Quotulatiousness

August 31, 2013

Vikings 53-man roster for 2013

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 17:32

Final cuts were due to be announced late Saturday afternoon. The Vikings didn’t start announcing their released players until about an hour before the deadline, starting with running back Joe Banyard, who’d had a great preseason game on Thursday. Unless he’s picked up by another club, I’d expect to see him signed to the Vikings practice squad when that is allowed to happen.

There was a brief flurry of interest among Viking fans when it was rumoured that Seattle was trying to trade former Viking cornerback Antoine Winfield and would cut him if he couldn’t be traded. Several fans expressed the hope that he might be back in purple, but the hope was dashed when Seattle announced that Winfield would be retiring instead.

Position

Starter(s)

Backups

Other

QB

Christian Ponder

Matt Cassel, McLeod Bethel-Thompson

WR

FL – Greg Jennings

SE – Jerome Simpson

FL – Jarius Wright, Stephen Burton, Adam Thielen (UFA)

SE – Cordarrelle Patterson (R), Joe Webb, Rodney Smith

Greg Childs (PUP)

RB

Adrian Peterson

Toby Gerhart, Matt Asiata, Joe Banyard

FB

Zach Line (UFA)

Jerome Felton (suspended for 3 games)

TE

Kyle Rudolph

John Carlson, Rhett Ellison, Chase Ford, Colin Anderson

OL

LT – Matt Kalil

LG – Charlie Johnson

C – John Sullivan

RG – Brandon Fusco

RT – Phil Loadholt

LT – Kevin Murphy

LG – Jeff Baca (R)

C – Joe Berger

RG – Travis Bond (R)

RT – Brandon Keith, Troy Kropog

DeMarcus Love (suspended for first 4 games of season), Seth Olsen (IR)

DL

LE – Brian Robison

UT – Kevin Williams

NT – Letroy Guion

RE – Jared Allen

LE – Everson Griffen, D’Aundre Reed

UT – Sharrif Floyd (R), Everett Dawkins (R)

NT – Fred Evans, Chase Baker, Anthony McCloud

RE – George Johnson, Collins Ukwu, Spencer Nealy

Christian Ballard (left team for undisclosed reasons)

LB

S – Chad Greenway

M – Erin Henderson

W – Marvin Mitchell

S – Larry Dean, Tyrone McKenzie

M – Audie Cole, Michael Mauti (R)

W – Desmond Bishop, Gerald Hodges (R)

CB

Chris Cook

Josh Robinson

A.J. Jefferson, Brandon Burton, Bobby Felder

Xavier Rhodes (R), Marcus Sherels

S

Harrison Smith

Jamarca Sanford

Robert Blanton, Brandan Bishop

Mistral Raymond, Andrew Sendejo, Darius Eubanks

K

Blair Walsh

P

Jeff Locke (R)

LS

Cullen Loeffler

Jared Allen*

H

Jeff Locke*

Matt Cassel*, McLeod Bethel-Thompson*

KR

Cordarrelle Patterson*

Marcus Sherels*, Josh Robinson*, A.J. Jefferson*, Joe Webb*, Jarius Wright*

PR

Marcus Sherels*

Jarius Wright*, Josh Robinson*

An asterisk indicates a player already listed on the roster in another capacity. On Sunday, teams can sign up to eight players to their respective practice squads. Some of the players cut today are eligible for practice squad contracts.

The modern monarchy in Spain

Filed under: Europe — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 11:06

In an older post at the Guardian, Miguel-Anxo Murado looks at the place of the monarchy in Spanish society:

King Juan Carlos of Spain must be one of the most Shakespearian kings, ever. His grandfather was ousted from the throne like Richard II, and like Richard III, his brother was killed (though in Carlos’ case it was a tragic accident). Like Hamlet he had a difficult relationship with his father, and like Macbeth, he arrived at the crown by way of an evil creature (General Franco). It sounds inevitable that, like King Lear, in his old age he would be cursed with troublesome daughters. Now, one of them, Princess Cristina, has been summoned by a judge. She has to answer for allegations that, together with her husband the Duke of Palma, they misappropriated millions of euros in public funds. Some say this scandal, the latest in a long series of royal mishaps, threatens the very institution of monarchy in Spain. But is it so?

