Nothing like a press guide

. . . to get you behind on any other work. Along with preparing for the county's simulated emergency test and finishing the edits on the SNW paper for the CoSIDA Digest, doesn't leave much time for a blog.

But, couple of items. First, I've got to say I'm a little peeved with CBS -- their new show Jericho made the ham radio operator in the town seem like a lunatic.

Second, one of the more interesting student newspaper rants against the "restrictions" put on athlete's Facebook usage comes from Ohio State. The Ohio State editorial hit the nail on the head. Does a university only care about its athletes, and not the general student body? Exactly. The students, not just the student-athletes, need to be warned, be warry and be afraid.

Read this News Feed

While considering cough syrups . . .

I have to laugh between coughs at the shock, shocked and appalled -- they are, at the latest "improvements" at Facebook. Chalk it up to yet another I told you so, kids, you gave up your rights to privacy when you signed up for most of these SNWs.

This is the quote of the day, from our own student newspaper at Arkansas:
"It's all about reading the fine print and people don't do it. People don't like it because it's boring," Chris Medrano said.

Hey, guess what -- the adults know that, and the smart kids, too. That's why they scammed you into giving up all your rights when you clicked OK on the EULA.

Here's your black helicopter moment: Did you catch the story last week about Project Strike Back? The FBI data mining of Department of Education financial aid records. It comes a couple of years after the outcry over Talon, the DoD's surveillance project to look for key words in emails. Then there's the continuing program for FBI direct access to Sevis records of foreign students. By the time this generation gets it, it may be too late to get off the grid.

Michael Ostrokenk with the Liberty Coalition summed it up in The Chronicle:
"This is another example of Big Brother gone wild. In the age of everything is a national security issue, we are destroying the very liberties and privacy rights which make our country unique and great in the history of the world."

Hey, but if you can get a free email account and free spam blocker, why not?

Random Thoughts

While considering why astronomers can't think of anything better to do than to revise text books . . .

You know it's not going to be a good parent-teacher night when by the third class visit, you are the only parent at the school. Out of seven periods visited, four had less than four parents attending.

And about Pluto, is there nothing else to discover in near space? Is that the best your field has got, revising the definitions? So you can feel superior to those stodgy old fogies that got it all so wrong. Here's a thought -- do something. Achieve something. Find something. Instead, let's get rid of the only planet discovered by an American. Hey, that's it. Along with high gas prices, flooding New Orleans, screwing up Iraq and generally ruining the Earth, the government is responsible for a false planet.

Last time I checked, the old farts with slide rules and crew cuts:
Went to the moon.
Send a probe beyond the solar system.
Created many of the current concepts of space.

This generation:
Space telescope that needed contacts.
Meters? The distance to the surface of Mars wasn't in feet?
Uh, . . . . OK, we've got XBox360; all they had was Pong.

Just when you thought the hard sciences would not be prone to revisionism, we have the anti-Plutoians who want to fix the errors of the past. Personally, makes more sense to add Xena and the other new "minor" planets. But, that goes against the gated community mentality of the world -- we must exclude those we don't want to be around.

More I think about it . . . here goes the next Ozarks at Large rant.

Last Weekend (sort of)

A nice weekend of house cleaning and grilling before the real big stuff begins to roll with next week. This will be an awkward year -- a home vb tournament and fb game before Labor Day weekend. It seems like things start earlier and earlier.

At least I can try to finish some side projects before throwing the 12-16 hour days at press guide season, which starts really next week. The Corona box project is me -- even with SP2 and patches it still locks when it gets on line. And I'd like to have that finished before the next road trip set -- soccer swings to Tulsa soon -- for the car computer stuff -- GPS tracking, mp3's, etc.

Next week also, finishing the first draft of a paper for CoSIDA Digest on the survey results from my SNW work this summer.

