All over the news this morning, Phil’s human handlers boasted that he’s been right for 125 years straight. He’s never been wrong in his forecast. It turns that an ABC report reveals just how wrong Phil is when it comes to his yearly predication.

According to the National Climatic Data Center, no correlation exists between Phil and the actual weather over the next six weeks. Take a look at the data for yourself. More often than not, Phil is wrong.

I take comfort in the fact that Phil is wrong. And really, it is six weeks to spring either way. So there!

P.S. I know you are just shattered to know that regardless of what Phil says, spring is just a mere six weeks away. I feel for you. I remember how I felt when the story of Princess Mishawaka was a complete lie.

But anyways. This weekend is the not-so final Xena convention in Burbank, California. I’ve been to three conventions in the Southern California area. It’s no-so final because Creation Entertainment had a change of heart and decided that it was best not to end the convention. I think it was the thought of having nearly 1,000 Xenites crushing you with cries of disappointment that made them change their mind. Xenites can be very persuasive you know. Even when they’re not cosplaying.

Getting back on topic, you know it’s a Xena convention weekend when the forums and mailing lists (yes, they still exist) come to a grinding stop. I feel like I’m talking to myself on my Xena board. Nearly 65 members (that’s like like 3/4 of the semi-daily posters on the board) are off at the Xena convention this weekend.

But the fact that I’m not at the convention (and missing the awesomeness that exists at these things), I already know that while I’m missing a special moment. I can also effectively figure out the questions (asked a million times before) generally receive the same answers (a million times over). But there is the occasional awesome sound byte that rues the weekend.

This one came from Ted Raimi. Ted is known for being a great presence on stage at these things and he usually is one of more entertaining guests that you know never know what you’re going to get from him.

The audience wanted him to sing The Joxer the Mighty Song. (See clip at the end of this post). To which Ted lovingly responded: Fuck off.

Why is that such a awesome sound-byte? Because it is about the only time anyone can tell anyone to “fuck off” and make the audience erupt with laughter. Now that is what I call awesome.

(Sorry about the poor video quality. I wish people would learn to do videos without the episode audio…)

Joxer the Mighty song

The death of Joe Paterno will prompt many to forgive him for his failure to follow through.

It is with near inevitability that people will ultimately forgive the most winningest coach Division I football for  his past mistakes concerning the Sandusky accusations. Yes, I’m one of those people that  holds the legendary coach responsible for not following through (even though he was not legally obligated to) on the Sandusky thing. But I’m also one of those people that holds the graduate assistant accountable for also not following through on what he witnessed in that shower.

There’s a lot of blame to go around. The administration for not doing more, Paterno for not following through and calling the cops, to the graduate assistant for not calling the police and putting an immediate stop to it, to the charity foundation, to other people who may have suspected by brushed it aside, and lastly to the culture of the Penn State football program.

Living in a city where football is god and all things bow to the Irish, I get the culture that exists in  Happy Valley. Players get a slap on the wrist, crimes get swept under the rug, and the university seemingly drops investigations for unknown reasons. After all, without the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN would be just another city in Northern Indiana halfway between Chicago and Detroit. A city, that without its fabled university, would be just another spec in America’s rust belt. We are ND.

So when the Penn State students protested Paterno’s firing in November, it was not an unexpected occurrence. PSU football was god and Paterno was a legend, The students, for whatever reason, thought about trying to “preserve” that legacy instead of thinking about what lead up to his firing.

My parents say he’s a scapegoat. I say Paterno’s not a scapegoat.

He is the leader of the football team, and when the team fails, he fails in his duty to uphold the standards for which he established. That code did not exist solely for his players, they existed for him and everyone on  his staff. They existed for the school, the alumni, and the administration. They existed for the staff and faculty.

That code was broken when former assistant head coach Jerry Sandusky allegedly raped a boy in the shows at PSU. It was broken with the athletic department dropped skirt that “adult” authority because of fear of tarnishing a football program. A head coach did not concern himself to follow through on what was relied to him by the graduate assistant coach. The graduate assistant coach, instead of calling the cops, called his father.

