I've been stewing on this for a while. I've been pretty swamped, so I haven't had the proper time to put it to paper. That Joe Paterno died this weekend is just happenstance... I don't intend to dance on anyone's grave, but if that's what it is, I don't feel too badly about it.

There is no denying Joe Paterno's successful record on the field at Penn State. They win consistently, they're able to recruit the strongest talent in the country, and many of his players have gone on to very successful careers in and out of football. I know a few of them. I don't doubt there's a lot of men out there who are better men than they would have been but for the influence of Paterno and his assistants. There's a lot to admire there. Most of us would be fortunate to achieve just a fraction of that record in our lives.

However, life is not a zero-sum game. I think it's possible for a person to redeem themselves after a long streak of mistakes. But it's also possible to relegate a proud record into negligence through a great failure. This fall, we learned that's what Joe Paterno did.

Jerry Sandusky bears the bulk of blame and responsibility for his actions. Whatever is or is not wrong in that man's mind, he chose not to seek help, he chose not to separate himself from the boys he found somehow irresistably attractive. But the football staff and the university administration at Penn State, as well as elements of Pennsylvania law enforcement bear responsibility as his enabler. When they learned of Sandusky's actions, and declined to see him stopped, they became responsibility for Sandusky's continued abuse of teenage and younger boys.

There is no mistake, and no exaggeration to say that Joe Paterno knew Jerry Sandusky was abusing boys. For this man who preached excellence on the field, to insist to his players that doing what is minimally required is not enough, demanding them to push themselves to the limit of their capabilities, and to extend those capabilities... it is simply unacceptable for him to minimally pass the word on to his administration and leave it at that.

To Paterno's critics, many apologists have insisted, "You weren't there, you can't know what he knew, you didn't see what he saw, you can't judge Joe Paterno." They have cried that his firing was a denial of due process. They have wailed that he still deserves honor and respect because of his accomplishments in football.

To all of them, I quite simply say: Fuck you, you're wrong.

Paterno's own grand jury testimony is enough to hang him by. He admits that Mike McQueary told him he saw something of "a sexual nature" between Sandusky and "the youngster". The bare minimum required is to notify the administration. Excellence calls for following up. Excellence says that if the police haven't come to you in a couple of days, you go to them. Excellence says that if the police blow you off, you go to the district attorney, then the attorney general, then the governor, and if all that has failed, you call a press conference. Because what is more serious than the safety of children?

But Joe Paterno did none of that. He did the minimum, and then he walked away. He didn't even ensure that Sandusky was permanently removed from the football facilities, let alone the campus. Thus, Jerry Sandusky continued to victimize more boys. Joe Paterno could've thrown the brakes on that, but he chose not to.

And that's why Joe Paterno is no longer a great man.

That's why I no longer, and will never again respect him, nor have any patience for honoring or glorifying him. His football accomplishments mean nothing. No one else in Pennsylvania was his measure for authority and respect, and he chose not to use that authority to get justice for an abused boy, nor to protect future victims from harm. So fuck Joe Paterno. He put the feelings of a 22-year old adult witness ahead of a 10-year old victim ("I didn’t push Mike to describe exactly what it was because he was very upset.") And he put other people's weekend comfort ahead of the need to investigate the rape of a child ("I ordinarily would have called people right away, but it was a Saturday morning and I didn’t want to interfere with their weekends.")

So again: Fuck Joe Paterno.

Almost as appalling are the people defending and apologizing for him. The students who rioted when he was fired. The filth that signed their names to that "open letter". Even Dick Vitale, offering nothing but praise on Twitter (and rejecting
entreaties to temper it.)

Every one of them is saying that it's okay not to stand up and fight to take down a rapist, as long as you're a really good football coach. Fuck. That. Shit.

Tags: paterno, psu

Per 2515049's complaint on #uiuc, here's hoping Google will find this:

Have you ever sent live lobster over the Internet? You Will. And CCSO's Charley Kline will show you how

Tags: ccso, humor, uiuc

Just a reminder... if you're using Apache to offer listings of directories, and those directories may be mounted by an OS X host, you probably don't want to publish any dotfiles that OS X creates (like .DS_Store) to the world. afpd will MIME-translate the dots, so they start :2e. It's beneficial to add this to your httpd.conf:

# Prevent OS X-created dotfiles from being presented

<FilesMatch "^:2e">
    Order allow,deny
    Deny from all
    Satisfy All
</FilesMatch>

A letter to the editor of Stars And Stripes:

Let’s get on the same page here: No one needs your approval for what they do behind closed doors. This change in ["don’t ask, don’t tell"] policy is going to happen and everyone has to accept it. This ignorance that seems to be the social norm needs to be squashed ASAP.

When they change the policy, it needs to be one of the protected [categories] under equal opportunity, and there needs to be a zero-tolerance policy handed down. There need to be classes that basically say: This is the new policy, and whether everyone likes it or not, that’s what was handed down.

What I’ve realized is, these people who are against the repeal don’t see homosexuals as equals. They are the same people who don’t see women as equals. They are, to be blunt, sexist. They cannot stand the thought of a homosexual being able to do the same, exact job as they do, and sometimes even better.

