Please wave goodbye to Mr. Withers

Everett Withers, the jackass interim coach of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's football program has taken a position at Ohio State University working for Urban Meyer. Withers made the pages of this blog last month and his outrageous statements will  not be repeated here, but suffice it to say that his comments removed him from further consideration for the coaching position. Mr. Withers, the state of North Carolina will not miss you.

Thanks for the obvious

Yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI made a statement that sex abuse is a "scourge" on all society and that the rest of society be held to the exacting standards we apply to the church. Well thanks for stating the obvious, you smug bastard. Here's a thought. Why don't you act like the moral authority you claim to be and disabuse yourself of your piety in this matter? You want to be a higher moral authority, then act like it. We hold you to higher moral standards simply because you claim to have them. When you start admitting that you engaged in decades of coverup at the expense of the very people you were charged to protect and mentor, then I will listen. Until then, why don't you shut the %@*&# up!

What the hell ...

is going on in Fayetteville? This story brings two things to mind. One is that surely there is nothing in the mall worth this. The second one, dare I say it, is that I hope there were no Lums in the mall. This shit is going to get blamed on us if there were.

Kara's Report Card

The report cards posted earlier were actually interim grades. Final grades appear below:

Kara Clark (Grade 8)

Course	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4
HPE 8	A
Adv Band 8	B+
Science 8	B
Pre Algebra	A
Social Studies 8	C+
Interdis - L.A.	A
Lang Arts 8	B

Austin Clark (Grade 11)

Course	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4
Construction Tech	A
Geometry	C
English 11	A
Spanish II	B
Oceanography	A
US/VA History	A
Technical Drawing	A

Will you survive a nuclear attack?

If you are the sort of person that likes to plan ahead, you will serve your interests well to take a look at the following website. It will let you know how things are likely to turn out for you.

Would I Survive?

Put in your address and find out what happens to you where you live. For the record, I am toast.

The Moral Prism

I would like to make the case that it is not the crime that matters, but who does it that is largest discriminator to the common man. For this effort, I offer an example. Crime is defined as an action constitutes an offense that may be prosecuted by the state and is punishable by law. The crime in my example is distasteful, but is relevant despite this. I would like to present, for your consideration, the crime of child rape.

I think it is universally held that adults that commit this offense are held in the lowest possible esteem even among the criminal community. Child molesters are often the target of prison violence and I submit that most Americans have little problem with this. If the mother of a child subjected to child abuse pulled a pistol on the street and shot the offender dead, I also believe that in our heart of hearts, we would say "He had it coming." Feel free to count my sentiments among them. 

Here is the example. A man in a position of power among young boys is implicated, then found guilty of such a crime. The boys in question are as young as 10 years of age. There are multiple witnesses that were aware of the offenses but failed to step forward to identify the offender.Should this person be prosecuted to the full extent of the law? Yes. Should the organization that this man belongs to and afforded him the power associated with his position be subjected to close inspection and a detailed review? Of course. Does it matter if you are Jerry Sandusky of Penn State University or a Catholic Priest at the time of your crime? Unfortunately, it does.

The parallels in these two cases cannot be ignored. In both, we have men who are under deep suspicion for sexually abusing children. The crimes are the same, but the public opinion varies widely. I see the crimes in the same manner, but John Q. Public sees them through a different moral prism. In both cases we have a number of similarities:

• They involved the abuse of boys presumably under their care and supervision
• They involved gross abuse of this trust
• Both had parties that were privy to the actions but did little or nothing about it

Where is the difference, you ask? The difference is in the treatment of the supervisors of the men charged with these crimes. In the case of Jerry Sandusky, Americans are calling for Joe Paterno's head. He knew about it, so he must pay in some way or another. In the case of the Catholic priests, the crime seems to have stopped at the perpetrator and gone no further. Why are these situations treated differently? Why are religious people given a free pass and Paterno is treated equally as guilty for the same crime. This becomes even more interesting when one considers that the Catholic scandal is more heinous. Yes, the worst offender is viewed in a more favorable light.

Here are the details. Joe was given information and details about a specific event and passed that information on to his Athletic Director. He did nothing else and did not follow up on the accusations. That is his crime. Is he clean? Probably not. Should eh be removed? Probably.

Let's contrast this with the Catholic scandal. The church dealt with the matter in a far different fashion. James Hogan, the diocesan bishop, wrote the following passage to an accused priest.

