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If you're a maths student and feel like enthusing the next generation with your favourite bit of maths, then why not take part in the Further Mathematics Support Programme (FMSP) and Rolls–Royce plc third national poster competition.
Undergraduate or PGCE mathematics students are invited to design a poster, individually or as a group, which conveys the essence of a mathematical topic that has been covered at university by the designer(s). The poster should be targeted at school and college students studying AS or A level mathematics. Two winners will be chosen and receive £100 each, and their designs will be printed and
sent out to over 2000 schools and colleges. The closing date is the 31st of March 2010. See the FMSP website for previous winners.
If this sounds interesting, then here are the rules. The poster should be mathematically accurate, attractively laid out, capable of enriching a course in AS or A level mathematics, and likely to attract school/college students to take mathematics (or mathematics-related subjects) at university. You can design your poster in any readily available software. Ideally, the page layout should be
set to 59.4cm × 42.0cm, using either landscape or portrait format. The university's logo should appear in the top left corner and there should be a space 7cm high x 5cm wide in the top right corner for the FMSP logo. The bottom 2cm of the poster should be left blank. All images should be at least 300dpi.
Entries, as well as any questions about the competition, should be emailed to Richard Browne at [email protected]. The email must include the name(s) and full contact details of the designer(s). The poster design should be attached to the e-mail, in the form of an editable file. The FMSP reserves the right to edit the winning designs before printing.
Michael Green replaces Stephen Hawking in Lucasian chair
Congratulations to Michael Green who has been elected the 18th holder of the Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, one of the most prestigious academic positions in the mathematical sciences.
Isaac Newton was the second person to hold it in the 17th century, and he has been succeeded by mathematical giants including Charles Babbage, father of computer science, the theoretical physicist Paul Dirac, and of course Stephen Hawking, who has been holding the chair since 1979. Hawking stepped down from the professorship in the year of his 67th birthday, as university statutes require.
Michael Green is one of the founders of string theory, which he pioneered from the early seventies onwards. Apart from original research in the area, his contributions include the a textbook co-authored with Edward Witten and John Schwarz, which for many years remained the only string theory text book around.
Peter Haynes, Head of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge, said: "Michael Green has played a leading role in theoretical physics research in the department since 1993. He is internationally known as a pioneer in string theory which over the last 20 years has become one of the most important and active areas of the
field. In the department he continues to make important advances in this topic and at the same time to support and inspire young researchers. His appointment as Lucasian Professor continues the very distinguished tradition of that post."
The idea that economics is all about the markets has been challenged by this year's award of the Nobel Prize in Economics. One half of the prize has gone to the political scientist Elinor Ostrom for showing that natural resources, like fish stocks or woodlands, can be commonly owned and still managed successfully. The other half of the prize has been awarded to the economist Oliver E.
Williamson for demonstrating that the internal structures of firms and companies can be better at resolving conflicts than the open market. The award of the prize shows that economic theory can shed light not just on hard business transactions, but also on other forms of social organisation.
A leading polar researcher has warned that the Arctic may be ice-free during the summer in 20 years' time, with most of the thinning of the ice taking place over the next 10 years. Professor Peter Wadhams of the Polar Ocean Physics Group at the University of Cambridge was speaking at a meeting which announced the results of the Catlin Arctic Survey, an expedition to the Arctic which took place earlier this year with the aim of measuring ice thickness. The polar explorers, led by Pen Hadow, found that ice floes were on average only 1.8m thick. Once the ridges between ice floes are included, the average thickness rises to 4.8m, but the results are still worrying.
"The Catlin Arctic Survey data supports the new consensus view - based on seasonal variation of ice extent and thickness, changes in temperatures, winds and especially ice composition - that the Arctic will be ice-free in summer within about 20 years, and that much of the decrease will be happening within 10 years," Wadhams told the BBC. The exact impact of an ice-free Arctic on the global
climate system is unknown, but scientists know that the lack of ice may accelerate global warming, as less sunlight is reflected back into space, slow down the gulf stream, which is responsible for the relatively mild climate in North-Western Europe, and dramatically change the marine eco-system.
Earlier this year Plus collaborated with Arctic Survey Education to produce a set of teaching resources exploring the science behind the survey. The resources look at climate and sea ice models, GPS and cartography, how to predict future climate trends, and how to present statistical evidence. To find out more about maths and the Arctic, read
the Plus article Maths and climate change: The melting Arctic, which is based on an interview with Peter Wadhams. You can find out more about Wadhams's latest announcement on the BBC website.
This year's Nobel Prize in Physics has gone to three scientists for developing the technology that makes Plus possible. Charles K. Kao has received one half of the prize for developing the optical fibres that transmit information throughout the world. The other half of the prize is shared by Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith for developing the digital camera's electronic eye, known
as the CCD sensor.
Information is transmitted over the internet using light. A flashing laser beam is directed through optical fibres, with the flashes encoding the 0s and 1s that make up digital information. This process works because when the light beam hits the glass walls of the fibre, it bounces off and is moved forward. Optical fibres had been used even before the invention of the laser, for example by
doctors to look into people's stomachs, but they were only capable of transmitting information over very short distances, as the light quickly leaked away when travelling through the fibre. When Charles Kao started working in the field in the 1960s, his aim was to improve the technology so that all of 1% of light would arrive at the end of a 1km long cable. Today, due to Kao's work and the
generation of scientists he inspired, this number has increased to 95%! As a result, the network of optical glass fibres that spans the Earth today is over 1 billion km long. If you wrapped that length around the Earth, you would span it more than 25 000 times.
Light also plays an important role in the work of the other two prize recipients. Boyle and Smith were trying to develop larger memory capacity for computers, when they realised that Albert Einstein's photoelectric effect could be put to good use. According to this effect, electrons can be "knocked about" using light. Boyle and Smith realised that by knocking electrons out of light
sensitive cells sitting in a silicone plate, they could transform an optical image into electric signals, which in turn could be turned into digital information. By 1975 Boyle and Smith had used their invention to construct a digital video camera which was good enough to manage TV broadcasts. In 1995, the first ever fully functioning digital camera was produced, and the rest is history. And
although the CCD sensor has recently been challenged by another piece of technology, the complementary metal oxide semiconductor, bets are still on as to which of the two will rule the future.
Buses may be safer than babies, at least when it comes to swine flu. Preliminary results from an online flu survey suggest that contact with children poses one of the greatest swine flu risk factors, while the use of public transport seems surprisingly safe.
Plus will soon bring you a package of articles on the maths behind swine flu. But first we would like to know what you think has been the best source of information about swine flu? Did the media do well reporting on the virus? What about government information? Or did you go and see your GP to find out what to do about swine flu? Please let us know by voting in this quick poll, or tell
us in more detail what information you found useful, or a nuisance, by leaving a comment on this blog. | <urn:uuid:869c8b9b-80c8-47a2-b042-f70ab4601401> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | https://plus.maths.org/content/Blog/%20http:/7z?page=69 | 2015-03-30T17:55:28Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131299515.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172139-00064-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962499 | 1,868 |
Summary: An outsider.
A mysterious boy.
The risk of losing it all.
Corby Winchcombe is a fourteen year old Muggle girl obsessed with convincing her family and friends that magic exists. When Corby goes to Kings Cross to catch the train that will take her to her average boarding school, she catches wind of the Hogwarts Express, hops aboard, and gets her first glance of the most magnificent place she's ever seen...
But Corby soon realizes that she doesn't belong at Hogwarts. While Dumbledore assures her that he won't send her home for being a Muggle, many students seem to want her out. And it doesn't seem like anything will stop them. And to make matters worst, a strange boy seems to keep popping up everywhere Corby goes. How will she ever manage to survive the school year?
Summary: This is a fic based off my Girl Who Lived and Unspeakable Power stories. It is made up of one-shots which provide insights into the lives of our heros after they left school. All the gang are here once again!!
Summary: Minerva McGonagall is cleaning out Dumbledores office when she stumbles upon a box full of secrets. And what she discovers in the box will change the future of the Wizarding world forever…
Just on another note, most of the warnings above are for a purely just in case situation, and most of the above possible scenarios are not graphic in nature.
Summary: The war has been over for just over a year and the Wizarding world has become complacent in its new-found freedom, yet only three know the truth.
With Daniella at Oxford and Severus and Dumbledore at Hogwarts, they work to keep the Wizarding world safe, but no one must know.
This is the third installment of "Creating a Ghost" and "Life in the Interim".
Neville stared down at the smouldering scrap of parchment. There, in neat handwriting that was not his own, was printed the name NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM.
When Neville's name emerges from the Goblet of Fire, the Boy-Who-Lived is thrust into his most dangerous challenge yet. For how can a boy with such limited magical ability possibly hope to survive one of the most gruelling and violent competitions in the Wizarding world?
The new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher takes Neville under his wing, but evil is growing nearer and not everyone is as they seem. Meanwhile new complications arise in Neville's life. How will he cope with these challenges, and what awaits him at the year's end? In Year Four, everything changes...
Summary: Three years post-Hogwarts. The final battle has started on the night of Harry's twenty-first birthday and he and Voldemort finally face off -- but Voldemort still has to play his last card to get rid of Harry -- by sending him and three of his 'friends' into the past exactly twenty-one years. The four of them now have to struggle to be accepted, keep their identities from certain persons and find a way home.
This story will contain some romance -- if you don't accept certain couples or just desperately want to know who's going to pair up, just e-mail me, and I'll tell you.
Summary: Our lives are not our own. Fate is set, choice is meaningless and the mark of the chosen never truly fades. When Harry finds a way to change his destiny, will the result be better than the path already chosen for him?
Summary: In Rowling's books, we see most Sortings yield five boys to each House, and yet there were only four Marauders. What happened to the other one?
This story was submitted for the "You Sorted WHERE?" One-Shot challenge.
Summary: Lily and James Potter knew that their unborn son was marked by a dangerous prophecy. They thought they had prepared for everything. But when their unborn son turns out to be a girl, their world suddenly spins back into their control. Follow along as the Potter's daughter Haven goes off to Hogwarts without the burden of a prophecy.
Summary: What could have been the final battle ends in Harry's death. Is it really the end, though? Something just doesn't seem quite right to Hermione, and a desperate search leads to a dark discovery about Harry Potter.
Summary: Love's not a bed of roses...
there's also pain, betrayal and heart-break.
A lonely and neglected girl. A stubborn young Order member. A sarcastic Healer. Hermione's been trusted with a secret. But with knowledge comes danger...
Againster a backround of prejudice, family ties and surpression, two powerful love stories are playing themselves out. But the clock is ticking against them...
Summary: An alternate take on the seventh year of the Harry Potter Series. Harry leaves Privet Drive for the last time, of age and pursued by Death Eaters and dark words. As he struggles with Dumbledore's final task, he encounters a new potions mistress, ancient magic, and new depths of Hogwarts and the Department of Mysteries. But before he can challenge his greatest enemy, he must learn about the "magic that Voldemort knows not" from thousands of others.
JK Rowling's universe is all hers, but it's too fun not to play in.
Summary: This is an alternate version of Book Seven. Harry reluctantly returns to Hogwarts to train with a new DADA teacher, one appointed in specifically for Harry in Dumbledore's will. As the rest of the Wizard World reacts to Dumbledore's defeat, Harry develops the skills he needs to fulfill the Prophecy--including mastery of the Kedavra curse.
Mysteries are explored along the way, particularly the "missing 24 hours" from 1981--the span of time between Hagrid taking Baby Harry from the ruins of Godric's Hollow on Halloween Night, and his arrival to hand off Baby Harry on Privet Drive the following night. The Veil Room in the Department of Mysteries is also revisited. A traitor is uncovered, and Dumbledore's wisdom comes into question. And even when all goes as planned, things are not all they seem.
Summary: Voldemort, ever worried for his soul and immortality needs to find another way to secure his life...
Summary: What a ridiculous way to die. If there is one thing about my predicament that is making it even more laughable, it is the fact that I am still alive.
Summary: After being stripped of most of your magic, one would think that you would shrink away from the magical world and live life as a Muggle. But with the help of her grandmother, Gabrielle, Clarisse Arnolds, a half-blood, saunters into Slytherin house as though she owns it. A star student, a brilliant athlete, and a descendant of two of the most ancient wizarding families of earth, Clarisse puts Draco Malfoy in his place! But when it comes time to choose her path in life, what is she to do? Will she join the Order of the Pheonix and bring an end to the Dark Lord's reign of terror? Or will she join the other Slytherins and pledge her allegiance to the Dark Lord, thus becoming the most trusted and faithful of all his servants? Follow her on her life's story and find out.
Summary: After the downfall of Voldemort, Hermione decides to take a break and return to the Muggle world. Deciding to go on a Muggle cruise, Hermione realizes that it was the biggest mistake of her life. Now, she's stuck on a boat with her worst enemy. Fights and bickering continue to take place between them and maybe a little something else too...
Hermione makes new friends and meets up with an old friend, Jessie: an arrogant girl who treats Hermione like dirt and desperately tries to seek Draco's attention. (Slightly AU)
Thanks to some of my awesome readers, this story has been translated into Chinese and Vietnamese. For information on how you can see the translated version, please check my profile!
Status: Working on chapter 26. In the meantime, you can have a look at my new one-shot, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang!
Please note that the date of my last update is incorrect. Apparently there are some glitches in the system regarding to this. Chapter 25 was updated on the 7/09/09!
Nominated for a Quicksilver Quill award in the Non-Canon Romance category
Please leave a review before you leave! It means a lot! You can check out the banner of this story on my author's page!
Summary: In a world where Harry Potter failed to vanquish the Dark Lord, Muggle-born Clare Morgan must honor her binding contract as a servant to the Ashwood family. Abuse and struggle were expected when she arrived at the manor, but falling in love with her master’s son was not. A story of love, hardship, and the promise that hope brings.
Summary: When Draco Malfoy moved to France to carry out orders from the Dark Lord, he never expected to make friends, lest of all this kind of friends. Lies, deceit, murder, and death carve a perilous path through Draco's life as he tries to survive the biggest war his world has ever faced.
Summary: An old woman sits down on a lonely bench one night waiting for the bus. She is joined by a young woman, who brings with her strange memories of the past, and the reminder that time changes everything. | <urn:uuid:e46c8305-9c3e-4339-865c-e62cfa891fa4> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://fanfiction.mugglenet.com/browse.php?type=categories&catid=43&offset=100 | 2015-03-27T05:22:17Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131295084.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172135-00248-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963197 | 1,958 |
Skip to comments.America’s malls seek a life beyond retail
Posted on 02/09/2013 7:54:56 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The winter sunlight barely touches the depths of the abandoned store, where wires dangle from the ceiling, wood shavings scatter the floor, a King Lear shelf marker lies on the stairs, and a Led Zeppelin poster hangs spurned in a rack.
The standalone building in Danbury, Connecticut, still bears the name of the Borders book chain that collapsed in 2011, and strewn on its cash register are fire-sale price lists for its fixtures and fittings. But nobody wanted them either.
Instead its 8ft book cases stand bare and upright in the gloom, like the ruins of a bygone age. In a country that built its towns around consumerism, it is an eerie preview of the future for acres of retail property that Americans no longer need.
The ranks of bricks-and-mortar shoppers have thinned since the financial crisis as a weak economy and the rise of ecommerce have made the dated interiors and badly chosen locations of many stores even less attractive.
The reality is were over-built, says Gerry Mason, executive managing director at property group Savills, who predicts that about 15 per cent of the USs 1,300 biggest enclosed malls will go out of business over the next five years.
Real estate agents say that even properties with a future cannot build it on retail alone: services such as dry cleaners, nail salons and sports clubs are likely to occupy many former shops as the face of Americas built environment is redrawn...
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
Roving bands of yutes tend to dampen shoppers feelings.
A local retailer who is going out of business told me her conservative shoppers all cut back after the ‘08 election. She said however, the EBT crowd was spending like there’s no tomorrow. Bottom line, the smart people are holding their money close, preparing for a rainy day. The parasites think the gravy train will last forever. Rude awakening coming.........
In Annapolis, we have 3 malls within 20 minutes of each other. It is rather crazy. I predict one will close in the next ten years and most likely that will be Marley Station which is old and dumpy. I know that Arundel Mall with new casino and Annapolis Mall (for the rich and affluent) will stay open.
The life after retail is called the village.
Why drive / park when you can walk from your home to your cafe-barber-gallery-cleaner-hotel-convenience store etc.
Save the car for bulk purchases at Walmart-Sams-Costco-Lowes.
Most everything else can be had on-line.
Welcome to the 21st Century.
Arundel Mills Mall is usually very hectic with activity. Even in the depths of the 2008 recession, that area, home to many federal workers, was immune to the downturn. It’s kind of a weird place, set in an affluent suburb, where the gilded Mandarins of the middle bureaucracy mix with the occasional pack of feral youth from nearby Baltimore.
I am sure some bad things happen there from time to time, but I have survived several outings there without a scratch. CCW would be very useful in those environs, but the Kingdom of Maryland does not allow its subjects to have the means to protect themselves.
Since you are in Maryland, you may recall how Landover Mall went downhill and was eventually torn down. The politically incorrect, unspoken version of what happened, is that packs of feral youth scared off shoppers. The politically correct version is that the Lerner Company did not maintain adequate security, or work hard enough to keep upscale stores in the mall.
I am not currently in Maryland...thank God. I live in the great state of Texas. However, I have been on trips to the Kingdom of Maryland on a couple of occasions.
Yes, I remember that Landover Mall was like the badlands of post-apocalyse. So, I assiduously avoided passing by that contaminated landfill.
The same thing could eventually happen to Arundel Mills Mall, but they do have a small army of mall cops and frequent drive-bys by county law
enforcement keeping it mostly safe.
Maybe they could make a whole bunch of Blues Brothers sequels.
You MIGHT live.
anybody with two or more working
brain cells knows the mall scene
has been overbuilt since 1980 or so.
The only place I would ever go to now in Bal’more would be the regular tourist areas and I would make a hasty retreat before the vampires come out for dinner.
In my miss-spent youth, I was known to head-bang, imbibe copious amounts of spirits, and try to meet the Rock and Roll gal of my dreams at Hammerjacks. However, I survived that scandalous part of my youth with the greater part of my brain cells intact. :-D
Oh, I have never been there. However, the wikipedia entry about the mall suggests that it is just a lovely place.
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we wouldn’t be overblt if we had a pro-business administration, that was also pro-american.
Wow, I haven’t double posted in ages.
Sorry ‘bout that.
In Annapolis, we have 3 malls within 20 minutes of each other. It is rather crazy.
If you do an economic analysis, in the present retail environment, it would tell you not to build a mall. However, the analysis results change when you take into account tax incentives, development incentives and other lucrative deals made by politicians at all levels. Thats how we end up so over-built. Rest assured the developer gets his profit. Its the retailer who gets stuck. Then, you add into the equation kill-the-retail political correctness. A mall in Tampa, next to the stadium, wanted to close when teams from historically black colleges played. This is because of flash mobs and riots that occurred EVERY time these teams played. The ALCU took them to court and they were ordered to stay open. The stores all abandoned their leases and the mall is now a parking lot.
Id imagine that Obamacare will further hit the retail industry as most stores are marginal at best. A sudden mandated increase in labor costs will cause them to go into the red and the will be forced to close.
There used to be a dwarf headbanger that was a minor celebrity, because she was there all the time.
I remember it had the most expensive beer in town, something like 3 dollars for a can of Budweiser. In 1985.
“Roving bands of yutes tend to dampen shoppers feelings.”
I remember visiting the actual Borders store that is the subject of the article, back when it was open.
There were no “yutes” there.
It’s not even in a “mall”, per se.
It was a Borders bookstore mated to a Circuit City in one large building. Not connected to a mall.
The Circuit CIty closed too, and is now occupied by a P.C. Richard electronics store.
There’s a casino in Maryland? I like Annapolis Mall, it’s a nice place to shop.
I loved Landover Mall when I was a kid. Yes, it was eventually overrun. Very sad. But then the Capital Centre was re-imagined as a mall/amusement atmosphere and I have not had a desire to visit it. Has anybody here visited that place?
LOL. Hammerjacks! Just seeing the ads in the Baltimore alternative weekly and hearing the ads on DC101 made me think, “I’ll just stay in town and go to a movie or to the 9:30 Club.”
It seems as though Maryland has become one giant John Waters movie. But I enjoyed growing up there and wouldn’t have traded those experiences for anything else. ‘HFS and Kemp Mill Records made it all worthwhile.
It was glorious, my FRiend, just glorius!
None of that auto-tuned, Euro-weenie dance music that followed me home from my last deployment and is now so prevalent on music stations catering to today’s yutes.
We were metal, we were proud, and we ruled suburbia with a with knuckles open glove and a iron fist. lulz...
To be fair, Wikipedia included this bit “After the Baltimore riot of 1968 produced white flight, the mall revenues declined and Sears left.”
I may have seen this dwarf you are referring to, but I saw a lot of things back then that I can’t remember. I do remember smoke filled rooms, blaring metal music, amateur pole-dancing, glitter covered Patty Smyth vixens, and magical unicorns floating through the air but that was probably just the Jim Beam talking.
It was something like this:
That's another thing. Our demographics are collapsing. Want to see the future of our country? Just take a look at Japan. They're 20 years ahead of us.
LOL! True. I guess I was happy enough to listen to the cassettes in my truck as I waited in endless Beltway traffic to get somewhere! “Oooooh-ooooh, growing up.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works. | <urn:uuid:0e2e8143-4cce-4fc6-910d-b5cd7c32446b> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2987009/posts?page=6 | 2015-03-27T06:03:41Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131295084.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172135-00248-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967888 | 2,048 |
The following story is fiction about high school youths. The story contains scenes of spanking, strapping, shaving and gay sex. If these subjects are offensive, uninteresting or if you are a minor (i.e., child) please leave now.
This work is copyright by the author and commercial use is prohibited without permission. Personal/private copies are permitted only if complete including the copyright notice.
The author would appreciate your comments – pro and con, including constructive criticism, and suggestions. Please take a moment to e-mail
How I Got My School Letter
I was the team manager. I was only a junior and just sixteen but I had managed the JV team the year before and the guys were happy with the results. Mr. Engeldow, the school's coach, took care of the training, of course. I made sure that the cleanup was taken care of by a couple of towel boys so I wouldn't have to do that shit job. They were just freshmen (freshboys!) but they drooled like groupies hungry for rock band idols. Actually, it was good because it prevented a lot of grab-ass horseplay in the locker room. There was not any need to do that when there were a couple of eager boys about who would happily bend over, and not just to pick up something from the floor, anxious to please the gods, er, the team members. With ten randy HS seniors, I limited the actions in the showers to protect the laddies. That gave me an additional, although pleasant, task – saying who was to get what (whom) after practice and after the games. I used Jeffery and Timmy, the towel boys, as a reward for extra effort. They were great incentives.
I ran a tight ship, as the saying goes, and I used both carrots and sticks. The main carrots were the two boys as I already mentioned while the main stick was a stick. Well, not literally but a strap which I would use to roast the tail of any slackers. You may wonder why the guys would accept discipline from a dude at least a year younger, smaller and weaker then themselves. It was simple – they wanted to win. To do that they had to work together as well as working hard. They could accept stuff from me better than from any adult because they were adolescents constantly fighting with their dads and teachers for dominance. I wasn't threatening so they listen to me.
The coach pretended not to know what was going on. He wanted to be the coach of the winning team and was happy to skirt the regulations. School policy forbade the use of CP by the faculty but consensual stuff was a different matter. He was quite happy to concentrate on what he loved – training the guys hard to be winners (so he could bask in their glory). It was a win-win situation for all. Even for the towel boys were happy for they got, er, quality time with the senior hunks they drooled over. They, too, were subject to the strap and even boyish OTK spanking when appropriate.
The towel boys learnt the importance of keeping to their commitments the very first week. Jeffery was late twice and Timmy was spending far too much time staring at his personal gods in the shower. I had to take prompt action to get them back on course and to make sure that the team members knew that I was totally purposeful and that they should keep on their toes. With the team watching, I gave both of them a lecture and told them that they would be spanked. Since their duties required them to be in the shower area, they were both naked as, incidentally, were the team members and myself. It was a practice that I encouraged as it helped bonding and thus team performance.
Jeffery accepted his fate stoically even though he was the younger of the two and had barely started puberty. He did not resist as I lowered him over my lap and got a firm grip on his waist. He took hold of a leg of the bench and placed his other hand on the floor and then without prompting said: "Ready for my spanking, Sir." I hoped that he did not notice that my cock twitched at that but I was absolutely delighted at the great example he was showing his total acceptance of the team's discipline. I gave him a couple of love pats and then started to spank him for real. I gave him ten hard spanks on each cheek which turned his butt a nice rosy red. Several of the team members were sporting full hard ons by them and none of the others were limp. When I let him up he thanked me for the spanking and promised to be on time. He only took a few steps when one of the team members, Jack, grabbed him and held him close. I'm sure that he could feel the dude's hard cock pressing at him and was happily anticipating what Jack planned.
Timmy was different. He objected to being spanked like a little boy OTK and I had to remind him that he was the "Towel Boy". That did not convince him to cooperate and then he protested that he already had pubes and should be strapped like a young man. I asked the team: "Do boys get strapped?" and they said no. After that he yielded to me and went over my lap like Jeffery had. Timmy tried to be stoic but he wasn't and after a few spanks was complaining. By the time I stood him up with his hot-red bottom glowing, he was sobbing.
I asked a few question of the team. "Do young men cry?"
"No!" and "Never!" were the responses.
I queried again: "Do boys have pubes?" and again they said no.
"OK, Timmy, the team has spoken. You are not entitled to have pubes." He was horrified. "Ask someone to shave you – here and now or I'll do it." It was not necessary to tell him that if he refused, he would be replaced so he made a selection. I guess if something unpleasant is going to happen, having it done by one's favorite god would less unpleasant.
Everyone went into the shower and Matt turned one on and got Timmy's crotch wet. He used the regular soap on it and then the safety razor I handed him.. There was not much to shave away and it went fast. He was rinsed off in front as Matt soaped up his crack and bent him over for his own pleasure. Timmy was very docile as he yielded to the big team member he had chosen. He also enjoyed being fucked based on the joyful sounds he made.
During the shaving, Jeffery was also happily sucking Jack's hard shaft and then he also bent over and got properly fucked. Both towel boys had now been introduced to their primary duties of keeping the team happy. I had eight more horny team members who want to get off and I selected four to get bj's as a reward for extra effort on the field during the day's practice.. My rules limited each towel boy to one fucking and two bj's per day. Rationing made the rewards more valuable to the recipients.
* * * * * * * * * *
Things were going smoothly and the team worked well together. The towel boys provided that extra incentive to put out (sorry, pun not intended) for the good of all. The two boys were also very happy for they got a lot of hard, hot cock from their heros. There was a little joking that I should have had gotten a towel girl also, but that quickly became a stale joke. The het dudes really did not want to share their chicks, like they did with the boys, with the other team members.
Occasionally, I had to deal with a team member for some failing. The naughty one was certainly not thrilled with this happening but owning up and getting one's due helped to cement to team cohesiveness. When Chad messed up, he was a wonderful example. He accepted his lecture well and then apologized to his team mates. He even went back to his locker and got his own belt which was heaver than mine to show how he accepted his guilt and had a high level of penitence. He presented his butt for the strap with as much dignity as if he was getting a medal. I got into position and with his folded belt started to strap him. Even before the red stripe was noticeable, Chad said: "One. Thank you Sir." He did this for each cut and when his butt was red-hot at the end, again apologized to his fellow team members.
It was a perfect example of the solidarity I had been striving for and he was truly forgiven by his team mates.
It would be nice to report that every time a team member got strapped he acted that well but that really was not the case especially near the beginning. What I'm most pleased to report is that we were doing very well and had a record of eight wins in nine tries.
* * * * * * * * * *
After that ninth game the team was depressed because before it they had their sights on a perfect ten-for-ten season. The tenth game was scheduled against a weak team so the ninth was the last real game that was a tight contest. What made it extra depressing was that we lost it because the coach messed up. There are lots of rules in the league and the coach managed to break one. The referee called a technical foul on the team and awarded the ball to the opposition and they regrettably scored. Engeldow had managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. As long as we won the last game, we would still be the champs, although not having a perfect record was depressing.
After the game the Coach came to the locker room and apologized to the team for his great blunder. I don't know who yelled it out but some did. "If one of us had done that, his butt would be strapped – hard." The mood instantly became even grimmer and everyone was silent waiting to see what the Coach would say. We must have waited three minutes with everyone silently glaring at the Coach before he spoke.
Engeldow did not prevaricate and just said it like a man should. "Strap me." He pulled his belt off and handed it to me.
"Drop 'em and bend over that bench." I said. Then I got into position and gave him a good set of five which left his big fat ass bright red. He took it very well without much more than a grunt or two. "Everyone gets two cuts." I announced handing the belt to a team member.
They each gave two hard cuts to the Coach and it was clear that they were angry but this was definitely lightening up the mood. I could see how hard it was for the Coach for his knuckles were white from gripping the bench so tightly. When all ten had delivered their two cuts, I was given the belt back. I beckoned to the two towel boys and they also gave him two cuts each. I finished up the strapping with another two cuts and told the Coach to get up.
"That hurt." he said. He got a round of applause.
"It supposed to." I said. "Showers everyone." The team stripped down and went to shower while the Coach retired to his office.
We won our last game and were the champs. Everyone was happy and we all got school letters.
© Copyright A.I.L. March 7, 2010
Your comments are appreciated. [email protected]
See more of my stories at: Nifty's Prolific Net Authors
and on my web site: http://www.asstr.org/~YLeeCoyote/ | <urn:uuid:bcec4c86-c5ea-4a37-9190-4fbd565b5642> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/highschool/how-i-got-my-school-letter.html | 2015-03-27T05:25:01Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131295084.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172135-00248-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.995095 | 2,436 |
Adobe Director multimedia authoring software, which gained popularity during the CD-ROM era of the 90s, has released its first upgrade since Adobe acquired Macromedia in 2005.
The last significant upgrade for Director was in 2001, with the 8.5 version. Many developers began using Director at that time, as an introduction to 3D applications. While quite a few other 3D tools have hit the scene, many still find that Director is the most useful to them.
Naresh Gupta, Senior Vice President, Print and Publishing at Adobe noted, "With the new Director 11, users can unleash their creative capabilities and broaden their market reach with less effort, producing more engaging multimedia applications in less time. This milestone release provides a strong and flexible authoring environment that perfectly complements Adobe’s broad suite of authoring products, extending our customers’ creative reach to interactive 3D animations and games."
Historically, the Director application was utilized in the creation of the vast majority of educational CDROMs, due to its ease of use and extensive range of features, with both Apple and Microsoft operating systems.
The latest release was designed to include a flexible and easy-to-use authoring environment, thus enabling multimedia designers, animators and developers to create more comprehensive interactive applications, games, e-learning and other simulation based products.
Rick Jones, Senior Product Marketing Manager for Director, explained at PC Magazine’s New York offices , "t’s not just for developers. It’s about 40 percent developers and 60 percent entry-level multimedia authoring."
Updated Feature Hightlights
1. Director 11 and Shockwave support Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac PPC, Mac OS 10.4, and Mac OS 10.5.
2. QuickTime 7, Windows Media and RealPlayer, support for Adobe’s own Flash CS3 and Unicode is designed to make the development of multi-lingual applications more straightforward.
3. Either alone or with the Adobe Shockwave Player, Director 11 can be used for authoring once and publishing content for the web, CDs/DVDs and the desktop simultaneously. The environment is said to complement Adobe’s ecosystem of products, allowing for Adobe Flash SWF files to be used for Director projects, played in Director and Shockwave, and then edited with Adobe Flash CS3 Professional.
Director may be used for multimedia applications, such as virtual architectural walkthroughs and product demonstrations; however, the new version can also create hardware-accelerated 3D games.
These added bonuses are designed to simplify adding characteristics, such as shadowing and glow, to text or images. An enhanced script browser is included, for breaking out the code and snippets, with drag and drop capability – slated to be a programming time saver.
Gene Endrody, CEO and Founder of web-based community multiplayer game developer, MaidMarian.com, "No other technology can deliver hardware-accelerated 3D entertainment on a web page to as many people worldwide as Director and Shockwave. Director 11 enhances the ability to develop fast action 3D interactive games and virtual products, with cost efficiency, cross-platform compatibility and browser plug-in penetration superior to other authoring environments on the market."
As an example, PCMag’s Michael Muchmore, reported that Dr. Allen Partridge, the Technology Evangelist for Adobe Director and owner of Insight Interactive Games, demonstrated a realistic, fast-action motorcycle game, noting that Director is poised to provide much faster game development (months vs. years), for both casual and serious gaming.
An estimated half billion computers have the Shockwave plug-in required to view Director content in a web browser. Games creator Caspian Learning, uses Director for its simulation games designed to solve learning issues, due to its web capability, ease of development, and stability.
Case in point: Outside the Box Software’s Chris Evans, an independent game developer based in Oceanside, California, who spent two years developing the SocioTown MMO game, using Director 11. Mr. Evans explained, “Anytime you release an MMO game, it is going to be compared to EverQuest and other online games, but I wanted to do something that hasn’t been done before."
Mr. Evans built SocioTown as an interactive social network, for casual players that play around 20-30 minutes a day. The game includes tools to help track friends, and interactions with players and non-players, as well as having the ability to map the social network. Past interactions are recorded into memory, to enable discretionary actions later. Other features of the game include Street Boxing, which allows players to compete against one another; game play for characters, such as checkers; and shopping. Missions in process include a laser tag event and the ability to catch bugs.
Director 11 was chosen to create SocioTown by Mr. Evans, because it was familiar software, having used it since 2001 to complete some Web3D games. The ability to stream media files on the fly, support for importing multiple file types, solid install, and cross-platform markets for Win, Mac and Web, were all selling points for using Director 11 – in addition to cost considerations.
Mr. Evans has also worked on multiplayer online golf game, Pow Pow’s Mini Golf, BlockHeads Clash, a four-player smashing arcade-style game; CityScape Battle, and Pow Pow’s Puzzle Attack (GameDev.net).
Training and e-learning continue to be a focus for Director. The London Observatory has used it for an interactive galaxy display, and it seems to work well in developing training applications such as those used for fast food employee types of business environments.
Director’s extended 3D capabilities make it a good choice for game prototyping and learning materials that make use of native 3D rendering.
1. Market penetration. Adobe is the biggest multimedia company in the world. Shockwave still appears to have at least 40-50% market penetration, which is less than Flash Player. However, market penetration for Unity, Virtools, Quest3D, and others is negligible. Shockwave still seems to be a favorite, for cross platform tools.
2. Integration capabilities. Director has the ability to work with other media such as flash, as well as various video formats, in unique ways. Director still generally allows for a very flexible authoring environment.
3. Cross platform capabilities. Unity3D is a much better tool, however, remains Mac exclusive. While Virtools is considered one of the best, it is cost-prohibitive with unreasonable licensing parameters. Therefore, Director is the better choice for online 3d authoring.
Version 11 extends Director MX 2004’s ability to create deliverables for both Mac and PC from either platform, to include Intel-based Macs and full Vista compatibility. However, in order to view Director content online, an audience needs the 4.5MB Shockwave plug-in: a significant issue, given that Shockwave 8.5 or later is installed on less than 50% of European PCs.
While improvements in the browse feature of the script editor are noted, the function remains somewhat antiquated, in comparison to many other programming interfaces. The list of errors and bugs found at web sites such as Director at Night, demonstrate that for some, Director 11 may not be the best option at this time.
Where Shockwave still seems to be a cross platform tool favorite, Flash is likely to be the better choice in the vast majority of situations, such as CDROM delivery. Flash and Matchware’s Mediator 9 are much easier to use for creating e-learning and similar products.
Marketing position of the product overlaps that of Flash to such a degree that there are very few situations in which Director would be the preferred choice. In a broad sense, Flash is a natural choice for the Internet. However, Director’s only real advantage over Flash is its native support for 3D, making it an ideal choice for 3D games, most of which are online.
Overall, the consensus seems to be that Director 11 is the latest in a long line of minor updates, which will benefit existing users much more than any new customers. Adobe’s own Flash CS3 may ultimately be a better choice, for those who do not already own Director. It looks like any developers who have already switched to Flash CS3, will need much more to justify returning to Developer, even with the new advances in version 11.
Finally, the cost, while not exorbitant, may still present issues for some, as upgrades will cost $299. New purchases are priced at $999 (down from $1,199). The student version is only $99. However, there is a free trial available, so that people can try it before committing to becoming a proud owner of Adobe’s Director 11. | <urn:uuid:efff4b73-912f-4d12-bbe6-97d6737e2134> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.thegamereviews.com/article-625-Adobe-Director-11-Review.html | 2015-03-27T05:17:04Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131295084.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172135-00248-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947109 | 1,840 |
Lipman suggests City Council play more active role on county jail front; priority should be placed on meeting all state & federal standards
LACONIA — City Councilor Henry Lipman (Ward 3), who chairs the Finance Committee, this week suggested that the City Council take an initiative to loosen the logjam that has stalled discussion of the future of the county jail by calculating what the city can afford to contribute to the project.
In 2013, the city, which budgets within the bounds of a property tax cap, bore 18.9-percent of county tax commitment and would bear the same share of annual debt service carried by the county to fund the cost of a new or renovated jail. When Ricci-Greene Associates presented a proposal for a facility of 184 beds and a community corrections component with an estimated cost of $42.5 million to the Jail Planning Committee, the City Council wrote to the Belknap County Commission expressing concern at the cost.
"We've got to make some progress," Lipman said, "and we've got to get something done." He indicated that the highest priority is to ensure that the facility complies with all state and federal standards by providing a structure that is "safe for both jail inmates and corrections officers."
Addressing his fellow councilors on Monday, Lipman said he considered rehabilitative programming, which requires additional space and personnel, as "step two."
Lipman said that by by reviewing the city's outstanding debt and annual debt service, the council could determine an amount or a range of amounts of additional principal and interest payments the city could carry. "We can say this is what we can afford," he said. "The number would not be an absolute post in the ground, but I think it would help move the ball."
So far discussion about the jail has been largely confined to the Belknap County Commission and its Jail Planning Committee, on the one hand, and the Belknap County Convention, on the other, and has reached a stalemate. Lipman ventured that an initiative by the City Council might change the course of the dialogue.
Last Updated on Thursday, 17 July 2014 12:42
GILFORD — A transient 18-year-old broke into a woman's house on Breton Road at 3:30 a.m. yesterday morning, startling her as she was asleep in her bedroom.
The victim said she woke and found a young man she identified as Isaiah Hughes in her bedroom. She said the two briefly struggled and the assailant was able to get away from her. Police said the victim got a small cut on her hand but was able to tear intruder's shirt sleeve.
Police said yesterday that Hughes and the victim are known to one another but declined to elaborate. The victim told police who they were seeking.
Affidavits obtained from the 4th Circuit Court, Laconia Division said the victim contacted her mother who told her that Hughes was on her porch at an address on Old Lake Shore Road.
Two police officers went to the house on Old Lake Shore Road and made contact with Hughes, who they said had blood on his hand and was shoeless. They told him he was being detained but he ran from them.
The two officers struggled with Hughes who they said was actively trying to get away from them. After a short struggle he was taken into custody.
Police verified his identification by conducting a K-9 track from the victim's house to where he was found.
Police allegedly found Hughes's shoes, two backpacks and a coin jar and food that they believe he allegedly stole from the victim's home.
Hughes was already out of bail after being charge with theft by unauthorized taking on June 2 for allegedly stealing from Walmart, and for unlawful possession of alcohol — a bail violation — from June 21.
Hughes faces one new count of burglary, resisting arrest, and breach of bail.
While he has no criminal record, Gilford Police asked Judge Jim Carroll to hold Hughes on $10,000 cash-only bail because his recent behavior indicates he is unwilling or unable to obey the law and that he is a dangerous threat to the general public.
Judge Carroll ordered him held on $1,000 cash bail for the burglary and $5,000 personal recognizance bail for the misdemeanors.
He is order to stay away Breton Road and Walmart.
Last Updated on Thursday, 17 July 2014 12:36
LACONIA — City officials yesterday shuttered a four-unit apartment building at 145-147 Union Avenue, displacing five adults and eleven children, where Fire Chief Ken Erickson, who serves as the city's health officer, said they found numerous violations of the fire code and sanitary conditions he described as "deplorable."
Erickson, who spent several hours in the building with Code Enforcement Officer Steve McClusker, said that smoke detectors were not working, while corridors and doorways were obstructed, in some cases by clothes dryers that were installed in hallways. He said that garbage and debris was strewn about the four units and common spaces, which were "infested with flies."
Erickson said that officials were drawn to the building by complaint from the mother of a male tenant who lived there with his father. The building was immediately evacuated, its power disconnected and posted as "uninhabitable," Erickson said.
Residents of two of the four units received rental assistance from the Laconia Housing Authority (LHA) under the federal government's so-called Section 8 program. Erickson said that Dick Weaver, executive director of the LHA, "was shocked to see what his agency was paying for" after walking through the building.
Although the city welfare officer was on hand to arrange shelter for the residents, Erickson said that some chose to stay with friends or relatives and two went to the Carey House, the nearby shelter operated by the Salvation Army, but none sought assistance from the city.
Erickson said that repeated attempts to contact the owner of the building "came to no avail."
According to city records the building has been owned by Walter and Janet Hutchinson doing business as WJK Realty Corporation, with the address of a post office box at Winnisquam, New Hampshire, since June, 2004.
WJK Realty also owns a property at 322 Union Avenue and a building with commercial space and residential units at 322 South Main Street. Walter Hutchinson is listed as the owner of a single-family home at 34 Doloff Street and Janet Hutchinson as the owner of a three-unit residential building at 46 Winter Street.
"We're forming a task force to go after the irresponsible landlords aggressively," Erickson said. He noted that city officials will work closely with the LHA, which intends to withhold rent assistance for housing units that fail to pass inspection by the city. "We're going to make sure they clean up or have no tenants."
Noting that that there are many conscientious and responsible landlords in the city, Erickson said "if you're going to be a property owner in the city of Laconia, "you're going to have to do it the right way.
Last Updated on Thursday, 17 July 2014 12:29
by Thomas P. Caldwell
ALEXANDRIA — Well in excess of 100 sign-carrying opponents of wind power from five local towns lined the road in protest when the project developer and attorney for EDP Renewables arrived July 15 at the Alexandria Town Hall to seek a building permit for a meteorological tower.
Jennifer Tuthill of Alexandria, wife of Selectman George Tuthill, said she and the other protesters were there "to show this multinational company that we want no part of it".
Residents had voted against allowing wind farms in the town in 2013 and, this year, they passed a "rights based ordinance" or RBO that claimed the authority to regulate what happens in the town, specifically banning "unsustainable energy systems".
EDP Attorney Mark Beliveau told the Board of Selectmen, "We don't believe the rights based ordinance is enforceable ... but even if it is, it addresses a wind farm, not a meteorological tower, which is a passive collection structure." He went on to note that the RBO refers to projects controlled by state and federal authorities, while the 80-meter tower EDP is proposing does not fall under those jurisdictions.
"We applied for a building permit," he reminded the town fathers.
Later in the meeting, resident Bob Piehler, a strong opponent of wind power, contradicted the attorney, saying they also had applied for a permit from the Federal Aviation Authority, proving there is federal oversight.
"This is Trojan horse," Piehler said. "Once this is in, they will have control of the road, and they're looking to take out local control."
Beliveau's argument centered on the conditional approval the selectmen had given a year ago, subject to five conditions. The company had met four of the conditions prior to Tuesday's meeting and the final condition — the posting of a $34,000 decommissioning bond — was what brought the company to town this week.
"Now that you have the bond, we believe that satisfies all five conditions," Beliveau said.
When Selectman Tuthill said it troubled him to say so but he agreed that the company had met its obligations, Beliveau commented, "I understand the opposition to the wind farm, but this is a small, passive, data collection structure, and I suggest you review it for what it is: a meteorological tower. The decision is really administrative, and personal opinions should not play a part."
Selectman Michael Broome, who came on board this year, said that, in light of the citizens' opposition and the RBO, he would not sign the permit. When Tuthill made a motion calling upon the selectmen to affirm that the five conditions had been met, he did not receive a second, and the hall erupted in applause.
Beliveau responded with a remark indicating that the decision would be challenged on the basis of members' bias.
The meteorological tower had been proposed to determine the viability of a wind project on the private property for which EDP had entered into a seven-year lease agreement last year. Known as the Spruce Ridge Project, the proposal would cover land in Alexandria, Groton, Hebron, and Orange and involve 15 to 25 turbines at a proposed cost of $140 million, producing 60 megawatts of power.
Project Manager Derek Rieman said all talk of a wind farm is premature, as they first need to determine the project's viability; but when challenged on why they would pursue the matter in the face of so much local opposition, Rieman said, "We're pursuing a clean energy project here."
Sue Cheney of Alexandria commented, "You say the met tower is passive, but it's here for one purpose, and that's not passive."
Carl and Paul Spring of Groton, who live on Groton Hollow Road which has become the access road for the Groton Wind Farm, already in place, said before the meeting that wind energy is not clean at all.
"We saw that project from Day 1," Carl Spring said. "Our quiet, country road is now as busy as the Hooksett toll booth, almost. Every day, there are trucks going by, doing everyday business, troubleshooting the problems the wind farm has had, and there are garbage, linen, and FedX trucks going by four to five times a day. It has opened up the mountain to logging. I'm a logger myself, but they're going clear into the wilderness area. There goes our forest canopy. And the water in the streams is black, or like chocolate milk. They say, 'It wasn't us,' but those of us who have lived there for a while never saw that kind of sediment in the streams before."
The Springs also spoke of the noise of the turbines. "They say it's low-decible, and it is, but so is a mosquito, and they can keep you awake. We can't sit in the front yard without hearing the whoosh or the jet engine noise. You hear it continually, and it's never going to go away."
Jim Lawrence, a former representative to the N.H. House from Hudson, who is running for U.S. Congress, took the public comment period as an opportunity to state his continued opposition to wind farms. "If I'm elected," he said, "I will continue to fight this every step of the way."
Last Updated on Thursday, 17 July 2014 12:22
- Laconia schools giving up on growing grass from seed on Bobotas Field
- Negotiations involving Laconia police union still ongoing
- City's Motorcycle Week revenue was off 14%
- Correction: Joshua Fox never lived at 918 North Main Street
- Clarification: Laconia Shoe at S&W from 1972-1987
- Gilford man alleged to have hit girlfriend wiht car | <urn:uuid:1d8cf134-63b7-4a75-afb1-f126bbc9e3c9> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.laconiadailysun.com/index.php/newsx/local-news?start=1328 | 2015-03-30T23:04:44Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131300031.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172140-00188-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978634 | 2,690 |
The query optimizer is one of the most complex pieces of code in the SQL Server database engine. The optimizer's job is to generate a query plan, which is a set of steps that SQL Server will take to carry out a user query. The optimizer makes decisions such as which indexes to use for each table, which join method to use and in which order to process the joined tables, whether to build an internal worktable to hold intermediate results, whether to perform an internal sort, and whether to run the query on multiple processors.
In the next few months, I'll tell you about many of the changes to SQL Server's query optimizer that Microsoft introduced in the last two releases. This month, I look at the optimizer's background and describe ways the optimizer has changed. In upcoming articles, I'll show you examples of queries that are optimized differently in SQL Server 2000 and 7.0 than in previous releases and that perform better because of the changes.
The Old Days
Before SQL Server 7.0, the optimizer had very few choices to make. It evaluated each possibly useful index and either chose one of them or chose to perform a table scan. SQL Server could process a JOIN operation in only one way, so the optimizer needed to decide only the order in which to join the tables. SQL Server could process GROUP BY and DISTINCT queries in only one way, and a query couldn't run on multiple processors.
The optimizer in SQL Server 6.5 and earlier releases was so straightforward that once you understood the way it worked and the way SQL Server could use indexes, you could predict fairly accurately what the query plan would (or should) be, even before running the query. If the optimizer didn't produce the plan you thought it should, you could enable a couple of trace flags to see the steps that the optimizer took to determine the plan and all the potential plans the optimizer considered. In addition, the optimizer had so few choices to make that if it didn't make the best choice, Microsoft considered it a bug. In effect, you had an implied guarantee that the optimizer's query plan was always the best plan.
For SQL Server 7.0, Microsoft completely rewrote the optimizer and added many query-processing techniques. The updated optimizer was completely modular so that as Microsoft developers added new processing techniques to the product, they could easily amend the optimizer to consider each new technique in any query plan.
The query optimizer in SQL Server 7.0 and later releases is orders of magnitude more complex than its predecessors. SQL Server can use so many different processing strategies that, for many queries, it's almost impossible to predict which plan the optimizer will choose. These releases also have no equivalent to the trace flags that showed you the plans the optimizer was considering, probably because the optimizer goes through hundreds of thousands of steps to choose each plan, so the output of such trace flags would be too complex to use.
As I mentioned, before SQL Server 7.0, you had a kind of guarantee that the optimizer would find the best plan to process your query as long as the optimizer had all the information it needed. If you, as a programmer, could use a query hint and make the query perform better, it meant that the optimizer hadn't come up with the best plan, and Microsoft usually considered this to be a bug. SQL Server 2000 and 7.0 carry no such guarantee, either implicit or explicit. In these releases, the optimizer's goal is to find a "good-enough" plan. In most cases, this plan will be the best—but not always.
You can think of the current optimizer's processes for coming up with a query plan as cyclical, with each iteration of the cycle trying a more complex plan. For example, the first iteration might evaluate the cost of using only each table's clustered index and a simple nested-loop join. If that approach doesn't produce a good plan, the optimizer might evaluate nonclustered indexes, then different join methods, then try using multiple indexes.
As the optimizer evaluates increasingly complex plans, it calculates the cost-benefit ratio of continuing to search for a better plan than any it has found so far. For example, suppose the optimizer spends 1ms finding a plan that it estimates will take 30ms to execute, then determines that it might find a plan that would run in 25ms—but finding it would take 2 more seconds. SQL Server will usually decide that the cost of continued searching isn't worth the benefit. So, it uses the plan that takes 30ms, which the optimizer decided was good enough.
If you think that plan isn't good enough, you could try modifying your query with hints. You might find that by using hints to force SQL Server to use particular indexes and join methods, you can reduce the execution time to 25ms. The fact that you can find a faster plan is no longer considered an optimizer bug; it's a choice. It was SQL Server's choice to stop the optimizer from continuing to search for a better plan. And you have a choice, too—whether to use the hint in your code for that 5ms performance gain.
Can You Take a Hint?
I don't intend to fully explain all the query hints you can use when writing SQL Server queries. Not all hints affect the plan that the query optimizer chooses; quite a few query hints control the locking mechanisms that SQL Server uses when executing a query, so they're irrelevant to this discussion. However, I want to make sure you understand a couple of important details about hints.
First, a hint isn't really a hint as we know it. In English, a hint is a gentle suggestion, but in SQL Server terms, a hint is more like an order. Unless the order is physically or logically impossible, SQL Server will obey any hint you give it.
Also, bear in mind that a hint that improves your query performance today might make it worse tomorrow. Once you use a hint to tell SQL Server how to process your query, you lose all benefit of the incredibly sophisticated query optimizer. A change in your data distribution because of updates or batch loads might mean that the hinted query plan is no longer optimal, but the optimizer can't decide to disregard the hint and come up with a better plan.
Running the Numbers
One of the most important things the query optimizer needs for decision-making is accurate, up-to-date statistical information about your data values and their distribution. Although the way that SQL Server tracks statistics has changed over the years, the idea is still the same. Statistics give the optimizer a way to make an educated guess about an index's usefulness.
For example, you're probably familiar with the basic structure of a nonclustered index, in which the leaf level has a pointer (also called a bookmark) for every data row in the table. Suppose you have a nonclustered index on a field called lastname. Every lastname value in the table, including duplicates, is in the leaf level of the index, and a pointer indicates where to find that row in the table. The last names in the index's leaf level are in order, so all the names that start with Mc are near each other. However, the corresponding table rows might be on separate data pages, possibly spread out over dozens of pages. A query to find all those surnames might look like this:
SELECT lastname, firstname, address, phone FROM PeopleTable WHERE lastname LIKE 'Mc%'
In general, a nonclustered index is useful only if you need to access a very few rows through the index. If you need to access a lot of rows, scanning the whole table might be more efficient because SQL Server wouldn't have to follow all the bookmark pointers. How many rows are "a lot" depends on many factors, including the size of the table, the percentage of rows to be accessed, and the number of rows that fit on a page. I've found that if a query needs to access less than 1 percent of a table's rows, SQL Server can effectively use a nonclustered index that helps locate those rows. Of course, that's just a ballpark figure; every query and index will have their own cutoff point. (For more details about the use of indexes, see my July 2001 column, "Are You in Tune?" InstantDoc ID 21038.)
How can SQL Server know, before your query has executed, whether the table contains a lot of names that start with Mc or only a few? The answer is that it can get an estimate by examining the index statistics. As I mentioned, the format of statistics changed completely in SQL Server 7.0 and again in SQL Server 2000. For details about how SQL Server 2000 stores statistics, see the Microsoft white paper "Statistics Used by the Query Optimizer in Microsoft SQL Server 2000" at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library /default.asp?url=/library/techart/statquery .htm. My October 2001 column, "Statistically Speaking," InstantDoc ID 22075, contains additional information about how SQL Server uses index statistics.
For DBAs, one of the most welcome additions that Microsoft made in SQL Server 7.0 was automatic statistics updates. Before SQL Server 7.0, a DBA had to remember to update the statistics on indexes every time data volumes and distribution changed. For example, if last week you had half a dozen customers in Arkansas and you ran a query looking for customers in that state, a nonclustered index on state might have been useful. This week, you acquired two Arkansas-based companies whose customer lists contain thousands of names. Now, using the index that was appropriate last week might give horrible performance. The optimizer in SQL Server 6.5 wouldn't know about the new Arkansas customers unless you manually updated the statistics. Worse, you had no way to update all the statistics in a database. You could use the UPDATE STATISTICS command on only one table at a time, and you'd have to write your own procedure to access every table in the database if you wanted to update all database statistics as part of regular maintenance.
SQL Server 2000 and 7.0 have a database setting called auto update statistics that's set to TRUE by default. Every time an internally defined percentage of values in an index changes, the optimizer updates statistics before trying to determine the optimal plan. In addition, SQL Server 2000 and 7.0 have a stored procedure called sp_updatestats that updates the statistics on every index in the current database.
A related feature Microsoft added in SQL Server 7.0 lets you exclude individual indexes from automatic statistics updates. You can use the WITH NORECOMPUTE option with the UPDATE STATISTICS command to override the database setting of auto update statistics for individual indexes. These options give you almost total control over index-statistics updates.
Put the Optimizer to Work
The optimizer is now so modular and so easy to enhance that Microsoft frequently adds query-processing techniques in service packs without mentioning them in the README file. For most people, that's not a problem. If SQL Server starts performing better after an update to a new service pack, most people won't complain. However, for someone like me who writes and speaks about the optimizer and the various query-processing techniques, it means a recheck of all my demos and sample files after every service-pack upgrade to make sure that my query plans are what I expect them to be. I don't always remember to do this, and I've been taken by surprise in front of an audience more than once. Next month, I'll tell you about some optimizer changes that have caused me embarrassment. And I'll show you some examples of queries that take advantage of these and other improvements in SQL Server. | <urn:uuid:83beb584-5fd4-4717-bec9-4ac6875e049a> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://sqlmag.com/print/t-sql/inside-optimization | 2015-03-27T12:23:20Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131296383.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172136-00080-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937722 | 2,444 |
Spring Flowering Bulbs: Daffodils
Division of Plant Sciences
Few garden plants give as much pleasure with as little effort as daffodils. They are one of the most vigorous and colorful flowers of spring. With good drainage they thrive in most soils, although they prefer a medium-heavy loam.
Planting of naturalized daffodils.
Daffodil, narcissus or jonquil?
Much confusion has existed over the proper name for these plants. Actually, both daffodil and narcissus are correct. Narcissus is the generic botanical name given these plants in 1753. In England, however, the plants commonly were known as daffodils. This term was carried to other countries by English-speaking people. Jonquil refers to a specific kind of narcissus, and is not correct for the group in general. True jonquils have a reedlike leaf and sweet-smelling flowers. Narcissus, then, is the correct botanical name for the genus; daffodil is the correct common name for all members of the genus; and jonquil correctly refers to one particular division of the genus.
Parts of the daffodil flower.
Parts of the flower
The daffodil flower is distinctive in form and consists of a central whorl of tepals (the corona) surrounded by a ring of petals (Figure 1). Daffodils may be separated into 13 major divisions based on several distinctive forms of the flower (Figure 2).
Corona, trumpet or cup
The center part of the flower, which may range from a long, tubular part to a short, flattened disc. If the corona is longer than the petals, it is commonly referred to as a trumpet; if it is shorter, it is known as a cup.
The circle of three petals and three sepals surrounding the central cup or trumpet.
Length of perianth segment
Refers to the petal length from its junction with the corona to its tip.
Length of the corona
Measured from its junction with the petal to the end of its furthest extension when flattened out.
Perhaps the most exacting need of daffodils is good drainage. Bulbs planted in poorly drained locations become weakened, fail to flower and often develop bulb rots. Bulbs in locations that remain moist during summer when soils are very warm develop rots easily. If drainage cannot be improved, raised beds should be built for the daffodils
Daffodils must have sunlight to continue to develop and flower year after year. Since much of their growth is completed before trees fully leaf out, they may be grown beneath trees. In such locations, they may need additional water and fertilizer to compete with tree roots. Plant them where they get at least a half day of sunlight. Avoid north sides of buildings and tall, dense trees such as evergreens.
Because of their need for well-drained conditions, they grow poorly in tight soils that have poor internal drainage even though a location with good surface drainage has been chosen. The natural soil type should not deter anyone from growing daffodils, however, as soils may be improved.
Since the base of the bulbs should be set 5 to 6 inches below the soil surface, and since root feeding is below that level, soil should be worked deeply — about 10 to 12 inches. Light soils generally will not need many amendments, but in heavy clay soils add liberal quantities of coarse sand and some organic material such as peat moss or leaf mold. Animal manures tend to encourage the development of basal rot. In tight soil, as much as six bushels of organic material per 100 square feet of bed area may be added.
Daffodils do not require heavy fertilization. When preparing the beds, use 2 to 3 pounds of a complete garden fertilizer such as a 6-24-24 or other fertilizer with a 1:4:4 or 1:3:3 N-P-K ratio. Incorporate this fertilizer into 100 square feet of soil along with the sand and organic material. Packaged bulb food is convenient to use. When planting bulbs in clumps rather than beds, about a handful of fertilizer per 12 bulbs will be adequate. Be sure to mix the fertilizer thoroughly with the soil. Never place it directly in the bottom of the hole. A high fertilizer concentration can kill newly emerging roots and promote bulb rots.
Where to plant
Daffodils are suitable for the shrub border, perennial beds and among groundcovers. They should be planted in groups of three to a dozen bulbs of one variety for the best effect. They are especially suitable for planting in front of evergreens that provide background and wind protection. Those planted near the house foundation in a southern exposure or those on a southern slope generally flower earlier than the same variety in another location.
Time to plant
Daffodils must have time to develop a good root system before cold weather sets in and the soil freezes. For this reason, planting before mid-October is generally best. In areas where cold weather arrives late, planting as late as Thanksgiving may still give good results. Select large, firm, healthy bulbs to get the most from your planting.
Daffodils should be spaced 6 to 12 inches apart. For a quick display, the closer spacing should be used. Close spacing will require digging the bulbs about every three to five years. If you prefer to leave bulbs in one location longer, the wider spacing should be used.
Depth of planting
Daffodils should be planted so the base of the bulb is about 6 inches below the soil surface. In light soils, bulbs may be planted about 8 inches deep.
Mulching daffodils helps keep soil temperature uniform, keeps down weeds and prevents mud spatter on the flowers during heavy spring rains. Pine needles, wood chips, shredded bark and aged sawdust are all good mulching materials. Peat moss tends to shed water and it splashes blooms badly during hard rains.
Daffodils must have good moisture to flower well. If rainfall is deficient, be sure to water bulbs well after planting and during the fall so that they can develop good roots. If the autumn or winter is dry or if the daffodils are planted under trees, be sure to give additional moisture.
Daffodils need little care during the early spring. Established bulbs should be fertilized lightly each spring just as the leaves begin to come through the soil. Scatter a handful of a garden or bulb fertilizer lightly around each clump. Be careful not to get it on the new leaves or they may be burned. If any gets on the foliage, wash it off promptly. In naturalized areas, spread the fertilizer uniformly over the surface and water it in.
Both during and after flowering, daffodils need plenty of moisture to make active growth. During the summer, when the bulbs are dormant, they should remain fairly dry. Therefore, unless they are removed, daffodils should not be planted in beds that are heavily watered in summer.
The leaves manufacture the food that is stored in the bulb and helps produce flowers the following year. Foliage should be allowed to remain on the plant undisturbed for eight weeks after bloom. After that period, it can be removed by hand-picking. The use of a knife or scissors to remove foliage encourages the spread of virus diseases and should be avoided. Tying the leaves together cuts down the amount of light they receive and reduces food production. When planted in borders, mix daffodils with daylilies, ferns or other plants that partially hide the foliage but still allow it to manufacture food for the bulb. Flower heads should be promptly removed to prevent seed production.
If bulbs have not been planted too close together, daffodils need digging only about every five to 10 years. Usually, when flowering is reduced or flower size becomes smaller, the time for digging and dividing has come.
Dig the bulbs while the foliage is dying and can still be seen so bulbs can be located. A spading fork is best to prevent bruising while digging.
Do not let bulbs lie in the hot sun after they have been dug. Remove loose soil and allow bulbs to dry in shallow trays, onion sacks or old nylon stockings.
Never pile up bulbs while drying or those on the inner part of the pile will be ruined. Allow bulbs to dry in a cool, well-ventilated place for several weeks. Discard any that rot.
After bulbs are dry, the offsets may be removed from the mother bulb, provided they can be separated easily (Figure 3). Remove old, dried skins and roots. After division, place them in a cool, dry location in shallow trays or porous sacks until planting time in the fall. Burlap sacks do not give enough ventilation. Some of the poeticus narcissi have a short dormant period and should be planted immediately after drying.
Offsets may be removed when the bulb is dry.
Insects and diseases
Daffodils have few insect and disease pests. Healthy bulbs planted in good location will have few problems once established.
Bulb rots are perhaps the most frequent cause of disappointment. Plants that have been attacked may not emerge or may have weak or blighted leaves. Bulbs usually begin to rot at the base.
To control the problem, plant high-quality bulbs, well cured and free of cuts or bruises. Well-drained soil is essential to keep the problem from developing. Avoid over-fertilization, especially with nitrogen or manure. Diseased plants should be immediately destroyed so the problem does not spread.
Forcing daffodils for indoors
Daffodils are not difficult to force in the home. Begin the forcing process about Oct. 1. Large bulbs will force best. Soaking the bulbs in a rooting hormone for 24 hours before planting helps develop good root growth. Use a 6- to 8-inch pot with drainage. Use a well-drained soil and fill the pot to 2 inches from the top. Add the bulbs close together and fill the pot with soil. About 5 bulbs may be planted in a 6-inch pot. The noses of the bulbs should be exposed. Water plants thoroughly. Fertilizer will not be needed.
Place the pots in a trench outdoors and cover with soil or soil and leaf mold or peat moss so the pots are covered about 6 inches. The pots may be taken indoors for forcing when they show good top growth and flower buds are clearly visible. This usually takes 10 to 12 weeks. When the pots are first taken indoors, they should be kept in a cool room where temperatures are about 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit for about two weeks. During the next two weeks, they should have temperatures about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. By this time flowers should begin to open and plants may be moved where desired. Keep the plants well watered. Not all varieties force well. In general, the earliest bloom for plants forced in this way is Valentine's Day. Some cultivars that force well are Abba, Avalanche, Beryl, Bridal Crown, Cantitrice, Carbineer, Carlton, Cragford, February Gold, Fortune, Geranium, King Alfred, Peeping Tom, Printal, Saint Keverne and Silver Chimes.
Selecting varieties for outdoors
Many daffodil cultivars are available in a wide range of types and prices. Most can be grown with some success in our area. Others show more vigor and durability. We cannot begin to name all suitable cultivars. Gardeners are urged to access the American Daffodil Society website, www.daffodilusa.org, for a complete list of cultivars. If a desired cultivar is not available locally, it generally can be obtained from bulb and daffodil specialists commonly listed in popular garden magazines. | <urn:uuid:32614db0-e288-40e2-a828-a05475f4faab> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.extension.missouri.edu/p/G6610 | 2015-03-27T11:57:57Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131296383.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172136-00080-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939709 | 2,474 |
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|T O P I C R E V I E W
||Posted - 04 mars 2008 : 19:49:34
UPDATED BY GPSPASSION 20110616 : The Q2/2011 edition is now available via Navigon Fresh, that would normally translate to Navteq Q4/2010 maps.
UPDATED BY GPSPASSION 20110419 : The Q1/2011 edition is now available via Navigon Fresh, that would normally translate to Navteq Q3/2010 maps.
UPDATED BY GPSPASSION 20110110 : The Q4/2010 edition is now available via Navigon Fresh, that would normally translate to Navteq Q2/2010 maps.
UPDATED BY GPSPASSION 20101025 : The Q3/2010 edition is now available via Navigon Fresh, that would normally translate to Navteq Q1/2010 maps.
