Random Thoughts 12/6/12

• Javon Belcher's murder-suicide is such a terrible tragedy, leaving so many affected people.  The orphaned child, the family, those poor coaches and staff that witnessed the tragedy.  I think I passed the point of disbelief when the NFL made the Chiefs play the next day.  Why couldn't that game have been postponed or canceled out of respect for the lost?
• Here's the writer's guild list of award nominees.  As someone who appreciates good writing, this list is sometimes a bit better than the typical Golden Globe, Emmy, or Oscar lists.
• Google Fiber seems to be making progress in our neighborhood, er… fiberhood.  In recent weeks the crews have been running the fiber optic cable under ground to each house.  Personally, I can't wait to get rid of Knology (formerly Sunflower), which has been the most unreliable internet service I've ever used, going all the way back to dial-up.  But our neighborhood had very few internet options… until now.
• Apple is now officially rich enough to lose money make computers in the U.S.  Supposedly, an entire line of computers (the Mac Pro?) will be made in the United States… at least for awhile.  Right now Apple products are designed in California, components are made around the world, and the machines are assembled in China, where skilled workers can be had for a few dollars an hour.  The same type of skilled worker (which may or may not exist in this country) is going to cost significantly more, meaning Apple can only afford to produce the product with the largest profit margin (the high-end $2500 Mac Pro), minus the profit margin. 
• There's concern amongst early reviewers that the 48-frames per second speed of the new Hobbit film is distracting and unattractive.  I plan to see the film in plain-old 2D and traditional 24-frames per second, so hopefully I won't even notice what they're complaining about.
• So the NFL is considering getting rid of the kickoff in football, to avoid the violent collisions (and frequent boredom) associated with the play.  What would replace it?  The team that scores, instead of kicking off, would go back to their own 30 with the ball on 4th and 15.  They can go for it or punt.  Hmmm…