"Painful as the situation is, we must safeguard your own good name, protect the priestly reputation and prevent scandal from touching the church — even if unjust."

I think it is obvious that the church was far more pernicious in their handling of the matter. Joe Paterno did not try and hide this and he did not try and protect the interests of Penn State University. The Catholic Church, however, did exactly that.

The quote from James Hogan was written in 1994. Were the headlines back then filled with hate and discontent for James Hogan? Were people calling for the resignation and/or firing of James Hogan. No. The real question is why not? The church was involved in a decades-long cover-up and they cared more for the reputation of their members than for any collateral damage that a full disclosure would have brought upon them.

Paterno is not going to survive this, and it is too early to tell if he should. The real concern here is why the Catholic Church was not viewed by the press in a similar matter. Why didn't the American people clamor for the resignation of the bishops that protected these bastard priests? I don't have an answer for this question other than to say that religion is a protected enterprise in this country. Americans give religion a free pass and I will never understand why. Guilt is guilt and the same crime should receive the same treatment. These events should not be seen different by the public, but they are and that is a damn shame.

Media Culpability

Why is it that the media "experts" pat themselves on the back when they are right, but are oddly quiet when they are proven wrong or reverse their positions on matters of opinion? It is my personal opinion that people who espouse an opinion in a pubic forum should have the jimmies to own up to their mistakes, but, alas, they rarely do. If I saw such a statement in the press, it would be the first time.

Perhaps some examples would help make the point. First up, Mario Williams. For those that do know him, Mario Williams was a standout defensive end (football) for the NC State Wolfpack in the mid 2000's. During the 2006 NFL draft, the draft experts traded opinions on who would receive the prestigious honor of the first selected player. Conventional wisdom at the time saw a divided opinion on this matter. Half of the experts were convinced that the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush from the University of Southern California would earn this honor, while the other half decided that the Heisman runner-up, Vince Young, from the University of Texas should be selected. The team with the selection, the Houston Texans, shocked the football world by selecting one Mario Williams from NC State. The man responsible for the pick, Charlie Casserly, was castigated in the press for the selection and called a village idiot. The draft experts pounded the table and criticized Casserly at every turn for making what they deemed an irresponsible decision. History has proven Casserly correct. Reggie Bush should have never been selected in the first round and has been a general disappointment as a professional football player. Vince Young is a head case and lacks the maturity to lead a NFL football team. They both flamed out. Meanwhile "Super Mario" has been a defensive force and an all-pro selection. Do I have a problem with the ranting and raving when Williams was selected? No. What I have a problem with is that the draft experts never stepped forward and said "We were wrong". I personally never heard Mel Kiper or Len Pasquarelli apologize for their statements publicly. Why not? Pasquarelli, in particular, owes Casserly a steak dinner for claiming that Charlie's decision was the worst in NFL draft history. It wasn't. Where is the personal responsibility here? Why can't people admit their mistakes? When you are wrong, you are wrong. Own up and move on. It is not that complicated.

The second example revolves around the MotoGP motorcycle racer, Nicky Hayden. In 2009, Nicky signed with the Ducati racing team. The Ducati was known throughout the paddock as a temperamental beast that had killed the career of Marco Melandri. Nicky has struggled on the bike as well. Perhaps not as bad as Marco did, but the expected results never came. Casey Stoner, meanwhile, seemed to have tamed the wild machine, so the conventional wisdom was that the problem was the riders. Nicky and Marco were just not good enough. Casey could win on the damn thing, so why couldn't they? The 2011 racing season saw a shuffling of the riders and the teams they rode for. Most prominent among them was the move of 9-time World Champion Valentino Rossi to the Ducati seat vacated by Stoner as he himself moved to Honda. Immediately, the talented Rossi had problems with the bike and has struggled the entire year on the unforgiving machine. Herein lies the problem. The same members of the motorcycle press that had branded Hayden as a no-talent hack who did not deserve his factory ride were now claiming that the Ducati was not up to snuff. Rossi's ability was not, and shouldn't have been, called into question. There is something wrong with the bike. If Rossi can't ride it and his crew chief, the legendary Jeremy Burgess can't fix it, then something is wrong. I get that. No problem here. The problem is that the press never owned up to their mistake regarding Hayden and Melandri. Not a single one of these bastards has stepped forward and said to Nicky or Marco, "we are sorry that we doubted your ability."

