CWinntessential Thoughts

gotemcoach: The moment Kobe realized he was on Kiss Cam.

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:33:04 -0400

gotemcoach:

The moment Kobe realized he was on Kiss Cam.

nbaoffseason: Kareem and Zooey

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:50:12 -0500

nbaoffseason:

Kareem and Zooey

nbaoffseason: My Lakers vs. Bulls recap… Nice.

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:52:53 -0500

nbaoffseason:

My Lakers vs. Bulls recap…

Nice.

pwinn: My parents, 1971 (Taken with instagram)

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:00:39 -0500

pwinn:

My parents, 1971 (Taken with instagram)

Our first home-cooked meal in our first home. (Taken with...

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:26:50 -0400

Our first home-cooked meal in our first home. (Taken with instagram)

gotemcoach: I do this. [source] @gotem_coach Love it.

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:04:03 -0400

gotemcoach:

I do this. [source]

@gotem_coach

Love it.

gotemcoach: If you’re looking for clips of Ron Artest on...

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:00:22 -0400

gotemcoach:

If you’re looking for clips of Ron Artest on Dancing with the Stars, you’re not going to find them here.

If you’re looking for pictures where I photoshop Ron into a Laker game wearing his ridiculous dancing outfits, you’re looking in the wrong place (though that’s a good idea).

The only dancing I like to see from Ron is the jubilant, up and down version he displayed after Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals in 2010.

The Lakers and Suns were tied 2-2 in a best of 7 showdown, and the winner of Game 5 was sure to take a stranglehold on the series. Tied at 101, with 3.5 seconds left, an inbounds pass went directly to Kobe, who hoisted a deep, contested two-point shot. Ron Ron picked up on the flight of the ball, immediately reacted, and cut directly to the basket to rebound the sure miss.

With a catch, spin and shot all in one move, Ron put in the game-winner at the horn. The Lakers would finish the Suns in Game 6, before heading to the Finals where Los Angeles beat their hated rivals, the Boston Celtics, for the 2010 NBA Finals.

That’s how I remember Ron Artest. That’s how I remember him dancing. Hell, after that basket, all the Lakers danced. Together.

@gotem_coach

For more on Ron Artest, read my column at LakerNation.com: Ron Artest vs, Metta World Peace

I have an Artest jersey. He is one of my favorite Lakers. This game, and game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals, are the reasons why.

Twitterature

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:58:29 -0400

No, not that Twitterature.

Imagine the best bit of writing you’ve ever read. Those sentences that leaped out from the page, grabbed your attention, and demanded to be seen, admired, shared, repeated. The very best work of the very best authors.

Now, imagine that writing stripped of all context: no plot to clarify meaning, no characters whose quirks and personality inform the tone of what is being read, no greater narrative purpose to serve.

Let the words stand on their own. Let the sheer craftsmanship of the text speak for itself. Attempt in literature what the visual arts have practiced for decades: technique for the sake of technique. Literary art in 140 characters or less.

That is twitterature.

On the GOP

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:31:07 -0400

My thoughts on the state of the Republican Party — of which I still consider myself a member — in answer to a friend’s question on Facebook:

I don’t buy into liberal class warfare. I’m pro-life, and believe in a muscular foreign policy that promotes the freedom agenda around the world.

But it seems that conservative economic principles — which were once rooted in competence and pragmatism — have been replaced with absolutist dogma, resulting in a party that is trying to apply the solutions of the 1980s to the problems of the 2010’s.

We are paranoid inflation hawks at a time of low inflation and high unemployment.

We remain firmly entrenched in the cult of Norquist, convinced that the ideal marginal tax rate is always “lower” — a reflexive direction, not a realistic destination — and that cutting taxes will always magically pay for itself (instead of being effective given a narrow set of specific economic circumstances).

We pay lip service to the idea of reducing the deficit, but are unrealistic to the point of irresponsibility when it comes to what it will take to make deficit reduction work.

