My Country Music in Ten Songs: Brad Paisley / Old Alabama

One in a series of posts presenting ten songs that represent country music for me. Not necessarily my top ten favorite songs. Presented in no particular order. For the rest of the series, see here.

My Country Music in Ten Songs: Conway Twitty / That's My Job

One in a series of posts presenting ten songs that represent country music for me. Not necessarily my top ten favorite songs. Presented in no particular order. For the rest of the series, see here.

My Country Music in Ten Songs: Diamond Rio / Walkin' Away

One in a series of posts presenting ten songs that represent country music for me. Not necessarily my top ten favorite songs. Presented in no particular order. For the rest of the series, see here.

My Country Music in Ten Songs: Carrie Underwood / See You Again

One in a series of posts presenting ten songs that represent country music for me. Not necessarily my top ten favorite songs. Presented in no particular order. For the rest of the series, see here.

My Country Music in Ten Songs: Kacey Musgraves / Follow Your Arrow

One in a series of posts presenting ten songs that represent country music for me. Not necessarily my top ten favorite songs. Presented in no particular order. For the rest of the series, see here.

My Country Music in Ten Songs: Brett Eldredge / Raymond

One in a series of posts presenting ten songs that represent country music for me. Not necessarily my top ten favorite songs. Presented in no particular order. For the rest of the series, see here.

My Country Music in Ten Songs: Keith Urban / For You

One in a series of posts presenting ten songs that represent country music for me. Not necessarily my top ten favorite songs. Presented in no particular order. For the rest of the series, see here.

My Country Music in Ten Songs: Shenandoah / Next To You, Next To Me

One in a series of posts presenting ten songs that represent country music for me. Not necessarily my top ten favorite songs. Presented in no particular order. For the rest of the series, see here.

My Country Music in Ten Songs: Brooks & Dunn / She's Not The Cheatin' Kind

One in a series of posts presenting ten songs that represent country music for me. Not necessarily my top ten favorite songs. Presented in no particular order. For the rest of the series, see here.

My Country Music in Ten Songs: Jamey Johnson / In Color

One in a series of posts presenting ten songs that represent country music for me. Not necessarily my top ten favorite songs.  Presented in no particular order. For the rest of the series, see here.

My top ten blog posts of 2013

Here are my top ten blog posts of 2013, according to traffic:

10. An open letter to people of all races about the George Zimmerman case
9. Maryland, delayed foreclosures, and herd immunity
8. Law in Plain English: Fernandez v. California
7. Law in Plain English: Kansas v. Cheever
6. Law in Plain English: McCullen v. Coakley
5. Law in Plain English: White v. Woodall
4. Law in Plain English: Coleman v. Soccer Association of Columbia
3. Law in Plain English: Burt v. Titlow
2. Law in Plain English: Mayorkas v. Cuellar de Osorio

And the #1 blog post of 2013 (by far!):

1. No, AT&T is not charging customers a Lawful Interception Recovery Fee

By request: my top ten TV shows of all time

In discussing the Breaking Bad finale, I indicated that I had long since put the show in my "top ten" list of favorite TV shows. My friend Dave Lapinsky indicated he would be interested in knowing my top ten. So here they are, with some important caveats. I know there are many other shows that could conceivably belong on this list. For example, Seinfeld and The Sopranos are generally highly regarded TV shows; but I never watched either of them with any regularity. I simply haven't watched everything out there. So when I say my top ten TV shows of all time, it really means my top ten TV shows that I've actually watched most or all of the series. Also, this list is fluid and subject to future edits due to new shows, watching older shows, or simply forgetting.

My top ten TV shows of all time (in alphabetical order)

24

Breaking Bad

Burn Notice

Hogan's Heroes

Homicide: Life on the Street

Law & Order

MacGyver

Quantum Leap

Sons of Anarchy

The Wire

Honorable mentions

All in the Family

Family Ties

Firefly (more than one season and a movie would have helped!)

Jericho (more than 1 1/2 seasons would have helped! Nuts!)

Magnum PI

Person of Interest

The Simpsons

Star Trek: The Next Generation

The TSA Not Top Ten Catches of 2011

In response to the TSA Top 10 Good Catches of 2011, I present to you, the Not Top Ten Catches (or Misses) of 2011 (in no particular order):

1. A cupcake (velvet icing!)
2. A purse with an embroidered gun on it
3. Box cutters (oops, they missed them)
4. A loaded handgun (oops, they missed it!)
5. Another loaded handgun (yeah, they missed that one, too)
6. A 14-inch sword (oops, they missed that, too)
7. C4 (oops, they missed it)! Seriously. This guy was eventually caught, but not after he had already flown with it at least once
8. "An oddly placed iPod and a bag of candy" (highly dangerous)
9. Your bag (as in, actually searching it)
10. Catching a "fake" bomb during a terror drill, and failing to tell the police!

Now, don't you feel safer?

2011 predictions update

Everyone makes predictions for the upcoming year, but how many people go back and actually score themselves?