One has to wonder, if football wasn’t got at PSU, would things have turned out differently.

Coming from a town were football is god and the team is legendary–The answer is a resounding: YES!

The reports of Paterno's death on Saturday (Jan. 21, 2012) reveals how quick wrong news can spread in the instant news world.

Updated Jan. 22, 2012 (Afternoon)

ESPN.com is reporting that former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno, 85, has passed away.

Jan. 22, 2012

Read Onward State’s letter of apology from former managing editor Devon Edwards.

As of this morning, Paterno is still alive and is in serious condition according a family spokesperson. Read more on ESPN.com.

Jan. 21, 2012

The first thing, well one of the first things, my journalism professor told my class was “If your mother tells you she loves you, trust but verify.” It’s a lesson that some journalists apparently forget when they try to become the first to break news.

In this rat-race of 24/7 news, journalists  have to be careful when they tweet something that might instant attract attention.

While Penn State’s student newspaper, Onward State, did tweet that “their sources confirm” that former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno passed away, they relied upon emails reportedly sent to football players. At the same time, local stations in the Happy Valley area also reported the same story–Paterno died with family at his side.

The student newspaper became the center of attention because of a failure to properly check sources (like oh, contacting the university for instance). That tweet and that story rendered the newspaper’s website unreachable and the story was then picked up by major news organizations, including CBS Sports (ala CBS News) and the Huffington Post. Of course, when the big boys speak, people listen and from there the news spread like wild-fire through the social media realm of Twitter and Facebook.

Ouch. That’s gotta sting, especially when other major news organizations such as the AP and ESPN withheld publishing anything until they could confirm it. Even smaller news outfits waited until more information could come out. It did not take long for the New York Times and Paterno’s family to squash the rumors.

CBS retracted their story as did other news organizations that reported Paterno’s death. The managing editor of Onward State issued an apology (the proper thing to do) and resigned his position at the newspaper (another proper thing to do).

So, what does this shows? It reveals that in the quest to become the first, journalists need to make sure that when they tweet something as big as Paterno’s death to verify it through multiple sources, it’s going to spread like wildfire. Even without the Sandusky cloud overshadowing Paterno’s career, it would have been big news.  I’d rather a news organization be last and correct than first and incorrect.

Trust but verify. And if it’s something that’s going to raise eyebrows, you better double check and make sure before you print because if you don’t, you could bring down your organization’s credibility and land  yourself in the unemployment line. There’s no harm in picking up the phone calling someone.

Prisoners get better treatment for their health needs than our veterans. Stand up for veterans and their healthcare, write to your senators and congress person today.

**Author’s note: We begun the process of talking to our senators and our congressman yesterday. That ball was put into  play the MINUTE my mom got off the phone with the VA. We’ve been down this route before, so we know what to do. If you are in the Second District-Indiana, please contact Donnelly’s office and ask him to push for the VA to start funding treatment for veterans at local health care facilities.**

The Veteran’s Affairs Administration informed my parents Jan. 19 that they will not pay for physical therapy at the local level because there is “no money to pay for it.” This is a sad but true story that hits at the heart of so many veterans across the country. They are forced to go to facilities in some cases 25 or more miles away (in our case, 100 miles) several times a week for treatment. Is this the thanks they get for their service to our country?

Apparently.

This is background on the story.

Last year, after a year of struggling with mobility, my father (avoiding the VA because that would require a trip to Fort Wayne) was able to get into a neurologist. After a year of doctor’s visits and tests (at my parents expense which after their co-pays from their Medicare supplement amounts to several hundred dollars), the doctor finally prescribed physical therapy and a walker. (The VA will pay for the walker, go figure.)