Messages from the Ungrateful

Most of the feedback from surveys on my SNW talk was positive, but as one would expect a few were less than enthused about the adults looking in. Coincided with some of the interesting profiles and photos -- surprise. The one that stuck with me, howevever, was I treated them like "ignorant little miscreants". I'll give props for the creative use of language, but as a colleague says, no good dead goes unpunished.

At the same time, they really are not getting the true message. You are giving up too much of your personal privacy.

I had to laugh at similar indignant comments from some media who are shocked, shocked and apalled to discover that big athletic departments are infringing on the First Amendment rights of students. And it's just because we're worried about our reputations.

Stunning ignorance -- are media members so unaware of the current culture to miss that if anything, athletic departments may be behind the curve on this? Go ask the frats and sororities if they have "house rules" about SNW postings. Check out the lock-step compliance required on political blogs. For that matter, do the same really believe they can rant to their heart's content against their employers and think they will not have an impact.

Look, NPR today added further confirmation with its Morning Edition story. HR departments across America are looking into candidate SNWs. You can whine all you want about this being an invasion of privacy, but is it an invasion of privacy if you stand in the public square drunk and half naked? And if that makes a police report, that's not fair game to ask about?

Consider the flip side. How many lawsuits to come when a predator gets hired, causes some injury and then the liable party is the employer because they did not look, or knew and did not act?

Think about this one -- 10, 15 years ago, who really verified every degree claimed on a resume? High security positions maybe, but rarely was that done across the board. There isn't a person hired in our department without a DegreeCheck run.

Sex and the SNW

OK, now that I have your attention . . .

I wish I had thought of this before my presentation with our athletes on Friday, but consider this analogy for the students.

Social networking websites are like sex. The only sure thing is abstinance, but since that's not really acceptable to a lot of people, you better have a lot of protection and education. If you post without security and without regard to what the content is, it's no different than unprotected sex -- it can lead to unintended consequences, and if you get involved in some really rough stuff, better believe you might get hurt.

Descending to a new level of hell

--

Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

Is it Good News or Bad News

So in advance of Friday afternoon's orientation session with all the Lady'Back athletes on social networking, I created an on-line questionnaire to get a gauge of what they thought about SNWs, security, etc.

Of 170 athletes, about 70 had responded by midnight Thursday. Less than half.

A) Great, nice survey sample. Less than half cared.

B) No, really great. More than half had something better to do than read their email.

Hmm. Nah, it's bad news -- they didn't pay attention.

By the way, I'm offering up that questionnaire to anyone else who wants to administer it to their athletes. It is a private, stand-alone 25-question survey. I'll give to anyone who wants in an excel file of the answers. I just want the data for some research.

There's also a follow up survey in the works for the Lady'Backs who filled out the initial survey to gauge changes in opinions after my presentation.

And It Keeps Getting Better

So, your campus has the anti-virus patches, the Windows system updates and the anti-spyware/spamware software.

Guess what -- the SNW as vehicle of virus delivery. According to industry chatter, one in 600 MySpace pages are trying to place spyware or adware on the users computer through the browser. That might sound like good odds, but there are millions of MySpace pages.

This isn't to single out or pick on MySpace, several others were also cited.

New Warning for SNW

As your incoming freshmen join your university network on Facebook, their previous SNW data often comes with them. Make it a special point of emphasis that these individuals need to do some extra editing to conform with your department.

For example -- it would be swell if you got all the pictures from the recruiting visits made to other schools.

The other big freshman transition -- what's acceptable. Inside jokes with friends back in high school were funny. The internet is pretty tone deaf, and those things don't read the same if you weren't there to be a part of the event.

Another what's acceptable: many campus codes of conduct include appropriate speech limits. Slang, ethnic references, gender references that were allowed to slide before college could come back to haunt a student.

Finally, on your incoming students, make sure to check and clean the MySpace accounts as well as the Facebooks.

