Archive for August 7th, 2020

“What you gonna do when you get out of jail?…” part 130

Friday, August 7th, 2020

More random!

Lawrence might approve of this: a tank battle. With remote controlled tanks.

The AAF Tank Museum. Flamethrower Day is coming up in September. Danville is only a little more than an hour away from Bedford, where the National D-Day Memorial is. Mike the Musicologist and I have talked about visiting the memorial, so the AAF Museum falls right in line with that plan.

I feel like this is going to turn some folk’s crank: a large R/C Airwolf in flight. With rocket fire a little past the 2:00 mark.

I have mixed feelings about some of these R/C aircraft videos. On the one hand, I admire the people who can build and fly these massive detailed objects. On the other hand, I keep thinking about the massive amounts of time, effort, and money that could be wiped out in seconds by one hardware failure or human error.

The “Leadership Secrets…” series is still active: I just haven’t found a lot of examples to post recently. But these two videos popped up in my feed. One short, but watch to the end for the point:

(This same point was quoted directly in a Twitter thread I linked to a while back. Thankfully, that’s still up.)

One longer:

It isn’t like Lawrence and I don’t have enough stuff already, but I’m giving some thought to “Band of Brothers”.

Firings watch.

Friday, August 7th, 2020

Sports firings have been kind of slow recently. With very little sports going on, who’s going to get fired and why?

Answer: Nikita Lowry Dawkins, assistant women’s basketball coach at Texas Tech. And head coach Marlene Stollings.

As for the why…

The termination follows a USA TODAY investigation into what 10 players allege was an abusive culture…

Wednesday’s report by USA TODAY Sports, in collaboration with The Intercollegiate, was based on season-ending exit interviews with players from the past two seasons, other documents and interviews with 10 players, two former assistant coaches and two parents. Six of the players spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Among the claims from players:
Coaches directed players to maintain an heart rate of at least 90% of capacity during play or face conditioning assignments or risk losing playing time.
The three international players on rosters the past two seasons allegedly faced treatment such as being ridiculed, isolated and threatened by coaches. Brazil native Marcella LaMark said Stollings told LaMark her fitness lagged so far behind teammates’ that she was “dangerous” to them.
Emma Merriweather, a 6-5 center, said she was admonished by coaches for displaying symptoms of depression, for which she was eventually diagnosed. She was also allegedly told by assistant coach Lowry Dawkins to snap a rubber band on her wrist when she had a negative thought.
Five players alleged Petrella sexually harassed players, making suggestive comments to one player and using a therapy technique that involved applying pressure to some players’ chests and pubic bones and groins.
Three players said Stollings retaliated by holding tougher practices after they brought abuse claims to school officials, including Judi Henry, executive senior associate athletic director and senior women’s administrator.

The “Petrella” mentioned above is strength and conditioning coach Ralph Petrella. He resigned in March.

Obit watch: August 7, 2020.

Friday, August 7th, 2020

Dr. William Aprill, noted trainer, has passed away. FotB Karl has a very nice tribute to him up at his blog. LawDog has another nice tribute up at his place.

Brent Scowcroft, national security advisor to President Ford and President Bush Sr.