I don’t know about other local papers, but the local weekly paper for Enfield use to have a police blotter listing a select number of arrests and incidences over the last week.  The blotter was probably the best thing about the paper besides finding yourself covered in the high school sports section.  TU has a similar blotter entitled “Campus Crimewatch” in which Campus Security lists any incidences which required a report to be filed.  Cases tend to mostly involved party shutdowns, public drunkenness or parking violators getting their car towed.  Yet every now and then something pops up in the blotter that makes you scratch your head and wonder. Here’s one such example from last Thursday

A student reported being harassed by a non-TU person they met at an off-campus restaurant a few days earlier. The student, wanting to practice their Spanish, conversed with the Hispanic suspect and gave their address and phone number to the suspect. The suspect began contacting the student’s cell phone constantly and then arrived uninvited to the student’s apartment wanting to be let in. The student contacted Security and told the suspect to leave her alone. The suspect left the area prior to Officers arrival and has not returned to the campus. A copy of this report will be forwarded to Housing and Student Affairs for their review.

I don’t know about you but I generally didn’t head into restaurants and start speaking with people to practice my Spanish. Nor did I give a random person I had just met my phone number and address.  Here’s hoping Ms. Let’s Practice Spanish doesn’t get too many emails from Nigerian Princes.

Bonus blotter report:

An employee reported their catalytic converter stolen from their vehicle while it was parked in the Harvard Lot. Suspects are unknown and an investigation is pending.

Here’s an excellent piece from “Puck Daddy” that not only summarizes the current discussion of whether or not the Atlanta Thrashers will relocate to Canada but also provides a solid no in response. To quote the takeaway

Bettman’s reign in the NHL has been one of expansion, not contraction; of venturing forth to new frontiers, rather than retreating to comfort zones.

The success of these initiatives can, and should, be dissected and debated. But there’s no question that moving a Bettman era expansion or relocated team (like Atlanta or Phoenix) north of the border carries with it a sense of defeat, of failure, of having staked a claim in a new market and then having seen that market, for whatever reason, reject the NHL.

And you expect Gary Bettman to symbolically admit tothat?

Not only would it be a sign of defeat for Bettman but the ill will created towards the league in any city with relocation can’t be something anyone in the NHL front offices hopes for. Plus, for people in Hartford still dreaming about a return of the real whale take a look at the cities mentioned. If you were hoping for Hartford you probably don’t want to look.

I was given one of the Keurig Coffee Makers (The Platinum Series as a Christmas present from a relative and have enjoyed it so far. I did happen to glance at some reviews online as I was registering the machine to get some free “K-Cups” and noticed there’s quite a bit of negative reviews on the machine. I tend to ignore online reviews as those who have issues tend to be more vocal than those who have the machine and love it.

So anyone have one and run into issues with it? I also welcome suggestions for flavors to try.

Yes that’s Lieberman appearing on Fox News and seemingly calling for prosecuting the New York Times for publishing the cables.

Again, if my understanding of the law is correct, as long as a company or organization did not come into possession of material through illegal means then they didn’t commit a crime. So if Julian Assange did provide help to Bradley Manning or whoever stole the material than yes he could be prosecuted for something. But if he was simply passed the documents then it would seem the only person who committed a crime was whoever leaked the cables.

That being said the government could argue that the leaking of the cables and other documents provides a serious and imminent threat to the national security of the United States but it would seem the government has undermined themselves on this. Robert Gates has stated that the cables pose a minimal risk to the national security interests and there’s been little proof that anyone has been seriously harmed or put in jeopardy by the leaking of the cables. The protections on free speech and press in this country necessitate a very heavy burden of proof, something the whining of Lieberman and others doesn’t meet.

It’s a scray thought to have a sitting US Senator publicly indicate a willingness to censure and prosecute the press in the United States.

Earlier this year I made the move off of Tumblr after realizing their backup option for blogs hosted on the site was simply scraping everything off the blog and putting it on your desktop is individual html pages. When I moved off the site I had to spend a good day and a half hand importing into WordPress and editing the entries. I returned to Tumblr last month only to find them having tons of issues ranging from over capacity to just erroring for no apparent reason.

I still maintain a tumblr blog for links but nothing else, I don’t trust a company that provides minimal backup tools to host anything of “importance,” and it looks like I made the right call. Gruber points out that Tumblr has been down for 13 hours straight and says they’re trying to recover from an issue in their database clusters. I’m no tech guy but usually when I hear databases and issues it’s generally not a good thing.

What’s made worse by all of this is that the staff has literally said nothing about any of the issues the site has had over the last few months. The Staff Blog is obviously unreachable but the only thing that they’ve posted there in the last few months is either promotions of new features or promoting all the hip blogs they have on the site.

I’ll be trying to work out a way to incorporate links on this blog in the near future but once Tumblr gets back up and running I’ll be shutting down the account over there.

That time of the year is upon us again, the time only truly enjoyed by local chamber of commerces, NCAA brass, and compulsive gamblers. Yes it’s time for the College bowl season, a slate of 34 meaningless exposition games and one meaningful national championship match. To help plan your next five weeks (yes five) of college football watching, here’s your (un)edumacated guide to the bowl season. ¹ All games on ESPN unless noted and all times Eastern.

New Mexico Bowl | BYU (6-6) v. UTEP (6-6) | Dec. 18 | 2:00 PM

Is this the same BYU that ESPN just signed to some multi-million dollar television contract? I guess they have the money and it fits their scheme to get all of college football on the network. Cougs.

Humanitarian Bowl | Northern Illinois (10-3) v. Fresno St. (8-4) | Dec. 18 | 5:30 PM

There’s nothing humane about losing a MAC championship no one watched and then having to play in Boise. It’s like agreeing to play in the ninth level of hell for money. Whores. Northern Illinois over the Walrus.