UPDATED BY GPSPASSION 20100726 : The Q2/2010 edition is now available via Navigon Fresh, that would normally translate to Navteq Q4/2009 maps.
UPDATED BY GPSPASSION 20100427 : The Q1/2010 edition is now available via Navigon Fresh, that would normally translate to Navteq Q3/2009 maps.
MAC version of the Fresh software (OS X, v10.5 and above) also available.
UPDATED BY GPSPASSION 20091207 : The Q3/2009 edition is now available via Navigon Fresh, that would normally translate to Navteq Q1/2008 maps.
UPDATED BY GPSPASSION 20090520 : Q2/2009 edition available, that would normally translate to Navteq Q4/2008 maps.
UPDATED BY GPSPASSION 20090128 - New Q1/2009 Freshmaps available, details in this topic.
UPDATED BY GPSPASSION 20081105 - As expected the new Navigon Q4/2008 Maps (Navteq Q2/2008) maps are now available via the FreshMaps program as well as a free MN|7 update for the 2100max and 2120max models. A good surprise since software upgrades are far and between on GPS systems. Not such a good surprise is TMC Traffic information that has stopped working properly with the Q4/2008 maps as discussed in this topic in detail.
As a side-note, if you don't have your Navigon Fresh subscrition yet, you can get it here for a low $25 vs the $79 MSRP.
UPDATED BY GPSPASSION 20080801 - The Navigon FreshMaps program has now launched in the US, just in time to meet the July 31st deadline for the release of Q3/2008 FreshMaps that are in fact Navteq Q1/2008 maps. Still these are the most up to date maps available on a GPS system at this point, Garmin's "2009 maps" being Navteq 2007 based, and represents a little revolution in the world of GPS where getting map updates has always been problematic. The fact that Navigon are only asking $79 (street price : $59) for 3 years and 12 map updates makes it a deal that's difficult to pass on. Forum member aljacket has downloaded the maps and has started sharing his thoughts on page 3.
Navigon is going to a subscription model for map updates. It actually looks like one heck of a deal to me.
Basically you pay $79 and you get 12 map downloads over a 3 year period. They say they will release a map update whenever navteq does an update. That's less then $7 per map update if you download them all.
"NAVIGON Unveils Fresh Approach to Map Updates - NAVIGON's FreshMaps provides users with three years of quality map updates
CHICAGO, March 4, 2008 – NAVIGON, the fastest growing brand in GPS navigation in North America, today announced a bold solution to a conundrum that is as old as the consumer GPS category itself: how to provide consumers regular, easy access to quality map updates.
NAVIGON's convincing response to the dilemma is FreshMaps, a new service that ensures NAVIGON GPS devices stay accurate and viable over the long haul by allowing users to download up to 12 map updates in three years. NAVIGON FreshMaps is available for all NAVIGON 7100, 5100, and 2100/2120 series devices and can be purchased online and at major North American retail outlets for $79.99 (MSRP)... continues here on the Navigon site.
They have also announced a new 2100 model called the 2100 max, see this topic (ed)
|15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)
||Posted - 05 nov. 2012 : 14:45:12
Maybe, but I still downloaded the latest maps from Fresh a couple months ago, and can still log into the Navigon site, but the Navigon site no longer lists my devices with Fresh subscriptions, which is why I cannot do a zip download.
||Posted - 05 nov. 2012 : 10:26:31
I thought they stop stop supporting Navigon this past summer?
||Posted - 05 nov. 2012 : 05:32:40
I am using the older version, specifically 1.4.7.
||Posted - 05 nov. 2012 : 02:31:41
Well there is a problem, unless I am just missing something. I am able to launch fresh and login, but when I try to select my device, I get a message that indicates something to the effect that my software is not currently supported.
Are you using the older version of fresh, or a newer version where you must create a new account with garmin?
||Posted - 04 nov. 2012 : 20:52:27
I still cannot get the updates from the website, but Fresh works, and I save the zip that is temporarily downloaded as a backup.
If you have fresh, try using the website as that should include all the software along with the maps which you will need if you wiped your flash.
||Posted - 03 nov. 2012 : 16:50:59
elkinm, were you ever able to find a zip file of the last update you were able to download?
I have a 8100T that kept locking up on me this past week. So I thought I would try refreshing the card, but find I did not keep the last file I downloaded.
I would appreciate any help you might be able to provide.
||Posted - 06 juin 2012 : 01:27:33
Big waste of time, it is no deal unless you send your old unit back and pay the postage
||Posted - 04 juin 2012 : 01:14:21
Thanks for that info... I'll try calling them to see what they will do for a 5100 exchange.
||Posted - 04 juin 2012 : 01:06:15
They sent me a E-Mail
Thank you for contacting Garmin International. I will be happy to help
you with this. Over the past year, Navigon has been acquired by Garmin
International. Because of this, there is no way to correct or update
your device. Garmin will be happy to exchange your Navigon 2100 max for
a Nuvi 2455LT unit for $99. This will be a new device, however it will
only have a 90 day warranty. If you would like to find out more
information on this device, please click on the following link.
If you would like to do this, please contact the Garmin/Navigon phone
number, 866-273-4271, as we cannot take payment via email. Our phone
hours are Mon-Thur, 8-6 Central, and Fri, 8-5. If you have any other
questions, please reply to this email. Thank you.
||Posted - 03 juin 2012 : 02:05:36
Hmmm.. I have an old Navigon 5100. I wonder what they would charge me for an uypgrade of some sort for that unit ?
How did you learn of the upgrade possibility from Garmin ?
||Posted - 03 juin 2012 : 01:56:14
Anyone get the E-Mail from Garmin?
Over the past year, Navigon has been acquired by Garmin
International. Because of this, there is no way to correct or update
your device. Garmin will be happy to exchange your Navigon 2100 max for a Nuvi 2455LT unit for $99.
||Posted - 07 avr. 2012 : 07:25:59
Navigon Freshmaps Q1/2012 is out.
||Posted - 05 avr. 2012 : 16:37:33
Anyone tried to active a new Freshmap recently? Mine is going to end very soon.
||Posted - 19 févr. 2012 : 09:10:33
Just downloaded the Q4-2011 maps form FreshMaps. I still cannot get the standalone zip from the site so I did it with the app.
This map seems to induce all of North America as the previous had only the 48 states.
Also, this map changed how street names are displayed. Capital first letter then lower case. This also has a script which converts the routes and favorites to the new name format.
It was interesting to see the difference. Will see if I like it more on the road.
||Posted - 30 déc. 2011 : 03:47:14
free navigon 5100 max USA maps
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The Moffat County High School varsity football team is making a strong postseason push, and tonight’s game could make the difference. The Bulldogs play rival Steamboat Springs in the final game of the regular season. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at MCHS, 900 Finley Lane. Traditionally known as the Yampa Valley Showdown, tonight’s game is a highly-anticipated one, with the Bulldogs looking for their first victory against the Sailors since 2004.
Through Diana Allen Kouris’ words, she has been able to capture what life was like in the days of Old West cattle ranching in Browns Park, she said. “I have had many people tell me that they felt like they were right there, riding beside us, living that life and eating the meals with us, and all,” said Kouris, a Kinnear, Wyo., resident. “That is a tremendous compliment to me, for my writing, because that was my dream.” It was for her vivid depiction of Wild West life that Kouris thinks her book, “Riding the Edge of an Era: Growing Up Cowboy on the Outlaw Trail,” was recently honored with two awards.
A baby crying at 3 a.m. is normal. A baby crying at 3 a.m. because he’s being dangled in midair by an invisible spirit is something else entirely. Such is the conundrum in “Paranormal Activity 2.” The Reys are a typical San Diego clan consisting of Kristi (Sprague Grayden), Dan (Brian Boland) and Dan’s daughter from a previous marriage, Ali (Molly Ephraim). With the arrival of baby Hunter (Jackson Xenia and William Juan Prieto), the family is complete.
On the Record for Nov. 5, 2010
Foul play ruled out in death of local 37-year-old
Foul play was ruled out in the death of a local 37-year-old. Routt County Search and Rescue also was sent to search for a lost hunter south of Hayden. The hunter was found in good condition.
Republican’s departure eliminates Western Slope representation
State Sen. Al White a Hayden Republican, essentially was ousted from the powerful House-Senate committee by his own party after serving on it for four years. He said one negative impact for Northwest Colorado residents would be the lack of Western Slope representation on the committee.
Regular unleaded and diesel prices as of Thursday afternoon.
The Certifying Commission in Medical Management recently designated Dr. J. Scott Ellis, chief of obstetrics at The Memorial Hospital in Craig, as a Certified Physician Executive, according to a news release from the hospital. Ellis also completed his MBA in 2009, and was recently named as the hospital’s next chief of staff, beginning in January 2011. “We are very proud of Dr. Ellis’s accomplishment,” said George Rohrich, TMH chief executive officer, in the hospital’s release. “It further demonstrates his commitment to excellence. We are excited about Dr. Ellis’s impending leadership role with the other medical staff, as he brings a great deal of knowledge and experience to the organization.”
Luke Schafer, Colorado Environmental Coalition northwest campaign coordinator, said the message of the video “One in a Vermillion” is basic. “Vermillion Basin is a phenomenal place, and we in America need wild places like (it),” he said. “One of our purposes should be to make sure that our kids have a little bit of what we have had. “If nothing else, surely we can save this one place for posterity’s sake.”
Craig Mayor Don Jones needed just a few words to describe his response to a letter from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals regarding the city’s discussion on deer removal. “Very politically correct,” he said with a laugh. Jones said the city received a letter from PETA on Oct. 28, and he responded Tuesday.
When CJ Walt saw the football schedule for this year, he liked that the last regular season game of his senior year was against Steamboat Springs. “I circled that game,” Walt said. “It’s a big one for us.” The Western Slope League athletic directors did what they could to set up rivalry games this year in the last week of the season.
The Maybell Seniors group is hosting a chili and pie dinner at 5 p.m. today at the Maybell Community Center. The all-you-can-eat dinner costs $6 per person. For more information, call 272-3226. Coffee House slated for today in Craig The Friday Night Coffee House is scheduled for tonight at Serendipity Coffee Shop, 578 Yampa Ave.
To the editor: I have been reading the letters in the Craig paper about the deer in town. I am appalled. I lived in Craig from 1959 until 1974 and managed the Montgomery Ward stores. I felt Craig was fortunate to have deer in town. We moved to Dixon, Wyo., and deer go down my street all the time and my dog barks at them and the deer run the other way.
To the editor: We agree with Kathy Harkner about the deer problem. The proposal should include a part about people who think deer are “pets,” who do not see them as a threat and to the people who refuse to go along with the proposals of the Craig City Council. These people can establish and maintain a fund to assist victims of deer attacks with vet bills, compensation for pets that are injured or killed, and for human victims and their families.
8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Senior swimnastics takes place at the American Legion Post 62 pool, 1055 Moffat County Road 7. Call 824-3625. 9 to 11 a.m. Playgroup for toddler/preschool-age children takes place at the Early Childhood Development Preschool at the Moffat County School District administrative building, 775 Yampa Ave. Call Kevin at 824-1703 or Ann Anderson at 826-2717.
To the editor: Knowing about your family’s health history goes a long way toward preventing serious diseases like diabetes. Many people who develop type 2 diabetes have one or more family members with the disease, so it’s important to know your family’s diabetes health history. The good news is that people with a family history of diabetes can take steps now to prevent or delay the onset of the disease.
As a kid, the land of politics and all that came with it was about as interesting as pulling weeds in one of Grandma’s gardens. My two brothers, myself and the occasional worthless cousin would wander all over the place dragging any tool that might pull a weed out of the dirt by itself. Of course, this would end with Uncle Blaine herding us all back to the tool shed with his simple — yet direct to our bottoms — speech about the joys of a short-handled hoe and the many reasons we had opposable thumbs and sheep didn’t.
One morning while brushing my teeth, I glimpsed myself in the mirror and saw an undeniable truth: I’m old. The approach of my birthday next week had nothing to do with my realization. I’ve looked forward to birthdays since my sister and I decreed them free-eating days: food without guilt. How could such a grand occasion not be happy? Seeing myself every day, I usually don’t notice gradual changes: wrinkles turning into crevices, gray hairs multiplying like rabbits, dry skin taking on the texture of a turtle’s sh
Oak Creek neighbor, bartender respond to woman's involvement
On a thin slice of dirt road is 424 Bell Ave., a small house with plastic across several windows and a deteriorating exterior. Part-time Steamboat Springs resident Brooks Kellogg, 72, owns that house. It’s the former home of a woman who has told the FBI she used to be Kellogg’s mistress. Kellogg was arrested Oct. 19 on suspicion of trying to pay for the killing of a Florida man.
Tigers hope to slow run-1st Pirates
The Hayden High School football team is back in the playoffs, and it’s to make it more than a one-game stay, Tigers’ coach Shawn Baumgartner said the team would have to be at its best for a 1 p.m. Saturday game. The Tigers, the 16-team tournament’s No. 9 seed, will open the playoffs on the road against 7-2 foe Monte Vista, No. 8.
Dear Annie: I’ve known my 26-year-old stepdaughter, “Monica,” since she was 5. She never spent much time with her father, but when the first grandchild was born, she came by more often because she wanted a babysitter. Her dad and I were together 21 years before he passed away six months ago.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) — You couldn’t find a better day to disengage yourself from an unproductive involvement. Once you cut loose, you’ll free yourself up and be able to work on a more profitable endeavor. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) — Something you’ve been viewing only from an intellectual level can be advanced even further by following a powerful hunch that you can’t ignore. | <urn:uuid:d9729f2c-6318-4b39-8e16-7d9b7acfd233> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2010/nov/05/ | 2015-03-29T10:54:30Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298464.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00196-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96723 | 2,013 |
Having listened to Josh, it was plain to George that in addition to his grief, the young man was blaming himself for Lee’s accident. ‘Have you thought about having a word with your doctor?’
‘Why? I am not ill,’ Josh replied.
‘But you are depressed, it occurs to me that you feel that you are to blame for the fatal crash and that is why you feel as low as you do,’ George suggested.
‘Why else should he have gone up in that wretched glider and ended his life, it has to be because of the way I went on at him over that fuck fest he was having when I walked in on him.’ By now Josh was near to tears and George sought to comfort him.
‘Surely there was some investigation following the accident; was it determined that he had committed suicide?’ George asked.
‘They found a fault in the glider’s controls; it should never have been taken up there was no question of suicide.’ Josh said. ‘He was still in a bad mood when he went out that morning.’
‘But he could not have launched the glider alone, he had to have help – a tow plane with a pilot?’ George replied.
‘Yes, of course.’
‘There you are then, he did not just walk out on you with the intent to kill himself. He must have pre-arranged the flight. For your own sanity you must accept that what happened was a very unfortunate unplanned accident. From what you have told me, I am sure that Lee loved you and although he was not always as faithful as you would have him be, he did love you and would never do anything that would hurt you. You have the rest of your life in front of you, cheer up and start to enjoy it again. Tell you what; Patrick is lonely make friends with him. I’m not suggesting that he should be a surrogate for Lee or anything like that but you are two young men in need of companionship.’ George sat back in his chair to see how Josh would react. His words seemed to have a good effect and instinctively both men stood and approached one another. George felt Josh’s arms go round him in a hug. They stood hugging for some moments and Josh kissed George lightly on the cheek. ‘Thank you,’ he said.
‘Go and find Patrick, thank him personally for his story, see how you get on with him,’ George said softly as they broke apart. Josh smiled and nodded and made his way from the room. As he walked along the corridor to go back downstairs he met Patrick who was on his way to his room.
‘Hi!’ Patrick said.
‘I hoped to see you,’ Josh replied. ‘I wanted to thank you for the story, it quite moved me and has helped me to bury some of my own ghosts.’
‘Why don’t you come in and join me for a night cap. I’ve got a bottle of single malt whisky that is crying out for some attention,’ Patrick said with a welcoming smile.
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Several tots of whisky later the two young men lay back on the bed upon which they had been sitting as they chatted into the wee small hours of the night. Comfortable in each other’s alcoholic haze they fell asleep. Part way through the night Patrick woke and pulled a comforter over Josh and himself, for although they had not undressed the air in the room was quite chilly. Josh gave a little whimper as the bedding closed over him but did not wake.
It was early morning when Josh did wake and he was aware of a weight upon his chest. Opening his eyes he looked down and saw that Patrick had turned on his side and it was his right arm that lay across him. Feeling an urgent need to urinate, Josh gently lifted the arm up and moved it away. He got up from the bed and made his way the adjoining bathroom. As he relieved himself he wondered whether he should rejoin Patrick on the bed or make his way quietly to his own room. Before he could make a decision Patrick walked into the bathroom rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
‘Sorry,’ Patrick said, ‘I didn’t realize you were in here.’
‘No problem,’ Josh replied as he pushed the flush lever. ‘Did you sleep OK?’
‘Yes, thanks, like a babe. The single malt helps but it has left me with a slightly thick head. I guess a nice hot shower will help clear it.’
‘Yeah, I find a shower does help after I’ve had a few too many,’ Josh replied. ‘’I guess I will go and take one.’
‘Why go, share mine it’s a double shower stall – shame to not use it,’ Patrick said as he stood at the lavatory pan and pulled out his cock to pee.
‘I think that sounds like a good idea,’ Josh said with a grin. Patrick finished his business and they both went back into the bedroom to shed their crumpled clothes. Naked they returned to the bathroom and Patrick turned on the shower to let the water run warm. ‘You’ve got a fine body,’ he remarked as he cast an appreciative eye over Josh’s frame. The two men were of similar height and build but Patrick’s body was pale through lack of exposure to the sun whereas Josh had a fine tan that covered all but the outline of a Speedo around his butt and lower abdomen. T was then that Josh did something that he had wanted to do from the moment he first set eyes on Patrick, he closed in on him and kissed him on the mouth.
‘Wow! Where did that come from?’ Patrick exclaimed.
‘I’m sorry if I have offended you,’ Josh replied, feeling embarrassed by his action.
‘No not at all, on e of us had to make the first move and I am happy you made it,’ Patrick replied putting his arms around Josh and holding him in a close hug. ‘So what now, shower or bed?’
‘Let’s have that shower, it will wash away the effects of last night’s drinking and we can take up the bed option to follow,’ Josh laughed. By now the shower was running warm and they stepped into the cubicle. They soaped one another and explored their bodies with their hands growing every more horny and eager for what was to follow. Cleansed and refreshed they grabbed towels and dried off and walked back into the bedroom. Patrick draped his towel around his waist and carefully opened the door to the hallway in order to hang a ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door. He then dropped the towel and climbed onto the bed where Josh was laying in wait for him.
Patrick knelt between Josh’s legs and took a gentle grip on his flaccid penis. Josh smiled in anticipation as Patrick brought his lips to the tip he exposed as he had drawn back the foreskin to reveal it in all its glory. It took seconds for Josh’s cock to respond and start to grow hard. Using his left hand to guide Josh’s cock as he sucked on it and teased it with his lips, he reached up his right hand and Josh took it and put the thumb in his own mouth, sucking on it and then sucking each finger in turn. With his fingers lubricated by Josh’s saliva, Patrick explored the crack below the penis and balls that were enjoying the attention of his mouth. Josh shifted his hips so that Patrick could place a finger on his rose bud pucker. Josh moaned with pleasure as he felt the finger exploring his secret place.
Then Patrick lifted Josh’s legs so that he could get a clear view of the butt hole his finger had been working. The light covering of hair was no deterrent to his desire to rim Josh. Where his finger had probed Patrick’s tongue was playing and pressing, licking and savouring Josh’s man pussy. With Josh’s hole slick with saliva Patrick eased a finger in to find his prostate, rubbing it softly to enhance Josh’s sensual pleasure.
‘God that feels so good,’ Josh said. ‘Fuck me, I want you deep inside me,’ he pleaded. Patrick’s cock was hard and dripping pre-cum that acted as a further lubricant as he pressed the pulsating mushroom head into Josh’s anus. His hands pressed Josh’s legs back on to his abdomen and Josh jerked on his cock in time with the thrusts of Patrick’s deep invasion of his rectum. Using his muscles, Josh clenched tightly on Patrick’s cock as it was shoved piston like in and out of his hole. He could feel and hear Patrick’s balls as they slapped against his ass. They continued like this for some time but Patrick’s knees were beginning to feel sore from their pressure on the bedding. A quick change of position and with Patrick now flat on his back, Josh sat astride him looking down at Patricks smiling face as he reached behind himself to guide Patrick’s cock back into his hungry hole.
It was Josh that was doing the work now as he rode Patrick’s ever harder cock, feeling it pulsating inside him as he began to climax. Josh jerked hard on his own cock and with a cry of ‘Oh fuck! I’m cuming!’ he shot a hot wad over Patrick’s chest. Patrick scooped it up with his fingers and licked it off. Josh leaned forward and kissed Patrick sharing the taste of his cum that Patrick was swilling around in his mouth. Josh then lifted himself free of Patrick’s cock and scooted down the bed so that he could suck up Patrick’s juices as he finally ejaculated in three or four hot jets of cum.
They lay spooned, Josh behind Patrick for some twenty minutes or so when Josh’s cock that had gone soft after he had cum was slowly erect again. Patrick felt the knob probing his ass and he lifted his leg so that Josh could penetrate him with comparative ease. Josh used a slow and regular rhythm giving Patrick as much pleasure as he was enjoying himself until he came again filling Patrick’s hole with hot jism. All that was necessary from that point was to bring Patrick to another climax which Josh achieved by giving him a blow job that resulted on a mouthful of salty man juice. It was Josh’s turn to share the spoils with Patrick and they worked their tongues over and over in the sticky white cum until they had swallowed it in its entirety.
When they arrived some time later in the dining room looking for a late breakfast George smiled to see their faces both looking like the cat that got the cream. ‘Good morning guys,’ George said greeting them.
‘The best of mornings,’ Patrick replied and Josh smiled in happy agreement.
George went off to tell Scott that a little bit of magic had been worked and they had two more truly satisfied guests. | <urn:uuid:19b3f621-1f82-40e6-8d8e-22b72f622e10> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.justusboys.com/forum/threads/382046-Tales-from-Gledhill-House/page2?p=8325109&viewfull=1 | 2015-03-29T11:20:56Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298464.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00196-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.991522 | 2,405 |
Thursday July 12 2012
The swine flu vaccine is far safer than many common medications
“H1N1 vaccine linked to potentially fatal nervous system condition,” is the frightening headline in the Daily Telegraph.
The story is based on research looking at whether the H1N1 ‘swine flu’ vaccine could increase the chances of people developing a neurological disorder called Guillain-Barré syndrome (an uncommon condition that in a small proportion of cases can cause paralysis). The study was an attempt to calculate whether using the H1N1 vaccine would lead to an increase in cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome.
The researchers found evidence of a ‘statistically significant’ increase in cases of the disease (ie it was not likely to be due to chance). However, the increase was small. The researchers estimated that for every 500,000 people vaccinated against swine flu, there would be approximately one additional case of Guillain-Barré syndrome diagnosed in the province. In addition, while Guillain-Barré syndrome can be fatal, this only occurs in around one in 20 cases. Most people with the condition make a full recovery within six to 12 months.
The Telegraph’s story is accurate but its headline is arguably needlessly alarmist. Vaccine scare stories may help to sell newspapers, but by putting people off getting vaccines they could indirectly contribute to otherwise avoidable deaths.
Most experts would argue that the potential benefits of vaccination far outweigh any potential risk.
Where did the story come from?
The study was carried out by researchers from Laval University, the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services and other Canadian institutions. The research was funded by the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services and the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The study was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association.
Generally, the story was reported appropriately, but the Telegraph headline over-emphasised the 'potentially fatal' nature of the disorder. However, its main story did report the wide range of risk increases found and the fact that there were only a small number of cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome.
What kind of research was this?
This was a cohort study that examined the association between the H1N1 vaccine and Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). GBS is a rare nervous system disorder, where the body’s own immune system attacks the nerves in the body (in other words, it is an 'autoimmune' condition, which rheumatoid arthritis is too). People with the disorder experience muscle weakness and altered sensation in the limbs and body. In serious cases it can lead to paralysis, including paralysis of the muscles involved in breathing. If this happens, it can be life-threatening and require the patient to be placed on a ventilator. The exact cause of the disorder is not known, but the condition is thought to result from a bacterial or viral infection that causes the patient’s immune system to attack the nerves that control sensation and movement. Approximately 80% of people with GBS recover fully. Others may experience long or life-threatening complications.
A version of the H1N1 vaccine developed during the 1970s was linked to an increase of GBS cases in the US. During the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic, a mass immunisation campaign was carried out in Quebec, Canada. Due to the previous links between the vaccine and GBS, the chief medical officer of Quebec ordered a study to monitor cases of GBS in the months following the vaccination campaign. This allowed the researchers to compare the risk of developing GBS among people who were vaccinated with the expected risk to the unvaccinated population.
Conducting a cohort study such as this allows for the identification of unexpected clusters of GBS cases above what would normally be expected. This has advantages over other methods of cluster investigations, which often rely on the initial reporting of cases before defining the populations, exposures or outcomes of interest. Defining these factors first, and then designing a study to investigate them, helps to remove bias and confounding factors from the research.
What did the research involve?
The researchers collected data during the H1N1 immunisation campaign, which targeted all residents of Quebec over six months old (approximately 7.8 million people). During the campaign, 57% of this population (4.4 million people) received the H1N1 jab.
The researchers then monitored new cases of GBS diagnosed in Quebec during the six months following the immunisation campaign. They collected data on the date that symptoms began and determined whether or not the individual with GBS had received the H1N1 jab.
The researchers then compared new cases of GBS between people who had received the jab and those who had not, and calculated the relative risk of developing GBS if given the H1N1 vaccination. They calculated this risk at four, six and eight weeks after immunisation in different patient subgroups using several different statistical methods. The researchers also determined the 'attributable risk' over a million vaccine doses, estimating the number of GBS cases that would be likely to arise for every million H1N1 jabs.
What were the basic results?
A total of 83 cases of GBS were identified during the six months after the immunisation campaign, equating to an overall GBS incidence rate of 2.3 cases per 100,000 person-years (a measure that accounts for both the number of the people in the population and their time at risk of developing the condition). Approximately 69% of individuals with GBS were men, and the median age of those affected was 49.
Of these 83 cases, 25 had been vaccinated up to eight weeks before experiencing GBS symptoms. A higher percentage of elderly people with GBS was seen in the vaccinated group than in the unvaccinated group.
When comparing new cases of GBS between the two groups, the researchers found:
- A significant increase in risk of developing GBS among vaccinated individuals compared with unvaccinated individuals during the first four weeks after vaccination (relative risk 2.75, 95% confidence interval 1.63 to 4.62). This represented a small absolute difference in the rate of new GBS cases between the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups, with 5.60 cases per 100,000 person-years in the vaccinated group during the four weeks following vaccination, compared to 1.97 per 100,000 person-years in the unvaccinated group (rate difference of 3.63 per 100,000 person-years).
- Approximately 2.7 cases of GBS per 1 million vaccine doses were possibly attributable to the H1N1 jab (95% confidence interval 1.7 to 3.4); another way to think of this would be if 1 million fewer vaccines were given during the immunisation campaign, there would possibly be 2.7 fewer cases of GBS diagnosed in Quebec during the follow-up period. This excess risk was only significant for GBS cases diagnosed within the first four weeks following vaccination. The risk became non-significant when examining cases diagnosed six and eight weeks after receiving the jab.
During subgroup analysis based on age, the researchers found that the excess risk was significant only in people over the age of 60 (relative risk 2.69, 95% confidence interval 1.51 to 4.80).
How did the researchers interpret the results?
The researchers concluded that a cluster of GBS cases occurred shortly after the Quebec H1N1 immunisation campaign, but that the “benefits of immunisation outweigh the risks”.
A study has indicated that people who received a version of the H1N1 influenza vaccine were at significantly increased risk of developing Guillain-Barré syndrome in the four weeks following vaccination.
GBS is a rare but serious nervous system disorder that can sometimes be life-threatening, particularly in older people. This study found an increase in risk of developing GBS in the four weeks following the H1N1 swine flu vaccination, and the excess risk was observed only among older people. This is important to note, as people over the age of 65 are considered to be at high risk of complications if they have the flu. The causes of GBS are not known, but the condition has been observed to follow bacterial or viral infection. Given this, it is entirely plausible that there could be a small risk following a vaccination, which administers a small quantity of the infection to build up immunity.
It is worth noting that the WHO has declared that the H1N1 influenza pandemic has ended. However, people in high-risk groups are advised to be vaccinated against the strain, as it is still in circulation. The WHO has also recommended that the 2012 to 2013 flu vaccines include protection against the H1N1 strain.
Weighing up the benefits and risks is important when considering any medical procedure, including vaccinations. The researchers reported that during the 2009 flu season, the risk of being hospitalised with H1N1 swine flu was 1 in 2,500, and the risk of death was 1 in 73,000. When compared with the risk of developing GBS during this period, they concluded that the benefits of immunisations outweigh the risks.
However, this comparison does not appear to consider the effectiveness of the H1N1 jab at preventing individuals from developing the flu.
Analysis by NHS Choices. Follow Behind the Headlines on twitter. | <urn:uuid:b1fc1168-08ed-4068-aaa7-c5ba655a727a> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.nhs.uk/news/2012/07July/Pages/Swine-flu-deadly-condition-claim.aspx | 2015-03-29T10:34:50Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298464.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00196-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969795 | 1,952 |
Ruggs Ranch: A Fertile Base for the Touring Motorcyclist
Traveling East-Central Oregon via Motorcycle
Sitting on the patio sipping a quality cup of hot coffee, we await the morning sunrise that is about 20 minutes away. The yellow-orange hue of the coming morning light is the backdrop for the picturesque valley before us. It stretches away to the east and has a deep golden color, as it had been planted months ago with several different grain crops.
On this trip, our travels are based out of Ruggs Ranch, located in a relatively remote area of Morrow County in east-central Oregon. Primarily a hunting ranch, Ruggs Ranch caters to the sportsman.
Herd-managed big game hunts include elk and deer, taken by bow or rifle. Wild birds, including Hungarian and Chukar partridge, pheasant, and quail, are hunted by horseback or horse-drawn wagon, with Ruggs’ specialty – side-by-side and over-and-under shotguns. Sporting clays are also available.
At over 2500 feet in elevation, Ruggs Ranch affords a pleasing view in most any direction one chooses to look. As more light enters the valley, dark shapes move slowly or stand to test the morning air with a sharp sense of smell and sharper hearing. Their long ears first cocked this way, then that, alert for any possible danger.
Some 30 deer are counted that include a mixture of mule and whitetail deer. As the first rays of sunlight strike the valley floor, one big muley buck ushers his harem of does to the edge of the field and towards the gullies that reach down into the valley from the ridges above.
Breakfast and coffee are finished, and we move out towards our motorcycles. We pause a moment before the engines are fired. One rider points out the distant crow of a pheasant, then the cackles from a flock of Chukars, possibly disturbed by some wandering coyote. It is time to go.
Wasco-Heppner Highway leads visitors up the valley to the ranch from the nearest town of Heppner, some 20 minutes away. Beautiful distant mountains and high plains are noted by those who make their way to this sprawling 86,000-acre ranch.
During the off-season for hunting, Ruggs Ranch is a fertile destination for motorcyclists enjoying the region’s appealing weather. Whichever direction is chosen, the freedom to ride these open roads allows the rider to see great expanses of this part of The Beaver State. The roads lay paths that run between the wheat fields, and then rise, fall, twist and turn, crossing large areas of farmland. One small valley after another is traversed, taking you to the treed valleys and thicker forests at the higher elevations.
Starting out from Heppner after fueling up, there are a few sightseeing stops made before leaving town, including the court house, the one room school house, the U.S. Forest Service building, and an old horse barn complete with a variety of horse tack hanging on a large sliding door set right up against Oregon Route 207. There is more to see, but the summer morning is warm and the riding gear is crying out for ventilation.
Within a few minutes, a nice set of S-curves are encountered while climbing up out of the valley. The Triumph Scrambler and Harley-Davidson Dyna Wide Glide demand we kick it up to top gear once we are on Route 206 as the road straightens out. Visibility is unencumbered passing between wheat fields that stretch way off into the distance.
Riders need to stay alert as these straight shots can abruptly end, when the road may turn sharply then traverse back and forth down the side of a valley, giving time only for a short flat run before heading up the opposite side of the cut. This is repeated time and time again, with each mile traveled revealing a change in the view.
Farmhouses that are passed share no common architectural style, causing the eyes to be drawn to them for a brief moment to try to spot some item of interest. Usually there is some old vehicle, a weather worn building, or animals wandering about; that is the reward for the moment taken for the glance.
After about 45 minutes we pull over at the crest of a ridge for a stretch and see in the distance, miles away, dozens of gigantic electricity-generating wind towers, with their massive blades spinning against a deep blue sky backdrop. There is just something alien about their presence here on Sixmile Canyon Highway, leading to the town of Condon.
That image is washed from memory a short while later, as a great set of turns – seven to be exact – has the boot toe-and-heel twitching the shifter as the road drops over 900 feet within a mile.
Arriving in Condon we are greeted by Rob Turrie, proprietor at the Hotel Condon, which offers exquisite accommodations set in the theme of vintage Las Vegas, complete with The Rat Pack. Dean, Sammy, and Frank are represented, along with a host of other period jetsetters, with photographs, paintings and statues a-plenty. The hotel has all of the modern conveniences and is a definite must-see stop.
Other towns encountered along the way are simply named Mayville, Fossil (check out the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument), Service Creek, and Spray. Every town on this route has the welcome mat out for motorcycle riders. Pictures pinned to the walls of the businesses attest to the variety of motorcycles and riders that have passed through these parts. Our group was treated quite nicely, and locals were a wealth of information regarding sites to be seen around their community.
Just outside of Service Creek we join John Day Highway and, within a few minutes past the town of Spray, the Heppner-Spray Highway (still Route 207) gains elevation and enters another forest of evergreen trees with their wonderful fragrance filling the air. Highway 207 takes more than a few good turns and bends, with several posted as low as 15 mph.
Taking a break, the motors are shut down for a short time at Bull Prairie Lake. As the lake is located over a mile from the highway, it is very quiet here with the low voices of other visitors across the lake carrying to our location. Back on the main road, we continue on at a faster pace as we are still climbing higher. It is getting noticeably cooler as we rumble on towards the comfort and warmth of the lodge at Ruggs Ranch.
Hardman is the last community we visit, about 15 minutes shy of Ruggs. A cluster of homes is located here, with some much older homes that were built for large families in a farming community. The more children in a family, the more helpful hands there would be to run the farm.
It is nearly possible to hear the laughter of the children that must have run here and there about this small community of pioneer-spirited families. Some children are seen as we pass by and give a small wave. Of course, we return the wave and reward them with a beep from the horn.
Locals suggested that towns farther east, towards Pendleton, also hold the interest of many who visit there. One fellow said a good place to dine is Hamley Steakhouse in Pendleton; just ask for Par, the owner.
The town of Joseph was also mentioned as a destination for motorcyclists who favor two-lane roads that wind through evergreen forests. Located just a few miles north of pristine Wallowa Lake, it is a good day’s ride from Ruggs Ranch, but well worth it to experience the Wallowa Mountains.
I remember my Boy Scout summer camps at Wallowa Lake, and a local once telling me I should take notice of how they stand their mountains on end rather than lay them down like most other areas may do. Steep mountains, as this area has, result in highway designs that favor motorcycle enthusiasts as the roads usually follow some winding stream that cuts through the narrow valleys.
We arrive back at Ruggs Ranch right at sunset and are greeted at the lodge by the wonderful smells of dinner being prepared by resident chef and part-time photographer John Kulon. The handmade dinner table accommodates but a dozen people, making the dining experience uniquely personal and intimate, and the chef can customize the menu for any dietary requirements you may have.
Rather than a sprawling and overwhelming place to spend the week, Ruggs Ranch’s lodge is just six bedrooms and seven baths. There is also a pro shop, which has a pair of deluxe rooms. There is a rustic, though not aged, feel. General Manager Dave Ford is serious when he says, “If our staff does not do everything within their ability to make your experience at our ranch as good as it should have been, you don’t owe us a dime!”
Set on a bluff, the lodge has a 360-degree view of the Rhea Creek Valley. Glancing out the huge windows facing east across the patio the small herds of deer are seen returning to the valley to spend the night. I retire to my room, with its custom Pendleton bedding – a great way to end a fantastic day.
It is decided on the final day we would head north out of the area, catch Interstate 84 and travel west to the town of Hood River a good two and a half hours ride following the Columbia River as it heads towards the Pacific Ocean.
Folks had told us of some great wineries there and they were proven right. Stopping off at Cathedral Ridge Winery, there were many varieties of wine offered with many wearing the awards they had gained in numerous tasting competitions. There is no shortage of wine selections here, and an attentive staff as well.
Before everyone parts ways, we gather around the map we used to highlight the routes traveled since our arrival. As much fun as had been packed into the short time we were here, we realize that we had only ridden a small portion of the numerous intriguing two-lane routes throughout the area.
Eastern Oregon offers a playground for motorcyclists, and Ruggs Ranch is the perfect centralized home base to explore the area. The Umatilla, Malheur, and Ochoco National Forests are all within easy reach to the south and east. To the west is Mount Hood and to the north the Hood River and the state of Washington. We will return.
Photography by Jim Chun and John Kulon
This story is featured in the Mar/Apr 2013 issue of Ultimate MotorCycling magazine—available on newsstands and good bookstores everywhere. The issue is also available free to readers on Apple Newsstand (for iOS devices) and Google Play (Android). To subscribe to the print edition, please visit our Subscriber Services page. | <urn:uuid:f9b7202c-432a-46de-bbf4-2b1b2d3fa1ca> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | https://ultimatemotorcycling.com/2013/04/02/ruggs-ranch-a-fertile-base-for-the-touring-motorcyclist/ | 2015-03-29T10:41:53Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298464.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00196-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962624 | 2,265 |
CONTINENTAL TIE & LUMBER CO. v. UNITED STATES.
286 U.S. 290 (52 S.Ct. 529, 76 L.Ed. 1111)
CONTINENTAL TIE & LUMBER CO. v. UNITED STATES.
Argued: April 14, 1932.
Decided: May 16, 1932.
- opinion, ROBERTS [HTML]
Mr. George E. H. Goodner, of Washington, D. C., for petitioner.
The Attorney General and Mr. Charles B. Rugg, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the United States.
Argument of Counsel from page 291 intentionally omitted
Mr. Justice ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the Court.
For the year 1920 the petitioner filed a consolidated income tax return for itself and the Cimarron and Northwestern Railway Company and paid the tax shown as due. Subsequently a claim for refund was prosecuted, whereupon the Commissioner made a reaudit and added to the railway's income some $27,000. The refund granted was diminished by the amount of the additional tax resulting from the increase in income so determined. The petitioner objected to this reduction and brought suit in the Court of Claims to recover the full amount claimed to be refundable. The railway company is a short-line carrier whose road was in possession and control of the United States and operated by the Director General of Railroads from December 28, 1917, to June 3, 1918, when it was relinquished, and thereafter throughout the remainder of the period of federal control operated by its owner. Approximately $25,000 of the additional income determined by the Commissioner consisted of a payment to the railway pursuant to an award of the Interstate Commerce Commission under the terms of section 204 of the Transportation Act 1920. 1 This section provided for such an award and payment to a railroad which during any part of the period of federal control competed for traffic, or connected, with one under federal control, and sustained a deficit in operating income for that portion of the period during which it operated its own railroad. The act directed the Commission to compare the results of such operation with those of the test period, defined as the three years ending June 30, 1917; and, if less favorable during the period of federal control than during the test period, to award an amount calculated as prescribed by the section. The Commission made an award and the Secretary of the Treasury paid the railway.
The petitioner asserted (1) that the sum received was not income within the intent of the Sixteenth Amendment or section 213 of the Revenue Act of 1918, 40 Stat. 451; (2) that, if income, it was not taxable for 1920, as held by the Commissioner, but for 1923, the year in which the amount was determined and paid. The Court of Claims denied recovery.
What we have said in Texas & Pacific Railway Co. v. United States (No. 634), 286 U. S. 285, 52 S. Ct. 528, 76 L. Ed. , decided this day, is determinative of the first contention. Section 209 of the Transportation Act 1920 (49 USCA § 77) guaranteed the payment of any deficiency below a fixed minimum of operating income for the six months ensuing the termination of federal control to railroads which had been taken over by the United States. By the terms of section 204 payment was to be made to railroads not under federal control of a proportion of any operating deficit suffered in the period of such control. The underlying purpose of Congress was the same in both cases. Railroads falling within section 204 were principally short lines. They were known to have suffered serious losses in income due to routing arrangements and other administrative measures made necessary by government operation of the larger railroad systems. The Transportation Act did not contemplate that the payments to be made pursuant to section 204 were in any sense just compensation for the taking of property. There was no room for such reimbursement, as the short lines were during the time to which the section applied in the possession and management of their owners. Congress, nevertheless, realized that federal operation had caused them consequential losses, at least partial redress for which was the purpose of the section where actual deficits in income had resulted. For the reasons set forth in No. 634, we hold that these payments were not subsidies or bonuses, but were income within the intent of the amendment and the statute.
The petitioner kept its accounts upon the accrual basis. The government insists, and the Court of Claims held, that the right to payment having ripened in 1920, the taxpayer should have returned the estimated award under section 204 as income for that year. The petitioner replies that a determination whether it would receive any award under the section and, if so, the amount of it, depended on so many contingencies that no reasonable estimate could have been made in 1920, and that the sum ultimately ascertained should be deemed income for 1923, the year of the award and payment.
The Transportation Act took effect on February 28, 1920. On June 10 the Interstate Commerce Commission issued general instructions governing the compilation and submission of data by carriers entitled to awards under section 204. The petitioner correctly states that at the date of the act's adoption no railroad had a vested right in any amount; until the Commission made an award nothing could be paid, no proceeding was available to compel an allowance, or to determine the elements which should enter into the calculation. In short, says the petitioner, the carrier had no rights, but was dependent solely upon the Commission's exercise of an unrestrained discretion, and until an award was made nothing accrued. But we think that the function of the Commission under the act was ministerial, to ascertain the facts with respect to the carrier's operating income by a comparison of the experience during the test period with that during the term of federal control. The right to the award was fixed by the passage of the Transportation Act. What remained was mere administrative procedure to ascertain the amount to be paid. Petitioner's right to payment ripened when the act became law. What sum of money that right represented is, of course, a different matter.
The petitioner says that at the date of the passage of the act it was impossible to predict that any award would be made to the railway, and, assuming one would eventuate, its amount could not be estimated, for the reason that the principles upon which awards were to be made had to be settled by the Commission and were not finally formulated until 1923. The government insists that, while adjustments or settlement of principles by the Commission might vary the amount to be awarded, the petitioner's case presented problems not differing from those confronting many business concerns which keep accounts on an accrual basis and have to estimate for the tax year the amount to be received on transactions undoubtedly allocable to such year. Admitting there might be differences and discrepancies between the railway's estimate and the amount awarded by the Commission, these, says the government, could, as in similar cases, have been adjusted by an additional assessment or a claim for refund after final determination of the amount due.
The case does not fall within the principle that, where the liability is undetermined in the tax year, the taxpayer is not called upon to accrue any sum (Lucas v. American Code Co., 280 U. S. 445, 50 S. Ct. 202, 74 L. Ed. 538), but presents the problem whether the taxpayer had in its own books and accounts data to which it could apply the calculations required by the statute and ascertain the quantum of the award within reasonable limits.
The carriers kept their accounts according to standards prescribed by the Commission; and these necessarily were the source of information requisite for ascertainment of the results of operation in the two periods to be compared. In the calculation for two such brief periods allowance had to be made for the fact that certain operating charges entered in the books would not accurately reflect true income. Such, for instance, were maintenance charges and those to reserve accounts. The enormous increase in labor and material costs after the expiration of the test period had also to be considered in comparing charges for costs of repairs and renewals in the two periods. Section 204 incorporated by reference the terms of section 209 applicable to the method of treating such items, and the latter in turn referred to the relevant provisions of section 5(a) of the standard operating contract between the Director General and the various railroads. As might have been expected, the general principles thus formulated did not cover in detail questions of fact, the solution of which required is some degree the exercise of opinion and judgment. Thus difference might fairly arise as to when reserve accounts ought to be closed out, as to how much of the sum actually expended for maintenance within a given time was properly allocable to that period, and how much to later years; at what price renewals and replacements should be charged in view of the rapidly mounting cost of material; what factor of difference should be allowed for the efficiency of labor in the pre-war and postwar periods. The petitioner points to the fact that these questions were raised by the railroads under section 209, that the Commission gave extended consideration to them, and that, as respects sundry of them, the applicable principles were not settled until 1921, 1922, and 1923. Petitioner might have added that the Commission, while attempting as far as possible to formulate general principles applicable to large groups of carriers, found it necessary in addition to consider the peculiar conditions and special circumstances affecting individual carriers in order in each case to do justice to the carrier and to the United States. 2 But in spite of these inherent difficulties we think it was possible for a carrier to ascertain with reasonable accuracy the amount of the award to be paid by the Government. Subsequent to its order of June 10, 1920, the Commission made no amendment or alteration of the rules with respect to the information to be furnished under section 204. Obviously the data had to be obtained from the railway's books and accounts and from entries therein all made prior to March 1, 1920. These accounts contained all the information that could ever be available touching relevant expenditures. Compare United States v. Anderson, 269 U. S. 422, 46 S. Ct. 131, 70 L. Ed. 347. The petitioner was promptly informed by the terms of section 209 is supplemented by the instructions issued by the Commission of the method to be followed in allocating charges to operation during periods under inquiry. It does not appear that a proper effort would not have obtained a result approximately in accord with that the Commission ultimately found.
Much is made by the petitioner of the fact that, as a result of representations by the carriers, the Commission from time to time during 1921, 1922, and 1923 promulgated rulings respecting the method of adjusting book charges to actual experience, and it is asserted that petitioner could not in 1920 have known what these rulings were to be. But it is not clear that, if the taxpayer had acted promptly, an award could not have been made during 1920, or at least the principles upon which the Commission would adjust the railway's accounts to reflect true income have been settled during that year sufficiently to enable the railway to ascertain with reasonable accuracy the amount of the probable award. The reports of the Interstate Commerce Commission show that it was possible for a carrier whose claim arose under section 209 to obtain a final award early in 1921, prior to the time for preparing its income tax return. 3 From the record it would seem that, in spite of the fact that its teturn was not made until November, 1922, the petitioner made up its claim by taking maintenance charges as appearing in its books without attempt at allocation as between the limited periods in which they were entered and the probable useful life of the installations. Petitioner must have known that the entire amounts charged to maintenance during the respective periods would not be properly allowable in ascertaining true income for each period. The books and accounts fixed the maximum amount of any probable award, and, if petitioner had endeavored to make reasonable adjustments of book figures, it could have arrived at a figure to be accrued for the year 1920. Any necessary adjustment of its tax could readily have been accomplished by an amended return, claim for refund, or additional assessment, as the final award of the Commission might warrant.
For these reasons the Court of Claims correctly held that the amount awarded was taxable income for the year 1920.
CC∅ | Transformed by Public.Resource.Org
Chapter 91, 41 Stat. 456, 460 (49 USCA § 73).
Maintenance Expenses under Section 209, 70 I. C. C. 115.
Norfolk Southern R. R. Co., 65 I. C. C. 798. | <urn:uuid:5e8bf12a-50d7-4399-a85a-ff8be472a7e9> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/286/290 | 2015-03-29T10:57:59Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298464.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00196-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976268 | 2,577 |
Main Street is the metonym for a generic street name (and often the official name) of the primary retail street of a village, town or small city in many parts of the world. It is usually a focal point for shops and retailers in the central business district, and is most often used in reference to retailing and socializing. The street running parallel to a town's numbered streets, before First Street, may be Main Street.
The term is commonly used in Ireland, Scotland and the United States, and less often in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. In most of the United Kingdom the common description is High Street. However, the term "Main Street" is sometimes used in the UK, for instance, in the village of Sutton Cheney. In Jamaica the term is Front Street. In some parts of the south west of England the equivalent used is Fore Street.
In some larger cities, there may be several Main Streets, each relating to a specific neighborhood or formerly separate city, rather than the city as a whole. In many larger U.S. cities "Main Street" is a U.S. Highway; "Main Street of America" branding was used to promote U.S. Route 66 in its heyday.
American cultural usage
In the general sense, the term "Main Street" refers to a place of traditional values.
In the 1949 movie adaptation of On The Town, the song "When You Walk Down Main Street With Me" refers to small-town values and social life.
In the North American media, "Main Street" represents the interests of everyday people and small business owners, in contrast with "Wall Street" (in the United States) or "Bay Street" (in Canada), symbolizing the interests of large national corporations.
Main Street was a popular term during the economic crises in 2008 and 2009: the proposed bailout of U.S. financial system, the 2008 US presidential campaign, and debates. One widely reviewed book was Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street (2012) by Neil Barofsky.
"Main Street" is part of the iconography of American life. For example, the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, the outfit that operates the PX and BX stores on military bases, chose the name "Main Street USA" for its food courts.
In small towns across the United States, Main Street is not only the major road running through town but the site of all street life, a place where townspeople hang out and watch the annual parades go by. A slang term popularized in the early 20th century, "main drag", is also used to refer to a town's main street.
Main Street, or small town life generally, was a symbol of stifling conformity drawn by the social realists from 1870 to 1930. Sherwood Anderson, for example, wrote Winesburg, Ohio: A Group of Tales of Ohio Small Town Life in 1919. The best-selling 1920 novel Main Street was a critique of small town life, by the American writer Sinclair Lewis. The locale was "Gopher Prairie," presented as an 'ideal type' of the Midwestern town, while the heroine, Carol Kennicott, as the 'ideal-typical' Progressive.
Two Walt Disney Company theme parks, Disneyland in Anaheim, California, and the Magic Kingdom in the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida, both have "Main Street, U.S.A." sections immediately at their front. These areas, which are designed to look like the main street of a small town, house gift shops, restaurants and various services, along with park offices on the second floors. While the architecture of these "streets" appears to be turn-of-the-20th-century, in fact these are decorative false-fronts on industrial-style buildings. Main Street, U.S.A. is also present at Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland. At Tokyo Disneyland the area is named "World Bazaar," but has the same look as Main Street, albeit housed under a decorative glass roof for protection from Japan's unpredictable weather.
Disney's design copied visual elements of small-town America seen in films by Frank Capra and others, in a deliberate attempt to capture the iconic symbolism of small-town America. Disney wanted to embed the values and memories associated with life in small towns into an entertainment experience for tourists.
Preservation and Main Street
Main Street Inc. is the name of a community revitalization program begun by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the late 1970s. The core of the Main Street philosophy is the preservation of the historic built environment by engaging in historic preservation. Main Street focuses on a holistic approach to revitalization based on the 4-point approach of design, promotion, economic restructuring, and organization. Originally targeted at small, traditional downtowns, the program has expanded to include towns of various sizes, including neighborhood districts in several large urban centers.
In many communities, a merchants' association or business improvement district serves a promotional role on behalf of the merchants of a downtown Main Street. Individual city governments also may engage in revitalisation or historic preservation efforts to support a downtown core, either to make a community appear more unique for tourism or to stem a flow of commerce out of the city into suburbs with shopping malls and cookie-cutter big box stores.
In the United States federal funds are allocated specifically for restoration of historic properties on the former U.S. Route 66, the main street of many roadside towns; this funding is administered by the US National Park Service.
International use and equivalents
- Many small Canadian cities and towns also have Main Streets (en français, « la rue Principale ») although in most cases the street itself will have a name particular to that town, rather than being officially known as "Main Street." The phrase "a town where the main street is still called Main Street" is occasionally used as being synonymous with small-town values.
- In Ottawa, main streets of various individual villages which had been annexed to the larger urban municipality bear names like "Manotick Main" or "Osgoode Main" to distinguish them from Smyth Road (which becomes "Main Street" in one small area southeast of downtown Ottawa) and from each other. The actual main street of centretown Ottawa is Bank Street.
- In Toronto, however, Main Street is a mostly residential avenue in the city's east end. (At one time it was the main street of the hamlet of East Toronto, which was annexed by the city of Toronto in 1908. It has kept its historic name, and evidence of its commercial origins can be seen in the stores at the corner of Main and Gerrard Streets.) Toronto's main street is Yonge Street.
- Saint Laurent Boulevard, which divides Montreal between east and west, is unofficially known as "the Main." Main Street in Vancouver is a neighbourhood shopping street, near the dividing line between east and west side of town. However, the city's main city centre shopping street is Robson Street.
- In Australia and New Zealand, smaller urban centres often have a main street. In some towns this street is officially designated Main Street or High Street; rarer variants include Main Road, Commercial Road, and Commerce Street. Often, though, the street is given a name peculiar to the town. For many small towns, the main street forms part of the principal road into, or through, the town. Large centres often have a central business district in which no one street is a clear focus for commercial activity, though for historical or cultural reasons there is often one street regarded as the city's "main street". Examples include Melbourne's Collins Street, Sydney's George Street, Adelaide's King William Street, Auckland's Queen Street, and Christchurch's Colombo Street.
- In Ireland most towns have a "main street", and this is usually the term given colloquially (for example, in offering road directions), though the primary thoroughfare of cities are often named after an historical figure, e.g. O'Connell Street. A more recent phenomenon in the media and with younger people is the misapplication of the term "high street" to describe typical or average street level fashion—likely due to advertising by various British retail multiples which began operating in Ireland during the "Celtic Tiger" years.
- In England, the terms "Market Street" or "Market Place" are often used to designate the heart of a town or city, as is the more common High Street (particularly in newer urban developments, or towns or cities which were not original market towns). High Street is often the name of a fairly busy street with small shops on either side, often in towns and villages.
- In Germany, the Hauptstraße (literally "Main Street") is a highly trafficked street. Hauptstraßen even have formal recognition in road construction guidelines, which specify the width of lanes, for example. The term chiefly refers to motorized traffic, whereas "Einkaufsstraße" (shopping street) or "Fußgängerzone" (pedestrian district) refer to retail in the sense of Engl. "Main Street".
- In Sweden and Norway, almost all towns and cities have their own main street, a street called Storgatan/Storgaten (literally, "The big street"). They are typically surrounded by stores and restaurants, and increasingly open for pedestrians only. Likewise, in both Sweden and Norway this type of street is called gågata/gågate (literally, "walkingstreet").
- In most Italian municipalities, the highway or at another major route is called Via Roma. This was done at the behest of Benito Mussolini, who gave the order in 1939 to commemorate the March on Rome.
- Jalan Besar (roughly translated from Malay as "Main Road") is a common street name used in Malaysia (and to a more limited extent, Singapore) when referring to main streets of older urban centres in the country. Such main streets were originally constructed during British colonisation of territories in present day Malaysia and Singapore, and were named in English as "Main Street" or "Main Road", depending on the size and nature of the urban centre, and often are laid out as parts of major thoroughfares between larger towns and cities.
- The independence of states that would form Malaysia and the introduction of the Malay language as the country's national language in 1967 led to extensive renaming of certain Main Streets or Main Roads to "Jalan Besar" in Malaysia the following decades. Large cities (such as state capitals) tend to forgo the use of "Main Street" or "Main Road" altogether as commercial or transport activity may be concentrated along more than one street.
- In South Africa, Main Road is the term used for the same concept as Main Street in the U.S. and High Street in the UK.
- In Cambodia, the Main Road is between the Rice fields and settlements.
- Ruth Ann Alexander, "Midwest Main Street in Literature: Symbol of Conformity," Rocky Mountain Social Science Journal (1968) 5#2 pp 1-12
- Hans-Jürgen Grabbe, "The Ideal Type of the Small Town: 'Main Street' in a Social Science Context," Amerikastudien (1987) 32#2 pp 181-190.
- Robert Neuman, "Disneyland's Main Street, USA, and its Sources in Hollywood, USA," Journal of American Culture (2008) 31#1 pp 83-97, online
- "Home Page". Main Street. National Main Street Center. 2009-04-09.
- "Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary: Route 66". US National Park Service.
- Edward Relph (2014). Toronto: Transformations in A City and its Region. University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
The names of many of the old municipalities have been preserved in business improvement areas, and, for example, Main Street subway station refers to the main street of East Toronto.
- Ron Brown (2013). Rails Across Ontario: Exploring Ontario's Railway Heritage. Dundurn Press. p. 19. ISBN 9781459707542. Retrieved 2014-02.
Many wonder why there is a "Main Street" in Toronto's east end. This too came about when the GT selected a tract of land to create another sea of railway sidings. While it named its yard "York," the town that grew nearby was incorporated as "East Toronto" and the commercial main street became "Main Street."Check date values in:
- MikeFiley (2008). Toronto: The Way We Were. Dundurn Press. p. 209. ISBN 9781550028423. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
One remnant of the ancient hamlet was the retention of the name of one of its original thoroughfares. That's why there's still a Main Street several miles east of Yonge, Toronto's original main street.
- Orvell, Miles. The Death and Life of Main Street: Small Towns in American Memory, Space, and Community (University of North Carolina Press; 2012)
- Poll, Ryan. "Main Street and Empire: The Fictional Small Town in the Age of Globalization." New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2012.
- Davies, Richard et al., eds. A Place Called Home: Writings on the Midwestern Small Town (2003) 34 selections of cultural history, fiction, and poetry, both classic and contemporary
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Main Street.|
- Mapping Main Street - a collaborative documentary media project that creates a new map of the country through stories, photos and videos recorded on actual Main Streets
- Schneider-Cowan, Joy. "A Case Study of the San Marcos Main Street Program" (2007). Applied Research Projects. Texas State University. Paper 268. | <urn:uuid:c614b021-dd23-471e-b50a-6179c07ed535> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_street | 2015-03-31T05:37:25Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131300313.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172140-00020-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944991 | 2,885 |
Walkthrough written by Icy Comet & Slanted Fish
The ancient city of Poptropolis rises from the depths of the ocean once every 100 years. Each tribe in Poptropica sends a representative to compete in the Poptropolis Games. Can you bring glory and honor to your tribe in this brutal competition, or will you have to live with shame forever?
Happy Poptropolis Games…
Select Your Tribe
Go to Poptropolis Games, if you’re not already there. You will be brought to a screen where you can choose which tribe you will represent. The eight tribes that you can represent are Flying Squid, Wildfire, Yellowjackets, Pathfinders, Black Flags, Nightcrawlers, Seraphim, and Nanobots.
Choose the tribe that you want to represent, and press the “Start” button. You will receive a Jersey with your tribe’s colors on it. You don’t have to wear it, but you can use it to show some spirit!
You are on Main Street. Walk to the right and talk to the guy with a microphone in his hand. He will tell you that you’re late for the games. You’ll ask what the games are, and he’ll tell you that the games are where each tribe in Poptropica sends a representative to compete in sporting games. Whoever wins will be a hero for all time. When you ask what happens when you lose, the guy will tell you that you have to live with “eternal shame and dishonor.”
The man will ask you if you’re ready. Tell him that you are ready. He will tell you to go to the Coliseum. The man will walk off in the direction of the Coliseum, and you’ll follow him.
When you get to the Coliseum, the man will walk to the right and begin talking into his microphone. He will ask the representatives to come forward. The Poptropolis flame will be lit, and the games will begin!
Go over to the man and talk to him when you want to compete in an event. If you want to see what place you’re in, there’s a scoreboard above the man. Just click on it to see which tribes are in what place.
You don’t have to get first in all of the events to win the Poptropolis Games. You do have to be consistent, though. Try not to keep going up and down with your scores. It’s a good idea to practice each event until you are at least decent at it before doing the actual event. That doesn’t mean that you are going to win the event if you do that, but it might help you get a better score than you would have if you hadn’t practiced.
May the odds be ever in your favor!
This guide will tell you about all the different events and give you tips on finishing first:
You aim your bow with the mouse. When you aim, make sure you pay attention to the wind speed and direction. There’s an arrow that indicates which way the wind is blowing. If the wind is blowing to the left, you move your mouse to the right. If it’s blowing to the right, you move your mouse to the left. How much you move it depends on the wind speed.
The higher the speed, the more you should move your aim off-center.
There’s a power meter on the right side of the screen. There are two bars in the power meter, one that moves and another that stays still in the center. Try and shoot your arrow when the moving bar is close to the one in the middle. To shoot your arrow, just click your mouse. You have ten arrows, so try to get as many bull’s-eyes as possible.
In the diving event you have three routines that you have to do. The routines are made up of different spins that your Poptropican has to do. There are arrows on the bottom left hand corner of the screen that show you which direction your Poptropican needs to spin.
Your Poptropican will spin in the direction of your cursor, so put your cursor to the right of your Poptropican to make it spin to the right. Put your cursor to the left of your Poptropican to make it spin to the left. The instructions say that you have to click right before you hit the water to perform a perfect dive, but don’t worry if you can’t do it. It shouldn’t affect your score.
In the hurdles event you race against two other representatives. You have to click to jump over the hurdles. If you don’t time your jump just right, though, your Poptropican will trip over the hurdle and you’ll get a little bit behind the others. It’s best to jump when your character is almost at the hurdle; about a pace or two away – don’t wait until you’re right there because it’ll be too late.
If you haven’t practiced before the other events, I definitely suggest practicing a couple of times before this one. That way you get a better hang of the timing of the jumps. It’s okay if you trip over a couple of hurdles, don’t get freaked out and start doing horribly. The others will trip every now and then, too, so you still have a chance if you do trip. Just try not to be distracted by the other two representatives and just try your best.
In the javelin event, you have to set the angle and power of your javelin so that it flies far. To set the angle, click when your javelin is in the green zone. To set the power, click when the bar reaches the green zone. When you’re setting the power, the bar doesn’t go back and forth like your javelin does when you’re setting the angle.
If the bar goes into the red zone, your Poptropican will run off and fall down onto the ground. So, make sure that you click before the bar reaches the red zone.
In the long jump, the goal is to jump farther than any of the other representatives. Click your mouse and hold it when you are ready to start running. You’ll notice that the tiles on the ground are labeled with their own number, going from 10 to 1. Try and jump when you reach 1. Don’t jump too late, though, otherwise you’ll fall into the mud.
When you’re in the highest that you can go in the air, click to thrust yourself forward. That will add a little extra distance to your jump. Try not to click too soon, though.
In the pole vault event, there will be a countdown and your Poptropican will begin running. You will reach and part of the ground where the word “Launch” is written. Click to start the vault. A little bar will appear to the left of your Poptropican. Click again when the arrow is pointing to the part of the green part that’s the greenest.
Your Poptropican will soar into the air, over the bar, and down on the other side. If you do that right, then you should get in first.
In Octopus Volleyball, you play volleyball against an octopus – bet you didn’t see that coming – and the goal is to get six points before it does. The game begins when the octopus serves to you from across the net, and you have to volley it back and forth, being careful not to drop it on your side (a point is awarded whenever the ball drops on the other side). To get the ball high enough so it goes over the net, hit it with your the front tip of your head (not your face) and aim for the back side of the octopus where he can’t reach with his tentacles fast enough.
The angle the ball bounces off of you is based entirely on where it hits you. If it hits the front of you, it’ll bounce forward. If it lands on top of your head, it will bounce straight into the air. And if it hits the back of you, it’ll bounce backward. The key is to try to position yourself in such a way that you’ll bounce the ball at a angle that is hard for the octopus to defend.
In the power lifting event, you have to click on a moving button. Each time you click on the button your Poptropican will lift the bar a little bit higher. But, if you click when your mouse isn’t on the button, your bar will go down a little bit. Make sure that you are on the button when you click.
There are four rounds, with a short break in between each to give your fingers time to rest. After each round you’ll pick up a bigger weight: 100kg, 200kg, 300kg, 400kg. The number in the middle counts down the seconds left to go (in total, not for each round).
For the Shot Put event, there are two things that you have to do. The first thing you have to do is choose your angle. There are three arrows. Try to get each arrow in the green zone.
The second thing that you have to do is to click when all the arrows that are going around in the circle are in the green zone. Do those two things right, and you’ll get a good throw.
In this Volcano Race event, the idea is to get to the bottom of the lava slope as fast as you can. Every time you slide through the torch slalom gates, it subtracts a second from your time count, so go through them as much as you can! What you do want to avoid are the stones and statues that can get in the way of your path and will add to your total time. Also, look for the little slopes that help you sail over obstacles and land you in front of torch gates.
The best way to make sure that you hit gates and avoid obstacles is actually to go off jumps! Make sure you watch where you’re going (slow down if need be), but don’t be too slow either. If you find that all the movement hurts your eyes, try to not sit so close to your computer screen so you’ll be able to see better.
Triple Jump is the last event in the Poptropolis Games. Here’s how it works: click and hold your mouse to start running, release your mouse to jump before you cross the white line, and click for the next two times that you land to jump again. You have to time the jumps right, though, because if you don’t jump before the white line, you’ll fall down.
Once you make it past the first two blocks, the last jump should determine your score, so land well.
And the winner is…
As mentioned earlier, you don’t have to place first in all of the events to get first place, but you should definitely practice before you actually do each event. If you mess up during an event, don’t get all upset, because then you’ll just do even worse on the next round. Remember, you can always restart the island if you want to.
Anyway, once you have completed all of the events, the announcer dude will announce the winner of the Games. Hopefully it’s you! But, if it isn’t, you will have the option of starting over and trying again.
If you win, you will receive the island medallion and some credits to spend in the Poptropica Store.