The rule of King Juan Carlos of Spain is a very interesting example of how the essence of monarchy is not history, but a story — and how tricky that is. The Spanish monarchy is a literary institution. It was born outside and above the law. Its legitimacy was based on symbols, metaphors and, first and foremost, on storytelling: a mostly imaginary tale of continuity and exceptionality. Modernity changed this a bit, but not by much. Like theatre, monarchy had begun like a religious cult and ended in a popular spectacle. That was all. In stable systems like the UK, this transition from statecraft to stagecraft could be done more or less effectively, but in Spain it was pushing the trick too far.

[…]

Like with all story-telling, there’s some truth in this fiction. Yes, the king did assist the transition to democracy, and he stood against the 1981 military coup. Yet the often overlooked fact here is that he had no alternative if he wanted to reign. It was true that he was not ostentatious, but he wasn’t austere either. It is true that he seems a likeable person, but not exemplary. He was a patron of the WWF, but he also loves hunting elephants. He needed not to be perfect, but now he has to, because that was the nature of the narrative his friends concocted.

New rule of thumb for military adventures

Filed under: Britain, France, Middle East, Military, USA — Tags: — Nicholas @ 10:16

James Joyner suggests a new rule of thumb needs to be used:

Could anyone have imagined a decade ago a scenario when the United States would go to war with France by our side and England on the sidelines?

I anticipate English muffins being renamed Freedom muffins any day now. And jokes about kippers eating surrender bulldogs or some such.

More seriously, perhaps recent experience has provided us a rule of thumb: if Washington can not persuade both London and Paris of the advisability of military action, perhaps said action is inadvisable?

Slavery is still common around the world

Filed under: Africa, Asia, Liberty — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 10:12

Most Americans think slavery was abolished in 1865 with the Union victory in the American Civil War, but there may be more slaves in the world today than there were before the war:

Slavery contributes to the churning out of at least 122 different types of goods according to the US Department of Labor in the world. That could range from food such as shrimp in Asia or diamonds from Africa. Slavery has increased to such an extent in our modern times due to population increases. Industrialization and increased economic activity have also resulted in social changes, catapulting people into urban areas, with no social safety net to protect them in countries like China for example. Lastly, we could point the finger at corrupt administrators that allow it to continue complacently.

There are more slaves today working in the world than ever before. More means cheaper. If we were to compare the cost of a slave back in the mid-19th century in the USA, then it would have cost roughly $40,000 to buy a slave in today’s money. Today, however, you need only pay out under a $100 for one. Not bad for a reduction in price.

Bonded labor is commonplace, where the slave has contracted a loan and has to work to pay it back to the lender. Child forced labor affects over 5 million kids in the world today. Forced Labor is recognized by the US Department of State as being: “involuntary servitude, forced labor may result when unscrupulous employers exploit workers made more vulnerable by high rates of unemployment, poverty, crime, discrimination, corruption, political conflict, or even cultural acceptance of the practice.”

The leaders discuss the Syrian situation on Facebook

Filed under: Humour, Media, Middle East, USA — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 09:59

A rather amusing little squib from Best of Cain (via American Digest):

Cain - Facebook posts on Syria

Enabling the “nudgers”

Filed under: Government, USA — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 09:44

Coyote Blog links to a Daily Mail article on the woman who wants to run your life (and Obama wants to help her):

I am a bit late on this, but like most libertarians I was horrified by this article in the Mail Online about Obama Administration efforts to nudge us all into “good” behavior. This is the person, Maya Shankar, who wants to substitute her decision-making priorities for your own […]

If the notion — that a 20-something person who has apparently never held a job in the productive economy is telling you she knows better what is good for you — is not absurd on its face, here are a few other reasons to distrust this plan.

  • Proponents first, second, and third argument for doing this kind of thing is that it is all based on “science”. But a lot of the so-called science is total crap. Medical literature is filled with false panics that are eventually retracted. And most social science findings are frankly garbage. If you have some behavior you want to nudge, and you give a university a nice grant, I can guarantee you that you can get a study supporting whatever behavior you want to foster or curtail. Just look at the number of public universities in corn-growing states that manage to find justifications for ethanol subsidies. Recycling is a great example, mentioned several times in the article. Research supports the sensibility of recycling aluminum and steel, but says that recycling glass and plastic and paper are either worthless or cost more in resources than they save. But nudgers never-the-less push for recycling of all this stuff. Nudging quickly starts looking more like religion than science.
  • The 300 million people in this country have 300 million different sets of priorities and personal circumstances. It is the worst hubris to think that one can make one decision that is correct for everyone. Name any supposedly short-sighted behavior — say, not getting health insurance when one is young — and I can name numerous circumstances where this is a perfectly valid choice and risk to take.

