Oh No He Di'n't

Can standing up for one's father legally include hiding where nobody can see you and shooting spitballs at his severest critic to try and kill him via internet... all in the name of satire? Such are the issues with the trial of Raphael Haim Golb.

Closing arguments are going on in a NYC court, where Golb is being charged with engaging in a massive online attempt, using 50 or so fake identities and sending out a false admission of plagiarism, in order to discredit NYU professor Lawrence H. Schiffman who claimed Golb's pops, a University of Chicago who believed something different about the origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls was a doodoohead (or something like that, it's a complicated argument of interest only to a very few academics so we apologize for the technical language). As for the emals where Schiffman is purportedly admitting to having committed professional sins, son Golb, who faces up to four years in prison, said it was all in jest ...

...As in "jest don't mess with my daddy."

Workplace Surprises

Researchers from North Carolina State and Maryland universities are trumpeting findings that girls are drawn into their fathers business by about 13 to 20 percent more than in the past. The academics don't seem exactly sure why, but suggest it has something to do with daughters listening to their dads blathering on — even when they don't seem to be paying attention.

Hypothetically, a daughter following in her father's footsteps seems wonderful. Still, there are situations .... For example, accountant Celia Hewlett-Ola recently took over her father's practice, a part-time gig she picked up upon the passing of Charlesworth Hewlett, who died last month at the age of 73. Unfortunately, she may not have listened closely enough to what he had to say about his clients. Ms. H-O, whose father included disgraced Ponziist Allen Stanford and his multi-billion dollar international operations among his clients despite being pretty much a momless pop organization, is now a bit enmeshed in a sticky wicket thanks to listening to dear-old-dad wax rhapsodic on the magic of figures and figuring. In no tribute to her dad, Ms. H-O says she really has no idea what's gone wrong, describing it all as "a complete surprise."

Perhaps the researches should begin a followup to determine whether — given this fab news — girls need to listen more carefully or fathers must speak more carefully.

Age(less)

Specialization is a fact for kids who want to succeed in sports, except that it leads to more injuries and more stress for parent and child, sometimes to the point where kids leave athletics behind them before puberty.

It is made nearly necessary by the programmatic progression from pee wee leagues through town, travel, regional and junior Olympic teams. The competition for high school spots and college scholarships is doing it. Do you help your kid become normal or encourage them to become super? (In individual sports — e.g, tennis, gymnastics, swimming — the choice has to be made by the age of 7 or so, if the highest level will be achieved.)

Get left behind at any level and the child doesn't get the best coaching, the biggest profile, the top competition. All of which help continue progress. In short, if your kid misses the train at the first or second station, it will get too far ahead and s/he'll never catch up. It's not that sports won't be fun later on. It's just that — with very few exceptions — the top-level college (i.e, scholarship) or pro experience will be unknown. Ironically enough, pro athletes have found that once they have achieved the highest levels, it is cross training that lengthens their careers.

As if that is not enough you can also worry about redshirting beginning in kindergarten to encourage/discourage academic as well as athletic success.

** How long do you wait to turn your child into a robot and you into a dictatorial taskmaster? And if you don't have you failed or served your child? **