Life imitates art?

I wonder if these local boys got the idea from Omar?

Smart Finns

I've been a pretty happy investor in Nokia for a long time. I was worried last year when the iPhone made such a big splash, but those Finns are smart. The purchase of Trolltech is incredibly obvious in hindsight. In a single move, they put another nail in the coffin of Moto and open a solid front on Google and Apple. Maybe I should double down on NOK?

54

The Wire #54 was on last night. It was an interesting episode, but was really setting up the story threads rather than resolving much. Most of this one was about the resignation of Burrell. He gets bribed by City Council President Campbell to not trash Daniels on the way out and agrees to shut up in exchange for a cushy job.

Also on the political front, we see Clay Davis getting hammered in front of a grand jury. He takes the 5th and looks extremely guilty. Someone tipped the press off and TV reporters are awaiting him when he comes out. Much to the chagrin of The Sun staff, they have nobody there (they are really missing the experienced reporters that are being bought out to save staffing costs). Clay is toast (or pottery).

The fabricated serial killer story is going a little haywire now with Lester fashioning some fake teeth to put a bite mark on the "victims". I still can't figure out how they are going to play that one. They are on the lookout for bodies that will fit in with the pattern and have enlisted the help of an old friend of Lester's to bring them to them before calling anyone else. The Sun story didn't move too much this week but it looks like they will loop it into the serial killer story next week.

The scene with McNulty and Beadie offers a bit of closure on that relationship - he's back to his old self and she isn't going to put up with it any more. He's a scumbag and that's just the way I like him.

Omar is back and he is pissed. He is looking for information on who betrayed Butchie and smacks Slim Charles around to see if Prop Joe had anything to do with it. He is working with some of Butchie's crew and we will see some fireworks soon.

The violence perpetrated by Marlo's crew is absolutely off the charts. They off Prop Joe after Marlo establishes a connect with the Greeks. Another drug dealer gets whacked because he spoke up against Cheese at a co-op meeting. By now it is pretty obvious that Cheese is going to die soon, but it is up in the air whether he will be killed by Marlo or Omar.

I also saw (in the Sun, of all places) that the number of viewers for The Wire has fallen off from last season. It's too bad, because it really is compelling. I don't watch any other shows (just some sports here and there). I'll miss it when it is gone.

Don't just vote. Win!

Meg Whitman is the perfect person to run California. With money tight from the real-estate implosion, she can auction off services to the highest bidder. You can bid on a class for your kindergartner. If someone is breaking into your house, click the Buy It Now button to get instance police response (and if you are in LA, you get the bonus of watching the perps get a severe beating!)

Running Inside

I'm training for the Knoxville Marathon right now. I follow a training plan called First to Finish that works well for me because it varies the workouts and mixes in cross-training. I don't think it makes me faster, but it sure minimizes injury. I've had one significant injury in the last 3 marathons I've trained for and that was because I stepped on a grape stem in our kitchen that went into my foot, got infected and kept me from running for a few weeks.

One thing I have noticed in the past few years, as I've entered in my upper-30's, is that my body just won't take running in the cold. It used to I love to run in the cold. I actually looked forward to winter because I can run faster in the cold. My PR for a 10 miler (which isn't impressive) was done on a 20 degree day.

Now, if I run outside for more than an hour in temperatures below 45 degrees, I have about a 50/50 chance of coming down with a sinus infection. A couple of years ago, I was constantly battling sinus infections and just went from one to another. I tried to blame my son for them but when I stopped running outside in the winter, they seem to have gotten much better.

One thing about running inside on a treadmill is that it is deadly boring. I usually combat this by watching an NFL game while I run. They last about 3 hours, which is plenty long enough and if one game is a wash, there is usually another interesting game on. In this inter-playoff week before the Super Bowl, I had to watch bowling. I was actually sort of hoping for a heart attack so I could stop running. I'm going to look at the bright side: I finished my 14 miles and now I know who the all time leader in bowling victories on TV is. Sweet.

Maybe Next Year

Almost 3 years ago, I bought an Archos Gmini 400 mp3 and video player and it is still going strong. This review on Engadget is quaint (all the theoretical discussion of the to-be-announced video iPod) and it is amazing how far portable music (multimedia?) players have come in three years. You can read my original review here when it seemed almost revolutionary to have your entire music collection on a portable player.

I probably won't replace it until I can get a phone that will store all of my music. That is really the holy grail for me - one device with all communications and music. I've got a T-Mobile Dash (AKA HTC Excalibur) which is fine for phone calls and email but can only store 2GB of music. Not nearly enough to avoid having to reload it every week. Maybe next year...

Requiem for the CD

I read the following in The Economist last week:

IN 2006 EMI, the world's fourth-biggest recorded-music company, invited some teenagers into its headquarters in London to talk to its top managers about their listening habits. At the end of the session the EMI bosses thanked them for their comments and told them to help themselves to a big pile of CDs sitting on a table. But none of the teens took any of the CDs, even though they were free. “That was the moment we realised the game was completely up,” says a person who was there.

If teenagers aren't buying music on CD, who is? The rest of the article describes the dismal sales (physical sales down 19% in 2007) and vicious circle that has gripped the music industry as it is currently constituted. Even paid music downloads aren't growing enough in revenue terms to keep them afloat.

One idea that was described sounds very interesting: "Comes with Music" phones that allow you to download as much music as you want to your phone and PC and keep it even when you switch phones. The record labels would get a cut of the price of the phone. This sounds appealing, but I don't think I would pay more than $50 for it.

I guess this is what you get when you sue your best customers. Way to go RIAA!

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