Where's the honor? Where is the responsibility as a member of the public press? Where is the mea culpa?

Apparently nowhere to be found. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Everett Withers Can Kiss My Red Ass

Every once in a while, some egregious statement is made that cannot be ignored. Today is such a day. In an article that I read in the USA Today online edition, the interim varsity football coach of the Tarheels, one Everett Withers, made some rather controversial statements regarding his personal opinion on the importance of the the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

First of all, he referred to UNC-Ch as the "flagship" university. I am not making this up. Please read the article yourself. Second, he made specific mention that UNC-Ch has a higher graduation rate for its players than NC State. Let's examine these two claims in turn.

For my analysis, I am going to make the assumption that Withers is referring to the Football program at UNC-Ch and all my comments are based upon that. I am also going to make my personal bias rather clear. I am a graduate of NC State and have a knee jerk reaction to statements like this. I also have a huge superiority complex regarding UNC-Ch.

Let's make one thing crystal clear. UNC-Ch is not the flagship university in the grand state of North Carolina. Not way, no how. Too many people base their opinions regarding the status of a University on how successful the sports teams are. In this case, I am not sure what the hell Wither's point is. Is the UNC-Ch football program inherently more successful than NC State? Hell No. Butch Davis has had his ass handed to him by Tom O'Brien on a regular basis. In fairness, Butch Davis has his own set of problems and I am not going to pile on him here. Let's just say that in no way is this statement remotely true. These are basketball schools and suggesting that one of them is a state football powerhouse is ill advised. For the record, here is Withers quote in its entirety:

"When you have as many schools in this state as we have, and the recruiting base gets watered down a bit, I think the kids in this state need to know the flagship school in this state. They need to know it academically. If you look at our graduation rates, as opposed to our opponent’s this week (N.C. State), graduation rates for athletics, football, you’ll see a difference. ... If you look at the educational environment here, I think you’ll see a difference."

Not all of the people at UNC-Ch have scrambled eggs for brains. The UNC-Ch Chancellor issued an immediate apology to the NC State Chancellor regarding this inflammatory statement and I think this is a clear sign that UNC-Ch is stepping back from the coach on this issue.

The second issue here is the statement that UNC-Ch is academically superior to NC State. This is the issue that really burns my ass. This issue came up when I was in school and seems not to have dissipated. The claim in those days was that UNC-Ch graduated players and NC State did not. Was NC State's graduation rate deplorable? Yes it was. The reason was that NC State made little consideration for its players and kids that were essentially academically ineligible to attend the University were thrown to the wolves. On the other hand, UNC graduated its players with degrees that were eyebrow raising. Example, Michael Jordan, that favorite of UNC-Ch basketball fans the world over, was granted a degree in Geography. Let's get real. UNC-Ch should be embarrassed to even have a degree program like that. Handing out sham degrees does not make you better, it makes you look like a fool.

In a move that I applaud, Tom O'Brien, the head football coach at NC State did not take the high road and he did not let thise misplaced bravado stand unchallenged. Here is O'Brien's response:

"Here is a guy that’s on a football staff that ends up in Indianapolis (at a Committee on Infractions hearing to determine the Tar Heels’ penalties) ... If you take three things that you can’t do in college football, you have an agent on your staff. You’re paying your players. And you have academic fraud. That’s a triple play as far as the NCAA goes. So I don’t know that he has anything to talk about or they have anything to talk about. If that’s what people want in their flagship university in North Carolina, then so be it."

"At our school, A number one, all classes have a syllabus, Our guys go to school. They're not given grades, and they graduate. It's a little tougher here, if you have to go to school and you're expected to have a syllabus and go to class."

Couldn't have said it better, Tom. 

Source Articles:

• USA Today
• Boston Herald

Report Cards

It has been some time since I posted these, but it is report card time. The results of the first grading period are in and here are the results. Please feel free to provide comments directly to the named individuals below:

Kara (Grade 8)

Course	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4
HPE 8	A
Adv Band 8	B
Science 8	B
Pre Algebra	B+
Social Studies 8	A
Interdis - L.A.	A
Lang Arts 8	B+

Austin (Grade 11)

Course	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4
Construction Tech	A
Geometry	C+
English 11	A
Spanish II	B+
Oceanography	A
US/VA History	A
Technical Drawing	A

Racing Deaths

This past week has seen the deaths under competition by both Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli. Dan Wheldon died in an Indy Car crash in Las Vegas and Marco Simocelli diedin a MotoGP motorcycle race in Malaysia this morning. I only know about Wheldon's wreck from the news, but I saw the events that lead to the death of Simoncelli. Simoncelli's death marks the first time that I have seen a racer's helmet torn from his head. Both men died from head trauma and serve to show us that racing is a dangerous sport. I love the spectacle, the sights and sounds of competitive racing, but sometimes things happen that make us realize that the men who risk everything to make a living, sometimes get dealt a losing hand.

