Paul McBride's review of the Disco 'Tute's "Science and Human Origins"
In this provocative book, three scientists challenge the claim that undirected natural selection is capable of building a human being, critically assess fossil and genetic evidence that human beings share a common ancestor with apes, and debunk recent claims that the human race could not have started from an original couple.
In other words, down with common descent, and while we're at it, a literal Adam and Eve could have been the ancestors of the whole human species.
And by three scientists? Ah, yes, I momentarily forgot that Casey Luskin got a Master's in Earth Science before he went off to law school and then got a job with the Disco 'Tute, where he is now listed as "Research Coordinator" (and is there called an attorney rather than a scientist). Once again, one detects a touch of inflationary credentialism.
Fortunately for me, I'm spared the chore of reading and critiquing the book. Paul McBride, a Ph.D. candidate in vertebrate macroecology/evolution in New Zealand who writes Still Monkeys, bit the bullet and did a chapter by chapter (all five chapters) review of the book. The book doesn't come out looking good (is anyone surprised?). I'm going to shamelessly piggyback on McBride's review. I'll link to his individual chapter reviews, adding some commentary, below the fold.
… questions the certainty that evolutionary biologists have in the notion of common descent, with the broad claim that it is merely similarity, rather than relatedness, that we observe. She tells us that certainly humans and chimpanzees share a number of common features, but so do (and this is her example) Ford Tauruses and Mustangs. Yet the latter are designed, indicating that similarity cannot rule out design.
McBride has some fun with that specious analogy, as well as with her 'random changes in computer programs break the programs' claim. Someone over at the Disco 'Tute should tell Gauger to read up on genetic programming.
Chapter 2, in which Douglas Axe expands on Gauger's Chapter 1, elaborating some arguments and finishing with the claim that unless we can identify each and every mutation between humans and our common ancestor with chimps, there's room for a Designer. I dealt with that argument some time ago.
In an update to that post, McBride draws attention to a recent paper plotting brain volume against age of hominin fossils, essentially duplicating material in two posts on that topic by Nick Matzke here and here nearly six years ago.
Look at the graphs in McBride's post and in Nick's Thumb posts for data relevant to that claim. Nevertheless, Casey promises that he will be discussing the issue in coming weeks.
Luskin here has continued in the tradition of the other chapters in this book by ignoring all of the best arguments that run contrary to his, while making previously refuted arguments with biased evidence, pretty much in line with what I predicted before reading the chapter. He presents no positive case for a pervasively functional genome, and has only set out to cast doubt on the concept of junk DNA. Even in this, he has comprehensively failed. The book is called Science and Human Origins, but the science is threadbare, and treated unevenly and unfairly.
To convince us of the possiblity of a literal Adam and Eve, Ann Gauger presents to us doubt over whether a single published paper from the 1990s truly supports a large human population since speciation.
McBride has a good critique, and one thing he mentions is kind of funny. In this chapter, Gauger accepts that two human haplotypes are ancient, in the 4-6mya range. But, of course, up there in Chapter 3 Casey argued that the boundary between us (non-descended from apes) humans and those apes' ancestors is between H. erectus and H. habilis, a split that occurred around 1.8mya. Gauger accepts a 'human' trait as originating with critters that are more ancient than Casey is willing to admit as ancestral to humans (or maybe Gauger's Adam and Eve weren't humans (tee hee)).
I have been left wondering why the Discovery Institute, or intelligent design advocates in general, or biblical literalists feel a need to try and accommodate science when they have a belief in a supernatural entity capable of breaking natural laws. In the case of this book, it has left them needing to make all kinds of awkward criticisms of fields in which the authors clearly lack expertise. A lawyer is not the right guy to challenge the world's palaeoanthropologists, nor the world's geneticists. Certainly, he shouldn't be trying to take them all on at once. It will end with him trying to smear the reputation of scientists rather than engaging with their ideas. Accusations that the entire field of palaeoanthropology is driven by personal disputes and that Francis Collins is a bad Christian are simply not compelling reading in a book that is putatively about scientific argument.
Science and Human Origins has to be described first and foremost as being anti-evolution rather than pro-intelligent-design, or pro-science. If it offers solace to those seeking evidence against evolution for their faith, the solace should be as incomplete as the arguments made in the book.
Read all of McBride's posts on this. He's an articulate and knowledgeable guy.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Maybe Next Time Stick to the Notes
President* Trump lost his shit so badly he may never get it back.
The reviews are in!
"…a stunning tour de force…" — Jake Tapper, CNN.
I'm only kidding here. After the president* took his sojourn into the izonkosphere on Tuesday afternoon, CNN cut back to Tapper, who looked very much like a man who had seen space aliens humping in his jacuzzi. I give him credit for having been able to say anything at all. I sat there in silent awe and petrified wonder for a good two minutes.
All the hinges are gone now. The rails are far behind. The trolley is missing and presumed lost. The president* came down to the lobby of his Manhattan tower, ostensibly to sign an executive order on "infrastructure." He then took questions and we all went on a magic carpet ride through what he really thinks about the events in Charlottesville last weekend. For three days, whatever sensible people remain at Camp Runamuck have been trying to find some way to run damage control on the president*'s initial, ridiculous non-response to those events, whereupon, on Tuesday, the president* stepped up to the mic and blew all that work into tiny bits. Quite simply, the only president* we have lost his shit so badly on live TV that he'll never be able to find it again.
Quite simply, the only president* we have lost his shit so badly on live TV that he'll never be able to find it again.
Let's go to the videotape. In no particular order, the president*:
1) Equated Robert E. Lee, who fought against the United States and in defense of chattel slavery, with George Washington, who fought for the United States before it was the United States.
2) Brought the philosophies of Both Sides and Whataboutism to their apogee by referring to some phantom "very fine people" who'd gone to Charlottesville to protest the removal of the statue of R.E. Lee, and by blaming something called the "alt-left" equally for the violence that occurred surrounding a march of Nazis.
3) Did the usual fandango about "fake news" and about "if you're honest reporters, which many of you aren't."
4) Insinuated that John McCain might have voted against his healthcare plan because McCain has brain cancer.
He was tense. He was choleric. He looked like he might at any minute wade into the crowd of reporters swinging a five-iron. I kept waiting for geysers of blood and bile to erupt from his ears. This was not a presidential press conference. It was a glorified barroom argument that exposed quite clearly how angry he is that he had to come out and make that second statement in which somebody forced him to say how bad Nazis are. He'd clearly been stewing about that for at least 24 hours.
But it was his tour through U.S. history and its controversies that will live in the annals of presidential tirades forever:
"George Washington was a slave owner. Was George Washington a slave owner? So will George Washington now lose his status? ...Are we going to take down statues to George Washington? How about Thomas Jefferson? What do you think of Thomas Jefferson? You like him? OK, good. Are we going to take down his statue, because he was a major slave owner. Now we're going to take down his statue. So you know what? It's fine. You're changing history, you're changing culture, and you had people — and I'm not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally — but you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists, OK? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly."
"You had a group on one side and you had a group on the other and they came at each other with clubs and it was vicious and it was horrible and it was a horrible thing to watch. But there is another side. There was a group on this side — you can call them the left, you just called them the left — that came violently attacking the other group. So you can say what you want, but that's the way it is…I think there's blame on both sides. I don't have any doubt about it and you don't have any doubt it either. And if you reported it accurately, you would say it."
There's actually an interesting question buried in all that malarkey as to where to place the slaveholding of Washington, Jefferson and many of the rest of the Founders in our historical memory now that we're correcting the memory of the Civil War, monument by monument. (At Montpelier, the home of James Madison, the people in charge have been working hard for several years to honor the stories of the slaves that lived and worked there.) But that's not what the president* was getting at. He was bigot-signaling to his vaunted base that he would have been out there with a tiki torch himself. That's why we got all that talk about the very fine Nazis who were patrolling the park on Saturday night along with the Citronella SS, and who were treated so unfairly by the fake news media when they decided to go for throats.
He looked like he might at any minute wade into the crowd of reporters swinging a five-iron.
And that's what takes Tuesday's explosion beyond the realm of simple mockery. There's an audience out there for every lunatic assertion the president* made. We saw it in full flower last Saturday. And he knows it's there, too. He knows that it's the one segment of the American population still guaranteed to give his fragile-if-monumental ego the constant boost that it needs. So he needed to salve all the fee-fees he wounded the other day when somebody dragged him out so he could say right out loud that being a Nazi is a bad thing. This was an angry, heartfelt appeal to his white nationalist base to stick with him, probably because that base is all he has left.
On Tuesday, shortly before the president* went bananas, Maryland's Republican governor, Larry Hogan, joined the effort to remove from the state house grounds a statue of Roger Taney, the ghoulish Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court who wrote the majority opinion—"A negro has no rights which the white man must respect"—against Dred Scott. As I mentioned once before, not far from the place out of which this shebeen operates, there is a monument to Benjamin Curtis, who served on the Supreme Court while Taney was Chief Justice and whose contrary opinion in Dred Scott is still considered one of the great dissents in the history of the Court. The monument is a plaque on a simple rock. You can miss it if you walk too quickly down the path by the river. But it stays there, as though deposited in antiquity as a rebuke in deathless stone to the sins of the following ages.
This press conference is going to live forever.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Miniature painting is a lot of work. I'm sure there are a lot of other hobbies out there that are less tedious. But sometimes you have to laugh about it. I'm sure my fellow hobbyists will think I'm crazy, but I had one of those "Oh man, what am I doing!" moments last night. Maybe someone else will get a good laugh, so here's me sharing….
Most times I'm working with one color at a time, and that little strip of parchment paper serves me just fine. Last night I guess I was working on one model, hoping to get something done for Azazel's April Assembly Challenge, and I guess I needed more than one color. So I kept adding little drops onto my wet palette, and after awhile I was having a hard time finding a place to add more. At which point I stopped to really look at what I was doing and then laugh at my craziness.
In hindsight, I should make a bigger sponge/paper combo for times like these. But at any rate, enjoy your Friday!
I think you need a bigger boat!
Oh man, that's hilarious…cute Jaws reference, but it just so happens that's what my daughter pretends the little dish is when she gets to play in the office! It gets loaded with dice or some plastic minis and the "boat" goes round and round the room.
There's enough D&D plastic monster minis to keep her busy. Not sure that I've seen a really cool shark one yet. She doesn't seem to care which ones can't swim or not.