Congratulations! You have now completed Poptropolis Games Island!
Bonus Quest (members only)
Once you beat the Poptropolis Games, the ground will begin to shake. An ancient warrior, a past winner of the Games, will come in. He will call you a fraud and challenge you to a wrestling match.
You can either accept or decline. If you accept, here’s what to do:
There are three different tiles. Each tile is a different shape. The tiles will change from one to another on the Ancient Warrior’s side until it randomly pics a certain tile. All you have to do is pick the tile that matches the shape of the one on the Ancient Warrior’s side. If you pick the right one, you’ll counter the Ancient Warrior’s move and win the round. Win more rounds than the Ancient Warrior to beat him.
Once you beat him, he will tell you that you are truly the champion of Poptropica, and you’ll receive the Ancient Warrior Outfit as your prize. Congratulations! You’ve now beaten the Bonus Quest!
Looking for more walkthroughs? Check out our Island Help page! :) | <urn:uuid:50904eb2-102c-4303-8868-aef15b3cdfd2> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://poptropicahelp.net/island-help/poptropolis-games-island/poptropolis-games-guide/ | 2015-03-31T05:22:16Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131300313.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172140-00020-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933483 | 2,712 |
Real-World Aero: Wind Tunnel Testing For the Weekend RacerWritten by on October 7, 2006 Ever wonder how information gleaned from wind tunnel tests performed on Nextel Cup cars actually applies to you?
Wonder no moreYou hear the advice all the time from the "know-it-alls" in racing (yes, that applies to us, too): No matter how small your track or how slow your car, good aerodynamic practices can help improve your lap times.
Yes, that advice is true. As a general rule, if you have to apply the brakes anywhere on the racetrack, you need more downforce. When that downforce is achieved aerodynamically (as opposed to achieving it by weight), it is doubly beneficial because it is gained without the disadvantage of inertia trying to push you into the wall as the car turns. The problem is that wind tunnel testing is expensive, so the information provided to Saturday night racers is too often based on tests done on Nextel Cup cars or theory with no real-world numbers to back it up-until now, that is.
Noted aerodynamicist Gary Eaker has been operating his own private wind tunnel, AeroDyn, in Mooresville, North Carolina, for a few years now. AeroDyn has been quite successful with its Nextel Cup clientele because it is one of the most affordable wind tunnels in the country. That all changed with Eaker's newest innovation, affectionately known as A2. A2 is the little brother to the AeroDyn wind tunnel, and was designed for the express purpose of making wind tunnel testing accessible to race teams that may not have the support of big-money sponsorships. A2 doesn't have all the bells and whistles that AeroDyn offers, such as a simulated rolling road and yaw control, but it does offer solid, repeatable aero testing that can be greatly beneficial to a race team.
We've always wanted to get a real-world short-track car into a wind tunnel to see how it performed, but as experienced by most race teams, the cost was too prohibitive. When Eaker opened the A2 facility, we finally had our opportunity. We joined drivers Freddie Query and Preston Peltier at A2 as they ran Query's Super Late Model asphalt car through a series of tests. Query and Peltier are both savvy veterans and came prepared to make the most of their time in the tunnel with a complete list of all the tests they wanted to perform and all the hardware they needed to get it done quickly. We followed along to see what worked and what didn't. Over the course of approximately five hours, Query, Peltier, and a handful of volunteers were about to pull off 33 tests. The following are some of the most interesting tests we witnessed.
After making a few baseline runs, the first test with the car fully taped in qualifying trim and sitting at inspection ride height involved raising the spoiler angle from 50 to 70 degrees. This was done to see how it affected front versus rear downforce balance, but the surprise was how little it actually helped downforce at all. Downforce improved by 11 counts in the front and only 8 in the rear, while drag increased dramatically. Normally, a team testing a downforce car in a wind tunnel cares very little about drag numbers. In this instance, it shows that the spoiler was already approaching its stall angle closer to 50 degrees and wasn't helping appreciably at 70.
Because the spoiler is behind the rear axle, downforce here has a mechanical cantilever effect on the car, which reduces load at the front. Raising the spoiler angle (as long as it isn't stalled) will increase rear downforce and mechanically decrease load on the front tires. Lowering the spoiler will have the opposit effect. For reference, one count in a wind tunnel is equal to 1 pound of downforce on the track at 135 mph. It does not change with the weight of the car, only speed. The second interesting thing to note from this test is that by moving the spoiler, the downforce improved more over the front wheels than the rear. Aero, it should be noted, is as much about creating pressure differentials above and below the body sheetmetal as it is about air actually hitting a surface and pushing it down. The spoiler actually causes air to dam up in front of it, and the high-pressure zone created by the spoiler can reach all the way to the hood. The car responded as much as it did at the front because the chassis is remarkably open. There is no front or rear firewall to speak of. The Super Late Model has an offset chassis, and the only area boxed off with sheetmetal is the driver's compartment. Because the area underneath the body is so open, the front and rear wheels are easily able to "talk" to each other, so a change at the rear of the car will affect front downforce much more than a car with a full firewall.
As you might expect, taping up the grille and brake ducts is one of the most effective things you can do when it comes to legally adding downforce. On our ARP-bodied car, taping up the nose was worth over 100 points of front downforce. At 135 mph, that's 100 pounds of extra pressure adding grip to the front tires.
Peltier took things a little farther to see if taping all the body seams to seal them off would further improve the aero. This, as you might expect, had no noticeable effect.
Finally, we experimented to see how a partially taped grille opening affected the car. Adding two strips of tape over the bottom portion of the 28.5x5.75-inch grille added approximately 25 counts of downforce over an untaped grille, while two strips across the top of the opening added approximately 31 counts. This is probably because the tape at the top of the grille created a solid surface for the air to move across that was unbroken all the way to the windshield.
Inspection Height versus Actual Height
It is common knowledge that your race car is rarely at inspection height when it's at speed on the racetrack. Of course, that's fine on the setup plate because you can set such things as camber gain to account for suspension movement. Conversely, testing a car's aerodynamics at ride height or inspection height is a little more problematic. The car's attitude can significantly affect its aerodynamic performance.
If the front end drops because of aerodynamic downforce or simply because the driver applied the brakes, that increases the car's rake, or body height from front to back, which will increase downforce. If the car rolls over on its right side through the turns and lifts the left-front fender, that will allow more air underneath the car, raising the pressure and reducing downforce. Before testing in a wind tunnel, you need to track your car's attitude through a turn and try to mimic that in the tunnel. The easiest way to do this is simply to record your bump stop locations on the shocks after a set of hot laps.
In the wind tunnel, the car needs to be off of its springs and locked at the height you choose. You can do this by fabricating a set of solid struts out of metal tubing that will replace the shocks and springs. If the body moves once the air hits it, it will throw off your findings.
Query and Peltier brought two sets of struts to set the car both at ride height and at the attitude the car will normally be in through the turns. We won't give away those heights because they have worked really hard to develop their shock and spring packages, but we'll say the effect was dramatic. It also changed many of the things we had already tested. As you can imagine, the nose was significantly lower than ride height when the car was set at racing attitude. This not only dropped the front valence closer to the ground, reducing pressure under the car and raising downforce, but it also raised the rear spoiler angle.
If you remember, the spoiler was already reaching stall above 50 degrees on this particular car, so a taller spoiler did no good. Query and Peltier were forced to deviate from the planned test schedule slightly to find the best spoiler angle when the car was raked forward.
Another example is a false radiator box floor the team had tested. The bottom of the radiator box on this car is flush with the bottom of the grille opening. In an effort to build-in a deep gurney lip of sorts (racers may also know it as a belly pan), the team fabricated a piece of sheetmetal that ran from the bottom of the radiator forward to the bottom of the valence. When the car was at ride height, the sheetmetal actually ran downhill from the valence to the radiator. The difference in height was minimal-less than half an inch-but it was enough to hurt downforce. However, when the car was reset at racing attitude, the increased rake indicated that the false floor was closer to the ground at the valence than it was at the radiator, and it helped downforce.
If you are still trying to understand the difference between kingpin angle and caster, then you might not be ready to test in a wind tunnel. On the other hand, if you are confident in your setup skills and are looking to take your team to the next level, starting an aero program may be just what you need to do. The A2 wind tunnel was designed to be affordable for touring and even serious Saturday night teams. First-time customers can get two hours of testing for $690, and the price stays reasonable for longer test sessions.
Gary Eaker, the owner of A2, understands most teams using his wind tunnel won't have an engineer on staff, much less a trained aerodynamicist, and may need a little help making the most of their time. Because his staff is adamant about not sharing secrets learned by another team, they cannot coach you on what to do. Fortunately, he has written a workbook that can help a team prepare for and make the most of a test. He says there are also local engineers who can be hired to help a team if they prefer that option.
Here are some tips Eaker says should help a team make the most of its time under the fan:-When you are at the wind tunnel, you aren't learning anything unless the fan is blowing. Do all the prep work you can at your shop beforehand. Plan in advance all the changes you wish to make and prefabricate anything necessary to minimize time between "blows."
-Aero is notorious for interactions between seemingly "independent" mods. This means that virtually everything in aerodynamics affects something else. Be prepared to be surprised by something you didn't expect. Build time into your testing plan to deviate and test an idea that may have popped up from the previous test.
-You should have a goal for your test. Do you want to try a bunch of different things just to see how they affect the car? Are you trying to correct specific handling problems? Maybe you are looking at different aero packages for different applications or tracks.
-A2 has anemometers to measure airflow through ducting. Don't concentrate only on downforce. You can also test to see which duct routing method gets you the most airflow to your brakes, or which radiator box design allows the smallest grille opening while still maximizing flow to the radiator.
-If you are testing things such as fender shape, begin with the minimum volume (a convex fender versus flat). This will allow you to build up the area or surface with panels or filler materials.
-During a test in the A2 tunnel, the wind speed is 85 mph. This is enough to blow things off the car. The leading edges of applied pieces should fit well and be securely fastened to the car (pop rivets work well). Don't depend on tape to hold everything in place. | <urn:uuid:f0ca1fc6-9583-4a83-9767-7ea381c9df60> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/additional-how-to/ctrp-0610-real-world-aero/ | 2015-03-31T05:27:45Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131300313.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172140-00020-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969708 | 2,469 |
The RuPaul fan cruise had everything - including a marriage proposal
by Shaun Kelly -
Special to the SGN
So what do we all know about cruises in general? There will be pools, spas bars, and casinos. There will be tons of food and booze, a hairy chest competition, and maybe a few dance revues. But what made the Carnival Glory stand out from the crowd in the first week of December? For a ship that can hold 2,974 passengers, if you fill it with 34 drag queens from RuPaul's Drag Race (Logo TV) and then add about 1,300 of their fans you are in for a boatload of fun! Of course that sort of fun could all come to a screaming, hair-pulling, bitch-slapping halt if you roll Vicky Rey, vice president of guest services for Carnival cruises, into the mix, though.
The cruise had been announced for about a year and many people had been booked on it from the start. Who wouldn't want to mingle with their favorite drag queens and the gorgeous Michelle Visage? There was a lot more interest than was originally anticipated, and so we quickly got moved to a larger capacity ship and took off full force - the Gays were going to sea! We were to have use of a huge theater with three private drag shows as well as Q&A panels, cocktail parties, a luncheon, and theme party evenings.
THE INFAMOUS LETTER
For anyone who missed out on all the drama, everything was going along nice and smooth until Rey sent out her letter, directed initially just at the guests booked into the Drag Race grouping. This letter came less than a week before the cruise was about to set sail, and boy, did she not read her intended audience before she penned her missive. It started off friendly enough, welcoming us all onto the ship and hoping that we would have a great time. It went on to state that the cruise line strives to present a family-friendly atmosphere and that everyone should 'refrain from engaging in inappropriate conduct in public areas.' Anyone who breaks the rules, she said, will be 'disembarked at their own expense and no refund will be given.'
That in itself didn't seem too unreasonable - OK, no sex on the Lido deck, no drugs in the pool, no orgies or fraternizing with the crew - in other words, don't turn the ship into a floating bathhouse. We could handle that. But then she got down to the real point of the letter. The performers, she said, are booked into the main theater and that is it as far as drag is concerned. 'Guests are not allowed to dress in drag for the performances or in public areas at any time during the cruise.' Oh no you didn't, bitch - you try to stop a queen being a queen and you are going to have all sorts of problems.
This wonderful little message finished with this great closing comment: 'Thank you for your cooperation. Now that we've taken care of business ... let the FUN begin!' Vicky, honey, you don't even know the meaning of the word 'fun' until you have cruised with a group of drag queens and their followers. You're fortunate that your only appearance onboard was in the form of a bloke in a dress with a big red wig and a beard, or else you would have been strung up with stockings and G-strings. The drag Vicky made a huge splash, though - even taking photos with the ship and cruise-line bigwigs.
A CHANGE OF HEART
The cruise line, to its credit, did a complete 360 on the decision. Gerry Cahill, the president and CEO, allowed anyone who wished to dress in drag to do so. Hell, yeah! As you can imagine, the call went out for everyone to toss a dress and a wig in their case and bring some solidarity fierceness. Cahill also made a very gracious offer to let anyone cancel and 'receive a full refund of their cruise fare, as well as reimbursement for any non-refundable travel related expenses.' All social media was blasted with this news, and the story even went global with cruise promoter Al and Chuck Travel being bombarded by media interview requests.
I for one didn't even get to talk with my partner for the week before the cruise, as he was the Norma Rae of Facebook, defending the Gays and then the cruise line after they changed their mind. He got into some pretty heated debates and made a mental scrapbook of who he had sparred with - and then started to pick them out in the embarkation lounge!
So, move forward to departure day and there we are in the lounge where the lines are huge, the information is sparse, and the crowd is getting restless, thirsty, and hungry. There is a strange energy as one side of the room seems like it could burst into a flash-mob dance and the other side is sitting kinda nervous with a touch of pearl clutching. Hide your children - the Gays are here!
So what was the first step? Mark all the Gays and Gay-adjacent fans with a white wristband so that we stand out (not necessary for some) and then let the fun begin. It could have been a scene from West Side Story with Gays versus straights instead of Sharks versus Jets, but fortunately it didn't come to that - I think there would have been too much infighting on our side over who would choreograph.
The shows were out of this world - the queens brought their A-game and knocked the socks off everyone. It is so hard to select a favorite, but Stacey Lane Matthews made a hit when some shady queen scratched her CD and her performance was cut short. She offered to eat a bucket of chicken on stage (which would probably have been fun) but ended up singing an out-of-this-world a-cappella version of Diamonds by Rihanna. Morgan McMichaels stunned us with her Pink medley, which got the energy level way up after a low-key start by season-two winner Tyra Sanchez. The body beautiful Carmen Carrera came out with just a few pasties and gave us realness that was second to none. I have to also mention Pandora Boxx - who else would have thought to do a drag routine to Pippi Longstocking? - and one of the most fabulous queens as both a boy and a girl was Rebecca Glasscock, who performed like a star and mingled like the sweet guy he really is.
The wonderful host for the shows was Michelle Visage, who was stunningly beautiful and incredibly quick-witted and funny. As the head judge (although with the tightness of the tux there isn't much 'head' to see) on the Logo TV show since Season Two, she was very well-suited for this hosting gig. She is also not afraid to make fun of herself, especially when people started to tell her how much better-looking she was in real life. The consensus was that her TV makeup artist was making her look too much like a drag queen herself - and apparently she now has a new makeup person!
They also showed their personal side by actually spending time with fans and chatting, making friends, and just generally hanging out with everybody. Cameras went crazy and drag queens were seen out of their natural habitat in full makeup during the daylight hours. I think that the best time was when they were in boy drag and just being themselves - new fan favorites were made.
HARD TO STARBOARD!
For anyone who has been on a cruise before you are probably aware of the 'Friends of Dorothy' meetings that will be held most evenings in a bar on board. Very discreet, but a way to meet like-minded guests. They still advertised them in the daily briefings for the ship's activities, but that hardly seemed necessary, seeing as how every night the starboard side of the ship was Gay central! Yes, there were some people who rushed through that area of the ship each night like they were making their way through a gang meeting or something, but for the most part everyone was happy to see people having fun, jealous that they couldn't join in, and taking as many pictures as they could.
The whole week progressed from an 'us and them' situation to a warm and fuzzy love-fest. Hearts and minds were changed as people who had probably never spent any time with a real live Gay person got up close and personal and made new friends. I did a karaoke duet with a total redneck dude who was the best straight guy I could have wished to meet. There were also a pair of nightclub bouncer types who were seen watching karaoke without cracking a smile until two boys did a dance routine behind a woman singing 'Gloria,' and at that point they melted and had the time of their lives.
Was the food great? Not really, but there was a lot of it. Was the booze cheap? No, but again there was a lot of it. Did we all have a great time? Hell yes, and hell yes again. After talking with the bar staff, hotel manager, and guest services manager, it was pretty clear that Carnival made the right decision to let this go ahead in the way it did. The liquor sales were up and the trouble level was down - they even had to restock the bar at one of the ports.
BRAVO, AL AND CHUCK
And now for the shameless plug portion of the review: The drag part of the cruise was billed as the 'Drag Race at Sea Cruise - Revenge of the Wench,' and was organized by the fantastic Al and Chuck Travel Company. As sponsors of the RuPaul show they are billed as the No. 1 Gay travel agency and I have to say that they will get my business from now on. I may not always want to go on a Gay vacation, but being surrounded by like-minded folks on a cruise is pretty sweet, as it created a safe zone where many friends were made. The whole team from Al and Chuck worked so hard to make sure that everyone had a great time - can you imagine herding drag queens and a gaggle of Gays around a boat for a week?! Always available and always very gracious and accommodating, they made everything run very smoothly and were so sweet to be around. The last show of the week started off with a video thank-you message from Al to Chuck (they have been partners for 25 years), which ended with Al proposing to Chuck. There wasn't a dry eye in the house!
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Of all the state's regions, the South Texas Plains stands out as one of the most colorful and richly documented during early Historic times. Spanish explorers, officials, missionaries, soldiers, and others traveled across the grassy plains and brush country in the early 1500s and 1600s. Their journals and reports give us tantalizing glimpses of the region’s native peoples. These accounts, though inconsistent and often frustratingly brief, are peppered with mentions of sparsely clothed people, odd-sounding languages, primitive shelters, wild foods, and curious cooking techniques. Some writings, such as those of the explorer Cabeza de Vaca—who actually lived and worked among south Texas native groups —provide rare insights into the traditions, worldview, and thinking of some of the native peoples.
The earliest Europeans in south Texas encountered peoples whose basic way of life seems to have changed very little over the centuries, what anthropologist W. W. Newcomb termed "fossil cultures." Said differently, when the first Spanish arrived, the native peoples of the South Texas Plains followed a very long cultural tradition, a quintessential example of what anthropologists call a successful adaptation to a challenging setting. Because of this, these early historic encounters are of prime significance to archeologists and others hoping to understand and interpret prehistoric lifeways. They are, in effect, our most direct connection from the relatively recent to the distant prehistoric past, providing eye-witness accounts of some of the behaviors we see represented in artifacts and archeological sites.
By the time of their witness, however, cultural upheavals among these aboriginal groups had already begun, although the effects may not have been recognized by the Spanish observers. As early as the 16th century, perhaps even before Cabeza de Vaca's shipwreck, the impact of the Spanish in other areas of New Spain was being felt indirectly by native groups in Texas. European diseases spread rapidly across the continent, unwittingly passed from group to group through trade and other interactions.
The appearance of totally foreign Old World peoples in the New World set off so many far-reaching changes, through disease, new technologies, new animals and plants, new forms of transportation, new religions, and new economic patterns. Group after group, their numbers ever thinner, retreated, joined together with one another, fought losing battles with intruders, and tried to adapt to the new world order. Within a few centuries most native societies were gone forever.
When first encountered, all of the native peoples of the South Texas Plains were hunters and gatherers, just like most societies in adjacent regions of Texas. Hunter-gatherer life is highly mobile and requires people to move seasonally and even daily from place to place in search of food and other resources. For the first few centuries after contact these traditional lifeways continued, even in the face of increasing influences by the Europeans. Some groups took on new trappings acquired from the intruders—horses improved their ability to move from place to place, metal and glass were adapted to make traditional tools and weapons. Over time, however, the foreign influences were devastating to the native cultures, as the European intruders sought, alternately, to enslave, convert, congregate, or eliminate them.
In spite of the relatively fuller accounting we have of some of these indigenous peoples, our overall knowledge of the Indians of the South Texas Plains remains a complex puzzle with most of its pieces missing. There were hundreds of native bands living in the region at the time of contact, hundreds of different names for them, and only fleeting, spotty accounts of some of their territorial locales. Our modern understandings of the native peoples of the South Texas Plains are complicated by the fact that a single overarching, or collective, name has been applied to them all: Coahuiltecans.
The name comes from Coahuila, that part of the northeastern frontier of New Spain which once included most or all of the area occupied by the modern state of Texas on one side of the Rio Grande, as well as portions of the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas on the other. As applied to native peoples, the term Coahuiltecan comes from Coahuilteco, coined by a 19th-century Mexican linguist for one of the major native languages spoke in the area. But other unrelated languages were also spoken in south Texas and northeastern Mexico and it is clear that the peoples of the region represented many different ethnic groups, tribes, and nations.
The term Coahuiltecan has become entrenched in history books and other literature. Unfortunately, it is interpreted by nonspecialists as implying that the native peoples of south Texas and northeastern Mexico (Coahuila) were, in essence, one large, genetically and/or ethnically related culture, who spoke the Coahuilteco language.
Researchers today see the cultural milieu on the South Texas Plains in Late Prehistoric/Early Historic times as far more complicated. We now understand that many of the native groups of the region, although practicing similar ways of life, were ethnically distinct, had different names for themselves, and spoke diverse languages, including Coahuilteco, Sanan, Comecrudo, Cotoname, and others. Today we realize the term Coahuiltecan is only valid in a geographic sense as a broad reference to the many native groups that once ranged across the Spanish province of Coahuila in northeastern Mexico and throughout the South Texas Plains.
Tracing South Texas Peoples
The earliest glimpse of the groups who occupied this region was given to us by Cabeza de Vaca and his three companions. Shipwrecked on the Texas Gulf Coast in 1528, these men walked from the shores near present-day Galveston to Mexico City in a journey of between 2,300 and 2,640 miles that, after they finally left south Texas in 1534, took them 14 months. Their reports of that amazing journey, written in Mexico and Spain after their return, provide fascinating information on the many native peoples they encountered, including native groups of the South Texas Plains.
After 1536, Spanish authorities in Mexico were occupied with events unfolding elsewhere in New Spain. There were encounters and battles with native groups such as the Cacaxtle in the mid-1600s, but most of the South Texas Plains remained a native domain. The pace of change and encounter picked up in the late 1600s when the Spanish learned that La Salle, a French entrepreneur, had established a French colony on the Texas Gulf Coast. Spanish military and missionaries returned to south Texas in relative abundance. They crossed the South Texas Plains on their travels to and from Matagorda Bay and to and from the Caddoan areas of east Texas. During those expeditions, the Spanish identified hundreds of names for groups occupying the region. Researchers believe that some of these groups were native to the region, while others moved in during the centuries after the Spanish were well established in Texas.
A list of groups thought to have spoken Coahuilteco and Sanan is shown here to illustrate another complexity in studying the native record. Based on the sheer numbers of native group names alone, it would appear the region was heavily populated. According to inventories and other records of the time, however, that appears not to have been the case. Although accounts vary, most of the groups were relatively small in number. For example, one group, the Pacuache, found by the Spanish along the middle Nueces River drainage, was estimated to have a population of about 350. Information for others, where it exists, suggests that individual groups maintained a population between 100 and 300.
Looking at the region from a human ecology perspective, Texas A&M archeologist Alston Thoms believes that the south Texas native population, though relatively small, was the maximum that the environment could support at the time. The region was “packed.” Further, the presence of enemies made for even greater competition and need for ingenuity in subsistence strategies.
By the mid 1700s, other native groups had began moving into the region, either pushing local groups south into Mexico or assimilating them into their own societies. These intruding native groups included the Tonkawa and Mescalero and Lipan Apache, tribes which themselves had been displaced from home territories far to the north and northwest. The availability of horses transformed many Plains groups into mounted raiders the likes of which the New World had never known. Chief among them were the war-like Comanche who forced the Apache and others, in turn, to flee and push southward, form alliances, and adopt the mounted-raider lifestyle themselves or risk annihilation.
The small, indigenous south Texas cultures were crushed by the unrelenting forces all around them. Disease, intertribal conflict, and diminished access to resources left weak, displaced bands.Some willingly turned to the Spanish for protection; others were coaxed or forced into mission settings, although their confinement was usually temporary and “conversion” incomplete. Others were captured and taken into Mexico to provide labor for mining enterprises. All the while, disease continued to take its toll on the vulnerable native populations. By the 19th century before the Republic of Texas was birthed, the true native peoples of the South Texas Plains were reduced to remnant survivors who were soon absorbed into Mexican society. Even today, however, there are surviving genetic traces and there are individuals and "resurgent" groups who identify with the Native American heritage of the region.
In This Exhibit
In the following sections, we look at the native peoples of South Texas and those who have helped uncover their stories. How Do We know About Native Lifeways? introduces readers to the researchers who have pored over Spanish documents to tease out descriptions and bits of information. Who Were the "Coahuiltecans"? provides a look at some of the many naciones who have been grouped under this name and what we know about their traditions and ways of life. Native Intruders from the North provides a brief overview of latecomers to the region who in some cases, effectively delivered a death thrust to many of the native groups of the South Texas Plains or forced them into the Spanish missions for survival. Credits and Sources provides useful resources for learning more about the region and its peoples. | <urn:uuid:965d547b-2bca-4ca7-af25-6f0599944110> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/st-plains/peoples/index.html | 2015-03-31T05:22:47Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131300313.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172140-00020-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972541 | 2,110 |
To submit information for upcoming issues or to subscribe, contact Brian Spano, communications manager, at [email protected]
Nov. 21: KCAI is partnering with the Parkville Chamber of Commerce, Missouri Valley Impressionists Society and the Cathy Kline Art Gallery to host the annual Parkville Chamber of Commerce Plein Air Auction from 6 to 9 p.m. at the North Campus, 1801 N.W. Platte Road, Suite 275, Riverside, Mo.
Nov. 21: Ross Sawyers (‘03 photography) will speak at 7 p.m. in Epperson Auditorium in Vanderslice hall on the KCAI campus as part of the college's “Current Perspectives” lecture series. Sawyers began his career as an educator teaching photography at KCAI and then at the University of Washington in Seattle and the University of California-Riverside.
Nov. 22: H&R Block Artspace at KCAI hosts T.N.T (The Noon Thing), a gallery talk with “New, Four: Kanas City Art Institute Faculty Biennial” artists at noon in the Artspace Studio.
KCAI will host a Patron Preview from 6 to 10 p.m. on the eve of the public opening of the end-of-semester student exhibition and sale. Partygoers will have an opportunity to tour selected studio departments; view and purchase work before the exhibition and sale opens to the public; and enjoy a progressive evening of food and drinks. Proceeds benefit the student scholarship fund. For more information, visit www.kcai.edu/PatronPreview
or call 816-802-3483.
Dec. 6-8: KCAI’s “End-of-semester student exhibition and sale” showcases work by students in the departments of ceramics, digital filmmaking, fiber, graphic design, illustration, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture. Exhibition and sale hours are 5 to 7 p.m. Dec. 6, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 7 and noon to 5 p.m. Dec. 8.
Through Dec. 12:
“New, Four: KCAI Faculty Biennial” at the H&R Block Artspace at KCAI, 16 E. 43 St. For more information, visit www.kcai.edu/artspace
Sculpture students complete project at ‘sustainable living’ demonstration home
Students in a class taught by sculpture professor Karen McCoy have completed a bike rack and cistern screen at Project Living Proof, a century-old house at 917 Emanuel Cleaver II Blvd. The site is less than a mile southeast of the KCAI campus. Students enrolled this fall in McCoy’s “Toward a Green Sculpture: Artists in Conversation with the World” class worked on the project. More than 20 other students previously have been involved, dating back to 2011, McCoy said.
“Unplugged” is the name of the bike rack and an installation “screen” that shields newly installed cisterns, McCoy said. She noted that Advantage Metals Recycling donated all of the metal for the project.The house is a demonstration project celebrating energy efficiency and “green” building practices. Metropolitan Energy Center owns and manages the house with assistance from Kansas City Power and Light, Missouri Gas Energy and more than 40 businesses throughout the metropolitan area. For an overview of the project, visit www.kcenergy.org/pdfs/PLP.Greenability.article_2010.10.pdf
. Tours of the site are offered by appointment. To schedule an appointment, email [email protected]
. For additional information, visit www.kcenergy.org/
Brianna Bosworth (senior, photography) and Casey Holden (senior, photography) have been selected to show work in the exhibition “Survey of the Plains” at the University of Kansas Art and Design Gallery. The exhibition runs through Dec. 13. Pictured: (top) Photo by Casey Holden and (bottom) photo by Briana Bosworth.
Kahlil Irving (senior, ceramics and art history) has been named a finalist for the 2014 NICHE Award, sponsored by NICHE Magazine, and is also one of a few chosen undergraduates for the 2014 National Student Juried Exhibition at the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conference to be held in Milwaukee in March. Pictured: “Layered Depths,” Kahlil Irving.
Grand Arts is hosting this year’s Charlotte Street Foundation Visual Artist Awards Exhibition featuring the 2013 Awards Fellows: Mike Erickson (’99 painting and printmaking), Erika Lynne Hanson (‘06 fiber) and Paul Anthony Smith (’10 ceramics). All three artists will be honored during an opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Nov. 22 and then will participate in a gallery talk at 2 p.m. Nov. 23. The reception and gallery talk are free and open to the public. The exhibition will be on view through Feb. 1.
Each of the awarded artists will exhibit works made within the past one to two years, and most of these recent works have not been seen by Kansas City audiences.
(’11 sculpture and art history) and Shae Bishop
(’12 ceramics and art history) are two of the six new artists-in-residence at Red Star Studios, and they will be featured in a presentation on their own artwork and projects from 5 to 6 p.m. Nov. 23 at Belger Crane Yard Studios, 2011 Tracy Ave. Attendees can learn what makes their approaches unique and how they came to Red Star. A potluck dinner follows at 6 p.m. For more information, contact studio manager Tommy Frank at [email protected]
or call 816-474-7316. Pictured: (back, left) Lea Griggs, Noah Riedel, Studio Manager Tommy Frank, Shae Bishop, Emily Duke. (front, left) Jamie Bates Slone, Catie Miller.
Local KCAI-related exhibitions
Blue Gallery – Rich Bowman (’91 design) will show paintings as part of a group exhibition at Blue Gallery, 118 Southwest Blvd., running through Dec. 2. Pictured: “Greener Pastures,” Rich Bowman, oil on canvas, 64 inches by 56 inches.
City Ice Arts –
Gerry Trilling (’90 painting) has an exhibition “In Site,” running through Dec. 7 at City Ice Arts, 2015 Campbell St. The gallery is open noon to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and Sunday through Thursday by appointment. www.cityicearts.com
. Pictured: “Neon Toile,” Gerry Trilling, 2012, 48 inches by 48 inches.
Leedy-Voulkos Art Center – A 25-year retrospective exhibition of paintings and drawings by Richard Mattsson, who retired this spring after teaching at KCAI for 48 years, opens with a reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5 at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, 2012 Baltimore Ave. The gallery also will be open from 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 6 for First Friday. The exhibition continues through Dec. 28. Pictured: “Corcoran Rainbow,” Richard Mattsson, 2010, 48 inches by 72 inches.
Red Star Studios at the Belger Arts Center – Work by Paul Donnelly, assistant professor of ceramics, and Rain Harris is featured in “Confluence,” running through Dec. 28 at Red Star Studios at the Belger Arts Center, 2100 Walnut St. Pictured: “Pitcher and Tumblers,” Paul Donnelly, 2013, porcelain reduction-fired, (pitcher) 9 inches by 8 ¼ inches, (tumblers) 5 ½ inches by 3 ½ inches.
Calls for artists
Encore Unique Boutique in Shawnee, Kan., is offering a cash prize for a photo contest. Low-resolution digital photos should be submitted by Nov. 30 to [email protected]
. If accepted, the photo must be framed or matted and ready to hang by Dec. 1
. They will be displayed throughout December at the Chez LaRue studio next door to Encore. For more information, contact Encore at [email protected]
P&M Artworks, which is based in Prairie Village, Kan., seeks entries within the greater metropolitan Kansas City, Mo., and Lawrence, Kan., areas for its third annual juried exhibition. Works in a range of visual art media are welcome, including painting, works on paper, photography, sculpture, glass, jewelry/metal work, furniture, textiles and digital/video responding to the theme “Divine.” A variety of interpretations centered on individual meanings and reflections on the idea of “Divine” will be selected for the exhibition. The exhibition will take place in the front gallery of Leedy-Voulkos Art Center between Jan. 3 and March 1, and the deadline for submission is Dec. 2
. For more information, visit www.pm-artworks.com
The Undergrads Underground Gallery at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center and the Destination Gallery at the Student Living Center are seeking proposals for six exhibitions for March, April and May 2014. Shows are one month long, and each will have an opening reception during First Fridays. Proposals should be submitted to Erin Jones in the KCAI Student Life office no later than 5 p.m. Feb. 13
. For more information, contact foundation faculty members Misty Gamble at [email protected]
or David Overholt at [email protected]
A friendly black cat was found Oct. 31 at 46th and Main Streets, and the family who found the cat hopes to reunite it with its owners. If you think the cat might be yours, contact them at [email protected]
KCAI’s Academic Advising and Career Services office regularly publishes a creative opportunities and career listing with employment, freelance, volunteer and RFQ listings for students and alumni. Download the current creative opportunities list here
. Download the current career list here | <urn:uuid:0db028d4-ede5-4450-beff-23a312f60310> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.kcai.edu/news-blogs/artnotes/2013-11-18?page=2 | 2015-04-01T22:33:57Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131309963.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172149-00136-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923909 | 2,219 |
Between July 13 and 16, 1863, the largest riots the United States had yet seen shook New York City. In the so-called Civil War draft riots, the city’s poor white working people, many of them Irish immigrants, bloodily protested the federally-imposed draft requiring all men to enlist in the Union Army. The rioters took out their rage on their perceived enemies: the Republicans whose wealth allowed them to purchase substitutes for military service, and the poor African Americans—their rivals in the city’s labor market—for whom the war was being fought. On July 20, four days after federal troops put down the uprising, a group of Wall Street businessmen formed a committee to aid New York’s devastated black community. The Committee of Merchants for the Relief of Colored People Suffering from the Late Riots gathered and distributed funds, and collected the following testimony.
This young man who was murdered by the mob on the corner of Twenty-seventh St., and Seventh avenue, was a quiet, inoffensive man, 23 years of age, of unexceptionable character, and a member of the Zion African Church in this city. Although a cripple, he earned a living for himself and his mother by serving a gentleman in the capacity of a coachman. A short time previous to the assault upon his person he called upon his mother to see if anything could be done by him for her safety. The old lady, who is noted for her piety and her Christian deportment, said she considered herself perfectly safe; but if her time to die had come, she was ready to die. Her son then knelt down by her side, and implored the protection of Heaven in behalf of his mother. The old lady was affected to tears, and said to our informant that it seemed to her that good angels were present in the room. Scarcely had the supplicant risen from his knees, when the mob broke down the door, seized him, beat him over the head and face with fists and clubs, and then hanged him in the presence of his mother.
While they were engaged, the military came and drove them away, cutting down the body of Franklin who raised his arm once slightly and gave a few signs of life.
The military then moved on to quell other riots, when the mob returned and again suspended the now probably lifeless body of Franklin, cutting out pieces of flesh and otherwise mutilating it.
Peter Heuston, sixty-three years of age, a Mohawk Indian, with dark complexion and straight black hair, who has for several years been a resident of this city, at the corner of Rosevelt and Oak streets, and who has obtained a livelihood as a laborer, proved a victim to the late riots.
His wife died about three weeks before the riots, leaving with her husband an only child, a little girl named Lavinia, aged eight years, whom the Merchants' Committee have undertaken to adopt with a view of affording her a guardianship and an education. Heuston served with the New York Volunteers in the Mexican War, and has always been loyal to our government. He was brutally attacked on the 13th of July by a gang of ruffians who evidently thought him to be of the African race because of his dark complexion. He died within four days at Bellevue hospital from his injuries....
Wm. Henry Nichols
Died July 16th, from injuries received at the hands of the rioters on the 15th of July.
Mrs. Statts, his mother, tells this story:—
The father of Wm. Henry died some years ago, and the boy has since, by good behavior, with persevering industry, earned his own living; he was a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in good standing. I had arrived from Philadelphia, the previous Monday evening, before any indications of the riot were known, and was temporarily stopping, on Wednesday, July 15th, at the house of my son, No.147 East 28th street.
At 3 o’clock of that day the mob arrived and immediately commenced an attack with terrific yells, and a shower of stones and bricks, upon the house. In the next room to where I was sitting was a poor woman, who had been confined with a child on Sunday, three days previous. Some of the rioters broke through the front door with pick axes, and came rushing into the room where this poor woman lay, and commenced to pull the clothes from off her. Knowing that their rate was chiefly directed against men, I hid my son behind me and ran with him through the back door, down into the basement. In a little while I saw the innocent babe, of three days old, come crashing down into the yard; some of the rioters had dashed it out of the back window, killing it instantly. In a few minutes streams of water came pouring down into the basement, the mob had cut the Croton water-pipes with their axes. Fearing we should be drowned in the cellar, (there were ten of us, mostly women and children, there) I took my boy and flew past the dead body of the babe, out to the rear of the yard, hoping to escape with him through an open lot into 29th street; but here, to our horror and dismay, we met the mob again; I, with my son, had climbed the fence, but the sight of those maddened demons so affected me that I fell back, fainting, into the yard; my son jumped down from the fence to pick me up, and a dozen of the rioters came leaping over the fence after him. As they surrounded us my son exclaimed, “save my mother, gentlemen, if you kill me.” "Well, we will kill you," they answered; and with that two ruffians seized him, each taking hold of an arm, while a third, armed with a crow-bar, calling upon them to stand and hold his arms apart, deliberately struck him a heavy blow over the head, felling him, like a bullock, to the ground. (He died in the N.Y. hospital two days after.) I believe if I were to live a hundred years I would never forget that scene, or cease to hear the horrid voices of that demoniacal mob resounding in my ears.
They then drove me over the fence, and as I was passing over, one of the mob seized a pocket-book, which he saw in my bosom, and in his eagerness to get it tore the dress off my shoulders.
I, with several others, then ran to the 29th street Station House, but we were here refused admittance, and told by the Captain that we were frightened without cause. A gentleman who accompanied us told the Captain of the facts, but we were all turned away.
I then went down to my husband’s, in Broome Street, and there I encountered another mob, who, before I could escape commenced stoning me. They beat me severely.
I reached the house but found my husband had left for Rahway. Scarcely knowing what I did, I then wandered, bewildered and sick, in the direction he had taken, and towards Philadelphia, and reached Jersey City, where a kind, Christian gentleman, Mr. Arthur Lynch, found me, and took me to his house, where his good wife nursed me for over two weeks, while I was very sick.
I am a member of the Baptist Church, and if it were not for my trust in Christ I do not know how I could have endured it.
I am a whitewasher by trade, and have worked, boy and man, in this city for sixty-three years. On Tuesday afternoon I was standing on the corner of Thirtieth street and Second avenue, when a crowd of young men came running along shouting “Here’s a nigger, here’s a nigger.” Almost before I knew of their intention, I was knocked down, kicked here and there, badgered and battered without mercy, until a cry of “the Peelers are coming” was raised; and I was left almost senseless, with a broken arm and a face covered with blood, on the railroad track. I was helped home on a cart by the officers, who were very kind to me, and gave me some brandy before I got home. I entertain no malice and have no desire for revenge against these people. Why should they hurt me or my colored brethren? We are poor men like them; we work hard and get but little for it. I was born in this State and have lived here all my life, and it seems hard, very hard, that we should be knocked down and kept out of work just to oblige folks who won’t work themselves and don’t want others to work.
We asked him if it was true that the negroes had formed any organization for self-defence, as was rumored. He said no; that, so far as he knew, “they all desire to keep out of the way, to be quiet, and do their best toward allaying the excitement in the City.”
The room in which the old man was lying was small, but it was the kitchen, sitting-room, bedroom and garret of four grown persons and five children.
Instances of this kind might be multiplied by the dozen, gathered from the lips of suffering men, who, though wounded and maimed by ruffians and rioters, are content to be left alone, and wish for no revenge.
Burning of the Colored Orphan Asylum
Our attention was early called to this outrage by a number of letters from the relatives and friends of the children, anxiously inquiring as to the whereabouts of the little ones. It is well known that as soon as the Bull’s Head Hotel had been attacked by the mob, their next destination was the Colored Orphan Asylum, on Fifth Avenue, near Forty-third street. The crowd had swelled to an immense number at this locality, and went professionally to work in order to destroy the building, and, at the same time, to make appropriation of any thing of value by which they might aggrandize themselves. About four hundred entered the house at the time, and immediately proceeded to pitch out beds, chairs, tables, and every species of furniture, which were eagerly seized by the crowd below, and carried off. When all was taken, the house was then set on fire, and shared the fate of the others.
While the rioters were clamoring for admittance at the front door, the Matron and Superintendent were quietly and rapidly conducting the children out the back yard, down to the police station. They remained there until Thursday, (the burning of the Asylum occurred on Monday, July 13th, when they were all removed in safety to Blackwell’s Island, where they still remain.
There were 230 children between the ages of 4 and 12 years in the home at the time of the riot.
The buildings were of brick and were substantial and commodious structures. A number of fine shade trees and flowering shrubs adorned the ample play grounds and front court yard, and a well built fence surrounded the whole.
The main buildings were burned. The trees were girdled by cutting with axes; the shrubs uprooted, and the fence carried away. All was destroyed except the residence of Mr. Davis [the superintendent], which was sacked.
Some four or five white women, wives of colored men applied for relief. In every instance they had been severly dealt with by the mob. One Irish woman, Mrs. C. was so persecuted and shunned by every one, that when she called for aid, she was nearly insane.
Source: Report of the Committee of Merchants for the Relief of Colored People, Suffering From the Late Riots in the City of New York. (New York, 1863). | <urn:uuid:ffa9fe75-e58f-48e6-8507-e42278e87f2e> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6216/ | 2015-03-27T17:18:25Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131296587.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172136-00204-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989188 | 2,479 |
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Personal shoppers -- are they worth it?
Three personal shoppers defend their profession -- and fees. Here's the inside scoop on a luxury service some business travelers consider a necessity
Personal shoppers: time savers and miracle makers.
These people can replace your broken belt buckle, find a matching bracelet and pick up your bagel all before breakfast.
Wait, isn't that what Google and a (far cheaper) PA does?
Why are pricey personal shoppers steadily becoming part of the upscale traveler’s lifestyle?
We challenged three experts shoppers -- Gabrielle Teare, London-based fashion blogger and personal shopper; Angela Stone, author of “How to Become a Personal Shopper" and Fiona Foxon, lifestyle managing director of concierge service Quintessentially -- to convince us that a personal shopper isn't just a needy human doing the Internet's work.
Personal shopping 101
Personal shoppers work one of two ways. They can function like a concierge service -- you tell them what you want, they find it and bring it to you.
Or, they escort you on a bespoke shopping tour.
When you touch down in a city, local personal shoppers can act as personal guides to the best boutiques and stores, helping you find anything from art deco antiques in Shanghai to a Parisian wardrobe overhaul.
CNN: I’ve just arrived in Hong Kong and have forgotten my shoes. I’m off to a party two hours after landing. Can you help?
Fiona Foxon: "Yes! Let us know what you want. We have members’ personal details and preferences on file and we can meet you at the airport or your hotel with some new shoes in your size.
"Members often come to us if they’re away on a business trip and have forgotten things like cuff links or phone chargers.
"We have 63 offices around the world and if we don’t have a physical presence in a specific location we organize fixers and use our local contacts on the ground.”
CNN: What weird things have you shopped for?
Foxon: “The most bizarre thing recently was finding a replica of the Pope’s house slippers.
"But we get all sorts of requests. We have a number of Japanese clients in Hong Kong who can’t find specific ingredients like fish flakes for sushi.
"We have also tracked down sheep’s placenta in Switzerland for a Hong Kong client. Apparently, it’s revolutionary in facial care. Makes my stomach churn!
"We never source anything illegal or immoral. We won’t find drugs, women or organize adoptions."
CNN: Why should I choose you over a guidebook?
Angela Stone: "Knowledge is power. I’m shopping on a regular basis. I know the brands and what’s good for your shape, size and age.
"Plus, I’ll assess your existing wardrobe and see what’s not right for you and what’s missing. I’ll take photos of you in new outfits consisting of garments you may not have considered yourself."
Gabrielle Teare: "People fly in from around the world to (see) me because they want to know where to find the best shopping in London. I’m an expert -- I’m in the shops all the time. I’ll also go through what colors suit you and look at your body shape, then we shop.”
How much is this gonna cost?
Not surprisingly, the personal shopper service doesn’t come cheap. Excluding the cost of whatever you buy, Quintessentially charges US$65 per hour on top of an US$5,160-$39,000 annual membership fee.
Angela Stone charges NZ$200 (US$165) per hour. A personal shopping session can last for several hours. She recommends seeing a professional shopper for a consultation every three to six months.
Teare doesn't reveal her prices, citing competitive reasons and the fact that she offers a bespoke service to her clients. But she says she works by the half day or full day.
In a nutshell, hiring a personal shopper is more expensive than buying from Net-a-porter.
CNN: Personal shoppers claim to save their clients a lot of time, but they cost a lot of money. What do we really get for our cash?
Foxon: "We can jump queues. That Birkin bag might take you six months to get from ordering in the shop. Through our contacts we can get it for you quicker.
"Personal shopping is not a lazy option, it’s giving time back to our clients so they can do more. We’re not being paid to Google. We always vet our suppliers and make sure they can be trusted."
Teare: "I help people buy less but buy better. Most of us only wear 20 percent of what we buy -- look at the rubbish in our wardrobes."
"People get stuck wearing the same thing, be it rugby shirts, the wrong colors or shapes. Because I buy so much some shops give me discounts."
Stone: "I call myself a fresh pair of eyes. I see where I can take my client on a journey -– a transformation from the inside out.
"We fritter too much money away on emotional purchases. You don’t need a lot of pieces, just pieces that work for you."
Call the fashion police
No-nonsense fashion and lifestyle blogger and international marketing director, Jacqueline Raposo, has her own take.
“I think pinpointing personal style is quite difficult and as someone who travels I wouldn't expect a personal shopper to get me," she says.
"I'm from New York, I like black, but I also hate capped sleeves and any sort of ruffle -- can you figure out my style from that? I wouldn’t expect anyone to.”
The lady has a point.
CNN: How do you avoid clashes of opinion? Isn’t style subjective after all?
Teare: "You have to style people in their style, not yours. However, if the client is out shopping with me I always say 'try things on.'
"Some people say to me 'I’m not wearing that,' but then they come out of the changing room and start flirting with themselves, running their hands through their hair saying, 'Look, it’s me!'
"Also, I always tell clients: only buy things you love."
Stone: "Styling someone is definitely a process. You need to find out who your clients are, their needs and lifestyle. However, they quickly start to realize if someone is going to be their best friend and have them looking fantastic."
CNN: I hate what you bought for me -- what happens now?
Foxon: "If a member doesn’t like an item, we’ll rush back to the shop."
Teare: "People I shop for keep about 98 percent of what I buy for them. If it’s not right, I’ll take it back."
CNN: Will hiring a personal shopper for an image overhaul get me a promotion?
Foxon: "Image, unfortunately, or fortunately, is so important. A personal shopper-cum-stylist can revamp a person. It’s important for your career that you look and act the part."
Teare: "Men often have amazingly sparse wardrobes, those who consistently wear black, navy and gray could really benefit from seeing a personal shopper.
"Women, if you’re competing with a guy at work then they may be spending at least US$1,000 on a suit. You’re wearing a cheap suit from the high street, but you’re doing the same job and asking for the same money.
"I tell my clients, use all the assets you have. Be effective and be professional."
CNN: TV makeovers often consist of getting naked and ridiculed. Is this what will happen?
Teare: "A lot of TV humiliates people. Why do you need to grab bosoms to make someone look stylish? It makes for good television, but it’s unreal.
"Personal shopping is a relationship of respect and we’re here to make people look good. I see people in their underwear every day of the week so clients never need to feel embarrassed."
Finding the right personal shopper
CNN: How do I avoid hiring a shoddy shopper?
Stone: "You must be comfortable with your stylist and make sure you know what they’ll do for you. Most reputable personal shoppers will have a website.
"Do your homework and ask around. I recommend talking to boutiques and department stores and seeing if they suggest anyone."
Teare: "Look at the person and look at their website. You want them to know about fashion. If their blog or website isn’t creative then they can’t style."
Don’t have the time to hunt around, or can’t be bothered? Check out our list of top fixers for the super-rich traveler | <urn:uuid:56759ae5-8ddd-43e7-8e0c-5d82b18f66f2> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://travel.cnn.com/personal-shoppers-worth-it-469636?hpt=hp_mid | 2015-03-29T17:16:56Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298660.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00028-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942965 | 1,949 |
Can't decide ...(9 Posts)
Hi, I'm posting here because, although going from 2 to 3 children isn't exactly what I'd call a 'larger' family, it certainy is a medium-sized family and I'm hoping I'll receive useful advice from people on this forum.
I'm 30yo: we have 2 DDs aged 4.1yo and almost 1yo. Both desperately wanted and who took a while to conceive (DD1 naturally after 9 months of TTC; DD2 after six cycles of Clomid and 2y TTC).
Now, DD2 is 1yo next month and DH has told me a couple of times recently that he is broody and would like another DC. I'm hesitating and I'm going to list my reasons (in no particular order):
? I can't ever 'actively' TTC again. I'm scarred after our experience trying for DD2. If I did get pg again, it really would be a case of nature having just taken it's course. (That is, if I was lucky enough to ever conceive again. I don't think making babies is instant with DH and I.)
? I had a long and traumatic labour with DD1. I had an ELCS with DD2. Another baby would likely be another ELCS delivery. Whilst I much preferred my ELCS, I can't deny that it did knock me about for a couple of
weeks. I wasn't 'back to normal' for about 8 weeks and didn't feel completely myself until about 12 weeks after. I think about how I'd manage taking DD1 to school and looking after DD2. I've said this is DH but I dot think he really understands what I'm talking about (prob because
I just got on with it after DD2's birth, and had the luxury of DD1 not being school-age then).
? Age gaps: I love the 3.2yr age gap between our girls. I'd prefer at least a 2yr, preferably 2-and-a-half year
gap ... But then I think of how difficult it was to get pg last time, and I'm back to square one.
? We are lucky to have a baby and a child with good temperaments. However, when they both need me, it's tiring. I wonder how is stretch myself to look after 3 and give them equal and adequate attention (it's basically just me during the day). I'm also concerned how I'd
manage in late pregnancy and early post-partum, not being able to hop, skip, dash and jump after them, IYSWIM.
? Our 2 feel like 'partners' already. How would a third child likely affect this relationship? Would a third child feel left out? What if we had a boy; would he feel on his own with 2 big sisters?
But then, I adore our daughters, loved my pregnancies, love babies and watching them grow. And I keep returning to thinking about how lucky I'd be if I just got pg, you know? Sorry forth long ramble, but any advice
to stop me thinking in circles would be greatly appreciated.
Oh nuts, the question marks were supposed to be bullet points. Sorry about that!
We've got 3 girls: DD1 8yrs, DD2 5yrs, DD3 5 weeks. we thought long and hard about number 3 and we're so glad we went with it! She has slotted right in and the older two love her to bits. However, I wish that we had a smaller age gap between DD2 & 3 as i feel that she is a bit tagged on at the end. So much so that i'm trying to convince DH to ttc DC4 ideally in a years time so we have a 2-3 yr gap.
I have no experience of CS or difficulty ttc but I do agree when others say that you never regret the children you have, only the ones you didnt.
DD1 & 2 are both at school and actually this forces me to be super organised to get up and out in the morning. DH only took 4 days off for paternity leave so when DD3 was 5 days old I was doing the school run myself! After the first day it was fine.
Attention wise its just the same as when you have two children and have to split yourself between them. I'm one of 3 and never felt I received any less attention than friends from smaller families.
Early days with us, but if I was able to do anything differently it would be to have had DD3 earlier and therefore have a smaller age gap, although I appreciate that this is something that can't always be planned!
Instead of actively trying to concieve (which I can understand must be stressfull for you), could you just stop using contraception for the next year before taking things up a level (maybe then use clomid and ovulation predictors).
I think you would manage just fine with three and will find you always have enough love to go around and somehow make enough time.
Although you are worried how you will manage the school run, on the up side it does mean you will still only have two at home to care for all day (and you managed that last time). You don't say if you have to drive to school or how far away it is. Do you have any family or friends who could help if you had another CS?
I have 5 DCs and it is true that all pregnancies, labours and recoveries are different. You might find you bounce back really quickly if you have another, so don't let the long recovery last time put you off.
Now you know what to expect from a CS you can plan and make arrangements that will help you.
Even though you would like a 2.5yr age gap, would you rule out having another if it took longer? This might take the pressure off and hopefully things will eventually happen by themselves. You are only 30, so have time to let nature take its course, if this is your preferred route.
If you decide you don't want any more DCs then you need to let your DH know and the reasons why. I'm sure he would understand.
Thanks for your replies. Buttons, congrats on your new baby and for sharing your experiences
NAR4, lots of useful things to think about there, thank-you. DH understands how stressful TTC was last time (it was hard on him, too). I think he would prefer to stop using contraception and just see what happens.
School is a 15 minute walk or 5 min drive. We are looking to move though, as our house is currently too small for our needs with 2 DCs, so if a third DC came along, we would definitely needed to have moved already. We're taking our time as we'd like to stay in the area (house size shouldn't be an issue as we've decided to make a move before the end of this year).
Yes, family and friends are on-hand after another CS.
After re-reading my OP, I wasn't clear about the age-gap, sorry. I'd like at least a 2 or 2.6 year age gap and I don't mind a larger one up to 4 years or so. Have to consider the age gap between DD1 and a third DC and after reading Buttons post, I wouldn't want the 'tagged on' feeling as I'm pretty sure that 3 would be our limit (finances, age and not keen on having a few CSs!)
Maybe I just need more time? DD2 is still so young and I am really, really enjoying her being a baby (and almost a toddler!) Very exciting - and trying to decide is not a 'problem' as such, in the grand scheme of things.
I'm sure it will be easier for you to decide as your youngest DD gets older. She is only a baby still, like you say.
Yes, thanks I just remember wanting another baby when DD1 was about 6mo, and ttc from then. I definitely, absolutely knew I wanted another. I'd hear friends saying 'oh, I'm not ready just yet' or 'there's no way I'd cope with another just yet' and not being able to relate to them. Of course, the longer it took, the more desperate for her I became.
I just can't go through that again. It made me depressed, I think; too preoccupied to be the best Mom I could be. DD1's toddler stage kind of passed me by because of my, sadness, I suppose, over how long DD2 was taking to show her shiney face.
So, anyway, I digress. I can now relate to what friends had said about not being ready but I'm caught between feeling like that, then deciding I'd actually quite like another baby, and then it taking ages again, or not happening at all.
You never know, it might not be that difficult to get pregnant again! It took me clomid and 18mths to get pregnant with DD1, clomid and 6 months to get pregnant with DD2 and DS was my surprise boy (I'd assumed I always needed drugs to get pregnant )
I think sometimes your body gets "better" at getting pregnant the more you have!
I'd always planned on having 3 but not so close together (2yr gap between 2 and 3). His babyhood was manic but very happy and I love the dynamics of 3. Best of luck with whatever you choose.
nico thanks for that lovely post I'd like to think that's how it would happen for us x
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Swamps to Camp Fires. Rockets to Origami. Fireworks to Hometown Parades. Hieroglyphics to Bridges… These are just a few of the learning highlights we’re featuring this week! Peruse our list below and make plans to get out into your community and learn while you play!
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY
4th of July Highlights! From the state where the American Revolution began, families can take part in the multitude of 4th of July celebrations happening in Western MA. Check our 4th of July preview of events, parades & fireworks happening to celebrate in Western MA: 2013 Fourth of July Celebrations & Fireworks
Independence Day ♦ Plants, Nature & Animal Studies ♦ STEM ♦ Archaeology ♦ Local History ♦ Arts & Crafts ♦ Lawn Concerts & Family Dinners ♦ Movies
Explore Whately’s Great Swamp with the Pioneer Valley Institute on Saturday morning, June 29th, and learn about the swamp’s many different tree species, including Black Gum, Pin Oak, and Swamp White Oak. Time will also be spent discussing the swamp’s ecology, geology, and history. The swamp is what is known as a perched swamp, meaning it is not directly connected to the water table, rather it is perched atop layers that prevent drainage as a result of the region’s glacial history. This is a great way to improve your tree identification skills while learning & exploring a truly unique geological area.
The Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation is hosting a Firefly Hike and Campfire for the whole family on Saturday evening at Sheep Hill in Williamstown. Bring blankets and curl up with family & friends near the fire while eating s’mores and listening to stories told by the three-generational Leamon boys. There will also be nature crafts for children and a hike to search for fireflies.
Bats are the only flying mammals and among the most misunderstood animals. On Friday evening, July 5th, join Rene Laubach to learn about bats found in our region at Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Lenox. The program will begin indoors for an overview of the ecology and diversity of bats, and will conclude outdoors with a search for bats, weather permitting. A bat detector will be used to eavesdrop on the bats as they hunt for food.
Check out these links too:
- Amazing Butterflies in Springfield All Summer!
- State Forests & Parks in Western MA
- Firefly Watch! Citizen Science Project
Be a mad scientist at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield on Saturday morning, June 29th at their monthly chemistry based event, Kitchen Kaboom! Along with the help of the museum’s very own crazy chemist, kids can learn how to do exciting and surprising (and safe!) experiments with regular household materials.
Build LEGOs with friends at the Sunderland Public Library on Monday morning, July 1st! Kids 6 and up can exercise creativity and practice their engineering skills by making their own LEGO creations or by following one of the library’s themes.
Origami is a fun way for kids to engage with an activity that supports their discovery of geometry. Learn the art of origami and other paper arts at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield on Tuesday afternoon, July 2nd. This event is held in conjunction with the museum’s PaperWorks exhibit, which focused on the many different things that can be created with paper.
Do your kids want to know more about rockets? What better way to learn about them than designing and testing their own! The Boston Museum of Science is helping to host this hands-on physics program at the Wheeler Memorial Library in Orange on Tuesday afternoon. Not only is this event super fun (and free), but kids will also engage in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)!
Join Odyssey Bookshop for Camp Odyssey in South Hadley on Wednesday afternoon, July 3rd! This once-a-week camp features a weekly book and activities to go along with it. This week’s book/activity is Pop Bottle Science. Come learn about hands-on science experiments you can reproduce with large plastic soda bottles, the perfect mini science lab!
Check out these links too:
- Young Scientist Challenge: Encouraging Students to Share Their Passion for Science
- Art & Science of Paper at the Berkshire Museum this Summer
- 8 Ways to Create Engaging Engineering Activities at Home
Are your kids interested in learning about archaeology this summer? Most Western MA libraries are participating in the Dig into Reading summer program, and many are offering supplemental programs, including the Mason Library in Great Barrington. Kids ages 5yo+ are invited to stop in on Saturday morning, June 29th to learn about mummies, write in hieroglyphics, make cave painting, and discover treasures. This event connects nicely with the “Dig Into Reading” summer reading program!
Join storyteller and scientist Paulette Morin at the Hatfield Public Library for a special free storytime all about fossils and dinosaurs on Tuesday morning, July 2nd. Youth participants will get to do some hands-on exploring with real fossils too! Paulette will also be at the Berkshire Athenaeum in Pittsfield on Wednesday afternoon, July 3rd, this time learning about the earth’s exciting prehistoric past!
What was it like crossing the Connecticut River before the construction of our modern bridges? Learn about the history of local bridges and the difficulties associated with building them while riding around Turners Falls and Montague City on a leisurely bike tour with the Great Falls Discovery Center on Saturday afternoon, June 29th. This is a free and engaging way to learn local history by exploring our towns and villages. Bring a bike and helmet!
Join the Kemp-McCarthy Museum in Rowe for a special free celebration as they celebrate their 50th anniversary on Sunday afternoon, June 30! Visitors can view the “Childhood Memories” exhibit, which includes antique games and children’s clothing, see the historic hat display, learn about a research project cataloging Rowe’s houses, see the newly refurbished Music Room, study rare documents from the 18th and 19th centuries, and see “The Way We Were,” an exhibit of clothing and artifacts from 1963, the year the Museum opened. There will also be a buffet, treats, and live music. Immerse yourself in local history by experiencing and learning about what life in the Hilltowns was like many years ago.
Check out these links too:
- Irish Legacy Exhibit Blends Local Immigration History with Artifacts at Springfield Museums
- Plainfield Historical Society Offers Online Resource, Rich Hilltown History!
- Historic Northampton Museum & Education Center Highlights the History of Silk Thread and the Pioneer Valley
Here are four free events happening this week at local libraries or museums that support creativity:
- Saturday morning, June 29th: Kids can exercise their creativity and art skills at the Ramsdell Library in Housatonic during a story cube activity. Draw illustrations on the cubes, roll them like dice, and create stories as you go!
- Tuesday afternoon, July 2nd: Children ages 5-12 are invited to a craft activity all about worms! The Berkshire Athenaeum in Pittsfield is hosting this activity as part of the “Dig Into Reading” summer reading program. It offers a chance for kids to do a craft related to the greater theme of the program.
- Tuesday afternoon, July 2nd: Teens participating in the summer reading program can come make gummy worms in “dirt” desserts at the Sixteen Acres Library in Springfield. This event is purely fun and teens will enjoy getting their hands dirty while making a tasty dessert together!
- Tuesday afternoon, July 2nd: 2pm-6pm: Stop by the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown for an all-ages watercolor workshop. Open to people with all skill levels, this workshop helps you learn the art of watercolor painting while translating the natural beauty of the Clark onto paper.
Check out these links too:
- Let’s Play: Books and Creative Free Play
- Language Play: Supporting the Creativity of Writing
- ZooBean: Handpicked Books for Kids
There’s a lawn concert happening nearly every evening this week! A great solution to finding time for your family to dine together, pack up a picnic dinner, BYO blanket & chairs, and lounge on the lawn listening to music with your family while enjoying dinner together:
- Saturday, June 29th in Longmeadow: Pack a picnic dinner and bring the whole family to join the Longmeadow Parks and Recreation Department at the Longmeadow Green for an outdoor concert. Mandeville and Raianne Richards, a folk duo from Massachusetts, will perform country and classic Americana-inspired tunes.
- Sunday, June 30th in Greenfield: Coop Concerts Summer Concert Series takes place weekly at Greenfield Energy Park. This week’s show features Jennie McAvoy and Michael Nix, Katie Clarke, and Devlin Miles.
- Monday, July 1st in South Deerfield: Monday Night Concerts at the Tilton Library are a great chance to have an exciting family dinner – bring chairs, a blanket, pack a picnic, and bring the whole family! This week’s performers are Bruce King and Doctor Dan.
- Tuesday, July 2nd in Williamstown: The Clark Art Institute is hosting concerts on their South Lawn every Tuesday in July! This week’s performer is Red June. Pack a picnic dinner – or purchase barbecue food at the Clark – and enjoy the show while spending time with family.
- Thursday, July 4th in Wilbraham: The Wilbraham Nature and Cultural Center’s summer concert series at Fountain Park presents John Brandoli. Brandoli’s repertoire includes rock, folk, and pop, so bring the whole family and sit on the lawn while enjoying entertaining live music.
- Friday, July 5th in Easthampton: Arts in the Park Summer Concert Series happens at Millside Park. Pack a picnic dinner, bring the family, and enjoy an evening of live music outdoors on a Friday evening!
If the heat or rain makes you want to head indoors this summer, there are often times screenings of family movies happening at area libraries or at a special rate at a local theater house. This week the Westfield Atheaneum, Sunderland Library and Cinemark in Hadley are screening family films for a dollar or less!
If you’re in the mood for an outdoor evening film, the town of Adams will be hosting a summer film series beginning this week (among several others in July!) and Northfield Drive-In is always a family favorite destination for outdoor viewing.
Find out about these events and over 100 other events & activities happening all next week in our List of Weekly Suggested Events. All of our listed events are “suggested.” Please take a moment to confirm that these events are happening as scheduled, along with time, place, age appropriateness and costs before heading out. | <urn:uuid:76dc8eb9-59b1-4d25-9781-3815b061c8d5> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | https://hilltownfamilies.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/community-highlights-15/ | 2015-03-29T17:21:48Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298660.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00028-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935235 | 2,299 |
Los Angeles wants to bring fiber-based broadband to all of its residents and businesses and build a citywide Wi-Fi network at the same time. The best part for LA is that the buildout won't cost the city a dime.
That's because LA is going to issue an RFP (request for proposal) asking vendors to build out the network themselves at an estimated cost of $3 billion to $5 billion. Despite the vendor bearing that cost, it would also be required to make the network open to any other service provider on a wholesale basis. Longtime watchers of the broadband industry say Los Angeles seems to be asking for the impossible.
