July 10, 2007
And won. $5.85 MILLION. And guess what? She's not the only one. There are two more lawsuits pending, including one from the former women's basketball coach that ought to blow the doors off the good ol' boys club that is the FSU athletic office.
A jury on Monday awarded a former Fresno State volleyball coach $5.85 million in damages, ruling that the school discriminated against her for speaking up on behalf of female athletes.The university, of course, released a statement whining about pretrial publicity influencing the jury. Umm? Dude. You're FRESNO STATE. Get a few male football fans on that jury, you shouldn't have had to worry, but you STILL LOST. Get over yourselves. The athletic office has screwed women's sports programs six ways from Sunday. It's time you were held accountable for it.Lindy Vivas, 50, was fired in 2004, two years after coaching her team to its best season in history. University officials said Vivas was let go because she did not meet performance goals and ran a program that often played in empty arenas.
Vivas sued in civil court, saying her contract was not renewed because she raised her voice to advocate for equal treatment of women athletes and access to facilities at Fresno State, a Division I school with a sprawling central California campus.
The jury award, which took into account Vivas' back wages, future lost pay and emotional distress, is likely the largest ever granted to a coach suing for retaliation under Title IX, a landmark federal law requiring gender equity in scholastic athletics, said the coach's lawyer, Dan Siegel.
"Fresno State wants to be a big-time athletic power, but it has to start acting like one. That means treating men and women the same," Siegel said. "This is a complete vindication of her and who Lindy is as a person, as a coach, and what she had to live with as a result of their actions."
Read the whole thing here, or the local article here.
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July 09, 2007
Aw Shucks Grilled Corn
(originally from Rick Browne's Barbecue America TV Cookbook, found here)
6 ears fresh corn, with shucks on
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup softened butter
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons dried ancho chile powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
fresh ground pepper
1. Soak the corn in salt water for several hours to get the shucks moist. (Add 2 Tbs. salt to 1 gallon of water).
2. In a medium bowl combine mayonnaise, butter, sugar, lime juice, chili, garlic and pepper until the ingredients are well mixed.
3. Grill the corn, with the shucks intact, over hot coals or high gas burners on the grill, turning frequently, until done, about 30 minutes. The shucks will often turn dark/black but will protect the corn.
4. Peel the shucks back, one at a time, until most of the corn is exposed and then remove the silk. With a pastry brush lavishly coat the corn with the spiced mayonnaise-butter mixture.
5. Serve with shucks tied together like a handle.
We used regular dark chili powder, and no brown sugar or lime juice (I was out of limes), and I added Pappy's and onion powder to the mix. Yummy!
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Even if you've only seen the movies, I'm interested in other people's takes on it. Especially if you disagree radically, or if you agree, but for different reasons. Post your predictions in the comments. Contest ends July 20, 2007. Void where prohibited. Do not fold, spindle, or multilate.
I'll start: My own "official" prediction is Snape and Hagrid. Maybe Draco Malfoy. Snape is a good guy and proves it via his death. Similarly I suspect Malfoy bites it to prove his own "redemption". And poor Hagrid is the "Innocent" of the stereotypical hero myth, so I suspect he gets caught in the crossfire and his senseless death serves as a spur to Harry's ultimate action against He Who Shall Not Be Named. I think Harry lives too. He almost MUST. And if Harry lives, Ginny probably does too. Remember, Harry WILL end up with Ginny. Hermione is in love with Weasley. Speaking of, if she kills off either Ron or Hermione before they get a happily ever after I will hurl the book at whatever is close and cry for a while. Profanity will be uttered, too. Deep, dark profanity, of the sort that forms the proverbial cloud over Lake Michigan...
this post inspired by sarahk's
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It's not super hard, as Presidents with the same last name are entered together when you type in the name. The timer starts when you click the link.
h/t El Capitan
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My dear friend wRitErsbLock wrote something this morning that struck a nerve with me. She writes:
Do not ask people "when are you going to start having children?"Very succinct. About the only thing she didn't mention is maybe the couple has medical issues that must be resolved first.....It might just be a very, very sore subject for the couple.
Maybe one wants children while the other does not. Maybe you asking that question will cause the couple to have yet another fight about it later on.
Maybe the couple is unable to conceive and has been trying without success for quite some time. If so, you just helped plunge them back into despair.
Maybe the couple hates children and never plan to have any.
No matter where the couple is at, you are stepping into dangerous water when you ask the question. It's none of your business. And you are running a risk of either angering the couple or upsetting them. So just don't ask.