Join us in Glasgow on Saturday 13th April to get involved in the ever-growing divestment movement.
From getting Stirling University to divest from fossil fuels to persuading 38 of Scottish MPs to pledge to clean up their oily pensions, campaigners across Scotland have been building momentum and bringing in win after win!
Divestment is a tactic used to weaken the power and social acceptability of fossil fuel companies, by asking institutions such as universities, councils and religious institutions to ditch their fossil fuel investments. Globally, over 1000 institutions have divested almost $8 trillion from fossil fuel companies!
This day will bring together current divestment activists from across Scotland as well as new people looking to get involved. We will be exploring and skill-sharing around existing campaigns as well as introducing a brand new Divest Scotland campaign, aiming to get the Scottish Parliament to divest from fossil fuels!
How can we get Scotland to divest?
Tickets are £3, £5 including lunch and £15 supporter tickets for those who can afford it. However, we do not want cost to prevent anyone from being able to attend so please get in touch at kwhitaker@foe.scot if these prices are not possible for you.


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text:
Gold/Mining/Energy : DISCOVERY BOARD ~ PRECIOUS METALS ENERGY URANIUM OIL
From: PaperPerson 7/13/2012 11:26:57 PM
Gold Market to Focus On Bernanke, U.S. Data Next Week For Any Clues On Monetary Easing
13 July 2012, 2:48 p.m.
By Allen Sykora
Of Kitco News
(Kitco News) - The gold market will be watching next week for any clues on whether to expect further Federal Reserve monetary easing, with much of the focus likely to be a slew of U.S. economic reports and congressional testimony on the economy from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.
Prices rallied sharply on Friday to flip to a gain for the week after gold was behind as of Thursday. The Comex August contract rose $26.70 Friday to settle at $1,592 an ounce, which was a gain of $13.10 from a week ago. September silver climbed 20.8 cents Friday to close at $27.369, posting a weekly gain of 44.90 cents.
The gold market's end-of-week bounce appeared to be on hopes for more stimulus in the U.S. and elsewhere, said Charles Nedoss, senior market strategist with Kingsview Financial. China's second-quarter gross-domestic-product growth cooled to 7.6%, the lowest level in more than three years, and low coal prices and electrical usage also portend economic slowing, he said. Gold's gains accelerated around mid-morning in New York after the University of Michigan-Thomson Reuters consumer-sentiment index fell to a preliminary July reading of 72, its lowest since December, from 73.2 in June, Nedoss continued.
There are hopes for "more worldwide easing, not just here" in the U.S., Nedoss said.
Technically, prices bounced "pretty good" Thursday from near-term chart support in the $1,550-$1,560 area, Nedoss said. "You see some bottom feeding, prompted by weaker (economic) numbers all the way around," he said.
As for next week, of the 19 participants who took part in the Kitco News Gold Survey this week, 10 see prices up, while four see prices down and five see prices sideways or unchanged. Market participants include bullion dealers, investment banks, futures traders and technical-chart analysts. Several said this outlook may well hinge on whether the news flow next week supports or undercuts the case for further Fed easing.
The research departments of a number of investment banks have said they see potential for a third round of quantitative easing down the road, assuming U.S. economic data remains soft. This is the buying of Treasury securities in a bid to push down long-term Treasury yields.
At the June Federal Open Market Committee, officials instead extended the less-gold-bullish program known as Operation Twist, in which officials sell short-term securities to buy long-term ones, thereby not expanding the central bank's balance sheet.
Still, hopes for so-called QE3 have not died since U.S. economic data remains on the weaker side. Since the last FOMC meeting, the government reported that June non-farm payrolls rose only 80,000. This meant jobs growth was less than 100,000 in each month during the second quarter.
Against this backdrop, Bernanke is scheduled to appear before a pair of congressional panels Tuesday and Wednesday mornings to testify on the economy. Markets will be watching to see whether he appears less dovish than in the past, which would be seen as a tilt toward more aggressive monetary accommodation.
Often, traders have tended to take positions ahead of Fed releases or appearances in which market participants have factored in a greater likelihood of more QE, pointed out Bart Melek, director of commodity strategy, rates and foreign-exchange research for TD Securities.
"There is a lot of chatter that quantitative easing will be required but will need data to show us why we shouldn't get it," Melek said. "As such, ahead of the possible policy announcement, you might see people taking long positions….which could move not only gold but the entire commodity complex higher. Any serious hint from policy-makers that QE3 is the offing or imminent could very well move the price out of its recent trading range and much higher."
Gold's performance during the latter part of next week no doubt may hinge largely on just what Bernanke ends up saying, said Melek a Chicago-based futures trader. Should the Fed chairman disappoint the market, gold may well come back down, as it has after prior QE false starts, the trader added.
"We don't expect him (Bernanke) to say anything that he hasn't before, but there is always that hope, I guess," Melek said.
Additionally, the market will be scrutinizing U.S. economic data next week to see whether they hurt or support the odds for more QE.
"There are a lot of numbers to trade off next week," Nedoss said. "If we see weak numbers, we'll have people building the case again for QE."
The calendar includes retails sales and the Empire State manufacturing survey on Monday, Consumer Price Index and industrial production on Tuesday, followed by housing starts and the Federal Reserve Beige Book report on Wednesday. Reports Thursday include weekly jobless claims, existing-home sales and the Philadelphia Fed survey.
One of the bigger reports early in the week will be June retail sales on Monday. The consensus forecast is for a rise of 0.3%, or 0.1% excluding autos.
"Any significant beat would get people to think that quantitative easing is not as imminent. A significant disappointment might rally up gold in particular," Melek said.
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text:
A040440 Continued fraction for sqrt(462). 1
21, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42, 2, 42 (list; graph; refs; listen; history; text; internal format)
Index entries for continued fractions for constants
Index entries for linear recurrences with constant coefficients, signature (0, 1).
a(n)=22+20*(-1)^n-21*[C(2*n,n) mod 2], with n>=0 [From Paolo P. Lava, May 13 2009]
with(numtheory): Digits := 300: convert(evalf(sqrt(462)), confrac);
nonn,cofr,easy,less
N. J. A. Sloane.


