Author: georgefattell

Time to Get Out of Afghanistan

Posted on by georgefattell

Robert Spencer raises serious questions about the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan in this article, which I read on the American Thinker website. Spencer makes the case that “It is long past time to end the mission in Afghanistan” and I have to agree. In the immediate aftermath of the 9-11 attacks I fully supported mission of U.S. Armed Forces to attack the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, but I never thought that 10 years later the U.S. would still have tens of thousands troops in Afghanistan. My view of American foreign policy is not that of a dove or an isolationist, but I don’t think the U.S. the should be the world’s policeman either. I think the U.S. should protect it’s interests overseas, but in a way that exercises restraint because this country cannot afford to maintain a massive worldwide empire.

Time to Get Out of Afghanistan.

Key quote:

There is no bringing democracy or humane values to a sharia state, and in any case, we already gave the Karzai regime a sharia constitution, so we aren’t really even trying to do anything effective for women or non-Muslims or the freedom of speech or the freedom of conscience. We’re fighting against an enemy that the vice president of the United States says is not an enemy, and that our client president of Afghanistan threatens to join. How long is this madness going to continue?

The 2012 NCAA Basketball Tournament

Posted on by georgefattell

March Madness is back!! I always look forward to this event. I picked Kentucky to go all the way this year. I’m not exactly going out on limb with that pick, but I don’t think any Cinderella’s are going to make it to the Final Four this year. The winner will be a Heavyweight imo.

Here are my Final Four picks:

South – Kenyucky

West – Missouri

East – Florida State

Midwest – North Carolina

I have Kentucky and FSU meeting in the Finals and Kentucky winning.

UPDATE 03-22-12:

As the tourney enters the Sweet Sixteen phase my bracket has sustained heavy damage as a result of two of my Final Four teams having been eliminated. Kentucky still looks like a pretty good bet to win it all. Of course, picking Kentucky was easy, picking the other teams that will join them in the Final Four has not been so easy.

You can see all my picks on the Excel Spreadsheet link posted below:

George Fattell 2012 NCAA Bracket (1)

The Boeing 787 visits San Diego

Posted on by georgefattell

As those of you who read my blog know, I’m a big fan of planes, trains and automobiles. So, I was pretty excited to learn that a new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Rock Star of commercial aircraft, flew into San Diego’s main airport, Lindbergh Field, this morning (03-12-12). Boeing is flying a 787 around the country so that the employees of companies that are contributing parts and components to the state of the art aircraft can see in person the magnificent aircraft that they have helped make a reality. There are two companies in the San Diego area that contributed components to the 787, Goodrich (landing gear components) and Hamilton Sundstrand (auxiliary power units, fans, electrical systems).

From afar the 787 looks like a fairly conventional aircraft, but the closer you get to it the more futuristic it looks. You can tell it is a next generation aircraft.

I just found a video on You Tube on the Dreamliner flying into Lindbergh. If I had known that 787 was flying in this morning I would have shot my own video because I live only a few blocks from the flight path for incoming aircraft, which fly right over the Bankers Hill section downtown San Diego. Fortunately, others knew it was coming and caught it on video.

My first Instagram photo

Posted on by georgefattell

I finally got around to downloading the very popular Instagram photo sharing app.

I took my first picture in downtown San Diego today (03-07-12), on the corner of 7th Avenue and Cedar Street, which is an intersection nearby where I live. This is the view facing west, looking down Cedar Street, toward the San Diego Bay.

The view from 7th Ave. & Cedar St., downtown San Diego

How does Jeremy Lin stack up after 10 games?

Posted on by georgefattell

I was tempted to put up a post reflecting my thoughts NY Knick point guard Jeremy Lin after his third game, in which he exploded for 38 points against the LA Lakers. I was very impressed by those first three games, but I decided to hold off because I wanted to see more from Lin before joining the Linsanity and joining in agreement with all those who have declared him to be the next great star in the NBA. I’ve been a fan NBA fan for a long time now, in fact, longer than Jeremy Lin’s been alive, so I’ve seen a few players explode on the NBA scene before and then fizzle out in short order. Now that Lin has played 10 games with starter type minutes I think it safe to say he has demonstrated that he definitely belongs in the NBA and while it is still premature to declare that he is will definitely be a top tier star he has shown that he has the potential to be a very solid starter in the league.

I can honestly say that I have known about Lin for a few years. I first took notice of him back in the 2007/2008 season, when Lin’s Harvard team beat Boston College. BC was ranked 17th in the country at that time and I asked myself “How did that happen?”. I checked the box score for that game on ESPN.com and found out that Jeremy Lin had a monster game ( 27 pts, 8 assists, 6 rebounds). After that game I started keeping track of Lin’s accomplishments.

I find it hard not to root for Lin. His improbable path to the NBA is well documented. He was a star on his high school team in Palo Alto, CA, which won a state championship and was not offered a scholarship by Stanford, UCLA or Cal Berkeley. Harvard’s coach initially thought he might not be Division I player, but in the end they gave him a shot and he goes on to have a great career in the Ivy League, but was not drafted by any NBA teams. He bounced around the NBA for over a year, with stints at Golden State and briefly at Houston, before finally getting his big opportunity with the Knicks and that only happened because of injuries to other players.

I did a little number crunching to see how Jeremy Lin compares to other point guards in NBA and I must say that I was little surprised to find out just how well Lin compares statistically to his peers at the point guard position.