New Orleans Bowl | Ohio (8-4) v. Troy (7-5) | Dec. 18 | 9:00 PM

Had to look up where Troy was from. There’s from Alabama. Which has to suck when the in-state cousins keep managing to do important stuff. Small steps I guess. Bobcats.

Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl St. Petersburg | Southern Miss (8-4) v. Louisville (6-6) | Dec. 21 | 8:00 PM

ESPN lists this as the Beef ‘O’ Brady Bowl St. Petersburg Bowl. Either way Southern Miss rolls while the rest of us get drunk at a Beef ‘O’ Brady’s.

Las Vegas Bowl | Utah (10-2) v. Boise St. (11-1) | Dec. 22 | 8:00 PM

Look on the bright side Boise, you may not be in the BCS but you can take your Las Vegas Bowl winnings and head down to the MGM Grand and probably triple what you’d get from the BCS.

Poinsettia Bowl | Navy (8-3) v. San Diego St. (8-4) | Dec. 23 | 8:00 PM

I got nothing. Navy.

Hawaii Bowl | Hawaii (10-3) v. Tulsa (9-3) | Dec. 24 | 8:00 PM

This bowl has to have been created solely to give Hawaii a home bowl game because we all know what happens when they travel off the island to play. Going with the homer pick, Tulsa.

Little Caesar’s Bowl | FIU (6-6) v. Toledo (8-4) | Dec. 26 | 8:30 PM

Who says Detroit always gets the raw end of the deal? They’ve got a rebounding city and the clear highlight of the bowl season. I’m sure the stands will be packed for this one. Toledo.

Independence Bowl | Air Force (8-4) v. Georgia Tech (6-6) | Dec. 27 | 5:00 PM | ESPN2

Lee Corso should be forced to call this one because he’ll be able to pull out his NCAA Football commentary “Ohhh…The Option!” for every play. Falcons.

Champs Sports Bowl | West Virginia (9-3) v. NC State (8-4) | Dec. 28 | 6:30 PM

West Virginia gets stuck here, ranked and with a better record than Uconn. Serves them right. Wolfpack.

Insight Bowl | Missouri (10-2) v. Iowa (7-5) | Dec. 28 | 10:00 PM

At least the bowl isn’t on the NFL Network this year. Missouri over patriotic Ricky Stanzi.

Military Bowl | East Carolina (6-6) v. Maryland (8-4) | Dec. 29 | 2:30 PM

What kind of pirate wears purple (besides gay ones)? East Carolina. Maryland rolls and Ralph Friedgen gets to go to Chuck E. Cheese’s afterwards.

Texas Bowl | Illinois (6-6) v. Baylor (7-5) | Dec. 29 | 6:00 PM

At one point during the season Baylor was leading the Big 12 South. Then they got rolled by Oklahoma St and Oklahoma. At least they beat Texas. Baylor.

Alamo Bowl | Oklahoma St (10-2) v. Arizona (7-5) | Dec. 29 | 9:15 PM

Mike Gundy and the ‘Pokes lost out in their first battle with the Stoops family. They’ll win the second one over the free falling Wildcats.

Armed Forces Bowl | Army (6-5) v. SMU (7-6) | Dec. 30 | 12:00 PM

The only reason the ponies are here is because they beat Tulsa early in the season when the team wasn’t all there. As a reward for that and for losing the Conference USA title game they get a home game. Damn Methodists. Black Knights.

Pinstripe Bowl | Kansas St. (7-5) v. Syracuse (7-5) | Dec. 30 | 3:20 PM

Who are we kidding about this one? Cliff Lee will be picking out his jersey number in the front office while 100 fans sit around in the stands watching this one. For those fans, Kansas St.

Music City Bowl | UNC (7-5) v. Tennessee (6-6) | Dec. 30 | 6:40 PM

The ten year old in side of me cried when it saw this was no longer the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl. Hehe, Gaylord. Dinner at Bruce Pearl’s house after the loss. I hear he makes really good comfort food.

Holiday Bowl | Nebraska (10-3) v. Washington (6-6) | Dec. 30 | 10:00 PM

Nice door prize for the Huskers as they leave the Big 12. They rolled over Washington earlier in the season, but that was when Martinez could play. Huskers.

Meineke Car Care Bowl | South Florida (7-5) v. Clemson (6-6) | Dec. 31 | 12:00 PM

This remains me, my car needs an oil change. Clemson.

Sun Bowl | Notre Dame (7-5) v. Miami (FL) (7-5) | Dec. 31 | 2:00 PM | CBS

Fightin’ Irish if they don’t spend too much time with Jose Cuervo.

Liberty Bowl | Central Florida (10-3) v. Georgia (6-6) | Dec. 31 | 3:30 PM

Fun fact: The Liberty Bowl was first played in Philly, then moved to Atlantic City where it basically operated as arena football for a season and then moved to Memphis. Other fun fact, Georgia made it to a bowl. George O’Leery and the Knights.

Chick Fil-A Bowl | South Carolina (9-4) v. Florida St. (9-4) | Dec. 31 | 7:30 PM

For all the talk about South Carolina this season this looks like just another four loss season for the team. Cocks.

TicketCity Bowl | Northwestern (7-5) v. Texas Tech (7-5) | Jan. 1 | 12:00 PM | ESPNU

Tuberville has to be pissed about Auburn. After all he leaves and two years later he’s stuck playing in the Cotton Bowl. Not the Cotton Bowl Bowl, just at Cotton Bowl. Tech.

Outback Bowl | Florida (7-5) v. Penn State (7-5) | Jan. 1 | 1:00 PM | ABC

Joe Paterno is such a nice old man. I could also go for a blooming onion. Eh, Florida.

Capital One Bowl | Alabama (9-3) v. Michigan St. (11-1) | Jan. 1 | 1:00 PM

This use to be the Tangerine Bowl and now it’s named for some company that sends me piles of junk mail. I hope Cincinnati’s mascot wins the mascot challenge, should help with his legal fees. Tide.