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Lions Interview Jeff Ireland For GM Job
January 8th, 2021 at 4:21pm CST by Sam Robinson
Jeff Ireland has now booked two interviews during this extensive GM hiring period. Following his Panthers meeting, the Saints executive met with the Lions on Friday.
Best known for his time as Dolphins GM (2008-13), Ireland resurfaced with the Saints and helped the Mickey Loomis–Sean Payton regime reposition the team as the NFC South's best after some mid-2010s defensive struggles. The Saints have won four straight division titles, doing so despite losing Drew Brees for extensive stretches in each of the past two years, and have some recent draft classes to thank for their consistency.
Ireland, 50, works as the Saints' assistant GM and college scouting director. During his stay, the Saints drafted perennial Pro Bowlers Michael Thomas, Alvin Kamara and Marshon Lattimore and several other impact starters. This has undoubtedly helped Ireland resurface on the GM interview circuit after his Dolphins teams slunk out of the playoff picture following a 2008 AFC East title. These Carolina and Detroit meetings are Ireland's first known GM interviews since his Dolphins tenure ended.
The Lions have conducted a thorough GM search thus far. They have targeted a few former GMs — from Thomas Dimitroff (Falcons), Scott Pioli (Chiefs) and Rick Smith (Texans) — and expressed interest in poaching longtime Seahawks GM John Schneider. Here is how Detroit's candidate list looks as of Friday afternoon:
Thomas Dimitroff, former Falcons general manager: Interviewed
Terry Fontenot, Saints assistant GM: Interviewed
Brad Holmes, Rams director of college scouting: To be interviewed
Rob Lohman, Lions director of pro scouting: Interviewed
Lance Newmark, Lions director of player personnel: Interviewed
Kyle O'Brien, Lions VP of player personnel: Interviewed
George Paton, Vikings assistant GM: Interviewed
Scott Pioli, former Chiefs GM/NFL Network analyst: Interviewed
Louis Riddick, ESPN analyst/former Eagles exec: Interviewed
John Schneider, Seahawks general manager: Rumored candidate
Rick Smith, former Texans general manager: Interviewed
Jeff Ireland
22 comments on "Lions Interview Jeff Ireland For GM Job"
Chris DeGetmon • 1 year ago
The fact that Rod Wood and Ford-Hemp would offer this man an interview goes to the heart of the Ford Family dysfunction. Wood himself is grossly incompetent but with regards Ireland during his tour as GM with Miami he conducted a draft interview with Dez Bryant asking him if his Mother was a prostitute. This man has absolutely no business in the NFL, but Woods is proving again that he is following in the Lewand, Schmidt, Thomas, Millen dysfunction and rest assured whoever this guy hires we will be going through another rebuild in 3-4 years. But more to the point. If Ireland gets the job people of color ought to ban this team permanently.
thebluemeanie • 1 year ago
Any other reason you don't like him, besides he asked an inappropriate question during an interview 10 years ago? (that he apologized for) Not defending him as I admittedly don't know much about his career, but just curious where your hatred for him is coming from.
Your objections to my rebuttal notwithstanding Ireland's apology fails the 'smell test.' Ireland's question to Bryant was well thought out prior to his insult which was clearly race baiting and inappropriate. Bryant's reputation in college was clearly known to scouts and GM's and Ireland's question was meant to invoke a response. He was testing Bryant to see how he reacted. By my reckoning this stood as a gross act of cowardice on Ireland's part. Basically representing the standard empty suit like Wood's. But the bigger question which you ignore is that the Ford Family dysfunction and their 'broken toy' continues to spiral downward (going on 57 years) and always left in the hands of a Ford Family lackey like Woods who lacks any understanding of the game. Woods brought the Quinn/Patrica dysfunction thus killing 5 more years of Stafford's career. Regardless on how you want to interpret the Ford's obsessions with bringing in people like Wood's the single indisputable fact that remains the elephant in the room is clear: since Bill Ford bought the team outright from a group of investors in 1963, the team has won a SINGLE playoff game. You are inviting another dysfunctional rebuild by ignoring the obvious and failing to identify why these four year cycles always produce the same results.
Stat_head • 1 year ago
The team has NOT always been run by a non-football "lackey". That was presumably true of Russ Thomas, although he was presumably 'a football guy' after 20 yrs as GM (just not a good one). Also true of bean counter Chuck Schmidt. Matt Millen was hired to adopt the model you endorse: football guy as President/CEO. Millen ran the entire show and reported directly to Ford. As bad as Quinn/Patricia may have been, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as Millen. Teams like the Ravens work fine with a finance guy as President and good football GMs & HCs working for them. WCF had serious issues hiring talented executives. Martha didn't do too bad with Mayhew & Quinn. They brought in solid talent but also made major mistakes that really hurt the team. Looks like Shelia Hamp and Wood are learning from the Quinn hire. Hopefully she'll get it right this time. Even if she doesn't, we won't have wait 8+ years for a change like we used to with WCF.
Nowhere in either comment I made did I reveal what I "endorse" and your suggestion otherwise is dishonest. And if you bothered reading my first post I 'included' Millen in the entire rotten history of the Ford Family. Millen had no prior experience in a front office role; nor did he ever draft anyone prior to taking over in Detroit. I agree Millen was a disaster but it hardly renders illegitimate my point about the current incompetent lackey, Wood's. As long as Hemp-Ford continues to rely on (mostly) inexperienced family toadies like Millen and Wood's I suggest the result will be identical to what we have now. Moreover, Wood's has asserted that the Lions want a "collaborative" model between coach and GM. What do you think they had with Quinn/Patricia two guys joined at the hip? Please tell me what happens when Coach and GM disagree in the draft– whose decision will prevail? The model I advocate is giving the Head Coach absolute control like they have in New England, Seattle, and KC. A far cry different than your presuppositions attributed to me.
How was Millen "a family toadie "? He had no former association with the Fords as a player or commentator. You are simply making up facts to fit your argument. Wood is the Ford family advisor and worked for them for a long time before being brought into the Lions as President. Millen was a top analyst at Fox with extensive football knowledge and no ties to the Ford family. FYI only in New England does the coach have "total control". Seattle & KC give the coach final say on personnel decisions but the GM and that org doesn't report to them. You only need to look to Millen's predecessor, Bobby Ross, for an example of that model with the Lions. He had final say on draft & personnel instead of Ron Hughes & Kevin Colbert. A much better idea would have been to let Hughes hire a coach and ultimately transition to Colbert. Worked out pretty well for the Steelers. The Bill Belichick model only works for Belichick and Purcells and maybe Andy Reid (he's had very good GMs in KC). The Lions and Texans proved that. I do agree that the Seattle model of including the coach in the hiring process for the GM and having them work as partners would be the best approach. However, there really isn't a Pete Carroll or even Andy Reid out there right now who can come in with a clear vision of what they want & need. Reid was excellent out of the gate, but that is a rarity. Most HCs need to either come into a strong organization or screw up & learn from their mistakes (Pete Carroll is a perfect example). Regardless, best to have both on a equal footing with a common vision. With that in place the HC should have final say or veto power on moves. This all happens with Ron Wood as a President running the business side.
Talk about making up facts: your rebuttal is 'rich' given your interpretations of Wood. Wood has no prior experience on the football side yet it is pretty clear from his public appearances on social media, news outlets, and talking heads interviews that he is in complete control of the hiring process. With regards Millen he had communication with Bill Ford Jr prior to his hire and it was reported extensively at the time. There is plenty of documentary evidence to support it. Millen can be characterized as a Family Toady given the length he held the job juxtaposed his drafting failures which are epic; his losing record, and his long list of hiring and firing of Head Coaches along with his tenure which was over 7 years. He clearly had Bill Ford Sr. in his back pocked not unlike Thomas, Schmidt, Lewand, and Mayhew. Talk about making things up, look in the mirror. Wood's killed 5 years of Staffords Career with his first fiasco in hiring. Wood's interviewed three people in that fling. One Sheldon White was nothing more than a token interview to satisfy the Ronney Rule and White was never going to get the job. What you are engaging in is a Ford Family and Wood 'apologetic.' I assume you are speaking as a Wood proxy given the intensity with which you worship the man while paying homage to his incompetence. With regard your second assertion I never said the aforementioned ran the business side that is your defunct presupposition. They do stand over the GM and if your bother to look on those teams sites the organizational charts bear this out.
I wrote the following article on Bleecher Report in 2009; nothing has changed since then with regards the Lions.
link to bleacherreport.com
FYI. None of the coaches you reference are the President of their team. Seattle has had business guys like Ron Wood as President for the entire Pete Carroll era. Reid & Belichick report to the owner and do not run the business operations.
Calling Pete Carrol a screw up is hyperbole. Carrol has won 11 playoff games and been to the SB. Detroit has one playoff win since 1963. Carrol has been in Seattle for 15 years. Here are the facts, not that that is something you take into consideration, but maybe the readers of this forum will:
link to pro-football-reference.com
oldleftylong • 1 year ago
While the Ford family has demonstrated incompetence in ownership, it may all simply go back to the curse of Bobby Layne.
Wow, coming in hot.
I didn't ignore anything. Just asked a simple direct question about your hatred for Ireland. He asked an inappropriate question and you didn't like his apology. Gotcha.
Have an awesome day!
Dude, providing a objective critique is not, nor has it anything to with hatred. I must confess that I am taken aback by your lack of awareness juxtaposed our contemporary and social nightmare. Makes me wonder if you are living in a vacuum or you just don't care what is
going on in this country regarding the oppression and murder of black people who happen to be subhuman to other people like Ireland.
Ak185 • 1 year ago
Ireland's question was inappropriate, sure, but are you sure that he only asked it because Dez was black? I know it seems "prudent" to make that assumption, but if that were the case, you'd figure that would be something that would occur more often over the course of seven years as a GM. Your argument does seem like a bit of a stretch-and I'm not a fan of Ireland, either.
Good question. If you can cite other sources that indicate Ireland made it a habit of asking the same question to white players I will agree with you. If you cannot, the point is entirely speculative.
For starters, I was just trying to understand your angry point of view. In hindsight, I should've just ignored you.
Secondly, you were never objective. You came in hot with righteous indignant diatribe after diatribe. So they had a meaningless interview with the guy? You act as if they all personally came over to your house and kicked your dog.
Finally, I'm not in a vacuum. I just don't make a mountain out of molehill about the Lions interviewing a guy that asked one inappropriate question during a random interview 10 years ago and then weakly correlate it to what's going on in society today. Playing devil's advocate, I mentioned at least he apologized, to which you replied it didn't pass your "smell test". Whatever that is.
Frankly, you come off as one of those people who aren't happy unless you're unhappy. Hopefully not, but I'd suggest smoking a bowl anyway. Good luck with that!
PS: For the record, my preferences are Riddick and Saleh.
Well I always appreciate 'true believers' who operate as a 'Tag Team.' You have absolutly no credibility whatsoever given that you take refuge by hiding your identity. Conversely, I am using my real name with all the consequences that implies. You and your friend are most likely proxies doing the bidding of the Ford's/and or Wood.
The facts are as follows: do the best you can.
Wood's is a business guy, who messed up his first attempt
at hiring. As a result Stafford's career languished for five years.
The Ford's have owned the team since 1963 and have produced 'one' payoff win in that time.
The Ford's have hired previous coaches who won in their careers like Monte Clark who successfully coached at SF. Monte noted prophetically that he was "Always working with damaged goods." Of course speaking about Russ Thomas. Monte was fired and Thomas stayed.
Thomas like other Ford family toadies and sycophants was reported by many at the time most notably Detroit News Columnist Jerry Green that Ford Sr was an alcoholic and Thomas took him to his cabin to help him beat the addiction. Ford remained in Thomas corner and allowed him to otherwise destroy the team until he retired.
Lewand and Schmidt had no prior football experience (like Wood) when they were hired by Thomas. Both eventually ran the team with failed results.
Millen had no prior experience as a GM. After 7 years of failure he was fired.
Now Wood's is following in the same footprint left by others.
Wood's first attempt was a utter and complete disaster. He did not make extensive interviews like he is doing now.
Wood's defended Matt Patrica a couple of years ago, calling him a "good coach.'
Thomas hired Jerry Vanasi who was a successful GM of the Bears and Vanasi put together a stellar draft but was promptly fired by Thomas. Vanasi might have actually turned the team around but because of personality conflict with Thomas was let go.
These are the facts. They are undisputed.
I might also add that both Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson had reached their limits with the organizational structure of the team; and both retired long before their legendary careers had to. In the case of Johnson he is still at odds with the currently lackey Wood's. You don't have to believe anything I say, Do some research on why Sanders and Johnson both retired early. Their unhappiness when they retired is well documented. Sanders now gets paid uphold the myth Wood's and Ford-Hemp are shoveling. But he did not like the team when he initially retired.
One more thing: the bottom line regarding the Ford family narcissism around ownership is their appalling record. No amount of a apologetic on behalf of the Ford Family Cancer will ever cancel the most important fact of all: since 1963 they have only won 'ONE' playoff game. These debates of coach and GM are interminable. They repeat every 3-4 years. And they will do so again.
Ireland was not a complete disaster in Miami, but certainly was not someone who inspires much confidence as the solution bringer for a new franchise. First, whomever the Panthers hire will NEED to be comfortable taking second seat to the owner in football matters. Tepper's has made it pretty clear, through his choice of words and his actions, that he will be involved in football decisions. Ireland seems to have too much experience for that.
Detroit seems like they're willing to hire a coach before a GM, and I think that's how they'd prefer to go unless a GM candidate blows them out of the water.
Ireland's recent work with the Saints, combined with his significant seven years' experience as a GM, are elements that most other candidates don't have, but the handful of questionable choices with Miami (his failed coaching hires, for instance) make him seem less right for Detroit, who is insistent it seems on getting the right coach first and foremost.
jay13 • 1 year ago
Talk with him and send him back on the plane empty handed. No need for his past distractions being something that follows him around everywhere.
Rod Wood and Shield Ford-Hamp are turning over all the retread and "names" the media throws out there. My personal belief is they will hire Robert Saleh first and then get a GM that is on the same page with him. Just a opinion and hopefully the outcome.


