No Word from the EU yet

 

Still waiting..........

I always wanted a blog - and then I never used it

 Wow - 4+ years later, this blog still works.  I got some nastygram about EU laws...

European Union laws require you to give European Union visitors information about cookies used and data collected on your blog. In many cases, these laws also require you to obtain consent.

Do EU laws really apply to me if I live nowhere near Europe?  What happens if I don't do as they say?  Can I be arrested?  Can I be sanctioned?  Will my blog be taken away from me?

Big Ten Champions!

An excuse to post on my blog since I haven't forever...

Yes, I'm thrilled that Penn State is the Big Ten Champion.  And no, I'm not all that upset about them being left out of the four team playoff.  It's difficult to make the case for being in the playoff with two losses.  The Rose Bowl against USC promises to be a great game, whereas the other choice would be to be the sacrificial lamb for Alabama.  It's a pretty good way to finish off a great season.

Don't get me wrong, it's completely tortured logic that leaves Penn State out of the playoff.... I realize by even spending time writing down the logic, I could appear to care way more than I do.  What I care about is critiquing the logic of the system in general, not so much the results of it this year.  So, for what it's worth, Penn State is the champion of the toughest conference in college football.  If you just jumped off a time machine from somewhere between 2005-2015, you absolutely heard that right... the SEC is down this year, other than Alabama.  The Big Ten finished the regular season with four teams (Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Penn State) in the top 7.  Where the playoff went funny was admitting 11-1 Ohio State over 11-2 Penn State.  Yes, two losses, but Penn State had the following over Ohio State...

The objective facts...

- beat them head to head
- won their division over them
- won the conference over them

The subjective opinion...

Does Ohio State really have a better chance against the other playoff teams?  Are they really a better team NOW?  How about the last two weeks of the season where Ohio State barely squeaked by Michigan State 17-16 when Penn State pounded them 45-12?  Yes, Ohio State beat Michigan whereas Michigan beat Penn State (early in the season).  Does the current status of a team (Penn State, 9 straight wins, most quite convincing) matter?  I've heard people say Penn State's win over Ohio State was an upset and Ohio State would beat them 8 out of 10 times.  I don't buy that... not right now... line them up and I think you're looking at a pretty even game.  Again, I'm not too upset.  Buckeye fans... I don't begrudge OSU being in the playoff.  The entire season SHOULD matter and 2 losses might just be too much to overlook.  But it does lead to the logical paradox we have right now... the champion of the best conference in all of college football doesn't have a shot at the national championship... and Urban Meyer, of all people, appears to have some sympathy to that view.

UPDATE:  With the season over, hindsight is 20/20, but what it tells us is that (a) Nobody would have beaten Clemson, and (b) anybody would have put up a better fight against Clemson than Ohio State, who got obliterated, 31-0.

Fire Sandy Barbour now

Did Penn State really think hiring a left coast Athletic Director would work in their favor?

http://www.pennlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/01/inappropriate_and_insensitive.html

Wait, tell me again who's insensitive and doesn't get it?  Not to mention speaks with a forked tongue on Twitter...

Fire her, now.

UPDATE:  She has apologized, and there is enough in her words to indicate that perhaps she truly gets it now.  I would almost say this sounds sincere enough that there's a chance it was from the heart and not written by the damage control patrol at some professional PR firm.  Who knows, but here it is...

http://www.pennlive.com/pennstatefootball/index.ssf/2015/01/penn_state_ad_sandy_barbour_joe_paterno_409_tweet.html

Is God a mystery or are you lazy or full of it?

1 Corinthians 13:12 provides great comfort to those seeking deeper knowledge of God and finding that's not always an easy trail to follow.  "For now, we see through a glass, darkly".  It's okay - you CAN'T figure everything out and know everything.  Our finite minds simply cannot comprehend everything about an infinite God.

The problem is, I see that used as an excuse not to try.  Often, it comes about in the form of someone high-falutinating about the wondrous mystery of God.  I have no problem with that when it's legit, but I think there are several reasons why people slip into the murky of fog of "It's a mystery" when trying to answer questions about God...

1. They've given serious thought to all possibilities and it truly is a mystery (totally legit there)
2. They don't want the light of scripture to shine on their contrary idea... better to stay in the fog than be proven wrong.
3. Intellectual laziness.  There is PLENTY we can know about God.  People devote their lives to writing and teaching these things.  There are untold volumes of good, sound commentary on scripture and on God.  Just because you're too lazy to look for it doesn't mean there's not an answer.
4.  Desire to avoid confrontation.  This may involve some combination of 2 and 3.

Golden Corral

I went to Golden Corral the other day for the first time in a while.  "The Trough", as it's been called, has a lot of good food... and I mean a LOT of food.  A lot of it is pretty tasty too.  I give them credit for their product.  It's the clientele I worry about.  I finally realized what Golden Corral is... it's where the People of Walmart go to eat after a big day of shopping...

http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

How can you blame the Germans?

It seems that 55% of Americans don't know that Planned Parenthood does abortions.

http://www.lifenews.com/2013/04/29/poll-55-of-americans-dont-know-planned-parenthood-does-abortions/

Millions of dead babies and the average American has no clue...  How many of those 55% could blame the citizenry of Germany during World War II for not knowing about the concentration camps?

In other news, 55% of football fans don't know that the NFL is a football league.