Gator Bowl | Miss State (8-4)  v. Michigan (7-5) | Jan. 1 | 1:30 PM | ESPN2

A win in this is going to save Rich Rod’s career? Jeez that’s some low standards. Miss State and mercifully end Rich Rod’s Michigan career.

Rose Bowl | Wisconsin (11-1) v. TCU (12-0) | Jan. 1 | 5:00 PM

I hope they don’t bring Keith Jackson out of the crypt to call this one. Wisconsin opens up on TCU.

Fiesta Bowl | UConn (8-4) v. Oklahoma (11-2) | Jan. 1 | 8:30 PM

Remember when Boise State came in and no one gave them a chance and they did something bad to Oklahoma? Remember when West Virginia, newly divorced from Rich Rod, came in and also did something bad? Well UConn isn’t going to do that. OU gets their first BCS win since 2000.

Orange Bowl | Stanford (11-1) v. Virginia Tech (11-2) | Jan. 3 | 8:30 PM

How is it that the Hokies managed to lose to James Madison and still end up in a semi-worthwhile bowl? Andrew Luck and the tree roll.

Sugar Bowl | Ohio St. (11-1) v. Arkansas (10-2)  | Jan. 4 | 8:30 PM

Remember when we were talking about Pryor being a shoe in for the Heisman? Good times. Hogs.

GoDaddy.com Bowl | Middle Tennessee (6-6) v. Miami (OH) (9-4) | Jan. 6 | 8:00 PM

Congratulations Miami (of Ohio) you won the MAC Championship and a ticket to Mobile, Alabama. Still beats Boise. Redhawks.

Cotton Bowl | LSU (10-2) v. Texas A&M (9-3) | Jan. 7 | 8:00 PM | Fox

Les Miles will need to import his own grass seeing as how the Cotton Bowl won’t be at the Cotton Bowl. Tigers.

BBVA Compass Bowl | Pittsburgh (7-5) v. Kentucky (6-6) | Jan. 8 | 12:00 PM

Pitt could have gone to the Fiesta Bowl had they just won again West Virginia. Instead they get Alabama. Dion Lewis is pretty good. Pitt.

Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl | Nevada (12-1) v. Boston College (7-5) | Jan. 9 | 9:00 PM

Can I talk bad about a bowl that has a team that beat Boise, a player who survived cancer and a name that will supposedly fight hunger? Nope. Nevada.

BCS National Championship Game | Oregon (12-0) v. Auburn (13-0) | Jan. 10 | 8:30 PM

We’re finally here. The only freaking game in this whole post that actually matters for anything. It’s the metrosexual, coffee drinking hippies versus Cam Newton, and Cam isn’t going to care one bit about the game. After all his father will be finalizing his signing bonus with the Bills by this time. Was that laptop worth it Jeremiah? Did you learn a lesson?

So there we go folks. A full slate of action packed and lovely games to amuse you through the rest of the holiday season. Be careful, watch the eggnog, and try not to shoot the TV at any point.

SB Nation asked the answered everyone is going to be harping on for the next month, is UConn the worst BCS team ever? The UConn Blog, the basin of objectively it is, answers in the affirmative. I find it hard to argue they’re not having lost to Rutgers, Temple, Louisville and Michigan, but that’s overlooking quite a lot.

For one UConn is the worst BCS team ever because Pittsburgh lost to West Virginia. Had they won we’d still be looking at a four loss Big East team in the BCS. UConn also won the games it needed to, it beat both West Virginia and Pittsburgh. More importantly though is the sheer progress Randy Edsall has made with the program in the ten years since its been in FBS and the seven it’s been in the Big East.

Up until 2002 Uconn was playing games in Memorial Stadium stuck behind Gampel Pavilion, a clear sign of where the school’s sporting interests lied. Randy Edsall’s success with the team has created a football culture at what use to be a basketball school. Furthermore Edsall did a magnificence job keeping a team together that confronted the murder of a fellow teammate last season.

It truly is a shame that a broken system is going to cloud what Randy Edsall and Uconn has done in the last ten years. Of course my affection for Uconn football won’t stop me from rooting for their defeat should they meet up with the Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl (which of course could turn out like Boise State given OU’s BCS bowl record).

From the New York Times

Because you know no one is fearful of the web in the good ‘ole US of A.

I had read a few of “media diet” features on the Atlantic Wire, but stumbled across it again this morning and spent some time gazing into the lives of establishment media. Most of the posts were largely the same, almost all read the New York Times, Post, Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The Atlantic as well as listen to NPR. Almost all of them like print over electronic and a lot of them have a dislike for blogs. Again nothing that interesting or original from the in-crowd, but I still find it interesting to read about other people’s habits, partly, I guess, to see if there’s something I’m missing. (Which is the same reason to read The Setup, the same principle only applied to technology)

So if anyone is curious what an average Grad Student reads on a daily basis have fun, if not there’s obviously something wrong with you and you probably should have it looked in to.

To be honest I don’t really have a daily routine of any sort because the stuff that needs to be done ebbs and flows and invariably stuff for enjoyment takes a backseat. I do wish I had a daily routine and have been trying to force myself into one for a while now yet it invariably fails like diets or me trying to get up at 5 in the morning. So I guess this is more of a what I read and how I wish it would happen post rather than anything else. And I’ve now written three introduction paragraphs with nothing substantive (can these be substantive?)

On a good day I’d get up at 5 in the morning, pour the coffee and tune into the morning show from Springfield, Mass’s Rock 102. It’s crass, pointless and just the way to start off a day. While that’s on I skim the websites of the Hartford Courant and Tulsa World which is mostly to read the editorials, sports and maybe a news story if it catches my eye. I use to get the dead tree edition of the World but after repeated delivery issues (not showing up for days on end, a paperboy who found it cool to see if it could get the paper up to the third floor from the ground) I let the subscription end and just read it online for free. About the only thing I miss from the paper is the daily rundown of what sports I can watch on TV. I then turn to my RSS feeds and emails of Ezra Klein’s Wonkbook and Mike Allen’s Playbook. When finished I eat and shower and then listen to the rest of the radio morning show.

