Advent--almost

This is an important day. It's the penultimate day of the church calendar. (Ultimate means final or farthest and pen means almost.) So it means next to the last. Advent, the first day of the church year, is Sunday, November 30, and we look forward to the coming of our Savior and Lord who took on our flesh as a helpless baby.

 
To make it easy on myself I looked up how that is determined and self was told: 

"The first day of Advent in 2025 is Sunday, November 30, 2025. This date marks the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity and is the first Sunday of Advent, which is always the Sunday closest to St Andrew’s Day (November 30).

Advent will conclude on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2025, leading into the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus Christ on December 25. Many churches observe this season with Advent wreaths, lighting candles each Sunday to symbolize themes of hope, peace, joy, and love."

Advent hymns are lovely and thoughtful--not exactly Rudolph and Santa. One popular hymn was written by Christina Georgina Rosetti and ends,

 
"What can I give him,
poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb,
if I were a wise man
I would do my part,
yet what I can I give him,
give my heart."

Our facility, The Estates at Knightsbridge, is swarming with Christmas elves who have miraculously put out wreaths, ribbons and trees to make this place look like, maybe not home, but festive and cheerful as we look forward.

Also, it's Black Friday when retailers make it or break it (are in the black), and you're crazy if you go out to shop or buy a quart of milk. It's also the day before OSU and Michigan fight it out in Ann Arbor; the streets of Columbus will be quiet and safe.

Pizza for lunch and OSU football

So I picked up a pizza a Walmart.  Wondered what beef patty crumbles were.  Here’s the list. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Marketside-Ultimate-Meat-Pizza-Medium-29-5-oz/366231555

Ingredients:

Crust (Enriched Unbleached Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid], Water, Yeast, Palm Oil, Sugar, Contains 2% or Less of: Vegetable Oil[Soybean Oil and/or Olive Pomace Oil and/or Extra Virgin Olive Oil], Salt, Natural Flavor. May Also Contain Acacia Gum, Calcium Sulfate, Ascorbic Acid, and Enzymes), Low Moisture Mozzarella Cheese (Pasteurized Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Sauce (Tomato Puree [Water, Tomato Paste], Sugar, Contains 2% or Less of: Spices, Salt, Soybean Oil, Citric Acid, Xanthan Gum, Dehydrated Onion, Garlic Powder), Cooked Italian Sausage (Pork, Spices, Water, Salt, Corn Syrup Solids, Dried Garlic, Paprika, Paprika and Annatto Extract, Sugar, Lemon Juice Powder [Corn Syrup Solids, Lemon Juice Solids, Lemon Oil], Flavoring), Pepperoni, BHA, BHT, with Citric Acid Added to Help Protect Flavor (Pork, Salt, Contains 2% or Less of: Beef, Dextrose, Flavorings, Lactic Acid Starter Culture, Oleoresin of; Paprika, Sodium Nitrite, Spices, Sodium Ascorbate, BHA, BHT, Citric Acid), Sliced Beef Steak, Water and Modified Food Starch Product with Natural Smoke Flavor Added (Beef, Water, Dextrose, Sodium Phosphate, Modified Corn Starch, Salt, Autolyzed Yeast, Hydrolyzed Corn Protein.; Coated with: Dextrose, Salt, Sodium Citrate, Modified Corn Starch, Sodium Diacetate, Natural Flavor, Spices, Garlic Powder, Mustard, Onion Powder, Paprika, Grill Flavor, Natural Smoke Flavor), Cooked Seasoned Beef Topping, BHA, BHT, and Citric Acid Added to Help Protect Flavor (Beef, Water, Salt, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Spices, Dextrose, Sodium Phosphate, Dried Onion, Dried Garlic, Dried Worcestershire Sauce [Distilled Vinegar, Molasses, Corn Syrup, Salt, Caramel Color, Garlic Powder, Sugar, Spices, Tamarind, Natural Flavor], BHA, BHT, Citric Acid), Not Smoked Provolone Cheese (Cultured Pasteurized Milk, Salt, Enzymes), Fully Cooked Beef Patty Crumbles (Beef, Water, Textured Vegetable Protein [Soy Flour, Caramel Color], Salt, Spice, Granulated Onion,; Granulated Garlic), Contains 2% or less of Fully Cooked Bacon Bits (Pork Cured with Water, Salt, Natural Smoke Flavoring, Sodium Phosphate, Sodium Erythorbate, Sodium Nitrite; May Contain Sugar, Brown Sugar), Grated Parmesan Cheese (Parmesan Cheese [Pasteurized Part-Skim Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes], Powdered Cellulose [Anti-Caking Agent]), Grated Romano Cheese (Romano Cheese Made From Cow's Milk [Pasteurized Cow's Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes], Powdered Cellulose [Anti-Caking Agent]), Dehydrated Garlic, Dried Oregano, Dried Parsley.

