Derek Bodner’s Blog

(Originally posted at PhillyArena.net)

Who’s fault is it? Like the 76ers players, I think it is overly simplistic to pin the inadequacies of this team on one person’s shoulders. Neither Billy King nor Maurice Cheeks are perfect general managers or coaches. Neither one are without their flaws. The question is, do they fit each other?

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Sony has reached a tentative settlement for the rootkit fiasco. According to the article, users affected get the choice of a cash payment of $7.50 and a promotion code allowing them to download 1 free album or they could download 3 free albums.

Two issues with this. First, by doing simple match, is Sony saying that one of their albums is only worth $3.75 each? Yet when a 15 year old kid downloads one of these albums, it’s a multi-thousand dollar infringement.

Second, and most importantly, does anybody think this is fair compensation for the damage Sony has caused? Here they go, putting backdoors on peoples computers without their knowledge or consent, and this is their punishment? Ask the people infected if $7.50 covers the time it took to rebuild their machine. Ask people who were potentially victims if identity fraud if this covers their worries.

Outrageous on all levels.

(Originally posted at PhillyArena.net)

It seems odd to be criticizing a player after a 13 point road win. It seems doubly odd to be criticizing a player after a 13 point road win in which the player had 20 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. However that is the case I am going to make today, however unpopular that may be.

But really, the stats just further emphasize the point I am trying to make.

Samuel Dalembert’s stats are far more impressive than his impact on the game. Samuel (when he’s on the court) has compiled impressive statistics so far this year. 9.8 rebounds and 3.2 blocks in only 28+ minutes per game are more than solid, they’re very good. At least on the surface. Read more

“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” The popular (shortened) adage coined by Major Edward A. Murphy, JR in the United States Air Force in 1949. Even Murphy could not have predicted this much turmoil in the Eagles season. The full text of Murphy’s Law is as follows:

1. Nothing is as easy as it looks.
2. Everything takes longer than you think.
3. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
4. If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. Corollary: If there is a worse time for something to go wrong, it will happen then.
5. If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.
6. If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop.
7. Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
8. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
9. Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.
10. Mother nature is a bitch.
11. It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.
12. Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first.
13. Every solution breeds new problems.

#3 on the list is obvious and well known. The other bolded items are of particular interest with the way this season has unfolded. Read more