We insist that our policy preferences not depart a single iota from that of Ronald Reagan despite the fact that (a) economic circumstances are dramatically different now than in the stagflation era of the 1980s, and (b) Ronald Reagan actually *did* do many of the things that we now so vehemently oppose.

In reality, a government should act differently when there is deflation than when there is runaway inflation. Government should respond differently to persistently high unemployment than it should to an economy running at full steam. Different circumstances should result in different policy, not an ever-louder crescendo of dire warnings about imaginary threats.

I don’t ask that we abandon our commitment to small government and federalism. I just wish that we would rediscover our sense of competence and fiscal discipline!

Page-Turning Goodness

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:24:00 -0400

Page-Turning Goodness:

The beautiful, talented, and delightful Ms. Jenna Fredericksen — soon to be Jenna Winn! — is selling nifty hand-crafted wares on Etsy. If you’re looking for high-end custom invitations for a wedding or baby shower, or perhaps a beautiful saltwater-pearl bracelet for you or someone special, be sure to click on through and check out her site!

Couple, married 83 years, share their secret

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:04:55 -0400

Couple, married 83 years, share their secret:

Their six children — three have been married for 50 years or longer — begat 39 grandchildren, who begat 101 great-grandchildren, who have so far begotten 40 great-great-grandchildren. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s 186 descendants.

I’m getting married next year. I don’t know if Jenna and I will both still be alive in 83 years, but if we are, we’ll be together.

My head a splode. One of my favorite bands playing a song from...

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:01:34 -0400

My head a splode. One of my favorite bands playing a song from one of my favorite Disney movies!

Not Ready For Prime Time

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 13:17:24 -0400

Not Ready For Prime Time:

RIM, for instance, shipped its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet in April, then immediately began flooding the airwaves with ads that touted it as the first “professional grade” tablet and boasted of its support for Adobe Flash. Which would have been dandy … except that the tablet was thoroughly glitchy and sported a version of Flash that barely worked. The PlayBook’s marketing campaign was ready; the PlayBook wasn’t.

Like the PlayBook, nearly all the tablets that have followed Apple’s iPad onto the market feel like they were designed with a sense of urgency that trumped all else. It’s no coincidence that none of them have been big hits. If a serious iPad rival does come along, it won’t be one that was shipped prematurely.

All of which brings me back to Apple. Heaven knows, it often ships products that don’t include all the features an average consumer might want. But even when its products don’t “just work” in a way that feels practically mystical, they do work. What does it say about the state of the tech industry that this comes as a refreshing surprise?

I wonder how much of Apple’s competitive advantage over the past decade — from the iPod, to the iPhone, to the iPad — comes from getting there first. Even after other products (more or less) “catch up”, Apple still has the reputation of excellence that was cemented when they released a kick-ass product and competitors released hastily-engineered, shoddily-made knock-offs. Even when the product differentiation shrinks, the brand identity has already been cemented in the public mind.

Which isn’t to say that Apple doesn’t also maintain real substantive advantages in product as well. But the perceived gap likely outstrips the real gap, as competitors (especially in the smartphone market) make up for lost ground.

Note that this is true even without the crushing weight of patent litigation. Innovation has its own rewards.

Most of you have no idea what Martin Luther King actually did

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:46:00 -0400

Most of you have no idea what Martin Luther King actually did:

If you are a white person who has always lived in the U.S. and never under a brutal dictatorship, you probably don’t know what my father was talking about.

But this is what the great Dr. Martin Luther King accomplished. Not that he marched, nor that he gave speeches.

He ended the terror of living as a black person, especially in the south.

An interesting — and moving — perspective. I’m not a fan of DailyKos but this is worth reading.

PWINNING!

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 12:39:42 -0400

PWINNING!:

pwinn:

The following terms are now to be used frequently:

opwinnion: Not a fact, and not your opinion, but pwinn’s opwinnions.

pwinnterfell: From George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series of books, or the Game of Thrones HBO series, this is the home of the Starks.

pwinnter: The…

Couldn’t let PWinn have all the fun. Hence, Tumblr.

Rawr.

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 12:29:27 -0400

I have a Tumblr! Now watch me never use it.