1. The Supreme Court will reverse the Ninth Circuit in Wal-Mart v. Dukes.
TRUE

2. Judge Roger Vinson of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida will find the health care reform law to be unconstitutional.
TRUE

3. The FCC will approve new net neutrality rules (that will probably happen in the next week or so), but the federal courts will find that this oversteps their authority (again).
PARTIALLY TRUE (case is still pending)

4. At least one politician (state legislator or above) will resign when a video of their misconduct goes viral.
Thankfully, we didn't get video of Weiner's weiner, but he did resign. PARTIALLY TRUE

5. North Korea's Kim Jong-il will die and his son, Kim Jong-un, will take over.
TRUE and TRUE

6. At least one Philadelphia sports team will make it to the Super Bowl, NHL Finals, or World Series.
FALSE (unfortunately)

7. Patriots' QB Tom Brady will win the NFL MVP and Eagles' QB Michael Vick will finish second.
TRUE (Note: Brady was unanimous; there was no second place)

8. Baltimore (BWI) will record less than 30 inches of snowfall this winter (please)
TRUE (I think the official number was 18-19 inches)

9. I will get accepted to law school (please) and actually go this time!
FALSE (long story)

10. Stuxnet's creator(s) will be revealed (total guess).
FALSE

And one more for the road that I am most certain of:

DEFCON19 will be canceled.
Always TRUE

Top ten update

With the news this morning that Wal-Mart succeeded at the Supreme Court in having the Dukes class action suit dismissed, it's time to update the top ten predictions for 2011. Here's a look back at the predictions with updates:


1. The Supreme Court will reverse the Ninth Circuit in Wal-Mart v. Dukes. YES

2. Judge Roger Vinson of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida will find the health care reform law to be unconstitutional. YES

3. The FCC will approve new net neutrality rules (that will probably happen in the next week or so), but the federal courts will find that this oversteps their authority (again). YES and NO

4. At least one politician (state legislator or above) will resign when a video of their misconduct goes viral.  YES and NO (Chris Lee and Anthony Weiner have both resigned, but over pictures and not video)

5. North Korea's Kim Jong-il will die and his son, Kim Jong-un, will take over. NO

6. At least one Philadelphia sports team will make it to the Super Bowl, NHL Finals, or World Series. NO (only the Phillies are left)

7. Patriots' QB Tom Brady will win the NFL MVP and Eagles' QB Michael Vick will finish second. YES (Brady was unanimous)

8. Baltimore (BWI) will record less than 30 inches of snowfall this winter (please) YES (14.4 inches)

9. I will get accepted to law school (please) and actually go this time! NO (wait-listed, blah!)

10. Stuxnet's creator(s) will be revealed (total guess). NO


And of course, the bonus prediction: DEFCON19 will be canceled. YES :-)

Almost another top ten...

Congressman Chris Lee's resignation almost met the #4 item on my 2011 prediction list:

4. At least one politician (state legislator or above) will resign when a video of their misconduct goes viral.

Alas, I noted video and not Craigslist posting!  Close, but no cigar. Still, 325 days to go...

Brady is NFL MVP; top ten update

Tom Brady was named the Associated Press NFL MVP for the 2010 season by a unanimous vote.  This was the #7 item on my 2011 top ten list:

7. Patriots' QB Tom Brady will win the NFL MVP and Eagles' QB Michael Vick will finish second.

I was right, but only partially so: since the vote was unanimous, and since there are only "first place" votes, no one else was mentioned.

Judge rules healthcare reform unconstitutional

From Reuters:

A judge in Florida on Monday became the second judge to declare President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law unconstitutional, in the biggest legal challenge yet to federal authority to enact the law.

U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson, appointed to the bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, ruled that the reform law's so-called "individual mandate" went too far in requiring that Americans start buying health insurance in 2014 or pay a penalty.

"Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire act must be declared void. This has been a difficult decision to reach, and I am aware that it will have indeterminable implications," Vinson wrote.

This case was #2 on my "top ten" predictions for 2011.  From my perspective, it was entirely likely to happen.  This now makes two judges to find the individual mandate unconstitutional, although Judge Vinson was the first to find the entire act unconstitutional.

The text of the decision is currently available via PACER, which unfortunately costs $0.08 per electronic page (seriously).  As soon as I find a free version, I'll post it on the blog.

Hollywood Unoriginality, Redux

If you remember back as far as June of last year, I did a short series of posts on what I perceived to be the lack of originality in new movies: they're mostly remakes, sequels, or something (TV, comic book, video-game) to movie.  Over the course of that period I found that only about 20% of the movies were realistically original.

So after a break of six months let's take another look at last weekend's top ten:

1. Little Fockers (sequel/series)
2. True Grit (remake)
3. Tron Legacy (sequel)
4. Yogi Bear (cartoon)
5. The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (sequel/series)
6. The Fighter
7. Tangled (fairy tale)
8. Gulliver's Travels (book, remake)
9. Black Swan
10. The King's Speech

So, more or less, only three "original" movies.  Again, this doesn't de-value the potential of the "unoriginal" movies; some or many of them are undoubtedly good movies.  They're just not truly original.

Some thoughts about 2011

I'm not big on predictions, mostly because people make ambiguous ones that are difficult to judge.  So here's my attempt at a handful of predictions for 2011 that should be easily distinguishable with a yes or no answer:

1. The Supreme Court will reverse the Ninth Circuit in Wal-Mart v. Dukes.

2. Judge Roger Vinson of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida will find the health care reform law to be unconstitutional.

3. The FCC will approve new net neutrality rules (that will probably happen in the next week or so), but the federal courts will find that this oversteps their authority (again).

4. At least one politician (state legislator or above) will resign when a video of their misconduct goes viral.

5. North Korea's Kim Jong-il will die and his son, Kim Jong-un, will take over.

6. At least one Philadelphia sports team will make it to the Super Bowl, NHL Finals, or World Series.

7. Patriots' QB Tom Brady will win the NFL MVP and Eagles' QB Michael Vick will finish second.

8. Baltimore (BWI) will record less than 30 inches of snowfall this winter (please)

9. I will get accepted to law school (please) and actually go this time!

10. Stuxnet's creator(s) will be revealed (total guess).

And one more for the road that I am most certain of:

DEFCON19 will be canceled.