Monday, August 31, 2009

After Exam Dinner


What would a look back to tonight be without some of the sounds and the movement? I hope some of you guys who were there or are part of the class comment on this.



Ed
















Sunday, August 30, 2009

How Instinct Solved an 18 year old case









Those of you who even remotely follow news have heard of this very disturbing story by now. About a girl who was kidnapped at age 11 and only found last week. Eighteen years after the original abduction. Whenever there is a case like this I can't help but think of an old X Files episode. I did not post this to rehash the details that you already read. My purpose for posting this is so that you can see the principles of Malcolm Gladwell's Blink in action. This idiot who allegedly did the kidnapping got away with it for 18 years. This is how we was caught. By something that really bothered the police women who he did not have to talk to. There were rules of engagement to be followed even if they knew something was wrong. I thought it is a fascinating look into detective work and working off instinct. You can see officer Ally Jacobs admit that she was in touch with both her police officer instinct and her mother instinct. Maybe it's just me but I find that powerful. You get to see the police officers tell their story.
The side stories of this are horrible. The step father was blamed even though he was an eye witness. The mother would spend weeks crying. I really don't know how else to end this except say I am glad the nightmare is over for the family. The two kidnappers seem to be really sick and they need prayer. Ed


Tags: Jaycee Dugard, blink, gladwell, ally jacobs, detective work, police work, abduction, kidnapping


Related Links: http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=8446023 http://www.gladwell.com/blink/index.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-p83MR9TK0 http://www.tv.com/the-x-files/home/episode/565/summary.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3dRt2jcaME&feature=related http://video.yandex.ru/users/jumy3254/view/327/user-tag/x-files/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjzSqEViYfk&feature=fvw http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=8446023

Online Chat With My Niece



This is me being demented. Whenever you see the smiley it was really yahoos graphic of ROTFL!. (rolling on the floor laughing) . She kept using it.


innagadda54: why are you up so late?
innagadda54: oh yeah
innagadda54: I am the only one with school tommorrow
dani :
innagadda54: actually
innagadda54: I forgot about that
innagadda54: until I typed my first line
innagadda54: you know by now the attitude of T.Gogs
innagadda54: If I have a problem
innagadda54: then EVERYBODY has the same problem
dani :
innagadda54: let me tell you this funny classic quote from a show called Family Ties
innagadda54: it was on before you were born
innagadda54: If its important to you then it's important to me
innagadda54: and it's important to me, it's important to the whole world!
dani : okay ,........
innagadda54: you use that sometime
innagadda54: I guarantee you will shock some people
dani : )
innagadda54: I live for these moments
innagadda54: when I can pass down my wisdom to the younger generation
innagadda54:
dani : cool

Saturday, August 29, 2009

What Brett Farve and Private Ryan Have In Common





Ever go through hell with people and wish it was all over? But later you look back on it and it's that common experience of hell that bonded you together. I first set foot on the La Salle GSB (MBA) program in 2000. There are a few classmates I keep in touch with. More often than not, they were people who toiled together with me in an effort towards a common goal. Usually a group project. There are reports that the Minnesota Vikings resent their new baby Brett Farve. And I can believe it. Because he felt himself being above the experience of "hell". There is a story in the Bible that Brett Favre apologists wish applied to the Vikings situation but it does not. What does apply is what actually happened on the set of Saving Private Ryan.










All the principal actors underwent several days of grueling army training - except for Matt Damon, who was spared so that the other actors would resent him, and would convey that resentment in their performances. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120815/trivia




Steven Spielberg knew that. Yet Brad Childress can't? Keep in mind coaches are just managers of talent just like your boss or my boss. Except I am not really talented.





Ed







http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/trainingcamp09/news/story?id=4424660


Source: 'Little support' for Favre
By Adam Schefter
ESPN

What two knowledgeable NFL people described earlier this week as an "issue" in the Minnesota Vikings' locker room was described Wednesday by a third informed person as a "schism."

The issue is quarterback Brett Favre, and the schism is the preference that certain Vikings players have for specific quarterbacks.

Sources with knowledge of the Vikings' locker-room dynamics say some players believe Tarvaris Jackson gives the Vikings the best chance to win; other players believe Sage Rosenfels gives the team the best chance -- which is one of the new twists to this storyline.

In the words of one NFL source, Favre has "little support" in the locker room as Minnesota prepares for its Monday night preseason game against the Houston Texans.

Speaking Thursday after practice, Favre said he had no reaction to reports of a "schism."

"I don't even know what that means," he said. "I've got no reaction. I'm just hopefully trying to help this team win. Just trying to fit in. I'm not worried about that. That's for you guys to have some fun with. Once again, I have no idea what that means. I'm assuming it's controversial. Good."

Favre, who signed only last week, struggled in his one preseason appearance but could easily win backers with improved performance and victories.

One NFL source said, however, that these locker-room issues were present long before the team signed Favre, and it's possible they will not go away any time soon unless Favre can completely silence them with his play.

Vikings coach Brad Childress was even asked Wednesday about the speculation.

"I've seen the same reports you've seen," Childress said. "Those are opinions. It's hard to shoot holes in an opinion. It's just that -- an opinion. I certainly don't see it."

Asked if he addressed with the players that friendships must become secondary to winning, Childress said: "I think all of them will cite that business is business. Whether they like it or not, that's the way it is. As I told Tarvaris, 'I don't expect you to like it.' He's a highly competitive guy, and he came back and played very well.

"That benefits him, that benefits us. There's no downside to that. I don't expect those guys to like it. But I expect them to deal with it and go forward. And by and large, that's exactly what's happened."

NFC North blog

Seifert ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert writes about all things NFC North in his division blog.

• Blog network:
NFL Nation

If Favre plays well, it's possible the schism could disappear. But it's also possible that if Favre struggles, the drama that accompanied his entrance only will increase, threatening to affect the Vikings' season and Childress' future.

Favre added Thursday that his assimilation into the team's locker-room culture will be "always a work in progress."

"I'd be a fool to sit here and tell you I've won everyone over in the locker room, and that's not what I'm trying to do. I was brought in here to help this team win, not to make friends, even though I felt like that's an easy thing for me to do," Favre said. " . . . I think my experience can only go so far on the field, but it can pay huge dividends off the field and in the locker room, how to adjust."

The presumptive Hall of Famer does have one big ally -- Adrian Peterson, who has confessed to being one of Favre's biggest fans, even while being a close personal friend of Jackson's.

"There's just a love I have for him and how he plays the game," Peterson said. "I play the game the same way."

They are neighbors in the locker room at team headquarters, and Peterson has wasted little time getting to know the man he has been watching "since I was in elementary school."