During the day I tend to avoid the Internet whenever I can otherwise I end up clicking too many links and suddenly it’s 4PM. If I listen to anything during the day it’s MP3s on shuffle or the local classic rock station. I do try to listen to Colin McEnroe’s show on WNPR in Connecticut at noon as its a delightful mix of politics, culture, and the weird but that comes and goes.

I get dead tree copies of Wired, Foreign Policy, Time, and Reason, the first two I spend the most time with. I only get Time because invariably a relative’s kid is selling magazines for school and its cheap enough and I only have Reason because I donated and it was in the thank gift bundle.

Television is mostly spent on sports (college, baseball, football, hockey, and when I remember real football) and the few series I remember to watch (mostly AMC’s, excluding Mad Men). Frankly I wish for day when we can get a la carte cable packages and I can get rid of the hundreds of channels I don’t watch.

My media diet in truth consists of stuff I really wish I had the time to read and stuff I have to read. I’ve got a bookcase full of books I’d love to read and an instapaper queue a mile long.

And now you know.

A lovely set of pictures is up on the Big Picture relating to the start of winter. Snow around Tulsa is hit or miss and when it does fall its only a few inches yet still manages to shut the city down for three days or so.

Anyway other favorites from the set include #4 with Darth Vader, #6 with a cabin I’d love to have in retirement and #17 which looks to be straight out of Narnia.

From Bruce Plante of the Tulsa World and provided without comment

Joe Lieberman has done a lot of loathsome things since I’ve been old enough to care about politics, including but not limited to: his stances on Iran and Iraq, his 2006 re-election campaign and his 2008 RNC speech. Yet today I can honestly say I’ve never been more ashamed to say I’m from Connecticut and thus represented by Lieberman. Why? If you haven’t heard grab a puke barrel and head over here for a full rundown of Lieberman’s anti-Wikileaks campaign.

It’s one thing if Amazon would choose to reject hosting Wikileaks independently and on their own, because just as with the pedophile book, it’s not a first amendment issue. Two private individuals can enter into or not enter into contracts at their will. Amazon can choose to host one website but not another and that’d be fine. But it looks like Joe pulled some strings and got Amazon to remove hosting Wikileaks because he doesn’t like them.

Joe’s position that, ”any other company or organization that is hosting Wikileaks [should] immediately terminate its relationship with them,” is basically like arguing the New York Times should not have been carried following the Pentagon Papers. As long as Wikileaks did nothing illegal to get the diplomatic cables (i.e. steal them) then it would seem pretty clear that they’ve done nothing illegal under US law. Bradley Manning, or whoever passed the cables onto them, is the one that can be held responsible but that doesn’t stop the information from getting out.

Honestly the only reason people are upset about these cables is because it sheds light on the stuff they were previously doing (or supported) and may put those positions in a bad light. Robert Gates himself said the impact of the cables would be minor, yet that won’t stop pundits from saying Wikileaks has blood on their hands or that Assange should be assassinated without due process. I applaud Wikileaks fhey’re doing and probably should mail Lieberman a copy of New York Times Co. v. United States.

Addendum

Lieberman doubles down saying we “need to put pressure on any companies [that are] providing that kind of access to the Internet to Wikileaks,”

He goes on to argue Assange needs to be apprehended and brought to trial because if we don’t “this will keep happening.” In other words Lieberman wants Assange’s scalp to serve as a warning to anyone else who wants to hold politicians accountable, do it and end up like Julian.

You’ll have to excuse my language but after buying tickets to two Connecticut Whale games I’m both annoyed and dumbfounded about ticketmaster’s stupidity. Shall we?

Behold the magic of Ticketmaster which turns a total of $44 into $71.25.

The $24.75 in convenience and processing fees is annoying, but Ticketmaster’s TicketFast delivery is beyond annoying. It basically amounts to a scam to get you to use your own printer. If you’re not aware TicketFast is nothing more than Ticketmaster allowing you to print your tickets at home rather than having them shipped to you by someone in the box office. So if TicketMaster is going to charge to print your own you’d figure their shipping rates would be through the roof right? Wrong, they’ll ship you your tickets for free. That’s right, they’re going to charge you to use your own ink and paper while not charging you to use theirs. Once more, the tickets are actually pages two-thirds full of ads, one-third full of your actual ticket.

I just paid $2.50 to use my own printer, paper and ink to print up three tickets and a bunch of ads for Ticketmaster.

Fuck.

I haven’t been following the discussion over the pay freeze Obama proposed yesterday because I honestly don’t give a crap about it, which is the exact same position I held when Linda McMahon used it in her failed takeover of a Senate seat.

Honestly I don’t know what reasoning Obama had for announcing the issue but to me it looks like a smart way to call the Republican bluff on cutting spending. Again maybe Linda’s talking points are making me bias but this kind of thing seemed like catnip to Republicans and Tea Partists in the months leading up to the election. It allowed Republicans to seem like they were proposing stuff while not really doing a damn thing to cut the deficit (also allowed them to attack supposedly overpaid government workers while private workers are out of work). Now that Obama has proposed it Republicans are labeling it an empty gesture to show the administration wants to do something. In other words they’re saying their previous positions were bullshit.

Who knows what will come of this, but I’m sure it’ll be nothing substantial or worthwhile. Which is pretty much on par for how Washington works.

The Connecticut Whale kicked off in Hartford this weekend and it looks to have been a successful debut (in more ways than one). I’m stated my position on the Hartford NHL issue in the past but having read news on the debut (I plan on attending a game next month when I return to Connecticut) I’m not liking the new Whale.