Sharing SNW Notes

Thank you to everyone who has shared events that transpired at your campus related to the SNWs. I want to give a few sanitized notes to add to the summer presentation at CoSIDA, and to let you know that our finished department written policy is available for request (email me at the office). The policy is much more detailed than any of the previous documents.

But, you wanted the titilating stories, so . . .

Student-athlete disciplined by athletic department and eventually expelled from public university for unauthorized taking and posting of photos of another student-athlete on Facebook.

Several students taken before campus discipline boards after campus enemies narc'd on photos posted on line. Various levels of punishment, including expulsion.

Individuals outside university gaining more and more access to the "closed" world of Facebook.

Surprise -- you closed your Facebook profile but one of your friends "tagged" out a photo of you into an open area of the network.

Twisted Euphemism of the Week

This might be hall of honor stuff as the NCAA is suggesting that we stop using the terms I-A and I-AA to refer to the differing level of scholarships, etc., that define college football in the top ranks.

I-A will be the Bowl Subdivision. I-AA is the Championship Subdivision. The FBS and the FCS, not I-A and I-AA.

That's some quality work, but the best one is reserved for the renaming, excuse me, branding, of the championship formerly known as I-AA: The NCAA Division I Football Championship.

Ta-da -- just like that I was a staff member of the 1987 NCAA Division I Football Champions.

Schedule Soon

To answer the repeated requests of fans, the full women's basketball schedule should be out within the week. The SEC has been having, well, some challenges getting it finished.

Guide Season Approaches

Today we ship out the first of our press guides to the printers -- always hectic on the first ones. Orientation looms on Friday, and final prep on the SNW presentation is underway.
In travel news, I see now that TSA has made taking off shoes manditory. Odd, you'd swear it had been since 9/11 at certain airports. Staff member reports that gel is being very broadly interpreted -- one of their kids had to throw away some gel-ink pens as they flew home from vacation this weekend.

Back on the Blog

Long week of catch up from vacation work has kept the Dr. from his appointed rounds here. Now, it's prep for the incoming athletes' orientation next weekend.

One of the big items -- finishing of our departmental policy on SNWs. This is something several others have asked for a copy, and I will provide it on request. Just hit the office email. While we are allowing SNW to continue, it will be monitored and the consequences are very bluntly laid out for the athletes.

On the travel front, I must say I'm happy to be done with flying for the next few weeks. In this field, if you cannot travel with the electronics required for work, there's no point in traveling.

If the airlines change their conditions of carriage to cover electronics in checked luggage, OK. If the airports will add the surveilance in the baggage areas to prevent unauthorized appropriation of my electronic gear, OK. Until then, I'll stick to the highways and byways of America rather than the airports.

Vacation

OK -- point of a blog is regular, if not daily updates. But I'm taking a real vacation -- two weeks, not business related.

A couple of notes from the road. Atlanta is a great place for the family, but there is a lasting impression for my daughter, Ashley. At the Georgia Aquarium, she was first overrun by a youth group that pushed her aside to go up the kiddie slide, only to twice rejected by the attendant because she was too tall. She sent her away to take off her shoes, only to send her away -- pretty rude, I might add -- a second time.

Second event that gives my dear 10 year old a lovely memory. At the Braves game, the dugout crew was tossing out tee-shirts along the outfield fence. I'm standing behind Ashley, and can see that she's made eye contact. Maybe this makes up for Aquarium wench. Unfortunately, a 16 or 17 year old reaches in for the interception. The good news? After badgering several people who tried to sit in our section, her dad learns from the ushers that indeed he is sitting in the wrong area and they move them in the fourth inning.

Otherwise, Atlanta was a great time -- with the exception of that one person the Aquarium was a huge must see. The zoo was fantastic. Ashley is a huge panda girl, and we got to see so much more of the bears than other zoos. Huge two thumbs up for Gladys and Ron's Chicken and Waffles, well worth the effort.

On to Florida and beach time for my wife. Back in the office and prep for the fall semester next week.