People really fuck me off when they ask this kind of shit. It may take a village to raise a child, but does the entire village need to know the details of the conception and whether or not the child was wanted, planned, or a complete surprise? Does the whole village need to know why?
It's amazing to me how the most private and significant moments in our lives, and their accordant choices seem to be public fodder: who we marry (or not, as the case may be), whether we parent, and how we parent. People pop out of the woodwork with advice and questions better for weddings and babies than any other event I've ever seen. Every new mom or mom-to-be that I know has been made to feel pathetic for one choice or another with regard to her baby.
And you know what else fucks me over? A lot of these nosy nellies are the same bitches who go around screaming, 'My Body, My Choice" but then they want to censor your right to do the SAME FUCKING THING if your choices don't agree with their holy-anointed-best-for-the-child-best-for-the-world-happy-shiny BS.
AUUUGH. Get over yourselves, people
With regard to WB's post, the real answer is this: You shouldn't have to ask. If you know me well enough to PRESUME to ask such questions, you should already know the answer. So if you're even considering asking those kinds of questions, that should serve as your notice that I don't want you to know.
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July 07, 2007
Ok. I can do that.
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July 04, 2007
The 24-year-old son of former Vice President Al Gore was arrested for drug possession on Wednesday after he was stopped for allegedly speeding in his hybrid Toyota Prius, a sheriff's official said.Well, that answers a burning question of mine.... I was wondering if the Prius had any guts. Turns out that it might not be worthless as a vehicle, after all,
Al Gore III -- whose father is a leading advocate of policies to fight global warming -- was driving his environmentally friendly car at about 100 miles per hour on a freeway south of Los Angeles when he was pulled over by an Orange County sheriff's deputy at about 2:15 a.m..
A subsequent search yielded a small amount of marijuana, along with prescription drugs including Valium, Xanax, Vicodin and Adderall, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. There were no prescriptions found, he said.
Gore was arrested on suspicion of drug possession and booked into the Inmate Reception Center in Santa Ana, about 34 miles south of Los Angeles, on $20,000 bail, he said.
As for algore, junior, MWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA. Moron.
h/t Steve-O
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4 July 2007Oh hells yes.
HERO CABBIE: I KICKED BURNING TERRORIST SO HARD IN BALLS THAT I TORE A TENDON
A HERO cabbie who took on the Glasgow Airport terror suspects told yesterday how he booted one of them in the privates.If NHS wasn't free, I do believe that someone would be picking up this man's tab. I guess if the fucktard dies of his burns, he won't be able to use those 72 virgins....Alex McIlveen, 45, kicked the man, whose body was in flames, so hard that he tore a tendon in his foot.
But he said last night: "He didn't even flinch. I couldn't believe he didn't go down.
"A doctor told me later I'd damaged a tendon in my foot."
h/t Denny
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July 03, 2007
You Are Bert
|
 Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them! You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil
How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others |
h/t Oscar the Grouch
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Behavioural experts have found that infants begin to lie from as young as six months. Simple fibs help to train them for more complex deceptions in later life.So babies are pushing their boundaries almost from day 1. It's really no surprise to a developmental biologist. Children's brains are built to explore, and from the moment they exit the womb they are continually surveying their environment for cues as to "the rules", this includes everything from object permanence to gravity, to the social niceties of their individual culture. These early manipulations are simply another form of exploration; that is, figuring out how to most effectively get the reward (attention, approval, toys, food, etc.) that they want.Until now, psychologists had thought the developing brains were not capable of the difficult art of lying until four years old.
Following studies of more than 50 children and interviews with parents, Dr Vasudevi Reddy, of the University of Portsmouth's psychology department, says she has identified seven categories of deception used between six months and three-years-old.
Infants quickly learnt that using tactics such as fake crying and pretend laughing could win them attention. By eight months, more difficult deceptions became apparent, such as concealing forbidden activities or trying to distract parents' attention.
By the age of two, toddlers could use far more devious techniques, such as bluffing when threatened with a punishment.
Dr Reddy said: "Fake crying is one of the earliest forms of deception to emerge, and infants use it to get attention even though nothing is wrong. You can tell, as they will then pause while they wait to hear if their mother is responding, before crying again.
"It demonstrates they're clearly able to distinguish that what they are doing will have an effect. This is essentially all adults do when they tell lies, except in adults it becomes more morally loaded."