QotD: “Face It World. You F’d Up; You Trusted Me”

Filed under: Government, Quotations, USA — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 00:01

For the first time since the Brits grew exhausted with the Hurricane of Fists they were getting from the 13 colonies, the British parliament voted against the government on an issue of war. Obviously, this was not directly Barack Obama’s fault. But he’s hardly blameless either. This mess is part of the larger mess he created. Obama follows polls and acts like it’s courage. He mocks and belittles American leadership and then is shocked when no one wants to follow America. We were supposed to be in an era of renewed global cooperation and engagement. Instead, Obama can’t hold the support of our closest ally — because the British Left balked. Forget forging new alliances with “former” enemies — as Obama promised would happen once it dawned on the Arab street that his middle name is “Hussein” and they realized he’s black; Obama can’t even maintain historic alliances with longstanding friends.

Oh, and thank goodness Hillary Clinton gave the Russians a big toy button with the word “overcharge” on it. We’re really reaping the payoff on that now.

Part of the problem stems from the simple fact that Obama can’t sell anything but himself. Even when he tried — and he really tried — he couldn’t sell Obamacare to the American people. When it comes to the Syria intervention — which, if done right, I am in favor of — he’s not even trying to sell. His body language in that PBS interview was that of a husband forced to explain to his wife how he got the clap. He talked like a teenager looking at the floor while telling his parents that he doesn’t know how their car ended up in the neighbor’s swimming pool. The only thing his “shot across the bow” talk did for him was convince everyone that he’s not wagging the dog to boost his poll numbers. A war-mongering charlatan would at least fake commitment better.

And that goes for his entire national-security team. To listen to this sorry bunch try to explain why they’re doing everything right while doing everything they once criticized is painful, like watching Helen Keller give a whirl at karaoke. I am perfectly willing to concede that this is a very complicated situation with few clear right answers. But this crowd insisted that everything was simple if you were smart like them. And now that the smarty-pants brigade got us into this mess, they still talk like anyone who disagrees with them is a moron. I mean, as bad a salesman as Barack Obama is, Jay Carney is worse. If he ran a massage parlor he couldn’t sell a happy ending to a drunk sailor during Fleet Week in Bangkok.

Jonah Golberg, “The Goldberg File”, 2013-08-30

August 30, 2013

This week in Guild Wars 2

Filed under: Gaming — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 12:08

My weekly Guild Wars 2 community round-up at GuildMag is now online. This week’s collection of links covers the Guild Wars 2 first anniversary, the current event (Clockwork Chaos), the return of the Super Adventure Box and the usual assortment of blog posts, videos, podcasts, and fan fiction from around the GW2 community.

Economic Darwinism – you’re soaking in it

Filed under: Economics, Government — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 09:19

Charles Hugh Smith on the next big financial crisis and the way we’ve carefully put the worst people in place to cope with it:

Brenton Smith (no relation) recently identified a key driver of the next financial crisis: Economic Darwinism. Just as natural selection selects for traits that improve the odds of success/survival in the natural world, Economic Darwinism advances people and policies that boost profits and power within the dominant environment.

As Brenton explains in his essay The One Phrase That Explains the Great Recession, “The Federal Reserve’s 20-year policy of easy money created an environment virtually assured to select bankers, bureaucrats, educators, and elected officials who least understood the consequences of a credit crisis.”

In other words, a hyper-financialized environment of near-zero interest and abundant credit rewarded those people and policies that succeed in that environment. Once the environment changes from “risk-on” to “risk-off,” the people and policies in charge are the worst possible choices for leadership, as the traits that enable successful management of credit crises have been selected out of the leadership pool.

This has political as well as financial consequences. As Brenton noted in an email exchange, Economic Darwinism creates an “incestuous relationship between Wall Street and Washington D.C., where success on Wall Street leads to a career in D.C.” This is a self-reinforcing process, as all those who are unwilling to keep dancing during the risk-on speculative orgy are weeded out of both the financial and political sectors, while those who dance the hardest gain political power, which they use to keep the music playing regardless of the increasing risks or consequences to the nation.

A profitable way to deal with annoying calls

Filed under: Britain, Business — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 09:01

At the BBC News website, Joe Kent profiles today’s hero in the ongoing battle against annoying telephone solicitations:

A man targeted by marketing companies is making money from cold calls with his own higher-rate phone number.

In November 2011 Lee Beaumont paid £10 plus VAT to set up his personal 0871 line — so to call him now costs 10p, from which he receives 7p.