Gap Week Catch-Ups

Thanks to all the CoSIDA members who have had nice things to say about my presentation on SNWs. If you need the info -- PPT and PDF -- they are linked off my bio page at LADYBACKS.COM.
One person said afterwards that they thought it was effective because I had the right amount of dark presence to sell the problem. Umm, hmm, I think that was a compliment. Either that or scaring the bejesus out of people really is my strong point.
Lots of folks have asked about policies on SNWs. We've got one, but it's been poorly enforced. Some summer work is going into a better one that focuses on education and consequences. Later in the week, I'll post some outline notes from that regarding a plan to present to our athletes at orientation in August.

As Promised, The Black Beetle Script

I mentioned this in the early DC posts, here's the upcoming Ozarks At Large script on travel. I did this before heading to DC with Ashley.

WALKING OFF THE AIRPLANE, AND STRIDING THROUGH THE PARKING LOT, THERE IT WAS. A CLASSIC VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE – JET BACK WITH THE ORIGINAL CHROME ACCENTS. IMMEDIATELY I WAS TRANSPORTED BACK 40 YEARS TO MY EARLIEST MEMORIES OF ARKANSAS, CRAWLED INTO THE LUGGAGE SPACE BEHIND THE REAR SEAT OF MY MOTHER’S BLACK 64. I COULD LOOK STRAIGHT UP OUT OF THE REAR WINDOW, MY OWN SUN ROOF, BOUNCING ALONG IN THE PRICKLY PEAR FABRIC. THE GREY AND BROWN SPECKLED JUTE UPHOLSTERY HAD A UNIQUE SMELL, A SPECIAL FEEL. IT WAS WHERE I RODE TO VISIT MA-MA IN THAT TINY LITTLE HAMLET OF ARKANSAS CITY. I REALIZE ON THAT AFTERNOON THAT I AM A TRAVELER NOT ONLY BY NATURE, BUT BY BIRTH. MY FATHER, ILL ALL MY LIFE WITH A LAUNDRY LIST OF MALADIES, NEVER LET HIS HEALTH KEEP HIM FROM WORK, AND AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, TRAVEL. A MAN WITH AN EIGHTH GRADE EDUCATION, HIS ADVANCED DEGREES CAME FROM LIFE ON THE ROAD. HE OFTEN SAID THAT HIS WISH FOR ME WAS TO SPEND A YEAR ON THE ROAD – OH SO KEROAC FROM THE MAN WHO GREW UP AS THE SON OF A MULE TRADER AND SAW THE SOUTH PACIFIC COURTESY OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY. I HAVE NO DOUBT HE WAS CORRECT. I LEARNED PLENTY OF THAT LIFE AS A QUASI ROADIE FOR PERCY SLEDGE, THAT CROONER OF SOUL, AS HE MADE HIS WAY THROUGH HONKY TONKS IN SOUTH LOUISIANA; ROLLING ACROSS AMERICA WITH COLLEGE FOOTBALL AND BASKETBALL TEAMS. CALL ME A ROADS SCHOLAR – AS PROUD OF THE DEGREE EARNED FROM DECADES OF TRAVEL AS THE ADVANCED DEGREES BESTOWED BY INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING. IN THE END, WHAT I SAW AND LEARNED FROM THE ROAD, ABOUT AMERICA, ABOUT LIFE, IS THE EQUAL OF MY ACADEMIC TRAINING. MANY DAYS OF THE WEEK, MORE IMPORTANT. AFTER THIS FATHER’S DAY, I REMEMBER AND HONOR THAT ADVISE AS I TAKE MY DAUGHTER ON HER FIRST MAJOR SOJOURN – A TOUR OF THE NATION’S CAPITAL; JUST LIKE THE ONE HER OLDER BROTHER RECEIVED IN FOURTH GRADE. I CAN ONLY HOPE THAT SOMEDAY, THEY’LL SEE AN IMPOSSIBLY LONG ESCALATOR AND SMELL THE OZONE OF ELECTRIC MOTORS AND THINK ABOUT THOSE TIMES SPENT IN THE DC METRO. LIKE THE OLD BLACK BEETLE, I PRAY THOSE MEMORIES WILL ALLOW THEM TO CARRY ON THE FAMILY TRADITION.