"To get to sit there and chitchat with Brett Favre, it's fun," Peterson said after practice on Wednesday. "He's a good guy. I was a fan of his for a long time and still am. I'm definitely taking advantage of it."

Adam Schefter is an ESPN NFL Insider. Information from ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert and The Associated Press was used in this report.


http://www.raptureforums.com/BibleStudy/workers.cfm

The 12 most annoying types of Facebookers - CNN.com

Link




Brilliant find by my cousin Nicole

I admit, I am the self promoter talked about there. I have admitted to many that Facebook for me is a means to an end. And that end is is my blog, whether on Multiply/ Blogspot. Me using Facebook is me in the if you can't beat them join mode. . I have said many times before that as universally used as FB is, it is esoteric. Blogs can be useful to people who may not know the author. Facebook rarely is. Call it arrogant but maybe a thing or two in my blog might be surprisingly useful or important to someone who is not a regular blog follower but is an FB contact. Facebook is the lowest common denominator. Which can be translated to some as popular or the best. But best is always what most suits our needs and our needs are different. So I get that.

There is definitely interaction in Facebook but rarely something like this.

But I look at what gets announced to me and it's what crop they collect for their virtual farm or their score in some jewelry game or some commercial promotion or what they had for lunch or someone giving me a virtual beer or coffee . And I am supposed to think this is the best? I am supposed to believe that every story I write is not as good as this? I am also secure in the knowledge that anyone who might be offended by this likely will not even think of reading this.


For me, my signature piece that explains on line social networking and its wasted potential is here.
Maybe people don't go online to think or really read thoughts that are not of a extremely self indulgent nature. Maybe those people are the ones that think Facebook is it. If anyone is disturbed and decides to drop me as a FB contact, I understand. Some people rarely consider conscience when it comes to logging into Facebook. It's an escape.


I have three on line friends who won't sell out to Facebook unlike me:

Zyrie
http://zyrie15.multiply.com/journal
Doc Albert http://worldofalbert.multiply.com/journal
Dough Boy.

All brilliant and if FB/ Twitter / Friendster are your be all and end all of social networking then you will miss out on people like that. And part of me thinks you deserve to.


Ed
Proud to be a self promoter of Twisted Thoughts http://edrlopez.blogspot.com/




related links

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/tag/facebook (many of my various facebook thoughts0

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/683/Oh_The_Freedom_We_Take_For_Granted_


*****************************************************************************

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/08/20/annoying.facebook.updaters/index.html




The 12 most annoying types of Facebookers

* Story Highlights
* Facebook is a great tool -- and a reminder of why some people get on your nerves
* Too many status updates read like navel-gazing diary entries, or worse, spam
* A dozen of the most annoying types of Facebook users listed
* Among them: bores, shameless self-promoters and people who send you quizzes

By Brandon Griggs
CNN

(CNN) -- Facebook, for better or worse, is like being at a big party with all your friends, family, acquaintances and co-workers.

There are lots of fun, interesting people you're happy to talk to when they stroll up. Then there are the other people, the ones who make you cringe when you see them coming. This article is about those people.

Sure, Facebook can be a great tool for keeping up with folks who are important to you. Take the status update, the 160-character message that users post in response to the question, "What's on your mind?" An artful, witty or newsy status update is a pleasure -- a real-time, tiny window into a friend's life.

But far more posts read like navel-gazing diary entries, or worse, spam. A recent study categorized 40 percent of Twitter tweets as "pointless babble," and it wouldn't be surprising if updates on Facebook, still a fast-growing social network, break down in a similar way. Take a CNN quiz: What kind of Facebooker are you? �

Combine dull status updates with shameless self-promoters, "friend-padders" and that friend of a friend who sends you quizzes every day, and Facebook becomes a daily reminder of why some people can get on your nerves. VideoWatch as Facebookers reveal bugbears �

Here are 12 of the most annoying types of Facebook users:

The Let-Me-Tell-You-Every-Detail-of-My-Day Bore. "I'm waking up." "I had Wheaties for breakfast." "I'm bored at work." "I'm stuck in traffic." You're kidding! How fascinating! No moment is too mundane for some people to broadcast unsolicited to the world. Just because you have 432 Facebook friends doesn't mean we all want to know when you're waiting for the bus.

The Self-Promoter. OK, so we've probably all posted at least once about some achievement. And sure, maybe your friends really do want to read the fascinating article you wrote about beet farming. But when almost EVERY update is a link to your blog, your poetry reading, your 10k results or your art show, you sound like a bragger or a self-centered careerist.

The Friend-Padder. The average Facebook user has 120 friends on the site. Schmoozers and social butterflies -- you know, the ones who make lifelong pals on the subway -- might reasonably have 300 or 400. But 1,000 "friends?" Unless you're George Clooney or just won the lottery, no one has that many. That's just showing off.

The Town Crier. "Michael Jackson is dead!!!" You heard it from me first! Me, and the 213,000 other people who all saw it on TMZ. These Matt Drudge wannabes are the reason many of us learn of breaking news not from TV or news sites but from online social networks. In their rush to trumpet the news, these people also spread rumors, half-truths and innuendo. No, Jeff Goldblum did not plunge to his death from a New Zealand cliff.

The TMIer. "Brad is heading to Walgreens to buy something for these pesky hemorrhoids." Boundaries of privacy and decorum don't seem to exist for these too-much-information updaters, who unabashedly offer up details about their sex lives, marital troubles and bodily functions. Thanks for sharing.

The Bad Grammarian. "So sad about Fara Fauset but Im so gladd its friday yippe". Yes, I know the punctuation rules are different in the digital world. And, no, no one likes a spelling-Nazi schoolmarm. But you sound like a moron.

The Sympathy-Baiter. "Barbara is feeling sad today." "Man, am I glad that's over." "Jim could really use some good news about now." Like anglers hunting for fish, these sad sacks cast out their hooks -- baited with vague tales of woe -- in the hopes of landing concerned responses. Genuine bad news is one thing, but these manipulative posts are just pleas for attention.

The Lurker. The Peeping Toms of Facebook, these voyeurs are too cautious, or maybe too lazy, to update their status or write on your wall. But once in a while, you'll be talking to them and they'll mention something you posted, so you know they're on your page, hiding in the shadows. It's just a little creepy.

The Crank. These curmudgeons, like the trolls who spew hate in blog comments, never met something they couldn't complain about. "Carl isn't really that impressed with idiots who don't realize how idiotic they are." [Actual status update.] Keep spreading the love.