The Leeds businessman told BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours programme that the line had so far made £300.

Phone Pay Plus, which regulates premium numbers, said it strongly discouraged people from adopting the idea.

Mr Beaumont came up with the plan when he grew sick of calls offering to help him reclaim payment protection insurance (PPI), or install solar panels.

He said: “I don’t use my normal Leeds number for anyone but my friends and family.”

Once he had set up the 0871 line, every time a bank, gas or electricity supplier asked him for his details online, he submitted it as his contact number.

He added he was “very honest” and the companies did ask why he had a such a number.

He told the programme he replied: “Because I’m getting annoyed with PPI phone calls when I’m trying to watch Coronation Street so I’d rather make 10p a minute.”

He said almost all of the companies he dealt with were happy to use it and if they refused he asked them to email.

Trade negotiations are so secret that MPs are denied access to the information

Filed under: Cancon, Economics, USA — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 08:55

Techdirt‘s Mike Masnick says that even congressmen have (limited) access to ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiation documents, but that even the NDP’s trade critic can’t get that level of information here:

Don Davies is a Canadian Member of Parliament who notes that he’s been denied access to information about the ongoing TPP negotiations, of which Canada is supposedly a member:

    “The TPP is a sweeping agreement covering issues that affect many areas of Canada’s economy and society — including several areas of policy that have never been subject to trade agreements before,” said Davies. “By keeping Parliament completely in the dark on negotiations the Conservatives also leave Canadians in the dark and, for an agreement of this magnitude that is abnormal and unacceptable.

    “If the US can allow its legislators to see the TPP text, there is no reason that Canada can’t,” Davies said.

In this case, it’s doubly ridiculous. Davies is a member of the NDP party, which is not in power, but his role is as the Official Opposition Critic for International Trade. In other words, he’s basically the trade policy expert for the NDP, and as such, you’d think he should at the very least be included in the details of ongoing negotiations. Yet again, though, it seems that the main negotiating parties involved in the TPP have realized that the best way to get across an agreement they like is to keep it as secretive and non-transparent as possible, especially from critics. This is the exact opposite of how democratic governments are supposed to work.

Of course, the addition of Canada to the TPP has always been done in a way to keep our neighbor up north as a silent partner to the US’s position. You may recall that the US didn’t let Canada join until well into the negotiating process, and as part of the invite, Canada was told that it had to accept all negotiated text without question, even though it wasn’t allowed to see it yet. And, related to that, they had to agree to future texts during some meetings where they weren’t allowed to attend.

Vikings eke out a win against Tennessee in final preseason game

Filed under: Football — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 08:39

Head coach Leslie Frazier took no chances in this fourth preseason game: almost none of the starting players even put in a token appearance. What looked like a serious injury to backup offensive lineman Seth Olsen seemed to justify Frazier’s caution — Olsen went down and didn’t get back up again. The trainers rushed on to the field, followed shortly by the EMS team. Olsen was carried off the field, but was seen to be moving his arm. While the injury appears to be much less serious than first indications, it was a scary moment. Tom Pelissero has more:

The injury occurred when Olsen dived to make a low block downfield on a screen pass to teammate Joe Banyard. It appeared a Titans defensive lineman’s right knee struck Olsen in the head before he landed face-down on the turf.

There was a roughly 10-minute delay as a medical team worked to pad Olsen’s head and strap him down, with the Vikings’ entire team forming a semicircle on the field. Olsen was conscious as he left the field on the gurney and raised his left hand to acknowledge the crowd.

“You could see all our guys getting on a knee and just praying for him and just hoping for the best,” Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said. “When those moments come and they bring that stretcher out, you have no idea what’s going on. So, we were all just hoping for the best, and fortunately, things worked out that way.”

The Vikings initially announced Olsen had a neck injury, but Frazier clarified after the game the diagnosis was a concussion.

With almost all the first team sitting out the game, the second- and third-string got a final chance to make their case for sticking when the final cuts come down (cut-down to 53 players is tomorrow). Marcus Sherels (who took time off to attend his father’s funeral last week), being challenged for both his DB spot and special teams role, had a very good game including setting a team preseason record with a 109-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Joe Banyard made his case for sticking with the team with 64 yards on the ground, 52 yards receiving and a TD.

