• Penn State and the media’s Freudian complex

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    November 11, 2011 /  Mass Media, Politics and News

    I have 2 credits from Penn State. During summer 1990, I attended a summer computing institute for high school students. To acquire dorm housing, one had to be an enrolled student. The people in charge made up a course; I’m pretty sure I received an A. Until I finish this semester at Georgia, Penn State is the only BCS school for which I have credits.

    I’ve never been abused, sexually or otherwise. I’ve dealt with sexual abuse consequences, tangentially and centrally. Tangentially, my childhood priest from western Pennsylvania, Father Elwood Figurelle, went to jail for child porn. In 2005, sexual troubles became more central. While I was graduate fellowship leader at U. Chicago Catholic campus ministry, we had a sudden pastor change. A past incident of adult sexual misconduct resurfaced, and Father Mike Yakaitis resigned. Six years ago, I wrote an emotionally raw page about the situation. As part of the UC situation, I agreed to comment upon a draft video from the SNAP network. In the video, victims told their sexual abuse stories and detailed personal consequences. Yes, it was thoroughly miserable.

    The current Penn State situation is tangential to my life. It appears that former Penn State defensive coordinator Gerry Sandusky engaged in sexual acts with underage boys. Almost all the cited acts occurred after he was asked to resign from coaching.

    Penn State has been known for a well run football program. It helped improve the school’s image. It has no NCAA violations and good graduation rates. Coach Joe Paterno had just become the leader in Division I victories. After donating multiple million dollars for a LIBRARY, he was likely to retire a well celebrated role model. Now that won’t happen. In 2002, he received an abuse report about Mr. Sandusky from an assistant coach. Mr. Paterno fulfilled the legal requirement by promptly informing his supervisor. The supervisors failed in their duty by not conducting a thorough investigation. They, not Mr. Paterno, face potential criminal liability.

    At my current school, for cases of sexual violence Mr. Paterno did what I am told to do: Inform my supervisor and/or the Non-Discrimination/Anti-Harassment Officer. I am not told to notify the police, though I am for things like bomb threats. Let’s say I didn’t have past experience with sexual abuse cases. Why should I believe I need to do more? Why should I not trust the people who wrote the guidelines?

    Anyway, as I write at 2:30 PM on Remembrance Day, we know Mr. Paterno took no further steps, no moral actions. Seizing the opportunity to sully someone while feeling self-righteous, media vultures pounced. Thanks to cable and American’s desire for sport, we now have sports “reporters”. They desire to be like “real news”, so any time something sounds remotely like a non-sports story it becomes overblown. It embarrasses me that I once watched sports reporting shows. Now, I use sports talk as my radio alarm, because it’s so annoying that I wake up quickly. It works better than Mexican mariachi bands.

    After pondering for an hour Tuesday night, instead of doing algebra, I realize my sorrow follows from seeing the Virgin-Whore reaction. In Freudian psychoanalysis, men view women in a simple dichotomy. A female can only be saintly or debased, not a complex organism with positive and negative qualities. Mr. Paterno and the Penn State program had the Virgin reputation, particularly after the 1987 Fiesta Bowl against Miami for the top poll ranking. Now, apparently the talking heads need to feel better by making him a Whore.

    People label this the worst scandal in the history of college sports. It is bad. Let’s compare. Last decade, there was a murder coverup at Baylor. Last year, the Notre Dame football program asked a student assistant to film practice from a scissor lift during high winds. That day, he tweeted “Gusts of wind up to 60 mph today will be fun at work … I guess I’ve lived long enough.” The lift toppled, killing him.

    • Notre Dame: The football coach had direct responsibility, committed an illegal act of neglect, and someone died.
    • Penn State: The football coach did not have direct responsibility, committed the correct legal act, and nobody died, even though child sexual abuse is extremely bad.

    At Notre Dame, no one was disciplined and the university paid merely a $42,000 fine. The university even fought to have the fine reduced. Coach Brian Kelly received no rush of calls for his dismissal.

    Mr. Paterno never was the idealized Madonna. People were naive. Mr. Paterno was in college sports, and as the Atlantic Monthly explained, somewhat corrupt by definition. Failing to act doesn’t make him the Whore now. It makes him a person who has done many virtuous acts, and now a disgraceful one. He is mixed, like almost all of us.

    Once the university trustees took the craven act of firing, over 1000 students protested. They have been condemned, assuming the students cared only about football. That’s not true. Read carefully. The students condemned Mr. Sandusky. They criticized their trustees for cowardice and overturned news vans. This is not putting football first. It’s realizing who acted without dignity, as opposed to those who just failed. As an actual reporter noted, “There was an overwhelming sense from many people who believed the media and the nation were making this entire scandal all about Paterno. Not Sandusky, the real villain in this whole tragic mess.”

    The students are correct. We must seek justice against those like Mr. Sandusky who exploited young children. Our system should investigate legal responsibility. Also, we are allowed to speak about moral failings, in a balanced way. When we start enforcing moral codes to make us feel better, we’ve progressed to a very dangerous situation.

