Papa Joe

46 years as head coach at Penn State and this is how it ends???

Joe Paterno being fired yesterday is pretty dramatic. Yes, what happened is sick, twisted, and disgusting. Those kids that were abused is what people should be concerned about. What happened to them was terrible. Joe Paterno had been associated with Penn State longer than a lot of people have been alive and then head coach for four decades, and certainly deserves better than this. His job was to win football games, and should not be the scapegoat for the failure to act of the entire university.

What'cha Gonna Do

Check out the latest from the Oak Ridge Boys!

The Oak Ridge Boys - What'cha Gonna Do

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R.I.P. Elder Strong & Elder Walker

2 LDS Missionaries killed in Hit and Run accident in Donna, Texas

It is always sad to hear of tragedies like this. When the accident was first reported, and I saw McAllen Texas Mission, I knew that it hit too close to home. Even before their names were released, I was sure I probably knew them. My heart aches for the families of Elder Strong and Elder Walker. Both fine young men, who gave their lives in service to the Lord.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a statement that reads in part: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the missionaries involved in this tragic incident. We pray that they will be comforted as they mourn the loss of their loved ones, who served others selflessly as missionaries."

Dear Herman Cain,

To be honest, I wasn't all that concerned when the news first broke about possible sexual harrassment claims against you. Nor was I bothered when you denied that such claims existed. Typical mudslinging that you see in any political campaign. But when more details came forward, and I heard you say there were no settlements, then later the same day "started to remember details of a settlement", I began to worry about your credibility.

You said whatever settlement there may have been was an "insignificant" amount. Herman, I'm sorry, but $35,000 is pretty darn significant to me! And I'm sure I can find many unemployed or underemployed people to agree with me. Not to mention that you've obviously been lying to us! Add to that at least 2 more claimants coming forward, and I see a man unfit for public office.

In Memory Of Andy

Today, I am saddened by the loss of an idol, and a hero - Andy Rooney.

I grew up wanting to go into journalism - not the best seller's list kind, but the reporting the news in my own way and with my own opinions kind. In fact, some of you may remember my 1 copy "newspaper" that I ran for over 2 years in high school. That dream stayed alive, until my fascination with computers came along. Would I ever have been a success at writing? I guess we'll never know. Andy once said "I obviously have a knack for getting on paper what a lot of people have thought and didn't realize they thought,"And they say, `Hey, yeah!' And they like that."

When I graduated, Gary Laubach, one of my English and writing teachers, had this to say about my "newspaper" - "How will we fill the void? Where will we go for the news, the sports, the goings on of punchbuggies, our weekly French lessons, the zany photographs. Who will devote as much time to informing us about ourselves? No one, I suppose. And thus 'parting is such sweet sorrow'. He has entertained us, brought us to anger, to tears, to laughter; he has captured our inner feelings; our outer facade. None could take his place."

I wish to renew that legacy. So that is the direction I am taking my blog - in memory of Andy Rooney, whenever my creative mind feels up to it, or just feels the need to speak up on an issue, I will do so here.

Six Blind Mice

I know that fans of the St. Louis Cardinals will disagree with me, so they can stop reading now if they choose... And no, I am not a disgruntled, sore loser Rangers fan. But as a true fan of baseball, I must say, the Rangers didn't lose the World Series.
First, the Cardinals needed a lot of help to even be in the Fall Classic. Help from the Phillies, who quit playing after clinching home-field advantage. Help from the Braves, who collapsed in epic fashion. And help from the schedule makers, who gave the Cards the hapless Astros on the season's last weekend. So, I may be bitter that my Phillies lost in the first round. But hats off to St. Louis - they were the better team in that series. And, I developed a true admiration & respect for Albert Pujols in the series against the Brewers. They beat Milwaukee, to arrive in the World Series, with home-field advantage. Not something they earned, mind you, but a gift handed to them by the American League losing the All-Star game. In any other sport, home field is determined by winning percentage.
That brings us to the greatest gift of all from the baseball Gods - blind & incompetent umpires.

The Cardinals needed this gift, and partook of it in grand fashion! If Tim McCarver, a mediocre announcer at best, can see that someone is out from 200 feet away, you'd think that the umpires on the field (chosen as the best in their profession to call the game) would be able to see that as well. Not to mention the highly inconsistent calls on balls & strikes. There can't be a different strike zone for each team! Calling a ball on the first pitch, instead of a strike, changes the game completely. A third strike pitch & runner caught stealing for an inning ending double play ends up as ball four, and 2 men on base. Simply put, the Cardinals were handed this World Series on a silver platter!

And it's not just the World Series that has me aggravated. Remember last year, when Armando Gallaraga of the Detroit Tigers had a perfect game through 8 2/3 innings, made the 3rd out at 1st base, only to have the umpire call the runner safe?
Point being, forget about all the talk about destroying the integrity of the game. It is past time for the National past-it's-time to institute instant replay, and at least have some sort of accountability for home plate umpires.

Until that happens, Jimmy Dugan may be heard yelling at Evelyn Gardner, "There's no integrity in baseball!"

Google Announces Plans To Kill Millions Of Pets!

Just months after being promised that SuperPoke Pets would continue, Google released the following today:

We wanted to give you all advance notice that in the coming months, a number of Slide’s products and applications will be retired. This includes Slide’s products such as Slideshow and SuperPoke! Pets, as well as more recent products such as Photovine, Video Inbox and Pool Party. We created products with the goal of providing a fun way for people to connect, communicate and share. While we are incredibly grateful to our users and for all of the wonderful feedback over the years, many of these products are no longer as active or haven’t caught on as we originally hoped.

Most importantly, we wanted to take this opportunity to reassure you that we’re committed to helping our users preserve their data as easily as possible. We recognize that many of you have stored valuable content with us and want to assure you that, wherever possible, you will have ample time to download that information or transfer it to another service.

For example, on Slide.com, we will enable users to either download their photos or export them to a Picasa account. We are working to release this export feature over the coming weeks and, once added, users will have several months to take advantage of transferring their photos.