Ben Goessling has a few other players on the bubble:

  • Desmond Bishop probably had his best night of the preseason in his third game back from a torn hamstring, making seven tackles and pulling down two Titans players in the backfield on Tennessee’s first drive. It’s worth noting that Marvin Mitchell, who has started at weak-side linebacker all through training camp, didn’t play on Thursday night, as the Vikings treated him more like a starter than a player who has much to prove. But Bishop might have done enough to guarantee himself a roster spot, at the very least.
  • While Sherels stole the show for the Vikings, Bobby Felder had a night he’d probably rather forget, spraining his ankle shortly after getting beat a 50-yard pass in the third quarter. X-rays on Felder’s ankle were negative, but he probably would have liked to finish his preseason with a stronger impression after playing well early.
  • Fullback Zach Line, who didn’t have to do much lead blocking in college, provided a nice example of it on the Vikings’ drive for the go-ahead field goal. He and DeMarcus Love combined on a nice kick-out block on Banyard’s 19-yard run. Line didn’t show the pass-catching skills he’d displayed early, but he’s probably done enough that the Vikings would at least consider using a practice-squad spot on him.

August 29, 2013

British parliament defeats government motion on Syria

Filed under: Britain, Middle East, Military — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 16:42

Twitter just lit up with the news that Prime Minister David Cameron’s motion to allow military action against Syria has been soundly defeated in parliament. The reported voting line was 272 in favour and 285 against. This was not a confidence motion — the government will not be forced to resign over this vote, but it’s a strong slap in the face to Clegg and Cameron.


New Zealand bans (most) software patents

Filed under: Law, Technology — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 09:27

Hurrah for New Zealand:

A major new patent bill, passed in a 117-4 vote by New Zealand’s Parliament after five years of debate, has banned software patents.

The relevant clause of the patent bill actually states that a computer program is “not an invention.” Some have suggested that was a way to get around the wording of the TRIPS intellectual property treaty, which requires patents to be “available for any inventions, whether products or processes, in all fields of technology.”

Processes will still be patentable if the computer program is merely a way of implementing a patentable process. But patent claims that cover computer programs “as such” will not be allowed.

It seems there will be some leeway for computer programs directly tied to improved hardware. The bill includes the example of a better washing machine. Even if the improvements are implemented with a computer program, “the actual contribution is a new and improved way of operating a washing machine that gets clothes cleaner and uses less electricity,” so a patent could be awarded.

Meet the Undercover Economist, Tim Harford

Filed under: Books, Economics, Media — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 08:36

A profile of economist and popular author Tim Harford in The Independent:

Tim Harford can’t help himself. We are navigating our way to lunch in an unfamiliar city and I am momentarily disorientated by the mass of visual paraphernalia at a busy crossing. My hesitation is his cue for a story about the Dutch traffic engineer who found that getting rid of excess street furniture forced car drivers to take more responsibility, dramatically slashing the number of accidents.

Welcome to the world as seen by Harford, a man who made his name explaining the economic rationale behind everything that we do. His tale about the late Hans Monderman is illustrative. Later, over a tableful of dim sum, he adds: “The world is a constant source of ideas for someone who thinks like an economist.”

His bestselling “Undercover Economist” books have made him a founding member of the new tribe popularising the dismal science; not before time given the circumstances, you might add. His latest volume, The Undercover Economist Strikes Back, subtitled How to Run — or Ruin — an Economy, is out this week. It tackles the recent “titanic” mess and is his first foray into macroeconomics, also known as the “bigger picture”.

“It’s my job to figure out an interesting way to talk about these things, and a different angle that’s fun and memorable and tells people something about how the economy works…. I’ve always been much more of a micro guy — individual behaviour and the psychological elements of game theory were always my thing, so when I started, it felt like a sense of duty. But halfway through, the subject had won me over.”

[…]

As it happens, Harford, who turns 40 next month, didn’t intentionally study economics. His undergraduate PPE degree (philosophy, politics and economics) was the “classic Oxford degree for people who don’t know what to do”, and he spent his first year intending to drop economics at the end of it. Pressed by his tutor, after doing “really well”, he changed his mind and thus his life, not least because he met his wife while working at Shell, in the scenario planning team for a certain Vince Cable.

Despite starting out in a job that required forecasting, Harford is defensive of his profession, which is much maligned for not predicting the global crash. “Economists have allowed themselves to walk into a trap where we say we can forecast, but no serious economist thinks we can,” he says, pointing again to a Keynes quote, this time aligning economists and dentists. “You don’t expect dentists to be able to forecast how many teeth you’ll have when you’re 80. You expect them to give good advice and fix problems. We’ve allowed ourselves to become really bad weather forecasters, which is a shame.”

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