"My first reaction is 'I look forward to their RFP for a unicorn supplier, because I think it's about as likely under these terms,'" Harold Feld, senior VP of the technology-focused consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, told Ars.
There would be benefits to a winning bidder in LA's fiber bonanza, though. While the vendor would have to provide free Internet to everyone at the network's slowest speeds (potentially with ads to support the service), it could also charge a premium for everything up to gigabit lines and could sell TV and phone service to everyone in LA. Moreover, the winning bidder could get contracts to provide the city government with data center hosting and perhaps other IT services like e-mail.
"I like to think of it as limited at this point only by your imagination," Los Angeles City Council member Bob Blumenfield, who came up with the idea, told Ars.
Blumenfield wants city residents to have completely portable Internet connections, available both at home and on Wi-Fi hotspots wherever they go in Los Angeles. "While I may be getting five megabits as Joe on the street wanting to connect, if I'm a customer of the vendor then I have portability. I can get the same high speed access I would get in my home anywhere in Los Angeles," he said.
The Wi-Fi component of the project would cost less than $100 million, he said. "When completed, Los Angeles would be the largest city in the United States with free universal access to wireless broadband," Blumenfield's office said in a press release.
The problem is that the city needs to bring something to the table to make the construction costs worthwhile to the vendor, Feld said.
"If there were a lot of municipal fiber in the ground already so you didn't have to pay to deploy the asset, and the issue was 'we're looking for a manager to take over management of existing urban fiber and turn that into an open system,' that would be one thing," Feld said.
Los Angeles Information Technology Agency GM Steve Reneker told Ars, "The city is going into it and writing the agreement, basically saying, 'we have no additional funding for this effort.' We're requiring the vendors that respond to pay for the city resources needed to expedite any permitting and inspection associated with laying their fiber."
Reneker further said the winning bidder would hopefully be able to provide not just fiber Internet but also cellular service and data center hosting. That potentially limits the field to AT&T and Verizon.
"There are only two companies that could do that for both wireless and fiber, and neither one of them is going to take those terms," Feld said.
We've asked AT&T and Verizon if they would bid on the project, but we didn't get an answer.
The city previously considered a citywide Wi-Fi initiative in 2007, but a report completed by 2009 determined that it would be too expensive.
“It’s kind of a mystery to me”
Feld's views were echoed by Christopher Mitchell, director of the Telecommunications as Commons Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. "I was looking back over the LA thing to make sure I didn't miss anything. It's kind of a mystery to me," he said. "As I understand California law at this point, LA would be asking someone to do something that they could do now. LA doesn't appear to be giving them any specific inducement to do so. And a lot of providers, if they were going to do this they would just pick a part of LA and do it there. There's no reason they would choose to do it everywhere."
The offer of a contract to provide data center hosting and other services to LA isn't enough to lure a vendor to build out the whole fiber network, Mitchell said.
One more realistic, albeit slower, approach LA could take is to install fiber or conduit (essentially a placeholder that makes it easier to install fiber in the future) each time the city rips up the road for another project.
"If you're already digging up the streets to fix the road or put in water pipes, the cost of adding conduit and/or fiber can be about 1 percent of that project cost, so it's incredibly affordable," Mitchell said. "Santa Monica has done this over a period of more than 10 years, and they've built a substantial network."
Just how much fiber does Los Angeles have already? Blumenfield said it's not clear. "DWP [LA's Department of Water and Power] has a fair amount of fiber in the ground, some of the research institutions have fiber in the ground, the movie studios have some fiber. I don't know, frankly, if anybody has done a complete catalog of what's out there."
Feld and Mitchell wondered if more details on LA's current fiber would be available once the RFP is issued, but it doesn't appear that this will be the case. "The opening RFP is going to be pretty broad; it's going to come out in the next couple of weeks," Blumenfield said.
The initiative unanimously approved by the City Council this week instructed the tech department to "[d]evelop a City of Los Angeles Broadband Request for Proposal with a list of available assets and services that would entice a vendor to provide a build out of some level of free broadband service to all City residents while respecting the commercial carrier's basic levels of service and to not significantly influence carrier competition."
"It's potentially a huge value proposition for them to be able to leverage the city's assets," Blumenfield said. Those assets include "light posts on every street that have power," providing a place to put Wi-Fi access points. The city would also make it easy for the vendor to get all the required permits, he said.
Which companies does Blumenfield expect to place bids? "I would certainly expect AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner, some of the big tech companies. Maybe Google, maybe Microsoft. There would be partnerships between these different companies," he said.
LA wouldn’t be the first, but it might be the biggest
Citywide fiber rollouts have been achieved elsewhere in the US, if not in metro areas the size of LA. EPB, the community-owned electric utility in Chattanooga, Tennessee, started building a fiber network in 2008, served its first fiber Internet customers in 2009, and had the whole network done by 2011.
Installing 8,000 miles of fiber optics cost about $97 million, EPB communications VP Danna Bailey told Ars. The Internet service, which has 60,000 customers out of a potential 170,000 homes and businesses, offers 100Mbps connections for $57.99 a month and gigabit connections for $69.99 a month. TV and phone service are offered as well. The network spans Chattanooga and the surrounding rural areas.
It's already turning a profit. "It absolutely has paid for itself and is putting money back into our electric system as well," EPB Chief Operating Officer David Wade said. "This year our fiber communications portion of the company will probably put about $20 million back into our electric system."
EPB modernized its electric system with 170,000 smart meters at the same time that it installed fiber.
"I think we would have welcomed the incumbents to come into town and to have done some of this work, but frankly no one was interested in doing it," Bailey said. After the network launched, incumbents Comcast and AT&T finally started upgrading their services, EPB officials said. The project thus benefited nearly everyone, not just people who signed up for EPB Internet service.
It would be easy to conclude that LA should follow a Chattanooga model, building out the network itself. Mitchell said that this would provide the city the advantage of having greater control over the quality of service for one of its most important assets.
With 3.5 million residents, LA is very different from Chattanooga, however. The huge city may well be able to entice vendors to build something, if not something as ambitious as what the planned RFP proposes.
For EPB's part, Bailey said, "we are very excited that LA is looking into building a fiber-to-the-home system."
An “opening gambit?”
We'll find out soon enough whether broadband companies will submit bids to LA. Mitchell speculated that LA's RFP is "an opening gambit to see how the industry responds."
"I understand, big cities simply don't want to do something if they don't have to, and I think some big cities haven't understood they have to get involved to a greater extent," Mitchell said.
Feld said the proposal seems more like LA is "laying out their priorities and agenda rather than a serious RFP."
"The cities that have fiber have funded it themselves," he said. "The typical city experience, when they want to do a commercial fiber network and can't attract FiOS or something like that, is they put together a municipal corporation and fund it themselves through a bond offering or something. So the city becomes the ISP."
A city could also contract with a vendor, but in those cases the vendor often gets exclusivity provisions that would be at odds with LA's desire for an open network available to any vendor that wants to provide services over the fiber.
Blumenfield acknowledged that the city could ultimately opt for a compromise if it can't get everything it wants. "We could end up with some sort of hybrid, where you've got fiber in major sections, and then you've got coverage with Wi-Fi in other sections, and you could even have 4G coverage on some of the harder-to-capture sections," he said. "You could have some sort of a deal there where you cover everything."
But as for details, there just aren't many yet. When asked to be more specific about what assets and incentives the city could offer a vendor, Blumenfield replied, "You're asking me to define these things and at this point I'm hesitating to define them, because at this point we're just really at the early phases. It's what you imagine it to be. We're issuing these RFPs to get people to think big and to bring forth proposals to the city of how they would partner with the city." | <urn:uuid:643ee3ae-1233-4ef1-beda-8db1f34af01e> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/11/skeptics-say-las-free-fiber-plan-as-plausible-as-finding-a-unicorn/?comments=1&post=25651527 | 2015-03-31T10:20:52Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131300464.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172140-00144-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976584 | 2,274 |
(Corrects to show that price of Atripla is for branded product in 19th paragraph of story published Sept. 12.)
Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Michel Kazatchkine and Eric Goosby may be able to halt the spread of HIV. They just need the money.
The two men control the funds that buy drugs for most of the world’s AIDS patients. Studies in July provided the strongest evidence yet that medicines used since 1994 to treat HIV can almost eliminate the chance an infected person will pass the virus to a sex partner. Given to healthy people, the treatments can also protect against infection, offering the potential to end a pandemic that has killed 30 million people in 30 years.
Governments are now planning projects to assess whether those findings can be replicated in the real world, and what that might cost. Getting the drugs just to those patients who should be treated under existing guidelines would cost another $6 billion a year, according to the United Nations. Treating all those infected, in some of the world’s poorest countries, would cost tens of billions more.
Finding more money will be difficult with economic growth stalling and nations including the U.S., the biggest donor to the AIDS fight worldwide, trying to curtail overall spending to rein in debt. Funding for AIDS in poorer nations fell 10 percent to $6.9 billion in 2010 from 2009 levels, according to the UN.
“We may well be able to overcome AIDS,” Kazatchkine, the director of the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said in an interview. Still, “the gap between what the science is telling us we can achieve and what we would be able to achieve is at risk of increasing.”
The latest findings, presented at a conference in Rome in July, show that when treatment with antiretroviral drugs started straight after diagnosis, transmissions of the virus were reduced by 96 percent.
“We all gasped at the starkness,” said Goosby, who oversees the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which pays for the drugs that treat 3.2 million people worldwide. Kazatchkine’s Global Fund also supports treatment for 3.2 million.
Under current World Health Organization guidelines, however, patients don’t start treatment until their immune systems deteriorate to a certain level, postponing side effects that may include kidney damage and nausea and reducing costs. Abbott Laboratories, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Gilead Sciences Inc., Pfizer Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Merck & Co. make antiretrovirals.
More than 34 million people were living with HIV worldwide in 2010, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, or UNAIDS.
Qualifying for Treatment
Of those, about 15 million qualify for treatment under the WHO guidelines that recommend patients start receiving medicines when their CD4 cells -- the immune system cells that HIV infects and kills -- fall below 350 in every microliter of blood. Fewer than half those who qualify, about 6.6 million people, are receiving the drugs, UNAIDS says.
At a special session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in June, world leaders agreed to expand treatment to all 15 million patients by 2015, and committed to increase funding to at least $22 billion a year from $16 billion now.
The WHO plans to make guidelines available within 12 months on how to use antiretrovirals for prevention, said Gottfried Hirnschall, the director of the Geneva-based agency’s HIV/AIDS department.
Condoms lower the risk of transmitting HIV by more than 90 percent when used consistently. Still, less than half of people with more than one sex partner reported using a condom the last time they had intercourse, UNAIDS said in a report last year.
While the latest data may give policymakers a new weapon in the fight against AIDS, they also present them with choices about how to allocate resources, and which approach is the best investment, said Helen Rees, co-chair of the South African National AIDS Council’s Programme Implementation Committee.
“In the absence of a guideline that will come in a year, we’ve got to make a decision,” Rees said in Rome. “Do we keep pouring condoms into the system, or is there a glass ceiling? Are we going to now buy 600 million condoms or a billion? It’s that level of decision-making.”
The council’s first priority is to expand treatment to all patients with a CD4 count below 350 within the next five years, Rees said. Patients now start treatment with an average count of about 100, she said. The council is also supporting demonstration sites aimed at seeing whether treating people with counts higher than 350 is feasible, she said.
While the latest trials support starting treatment even earlier than current guidelines recommend, Kazatchkine said the first priority must be to treat the 9 million people who need the pills now just to survive and aren’t getting them.
“I cannot prioritize treatment for a patient with 800 CD4 cells when there’s still a line of patients with less than 200,” he said.
Most patients in developing nations receive a three-drug combination of generic copies of Glaxo’s Epzicom, Boehringer Ingelheim’s Viramune and Bristol-Myers’ Zerit. The treatment costs about $61 per patient per year, according to Doctors Without Borders. Newer, less toxic combinations such Gilead’s Atripla, the preferred treatment in developed countries, cost as much as $1,033 a year, the Geneva-based charity said in July.
The drugs reduce the virus to undetectable levels in the blood, and boost CD4 cells. That wards off the opportunistic infections that characterize AIDS, and reduce the chances an infected person can pass the virus on.
Still, most people in developing nations are only diagnosed with HIV when their immune systems have already dropped well below the cutoff of a 350 CD4 count, and more than 60 percent of those infected worldwide don’t even know they have the virus, according to UNAIDS.
“People are coming in for treatment far too late,” said Tim Hallett, a researcher at Imperial College London who has developed mathematical models of what effect the new findings might have and what conditions would be needed to achieve the best results. “They’ve already done most of the transmission they’re going to do by the time you see them in the clinic.”
Two other studies presented in Rome showed Gilead drugs, when given to uninfected people at risk of catching HIV, can reduce their chances of infection by as much as 73 percent.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is designing projects to test the feasibility of pre-exposure use in groups hardest hit by AIDS, including black gay and bisexual men, and black women, said Kevin Fenton, director of the agency’s Center for HIV/AIDS.
The CDC is planning projects in four U.S. locations involving about 300 gay and bisexual men each, though it doesn’t yet have funding, said Elizabeth-Ann Chandler, a spokeswoman.
A combination of expanded treatment for the infected, pre-exposure use of the drugs, condoms and circumcision will likely be needed to halt HIV, Hallett said. It will also require a massive expansion in testing to identify patients earlier, adding to costs that neither Kazatchkine nor Goosby can meet at the moment.
When Kazatchkine passed the hat around at the Global Fund’s triennial replenishment meeting in New York last year, he got $11.7 billion, less than the $13 billion he needed to keep putting patients on treatment at current rates, and a little more than half of the $20 billion he wanted to make serious inroads into the pandemic.
While in Rome for the conference, Kazatchkine met with members of Silvio Berlusconi’s government to seek funds. Italy was the fifth-largest donor to his fund until 2009, and hasn’t contributed since then, he said. The nation’s Cabinet last month approved 45.5 billion euros ($62.1 billion) in spending cuts and tax increases to balance the budget and convince investors the country can tame its debt.
The U.S. is now talking to European governments, along with those such as China, Saudi Arabia and South Korea that haven’t been major contributors previously, to increase their spending, Goosby said.
“We are now in a position where the global community needs to share in this responsibility more aggressively and bring resources toward it,” he said in an interview. “We are so close to this goal, that now the conversation must shift to, ‘You need to do your part so we can get across the finish line.’”
To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Rome at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Phil Serafino at [email protected] | <urn:uuid:306dd9c4-f471-4fca-96e1-c18f1d014f71> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-09-11/aids-cure-starts-at-6b-as-donors-pull-back | 2015-03-31T10:07:08Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131300464.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172140-00144-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943378 | 1,970 |
Well fall is definitely here or Autumn as I call it when being fancy. So many things about fall are great and as I write this blog I am eating a HoneyCrisp apple. The other great thing is sports and hoodies. I love college football and soccer so this time of year is great for my sports fandom. The other thing that is awesome is this time of the year you can cook things you don't cook in the summer. Those things mean dusting off that crockpot and getting to work fella. I know that summer time is great for grilling but as far as real BBQ goes the fall is a great time to put a piece of meat in a smoker and let it do its work. The temperature has go down a little but not cold yet and that is good with me. I love shorts and a hoodie, have for years and feel like it is really the best look that combines looking cool with comfort. Pumpkin beers also are great, shout out to the Night Owl. As a guy you are not supposed to like pumpkin patches and all that stuff but I went to one last year and had fun. I should also say I am a city boy so anything out in the country like that always seems like a fun adventure to me. Now the other key to having a blast in the pumpkin patch is to combine it with some of those pumpkin beers. Have fun out there and enjoy Autumn
This weather just won't quit. Sun and 80's for months now and I hope you are still enjoying it since fall or autumn is just around the corner. I have been lacking a bit on the blog as summer gets busy and I am giving you bad excuses, my bad I will get back on it. I have also found that some of blog thoughts are easy to get out on my podcast Thee Podcast. One of the reasons I bring up Thee Podcast is because my co-host Cobb said a thing a few weeks ago we try to live by and that is "Come from a place of love, not fear." I thing today with all that is going on with the domestic violence discussion in the NFL and USA right now it is also to time to talk about violence in our society. We are a warring culture and rage war almost continuously for 15 years now. We also talk tough all the time to people and for some reason believe that violence is the answer. If you are in a bar and someone brushes by you and want to fight, then I know you are not smart. Street cred is another thing that is just a joke, you don't need it and at no point is your street cred going to get you that job. I often hear things like if I was him I would beat his ass, why? In all the fights these kind of angry upset people get in, they never win. Sure they are good street fighters and don't get beat up but within themselves is the real fight and they are losing badly. Violence in our system is OK to use sometimes but not others? Put me in the camp of non-violence movements and it should be a last resort. Sorry for the deep blog post but this last week has been a serious one.
How is the summer going for you so far? I am back to asking questions to start the blog. Sorry I have been gone for a minute just got busy with summer and living. At this point in the summer I have been doing a ton of fun things and just enjoying the great Seattle weather. 80's during the day and they cool and night is just the best weather in my mind. Now I have become a Seattle person so I am looking forward to a rainy day in the fall but we will have plenty of those so for now I will take the sun and if I have to sweat a little bit then that's fine with me. I went to Hempfest on Sunday and if you like to people watch and good food options then you should go next year. It is crowded and long lines but it is fun and just have fun with the fact it is Hempfest and its going to be slow walking around. I had a tasty strawberry smoothie followed up by the best damn grill cheese sandwich ever thanks to The Grill Cheese experience. Summer is great in Seattle and I hope you are out there enjoying it. Have fun and Go Sounders, they are going to make the push into the playoff's soon so make sure to give your full 90
Everyone run for cover the jets are taking over or so it seems. Not really it is just Seafair and the Blue Angels are in town. The NAVY is here as well in numbers, Belltown was full of the sailor's. It is crazy when you see those Jets and the power they have. I also think it is fun for the Military guys and girls to have fun in the town. I would have to image it is a good time to blow off some steam and enjoy the town. I also get the argument about our Military power and show of it but the guy has to say its so cool. I could watch those jets all day long and I think it looks cool when you see everyone in the uniforms. Seafair is also just a great weekend to be in Seattle. Between the Blue Angels and the hydro races on the weekend it is overload on the senses. Summer in Seattle is awesome and I can't wait for this weekend and to see the Blues flying above the lake. Hope you get out there and have fun and if you are on the log boom, be safe and drink one for me.
So summer is here and so is the great weather as well. The funny thing is in Seattle I feel like we do a good job of bitching when the weather is not good and then in time we start to bitch about the heat. Let me start by saying I love summer but I am going to do some complaining. When I got home last night around ten my house was hot. I live on the sixth floor of a building in a one bedroom condo. I am not sure if it is from being on the sixth floor or from the fact my place faces west but in the evening and night it is warm in that sucka. Now what do you do when you get home and it is just hot and sticky in your place? I myself go straight to mesh shorts and t-shirt with the sleeves cut off. I basically go home and turn into Larry the Cable guy. One thing that has changed for me in the last year though is this summer I have a portable Air-conditioning unit in my bedroom so it is nice and cool when I sleep. Shout out to STP for the hook up on that air-conditioner. I also like being outside but when it comes to eating outside in the sunlight I am not for that. I don't mind eating outside but eating in the sunlight is just not fun in my book. I will have some drinks with you sure but if you to grab some food lets go inside honey. Now he is the deal though with all that bitching I just did I still love summer in Seattle and hope it last for months. Get out there and enjoy life
This weekend is the 4th of July and I am excited. I am fired up for many reasons but number one is I have some family coming into town and I can't wait to show off Seattle. I have had a couple ideas about what I want to show them but in the end it is Seattle in the summer. I sometimes take for granted how beautiful the city is. I have options and not sure what to do with them but I like the idea of showing them Discovery Park because it is a nice park and you can get down to the beach for some great views of the city. I have also thought about just hoping on a ferry and going across to one of the islands to show them the difference and maybe grab a quick bite over there. The 4th itself is also one of my favorite holidays. I think part of the reason I like it so much is just having a BBQ with friends and enjoying some cold beverages and fireworks
With all the World Cup fun going the last couple of weeks I sometimes forget the bad side of sports but then someone reminds of it. Today clearly I am talking about a player for Uruguay named Luis Suarez who once again bite someone today during a World Cup match. Now I use the word again because he has a history of biting people. Just last year he was suspended for nine games for biting someone while playing for Liverpool in the English Premier League. That bite came on the heels of a bite he did in another league a couple years before that. Part of the problem with this guy is that because is such a great player and scores so many goals he stay's in the line up for club and country. I have heard and even kind of believed the arguments for the other two indecent but three times is just silly. I also have to wonder what is wrong with the guy, does he really think in the World Cup you can do anything on the field without a camera watching? I just can't get over the fact that not only did it happen again but now it happened in the World Cup. He has to get some kind of suspension in my mind and I think at this point Liverpool has to wonder if keeping him on the club is worth it. Last year there was talk he might come over to play for my favorite English Club Arsenal, now I am glad that did not happen because I don't want to cheer for someone like him
So clearly a lot of people are excited about the World Cup and some are not. I was late to the party and did not become a soccer fan until my adult life but have learned to love the sport with passion. I also as a adult played on a indoor team for a couple years and learned how to play the sport and that helped in making it more fun to watch. I get that not everyone likes soccer but I never understand why people have to hate on the sport so much if they do not like it. If you don't like soccer, that's fair but the constant bashing on it from people during the match on Monday was stupid. I don't watch a ton of NASCAR and that's why you rarely see me tweet or talk about it. Now even if you do not like soccer I challenge you to look at a gallery of World Cup fans and not think the girls are hot. It is one of the best parts of the World Cup is that they put out photo's of all the girls from around the world that show up and they are beautiful. The Brazilian girls are unfair because that country has so many different types of people and skins tones you are bound to find some that are hot and to your taste. I like to watch the Netherlands as well because they have a country full of hot blonde women and great soccer. The Dutch also had some of the first rules on marijuana to make it some what legal so I respect that. The central American countries have a bunch of hotties as well. Trust me even if you hate soccer you will enjoy the ladies of the world cup. Enjoy fellas
World Cup is back and man is it exciting. Rarely do you hear people around the office getting excited for teams that no one is loyal too but happy to watch. Today the Netherlands is playing Spain and I want both teams to play well. That's the fun thing about the world cup is clearly I am a USA fan but for some games I just pick a nation and cheer for them. I do enjoy the Dutch because I was a huge Robin Van Persie fan when he played at the best club in the world Arsenal. I also like the Dutch because of their way of life but on the same token there is a bunch on guys on the Spanish team I enjoy watching as well. Plus have you ever had Iberico ham, it's great and from Spain so another reason to cheer for them. I really just like cheering for goals and great saves as well. My point of this blog today I hope you are getting a chance to see the beautiful game and enjoying it on the highest level. Monday our boys open up play and I am stoked, I believe that we will win
So last weekend it seemed like everyone I know was out having a great time. Now I am not sure if it is just my friends or if there was something in the water. I have friends that rarely go out and they were even out late last weekend. I do thing a part of it has to be the weather and the sunshine. When it is sunny out it seems like people are just more apt to go out. I also think it has something to do with the fact that since it does not get dark until later in the evening people start the night later. Summer time is the time for that kind of stuff too since it seems like you can have a couple drinks or beers and some good food that is not terrible for you. I like the fact that a lot of fruits and veggies are in season and sometimes you can just hang out by the fruit salad bowl and snack on veggies as well. In the winter time people don't want to be messing with that stuff, they want pizza's and wings on the side of the bowl of chips. Take chili for instance, do you really want to get down on a big bowl of chili with cheese in it on a warm sunny day? Either way last weekend was a ton of fun for a lot of people and I for one am always happy to see other people having fun too. | <urn:uuid:b01828e5-ab26-46a3-a028-caa52a31eb7f> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.kisw.com/Superbowl-2-11-10/11281395 | 2015-03-31T09:48:58Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131300464.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172140-00144-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985707 | 2,735 |
NC lawmakers pass coal ash legislation; adjourn very long short session
08/20/2014 11:24 AM
11/23/2014 3:03 PM
The state’s Coal Ash Management Act, described by advocates as the first of its kind, passed the state legislature with a broad majority on Wednesday, about six months after a corroded pipe spilled huge volumes of the gray, sludgy industrial byproduct into the Dan River.
The measure passed the House 84-13 in the afternoon, and the Senate 38-2 a few hours later. About half the opposing votes in the House came from Triangle-area Democrats.
The approvals were among the legislative bodies’ final actions before they passed adjournment measures for the session, sending the proposal to Gov. Pat McCrory.
Much of the debate on the House floor focused on the question of whether power customers will have to pay to clean the open-air pits and lagoons managed by Duke Energy and its subsidiary, Duke Energy Progress.
The approved bill only temporarily bans Duke from trying to raise consumers’ rates in order to pay for the coal ash fallout. The utility may have to pay billions, though the current legislation only requires a total cleanup of four of 14 sites.
Rep. Paul Luebke argued that state leaders needed to say, loud and clear, that Duke and its shareholders – not its customers – should at least pay to clean the highest-risk sites by removing the ash to a lined landfill, by using it in certain construction projects or by installing a liner beneath the ash.
“If they’re high risk now, it means for a long time they were risky to the public. For a long time the public was hurt by contamination in groundwater,” the Durham Democrat said on the chamber floor.
In response, Rep. Mike Hager, Republican majority whip, pointed out that the N.C. Utilities Commission would handle any request for a rate increase, with opportunity for the public to have its say.
Rep. Chuck McGrady, a Hendersonville Republican who has played a key role in the legislation, said that future bills could address costs – and that perhaps he would work on a new bill himself next year.
“If we had put the cost issue in this bill, we wouldn’t be cleaning these up, because we’d still be debating the cost issue,” he said.
Earlier versions of the House’s proposal would have banned Duke from paying for the cleanup by requesting increased rates from customers before the end of 2016, but the chamber compromised with the Senate, according to McGrady, shortening the moratorium to last only until January 2015.
“Those costs are not going to be incurred anytime soon,” McGrady said.
For his part, McGrady thinks Duke’s shareholders should be responsible for the cleanup in cases of negligence; but in other cases, he argued, coal ash costs are related to the regular operation of power plants.
Dan River backlash
Earlier Wednesday, McGrady laid out some of the convoluted history that produced the legislation.
Different versions of the coal ash legislation had passed the House and Senate earlier this summer, but the bill appeared all but dead before a surprising resurrection this week.
The impetus for the legislation came, in part, with widespread public backlash from the Dan River spill. The incident was a dramatic reminder of a simmering issue, highlighting that about 100 million tons of the substance sits in 33 open-air pits at 14 sites in North Carolina.
Speaking before the House Rules Committee, McGrady acknowledged criticism of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ response to this year’s crisis, saying that the final bill won’t allow the department to manage the commission that will hold much of the final say over the cleanup process.
“There’s ongoing criminal investigations right now,” McGrady said, referring to a U.S. Department of Justice probe of the department and its relationship with Duke. “The argument that the Senate made, which we understand, is that at least when we set this thing up, we need to keep it away from things that may have occurred in the past – let it be set up in a neutral part of government.”
As host of the commission, DENR would have provided “administrative” staff, according to a department spokesman.
Drew Elliot, a DENR spokesman, said this about the department’s ability to manage the commission: “Credibility comes from action, not words,” he wrote in an email. “As for this administration, we have been working on the coal ash problem since our first weeks in office.”
McCrory’s original proposal did not include a commission, instead leaving management of the plans largely in the hands of DENR and his appointee, Secretary John Skvarla. Overall, though, his plan suggested a process similar to the final legislation’s.
Under the legislature’s timetable, it could take 15 years for Duke to close all its pits and lagoons and dispose of the ash. Some environmental advocates had pressed for immediate action because the facilities have been polluting groundwater for years and possibly more than a half-century.
The legislative debate this summer also brought arguments about which coal ash ponds to fix first, according to McGrady.
“We had a whole series of amendments put forward by people who wanted their coal ash pond to be high priority,” he said.
That concept, of priority, has been a sticking point for critics, too. The approved bill only requires immediate removal of coal ash from four of the 14 polluting sites.
‘High priority’ sites
Under the bill, the ash from the “high-priority” sites at the Asheville, Riverbend, Dan River and Sutton plants would be placed in industrial-lined landfills.
However, the bill would allow ash to remain at the other sites, with various measures taken, including the controversial “cap in place” approach.
Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat, said the bill wasn’t “strong enough” and urged votes of no.
“All of these sites are currently leaking contaminants, and capping is not going to stop that leaking,” said Rep. Verla Insko, a Chapel Hill Democrat. “I just think this is too weak, and we can do better.”
Communities whose sites aren’t “high priority” will have to “wait for a commission of political appointees to decide their fate,” wrote Amy Adams, a coordinator for Appalachian Voices, in a release by the N.C. Conservation Network.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, meanwhile, argues that that the state has ignored, or even given up, its existing powers to require an immediate and full cleanup.
McGrady acknowledged that the bill would overturn a Wake County judge’s recent ruling won by the nonprofit law center.
The judge ruled that groundwater pollution at nearly all coal ash sites must be fixed immediately, but a clause in the new bill instead has polluters submit a “plan and proposed schedule” to the state.
McGrady previously said that the ruling was likely too broad and too strict, and that by requiring removal of a contamination source it could have unexpected results.
The N.C. Sierra Club knocked the bill for undercutting the ruling, but offered a moderately positive review of the final legislation.
“Without this legislation, coal ash would have remained essentially unregulated, an untenable position for North Carolina residents,” said Molly Diggins, state director for the group, in a statement. “Still, today’s action does not go far enough to prevent more contamination of our treasured water resources.”
As the bill neared a vote in the House, McGrady cast it as just the beginning of a long and unprecedented process, including sequel bills.
“This is Coal Ash 1. There’s going to be a Coal Ash 2 and a Coal Ash 3,” he said. “We’re not going to get it right on the first time but we’ve got to get going. This bill gets us going.”
House Speaker Thom Tillis described the coal ash legislation as a big accomplishment for the session, during which the House rejected an incentive bills backed by McCrory.
“We still had a pretty good session,” he said. “We got a lot done. If you look at what we got done today – historic coal ash legislation unlike any in the United States. We are literally setting the direction that is hopefully going to make the other states follow suit and address problems like we did on the Dan River.”
Staff writers John Murawski and John Frank contributed.
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Mansion Ushers in a New Era of Debauchery
BY OMAR SOMEREYNS
VIP director Patrik Slettman speaking at Mansion’s staffing meeting
Just past 1 AM on a Wednesday night, it’s a madcap party at Mansion. The crowd, dancing in unison, is surrounded by arcing showers of colorful light, and people appear as pixilated versions of themselves, extensions of the LED light fantasy. And then, suddenly, an odd display: An oversize creature looms over the partygoers on stilts with a long, black mane and woolly, hot-pink legs. Some sort of deranged Minotaur/rabbit hybrid? It bears a slight, yet still spooky resemblance to that ominous bunny in Donnie Darko, and people twist their necks for a few seconds to get an awed glance, not fully sure what to make of it, before resuming the dance.
When Nervo, the Australian twin sisters/DJ duo and the night’s headliners, come on—fiercely manning the decks, the bass dropping unapologetically— the club explodes, confetti blasts into the air, and the crowd is enraptured, intoxicated. Inside the VIP area, semi-naked dancers in Queen’s Guard-style bearskin caps show off their bodies, female servers pop Champagne and light sparklers, and even more partially nude women are entangled in the net just a few feet overhead—no matter where you go, you’re in the show.
However, this kind of nightlife crescendo doesn’t just happen on its own. It takes a full team, hustle, creativity, custom-made costumes, and sober execution. Mansion was always a mega-club, but following a $2.5 million renovation that embraces a new 360 concept (which means that from all sections in the cavernous main room, viewers are surrounded by lights, music, videos, and performers), its newest incarnation launched at the beginning of this year is more than that: It’s a tantalizing theater-slash-cabaret, a 360-degree sound and LED light-show phantasmagoria.
3 PM—Earlier that day at Mansion. Calvin Harris’s “Feel so Close” plays from the speakers. “One, two, three, four… five, six, seven, eight,” Audrey Mazens-Sanchez, the club’s lithe, 28-year-old choreographer, utters firmly. She directs a group of six lingerie-clad dancers through a sequence of pole-dance moves. “Every Wednesday afternoon, the girls learn a new choreography to perform that night,” says Mazens-Sanchez. “Then there are also the aerialists and contortionists, so overall we try to create a mix between cabaret and the circus—though some funny things can happen, like girls losing their pasties onstage because they’re moving a lot.”
Wednesday nights are now home to Cirque de Mansion, a spectacular bacchanal that puts to complete use the venue’s new 360 concept, especially on the production side, with stage shows, acrobats, dancers, and in-crowd performers popping up all over the space during the course of the night. Inspiration is gleaned from the Crazy Horse in Paris, with 41-year-old Mike Lee, entertainment director at The Opium Group (the umbrella company that owns Mansion), overseeing the productions. He and the club’s general manager, Sushi Seibert, will concoct a theme, and then Lee will book the night’s talent and conceptualize the costumes.
“The theme is all about coming up with a creative thread we can run with, something that differentiates us from other clubs where it’s just go-go dancers,” he says. “Almost all our dancers are professionally trained. We try to make them as naked as possible, but tastefully, so we’ll put elaborate rhinestone arrangements or interesting headpieces on them.”
Through the back and upstairs, Mike Lee’s office/studio is filled with neatly organized garments and accessories: purple Mohawks, white tutus, foamy mermaid tails, metallic pleated wings, and two sewing machines. The fact that everything here is handmade—the attention to craft and detail—is a testament to the venue’s affirmed love of the spectacle. Depending on what he needs, Lee will either create the costumes himself by hand or hire outside contractors, such as seamstresses or dressmakers. Tonight’s theme is “Queen of England.” “We’ll also have performance artists and drag performers, and they’ll be dressed as theme-related as possible, although we give them more creative freedom. And Sushi works with the bar staff so that their uniforms are in line with the theme, too.”
Meanwhile, Mark Lehmkuhl, 40, the creative director who led the renovation for The Opium Group, points to the theatrics and the new lighting system as a major part of the refurbishing. “Two things came about when we started the renovation,” he says. “One, since this place was originally a theater when it was built in 1936, we wanted to bring back that exuberant, theater-like atmosphere. So we moved the DJ booth, which used to be on the stage, to the front of the VIP section so it’s integrated within the VIP and juts out into the crowd itself. Two, it had to be totally different from what it looked like before—that whole sultry, velvet, and quite frankly dated design. We wanted to give it a very clean, modern look, but also emphasize the sound and lighting.”
In a space near the entrance sits GM Sushi Seibert’s office, cluttered with knickknacks, paperwork, Mansion merchandise, and a printout that says, motherhood can be such a drag, a cheeky reference to her staff for calling her “Mama-san.” A nightlife vet, now 46, Seibert is highly meticulous, engaged in her role like a hard-nosed production manager on a film set. She makes sure everything is right in terms of ordering, scheduling, theme layout, who’s coming, and whether there are big spenders.
She captains a 50-person staff on most nights, sometimes more, works with VIP hosts to keep high rollers happy, and with Lee to ensure there’s constant entertainment. And then there are the crazy clubgoer antics—people jumping off the mezzanine into the net above the VIP, or “a girl talking to herself in the mirror and me having to comfort her,” she says.
5:30 PM—It’s still several hours before Mansion opens, and Eric Milon is running around, tending to last-minute details before he can head home for dinner with his family. Milon, 59, his brother Francis, 46, and Roman Jones, 41, are the managing partners at The Opium Group. During the day, before their clubs open, the three sort out the business side, working from their office on Lincoln Road, while still checking in on their venues. The Milons and Jones are hands-on, closely collaborating with their production teams, researching what’s happening with house music in other markets with their talent bookers, and making sure the different nights have their own identities.
Right before 6 PM, Jones arrives in the main room, sunglasses on, and immediately calls out for someone to clean the too-sticky VIP floors. He explains how Mansion is moving away from the hip-hop and urban programming it once had to focus more on house and compelling electronic music, both major and emerging acts. “We’re still going to have the bigger names, like David Guetta and Afrojack, though it’s not just about huge names, but also the pointy ones, the ones making a dent, like Art Department and Style of Eye. That’s why we’re doing a Thursday party called Kontrol, where the focus is really on the music. We’ll be honing in on deep house and more experimental stuff.”
6:30 PM–10 PM—The calm before the storm, as everyone goes home to eat, shower, and relax with family.
10:30 PM—Time for lineup. The staff—bartenders, performers, dancers, doormen, techs, security guards—are all gathered in the main room, and Sushi Seibert presides. She nitpicks their uniforms, mentions a $200 incentive to sell an anti-hangover drink called Mercy, and announces that Nervo are taking over the turntables at 1:30 AM. “Keep that time in mind,” she says. “I want to blow them up.”
Seibert’s job here is to motivate her staff, boost their energies, and push the sales. It’s about music and entertainment, but of course it’s also about money. According to a 2012 survey from Nightclub.com and Technomic, Mansion raked in an estimated $10 to $15 million in total revenues in 2011.
As the night progresses, Level Six, the venue’s theatrical inner sanctum, is getting busy. This used to be the projection room when the place was a theater; it’s now a small yet glamorous dressing area for dancers and performers, many with thin layers of taut body tape for the night’s theme, along with long leather boots and bedazzled football pads. Supervising it all is Mike Lee, who seems calm and composed, though he says, “It’s exciting, but once it really starts, there’s something happening every 15 minutes, so it can get stressful.”
Downstairs, by the club’s back door, Najib Elmasri, 41, director of talent buying for The Opium Group, awaits Nervo’s arrival. When the cheery blonde pair walk in, exuding an enthused rock star aura, they go up to the green room for a quick chat before their set time. Elmasri gets them drinks (Diet Coke, water, vodka, and whiskey). Liv, Nervo’s long-haired half, says, “We’ve been coming here to support our DJ friends, and we also played the Dim Mak party during WMC this year. Mansion has that bougie, upscale side to it, but it hasn’t lost its dirty, warehouse vibe, which we love.”
1:15 AM—The dance floor is packed. All eyes are on the dancers onstage, looking good and fantastically absurd in their body tape and tall bearskin fur caps while they perform a short, choreographed show. “There you go,” says Lee. “Two hours of rehearsal for a three-minute performance.” Amid the multitude of people, drag queen Adora is perched on a table, in massive turquoise hair and voluptuously drawn lips, blowing kisses. There’s zaniness all around. Girls in peacock headdresses spray fiery grinders, and spunky aerialists swing, do splits, or hang upside down. Everything has come together, and now the crowd is hyped and ready for Nervo on the decks—the promised apex of the night.
“We want to do something that’s more than just a discothèque,” says Eric Milon as Nervo work into their set. “We may have more performers on a Wednesday than on other nights, but every night here is a show. I mean, we’re happy to have an economy that’s rebounding, but people still remember the harder times, so what they want is real value for their money, and we give them that, whether they’re VIP or not.”
Photography by World Red Eye
We're behind the scenes with Marlins outfielder, who now has the largest contract in sports history. | <urn:uuid:02b0d41a-7593-40c7-b131-880974367463> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://oceandrive.com/dining/articles/mansion-ushers-in-a-debaucherous-new-era | 2015-04-02T03:08:29Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131310006.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172150-00260-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948521 | 2,594 |
This post is the latest in the “Secret History Series.” They’ll make much more sense if you read some of the earlier ones for context. See the Secret History bibliography for sources and supplemental reading.
Swords Into Plowshares
After the end of World War II, returning veterans were happy to beat swords into plowshares (and microwave tubes) on the Stanford campus. From 1946 until 1950, Stanford’s Electronic Research Lab conducted basic research in microwave tubes. Although this reseearch would lead to the development of the Backward Wave Oscillator and Traveling Wave Tube for military applications, Stanford was building tubes and circuits not entire systems. The labs basic research was done by graduate students or Ph.Ds doing postdoctoral internships, supervised by faculty members or hired staff (many from Fred Terman’s WWII Electronic Warfare lab.)
In 1949, with the detection of the first Soviet nuclear weapons test, the Iron Curtain falling across Europe and the fall of China to the Communists, Cold War paranoia drove the U.S. military to rearm and mobilize.
We’ll Do Great in the Next War
Early in 1950, just months before the outbreak of the Korean War the Office of Naval Research asked Fred Terman to build an Applied electronics program for electronic warfare. All branches of the military (the Air Force and Army would fund the program as well) wanted Stanford to build prototypes of electronic intelligence and electronic warfare systems that could be put into production by partners in industry. The Navy informs Terman that, “money was not a problem but time was.”
Pitching the idea to the President of Stanford, Terman enthusiastically said, “In the event of all-out war, Stanford would become one of the giant electronic research centers…” (A bit optimistic about the outcome perhaps, given that both the U.S. and the Soviet Union had nuclear weapons at this point.)
Crossing the Rubicon – The Applied Electronics Lab
Setting up a separate Applied Electronics Lab for military funded programs doubled the size of the electronics program at Stanford. The new Applied Electronics Laboratory was built with Navy money and a gift from Hewlett-Packard. With the memories of WWII only five years old, and the Cold War now a shooting war in Korea, there was very little discussion (or dissension) about turning a university into a center for the production of military intelligence and electronic warfare systems.
The work in the applied program focused in fields in which faculty members or senior research associates specialized. Many of the other staff in the applied program were full-time employees hired to work solely on these military programs.
ELINT, Jammers and OTH
The Applied Electronics Lab used the ideas and discoveries (on microwave tubes and receiver circuits) from Terman’s basic research program in the Electronic Research Lab. The Applied Lab would build prototypes of complete systems such as Electronic Intelligence systems, Electronic Warfare Jammers, and Over the Horizon Radar. The Applied Electronics Lab also continued work on the Klystron, pushing the tube to produce megawatts in transmitted power. (Stanford designed Klystrons producing 2½ Megawatts were manufactured by Varian and Litton would power the radar in the BMEWS (Ballistic Missile Early Warning System) built at the height of the cold war.) The close tie between the two labs was a unique aspect of the Stanford Lab. Stanford had a Customer Development loop going on inside their own lab. The discoveries in tube and circuit research suggested new electronic intelligence and countermeasure techniques and systems; in turn the needs of the Applied Lab pushed tube and circuit development. With the Applied Electronics Lab Stanford was becoming something akin to a federal or corporate lab run under university contract. The university found government contracts profitable as the government reimbursed their overhead charges (their indirect costs.) This means they could fund other non-military academic programs from this overhead.
The Stanford Applied Electronics Lab built prototypes which were handed off to the military labs for their evaluation. Subsequently military labs would contract with companies to build the devices in volume. In some cases, branches of the military contracted directly with Stanford which worked with local contractors in Silicon Valley to build these components or systems for the military. The prototype ELINT receivers built by the Applied Electronics Lab used the Stanford Traveling Wave Tubes. They quickly went into production at Sylvania Electronic Defense Labs down the street in Mountain View and Hallicrafters in Chicago. Later versions would be built by numerous industry contractors and installed on the fleet of ELINT planes orbiting the Soviet Union. These traveling wave tubes would also become the heart of the panoramic receiver used on the B-52 by the electronic warfare officer to get the bomber through the Soviet Air Defense system.
Jammers built by the Stanford Applied Electronics Lab used the Stanford Backward Wave Oscillators to produce high power microwaves. Unlike the simple noise jammers used in World War II, Soviet radars were becoming more sophisticated and newer designs were fairly immune to noise. Instead the jamming signal needed to be much smarter and have a deep understanding of how the targeted radar worked. Taking the information gleaned from our ELINT aircraft, Stanford built prototypes of jammers modulated with two new deception jamming techniques – angle jamming and range-gate pull-off. Some form of these deception jammers would eventually find their way into most electronic warfare defense systems used in the Cold War; first in the U-2, A-12 and SR-71. (Ironically the B-52 bomber, which would become the airborne leg of our nuclear triad, would use dumb noise jammers for two more decades – the Air Force opting to put the smart jammers on the B-58 and B-70, high altitude supersonic bombers – one soon obsolete and other never made it into production.)
The last major area of research that the Applied Electronics Lab group investigated was how radio signals propagated within the earth’s ionosphere. Over the next fifteen years this Radio Science Laboratory would receive the most funding of all departments in the lab (from the CIA) to build a ground based ELINT system. They would build and deploy two Over The Horizon Radar (OTHR) systems to detect Soviet and Chinese ballistic missile tests using ground based radars.
Guards at the Door – Stanford Joins the Cold War
In 1953 the Office of Naval Research told Terman that all military-funded projects (basic or applied, classified or not) needed to be in their own separate physical building. As a result Stanford moved the Applied work from the Electronics Research Lab into its own building.
In 1955, the pretense of keeping unclassified and classified work separate imposed too much of an administrative overhead and Stanford merged the Applied Electronics Lab and the Electronics Research Laboratory into the Systems Engineering Lab. The Applied Electronics portion of the lab was now the size of a small company. It had 100 people, 18 of them full time faculty, 33 research associates and assistants and 33 other tube technicians, draftsman, machinists, etc. Over half this lab would hold clearances for military secrets. (Top Secret: Terman, Harris, McGhie, Secret: 44 others, Confidential: 8 others. Terman, Harris and Rambo also had Atomic Energy Commission “Q” clearances.) Some students who were getting their engineering graduate degrees wrote masters and PhD thesis that were classified. Unless you had the proper clearances you couldn’t read them. Terman and Stanford had just made a major bet on the cold war, and Stanford ranked sixth among university defense contractors.
A security guard was stationed at the door of the Applied Electronics Lab to ensure that only those with proper security clearance could enter. The law of unintended consequences meant that this most casual addition in front of a university building would result in the occupation and destruction of the lab (and its twin at MIT) and the end of the program 14 years later. (More on this in a later post.)
Show and Tell – The Stanford ELINT and Electronic Warfare Contractors Meeting
During a typical year, the Applied Electronics Lab would host classified visits from military labs and defense contractors. By early 1950’s Stanford started holding a two day meeting for contractors and the military.
The 1955 attendee list gives you a feeling of the “who’s who” of the military/industrial establishment: RCA, GE, Motorola, AIL, Bendix, Convair, Mepar, Crosley, Westinghouse, McDonnell Aircraft, Douglas Aircraft, Boeing, Lockheed, Hughes Aircraft, North American, Bell Aircraft, Glen Martin, Ryan Aeronautics, Farnsworth, Sperry, Litton, Polarad, Hallicrafters, Varian, Emerson, Dumont, Maxson, Collins Radio. Other universities doing classified ELINT and Electronic Warfare work attended including University of Michigan, Georgia Institute of Technology and Cornell. Over a hundred government contractors reviewed Stanford’s work on tubes and systems.
This was a classified conference at a university, the contractors not only got to hear the conference lectures, but also visited exhibits on the devices and systems the lab had built. The lab would repeat the conference the following week for government agencies doing military work.
Barely noticed at the 1955 conference, a year before the first transistor company opened in Silicon Valley, one of the sessions described how to use a new device called a“transistor” to build wide-band amplifiers. (Terman had sent faculty and graduate students to the University of Illinois in 1953 to learn transistor physics.)
The World Turned Upside Down
The Applied Electronics Lab solidified Stanford’s lead as one of, if not the place in the U.S. military for advanced thinking in ELINT and Electronic Warfare. It would turn on its head the relationship of universities and corporations.
Traditionally universities chased corporations for funding and patronage, but the military’s dependence on Stanford’s and Fred Terman’s judgment turned that relationship on its head. Now the military was listening to Terman’s advice about which military contractors should get the order for to mass produce the Stanford systems. The contractors were now dependent on Stanford.
Terman the Rainmaker
During the 1950’s Fred Terman was an advisor to every major branch of the U.S. military. He was on the Army Signal Corps R&D Advisory Council, the Air Force Electronic Countermeasures Scientific Advisory board, a Trustee of the Institute of Defense Analysis, the Naval Research Advisory Committee, the Defense Science Board, and a consultant to the President’s Science Advisory Committee. His commercial activities had him on the board of directors of HP, Watkins-Johnson, Ampex, and Director and Vice Chairman of SRI. It’s amazing this guy ever slept. Terman was the ultimate networking machine for Stanford and its military contracts.
Stanford Industrial Park – Microwave Valley Booms
By the early 1950’s many of the corporations that attended the yearly Stanford Electronic Warfare conferences would establish research labs centered around Stanford for just this reason – to learn from Stanford’s basic and applied research and get a piece of the ELINT and Electronic Warfare contracting pie.
Stanford Industrial Park was the first technology office park set up to house local and out of state microwave and electronics startups. First occupied in 1953 it would include Varian, Watkins Johnson, Admiral, HP, General Electric, Kodak, Lockheed. Other east coast companies which established branches in Microwave valley in the 1950’s included IBM, Sylvania, Philco, Zenith and ITT.
The Future is Clear – Microwave Valley Forever
By 1956 Fred Terman had every right to be pleased with what he had helped build in the last ten years in and around Stanford. The Stanford Electronics Lab was now the center of ELINT and Electronic Warfare.
Startups were sprouting all over Microwave Valley delivering microwave tubes and complete military systems, slowiy replacing the orchards and fruit trees. Granger Associates was a 1956 startup founded by Bill Ayer, a graduate student in the Applied Electronics Radioscience Lab, and John Granger, a former RRL researcher, building ELINT and Electronic Warfare systems (the Granger jammer was carried on the U-2.) Four years later Ayer and another Granger engineer would leave Granger and found one of the preeminent electronic warfare and ELINT companies: Applied Technologies.
The future of the valley was clear – microwaves.
1956 – Change Everything
Yet in 1956 two events would change everything. At the time neither appeared earthshaking or momentous. First, a Bell Labs researcher who had grown up in Palo Alto, had his own interesting World War II career, and recently served as a military advisor on cold war weapons systems, decided to follow Fred Terman’s advice to locate his semiconductor company near Stanford.
The second was when a Southern Californian aircraft company decided to break into the missiles and space field by partnering with Stanford electronics expertise. It moved its electronics research group from Burbank to the new Stanford Industrial Park and built its manufacturing facility in Sunnyvale.
Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory and Lockheed Missiles Systems Division would change everything. Read about it in Part XI of the Secret History of Silicon Valley here. | <urn:uuid:143f465d-c03a-4fb5-ab35-fa435ddf11eb> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://steveblank.com/2009/08/17/stanford-crosses-the-rubicon/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=9514d1f115 | 2015-04-02T03:06:06Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131310006.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172150-00260-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949433 | 2,736 |
June 14, 2012
Two Tech teams honored by NCAA with APR Public Recognition Awards
Tennessee Tech’s softball and women’s golf teams are among those who received Public Recognition Awards Thursday from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for top academic performance.
May 24, 2012
Junior Katherine Bell named MVP of women's golf squad
Katherine Bell has been named the Most Valuable Player of the Tennessee Tech women's golf team, and several additional team awards were announced this week by head coach Polk Brown to wrap up the 2011-12 season.
April 24, 2012
Golden Eagles finish sixth at OVC Women's Golf Championship
The Tennessee Tech women's golf team wrapped up the 2012 season with a sixth place finish at the Ohio Valley Conference Championships, closing play Tuesday at the GreyStone Golf Club in Dickson. Brandy VanEtten was the team's top finisher.
April 23, 2012
Golden Eagles in sixth place after two days at OVC Women's Golf Tournament
Brandy VanEtten is in 14th place overall individually as Tennessee Tech broke a tie with Eastern Illinois and moved alone into sixth place with one final round remaining Tuesday at the OVC Women's Golf Championships.
April 22, 2012
Tech gets early start Sunday at OVC Women's Golf Championship
Tennessee Tech golfers will be the first off the tee Sunday morning at the Ohio Valley Conference championship tournament, being held at GreyStone Golf Course in Dickson. Katy Beth Glover gets the tourney underway at 8 a.m.
April 22, 2012
Golden Eagles tied for sixth after first day at OVC Tournament
Brandy VanEtten is in 11th place individually, but the first day of the OVC Women's Golf Tournament didn't go as Tennessee Tech had hoped as the Golden Eagles are tied for sixth place with two rounds remaining.
April 10, 2012
Shepherd, Randolph represent Tech at Samford Intercollegiate
Amber Shepherd and Amanda Randolph wrapped up play Tuesday as individual entries in the Samford Intercollegiate. The pair were the only Golden Eagles able to compete due to illness and injuries.
April 9, 2012
Shepherd, Randolph only two playing at Samford Intercollegiate
Amber Shepherd is tied for 21st place and Amanda Randolph is tied for 46th, the only two members of the Tennessee Tech women's golf team able to play this week in the Samford Intercollegiate. Injuries and illness have sidelined the remainder of the Golden Eagle squad.
April 7, 2012
Golden Eagles at Samford Intercollegiate for final OVC Tourney tuneup
This week's play in the Samford Intercollegiate is the final tuneup for the Tennessee Tech women's golf team before the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
April 4, 2012
Amber Shepherd shares OVC Golfer of the Week honor
Tennessee Tech's Amber Shepherd earned her first all-tournament honor on Tuesday, and Wednesday was named as the Ohio Valley Conference co-Golfer of the Week, another first for the Golden Eagle sophomore.
April 3, 2012
Shepherd earns first all-tournament honor, Tech places sixth at Belmont Invitational
Sophomore Amber Shepherd earned her first career all-tournament honor with a fifth place individual showing and the Tennessee Tech women's golf team finished sixth in the Belmont Invitational Tuesday at Old Hickory Country Club.
April 2, 2012
Old Hickory: Tech tees off Monday morning in Belmont Invitational
The Tennessee Tech women's golf team is in Nashville to begin play Monday morning in the Belmont Invitational. The 36-hole event will feature seven schools at the Old Hickory Country Club.
April 2, 2012
Shepherd in second place heading to final round at Old Hickory
Sophomore Amber Shepherd is tied for second place with an even-par 72 in Monday's first round of the Belmont Women's Invitational at Old Hickory Country Club. Tech is in sixth place in the team standings heading into the final round Tuesday.
March 26, 2012
Final-round push gives Golden Eagles strong finish
The Tennessee Tech women’s golf team sliced 13 strokes off its first-round score to finish strong in Monday’s final round at the Low Country Intercollegiate at Moss Creek Plantation.
March 25, 2012
Bell leads Golden Eagles at Low Country Intercollegiate
Katherine Bell shot a first-round 81 to lead Tennessee Tech in the first round of the Low Country Intercollegiate on Sunday at Moss Creek Plantation.
March 24, 2012
Carolina in my mind: Golden Eagles prep for Low Country Intercollegiate
Less than a week after completing play at the 2012 Pinehurst Challenge, Tennessee Tech will return to the Carolinas to compete in the Low Country Intercollegiate Sunday and Monday in Hilton Head, S.C.
March 20, 2012
Tech rallies, moves up two spots in final round at Pinehurst
Tennessee Tech finished strong at the 2012 Pinehurst Challenge on Tuesday, moving up two slots to secure a 15th place finish against strong competition from throughout the Southeast.
March 19, 2012
Bell leads Golden Eagles on first day at Pinehurst
Tennessee Tech struggled against stiff competition in the first day of play at the 2012 Pinehurst Challenge on Monday, shooting a combined score of 642 through two rounds of play.
March 18, 2012
After long break, Golden Eagles resume play at historic Pinehurst
Tennessee Tech's women's golf team will get to play at one of the game's most storied venues this week as it takes part in the 2012 Pinehurst Spring Challenge.
February 20, 2012
Golden Eagles finish runner-up, VanEtten places 10th
Tennessee Tech completed a strong start to the 2012 season on Monday, maintaining Sunday’s second-place spot to finish runner-up at the BSC Ann Rhoads Invitational.
February 19, 2012
Tech one stroke out of lead after first day of Ann Rhoads Invitational
Amanda Randolph and Brandy VanEtten are both tied for second place, one shot off the lead, and the Tennessee Tech women's golf team is in second place among the 16 teams at the Ann Rhaods Invitational, also one stroke behind the leader.
February 17, 2012
Golden Eagles open season Sunday at Ann Rhoads Invitational
The Tennessee Tech women’s golf team will get the 2012 spring schedule underway this weekend when it plays in the Ann Rhoads Invitational, hosted by Birmingham Southern College.
February 7, 2012
Golden Eagles announce 2012 schedule, look for strong start
For Tennessee Tech women’s golf coach Polk Brown, success in 2012 begins with Day One. Brown announced the team's schedule this week, with the first meet set for Feb. 19-20 in Birmingham.
February 2, 2012
Tech men, women picked fifth in OVC preseason golf poll
Tennessee Tech’s men’s and women’s golf teams were both pegged for middle-of-the-pack finishes in the Ohio Valley Conference in the league's preseason poll released Thursday.
December 1, 2011
Polk Brown inks five newcomers to join Golden Eagle golf teams
First-year golf coach Polk Brown has announced the addition of five signees who will join the Tennessee Tech golf teams in 2012-13, with two newcomers for the women's team and three on the men's.
November 1, 2011
Tech takes seventh in fall finale at UAB Fall Beach Blast
Tennessee Tech’s women’s golf team moved up two spots from ninth to seventh place in the second and final round of the UAB Fall Beach Blast on Tuesday, wrapping up their fall season.
October 31, 2011
VanEtten leads Tech at UAB Fall Beach Blast
Tennessee Tech sat in ninth place out of 11 teams after one round at the UAB Fall Beach Blast on Monday behind a 79 from Brandy VanEtten.
October 29, 2011
UAB Fall Beach Blast promises beautiful conditions for Golden Eagles
Tennessee Tech’s women’s golf team will be in search of a warmer climate as it wraps up its fall season at the UAB Beach Blast beginning Monday in Gulf Shores, Ala.
October 17, 2011
Getting to know Brandy VanEtten
Take a look into the personality of TTU women's golfer Brandy VanEtten. The sophomore describes why she loves the game of golf, why she adores Tim Tebow, and which facial expression she can never make.
October 12, 2011
Stallings Dinner sold out; Guests to bid on exciting items
Guests who attend the sold out dinner Friday night in recognition of PGA Tour champion Scott Stallings will have an opportunity to bid on some outstanding items during a Silent Auction at the event.
October 11, 2011
Golden Eagles finish seventh at F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate
Amber Shepherd shot a second-round 75 to lead Tennessee Tech in closing out the F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate Tuesday at The Links at Novadell.
October 10, 2011
VanEtten, Everts shoot 75, lead Tech after one round
Brandy VanEtten and Madalyn Everts both fired first-round 75s to lead Tennessee Tech Monday at the F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate at The Links at Novadell.
October 8, 2011
Flat, links-style course awaits Golden Eagles at F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate
With the fall schedule winding down, the Tennessee Tech women’s golf team will head to a site at which they have enjoyed past success on Monday and Tuesday.
September 20, 2011
Everts continues strong play, leads Tech in final round at Great Smokies
Freshman Madalyn Everts tied her career-best round, firing a two-over 74 to lead Tennessee Tech in the final round of the Great Smokies Intercollegiate Tuesday at Waynesville Inn Golf Resort & Spa.
September 19, 2011
Golden Eagles hang tough in tight field at Great Smokies Intercollegiate
Katherine Bell shot a one-over 73 to lead Tennessee Tech in the first round of the Great Smokies Intercollegiate at Waynesville Inn Golf Resort and Spa.
September 18, 2011
Golden Eagles hope to build on past successes at Great Smokies Invitational
A 23-team field awaits Tennessee Tech at the Great Smokies Invitational, the squad’s third tournament of the 2011 fall season, on Monday.
September 13, 2011
Everts leads strong final-round push, Tech finishes sixth
After entering the final round of the Drake Creek Invitational in a sixth-place tie with Western Kentucky, Tennessee Tech bested the Hilltoppers by nine strokes Tuesday morning to slide into sole possession of a sixth-place finish out of 10 schools at Murray State’s home event.
September 12, 2011
Golden Eagles in tie for sixth after two rounds at Drake Creek Invitational
Tennessee Tech teed off its second tournament of the fall season Monday under warm and sunny conditions on the banks of the Ohio River at Murray State’s Drake Creek Invitational.
September 11, 2011
Tech women to tee off at Drake Creek Invitational
The Tennessee Tech women’s golf team is hoping for fairer weather at the Drake Creek Invitational on Monday and Tuesday after rain canceled the final two rounds of the squad’s season-opening event last weekend.
September 7, 2011
Tech golf to host "An Evening with PGA Champion Scott Stallings"
PGA Tour professional and Tennessee Tech alumnus Scott Stallings is coming home to Cookeville for an evening in mid-October. Fans and supporters are invited to the event, but must reserve seats by Monday, Oct. 3.
September 6, 2011
Final round rained out at Chris Banister Classic
The final round of the Chris Banister Gamecock Golf Classic was rained out Tuesday, leaving Tennessee Tech with a sixth place finish out of eight teams in its first tournament of the 2011 fall season.
September 5, 2011
Second day rained out, Tech in sixth heading into final round at JSU
After opening play in sixth place at the Chris Banister Classic Sunday, the Tennessee Tech women's golf team spent Monday watching the second round get washed out. The final round is scheduled for Tuesday.
September 2, 2011
Golden Eagles set for fall opener at Chris Banister Classic
Polk Brown will make his coaching debut when the Tennessee Tech women’s golf team begins its fall season Sunday at Jacksonville State’s Chris Banister Golf Classic.
August 16, 2011
Tech golf teams to play on familiar courses during 2011 fall season
The Tennessee Tech women's and men's golf teams will be teeing it up on several familiar courses this fall when first-year head coach Polk Brown takes the Golden Eagles through the 2011 fall schedules.
August 6, 2011
Golden Eagle golf adds one men's, one women's signee to fall rosters
The Tennessee Tech men’s and women’s golf teams have each added a name to their 2011-12 rosters.
July 21, 2011
Polk Brown named men's and women's golf head coach, Peni Austin new assistant
Former Golden Eagle player Polk Brown has been named as the head women’s and men’s golf coach at Tennessee Tech University, while Peni (Davis) Austin has been named assistant coach for both teams. | <urn:uuid:80f1bea0-cea3-47ca-87e0-2f8eec8ea53c> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://ttusports.com/sports/wgolf/2011-12/news?dec=/printer-decorator | 2015-04-02T03:25:01Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131310006.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172150-00260-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924164 | 2,829 |
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Two new conditions -- osteoporosis and diabetes -- are hitting HIVers. Whether caused by the virus, the meds or both, these ailments have researchers alarmed about a graver syndrome -- premature aging. Jennifer Block reports on how to keep Old Man Time at bay.
Treatment types love to construct neat metaphors for life with HIV. There's the old standby: train (you), ravine (opportunistic infections) and bridge (anti-HIV meds). POZ, of course, prefers the party analogue: You're throwing a glam gala. You've invited select guests from that famous family, HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy). But suddenly some crashers are making a mess of things -- there's diarrhea dancing under the disco ball and nausea sporting a lampshade hat. You expected depression and anxiety to slip in -- they're out on the balcony with a half-gallon of Absolut -- but you never thought you would see Lady Lipo and Buffalohump Bill.
Call the promoters for back-up bouncers, baby, because osteoporosis and diabetes just toppled the red-velvet rope. Unfashionably late and low on the HAART side-effects list (see "Side FX," POZ September 2000), these arrivistes can still be 86'd if you act now.
No Bones About It
You may hear osteoporosis and think Golden Girls, but new research suggests that the condition -- marked by weaker, fracture-prone bones -- is likely increasing among HIVers. Lacking conclusive data, it's still too early to put all the blame on your combo, but the prevalence of bone-tissue loss is apparently significantly higher in people taking protease inhibitors (PIs) than in those on non-PI combos. What's not yet clear is whether it's HAART or some combination of the drugs, HIV and advancing age that's to blame.
Osteoporosis is a common complaint in an aging body: 50 percent of women and 12 percent of men actually lose bone after age 50. Say what? The problem is that while pre-midlife, the body continuously loses bone cells and continuously replenishes them in equal measure, with aging the number of cells made doesn't match the number gone -- there's a gradual loss of bone tissue. The result is thinner, weaker bones that may become brittle and break easily.
Pablo Tebas, MD, of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is on the case. In 1999, he began looking for a link between HAART and bone-mineral density (BMD), a measure of bone strength used to diagnose osteoporosis. In a small study of HIV positive men, he found that of all HAART-takers, those on a PI were at greatest risk: Half of the protease poppers had osteopenia -- the prelude to osteoporosis. But the increase in PI-taking men was not statistically significant when compared to neggies. The trouble is, there are no symptoms of osteopenia. "Lots of people with HIV are walking around undiagnosed," says Lori Panther, MD, an HIV specialist in Boston. A full-body x-ray, called a DEXA scan, can be used to determine your baseline bone density, which is expressed as a "T score." That score -- taken before you break a bone -- will help catch deterioration. But while osteopenia has been reversed in post-menopausal women, whether or not that will be true in HIVers is still unclear. What we do know is that osteoponic bones are twice as likely to fracture or break, and osteoporotic bones are four to five times more likely to do so.
Tebas has yet to absolutely establish a causal connection between HAART and BMD loss, but he hypothesizes a notably chilling scenario and synergy: HAART, HIV or both are effectively speeding aging's inevitable toll. "Several years of HAART may accelerate the typical loss of bone mineral that occurs with advancing age," he says. Unfortunately, some common collateral damage caused by HAART and HIV also increases the likelihood of bone loss, including fatigue (leading to decreased weight-bearing exercise), nausea (leading to bad nutrition) and hormone decreases (in both men and women). Of course, booze and
cigarettes, those time-honored solaces, only up your risk.