    Will the sports “reporters” donate the extra money from higher ratings to victim support charities? Will they volunteer with organizations that seek to reduce partner and sexual abuse? I’ll believe it when I see it. Maybe, if we’re lucky, a few people will fulfill moral duty by checking on a suspicious situation, and end a few sins. Most likely, though, we will just have more Freudian screaming.

  • 35 Courses, 636 Letter Grades

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    August 5, 2011 /  Statistics

    My last adjunct contract at Bellarmine ended at 11:59 PM Wednesday night, August 3. I’m now unemployed until the University of Georgia begins on the 15th. What should I do (well, besides packing)? I’ve got a spreadsheet of my instructional assignments, the grade distributions, and my student evaluation summary marks. Hmm…

    Student comments are a large and touchy subject, so even though I learned a good bit about them, I’ll defer comment for now. Perhaps for ever. Instead, I thought it would be interesting to look over my grade summary. Well, maybe it’s interesting just to me, but I’m going to do it anyway. This won’t be very granular, because I don’t want to get near FERPA restrictions. However, it would be impossible to find any specific student in this pile of 636. That’s my total count of non-withdrawn marks at Bellarmine. Unfortunately, I don’t have my grade distributions from Chicago. I had 6 courses, and a total of about 119 students, plus or minus 2.

    The grades of C-, D+, and D- only became available in Fall 2010, so they are relatively infrequent. The grade of A+ is rare, because according to the official course catalog, they are “For truly exceptional work; to be awarded rarely.”

    A grades: 143, 22.5%. 1 A+, 97 A, 45 A-.
    B grades: 294, 46.2%. 49 B+, 175 B, 70 B-.
    C grades: 153, 24.1%. 65 C+, 85 C, 3 C-.
    D grades: 30, 4.7%. 2 D+, 27 D, 1 D-.
    F grades: 16, 2.5%.

    My median grade was B. My mean grade, using Bellarmine’s 4 point scale, was 2.81. This is significantly below the Bellarmine average grade, which is somewhere between 3.10 and 3.20. My GPA distribution should take into account the natural sciences adjustment, because hard sciences tend to have harsher grading policies than humanities. According to the paper on the grade inflation website, a 2.8 in natural sciences is equivalent to about a 3.0 in social sciences and a 3.2 in humanities. Given Bellarmine’s mix of courses, I was harder than expected, but not that much harder – about 0.1 GPA points.

    According to gradeinflation.com, Bellarmine’s GPA is near the mean for all schools, and below the private school mean. It is a little stricter (0.0 to 0.1 points) than average for a private institution of its rank.

    Since the purpose of this post was to provide facts, not hypotheses or explanations, I won’t add commentary here. Of course, you can feel free to do so.

  • Greg Mortenson and Attack Media

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    June 25, 2011 /  Book Reviews

    Sometimes procrastination is a good thing. (This advice doesn’t apply to statistics assignments, though.) I had finished reading the two books about Mr. Mortenson, Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools, back in January. I was inspired by what appeared to be a fantastic tale of optimism and hope. But now, is it just fantastic?

    In April, 60 Minutes ran an investigative pieces. Led by author Jon Krakauer, a former supported turned jilted cynic, there’s now an Amazon e-book on the subject. It questions the Korphe story, 1996 Waziristan visit, number of successful projects, and proportion of funds spent on travel and appearances.

    Online, you’ll find defenders, sort-of defenders, and attackers. If you asked me – and since it’s my blog I’ll assume you do, thanks for asking – the problems are due to administrative incompetence. If Mr. Mortenson is gaining personal wealth, it’s hard to find. He lives in Bozeman, Montana. He used to be a healthy mountain climber, but now has gained substantial weight and had to have open heart surgery. That doesn’t sound like personal profit, such as a Rolls-Royce Phantom or a G6.

    Mortenson has admitted mistakes, in this magazine interview. The visits to Korphe and some other trips were compressed for literary impact. He still believes he was detained in Waziristan, since his passport was taken. He admits that there has been some fraud in Asia. And he notes the large amount of money spent on speaking tours, defending it as outreach. This interview, which has gotten very little attention, appears to be the response of a rightly guided yet flawed individual. The problems exist and are fixable. It’s a sizable failure of infrastructure, similar to family run businesses. Visionaries aren’t usually accountants. A Toronto Sun opinion piece summarized it well: “In the end, it may turn out Greg Mortenson shares the same shades of grey as the rest of us (and/or needs a bigger and better board of directors to help manage his charity).”

    The other interesting point is the role of the journalist. Mr. Krakauer wrote an earlier book about mountain climbing, in which he voted not to rescue two fellow climbers. They died. Krakauer showed the survivor mentality, that there are places where morality doesn’t apply. Above 8000 meters was like a Hobbesian state – Objectivist or Corporate Capitalist. In writing this article, instead of trying to correct the problems through the board, Krakauer was Hobbesian again. While it’s good for his reputation and TV ratings, it’s bad for the CAI mission and central Asia overall.