With Brass Bonanza blaring, green and blue jerseys and Pucky the Whale it should be the Whalers, instead we’ve gotten what looks like a cheap Chinese knockoff. Howard Baldwin said he didn’t use the Whalers name because he didn’t feel sorting out the copyright issues were in the best interest of Hartford hockey at the current time. Fine, but now that he’s christened the Whale and started his Quixotic quest to return the NHL to Hartford he should address the copyright issues and admit the NHL isn’t coming back to Hartford.

As a Whalers fan I’d be far happier to see a Whalers playing in the AHL than the knockoff CT Whale. Furthermore in 5-10 years when Hartford still has no prospects of an NHL team what affect is the name and current campaign going to have on the hockey market? In other words, how many people showed up at the Whale debut in the hopes of being an influence on the NHL rather than to support an AHL team?

We can debate why the Whalers left and if they should have all day but the one thing that’s not up for debate is the NHL returning to Hartford. It’s not happening and Baldwin’s campaign only strings along fans who’ve been promised the NHL for 14 years now. I applaud Baldwin for wanting to return the hockey culture to Hartford but we need to rally around our AHL team, whether they be named the Wolfpack or the Whale(rs), because that’s the best we’re going to get. If we continue to hold out for the NHL we could very well wake up one morning and find the AHL gone as well.

I know I’m late to the whole “what are you giving thanks for?” thing, but honestly I’m thankful for what is realistically one of the best weeks in college sports I can remember. Well for me, the Uconn, Oklahoma, Tulsa, and Arkansas fan.

For starters the Uconn men’s basketball team headed out to Maui for the EA Sports Maui Invitational with many talking heads saying they’d lose to mid-major Wichita State in the opener, and for much of the game it looked like it was going to happen. Then Kemba Walker made a second half comeback and Uconn was set to face number two Michigan State, a sure loss. Then that didn’t happen either, and Uconn was set to play against the number nine team in the nation, the Kentucky Wildcats. At some point the Huskies’s luck has to run out, but it didn’t and they manhandled the Wildcats and won the Maui Invitational.

Next up was Friday’s Backyard Brawl between West Virginia and Pittsburgh, during which West Virginia blew out the Panthers and placed Uconn in the driver’s seat for the Big East title and BCS bowl berth. After beating Cincinnati on Saturday Uconn only needs to win on the road at South Florida this Saturday and they win the Big East.

Next came the Razorbacks who beat LSU in Little Rock and seem to have sealed themselves a trip to the Sugar Bowl should Auburn win the SEC title game.

Then to cap things off came probably the wildest Bedlam game I’ve ever seen. Given Oklahoma’s road woes the last two seasons, and Oklahoma State’s high powered offense, I was planning for a blowout. But going into the fourth quarter the game was tied 24-24 with Oklahoma never trailing. They kicked three straight field goals to extend their lead to nine, but Oklahoma State put together a touchdown drive and cut the lead to two with four minutes left. One defensive stop and a few first downs and they could drain the clock and kick a field goal and win by one. Then Landry Jones, who hasn’t been the best on the road, threw an 86 yard touchdown pass to push the lead back to nine. As I stood there speechlessly tweeting “Goodnight, Vienna!” I watched Oklahoma State run back the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown (with a few uncalled blocks in the back mind you). Suddenly we’re right back where we were just a minute ago, a two point lead and OSU looking for a defensive stop and a field goal to win. Then Landry Jones managed to throw a 76 yard touchdown pass, which left me beyond speechless. OSU cut the lead to 47-41 with a field goal, but they failed to recover the ensuing onside kick and OU looks set to face Nebraska in the last Big 12 title game.

I guess I’m thankful my heart didn’t die out after the last week of breathless wins. True Tulsa didn’t win the C-USA West title and lost their opening game against UNLV in the 76 Classic (and in the pros the Giants have looked like crap) but I’ll take what I can get, and underdogs winning their games is good enough for me.

Sarah and the kids are down on 71st and Mingo at a Mardel Christian bookstore to sign copies of her new (ghostwritten) book. The parking lot looked packed from the newscast (it’s such an important story it got lead) and those lucky souls who got wristbands guaranteeing them a signature were corralled on the side of the store waiting for their chance.

I hope we won’t be too harsh on these people, obviously the cold weather that came in yesterday got to them because not only did some camp out starting on Thursday night, but they all seemed to think Palin would make a good president.

I wish them a speedy recovery and hope Mardel’s gave them some coffee and cookies.

This is an absolutely bullshit piece from the Nation

According to the Nation the whole anti-TSA backlash is just an astroturfed campaign by Koch funded libertarians. It’s bad that John “Don’t Touch My Junk” Tyner may have set up his encounter with the TSA in San Diego, yet I’m sure the Nation wouldn’t oppose Rosa Parks setting up her encounter on the bus.

I honestly can’t even put words to paper to describe the article. I will say I got some idea this kind of thing was brewing when I watched this segment from TRMS in which Chris Hayes says there’s an anti-backlash backlash brewing because the true motive of this whole campaign is to get private conductors into airports.

You know what, I’ll leave this here and I’m just going to go celebrate Uconn beating the number 2 team in the country.

How many other times do you think this kind of thing happens? I’d bet all the time.

If you haven’t read Alex Altman’s TSA brown-nosing piece over at Time do read it then come back and read this response from Radley Balko at Reason

It’s especially rich to see this in Time, a magazine with a long history of ginning up hysteria over the likes of Pokemon, satanic cults, dirty words, Internet porn, and has never met a faddish new drug that wasn’t just as bad as heroin. Of course, Time’s attempts to gin up moral panic have always at root been about people exercising their personal freedom in ways Time writers and editors find objectionable; the stories are always wrapped in urgent we must do something appeals for government to protect people from themselves. The TSA backlash is about government violating personal freedom. So of course now is the hour for a Time correspondent to step up all sober-minded like to call foul on the protests.

