Live by the dollar,

Apparently the University of Michigan is learning the hard way that when you hire a mercenary, that mercenary will leave you for a bigger paycheck.  Dusty May is going to the NBA, where I'm guessing he's going to learn the hard way that with a salary cap, you can't just buy your players.

Now when I was a student at Michigan State, we did read The Prince, in which Machiavelli warns princes against relying too strongly on mercenaries for this very reason.  Just sayin'.  It's only been in print for 513 years, so maybe someday, it'll reach Ann Arbor.

And along those lines, again, if the NCAA wants to have any semblance of real competition in their sports, athletics, and games, they're going to need to implement salary caps and restrictions on how often athletes, sportsmen, and game-players can transfer.  

Need some good music in Farsi

You may have heard of the plight of Persian singer Parastoo Ahmadi, sentenced to 74 lashes for the "crime" of performing without headcovering.  I can think of no better response to this basic violation of human rights than to encourage as many people as possible to listen to her music.  So here you go.  I don't understand much Farsi (Persian) at all, but she's got a beautiful voice and seems to have a great sense of humor--as well as a wonderful band.  It goes all the way, IMO, from what seems to be pensive songs of love and life to the Persian version of a hard rock anthem.

For additional interest, Karvansara is a city close to Iraq and Turkey, close to what we'd call Kurdistan.  

 

Needs a bit of context

An LGBTQ+ group in Kalamazoo is objecting to people wearing the Star of David because.... apparently of the trauma from Israeli military actions.

OK as far as it goes, but in most of Israel's neighbors, being homosexual, bisexual, or transsexual is grounds for being brutally murdered by being thrown off a roof and the like.  So we might infer that among the things LGBTQ+ people have to fear around Israel, the Israeli Army is the least of their worries.

We might also infer that for a lot of LGBTQ+ groups, a general progressive agenda (and not offending Muslims) are more important than the actual rights of LGBTQ+ people, which are (ahem) well protected in Israel.

On those GLP-1s

This article reminds me of how at a graduation party recently, a manager of prescription drug procurement (pharmacist by training) gave a few of us a quick tutorial on how GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic work.  More or less, it slows down digestion so that eating is actually a bit painful--the drug version of a tummy tuck--and he stated that it was actually preferable to stomach surgery because it works longer.   I'm guessing part of that is because one can actually stretch one's stomach, delaying your body's satiation signals.

It is also fun to contemplate what one does if one (like me) does not qualify for Ozempic; there are various ways of slowing down digestion like increasing one's fiber intake and replacing sugar with protein, or even deciding to choose foods that need to be chewed longer.  Double bonus is that these methods don't generally have the common side effects of using GLP-1s like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation.  And if you are on GLP-1s, and are experiencing those side effects, your best option is....to change your diet so that you're getting more fiber, less fat, and the like.

It might not be an option for many Americans with a Wal-Mart physique, but maybe....try the easy, free thing first?

Guilty as charged

Bike Bubba attributes classical music knowledge to watching Bugs Bunny cartoons.  And yes, I'm guilty of learning a lot of cool words (not obscenities!) from Calvin & Hobbes and The Far Side.

If you want to know what the trouble is with the loss of the daily newspaper, you can think about that, as well as cultural references like, yes, "The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Show."  There was something to be gained when we could all gather around the comics, sports section, and the like.

Now I know what they will be drinking in Hell...

It's going to be cold protein coffee.  "Protein coffee?", you ask.  Yes, apparently people have started to add protein powder to their morning beverage, apparently unaware that there are a number of excellent protein sources for breakfast that are actually palatable, like eggs, yogurt, cheese, hummus, and more.  There is actually a picture of this product being used in its natural setting, too!  (thank you Gary Larson)

As Pete Rose spins in his grave....

A judge rules that Brendan Sorsby of Texas Tech can play despite having gambled on his own teams.  So what we have in the NCAA is not only that a college can use "general studies" to keep athletes game players with poor academics eligible, not only that they're going to look the other way as big money schools buy championships, and not only are they going to look the other way when teams with good lawyers get caught cheating, but now they're also going to look the other way when players have obvious huge incentives to throw games.

If they wanted to make big money games into a total farce, worse than pro wrestling, they're doing a great job.  If they want a compelling product, on the other hand, an about face is in order.

A verse of wisdom to the PCUSA

 Apparently there are a number of activists in the PCUSA (Presbyterian Church USA, the liberal branch of Presbyterianism) who object to a proposed rule that all pastors in the CPUSA (oops, I mean PCUSA, easy to get confused) be monogamous.  Beyond the obvious "well, this is where you go when you discard Biblical sexual morality", I'm reminded of how Mark Twain responded to Mormons when he visited Salt Lake City.  They challenged him on how we can know, Biblically speaking, that polygamy is wrong, and Twain is said to have responded with Matthew 6:24:

No man can serve two masters.

OK, to be serious, the verses about how a pastor ought to be a "one woman man", as well as the numerous disasters and offenses which follow polygamy--strife in the homes of Abraham, Jacob, David, and more, the use of murder to reduce competition for women, etc..--ought to penetrate as well, but I think that while Twain was anything but a theologian in his life, he did hit on something wise.  Having a wife takes a bit of work, and I know that there is not a chance I could keep two Mrs. Bubbas happy, let alone multiple wives--and that even if increasing the number of sex partners didn't also greatly increase the odds of "gifts that keep on giving", children with no idea who their fathers are, and the like.  

So if I were in a CPUSA (oops again, PCUSA) church, I'd be praying that I wouldn't let the door hit me where The Lord split me...

MSU lost a good one

Former Michigan State football coach Nick Saban (yes, I know full well he's far more famous with the Tide) testifies before Congress that the current NIL "feeding frenzy" among schools with big money alumni threatens to destroy college athletics (track and field, cross country), sports (wrestling, gymnastics, fencing), and games (football, most everything else).

When I was a young pup, the deal when one got recruited at a college was that in exchange for using one's talents at the school, the coach would not only develop those talents, but also make sure that one grew into a functional adult.  Now that was very often more plausible in theory than reality, to be sure, but for a great portion of athletes, the deal worked out very well.

Now, with many "student-athletes" changing schools multiple times, the counselors can hardly keep up with which classes transfer, and hence any pretense of actually getting an education seems to be gone in many places, like Ann Arbor General Studies College.  I am not quite sure that Congress can fix this, or that they should try, but there needs to be a serious re-adjustment of what's going on, starting with salary caps for athletes.  If they want more, they can go pro.

Another point where I'm not as proud to be a Spartan

See point #10 of the new code of ethics for Michigan State University trustees;  which makes it a punishable offense to "undermine" majority decisions of the board.  

The trouble with this, in my view, is that when a board revokes a bad decision, that move is initiated by a board member who....disagreed with the original decision, and quite frankly, a lot of those bad decisions are revoked due to public pressure.  So what is going on, in my view, is that the majority on the board knows that many of their decisions are going to be very unpopular with a lot of MSU constituents (like this alumnus), and they want to hide their tracks.

Nice try, but this old Spartan concurs with FIRE: the First Amendment rights of elected trustees do not end when they enter the boardroom, period.  And if former MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz disagrees, I have only two things to say:

Don't let the door hit you where The Lord split you, Kevin!

Glad I'm not you, Clemson University.