The Paparazzo. Ever visit your Facebook page and discover that someone's posted a photo of you from last weekend's party -- a photo you didn't authorize and haven't even seen? You'd really rather not have to explain to your mom why you were leering like a drunken hyena and French-kissing a bottle of Jagermeister.

The Obscurist. "If not now then when?" "You'll see..." "Grist for the mill." "John is, small world." "Dave thought he was immune, but no. No, he is not." [Actual status updates, all.] Sorry, but you're not being mysterious -- just nonsensical.

The Chronic Inviter. "Support my cause. Sign my petition. Play Mafia Wars with me. Which 'Star Trek' character are you? Here are the 'Top 5 cars I have personally owned.' Here are '25 Things About Me.' Here's a drink. What drink are you? We're related! I took the 'What President Are You?' quiz and found out I'm Millard Fillmore! What president are you?"

You probably mean well, but stop. Just stop. I don't care what president I am -- can't we simply be friends? Now excuse me while I go post the link to this story on my Facebook page.

All AboutFacebook Inc.



Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/08/20/annoying.facebook.updaters/index.html






Friday, August 28, 2009

How History Views Ted Kennedy

You may have read my previous post on Ted Kennedy. This video here sums up his life. It's only 8.5 minutes. Also please check out the 18 second audio clip of David Letterman giving the "Kennedy Formula". Here in Multiply.



Ed




http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/890/Tweet_from_Big_League_Stew_RIP_Ted_Kennedy

http://modern-us-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/quotthe_kennedy_cursequot

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/895/How_History_Views_Ted_Kennedy






Things You Do When You Retire.








Here is where I will let your imagination work overtime. Listen to
John Madden design his ultimate TV room for people to watch nine
simultaneous NFL Football games at his house. He has this all
schemed out so you can imagine along with him. MP3 attachment is only 4 1/2 minutes long. Listen to it here if you are not on Multiply



Ed



http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/894/Things_You_Do_When_You_Retire._

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/arash_markazi/08/21/john-madden-talks-retirement/index.html


http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4073253







Generic disclaimer: If you are viewing this post in Livejournal, Blogspot , Email or Dan Patrick/ CNNSI and you can not find videos or audio or files or pics . Please go here http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal and look for corresponding date of this post. Thank you

Thursday, August 27, 2009

If You Build It ..................... Part 3


In this scene we see Ray and Annie bask in the glory and the lunacy of their newly constructed ball field.

There is also some rarely shown fondness for his dad. Something that I think is key to the appreciation of the story. What I find great about this scene is his wife's acceptance of this crazy vision. Filipinos only relate to sports played indoors. So what I am about to explain is tough for most of them to relate. There are no team sporting venues quite as majestic as a baseball field. It has to be outdoors and on grass. I have played on softball fields, I have watched major league baseball and minor league baseball. There is nothing like it. I love football but there is something about a baseball field. .90 feet between the bases. 60 feet 6 inches from the mound to the plate. Nothing like it.




Ed


Trivia:


Oddly enough Costner was in a baseball movie the year before where his co star was also named Annie.


The studio built the baseball diamond on an actual farm in Dyersville, Iowa. After the filming was completed, the family owning the farm kept the field, and added a small hut where you could buy inexpensive souvenirs. As of 1990, visitors were free to come to the field and play baseball as they please.

Tom Hanks was originally offered the role of Ray Kinsella but turned it down.

Sheila McCarthy and Reba McEntire both auditioned for the part of Annie.





Links:

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/tag/field%20of%20dreams (previous installments)


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097351/fullcredits



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094812/









Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Tweet from Big League Stew RIP Ted Kennedy




http://twitter.com/bigleaguestew

bigleaguestew
From the files of you can't make this stuff up: Ted Kennedy owned a Portugese water dog named Splash.



I was not going to write about this topic but I read this rather gutsy tweet from bigleaguestew. Of course he assumes you know enough to connect the dots. Since some of my readers may not be able to connect the dots , here are a plethora of links. Or do your own research if the story seems to hard to believe.



Ed




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jGnk1WIiv0

http://www.newsnet14.com/2009/07/40th-anniversary-of-mary-jo-kopechnes-drowningted-kennedy-remains-free-of-guilt/

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2294702/posts

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/rich-noyes/2009/07/18/40-years-chappaquiddick-ted-kennedy-would-have-brought-comfort-mary-jo-k


http://americanhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/senator_edward_ted_kennedy_and_chappaquiddick

http://open.salon.com/blog/deborah_young/2009/02/16/when_ted_kennedy_came_to_my_house_-_circa_1970















Generic disclaimer: If you are viewing this post in Livejournal, Blogspot , Email or Dan Patrick/ CNNSI and you can not find videos or audio or files or pics . Please go here http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal and look for corresponding date of this post. Thank you





Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Is There in Truth No Beauty?

Link

I was chatting with one of my Multiply partners in crime tonight. It was about the cultural power that makes a beauty pageant possible.Of course, this was based on my post last night. And how I read somewhere a long time ago about when TV came into Fiji , the local young women suddenly were experiencing a rash of eating disorders. So we once again are in the classic quandary of what is beauty and what is the acceptable cost. Since I am a man of limited intelligence, I feel I am best serving the blogosphere if I generate more questions than answers.






I borrowed the title from a classic Star Trek episode. Then again all the shows in the original run were classic so it's redundancy again. Allow me to stress the point again for a second night in a row. The Little Prince is a tale about the importance of what lies within. The alternative title may as well have been "Is There in Truth No Beauty".




Ed


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/347637.stm (Fiji Story)

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/886/Discrimination_Can_Cut_Both_Ways

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/210/Its_Been_25_Years_Karen_Carpenter_The_Talent_The_Sad_Story

http://www.tv.com/star-trek/is-there-in-truth-no-beauty/episode/24943/summary.html

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Is_There_in_Truth_No_Beauty%3F_%28episode%29



http://www.pbs.org/perfectillusions/personalstories/marya.html

Marya
The first time I ever threw up, I had been hating my body, hating my body and hating my body-for years... I stopped watching TV, put down my bag of Fritos and just sort of, in this drugged stupor, walked downstairs and pulled back my braids and threw up.

This early established routine of eating until she was numb became an everyday after-school habit for Marya Hornbacher. At the age of nine, she began bingeing and purging steadily. Eventually she became so disgusted with herself, she all but stopped eating.

Marya:
You start setting goals for yourself, "I want to get down to 100, I want to get down to 90, I want to get down to 80, and it just gets lower and lower and lower. I remember looking at the scale, and it said 63 and I went, 50!"



Her parents only learned of her eating disorder when they visited her at boarding school. She was skeletally thin. At 14 years of age, she had lost 25% of her body weight. This was advanced anorexia, and her extreme medical situation needed extreme measures. Full-time treatment in a locked institution was the only option left.

