FWIW. http://collegefootballnews.com/2017/top-5-overrated-college-football-teams

Penn State Nittany Lions
They’ll be good, but they’re not going to repeat the Big Ten championship magic.

RB Saquon Barkley will be amazing, QB Trace McSorley will be solid, and the defense should have its moments of dominance, but now the bar is set higher and just finishing with a nice bowl appearance will seem a little bit flat.

The Nittany Lions get Michigan at home, but they go to Ohio State and Michigan State over the following two weeks, and they have to go to Iowa – ask 2016 Michigan what that’s like.

Again, it’ll be a good team, but three regular season losses will seem a whole lot more than the three losses overall last year.

Didn't hear of this story. Hope the boys are not dead, but it seems likely.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4681914/Four-young-men-disappear-Philadelphia-one-week.html

you've got to check it out. Intriguing with exceptional storytelling. Paints Churchill in very negative light and that is hard to do.

Nm

I want to start this off by saying I am a Penn St fan and have been a premium member for years. Don't really post often but have a a friend who is on the Rutgers staff who is saying Suriano to Rutgers is a done deal. The only hurdle they are working on is trying to get him eligible for this year. He says he doesn't like happy valley and misses home.
I am with all of you guys. I will believe it when it happens but just passing along what the Rutgers side is saying.

Just for the hell of it.

Local Hero

My Favorite Year

Sullivan's Travels

this kid should write a book about his recruiting trail

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My daughter takes soccer lessons and a few days ago won the "110% effort" award (not to confused with the hustle or other awards). She was, of course, very happy. That in turn makes me happy because she is having fun. Her coach is a teacher who teaches elementary kids as her day job. She is very enthusiastic and makes it a lot of fun for the kids. However, this notion of 110% effort when it is theoretically impossible grates on me. I have so far held off on telling my daughter that 110% is impossible and that her coach is wrong, but I'm not sure if I should tell her now or wait until she's older. I don't mind a few white lies for her benefit (I'm looking at you Mr. Santa and all your fill-in mall elves pretending to be the real Santa), but when it comes to math I tend to be pretty rigid. If she seems like she's guessing at an answer I remind her there is no guessing in math and to solve the problem properly (btw, don't get me started on the common core crap they use to teach math. I'm all for standardized approaches, but do they have to tailor it towards the lowest performers?!? But I digress.). So, how should I handle this egregious violation of math principles? Should I or should I not explain this to my daughter? If so, how do I do it in a tactful way? TIA.

...from author/social scientist Malcolm Gladwell. I think his approach tends to be a bit more liberal and academic, but the subject matter isn't overly political and he really tries to view things through a social sciences lens more than anything. The 'theme' of his podcast is looking at events or stories from the past and giving them a 'second chance'; sort of a deep dive into something that may have been thought unremarkable otherwise.

The first episode of the first season was about a painting called 'The Roll Call' that hangs in St. James Palace and the fascinating story of how the painting came to hang there and what happened to the artist after the massive success of the painting. Really, really interesting stuff; subsequent episodes are about such subjects as the moral implications of good food at colleges, golfing and golf courses (I'm sure many here will disagree with his analysis/sentiment in that episode, but he does note that in LA County, properties, including golf courses, are not subject to the 'highest and best use' property tax if they have not changed ownership since 1978 when Prop 13 was passed, and LA Country Club's golf course - estimated at a value of $9bn - was subject to only $200,000 in property tax last year; he gets into a philosophical discussion using Theseus's Ship conundrum to determine if the country club ever did change ownership since members own the club, and they have certainly changed since 1978), secret government intelligence operations in Vietnam, and philanthropy at small colleges. The episodes are about 30-40 minutes in length, and are self-contained, so easy to digest in small doses. Anyone listen? Thoughts?

http://revisionisthistory.com/seasons?selected=season-1

The Roll Call - Elizabeth Thompson

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The 2016 Michigan 78-0 victory over Rutgers. Just in case you have an hour to waste. You may want to record it.

Details forthcoming but gotta like Sixers going after who they want. Hopefully not too costly!