Trump trumps the media again

They are going bonkers with hate filled monologues, articles and jokes about the President offering football players fast food since the Democrats have shut down the government and there was no food service in the White House.  Can’t believe how humorless and pointless “journalists” have become. I think their ratings are lower than Congress.  What 20-something kid doesn’t love fast food?  Some lefties are calling the feast “racist!”  New Yorker calls it “banal.” Americans spend over $200 Billion a year on fast food and they are dissing the deplorables again. Wow.  Elitism rides again rough shod over Americans.   They even criticized the President for saying the first and second lady could make salads apparently putting down all women with the comment.  Can’t believe them—it isn’t fake news, it’s inability to understand a joke, a wise crack or a nuance.

 

Apparently it’s OK for Planned Parenthood to put their billboards and clinics in black neighborhoods, but fast food companies shouldn’t do that—according to some lefty web sites I’ve seen—and I won’t link because they don’t deserve to be paid by their advertisers.   They are all capitalists, but the media are just more self-righteous.

President Drake of OSU needs to step up

“According to the 23-page report, (see page 17, Section IV, B4, B5) Meyer and athletic director Gene Smith were not negligent in the overriding element of the origin of the investigation. The report also included Meyer telling Smith in October, 2015: “If you hit her, you are gone.” Gene Smith also told the assistant coach he would be fired if charges were fired.

Subsequently, Meyer and Gene Smith were suspended for reasons pertaining to their monitoring and discipline related to Zach Smith and for relying solely on the Powell Police department’s conclusions that domestic violence could not be proven in the first place. As Gene Smith’s lawyer, Rex Elliott, stated Thursday night, Gene Smith constantly communicated with the school’s Title IX compliance officer about the alleged 2015 incident and ordered the OSU police to monitor the Powell police investigation. He concluded that his client and Meyer were suspended solely “to appease the lynch mob.”

To cut to the chase, the six-panel report concluded, Zach Smith either never should have been hired in the first place or fired much earlier than his July 23 termination.

But it had nothing to do with covering up alleged domestic violence (there were no charges).

It’s time for Drake to act and stop the bleeding.”

Jeff Snook, from his Facebook page

Guest blogger David on the Urban Meyer/Zack Smith domestic violence case

For non-Columbus, non-OSU Buckeyes catch up—the well-loved football coach Urban Meyer was suspended for not stepping into the marital mess of one of his coaches, who also happened to be the grandson of Earle Bruce, another football icon in our community. Gene Smith is the athletic director.

---------------------------------------------

The last thing I’m going to say. . .

1) If you haven't ever dealt with a sexual harassment/abuse case, don't be tempted to repeat the opinions of others who haven't, either. Unfortunately, I have had to deal with several over the years.

2) If you did have to deal with one, did you investigate it yourself? If you did, you're an idiot--that is unless you were trained and designated by the organization you worked for to do so. It is highly unlikely that conducting such investigations falls within the scope of either Urban Meyer or Gene Smith's job duties. They are required to report such incidents and then let the designated investigators handle it (I am assuming, If not, Ohio State is even more mismanaged than I thought).

3) If you are an investigator, were you able to question the victim if he/she wasn't an employee or, in the case of schools, a student of your organization? Unless you are in law enforcement, the answer is probably no. In my situation, having worked in a state agency, I had no authority to question an employee's spouse, significant other, or whatever unless that person also worked for my agency. Now, the Highway Patrol, which was our investigating body, could do so. And I could use whatever information the Patrol obtained.

4) When there is a criminal investigation, many organizations also conduct their own parallel administrative investigations because an organization rule might have been violated. Sometimes you wait for the outcome of the criminal investigation, but you don't have to because the standard is lower. I don't know if Ohio State did that in the Courtney Smith case or not. From what I have read, she did not allow the police to move forward on her complaints. I hope they at least referred her to a local battered women's shelter.