The plan was to avoid the VA altogether because previous experience showed my parents that the VA will do everything in its power to make it the most inconvenient treatment possible–that includes sending elderly patients a hundred miles away for treatment. My mother looked at her insurance policy from Medicare Advantage via United Healthcare and learned that it would be $80/wk for physical therapy plus 20% of the walker. That’s money they do not have so they were forced to go through the VA.

After a trip (a 15 minute drive) to the VA clinic in South Bend (and seeing some poor veteran having to walk down Ironwood in cold rain), the prescriptions  were dropped off at the clinic and we were told that a provider will get in contact with us. The next day (Thursday, Jan. 19) the VA informs my parents that they’ll pay for the walker but my father will have to go to the VA hospital in Ft. Wayne (100 miles away) twice a week for therapy.

I’m not making that up. That’s the reality of this horrific situation.

While we’ve already begun the motions of involving our elected officials to advocate on the family’s behalf, I’m taking my complaint an plea to the public.  Our veterans–regardless of age–should never be forced to facilities miles and miles away when there are adequate facilities locally that treat the patient much more effectively. There is no facility that would say  ”no, we’re not going to treat veterans.” In fact, most specialists and health-care providers would probably accommodate  such patients at their facilities without a second thought.

So why is the the VA feels it is necessary to send a 74-year-old man who cannot sit for longer than 10 minutes to a facility that is a 100-miles away? Only neanderthals would do such things. And they’re going to get a taste of what our lives are like with my dad. We’re going to make them come out to the van and help him out of the van and then help him into the van.

But this is no the first time we’ve fought the VA on trying to get treatment done locally.

The first time involved my father’s stroke–which was first diagnosed as a the flu at the VA clinic but an emergency visit a week later was diagnosed as a stroke. The VA ‘demanded’ (at first) for my father after receiving treatment at the hospital be transported to the VA hospital in Ft. Wayne. Thankfully my father’s doctor said no he needs to stay in South Bend. My parents never saw a bill–probably because the VA realized they could have been  hit with a malpractice lawsuit. We should have sued because the VA doctors failed to follow up properly with physical therapy.

The second time (also about the same time) involved my mother, also a veteran. Diagnosed with a frozen shoulder we made two trips to Ft. Wayne in three weeks time. Once for a visit with an orthopedic specialist and later for an MRI. At the time we were informed that physical therapy would be ordered and it would be done in South Bend. No dice. The VA denied and said my mother had to go to Ft. Wayne three times a week for PT for a couple of weeks. That’s 600/miles a week and 12 hours driving (at a minimum) time plus fuel and other expenses. That was impossible for my RETIRED parents. Then the VA offered well she can do down for intensive PT for a week at Marion. Again, that’s not feasible.

It took a letter to our congressman, who was on the veterans affairs committee, to intervene our family’s behalf. The VA paid for a limited amount of therapy to be done locally.

So here we are again. In the same situation and again involving our elected officials to get effective and humane treatment from a healthcare provider whose commercial promote they provide “great care for our veterans.” Anyone who has dealt with the VA at length knows the older you get and worse your symptoms get, the less proper care you receive.

And while it is true that my area will receive a VA hospital by 2015 (a plan that has been 10 years in making, mind you) and an expanded outpatient clinic locally, that is not enough. More needs to be done to protect the quality of life for our veterans.

What can you do to help?

Write to your Congressman or Congresswoman and write to your senators and ask them to get the VA to pay for treatment (especially when prescribed by an out-of-network provider) at local facilities for our veterans. No veteran should be forced to travel long distances for treatment.

These men and women served our country.They deserve better treatment than what we give them today.

I’m against SOPA/PIPA–not because I feel that people have a right to post movies, TV shows, music, etc. to torrents and other like services–but because the law, as written, is broad and wields a powerful hammer of censorship that will inadvertently punish unsuspecting individuals who were not breaking the law.

Companies should have the right to protect their “intellectual property” within reason but they should also make maximum use of the laws already on the books and work with international authorities to prevent the unlawful sharing of movies, TV shows, music, software and other media on these sites.