Especially when you're a plain looking, inconspicuous creature. The ending of this is amazing.
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...Who's the bloody fool that scheduled this series with PITT anyway?

For those of you not familiar with the acronym, "MS4" is short for "municipal separate storm sewer system." Approximately 14 years ago, many municipalities within Pennsylvania (based on population densities) were required to obtain Nation Pollutant Elimination Discharge System (NPDES) Permits to formally authorize stormwater discharges from existing and future municipal storm sewer systems. Past and current permit requirements essentially entailed/entail public education/outreach relative to the importance of pollutant free stormwater, mapping of municipal storm sewer systems, monitoring of storm sewer systems & elimination of illicit discharges (e.g. illegal sewer connections), proper management of construction and post-construction stormwater runoff, and employing best management practices in municipal operations to mitigate potential stormwater pollution sources.

For most municipalities, the next permit cycle begins in March 2018 and with it come significant additional requirements in many cases. In addition to continuing efforts to address the requirements described above, under the requirements of the 2018 permit, many municipalities will also need to prepare/execute plans to address pollutant reductions within local streams to eliminate existing impairments caused by pollutants such as sediment, phosphorus and nitrogen. Plans to address the required pollutant reductions will likely propose things such as: construction of new stormwater management facilities, retrofit of existing facilities, stream restoration projects, riparian buffer restoration, etc. In other words, municipalities that are subject to the requirements of MS4 permits are going to have to begin (if they have not already) budgeting significant funds to finance projects similar to those referenced above.

In most cases, applications for the 2018 permit renewal are due to DEP in September of this year. Any municipality subject to the requirements of the pollutant reduction plans described above is required to advertise a draft version of the plan for public review no later than early August of this year. Considering the significant costs associated with the permit requirements, it is very likely that municipalities will need to raise taxes, in one form or another, as financing projects related to stormwater pollutant removal will be rather costly in many cases.

For the record,I'm a professional engineer that is currently handling this permit work for a number of municipalities in southeast PA. While some municipalities have been very proactive about educating their respective communities regarding MS4 requirements and implications (taxes and otherwise), other municipalities are not giving the matter the attention it probably deserves. If the program continues in its current trajectory, within several years many municipalities will be struggling to shoehorn the financial obligations of this program into their already, presumably lean budgets.

Although my company has benefited financially from the MS4 program, I am not fan of it. Since its inception, I cannot name a single thing, in my experience, that has been done as a result of the program to significantly clean up stormwater discharges and ultimately improve stream quality. But I will leave my opinion commentary at that, as this post is not intended to have any political slant. I simply wanted to provide this heads-up to any PA residents that may be interested in a matter that could potentially impact their local taxes at some point in the relatively near future.

Happy Independence Day!

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a realistic tuition cost. I think this is an interesting subject. I'm sure we have a few knowledgable posters and a few not so knowledgable that can give us further insight.
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/07/the-paradox-of-new-buildings-on-campus/492398/

I'm at the airport this morning and had time to get breakfast. So I stopped in Earl of Sandwich (Sammich for the yinzerz). They offer good egg sandwiches, but they come by default with their "breakfast sauce", which is honey mustard. What?!

The waitress convinced me to get the sauce on the side. It's O.K., but it has no place on a breakfast sandwich.

If you're going to toss your sauce on my breakfast sandwich, make it tasty and fitting for breakfast.

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I am waiting to read the announcement from the Penn State Athletic Department that Penn State Wrestling Coach, Cael Sanderson's contract has been extended?

Why are we 18 days out from the expiration of his current contract without an extension announcement?

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mark that date, this is a game changer. Whole Foods will delivery your groceries to your door in many of their locations today. Aligning WF with Amazon improves the order and delivery pipelines. Add in driverless cars and you've got an incredible change in how people shop and buy.

Game changer.

I post this because many people said that police don't over-charge and innocent people don't get convicted. After 25 years, a couple accused of abusing a child are finally exonerated:

These cases are, fortunately, rare. (while being accused is NOT rare) But when prosecution just wants a conviction, hysteria gets stirred up and the press piles on, its hard to get people to think strait.