RIP - Dennis Ritchie

On October 5, 2011 the computer industry icon Steve Jobs passed to the other side. This event captured the attention and press of the nation in a manner that extended beyond the normal reach of the computer industry. Jobs was treated as a industry trailblazer and given essentially a state funeral by the American press. This is all well and good and much of the praise was well earned. Jobs was an innovator in the computing field and deserved to be recognized for it. The real tragedy here is that exactly one week later, a towering figure in the computing world passed away and was ignored by John Q. Public. He deserved better.

On October 12, 2011 Dennis Ritchie passed away and a true genius left the land of the living. Ritchie had a far greater impact on the computing world that Jobs could ever have and this quiet man's accomplishments echo loudly through the annals of computing history. I am willing to bet that few, if any readers, have even heard of him, but he deserves the title of genius and is a true computer science legend.

Dennis Ritchie was the co-creator of UNIX (with Ken Thompson) and the creator of the 'C' programming language. Ironically, both of these technologies form the basis for many of Apple's products and form the foundational elements of things such as Mac OS X and iOS. Words cannot do justice the the full impact of these two contributions to the computer science profession. The two contributions bear mention here.

The C Programming Language - The best way I know of the illustrate the impact of C  on the computer science profession is to realize that C was invented in the late 60s and early 70s and remains the most popular programming language in the world. C has withstood the onslaught of countless languages in its 40-year history and remains the king of the hill. I can think of no better tribute to Ritchie than to point out that a language developed 40 years ago remains not only relevant, but dominant in the computer industry.

UNIX - UNIX is quite simply, the most important operating system the world has ever seen. Despite the countless instantiations of Microsoft Windows that are installed around the globe, rest assured that the heavy lifting is done by UNIX or variants like Linux. The Internet runs on UNIX and always has. The synergy between the two contributions by Ritchie are underscored by the fact that UNIX is written in C. Every time you surf the web, you are using UNIX or something from UNIX. The TCP/IP stack source code that every Windows computer uses to connect to the Internet was taken directly from UNIX.

The list of things written in C and UNIX cannot be adequately addressed here but a quote by Google's Rob Pike puts everything in perspective:

“Pretty much everything on the web uses those two things: C and UNIX. The browsers are written in C. The UNIX kernel — that pretty much the entire Internet runs on — is written in C. Web servers are written in C, and if they’re not, they’re written in Java or C++, which are C derivatives, or Python or Ruby, which are implemented in C. And all of the network hardware running these programs I can almost guarantee were written in C.”

Linus Torvalds (inventor of the Linux operating system) invoked the spirit of Sir Isaac Newton when he declared that his accomplishments were accomplished by "standing on the shoulders of giants". Jobs did this as well and the shoulders that they all stood on belong to Dennis Ritchie. We all owe a debt to this man and the silence around his death shows that true innovators can live behind the scenes.

We are doomed

Just found out that Facebook is now the most visited web site on the Internet. Now that Google has been knocked off its perch, I think it's safe to assume that mankind is now the stupidest and most ill-informed it has ever been in recorded history. Please note that I said 'ill-informed' vice uninformed. We know more and have more access to information than at any time in human history. It's just that now most of our information is finding out what some loser is wasting his/her time with at any moment. I weep for humanity.

Time Marches On

Since I have some expertise in this area, I am always interested in examples that show how far we have come in the computer age. I just saw a jaw dropping example on the cost of storage.

Cost of 1TB of hard disk storage (bear in mind that there probably wasn't this much storage in the world at the time)

2011: About $60.
1955: $1 trillion

Cost of 4GB of storage:
2011: $10 (USB Drive)
1955: $32 billion

Nicky's New Leathers

Valentino's arrival at Ducati seems to have had an additional effect. Nicky Hayden will wear Dainese leathers this year. Until now, only Rossi and Lorenzo wore the Italian brand. Dani Pedrosa wore them as a rookie, but has worn Alpinestars since then.