The problem with PIPA and SOPA is that does too much and accomplishes very little. If you shut down one site, another one will pop up, and in the process you hold various people accountable for the actions of their users.

I find myself in that same situation with the Xena Online Community. We have strict rules about people posting (or even discussing) links to full episodes, movies, etc. because of the DMCA. I’ve been given three take down notices by copyright holders because of users posting copyright works to the forums. Does the forum violate copyright law regardless of people not posting full-length videos? Yes because we use images and stuff. Have we “harmed” their copyright or have we increased exposure?

As it stands now, the DOJ can block sites from turning up in searches that contain copyright material through the DMCA. The recent take down of MegaUpload reveals that it is possible for the government to enforce current copyright laws without the help of broad and poorly written laws. And it was part of a coordinated take down between international agencies.

Yet, there’s something else at foot too–law-abiding citizens were unfairly unpunished by the take down. I’ve used MegaUpload in the past to share templates (that I created) with friends and vice-versa. We’ve exchanged artwork, design ideas, etc. with other users and the most interesting thing through emails and community forums. PCWorld reported stories of unsuspecting individuals inadvertently caught without access to their files. In many cases, these files were their personal files where the copyright-infringement claims are clearly muddy.

There was no search function on MegaUpload, either. You had to get the URL from someone. The government’s response according to an article on TorrentFreak, was that it was done to circumvent “copyright” and they have the evidence to prove it. (Fair enough, but I want to see those ‘emails’ as proof.)

Again, those of us that oppose the bills are not saying that companies don’t have a right to protect their property but that they should already use the methods in place before backing a piece of legislation that kills creativity. The take down of Megaupload (poorly handled as it was) proves that it is entirely possible.

I’m working on a design for  a webpage now to incorporate into an existing document. I’ll post it when I’m done with it. I’m still playing with the mock-up a bit to get a feel for what I want in terms of a design for this new page.

It’s just another thing I can add to my ever growing skill set of graphic design.

Here’s the latest ‘scam’ email I’ve gotten:

Attention: Beneficiary,

This is to bring to your notice that because of the impossibility of your fund transfer through our western union network, we have credited your total of $1.500.000.00. Legitimate usd into an ATM VISA card, and we have paid the delivery fee of your ATM VISA card to you, we paid it because your ATM VISA card worth of $1.500, 000.00 which we have registered for deliver, has less than 16 days to expire in the custody of the FedEx company and when it expires, the money will go into federal government treasury account.

For that we decided to help you pay off the money so that your ATM VISA card will not expire, because we trust that when you receive this your ATM VISA card, definitely you must pay back and even compensate us for helping you. Like we stated earlier, the delivery charges has been paid ,therefore the only money you were advice to send to them is their official security keeping fees of $35usd every day.

Like I stated earlier, the crediting re-activation, delivery and the company registration charges has been paid by me, but I  did not pay their official security keeping fees since they refused, they refused and the reason is that they do not know when you are going to contact them and the demurrage might have increased by then, They told me that their official  security keeping fees is $35 per aday , and I deposited it yesterday being 28th Octomber  2011:

Therefore you should contact them with the below contact information;

Company name; FedEx express customer service.
Logistic Manager:Mr.Paul Ralph,
Email; fedex.c.comp01@hotmail.com
Phone: +229-99665747

Try to contact them today and also send them the security official security keeping charge to avoid increasing of their fees and let me know once you receive this your ATM VISA card,

Contact them today with your full information requested below

Your Full Name;…………………………………
Your Country;……………………………………
Your Residence Home Address;……………………..
A Copy of You Identification……………………….
Your Direct Phone ;………………………………..
Your Cell;…………………………………
Age/Sex;………………………………………….

Try to indicate all this codes to them because it will prove that you are the rightful person that own the atm visa card deposited in their custody.