As with most families, the shock of discovery hit Marya's parents hard, as did coming to terms with the role they played in her illness. They never overtly put demands on her, but to Marya they were intellectuals: successful, beautiful, talented people, and she wanted to be them. She wanted to excel and achieve, to be good enough for them. The worst thing she could imagine being was mediocre. The precocious little girl exacted perfection from herself and tried curing the discord in her home, and her parents' unhappiness.

She may have gotten sick to bring her parents together; she may have gotten sick because trying to be perfect was just too hard even for a lovely, brilliant young woman. In family therapy, Judy and Jay Hornbacher looked long and hard at their own accountability for Marya's illness.

Judy Hornbacher:
I've had people say astonishing things to me that said they would not take a look at their family dynamic. And I would say that unless you do that, you have absolutely no hope whatsoever of your child being able to get better.

Jay Hornbacher:
The best thing you can do is accept the child as that child is.

They never gave up their love and support, but Marya wasn't getting better. Despite the hospitalization, the counseling, the medication and the nutrition, Marya just wanted to die. There is no simple reason why someone decides to get better. Marya rejected all attempts at any intercession until the day at Lowe House when a little boy gave her the first hug she allowed, and told her she could have one tomorrow too.

Marya:
I made a decision that very few people make in this culture, which was to actually figure out what was wrong and fix it. I really had to go through a lot of hell to get better.

At the age of 21, Marya wrote her book, Wasted, telling the story of her life-long battle with anorexia and bulimia. This memoir has been described as "brutal and unflinching: a painful and soul-baring exploration" into Marya's own personal abyss, and of her journey back. There are no punches pulled here. Marya's intention is to shed light on the dark side of the eating disordered personality and the personal, family and cultural causes, underlying eating disorders. Her book traces her life from the first time she decides to vomit her food, to her complete collapse in college, five hospitalizations, therapy, and the loss of family, friends, jobs, and ultimately, "any sense of what it means to be normal."

Marya attended the University of Minnesota and American University, where she garnered awards in student journalism. At 18 she began traveling the United States addressing young women and men about the causes of eating disorders. After Wasted was published, she received the Women of Inspiration Award from the American Anorexia/Bulimia Association. She says the point of her book was, "how you go on with your life," but admits that the book nearly killed her. After a relapse in 1994, after completing Wasted, she resumed her fight against her eating disorder.

Epilogue

From a television interview with Marya:
The function of an eating disorder for a lot of people and for a certain extent of time, is to become numb. When you reach a certain nadir of numbness, it's called despair. It just feels horrific and then you have to climb your way back up and that whole process of climbing, that is a lifetime. That isn't just recovering from an eating disorder, that's learning how to be a grown up. It's learning how to live in the body you have and in the life that you have.

Marya is fortunate to be here. She had been told she would never get this far, but she took hold of her life. Over ten years of therapy and incredible determination, she is, as she says, the closest thing to being recovered.

When she talked her way out of Lowe House treatment center, it was a turning point, she knew she could get better, but also knew she could never diet again; like an alcoholic, she could never go back to that way of conducting her life. A big part of her still says she was never there, never in that condition. But she knows it was her and to be a wholly integrated being, she can no longer be one of those women constantly at war with her body.

She deplores our culture which doesn't seem to want answers, which doesn't want to change. "And you can't change an entire culture, you can only change yourself." Her advice to anyone suffering with an eating disorder? "Get into therapy. Start working on yourself. Read."

Marya continues her career as a freelance editor and writer. She writes for Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine, is the winner of the White Award for Best Feature Story of 1993 for Wasted, her first book, and presently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her husband. She is at work writing her second book, a novel. It is about the nature of loss and acceptance seen through the eyes of a six-year old girl whose father has died. Set in a little town in Minnesota, in the early 1970's, a time and place where the Vietnam war still seemed far away; it is a story of finding redemption, in the small corners of the world.

For more information about Wasted and Marya Hornbacher, visit: www.fireandwater.com and the health section, where you can read more about her book, and e-mail Marya.

Here are some of Marya's book recommendations:

* The Body Betrayed: A Deeper Understanding of Women, Eating Disorders, and Treatment, by Kathryn J. Zerbe
* The Body Project, by Joan Jacobs Brumberg
* Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body, by Suzan Bordo
* Appetites, by Carolyn Knapp (to be published May 2003)

Top

Marya
Marya

Video:
dial up | high speed

...I had been hating my body, hating my body and hating my body-for years. And since I was four or five, was the first time I remember deciding that I was fat.

Video requires free RealPlayer plugin.

�2003 KCTS Television. Al


&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/347637.stm

TV brings eating disorders to Fiji'

The traditional Fijian form is a "robust, well-muscled body"

Fiji, a nation that has traditionally cherished the fuller figure, has been struck by an outbreak of eating disorders since the arrival of television in 1995, a study has shown.



The BBC's James Westhead: The concept of dieting was unknown in Fiji
Researchers from Harvard say the western images and values transmitted via the medium has led to an increase in disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.

Anne Becker, an anthropologist at Harvard Medical School, has studied Fijian eating habits since 1988.


[ image: Anne Becker: Alarming proportion of teenagers on diets]
Anne Becker: Alarming proportion of teenagers on diets
She compared the arrival of television with the arrival of British explorers in the last century.

"What I hope is that this isn't like the 19th century, when the British came to Fiji and brought the measles with them. It was a tremendous plague," she said.

"One could speculate that in the 20th century, television is another pathogen exporting Western images and values," she said.

'Programming influences teens'

Fiji has one television station, which broadcasts programmes from the UK, US and New Zealand such as Seinfeld, ER, Melrose Place and Xena: Warrior Princess.


[ image: Programmes full of slim role models may have an effect]
Programmes full of slim role models may have an effect
In 1998 - 38 months after the station went on air - Ms Becker conducted a survey of teenage girls and found that 74% of them felt they were "too big or fat".

Ms Becker said there had been a sharp rise in indicators of disordered eating, such as induced vomiting.

She said 15% of the girls reported they had vomited to control weight.

The traditional Fijian preference for the build of both sexes has been a "robust, well-muscled body" for both sexes, she said.

Ranadi Johnston - who holds the Miss Fiji beauty queen title, said slim women were tradionally seen as weak.

"People are always telling me to put on weight," she said.

'Major impact'

The impact of television on a Pacific island that has only had electricity since 1985 was significant, she said, as adolescent girls became more aware of Western ideals of beauty.


Ranadi Johnston: "People keep telling me to put on weight"
"Nobody was dieting in Fiji 10 years ago," Ms Becker said. "An alarmingly high percentage of adolescents are dieting now."