To be fair, Time isn’t the only one to run with hysteria pieces, local news do it all the time, but Time is one of the few national magazines out there that regularly embrace the tactic. In fact, the only reason I have a subscription to Time (besides buying one as a school fundraiser for a relative’s daughter) is to laugh at the hysteria.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve been told by professors that cheating, whether through copying answers on exams or plagiarizing written work is unacceptable and will probably cause you a great deal of trouble. In other words, do your own work, study, and you’ll be fine. I was a tad bit surprised to stumble across this piece on Techdirt in which a management class at UCF (a fellow C-USA school) had their midterms thrown out because students used teachers’ editions of the textbook as study material. The issue was that the professor, going against his own words, did not create a unique test but ripped those teachers’ editions questions to make the midterm.

Here’s him playing the sad teacher card

Here’s him saying he writes his own tests

Here’s him running away from answering questions

In other words, students can’t plagiarize stuff but professors can. Laziness will always come back to bite you and it apparently did for Professor Quinn. While it’s understandable teachers may be pressed to create different exams for every semester (or every few semesters) ripping the questions straight from a testbank while professing to create your own tests is inexcusable. How actually were students to know it was “cheating” when they figured they’d be taking a completely unique test? It only became “cheating” once the professor got caught.

If I was a UCF administrator I’d allow the test scores to count and tell Professor Quinn that’s what laziness gets him and while creating tests is no one’s idea of fun it’s part of his job. If he doesn’t want to do it well I guess he doesn’t need to work for UCF anymore.

Last semester I took a Civil Liberties course in which we read a piece that argued neither Conservatives or Liberals, Republicans or Democrats could claim to be truly for small government. While Democrats are usually seen as the Big Government types with their embrace of governmental policies for social welfare needs, Republicans are in fact very much a party of Big Government. The Tea Party has shown some signs of reversing this trend but I’m still not convinced it’s anything more than a fleeting reactionary response to Obama’s presidency.

Anyway, David Rittgers points out Republicans have hurt themselves with their previous big government stances, in this case against medical marijuana

The Justice Department is defending Obamacare by asserting that a 2005 Supreme Court case, Gonzales v. Raich, permits such a broad reading of the Commerce Clause that the federal government can tell individual citizens that they have to buy health insurance.

The Raich case was about medical marijuana. Angel Raich, a resident of Oakland, Calif., used medical marijuana to deal with the debilitating pain caused by an inoperable brain tumor, a seizure disorder, and a life-threatening wasting syndrome. California law allowed her to do so, but the Drug Enforcement Administration claimed that the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) made no exception for those in Raich’s position.

Several conservative drug-war supporters in the House joined a brief in support of a limitless reading of Congress’s Commerce Clause power in the Raichcase but have since denounced the application of that power in Obamacare — the unintended consequence of a shortsighted focus on maximizing drug enforcement. Indiana Republican Dan Burton was one of those who signed on; he has since sponsored a bill to repeal Obamacare’s “government-run” health-care solution. Burton and fellow drug warrior Mark Souder signed on to another repeal measure before Souder resigned amidst an adultery scandal. Georgia Republican Jack Kingston took up the charge to repeal the individual mandate as well. Former representative Ernest Istook (R., Okla.) has been on the warpath, phrasing the issue as “Obamacare vs. Limited Government.”

Oops.

*. When it suits their political needs and beliefs.

Dear Bobbie Jean Weidner;

I was scanning over the copy of this week’s Collegian and I noticed you wrote a letter in response to the fact that TU’s band played at the same time as Notre Dame’s following the conclusion of our 28-27 win in South Bend. In response to this “appalling” display you’ve labeled us, “hooligan, low-brow, prairie hick losers,” who, “should be banned from Notre Dame Stadium forever.”

I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more appalling, and to use your words, “low-brow” response to something like this. I don’t know if attended Notre Dame but I’m sure Notre Dame would discourage their fans, students, and parents of students (which you are) from writing into student newspapers to tell us we’re “prairie hick losers.” That honestly doesn’t sound like something touchdown Jesus would do.

Also I’d like to remind you that TU wore decals to remember the death of Declan Sullivan, the Notre Dame student who died because of the heartless, stupid, and border-line illegal actions of your head football coach. I’m not sure who looks “crass, classless, boorish and ill mannered,” in this situation, you, a middle-aged person, or a group of teens and young adults who just witnessed the biggest victory in their school’s history. Why not instead of spending your time attacking us you turn that vitriol anger on your football program which cost the life of a young man who will never get to sing Alma Mater again.

Sincerely;

Jared

Here’s a video of the two CNN morning anchors attempting to not laugh at the fact that a man told another man not to touch his junk in the name of national security

After they finish the video and the female host against shutters at the thought of men having testicles (I guess) she then goes on to berate the man as the reason for the whole problem. True he did refuse to go through the body scanner and then refused to be sexually assaulted but at no point do they even seem to stop and say, “Do you think it’s an issue that a pre-requisite for flying is sexual assault and proving you’re not the terrorist?” Of course not because all he had to do was submit to the X-Ray scanner (which only takes a fully nude picture of you) because if you have nothing to hide why should you care. The government obviously knows what’s best for you so just bend over and take it.

If anyone catches CNN addressing the issue in any substantive depth please my all means pass it along.

The NY Times points out that people are getting annoyed with the TSA. Not exactly a new sentiment but it goes well with this guy from San Diego who refused to be groped in the name of security theater. Good for him. It also goes nicely with Jeffrey Goldberg’s piece on his encounter with the new pat down procedure for those who opt out of the body scans. (See also a call to meet the resistance).

