Why the Houstan Texans Are the Worst NFL team

Houston signs a DE.

Houston needs an offensive line more than anything else. How could that not be more obvious? I thought it was funny that everyone figured they'd pick Reggie Bush. Yes, he's amazing but great RBs need great OLs. It's hard to imagine Reggie Bush being a great performer behind such a weak OL.

Houston needs an OL that gives QB David Carr a chance. So far, he hasn't gotten one. As one sportswriter said, he's more a pinata than a QB.

Bad players and bad managment. That's why the Texans will stink once again next season.


In other sports news, tennis players Albert Costa and Thomas Enqvist are retiring. Costa has a French Open title. I feel bad for Enqvist because he had so many injury problems. I've seen him play at the Cincinnati ATP when he was healthy, and he was overpowering. Huge serve, huge strokes and extremely fit. And like all Swedes, he was cool as a cucumber. But he could never string together a series of solid victories because he kept getting hurt. He can join the club (it's a big one: Andres Gomez, Yannick Noah, Patrick Rafter...)

Anyway, thanks for the memories and best wishes to both these fine players.

But Will it Work with Heroin?

It wasn't invented by a kid, but lord knows every kid has been wanting this invention for a long time:

The needle-free injection device.

It's won an award for excellence in medical design, and initial tests show that it works perfectly: delivers the drug with less pain and less skin reaction.

(hat tip: Medgadget.com)

If Only There Was an Options Market for Corporate Hubris

I might have made as much money as Pfizer's CEO/chairman, Hank McKinnell. In the 5 years he has held his job, he has made

$28 million in salary and bonuses,
$55 million in stock options.

And now he stands to gain as much as $83 million upon retirement. People are a bit ticked off.


And the saga of Computer Associate's former CEO Sanjay Kumar (also part owner of the NY Islanders) continues:

Kumar and Stephen Richards, its former head of worldwide sales, had been accused in a 2004 indictment of engaging in a widespread scheme to falsely inflate the company's quarterly earnings by backdating contracts.

The Islandia, N.Y.-based company restated its financial results from 2000 and 2001 to reflect $2.2 billion in revenue that was improperly booked.


It's still a good time to be a corporate CEO, as Lee Raymond can attest.

Unfortunately, it looks like the outlook for small business is quite a different story.

FCC Investigating Radio Companies

Don't blame Britney Spears for ruining music. Blame the corporate execs who make us listen to it:

The FCC confirmed Thursday that it had requested documents this week from Clear Channel Communications Inc., CBS Radio Inc., Entercom Communications Corp. and Citadel Broadcasting Corp.

The agency wants to learn more about accusations that radio programmers received gifts, cash and other items in exchange for playing certain songs without publicly disclosing the deals.

[Sun-Sentinel...]

Clear Channel owns 8 area radio stations (4 AM, 4 FM) and the local CBS affiliate, WKRC-TV.

Find out who owns what in your state (and check out my other sidebar media links sometime).

Ohio Gives $125 Million to Farmers

Ohio is one of many states that gives low-interest loans to agricultural businesses. According to the Ohio Treasurer's office:

In order to apply and be considered for a reduced interest rate Ag-Link loan, a farmer must have a farm that is headquartered in Ohio, maintain 51 percent of the land and/or operating facilities in Ohio and be organized for profit. The maximum allowable loan is $100,000 per applicant.

The Dayton Business Journal reports that $125 million was given out last year in Ag-Link loans. But how is a "farm" defined? The requirements quoted above (from a Ohio Treasurer's office press release) don't make any distinction between a family farm and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cargill. I'd prefer to see my tax dollars helping the former rather than the latter.

I tried to get more specific information from the Ohio Treasurer's website, but the link for "Agricultural Linked Deposit Program" returns a 404 error.

The rules above state the maximun loan is $100,000, but the DBJ article cites figures for Greene County that 21 farmers got $2.7 million, which averages to over $128,000.

The Treasurer's website is either not maintained or under renovation because many links did not work. Maybe when (if?) it works we can find out if our tax dollars are being used for family farms and small businesses or if the Ag-Link program is just another thinly-veiled corporate welfare scheme.

Please feel free to enlighten if you have any information.

Drake Center Up for Sale Again

The Business Courier reports that Hamilton County and the Health Alliance cannot agree on a final price for the Drake Center. The Health Alliance has been managing the facility on an interim basis. The parties have agreed to open it up for bids.

The Drake Center has also cut costs and improved income under its new management (at least according to the new management):

Health Alliance executives have said that in the four months they've been running Drake, the hospital's acute-care inpatient count has increased to 106 from 68 and operating costs have been cut by several million dollars.

The Drake Center was fiscally inefficient (I had an inside source) so that needed fixing. But it provides an important service to a specific patient population so the county should ensure that whomever manages the facility maintains fidelity to the mission.

Exciting Development in Artificial Vision

To me, loss of sight is one of the two worst things that can happen to a person (the other is quadriplegia). The reduction in quality of life is insurmountable for all but the most extraordinary individuals. Few of us can be Ray Charles or Steven Hawking.

A company called Intelligent Medical Implants is testing a device which bypasses the retina and sends information directly to the brain. Initial results are hopeful, as in this case:

"One patient, for example, a 65-year-old female from Marienberg, Germany, has not had sight for more than a half century. From early childhood she has suffered from RP, meaning that she has not seen normally for more than 60 years. Nevertheless, in her first pattern recognition test, she described continuous objects such as a half circle. There is no doubt that this result is extremely positive, given that she has had no sight for almost her entire life, yet was still able to immediately receive a visual perception from electrical stimulation."

It's not sight, but it's a start.

Artificial vision combines engineering and surgical technology. It's an important area of research, but it's analogous to prosthetic research in that it doesn't fix the damage per se, but it allows artificial devices to compensate for loss of function.

The other side of the coin is research in neural regeneration, which is focused on how to actually fix the damaged nerve cells. Generally this is focused towards spinal cord injuries (Christopher Reeve, e.g.) and degenerative brain diseases like Parkinson's.

3 Arrested in Wacky Insider Trading Scheme

A Goldman Sachs analyst, a Merrill Lynch banker and a printing plant worker were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly participating in a $6.7 million insider trading ring that involved stolen magazines, strippers and a retired underwear factory worker in Croatia.

It’s an interesting scheme.

One of their schemes involved insider info on the P&G acquisition of Gillette last year. After reading about their scheme and its simplicity, one has to wonder how many traders are slipping through the nets.

'Blow Your Mind' Friday

It sure is fun to think about things that are beyond the limits of human comprehension. Like infinity, for example. There's an unruly hooligan.

But my favorite is space-time. Space-time was created when the universe was created. What was there before the universe? Where was it if there was no such thing as space? How long was it there if there was no such thing as time? Where did all the energy and space-time come from?

I'm reminded of such questions whenever I read something about black holes, like this computer simulation scientists developed to determine what happens when two black holes collide. There's a video.

And I'll leave you with Heidegger's fundamental question: why is there something instead of nothing?

(Have it on my desk by Monday)

Jean Schmidt Gives Greatest Debate Performance Ever

Last night was the debate between Republican OH-2 candidates Bob "Two-states" McEwen and Jean "I support the President on that" Schmidt.

It was Jean Schmidt's finest performance ever. Check out QCF's report to see why.