She said a study showed that a higher proportion of adolescents in Fiji were dieting than in Massachusetts.

"The teenagers see TV as a model for how one gets by in the modern world. They believe the shows depict reality."

Many groups say the world-wide increase in eating disorders is down to the prevalence of images equating a slim figure with beauty.

But some doctors have questioned whether such disorders are caused by culture or are transmitted from generation to generation in genes.

A study on the Caribbean island of Curacao, where fat is considered attractive, found the incidence of anorexia was equal to that in Europe.

Link to television images

Nicky Bryant, chief executive of the Eating Disorders Association, said Ms Becker's study had implications for everyone.



Nicky Bryant: There is a relationship between media images and eating disorders
"Research has shown there is a relationship between television and the development of an eating disorder, although there are many other factors," she said.

"With low self-esteem - which is associated with eating disorders - people will be trying to assume a low body weight or a slim image, which can lead to an eating disorder."

She advised anyone who was concerned about an eating disorder to contact the association or see their GP.

"The earlier an eating disorder is detected, the better is the chance of recovery," she said.


[ image: Nicky Bryant: Implications for all]
Nicky Bryant: Implications for all
A 1993 World Health Organisation report found that the Fiji suffered extremes of nutritional problems.

It said: "Obesity is an emerging health problem, which can be presently observed in children.

"However, under-nutrition has been around for over a decade and still exists with 15 percent of children under the age of five having a weight and age ratio below international standards.

"Fijian babies are undernourished at an early stage, while malnutrition in Indo-Fijian children appears at a later stage."

Ms Becker presented her findings at the American Psychiatric Association in Washington on Wednesday.



Monday, August 24, 2009

Discrimination Can Cut Both Ways


"How come NO ASIAN candidate was chosen for the Top 15 in the Miss Universe Pageant? Could it be that Donald Trump HATES Asians?"
a quote on Twitter August 24, 2009.


That was from the Twitter of a friend of a mine. One thing about words and meaning is you don't need a lot to inspire a lot of writing and speculation elsewhere. What I am trying to say is those two questions are loaded. This is nothing personal but I feel I have to break down those two sentences. And any of you who have been long time readers will find yourself in familiar territory. First of all you only get 140 characters to say what you want in a single Twitter message but this is what I said in response. .


edrlopez@***** would you be asking that question if you were not Asian? What if no dark skinned in top15 would you question?


It really seems this person was slighted that Asians were included. As a mutual teacher of ours says " you have to come to your decisions with logic and not feelings". I am questioning perspective there. I would hazard to guess based on two sentences that my friend feels slighted that nobody from his or her race made it to the Top 15 so it speaks to the pride and self worth of that race. In this case the Asian race.


Another point that I am interpreting from those two sentences is the exclusion of asians is attributed to Donald Trump. He bought the rights and he paid the judges and told them not to pick Asians. I doubt that is a future Oliver Stone movie.

One thing about the notion of no asians in the Top 15. I can not verify that statement to save my life. I looked in the Miss Universe website and they do not even have the process. They don't say the Top 15 or even the runner ups or runners up however you say it. What kind of a competition is this? That does not record the winner's path to victory? I did a quick Google and I can see the score of every NFL playoff game from the 2003-04 season. But the official MIss Universe website just tells you the winner and the names of the representatives?

In the same class where I know my friend , our teacher had an exercise in the first class. Name your favorite book and why. Text books, religious books and technical manuals excluded. I forgot which one said it since everybody was new to me at the time. But someone said Little Prince which is a great answer.
The classmate went on to say because it's a book that stresses what is on the inside is what really matters. In case you were wondering what book I picked , it's this. Something tells me that the Miss Universe competition was not created and sustained with the ideals of the Little Prince in mind. Miss Universe is an exhibition and that's all it is. Why someone can bent out of shape over the racial composition of the final fifteen is beyond me? Besides a practice that inspires this creepy practice and behavior is truly something I can not get behind.

Somebody explain to me how this can be a competition? Dan Wetzel explains why it is not? How exactly do you compete? By how gingerly you wave? God gave us all a face. Some more blessed than others so I don't know why there is so much emphasis on this? Besides anybody know or care who Miss Universe 2006 was? I don't. But I am sure we can go back thirty years and I can tell you at least 2 out of 4 the winners of a) Stanley Cup b) Super Bowl c) NBA Final d) World Series.


Wow, two sentences and we can surmise concepts like racism, bribery, completion, self worth, shallowness and conspiracy theories. Sometimes two sentences can speak like an entire book. Does not necessarily mean the book will be something I will genuflect to though.


Ed











http://www.missuniverse.com/pageant/venue


http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/242 (Olympics judging)

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/torino2006/figure_skating/news?slug=dw-figsnosport022006&prov=yhoo&type=lgns


http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/518/Hes_One_of_Us_Thats_Why

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/877/I_Love_Cute_Kids_But_Why_Does_This_Feel_So_Wrong_Video_


http://philadelphia-eagles.net/history/2003-stats.html



http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/mia/1994.htm

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/tag/protests

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/285/I_got_this_intense_craving_lucky_my_gf_was_with_me

http://www.readingmatters.co.uk/book.php?id=116

http://twitter.com/edrlopez


August 24, 2009.


tags:
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If We Know Then What We Know Now




Warning this is sports related. If you are interested in background on this. You may go here.

I got this idea from Bill Simmons' Twitter . If you want to see the pics better just click the pictures themselves.



Players on the cover:

  • Norman Garciaparra
  • Jose Canseco
  • Sammy Sosa
  • Mark McGwire,
  • Ken Griffey Jr.

I recommend Googling them if you are at all curious.





Ed


http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/tag/steroids


http://twitter.com/sportsguy33

Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Closest I Got To Being A Comedy Writer






This was on TV and they did give me credit. I did get to come on later. I was not hard to find. See it here, its one big blooper reel. If you ever bothered to read my homepage, I did want to be a comedy writer and you may be looking at the closest I ever came to it. I have to admit though I stole that line from Bob "Tell It Like It Is" Safford". He can have 100% royalties from my earnings.




On a more serious note, that show aired nine years ago and read today's headlines and we have not progressed as a country.

Ed


Links


http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/


http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20090820-221211/MNLF-rebels-given-time-to-surrendermilitary


http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/637/In_Defence_of_Carrie_Underwood



Tags: , , , terrorists,pia gonzalez






Saturday, August 22, 2009

If I Love Writing So Much Why Was This Torture?



Those of you that know me outside of this blog whether its by email, chat or in person know that in the last two months I can not speak 5 or 6 sentences without mentioning two words: "The Paper". At 12:40 today the madness stopped. At least for now. It could have been better. But it's in.