    Journalism is about the attack now, whatever the consequences. People of my generation have grown up idolizing Woodward and Bernstein, that only scandal publication will effect change. I hear this from professors, that we need to speak Truth to Power. Umm … we ARE power. Right? Instead of building coalitions and structures, we get tales like this, and the Rolling Stone article on General McChrystal that led to his dismissal. The magazine says it “changed history”. That may be true, but I wouldn’t call it a good change, one that should be accompanied with pride.

    The sad part of this tale – and my book reviews earning a 2 (not 4) out of 5 – is that the CAI had a chance to deserve an honest heroic story. The problems were correctable. Now, they’re likely irreparable, without remorse. As the support of female education wanes, I hope the mission can survive – but I’m too much a product of the cynical generation to have that much hope.

  • The Fiddle of Gold

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    June 12, 2011 /  Notices

    As many of you know, this was my last academic year at Bellarmine. Because of last year’s dissertation failure, I could not continue as a professor. I’m in a bind; I need a completed terminal degree or another line of work.

    After pondering for a while, I decided to remain an academic. I maintain few illusions about my power. If I wanted to transform individual lives, I should teach high school. The greater amount of contact means greater influence, but I don’t think I could deal with the immaturity and in-discipline. College 18-22 year olds aren’t that much more mature, but the paid nature of college means less frustration.

    Another advantage is that University professors are also expected to research. I’m intrigued by the mix of statistics and education. I love statistics, in the Spanish sense of cariño. And that’s very useful, because the intensity needed to commit to a project, a dataset, a program, is quite high. Additionally, I want people to respect my field. I don’t expect people to care for numbers and data like I do, but I want them to utilize the tools. It’s my way to systematically make a better world, which is better done at university.

    To continue to do so, I had to find a program that would let me pursue a doctorate. The best established program in statistics education – the ONLY full program – is in Minnesota. That climate leads to likely failure. Instead, I looked at other options. I received one excellent offer, from the Mathematics Education department of the University of Georgia. Thus, like the devil, I’ll be headed down to Georgia, but I won’t be looking for a soul to steal.

    This will make for a lot of changes beyond location. Money is important. I was graciously made a Presidential Graduate Fellow, the University’s top tier, but I am still taking a 55% pay cut. That’s not a problem for survival; I have inexpensive tastes, and I bought long lasting items over the last few years. Sure, I would like a Hyatt Grand Bed, but I even own an iPad. (And, if you want to get me a big present, that’s an idea.) I’d always planned to cut back on travel. Nevertheless, I need to finish quickly, because if I am fortunate enough to beat the odds, get married, and think about children, a graduate fellow salary is insufficient.

    I’ll also be making a cultural change. Since I’m pretty nerdy, getting to a more academic place will be positive. Even though the map shows that my “campus” is centered around the football field, indicating the relative importance of things, the people will share more of my interests. Louisville is a stable town designed for married people with kids, which I am not. Athens is more single and transient. Plus, I’ll have some access to Atlanta, which apparently has more single women than men. (But the stated Louisville ratio is even better, 81 to 100 instead of 88 for Atlanta and Athens, and that didn’t work.)

    What does that mean for this site? Well, it means more opinion content. I believe that professors should not infuse their classes with opinion. In class, my fictitious propaganda organization is called “MSNBFox News”, and I include bad poll questions from both Republicans and Democrats. They’re not hard to find, by the way. Academia has a liberal partisan bias which I don’t find acceptable. While I’m part of the liberal tribe on issues around the economy, often very liberal, I am not on issues of sexuality. This makes matters quite complicated.
    Additionally, I want to write about my experiences with the industry of education. The fundamentals are broken, and I worry that America doesn’t have the desire or capacity to fix them. While I won’t use private information from my time at Bellarmine, there will be criticism, particularly on the meaning of an undergraduate degree, and the issue of instruction versus athletics and other activities.
    Thus, a second chance is beginning, both for twelvefruits and for me. I only hope that this time, I can be as successful as Johnny and get the fiddle of gold.

  • Dating Odds Calculation

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    June 12, 2011 /  Statistics

    This week, someone noted that I was single not because I was hopelessly unattractive, or that women weren’t available. It was because I was picky. We decided to go through some probabilities. Yes, I know this is very xkcd. But how far on the curve am I?

    xkcd: Dating Pools

    Some of these numbers are approximate, and others are estimates, but they’re close. I’m also assuming independence, an assumption to consider later.

    • About 1 in 2 Americans is female.
    • Of the females, about 1 in 8 matches in age, between roughly 27 and 37. That’s 1 in 16.
    • Slightly under 1 in 3 females between 25 and 34 have never been married. Let’s round the multiplication to 1 in 50.

    So far, things look promising, but then we get to personality, interests, and faith. It’d be easy if I was just looking for someone to share a household, have sex, and maybe have kids. Instead, I have criteria.

