Random Rants
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Really surprising to read that. Texas & humidity…surprising cocktail...difficult to imagine that...
The general perception of Texas is that it's all a godforsaken desert, but that's not entirely true. The eastern part of the state is wooded lowland and there are lots of marshy areas- it borders Louisiana, so picture that, if it helps, hajduk. Houston was literally built on reclaimed swampland and has a subtropical climate. People there regularly get jungle-type diseases like malaria. It's not pleasant…
That said, San Antonio is in (or near; people quibble about it) what's called the "Hill Country", because it's one of the few areas in the state that isn't flat. The weather is a bit drier, temperatures are a degree or two cooler, and it's generally a nicer place to be than Houston. Still not what I would consider ideal.
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$$ Thy will be done.
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Jody's going to be there all month, I'm coming in for a long weekend.
Sweet! Let me know when you've decided which weekend. Pretty sure our schedule is wide open at this point.
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I found out about the shooting at a synagogue near where I live last night. I am heartbroken. I can't stop crying when I think about it because I feel so sad. 11 elderly people that man killed. It's so senseless.
God help us. -
@Filthy:
I found out about the shooting at a synagogue near where I live last night. I am heartbroken. I can't stop crying when I think about it because I feel so sad. 11 elderly people that man killed. It's so senseless.
God help us.@Filthy keep strong brother. Humanity prevails. I recall watching a TV documentary where a historian stated that we often think that history is an upward trajectory, and when things go wrong we take it very badly, because that shouldn't happen if our species is in a constant state of evolutionary ascent.
History is a sign wave of peaks and troughs, and we seem to be in a trough. It will pass. Who knows when? but it will pass.
I'm thinking of you and those that needlessly died.
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Thank you. I hope somehow love, tolerate, and kindness will prevail.
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A while back my alma mater killed a football player via a combination of utterly pointless humiliation/bullying culture and gross negligence. It was announced today that the coach and athletic director are keeping their jobs. President is resigning at the end of the year. It’s clear he wanted coach out, but the (unnamed) board of regents wanted to keep them, as they are in love with the idea of “becoming a football school.” They had a losing record this past year fwiw.
This is probably the only human behavior I’m puzzled by: the seemingly overwhelming desire by the people in charge to cover for subordinates that make completely indefensible transgressions. These bullies and predators only succeed because they operate under the shelter of impunity provided by their superiors or colleagues. Just look at that gymnastics trainer recently, or the Penn state Sandusky scandal a few years back.
If I were the president of a university or ceo or head coach, and I found out that my employee had killed someone or was a diddler, I’d call the police, the press, and when they took the photo of him being arrested I’d be in the background yelling and pointing angrily. Why is it so difficult to condemn actions that are so obviously deserving of condemnation? Clearly a CEO can’t possibly be asked to never hire a bad person, but it’s totally their job to take appropriate action when transgressions come to light. Even looked at from a pragmatic standpoint, how the hell is this guy going to recruit? “I know we had a losing record last year, and had a death, but hey nowhere to go but up, right?!”
If I had a UMD sticker on my car I’d be scraping it off. Still surprised by how many nittany lions stickers I see on cars, as opposed to hastily scraped off oval smears of adhesive.
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@tvenuto it's a culture of managed incompetence and accountability. If you don't protect your management line there's a chance you'll be exposed and therefore held personally to account.
I can't go in to detail for legal reasons but it's happening at the local authority I work for. Fewer and fewer people can competently do the job they are employed to do, but they need to protect themselves by closing rank. It's shitty.
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I don't really care whether I'm a fuckwit or not, we are all going to have a ball at IHUK tonight.
Suggest you don't follow this thread if it offends you….
https://www.ironheart.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=8789.msg583241#msg583241
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@Giles ouch…I very much suspect the IH crew have more style and taste than to buy out the local pound stretcher of it's seasonal tat!. Enjoy your evening
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To update a previous item, the President of the University of MD did an about-face and fired the coach one day after he was reinstated by the board of regents. There’s a good article on while this is a step in the right direction, there are many self-made challenges for the school to overcome.
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The line in the article that stood out to me was this one:
"Given that this is college sports, we know [former head coach Durkin] will get a job. There is no longer a bottom here, even when you think it can’t get worse."College football really has become a cesspit.
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^ College football is big business. I guarantee if Jerry Sandusky was released from prison he'd have another job coaching football.
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Agreed on college sports and football in particular.
This is all very poignant for me as the era of strong identity he refers to was exactly when I was there as an undergrad. We were getting noticed on the national level for basketball, and had a nascent football program. Academically many of our programs were nationally very well ranked, and there was much new construction all over campus. I think the temptation is often to take a growing success and try to expand wildly in every arena. An ill-conceived expansion has sunk many an empire, but companies often fail to remember this.
Abandoning your core values for the land grab will work in the short term but once you’ve erected the grand structure you look down and there’s no foundation underneath. If you’re not lucky often people have been hurt along the way as well. This is why the long term successes (people, programs, companies) are always aligned on their values. They have a culture not because they talk about it loudly but because they live it and won’t compromise it. This is why I patronize (and invest in) companies that are aligned from the top down.
It’s just sad to see my school go the way of so many other companies and programs, especially when there was such a buzz of promise while I was there.