It’s with this kind of news that I’m not really looking forward to flying home in 3 1/2 weeks. If I had the choice I’d drive to Connecticut from Oklahoma but my Hyundai Accent with low-profile, non-snow tires isn’t the best thing to drive through any potential New England snow. So I fly and when I fly out of Tulsa in December I plan to opt out of the body scan and get publicly groped by the TSA. It’ll probably be far more embarrassing for the TSA agent tasked with feeling my crotch than it will be for me, plus public groping is at least some form of protest against the idiotic security theater we supposedly should be thankful for. The TSA has never caught a terrorist before they’ve boarded a plane, in fact they’ve let them through. Their response to failing isn’t to improve the process but heap more shit on the pile. We’re far more concerned with pocket knives and scissors than we are with the people involved.

Instead of the TSA needing to prove we’re terrorists, everyone who flies (even this three year-old) is required to prove we’re not terrorists. Screw that innocent until proven guilty junk, either you submit to the security theater or you’re obviously a terrorist because when you resist you have something to hide. I fully expect when I refuse the body scan my name will end up on some list and every time I fly I’ll be subject to even more inspections, because that’s how the system works. I’m already on one list, in 2007 I forgot my driver’s license when I went to the airport, so why not put myself on another one?

So please Mr. TSA agent, feel my balls in the name of national security. (P.S. here’s how those funky Germans do a protest).

I have no real idea where this post is going to go, but that’s pretty much on par for everything I’ve ever done, so bear with me while I ramble on about nothing important really. I guess, if anything, this post is simply a way to engage in the time-honored and rather fun tradition of throwing stones in our own glass houses.

I’m a relative newcomer to computers, the Internet, and blogging. I created my first blog, based on Blogger, sometime between 2006 and 2007. ¹ The only reason I can remember for doing so was because I was annoyed I had to wear seat belts when motorcyclists didn’t have to wear helmets. So I created the blog and wrote a post complaining about it and it felt like the most goddamn wonderful thing to ever happen. I could suddenly write something on the Internet for free and anyone could read it. It felt like a giant podium had arisen with me behind it and the microphone turned on. I had no clue about the number of similar podiums around the state, country and world, I just knew I had one and that was amazing. That is until I started to feel like that podium was positioned in front of a brick wall as opposed to a mass of people. The response to that issue was to find a new podium, hopefully one not situated near bricks, and by new podium I mean a new angle. Give the blog a new name, a new bent, and maybe if we’re frisky, a new look. The failing wasn’t so much on the content end, it was on the look and fell end. If I could just improve my podium and move it to an open pasture the people would come.

That was probably ten podiums ago. The problem isn’t the podium, it’s the fact that when you say the same thing as millions of other people your podium looks the same as everyone else’s. Unless of course you got there first. That’s the feeling I get for why Jason Kottke’s Wunderkammer is as popular as it is. I’ve been following Jason’s blog for a while now (I believe it was a recommendation from Google when I first signed up for Reader) and I couldn’t tell you one substantive and original piece he’s done over that time period. ² The same is true for a lot of blogs out there, they’re competing in an arm’s race to be the first one to find someone else’s original work and promote it. The original creator gets credit and recognition but the blogger also gets a load of pageviews. I use to enjoy Boing Boing as a blog but then they overtly starting outsourcing the information gathering to their readers through the “Submitterator.” These don’t annoy so much for the reason that they are making money off of other people’s work, but because they give up and coming bloggers the idea that they have a shot at Internet “fame” simply by reposting other work rather than creating their own opinions, art, etc. Blogging in other words isn’t about who you are but about how much time you spend reading RSS feeds and browsing Reddit.

There’s another group of bloggers I’ve seen rising up in the last year or so that are trying to take one person’s podium-style and make it into their style. I love John Gruber’s Daring Fireball, he not only produces original ideas but he also willingly points people away from his site when he’s not creating original work. Others out in the blogging world seem to be living up to the old saying that, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” when it comes to Gruber and Daring Fireball. I’ve stumbled across some websites (that I won’t mention) that seemed to embrace parts of Gruber’s style and then I’ve run across websites that look like they’re trying to be John Gruber. Patrick Rhone runs the Tumblr blog Minimal Mac, which I was rather fond of when it first appeared on the scene just over a year ago. Sadly it feels like Minimal Mac isn’t the same website it was a year ago. Now Patrick not only sells RSS sponsorships but is now rolling out T-Shirts for sale. At the same time that he was telling people not to steal his theme (a reasonable request) and to use via links all the time, he looked to be borrowing Gruber’s Modus Operandi wholesale. Much as I wish people would find their own way in the blogosphere I think people should find their own way to monetize their blogs (should they so choose). One man’s way of making a living isn’t going to always work as well for others for a variety of reasons.

I guess this post has become something of a rant against the current state of the blogosphere and thus I guess I need to address the question of whether I’m just jealous. Am I? Not at all. For me the idea that the Internet is a place to make money has long since passed. I don’t show ads on this blog because I know I couldn’t make a living off of it and thus why force anyone who shows up to look at junky Google ads. Blogging here is something I do for fun, to enhance the minimal writing skills I possess and most of the time simply as a place to store stuff for future reference. As I say right under the title, “Not all that humorous, creative or thought provoking. I just have an Internet connection.” I guess, if anything, that’s the only advice I’d give to people looking to blog, don’t do it for the money or following, but do it for the fun. Be you, don’t pay attention to what others say or do. Leave the SEO scamming to those who have nothing better to do and go have fun.

As for me? Well I’ve probably driven away anyone that would conceivably read this blog though the multiple moves I’ve made in the last year alone but I’m going to keep writing. Earlier this year I junked my self-hosted blog when the bill came up for renewal because I felt it wasn’t worth it. I’m not making money on this thing so why bother paying for something you can get for free? As with computers and desk chairs, the answer is that the cheaper (or free) stuff isn’t as good as the more expensive stuff. I first went to Tumblr but then jumped to wordpress.com because Tumblr not only provides terrible backup options but because long form content isn’t cool there. WordPress.com however only allows one to embed youtube or dailymotion videos and charges for custom domains, custom themes and more hosting, all very reasonable pro features. Yet even when one ponies up for the privilege to use pro features wordpress.com still shows irrelevant Google text ads on your site. So back to Tumblr I went, only to be greeted by outages on a seemingly constant basis. All that venture money apparently can’t buy a decent user experience.