Just the thought of this being due was like the mythical Sword of Damocles for me.






Just so you guys can see , it's really that thick. So if I was insufferable, there you go. At least it amounted to something. Thanks to Ana and Rookie for patiently helping me with the printing and binding. Right at crunch time.







Of course as you can see, I was not the only one relieved that this day has come.







This is us with our Professor Elfren Cruz.
I think Anna did all you guys a favor covering me, I was functioning on no sleep. I admit , I was on performance enhancing drugs. Starbucks Tanzania






I have known this for a while but Prof. Cruz is a great raconteur.



I doubt any of the younger GSB students will stumble upon this blog entry. It might debunk some myths.


Ed




Friday, August 21, 2009

If You Build It ..................... Part 2




This scene does double duty. It shows the main character Ray doing the insane thing of tearing up his primary source of income to build a baseball field. All because of the voice he heard earlier telling him "If You Build It He Will Come" . While he is doing that he sets up the history of Shoeless Joe Jackson by telling Karin. If I had such a captive audience despite their youth, I would be explaining baseball with that amount of assumed knowledge too. Which might explain a few things about me.



Ed



Part 1 is here:

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/862/If_You_Build_It_....................._Part_1_









Assorted Trivia from the Movie:

  • The studio built the baseball diamond on an actual farm in Dyersville, Iowa. After the filming was completed, the family owning the farm kept the field, and added a small hut where you could buy inexpensive souvenirs. As of 1990, visitors were free to come to the field and play baseball as they please.
  • Thousands of pallets of green grass were brought in to make the baseball field, but due to the haste in planting because of the shooting schedule, the grass was not able to grow appropriately and died. In order to keep the grass green, the production crew painted the grass.
  • When Ray asks "Shoeless" Joe Jackson what he likes about about playing baseball, Shoeless Joe responds "the thrill of the grass", the title of W.P. Kinsella's 1985 book of short stories about baseball.

Generic disclaimer: If you are viewing this post in Livejournal, Blogspot , Email or Dan Patrick/ CNNSI and you can not find videos or audio or files or pics . Please go here http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal and look for corresponding date of this post. Thank you



, ,

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

What If You Spent Your Life Working for One Thing?





And you get it?


This video deals with that possible empty feeling.


Beep Beep !!!


Ed










tags: fulfillment, goals, coyote, anvil, boulder, traps,

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

I Love Cute Kids But Why Does This Feel So Wrong? (Video)




Would You Consider This A Healthy Environment for a Child? The more I saw of this, the more I was disgusted of
  • the practice.
  • the organizers
  • the sponsors
  • the audience.
I am actually most disgusted with the parents. Kids should be kids. They will spend the rest of their lives being adults. Michael Jackson was deprived of his childhood and it affected his grip on reality for the rest of his life. That's my opinion. View this and tell me what you think. Ed







http://i.abcnews.com/print?id=8295552




ABC News
Pageants Behind the Scenes: Toddlers, Tiaras, Tempers and Tantrums
Are Beauty Pageants 'Playing Dress-Up' or Promoting Perfection?
By ANDREA CANNING and DEBORAH APTON

Aug. 11, 2009—

The Texas State Beauty Pageant in Austin, Texas, is home to pint-size beauty queens with big attitudes and high style.

In Texas, "we like all the glamour, we like the rhinestones, we like the sequins, we like the big beautiful hair," said Annette Hill, the owner of Universal Royalty, which runs the pageant.

"Everything's gone to high fashion," concurred pageant judge Kathy Petty. "The gaudier the better."

At this year's pageant, 50 girls and boys -- even babies as young as 2 weeks old -- were competing for a shot at the tiara and $2,000 in cash. Winning is "very important," said 9-year-old Brooke McClung, who added that when she doesn't win she feels sad.

"I should have done better, I should have done better. I should have nailed it!"

Four-year-old Eden Wood, who is featured on TLC's reality show "Toddler's & Tiaras," was considered the beauty to beat at this pageant. She's been on the circuit most of her short life.

"I like the makeup, and I like hair spray," she said. "Makeup makes me happy. I like being pretty on stage with my makeup on."

Watch the story tonight on "Nightline" at 11:35 p.m. ET and Thursday on "Good Morning America" at 7 a.m. and CLICK HERE to see more of Eden Wood's pageant photos.

When ABC News visited Eden last month in her small Arkansas town, it was obvious she'd found her calling. The Wood's home is full of hundreds of trophies and crowns.

When asked which one is her favorite, Eden pointed to one crown and said, "This one, because it's so big."

For Eden's mother, Mickie Wood, a former beauty queen herself, pageants have become a full-time job. She said she's committed to giving her child the best possible chance to shine.

But being the best doesn't come cheap. It's estimated that 250,000 children compete in more than 5,000 pageants in the United States each year, and pageant officials admit some families have gone into debt, even paying entry fees before paying the rent.

Wood said she can afford the $70,000 she's spent on necessities for Eden, such as professional photos, spray tanning, coaching and $3,000 dresses.

"Is that excessive?" Wood said. "It probably is. But there's no telling how much we have invested in my child's future in every aspect, in all the lessons of the different things she's involved in. We work and we have our money in the bank. & Why can't I spend it on my child if that's what I want to do?"

Tough Toddlers Still Have Tantrums
The Woods traveled to Austin to defend Eden's title as reigning queen. If she won she was promised a puppy, but this year she had some fierce competition. Pageant watchers pitted her against 5-year-old Tarilyn Eschberger from Crowley, Texas.

Before the pageant started, Hill said the two were "running neck and neck."

"It's a very hard competition, very stressful, and I think both contestants have their game faces on, but it's going to be tough," she said. "You're looking at a beautiful baby doll, which is Eden, and you're looking at Tarylin, which is a top-notch bubbly professional."

That's a lot of pressure for a 4-year-old like Eden, whom Mickie Wood calls her "little diva," but she has a secret weapon for stressful situations.

Hand puppets that Eden plays with when she needs to be distracted "definitely help," her mom said.

"It takes her mind off whatever, if she's tired of sitting or not real focused."

But even the puppets can't prevent the tantrums that are normal for children her age.

"Just like any other 3- or 4- or 5-year-old little girl or little boy, they're going to have tantrums," Wood said. "They're going to have bad days, and that has nothing to do with pageants. & [They] are just being a human. & If you have a child you know that they have moments."

The first day of the pageant was the talent portion, for which the children practice up to 15 hours a week. If you looked on the sidelines it was clear that the parents had done some practicing of their own, encouraging their children to smile and miming the words and movements of their routines.