Geoff Still picked up the phone in late May 2016 for what should have been a proud "father"-to-father update on the headway Elochukwu Eze had made in the U.S. as a sophomore at Calvary Christian.
The 6-foot-10 Nigerian teen, who Still and his family hosted as part of the small Fort Lauderdale private school's international mission, was excelling in his studies and on the basketball court, where he was gaining national notice.
But instead of sharing all of Eze's good news with Casmir Eze, Still was calling Nigeria with an altogether more tragic report: a plum-sized cancerous tumor – one doctors weren't sure Eze would survive – had been found in his brain.
In response, instead of the dismay he expected, Still heard only gratitude and hope.
For Eze himself, having recently passed the one-year anniversary of the emergency surgery he underwent on May 5, 2016, to remove the tumor, survival is about more than having the sort of advantages many Americans take for granted. As he explains it, his recovery from brain cancer sounds more like testament to personal improvement.
And "get better" is exactly what Eze has done.
Eze arrived in South Florida as an eighth-grader, even then more mature than his gangly adolescent body suggested.
Attending a sports camp in Nigeria hosted by former Cleveland Cavalier draft pick Ejike Ugboaja, "Big E" made a big impression on Geoff Still. Still, 48, of Coral Springs, an active Christian educator who'd previously taught at Coral Springs Christian, was speaking to the Ejike Foundation campers, giving encouragement and wishing them luck. Among them, only Eze remained engaged throughout the conversation.
Eze later contacted Still on Facebook and the friendship they struck up ultimately led to Still sponsoring the teen's move to the U.S. as part of Calvary's International Student Program.
The director of finance at Calvary Christian, Still said his wife, Stacy, and their three children – Geoffrey, who's 19, Emilie (15) and David (11) – "absolutely adore" Eze.
He thrived in school and, by his sophomore season, started for the basketball team, averaging 10 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks at center under coach Cilk McSweeney.
The way Eze remembers it, the trouble started after a day at the pool, when he couldn't seem to get the water out of his ears. Later that night, he struggled to make it through a church service because of the bright lights and loud music, which left him with a terrible headache.
But as his American brother, Geoffrey Still Jr., related in a story for GoodNewsFl.org at the time, Eze for weeks had complained about having headaches and being sensitive to light. One of his teachers, later visiting Eze in the hospital, had said the boy hadn't been his usual "happy and excited" self for several months.
Then along with the increasingly painful headaches, Eze began to have trouble walking and, on May 4, started vomiting.
More than one year has passed since the tumor was removed during three hours of emergency surgery on May 5, 2016. The MRIs he has had every three months since have come back clean. His doctors believe with the cancer fully removed from his brain, Eze need not undergo chemotherapy.
Eze seemingly has no obstacles as he looks forward to his senior year at Calvary Christian.
Still, he expects to make a huge return playing hoops too. After spending last year coming off the bench behind 7-footer and fellow Nigeria native Victor Uyaelunmo, now at Southern Cal, he'll return to his starting role as Calvary looks to defend its state title.
McSweeney said Eze is working this summer on giving his guards a lane for drop passes and finishing strong at the basket. The fifth-year Eagles coach says Eze has a big part to play on the team and with his teammates.
Maintaining a 3.5 grade-point average, Eze already has scholarship offers from North Florida and Stetson and has drawn interest from FAU, FIU, Furman, East Carolina, Navy and USF.
For right now, Eze is more concerned about recovering from a high ankle sprain he sustained earlier this summer. Then it's back to work -- as part of the Florida Elite travel team, he has tournaments in Orlando, Atlanta and Las Vegas this summer before coming back to prepare for his senior season at Calvary.
"I know most people would have quit or suffer from depression," Eze said about what seemed to him to be a long road back from brain surgery. "I don't because I know what I came here to do.