    • Being Catholic, I want to marry a Catholic. The best Pew Forum estimate is that about 1 in 4 Americans are Catholic.
    • It’s not just being Catholic, it’s being a practicing Catholic. Taking the optimistic report from this article, 1 in 3 stated Catholics attend Mass regularly. That means 1 out of 12.
    • I’m an intellectual; though I don’t meet the Urban Dictionary criterion, nerd flirt is quite charming. I would only be happy with a woman with intellectual curiosity. I’ll estimate 1 out of 20 people fall into this category, putting the count at 1 out of 240.
    • While a life partner doesn’t need to have my exact values, they need to be compatible. This is the most challenging estimate. What proportion of intelligent Catholic Mass attending women would match? We’ve already identified lots of similarities, though politics, compassion, and “chemistry” remain. Let’s somewhat arbitrarily say 1 out of 5 intelligent faithful attendees, making the final personality count 1 out of 1200.

    Before we get to the small conclusion, we have to consider independence. It helps a little. Intellectuals are slightly less likely to be married, so the 1 in 50 could become 1 in 40. The rest of the parts are reasonably independent or conditional.

    No wonder things are so tough! 1 out of 40 people are available, while 1 out of 1200 are interesting. According to population estimates, there are roughly 1,200,000 people in the Louisville metro area. Dividing 1200000 / (40 * 1200) … get out the slide rule … 25 candidate women. Plus, that doesn’t include the chance that someone I want wouldn’t want me.

    Twenty-five.

    Less than one of my classes. At least that’s 2.5 times the people the Lord needed to save Sodom. Louisville should be saved, since I like righteous women, but that doesn’t help me much.

    What does help is that the location of these women will not be independent. It’s not as easy as if there was a progressive intellectual Catholic female boarding house, but I can expect that such women will be concentrated in cities and academic settings. Fortunately for me, I’ll be moving to a large academic setting, not too far from a major transient city. That means my Z = 4.1 on the edge of the bell curve has a better chance of making the identity matrix not work.

    Love changes things

    Even the identity matrix doesn't work normally.

  • It always ends in a loss: NCAA D-II Championship Pregame

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    March 26, 2011 /  Mass Media

    When we think about competition, we usually think about winning. On Facebook, the statuses I read usually celebrate a child’s success. It would be unusual to see the defeats.
    I don’t blame parents for neglecting the negative; it’s what we normally do. Banners are for champions. The Lucite trophy sitting next to my stuffed animals proclaims me the 2004 .hack world champion, not 37th place. For the vast majority of teams, and the vast majority of players, the competition ends in a loss. And for all of us, waking up, well, that ends too.
    Occasionally, though, a small part of life doesn’t turn out that way. For instance, I routinely ask married couples about their engagement, and ceremony, and honeymoon. Not defeats. There are champions, too. Last year, about this time, I hoped for a championship that didn’t happen. In the aftermath, I wrote a thank you note to the Butler Bulldogs. Three inches away on the backboard from a fantastic victory, Gordon Hayward was. In terms of wrist position, 0.13 inches. As Kyle Whelliston wrote, “An eighth of an inch, and they’d have won for all of us, and we’d have all had our parade. On a computer screen, which has a graphic resolution of 72 dots per inch, 0.13 inches translates to eight pixels. . . . That’s how far we all were from our parade: the width of a tear.” You should go read his work, because he talks about the emotion better than me. I have developed the calmness of a statistician, that events exist and I have little power to change them. Also, I had little personal interest in Butler, just as a foil, while for him, it’s more or less his soul. Different feel.

    I have a little more interest today, another opportunity to see how the road ends. My current employer, Bellarmine University, has advanced its men’s basketball team to the Division II final today at 1 PM. Division II is still a pay division, which I still really, really dislike. (More on that once I’m no longer under contract.) At the same time, these events are our best opportunity to see how the story ends. So I took it. It’s 11:40 AM, I’m in the Hartford Airport US Airways Club, and I need to go pick up a rental car and drive to the arena. In less than four hours, for either the Knights of Bellarmine or the Seasiders of BYU Hawaii, it will end in a loss. We shall see what transpires.

  • I’ve got my vuvuzela: Harvard vs. Yale TiVo 2010

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    November 26, 2010 /  Mass Media

    It’s been a long time since I’ve written about sports, and there’s a reason for that. More later. For now, let’s Tivo blog the event. The title is a reference to this ban, by the way.