It kind of makes me sad though, as I'd prefer to see babies as little innocents, rather than this more cynical view of children as pre-programed manipulation machines.
Oh, and 10 points to the first person who identifies the source of the title....don't Google it, Google has a bunch of sources....
h/t Wired Science
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The money quotes start at about 1:30 left. And yes, this is the video of the interview that yielded the quotes discussed here.
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July 02, 2007
On the other hand, it was a bit disconcerting to hear the words sung with an Italian-influenced accent. This is the third time I've seen this particular bit of the concert, and something had bothered me about it from the first few notes each time. Now I realize that it was the pronunciation of the words.
In that sense, I'd like to apologize to the gods of classical music everywhere for my pitiful American attempts at French, German, Latin, Italian, Russian, Spanish, and any other language I have attempted to sing in in my brief choral career. Considering the difference between Bocelli's amazing talent, and my pitiful voice, I can only imagine how awful my American-accented words must be in other languages, no matter how hard I try....
Here's Bocelli's Music of the Night:
and here is Sarah Brightman and Josh Groban, with All I Ask of You, for comparison:
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'The idea that as a Muslim in this country that you don't have the freedom to express your religion or your views, I mean you've got far more freedom in this country than you do in most Muslim countries,' Blair told Observer columnist Will Hutton, who presents the documentary.Honestly, I have been waiting for this since Tony and Cherie walked out of 10 Downing Street. You know there has to be a LOT boiling beneath that calm exterior.'The reason we are finding it hard to win this battle is that we're not actually fighting it properly. We're not actually standing up to these people and saying, "It's not just your methods that are wrong, your ideas are absurd. Nobody is oppressing you. Your sense of grievance isn't justified."'
Blair held out the example of the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan - criticised by Islamists as an example of the heavy-handed imperial West oppressing Muslims - to highlight unfounded claims of grievance. He asked how it is possible to claim that Afghanistan's Muslims are being oppressed when the Taliban 'used to execute teachers for teaching girls in schools'.
Blair added: 'How are [we] oppressing them? You're oppressing them when you support the people who are trying to blow them up.'
Blair, who normally chooses his language carefully when he talks about Islamists, also takes a swipe at critics who accused him of undermining civil liberties. 'When I'm trying to change the law in order to make it easier to deport people who engage in terrorism - the idea that that's an assault on hundreds of years of British civil liberties is completely absurd. Some of what is written on this is loopy-loo in its extremism.'
I look forward to more of what Tony has to say. Glad to hear he's not going quietly into his next assignment as mideast envoy.
h/t Martin at MVRWC
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Broadway actress Audra McDonald is set to co-star in ABC's Grey's Anatomy spinoff, Private Practice, where she will replace Merrin Dungey.While I only met Audra briefly, years ago, her dad was my HS principal, and a pretty good dude. He died earlier this spring, and I know this news would have made his day, as a prouder Dad of all his kids you would be hard pressed to find.The new medical drama centers on neonatal surgeon, Addison Forbes Montgomery (Kate Walsh), who moves to Los Angeles and joins the private medical practice of her once-married, newly divorced medical school friends, Naomi and Sam Bennett.
McDonald will play Naomi Bennett, a role played by Dungey in the two-hour "Grey's" episode that launched "Practice." (Sam Bennett is played by Taye Diggs.)
McDonald has won four Tony Awards, and was nominated for a fifth this year for her lead role in the Roundabout Theatre's revival of the musical "110 in the Shade." She next appears in ABC's adaptation of the play "A Raisin in the Sun," reprising her role as Sean Combs' wife in the 2004 revival of Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 play about black identity.
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We've been hearing threats to use the obsolete Fairness Doctrine to go after talk radio ever since the left-leaning talk radio network, Air America, failed. Ironically, I think Air America might have had a shot if its target audience hadn't already been served so well by many in the mainstream media. But regardless, giving the government veto power over radio stations' programming decisions is wrong. I don't think forcing the one sector of the media where conservatives have a clear voice to provide equal time to liberals is the American way. At the very least, it has a chilling effect on station owners.I agree 100%. A free media is NOT controlled by anything but the market. And the market will seek out whatever outlets it can for the exchange of ideas. Including the web. And Fred gets it. Which, I suspect, is why Fred is the ONLY major candidate doing any of the blogging himself.I understand how the left feels though. For most of my life, the big broadcast television networks and almost all the major newspapers and magazines presented only one side of a lot of issues. Talk radio is a relatively small part of a bigger media picture, but I imagine it aggravates the new congressional majority to hear their opposition's arguments without the old filters.