But don't get out that walker just yet. This doesn't mean that if you have osteopenia, you'll sneeze and break a rib. But it does mean that your bones could be more likely to break than you'd expect at your age, and so monitoring is important. And, anyway, just how serious is a fractured finger or a broken rib compared with HAART-related liver and heart damage or the consequences of HIV progression itself? "Not that serious yet," says William Powderly, MD, a professor of medicine and Tebas' colleague at Washington University. "There is no reason to stop or even change treatment based on these findings. We are convinced there is a link, but it is still not clear how severe or progressive treatment-induced osteoporosis is."
That's easy for a whitecoat to say, but bone-breaking PWAs might see it differently, if their input is sought. In Boston, Sonia Nagy, MD, and others at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center are trying to nail down more specific stats through a larger study of both men and women, which they hope will uncover additional risk factors. (They're still enrolling participants in the area, so call 617.632.0769 for details.) Another unknown is how bone loss affects HIV positive men and women differently. Because women are more prone to osteoporosis in general, it's reasonable to expect that women with HIV, who often experience the premature onset of menopause, are at greater risk and need early, effective intervention.
For now, garden-variety advice must suffice, but generally HIVers on HAART should start following guidelines for older neggies now: regular exercise (weight-bearing activity such as walking, running or weight-training -- not biking or swimming -- is best) and a diet rich in bone-building nutrients, along with nutrient supplementation to ensure adequate calcium (1,000 mg daily for men; 1,000 to 1,500 mg for women) and magnesium (500 to 1,000 mg per day; excess magnesium can cause loose stools) and vitamin D (400 to 800 IU a day). Good foods for this include milk, yogurt, cheese, salmon, soy or white beans and tofu made with calcium. Drugs prescribed for bone-loss prevention include Fosamax, Actonel, Raloxifene, Calcitonin and, for women, hormone-replacement therapy, but of course all these treatments come with their own party crashers, too.
Sweet and Sour
Feeling a little bit sensitive about lipodystrophy's humps, paunches and ballooning bosoms? Tell that to your cells. An old theory about lipo is that it is the result of cells becoming desensitized, or "resistant," to insulin. But looks aside, this is a serious condition that may put you at risk for type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
You eat. You digest. Your body extracts glucose (the simple sugar needed by cells for energy) from food and dispatches it into the bloodstream. Your pancreas produces insulin to escort the glucose into the cells, which keeps your motor purring. But the insulin receptors in an HIVer's cells -- especially those of HAART takers -- may start boycotting the insulin and, with it, the glucose. Because your body needs that glucose, it compensates by signaling the pancreas to produce more insulin. For a time, this works: The cells absorb the energy.
Recent studies have shown that many HIVers with lipo overwork their pancreas because they need to make twice as much insulin as normal to sustain normal glucose levels. This worries researchers for two reasons: Either the pancreas could exhaust itself or the cells could become increasingly resistant. If either happens, then blood sugar is unabsorbed and levels skyrocket, which means that your cells are essentially starving to death. Behind both doors No. 1 and 2 lie diabetes and its fearsome risks: damage to blood vessels throughout the body, resulting in complications from top (blindness) to bottom (neuropathy and leg amputations) to in-between (heart-attacks, strokes and kidney failure). The early symptoms alone -- extreme thirst, hunger, weight loss, fatigue and itchy skin -- could make you feel worse than if you spent the night singing drunken karaoke.
While such high glucose is more obviously dangerous, the effects of high insulin levels may be subtler but ultimately just as worrisome. It is believed that they directly harm the blood vessels, even when blood glucose is not high. So consider that elevated insulin level to be a red flag for cardiovascular disease. There is evidence that PIs, particularly indinavir (Crixivan), may have a direct effect on glucose transport, which would in turn affect insulin sensitivity. But researchers also suspect that insulin resistance is connected to lipo-related fat changes. "Understanding the connection between fat and insulin is extremely important for HIV-infected patients with lipodystrophy," says Steven Grinspoon, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "But we just don't know why insulin resistance is happening or how much it increases the risk for diabetes and heart disease."
The sad truth is, if your regimen includes protease inhibitors and you have lipodystrophy, you have a 50-50 chance of also having insulin resistance. But you'll have to give blood to be sure. Then you'll undergo tests for insulin and glucose levels on an empty stomach ("fasting levels") and then retest after downing a high-glucose drink ("post-prandial levels") to determine your degree of resistance. A high post-prandial glucose level suggests that insulin receptors are becoming increasingly resistant. But the neon alarm flashes when your fasting glucose levels are elevated -- this signals that your cells are not getting the energy they need. It could mean a diagnosis of type II diabetes.
That's what Dominic Hamilton-Little, an HIVer in New York City, got just one year after he failed a fasting glucose test. "I was permanently hungry and constantly thirsty, and it was gradual. I didn't realize it until the doctor said, 'Whoa, your blood sugar is way too high.'" Within a year he was diagnosed with diabetes.
If you do have high insulin levels, you should exercise and eat a high-protein, high-fiber, moderate-fat diet, with a reasonable amount of carbs, as directed by your doc. As for switching to a no-protease combo, that's a delicate decision only you and your doc can make. In a few small studies, ditching their protease inhibitors for efavirenz (Sustiva), nevirapine (Viramune) or abacavir (Ziagen) helped people increase insulin sensitivity.
Certain drugs aimed at reducing blood glucose, including metformin (Glucophage) and two drugs from the glitazone group, rosiglitazone (Avandia) and pioglitazone (Actos), have been used with some success. Metformin decreases the liver's glucose production; glitazones up cells' glucose absorption. Both drugs are used to treat overt diabetes, but recent studies on their lipo and insulin-resistance effectiveness show reduction not only of insulin and glucose levels but also of blood pressure as well as belly size. Some docs have started prescribing these drugs even to nondiabetic HIVers, and while it is too early to tell if the benefits of improving insulin sensitivity outweigh the drugs' potential risks -- weight loss, diarrhea and lactic acidosis -- signs point to yes. "My hunch is that we will be using insulin-sensitizing agents more routinely in the future," Grinspoon says. So don't pack up that party just yet. First treat the osteo and insulin crashers to the old kill-'em-with-kindness routine -- kindness to your body, that is. | <urn:uuid:67a37a3c-5947-4bf3-8846-2b3fcdb2750f> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.poz.com/articles/193_1253.shtml | 2015-04-02T03:11:16Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131310006.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172150-00260-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947316 | 2,568 |
Individual differences |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |
Dual-coding theory, a theory of cognition and a information processing model, was hypothesized by Allan Paivio of the University of Western Ontario in 1971. Paivio used the idea that the formation of mental images aids in learning when developing this theory (Reed, 2010). According to Paivio, there are two ways a person could expand on learned material: verbal associations and visual imagery. Dual-coding theory postulates that both visual and verbal information is used to represent information (Sternberg, 2003). Visual and verbal information are processed differently and along distinct channels in the human mind, creating separate representations for information processed in each channel. The mental codes corresponding these representations are used to organize incoming information that can be acted upon, stored, and retrieved for subsequent use. Both visual and verbal codes can be used when recalling information (Sternberg, 2003). For example, say a person has stored the stimulus concept, “dog” as both the word 'dog' and as the image of a dog. When asked to recall the stimulus, the person can retrieve either the word or the image individually or both, simultaneously. If the word is recalled, the image of the dog is not lost and can still be retrieved at a later point in time. The ability to code a stimulus two different ways increases the chance of remembering that item compared to if the stimulus was only coded one way.
There are limitations to the dual-coding theory. Dual-coding theory does not take into account the possibility of cognition being mediated by something other than words and images. Not enough research has been done to determine if words and images are the only way we remember items, and the theory would not hold true if another form of codes were discovered (Phylyshyn, 1973). Another limitation of the dual-coding theory is that it is only valid in for tests on which people are asked to focus on identifying how concepts are related (Reed, 2010). If associations between a word and an image cannot be formed, it is much harder to remember and recall the word at a later point in time. While this limits the effectiveness of the dual-coding theory, it is still valid over a wide range of circumstances and can be used to improve memory (Reed, 2010).
Types of CodesEdit
Analogue codes are used to mentally represent images. Analogue codes retain the main perceptual features of whatever is being represented, so the images we form in our minds are highly similar to the physical stimuli. They are a near-exact representation of the physical stimuli we observe in our environment, such as trees and rivers (Sternberg, 2003).
Symbolic codes are used to for mental representations of words. They represent something conceptually, and sometimes, arbitrarily, as opposed to perceptually. Similar to the way a watch may represent information in the form of numbers to display the time, symbolic codes represent information in our mind in the form of arbitrary symbols, like words and combinations of words, to represent several ideas. Each symbol (x, y, 1, 2, etc.) can arbitrarily represent something other than itself. For instance, the letter x is often used to represent more than just the concept of an x, the 24th letter of the alphabet. It can be used to represent a variable x in mathematics, or a multiplication symbol in an equation. Concepts like multiplication can be represented symbolically by an "x" because we arbitrarily assign it a deeper concept. Only when we use it to represent this deeper concept does the letter "x" carry this type of meaning.
Support for this theory Edit
Many researchers today have agreed that only words and images are used in mental representation (Phylyshyn, 1973). Supporting evidence shows that memory for some verbal information is enhanced if a relevant visual is also presented or if the learner can imagine a visual image to go with the verbal information. Likewise, visual information can often be enhanced when paired with relevant verbal information, whether real-world or imagined (Anderson & Bower, 1973). This theory has been applied to the use of multimedia presentations. Because multimedia presentations require both spatial and verbal working memory, individuals dually code information presented and are more likely to recall the information when tested at a later date (Brunye, Taylor, & Rapp, 2008).
Paivio found that participants when shown a rapid sequence of pictures as well as a rapid sequence of words and later asked to recall the words and pictures, in any order, were better at recalling images. Participants, however, more readily recalled the sequential order of the words, rather than the sequence of pictures. These results supported Paivio's hypothesis that verbal information is processed differently than visual information and that verbal information was superior to visual information when sequential order was also required for the memory task (Paivio, 1969). Lee Brooks conducted an experiment that provided additional support for two systems for memory. He had participants perform either a visual task, where they had to view a picture and answer questions about the picture, or a verbal task, where they listened to a sentence and were then asked to answer questions pertaining to the sentence. To respond to the questions, participants were asked to either respond verbally, visually, or manually. Through this experiment, Brooks found that interference occurred when a visual perception was mixed with manipulation of the visual task, and verbal responses interfere with a task involving a verbal statement to be manually manipulated. This supported the idea of two codes used to mentally represent information (Sternberg 2003).
Dual-coding theories complement a dual-route theory of reading. When people read written information, dual-route theory contends that the readers access orthographic and phonological information to recognize words in the writing.
Paivio’s work has implications for literacy, visual mnemonics, idea generation, HPT, human factors, interface design, as well as the development of educational materials among others. It also has implications for, and counterparts in, cognitive sciences and computational cognitive modeling (in the form of dual process cognitive models and so on; e.g., Anderson, 2005; Just et al., 2004, Sun, 2002). It also has had implications for cognitive robotics.
Cognitive Neuroscience SupportEdit
Two different methods have been used to identify the regions involved in visual perception and visual imagery. Cerebral blood flow allows researchers to identify the amount of blood and oxygen travelling to a specific part of the brain, with an increase in blood flow providing a measure of brain activity. An event related potential can be used to show the amount of electrical brain activity that is occurring due to a particular stimulus. Researchers have used both methods to determine which areas of the brain are active with different stimuli, and results have supported the dual-coding theory. Other research has been done with positron emission tomography (PET) scans and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to show that participants had improved memory for spoken words and sentences when paired with an image, imagined or real, and showed increased brain activation to process abstract words not easily paired with an image.
The dual-coding theory is not accepted by everyone. John Anderson and Gordon Bower proposed an alternative method- the propositional theory- of how knowledge was mentally represented, the propositional theory. The propositional theory state mental representation are stored as a proposition rather than as images. Here, proposition is defined as the meaning that underlies the relationship between concepts (Sternberg, 2003). This theory states that images occur as a result of other cognitive processes because knowledge is not represented in the form of images, words, or symbols.
The common coding theory has also been proposed as an alternative to the dual coding theory. The common coding theory looks at how things we see and hear are connected to our motor actions. It claims that there is a common code that is shared between perceiving something and the respective motor action.
- Associative processes
- Elaboration likelihood model
- Elaborated code
- Elaborative rehearsal
- Multimedia learning
- Restricted code
- Unified Theory of hypermemnesia
References & BibliographyEdit
- Anderson, J. R. (2005). Cognitive Psychology and its implications. New York: Worth Publishers.
- Anderson, J. R. & Bower, G. H. (1973). Human associative memory. Washington, DC: Winston.
- Baddeley, A. D. (1986). Working memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Paivio, A (1986). Mental representations: a dual coding approach. Oxford. England: Oxford University Press
- Paivio, A (1971). Imagery and verbal processes. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
- Reed, S. K. (2010). Cognition: Theories and application (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
- Sternberg, R. J. (2003). Cognitive theory (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
- Sun, R. (2002). Duality of the Mind. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
- Brunye, T. T., Taylor, H. A., & Rapp, D. N. (2008). Repetition and dual coding in procedural multimedia presentations. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 22, 877-895.
- Clark, J.M.; Paivio, A. (1991), Dual coding theory and education. Educational Psychology Review, 71, 64-73
- Denis, M. and Mellet, E. (2002). Neural bases of image and language interactions. International Journal of Psychology, 37 (4), 204-208.
- Just, M. et al (2004). Imagery in sentence comprehension: an fMRI study. NeuroImage 21, 112-124.
- Mayer, R. E. & Moreno, R. (2003). Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in multimedia learning. Educational Psycologist, 38(1), 43-52.
- Mayer, R. E ; Simms, V.K. (1994), For whom is a picture worth a thousand words? Extensions of a dual coding theory of multimedia learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 86 (4), 389-401.
- Mayer, R. E. & Moreno, R. (2003). Nine ways to reduce cognitive load in multimedia learning. Educational Psychologist, 38(1), 43-52.
- Moreno, R., & Mayer, R. E. (2000). A coherence effect in multimedia learning: the case for minimizing irrelevant sounds in the design of multimedia instructional messages. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92, 117-125.
- Paivio, A (1969). Mental Imagery in associative learning and memory. Psychological Review, 76(3), 241-263.
- Paivio, A. (1991). Dual coding theory: retrospect and current status. Canadian Journal of Psychology 45, 255-87.
- Phylyshyn, Z. W. (1973). What the mind's eye tells the mind's brain: A critique of mental imagery. Psychological Bulletin, 80, 1-24.
- Simpson, T.J. (1995), Message into medium: An extension of the Dual Coding Theory. In Imagery and Visual Literacy: Selected Readings from the Annual Conferenece of the International Visual Literacy Association (26th, Tempe, Arizona, October 12-16, 1994), 2-10
- Sternberg, Robert J. (2006). Cognitive psychology fourth edition, 234–36, Thomson Wadsworth.
- Thomas, N. J.T., "Mental imagery", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2011 Edition), Edward N Zalta (ed.).
- [http://chd.gse.gmu.edu/immersion/knowledgebase/strategies/cognitivism/DualCodingTheory.htm Dual Coding Theory: A Theoretical Foundation of Learning with Graphics
- Multiple Code Theory
|This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).| | <urn:uuid:f6de44d6-56dc-49db-b209-567431722458> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Dual-coding_theory?diff=prev&oldid=151085 | 2015-03-28T01:20:32Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131297146.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172137-00036-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.883631 | 2,515 |
Ultracapacitors: the future of electric cars or the 'cold fusion' of autovation?
ZENN Motors says its electric car will cruise for 250 miles on a single five-minute charge. Skeptics cry shenanigans.
Ian Clifford wants to start a global revolution by building a practical, everyday car with no gasoline engine, no batteries, and no emissions.
While big Detroit automakers ponder a future plug-in car that goes 40 miles on a battery charge before its gas engine kicks in, Mr. Clifford's tiny ZENN Motor, a Toronto maker of low-speed electric cars, announced in March that it will build a new highway-speed (80 m.p.h.) model that goes 250 miles on a charge – and can recharge in just five minutes.
Having no batteries, the new "cityZENN" model will use a breakthrough version of a common electrical storage device called an ultracapacitor to store power from a wall socket, the company says. Fuel costs to operate it would be about one-tenth of today's gas-powered vehicle.
If that astounding claim is real (and there are many skeptics), it could revolutionize automotive travel by making all-electric cars competitive with gas-powered vehicles and easing the world's dependence on oil.
"The big problem has always been the battery and its limits," says Clifford, ZENN's founder and CEO in a phone interview. "This new technology is a 180-degree shift that represents the end of fossil fuel as a transportation fuel."
That's because the same ultracapacitor technology could be used across the grid to provide cheap electric storage for wind and solar power, he says. In turn, this process could power millions of ultracapacitor vehicles with no emissions at all. With the cars' fast-charge capability, recharging stations could pop up to help make even longer trips routine.
Ultracapacitors – also called supercapacitors – are more powerful cousins of the basic capacitor. With activated carbon at their core to act as a sponge for electrons, ultracapacitors can absorb power – or send a charge – far faster than batteries. They are also far more durable.
First used in the 1960s, ultracapacitors today are widely found in electronic devices such as computers. In cameras, they retract and expand zoom lens. Yet the power stored by today's ultracapacitors is still only about 5 percent as much as a modern lithium-ion battery, far too little to power a car by themselves.
The reported breakthrough was made by ZENN's business partner EEStor, a Cedar Park, Texas, firm headed by respected computer industry veteran Richard Weir, who's named on the company's patent. The company is now nearing commercial production of its new "electrical energy storage unit" or EESU, Clifford says.
But privately held EEStor has had little to say publicly or to the press – and that secretiveness has inspired incredulity among many debating the topic on Internet forums.
But in a break with that tradition, Tom Weir, the company's vice president and general manager, responded to e-mailed questions.
"EEStor's technology has the opportunity to touch every aspect of daily life from very big to very small devices," Mr. Weir writes. "We also see a whole new generation of products ... based around our technology."
Added credibility arrived with the January announcement by Lockheed Martin, the big defense company, of an agreement to use EEStor technology for military and homeland security applications. It refers to the EEStor "ceramic battery" providing "10 times the energy density of lead-acid batteries at 1/10th the weight and volume."
In 2005, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers sunk $3 million into EEStor. ZENN also invested $3 million and will get exclusive rights to retrofit vehicles with the system – and produce new mid-size cars using EESUs.
According to EEStor's patent application, the breakthrough is based on a technically arduous process of purifying and fabricating units with barium titanate, a material known to retain vast amounts of power.
"The main feature of the EESU is the charge and dis-charge at electric speed," Weir writes. "This is a key enabling factor for the advancement of the next generation of vehicles. Another feature is the amount of power the EESU can store. Lastly, the EESU is expected to be considered fully 'green.' "
But some bloggers call the purported breakthrough pure hype, today's version of "cold fusion," the still-theoretical energy source announced in 1989.
At least some analysts and researchers, though skeptical, seem reluctant to dismiss entirely the possibility that EEStor could be onto something significant.
"I'm sure they do have a technology, but skepticism revolves around the fact that nobody knows much about it," says Anu Cherian, an analyst who tracks the $100 million global ultracapacitor market for Frost & Sullivan, a growth consulting company. "The ZENN car looks to be an exciting development. But there's a lot of hype in the market."
Other ultracapacitor experts won't dismiss EEStor's claim despite technical challenges.
"It would be unfair to make an analogy between what EEStor is doing and cold fusion," says Joel Schindall, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who is using nanotechnology to improve ultracapacitors. "I don't doubt that they have built a device on a small scale that does store the amounts of energy they are talking about. I just don't know if they can manage the process of scaling it up ... for commercial applications."
Dr. Schindall and his colleagues hope soon to demonstrate a fivefold boost in ultracapacitor energy storage to up to 25 percent of the energy storage capacity of a lithium battery – and someday up to 50 percent – using a different approach to the problem.
Such significant advances would make ultracapacitors viable in vehicles, though they still fall far short of Clifford's claims about EESU.
Making commercial quantities of EESUs could prove challenging since even tiny impurities and defects in manufacturing could result in "a violent discharge," Schindall notes.
Safety is a huge issue for energy storage in vehicles whether powered by gasoline, ethanol, hydrogen, batteries – or ultracapacitors. High-capacity lithium-ion battery research for cars, for instance, is focused on ensuring those devices don't burst into flames. EEStor has ensured that its new ultracapacitor will be safe if damaged in a crash by "instantly discharging to ground," Clifford says.
Skeptics don't bother him, he says, because "we've seen this product with our own eyes."
"We've had a great 100-year run with petroleum," Clifford says. "But the time has come for all of us to come to our senses now and realize that the electric-powered era for cars has finally arrived."
Comments from EEStor
Much of the rampant skepticism on the Internet over whether or not EEStor has had a breakthrough in automotive propulsion stems from the company's reticence to speak or to demonstrate its product publicly. Only a handful of press releases have been issued since the company was formed, and press reports have rarely included any direct quotes from company managers. Below are comments from a Monitor e-mail interview with Tom Weir, vice president and general manager, EEStor, Inc.
Can you offer an idea of what your product could do for automotive transportation and a time horizon for development?
"We see our Electrical Energy Storage Unit, 'EESU,' enabling the next generation of electric vehicles. The main feature of the EESU is [its ability to] charge and dis-charge at electric speed. This is a key enabling factor for the advancement of the next generation of vehicles. Another feature is the amount of power the EESU can store. Lastly, the EESU is expected to be considered fully 'green.' "
Some have suggested that ultracapacitors will play more of a supporting role – others that it's a "game changer," or even world changing. How would you describe the potential?
"EEStor's technology has the opportunity to touch every aspect of daily life from very big to very small devices. We also see a whole new generation of products and services that [are] based around our technology."
How would you characterize EEStor's contribution to developing new systems to transmit the energy for automotive propulsion?
EEStor has announced passing an evaluation on purity of its production process. Explain why this is important.
"To be discussed in the near future."
Why has EEStor been so quiet, some say secretive, about what it is doing?
"We talk about our achievements through press releases. We talk with our current customers almost daily. We will also talk about more things when the time is right."
Do you see any show stoppers, or is it just a matter of ramping up?
"With any start-up you have some speed bumps that come up from time to time. We have no show stoppers."
Competitors rev their engines
At the North American International Auto Show in January, AFS Trinity created a stir by strutting its "extreme hybrid" plug-in concept vehicle that uses ultracapacitors to boost battery life and get 150 miles per gallon. The Bellevue, Wash.-based company sees ultracapacitors as a natural fit with new generation lithium-ion batteries that are vital to plug-in hybrids. Company chairman Edward Furia compares batteries to a long-distance runner (providing the stamina a car needs over the long haul) while ultracapacitors are akin to a weight lifter – giving cars that 0-to-60 oomph while minimizing impact on the delicate battery.
As oil prices rise, new ultracapacitor research has emerged. Companies like Maxwell Technologies, Panasonic, Nippon Chemi-Con, and others are working on advanced devices with attributes of both an ultracapacitor and a battery, according to a November report from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). But the recent focus is only a continuation of a long-term fascination with ultracapacitors in automobiles.
A small fleet of ultracapacitor-powered buses began running in Moscow in 1995, and some garbage trucks in the US now use ultracapacitors to efficiently absorb energy from braking – and discharge it for acceleration, the IEEE article notes. Honda's Dualnote concept car in 2002 also showed off ultracapacitors' ability to instantly absorb braking energy and then return it in acceleration. German automaker BMW is also said to be evaluating ultracapacitors in their hybrid vehicles. | <urn:uuid:c7038a8c-b2b6-4e85-af3b-805358431456> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Living-Green/2008/0415/ultracapacitors-the-future-of-electric-cars-or-the-cold-fusion-of-autovation | 2015-03-28T01:14:22Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131297146.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172137-00036-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957118 | 2,260 |
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White Talk, Black Talk: Inter-racial Friendship and Communication amongst Adolescents (Comparative Ethnic and Race Relations)
This book studies the relations between black and white adolescents in an urban environment (South London); the processes by which racism is relayed within adolescent communities, and the strategies which subvert or encourage them. More specifically Hewitt examines the sociolinguistic impact of the 'London Jamaican' creole used by young black Londoners on the language and culture of young whites. Basing his work on extensive fieldwork amongst racially mixed groups in youth clubs, schools and 'street corner' contexts. Hewitt is able to examine the way racial attitudes and cultural allegiances are expressed in, and affected by, inter-racial friendships. White Talk Black Talk is a uniquely ethnographic account which places the use of black language forms in the speech of whites firmly in its social and political setting: integrating disciplines in a creative way, Hewitt sites a practical sociolinguistic study within a much wider and systematic sociological context of group interaction. This study will be of special interest within sociolinguistics, the sociology of race relations and of youth culture, and urban anthropology, but its rich and fascinating ethnographic detail will also make it of interest to the non-specialist.
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HTC is getting back to basics: after starting a long One series over the past few years with One X, One S and One V, the manufacturer has presented its master smartphone at the start of 2013. With its minimalistic design and technological superiority, the flagship makes all if its predecessors look old-fashioned and teaches its competitors the meaning of fear. The HTC One ups the ante for the Android Champion league and its pros heavily outweigh its cons. When putting the challenger to the test, is this device as good in practice as we expect it to be? The naked truth will be revealed to you in today's hands-on test.
- ✕No microSD slot
HTC One Design & Build Quality
HTC has put all hopes in one hand with its new flagship, the HTC One. It's been a losing battle for the Taiwanese company over the last little while as they experienced less than desirable sales, never really finding their way back to the road of success. This bad luck was fueled by many unfortunatly occurrences like oddly planned product politics and marketing decisions, bad support, missing and late updates, the list goes on.
That's why it was crucial for HTC to finally have a bout of success. With the HTC One, the chances look good. Once you have the device in your hand, I admit it's hard to give back. Whether you are a Samsung hater or not, the thought of switching the sleek aluminum chassis for the shiny piece of plastic, the Galaxy S4, is not a pleasing thought.
You can only really get a sense of how successful HTC is with its new cool device when you actually have the smartphone in your hand for the first time. It's uni-body's backside is made of luminescent aluminum, it has a display made from Gorilla Glass and is accented with white and black plastic. When combined, these give it a flattering look as it lies in the palm of my hand. Thanks to its slightly bent back, it sits perfectly in your hand. The coolness of the aluminum leaves an elegant impression; its weight gives it a stable sensation. The craftsmanship is impeccable, the pieces fit seamlessly together, free of rattling or moving pieces. The only hardware buttons are the volume control and the power button. Behind these hide infrared sensors that transform the device into a remote control.
There are also very few openings. On top you have the earphone jack, underneath a microUSB slot, which doesn't flaw its otherwise sweet-looking exterior. The only feature, which bugs the HTC One's nearly perfect design, is the power button found on the top left side. This makes it impossible for left-handed people to activate the lock-screen using one hand only. Placing it on the side would have been friendlier for everyone. That being said, I don't have anything else to complain about in this category.
HTC One Display
The scratch-proof Gorilla Glass protects one of the best displays available on the market right now. Yet when comparing it to the Galaxy S4, it doesn't compete in terms of brightness. When placed next to the Sony Xperia Z and the LG Optimus G, the HTC One comes out a clear winner. The full HD resolution (1920x1080 pixels) and the 4.7'' diagonal screen display result in a pixel density of 468ppi. This makes individual pixels disappear for the naked eye. The visual angle is also paramount; even when tilted it at the extreme horizontal perspectives, the display content is still quite recognizable. Unfortunately we couldn’t test out the readability in direct sunlight because of the constant snow and overcast state that Berlin is currently experiencing.
HTC One Software
HTC offers the One with Android 4.1.2 and as usually, the user interface Sense. The HTC One is the very first device, which offers the most recent version of Sense 5. It appears refreshingly cleaned up and serious compared to older versions. The company has made an effort in making its device look high-end and to offer the client not just an excellent device technology-wise, but also the attractive-looking whole package.
Whether you keep Sense is a matter of taste. It's user-friendly and setting up its widgets, backgrounds and themes is can easily be carried out. The most important settings are found without any lengthy searching. Extra features like lock-screens, music, news-feed and picture gallery apps are also at your disposal. The launcher found under the display's edge is divided into four standard apps: telephone, messages, browser and camera. Changing or customizing them can be accomplished by going through another route.
The advertized BlinkFeed, found on HTC One's home screen is also not quite what I had expected. It's a live-feed and an RSS-Reader in one and delivers non-stop news from Facebook, Twitter and/or your customized news sources. A few channels and categories are there by default and you're not able to add other sources. This way the user is assigned a few pre-selections chosen by HTC. BlinkFeed loses a lot of points because of this. What's more, the automatic synchronization is sometimes limited to WLAN connections, protecting your data from being completely milked. You can't actually completely suppress the BlinkFeed either, nor can you completely displace it on your phone.
The help offered by HTC, which is at your service right when you purchase your first smartphone. There are several possibilities to transfer data from older devices with the HTC transfer program that is offered through Play Store. You can also configure your smartphone via web-setup to your PC, in order to open email accounts, choose backgrounds and install data.
Another note-worthy feature is the audio-software BeatsAudio, an HTC standard. The manufacturer works with studio quality, which you can't actually hear using normal headphones. The sound is surprising and is produced by stereo speakers along with BoomSound software. Listening to music with HTC One is enjoyable, even with smartphone speakers. The sound comes out crisp and if you listen a little closer, you can even hear a bit of bass.
The smartphone lets you enter words just like Swype, instead of typing them in. During my test, it worked quite well, only fudging up my words a few times when writing up an SMS or a WhatsApp message. I needed about five tries before it recognized the word ''joke''. After a while, you get the hang of it and then it goes smoothly. If you compare it to other devices though, the keyboards belonging to LG Optimus G or Sony Xperia P work much better.
HTC One Performance
HTC One is decked out with a Snapdragon 600 processor and a 2 GB memory. The quad-core chip from Qualcomm beats at 1.7 GHz, making it one of the fastest processors on the market, bestowing HTC One with a speed that lives up to expectation. The device and its navigation components run as fast as lightening, without any lag-time, freezing or other problems.
Photo taking worked like a dream and my music was only paused for a second or two when snapping a few pics. With older versions, it was often the case that the music will pause when using the camera (or anything for that matter) and you need to manually start it up again. The HTC One allows you to comfortably snap pictures and listen to music uninterrupted.
Normal usage will lead to a device warming up, making it the perfect hand warmer for those especially colder temperatures. However it's expected that high-end smartphones remain cool. But when it comes to performance, the HTC One is a real powerhouse as you can see in our Quadrant and AnTuTu tests.
HTC One Camera
At the heart of HTC One's many great features lies the camera. The company has ventured in a whole new direction with its ultra-pixel technology and has presented a one of a kind camera for its smartphone. Instead of simply stagnating with the normal 13 MP that most of the other sought-after smartphones have, it dives right into using a 4 MP sensor. What's achieved are bigger pixels that supposedly capture more light, reduce image noise and improve the overall quality.
This isn't just a theoretical enhancement, it worked when put into practice too. The results were fantastic and were even more impressive on a computer screen. On the other hand, I was left with another impression when it came to the automatic mode, which was tested while comparing the camera along with other high-end devices(Galaxy S3 and Xperia Z). The colors fell flat, especially when there was little light. Perhaps the reason for this is that HTC optimized its camera software for the production of smoother pictures with less saturation and color noise. When zooming in, it looks as if the image has been flattened out. The details in zoomed-out pictures don't look very good; close-ups are more acute and detailed.
Honestly, I'm being a little nit-picky since HTC One has clearly completed leaps and bounds when comparing it to other devices. I wasn't able to prove its promised 300% more light during our testing. Even the front camera can take HDR pictures, though the results are less than promising. The front lens is impressive with its wide-angle and high representational quality.
Using the panorama function was a blast. In my first test, I simply turned around on one spot, which then resulted in a good quality, awesome 360º picture.
HTC Zoe is yet another nice feature, whose software amalgamates multiple pictures and short videos into small clips. These can then be shared on any of your social networks. You'll have to activate the Zoe function in the camera menu in order to accompany a photo with a three second long clip with sound.
HTC One Battery
HTC One has a built-in, non-removable battery with 2300 mAh, which doesn't do much to set it apart from its competitors. Its capacity is more than sufficient for day-long usage, however when I tested it out for the first time, it didn't leave a very good impression. After about seven hours, the battery was almost completely milked. This also had to do with the fact that I was heavily using it to sync all of my data from my older device, listen to music, take test pictures and set up Facebook email and Twitter accounts. This tuckered the poor lil guy right out!
On the other hand, when I used the device as someone would on any normal day, it was more than promising. Throughout the day I used it for music, mobile internet (emails, Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter), Google Maps with GPS, about 10 minutes of photo taking and four calls lasting from 3 to 5 minutes. Once I got home, the device was in desperate need of power. Its energy saving plan lets you scrape a few more minutes out of the remaining power reserves. All in all, its battery performance did well, but I wouldn't compliment it too much for its endurance.
HTC One Technical Specifications
With the ONE, HTC decked it out with all the bells ans whistles, making it one of the best available on the market. The 4.7'' display offers a impressive pixel density, the Snapdragon S600 processor with the software creates a powerful combination and the camera is one of the best android cameras of the moment.
HTC has created a classy device with its new flagship, launching the manufacturer out from Samsung's shadows. Along with its first class hardware, HTC made some crucial decisions. For one, the design is distinct and sophisticated with a luxurious look and feel. The display makes for some eye-popping visuals with its 468 ppi, one of the highest resolutions at the moment. The device could even be an Apple relative; its aluminum chassis is reminiscent of the look and feel that Apple Macbook Pro exudes.
In comparison to other top-notch devices, the stereo speakers' sound optimized rocking-out music. The camera is a shutter-bug's dream with stress-free picture-taking, even though the final results weren't as good as promised. The HTC Sense overview has a styled and cleaned-up look and goes well with the phone's exterior. A downside for me was the BlinkFeed, which isn't for everyone. HTC offers the whole package and leaves little room for complaints. It easily takes a stand as a worthy competitor against the Samsung Galaxy S4.
Lastly, the cultivated HTC has claimed a title of underdog in that it has ventured away from the mainstream. It's the smartphone for the high-maintenance user, who wants something extra, something that not everyone has. Yes indeed, HTC One is definitely something else and has arrived just in time. Whether it remains a niche product or explodes into the mass market is yet unknown. The answer will be revealed when it finally rolls out in the coming weeks (some are luckier than others and will get the device sooner. Others like North America will have to wait.) It's more than possible that the Taiwanese company, with the HTC One, will climb its way back to the top. | <urn:uuid:67953867-983d-4414-a813-e0285f270320> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.androidpit.com/htc-one-test-the-new-android-superhero | 2015-04-02T09:56:38Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427132827069.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323174707-00092-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96006 | 2,691 |
By Eugene Hernandez | Indiewire December 7, 2009 at 4:51AM
December 7, 2009, New York, NY -- Film festivals are changing.
To get a better sense of how they are changing, keep a close eye on three leading American events: Sundance, SXSW and Tribeca. Also, watch the moves of a new crop of filmmakers who are hitting the fest circuit in 2010.
New Sundance Film Festival director John Cooper piqued my interest in the shifting role of fests during a telephone conversation last week ahead of the announcement of the 2010 Sundance lineup. He said plainly something that a lot of festivals and filmmakers have been grappling with over the past year, "Film festivals themsleves [will] become part of a distribution strategy for a film. That's what's coming. It's right around the corner."
"We are going to see, in the future, a lot of films leaping into distribution right from the festival platform," Copper stated, "If not during the festival then the day after -- it's going to happen this year." Sundance is expanding its event into eight other cities for one night next month, but taking a wait and see approach on distribution initiatives. Meanwhile other festivals -- namely SXSW and Tribeca -- are aiming to blaze some new trails.
Over the past fifteen years, film festivals have been an important stepping stone for filmmakers seeking distribution. Hire a rep, take your film to a festival and (hopefully) sell it to a distribution company for a release six months to a year later. That approach generally works best for bigger films with name actors or high concept loglines. But, just a few companies are acquiring movies on the festival circuit right now. So, what about striking new work from emerging directors that is discovered at a fest but may not have the obvious hooks that attract traditional buyers?
12.04.08: A Letter to Filmmakers, Whether or Not You Got Into Sundance
Back in 2007, just a week after the end of the Sundance Film Festival, I was at dinner alongside the directors of a pair of the most acclaimed films at that recent fest. Two of the most talked about movies at Sundance that year. As excited as they were about the success they found with both critics and audiences alike in Park City, the duo were concerned about the distribution prospects for their films. Even then they asked me, why couldn't they just immediately take their movies to Apple's iTunes store to get them out and start capitalizing on the attenion that had been generated by their new movies?
Today, even as sales reps continue to compete this week to sign a new crop of Sundance movies, filmmakers are pondering alternate solutions. Directors and producers are wondering how to immediately make the most of success at a large festval, what to do if they go there and their film doesn't become an immediate "hit" and how to strategize a film that didn't get into the festival in the first place.
With 113 feature films invited to screen at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, from more than 3,700 that were submitted, the cycle begins again but with new approaches being considered.
The recent success of Lee Daniels' "Precious" from Sundance '09 and Oren Peli's "Paranormal Activity" from Slamdance '08 has raised the expectations of some going into Park City this year, while the ongoing impact of the economic crisis has caused concern among many others.
"There will be sales at Sundance," a high-profile film seller assured me over breakfast last week, hours before the Sundance Film Festival lineup was announced. But, the insider predicted, big deals will mainly follow a select group of higher profile movies. Smaller films from emerging filmmakers, the movies that are often the most interesting ones to come from festivals like Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca and others, will instead have to puruse a so-called "self-publishing" approach to find an audience and monetize their movie, this person said. Filmmakers will have to drive their own distribution, the respected insider reiterated.
So, with the Sundance 2010 lineup out in the open, established and emerging filmmakers alike are left to explore what happens next. This year it will be interesting to watch how festivals structure themselves as potential outlets for filmmakers who are hoping to immediately make the most of their movies in the marketplace. And how, if at all, the traditional distribution community responds.
An emerging move that has industry folks buzzing is a push by Tribeca Enterprises to position itself in the role of some sort of distributor of movies. Tribeca is looking to secure a crop of new films -- as many as ten, according to some insiders -- to release them in conjunction with their Spring festival in New York City and beyond. Tribeca insiders are committed to changing the current model, but are not yet ready to talk about plans that are understood to be evolving as they talk with filmmakers and the industry. Observers will certainly be tracking how the formative plans develop.
Meanwhile, a partnership earlier this year between SXSW and IFC Films brought five festival titles to IFC's VOD platform during the festival, including the day-and-date world premiere of Joe Swanberg's "Nights and Weekends" on cable television at the same time that the movie debuted at SXSW. Similarly, SnagFilms debuted "The Least of These" online concurrent with its world premiere.
Given the overlapping film and Internet events that take place at SXSW, the event would seem well positioned.
"Conversations are getting louder about how festivals can and should aggressively help filmmakers use new technologies to reach a broader audience," new SXSW festival producer Janet Pierson said at the time. Nearly a year later, those conversations have intensified.
Yesterday, Pierson told me that she has no interest in turning her festival into a film distribution company, yet she said the festival would follow filmmakers' leads and work with them to connect their films with audiences. Talks are underway now as SXSW planners work to finalize their 2010 lineup.
Longtime Sundance chief Geoff Gilmore anticipated this activity last year in a first person article for indieWIRE as the festival got underway in January, asking, "Can festivals keep their integrity and even expand their meaningfulness to a range of constituencies? As they move into the future, will cyberspace and other forms of outreach (broadcast, cable etc.) become more a part of festival events in the same way of most sporting events? Will new forms of media become a part of so-called film festivals?"
And just a month later, talking with indieWIRE in the wake of his announcement that he would be leaving the Sundance Institute for Tribeca Enterprises, Gilmore said, "We have to look at what festivals are going to be and we have to look at how that is going to evolve."
"What Tribeca Enterprises is going to do is be involved in setting up a new paradigm," Gilmore explained at the time, "The ways that festivals become platforms for new enterprises."
In Las Vegas today and tomorrow, festival organizers from around the country are gathering for the annual Film Festival Summit. My colleague Anne Thompson will be moderating a conversation today scrutinizing current and emerging festival models.
I look forward to hearing more. What do you think?
PREVIOUS WEEKLY COLUMNS:
11.30.09: Paris, City of Cinema (or, In Bed with Agnes) |11.23.09: Frederick Wiseman = The Greatest | 11.16.09: For The Love of Movies | 11.09.09: Building Buzz | 11.02.09: I want it like I wrote it. | 10.26.09: “Precious,” $1 Million or $100 Million? | 10.12.09: Critics (still) Matter | 10.05.09: Is There a Doctor in the House? | 09.28.09: The Indie Summit | 09.21.09: The Oscar Marathon | 09.14.09: DIY v. DIWO | 09.08.09: SPC v. IFC | 08.30.09: Saving Cinema | 08.23.09: Nadie Sabe Nada | 08.16.09: Movies, Now More Than Ever | 08.09.09: It Came From The 80s | <urn:uuid:0412deef-609c-4945-9607-7d5a6e6d6560> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.indiewire.com/article/eugene_hernandez_the_future_of_festivals | 2015-04-02T09:56:20Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427132827069.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323174707-00092-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965996 | 1,727 |
Why's that? I personally didn't enjoy having to fight everything everywhere in pre-BC, for me flying mounts were a natural successor to ground mounts, the only mistake is not having made interesting aerial combat for them to respect their Gryphon Rider Warcraft 2 roots.
Doing Isle of Thunder dailies reminds me how much I hated ground mounts only, not to mention leveling any alts in pandaria after you've experienced the lore and environments once on your main.
At least in WOTLK they had the decency to give us those tomes to learn to fly at 80.
I think it was Mike Morhaime (or another high ranking Blizzard employee) who did an interview (i think for the financial press) back in Wrath where he admitted that only around 50% of Wow subsciptions login more than once per month. He went on to say its a concern for Blizzard and they want to encourage those players to login more. Thats a fukking hell of alot of inactive accounts which r paying cash to Blizzard every month.
So basically at any one time around 50% of Blizzard subs r actually logging in more than once per month... the other 50% dont login but they still pay their monthly subs.
This is no different to games like GW2. Sure not everyone who bought GW2 logs in regularly... but *drum roll* that was exactly how the game was designed to be! *shock horror face!*
Basically Blizzard does not release how many people login every month and nor does GW2... its the same.
GW2 shows how many unit sales they made and Wow shows how many monthly subscriptions is has.
You know what is really sad about threads like this?
The exact same people that dislike WoW and those that like WoW flock to it and regurgitate the exact same nonsense back and forth for the Nth time.
OT: Overall, retail sails are down but digital sales are up. That is fairly common knowledge these days. As for WoW subs declining, there are a multitude of reasons. It's old, people have moved on, people don't have the cash for it, people dislike it.... and so on...
Nothing has ruined WoW but the community itself. Not flying mounts, not RBGs, not dailies, not LFD or even LFR. The players. Tell me about server rep all you like but the fact is that it was an illusion. You were simply in a friendly guild and knew a few other people on the server. But of course, this has to be exaggerated to make a point. Flying mounts actually increase immersion (imo, it's flying on dragons in a fantasy game... immersion). World PvP? It died when Battlegrounds were introduced. Instead, it's players trying to dictate how people have fun, trying to remove content for people they deem less than themselves, trying to claim their blatant nostalgia proves the game was always better at this exact time and any other opinion is just wrong. Players are also trying to exclude others from content (hell thread asking to stagger LFR tiers by 6 months) and it's the attitude players take with each other that harms the game more than anything else.
Stop beating the same old dead horses and just leave them be. Either play the game if you still enjoy it or move on from the game if you dislike it so much that you have to argue with random people on the internet.
My only comment will be that WoW is an old game, and if anybody is expecting it to continue growing or maintain its peak, then you're fairly delusional. Of course its going to start dropping off, especially when "its the same old shit" every expansion. They do a FANTASTIC job, don't get me wrong, but its still the same game no matter what sword the boss is holding or what color the dungeon is, nobody is going to play forever and there are many other games now to consider playing than WoW for newcomers to the market. WoW originated as a cutting edge MMO, it is no longer and will continue to decline without serious overhaul that changes the game entirely. The veteran players get bored and move on. Game companies don't recognize the effect veterans have on the community. If you don't keep them interested you will fail.
With the human population growing, games getting better and better, I refuse to believe that gaming is in a decline because some site i never heard of has some article and statistics which are probably not even accurate.
Morhaime is talking about people with who are still subscribers who are paying but not logging in (there are many people like this). They count that as revenue, because its money coming in, even if the account is considered inactive. It is still income counted in a financial statement.
GW2 has no subscription, so whether or not people are playing does not impact their bottom line (outside of operating costs). It certainly does not bring any revenue in. Anyone playing is a POTENTIAL source of revenue post-box-sale, but POTENTIAL doesn't mean anything in a financial statement.
ArenaNet is counting its gem store revenue, Blizzard is counting the income from not only their own store and services, but also their subscriptions. And in fact, only people with active accounts.
The difference is that with Blizzard, you have an active metric of people who are putting money into the game, because they report subscriber numbers, which people harp on. Since there is no such model in GW2, you only have revenue from box sales and gem sales. The 1st quarter of this year showed a substantial dip following the previous quarter, which was part of the GW2 hype and Christmas season. Second quarter financials will probably be very telling. Another drop off would infer that GW2 is actually nowhere near as sustainable as WoW. Again, since GW2 posts fewer metrics than WoW, stating how many people are playing it is pure speculation.
All we know is that its hit 3 million, but not 4 million. If it had hit 4 million, they'd be crowing from the rooftops about it. But they say nothing about what their retention rate is, just the box sales. And the gem store is a major part of their financial model, otherwise they wouldn't push a new lottery box every 2-4 weeks.
GW2 got the money they wanted when they sold the game... if u login after that isnt an issue. Blizzard gets their money every month from your sub regardless if players login or not.
Both of these games have inactive accounts and both of them do not release how many do or dont login.
basically it was pointless bringing this up in the first place... thats my point.
All the rest is bla bla bla.
Here, I'll add the latest one just in case anyone is in doubt.
The reason is simple: people "play" social media these days instead of playing video games.
Like the article said: iPads and other social media "games" replaced traditional video gaming (MMORPG play included).
Of course F2P models for MMORPG's are a last straw to save the furniture ...
Those thinking this is just a lull between new consoles ...
yeah the new Sony portable and WII U are doing "fantastic" isn't it ...
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Last edited by BenBos; 2013-06-26 at 08:53 PM.
I disagree. The quality of pc gaming in general was slowly declining. Sure you had your hits but more and more games were coming out with stop bugs, unfinished endings or unusable multiplayer. WoW's quality forced companies to step up because it was embarrassing. Electronic Arts was one of the most guilty publishers at the time.really?
Ive played all the other MMOs out there and quality isnt much different. Theyve simply invested in different parts of their MMO. Some dont have raiding, others invested in massive PvP worlds. Others invested heavily in story and questing.
This idea of quality is totally subjective, afterall Wow looks the most out of date graphically than all of them yet that doesnt effect their subs much.
Basically there isnt much difference in quality between F2P or B2P games to Wow or Eve, who are pretty much the only paid subs MMO games out there right now.
Aside from launch day or planned maintenance you are guaranteed that you can login to WoW and do virtually anything that's advertised. That wasn't always the case in many other games. So yes the quality of WoW has pushed the industry to be better as a whole.
But if you want to talk about content quality I have been through EQ, EQ2, Dark Age of Camelot, Guild Wars, City of Heroes, Age of Conan, Asheron's Call, Warhammer Online, Swtor, Rift and recently dabbled in Neverwinter. The only ones worth a damn in that list was EQ, Daoc and City of Heroes. The rest were infested with bugs, unfinished content and lag.
Bugs to me are stop problems that prevent me from playing the game. Stuck on an island, unable to zone, npc stuck 100 feet in the air or under the damn world, can't complete a quest. Having a NPC be missing a head, my cloak not displaying, walking animation gone, etc are cosmetic and don't limit my gameplay.
WoW does not look out of date in MOP and even most of Cataclysm which is where the game is current. You need a computer capable of displaying this on Ultra but it's there. WoW has the cartoon feel to it so if compared to say Neverwinter, Rift or SWTOR it looks less realistic but overall detail is the same.
So I repeat nonsense by stating (and proving) that a subscription model is by far the BEST way to collect resources (money) for having extreme polished open world play in ever lasting adventures in MMORPG ?
Ok So then ... Does GW2 have mounts now to replace their loading screens ? Nope.
Does GW2 have an open ended world you can cross without loading screens ? Nope.
Does it have ANY other transportation to jump from one instance to another than a loading screen ? Nope.
GW2 is sewed together with loading screens to jump from one instanced map to another. Someone should tell GW2 fans the wheel was invented thousands of years ago already.
And 75 million dollars over 2 years (in sold boxes - deducting retail/distribution costs) is not going to change that in the future either.
Bottom line : a GOOD open world MMORPG with decent polish AND state of the art background loading worlds that expand endlessly is not supported by B2P or F2P mechanics.
Proof: 15 years of MMORPG history.
YOUR STATS R RETAIL SALES ONLY U ****
Your sources do not show any digital sales of videogames... and that market is growing massively.
Dude do yourself a favour and stop posting cos everyone in this thread has told u that your data is wrong... ru actually blind?
"Sales of packaged game products are sinking as more consumers download games on smartphones and tablet.
And what did I write ?
"iPads and other social media "games" replaced traditional video gaming (MMORPG play included)."
And just above that: "The reason is simple: people "play" social media these days instead of playing video games"...
It shows you simply flip when you see BenBos . The same applies to Pann. Funny how some dudes lose all pedals and NOT reading my posts ...
Ough, that hurt didn't it ?
Last edited by BenBos; 2013-06-26 at 09:25 PM.
... which I alluded to by stating people "play" now the social media.
You are being intellectual dishonest by NOT citing the sentences I alluded to. Simple as that.
BTW: Hardware and accessories can't be downloaded....
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To be perfectly honest if you had a choice of playing from level 1-90, enduring the Cataclysm Lore that made the Alliance look like wimps, getting ganked in every leveling zone in Wow by bored level 90's abusing the AH, waiting 30 mins for a dungeon que only to find out the Tank does not no what they are doing or leaves from constant abuse mid fight, Then after all that grief find out that there is about a million dailies at level 90 you must complete, and you have to do ALL those dungeons over again on Heroic before you can be carried by your friends as well as wait 45 minutes for 3 bags of Gold after 5 wipes in an LFR raid, OR
simply pay 25$ and skip the leveling/ganking process what would you do?
Yeah I thought so.
I thought this was just another free 90 with purchase thread then I read the part where they will be selling extra 90s...and people in the thread are still defending them. You really dont think this is a little too much...just a wee bit? Just cant admit it, can you?
I just cant wait until Blizz crosses the line full blown and starts selling gear and other things just to read how people will defend them then.
Someone please explain me why the hell it matters?
Why do you care about someone not having to level a character?
It's like people who complain that gear is to easy to get.
Also, using a fallacy to support your arguments is quite idiotic... and no, blizzard will not start selling gear.
Last edited by Glasse; 2014-01-18 at 02:21 AM.
as far as i know (and i know very little) the lvl-90 shortcut is one of the "bigger" demands that the community has right now. i believe that there are a lot of discussions, between blizzard and wow-players, that say how boring and mindnumbing it has become to level a character to 90 and that it has become too big of a barrier for people who want to try different classes in endgame-content.
so.. they are listening to the community and now the other part of the community (the one that gets their news from the mad magazine or something :> ) is now acting like blizzard is commiting some kind of unholy act.
in the end, they are still not selling power for real life money, and thus they are still keeping their promise.
at least now people can choose between shady china-farmers and legit blizzard, if they are looking for a shortcut to lvl 90.
of course i am being too rational here so... LUIGI!!!
Yeah I couldn't read past the first page. I knew right away the OP would get made fun of and attacked hardcore because he dare criticizes the mighty Blizzard overlords. It's like someone said already, MMO-C don't take kindly to that kind of thinking. Not round these parts, tell ya whut.
This doesn't surprise me. They did so many things they said they'd never do. When paid transfers came in they said they'd never let people transfer from PVE to PVP which didn't last long before they did. They always said they'd never us make both factions on the same server, just as they said they wouldn't ever give out faction changes. We got all these things. I also remember when they said the Blizzard Store would be for mounts only. Then we got pets, then we got transmog gear, then Asia got buyable potions to increase experience gained, and now we're getting to buy level 90s. So yeah get prepared for the day you can buy 'catch up' gear or something similar. Sadly the community just laps it all up and accepts it.
Also take a look at the last few mounts they put on the Blizzard store and think of what they've put in game recently that didn't cost money. There's a pretty gigantic difference in quality. The bat addition was such an insult to many people too who had been begging Blizzard to put a bat mount in game for years. Then they do it and say it's for $$ only. Bleh
Last edited by Vormav; 2014-01-18 at 03:13 AM.
If it's so bad that people are telling Blizzard they would pay to skip it, ideally Blizzard should be improving the experience so people don't feel like paying to skip it, or that there are rewards related to leveling alts that comes from reaching max level (Marvel Heroes, for example, has an account wide synergy system where you can get up to 200% permanent bonus experience from leveling additional characters, so it's definitely a doable system in games with leveling). Instead, and with a lot of unfortunate encouragement, they are simply going with the easy way out and saying "Okay, pay to skip it."
Then again, and I've not noticed anyone mentioning this, the consideration to sell level 90 boosts is really just a, in my opinion, knee-jerk response to people planning on using the 1 time boost in a round about way to gain multiple near-max level characters.
i suppose those boosted characters will have full set of gear once you start playing it, otherwise if the boosted characters are equipped with lvl 1 starting gear, the wow forums will be swarmed with complaints. so then it begins, let's say the player XXX gets a lvl 90 boost with included gear, then he/she levels to lvl 100 and then again demand Blizzard that they should have an item set to buy once they reach lvl 100 to get into the current content without having to run through old raids or dungeons, for example the current patch is 6.4 and the player XXX does not want to go through 6.1,6.2 and 6.3 , therefore they will most likely ask for an item set to buy once they reach lvl 100 to get into 6.4 content.
so my conclusion is: if they can skip leveling, why not purchasable gear to get instant access to 6.4? leveling is content and so are the patches/gear.
and i can assure that they will start selling gear sets in future.
Last edited by Elian; 2014-01-18 at 03:56 AM.
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What amazes me most is that everybody is complaining about Blizzard "neglecting pre-max level content" and yet nobody ever complains that Blizzard wasted resources creating a new max level raid, but has never bothered coming out with a raid for level 70 or level 80. Stupid arguments are stupid.
As for your second argument, you use nothing to back up your statement. The reason Blizzard didn't do server merges (or whatever they want to call them) is because of the negative perception behind them. Also, they didn't want force people to randomly give up their names or guild names. This is probably the most effective way I've seen of merging servers. Since nobody else seems to have been able to do this, how do you know that Blizzard just didn't have the capability of doing it previously? You don't. So, while getting money for server transfers may be a reason, it may not be the only reason, and it also may not have been a reason at all. What other evidence tells you that Blizzard making more money is detrimental to the game itself? By all means, explain.
Not a huge fan of the choice, but frankly if you don't have toons at 90 this late in the expansion than you aren't really playing the game anyway.
For whatever reason that is, this change was aimed at you.
Its to help players who want 90s but don't have time / are too incompetent to level.
Unfortunately, the biggest contribution to the decline in subs isn't that people are leaving - its that people aren't joining as fast as they once were.
This change will hopefully remedy this, while proving extra income for the game as a whole.
More money seems fine to me, especially after coming off an expansion that has produced more content in each patch than the entirety of previous expansions. Not to mention the speed at which the content came out.
I see MoP and the changes within as the next step for WoW, and despite the notion that eventually everything might have a price tag, I can't argue as long as the raids and content with patches stay as quality as they have been these last 3 tiers.
With that said, please no more "Either be for it or be indifferent" comments.
Ebay characters, Ebay characters as far as the eye can see.
Garrosh: "LOK'TAR! HAVE A HAMBURGER."
I am The Burning Legion - Play Free Online Games
they have done more than research --they are program it into the ptr
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does the mounts on the store get you from point A to point B any faster than the ones obtained in game ?
do they help you kill bosses or the other faction quicker ???
do they help you do anything in game better than the mounts obtainable in game ???
the answer is no to all the above
Why don't they just put it down already, game is old and they are getting really desperate for money and it is making the game and the developers look bad.
In hindsight, WoW should have ended in wrath, when the game was the most hyped and played and we had all the celebrity advertisements and killed the biggest lore bad guy in all of warcraft.
Words to live by. | <urn:uuid:76ae223f-09d6-477c-9075-dc5c02ff39a0> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1440618-The-slippery-slope-has-finally-ended/page27?p=24836693 | 2015-04-02T10:04:16Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427132827069.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323174707-00092-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971717 | 1,979 |
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- Free newspapers in lobby
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Express check-out
- 24-hour fitness facilities
- Airport transportation (surcharge)
- Full-service spa
- Free shopping center shuttle
- Gift shops or newsstand
- Number of outdoor pools - 3
- Beach/pool umbrellas
- Rooftop terrace
- Children's club
- Designated smoking areas
- Luggage storage
- Laundry facilities
- Limo or Town Car service available
- Spa treatment room(s)
- Multilingual staff
- Free valet parking
- Poolside bar
- Beach bar
- On private beach
- Beach sun loungers
- Pool sun loungers
- Beach towels
- Beach umbrellas
- Free self parking
- Conference center
- Snack bar/deli
- Number of restaurants - 6
- 24-hour business center
- Conference space size (feet) - 16140
- Conference space size (meters) - 1500
- Number of meeting rooms - 10
- Number of buildings/towers - 3
- Spa tub
- Steam room
- Children's pool
- Swim-up bar
- Turkish bath/Hammam
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Free WiFi
- Spa services on site
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Free self parking, Free valet parking
- Air conditioning
- Climate control
- Coffee/tea maker
- Free bottled water
- DVD player
- Daily housekeeping
- Turndown service
- Designer toiletries
- Private bathroom
- Hair dryer
- In-room childcare (surcharge)
- Satellite TV service
- Iron/ironing board (on request)
- In-room safe
- Free newspaper
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- Flat-panel TV
- Room service (24 hours)
- Connecting/adjoining rooms available
- Free cribs/infant beds
- Rollaway/extra beds (surcharge)
- Free WiFi
Where to Eat
Guests of Le Royal Meridien Beach Resort And Spa can choose from 8 restaurants and bars offering a wide range of culinary delights. Room service is also available.
Al Khaima - Mezzes, Arabic grills, and sheesha pipes. Located in the gardens. Open nightly.
Al Murjan - Serving light fare, afternoon tea, cakes, pastries, and snacks. Harp music plays nightly. Located in the Arcade.
Brasserie - Open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Á la carte dishes and international buffets. Located in the lobby.
Rhodes Twenty10 - Culinary grill with a twist. Serving dinner every night. Located in the tower building.
Ossigeno - Serving Italian cuisine for dinner.
Nearby Things to Do
This Dubai resort features a private sand beach, a marina, and a 24-hour fitness center. Sun loungers, towels, and umbrellas are provided. The resort also offers three outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, a sauna, spa tub, and facilities to entertain children.
- Golfing nearby
- Sailing nearby
- Scuba diving nearby
- Skydiving nearby
- Windsurfing nearby
- Fishing on site
- Pilates classes on site
- Playground on site
- Racquetball/squash on site
- Volleyball on site
- Water skiing on site
A sensory journey awaits visitors to the Caracalla Spa. Uniquely designed with a Roman theme and infused with an ambience of well-being and relaxation, the spa offers a holistic range of beauty treatments and unforgettable experiences for the body and mind.
Situated over 3 floors, Caracalla, the hotel's spa and health club, is another retreat for the mind and body. Product lines include Elemis, Wild Earth and Ionithermie. A selection of fresh juices and water are provided, and any additional refreshments may be ordered from the Tea Lounge. Guests can enjoy 5 Hammam pools, saunas, steam rooms, Jacuzzis, a range of massage styles, aromatherapy, and 6 beauty treatment rooms.
- Number of treatment rooms 6
- Body wraps
- Aromatherapy treatments
- Sauna in spa
- Spa tub in spa
- Body treatments
- Facial treatments
To make requests for specific accessibility needs, complete the “Special or Accessibility Requests" section of “Trip Preferences" when you book your hotel.
- Accessible path of travel
- Accessible parking
Minimum check-in age is 18
Check-in time starts at 2 PM
Check-out time is noon
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on hotel policy.
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges. Special requests cannot be guaranteed.
- The name on the credit card used at check-in to pay for incidentals must be the primary name on the guestroom reservation.
No pets or service animals allowed
- New Year's Eve (31 December) Gala Dinner per adult: AED 2100.00
- New Year's Eve (31 December) Gala Dinner per child: AED 1050.00 (from 5 to 15 years old)
- Tourism fee: AED 20 per accommodation, per night
- Fee for buffet breakfast: AED 140 per person (approximately)
- Airport shuttle fee: AED 380 per vehicle (one way)
- Rollaway bed fee: AED 360.00 per day
We should mention
This property offers transfers from the airport (surcharges may apply). Guests must contact the property with arrival details 24 hours prior to arrival, using the contact information on the booking confirmation. Children 11 years old and younger stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding. Only registered guests are allowed in the guestrooms. The property has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the property using the number on the booking confirmation. No pets and no service animals are allowed at this property. | <urn:uuid:14dc4cc7-94f0-4b68-9c5b-17eb2264afb8> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.travelocity.com/Dubai-Emirate-Hotels-Le-Royal-Meridien-Beach-Resort-And-Spa.h190827.Hotel-Information | 2015-04-02T09:43:38Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427132827069.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323174707-00092-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.880664 | 1,942 |
- Rape jokes seem to be more of a presence than ever
- Writer and comedian Lindy West was ripped for column about rape jokes
- Some say it's a free-speech issue; others point out consequences
- West just wants to keep dialogue open, she says, not stifle comics
Did you hear the one about the rape joke?
Like the motivational-style poster of a man cradling an unconscious woman with the caption "How did you lose your virginity??" The answer: "Rohypnol." Or the governor of Maine's quip comparing a political foe's budget plan to anal rape "without Vaseline"? Or the club incident in which comedian Daniel Tosh responded to a woman's criticism by asking, "Wouldn't it be funny if that girl got raped by, like, five guys right now?"
Or what about the Filipino comedian who made a gang-rape joke about a local newscaster, or the "just wait, it'll be all over soon" reference at the E3 video-game convention, or the Emma Watson "rapey" debate in "This Is the End"?
Lindy West isn't so sure. In response to a series of columns and an appearance on the FX show "Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell," where she debated the issue with comedian Jim Norton, she was besieged by angry commenters who insulted her looks, questioned her comic bona fides and said that, well, she should be raped.
West read some of the most vituperative responses in a much-passed-around video and wrote a follow-up column for Jezebel. "How did (the commenters) try to demonstrate that comedy, in general, doesn't have issues with women? By threatening to rape and kill me," she said.
West has emphasized she's not against rape jokes. In fact, she wrote a column called "How to Make a Rape Joke," which explained that context was everything. As for the angry comments, she described them as "an occupational hazard" in an interview with CNN.
But, she added, she wants to keep prompting readers to think about what they're saying -- or hearing.
"There are a lot of people who don't have a concept of certain things being important," she says. "It's not just a joke. It doesn't just exist on your Twitter and then go away. Things have real-life consequences."
The disrespect is nothing new for female comedians, says Ever Mainard, a Chicago-based comic who was featured in the "How to Make a Rape Joke" column. Standup comedy remains a male-dominated field, and the young bucks going for laughs want to make a quick impact, she says.
"Rape jokes, for a lot of newer comedians, tend to be an easier joke," says Mainard. "You can tell the newer dudes by their talking about rape or homosexuality as a punch line. I think our culture is a little desensitized to it."
Comedy has always pushed limits. That's often the point -- to question authority, shatter preconceptions, tell truth to power.
In the 1960s, Lenny Bruce was arrested for his use of profanity. A decade later, George Carlin was hauled in for speaking the "Seven Dirty Words." Sam Kinison ranted; Andrew Dice Clay told scatological nursery rhymes; Louis C.K. takes audiences into the darkest corners of his mind, and Anthony Jeselnik sounds calmly psychopathic. Magazines, television, movies and the Internet have followed the blazed trail.
But joking about rape -- an act of violence that overwhelmingly affects women -- means walking a fine line, and too many comedians are unable to balance on the tightrope.
Brett Wheeler, who's seen the issue from many sides -- he's an amateur comedian, a psychology instructor, a humor researcher and a former rape crisis center worker -- believes some of the increase in rape jokes is due to increased aggressive humor on the part of standup comedians.
"There are different kinds of humor, often grouped into affiliative -- you're laughing with someone -- and aggressive. And one of the things that we have seen is more aggressive forms of standup," he says. "It doesn't mean the people themselves are aggressive -- it just means the humor has become more hostile in some ways. People feel like they're bucking authority or bucking social norms."
Aggression can come with the comic territory. Comedians often talk about their performance in life-or-death terms: "I killed out there" for success, "I died" for failure. The atmosphere breeds me-or-them attitudes, says Benjy Susswein, who books comedians and manages Stand Up NY in Manhattan.
"It's terrifying, it's revealing, it's brutal," says Susswein. "(Standup) comedy lives in those two extremes where you either want to kill yourself or you're the king of the world. It's one or the other."