Another big thing is, people are afraid of being an object of sexual desire for someone. Insecurities. But they didn’t think about that when they were looking at a woman at work up and down and talking about her. Now, the roles are reversed, and they don’t like it. You think a woman would like the things you are saying, degrading her to [the level of] a piece of meat?

And let’s get something out the way: If you have never maxed your Physical Training test, do not have abs of steel and are over 30, chances are you are not meeting the standards of most homosexual servicemembers. So don’t flatter yourself: If you couldn’t pick up that woman at the club last week, you think that servicemember wants you?

-- Specialist Vaughn Rush
FOB Warrior, Iraq

It'll take a little while yet, but we're going to be okay.

"You know what? It did disrupt the unit. The unit got over it. The unit changed. I'm an Admiral in the U.S. Navy and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Beat that with a stick."

The AP covered Easter mass in Rome:

"Holy Father, on your side are the people of God," Cardinal Angelo Sodano told the pontiff, whom victims of clergy sexual abuse accuse of helping to shape and perpetuate a climate of cover-up. Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, dismissed those claims as "petty gossip."

So the rest of us are not the people of God. The rest of us who would stand up for abused children, who demand justice for their abusers, and accountability from those who covered for the abusers.

Bullshit.

"We are deeply grateful to you for the strength of spirit and apostolic courage with which you announce the Gospel," said Sodano, who sought to assure Benedict that the scandals were not costing him credibility among his flock.

There is no courage in protecting sexual predators. There is no courage in defending those that do.

Petty gossip? Fuck you, Cardinal.

Catholic World Report editor George Neumayr rants in the Moonie Times:

The truth is that Pope Benedict has done more to address the abuse scandal in the church than his predecessor, whose tenure never excited anywhere near this level of calls for resignation.

Wrong again, asshole. He's done more to cover it up. As pope, he did little to reform the hierarchy's handling of abuse cases--and he all but condemned demands for accountability from the American bishops. But I've yet to see any documentation that Karol Cardinal Wojtyla covered for clerical abuse when he was out running a diocese. But Josef Cardinal Ratzinger? He was knee-deep in it both as Archbishop of Munich, and while in charge of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith</a>. And in that last case, there's the foundation of an argument that he is guilty of conspiracy in an American jurisdiction. That means an arrest on the ramp at JFK to stand trial in an Arizona state court. (If you believe he'd delegate these things out, and might have been shielded from the full truths, it looks like you'd be wrong.)

This is not idle fucking gossip. This is serious. And it demands an enormous round of resignations, public statements of account, and jail time. It would mean a huge shakeup in the Catholic Church, the likes of which probably hasn't been seen since the Reformation. Yes, the leadership hierarchy would be left in tatters. But the hierarchy is not the Church, its people are. (Even Ted Baxter properly recognizes that!) Cut out this cancer, and the rest of the body will in time heal itself.

Yeah, here's the Senate's first draft "cybersecurity" bill.

First, who wrote it? Jay Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe. Two people whose greatest previous digital achievements have probably been finding the "Reply All" button and forwarding e-mail hoaxes without the obstruction of checking Snopes first. You know, if the Democrats had the balls to make the Republicans filibuster health care reform, the Senate wouldn't be able to introduce this shit. So instead, we get a bill which will:

• Significantly raise the priority of cybersecurity throughout the federal government and streamline cybersecurity-related government functions, authorities and laws.

In other words, it will do nothing to kill the apathy and turf wars that currently obstruct computer investigations. Much like the creation of DHS and the national intelligence czar did for antiterror work.

• Protect civil liberties, intellectual property and business proprietary information.

Logging all sorts of information about your identity and activities will now be legally mandated on your service provider. It will be protected from intrusion, except by cops (who won't need warrants--that only helps the terrorists!) and civil discovery (it's just lying there anyways, so why not!) Also black-hat hackers who are good at covering their tracks, who wouldn't be investigated anyways because violations of your privacy are not a federal priority.

• Promote cybersecurity public awareness, education, and research and development.

PSAs and other government propaganda that will make Hackers look like a documentary.

• Foster market-driven cybersecurity innovation and creativity to develop long-term technology solutions and train the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.

Oh, where do I begin on how corporations will be encouraged to fuck us...

(Thanks to grade/HS friend Reid Schwartz for the tip...)

iTunes uses an "authorization" system for controlling DRM content you've purchased through the store. That mostly doesn't apply to music anymore, but it does to any video content, including the "digital copies" that accompany many DVD and Blu-Ray movie titles today. It limits you to authorize five computers per iTunes Store account. But there's three hiccups:

1) Authorization is bound to system configuration. On Windows, this means the combination of peripherals, both on the motherboard and in expansion slots. On Macs, it really just means the built-in ethernet interface. If you add, change, or remove PCI cards from a Windows box, or you change the motherboard/logic board from either a Windows or Mac system, you have to re-authorize the computer, and it's treated as a new auth--your old auth still exists in the iTunes Store's database, even if you can't use it anymore.