The Government has just announced that the UK State Pension age will increase faster than previously expected. By 2039, nobody will be able to start their state pension before the age of 68. This affects people born between 1970 and 1978 who would be eligible to receive their state pension at age 67 under the current planned timetable.
This rise was recommended by John Cridland's recent official review of State Pension age and is based on forecasts of average longevity. As 'average' life expectancy is rising, and the Government needs to control State Pension costs, the state pension age keeps rising. This will save around £75billion to future taxpayers.
However, it does not take any account of the significant differences in life expectancy across the country, between social classes and also between occupations. The current national insurance system makes no allowance for people who will not live long enough to reach state pension age, or who will die soon afterwards.
National insurance amounts to over 25% of salary for most people, yet some will get little or no pension even if they have contributed for the full 35 years. Of course, as life expectancy and health improve, most people should be able to wait longer for their state pension. But what about those who cannot?
I would like to see more flexibility in state pension age: perhaps with a flexible band of ages at which the pension could start, or perhaps allowing people to take their state pension at a lower age, either because they are seriously ill or because they have worked for more than 50 years.
People might be allowed to start their pension between the ages of 65 and 70 – perhaps even with the rate they receive being adjusted for early access. This would be much fairer to more disadvantaged people, allowing them a choice they are currently denied. There might also be earlier receipt for people who have, say, 50 years worth of National Insurance contributions. For example, if they had left school at 16 and contributed for 50 years, perhaps they could get their pension at age 66.
At the moment, the state pension is flexible only for those who are healthy and wealthy enough not to need to take it at state pension age. If they can afford to wait longer, they can get a higher state pension; but if they cannot manage until that age, it is just too bad. They cannot get a lower pension, they will get not a penny earlier. Is this the best we can do?
It is true, as John Cridland says, that there would be some difficulties in this approach, but just because a policy is challenging does not mean it is wrong. The central issue here is whether the state pension should be run on a one-size-fits-all approach, based purely on estimates of the "average", or whether it should have some flexibility to account for people's increasingly flexible lives.
Yes, it is great news that more people are living longer. And most people can work longer – but surely we can find ways to include those who are unable to do so, and who have much lower-than-average lifespans.
I would like to stress, though, that I do not agree that the state pension age should never rise above age 66, as proposed by the Labour party. And the cost of allowing everyone to get a full pension at 66 for decades to come would be too much of a burden on younger generations in our pay-as-you-go national insurance system.
Clearly, many people will want to work longer, and can wait for their state pension. However, it would be fairer to allow some to choose to take a pension sooner, if they really need to.
We need to move away from the idea of just one "magic" age at which people should aim to stop working and live on a state pension. A band of ages would take us from this one-age notion and would accommodate the reality of 21st-century retirement, which is that people will increasingly move from full-time work, to part-time work, before stopping altogether.
The more we can encourage this kind of "pretirement" phase, the better it will be for our ageing population. Individuals who can work flexibly in later life can achieve higher lifetime incomes, can boost overall economic activity, and could have more money to spend in their advanced older age.
Finally, the current state pension system offers no help for social care. If William Beveridge was designing our national insurance arrangements now, he would surely make provision for care needs in advanced old age, rather than assuming that the only income for retirement the state needs to pay is a state pension.
Incorporating social care into national insurance would offer an opportunity for the government to rethink state pension age and overall retirement provision, and take account of individual needs. Leaving out those who have been hard manual labourers for all their working lives, or who have a much shorter life expectancy, may need to change.
Future reviews of social care and state pension age would provide a chance to reconsider these issues. A fairer level of social support in retirement would be a major improvement on the current situation. Just promising a 'triple lock' on parts of the state pension is not enough for pensioners. It's time to think again on how we help older people.