Perhaps for that reason, standup tends to draw more men. (Improv and sketch troupes, which have a group dynamic, attract far more women, says Susswein.) In fact, observes Wheeler, occasionally there will be "some old dinosaur" who'll ask if women are even funny. When he hears that trope expounded by comics, Wheeler immediately asks his friends if they can imagine someone suggesting that men aren't funny.
"And the response is, of course no one can imagine that," he says. "Because that's what privilege looks like."
Which is where the discussion of rape jokes gets into deeper, even more treacherous waters.
There's no question that the world has changed in the decades since Henny Youngman said, "Take my wife -- please." Women now hold positions of power, and some men feel threatened by the changes in society.
"My sense is that one issue is that men are feeling disempowered, and there are probably fewer venues for getting together and talking that way and getting away with it," says David Reiss, a San Diego-based psychiatrist who studies personality dynamics. "A lot of what used to be acceptable isn't, and men are feeling they're being hemmed in."
Lisa Wade, a sociology professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles, says that West's posts hit a raw nerve with some men unused to being questioned.
"Whenever we see people pushing back and saying, 'You have to start being accountable to women in your audience, and I'm going to start making you accountable with this piece,' only then is it necessary for people to be defensive," she says. "Anytime someone is in a position of privilege and they have unearned benefits by virtue of that privilege, when you take those unearned benefits away, to them it feels like you're taking something unfairly."
Sound too strong for a discussion about jokes? Comedian and psychology instructor Wheeler has a routine in his act, drawing on his academic studies, that shows just how deeply comedy -- and gender roles -- can cut, while also making a point about rape jokes.
"I do a fair amount of my routine on how bad people are about communicating about sex," he says. "I talk a lot about how men in particular, not through any fault of their own, are just really pretty bad at sex because nobody really teaches them anything, we have this expectation of competence on their part, and they sort of watch porn and figure, 'OK, I know what I'm doing.' And we have lots of data that shows there are a lot of women who are in heterosexual relationships who are pretty sexually unsatisfied," he says.
As he reels off some jokes about the issue, he can see the men in the audience squirm while the women cheer. At which point he will stop and address the men.
"I'll say, 'I'm sorry, is a comedian saying something that's making you uncomfortable? Maybe I should tell some rape jokes so we can all relax,'" he says.
Women appreciate the role reversal, he says.
"I've had multiple female comedians come up to me after my set and shake my hand and say, 'I want to thank you for doing that, because when I do that, it's too easy for them to dismiss as me just being a bitch. But when you do it, there's really nowhere to hide,'" he says. "So it's not that comedy is right or wrong, it's how you're using it."
Still, there are comedians concerned that essays like West's can have a chilling effect on comedy. They worry that they'll have to censor themselves, and that clubs will err on the side of caution.
Roseanne Barr, while defending West's opinion, pointed out that comedians have to be allowed to fail if they're going to learn the trade -- and that includes telling rape jokes.
"Comedy clubs are a testing ground for comics, and the freedom to be bad and to be offensive are part of the training process itself," she wrote in the Daily Beast. "Free speech can be messy and bloody and offensive; if you aren't prepared for the grossout, stay out of comedy clubs that birth comics like Sam Kinison and Lenny Bruce, George Carlin and Bill Hicks."
Barr added that telling rape jokes got her into trouble on at least one occasion.
"I was not allowed to work in a popular comedy club in Denver in 1980 because I told rape jokes," she wrote. "Some women, delicate flowers that they were, took the utmost offense to my presence and my directness."
But comedian Adam Christing, who runs a firm called Clean Comedians ("Laughter you can trust"), points out that to succeed, you have to know your audience. After all, the First Amendment doesn't just give you the right of free speech; it also gives your audience -- or your client -- the right to react to your speech.
"You look at the words 'show business,' and business is the longer word," he says. Clean Comedians supplies a lot of talent for corporate retreats, and some clients have gone over material line-by-line, he points out. "In recent years, (it's been said) that the new prophets are comedians, and I love that. But read the Old Testament -- there are very few prophets and most of them got stoned."
Even the most outrageous comedians know their audience, says Wheeler. After all, without their support, the room is as silent as a tomb when it should be rocking with laughter.
It's an easy lesson to forget, especially these days, when many prospective comedians are trying their hand on the Internet -- which means the entire world is judging. After one of West's attackers was, in turn, flamed on Twitter, he asked if she could intercede. "I was just trying to make Jim Norton laugh," he said.
As with any edgy comedy, context is everything. Even the most offensive material can be hilarious with the right comedian and the right audience. (Just watch "The Aristocrats" for many examples.) As West noted in her column, rape jokes can be funny -- with a certain self-awareness, attitude and intelligence. It's just that too many comedians take shortcuts straight to hostility and parrot "eighth-generation versions of Anthony Jeselnik," she says.
Some comedians are reassessing. Patton Oswalt, who once defended rape jokes on censorship grounds, has now reconsidered. "I've read enough viewpoints, and spoken to enough of my female friends (comedians and noncomedians) to know it isn't some vaporous hysteria, some false meme or convenient catch-phrase," he wrote on his blog. "I'm a man. I get to be wrong. And I get to change."
Which is all that West is asking.
"It's a process and it's an art, and people who love the art want the art to get better, and that's where I'm at," she says. "I just want it to evolve and I want it to feel less exclusionary to people like me. And there are a lot of people like me." | <urn:uuid:dc73d1e5-7a02-41f6-9724-b96535a2e3ac> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/25/living/rape-jokes-women-comedy/index.html?hpt=li_mid | 2015-03-28T05:14:30Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131297281.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172137-00160-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97787 | 2,519 |
SEATTLE -- Having one of the first few picks is great when it comes to Draft day, but the reason for having high selections isn't such a positive.
So Mariners scouting director Tom McNamara isn't about to complain about choosing 12th in Thursday's first round of the First-Year Player Draft after Seattle had one of the top three picks in three of the previous four years.
"Obviously all of us would rather have a lower pick," McNamara said, knowing that would mean a better win-loss record the previous season. "But we'll make the best of it and take advantage of picking 12."
The Mariners need their recent high picks to start paying off, and they're still waiting on catcher Mike Zunino, pitcher Danny Hultzen and even 2009 first-rounder Dustin Ackley after he was sent down to Triple-A Tacoma last week to iron out his struggles at the plate.
Zunino was the third overall selection last year after Hultzen (2011) and Ackley (2009) were the No. 2 picks. This time the Mariners have more uncertainty about who'll they wind up with in the first round, given the way things could play out above them.
What McNamara does know is they'll wind up with an excellent young prospect.
"I keep reading and hearing this is a weak Draft and I always stay away from that," McNamara said. "I think it's fine. Where we're picking, we're fine."
The lower selection did affect how the organization spent its time over recent months in regard to its first-round pick, given the variables of who will be on the board when their name comes up Thursday.
"There's always pressure to pick the right guy, no matter where you're at," McNamara said. "The biggest difference is when you have one of the first three picks, you identify about five guys you're considering and you'll see them play [in person] five or six times. But when you're picking 12th, you don't have that luxury because you're looking at more players. But we've still seen them plenty of times."
The 2013 First-Year Player Draft will take place Thursday through Saturday, beginning with the Draft preview show on MLB.com and MLB Network on Thursday at 6 p.m. ET. Live Draft coverage from MLB Network's Studio 42 begins at 7 p.m., with the top 73 picks being streamed on MLB.com and broadcast on MLB Network. Rounds 3-10 will be streamed live on MLB.com on Friday, beginning with a preview show at 12:30 p.m., and Rounds 11-40 will be streamed live on MLB.com on Saturday, starting at 1 p.m.
MLB.com's coverage includes Draft Central, the Top 100 Draft Prospects list and Draft Tracker, a live interactive application that includes a searchable database of Draft-eligible players. You can also keep up to date by following @MLBDraft on Twitter. And get into the Draft conversation by tagging your tweets with #mlbdraft.
McNamara and general manager Jack Zduriencik have steadfastly stood by the policy of always picking the best player, regardless of position, and that certainly remains true this year. The club has accumulated considerable strength in pitching prospects in recent years, but this season at the Major League level has shown again that you can never have enough in that area.
While rookie Brandon Maurer initially cracked the rotation coming out of camp, other more highly touted prospects like Hultzen, Taijuan Walker, Erasmo Ramirez and James Paxton have yet to become available due to either injury (Hultzen and Ramirez), age (Walker) or lack of production (Paxton) even with the Mariners needing help at the big league level.
Ackley's recent demotion to Tacoma, along with a similar move with catcher Jesus Montero, also served as a sharp reminder that even the highest-regarded position players aren't slam dunks for immediate success either.
So the Mariners will go about adding whatever player they feel has the best chance of being a difference-maker down the road, regardless of position or age. McNamara said the fact the Mariners took college players every time they had a top-three selection the past four years was purely coincidental.
"Each year we've had high school guys ranked right next to guys we took," he said. "Last year our top three guys weren't just college guys. We've never said we have to pick a college guy this year. It's just line up the board and take the best player. That's what we do.
"There are no magical potions. We keep it simple. High school, college, Northwest, Southeast, West Coast. We don't care. We just want the best guy."
One of the best guys this year happens to be in the Mariners' backyard, with catcher Reese McGuire of Kentwood High School in nearby Kent, Wash., regarded as a top 12 pick by most experts.
The Mariners took Zunino with their first pick last year, but McNamara wasn't giving any hints on whether McGuire was a consideration or not.
"He's a good-looking kid," McNamara said. "I can't really comment otherwise, but we're quite aware of where he's playing. We've been in there plenty. That's kind of neat because he's in your backyard, so we've gotten to know him and his family pretty well. He's a good player. He represents the Northwest pretty well."
It would seem surprising for Seattle to tab a catcher in the first round for a second straight year. They've been linked more with left-handed-hitting outfielder Austin Meadows out of Grayson High in Georgia or power-hitting corner infielder D.J. Peterson from New Mexico.
If they opt for pitching, the top arms likely to still be available in the No. 12 range include right-handers Ryne Stanek from Arkansas, Chris Anderson from Jacksonsville, Jonathan Crawford from Florida and Phil Bickford from Oaks Christian High School in California.
Here's a glance at what the Mariners have in store as the Draft approaches:
In about 50 words
Seattle could go any direction with the 12th selection, the main thing is getting the pick right. This is an organization with a lot of young pitching in the pipeline, but the club also continues searching for offensive help and certainly would welcome adding a promising bat to the mix.
The Mariners have had to play things a little more coy this year, given the variables of the 12th pick. McNamara says the team didn't want to tip its hand on some of the players it's most interested in, so Zduriencik wasn't able to view as many of the top prospects in person as in previous years.
But that's the way most organizations operate, given few teams are in a top-three spot and everyone is playing the guessing games on who is drawing interest from other clubs. The Mariners did their due diligence and McNamara and his scouting department have spent the past week setting up their Draft board. Now they'll wait to see who falls to them at 12, with fingers crossed that one of the three or four players they most covet will still be available.
The Mariners feel there's good value with the 12th pick, which is one they refused to give up by pursuing one of several free agents last winter that would have cost them that selection in compensation.
There are several outstanding college pitchers at the top of most team's boards, but after that it's tough to know what direction this year's Draft will take. Because of that, the Mariners will have several options among their favored picks, but there seems to be growing speculation they' try to land a position player with some pop if possible.
MLB.com Draft expert Jonathan Mayo has Seattle taking New Mexico's Peterson in his second mock draft. Others have linked the Mariners to Meadows. But in reality, the Mariners are playing things close to the vest and it's hard to know exactly where they'll wind up on Thursday.
Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, each team has an allotted bonus pool equal to the sum of the values of that club's selections in the first 10 rounds of the Draft. The more picks a team has, and the earlier it picks, the larger the pool. The signing bonuses for a team's selections in the first 10 rounds, plus any bonus greater than $100,000 for a player taken after the 10th round, will apply toward the bonus-pool total.
Any team going up to five percent over its allotted pool will be taxed at a 75-percent rate on the overage. A team that overspends by 5-10 percent gets a 75-percent tax plus the loss of a first-round pick. A team that goes 10-15 percent over its pool amount will be hit with a 100-percent penalty on the overage and the loss of a first- and second-round pick. Any overage of 15 percent or more gets a 100-percent tax plus the loss of first-round picks in the next two Drafts.
If the Mariners choose strictly on need, the outfield would seem the best place to start. With Franklin Gutierrez's contract coming to an end this year and Michael Morse, Raul Ibanez and Jason Bay all on one-year deals, there certainly seems room for an up-and-coming youngster for a club that went out and signed Endy Chavez and Corey Patterson this year just to add organizational depth.
That said, the Mariners would welcome offensive thump at any position. And while the organization has been lauded for its pitching depth in the Minors, this season has shown that cultivating young arms is a tough task as injuries have slowed Hultzen and Ramirez, while Paxton hasn't shown the consistency to warrant a promotion and Walker is still developing in Double-A at age 20.
The Mariners have plucked a pitcher with their first pick in five of the past seven years, the lone exceptions being Ackley in 2009 and Zunino last year. During Zduriencik's tenure, Seattle has picked a college player with its top pick three times -- all three when they had a high first-round pick -- and opted for a high school player first only in 2010 when they didn't have a selection until the sandwich round and took Walker with the 43rd pick.
• Recent Draft History •
2012 Mike Zunino, C, Triple-A Tacoma
2011 Danny Hultzen, LHP, Triple-A Tacoma
2010 Taijuan Walker, RHP, Double-A Jackson
2009 Dustin Ackley, 2B, Triple-A Tacoma
2008 Josh Fields, RHP, Houston Astros (15-day DL)
Zunino has shot up through the system since being drafted with the second pick last June, playing Class A ball in Everett and Double-A with Jackson in the final months last year and then opening this season at Triple- A Tacoma. Another youngster on the move is shortstop Brad Miller, a second-round pick in 2011 out of Clemson who was impressive last year with Class A High Desert and Double-A Jackson, then opened this season again at Jackson before getting promoted to Tacoma last week.
Right-handed rookie starter Maurer developed into the long-shot success story this spring as a 23rd-round pick in 2008 who leapfrogged highly touted pitching prospects Hultzen, Walker and Paxton to land a spot in the rotation.
But Maurer was sent down last week, so the biggest Cinderella now surely is veteran Ibanez, a 36th-round pick by Seattle in 1992 who has gone on to play 18 years in the Majors and is on his third go-round with the Mariners.
In The Show
In addition to Ibanez, there are only four other Mariners Draft picks who are on the current 25-man roster. Outfielder Michael Saunders was an 11th-round selection in 2004, third baseman Kyle Seager was a third-round pick in 2009, recently promoted infielder Nick Franklin was a first-rounder in 2009, and reliever Carter Capps was a third-round pick in 2011. | <urn:uuid:3a4df0ee-054d-4645-950d-54a5685341db> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://m.mariners.mlb.com/news/article/49346204/mariners-see-plenty-of-promise-with-no-12-pick-in-first-year-player-draft | 2015-03-28T05:39:03Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131297281.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172137-00160-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973331 | 2,518 |
i7-3930k @ 4.6 | Sabertooth X79 | 32GB DDR3-1600 | GTX-680 Jetstream SLI | TX950W
Explo>Black Arrow>Glaive Toss>Arcane Shot>Cobra shot. But if you have 3 free Arcane's, you obviously get to shoot 3 arcane's more before you have to shoot one cobra.
All in all, dela, as said, I think Fervor may come out ahead on a pure singletarget fight, ever so slightly. But I'm also convinced that TOTH will win out over fervor in most progress-related encounters, due to the extra utility it "has" over Fervor - it really doesn't matter if the focus provided can be used on only AS or both AS and ES, as the focus you'd use on AS would just translate into focus for ES instead (if you understand what I mean, can't really think of a better way to word it).
In the end, I'm convinced that the major difference between you and calebh/eiwo isn't the talent (because why would it be such a huge difference - 17K dps between you and eiwo, and nearly 30K between you and caleb), but rather, a level of skill. No offense to either of them, but Caleb/Eiwo has never been hunters I have been particularly "wow'd" by. Not saying that I'd do better, and they're obviously in the top percentile, but I'm convinced they're in the guild for other reasons than being extremely good hunters - EG, the ability to spend the neccessary time required for a top guild, being good with multiple characters, or good leading/organising skills, etc - I find that the majority of their top ranks are usually achieved when they have "all the gear", and all the other more mediocre guilds are still catching up, being multiple item levels behind. When the playing field has been levelled, and people who do the shitty jobs because they're just the only one's capable of it, they drop alot. You usually don't =P.
Fervor is opportune if it's off CD at a time you're really low on Focus, for example unloading a chain of ES, BA, GT and Crows. On the other hand, Fervor can come off-CD at a high-Focus time (LnL + refreshing Sting, etc) and then you have to push to dump Focus in order to use Fervor on CD and not waste its gain.
TotH is the opposite. If it pops up at a very low-Focus time it can be frustrating because you can't safely burn off the free shots without jeopardizing your ability to keep SrS up and ES/BA/GT/possibly Crows cooling. So if you get really low on Focus and TotH prox, you may need to Cobra a few times anyway to not push back your next important ability.
On the other hand if TotH prox at a medium/high-Focus time, it's no real concern since you can't "cap" Thrill unless it expires and it can be consumed in little bits, weaving it with Focus-consuming stuff or Cobra shots as needed. It's true that you unavoidably overwrite TotH sometimes while following the prio, but I suspect the ability's DPS contribution is balanced around an assumption of not-perfect efficiency.
I guess that's one clinical reason I like Thrill. It can be used at any point in your Focus bar if needed, but there's no penalty for using it at high Focus. As noted, both have times they shine and times they're frustrating.
As for Dire Beast, I'm sorry, but I can't comment since I pretend it doesn't exist. To me it's one of the lamest, grossest, most underwhelming abilities ever implemented. "Look! Yet another giant stupid animal!" <shudder>
You do know that if TOTH procs at a low focus-time, there's no reason not to fill up the bar to make sure you can cobra/BA before bleeding the arcane's out, right? Only shots that costs focus can proc TOTH, which would mean cobra/TOTH arcane's cant. TOTH should never be able to alter your rotation, apart from the obvious "fire more arcanes instead of cobras"
Sure, opportunities like this exist on encounters such as Spirit Kings (if you avoid the responsibility of dispelling) and Vizier (if you avoid the responsibility of breaking MCs), why focus on getting that extra 5K DPS when playing so aggressively will increase the likelihood of you dying to a crucial mechanic on an encounter where you are minutes ahead of the enrage anyway?
I feel like if the first thing you look at on a log is the damage meters you are probably going to get a distorted view of which players are actually good.
But then it is as I said - they're there for their ability to play, not to top DPS as a hunter. Which is perfectly legit - most top end guilds are no different from a top 50, or top 100 guild in level of skill - the difference is amount of hours put into the game (through dedication with alts, or just hours spent smashing a seemingly impossible boss).
In any case, the argument was that the talent is not far apart, as no talent will cause a 17K, let alone 30K, difference in DPS, so that was not the reason for him being ahead. If it's the added responsibility that took its toll on the other two, or skill difference, can be argued I guess. But historically, caleb has never been a reliably high ranking hunter on "farm", only when he's several gear levels ahead of people, while Eiwo's a bit better in that regard.
You're wording it like it's a matter of ability, when really it is a matter of choice.But then it is as I said - they're there for their ability to play, not to top DPS as a hunter.
Actually they are pretty much identical - 2486 focus (Fervor) vs 2460 focus (TOTH). If you scale for player uptime TOTH is even ahead.In any case, the argument was that the talent is not far apart, as no talent will cause a 17K, let alone 30K
Clearly I am unable to distinguish anything at all about a fight before I have actually been to the last phase of it, and my raid's overall progress and performance is a direct reflection of my own, as we are all equally good - I am a clueless fool, who will shut up because a random person tells me to, as I am clearly too bad to ever accomplish whatever you have. I bow down to you, my master. Clearly, you are the superior alpha male.
In any case, as I've said multiple times, my opinions will be my opinions. People don't have to agree with them. I'll be the first to admit that my performance this tier has been worse than the previous due to new responsibilities. But that doesn't take anything away from what my point has been, and I don't think anyone's disagreeing with me - TOTH and fervor are as close as can be, and the difference between the hunter's dps in that kill has nothing to do with the talent, but rather, responsibility/skill.
Caleb triggered 474 ISS, Eiwo 486, and Dela 526. So a difference of 52/40 serpent sting applications - mind that multishot will trigger anywhere from 2 to however many adds+sha you get of these in the last phase, so realisticly, he can't have shot more than 10 multishots more.
The big difference between dela/eiwo probably comes from Barrage, but caleb has glaive toss.
And I didn't say anything about it being impressive - I said that judging my level of skill on my raid's performance is stupid . I'd have prefered shekzeer/tsulong to die before christmas, but our roster didn't allow for that. Tough luck, I guess.
Do you truly not believe I could do in a top end guild? I know what the requirements are - but I can't adjust my life around them at the moment due to school. Maybe someday, I'll be impressive to you, because I get to clear content fast because I raid four times as much and skip school for a few weeks.
It annoys me because it screams 'Do this now!' and I go 'But you're my lowest priority shot! What about this other stuff I have to do!?'. And then it goes 'Well maybe I'll come back later then when you're in a better mood!' and storms out.
There's nothing saying you have to use ToTH procs. It's not designed to shoot all of them because it's not possible.
It's awesome to weave in a free AS when you are waiting 0.5s on that ES or GT.
Looks like you might have butt hurt some tweens Draco. LOL
Chillax people, opinions are like assholes, everyone has one. Some of you are one. Draco gives his opinions, I don't always agree with them, but he's allowed to give them. For someone to reply that his 15/16 is unimpressive, that's pathetic. Retarded 4 year-old children would reply better than that.
Basically, IMO, if you aren't top 25 in the world, you are just another guild wishing you were. My guild is just another guild wishing it was one of those guilds wishing. Thanks for the discussions Draco and Dela, informative to some of us.
Don't be elitist, it's a video game for crying out loud. Cure cancer, then you can be an asshole.
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PEEK INSIDE THE HAPPY FAMILIES ISSUE OF YES! MAGAZINE
When family members do not work or live well together we sometimes call the family dysfunctional. We prescribe professional help for the family or advocate for social policies that would support it—child care, parental leave, extended unemployment insurance, debt forgiveness.
But the real challenge to the family is that it has lost its job. The functions of the family have been outsourced. The problem is not dysfunction—that’s just a side effect. The problem is non-function, and this has much to do with the growth of the consumer society.
The End of the Functional Family
Consumer society has put an end to the functional family. We normally think of consumerism as buying stuff we want but don’t need, but it runs deeper than that. The essential promise of consumerism is that all of what is fulfilling or needed in life can be purchased—from happiness to healing, from love to laughter, from raising a child to caring for someone at the end of life. What was once the task of the family and the neighborhood is now outsourced. Aunt Martha is forgetful? Little Arthur is restless? Get them a diagnosis and a prescription. In this simple act, we stop being citizens—we become consumers.
The cost of our transformation into consumers is that the family has lost its capacity to manage the necessities it traditionally provided. We expect the school, coaches, agencies, social workers, probation officers, sitters and day care to raise our children. The family, while romanticized and held as a cultural ideal, has lost its function as the primary place to raise children, sustain health, care for the vulnerable, and ensure economic security.
The Rise of Neighborhood Incompetence
The neighborhood has also lost its function. Our neighborhoods and communities are no longer able to support the family in its efforts. In most cases, we are disconnected from our neighbors and isolated from our communities. The community and neighborhood are no longer competent.
A competent community provides a safety net for the care of a child, attention and care for the vulnerable, the means for economic survival for the household, and many of the social tools that sustain health. The community, particularly the neighborhood, has the potential to provide the extended support system to help the family in all these key functions. The usefulness that used to reside in the neighborhood is now provided by the marketplace.
Outsiders Raising Children
“It takes a village to raise a child” is an African saying repeated as a matter of faith by American leaders of all persuasions. Yet most of our children are not raised by a village. Instead, they are raised by teachers and counselors in school, youth workers and coaches out of school, juvenile therapists and corrections officials if they are deviant, television and computers and cell phones if they have spare time, and McDonald’s if they are hungry. What this means is that the space that the family and neighborhood once filled has been sold and is now filled with paid professionals, electronic toys, and marketing.
Until the 20th century, the basic idea in rearing children was that they become effective grownups by connecting with productive adults and learning from them the community’s skills, traditions, and customs. Youth learned from the community and had jobs to do: caring for the elderly and young, doing errands for the household, working on machines, helping with food. When they became adults, they were equipped to care both for the next generation and for those who had cared for them.
What we now know is that the most effective local communities are those where neighborhoods and citizens have reclaimed their traditional roles. The research on this point is decisive. Where there are “thick” community connections, there is positive child development. Health improves, the environment is sustained, and people are safer and have a better local economy. The social fabric of neighborhood and family is decisive.
Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods
Creating a more community-based way to live and find satisfaction, even when surrounded by a consumer culture, requires only that we act as if each of us has what we need. We have the gifts, structures, and capacities to substitute for our habit of consumption. We can decide to shift our attention toward building the functions of our family and neighborhood.
Freer, Messier, Happier:
These days, moms, dads, kids, grandmas—even neighbors—are sharing the work of family.
Here is a story of how this works, drawn from the real-life experiences of families from neighborhoods around the world that we have worked with.
Naomi Alessio and Jackie Barton were walking through the neighborhood, talking about being overwhelmed with work, meals, lessons, school, and especially the kids. Except, Naomi noted, her son Theron had begun to turn around.
Last summer, when Theron looked through the open door of the metalworking shop Mr. Thompson had set up in his garage, the old man invited him in. Something clicked. Theron began to stop by every day, and he started bringing home metal pieces he’d learned to make.
Naomi could see Theron change. He was proud of what he made—Mr. Thompson even paid him to make a few things. Naomi said she’d finally stopped worrying about what Theron was doing after school. Jackie admitted that her son Alvin was in trouble, and she asked Naomi if there might be someone in the neighborhood whose skills would interest Alvin.
They knew that Gerald Lilly was into fishing, and that Sam Wheatley was a saxophonist, but that was about it. They decided to ask all the men in the neighborhood about their interests and skills. Mr. Thompson agreed to go with them.
It took three weeks to visit all the men on the block. When they were done, they were amazed at what they had found: men who knew juggling, barbecuing, bookkeeping, hunting, haircutting, bowling, investigating crimes, writing poems, fixing cars, weightlifting, choral singing, teaching dogs tricks, mathematics, praying, and how to play trumpet, drums, and sax. They found enough talent for all the kids in the neighborhood to tap into. Three of the men they met—Charles Wilt, Mark Sutter, and Sonny Reed—joined Naomi, Jackie, and Mr. Thompson in finding out what the kids on the block were interested in learning.
5 Questions to Awaken Your Functional Family
The path to restoring function to the family in a citizen society, not a consumer society, is quite simple.
When they got together after interviewing the kids, Mark talked about a boy he met who knew about computers. Why not ask all the kids what they knew about? Then they could match adults to the kids, just as they planned to match up the kids with the grown-ups. When they were done, they found they had 22 things the young people knew that might interest some adults on the block.
The six neighbors named themselves the Matchmakers and, as they got more experience, they began to connect neighbors who shared the same interests. The gardeners’ team shared growing tips and showed four families how to create gardens—even on a flat rooftop! Several people who were worried about the bad economy created a website where neighbors who knew about available work could post job openings. To give it some flair, they found people in the neighborhood to take photos for the site and gradually opened it up for all sorts of neighborhood uses.
Jolene Cass, for instance, posted one of her poems on the website and asked if there were other poets on the block. It turned out there were three. They began to have coffee, share their writing, and post their poems online.
Eleven adults and kids formed the Block Band, and neighborhood singers formed a choir led by Sarah Ensley, an 80-year-old woman who’d been singing all her life.
Charles Dawes, a police officer, formed a team of adults and young people to make the block a safe haven for everyone.
Libby Green had lived on the block for 74 years. The Matchmakers got two neighborhood teenagers, Lenore Manse and Jim Caldwell, to write down her stories about the neighborhood and post them on the website.
Then Lenore decided to write family histories for everyone on the block, and persuaded Jim and her best friend, Lannie Eaton, to help her record the histories and round up photos to go along with them.
Charles Wilt suggested a way for the Matchmakers to welcome newcomers to the neighborhood and begin to connect them with their neighbors: give them a copy of the block history and get information about the new family’s history, skills, and interests.
Three years later, at the annual block party, Jackie Barton summed up what the neighborhood had accomplished:
“What we have done is broken all the lines. We broke the lines between the men. We broke the lines between the women. Then the lines were broken between the men and the women. And best of all, the lines were broken between the adults and the children and between all of us and our seniors. All the lines are broken; we’re all connected. We’re a real community now.”
Seeing the Abundance in the Neighborhood
The story has the elements of what we can call a competent neighborhood. Creating competence starts with making visible the gifts of everyone in the neighborhood—the families, the young people, the old people, the vulnerable people, the troublesome people. Everyone. We do this not out of altruism, but to create the elements of a satisfying life.
All in the Ohana:
How Hawaiians embrace the land,
its abundance, and their responsibility to each other.
This thickens the social fabric. It makes the community’s gifts more widely available in support of the family. If we do it, even in small way, we find that much of what we once purchased is at hand: carpentry, Internet knowledge, listening, driving a truck, math, auto repair, organizing ability, gardening, haircutting, wallpapering, making videos, babysitting, house painting, accounting, soccer coaching, artistic abilities, cooking, fitness knowledge, sitting with the old or the ill, health remedies, sewing. And some of those things will come from the elderly, the young, the isolated, and the unemployed.
With the consciousness of our gifts and the ability to connect them and make them practical and usable, we experience the abundance of a community.
These local connections can give the modern family what the extended family once provided: A place with a strong culture of kin, friends, and neighbors. Together we raise our children, manage health, support local enterprise, and care for those on the margin.
When we become competent again and have families reclaim their functions, we see emerging from our community culture those essential qualities of a satisfying life: kindness, generosity, cooperation, forgiveness, and the ability to live with our common fallibilities. These will all be given a home and nurtured by families who have reclaimed their function.
McKnight is a community organizer and emeritus professor of education and social policy and co-director of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute at Northwestern University. He is co-author of and author of
Block is a citizen of Cincinnati, Ohio. He is a partner in Designed Learning, and is on the board of Cincinnati Public Radio and Elementz, a local Hip Hop Center for Youth. He is the author of , , , and .
- More stories from , the Winter 2011 issue of YES! Magazine.
8 personal essays on what family is today.
Caught in the consumer trap? Radical Homemaker Shannon Hayes discovered that producing what she needs at home lets her live on a fraction of what she thought she needed. | <urn:uuid:bd48a3d9-b554-451d-9dfc-13430911abda> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/what-happy-families-know/the-good-life-its-close-to-home?icl=yesemail_decjan11&amp;ica=GoodLifeTitle | 2015-03-28T06:07:38Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131297281.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172137-00160-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975173 | 2,442 |
Time flies! Last year around now, I was moving to a completely new city, meeting strangers I would not have otherwise met, and doing lele homework until the wee hours of the morning. No matter how much the 2nd years tried to drill into our heads that jobs are more important, we just refused to buy it. Last night, I was sitting with my buddy Eric in the case rooms applying to jobs. It was dejavu to its max. As I passed by the stuffy hallways, I noticed all the “trees” drawn on the whiteboard. Of course, decision trees! In the spirit of decision trees, I just want to share some 2nd year wisdom with the 1st years. All the things that the 2nd years are telling you right now are for you to not go down that dead node in your decision tree. I understand you all are overwhelmed with information, but take a minute and chew on them. Your ultimate goal for getting an MBA degree is to get that dream job you’ve been longing for. Don’t put off the networking, career coaching until later! When you realize that you have to get back on the job wagon, it’s already too late. I will end with the title of Incubus’s newest album: “If not now, when?”.
Oh man, tonight is the biggest event of the AMBAA. We have a great line-up of student performers and professional performers, each of them bringing a piece of their culture and heritage. On top of that, this entire event is MC’ed by yours truly. I haven’t really done anything like this before, so I’m extremely nervous. Nevertheless I think this is what being an MBA student is about, stepping out of your comfort zone. I see this as a great opportunity to promote the AMBAA’s presence at Smith, and also hone my public speaking skills. Practice makes perfect, I am looking forward to tonight!
This event was hosted by yours truly and Karan Arora (also a 1st Year MBA). Karan put together an amazing video recollecting the two Asia trips that took place this winter. We interviewed the participants of the China Business Competition in Beijing, also the Study Abroad Trip to India and put together a short film describing their experiences. We also had a panel with Julie Mullins, Ken Chen, Eric Choi and Pradeep Suthram, they answered many questions regarding business etiquette in Asia and shared interesting tidbits of their trip. Overall the event was a success, it was both informative and entertaining. Btw, the Vietnamese sandwiches were really delicious!
In every spring semester at Smith, we dedicate an entire week to celebrate the diversity of the school. We started the week with a Chinese New Year Party at Mandarin Delight. The main color theme of the night was red, which represents good luck in the Chinese culture. We taught everyone how to sing the Chinese New Years song, everyone was really into it and sang along. It was an honor to have Professor Lele and Professor Bailey each heading a team to participate in the dumpling making contest! Professor Lele’s team prevailed, but I am not sure how many dumplings can survive in the boiling water to be eaten afterwards.
What a week! Two internship interviews, internship search, case write-ups, team project meetings, Graduate Assistant meeting, new markets growth fund applications…Luckily, thursday classes were canceled due to the snow. The most difficult part was adjusting my sleeping schedule from 1.5 months time off. The classes for this semester are really interesting, a lot of case based class discussions. I’m looking forward to the exciting opportunities and challenges ahead!
After a much anticipated and lengthy winter break, I am finally back to school. The pre-class jitters have occupied my mind for the better part of week. With all the school work ahead and preparations for interviews, I am very overwhelmed to say the least. But I am looking forward to see my friends from MBA, I want to hear about their winter experiences, whether it’s traveling around the world or internship search etc. I am excited and nervous about my own internship interviews as well, I am trying to prepare for two on-campus interviews that are coming up this week. Wish me luck!
Growing up in New Jersey, I have always been curious about what goes on in the skyscrapers in NYC. The concrete jungles were merely blocks with lights that made up the NYC skyline. My goal is to explore what’s inside of those buildings. Luckily, the Finance Association organized a Career Trek for the finance-focuses MBA students to visit some of the biggest players in the financial industry.
The Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park is a 1,200 ft (366 m) skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan district of New York City, in the United States. It is located on Sixth Avenue, between 42nd and 43rd Street, opposite Bryant Park.
The US$1 billion project has been designed by Cook+Fox Architects to be one of the most efficient and ecologically friendly buildings in the world. It is the second tallest building in New York City, after the Empire State Building, and the fourth tallest building in the United States. Construction was completed in 2009.
JPMorgan Chase Tower at 270 Park Avenue, New York
One Beacon Court (also called the Bloomberg Tower), is a skyscraper on the East Side of Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It houses the headquarters of Bloomberg L.P. in the lower floors and luxury condominiums in the higher floors. It is located at 731 Lexington Avenue between East 58th and 59th streets. It is currently the 15th tallest building in New York and the 46th tallest in the United States. The building’s zip code is 10022.
It was such an eye-opening experience to walk into these buildings and talk with our alumni that work at these perspective companies. Discussing current issues with Senior Bankers and Managing Directors of these big firms seemed surreal, at the same time informative. NY Trek definitely bridged the gap between my goals and reality. I look forward to the challenges that I will face during my internship search in NYC, because dreams are made in these concrete jungles.
I came to business school for many reasons: advance my education and build a new network of friends to name a couple. However, there has been one benefit that I had not counted on. It never factored into the equation when I was comparing business schools. It never made it into the schedule of major events and classes that I made before attending Smith. It never even entered my mind until orientation. I can only be talking about one thing: flag football. Unless I get a scholarship from Maryland to be their punter, it’s the closest any of us will get to a meaningful sporting event for a long, long, long time. Taking the ride over to the fields, Rick Spadaro (WR, 5’9’’, 165lbs, Drexel University, Strength: Speed, Needs to work on: Humility, Most like: Wes Welker), Anthony Moniello (WR/FS, 6’0’’, 185lbs, George Washington University, Strength: Coverage, Needs to work on: Capturing the Sleeve Monster, Most like: Troy Polamalu), and I (TE, 6’5’’, 250lbs, Washington and Lee University, Strength: Soft Hands, Needs to work on: not making fun of his friends in blog posts, Most like: Antonio Gates) get pumped up for the game by blasting “All I Do Is Win” (that’s right, we haven’t lost a game yet).
Once the game starts, we’re like our school: all business (only corny joke I swear). Something happens when you play under those Monday Night Lights. The air feels crisper and the turf causes more raspberries. Our defense is stalwart; our offense, relentless. As the pressure builds, we keep our composure, but still continue to joke about how we’re adding or dropping each other from our fantasy teams. After the victory, we hold our own informal team dinner, whether it is at Cal Tort, Chick-fil-a, or the case rooms doing finance homework. And after our Monday night games, what is there to look forward to the rest of the week? Oh ya, our coed games on Tuesday nights.
This week has been one of my busiest weeks here at Smith. The 7-week long core courses had come to an end. We had a final exam in Managerial Economics on Monday and a final exam in Financial Accounting on Wednesday. Our Human Capital & Leadership professor also had “strategically” sandwiched a quiz in between those finals on Tuesday (Professor Chen, I still like your class!). Needless to say my sleep to study ratio was disproportionally magnified during those days. After getting over the post-exam jitters, I had some time to reflect on my first MBA class experience on my drive back to New Jersey. I was astonished on how many topics we covered in those classes. From write-offs, allowance to impairment loss and accumulated other cumulative income (AOCI), Professor Hann has covered the universal language of business. The Swahili-looking balance sheets and cash-flow statements had been translated to meaningful business transactions in my eyes. The asymmetric curves and lines that professor Sampson had drawn in economics class are now tools to describe the market’s supply and demand. Although I sighed with the feeling of relief after those exams, my curiosity has never been so heightened about the more advanced classes that Smith has to offer. Next week, spring registration is set to start. After looking at the elective schedules, I am faced with another dilemma: there are so many classes that I want to take, but there aren’t enough time in the day to take all of them!
How best to relax? It was the question I kept asking myself during study breaks the weekend before our Financial Management and Data Models and Decisions tests. I wanted to do something different, and not just celebrate with the cracking of a beer. After brainstorming with a classmate, we decided to go to a Terps soccer game. Initially, I believed this would be a small event, but more and more people kept expressing interest in attending as well, and soon we had about 20 people confirmed. After the tests, we met in a case room to eat some dinner and collectively exhale after a tough day. We deserved a break and a reason to act unlike MBA students. With our brains fried from all the studying, we were in the perfect mood to cheer like hooligans at the World Cup. And to us, it might as well have been. I’m sure the other people around did not enjoy our excessive enthusiasm, but we didn’t care. It was a bunch of people who still didn’t really know each other coming together to root, yell, and (for some) go shirtless in supporting our new favorite soccer team (please don’t tell anyone I still have some allegiances to the opponent that day). As much fun as the soccer game was, I enjoyed the dinner in the case room more – twenty people in a small case room makes for a lot of intimacy. I just can’t wait for the next round of tests to come, because I know we’ll do something similar, yet completely different from the norm to collectively relax.
Adam is a fellow 1st Year MBA student at the Smith School. He is in the same track as me, therefore we have every core class together. It is great to have Adam in the classroom, his witty and intelligent comments definitely lightens up the classroom. I look forward to more posts from Adam, I hope you are too. | <urn:uuid:4312f4de-25ac-4405-abc9-44303de96194> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://blogs.rhsmith.umd.edu/daspindr/ | 2015-03-30T01:00:39Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298871.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00276-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968885 | 2,481 |
Vanderkitten-Focus Women’s Cycling Team has been ripping it up stateside this Summer. After top ten finishes by Jazzy Hurikino and Kate Chilcott at UCI Gatineau GP in Canada, and podiums from ruth Winder in the UK, Emily Collins went on a rampage scoring a dozen podium finishes and winning Pleasanton Fast and Furious.
Vanderkitten-Focus has continued its winning season, with two squads racing simultaneously on the East and West coasts of the USA this past Memorial Day weekend- and WINNING both races.
In California, Maura Kinsella was supported by teammates Starla Teddergreen, Courtney Dimpel and Vanessa Drigo in a hotly contested Memorial Day Criterium presented by San Jose Bicycle Club.
After a race filled with ferocious attacking by the Vanderkitten-Focus gals, Maura put in a massive attempt in the closing laps of the race. Despite a concerted chase from the entire peloton led by the Red Racing Team, Maura managed to hold off her opponents and claim the victory.
For a full report in classic MKULTR4 style, read her blog here
While this was going on, Bridie O’donnell, Kathleen Billington, Jazzy Hurikino, Emily Collins and Kate Chilcott were tearing up the east coast at the USA’s longest running race, Tour of Somerville, New Jersey.
Against a stacked field of 65 top shelf crit riders, Vanderkitten-Focus launched multiple attacks to soften up the opposition. In the finale, a stellar, full force lead out by all 5 VK teammies led Ruth to her biggest win to date, edging out Laura Van Gilder in the throw to the line. Emily Collins, who ran 5th, explained “Ruth has got a huge kick! Van Gilder jumped after the great leadout by Kathleen, but when Ruth went as well only 100metres out, she really surprised with her speed”.
A fantastic win for Ruth as she heads to USACrits Palm Bluffs and Glencoe GP this weekend with Van Dimpel and Teddergreen, while Collins, Hurikino, Chilcott, O’Donnell and Bilington race UCI 1.1 Liberty Classic in Philadelphia on Sunday.
jennifer Reither led the Vanderkitten-Focus to their 11th win of the season by taking out the final leg of the Tour de Grove MOPRO Series in Missouri.
Here is Jenn’s Race report:
A weekend at MoPro St. Louis MO.
The kittens were in St. Louis this past weekend racing hard and successfully bringing home a WIN!
LOOP de LOOP
The Kittens opened up with a warm reception at Friday night’s Loop de Loop, making their presence known by launching attacks, contesting primes and ripping the legs off the field. The crowd went crazy cheering and screaming GO Vanderkitten! The litter attacks included a purrrrfect launch and time off the front from Ruth Widner. Jasmine “Jazzy” Hurikino, hit awesome counter attacks after Captain Kitten JennX was reeled back in by the pack on a few occasions. The fan’s passion and support paid off as the team delivered kitten Kate “Chilly” Chicott to a 3rd place finish.
1st Sam Schneider – Tibco
2nd Sarah Feder – Pepper Palace
3rd Kate Chilcott
Saturday’s race in The Grove was another day of attacking and chasing. The pack was a bit more aggressive as this race was part of the National Criterium Calendar and the heavy hitters were out for sprint points and a prestigious win. Vanderkitten raced the windy 1.5 mile course as tactically as possible sending girls off the front and having other team’s reel them back in. The wind took a toll on team VK. Efforts being put in were taking the kick and zap out of each kitten’s legs. We did have the extra kitty power with Maura “MK Ultra” Kinsella joining us with Fresh legs, who chased down attacks and stayed close to sprinter Emily “Mooney” Collins along with her teammate Jazzy. On the last lap, Jazzy strung out the pack for the last 2 while Jr. Kitten, Ruth “1K” Widner took a nice flying and spent a few laps off the front. took teammate Emily “Mooney” Collins through the last corner for the 200 meter sprint, Emily took a chance to sprint the open lane to the right but it was Erica Allar who won from the left lane. Emily held on for 4th.
1st Erica Allar – Ride Clean
2nd Sam Schneider – Tibco
3rd Laura van Gilder – Mellow Mushroom
4th Emily Collins – Vanderkitten
Without a win on the books for the weekend, Sunday’s race in Dutchtown was the last opportunity for VK to bring it home for the team. The plan stays the same… RACE the hell out of your bike. Whoever wins this race will have to put in a lot of work to do so. From the gun “MK Ultra” launches an attack, using her mad TT skill stays away for 10 minutes. Once reeled in “Chilly” hurts that pack on the climb, and then Jazzy launches with another rider on her wheel and stays away till 4 to go. When Jazzy is reeled in I launch a vicious attack getting a 11 second gap quickly, all the while, “1K Widner” and the rest of the kittens are protecting “Mooney” near the front of the pack. Quick side note, while Jazzy was off the front, Ruth railed a corner, flatted, skipped her bike across the pack and STAYED UPRIGHT!!! Mad skills, glad I saw it; no one would have believed her. From here on out the details get a bit vague as I was lacking oxygen, seeing stars and bottles Michelob Ultra (Title sponsor banners). I think people were telling me I had a gap of 20 seconds at 2 to go, but all I could hear was my mind saying, “Frack!! 2 more laps, Mooney better be ready when I get caught”. I think to myself to push just a bit harder to make them chase me and wear out the other sprinters legs. So put it to them I do and never look back. I then had the finish line in sight, thinking that the pack was on my heels I gave it every effort I could to get across the line, and I did, so exhausted that I couldn’t even fist pump my victory. I did finally looked back and wondered where the rest of the pack was, a spectator told me I had a 27 second gap, I was shocked.
The plan came together and the Vanderkittens did it as a team. This win meant so much to me, because it meant so much to all of us, Emily, Jazzy, Kate, Maura, Ruth, Bridie, Courtney, Starla, Vanessa, Jono, Dave and the Fans to celebrate another victory for Vanderkitten.
1st Jennifer Reither – Vanderkitten
2nd Sarah Feder – Pepper Palace
3rd Laura Van Gilder – Mellow Mushroom
Enjoy the photos,
Enjoy the Ride
Captain JennX Fairy Princess
For more pics and story, click JennBonics Blog
Yesterday, Aussie powerhouse Bridie O’Donnell rode a fast race at the Amgen Tour of California Womens Invitational TT. The 2009 Australian TT Champion clocked a 44:34 over the windswept 29km course that the Pro men contested directly afterwards. Report and more pics to come!
3 Time Oceania Champion and 2009 Australian Open Pro Time Trial Champ Bridie O’Donnell has been announced as one of the ten elite women to contest the 2nd annual Amgen Tour of California Women’s TT presented by SRAM.
The event, run in conjunction with the Mens Stage 5 of the Amgen Tour of California in Bakersfield, is set to once again showcase the very top female Time Triallists in the world, with 2008 Olympic Gold Medal Winner Kristin Armstrong (USA) recieving top billing against esteemed company including Sweden’s Emilia Fahlin (Specialized Lululemon) and USA’s Alison Powers (Now and Novartis for MS).
For Vanderkitten-Focus, the invite represents an important milestone in the development of the squad as a top tier team.
According to Vaderkitten-Focus Sports Director Jono Coulter: “Vanderkitten has always strived to empower women through athletics, and we are thrilled that AEG and Medallist have once again created an event in which the worlds best female cyclists are showcased alongside the best male riders in the world at their event. Vanderkitten owner Dave Verrecchia has consistently built upon the success of the program every year, and we were thrilled to be a part of the inaugural Amgen Tour of California Women’s Criterium in 2008, where the kitties were among the crowd favourites! Over successive years we have built an International squad capable of competing on the world stage and now, with the inclusion of Bridie, have one of the worlds top Time Triallists on our team. To have Bridie rocking the Vanderkitten-Focus kit in one of the most prestigious specialty women’s events in the USA. We could not be more happy”.
Bridie will race a 2012 Focus Izalco Chrono 1.0 at the event, with Kask K.31 Chrono Helmet giving her an aero advantage over the 29km slightly rolling course.
Vanderkitten-Focus has enjoyed a #kickass first quarter of the year, with Jazzy hurikino scoring the 10th win of the season this weekend at the 39th annual Mikes Bikes Classic in Los Gatos California.
Jazzy was one of the favourites heading into the prestigous event, having won the 2010 edition of the famed hilly criterium as a 19 year old.
With Katheryn Curi Mattis Directing and on form Vanderkitten-Focus team behind her, however, Jazzy was unstoppable.
From lap two Hurikino and Kiwi teammie Emily Collins broke away from the pack over the famed 19% power climb, and when a Stevens Pactimo rider, Marley Smith bridged on the downhill, VK’s Kate Chilcott also came across. This made it 3 VK riders in a 4 rider break!
The bunch would not give in easily however, and over multiple ascents of the brutal climb, the peloton slowly reeled the breakaway to within launching distance.
With 5 to go it was gruppo compatto so without hesitation VK team captain Jenn Reither launched a solid attack and cleared the field, gaining 12 seconds immediately with only 4 laps to go.
The chase behind was furious and with 2 to go Jenn X was brought back into the field. no sooner had she come back that it was 3 time Oceania champion Bridie O’Donnell that made a bid for the line. The proven 2009 Time Trial Champion of Australia established a huge gap and the field was reduced to a selection of only the best as
they worked to contain the damage.
With half a lap to go, the last time up the climb Bridie was caught and this time Jazzy made her move. Within 300 metres she had formed a 100 metre gap to the field and put her head down with only half a mile of downhill to the finish line.
To the joy of the assembled crowd and sponsors, as well as Jazzy’s parents who had stepped off an international flight from Australia and made their way straight to the race, crossed the line and threw her hands in the air with exhausted jubilation.
Only 2 seconds later her friend and teammate Emily Collins crossed the line punching her fists, with another Aussie, SportVelo’s Bec Werner in 3rd.
A momentous day for the Vanderkitten-Focus program and all is looking good for the next 2 months of competition that will see racing across the USA and UCI events in Canada and Philadelphia.
Earlier in the month Vanderkitten-Focus had notched some top performances at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, with Emily Collins 3rd on Stage 1 and Emily and Kate recording top ten finishes in the final Circuit Race.
The 2012 Redlands Cycling Classic lived up to its hype as a spectacular kickoff to the Women’s NRC season. Vanderkitten-Focus sent a strong squad of 8 athletes, and although bad luck hit the team early on in the tour, our resilient kitties carried on in brave fashion representing VK in style! | <urn:uuid:88f015fe-06cc-4daa-8ebb-415b4c50dba3> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | https://vanderkitten.wordpress.com/ | 2015-03-30T01:01:16Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298871.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00276-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952753 | 2,711 |
By The Playlist Staff | The Playlist July 15, 2013 at 2:13PM
Murky and repetitive fight scenes that are hard to follow.
At first, the different kaiju types and jaegers are pretty thrilling, and exciting, in their size, power and unique capabilities. Then, del Toro throws them all in the ocean, at night (is it ever daytime? or not raining?) by the handful. The behemoths gnash and clash, and while there are a few notable moments, such as the much-trailered barge bat maneuver, it’s mostly a crashy mashup of gray and black against gray and black. At least Crimson Typhoon had three arms, and was, uh, crimson. But in the mid-film pile up of Crimson Typhoon, the Russian jaeger, and and the other kaiju, it was nigh impossible to discern which kaiju was doing what to whom, which jaeger was being drowned or blown up. Even when the fight made its way to land it just seemed repetitive and stretched on too long. Whatever goodwill and excitement was built up in anticipation of these clashes is quickly worn out in the smashy-smashy that just looks all the same.
Charlie Day and the Other Nerd/Everyone's Accents
There were at least two points in the movie where we leaned over to our seatmate and said, “What accent is that?” with Idris Elba and Charlie Hunnam, both Brits, two of the worst offenders. Elba, a master of accented disguise in “The Wire” seemed to be using his British accent, which is slightly Americanized, whilst Hunnam was definitely doing an American accent but unfortunately with a British lilt. Then the Aussies showed up, egads (Max Martini, do not pass go, do not collect $200 and proceed directly to Australian accent school again), which resulted in Rinko Kikuchi being the only actor with a believable accent (though she's not the easiest low-talking actor to understand either). With this collection of wonky accents, rapid fire delivery and nonsense future science jargon, we understood about one-third of the dialogue (but maybe that’s for the best). Then we have Charlie Day. While Day doesn’t have any accent problems and he pulls off an annoyingly shrill mad scientist/Rick Moranis in “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,” his lightning speed patter is nearly impossible to discern and his shrieking persona is so obnoxious you want to club him to death. And don’t even get us started on Burn Gorman as the mathematician counterpart to Day’s scientist, sporting a parody bowl cut and limp and doing his best Crispin Glover. Maybe every other sentence out of their mouths is intelligible, and because they’re either talking about kaiju math or Vulcan mind-melding with a seafaring alien dinosaur at a high pitched, panicky squeal, it only complicates matters. As our seatmate said, “that might as well have been in French.”
We live in probably the most advanced military age imaginable. A guy sitting at a desk in front of a computer screen can send an unmanned drone plane around the world to drop a bomb on a target; all manner of computerized imagery gives personnel unprecedented information about geography, topography and enemy troop movements; weapons are being made smaller but even more deadly. So when a monster rises from the bowels of the Earth in the future, the best plan of action are big, clunky robots that require a neural bridge to operate them? (Side note: it’s never quite clear what the advantage is in using a neural bridge, particularly when the pilots wind up shouting commands to each other anyway). In the crazy near-future of “Pacific Rim,” can we not simply send drones boasting devastating payloads to deal with these guys? Surface-to-air missiles? While there is a certain my-gun-is-bigger-than-your-gun logic to humanity building equally sized robots to deal with these monsters, the all-or-nothing, go-Jaeger-or-go-home-and-build-some-big-walls-that-won’t-work framework of the movie doesn’t make much sense. Is it a dealbreaker? Probably not, and this kind of movie requires at least some suspension of disbelief, but throughout the movie, as the jaegars fall, get blasted by plasma and/or rendered useless and ripped apart, you do wonder if this is the best plan that humans can come up with.
“Pacific Rim” presents us with a bad boy jaegar pilot (Hunnam), who doesn’t follow the rules, but still is one of the best out there... until he follows orders exactly to save the day (what happened to his rule-breaking creativity to defeat the Kaiju?). The jaegers are outdated relics that can’t possibly defeat the increasingly huge and constantly-adapting Kaiju rising the depths of the ocean... until the “analog” old-timey version manages to miraculously survive a vicious beating at the bottom of the ocean, jump into a dimensional portal, and return both pilots alive. Oh no, Gipsy Danger is being flown (what?) into outer space (HUH?), but no worries, bro, it had a hidden sword the whole time! Oh no, it looks like our heros are going to run out of oxygen and die somewhere between our universe and another galaxy, but it’s cool, the jaegars (who inner geography expands and shrinks as necessary) have some high-tech escape pods (that none of the other killed pilots used). Also, it turns out that in the future, the military has some bitchin’ wifi that allows them to communicate with people at hundreds of miles at the bottom of the ocean, and even further in the Earth’s core, from even more hundreds of miles away. In short “Pacific Rim” never really has many dramatic stakes, because right around the corner, there is an 11th minute deus ex machina device introduced so our heroes can escape danger. The movie doesn’t really have a playbook... it writes it as it goes along.
While Mako and Raleigh are given a bit of backstory, no one else is really given anything or any motivation beyond just a hint (Pentecost is protective of Mako, the father and son are... father and son), and this is glaringly obvious with the Chinese and Russian pilots of the jaegers in Hong Kong. The Chinese triplets who pilot Crimson Typhoon are shown playing basketball and then always holding a basketball, so apparently... they like basketball. It’s too bad they don’t have any lines! The Russian pilots are even more badass, a male-female duo who sport cheesy platinum dye-jobs and look intimidating, sexy, and weird. Apparently the extreme hair and affinity for basketball are supposed to make us like them, because they play a rather crucial role in the 4 on 2 jaeger v. kaiju battle in which Gipsy Danger, Raleigh and Mako prove themselves. But, we know nothing about them, so when a kaiju smushes them into the ocean to drown, it’s fairly anti-climactic. “D2: Mighty Ducks 2” has better characterizations of its supporting characters and villains. Then there's the main characters themselves. Raleigh is simply a blander version of Tom Cruise's Maverick character in "Top Gun" and all the other leads are mostly one-note characters. Idris Elba delivers throaty speech after speech, Mako is the ace-in-the-hole fighter with a heart of gold or whatever, Ron Perlman plays the eccentric Ron Perlman character (who ultimately has zero bearing on the plot and could have been removed entirely), Charlie Day and Burn Gorman are insufferable Twiddle Dee dummies, etc. etc. And of course, there's the Australian pilot who plays the Iceman character and rips off the "Top Gun" internecine pilot conflict once again (Beacham apparently loves that movie). None of these characters mean much to the movie. They're all silo archetypes to fulfil the movie's various plot needs, which obviously put monsters and robots before human beings.
Weird & (So-So) Kaiju
Post-credits sequence is exactly the same as the climax of Sharknado. Nuff said.
So we didn’t watch “Sharknado,” the viral SyFy hit on Thursday night, but we did read a recap right before we went to see "Pacific Rim" and wouldn’t you know it, but someone is copying someone else’s paper. In the climax of “Sharknado,” one of the great whites gobbles up the lady friend of Ian Ziering’s character, Fin (yup, that’s his name). What else is Steve Sanders to do but launch himself, chainsaw first, into said shark and cut out his lady love Nova (yup, her name)? So, it seems a little fishy that, SPOILER ALERT, in the post-credits sequence, Ron Perlman’s Hannibal Chau character cuts himself out of the baby kaiju that gobbled him up earlier, grumbling about his shoe (what’s with the shoes?). Of course, this has sort of been a trope since Biblical times, but it at least seems telling that one low-budget, so-bad-it’s-good, made for SyFy shark movie would use the same gag as one of the contenders to the summer blockbuster throne. Let’s try to aim higher than that next time, shall we?
One of the more refreshing aspects of "Pacific Rim" is that it isn't, like most big movies of this ilk, a case of America (fuck yeah!) saving the world from the threat of giant hulking beasts. “The other sort of big summer movies often feel to me like it’s about one race, one credo and one country saving the world, and I wanted to make it about the world saving the world, no matter what skin color you have, what race you have, what belief you have – everybody in the movie saves the world,” Del Toro told Salon, and it's absolutely true. Del Toro's cast has more multi-culti diversity than the crew of the starship Enterprise, but it never feels phony or forced. The world comes together to fight the monsters and it adds texture and flavor to what could have another boring Caucasians saving the world effort. The only problem with this is: see above. Diversity is great, but it's not so fun to see Asians, Australians, Russians that are poorly drawn, one-dimensional characters.
During the climactic battle, the Jaegers intend to head to the underwater breach where the kaiju are keeping the clone army (or something). Striker, piloted by Idris Elba and the bad, mean Aussie son do some sort of suicide thingy. Then, because Hunnam and Kikuchi’s jaeger is a nuclear warhead, they drag a kaiju carcass to the breach in order to access it (BECAUSE DNA!) and then fall into Kaiju alt-dimension, which doesn’t make much sense because are they in the center of the earth or space? Electric purple labial folds open up and envelope the jaeger into their midst, where some kind of crazy, bug-eyed kaiju overlords ready their armies. It’s all very confusing, bad, dumb-looking, and dangerously close to the pyschic alien mummies of “Indiana Jones 4.” Thankfully, it is blessedly short and the jaeger ejaculates its two escape pods before blowing up all the kaiju. (But what happens when you set off a nuclear bomb at the center of the earth?? Nothing good, I imagine). This sequence looks very dumb, makes little sense, and they are smart to keep it as short as possible.
There's a lot more to discuss with a world as rich and wonky as "Pacific Rim," including the names (Stacker Pentecost? Hercules Hanson? We want to see the futureworld's version of a baby-naming book.), the way that the movie was always referencing whatever is in del Tor's fabled mancave, and "Game of Thrones" composer Ramin Djawadi's admittedly boss score. Also the debate rages on as to whether "Pacific Rim" is riddled with tired cliches or if it was just hitting all the right beats, exceptionally well. Please, by all means, continue the discussion below. We can't wait to drift with you. - Katie Walsh, Kevin Jagernauth, Drew Taylor | <urn:uuid:63b96cba-8c96-4ee7-b591-9a42bec6ac9f> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/the-bad-and-the-weird-of-guillermo-del-toros-pacific-rim-20130715?page=2 | 2015-03-31T20:53:46Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131301015.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172141-00100-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954654 | 2,726 |
The Titanium Dog Tag is one of our best selling products because it is lightweight, durable, and hypoallergenic.
Titanium Dog Tag Red with Oval Chain
Number of Reviews: 310,
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Reviewer: James W.
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Sat Oct 11, 2014: I got one for me several years ago and very satisfied. I got this one for my wife.
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Tue Sep 30, 2014: Decently made, tad high for the end product. I would have liked a bit more ability to change font size on the name side to fill space better. I got this for a friend, and over all I was satisfied, but for the overall cost of 75 including s/h I dropped one star.
Reviewer: Barbara H.
Tue Sep 30, 2014:
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Thu Sep 04, 2014:
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Reviewer: Peggy P.
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Reviewer: Scott E.
Tue Jul 15, 2014:
Reviewer: Peter H.
Sun Jul 13, 2014:
Reviewer: Davi H.
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Reviewer: William T.
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Reviewer: Gryphon C.
Tue Jun 17, 2014:
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Fri May 02, 2014:
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Sat Dec 21, 2013: It is exactly as described | <urn:uuid:68a8a78d-0eb4-488e-afe8-0e263f30c13f> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.americanmedical-id.com/marketplace/category.php?mastercategory=necklaces&bbscrollerpage=7&scrollcat=neck_titaniumdogtag | 2015-03-31T20:46:20Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131301015.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172141-00100-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928358 | 2,662 |
Two years ago, the city of Seattle sold off the historic Alaska Building at Second and Cherry to a developer that said it was going to turn the 1904 structure, previously full of bureaucrats' offices, into downtown housing. But those plans have changed. The developer is now looking to convert it into a Marriott hotel instead, and wants the city to allow additional floors on the structure—more than current zoning allows—for what the developer says are necessary seismic upgrades.
Today (Wednesday), a somewhat peeved City Council is scheduled to hold hearings on the proposal, which has also attracted the ire of Unite Here!, a national union representing restaurant and hotel workers (among other trades). None of the three dozen Marriotts in Washington state are unionized, says Stefan Moritz, a research analyst with Unite Here! He contends that the seismic issue is something of a smokescreen for extra, revenue-producing rooms.
"I think developers should be held accountable to the regulations," says Moritz.
But while Moritz and some City Council members seethe over the alleged bait and switch, the less-noticed effect of the proposal is not on housing but on immigration.
Thanks to a 1990 act of Congress, rich foreigners can gain an "EB-5 investor visa," jumping ahead of the huddled masses, by investing in purportedly job-creating businesses. The program buys an affluent immigrant (plus spouse and unmarried children) two years' residency on a green card and, ideally, a glide path toward full citizenship.
The country's largest beneficiary of this program to date is a Seattle real-estate fund called American Life Inc., which has purchased numerous properties in SoDo with EB-5 money and is now looking to fund the $85 million conversion of the Alaska Building in concert with the developer, Kauri Investments.
"It's probably the biggest EB-5 project in the country," says Henry Liebman, an immigration attorney and head of American Life. He estimates about 85 EB-5 investors would be involved.
The irony is that these investors will secure their own green cards by investing in an industry known for its reliance on undocumented workers.
An investment can qualify for the EB-5 program if it's at least a half-million dollars and being made in a so-called Regional Center—defined by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service as an area "that has experienced unemployment of at least 150 per cent of the national average rate." The investment also must "create full-time employment for not fewer than 10 qualified individuals."
But does downtown Seattle really qualify as an area in need of additional employment, especially low-wage hotel jobs?
The hospitality industry's trade group, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, says it already can't get enough people to fill the jobs it has. "The mounting labor shortage is probably one of the most troublesome problems facing the hotel industry today," said David Kong, president and CEO of Best Western International, in an AHLA press release a year ago. "We still cannot find enough Americans to fill critical positions at many of our hotels," said Loews Hotels CEO Jonathan Tisch in the release. The industry is supporting immigration reform efforts in Congress that would allow "guest workers." (See related story, p. 17.)
Unite Here! doesn't track how many of its workers are properly documented. "We don't ask the question," says Moritz. "There are definitely people who don't have documents who work in the industry. There's a large group."
The Alaska Building lies beyond Yesler Street anyway, and therefore out of the EB-5 territory that American Life got approval for in 1996, Moritz contends. "We are just confused about the Regional Center," says Moritz. "It's hard to find out the definition of where this Regional Center ends."
Speaking by phone from an immigration lawyers' conference in Orlando, Fla., Liebman responds, "The Regional Center includes part of Pioneer Square. There's two designated zones. One is the state empowerment zone, and then there was a federal HUD-designated zone. And the Regional Center is both of them. They mostly overlap, except the federal one includes Pioneer Square."
Liebman says roughly 150 people would be employed by the hotel, but they aren't the only ones who'd benefit. "There's the ancillary employment, like the parking," he says. "Half of the first floor will be rented to something like a Starbucks. You've got the shoe-shine guy....There's a ton of employment that comes out of that. Pioneer Square merchants really like the idea of the hotel. They don't have economic drivers in that area. Pioneer Square is always limping along."
The 15-story Alaska Building was the tallest in Seattle, and was the city's first steel-framed skyscraper, when it was completed in 1904. The city acquired it in 1988 as part of a land swap with Aetna Life Insurance, and city staffers occupied the space until the municipal workforce was consolidated in what used to be called Key Tower. The city then sold the structure for $8.5 million in 2005 to a partnership between Kauri Investments Ltd. and Ariel Development.
Liebman says Kauri and Ariel then struck the deal with Marriott. They'll join his new partnership, which will be split 50-50 between domestic and EB-5 investors, according to Liebman.