Scoring: 24.6 per game 1st

Assists: 9.2 per game 3rd

Rebounds: 4.1 per game 6th

Steals: 2.4 per game 2nd

Turnovers: 5.6 per game 1st (highest among PG’s)

FG%: 0.500 3rd

3P%: 0.333 26th

Lin has also tallied 4 double-double’s in 10 games, which ties him for 11th in that category. Most staters in the NBA have played between 25 and 30 games so far this season, so that too is an impressive accomplishment.

Can Lin maintain these lofty numbers? Well, time will tell. Given his present supporting cast on the Knicks I think he can remain the top ten in most statical categories, although he obviously does not want to be in the top ten for turnovers, his one significant weakness so far.

It won’t get any easier for him, that’s for sure. Because of the “Linsanity” he is a marked man in the league now, but he seems to be a fairly well grounded individual so I think he will be able to handle the pressure.

I hope Lin’s success continues because I think he is an excellent role model for young people. Moreover, I think it is fantastic that Lin has made Madison Square Garden an electric place to watch a basketball game again. NBA Commissioner David Stern could not have planned anything better for Knicks, one of the NBA’s flagship teams. The Garden really rocks when the home crowd gets behind the Knicks and the league as a whole really benefits when NY has a strong team.

Watching the Knicks for the rest of the season should be a lot of fun.

Kodak Cameras 1888-2012

Posted on by georgefattell

On Feb 9th, 2012 Kodak announced that they would be phasing out production of all digital cameras and video recorders. Kodak has been producing cameras since 1888 and as an owner of several Kodak digital cameras I was disappointed, but not surprised, when I read the report of this decision. Most of the Kodak digital cameras sold today are sub $300.00, with many under $200.00. I always thought Kodak digital cameras were well built and good values, but that segment of the market is highly competitive and under constant pressure from ever improving cameras built into smartphones and other multifunction devices , such as the iPhone and the iPod Touch.

My first digital camera was a Kodak DC290, which I purchased about 12 years ago. It was quite expensive, about $800.00 IIRC, but I was fascinated by it and digital cameras totally rekindled my interest in photography. I used the DC290 as my primary camera for just a couple years and ultimately replaced it as my primary just a couple of years later with a much small and less expensive Kodak digital camera. However, it was the DC290 that demonstrated to me just what a quantum leap digital photography represented. I made a point of taking the camera with me on a summer trip to Aspen, CO because I knew I would be able to find numerous scenic areas out there. When I downloaded those pictures to my computer I was stunned by the detail and the rich colors. A few of those pictures remain among my all time favorites and I have posted them below.

The Rocky Mountains, Aspen, CO
The Ute Trail, Aspen, CO
Aspen, CO
Aspen Mountain

The Acura NSX 2.0

Posted on by georgefattell

The next generation Acura NSX was introduced to most people in the U.S. during the Super Bowl, with a funny commercial that featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno both vying to be the first on line to take delivery of the new hybrid supercar. The new NSX won’t actually go on sale until 2015, but the commercial was certainly very effective in generating a lot of interest in the car. The Acura website crashed as a result of all the people that attempted to visit the NSX page on the Acura site during the Super Bowl.

Based on the comments I have read about this car on various Auto blogs and Car Magazines sites it seems that opinions of the car’s looks, performance and value is quite divided, but most people seem to think that the new NSX is a winner and a worthy successor to the original NSX. I think the NSX will be a huge hit for Acura/Honda. It is projected to cost $130,000.00, so it will not be a car for the masses, but it will be at price point well below top tier exotics such as the Ferrari 458, Lambo’s or the new McLaren MP4-12C , which run $230,000 and above. The NSX will be in the same price neighborhood as the Porsche 911 and Audi R8.

Motor Trend reported the NSX’s spec’s in this article….Future Shock:2015 Acura NSX

Here are a few of the basics:

Engine: 480hp gas/electric combo (V-6 gas +3 electric motors)

0-60: 3.0 seconds

Weight: 3,100 lbs

The SB commercial with Seinfeld and Leno did show the NSX, but only standing still in a showroom. If you want to see what the NSX will look like when it is moving, and moving fast, take a look at the video posted below. This video is a digital animation of the next gen NSX, but it looks like a real film of the NSX in motion. Super Cool!

This car will probably keep me buying lottery tickets for the next few years and looking for the next tech stock that can go up 1,000 percent plus.

My Predictions for the 84th Academy Awards

Posted on by georgefattell

I have not seen the all the films that earned nominations, but I have seen several of the most highly acclaimed films of 2011, including the following: The Descendants, Midnight in Paris, The Artist, Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy, Warrior, Moneyball, Margin Call, The Tree of Life, Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

I have not seen these films yet: The Help, The Iron Lady, Beginners, Hugo

I have based my Oscar picks on my impressions of the films that I have seen, as well as several other factors, such as other awards won to date (Golden Globes, SAG, etc.), and more intangible reasons, such as how I think the Academy perceives the reputation and overall body of work of the actor/writer/director. The values and politics of the Academy certainly comes into play for some awards so I attempted to include that in my choices.

My favorite films of 2011 wereThe Artist and The Descendants and I think those two films will battle for most of the top awards, but there were several other strong films, including Moneyball, Midnight in Paris and The Tree of Life, among others, so I look forward to Academy Awards with great interest.

BEST PICTURE

The Artist

DIRECTOR

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist

BEST ACTOR

George Clooney – The Descendants

UPDATE: I think momentum has swung. My new pick is:

Jean DuJardin – The Artist

BEST ACTRESS

Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christopher Plummer – Beginners

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Octavia Spencer – The Help

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Descendants

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Midnight In Paris