I think that after the trip, I achieved the goal.

Day Four-Five in DC

In the catch-up from last week's handheld debacle . . .
John Boozman gets the genuine nice guy elected official award. His office did the usual constituient service with a capitol tour for my daughter, but Boozman took time to meet with us twice, really three times when we had two chances to chat during a photo op. He made a connection with Ashley, and impressed me with his interest in all the folks on the tour.
OK, it's his job to be sensitive to our needs. Here were the differences:
When Will came to DC back seven or so years ago, the congressional staffers that were friends of friends of the family that were suppose to hook us up on the Hill were no-shows. Being there counts, so older brother never got his backstage tour.
I've had the privilege of several DC trips with our teams in official capacities. We saw the congressman more than any other politician, except for our Oval Office visit with Clinton. Here's another person that is a nightmare for staff because he wants to spend time with visitors.
Past relations with the Boozman staff proved that his people are in tune with staying close to the voters; now I can see it comes from the top.
Moving on to the rest of the trip, let me say there is nothing quite like sitting in the front-row recliners for dinner at ESPNZone. Ashley ranked that pretty high since she could watch Shameka Christon's key blocked shot to send the Liberty into OT up close and personal.
After an initial concern about shelling out the money, International Spy Museum was well worth the admission fee. Maybe because we had to pay vs. Smithsonians and others, Ashley and I spent a considerable amount of time with the exhibits. Three hours later when they kicked us out at closing, Ashley told her mom and friends that her top things in DC were the capitol (see above), the pandas and the Spy Museum.

Day Three in DC

Here's an important piece of advice: Never run out of plush panda dolls on a panda's first birthday. It was -- OK, here it come -- pandamonium when the one sponsor table with the stuffed pandas ran out for a moment at the National Zoo.
It's not so much the running out -- that is bound to happen -- but what happened next that was a bit scary and revealing. Ashley and I had worked to the front of the line just as the pandas ran out. She was OK with that, knowing that she'd already received a stress panda and some other items. Plus, for working with the Pennies for Pandas program, she knew there was a gift basket waiting for her.
But when more pandas were found and the annoucement was made -- for kids only -- and they started passing out pandas over her head; well, that's different. Knowing the workers were ignoring the adults, I just tried to get their attention by pointing at my daughter. I guess they thought I was attempting to get one for myself, but finally I got one of the police officers tasked with crowd control's attention and he nudged the folks behind the table to pay attention. Ashley got her bear and we escaped for the other end of the zoo.
Seeing the pandas was almost anticlimatic by the end of the day, but we can say we did and were there on the birthday. As much as the pandas, the O-Line with the orangutans free climbing overhead was the highlight of the day.
After a long day of walking (by the way, do not trust a bus shelter map over your sixth sense for direction), Ashley and I got back the Harrington just in time to click over for the World Cup final. Minutes after flipping the channel, there it was -- Zidine's massive head butt. I still can't understand why, but it served as one of those huge moments of reminding us why sports matter.
My daughter, a soccer player but of passing interest in the WC, turned to me with a stunned and pained expression on her face. Why did he do that? For the rest of the night as we went across the street to ESPNZone for dinner, she would point out the man with the head butt on replays on the screens. That image has stuck with her, and she now remembers his name, his country and what his action cost.
Here's a little American girl, with no sense of what this man's life or career means, but she has a very clear understanding that Zidane equals bad sportsmanship.
Soccer teaches once again during this WC, just not the sugary sweet Disney fairy tale the marketeers wanted.