text:
the end of an era Jan. 30, 2018
Patrick J. Adams Is Leaving Suits, Teases a Happy Ending for Him and Meghan Markle
By Tolly Wright@TollyW
Photo: USA Network/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Meghan Markle isn't the only cast member exiting Suits: Her on-screen love interest (not to be mixed up with her real-life fiancé, Prince Harry) Patrick J. Adams is also calling it quits. Adams told The Hollywood Reporter that he decided to leave after worrying his character, Mike, would turn into "another lawyer on television." He did, however, have good news for fans worried about the handling of his and Markle's joint departures. He explained:
A lot of times when actors leave shows, a gun gets pulled out in a courtroom or something. Without spoiling too much, yes, I think Mike and Rachel are two characters that there has never been any question that they're in love and that they're meant for each other.
While he wasn't willing to reveal exact details about their characters getting married on the show, he did promise that episode 16, the finale of season seven, would be the one to look out for.
In other Suits news, USA announced today that the show has been picked up for an eighth season, sans Markle and Adams.
Patrick J. Adams Is Also Leaving Suits, Teases Happy Ending


After my review of Meg Tilly's work, entitled "A Spirituality of Courage and Hope," she graciously responded to some questions that I hadn't seen others pursue. Herein is the interview, along with a review of Porcupine written by my son, Dominic, who is 11 years old, and a powerful sample of prose/memory from Meg that she's lent us from her blog site (www.officialmegtilly.com).
Porcupine is a book about a 12 year old girl and her siblings. Their father was killed by 'friendly fire' in a war. Their mother eventually drove her family to the other side of Canada to live with her grandmother. There are many small events in this book that tie it together to make it a great book.
The morals and some strong themes of Porcupine were courage, being helpful, and forgiveness.
Recently, I spent an afternoon serving coffee and cake at Mission Possible, a drop-in centre for the homeless in East Vancouver. I took the enjoyable role of delivering goodies to the table where those with disabilities sat eagerly waiting. On handing what I regarded as an unspectacular angel-food square to one senior visitor, he threw his hands in the air and shouted joyfully to the heavens, "The Lord saves his best for his servants!" His face glowed with gratitude through bright eyes set in deeply wrinkled skin and framed in a beautiful white beard. I took this as an invitation.
The following is an excerpt from my All Saints' Day, 2007 reflections on living with M.E. after having the illness for 17 years, and a month after a dear person who had M.E. took her life after living with it for 28 years—mostly on her own, without much help, and not believed most of the time.
M.E. is a poorly understood chronic illness affecting thousands of people worldwide. It's closely related to Fibromyalgia [FM], a disease that also involves neurocognitive symptoms, pain and chronic fatigue.
Fills the room, as a fog.
It gently brushes my face, with sweetness and refreshing.
They dance on the dance floor with loved ones, big and small.
I have had an abiding interest in Orthodoxy since the 1970s. I did an MA thesis at Regent College (Vancouver, BC) on 'The Spirituality of John Cassian', and did another MA thesis at the University of British Columbia (UBC) on 'Origen and Anthony'. I also had the opportunity to read, in a guided study, Gregory of Nyssa's Life of Moses in the Patristic Greek of the Late Antique Era. I was quite drawn, at the time, to the academic, intellectual and publishing work that was emerging from St. Vladimir's Seminary and Press. I used Jaroslav Pelikan's The Christian Tradition for my comprehensives, and I enjoyed a correspondence with both Jaroslav Pelikan and John Meyendorff when both men were alive.
Archbishop Lazar Puhalo, Freedom To Believe: Personhood and Freedom in Orthodox Christian Ontology (Dewdney, B.C.: Synaxis Press, Second Edition, 2007).
Archbishop Lazar Puhalo has ventured faithfully and steadfastly, into intellectual and political terrain that few Orthodox theologians in North America have dared enter. The journey into such deep and demanding places has done much to reveal the splendour and motherlode of the Orthodox Tradition.
As I look towards 2008, along with many others I am sure; I cannot help but look back over the past year and reflect.
Three months after the violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators the international media attention on Burma has abated. The SPDC has made a claim that "normalcy" has returned. I agree that this is true. For many years the suppression of freedom and the systematic and widespread human rights violations undertaken by the hands of the Burma Army has been normal, everyday behaviour for this wicked and despotic regime.
For weeks I've been pondering the meaning of Christmas, which we so associate with snow, snowmen and sleighs, with carols, cards, and cheer, with lights, trees, and decorations, with Santa, elves, and reindeer, with whether we've been naughty or nice, with noisy, overcrowded shopping malls, with buying and getting lots of expensive gifts, with family gatherings and family letters to friends, with stuffing ourselves with turkeys, eggnog and puddings—oh so many things, and, oh yes, with school pageants, nativity scenes, and midnight mass.


What I love about this recipe the most is it's resemblance in flavor to sushi! Wasabi cucumbers combined with rich juicy salmon and salty miso/soy flavors, all wrapped up in my favorite soft yet still crunchy butterhead lettuce! And… speaking of sushi, I like making sushi and sushi bowls at home, but I never use any kind of raw fish – after all, I live in the landlocked state of Montana. I do love creating it's flavors in a 'safe for home cooks' kind of way! These lettuce wraps are a great way to enjoy some of those flavors with a couple servings of veggies thrown in for good measure!
These lettuce wraps are definitely on the lighter side, so be sure to throw in some complex carbohydrates if you've been working up an appetite! I think the original source for this recipe is the cookbook author Nina Simonds. I'm not even sure how much I've altered it over the years, and I couldn't find the book locally, so I've included a link to it. This recipe has definitely been a long time favorite, so I wanted to share it with you even though I'm no longer sure where the idea first came from! We're always experimenting with new recipes, so there's not very many that withstand the test of time!
For the wasabi cucumbers, peel 4-5 strips from your cucumber. Cut off both ends and cut it lengthwise into quarters. Cut the quarters crosswise into thin slices. Transfer the sliced cucumbers into a bowl – wait to toss them with the dressing until you're ready to eat. The cucumbers will start to shed water as soon as the dressing is added – which waters down the intensity of flavor if they sit.
I like using a brown rice miso that's unpasteurized. I've found I like the flavor of the mellow version (above photo).
For the salmon, evenly spread the miso marinade over each fillet. Grill it over medium heat until just done. If you're not sure whether or not it's done don't hesitate to break into one. Better safely moist, than chalky dry salmon!
I love the sharp spiciness that comes from wasabi, it contrasts perfectly with the richness of the miso salmon. But… if it's not your thing, make this dish mild flavored by leaving it out of the cucumbers, or try inserting another flavor more to your liking!
Combine the miso, sesame oil, and soy sauce. Spread the miso mixture evenly over the salmon.
While the grill is heating, prepare the cucumbers. Peel 4-5 strips from the cucumber. Cut off both ends and quarter it lengthwise. Cut the quarters crosswise into thin slices and transfer them into a serving bowl. Make the dressing for the cucumbers and set it aside.
When the cucumbers are prepped, put the salmon on the grill. Immediately lower the heat to medium and cook until just done. This will take anywhere from 8-15 minutes depending on the thickness of your fillets. Start checking the salmon early to make sure it doesn't get overcooked. If the salmon is done before you're done prepping, set it off to the side, these wraps are really good even when the salmon is room temperature.
While the salmon cooks, prep the lettuce. Break down the head off lettuce into individual leaves. Wash and spin dry.
When the salmon is done, toss the cucumbers with their dressing.
Assemble each wrap with a bit of salmon and cucumbers. Each fillet will make 3-4 wraps per person.
Any of the mild miso pastes will work here, either yellow or white. The darker red ones are too intensely flavored and overwhelm the salmon.
The amount of wasabi in the cucumbers is for a barely warm spice – feel free to add more to taste.
Hi, I'm sure salmon taste great being grilled but I don't own a grill, would baked salmon work?
I love that Brown Rice Miso brand, it's fantastic and I love to use it on salmon, it's such a great combo. Now I want to try it with those wasabi cucumbers, look like da bomb!
Be sure to add more wasabi if you like heat! I love the spicy combo with the salty miso salmon!


