Does anyone remember the Star Wars spoof short film "Hardware Wars"?

I remember watching this short film on HBO when I was eight years old and hadn't seen it since until now.

Why they want to go over the cliff | POLITICO

This is an interesting explanation for why no one in Washington seems too concerned about going over the fiscal cliff:

"It’s a Nash equilibrium. John Nash, subject of “A Beautiful Mind,” the Oscar-winning film that revolved around game theory, explained how players act in a multiplayer game. Put simply, if each player understands his adversaries’ strategies, no one will alter their own course. Right now, Obama, Boehner and Reid are locked in on a course for the cliff, and there’s no obvious solution that would make any of them switch directions."

Christmas Hoedown from "Whose Line Is It Anyway?"

If you remember the old TV show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?", one of their most popular games was called hoedown. One of my favorite hoedowns of all time has to be the Christmas hoedown from a 1999 episode. As a non-Christian growing up in the USA, I think I can totally relate to Drew Carey's lines here. Also, after all these years, I finally learned what Ryan Stiles says in his lines.

Merry Christmas!!! ENJOY!

iMentor Volunteers Mentor the Next Generation of Software Engineers at the Academy for Software Engineering | iMentor

A great blog post about an awesome new public high school in New York City and a fantastic mentoring program working with that school. (Full disclosure: I am one of the iMentor mentors assigned to this school.)

CNN/ORC Poll: Republicans too extreme | POLITICO

Not a very surprising result from the recent CNN/ORC poll:

"Fifty-three percent of Americans said the GOP is too extreme, according to a CNN/ORC poll. That’s up 17 percentage points from two years ago, when Republicans were coming off a midterm walloping where they took control of the House. A matching 53 percent said Republicans should compromise more. However, Americans don’t want the GOP to lose control of the lower chamber, according to the poll."

After shooting, no more status quo | Joe Scarborough

Awesome column by Joe Scarborough, truly speaking from the head and the heart:

"The violence we see spreading from shopping malls in Oregon, to movie theaters in Colorado, to college campuses in Virginia, to elementary schools in Connecticut, is being spawned by the toxic brew of a violent pop culture, a growing mental health crisis and the proliferation of combat-style guns."

NRA goes on lockdown | POLITICO.com

No statements whatsoever from the NRA since Friday's heinous murders. Good.

Political shift of Asian Americans | The Hill

Great op-ed piece detailing the prevailing election trends of Asian-Americans. I'm glad the column started with this obvious but often overlooked fact:

"The National Asian American Survey reminds us that Asian Americans are a disparate community, hailing from counties as diverse as India and China, Cambodia and Japan."

It's strange the National Asian American Survey has to "remind" people of this fact but I have a feeling that is going to be less and less of an issue in the future.

Rany on the Royals: The GOP And Me.

A long but worthwhile read about religion and politics from Rany Jazayerli, co-founder of Baseball Prospectus.