    • This version of The Game is version 127. Coincidentally, that’s the version that the opening sponsor, Windows, would need to be good. Ba da bum.
    • eHarmony starting lineup? Is this really the right audience?
    • 6:45 remaining, 1st quarter: Fourth and 1 at the Harvard 5? Of course you go for it. Stupid fake punts aside, Yale’s coach has likely read fourth down studies. Besides, Ivy Leagure field goals are never as easy as double integrals.
    • 6:00: Yale runs right through the open gap in Harvard’s goal line defense. They ran to the 3 on 3 side, not the 6 on 4. Harvard should spread its two extra players (opposite quarterback and ballcarrier) better.
    • 4:42: Harvard outsmarts Yale! Redundant, I know. Double back pass, then a nice bomb gets Harvard close.
    • 3:00: Harvard has 4th down at the 1 yard line after a decent scramble. It’s an option, and a nice cutback gets the score. Extra point ties it.
    • Versus begins to atone to its audience for the Windows 7 sponsorship, running an interview on the holder of the Little Red Flag. It’s been around since 1884.
    • 2:21: As the commentator says, Harvard’s onside kick attempt was “not good”. It’s windy; the ball then blows around before it can be snapped. I remember playing ultimate frisbee in that wind, better known as heave and scores. The intramural games were always like 9-8 or 11-10.
    • The Harvard Hockey ad is pretty miserable. It’s like, from the 80s. Not the good 80s, either.
    • 12:30 2nd quarter: Yale tries a long field goal, which fails. I’m not happy about the Harvard hold on the drive, though. The Crimson should be good enough to not need to cheat.
    • 5:40: Yale goes again on 4th and 1, but it’s a plain dive into the strong, covered side. It fails. Given the importance of fourth down plays, I would think people would study them more carefully. Then again, so many coaches can’t even manage the clock as well as a Madden PS3 player, so I can’t expect much.
    • 3:00: Yale #5 makes a really good read and tackle to stop the Harvard drive. Honorable sportsmanship recognizes both teams.
    • After a touchdown drive to give Yale a 14-7 lead, the Yale coach gives a solid interview. The halftime show includes the Illinois-Northwestern problem at Wrigley Field. Having one end zone against a brick wall is, well, Ivy League. Northwestern is almost there. Of course, the ex-player in the studio is an idiot; since the moves will occur only on change of possession, it won’t affect tempo.
    • Hey! Chris Berman does the voiceover for the Ivy League ad! It’s not on Youtube, though.
    • 14:48 3rd quarter: Though outplayed in the first half, Harvard ties the score with a kickoff return touchdown and convert.
    • 10:00: The commentators comment on Harvard Stadium, which is very pretty. So is Yale Bowl, actually. It’s just the rest of New Haven that’s the problem. There are only 4 National Historic Landmark football stadiums; the other two are the Rose Bowl and the LA Coliseum.
    • 5:35: After a sack by Harvard #48, on the next play he rushes the punt and knocks the blocker back, gaining a punt block. Harvard takes over in field goal territory.
    • 3:01: Harvard does better, as nice running leads to a touchdown. The convert gives Harvard a 7 point lead. The day becomes brighter.
    • 11:18 4th quarter: Seriously, Yale. Harvard rushed 3 people. You had 5 linemen plus a back. For some reason, the middle 3 men block one guy, leaving the tackles alone on edge rushers. The left tackle has to make a cut block, and the back on that side doesn’t help. Hello, sack.
    • 10:30: I’ve run around Harvard stadium, and the wind was weird. Now the wind tunnel effect is even worse with the end zone building. Still, an 18 yard punt is never good. The Harvard player knows enough to pick it up for 8 more yards.
    • 9:54: Oh no. Yale #10 spears. Both he and Harvard #22 are concussed. After about 3 minutes, the Harvard player gets up. The doctors have to immobilize the Yale player, which takes about 12 minutes. At the end, the Harvard player comes out to say a word to the Yale man, and exchanges cordial words with another Yale defender. That’s exactly the type of fair play that Harvard and Yale women and men should exhibit.
    • 9:40: And a late blow to the quarterback’s head is the opposite of that.
    • 7:38: Scramble, pass, touchdown Harvard! That’s a horrible dance in the stands by the Harvard fans, but they’re unlikely to become dancers anyway. It’s 28-14.
    • 5:51: Yale goes for it on fourth down and fails. The Harvard person wearing the same number as my jersey, #16, comes out at quarterback. But he has a more Harvard name than I, Collier Winters. That sounds like money more than my man of earth name. Unfortunately, he doesn’t hold on to the ball, handing it off to someone who fumbles.
    • 4:38: A horrible overthrow by Yale is an interception, but Harvard roughs the passer. I reluctantly agree; that was late and to the head. As punishment, their Kobe steak dinner will be reduced to Black Angus steak. It’s tragic.
    • 3:17: After a stop, Harvard calls a defensive timeout before fourth and goal at the 1. What’s Yale’s call? A simple off tackle run. Yale #41 runs through a tackle attempt and scores. It’s 28-21.
    • 3:09: Not a short kick, because Harvard’s lost its first two running backs. The third down reverse doesn’t work, but someone finally gets a decent punt, 47 yards. Has the wind shifted? Yale has 83 yards to go and 121 seconds.
    • 1:00: Harvard, so close! “Cornerbacks are wide receivers who can’t catch.”
    • 0:41: After a debatable interference call on Yale, the penalty leads to a long fourth down. Yale fails. Harvard wins. Angels get their wings.

    There’s the game. Good – well, good for me – triumphed. Larger issues are for other days, after the fall is over. As I upload this, Black Friday is beginning, and it’s snowing. Winter is coming.