Who are those investors, and where do they come from? "Western Europe, Japan, Canada, Korea, and India," he says. "From Europe, it's retired baby boomers selling out the business. Usually self-made. Generally, the profile for our investors would be late 40s and older, they made money somewhere else, and they need to diversify their portfolio. They want the cash flow to retire on." He says virtually all his foreign clients gain full citizenship after two years' residency, and estimates that about 15 percent of his investors have settled in the Northwest to spend, work, and otherwise contribute to the economy.
How many and what kind of U.S. jobs are created via the EB-5 program? A 2005 report by the Government Accounting Office concluded, "We could not determine a reliable estimate of the number of jobs created by immigrant investors." Liebman says he, like other Regional Center operators, must provide an annual report to the USCIS detailing job creation and other investor data. The GAO estimates that through 2004, immigrant entrepreneurs invested about $1 billion through the EB-5 program.
That's a lot of money to invest, and a lot of advantage over your average penniless immigrant. "It shows how class and wealth play such a major role in the visa process," says Matt Adams, legal director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. He's fighting an uphill battle to get the family members of documented foreign workers lawfully admitted to the U.S.; the EB-5 alien just has to write a check.
"The program is obviously saying that it's in America's interest to recruit big-money investors," says Adams. For him, the EB-5 program is consistent with a policy he characterizes thusly: "The people with money and advanced degrees, the ones who already have things going their way—these are the people we want in." (Bill Gates and other local tech executives would likely agree, since they're desperate to gain new brains from abroad with an expansion of the H-1B visa program.)
This wouldn't be the first time that EB-5 money was used to create lodgings for business travelers. The GAO reports: "Hotels and motels make up an estimated 19 percent of all businesses created by immigrant investors granted permanent resident status." Other EB-5 money goes into "manufacturing companies, real estate companies, domestic sales companies, farms, import/export companies, restaurants, and technology companies." But it's left to the EB-5 fund manager, such as American Life, to choose where to invest.
So, couldn't the EB-5 program do better than jobs for hotel maids and bellhops that already go begging? Couldn't it be applied to help capitalize, say, our local biotech boom? "There's no reason we couldn't," Liebman answers. "I have to understand it. I'm not a scientist, and I don't know how to evaluate a biotech company. We do have an investment in a biotech, ProteoTech [formerly in SoDo, now based in Kirkland]. And we had an investment in a bank that was sold. We're open to anything."
As for the Alaska Building, "If you want anything other than an office, you need an earthquake retrofit," according to Liebman. "It's another 30-odd rooms," he admits, "but the main purpose of it is earthquake. And that's the silly thing about what they're objecting to."
And what if the council shoots down the plan; does the project no longer pencil out? "No, it could still work. You could leave it as an office, and it still pencils very well. Believe it or not, there's still a shortage of office space [in Seattle]." | <urn:uuid:0b0595df-b104-494e-aa6a-5a4c1cf37ae3> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.seattleweekly.com/2007-06-27/news/maids-and-millionaires/ | 2015-03-31T20:52:28Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131301015.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172141-00100-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971354 | 1,890 |
Nokia is learned to be developing a 3D version of Google Street View in association with its mapping partner Navteq. According to a report, the company may be using images built with the system to be ported to gaming applications to be used as a backdrop for realistic games.
The whole technology is expected to be much more sophisticated than the Google Street View application. Unlike the latter where users can only navigate linearly over a predefined path that Google displays, users on Nokia’s 3D street view application may seamlessly navigate in the environment thus offering much more realistic navigational experiences.
Nokia demonstrated an early stage version of the product earlier this week at Nokia World in London. Espoo is expected to dispatch its cars to London and other major European cities starting in November this year and they are expected to be incorporated in navigational products starting next year.
Nokia has been building an in-house app for the popular location-based check-in service, FourSquare. The new service will not be a part of the Nokia Ovi Maps service that has recently got its own social check-in service. Instead, this will be an independent application that has been developed by Nokia engineers in collaboration with FourSquare.
The app is expected to hit the Ovi Stores next week and according to Holger Luedorf, the VP of Mobile & Partnerships at FourSquare, partnerships with mobile manufacturers to help FourSquare reach out to a wider audience is primary in their expansion strategy. Luedorf also noted that FourSquare’s growth has been completely viral so far and the new partnership will boost this viral growth. The new FourSquare app from Nokia will be compatible with Symbian^3, 5.0 and 3.2 devices. Check out a demo of the app in action in the video below.
The Nokia World Expo is currently underway and the Finnish giant has just unveiled two very promising smartphones – the Nokia C6 and C7. Both the devices are pretty similar except for the fact that the C7 is pretty slimmer. Both the devices come with a 3.5-inches display screen built with “ClearBlack Display“. The display is said to be as good as the hyped retina display on the iPhone. Anssi Vanjoki, the executive Vice President of Mobile Solutions at Espoo explains,
“It’s a premium touchscreen that provides a higher contrast viewing experience than anything before. the background of the ClearBlack Display is blacker than black, because we have used a polariser to remove unwanted reflections for important outdoor visibility. It has lower power consumption too. It’s not only blacker, it’s also greener.”
Other features on the upcoming devices include an 8-megapixel camera, webTV, free Ovi Maps,etc. That is everything we have at present with respect to the specifications list. No word on the pricing though the launch date is touted to be in Q4 this year. Here’s hoping for a great launch. Check out our earlier article on Nokia C7 specifications here.
Nokia is showcasing its new E7 smartphone at the Nokia World 2010 show. The E7 is a beautiful 4-inches ClearBlack display device and is pretty similar to the Nokia N8 except that it is slightly larger. The device comes with a 16GB mass memory with a 350MB internal memory. With an 8-megapixel camera that supports 720p HD video playback, you do have a nice alternative to the Android and iOS handsets out in the wild. The form factor includes a full capacitive touch as well as a slider keyboard design. As you should already know, the device runs on Symbian^3 and has a 1200mAh battery/
There is no word on the pricing or launch date as yet though speculations are that it will launch in Q4 this year at an estimated price of €495. The phone will come in five colors – Dark Grey, Silver White, Green, Blue, Orange.
Here are a couple of pictures and a video demo of the Nokia E7.
Looks like the earlier speculations about the launch date of the new Nokia N8 scheduled towards the end of September are sort of correct. Tapani Kaskinen, Senior Comms Manager at Nokia has revealed to a Finnish newspaper that the company will begin the fulfillment of Nokia N8 pre-orders starting the 30th of this month. Now, since this revelation was made to the Finnish media, it is not clear if the dates hold true for the rest of the world. But since Kaskinen is specifically talking about pre-orders , I’m assuming the news holds true for all markets where Nokia has opened its preorder counters.
If you are in the USA, this would definitely mean September 30. A report in mid-August had speculated the launch to happen in the end of September at a price of $550. Also, Espoo is noted to have purchased ad spots on Google Adwords for a week-long campaign starting September 23. So that nearly explains it.
Nokia N8 – the 3.7″ AMOLED touchscreen display Symbian^3 device with a 12-megapixel camera is now available for pre-orders in the United States. We had earlier written about the launch date which has so far been set tentatively at “end of September”. The phone runs on a 600MHz ARM Cortex A8 processor and contains a 256MB RAM, Xenon Flash and a storage space of up to 32GB.
The device has been available for quite sometime elsewhere in Europe and the pre-orders in Germany were open as early as May of this year. In the US, Nokia N8 shall be available at a pre-order price of $549 that is not too different from the Europen price that is roughly about $587 accounting for the exchange rates.
You can check out the detailed features and book your phone on the Nokia USA website here.
So here’s the latest from Nokia. Espoo is launching its new Nokia 5250 device that is based on Symbian and will come at a pretty attractive price of €115 ($146). Of course, subsidies and taxes are not accounted as yet, and so expect to pay a lot lesser if you are planning to get this on contract.
According to what we hear, the Nokia 5250 is the successor to the Nuron – Nokia 5230 – and will come with a 2.8-inches touchscreen with a 640×360 pixel resolution display. The phone will run on Symbian S60 5th edition and will come with 51MB internal memory, a 16GB microSD slot, FM radio, a 2-megapixel camera, social network integration and a mobile version of Guitar Hero 5 pre-installed. With a battery life that will last 18 days including 24 hours of music playback and a storage that can accomodate 4000 songs, this device is aggressively targeted at the young music lovers.
How do you like it?
There has been a buzz over the past few days with respect to an upcoming smartphone from Nokia, named the N9. Of course, most of these rumors are still unsubstantiated and so need to be taken with a pinch of salt. But if the device is anything like what we are hearing, this is definitely going to be one hot gizmo.
First of all, the Nokia N9 could be running the all-new MeeGo operating system and that in itself should get a lot of Nokia enthusiasts interested. Besides this, the N9 is expected to come with a 4-inches OLED display along with a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a 512MB RAM, a 1GB storage space and a huge 64GB of internal memory. I’m still trying to double-check if the storage and memory specs got mixed up.
As you expect, the device should also come with 720p HD video recording, GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The Nokia N9 is also rumored to offer an HSPA+ connectivity. There’s a lot more we would like to know and confirm. So stay tuned.
If you are a Nokia fan, you should look at this. A few pictures of the upcoming Nokia C7 are doing the rounds in the blogosphere and they are truly going to catch your imagination. The Nokia C7 is going to feature an 8 megapixel camera – ok, it’s not as good as the 12-Megapixel camera that the N8 is going to come with. But without doubt, this one definitely has a market. The device is also known to feature a 3.5-inches capacitive touchscreen display – that’s as big as the iPhone. The phone is also reported to run on the latest Symbian^3 platform which will bring features like threaded messaging, enhanced graphics and lesser prompts.
Here are a couple of pictures of this beautiful gadget below. While it is not confirmed, I hear that the launch is happening in October and Nokia C7 could be priced at close to €300.
These are crucial times for Nokia – more importantly its CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. The fact that the company has not been able to launch one major product in the western market that can take on the new breed of smartphones from Apple and the OHA manufacturers has meant that the Finnish giant is bracing itself up for a decisive launch of the new Nokia N8.
According to reports, this new Symbian handset could be launching in the US towards the end of September – that’s presumably after the Nokia World Event in London that concludes on September 15. If the price is anything to go by, expect for lukewarm sales. The Nokia N8 is expected to ship at $550 in USA.
Do note that the N8 is no iPhone. But it’s not a dud either. The device comes with a powerful 12-megapixel camera, HD video recording capability, HDMI output and a 16GB internal memory. All this does qualify it for the $550 price point and it is now up to the consumers to make their choice. | <urn:uuid:a8adb0b1-4bfc-45e9-86e2-809e19b7e998> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://gorumors.com/category/nokia/page/3 | 2015-03-28T12:15:41Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131297505.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172137-00284-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953493 | 2,078 |
Guide to the Point Lobos League records, [ca. 1927-1945]
Guide to the Point Lobos League Records, [ca. 1927-1945]
Collection number: BANC MSS C-A 285The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
- The Bancroft Library.
- University of California, Berkeley
- Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
- Phone: (510) 642-6481
- Fax: (510) 642-7589
- Email: [email protected]
- URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu
- Processed by:
- The Bancroft Library staff
- Date Completed:
- ca. 1969
- Encoded by:
- Xiuzhi Zhou
Key to Arrangement
Point Lobos Master Plan, plus various reports, notes and comments on the master plan.
Vegetation map of Point Lobos, 1935, plus guide, by Edward Lee.
Vertebrate Animals of Point Lobos Reserve, 1934-1935, by Joseph Grinnell and Jean M. Linsdale; and Point Lobos Reserve, by Newton B. Drury, 1938 (Reprint).
Various articles on California State Park System, and on the preservation of Point Lobos. Some maps.
2 letters to Mrs. Philip Van Horne Lansdale, 1933, one including balance sheet of the Point Lobos Association, Apr., 1927-Aug. 29, 1930.
Draft of volume on Point Lobos Reserve State Park for series "Landmarks and Monuments of Historical California" prepared by the State Division of Parks.
Various reports from Olmsted Brothers, Landscape Architects, Brookline, Mass.
Point Lobos as a Memorial.
Point Lobos Book; draft with quotations from various sources, and captions apparently intended for use with photographs.
Various chapter headings, captions, intended for use in reports of the Point Lobos Advisory Committee.
Copy of Vertebrate Animals..., by Grinnell and Linsdale; clippings; reprint, Further Notes on California Brown Pelicans at Point Lobos, California, by Laidlaw Williams.
Copies of newspaper items re sea lions, 1944.
North Shore Memorial
Report of the Point Lobos Advisory Committee to the California State Park Commission, Mar. 1, 1936 (copy); newspaper clippings.
Various letters re Point Lobos, 1935-1938, to and from Newton 3. Drury.
Point Lobos Book, notes and letters, Newton B. Drury.
Design for emblem for Point Lobos Association, taken from clipping which is included.
Comments on the Olmsted Report.
Misc. letters, memoranda and notes re Point Lobos and surrounding land.
Misc. letters of Grinnell and Linsdale
Point Lobos Reserve: Highlights of Scenic Beauty, by Clark Wing (copy).
Misc. letters, articles, clippings re Point Lobos, 1945-
Interpretation of a Primitive Landscape, published for the Point Lobos Advisory Committee, 1946 (copy).
Misc. letters of John C. Merriam, 1932-1936.
Misc. letters of henry S. Pritchett, 1932-1935.
Revisions by J. M. Linsdale of section of book on vertebrate animals.
Letters to and from G. Frederick Schwarz and Ida T. Z. Schwarz, 1909-1933.
Various maps of Point Lobos.
Misc. papers, including several balance sheets for Point Lobos Association, 1930-1934.
Misc. letters, reports, etc. re Point Lobos, 1929-1933.
Letters of W. L. Jepson, Aubrey Drury, C. M. Goethe re Sargent Cypresees.
Letters re county aid to State Parks.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, 1932?
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, 1933.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, Jan. 1 to June 30, 1934.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, July 1 to Dec. 31, 1934.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, Jan. 1 to June 30, 1935.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, July 1 to Dec. 31, 1935?
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, Jan. 1 to June 30, 1936.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, July 1 to Dec. 31, 1936.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, Jan. 1 to June 30, 1937?
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, July 1 to Dec. 31, 1937.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, Jan. 1 to June 30, 1938.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, July 1 to Dec. 31, 1938.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, Jan. 1 to June 30, 1939.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, July 1 to Dec. 31, 1939.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, Jan. 1 to June 30, 1940.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, July 1 to Dec. 31, 1940.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, Jan. 1 to June 30, 1941.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, July 1 to Dec. 31, 1941.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, Jan. 1 to June 30, 1942.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, July 1 to Dec. 31, 1942.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, Jan. 1 to June 30, 1943.
Point Lobos Advisory Committee, July 1 to Dec. 31, 1943.
Minutes of the Point Lobos Association, Apr. 11, 1927 -Feb. 15, 1933.
Point Lobos Reserve: Report of a State Park Nature Guide, by Louis C. Wheeler.
Misc. letters and reports re Point Lobos (copies).
Corrections by McDuffie on revised Report of the Point Lobos Advisory Committee to the State Park Commission.
Reports on the History of Point Lobos, by V. A. Neasham and Waldo R. Wedel.
Aubrey Drury: Notes on the History of Point Lobos. Several Copies.
Reports on the Vegetation of Point Lobos, by Edward Lee and Herbert L. Mason.
Misc. letters, etc. re preservation of Point Lobos, many addressed to and written by Caroline Hunter (Mrs. Robert Hunter).
Sponsors - letters.
Various reports (copies) on Point Lobos by Edward Lee, E. P. Meincike, F. L. Olmsted, Ralph W. Chaney.
W. K. Fisher: Life between Tides. Several copies and some photographs.
Report of the Point Lobos Advisory Committee to the California State Park Commission; Personal Observation of Visitors in Point Lobos reserve, by R. A. Wilson; Regulation of Tourist Travel in the Cypress Grove of Point lobos, Calif., by E. P. Meinicke.
Botanical reports re Point Lobos; Reports of State Nature Guides, 1936-1937; and various other documents.
General correspondence re Point Lobos, 1943-1945.
Animals -- land and marine; Birds of Sea and Shore: 2 chapters of Point Lobos book (also 2 wildlife sketches).
Protection of the Primitive, by John C. Merriam; also misc. papers re Point Lobos.
Various photographs of the Point Lobos region.
Various papers re flora and fauna of Point Lobos Reserve.
Papers on esthetic value of Point Lobos.
The geology of Point Lobos, 2 papers.
Misc. papers re the cypresses of Monterey County.
Misc papers re preservation of Point Lobos.
Minutes of Board of Directors of Point Lobos Association.
Various letters re Sponsors
Misc. correspondence (A-Z)
Misc. memoranda, including Memorandum on the Development of the Campaign of the Point Lobos Association.
Misc. correspondence, 1933.
Misc. correspondence and notes, 1933.
Letters of Duncan McDuffie.
Suggested procedure - Articles of Incorporation.
Articles about Point Lobos and environs.
Correspondence, Mrs. Robert Hunter, before 1931.
Correspondence, Mrs. Robert Hunter, 1931-1932.
Correspondence, Mrs. Robert Hunter, 1933.
Correspondence, Mrs. Robert Hunter, 1943.
Edward S. Harkness.
Reports and Surveys.
Misc. clippings re Point Lobos.
Acknowledgment of contributions.
A. M. Allen.
Appraisal and Valuation.
Booklet - layout and photographs.
W. B. Bourn.
Constitution and bylaws.
Contribution blank and draft for contribution blank.
Henry W. de Forest.
Samuel P. Eastman.
Mrs. Elizabeth Gerberding.
D. T. MacDougal.
Adolph S. Ochs.
F. L. Olmsted.
John D. Rockefeller.
George B. Vaughan: article on esthetic features of Point Lobos.
George B. Vaughan: Misc. articles and photographs.
H. A. Spoehr: Scientific Work Necessary for Preservation of Point Lobos.
Allyn G. Smith: Land Snails of the Point Lobos Reserve.
Olmsted Bros. : Specific Recommendations for Preservation and Utilization.
F. E. Clements: Summary of Ecological Suggestions.
Note to accompany Grinnell reports.
Corrected pages for Report and Recommendations to Park Commission.
W. K. Fisher: Marine Invertebrates.
Vertebrate Animals of Point Lobos Reserve - Summary (several copies); and correspondence re this report.
Willis L. Jepson: The Cypresses of Monterey.
Emerson Knight: Aesthetic Resources of Point Lobos Reserve; Chronicle of Comments...; Report on Motor Car Parking.
James L. Leitch: Interests and Activities...; Species of Marine Invertebrates...; Report on the Nature Walks....
Thomas H. McBride: Point Lobos (1916).
Herbert L. Mason, and L. R. Mason: Algae of Point Lobos Reserve.
Herbert L. Mason: List of plants....
E. P. Meinecke: Comments upon Olmsted, Grinnell and Linsdale, and Lee reports; Regulation of Tourist Travel....
John C. Merriam: Protection of the Primitive...; Purposes served through the Preservation of Point Lobos; Primitive Appeal of Nature.
Vernon Aubrey Neasham: Historical Background of Point Lobos Reserve.
Olmsted Report on Point Lobos State Park, 1935-1936.
Olmsted, F. L. : Memoranda as to Ecological Investigations; Types of plant communities...; Revision of Entrance, Plate III (copies).
Charles B. Wing: Report re Width of trails and administration of Whaler's Cottage.
R. A. Wilson: Personal Observation of Visitors....
Louis C. Wheeler: Lichens of Point Lobos Reserve; Plant Diseases of Point Lobos Reserve.
Waldo R. Wedel: Archeological Reconnaissance of Point Lobos State Park, Calif.
Raymond B. Waldo: Report of Nature Guide.
Willis W. Wagener: Tree Diseases... Point Lobos State Park.
A. W. Dimock: Report on 1936 Cypress Canker Control Surveys..., with comment by W. W. Wagener.
Appendix to Master Plan.
George B. Vaughan: Outline of Part II Olmsted Report; Report of Visit to Point Lobos...; Summary of Part III, Olmsted Report.
George B. Vaughn: Part II, Olmsted Report.
F. L. Olmsted: Part III (copies).
Weather records of Point Lobos.
John C. Merriam, misc. letters and statements.
Correspondence re photographs.
Photographs and pictures.
Misc. reprints re Point Lobos.
Photographs (in album).
Rainfall and temperature records - Carmel.
Suggested program for raising money.
Extra copies of Grinnell-Linsdale report. | <urn:uuid:d9632f85-15a6-4479-bfc3-996765cc73ea> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt9n39p0kb/entire_text/ | 2015-03-30T06:10:24Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131299114.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172139-00108-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.798097 | 2,629 |
Caring for a Sick Bird / Emergency Care
Emergency treatment for the ill bird at home
The following instructions refer to emergency treatment to be given at home, prior to hospitalization. Veterinary attention should be sought as soon as possible to determine the cause of illness and treatment options.
Other Useful Links:
Identifying sick birds ... Emergency care for a sick bird ... Heavy Metal Poisoning / Caring for your Bird ... First Aid Procedures ... First Aid Kit ... Do-It-Yourself Disease Testing and DNA Sexing ... Bacterial Testing / Microbiology (Step-by-Step Instructions)
Sick birds need supportive treatment, such as warmth and fluids. You also need to watch the bird carefully because if it stops eating and drinking then forcefeeding may be necessary.
Optimal Set-up for a Sick Bird:
- First of all, the cage needs to be kept meticulously clean -- this is especially important when it houses a sick bird that cannot deal with germs as well as a healthy one might.
- UNLESS your pet is running a fever, WARMTH IS CRITICAL! Provided your pet is NOT running a fever, its environment should be kept at about 90 degrees. In cases where a pet bird does have fever, you don't want to increase the ambient (room) temperature further as it would raise your pet's temperature even more - and that alone could be lethal. A chilled bird will be fluffed up. An overheated bird will raise its wings away from its body and potentially pant.
A hospital cage would be great, as it would keep the temperature at the level you want. But most people don't have that available and an acrylic bird carrier or fish tank available at pet stores can potentially be substituted. If you use one of those, you have to monitor the temperature quite carefully. This being said, putting a sick bird into a new environment may be stressful. Maybe placing the cage into a small room that can easily be heated (small bathroom, for example) might do. Drape a heavy cover on one of the sides, but make sure that the bird doesn't "sit in the dark" -- except at night. Potential heat sources can be a heating pad underneath the cage, hot bottles or heat lamps. Of course, the heat lamps shouldn't be used at night, as your pet needs to rest. Maybe a combination of heating pad at night and a heat lamp during the day might be an option. Do whatever works best for you.
- Look out for dehydration (symptoms and protocol below).
- Make sure that all food and water dishes are within easy reach.
- Reduce stress as much as possible. This may mean minimizing handling and removing other birds from the cage. It is vital that the sick bird gets at least 12 hours of undisturbed rest per day.
- Keep any perches low to reduce injury from falling.
- Sick birds may benefit from live bird-specific probiotics that reduce the proliferation of infectious, pathogenic gut bacteria, and boost the immune system. Birds that have undergone an antibiotic treatment in particular need to replace beneficial bacteria that were destroyed during the treatment.
The Healing Power of Natural Sunlight: It is very common for birds to have a vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency that can lead to myriad health problems. Providing a sick bird with beneficial rays can lifts its mood and potentially remedy any deficiency that could have contributed to its health problems ...
The most common health problems associated with vitamin D deficiency are: weakened immune systems / susceptibility to diseases, soft bones, bent keels, splayed legs, abnormal beak development, reproductive problems (egg binding, soft-shell eggs, dying chicks) as well as seizures and, to a lesser extend, Stargazing (twisted back) ... In sick birds, the light exposure helps in remeding any immediate need for vitamin D, as well as boosting the mood of a sick bird -- another important healing factor.
- In areas where access to natural sunlight is limited (such as in the northern hemisphere during the winter months), full-spectrum lamps can be used to provide UVA and UVB rays.
- Natural food sources rich in Vitamin D
- Potentially discuss supplementation with your vet. Supplementation needs to be carefully screen ed and supervised by a vet since an excess of vitamin D (in the form of a supplement) causes kidney damage and retards growth.
Emergency Nutrition for Sick Birds / Avoid Dehydration:
Birds suffering from dehydration may have crinkly skin around theirs eyes. Another way to diagnose dehydration is to pinch their skin for a second (which is possible in chicks or birds with unfeathered areas on their bodies). Dehydrated skin will remain tented for several seconds, rather than bouncing right back.
The ill bird has low blood and energy levels that must be restored rapidly.
- Fresh, clean water should be available at all times.
- Adding a little honey to the water may encouraging drinking; however, the water needs to be changed frequently as bacteria grows easily in sweetened water
- Commercial electrolyte replacement fluids (i.e., Pedialyte) will also help prevent dehydration - the biggest risk a sick bird faces. When caring for a sick bird I replace the water with Pedialyte, which will counteract any dehydration.
To remedy dehydration use:
- commercial electrolyte fluids, such as Pedialyte; or
- mix one pint of water, one pint of Gatorade, 1 teaspoon of honey or Karo syrup, 1 level teaspoon of aluminum-free baking soda (such as "Bob's Red Mill Baking Soda"), 1 level teaspoon table salt.
- Caution: Measure with care; inaccurate measurements can cause severe diarrhea. Orange or cherry juice helps in hydrating your bird.
Force-feeding is necessary when the energy levels drop so low that the bird does not eat or drink and is in danger of dying. You may try getting fluids into the sick birds using a dropper.
Crop needling is recommended for those who are confident with the crop needle technique. This procedure is technically difficult and should not be undertaken by those who are inexperienced, as it is potentially fatal if done incorrectly.
The ill bird requires warmth (about 30-35 degrees Celsius / 86 - 95 degrees Fahrenheit). Use a thermometer to monitor the cage temperature. Especially birds with cold feet need to be in a heated environment. Options are:
- hot water bottlebar heatera heating pad set on low placed beneath (not in) the cage. Make sure to place a towel or blanket on top of the pad as a physical barrier to any metal of the cage.an incandescent light bulk can also be installed overhead to provide extra warmth (avoid white bulbs because the bright light will interfere with the patient's sleep. It's best to use a 40 to 60-watt green bulb as a source of heat.Heating Options A towel, blanket or cage cover can be used to provide additional seclusion and to keep the warmth inside the cage. Keep the cage covered three-fourth during the daytime and cover the cage completely at night.
- Do not use fan heaters or lights.
Give sterile seed and remove all other foodstuffs.
Poor quality feed has been cited as the most common cause of illness in pet birds. At the first sign of illness remove all other foodstuffs from the cage, including seed, millet sprays, grit or sand, fruit or vegetables. Grit and minerals are removed until recovery is complete because the ill bird will over-engorge on grit and become ill with an obstruction problem.
If possible give the appropriate medicines by mouth.
Finches, canaries, doves and some parrots drink enough water to ensure that they get the correct medicine dose each day, but other small birds - especially sick cockatiels or budgies may not drink enough of the medicated water to be fully effective. For this reason some medicines are best given by injection, crop needle, nostril or by dropper in the mouth.
Administering medication to less than cooperative birds.
Vet Examinations: The New Bird Exam
Find a Vet / Vet Listings: Recommended Vets
Complete Blood Count (CBC) / Avian Blood Panel / Hematology / Serology
Info on Frequently Used Drugs: Itraconazole - RxList Monographs
HEATING OPTIONS (for both Baby Birds and Convalescent Adult Birds):
I feel strongly that any bird should be provided with veterinary care. For breeders or multi-bird households it is even more crucial to act upon a sick bird, to find out the cause of the sickness and if it is something that is infectious. The responsibility we breeders carry is enormous, not only over the lives and wellbeing of the many birds that we own, but also for the babies that we sell.
Saying this, I am also aware of the RISKS associated with a vet visit. Like a breeder friend of mine said: "What better way to pick up a disease!" I totally agree with that. I feel a breeder would be better served to have a vet come to their premises rather than going out and potentially exposing their bird to a deadly disease. Unfortunately, it is very difficult nowadays to find a vet who offers this kind of service
However, there ARE ways to minimize risks of 'catching a disease' at the vet's:
1. Express your concern of your bird getting in contact with an airborne (or otherwise) disease pathogen at the veterinary office, and ask to make an appointment very early in the morning before many (if any) sick birds have been on the premises, or -- if this is not possible -- at any other time when traffic in the office is slow. Of course, if it's an emergency and the bird is very sick, we can't be all that picky about the appointment time, but still, there are measures you can take to minimize exposure to any airborne or otherwise pathogens.
2. Keep your bird in a COVERED carrier at any times other than the actual examination by the vet. (A clean, oversized towel or a blanket serves this purpose well.)
3. Stay away from any other patients and their owners -- consider them potentially contagious. Do not allow anyone to touch your bird with the exception of the health care staff for the purpose of examining your bird.
4. Once in the treatment room, place a CLEAN towel on top of the treatment table and place your bird on it. Preferably, your bird should at no time touch the surface of the treatment table. On numerous occasions I was told, "I don't have to worry about that! My vet disinfects right in front of me!" Please note that the "Spray and Wipe" method of disinfecting does NOT work since disinfectants need up to 20 minutes of actual contact to kill disease causing pathogens.
5. Observe the vet / vet's assistant to see if they wash their hands in between patients and if not, I would strongly recommend changing vets. In an ideal situation, a vet would comply with advanced infectious control measures.
A bird that was at the vet's, or any other place where there are birds of unknown health status (i.e., bird shows), should be considered potentially contagious and quarantined for a MINIMUM of 2 weeks, preferably a month up to three.
How long I quarantine my birds depends on the risk they were exposed to. If they came from a pet situation prior to coming to my place and have been of good health for many years, I may only quarantine for 2 weeks. If they come from a petstore or a suspect breeder, then I may go up to 3 months. Additionally, I perform disease testing at the vet's for really suspect birds, or for healthy looking birds perform DNA testing, which only costs $55 for three diseases (i.e., Polyoma, Beak and Feather, and Psittacosis). There are several companies listed
Species Research by Sibylle Johnson
For updates please follow BeautyOfBirds on Google+ (google.com/+Avianweb)
NEED A VET?
USA: Find Your Local Avian Veterinarian
Information contained on this website is provided as general reference only. For application to specific circumstances, professional advice should be sought.
Please Note: The articles or images on this page are the sole property of the authors or photographers. Please contact them directly with respect to any copyright or licensing questions. Thank you.
The Avianweb strives to maintain accurate and up-to-date information; however, mistakes do happen. If you would like to correct or update any of the information, please send us an e-mail. THANK YOU! | <urn:uuid:c4fafebd-f4df-490c-abf7-7a75f185e43b> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.beautyofbirds.com/sickbirdcare.html | 2015-03-30T05:48:38Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131299114.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172139-00108-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939928 | 2,624 |
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Written on April 30, 2008 at 10:56 am, by Eric Cressey
Did you ever see a caveman wear orthotics?
And, did the cavewomen ever rock high heels?
Written on April 29, 2008 at 8:47 am, by Eric Cressey
Q: I’ve developed some issues with my right shoulder due mostly to pitching in baseball. I’ve had an MRI done recently and I’ve been working with an ART specialist as well. So here’s the email I just received from my chiropractor:
I just got your MRI results in, it shows tendonitis of the supraspinatus tendon and a small “hot spot” on the anterior/superior aspect of the glenoid labrum, which might represent a small tear. The radiologist has recommended an arthrogram, which is an MRI with contrast injected directly into the joint capsule instead of intravenously.
You have two options: We could try some more ART and more laser treatments. If your pain decreased after one treatment, than I think it would definitely help. Option two is referral to an orthopedist. He would in turn probably refer you for 4-6 weeks of physical therapy. In any event, the possibility of a major labral tear is slim as a large tear should have been visible on the MRI.
Based on the MRI results what do you recommend as far as the options he layed out for me? The ART has helped some but it is still very painful to throw hard. I have no clue what to do and I’m afraid of getting in over my head with medical bills and still having a hurt shoulder.
A: Congratulations! You have the same MRI that every pitcher I’ve ever seen has ever had!
I can pretty much tell you that your labrum is frayed regardless of whether or not you get the MRI. According to the research, the main difference between those in pain and those not in pain is internal rotation ROM.
Get the PT – and bring this list with you:
1. Scapular stability
Tell them that you want to address each of these 10 factors (in this order) in your rehab.
In particular, tell them to check internal rotation ROM, and even print this out for them, if need be: http://www.jaaos.org/cgi/content/full/14/5/265/JA0008404FIG9
Click here to purchase the most comprehensive shoulder resource available today: Optimal Shoulder Performance – From Rehabilitation to High Performance.
Written on April 26, 2008 at 8:38 am, by Eric Cressey
Q: There have been a few quadriceps pulls in MLB this year. Have you seen these before in baseball players? What gives?
A: This is why I love baseball; it’s probably one of the most at-risk sports you’ll ever see (particularly in pitchers). Here’s a little excerpt from a slide in a recent presentation I gave on training for overhead athletes:
-Very Long Competitive Season
-Unilateral Dominance/Handedness Patterns
-The best pitchers – with a few exceptions – are the tallest ones. The longer the spine, the tougher it is to stabilize.
-Short off-season + Long in-season w/daily games = tough to build/maintain strength, power, flexibility, and optimal soft tissue quality
Specific to the quad pulls, I’d add to this list that baseball guys rarely hit top speed; all of their sprint work is done in acceleration, where the quads are dominant. Factor in that they spend a lot of time sitting on airplanes/buses, and it’s no surprise that they’d get tight anteriorly. It’s why it’s so important to really hammer on hip mobility in any population that sits a lot.
The stop and go nature of the sport also dictates that strains would be common, whether they are groins, hip flexors, hamstrings, or quads (likely rectus femoris, which is a hip flexor that can get overactive, particularly alongside poor psoas function).
So, all that said, before anyone jumps to conclusions and tries to criticize some strength coach, it’s important to consider:
a) the certain amount of happenstance that occurs with any baseball player due to the nature of the game and the season
b) what that athlete does on his own in the off-season
In terms of “b,” I’ve seen some pretty bad stuff, unfortunately. For many guys, it becomes a leg extensions and curls off-season if they’re on their own – or they do nothing.
I’d like to think that our success in working with baseball guys is not just in the fact that we’ve made the programming good, but also in the fact that we’ve changed the culture a bit in our guys: they appreciate what lifting is doing for them and look forward to getting after it in the gym.
Sign-up Today for our FREE Baseball Newsletter and Receive a Copy of the Exact Stretches used by Cressey Performance Pitchers after they Throw!
Written on April 24, 2008 at 7:59 am, by Eric Cressey
I have a confession to make: I’m an ex-Ironman. Sure, in late July, 2006, in Lake Placid, NY, I crossed the line following a 140.6 mile endurance event, but, following that race, mental weakness prevailed. This story shouldn’t take away from the accomplishments of those who have tried and missed, succeeded once, or succeeded many, it’s a lesson I learned from the heart of sport (not just triathlon). You see, training for any event takes many successfully repeated steps, over a long period of time; nothing of merit can be accomplished in short bursts of over-enthused effort. The mental divide between these two approaches is immeasurable.
– Jon Boyle
Is your plan structured for long-term success? LearnThe Art of The Deload
Written on April 22, 2008 at 12:43 pm, by Eric Cressey
Just came across this excellent article:
Written on April 21, 2008 at 8:51 am, by Eric Cressey
Written on April 16, 2008 at 6:50 pm, by Eric Cressey
Q: Another guy from my favorite basketball team went on the injured list with plantar fasciitis this week. What can be done to prevent this?
A: Welcome to professional basketball!
The average NBA player has very little dorsiflexion range of motion (ankle). The only way the epidemic of plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinosis, high ankle sprains, and patellofemoral pain is going to stop is if the players quite wearing 10-pound high top sneakers and taping their ankles.
Or, at the very least, lose the tape and focus on barefoot training, low-top shoes off the court, and plenty of ankle mobility work.
Just ask Shaun Livingston:
Written on April 13, 2008 at 9:33 pm, by Eric Cressey
Written on April 8, 2008 at 7:30 pm, by Eric Cressey
Warning: this is as political as I will ever get in a blog or newsletter.
Today, I read this article about Hillary Clinton advocating a partial boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics by the U.S. in light of China’s “reaction to recent protests in Tibet and its lack of action in the troubling Darfur region of the Sudan.” Frankly, this gesture from Clinton made me want to puke in my mouth.
You see, I interact with Olympic hopefuls on a daily basis. These are people that sacrifice everything for the sports they love – and the opportunity to compete in the single-most prestigious sporting event the world has ever seen.
They often struggle to make ends meet financially as their hectic training schedules compete with real jobs and school.
They leave their spouses for months at a time to travel all over creation to train and compete.
Meanwhile, Bill and Hillary Clinton’s 2000-2006 tax returns report that they earned a “not-so-financially-stricken” $109 million during that time period. I have a hard time believing that the Clintons have even the slightest semblance of a clue to realize what a huge deal an Olympic appearance means to someone who is making the sacrifices to which I alluded above.
Don’t get me wrong; I am all for human rights and sincerely hope that these issues are resolved quickly and peaceably – and I know that she was just recommending a partial boycott. However, Mrs. Clinton, if you need to make a political statement, stop wearing clothes that were made in China. Don’t buy cars of Chinese origin. Or, stop ordering Chinese takeout; take up your beef with General Tso.
But, DO NOT even attempt to use a political spectacle to compromise anything for which all these athletes have devoted their lives. They deserve every bit of glory that comes to them.
Written on April 5, 2008 at 10:34 am, by Eric Cressey
This morning, my girlfriend turned on Regis and Kelly. Now, before you start giving me a hard time, I’ll make it known that a) it was her choice and b) I was checking my emails, and my computer happens to be in the neighborhood of my television.
My attention shifted from emails to the TV when I saw that they were featuring a transformation contest where a bunch of ordinary weekend warriors went to different personal trainers to get “toned” (I knew I was in for it when I heard that word).
In the minutes that followed, I heard the word “core” mentioned approximately 487 times as trainers put clients through all sorts of stuff:
1. interval jogging on a treadmill (nearly made me vomit in my mouth)
Incidentally, this third trainer was featured with some hardcore Kelly Clarkson blaring in the background. I not only got dumber (and angry) by watching this segment; I also realized that if I ever go nuts and decide to write my suicide note, you’ll hear “SINCE YOU’VE BEEN GONE!!!!” blaring in the background as I sob over my pen and paper.
Normally, my reaction wouldn’t have been so pronounced, but after this weekend, I was all about REAL “core stability.” You see, I got to catch up with my buddy, Jim Smith (of Diesel Crew fame), while in Pittsburgh to give a seminar. “Smitty” and Jedd Johnson gave an awesome presentation outlining their innovative and effective methods on everything from sled dragging to grip work – and most specific to the discussion at hand, they both raved about how much they love Kelly Clarkson! Plus, they’re HUGE Regis and Kelly fans.
Okay, so that last little bit wasn’t entirely accurate; I’m pretty sure that these guys would have Hatebreed or some other angry, belligerent, “my-mother-didn’t love me” music blaring in the background when they finally get their moment in the spotlight on Regis and Kelly. Anyway, they DO know a ton about non-traditional means of training “core stability.”
In addition to watching a great presentation, on the plane ride home, I finally got a chance to read through Smitty’s new e-book, Combat Core: Advanced Torso Training for Explosive Strength and Power. To say that I was impressed would be the understatement of the year.
You see, I spend a ton of money each year on seminars, books, DVDs, etc. – and if I can take away even one little thing from each of them, I’m thrilled. In many cases, it’s “same-old, same-old.” Smitty has quickly built a reputation for overdelivering, and this resource was no exception. In the 133 pages of photos and descriptions of loads of exercises you’ve surely never seen, I found:
-13 sweet modifications to exercises I’m already doing
So, to put it bluntly, I think it’s an awesome read – and well worth every penny, especially when you factor in all the bonuses he’s incorporated (including lifetime updates to keep you up to speed on his latest bits of insanity). If you’re interested in some effective, fun, innovative ways to enhance TRUE core stability, definitely check it out: | <urn:uuid:e4072529-ff4a-41e7-8bce-7e32e49c8a7f> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.ericcressey.com/2008/04 | 2015-03-30T05:55:43Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131299114.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172139-00108-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958179 | 2,717 |
Interview With Jontho from Ragnarok
Interview By Anders Sandvall
Here is an interview with Jontho, the drummer from the Norwegian black metal band Ragnarok, about
their new album, Blackdoor Miracle and about their plans for 2004 - a year
when they also celebrate 10 years as a band.
Where in Norway do you live? Are all of you based in the same city?
I live I Sarpsborg, just 50km from Strömstad in Sweden and just 85km from Oslo. I,
Jerv, and Ryme live here but Hoest lives in Bergen in the west of Norway 500km from
Sarpsborg. I can also inform you about that Metalion of Slayer mag lives in the same city
if that help people to understand where we live.
What has the response been from the crowd on your previous three albums?
First of all I can tell that we have released four albums and the response has been
fucking great. I can proudly say that we have never got very bad reviews on the four last
albums. Some reviews have been less good than others but in general always great reviews
and unbelievable good response from the fans.
In 2001 you signed with the Swedish metal label Regain Records. You have released
one album on that label. How was the response on that one and how is it to work with
That's right. We signed a deal with Regain Records for two albums. Compared with HNF
records it is 110% improvement when it comes to distribution and promotion on the first
album, "In Nomine Satanas." But these days I can see that Regain have become
even better than before to promote our album. I am always working hard with promotion
myself also, so together with the label we manage to do a greater job for each album.
Why did it only take 11 days to record the previous album?
That is simply because we work very well together in studio and we have rehearsed
before we enter the studio. This time we also got the chance to work with Tommy Tägtgren
in Abyss and that made us work even faster and smoother together.
On this album you - once again, have a new singer. Why has it been so hard to stick
to one vocalist through the years?
Well it is not hard to stick to a vocalist but as it happened with time he decided to
leave because of personal reasons, so we couldn't do anything about it except to respect
Why did your last singer Lord Arcamous quit the band? According to the info note it
was because he couldnt handle the pressure of being a front man. Would you please
like to tell us why he left?
The reason of why he in the first place wanted to live the band was because he met a
girl that didn't manage to respect that he was playing in a band. She was so fucking
jealous and fucked up his brain every time he went on rehearsal or on tour. The pressure
from us was then very hard... He had to choose between the band or the girl because in all
of this it was a lot of problems for us also because of their relationship problems. He
did not take the pressure on tour either and was always complaining...... Anyway, that is
How did Hoest end up in the band?
I met him at the cult festival Under The Black Sun festival in Berlin when I played
there with Tsjuder. I really liked his energy on stage when I saw him with Taake and it
just hit me that he would been perfect in Ragnarok. After the gig and still on the
festival we got together and talked, and I just asked him if it sounded interesting to try
Ragnarok. He said that he had to think about it, and when we was back in Norway I called
him up and he was interested in to give it a try. At that moment we were going to record a
cover song of Celtic Frost for a tribute to them and he found it very interesting
participate on that song as the first involvement in the band. He then came to Sarpsborg to
put on the vocals and it worked out very well and he decided to take part as a full time
member in Ragnarok.
Why have you chose to record your new album in the Abyss Studios once again?
The reason is because we were in Abyss Studios under the recording of In Nomine Satanas
and the outcome of that stay was very satisfying. We also enjoyed working with Tommy he is
the best sound engineer we have ever used. When we stay in Abyss we also live there so we
get all the time we need to really concentrate about the music and the recording. Besides
of all this, Abyss have a very good sound and especially the drum sound is something of
what makes Abyss that magnificent.
What is it that makes Tommy Tägtgren so special that youve used him as a
He is a great guy and is very easy to work together with him. He understand what we
want and are really into our music. He is a very skilled sound engineer and at this time
we have not had one single problem with him.
Are you going to record the next album in the Abyss Studio as well? Or are there any
plans of changing studios?
At this time we would go straight to Abyss without even thinking of another studio...
But anything can happen in the future...We'll see.
Do you have any favorite band that you look up to in the black metal scene?
We do not look up to any other bands but there are different bands that we do respect.
I think that you play genuine, old school black metal without any keyboard or
samplers. How come you ended up it that genre?
Well I can not say that we do play completely Old school black metal because we have
different sound compared to the earlier days and old school band as Darkthrone and so....
Musically it is Old school, at least the two last albums. On the three first albums we
used synth but much of it was more old school than to day also. It is hard these days to
explain the exact term of Old school, but we are not in the scene of new wave black metal
as Dimmu Borgir, Old Man's Child, Susperia, and bands like that. Or Satyricon for that
What do you think of black metal bands that use keyboards in their music, like Dimmu
Borgir for example?
I think it is up to the band it self to decide to use it or not. But it is not my cup
of tea. I like the more brutal style that Ragnarok plays, filled with pure terror and
Why has it taken you so long to follow up your previous album? Why have you chosen
to call this new record, Blackdoor Miracle? Does it mean anything special to
First of all we got a new vocalist and had to rehearse a lot before we could enter the
studio. But we recorded the album in March last year so it has taken more than a year
before the release. That was because the cover art took fucking long time and the label
used a lot of time to get the albums from the print. It had just been delayed for different
reasons the whole time. But in the future we will change that. The reason we have called
it Blackdoor Miracle is because it is a song in the album with the same name which deals
with releasing your inner demon. This is an important aspect of the Ragnarok concept and
therefore representative as an album title.
Who writes the music/lyrics in Ragnarok?
The music is always written by Rym, but on the In Nomine Satanas album, Lord Arcamous
wrote the title track. The lyrics are always written by the vocalist, but on
Blackdoor Miracle, Hoest only wrote three lyrics because lack of time before we
entered the studio. The other lyrics are written by a friend called Espen Dyngen and the
lyrics we have used is from his archive of many lyrics and poems he have done through the
last 10 years.
The cover looks very brutal. Whats the story behind that?
The cover in itself does show exactly what we mean by black metal. You can
find all the symbols of true black metal in that cover. It is also a symbol to show what
kind of music that is inside the album. The pentagram shows the satanic essence, the naked
woman and the candles symbolizes black magic, me with the gun symbolizes the unleashed
demon and total destruction of the weak, and the flames symbolize the chaos forces of
hell. All in all the cover explains the themes of the lyrics but still it is more to find
when you read and understand them.
Why are there only nine tracks on the record?
Of all the songs we had, we chose the best songs together to form a magnificent
At this time we just needed nine songs to create a great album with a decent running time
of 42 minutes.
Have you done a lot of touring through the years? Have you been out as a headliner
act or as a support act?
We have been on some tours but not as many as we wanted to. That is something we are
going to change now and we will do a lot of headline shows and also some support
tours/gigs. We have toured with bands as Dark Funeral, Marduk, Macabre, Exodus, Impaled
Nazarene in the past. Future gigs will always be added to the homepage
www.ragnarokhorde.com when they are booked. Keep your self updated there.
Have you read any reviews of the new album yet? If so what does the media think
Yes, I have read about fifteen reviews so far and they have been just fine. All of them
are of top points so I am satisfied. I know more will come and all of the reviews are
great in the way of for example 5 out of 5, 9 out of 10, and so on. The media so far loves
the new album. Check all the reviews under the media section at the homepage!!
Are you going to do any touring on the album? If so, are you going to do a world
Yes we have some offers but I will not tell with which bands we will tour with yet. Some
gigs so far as headlining is one gig in Sweden (Karlstad) the 5th of March, Belgium (the
Fronline) the 6th of March and Holland (Baroeg) the 7th of March. More will come, and
again, check the homepage regularly to keep your self updated.
How many albums do you think youre selling across the world? How big are
I am not sure, but after this album we will sell a lot more than earlier, and we are
growing stronger and bigger day by day now. It is just up to the audience to open their
minds for Ragnarok. How big is hard to say, but we are not a small band anymore and it is
always a lot of people at our gigs.
Youre celebrating ten years as a band this year. Are there any plans of doing
anything special for the fans this year?
We have some plans, but it's too early to talk about.
How does the black metal scene look right now in Norway?
It is strong as always, but I would like more of the good old feeling that many of the
bigger bands have made disappear. It is good that there are still strong bands as
Ragnarok, Tsjuder, Gorgoroth, etc left to strengthen the scene.
What do you think of the Swedish black metal scene? Do you have any favourite bands
I have always liked the Swedish scene. Good bands are Marduk, Dark Funeral, Lord Belial,
Naglfar, Setherial, Sigrblot, and Dissection
What are the plans for Ragnarok during 2004-05?
Play a lot of gigs and do one or two big tours. In 2005 a new album will be recorded
but still unsure of which label.
Is there anything you would like to say to the readers of metal-rules.com?
I want to thank the people that support us and believe in us. Check out the new album
and the homepage www.ragnarokhorde.com for updates everyday.
Thanks to Regain Records for the promo pictures of the band.
Band Website: www.ragnarokhorde.com
Label Website: www.regainrecords.com | <urn:uuid:18f6ce3a-99c9-42e8-9681-08b49e1e6c9a> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.metal-rules.com/interviews/Ragnarok-March2004.htm | 2015-03-30T06:07:43Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131299114.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172139-00108-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971163 | 2,648 |
Legato is a term that you will hear a lot once you start getting into lead guitar playing, but what exactly does it mean? Well, it literally means "tied together" and it indicates that notes should be played smoothly, with no gap or silence between them, so that one note leads directly onto the next. The opposite of "staccato," whereby the notes are played abruptly and percussively, legato gives a smooth, flowing sound to the music.
On every instrument this is achieved in different ways. On a woodwind instrument, for example, the notes would all be played under one breath. On a violin they would be played on a single bow stroke. On the guitar legato is achieved by minimizing (or doing away with altogether) picking. This means using "hammer-ons" and "pull-offs," and when talking about guitar technique this is precisely what is meant by legato.
Legato technique can therefore be broken down into these two actions - when ascending using hammer-ons, and when descending using pull-offs. These two closely related techniques can easily be combined to produce smooth, flowing melodic lines, often played at quite impressive speeds.
Let's start off then by looking at hammer-ons. Hammer-ons are used to go from one note to a higher note on the same string without picking the new note. You play the first note by picking it, then to play the second note, rather than using the pick to make it sound, you "hammer-on" with your fretting finger. So for example, suppose you are playing the note E
on the fifth fret
of the B string
with your first finger, and the next note you want to play is an F#
two frets above. What you do is bring the tip of your third finger down, fast and hard, on to the string at the seventh fret to produce the note. You need to come down on the string perpendicular to the fretboard, and with enough force to produce the same volume, more or less, that you would with a pick. That's about all you need to know about hammer-ons.
When you want to descend to a lower note on the same string you need to use a pull-off. Many people think that a pull-off is simply a hammer-on in reverse, but there is slightly more to it than that, and this is where a lot of beginners go wrong. If you simply lift your finger off the string, in the opposite manner to a hammer-on, you won't produce adequate volume, or you may not get any sound at all. Your "pull-off" finger needs to really "pluck" the string, downwards towards the floor, in order to get the note to sound. So for example, if you play the note F#
with your third finger on the seventh fret of the B string, and you then want to play the note E on the fifth fret of the same string, you firstly need to make sure that your first finger is already fretting that note on the fifth fret. Then you need to "pluck," or "pull-off" with your third finger in order to sound the note on the fifth fret. If you don't pluck enough you won't get enough volume, but if you pluck too much you can end up bending the note sharp, and it will sound horrible. You need to experiment a bit with this until you find the sweet spot.
So that's the two main techniques involved in playing legato on the guitar, but there are a couple more worth mentioning. The first is closely related to the "hammer-ons" we looked at above but doesn't involve picking a note first. This "hammer-on from nothing" technique lets you eliminate picking altogether when changing strings. Instead of picking the first note on a new string you simply hammer on with the fretting hand. This is slightly more difficult than a regular hammer-on as it requires a lot of power, accuracy, and good muting, but will give you an even smother sound, as nothing is picked.
The other technique is called "tapping." This takes the idea of hammer-ons and pull-offs and applies them to the picking hand as well. The "tapping" hand can use one or more fingers to 'tap' extra notes that the fretting hand can't reach, allowing you to play many more notes on one string for very fast scale runs, or lets you reach very wide intervals that you couldn't do with just one hand, great for playing very fast arpeggios as a smoother alternative to sweep picking.
So now that you are clear on the concept of legato playing let's take a look as some basic ways to go about practicing it. If we take the idea to its most basic application then we can start by just hammering on and pulling off between two notes. Alternating rapidly between two notes like this is called a trill, however to begin with we will be doing this very slowly. Fret a note with your first finger (any note) then hammer on to the next fret with your second finger. Make sure the note sounds clean and the volume is even. Now pull off back to the first finger, again paying close attention evenness and clarity of the note. Keep alternating back and forth between the two notes slowly to begin with (like a fire engine, or the "Jaws
" theme). The aim here is firstly to ensure all the notes are clear and even, with no unwanted noise, and secondly to build up your finger strength and endurance. Try to do this exercise continuously for at least five minutes without stopping, and use a metronome to keep your timing in check.
Once you've done this you next need to try the same exercise with all possible finger combinations. You've done fingers one and two, so now try one and three. Play a note (any note) with the first finger, then hammer on two frets above with the third finger. Trill between these two notes for at least five minutes. Then try fingers one and four. Then two and three, two and four, and finally three and four. You'll find that some finger combinations are more difficult than others, especially the third and fourth fingers, so you should spend more time working on these.
The next step after you have got to grips with two note trills is to start practicing three note patterns. Keeping one finger per fret you should experiment with finger patterns using fingers 1 2 4
, 1 3 4
, and the stretch fingering 1 2
with a fret in between each finger (for example first finger on the fifth fret, second on the seventh, and fourth on the ninth). Patterns you can try include 1-4-2-4
, and 1-2-1-4
. Do these with all three finger options mentioned above, and practice them on a single string, then on multiple strings. Try moving up and down the fretboard as you play them. Then, once you can play them comfortably like this you cans start applying them diatonically to the three note per string scale shapes. This is where they turn from unmusical exercises into usable musical ideas.
By now I hope you get the idea of this. To take things further you can start trying more complex patterns, involving four, or more, notes. Mix patterns together, try skipping strings. Add right hand tapping into the mix. The possibilities are endless, so have fun with it.
Before I finish this article I want to look at some of the more common technical problems that people have when they first try this. The main issue is that of finger strength and endurance. It takes a lot of stamina to play continuously using only the left hand, especially at high speeds, and this is not something that can be developed over night. It takes time. Practice regularly, and don't overdo it. In time you'll see progress, and find it becomes much less physically demanding on your hand. Legato playing can also be quite rough on your fingertips - more so than normal picking. Again, there's nothing much you can do about this, just keep practicing and your fingers will toughen up and it will no longer be an issue.
When practicing legato I always recommend using a fairy clean amp setting. Distortion can hide a lot of mistakes and especially covers up inconsistencies in dynamics. Using a clean sound will help you hear how evenly and cleanly you are playing, and this should be your main goal. From time to time though it can be a good idea to crank up the gain, just to check you're not producing any unwanted string noise, so pay attention to good muting.
As with all practice you should start off slowly. As your finger strength and stamina increase you can increase the speed, but always pay attention to accuracy. Don't just chase speed - speed comes as a by-product of accuracy and stamina. Try to pay the most attention to fingers that are weaker until you can play equally well with all fingers, as this will make things much easier in the long run.
So that concludes this overview of legato technique. Hopefully it has given you an insight into what this playing style can offer you as a guitarist - the ability to play fast, flowing, melodic lines with a sound that you just can't get from picking every note. I also hope that I've given you some ideas about how to learn, practice, and apply this technique, so get practicing and start incorporating legato into your own playing.About the Author:This article was written by Chris Lake, a professional guitarist and guitar teacher of over 25 years. If you would like more help with all aspects of learning the guitar may I suggest you head over to Chris's website where you can get a free copy of his latest eBook about playing the guitar - The-Guitar-Guide.com. | <urn:uuid:eda8b9f7-1a8d-4a59-ba60-66f5d5a82795> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/guitar_techniques/smooth_operator_-_a_guide_to_playing_legato.html | 2015-03-30T06:07:29Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131299114.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172139-00108-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965375 | 2,033 |
What Will Jesus Do For Me If I Have Faith In Him -- In Confession
by Bobby Bruno 3/27/2011 / Christian Apologetics
Seek the Lord and He will be merciful
Isaiah 55:6-7 says: "Seek the LORD while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Let wicked people abandon their ways. Let evil people abandon their thoughts. Let them return to the LORD, and he will show compassion to them. Let them return to our God, because he will freely forgive the" (GW).
Always remember that God will forgive you of every sin you have ever committed, will ever commit, and haven't yet committed. God knows everything about your life past, present, and future. He is faithful to forgive you. There is nothing you can do to upset God's plans and purposes for your life. To God you are a "Somebody." There are no "nobodies" in God's Kingdom. God created you for a special purpose, and finding that purpose begins with confessing your sins to God through Jesus Christ.
As the above verse says, the Lord can still be found. A lot of people think that God isn't concerned with us or the world we live in. They believe that once God wound up the universe, He left it to its own devices. Many believe that God doesn't care about us anymore. "Why do you think the world is in such bad shape", they say. "If God really cared, He would do something about it." It's amazing: that's the same thing people said during Jesus' ministry on earth. They were looking for a military leader to overtake Rome, who was making life unbearable for the people of Jesus' day. They wanted Him to overthrow the rulers of Rome and to establish peace and right to the earth. They wanted a bold king to rule them without the constrictions that the Romans were putting upon them. Who they got was a Savior who was more concerned about their spiritual condition than their physical condition. Sure, Jesus did many physical miracles to show the people just who God is: He fed many, He healed many, even raised a few from the dead. But Jesus cared more about their souls than He did their bodies. Yes, He cares about our physical being, but if our souls don't belong to Him, then our physical bodies won't matter, if they will not be in Heaven with Him.
When you think about it, Jesus is, in fact, a military leader who will lead an army of saints (those of us who put our faith in Him) to overthrow Satan at the appointed time (Revelation 20:10: "And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever" NIV.) But we must put our faith in Him before He cannot be found. There will come a time in the future, after God removes His Holy Spirit from this earth when salvation will no longer be possible for those who have waited too long to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Won't you call out to God right this very minute, and secure your place in Heaven with Him for all of eternity, while He can still be found?
What is the first thing that Jesus will do for me after I accept Him into my life?
I will be cleansed and forgive
In Jeremiah 33:8 we read: "I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me"(NIV).
This Scripture is talking about the Israelites returning to God after they rebelled against Him, yet again. When you read the Old Testament, you will find that God called out to his people through the prophets many, many times to return to Him, so He could heal them and forgive them. In all of those times God was showing them (and us) that He would not give up on them, and that He would keep on pursuing them until they made a definite decision to either obey Him, or to keep on going their own sinful ways. Until you make a definite decision, God will keep calling to you, because He does not want you to miss out on His love. For Satan has no love for you. All he wants to do is destroy you (1 Peter 5:8B: "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." NIV) so that God can't get you into His kingdom. Satan hates God and anyone who sides with him. For those who walk around this earth saying, "God is dead" Satan has already destroyed them spiritually. If Satan can keep you from accepting God's Son as your Savior, then he has won a great victory. Satan wants you to keep on sinning, because the more you sin, he believes, the more guilt and condemnation you will feel about them and would never go to God, because God could never accept a sinner like you. Please do not believe that for a second. Go to God no matter how you feel. Don't trust your feelings because they will lie to you. God will forgive you.
Here is an example of how much God loves you, and will forgive you: Place some sand into a bucket to represent all the sins of humanity since the beginning of time. Now think about all the sand left on every beach in the world. This represents God's love for us. If you don't think that God will forgive you, or that there is not enough forgiveness from God for everyone, just think about how many grains of sand there are in that bucket and compare them to the amount of sand left on God's beaches. For every grain of sand (sins) in that bucket there are trillions of grains of forgiveness from God for each person who has ever lived, past, present, and future. Seen in this light, we realize that God's love for us will never diminish, never run low, and never run out. We as humans can never sin enough to take away every grain of sand on God's beaches. There are enough grains of sand to cover the sins of all of God's children forever.
Never say to yourself that God would never forgive someone as bad as you. There is nothing "bad" enough you go ever do to get God to stop loving you, no matter what Satan says. Satan is a liar. Please remember that. If you don't like yourself; if you don't care about your life; if you just want to give it all up and die because the world will get along just fine without you; if you believe that no one cares about you or loves you, or any one of a million thoughts like these, then you must realize that you are being lied to by the master deceiver himself, Satan.
I once believed all of those lies about myself. But if it weren't for Jesus pursuing me until I realized that I needed Him, then you wouldn't be reading this article from someone who has been where you are at today. God loves you, and there is nothing that will ever change that. Believe it with all your heart.
Please, today, answer the call. God is waiting to hear your voice saying His name. Tell Jesus that you want Him in your life, and that you need Him. Surrender all that you are to Him and I guarantee that He will make good on His promise to forgive you, cleanse you, love you, and change you into someone who you can be proud of. His love is everlasting -- it will never die. If your heart is being tugged and your mind has turned toward Jesus, please respond to His voice. You will know it is His voice because you will feel peaceful perhaps for the first time in your life. Jesus said in Revelation 3:20: "Look! Here I stand at the door and knock. If you hear me calling and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal as friends" (NLT). Jesus is knocking. Answer the call won't you?
Scripture marked (GW) is taken from GOD'S WORD, 1995 God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group.
"Scripture Marked (NIV) taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved."
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Bobby Bruno was saved 15 years ago in a way that left him no doubt that Jesus wanted him to reach others with His great and abounding love. He started writing at the age of 12 and hasn't stopped since. He achieved Associates Degree in Biblical Studies from Ohio Christian University in early 2014. | <urn:uuid:4ba36e36-c95e-4a61-9839-9ba2fed3044d> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://articles.faithwriters.com/reprint-article-details.php?article=17389 | 2015-04-01T01:09:11Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131302428.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172142-00224-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97575 | 1,856 |
1969 Chevrolet Nova Z/28 - What If?Written by on May 30, 2007 Chevrolet Never Had An RPO Z/28 Option Package Available For The Nova-But What If It Had? That's The Question Pure Vision Tried To Answer.
The frenzy of today's musclecar speculation has made clones commonplace. You know, a 318 Challenger becomes a Hemi car, or a straight-six Mustang emerges from the garage with stripes and Shelby badges. The car will never be the real thing, but it's close enough for most people, and often far cheaper. While clones are based on real cars that were offered for sale, a phantom is a never-was. Take a '37 Ford three-window. Uncle Henry never built one, but a lot of street rodders do. When it comes to musclecars, you've no doubt seen a few GTO station wagons or Buick GS-nosed El Caminos. Those are phantoms.
Steve Strope of Pure Vision took the phantom approach on the Z/28 Nova built for owner Gary Gagliardi-though the project didn't start out that way. Steve says, "Gary wanted me to build him a car, and after some discussion we decided on a Nova or a Buick Apollo because they were a little different. We were going to give it the full. Pro Touring treatment and put a Kenny Duttweiler Buick Grand National motor in it. Even set on 'medium bad ass,' Kenny could make like 600 hp and it'd be different." But that's not how the project ended up.
Gary has several very nice cars already, including a '70 Hemi 'Cuda and a '7011/42 Z28 that are straight restorations. That fact must have been bubbling around in Steve's head, because while driving home from the shop one night the idea for the Z/28 Nova popped in. "Gary's a little more into the original cars, but he wanted something hot-rodded, so the idea for the Z/28 Nova just came to me. I thought, 'Why not play a game of what if? What if Chevrolet had offered the Z/28 option package to the Nova as well as the Camaro? And what if we found one and restored it but with modern flair? How would that look?'"
Gary loved the idea, and the result is the Nova you see here, which made its debut at the '06 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Other than the one-off Budnik wheels, this looks like a car that Chevrolet could have built back in 1969. The Hugger Orange and white stripes are the first clue to what it's all about, but the ruse is more than just skin deep. Open the doors and you'll notice that it feels much more like a '69 Camaro than a '69 Nova. The seats, dash, and center console are all Camaro parts, and the black-and-white houndstooth upholstery is Camaro-spec stuff supplied by PUI. Open the hood and you'll find what looks just like a DZ-coded 302 small-block with the rare dual-quad cross-ram induction setup. It even has the steel cross-ram cowl-induction hood.
Most of the car retains a factory look, maintaining the theme of taking an original car and upgrading it with a few modern parts. You know, a typical street machine. For example, the engine compartment isn't overdone; there are a lot of satin-black and factory parts, and even the Optima battery was disguised to look like an original Delco. Headers and aftermarket control arms are the other modern speed parts visible under the hood. Where an original Z/28 Nova (had it existed) might have had JL8 brakes, this one sports more modern Corvette brakes. The transmission is still a stick, as all Z/28s were, but has been updated to a Tremec five-speed to give Gary overdrive.
There's a lot going on with this car that doesn't immediately grab your attention. There's a ton of custom work in the headlight bezels and rear spoiler, for example, which is not immediately obvious unless you know Novas and Camaros intimately. Even putting the Camaro parts in the interior, which you would think would be pretty easy, required some thought. Steve says, "The seat mount brackets are different, so to get the Camaro seats in we had to custom-make the brackets. The rear seat in a Nova is also much bigger than a Camaro's, so Eric Thorsen Custom Upholstery took the repop covers from PUI, dissected them, and then redid them to fit and work with the houndstooth pattern." The Camaro dash support wasn't that hard to adapt since the only real difference between Camaro and Nova dashes is that the Camaro's has a few more holes for trim pieces. The center console required some custom brackets, too.
