Food for Thought: The plight of SE Asian planes

I'm starting to think I living in and flying all over SE Asia at the right point in time; I lived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 2010 to 2012. Because getting on a Southeast Asian flight seems a lot more risky right now than when I was there. Planes have "disappeared" (see My Inner Conspiracy Brother entry), crashed into the ocean, been shot down, and most lately suffered engine failure and crashed into a bridge. I have no idea what the issue is. In addition to bad luck, I'm wondering what else has contributed. Are SE Asia airlines buying inferior plane fuselages and equipment? Or incompatible parts? Are they having radar issues? Are the pilots not properly trained? My heart goes out to the families of everyone who's been lost. But beyond that, my mindset goes to "Is there something better that could be done to prevent some of this from happening?" I certainly hope someone in a better position to affect change is asking this same question too. Food for Thought...

Stop Me When I Start Lying: Blessed Celeb Leaks

I know all of the ethical and legal issues surrounding hacking people's phones to obtain their pictures. But I was not sad to see the beautiful naked forms of Meagan Goode, Gabrielle Union, Jennifer Lawrence (pictured above), Scarlett Johannsen, Kate Upton, Rihanna, Kim Khardashian (even though those last two were already no strangers to nudity) and others. The "Fappening" has been an interesting pop culture occurrence. If caught, they will have to face John E. Law for their hacking. But until then, I'm nominating you (whoever you are) for sainthood. Salute. You've made the Internet a more interesting place. Stop Me When I Start Lying...

Do Better, Super Bowl 49 Edition: Overthinking in Crunch Time

For me to say that Pete Caroll and/or the [insert name of offensive coordinator]'s decision to throw the ball from the one yard line instead of handing it to Lynch or running a Wilson/Lynch read-option is a tremendous understatement. Like a "Yeah, Michael Jordan did turn out better than Sam Bowie" sized understatement. They wasted a very fortunate... well, lucky play immediately before that put them on the doorstep of stealing the Super Bowl. But Jermaine Kearse's equivalent of the Tyree helmet catch got completely wasted. I don't believe the conspiracy theory that this was a ploy to keep Lynch from being MVP and having unplanned camera time beside the commissioner. But whether or not it's true, it adds to the overwhelming feeling that way too much thought was given to that play selection rather than trusting either or your two best runners to get a yard on the ground. Imagine Phil Jackson saying "I would give it to MJ, but that's what they want me to do, Luc Longley can be depended on for our game winning shot." I still think Carroll is a great coach, but he fucked this one up and he deserves every side eye from his team and every wink of lost sleep he'll surely endure the rest of his life. Do Better...