  • Time Traveling Bonus Hour and other laws

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    November 7, 2010 /  Musings After Midnight

    It’s been quite a long time since I’ve written just a post. There are so many other things to do. But now, I’ve got the “bonus hour”, when 1:59 AM changes to 1 AM. Yes, I know the change from daylight savings time to standard time isn’t really a bonus hour. We donated the hour back in the spring. We didn’t even get interest; in that respect, it’s like banks right now. The Fed can’t print extra minutes for Temporal Easing, though I suspect that would be more universally loved than Quantitative Easing. The next generation could pay back my borrowed minutes.

    We accept this bonus hour, shifting of time, as a law, strange though it may be. I’ve been spending part of my bonus hour watching accumulated TV, like Wednesday’s Colbert Report. According to the show, which I confirmed, Oklahoma passed a state question on international and Sharia law with about 70% of the vote. This is likely constitutional, I guess. States are responsible in some ways for treaty obligations, but those are considered parts of permissible US code. Interestingly, this allows for some fun tricks with other states. Oklahoma courts can no longer use other state guidelines if they incorporate Sharia law. So another state could incorporate a little piece of Sharia and mess with Oklahoma’s reciprocity under full faith and credit.

    Laws are sometimes crazy things. For instance, I’ve been investigating the laws related to arrest by a private citizen. Sadly, I can’t find a way to arrest someone for torture or crimes against humanity. Yet.

    On another crazy legal subject, is it legal for me to do work for school on Sundays? Section (1) of KRS 436-160 states the following:

    Any person who works on Sunday at his own or at any other occupation or employs any other person, in labor or other business, whether for profit or amusement, unless his work or the employment of others is in the course of ordinary household duties, work of necessity or charity or work required in the maintenance or operation of a public service or public utility plant or system, shall be fined not less than two dollars ($2) nor more than fifty dollars ($50).

    I don’t think instruction is work of necessity. Although my paycheck may seem that way, college instruction isn’t obvious charity either. The exception in subsection (4) doesn’t apply because Bellarmine doesn’t subject me to continuous work scheduling.
    The next section, KRS 436-165, allows cities to make their own laws. Since I live in Louisville, I searched that set of ordinances. Retail sales and activities appear permitted. Separately, Section 115.361 (G) says an individual can’t engage in peddling. There are rules about alcohol sales, with a blanket exception for part of the first weekend in May. And the city loans Bellarmine money from time to time, such as November 9, 2009, so my employer can receive the more favorable city rate.

    But the city adds nothing about my work on Sunday. Unless Bellarmine is a work of charity, I can’t work. And I certainly can’t work on any side consulting projects, though at my corporate consulting rate I might just pay the summary offense fine if I had to.

    How strange, huh? What crazy laws. Like repeating time.

  • What I did on my summer vacation

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    September 8, 2010 /  Notices

    My summer vacation travelogue is up! It includes over 300 pictures and a lot of information. Let’s see, as a teaser, there are the following:

    • Cathedrals
    • Castles
    • The Gates of Hell
    • A damsel in distress
    • Burgers from coast to coast
    • Caviar (but not real caviar, that’s cruel)
    • Fanta, Fanta, and more Fanta
    • The Champs Elysees
    • Going uphill, both ways
    • Slovene linguistics

    and many other things, about what I saw, what I thought about what I saw, and my life in general. The blog has been quiet this summer, because my efforts have gone into trying to make this a Story, a Story worthy of being told. I hope you enjoy the whole tale, though it might take a while. If you want to view just a portion, section links are below.

    Part 1: USA

    Part 2: To Europe

    Part 3: Ljubljana and Slovenia

    Part 4: Zurich

    Part 5: Milan

    Part 6: Paris

    Part 7: To America

    Part 8: Vancouver

    Part 9: Denouement

  • South Africa and Associations: Copa Mundial

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    June 18, 2010 /  Mass Media

    South Africa is a country with a great deal of promise, and a great deal of trouble. It was a fairly open secret that I am seriously considering working in the country. Now, that secret is public. If my UChicago PhD had been successful, The University of Cape Town was my first choice for a job application. Before talking more about why I would consider that country, I’m going to blog an event from South Africa, city of Rustenburg – the Association football game between England and the US.