The oustanding photograph is part of How to Start Seeds Indoors has dimension 1000 x 1000 pixel. You can download and obtain the Hickok Loppers images by click the download button below to get multiple high-res versions.
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A wedding ring (or wedding band) is a ring worn on a finger, usually made of metal, to indicate that the person wearing the wedding ring is married. Typically, the wedding ring is worn on the third finger (ring finger) of the left or right hand depending on the culture.
Wedding rings come in many forms, traditionally crafted in gold, silver, platinum and/or other precious metals and stones. Culturally, wedding rings are important; this importance exhibited by many people wearing them night and day causing an indentation in the skin which remains visible when the ring is taken off. Another indication of cultural importance is that wedding rings are one of the few items that prison inmates and visitors are allowed to wear.
Wedding rings have been worn since ancient times. Historically, the first wedding rings were found in ancient Egypt. Dating back to 6,000 years ago, evidence including papyrus scrolls, shows us braided rings of reeds or hemp being exchanged between a wedded couple. The rings, viewed as a symbol of eternity by the Egyptions, signified the never-ending love between the couple. Egyptions, believing the ring finger of the left hand to house a special vein connected directly to the heart (known a Vena amoris), began the practice of wearing the wedding ring on this finger.
The Western traditions of wedding rings can be traced back to ancient Rome and Greece first associated with dowry and later with a pledge of fidelity. Wedding ring traditions evolved from ancient Greece and Rome customs which were adopted by the Christians in the Middles Ages of Europe.
In the United States, only wives wore wedding rings until the 20th century when both husbands and wives customarily wore wedding rings and wedding bands.


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Could please tell how big the board is?
what is in the set? and what is the difference between the two sets?
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Hi Joy! sorry at this stage they are bought as a set.


Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson stopped in Cedarville, Ohio, Sept. 22 to share his views on student loans, healthcare, abortion and religious freedom while advocating against political correctness. The Carson campaign rally was held in Cedarville University's Jeremiah Chapel.
No Replies to "Ben Carson Talks Student Loans, Passion, Political Correctness"


text:
Let 'Baby, It's Cold Outside' fade away with 2017
Mary Nahorniak
Is this the year we finally retire Baby, It's Cold Outside?
In 2017, America woke up to the systemic sexual predation that pervades every corner of society, but some of our Christmas carols are stuck in the past.
In particular, the drumbeat against Baby, It's Cold Outside is getting too loud to ignore.
For so many people, the classic winter call-and-response song invokes shivers. (This Funny or Die skit perfectly illustrates the creepiness.)
Counterpoint:Chill out, culture police, on 'Baby, It's Cold Outside'
In the tune, written in the 1940s by Guys and Dolls composer Frank Loesser, the woman sings that she has to leave her beau's house, and he's not a fan of the idea. She spells out reasons to go and he suggests otherwise — the weather is frightful, there are no cabs, they could share another drink or a smoke — but the man smoothly persuading her to stick around feels a little too close to coercion for comfort. He simply doesn't take "no" for an answer, interrupting her, shooting down her attempts to leave and beefing up her half-baked ideas to stay. This is where the song really sounds off-key to our modern ears and our definition of consent, which has evolved from "no means no" to "yes means yes."
More:A feminist glossary because we didn't all major in gender studies
Even if the intentions aren't sinister, it's simply exhausting to be a woman in that situation. In the original score, the male part is written as a "wolf" and the woman as a "mouse" — that speaks volumes about male predatory behavior. Many women know what it's like to feel trapped by a man, whether emotionally or physically. In those situations, it doesn't matter how it began or why she wants to leave, it only matters that she wants to go, now.
Advocating for sensitivity and empathy in how Baby It's Cold Outside sounds to so many women (and men) isn't Scrooge-like — it's completely the opposite. But while Baby, It's Cold Outside is understandably falling off of Christmas playlists as America changes, there is another important feminist angle worth exploring.
That interpretation of the song, made popular in a Tumblr post in 2016, posits that the woman would like to stay but is held back by societal norms of the 1940s, in which an unmarried woman staying over at a man's house would be scandalous. Her reasoning for leaving all relates to other people — what will the neighbors think, her mother will worry — and doesn't show a personal hesitation from spending the wee hours with her love interest.
More:In rare agreement, Americans say sexual misconduct must stop
Karen Tongson, an English and gender studies associate professor at the University of Southern California, says the song has to be interpreted as a product of its time. It was this "kind of culture of repression that would forbid this kind of hanging out," Tongson said. "The song itself is an effort to furnish female sexuality with a set of excuses as opposed to a coercive song."
Tongson says there's more nuance in Baby, It's Cold Outside, as well.
"In the rapid-fire callout culture of our current moment people don't take the time to reflect on the tone, and the tone becomes lost. There is a kind of coyness, a kind of female sexual energy, in that song that people just neglect," she said.
To that point, there are some playful and subversive interpretations of the song, including a version by She & Him, in which the gender roles are reversed; a Glee performance between two men; and a rewritten pro-consent version by two Minnesota musicians. They all help bring a modern (and much less creepy) context to the nearly 80-year-old song.
But as a final word, in the viral Tumblr post, the author writes that Baby It's Cold Outside is "one of the best illustrations of rape culture that pop culture has ever produced. It's a song about a society where women aren't allowed to say yes … which happens to mean it's also a society where women don't have a clear and unambiguous way to say no."
It's time for our Christmas carols to match our evolving culture.
Mary Nahorniak is the deputy managing editor for digital at USA TODAY. Follow her on Twitter at @maryvale.