"You just get so caught up in it," Wood said. "I seem to get a little too much into it sometimes and don't even realize I'm doing it. It's to help them. You go to the ball games and the moms and dads will be in the stands going 'Get 'em, get 'em, get 'em'& To me it's no different than us coaching our girls."

But judge Kathy Petty says sometimes the parents go too far.

"When your child's on stage and they don't perform the way they want you to, don't spank them, hit them, things like that," she said. "I have seen that in the past, where the parents start yelling at them, actually spanks them & and I don't think that's encouraging."

Pageants Teach 'Performance-Based Esteem'?

Day two of the pageant focused on the contestants' bodies and their beauty as the children modeled swimsuits and formal wear.

It's this portion of the contest that concerns many child psychologists the most. A 2007 study by the American Psychological Association contends that pageants teach young girls "to see themselves as objects to be looked at and evaluated for their appearance."

The study linked a premature emphasis on appearance with "three of the most common mental health problems of girls and women: eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression."

Family therapist Terry Real said that giving children "performance-based esteem" -- teaching them that their self worth comes from their talents or beauty -- is dangerous.

"What you want to teach your kid is you have worth because of who you are, period," he said.

Pageant owner Annette Hill calls the study "ridiculous" and says it's up to the parents to keep things positive.

"When they do studies like that they need to go to a pageant system and look at the kids and evaluate," she said. "I don't see any unhappy kids here."

Hill believes America's backlash against pageants all began with the precocious images of JonBenet Ramsey parading across the stage in 1996. The 6-year-old beauty pageant queen was found dead in the basement of her parent's home. Her murder has never been solved.

"We love beauty pageants, and we're not going to stop doing them," she said. "Parents enjoy showcasing their kids, and what is wrong with that? What is wrong with showcasing to the world, here is my beautiful daughter or my beautiful son? As long as you keep it in a positive aspect, I don't think anything is wrong with that."

Mickie Wood also dismissed the study's findings that linked a premature emphasis on beauty to eating disorders, depression and low self-esteem in the future.

"It's playing dress up," she said. "It's an expensive dress up game. We put so much more emphasis on her being Eden and excelling at everything she does."

She said that it's possible for pageants to overemphasize beauty "if you don't balance out with a normal life" but said that it's only a small part of her own family's life.

Who Will Take the Tiara?

Wood doesn't think all the tanning and makeup and products will make Eden vain, just confident.

"If that was all we did and we were constantly in the mirror primping, if she was overzealous about her appearance, but I don't see that and if I ever did see that I would put a stop to it," she said. "I want her to be well rounded and balanced. It's just not all about beauty."

But TLC cameras did catch Mickie Wood backstage at a pageant telling her daughter, "We have to be perfect!" -- a sound bite she says she regrets.

"I just wanted her to be put together well and look her best," she said. "I've never said, 'Eden you have to look perfect' in the context of you have to look like a perfect child.'"

And those showgirl outfits?

"She's covered everywhere," Wood said. "When I think of a showgirl I think of a beautiful glamorous woman. It's a gorgeous glamorous costume. It's old Hollywood & not sexualizing my child."

Woods does admit that showcasing Eden is the ultimate high, because seeing "the joy and the sparkle that comes over her when she steps on stage & brings back that spark to me."

But in the end, she says Eden is still just a normal kid.

"We live in the country, we go to birthday parties, she drives a tractor, she has a four-wheeler & my child is not missing out on friends on playing on school. I'm teaching her values that have nothing to do with pageants."

On the final night of the Austin pageant Eden and Tarilyn were still neck in neck. The judges said Eden was tired and off her game, but Tarilyn had lost points for being too spray tanned.

"One day the judges say we're not tanned enough & then we're too tanned," sighed Tarilyn's mother. "You just never know what's going to work on any given day."

But too tanned or not, Tarilyn came out on top.

"We're disappointed," Mickie Wood said. "We wouldn't be normal if we weren't. She did her best and onto the next."

For the Woods the pageant is just one of 25 they'll be competing in this year, and in a world where bigger is better, they have their eye on the biggest prize of all. They hope that their toddler in a tiara will grow up to be Miss America.

Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures


Saturday, August 15, 2009

The Immediate Mood in Philadelphia




Sal Palantonio is a life long Philadelphia resident. He is also a very good reporter. No matter how people spin things, listen to his voice (in the mp3 file below) how the crowd in Philadelphia reacted to the news that ex convict Mike Vick will play for their football team. Ed

For a bit of fan reaction you can read go here:



http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/post/_/id/4399764/protest-disrupt-tailgating

For my previous big picture thoughts on this go here:


http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/820/Mike_Vick_and_the_Basis_For_Strategy_with_Text_this_time




Generic disclaimer: If you are viewing this post in Livejournal, Blogspot , Email or Dan Patrick/ CNNSI and you can not find videos or audio or files or pics . Please go here http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal and look for corresponding date of this post. Thank you


tags
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Friday, August 14, 2009

Billy Joel Serenades Rick Pitino





I actually got this idea from a guy who responded to this post


The song originally appeared in the classic Billy Joel album The Stranger.



The previous story I cover in this post





As for the actual song , one of my favorite Billy Joel numbers. I actually saw this done live December 1982. I include the mp3 in the multiply post.




Ed


links:

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/867/Scandal_is_a_Choice_


http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Yeah-Rick-Pitino-should-probably-drop-the-whole?urn=ncaab,182770

http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/870/Billy_Joel_Serenades_Rick_Pitino



Scandal is A Choice





Note : This is a replicate of this post


http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/867/Scandal_is_a_Choice_
















It's not so much kick a guy when he is down. But you follow a person by his actions not his words. Pitino's book are his words. What you see in the article are his actions. If this guy was not a motivational speaker for businesses (my company in 1992) or self help author or role model for college kids then maybe he can be somewhat excused.The news story is basically here:

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090811/SPORTS02/908110350








I bought this book in the late nineties and its a great book. Well in the last day we found out a few things about the author that are not exactly from the book.












This 275- page book was originally published in 1997 and it is divided into the following chapters:

Acknowledgments
Deserving Victory


1. Build Self- Esteem
2. Set Demanding Goals
3. Always be Positive
4. Establish Good Habits
5. Master the Art of Communication
6. Learn From Role Models
7. Thrive on Pressure
8. Be Ferociously Persistent
9. Learn From Adversity
10. Survive Success
Overachieving in Business and Life



That's the basic contents of the book. I decided to take some excerpts from the book and juxtapose them with actual quotes from the various stories coming out. I do know we are human and we make mistakes. Still being human we are fascinated when facade falls to reveal reality. Well this is a good example of the bigger they are the harder they fall.