Shipment Code awb 33xzs,
Atm Card Registered Code No xgt442.
Security Code sctc/2001dhx/567/;
Transaction Code 233/cstc/101/33028/;
Certificate Deposit code; sctc/bun/xxiv/-78/01
Depositor; Dr.James Morgan

This is to avoid wrong delivery, do that urgent to avoid increase of their keeping fees and let us know once you receive your ATM VISA card.

Yours sincerely,
Dr.James Morgan.

I’m pretty much strictly Cityville nowadays. I don’t know why or what attracted me to the game to begin with–maybe it was just something to do to pass the time or maybe it has that Sim City sort of feel to it only without the headache of having to actually “manage” a city through the seasons and being responsible for all the headaches associated.

One of things that I really don’t like about the games are the silly quests. I rarely bother with them and only pick the ones that I’m particularly interested in completing. My most recent new quest is the Spy Agency.

But perhaps the other problem is that the games have a tendency to be buggy. The most recent snafu in Cityville’s armor are the special deliver crates which will reportedly (in theory) give you the materials needed to complete buildings and other quests. When it was launched it started giving people things they didn’t need. One user on the Zynga boards stated they got go robotic arms (for the goods factory) or materials to complete an upgrade on one of the community buildings.

Apparently, they’re looking into the issue and meanwhile, I keep collecting special delivery crates because whenever I click on them in my inventory, nothing happens.

While I wait for my energy to boost up, I think I’ll go play with the cows in Farmville or take out a few enemies in Mafia Wars.

If you think changing your provider (say to Dish) is going to save you money, do the math first. I figured out that we’d be spending about $15 more a month if we switched to Dish (with a similar package deal). Dish charges $7/month for the standard HD receiver, that’s a few bucks more than DirecTV.

Make a list of channels you watch on a regular basis and make sure those are still offered with Dish or the new provider. For those of you thinking of switching to Comcast, make sure the channels you are are included with the package that you want. In many cases, you’ll find you’ll have to go near the top to get the channels you want — especially Speed.

And if you think switching from Direct will immune you from future carriage disputes, think again. What happens when it’s Comcast’s turn or AT & T Uverse to re-up their contracts with FOX or any other network and they have to “block” access? Are you going to come running to another provider?

Above all, RESEARCH the past disputes between FOX and sat/cable providers. You’ll find that the average blackout time is a few weeks. That’s generally when the end of the month financials come in and given November is sweeps… expect a fast “agreement.” DirecTV doesn’t stand to lose much money on a blackout (even with canceled subscriptions, which I think is a bunch of hooey and hyperbole by people), but FOX stands to lose a TON of advertising revenue because advertisers known that if 19 million potential viewers lost = less eyes on the screen and they’ll refuse to pay up for advertising.

Yes, while it may be true that FOX agreed to let DirecTV continue with the old agreement that lives LITTLE negotiating power to DirecTV.  It’s not DirecTV with the mallet to our heads, it’s FOX and that’s how FOX is and that’s their negotiating tactic. It’s a sorry state when they have to get their “underlings” to pimp their corporate propaganda and involve us, the consumer.

Again, research this and think before you decide to jump ship. Your new provider is not anymore immune to potential blackouts and temporary drops than what DirecTV is going through now.

If you are that beholden to “Sons of Anarchy” then you need to get your priorities in order and think about the bigger picture. No one should be bullied into accepting terms that they feel is unfair. This is what this fight is about. It’s about unfair carriage agreements that forces providers to accept lesser watched channels in order to carry the premium channels (like FX, like NatGeo, like Speed).

My family has been with DirecTV for 10 years and despite having a few problems and usually after speaking to a supervisor in a calm and collected manner we got our problems resolved quickly. Perhaps some of you should try that approach before screaming down the backs of customer service people who DO NOT GET PAID ENOUGH to listen to you moan and grown about loosing a half dozen or so channels.  And DO NOT SAY that is their job. I spent 16 years in customer service and no one who’s job it is to assist gets paid enough for your hissy fits over losing FX. That’s MANAGEMENTS job.