2) You can only deauthorize an individual computer FROM that computer, while the authorization is valid. If you forget to deauthorize before you change the system configuration--or before you send your Mac in for service, and they wind up switching out the logic board, you can't deauthorize. Again, you can only reauthorize anew. Also, if your hard drive crashes, or you erase it, your authorization token disappears with the drive--again, you have to reauthorize anew, consuming one of your five slots.

3) You can't deauthorize one computer from another.

4) If you use Boot Camp on an Intel Mac, and you authorize it both under Windows and OS X, that counts as two computers.

Over the nearly ten years that iTunes has existed, I've owned six and a half[1] different Macs and a Windows box. I've had to send two of the laptops in to Apple for service, which entailed replacing the motherboard--with its accompanying Ethernet interface. I forgot to deauth them before I sent them in, so their authorizations went "poof". As of yesterday, I was at 4 authorizations. Once I auth'ed the new Mac Mini, I'm at 5... which unlocked something Apple quietly introduced four years ago. Use iTunes to log into the store, and bring up your account information. Once you have five systems authorized, a "Deauthorize All" button appears next to your auth count. You can use that button once per year to wipe off all your authorizations. And then you can reauthorize all the systems you still want to use, starting the count over at zero.

[1] A Hackintoshed Dell netbook isn't Apple hardware, of course.

In Chicago, we called it "Tuesday".

I think the only City trucks I have seen that lack the hardware to attach a snowplow blade are the garbage trucks. Come November, those blades are ready to go. When Tom Skilling says it's coming, those trucks are loaded with salt, staffed, and strategically staged. They roll when the snow begins to fall, and they don't stop until the roads clear. In heavy snowfall, the side streets may be skipped, but it's only a temporary measure to keep the arterial streets clear. The counties and state highway departments operate the same way. Snow may slow us down a little, but we never let it stop us. It probably costs us a ton of money in overtime pay, but that more than pays for itself in preserved productivity. We won't tolerate less. Failure is left as an exercise to the reader. "Michael Bilandic" is your search term.

Some people just never learn. "You won't see bare pavement for at least three weeks - and that's if we don't get another snow next week." It's not like Virginia never gets snow. Yet they're underequipped, and I bet undertrained. Send some of your people to Boston or New York this summer. Find out how the pros form their strategies, and how they equip. Then do the same.

with snow falling so fast and deep Washington pulled its plows from the road. A quarter were knocked out of commission entirely by the struggle of trying to move so much snow off the streets.

You're doing it wrong.

Telling the fat chick she needs to TRY losing some weight to graduate.

Really, an across-the-board PE requirement wouldn't be a bad thing. I'll go so far as to say it's a requirement every semester you attend--including the summer sessions. I know, not everyone's into team sports or aerobics. Offer a full slate. Offer self-designed independent study. Just set standards for it and hold the students accountable. Play a varsity sport, and you want to count your off-season conditioning? Fine, but your attendance has to be documented. We used to play rollerblade tag on the quad most evenings. Document the nights and the locations--provide a means to be checked up on. I played pickup hockey with friends, I can count that too, just have the rink staff sign when I arrive and leave. Whatever you do, don't cut people slack. Don't let them stand around. If they can't run, they walk--but they do it longer, so it's actually worth something.

"I didn't come to Lincoln to be told that my weight is not in an acceptable range." You probably didn't come to Lincoln for a lot of things. That's nice you're a three-time honor student. Your body mass isn't "slightly high". It ain't healthy. You knew the policy when you came in. You chose to stay at your private university. Lay off the Cheetos and get your ass in the pool.

One, a San Pasqual freshman was stabbed in Kit Carson Park just across the street from the school yesterday, in broad daylight. I'd say times are tough when landscapers are sticking up kids, but apparently it wasn't a robbery.

The administration at Stevenson HS was feeling unappreciated, and decided Chicagoland needed a reminder of what a bunch of uptight douchebags they are. So they spiked the student newspaper again over articles that shatter the myth that Stevenson students are all wonderful virtuous angels. God forbid that people should be aware that some of their teenage snowflakes shoplift, smoke, drink, fuck, and elect not to have abortions! This comes eight months after they spiked an issue about students casually fucking.

As an honorably discharged student of neighboring District 225, I can say with confidence that a few of my fellow honor students shoplifted and/or smoked, many drank, most fucked, and from all that, I only heard of one of my classmates getting his girlfriend pregnant. Nobody was shot, stabbed, beaten with 2x4s, or thrown from a moving car. All in all, exactly what you'd expect from an affluent suburb. And in nearly 20 years since, ain't nothing changed.

Also, when a 10-year old in Arkansas decided to quietly stand up (or rather, sit down) in support of an oppressed minority, Jon Stewart did the right thing and called in the cavalry to defend the boy against his homophobic peers. That's right, Mick Foley will bring the pain down upon all who would call Will Phillips a gaywad. (It is unknown what role the Gaywad-Dorkwad alliance may play in support.)

(It's a damn good thing they didn't cross Shane Botwin, as fruit punch left elementary school, went to summer school, then graduated to actually capping motherfuckers.)

[Edit] And a great piece on what he could've said instead :-)