Ed








He noted that Sypher was unable to explain why, “if this man raped you, why would you put yourself in a position where you're going to be around him all the time?” She acknowledged in the interview that it also didn't make sense that Tim Sypher would continue to work for Pitino knowing the coach had sexually assaulted the woman who later became his wife. The Syphers were married in 2004 but she filed for divorce in March.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090811/SPORTS02/908110350







"Perhaps the most important, though, is this: A coach is only as great as the assistants underneath who work for him.

Vinnie Tatum was such a good soldier that he kept guard over Pitino in the back of a restaurant even as the coach was having drunken sex with a woman he had met just hours earlier. Tim Sypher valued his job so much that he gave Pitino the keys to his condominium, then kept watch as the coach gave the same woman $3,000 so she could go across state lines and get an abortion. "




http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news;_ylt=AkqgTylVkllG6GjRWz6UutXevbYF?slug=ap-timdahlberg-081209&prov=ap&type=lgns











"consensual sex with an apparent stranger in a restaurant after an evening of heavy drinking, "



http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090813/OPINION01/908130314




"Public opinion will count in this story. Pitino is a very public Catholic man in a strong Catholic community. For some, the aborted Sypher pregnancy will resonate beyond a Big East championship. Opposing coaches won't have to spread the news. They'll only have to spread the uncertainty about whether Pitino, about five weeks from his 57th birthday, will have the motivational fire as well as the flame-resistant psyche to overcome this. "



http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090812/COLUMNISTS01/908120410






"Pitino said he told her they should meet somewhere discreetly to discuss the matter. He said he suggested the condo of the team's equipment manager, Tim Sypher, whom she'd not yet met, but later married. She met Tim Sypher and followed him to the condo.. "


http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090811/SPORTS02/908110350



"Yet he’s drunk in a restaurant having sex with a woman he just met while his assistant listens in? He’s giving her money in a secret meeting at another assistant’s place after she tells him she’s pregnant with his baby and plans to get an abortion? Say what you will about Bobby Knight, but this wouldn’t happen on his watch. He might throw a few chairs in a restaurant, but he wouldn’t be having sex on top of one. "




http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news;_ylt=AkqgTylVkllG6GjRWz6UutXevbYF?slug=ap-timdahlberg-081209&prov=ap&type=lgns



*********************************************************************
Various clippings





http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090811/SPORTS02/908110350/Pitino+told+police+he+had+consensual+sex+with+Sypher That witness, Vinny Tatum, an executive assistant to Pitino, told the FBI that he didn't see what happened but heard “only the sounds of two people that seemed to be enjoying themselves during a sexual encounter,” according to Abbott's report. U of L Athletic Director Tom Jurich said in a statement Tuesday that “Coach Pitino has been truthful with us about this matter all along and we stand by him and his family during this process.” Pitino said he told her they should meet somewhere discreetly to discuss the matter. He said he suggested the condo of the team's equipment manager, Tim Sypher, whom she'd not yet met, but later married. She met Tim Sypher and followed him to the condo. He said she told him she was going to have an abortion but didn't have health insurance. He said he asked how much it would cost and she said $3,000, which he gave her, according to Abbott's report. He denied Sypher's allegation that he sexually assaulted her at the condo — he said they had no sex there or anywhere else other than on Aug. 1 at Porcini. http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090812/SPORTS02/908120382 Pitino is a nationally known public figure and knew he is watched closely,” Irvine said. “He should have known better than to get himself into a compromising position.” In a blog yesterday, Martin Cothran, a lobbyist for the Family Foundation of Kentucky who has in the past advocated against abortion and same-sex marriage, called for the university to fire Pitino. There are “two issues here,” Cothran said in an interview. “One is, are we holding Rick Pitino to a lower moral standard than we do student athletes? ... We suspend people from teams for bar fights. We fire high school coaches for unintentionally causing the deaths of others. What we have in this case is somebody who intentionally acted to end a human life.” http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090812/COLUMNISTS01/908120410 No matter how forgiving UofL President Dr. James Ramsey and athletic director Tom Jurich were in their written statements Wednesday, it was reckless behavior likely to transform some Pitino fans into Pitino critics. Public opinion will count in this story. Pitino is a very public Catholic man in a strong Catholic community. For some, the aborted Sypher pregnancy will resonate beyond a Big East championship. Opposing coaches won't have to spread the news. They'll only have to spread the uncertainty about whether Pitino, about five weeks from his 57th birthday, will have the motivational fire as well as the flame-resistant psyche to overcome this. He already has to explain why his son Richard, a bright, determined young assistant coach, bolted for the University of Florida about the time this story started to break. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news;_ylt=AkqgTylVkllG6GjRWz6UutXevbYF?slug=ap-timdahlberg-081209&prov=ap&type=lgns Perhaps the most important, though, is this: A coach is only as great as the assistants underneath who work for him. Vinnie Tatum was such a good soldier that he kept guard over Pitino in the back of a restaurant even as the coach was having drunken sex with a woman he had met just hours earlier. Tim Sypher valued his job so much that he gave Pitino the keys to his condominium, then kept watch as the coach gave the same woman $3,000 so she could go across state lines and get an abortion. Oops, scratch that. The latest word from Pitino’s lawyer is that the basketball coach was simply so concerned Karen Sypher had no health insurance that he reached into his pocket for a wad of bills to pay for it. Sypher was apparently posted upstairs at the clandestine rendezvous to make sure Pitino got a receipt for his largesse. Not a problem. If only every rich person in America were as generous as Pitino, there would be no need for President Obama to campaign for health care reform. Tim Sypher took it even further, though, if you believe the woman whose accusations shattered the pious facade of the coach who, to many, is the face of college basketball. According to Karen Sypher, Tim Sypher not only took her to get the abortion and coached her in what to say, but later married her, hence the same last name. http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090813/OPINION01/908130314 But what Mr. Pitino has admitted to during police interviews is tawdry and profoundly disappointing — consensual sex with an apparent stranger in a restaurant after an evening of heavy drinking, while an aide waited within hearing range. Mr. Pitino said he later gave the woman, Karen Cunagin Sypher, $3,000, which directly or indirectly she used to pay for an abortion. Similarly distressing was the initial reaction of UofL president James Ramsey and athletics director Tom Jurich. The latter said Mr. Pitino had been truthful with the university and that “we stand by him.” Mr. Ramsey said the new details were “surprising,” but also sounded supportive and added Wednesday only that he will meet with Mr. Jurich. That didn't sound like a no-nonsense, get-to-the-bottom-of-this response from officials whose top priority must be the integrity of the university and its sports programs.