Thursday, October 29, 2009

Can TCU Make the BCS National Championship Game?

Can TCU make the BCS national championship game? As crazy as this seemed a few weeks ago....yes they sure can. Be careful before you bring up the "they haven't palyed anybody" argument. TCU has. In fact the computers rank TCU's strength of schedule above that of Texas. TCU has road wins at Clemson (leading the ACC Atlantic Division), Virginia, and BYU as well as at Air Force in a sleet storm. TCU can flat out play.

So how do they get into the BCS title game you ask? Currently TCU is #6 in the BCS. Well let's take a look at the rest of the story. Let's start with Iowa. By far the most overrated team at the top. The masters of squeeking by bad to average teams. Barely eeked out victories over Northern Iowa and very average Michigan and Michigan State sides. Iowa loses at Ohio State November 14th.

Everyone knows Alabama and Florida will have to meet eventually....that is if they can stay unbeaten until then. Both are playing with fire lately, but still winning. One of these two in the BCS title game.

That leaves Texas and USC. Both have better shots than TCU and will both have to lose for TCU to get in. Both have 1 tough road game left. Texas must win this weekend at Oklahoma State and USC must win this weekend at Oregon. Both tricky trips. If both slipup than TCU would vault up.

I know alot has to fall in TCU's favor to get the BCS title game, but who would have seen TCU rising this far so fast anyways? Win at Clemson in front of 70,000 in a rain storm. Demolish BYU in Provo. Blast Virginia on the road. Crazier things have happened.....

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Will Americans be Forced to Buy Health Insurance?

The new Health Bill is coming. Make no bones about it. The Democrats are going to force it through whether it is good for the country or not. A requirement of the new healthcare bill will be that all Americans will be forced to buy health insurance. Isn't a major problem with the current healthcare system that uninsured patients are being forced to be given treatment. These uninsured patients are thus absorbed by the system forcing costs up for everyone.

Well let me ask this. How can someone too poor to be able to afford health insurance now, be forced by law to buy health insurance once the bill passes? What will be done with these people? This is like trying to solve the homeless problem by requiring all people without a home to buy one or face breaking the law. Huh?

President Obama said in a speech that for those that cannot afford health insurance the government will provide it via tax relief. Well let's see. Someone earning $10 or less an hour does not have a tax burden at the end of the year and all the withholding they paid for the year will still not pay the cost of health insurance for that person. How will you give someone that has no tax burden a tax credit?

The fact is that a portion of the American public cannot afford health insurance and the US Government is too broke to buy it for them. So what is the solution?  These people will not buy health insurance.  Instead they will receive a bill in the mail from the US government as those without insurance after Jan 2014 will be penalized.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Mafia Wars - The Cellphone Problem

Well anyone that has gotten very far into Mafia Wars has seen that it takes an amazing amount of untraceable cell phones to knock out the New York stages. Literally hundreds will be required. Two jobs on the Capo level, one on the Consgiliere level and another on the Underboss level will definitely try the Mafia War patience.

The problem many Mafia War players face though is how to best obtain the cellphones they need over the course of the game. The key is to be efficient. There is no requirement that you knock out all of New York before heading on to Cuba and Moscow. Be efficient in Mafia Wars.

The mistake many players make is that they waste tons and tons of energy back on the Enforcer level job of Robbing an Electronics Store to try and get enough cellphones. Once you have mastered level 3 of the Enforcer level you are just throwing away energy to get the untraceable cellphones. It is wasted energy in Mafia Wars.

Just go on knocking out jobs at other levels in New York, Cuba and Moscow. Get cellphones from gifting friends as well as fighting. It is slow going, but at least you are using your energy in a positive manner by doing jobs you need to get done.

They also threw us a bone in Moscow as in Episode 1 the Arrange a Drug Shipment job yields cellphones. If you are dying to grab cellphones and finish the New York tier make sure to do the Moscow job over the New York job to get your cellphones. The Moscow job yields them in much much greater frequency.

Best of luck with Mafia Wars on Facebook!

Friday, October 2, 2009

Chicago eliminated from 2016 Olympic consideration

In a shocker of monumental proportions, Chicago was eliminated in the first round of voting for the rights to host the 2016 Olympic Games. Nobody expected the vote at all. In fact, the result was so surprising that there was no reaction frolm the crowd at all upon announcement. Just stunned silence.

What does this mean to Barack Obama who made the trip to Stockholm to present for the bid? It is definitely a blow to the United States as well as Chicago. It means a major loss of economic impact. Chicago was counting on over 4.5 billion in economic impact from the Olympic Games. Estimates are the Olympics are worth 14 Super Bowls to put it in perspective.

Tokyo was eliminated as well leaving only Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Madrid, Spain as the final two for the 2016 Olympics. The final decision will be announced later today with Brazil being the heavy heavy favorites.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Mafia Wars - Making Money in Moscow

Rubles can get a little short in Mafia Wars Moscow it seems. I think that is a good thing though as it makes it more challenging. I liked that fact about Cuba as well. Took a little more planning and thinking to make your $$ stretch farther. The same seems to be true in Moscow. I chugged along fine at the beginning, but now I am into Episode 2 and the rubles are running thin.

One thing you can do to help make up the ruble deficits is to do all your fighting in Moscow and search for people that havent banked their rubles. Seems I can make a tidy amount just from finding the right people to fight.

Grab the Cigarette Smuggling Ring business in Mafia Wars. It yields R$30,000 every three hours making the break even approximately 4 days. After that it is pure profit.

Best of luck in Mafia Wars and happy fighting! Please feel free to leave any other tips in comments.