technology — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 21:44

Last week, you’ll recall that I was bewailing the failings of the Microsoft Windows Easy Transfer utility. Having given up on that and managed the transfer of files by the traditional tools of Brute Force and Ignorance (BF&ITM), I thought I was done.

All the necessary files now reside on the new laptop, and the old laptop has been dedicated to a new life as a genealogy workstation for Elizabeth. Today’s problem was network connectivity.

But not just network connectivity for the laptop, as I discovered when I tried turning on my desktop machine a little while ago.

At some point while we were away, the wireless router seems to have had some hiccoughs, because now it seems to imagine that it’s actually two separate machines. When I tried to connect to the internet this morning (from the new laptop), it insisted that I was connected to both a public network and our own named private network. But because it thought the public network was the primary, it refused to actually interact with our named network. It took several iterations of running diagnostics and power-cycling the router before the phantom “public” network disappeared and I was able to connect to the internet normally.

This evening, I had a similar problem with my desktop, except that my desktop machine is connected by ethernet cable, not wireless. That phantom “public” network re-appeared, and nothing I could do would get rid of it. The physical connections were fine, but nothing could persuade my desktop that it actually had a connection to the router and it was unable to get an IP address.

Having just bought a new laptop, I’m hoping that these symptoms do not imply that I need to also buy a new router, as you can imagine.

ESPN’s new attempt at a more accurate Quarterback rating system

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 17:25

The existing quarterback ranking is hard to understand and concentrates on the “passing” side of the quarterback’s job. ESPN is introducing a more broad-based ranking system:

The Total Quarterback Rating is a statistical measure that incorporates the contexts and details of throws and what they mean for wins. It’s built from the team level down to the quarterback, where we understand first what each play means to the team, then give credit to the quarterback for what happened on a play based on what he contributed.

[. . .]

Total QBR Basics

A quick primer on the fundamentals of Total Quarterback Rating:

Scoring: 0-100, from low to high. An average QB would be at 50.
Win Probability: All QB plays are scored based on how much they contribute to a win. By determining expected point totals for almost any situation, Total QBR is able to apply points to a quarterback based on every type of play he would be involved in.
Dividing Credit: Total QBR factors in such things as overthrows, underthrows, yards after the catch and more to accurately determine how much a QB contributes to each play.
Clutch Index: How critical a certain play is based on when it happens in a game is factored into the score.

Under the new ranking, Brett Favre’s performance gets a lot less impressive (if an average QB would score 50 points):

  • 2008 – New York Jets – 41.7
  • 2009 – Minnesota Vikings – 63.1
  • 2010 – Minnesota Vikings – 25.8

“Canada has become the snotty kid at the front of the class that gets every answer right”

Filed under: Cancon, Economics, Government, USA — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 15:39

Kelly McParland reads the fine print:

Near the bottom of the Standard & Poor’s report that downgraded U.S. debt last week is a tribute to the Canadian economy that could contribute to what’s becoming a serious case of swollen-headedness.

In comparing the U.S. situation to “relevant peers”, i.e. other western economies, it notes that Canada has become the snotty kid at the front of the class that gets every answer right. Of five countries — Canada, the U.S., Germany, France and Britain — Canada has the lowest government debt burden (net debt to gross domestic product), at 34%.

It adds: “By 2015, we project that … net public debt to GDP ratios will range between 30% (lowest, Canada) and 83% (highest, France), with the U.S. debt burden at 79%.”

And while the other four are all expected to see their debt declining, in the U.S. it could still be on the rise. So nya-nya to you, rest of western world.

Subsidized flights from remote locations

Filed under: Government, Politics, USA — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 12:57

Steve Chapman knows where to get the “best” deal in government subsidy of domestic flights:

As a resident of Illinois, I’d never had any particular desire to fly from McCook, Nebraska, to Denver. But lately, I’ve been looking for an opportunity. Turns out the federal government is willing to pay me a handsome fee to do it.

Oh, I wouldn’t get the cash directly. But the Department of Transportation provides more than $2 million to subsidize that particular route, which works out to about $1,000 for every passenger. My fare, meanwhile, would be less than $150.

I could get an even bigger hand on the hop from Lewistown, Montana, to Billings—$1,343. But if I’m feeling the need for indulgence, there is nothing to beat the flight from Ely, Nevada, to Denver, for which Washington will kick in $3,720. For that sum, of course, it could buy me a perfectly functional used car.

These extravagances are part of the Essential Air Service initiative, which is part of the reason for the recent congressional impasse over a bill to keep the Federal Aviation Administration operating.

China discovers that “You can’t stop the signal” again

Filed under: China, Government, Media, Technology — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 12:32

Strategy Page looks at the way news was disseminated about the high speed rail crash despite the Chinese government’s attempts to quash the story:

Since July 27th, China got another reminder that it no longer can control the news. On July 27th, China’s high-speed “bullet train” had a fatal accident, leaving over 30 dead and many more injured. The cause was inadequate safety and communications systems. In this case, one train was halted by a flaw in the signalling system and another came up from behind and there was the collision that sent four train cars off the tracks, and a bridge. The government immediately tried to keep the accident out of the news. This effort failed because of the ingenuity of Chinese Internet users, despite the government ban on Twitter in China. The ban was meant to impede the rapid spread of news the government wanted to control. Given enough time, the state controlled media could get out a story the government could live with. But blog, RSS and other Internet tools have been tweaked to do the same thing Twitter does. This was especially true of “micro-blogs” that quickly distribute the same 140 character messages Twitter does. Not as well, but good enough, and the news the government wanted to control spread uncontrollably. This included pictures and video of the accident, which the government planned to keep out of the news.

Reduce US military spending by reducing US military responsibilities

Filed under: Military, USA — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 12:28

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