5) As far as Zack Smith's conduct is concerned, there are suggestions that Urban should have known about his visit to a strip club, his sending a lewd photo on his cellphone, etc. It would be interesting to know what kind of procedures the athletic department has in place for reviewing expenditures (it seems to me they should have caught that and dealt with it right away). However, I don't know of any organizations which routinely review what an employee is using his/her cellphone for, even when the organization has issued it.

6) The very fact that most of the witnesses questioned believed that any action taken against Zack Smith was dependent upon the outcome of any criminal charges--and there weren't any criminal charges--tells me that Ohio State hasn't done a very good job of communicating its expectations in such matters. Whoever is responsible for disseminating such policies needs to go back to the drawing board.

-----------------------------

https://www.businessinsider.com/urban-meyer-zach-smith-domestic-violence-allegations-ohio-state-2018-8

https://sports.yahoo.com/timeline-urban-meyer-zach-smith-saga-ohio-state-230126856.html

Since there are media sources and sports figures who hate the Buckeyes almost as much as they hate President Trump, finding credible sources to link to is difficult.  Since Mrs. Smith didn’t bring charges, and it is rumored she often called the police, I’d say Meyer was not responsible to babysit his coach.

Double Overtime Ohio State wins

Michigan 27 Ohio State 30 

Hang on Sloopy, 50th anniversary as OSU song

When we came to Columbus in 1967 I worked in cataloging at the OSU Libraries as a cataloguer of Slavic material--I even typed cards using a Cyrillic typewriter--that's how much things have changed. What hasn't changed is the 50 year popularity of "Hang on Sloopy" for football games. I remember listening to the chatter on Monday of the game on Saturday and the almost worship of the band, even if the team didn't win. So what can you get if read up on the history of Sloopy (she was a girl in an Afro-Cuban pop song made popular by the McCoys)?

“The pillaging of black culture and mistreatment of black musicians have been part of American music from the first minstrel show to the present.”  Ted McDaniel, Professor Emeritus.

It was first recorded by a black group, The Vibrations, and did not become a hit, but did when performed by the McCoys, a white group.

Who says that about black singers who perform Italian operas or black musicians and Bach? Really, it's getting boring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlTKhPkZSJo

http://fox8.com/2015/09/07/ohio-state-university-celebrates-50-years-of-hang-on-sloopy/

Studying achievement, rather than failure

"Black men are overrepresented on revenue generating intercollegiate sports teams. In 2009, they were only 3.6% of undergraduate students, but 55.3% of football and basketball players at public NCAA Division I institutions (Harper, 2012)."

It would probably be called a racist comment if a sports announcer said this, but it appears in The Black Male College Achievement Study.

http://www.gse.upenn.edu/equity/sites/gse.upenn.edu.equity/files/publications/bmss.pdf

OSU's Brutus Buckeye tackled by Rufus, mascot of OU

It came as a shock that when the OU mascot, Rufus, ran on to the field he attacked Brutus Buckeye. Now after all the shock, awe and apologies, it turns out the doofus Rufus wasn't even a student at OU-- "[Brandon] Hanning, 19, is a student at Hocking College. He enrolled at OU last year but dropped out, he said. He added that he still hadn't been informed of his firing, but didn't care." Link. The only reason he tried out was so he could tackle Brutus.

"As the Buckeyes ran onto the field of the “Horseshoe,” packed with 105,000 cheering fans, Rufus spotted Brutus running out with the team, got in front of him and attempted a tackle. Brutus avoided this first attempt, with Rufus losing his head, literally. Brutus lifted his arms in a “what the hell?” gesture, and jogged away.

Rufus got up, collected his head, adjusted it and gave chase. By the time Brutus got to the end zone, Rufus caught up with him and jumped on his back, pulling him to the ground.

Brutus appeared unfazed, and made his way back up, with Rufus still clinging around his neck and striking Mr. Buckeye about his stuffed mascot head and face. The two then toppled to the painted ground again. As they got up, Rufus still swinging, Brutus pushed him off and again raised his arms in protest, with Rufus responding in kind.

A member of Ohio State security then escorted Rufus to the sideline and told him that if he touched Brutus again he would be forced to leave." Athens News

Funny? I don't think so. And after reading several accounts, it's still not clear why a non-student was their mascot. Maybe no one checked after he dropped out of school?