    • Pregame: I’m glad ABC is carrying the anthems, one of the nice parts of international competition. For my international viewers, it’s typical for Americans not to sing the anthem, unlike many other nations.
    • 3:30: Gerrard scores easily for England. Reviewing the tape, I’m not sure who was asleep there. I think it was US #13 Clark, because #3 Bocanegra had been covering the corner. The English commentator is very restrained, but I’m sure all of London and Manchester are relieved.
    • 13:00: The short corner is vastly underused in my mind. Given what non-Americans say about association football, that possession is very important, why do teams execute low probability attacks in corner kicks from a good position? Since the defense must stay 10 yards away, one could get 5 – 7 yards closer and improve the angle. US #6 Cherundolo is amazed he’s that open.
    • 19:00: After good service from Donovan on one end, England #7 Lennon gets open but for some reason doesn’t take a decent shot. Shooting is another underutilized tactic. The goal is huge! I believe it’s because players don’t practice it enough; casual street games generally utilize small goals and emphasis is placed on footwork. It’s the opposite of basketball, where casual contests are often all shooting.
    • 26:00: England #16 Milner is playing terribly; another late tackle results in a yellow card. Should he be substituted?
    • 29:00: US Goalkeeper Howard gets accidentally struck on a fair challenge. US #3 Bocanegra was too far inside, again. During the injury break, Milner is substituted. Drats.
    • 37:30: Late in the half, England has tried to slow the pace, kicking the ball around midfield. I’m not surprised by this. Donovan gets a hold of the ball and has a decent shot.
    • 39:30: Wow. Just, wow. “The man in the green jersey, the man with Green on the name of his shirt, has given away one of the softest goals you’ll ever see at this level of football.” From 27 yards, US 1 England 1. I play better goalie than that. To illustrate America’s biggest advantage, Howard then makes an excellent save on the post-goal counterattack. All of England sinks back into its rain-induced moroseness.
    • Halftime: the score is about right, though not in the way most people expected. The game is very, I must say, American – lots of long balls and higher risk play. Possession is roughly equal, as are corner kicks. England has had more good chances, due to superior offensive play – and Bocanegra’s random play. England already took out its weakest defender, who Cherundolo was beating easily.
    • 50:00: That offsides looks correct to me. While England #10 Rooney, the eventual ball taker, was not offside, the other player caused the defender to have to play him, not the ball.
    • 51:00: England #21 Heskey breaks free. That’s a mediocre shot in the center, but Howard still has to work for the save, keeping the US alive. If the goalies today were switched, it’d be 3-0 England.
    • 57:00: That was a horrible deep throw in for the US, with only one real option. The best possible outcome was a corner kick; instead the ball goes back to midfield.
    • 59:00: England #18 Carragher gets a yellow card for taking out legs and stopping an attack. It was dangerous, reckless, and smart. He was beaten.
    • 60:00: England #4 Gerrard makes a high, spikes-up tackle. I’m not sure that was dangerous enough for a yellow card, but it was dangerous play. This is a good location for a free kick. Bocanegra’s about 45 degrees off on the header.
    • 63:00: US #13 Clark appears to miss another marking assignment. Please substitute him, Coach Bradley.
    • 64:00: US #17 Altidore just runs by Carragher, who’s old and slow. Mr. Green makes a solid save, just barely; it hits the post.
    • 70:00: Compared to the other games I’ve watched, South Africa-Mexico and France-Uruguay, there’s a lot more space in defense on both sides here. It’s a lot faster. England is leaving only 3 defenders back. Unfortunately, US #10 Donovan has had to come back on defense.
    • 75:00: Another wonderful save for Howard. The US could use a defensive substitution at this point for fresh legs. Maybe for Clark, or Spector? No, they went for a fresh attacker. That makes sense for counterattacks, but a defender would also help. England’s last sub is Crouch, a fresh attacker.
    • 81:30: England tries to play the ball across the back and fails. I’m not sure why, since it’s dominated this half.
    • 85:00: A sub for Altidore? Not Clark? Oh. Moving Dempsey forward puts fresh legs in midfield.
    • 90:00: Good US offense gets a late corner. Donovan takes his time, but nothing happens, like most corners.
    • 94:00: Smartly, the US tries a very late substitution to kill time. It wasn’t needed, though, as the game ends. To misquote Dickens and quote the announcer, “It was a Tale of Two Goalkeepers.”

    As for a longer stay in South Africa, I’d first go because of the weather and climate. Have a look at Cape Town’s sunshine chart. The lowest month, June, still has about 6 hours per day. Cape Town is between San Francisco and Los Angeles in sun hours, more than acceptable. Most of the rest of the country is just as good, or better.
    For comparison, try
    Chicago’s chart with bad winter months under 6 hours of sun per day. To be really scared, try London. No wonder the Brits are perpetually morose, or that they built an empire of sunny places.

    Beyond that, South Africa has opportunity. It’s not just temporary economic opportunity, from the big tournament down there. I mean the chance to do big things, transformative things, particularly in education. The South African educational system is broken, like the US one. The Springbok system is much worse overall. The difference, and the appeal, is that the system down there can be fixed. People care, whereas here athletics departments have far too much power. (South Africa also enjoys sport, but it’s not so heavily intertwined with education.) Also, South Africa has centralized standards, which means a good idea can be propagated. In parts of this country, we have elections for standards, experience or thought not necessary. Even where we don’t, we have too much local control to get one set of ideas. Maybe I’ll go more into this later; in summary, the current American system cannot fix its problems without a major overhaul. Neither can South Africa, but my subjective evaluation is that it’s more possible to do down there.

    Now that it’s a few days later, let’s see how the US fares against Slovenia. It’s nice that I don’t have class on Friday mornings.