Originally Published: January 18, 2018 6:05 a.m.
There is no question that laws written decades ago have a hard time keeping up with technology. However, it doesn't matter when some laws were written and what new technology comes along; some situations are no-brainers.
If you're an elected official and you're doing work on behalf of the public, then whatever records come from that work should be available for the all to review. That includes any records of public business conducted using an official's personal cell phone.
Public records requests are one of the best ways to deter public officials from the temptation of corruption. The news media use these requests all the time in news gathering. Public interest and lobbying groups also use public records requests. When public officials know that every email they send, every text message they receive, and every the number of every phone that calls their office is documented and available to the public upon request, then officials are more likely to be careful to keep everything above board and honest.
If, however, public officials are allowed to keep some communication private and the public cannot access those records, temptation will soon follow.
Rep. Bob Thorpe, R-Flagstaff, is proposing a law that would remove from public scrutiny any records of public business that are stored on public officials' personal cell phones, computers, or social media accounts.
Thorpe is reacting to a ruling by the state Court of Appeal in December that determined public officials cannot lawfully hide public business by using their own cell phones, emails or social messages.
We recognize that many public officials would feel uncomfortable handing over their personal cell phone to the public. Their texts to their family, and communications with their personal physician should be kept private.
But any of their communication that involves public business needs to remain a public record. Courts have consistently ruled that way, and it shouldn't take a court to come to that conclusion; it's common sense.
There is an answer. Public officials and employees should have two cell phones, one for doing the public's work and the other for personal use. That way, texts telling your daughter to be home by 10 p.m. would remain private.
If public officials consider carrying two cell phones to be too inconvenient, then they can expect that their private communications will likely be viewed by someone else. A judge, for example, could go through the communications to decide which the public has a right to know about and which should remain private.
It will be the lawmakers' choice which approach they are willing to accept.
Why did Thorpe propose a law that, as he knows, is likely unconstitutional, one that almost invites someone to abuse it, breaking the public trust?
His proposal should never see the light of day. Our lawmakers should do everything in their power to keep their work open and available for the public to scrutinize, thereby preserving public trust in Arizona's elected officials.


Best-known internationally for the huge French hit The Intouchables, Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano's (writers and directors) latest lacks that one's social sting, as C'est La Vie! is more a multi-character ensemble comedy with a knockabout tinge that is right on the very edge of a nervous breakdown.
Max Angély (the very fine Jean-Pierre Bacri) is a cranky but esteemed caterer who's been organising events for decades. He thinks that a mightily expensive wedding reception for the nice Héléna (Judith Chemla) and the awful Pierre (Benjamin Lavernhe) in a 17th Century château will be his final gig.
He has a huge staff, all of whom naturally come with often very French foibles, and the expected chaos starts early, even as Max tries hard to do the right thing by all, especially his not-so-secret mistress Josiane (Suzanne Clément). His front-of-staffer Adèle (Eye Haidara) loves winding him up, the DJ (Gilles Lellouche as James) is crude and boorish, and the photographer (Jean-Paul Rouve as Guy) is equally tactless and keeps scoffing the hors d'oeuvres.
The almost-24-hour-long experience is beset by problems including spoiled food, bruised egos, misjudged fireworks and a priceless bit of business involving a precarious balloon stunt. All the while Max attempts to hold everything together, and we feel his disappointment in all these people, so many of whom are ostensibly his friends and he fought hard to have on board, as they let him down over and over, however hilariously.
Of course, Nakache and Toledano aren't really cruel or malicious at heart, and they keep reminding Max and us that they're all kinds of wonderful, too, as layers are stripped away and we're allowed to see the sweetly struggling individual beneath the potential catastrophe.
It's hardly cutting-edge stuff and there's a certain conventionality (and predictability) here but it's all fairly lovely anyway. There's also a conscious nod to France's multiculturalism, particularly with a group of Indian employees who barely understand a word Max says and offer bewildered commentary in funny subtitled Tamil.
Rated M. C'est La Vie is in cinemas now.


Bedrosian & Associates, your employee benefit specialists, want to share the following Health Net updates with you since these are the most commonly asked questions we have received.
Groups of 1 to 5 eligible employees are required to have 70% participation with Health Net, and groups with 6 to 50 eligible employees are required to have 50% participation with Health Net. Same applies if the group is writing alongside Kaiser.
Newly Established Groups of 1 to 5 enrollees must qualify through 50% of prior calendar quarter test to be considered eligible for coverage.
Groups of 6 or more enrollees must be in business for at least 6 weeks to be eligible for coverage.
Groups currently in PEO arrangement are eligible for Health Net Small Business Group coverage. We can use the PEO payroll or PEO DE9C to establish their eligibility for coverage.
Owner only or Husband and Wife groups must have at least 1 non-owner, non-spouse W2 full time employee for at least 50% of the prior calendar quarter to be considered for coverage.
All new 2014 Small Group HMO plans use WholeCare HMO network. Sutter, Health, Brown and Toland and Alta Bates Medical Group are excluded from the WholeCare HMO network.
PPO is FULL NETWORK. It is inclusive of Sutter Health (i.e. Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Mills Peninsula Medical Group), Brown and Toland, UCSF and Stanford Medical Group.
Mental Health and Substance Abuse facilities – you are able to locate in network facilities by selecting "other facilities" under the provider search dashboard.
In all instances, Health Net Silver PPO rates is within the range of the competitor's Bronze PPO plans, while Health Net Gold PPO is within the range of the competitor's Silver PPO plans. Health Net has the BEST Platinum PPO pricing statewide, and in some instance, beating the competitors' Gold PPO plans.


• Anyone who purchases 'Reason Record Duo' or 'Record for Reason Owners' between July 1st 2011 and October 31st 2011 will receive a FREE downloadable upgrade when Reason version 6 is released.
• If you purchase Reason 5 (standalone) between July 1st 2011 and October 31st 2011, you will qualify for a discount for Reason 6 whereby purchasing through the Propellerhead web shop will allow you to upgrade for just €99.
• If you purchase Record (standalone) between July 1st 2011 and October 31st 2011, you will qualify for Reason at 50% off upgrade RRP (giving a price of €75) when purchasing through the Propellerhead web shop.


Sweet 14mm black 3-D Scotties swing freely below an ornate vintage gold plated brass rose stamping accompanied by smooth briolettes of superb grass green Chrysoprase. The total length from the bottom of the gold filled leverback is 2" (51mm). Innocent, feminine and very elegant.


Gladiator Clash is the first book in the Time-Hunters series! Marnie authored the first six books under the pseudonym, Chris Blake (commissioned by and developed in partnership with Hothouse Fiction). This romp through history was launched 4th July 2013 and published by HarperCollins Children's, along with books 2, 3 and 4 called Knight Quest, Viking Raiders and Greek Warriors respectively. Books 5 and 6, Pirate Mutiny and Egyptian Curse came out in January 2014.
"Join two brave heroes on one incredible treasure hunt through the most exciting moments in history. The first book in a new time-travelling series – perfect for fans of Beast Quest.
When ten-year-old Tom accidentally smashes a statue in a museum he releases Isis, a young Egyptian princess who has been imprisoned for thousands of years, along with her mummified moggy, Cleo. Isis desperately wants to break the curse and enter the afterlife, otherwise she'll be trapped between worlds forever. The trio must track down six amulets on a thrilling treasure hunt through time – coming face-to-face with Gladiators, Knights, Greeks, Vikings, Pirates and Egyptian Mummies!
Tom and Isis arrive in Ancient Rome where their fighting skills are put to the test as they are forced to train as gladiators. A riddle from Isis's magical scarab reveals that the first amulet is hidden within the shield of a fierce gladiator hero. Getting their hands on the shield will be dangerous but, as the next terrifying battle gets closer, Tom and Isis are running out of time .
The series is available on Amazon and from other reputable online book outlets.