In the end the lesson, I guess, is that renting sucks and you really can’t pull off that look. Also I hope you didn’t spend time reading these 1,000 plus words because I still honestly have no idea what any of this means, though glass has been broken. You may be right, I may be crazy, but it’s been one hell of a ride so far.

A few week backs Jesse Ventura went on ABC’s Good Morning, America to promote his Conspiracy Theory show on TruTV and In that interview he all but admitted to being a 9/11 truther. I’ve been meaning to watch the show, not because I believe any of the stuff, but rather to see how far the ex-Governor has gone off the rails. After watching tonight’s show I’ve got my answer, he’s fully derailed.

Conspiracy Theory is basically the conspiracy theory shows you run against on the non-History Channel only with The Body and a more political bent. Tonight’s episode went after the infamous FEMA camp myth, the idea that the government has camps waiting around to store citizens they round up when they impose martial law. Ventura started the episode discussing Homeland Security Fusion Centers spread across the country to monitor, collect and pool intelligence. Government stalking is troubling but the show went downhill from there.

Next up came Alex Jones phoning the Governor to tell him he has something far worse to tell us, the government has concentration camps.  We follow the Governor down to Texas and a “residential center” somewhere in Texas.  The claim is that this camp is just one of hundreds spread across the country with barbwire turned inward and located near train tracks or airports. These camps are going to house innocent American dissidents when the Government imposes martial law and divides the country up into 10 districts ruled over by appointed leaders. The show flashes between menacing images of children playing on a swingset between the wires and the Governor questioning spokespeople for the center outside the locked doors.

Next we jet off to a storage area for hundreds, if not thousands, of plastic “coffins” in a town outside of Atlanta, Georgia. These, Alex informs us, are met to be used to bury the thousands of bodies that will need burying once the CDC unleashes a pandemic. This pandemic will then give the government pretext to impose martial law, divide the country into the ten zones and imprison citizens.

I can’t remember when I started tuning out the story, after the 20th Nazi reference (Godwin’s Law is for losers) or when Alex Jones wandered onto the scene. Jones, the tinfoil-hat leader, makes Glenn Beck look sane most of the time.

All of this has been debunked long ago, but why should that stop the Body from scoring some money? Even if you do believe this stuff there were a few things that should make any person with a pulse question this quacks. For one the recreational center is run by ICE, the people in charge of immigration and customs. 2+2 is always four, the facility was used to house families awaiting immigration decisions. Second, Alex Jones said he has government documents saying the CDC is planning for mass pandemics. What would be worrying was if the CDC wasn’t planning for mass pandemics, because then they wouldn’t be doing their jobs.

All of this could be in good fun, it had the air of a thriller, but a thriller doesn’t have people believing it and getting trigger happy. Of course governmental spying and information gathering is a serious problem but that’s not what Ventura was going over. No the issue for him is far worse, it’s getting close to Holocaust levels (I kind you not). Governor, I think the chairs to the head have gotten to you.

I’ve been somewhat intrigued but at the same time repulsed by the saga of the TD Garden Column-Kicking Girl. If you’re not aware of the saga let me offer the backstory. Two girls, who’ve had a few Sam Adams, head into one of the bathrooms at the Garden and at some point in their visit one of them decided to kick a support column. Given that Samuel Adams gives you super powers to put holes in hollow columns our lady friend punches a large hole in the column and our two protagonists flee the scene of the crime. How exactly do we know this? Because not only filming an illegal action but subsquently putting it on the Internet seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to do when you’re completely wasted.

Ms. Column-kicker subsequently scored close to 50,000 views on Deadspin, which prompted the Bruins and Garden staff to point out that uploading a video showing yourself preforming an illegal action is not a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Of course just threatening legal action isn’t scary enough so the Bruins marketing department has rolled out the infamous bear

I wish the best of luck to Ms. Column-kicker and would add if this kind of thing happened at the Hartford Civic Center she’d get congratulated for improving the joint.

“It’s called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it”

- George Carlin

[Via]

Here’s an interesting take on Veteran’s Day from a woman who says she served in the armed forces;

I met some good people in the Army. I met my husband. I also met a lot of scumbags, drug addicts, perverts, liars, and jerks.

The current climate of war is not one of heroism. We all know it’s manufactured.

Why the fuck is my Facebook full of hero worship, posted by people who have no fucking clue what they’re talking about???

Furthermore, why do current, recent veterans wear that shit like it’s some sort of medal when all they (most of them) did was sit in the Middle East for a year, complaining about how much it sucked, never seeing any combat or death?

Don’t get me wrong. A small fraction have seen some serious shit, but seriously, most of the ones trolling for accolades didn’t see a lick of combat. It’s the ones who don’t talk about it you should worry about…

First, I don’t doubt there are small groups of assholes in the armed forces. Salon documented last year the issue of Neo-Nazis in the army, and of course there was that infamous video of a soldier throwing a puppy off a cliff. We can also go back to 1995 when a group of servicemen raped and tortured a 12 year-old Japanese girl on Okinawa. But are they the majority? From my interactions with the armed forces I’d say no.

Second, obviously only small segments of the armed forces have seen real action, but that doesn’t detract from their service. My Grandfather enlisted in the Air Force at 17 and served until the end of the Vietnam War.  With under a year left until he could retire with benefits he received a deployment notice for Vietnam. At the time he was stationed in Tacoma and not wanting to leave my Grandmother alone in Washington with two young children, he packed up the family and moved them all the way across the country to be closer to my Grandmother’s family. He never saw frontline action, he was a mechanic, but he sacrificed a year with his family. That deserves some thanks anyway you look at it.