    • 0:10: In Ultimate Frisbee, that ball would be called a hospital pass. US #8 Dempsey gets above the Slovenian player, and puts an elbow into the Slovenian player. The referee calls a foul, but no card. Looking at the replay, there doesn’t appear to be malice; the arm was next to the body. Maybe it’s a yellow, but without extension I don’t see an ejection.
    • 8:00: The US makes a throw-in error, leading to a decent chance for Slovenia. Or, as some might call them, the Charlie Browns.
    • 11:30: The US spends 30 seconds kicking it around the back in midfield, then for some reason decides to send it to the opposite far line with nobody there. It looks like France.
    • 12:30: Great GOAL for Slovenia #10 Birsa. Though the shot was great, it again came from horrible American defense. The Slovenian player was completely open at the top of the penalty half circle. The US should be better at defensive organization. North Korea looked better.
    • 15:00: Decent service by US #10 Donovan to the penalty area; a US player had a chance at a header for a goal but couldn’t get there.
    • 22:30: Has anyone explained why goal kicks are always so long and random? It is like punting. Has anyone tracked the proportion of goal kicks that are recovered? At best, it seems to go back to the defenders at midfield. Why don’t teams kick the ball to their defenders and walk it up? Teams don’t play tight defense often.
    • 26:15: The camera manages to find the archetypal American: very portly, hairy, shirtless, and holding a relatively cheap beer. I cringe.
    • 30:30: US #5 Onyewu doesn’t really pull down someone, but it’s dangerous and a bad referee could have called a foul. This game is not as good for the defender as the last.
    • 35:40: Slovenia #5 Cesar picks up a yellow card on a marginal drawn foul. US #16 Torres makes a good shot, and the keeper does well to block it.
    • 38:30: US #20 Findley doesn’t take a shot when he has the chance, getting a corner. On the corner kick, it’s a strange yellow card for handball. The US immediately gets another good chance and another corner, but no shots. I wonder if this is conditioning? Donovan should have made a slide tackle, instead of staying up. All he needed was to deflect the ball to the goal.
    • 41:00: Slovenia #9 Ljubijankic gets another goal, with a great finish. He was not offside – Onyewu was too far back. Goal difference matters now. 2-1 is much better than 2-0.
    • 47:15: Donovan has been watching hockey. A Slovenian defender misses a sliding clearance, setting him free. He has a very tight angle. He roofs it! The goalie expected a low shot to the far post. The US has some momentum.
    • 51:00: Slovenia gets a good free kick, and does well, getting a corner off a goalie punch. Slovenia has already started to slow down. Slovenia tries a short corner, but the US has it defended. I’m pleased.
    • 59:00: It’s wrestling in the penalty box. Both people fouled, and Slovenia got the call.
    • 68:00: On a US counterattack, Slovenia #4 Suler clubs a US player from behind. I agree with the commentator, that yellow is correct. Red cards are awarded only for clear chances, and the ball was rolling away here. Suler was smart by hitting the US player just before the penalty box. The free kick leads to chaos, and a shot, with a good goalie save.
    • 71:00: Slovenia is starting to play Euro defense, picking up yellows. They’ve played pretty until this point, but it might change. The Americans will have the conditioning advantage. At 74:30, there’s another, though I’m not sure about that one.
    • 79:30: This game has opened up as players tire, on both ends. I’m about eight minutes behind on TiVo, resisting the temptation to jump forward. The US substitutes attack for defense.
    • 81:10: It’s a dogpile! US #4 Bradley! Gorgeous soccer! 2-2! The father even jumps up. I wonder why the US coaches have giant parkas. It’s not that cold in South Africa. The Slovenian coats are nicer.
    • 84:30: US #17 Altidore is beating defenders, getting a foul near the corner of the penalty box. It’s into the back of the net, but the goal is disallowed. I’m not sure who fouled. The US commentator thinks it’s horrible. I can’t see inside, so I really don’t know. On the replay, I see 3 US players getting held. Seriously, two of them are encircled at the waist! “I see Michael Bradley being fouled, and that’s a penalty kick.”
    • 87:30: Nice header by Slovenia, which is saved.
    • 92:30: Even though two players go down, that’s not a foul. Dempsey stepped on the ball, which led to a pile.
    • 94:00: That’s the match, which ended with a double final whistle. Slovenia 2, US 2. Slovenia was better in the first half, the US much better in the second. It was not a good game for the referee.

        • At noon, Slovenia has 4 (with +1 goal differential), US 2 (0), England 1 (0), and Algeria 0 (-1). In the afternoon game, the US should root for Algeria. An Algerian win means the US controls its destiny; a victory advances them. An Algerian draw does as well. The best possible outcome is a 0-0 draw, since then the US would likely advance if the remaining two games draw as well. If England wins, it’s not a given. A US victory by two goals would then be sufficient, but not necessarily by one.

        I’ve now hit 2000 words, and I haven’t even done the review of rugby. That will have to wait for another post, I guess. There are plenty more games on.

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