I would remind them, though, that a few Republicans were elected even when the entire mainstream media was painting us as heartless Neanderthals. I would also remind the current congressional leadership that they managed to win the last election despite talk radio.
Americans are smart enough to recognize news that's biased -- even when journalists pretend they're not. New polls show that more than seven in 10 people recognize that the news comes with an agenda. So maybe we should welcome a new Fairness Doctrine. We could start by requiring that every broadcast television news show be co-anchored by both a liberal and conservative; and all major newspaper staff be evenly divided.
Not much chance of that happening. Nor should it in a free country -- but I'll tell you something that those who want to control the media apparently don't know. Everyday, more people are listening to streaming radio on the Web and downloading podcasts. Some popular talk shows skip radio altogether and go straight to the Internet. You can even hear talk shows on Web-enabled telephones if you want, and that will get much easier and cheaper quickly.
If the current stars of talk were pushed off the radio dial, they'd get their audiences anyway. The era of controllable media is over, and nothing will ever bring it back.
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Last night we finally found out it's called Robot Chicken.
If you grew up in the 80s and had way too many action figures, this show is for you.
Holy crap, it's funny. It's filthy, too.
As proof, I offer Robot Chicken: Star Wars:
(PG-13 for violence and some language)
Part I:
Part II:
Part III:
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1. Did these bomb plotters actually hire former IRA bombmakers to teach them what to do?
and
2. Did those IRA bombmakers intentionally fuck them over so they wouldn't hurt anyone and would get caught?
I mean, the IRA hates the UK, but it's their island. Letting muslim terrorists blow it up kind of negates their point, right?
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June 30, 2007
Chrissie turns the big 4-0 today! Drop by and wish her all the best, as I do.
Happy Birthday my friend, and may the next year bring immeasurable blessings... in straightforward and entirely pleasant ways!
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June 28, 2007
You'll love the ending.
H/T the ever amusing and interesting Baldilocks
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Recently, the new UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the root cause of the current genocide in Darfur is [wait for it...] global warming. Now if you've been following the tragedy of the Darfur region in the African nation of Sudan, you know how absurd that statement is.This is the NUMBER ONE reason why I will vote for Fred, given the opportunity. He'll stand up to the international community, and especially the UN.There's not room here for even a good summary, but let me make a few points. Sudan straddles the line between Christian African and Muslim Arabic cultures, bordering Egypt and Libya on the north. Bloody regional warfare stretches back centuries but, in modern times, the country has been in pretty much of a constant state of war since the 1950s. It's safe to say that millions have died in wars that are often aimed at control of the rich oil fields in the South. Today, however, the vastly reduced African Christian population isn't even involved. Two Muslim factions, divided along racial lines, are fighting for control of Darfur.
Now it's true that the return of cyclical droughts has made agriculture and life more and more difficult for the people in the region. The impact of the weather, however, doesn't approach the destruction that generations of warfare have worked on the land and the people. With peace and freedom, the economy of Darfur could have easily adapted to any climate change no matter the cause.
Why, then, would the new UN Secretary General blame climate change? I think it's pretty obvious.
Blaming the Islamic government and groups that have manipulated events in Sudan will get him nothing but enemies. Blaming global warming, however, is basically the same thing as blaming America. America is by no means the only major source of greenhouse gases, but we've taken the most political heat. The reason is that congress rightfully balked at ratifying the Kyoto international climate treaties during the Clinton presidency.
There is simply no downside to blaming America, because Americans don't punish their ideological foes. From the UN, we don't even require sanity sometimes. And there might even be an upside to blaming us, since there are Americans who suffer from such ingrained feelings of guilt, they'll support increased aid to both the UN and Sudan.
There is a lesson to be learned here, though. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is arguably the most powerful man in the international community today. We know he's unwilling to blame those who actually gave the orders to commit genocide in Darfur. And apparently he's happy to shift the blame for ongoing deaths to those living peaceful, productive lives in the West.
Now hopefully we can work toward international cooperation with regard to environmental policies that make sense. It's not very encouraging though when the head of the world's leading international body uses climate change as an all purpose excuse in order to avoid hard realities.
And I'd be happy to put the title of this post on my car as a bumper sticker, together with the phrase "Fred Thompson '08".
There's nothing I can add here. Fred calls out the absurdity better than I ever could.
Run Fred Run!
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