"Underneath it's basically a Pro Touring car," Steve told us. Detroit Speed minitubs, leaf-spring relocating shackles, and a narrowed gas tank allow 305/30ZR19 Pirelli tires under the rear. The front suspension uses a complete Global West G-Plus system and American Touring Specialties aluminum spindles with Corvette hubs mounting Z06 14-inch rotors and six-piston calipers. The rear brakes are actually a Wilwood kit with the Wilwood name milled off and the Corvette logo painted on to match the front. The final touch is a set of one-off (for now) Budnik wheels designed like '60s daisy mags. Of course Steve is quick to point out that all the sheetmetal, trim, rubber, wiring, and a thousand other parts came from both Year One and Goodmark.
A well-done phantom should not be obvious. If it's good, the average person shouldn't be able to notice that there's anything hinky going on. In that regard, Pure Vision pulled it off. It's an example of a car that should have been because it just seems so right-and it's also a really bitchin' street machine.
Quick Inspection: '69 Chevrolet Nova Z/28
Los Angeles, CA
Engine: What looks like a 302 is actually a Tom Nelson-built 406 with World Products heads, a hydraulic roller cam, and a reproduction-original cross-ram intake with dual Holley carburetors. An MSD Ready-to-Run distributor and Blaster coil look stock and light the fire. Stainless Works headers and 3-inch pipes lead to chambered ZL1-style mufflers.
Power: On Nelson Racing's dyno the engine made 504 hp and 507 lb-ft of torque, and Steve says it idles at 800 rpm.
Transmission: A Keisler Engineering kit was used to put a Tremec five-speed behind the high-winding mill. It's actuated by a Keisler hydraulic clutch setup.
Rearend: A Strange S60 (think Dana 60) rearend with 3.73 gears will take all the abuse Gary can give it. Steve wanted to put a Strange 12-bolt into the car to continue the factory-built theme, but Gary insisted on the S60.
Frame: The rear framerails were narrowed a bit to fit the DSE deep tubs and were then tied to the stock front subframe with connectors.
Suspension: It's all Pro Touring. In the front are Global West tubular upper and lower control arms, QA1 coilovers, a 1-inch sway bar, ATS aluminum spindles, and a Flaming River quick-ratio steering box. In the back are Global West leaf springs moved inboard with DSE shackles. Bilstein shocks control bounce, and the e-brake cables and all the brake system plumbing are custom.
Brakes: The front brakes are 14-inchers from an '06 Z06 Corvette, and the rears are from Wilwood with the calipers modified to look like the Vette calipers in the front.
Wheels: Budnik built these wheels specifically for this car to mimic the classic American Racing Daisys. They're 18s in the front and 19s in the rear for more rake.
Tires: Pirelli tires are all around, with 305/30ZR19s in the back and 235/40ZR18s in the front.
Body: The body was mostly left alone except for a few details. Pure Vision removed the factory bumper-to-grille filler panel and modified the headlight-bucket trim pieces to fill in the area. A Camaro rear spoiler was part of the Z/28 image, but it required new ends to fit the Nova's quarter-panels, and a peak was added in the center to match the one in the Nova's trunk lid.
Paint: Gold Coast Custom sprayed the Hugger Orange and white stripes. The company also did the bodywork.
Interior: A '69 Camaro dash, seats, and center console were adapted to fit. White was never an optional interior color on a '69 Nova, so this is all custom. Year One supplied the upholstery, using a PUI kit that had to be modified to fit the rear seat. Pure Vision also had PUI cover the stock Nova door panels since white vinyl Nova door panels don't exist. | <urn:uuid:f881d8cf-852e-461f-9d7d-01ea39fd9cdb> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.hotrod.com/cars/featured/hrdp-0707-1969-chevrolet-nova-z28/ | 2015-04-01T01:23:13Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131302428.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172142-00224-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956387 | 1,980 |
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If you are located outside the U.S., then the provisions of this Section shall apply. Les parties aux présentes confirment leur volonté que cette convention de même que tous les documents y compris tout avis qui s'y rattache, soient redigés en langue anglaise. (translation: "The parties confirm that this EULA and all related documentation is and will be in the English language.") You are responsible for complying with any local laws in your jurisdiction which might impact your right to import, export or use the Software Product, and you represent that you have complied with any regulations or registration procedures required by applicable law to make this license enforceable.
The following are trademarks or registered trademarks of Wingware: Wingware, the feather logo, Wing IDE, Wing IDE 101, Wing IDE Personal, Wing IDE Professional, Wing IDE Enterprise, Wing Debugger, and "The Intelligent Development Environment for Python Programmers"
- CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about this EULA, or if you want to contact Wingware for any reason, please direct all correspondence to: Wingware, P.O. Box 400527, Cambridge, MA 02140-0006, United States of America or send email to info at wingware.com. | <urn:uuid:330ab318-15eb-4c3d-aa6a-54989668b1f8> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.wingware.com/license/wingper | 2015-04-01T01:06:43Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131302428.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172142-00224-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.852218 | 2,643 |
There is a place deep in the canyonlands of western Colorado, high on a rugged plateau that stretches to the Utah border, that only the locals know about.
In this place, frigid mountain streams have carved out a playground of waterfalls and pools to swim in. It's called the Potholes, for the many deep pools created over millennia by the pounding current.
Only the bravest -- or most foolish -- dare to jump from the high cliffs into the water. Jumpers must clear jutting ledges to hit the deep pockets of water.
There have been accidents here. And there will be more.
"Three hundred days out of the year it could be the safest place in the entire world," said Aaron Ingels, now 23, who made a fateful trip with friends to the Potholes just over a year ago. "But on that very day ... it's not a safe place."
Watch the full story Friday on "20/20" at 10 p.m. ET
Click HERE for photos of Stevie Burns and friends at the Potholes.
Ingels and his friends still have a picture, and home video, from that day -- May 31, 2008. In one image, the friends stand around a sign that warns swimmers about dangerous waters.
What did the sign mean to them that day?
"Nothing," Ingels said.
"20/20" recently accompanied five young people from the Denver area on a return trip to the Potholes, where they marked the moment their lives changed forever ... when six good friends became five.
"It's just hard being back here and telling the story again," Kristen Kroonenberg said.
The fateful trip came during the height of the spring runoff. Snowmelt from the mountains poured down the canyons, ice cold and deadly fast.
The friends recorded a home video of roaring, rushing water.
"That hole down there was a complete boiling pot of water," said Ingels, pointing into the maelstrom. "Not a single bit of calm water in it. I had the fear of death of me when I saw that hole."
But the fear isn't readily apparent on video the youths shot that day. "First day at the Potholes," one of them, Stevie Burns, 19, said. "You know, ain't no thang."
"It was really, really loud," Kroonenberg, now 20, remembered. "It was rushing pretty hard. I just had a bad feeling about it."
But who listens to a bad feeling when the sun's warm and your friends are calling.
Burns was the first to jump.
"He came up next to us," Kroonenberg said. "We thought he was just looking down like we were. And then all of a sudden he just jumps in."
'I Knew She Wasn't Going to Make It'
"Stevie [Burns] jumped in that hole and got out so effortlessly that I just thought everything was fine," Ingels said.
For the time being, everything was fine. Then Burns decided to jump again, this time from the highest ledge.
Now the camera shows fear creeping in.
"He walked up to the 65-foot ledge and he was trying to get himself to jump off," Kroonenberg said.
For eight minutes, Burns stood 65 feet above the raging water, before finally backing down.
But on a ledge just below him, Kroonenberg had worked up the courage to jump. She recalled "falling down there and going into the water."
"I went pretty far down," she said.
And that, Ingels said, is when the nightmare began.
"The moment she resurfaced, I knew she wasn't going to make it out," he said. "Just the terrified look on her face."
Kroonenberg said, "I didn't think anybody could see me. I didn't think anybody was watching because I couldn't hear anybody. I had a hard time. I couldn't move."
Ingels was standing on a ledge yards away from where Kroonenberg was struggling, but he couldn't reach her. The fast current had formed a whirlpool, pulling her back under the falls.
"Water was going over my head," Kroonenberg said. "I was swallowing water and I just started thinking, I don't know how much water I can swallow. And I was kind of hopeless at that point."
From the cliffs above, Burns saw Kroonenberg in trouble. Minutes before, he had backed away from the highest ledge. Now, without hesitation, he jumped back into the whirlpool.
"I really, really remember because, it's the last thing he ever said," Kroonenberg said. "He said, 'Grab onto my arm tight and don't let go. I'm gonna get you outta here.'
"And I felt so safe."
"He was able to fight her back through the current to me," Ingels said. "I grabbed her and pulled her out to the side of me. And then at that point I turned to go and reach for him and he had been sucked back into the back of the hole."
In water so cold, every second steals your strength. Burns' friends held out a stick for him to grab, but it was just beyond his reach.
River Hero: He Didn't Want Us to See
"And he pushed off the wall twice, and he just didn't have enough strength," Ingels said. "His body had gotten too cold at that point.
"He started facing that wall and he didn't look at us. I think he realized that he wasn't making it out of there and he didn't want us to have to see it."
The current eventually washed Burns' body over a waterfall, and into the arms of his friends.
"We had him in the sun," Ingels said. "And I started doing CPR on him the best I knew how."
Megan Voorhorst said, "I laid on top of him to try to give him some body heat, and Kristen [Kroonenberg] was rubbing his feet. All of us were screaming at him, telling him, 'Talk to us.'"
"Aaron [Ingels] asked me to look for a pulse," Kroonenberg said. "I couldn't feel one."
"And I am screaming at Aaron, I was screaming at everybody," Bailey Roberts said. "I couldn't, from my position, do anything ... that's why I had to go get help."
Roberts ran up out of the canyon to the nearest farmhouse to call for help. Tape of the 911 call captures the desperation of the moment.
"911, what's your emergency?"
"My friend is drowning. He's drowning," Roberts said.
"Where's he at?"
"At the Potholes."
"Is he conscious?"
"Is he breathing?"
"[crying] Barely. And he's purple."
Back at the Potholes, Burns was hardly moving.
Kroonenberg remembered the moment she realized Burns was gone.
"He looked really peaceful," she said. "And that's when I thought he's not gonna make it. They had done CPR for so long."
By then, rescue teams had arrived, but there was little they could do except console Burns' friends, and carry his body out of the canyon.
"What us five experienced that day with him, nobody else experienced that," Ingels said. "Nobody else can imagine that. And we'll forever have to stick together just because of that."
In the year since Burns died, the bonds between the five friends have grown stronger, forged in grief, guilt and the love of a dear friend.
Where Stevie Burns Became a Hero
"He was so generous and would do anything for anybody, and was just the best friend anybody could ever ask for," Roberts said, crying.
"He was one of those guys that always gave me butterflies, and that's why I was so drawn to him," she said. "Stevie showed me what kind of guy I need in my life."
Ingels spoke of manhood.
"Stevie was more of a man that day than I'll ever, ever be in my entire life," he said.
For Kroonenberg, the memories are especially sharp. Her life was saved, but her savior was lost.
She said she had learned a lesson that day.
"If you have a bad feeling, don't do it," Kroonenberg said. "You're not as invincible as you think you are."
So what do the Potholes mean for the friends now?
"It feels like a part of me," Kroonenberg said. "A huge, huge part of my life. And it's the place where Stevie became a hero."
At the Potholes, the rushing water can wash away everything but their memories. The five friends plan to continue returning here, to listen to the river, and each other.
It is the place where, just for a moment, the five can be six again. | <urn:uuid:2ab78e8f-81a4-4c48-afc5-33d833a53803> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=8385628&page=2 | 2016-07-23T09:27:47Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257821671.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071021-00000-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988319 | 1,914 |
Q. David Bowers: The following narrative, with minor editing, is from my "Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia" (Wolfeboro, NH: Bowers and Merena Galleries, Inc., 1993)
Hoard coins: The 1898 was released in large quantities by the Treasury Department through the Federal Reserve, so that by the mid-1950s Mint State coins were very common in eastern banks. However, before that time Uncirculated coins were scarce, or even rare. Additional large quantities were released in the late 1950s and early 1960s. By the mid-1970s, most such quantities had been widely dispersed, with the result that the Redfield estate holding, estimated to have been about 16 to 18 bags, was a novelty at the time. Most of these Redfield coins went to John Kamin, publisher of The Forecaster newsletter.
Circulated grades: In worn grades the 1898 dollar is very common. Many are in higher circulated grades from VF to AU.
Mint State grades: The 1898 is quite common in Mint State. Most are in the range of MS-60 to MS-63. MS-64 coins abound, but at the MS-65 level the issue becomes slightly scarce (relatively speaking). To be more specific: MS-60 to 62, an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 survive; MS-63, 60,000 to 100,000; MS-64, 30,000 to 60,000; and MS-65 or better, 8,000 to 15,000.
Most 1898 Morgan dollars are sharply struck and have from average to excellent lustre.
Prooflike coins: One-sided prooflike coins are common. Two-sided prooflike coins are scarce. Most prooflike coins have somewhat subdued mirrorlike surfaces. In 1982, Wayne Miller reported that DMPL coins are about twice as elusive as regular prooflikes, and that most prooflike coins are below the MS-65 grade level. This observation was prescient, for grading service data (compiled beginning in 1986) reveals that as of September 1992, NGC and PCGS graded 441 PL and 266 DMPL pieces, and that of the DMPLs, only about 10% were better than MS-64. The Redfield estate is said to include several thousand prooflikes.
1. Normal date: Breen-5653. Most of the 30 pairs of dies were probably used. Varieties are positional and/ or with repunching on one date numeral. It is uncertain if open and closed 9's are from the same logotype.
Circulation strike mintage: 5,884,000; Delivery figures by month: January: 650,000; February: 582,000; March: 600,000; April: 184,000; May: 520,000; June: 172,000; July: 100,000; August: 948,000; September: 800,000; October: 450,000; November: 572,000; December: 306,000.
Estimated quantity melted: Many over a long period of years, including worn pieces as part of the private silver melts of the late 1970s.
Availability of prooflike coins: Many exist, including one-sided prooflikes. DMPL coins are about twice as scarce as prooflikes.
Characteristics of striking: Usually sharply struck. Known hoards of Mint State coins: Large quantities were released by the Treasury in the 1950s and early 1960s.
The 1898 Morgan dollar is readily available in various Mint State levels.
The Annual Report of the Director of the Mint, 1898, gave the following information:
As of November 1, 1898 Morgan silver dollars had been coined in the amount of 466,836,587 pieces at the various mints, of which 398,753,504 coins were held against silver certificates, leaving a surplus of 4,645,838 in Treasury Department hands available for circulation. In actual circulation in the channels of commerce were 63,437,255 pieces.
A shortage was discovered in the accounts at Philadelphia.
A quantity amounting to 733 silver dollars disappeared during the 18908 when they were being stored. Presumably, these disappeared somewhere between 1893 and 1898.
Distribution of silver dollars, per The Annual Report of the Director at the Mint, 1898, page 26: Philadelphia. In mint July 1, 1897,61,943,104; transferred from the Treasury for storage, 286,850; coinage, fiscal year, 1898, 4,158,780; total, 66,388,734; in mint July 1, 1898, 66,269,954; total, 66,269,954; distributed from mint, 118,780.
The Year 1898 in History
The Spanish-American War was ignited by the sinking of the battleship Maine in an explosion in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, on February 15, killing 260 aboard. Although the cause of the explosion was never determined, America had an anti-Spain bias and sided with Cubans desiring independence from that country. The New York Journal, owned by William Randolph Hearst, printed a letter stolen from the mail in Havana, from the minister of Spain to the United States, calling President McKinley a spineless politician. Hearst stirred up American anger against Spain, and more than any other single individual was responsible for a conflict which probably could have been settled by negotiations. Hearst urged his readers to "Remember the Maine!" He sent artist Frederic Remington to Cuba to paint war scenes, but Remington sent a cable stating that all was quiet there and there would be no war, to which Hearst riposted, "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war."
On April 22, the Spanish vessel Buena Ventura was captured by the American gunboat Nashville, becoming the first prize of the conflict. (Several years later, the Nashville tied up at the Chicago docks and was a local attraction, prompting numismatist Virgil M. Brand to underwrite an issue of silver medals depicting the ship, for the Chicago Numismatic Society.) Spain declared war on the 24th, and the United States on the 25th. The hero of the 112-days-long war was Commodore George Dewey, whose flagship, the Olympia, led the victors in the Battle of Manila Bay. This naval encounter began at 5:40 a.m. on May 1st, when Dewey said to the captain of his ship, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley." Before long, 10 Spanish ships had been destroyed. Subsequently, Dewey's portrait and/or that of his ship appeared on many consumer products, including cigars, music boxes (the Olympia), and slot machines (the Mills Novelty Co. Dewey). Else-where in the war, in Cuba the Battle of San Juan Hill brought much fame to Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders.
Victor Herbert's musical, The Fortune Teller, opened on Broadway. One of the featured melodies was the long-remembered Gypsy Love Song. H.G. Wells' book, The War of the Worlds, was published.
The director of the Mint was Robert E. Preston who served from November 1893 through February 1898. From February 1898 through July 1907 the director was George E. Roberts.
Dr. William H. Sheldon, controversial constitutional psychologist and large cent specialist, was born October 30. He gave psychology the classification of human bodies into endomorphs, mesomorphs, and ectomorphs, with parallels in temperament; he gave numismatics Early American Cents and Penny Whimsy, using what later became familiar as the Sheldon rarity scale and numerical grading. | <urn:uuid:4afb722b-6302-453a-8e91-d16a846c1eee> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistry/CoinFacts.aspx?i=115443 | 2016-07-23T09:16:44Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257821671.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071021-00000-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968821 | 1,591 |
CruCon Cruise Outlet Main StageKISS
KISS ARMYIf you want access to the KISS presale and other great benefits, click here
MAGIC HAT STAGE:
Boyz Gone Wild (6:00 PM)
Extra InformationParking Opens: 5:00 PM
Doors Open: 6:00 PM
Audio Recording: No
Video Recording: No
Flash Photography: No
Food & Drink: No
Resale Allowed: No
Delivery Delay: No
*Non-Professional photography / no zoom lenses larger than 2 inches / no detachable lenses
< Purchase >
OnSales & PreSales
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Inner CircleBecome part of the Inner Circle and always be the first group to get in. Members also get their own entrance, own bar lounge and their own private restrooms!
|Reserved Seating (Covered Pavilion)-P1||$89.00||$10.75||$99.75|
|Reserved Seating (Covered Pavilion)-P2||$69.00||$9.75||$78.75|
|The Beringer Club (Covered Including Cocktail Service)||$94.00||$11.00||$105.00|
|Moxie Energy Lawn Seating (Uncovered-General Admission)||$29.00||$6.25||$35.25|
|Pavilion Access General Admission VIP (Must Be 21 or Older)||$44.00||$6.50||$50.50|
Following the demise of Wicked Lester, KISS were formed in 1972 by Paul Stanley (b. Stanley Eisen, 20 January 1950, Queens, New York, USA; rhythm guitar, vocals) and Gene Simmons (b. Chaim Witz, 25 August 1949, Haifa, Israel; bass, vocals), who went on to recruit Peter Criss (b. Peter Crisscoula, 27 December 1947, Brooklyn, New York, USA; drums, vocals) and Ace Frehley (b. Paul Frehley, 22 April 1951, Bronx, New York, USA; lead guitar, vocals). At their second show at the Hotel Diplomat, Manhattan, in 1973, Flipside producer Bill Aucoin offered the band a management contract, and within two weeks they were signed to Neil Bogart's recently established Casablanca Records. In just over a year, KISS had released their first three albums with a modicum of success.
In the summer of 1975 their fortunes changed with the release of Alive! , which spawned their first US hit single, with the reissued live version of 'Rock And Roll All Nite' climbing to number 12 in November. The appeal of KISS has always been based on their live shows: the garish greasepaint make-up, outrageous costumes and pyrotechnic stage effects, along with their hard-rocking anthems, combined to create what was billed as 'The Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Show On Earth'. Their live reputation engendered a dramatic upsurge in record sales, and Alive became their first certified platinum album in the USA. Destroyer proved just as successful, and also gave them their first US Top 10 single, earning Peter Criss a major songwriting award for the uncharacteristic ballad, 'Beth'.
Subsequent releases, Rock And Roll Over , Love Gun and Alive II , each certified platinum, confirmed the arrival of KISS as major recording artists. By 1977 KISS had topped the prestigious Gallup poll as the most popular act in the USA. They had become a marketing dream: KISS merchandise included make-up kits, masks, board games, and pinball machines. Marvel Comics produced two super-hero cartoon books, and a full-length science-fiction film, KISS Meet The Phantom Of The Park, was even produced. The ranks of their fan club, the KISS Army, had swollen to a six-figure number.
In September 1978 all four group members released solo albums on the same day, a feat never before envisaged, let alone matched. At the time, this represented the biggest shipment of albums from one 'unit' to record stores in the history of recorded music. The albums enjoyed varying degrees of success; Ace Frehley's record came out on top and included the US Top 20 hit single, 'New York Groove'. Gene Simmons, whose album featured an impressive line-up of guests including Cher , Donna Summer , Bob Seger and Janis Ian , had a hit single in the UK with 'Radioactive', which reached number 41 in 1978. After the release of Dynasty in 1979, which featured the worldwide hit single, 'I Was Made For Lovin' You', cracks appeared in the ranks.
Peter Criss left to be replaced by session player Anton Fig, who had previously appeared on Frehley's solo album. Fig played drums on the 1980 release Unmasked until a permanent replacement was found in the form of New Yorker Eric Carr (b. 12 July 1950, d. 24 November 1991), who made his first appearance during the world tour of 1980. A fuller introduction came on Music From The Elder , an album that represented a radical departure from traditional KISS music and included several ballads, an orchestra and a choir. It was a brave attempt to break new ground but failed to capture the imagination of the record-buying public. Frehley, increasingly disenchanted with the musical direction of the band, finally left in December 1982. The two albums prior to his departure had featured outside musicians.
Bruce Kulick, who had contributed to the studio side of Alive II and played on Stanley's solo album, supplied the lead work to the four previously unreleased tracks on the Killers compilation of 1982, and Vincent Cusano (later to become Vinnie Vincent ) was responsible for lead guitar on the 1982 release, Creatures Of The Night . By 1983 the popularity of the band was waning and drastic measures were called for. The legendary make-up that had concealed their true identities for almost 10 years was removed on MTV in the USA. Vinnie Vincent made his first official appearance on Lick It Up , an album that provided KISS with their first Top 10 hit in the UK. The resurgence of the band continued with Animalize .
Vincent had been replaced by Mark St. John (b. Mark Norton), a seasoned session player and guitar tutor. His association with the band was short-lived, however, as he was struck down by Reiters Syndrome. Bruce Kulick was enlisted as a temporary replacement on the 1984 European Tour, and subsequently became a permanent member when it became apparent that St. John would not be able to continue as a band member. Further commercial success was achieved with Asylum and Crazy Nights , the latter featuring their biggestUK hit single, 'Crazy Crazy Nights', which peaked at number 4 in October 1987 and was soon followed by another Top 40 hit single, 'Reason To Live'.
Hot In The Shade succeeded their third compilation album, Smashes, Thrashes And Hits , and included another US hit single, 'Forever', which reached number 8 in February 1990. Work on a new KISS album with producer Bob Ezrin was delayed following Eric Carr's illness due to complications from cancer. He died on 24 November 1991, in New York, at the age of 41. Despite this setback, KISS contributed a hit cover version of Argent 's classic 'God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You II' (UK number 4, January 1992) to the soundtrack of the film Bill And Ted's Bogus Journey, and brought in replacement drummer Eric Singer (ex- Black Sabbath ; Badlands ). The album Revenge also provided them with their highest charting US album (number 4), and their first Top 10 release since Dynasty reached number 9 in 1979.
The KISS My Ass tribute album was released in 1994, with contributions from Lenny Kravitz , Stevie Wonder , Garth Brooks , Lemonheads , Faith No More , Dinosaur Jr, Rage Against The Machine and others. The interest in KISS My Ass led to a historic reunion for MTV Unplugged . Simmons, Stanley, Frehley and Criss returned for a reunion tour.
A year later Psycho Circus marked the return of the original line-up to the studio, and became the group's highest charting US album when it debuted at number 3 that October.
The band released Monster , their 24th release including the 4 solo albums, October 9th 2012. The album's first single, "Hell or Hallelujah", was released on July 2, 2012 internationally and July 3 in North America along with the Monster Book. It received play on rock radio and climbed the onto the middle reaches of the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart. The second single, "Long Way Down", was released to radio stations on October 23, 2012 and reached the Billboard Heritage Rock Charts by the end of the year, and also occupied a spot on the America's Music Rock Chart for several months.
To date KISS has sold more than 100 million albums and with a history spanning more than three decades, KISS' impact on the consciousness of a generation of music fans, particularly in the USA, remains enormous.
KISSí current lineup:Paul Stanley | <urn:uuid:d80ebdb5-11f7-4b5c-bcd1-2162b9d92ace> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | https://www.banknhpavilion.com/?page=event_info&show_code=080713 | 2016-07-23T09:08:35Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257821671.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071021-00000-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963027 | 1,920 |
By Silverback, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Staff Writer
Los Alamitos, CA - Alright, so here's the deal: we're pretty excited about this card. Stoked, you might say. There's a fantastic combination of bad blood, fresh faces, and exciting, uniquely Pro Wrestling Guerrilla-style matches, everything we can hope to have on one of our cards. But we forgot to write the intro paragraph. Whether it was the skunk that was hanging around outside of the offices, spraying every cat, dog, person, and dust mote that came within range, or the beautiful, half-Chinese girl that's super nice but intriguingly distant that we just can't get out of our heads, something has got us distracted. So just imagine that this space was used for recapping the events of DDT4, where Super Smash Bros. defied the odds and came away with three hard fought victories to win the tournament. Or about "Mr. Wrestling" Kevin Steen, making the first defense of his current Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship Title in an open challenge against Sami Callihan.
Actually, that's not too bad. Take that, you raven-haired temptress!
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's Death To All But Metal takes place on Friday, May 25, 2012 at American Legion Post #308 (7338 Canby Ave., Reseda, CA 91335) in Reseda, CA, and is scheduled to feature:
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship Title Match
"Mr. Wrestling" Kevin Steen (Champion) vs. Brian Cage (Challenger)
-- Immediately after the conclusion of DDT4, "Mr. Wrestling" Kevin Steen returned to the locker room and demanded to know "Who's next?!" While most of those seated in the locker room were puzzled by Steen's Goldbergian query (Kevin is, after all, a huge Therock Lesnar fan), one man immediately put himself forward as the next challenger for the World Championship: Brian Cage. Still smarting after being bounced from the DDT4 tournament in the first round, Cage was looking a chance to prove that he belongs in the upper echelon of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and the opportunity presented itself in the form of a battered and bruised champion still looking for a fight. Steen retorted with a verbal assault aimed at Cage's manhood, to which Cage responded with a shove and a less-than-polite offer to "go right now," but the two men were restrained and separated before the confrontation could escalate further. They then agreed to face one another on May 25th at Death To All But Metal while being escorted to opposite ends of the locker room.
The following Monday, the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Board of Directors, keen to seem like a powerful matchmaking group, sent a very stern memo to both World Champion Kevin Steen and would-be challenger Brian Cage about the importance of respecting the decisions of the Championship Committee. Cage was first to respond (via text message) saying "Bro? Bro. BRO." Steen was heard from moments later (via email) with a very terse seven letter response ending with "you." The blatant insubordination by both men infuriated the Board of Directors, who handed out 30-day suspensions to both Steen and Cage. The Board then began work on determining the next challenger for "Mr. Wrestling" Kevin Steen's World Championship, after he serves his suspension, of course.
In a highly innovative and unexpected move, the Board of Directors announced that "Mr. Wrestling" Kevin Steen would be defending the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship against Brian Cage on May 25th at Death To All But Metal, for reasons the Board has yet to disclose. This could have something to do with the fact that the 30-day suspension barring both Steen and Cage from competing on Pro Wrestling Guerrilla events actually ends just prior to May 25th, or that the Board is (allegedly) physically intimidated by both Mr. Cage and Mr. Steen. Whatever the reason, all hail the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Board of Directors, the smartest governing body in all the land, and the people that sign our checks!
No Disqualification Tag Team Match
Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno & Stupefied) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)
-- For the first time in three years The Young Bucks, were not in the DDT4 finals. This was a startling realization for Matt and Nick Jackson, who went from being the team most closely associate with DDT4 success to first round losers in a matter of seconds. How did this happen? Is this how all of the teams that The Young Bucks vanquished in previous tournaments felt? What a terrible feeling! This feeling made the Jackson brothers sad at first, but very quickly that sadness turned to anger. Intense, burning anger. Rage. Who is responsible for making The Young Bucks feel this way? Certainly not The Young Bucks!
No, the answer to that question, to Matt and Nick Jackson at least, was in the ring celebrating their victory in perhaps the most competitive DDT4 to date, the Super Smash Brothers. Player Uno and Stupefied began their day with only a single victory in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, but would go to sleep knowing they defeated three of the toughest opponents imaginable, all in one night. At least, they would think that until the ultimate sore losers, The Young Bucks hit the ring to disrupt the celebration and attack all four competitors in the DDT4 final round match. After three grueling matches, the Super Smash Brothers, and their opponents 2 Husky Black Guys (El Generico & Willie Mack) were far too exhausted to mount any sort of sustained defense, and the assault only ended because World Champion Kevin Steen ran from the commentary position to confront The Young Bucks.
When The Young Bucks took a moment to explain themselves, their refusal to take responsibility for their tournament loss became even more apparent. According to the Bucks, DDT4 was supposed to be about them, by virtue of their past accomplishments. How dare another team come along to not only eliminate The Young Bucks, but go on to win the tournament. That's not how things are supposed to work, and Matt and Nick Jackson are prepared to rectify that.
With Super Dragon out of action until after May 25th and their Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Tag Team Championship title shot postponed, the Super Smash Brothers have opted to give The Young Bucks a chance to back up all of their talk. But if The Young Bucks are going to attack from behind, bend the rules, and act like all-around jerks, why shouldn't Player Uno and Stupefied have the option to do so as well? That's why on May 25th at Death To All But Metal, the Super Smash Brothers and The Young Bucks will meet in a no disqualification rematch!
El Generico vs. Ricochet
-- When El Generico and Ricochet met for the first time in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla at The Curse of Guerrilla Island in October, 2010, fans saw something they were not at all prepared for: a frustrated El Generico that considered breaking the rules to score a victory. While he's never been thought of as one of the more articulate professional wrestlers, El Generico's unspoken moral code is obvious to anyone that has seen him compete over the years. But when he found himself standing across the ring from a man that is a few years younger, a step faster, and can jump a few inches higher, Generico thought about resorting to drastic measures. Whether it was due to second-guessing himself, or Ricochet's innate aptitude for professional wrestling, El Generico lost that day, not just in the literal sense, but in the eyes of the fans, as well.
The realization that he disappointed his fans as well as himself caused El Generico to do some serious soul searching, and ultimately lead to an alliance, though not quite friendship, between himself and Ricochet. That alliance was put to the test just over a year ago when the pair began teaming together to do battle with some of the very best tag teams from around the world. Despite their natural abilities, the team of El Generico and Ricochet suffered three consecutive losses, leading to the dissolution of their team and alliance.
With the bad blood between the two men having built for months, El Generico and Ricochet will have their long-awaited rematch at Death To All But Metal on Friday, May 25th. While both men have obviously aged since their first meeting, El Generico rekindled his rivalry with "Mr. Wrestling" Kevin Steen, a rivalry that took years off of his career, not to mention his life. Will the competitive gap between Ricochet and El Generico have widened further in the intervening years, or will Generico have no compunctions about using every available advantage, whether legal or otherwise, in order to defeat the younger man?
"Unbreakable" Michael Elgin vs. Willie Mack
-- While the fans can be quite vociferous when it comes to new talent they'd like to see in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, it's worth noting when both the fans and the locker room are asking to see the same guy. And as we've seen in the case of Future Shock (Adam Cole & Kyle O'Reilly), when you have former World Champion Davey Richards demanding that you be given an opportunity to compete, chances are that the Board of Directors will listen. Such is the case with Toronto, Ontario, Canada's "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin, who will make his Pro Wrestling Guerrilla debut on Friday, May 25th at Death To All But Metal. Nicknamed "Unbreakable" not just because of his physical durability but his seemingly unflappable drive and determination, Elgin comes to Pro Wrestling Guerrilla with not only high expectation, but an incredibly difficult opponent right off the bat.
When talking about young and tough (both mentally and physically) competitors, no list is complete without Willie Mack's name on it. Much like Michael Elgin, Willie Mack has experienced a meteoric rise in recent years, calmly facing (and defeating) some of the top names in professional wrestling today. After their match at Steen Wolf in October, 2011, Davey Richards sang the praises of Willie Mack, and advised the professional wrestling world to watch their backs, because this guy is gunning for the number one spot. This opinion became fact when last month at DDT4, Willie Mack, alongside El Generico, was a heartbeat away from winning the tournament. Now that he is so close to the apex of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Willie Mack will fight tooth and nail to make his way onto the top, something Michael Elgin will be forced to confront head on at Death To All But Metal!
Six-Person Tag Team Match
Candice LeRae & RockNES Monsters (Johnny Goodtime & Johnny Yuma) vs. "Pretty" Peter Avalon, Ray Rosas, & Joey Ryan
TJ Perkins vs. Ryan Taylor
B-Boy vs. Famous B
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's Death To All But Metal takes place on Friday, May 25, 2012, at 8:00 PM at American Legion Post #308 in Reseda, CA. American Legion Post #308 is located at 7338 Canby Ave., Reseda, CA 91335. Front Row tickets are $30, and General Admission tickets are $25. Online tickets orders are subject to the PayPal Service Charge (2.9% + $0.30). Tickets purchased in advance allow for priority admittance to the venue, along with guaranteed event seating. Online tickets sales for this event will end on May 21, 2012, at 11:59PM. Any remaining tickets will be available for purchase at the door. Tickets are not refundable.
Absolutely no outside alcoholic beverages are allowed on American Legion property. | <urn:uuid:ea0d2262-4b56-4156-873f-39e48e5bce77> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.prowrestlingguerrilla.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=43761&f=1 | 2016-07-25T08:07:30Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257824217.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071024-00152-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95797 | 2,450 |
For North Carolina's football staff, Monday's Advocare V100 Independence Bowl in Shreveport (La.) is one of those opportunities that is simply part of the job in coaching.
It's their last chance to make something happen with all these UNC players they recruited to play for the Tar Heels, and that should serve as motivation for them this one last time as they prepare to move on to new jobs elsewhere.
"It's been a very good experience to be here at Carolina and work as the interim coach," said Everett Withers. "I'm looking forward to taking the things I've learned here and moving forward."
These situations are never easy for anyone when you're talking about outgoing coaches and the pieces they leave behind within the team they're coaching and in recruiting.
There's children and families involved. There's relocation and finding new employment involved.
It's real-life, emotionally-draining, highly-challenging stuff---as anyone who's been in a similar occupational situation can attest.
"Every year I've been in this profession---I think this is 24 (years for me)---this time of year gets tough on a lot of people. And if you've been through it long enough you go through these. It's just part of the gig," Withers said.
When it comes to bowl games and the finality that they bring to college football teams, there's always that incentive to try and send the seniors out victorious.
But UNC also has a situation where many of the players are seeing an opportunity to send these coaches out with a bang and show them on the field how much they appreciate what they've done for them over the years.
"That's the biggest thing---send this staff out on a good note, you know. A win would be good for team morale and it will sum up this season pretty well," said sophomore defensive end Kareem Martin. "We'll all be going our separate ways after the season, but we're playing one more game for the staff."
"I definitely want to send this staff out on a good note," added sophomore quarterback Bryn Renner. "We're looking forward to sending Coach Withers and this staff out on a good note."
"I think that's our main thing (to get this win for the coaches)," added redshirt freshman running back Giovani Bernard. "I know for me and Bryn especially, it's something we really want to do. We felt like we let them down a couple of times this season. We definitely want to finish them off with an 8-5 record."
"There's some games in the past we could have won or whatever, but I think we definitely want to give this as a gift in a way, and finish off with a win. I'm just really excited, and hopefully we'll get this 'W,'" Bernard continued.
"Right now we've got to focus on beating Missouri with Everett Withers as the head coach," said junior defensive tackle Sylvester Williams. "I've got a tremendous amount of respect for the coaching staff that's here now."
Given the extreme circumstances of which he accepted his first collegiate head coaching job, the players are satisfied with the way Withers handled the 2011 season.
"I think Coach Withers did a great job with us this year. And I'd love to have him as our head coach for a long time, but I don't make those decisions. And I really don't want to," said Renner.
"The way this University handled it, they did a great job. But I definitely love Coach Withers and love this whole staff."
"He's done an amazing job this entire year. And even stepping into a position like he's done. I think he's done a great job. Hands down to him. He's a great guy. I've had my one-on-one conversations with him, and he's a real good role model," added Bernard.
"We're definitely going to miss him. He's a great guy and we're definitely going to miss him."
"We just want to go out on a winning note. This year there's been a lot of adversity with the coaching change and hiring a new coaching and all, We just want to give the coaching staff one last win, and play as hard as we can on Monday," Martin added.
For the Tar Heel players, Monday is not just about Coach Withers and the coaches who will be roaming the sidelines.
Several of them acknowledged that the Independence Bowl is also about Butch Davis, and closing the chapter on his era at UNC with success.
"I will go on record and say they turned this whole program around from where it was, starting with Coach Davis and then to Coach Withers. I think they've done a great job with us over the last five years, and given us a ton of their time," Renner said. "So I think the biggest thing we can do is play hard for them and go out on a good note."
The Tar Heel seniors got together last week before leaving for Shreveport and declared that they were dedicating the Independence Bowl to Davis and Withers.
"All the seniors, we kind of got together after the (last position) meeting (in Kenan Stadium) and talked about, 'Yeah, this is our last time together,' for Coach Withers, and especially for Coach Davis. He brought us here. We're trying to do it for him. It's our last game in Carolina Blue," said running back Ryan Houston.
For Renner, it's also about giving offensive coordinator John Shoop one last hurrah as he prepares to ride off into the sunset.
"Me and Coach Shoop talk every day. He's been critical to my development as a quarterback, and I can't thank him enough. I'm going to miss him. He's done a lot for me and the other quarterbacks," he said.
Make no mistake---Withers wanted to be the long-term, permanent head coach at UNC.
"Coaches are day-to-day. You're always disappointed when you don't get something, but as a coach you learn to move on fast," Withers said.
He wasted little time getting his situation figured out, and he's found a pretty soft place to land in Ohio State.
In Columbus, Withers will have the opportunity to rebuild the Buckeyes under Urban Meyer, who tried previously to hire him away from UNC two years ago when Meyer was still at Florida.
The fact that Meyer, one of the truly great modern-day college coaches, thought enough to Withers to try to hire him twice should answer a lot of questions from those questioning Withers as a coach or as a person.
"I feel very fortunate to be part of The Ohio State University. My title is assistant head coach/co-defensive coordinator," Withers said. "I'm looking forward to moving forward."
"We've known each other (Meyer and I) for a couple of years. A few years ago we talked when the Florida defensive coordinator job came open. So we've got a little bit of a past, and I"m looking forward to the future with Coach Meyer," Withers continued.
Withers knows that he's heading into a challenging situation in Columbus with Ohio State recently hit with considerable NCAA sanctions, but he knows he's going to be able to recruit elite talent there.
"I do think the sanctions are what they are. Coming on the front end gives us a chance to build a program, and I think it will be a very positive thing in the long term," he said.
"I think when you're recruiting at Ohio State, kids want to go to Ohio State."
The opportunity at UNC clearly provided Withers some perspective and invaluable experience as a head coach.
He admitted to us that is his ultimate goal---to lead a program as the top man again as he's done this year at Carolina.
And as he's done throughout the majority of his time in Chapel Hill, Withers said the right things as he talked about how UNC has prepared him for that day.
"I don't know about 'quite soon' (becoming a head coach) but I'm sure this experience will help me in the future," Withers said. "It's been a very good learning experience. Just being able to be the head coach of a major college, a BCS team, has been a very positive experience for me."
In a few short hours, it will all be over.
UNC's players will go their separate ways for a brief Holiday break before either returning to Chapel Hill or moving on with their lives.
Those graduating seniors will either start looking for regular work or begin training for a shot at the National Football League, while the returning UNC players will get going with the spring semester.
And virtually everyone coaching for UNC today in the Independence Bowl with the exceptions of Allen Mogridge and possibly Ken Browning will all be leaving Chapel Hill in the coming days.
The outgoing coaches' contracts were terminated effective December 27, and those coaches will begin the process of finding new work immediately in the coaching ranks.
Kenan Football Center will undergo a transformation in the coming days as Fedora and his staff move in, while the last things of the prior staff move out.
It's a extraordinary, bittersweet time for any college football program.
Which is why sending out these coaches with a win over Missouri means so much to so many of these UNC players.
"He's a great man of character. He's done a lot for this program," Renner said of Withers. "I can't even imagine what he's gone through, but I know he's done a great job. And he's been a father figure to this whole team this whole year on how to handle adversity. He's done a great job, and I wouldn't ask for a better guy to have for the season."
"We want to send him out with an 8-5 record and end the season on a good note." | <urn:uuid:a34acd45-ee59-42fd-a280-c2b665a1535e> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | https://northcarolina.rivals.com/news/out-with-a-bang-16 | 2016-07-27T07:52:27Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257826736.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071026-00304-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985516 | 2,104 |
Hello people celebrating holidays! I hope you're all having wonderful moments and meals during this special time of the year. My Christmas was nice and sunny, cold and warm, with family, with friends, with a lot of food and even more text messages!
This year we had 2 Christmas trees: One to light up and decorate our dinning room and another one to... well... eat!
This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux for the December Daring Bakers' Challenge: a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.
They asked for a log I know, but I decided to do the whole tree!
I've been eating a lot of peanut butter and chocolate stuff that I brought back from the States and I'm not tired yet of that wonderful combo! I really love Peanut Butter Cups and I'm almost thankful that I can't get them here. I also really enjoyed the Peanut Butter M&ms that I got and I can't forget a wonderful chocolate & peanut butter chips cookie I bought at Levain Bakery.
So from all the "christmasy" flavours I could have chosen for this I was faithfull to my pb&choc love.
This dessert has 6 elements:
- Dacquoise Biscuit
- Ganache Insert
- Crisp Insert
- Creme Bruleé Insert
Peanut Dacquoise Biscuit:
- 2.8 oz (3/4cup + 1Tbsp / 80g) ground roasted peanuts
- 1.75 oz (1/2 cup / 50g) confectioner’s sugar
- 2Tbsp (15g) all-purpose flour
- 3.5oz (100g / 100ml) about 3 medium egg whites
- 1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar
Finely mix the peanut meal and the confectioner's sugar. Sift the flour into the mix. Beat the eggs whites, gradually adding the granulated sugar until stiff. Pour the peanut meal mixture into the egg whites and blend delicately with a spatula. Grease a piece of parchment paper and line your baking pan with it. Spread the batter on a piece of parchment paper to an area slightly larger than your desired shape and to a height of 1/3 inches (8mm). Bake at 350°F (180°C) for approximately 15 minutes until golden. Let cool and cut to the desired shape.
Milk Chocolate Mousse:
Soften the gelatine in cold water. Make a Pate a Bombe: Beat the egg yolks until very light in colour (approximately 5 minutes until almost white), cook the sugar, glucose syrup and water on medium heat for approximately 3 minutes (if you have a candy thermometer, the mixture should reach 244°F /118°C). If you do not have a candy thermometer, test the sugar temperature by dipping the tip of a knife into the syrup then into a bowl of ice water, if it forms a soft ball in the water then you have reached the correct temperature. Add the sugar syrup to the beaten yolks carefully by pouring it into the mixture in a thin stream while continuing to beat the yolks. You can do this by hand but it’s easier to do this with an electric mixer. Continue beating until cool (approximately 5 minutes). The batter should become thick and foamy.
In a double boiler or equivalent, heat 2 tablespoons (30g) of cream to boiling. Add the chopped chocolate and stir until melted and smooth. Whip the remainder of the cream until stiff. Pour the melted chocolate over the softened gelatine, mixing well. Let the gelatine and chocolate cool slightly and then stir in ½ cup (100g) of whipped cream to temper. Add the Pate a Bombe. Add in the rest of the whipped cream (220g) mixing gently with a spatula.
Dark Chocolate – Peanut Butter Ganache Insert:
- 1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar
- 4.5oz (2/3 cup – 1 Tbsp/ 135g) heavy cream
- 5 oz (135g) dark chocolate, finely chopped
- 3Tbsp + 1/2tsp (45g) unsalted butter softened
- 2 Tbsp crunchy peanut butter
Make a caramel: Using the dry method, melt the sugar by spreading it in an even layer in a small saucepan with high sides. Heat over medium-high heat, watching it carefully as the sugar begins to melt. Never stir the mixture. As the sugar starts to melt, swirl the pan occasionally to allow the sugar to melt evenly. Cook to dark amber colour (for most of you that means darker than last month’s challenge). While the sugar is melting, heat the cream until boiling. Pour cream into the caramel and stir thoroughly. Be very careful as it may splatter and boil. Pour the hot caramel-milk mixture over the dark chocolate and peanut butter. Wait 30 seconds and stir until smooth. Add the softened butter and whip hard and fast (if you have a plunging mixer use it). The chocolate should be smooth and shiny.
Peanut Butter – Milk Chocolate Feuilletine Crisp Insert:
- 3.5 oz (100g) milk chocolate
- 60 gr / 4 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
- 2.1oz (60g) lace crepes (gavottes- feuilletine)
Melt the chocolate and peanut butter in a double boiler. Add the coarsely crushed lace crepes. Mix quickly to thoroughly coat with the chocolate. Spread between two sheets of wax paper to a size slightly larger than your desired shape. Refrigerate until hard.
Peanut Butter Crème Brulée Insert:
- 1/2 cup (115g) heavy cream
- ½ cup (115g) whole milk
- 4 medium-sized (72g) egg yolks
- 0.75 oz (2 Tbsp / 25g) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 60 gr/ 4 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
Heat the milk, cream, and peanut butter to just boiling. Whisk together the sugar and egg yolks (but do not beat until white). Pour the milk over the sugar/yolk mixture. Mix well. Wipe with a very wet cloth and then cover your baking with parchment paper. Pour the cream into the mould and bake at 210°F (100°C) for about 1 hour or until firm on the edges and slightly wobbly in the center. Let cool and put in the freezer for at least 1 hour to firm up and facilitate the final assembly.
White Chocolate Icing
- 1.5 gelatine sheets or 3g / 1/2Tbsp powdered gelatine
- 3.5 oz (100g) white chocolate
- 2 Tbsp (30g) unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup (90 g) whole milk
- 1 2/3 Tbsp (30g) glucose or thick corn syrup
- 1/ 4 tsp green food colouring
Red fondant circles and yellow starsSoften the gelatine in cold water for 15 minutes. Coarsely chop the chocolate and butter together. Bring the milk and glucose syrup to a boil. Add the gelatine. Pour the mixture over the chocolate and butter. Whisk until smooth and add the food colouring. Let cool while checking the texture regularly. As soon as the mixture is smooth and coats a spoon well, use immediately.
How To Assemble your French Yule Log as a Christmas Tree:
I’ve used ice cream glass cups, that have a slightly cone shape that I thought it would look like Christmas trees when inverted.
- Line your moulds with foil and then plastic wrap.
- Pipe one third of the Mousse component into the mould.
- Take the Creme Bruleé Insert out of the freezer at the last minute and set on top of the mousse. Press down gently to slightly ensconce it in the mousse.
- Pipe second third of the Mousse component around and on top of the Creme Brulee Insert.
- Cut the Praline/Crisp Insert to a size slightly smaller than your mold so that it can be surrounded by mousse. Lay it on top of the mousse you just piped into the mold.
- Pipe the last third of the Mousse component on top of the Praline Insert.
- Freeze for a few hours to set. Take out of the freezer.
- Pipe the Ganache Insert onto the frozen mousse leaving a slight edge so that ganache doesn’t seep out when you set the Dacquoise on top.
- Close with the Dacquoise.
- Freeze until the next day.
- Unmold the cake/log/whatever and set on a wire rack over a shallow pan.
- Cover the cake with the icing and decorate with the foundat cirles to resemble Christmas balls and yellow stars on top.
- Let set. Return to the freezer.
- Transfer to the refrigerator no longer than ½ hour before serving as it may start to melt quickly depending on the elements you chose.
I bet you would have eaten your Christmas tree as well, wouldn't you?!
You can check all the other Yule Logs here.
Have a wonderful 2009 wonderful people! | <urn:uuid:449eba03-9873-4bd2-9cac-4ce2750be24b> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://clumbsycookie.blogspot.com/2008/12/help-i-ate-my-christmas-tree-and-i.html?showComment=1230556920000 | 2016-07-29T05:58:37Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257829972.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071029-00156-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.895974 | 1,997 |
Members of the Sloan Jury at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, chosen by the Sundance Institute and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, also participated in the Science in Film Forum Panel at the Festival. The members of the 2013 Sloan Jury were: Paula Apsell (Senior Executive Producer, Nova and Nova ScienceNow, Director, WGBH Science Unit), Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, The Fountain, Pi), Scott Burns (writer, Contagion, Pu-239, The Informant and producer, An Inconvenient Truth), Dr. André Fenton (Professor of Neural Science at the Center for Neural Science at New York University), Dr. Lisa Randall (Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science, Harvard University, author of Knocking on Heaven’s Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World).
2013 marks the 10th Anniversary of the Alfred P. Sloan Science in Film initiative, a collaboration between Sundance Institute and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to support the development and presentation of film projects that explore science and technology ideas, or depict scientists, engineers, and mathematicians in engaging new ways. Activities include the Science in Film Forum, the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, the Sloan Commissioning Grant, and the Sloan Feature Film Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, “Scientists, engineers, mathematicians are – like filmmakers – some of the most imaginative and adventurous thinkers of our time, and the Alfred P. Sloan Science in Film initiative has fostered awareness of and engagement with these fascinating themes in independent film for the last 10 years.”
"We are thrilled to celebrate our tenth anniversary with Sundance, which has been such a great partner in our nationwide effort to encourage filmmakers to engage with science and technology themes and characters,” said Doron Weber, Vice President, Programs at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “Anyone who looks at the incredible list of winning films, from Shane Carruth's Primer and Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man to Jake Scheirer’sRobot and Frank and Musa Syeed's Valley of Saints—or at the amazing screenplays that have been developed through the Sloan Fellowship at Sundance Institute Labs and the Sloan Commissioning Grant—will see that science and technology can reveal the human condition in ways previously unseen and undreamt of."
For more information about the Science in Film initiative, along with updated content, a complete list of supported filmmakers, trailers for completed films, and an interview with Jake Schreier (director, Robot and Frank, 2012 Sloan Prize Winner), visit www.sundance.org/science-in-film.
Feature Film Prize Jury
The Sloan Jury determines the recipient of the Sloan Feature Film Prize at the Sundance Film Festival which is presented to an outstanding Festival feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer or mathematician as a major character. The Prize includes a $20,000 cash award by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Previous Alfred P. Sloan Prize Winners include: Jake Schreier and Christopher Ford, Robot & Frank, and Musa Syeed, Valley of Saints (2012); Mike Cahill and Brit Marling, Another Earth (2011); Diane Bell, Obselidia(2010); Max Mayer, Adam (2009); Alex Rivera, Sleep Dealer (2008); Shi-Zheng Chen, Dark Matter (2007); Andrucha Waddington, The House of Sand (2006); Werner Herzog, Grizzly Man (2005), Shane Carruth, Primer(2004) and Marc Decena, Dopamine (2003). Several past winners have also been awarded Jury Awards at the Festival, including the Grand Jury Prize for Primer, the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for Sleep Dealer and the Excellence in Cinematography Award for Obselidia.
Science in Film Forum Panel
The Science in Film Forum Panel takes place at Sundance Film Festival on January 22 at 2:30 p.m. MT at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City. Sloan Jurors Aronofsky, Burns, Dr. Fenton and Dr. Randall will engage in conversation with moderator Paula Apsell.
Juror and Panelist Bios
As Director of the WGBH Science Unit and Senior Executive Producer of the PBS science series NOVA, Paula Apsell has overseen the production of hundreds of acclaimed science documentaries, including such distinguished miniseries as The Fabric of the Cosmos with Brian Greene, Origins with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Making Stuff with David Pogue and the magazine spin-off NOVA scienceNOW. NOVA is the nation’s most watched science series, a top site on pbs.org, and recipient of every major broadcasting honor, including the Emmy®, the Peabody®, and the duPont-Columbia Gold Baton. Paula has won numerous individual awards and has served on many boards including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. She was recently journalist in residence at UC Santa Barbara’s Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics.
Academy Award® Nominated Director Darren Aronofsky was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. His most recent film, Black Swan, won Natalie Portman the Academy Award® for Best Actress and received four other nominations, including Best Picture. The film received scores of other accolades, appeared on over 200 critical Top Ten lists, and swept the 2011 Independent Spirit Award with wins for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Cinematography. Prior to Black Swan, Darren directed The Wrestler. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival where it won the esteemed Golden Lion making it only the third American film in history to win this grand prize. He also directed The Fountain, starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz, and Requiem for a Dream, which was named to over 150 Top Ten lists. Darren’s first feature, π, won the Director’s Award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival and an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. He is currently at work on Noah, based on the biblical story of Noah’s ark. Among his honors, the American Film Institute gave Darren the prestigious Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal, the Stockholm Film Festival presented him the Golden Horse Visionary Award, and he has won three Independent Spirit Awards.
Scott Z. Burns
Scott Burns is screenwriter, director and producer. He wrote the original screenplay for Contagion, directed by Steven Soderbergh, starring Matt Damon, penned the screen adaptation of Soderbergh's The Informant! and co-wrote the Academy Award® winning Bourne Ultimatum, directed by Paul Greengrass. He was a producer on An Inconvenient Truth, the Academy Award® winning documentary, for which he received the Humanitas Prize and the Stanley Kramer Award from the Producers Guild of America. Scott recently completed production on Side Effects, a psychological thriller, slated for release in early 2013. It stars Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Catherine Zeta Jones and Channing Tatum and is again directed by Steven Soderbergh with Scott writing and producing along with Greg Jacobs and Lorenzo Di Bonaventura. Currently, Scott is writing The Library, a stage play based on the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School with Steven Soderbergh directing and Kennedy/Marshall producing. The play is under development at the Public Theater in New York City. Scott began his career in advertising and was part of the creative team responsible for the original "Got Milk?" campaign. His advertising work has been recognized by the Clio Awards, the Cannes Film Festival, and the New York Film Festival.
Dr. André Fenton
Dr. André Fenton, is a neuroscientist, biomedical engineer and entrepreneur working on three related problems: how brains store information in memory; how brains coordinate knowledge to selectively activate relevant information and suppress irrelevant information; and how to record electrical activity from brain cells in freely-moving subjects. André and colleagues identified PKMzeta as the first memory storage molecule, a discovery identified by Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s journal, as one of the ten most important breakthroughs in all the science reported in 2006. Recordings of electrical brain activity in André’s lab are elucidating the physiology of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia. It was recently discovered that preemptive cognitive training during adolescence changes the brain sufficiently to prevent the adult brain dysfunction and cognitive impairments that arises from brain damage during early life in a schizophrenia-related animal model. André is a Professor of Neural Science at New York University’s Center for Neural Science. He founded Bio-Signal Group Corp., which is developing an inexpensive, miniature wireless EEG system for functional brain monitoring of patients in emergency medicine applications and other clinical scenarios.
Dr. Lisa Randall
Dr. Lisa Randall studies theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University where she is Frank J. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science. Her research connects theoretical insights addressing puzzles in our current understanding of the properties of matter, the universe, and space. Dr. Randall is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is the recipient of many awards and honorary degrees. Professor Randall was included in Time Magazine's “100 Most Influential People” of 2007, was among Esquire Magazine's “75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century," and was one of 40 people featured in “The Rolling Stone 40th Anniversary issue" in 2008. Dr. Randall's two books, Warped Passages (2005) and Knocking on Heaven’s Door (2011) were featured on the lists of New York Times 100 Most Influential Books. Her ebook, Higgs Discovery: The Power of Empty Space, was published last summer.
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Founded in 1934, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a non-profit philanthropy that makes grants in science, technology and economic performance. This Sloan-Sundance partnership forms part of a broader national program by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to stimulate leading artists in film, television, and theater; to create more realistic and compelling stories about science and technology; and to challenge existing stereotypes about scientists, engineers, and mathematicians in the popular imagination. Over the past decade, the Foundation has partnered with some of the top film schools in the country – including AFI, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, NYU, UCLA, and USC – and established annual awards in screenwriting and film production and an annual first-feature award for alumni. The Foundation has also started an annual Sloan Feature Film Prize at the Hamptons International Film Festival and initiated new screenwriting and film production workshops at the Hamptons and Tribeca Film Festival and with Film Independent. As more finished films emerge from this developmental pipeline—four features were completed this year, with half a dozen more on deck—the foundation has also partnered with the Coolidge Corner Theater and the Arthouse Convergence to screen science films in up to 40 theaters nationwide. The Foundation also has an active theater program and commissions over a dozen science plays each year from the Ensemble Studio Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club and Playwright Horizons.
The Sundance Film Festival®
A program of the non-profit Sundance Institute®, the Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most ground-breaking films of the past two decades, including sex, lies, and videotape, Maria Full of Grace, The Cove, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, An Inconvenient Truth, Precious, Trouble the Water, and Napoleon Dynamite, and through its New Frontier initiative, has showcased the cinematic works of media artists including Isaac Julien, Doug Aitken, Pierre Huyghe, Jennifer Steinkamp, and Matthew Barney. The 2013 Sundance Film Festival® sponsors include: Presenting Sponsors – HP, Acura, Sundance Channel and Chase Sapphire PreferredSM; Leadership Sponsors – DIRECTV, Entertainment Weekly, FOCUS FORWARD, a partnership between GE and CINELAN, Southwest Airlines, Sprint and YouTube; Sustaining Sponsors – Adobe, Canada Goose, Canon U.S.A., Inc., CÎROC Ultra Premium Vodka, FilterForGood®, a partnership between Brita® and Nalgene®, Hilton HHonors and Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Intel Corporation, L'Oréal Paris, Recycled Paper Greetings, Stella Artois® and Time Warner Inc. Sundance Institute recognizes critical support from the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development, and the State of Utah as Festival Host State. The support of these organizations will defray costs associated with the 10-day Festival and the nonprofit Sundance Institute's year-round programs for independent film and theatre artists. www.sundance.org/festival.
Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is a global, nonprofit cultural organization dedicated to nurturing artistic expression in film and theater, and to supporting intercultural dialogue between artists and audiences. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to unite, inform and inspire, regardless of geo-political, social, religious or cultural differences. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival and its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, film composers, playwrights and theatre artists, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. | <urn:uuid:b66d6d0e-ce46-4e03-9c33-a7e554fe1727> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.indiewire.com/2013/02/sundance-institute-and-alfred-p-sloan-mark-10th-anniversary-of-collaboration-170021/ | 2016-07-29T06:35:09Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257829972.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071029-00156-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926953 | 2,836 |
Mustangs knock off No. 9
NEWELL - The Newell-Fonda football team knocked off their second consecutive ranked opponent here Friday night, trouncing No. 9 (8-Man) Remsen-Union by a 47-14 final.
Junior Rigo Johnson delivered a pair of touchdown runs for the Mustangs (3-0 overall, 1-0 in district). Johnson found paydirt from 53- and 1-yard out, respectively.
Brady Bohe also contributed a 53-yard scoring jaunt for Newell-Fonda, who compiled 329 yards of total offense, including 246 on the ground.
Defensively, the Mustangs held the Rockets (2-1, 0-1) to just 87 yards rushing. Newell-Fonda's Matt Juilfs (55 yards) and Dalton Anderson (25 yards) each returned interceptions for touchdowns.
Through three weeks of action, the Mustangs have outscored their opponents by a lopsided combined margin of 166-22.
Warriors run through Spartans
GOWRIE - The Prairie Valley football team scored a convincing 43-7 victory over West Monona to open district play Friday night.
The Warriors (2-1 overall, 1-0 in district) had 292 yards rushing, led by Nick Carlson's 104 yards and three TDs.
Mason Gordon added 92 yards on 18 carries, while Matt Streit had 44 yards and two touchdowns.
Streit also added three receptions for 48 yards.
Branden Fiala and Blake Kromrie had 11 tackles to spearhead Prairie Valley.
Lynx knock off Ballard, 28-14
WEBSTER CITY - The fifth-ranked (Class 3A) Webster City football team kept its perfect season intact with a 28-14 home victory over District 3 foe Ballard here Friday night.
Keagan Parks continued his impressive senior campaign for the Lynx (3-0 overall, 1-0 in district) by rushing for 182 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries. Parks found the endzone from 1-yard out in the first quarter and put the game out of reach with a 75-yard dash to paydirt late in the final frame.
Sam Mossman of the Lynx also gained 64 yards on eight attempts, while Jonny Davis pitched in 63 yards on 12 totes, including a 31-yard scoring scamper midway through the second period. Davis' other touchdown came on a 2-yard plunge early in the fourth.
Boone Myers led the Webster City defense with 6.5 tackles.
Seth Weeks ran 29 times for 90 yards for the Bombers (1-2, 0-1).
Eagle Grove thumps BCLUW
EAGLE GROVE - Eagle Grove posted a resounding 34-7 triumph over BCLUW in Class 1A, District 4 play on Friday night.
Brandon Johnson, a junior, sparked the Eagles (2-1 overall, 1-0 in district) offensively with 110 yards and four touchdowns on 13 carries.
Mitch Gambrill added 86 yards and a score on 13 attempts for Eagle Grove, which produced 379 yards of total offense.
Johnson also anchored the Eagle defensive unit with an interception. The Comets (2-0, 0-1) finished with 198 yards of offense.
MNW rolls at home
MANSON - Manson Northwest Webster's Brody Eischeid opened Friday night's district contest against Hinton in perfect fashion, taking the kickoff back 93 yards as the Cougars rolled to a 33-6 victory.
Eischeid scored two more times on the night, catching 40- and 10-yard passes from Tucker Herzberg. He finished the game with eight receptions for 174 yards.
Herzberg was 12 of 16 passing for 204 yards and the two TD strikes to Eischeid, while Chris Stuhrenberg added 10 carries for 53 yards and a touchdown.
Stuhrenberg went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for his Manson NW (2-2 overall, 1-0 in district) career, as the senior now has 1,047 yards on the ground.
CLARION - The Clarion-Goldfield football team earned a win in their district opener Friday night, downing Iowa Falls-Alden, 32-24.
Dominic Brandt led the Cowboys (2-1 overall, 1-0 in district) with 149 yards rushing and four two-point conversions.
Wyatt Sann added 94 yards on the ground, including a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
Sann became the 29th player in Iowa high school history to return a kickoff 99 yards, tying a state record. Kickoffs that reach the endzone in high school are automatically brought out to the 20-yard line.
Jake Haberman scored three rushing touchdowns for Clarion-Goldfield.
No. 5 Titans shut out JSPC, 28-0
LAKE CITY - The fifth-ranked (Class 2A) South Central Calhoun football team claimed a convincing 28-0 victory over Jefferson-JSPC to open district play Friday night.
Jacob Simpson paced the Titans (3-0 overall, 1-0 in district) with 89 yards rushing and a touchdown, while Austin Blair had 84 yards on 14 totes and a score.
Nathan Christensen completed 5 of 10 passes for 76 yards, including a 46-yard score to Brett Monahan for the first score of the game. Monahan finished with four receptions for 56 yards.
The final score of the game came from Brett Snyder, his first of the year.
SCC's defense held the Rams (2-1, 0-1) out of the endzone, as Blair picked up eight tackles, Kirby Vogel had seven and Simpson registered six with a fumble recovery.
E-Hawks roll past Rebels
ALBERT CITY - No. 1 (Class 1A) Emmetsburg had no trouble with District 2 counterpart Sioux Central on Friday night.
The E-Hawks (3-0 overall, 1-0 in district) rolled past the Rebels (2-1, 0-1), 35-7.
Senior Brady Berkland ignited the prolific Emmetsburg ground assault with 175 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries.
Andrew Wellik of the E-Hawks also ran 20 times for 173 yards and a score.
Emmetsburg's other touchdowns came on a 4-yard jaunt from Jake Jackson and a Marcus Akridge 57-yard blocked punt return.
The E-Hawks outgained Sioux Central in total yardage, 462-279.
Defensively, Berkland also collected a team-high 12.5 tackles from his linebacker spot.
No. 7 Wolverines stay red-hot
WEST BEND - The seventh-ranked (8-man) West Bend-Mallard football team opened up district play with a convincing 44-14 victory over Harris-Lake Park Friday night.
Mitch Bonnstetter led the Wolverines (4-0 overall, 1-0 in district) with 191 yards rushing on 23 carries, including four touchdowns, and was a precise 7-for-11 passing for 119 yards.
Collin Thatcher added 78 yards rushing and two touchdowns for West Bend-Mallard, which limited H-LP to just 26 yards on the ground.
Logan Streit pitched in 50 yards rushing for the Wolverines.
BG's Wadle throws for 203 yards in win
ALGONA - The Bishop Garrigan footbal team rolled to a 20-6 victory over West Sioux Friday night.
Freshman Reece Wadle led the Golden Bears (2-1 overall) with 203 yards passing on 6 of 13, including a 75-yard touchdown strike to Luke Eischen. Wadle also added a team-high 89 yards rushing.
Eischen finished with two grabs for 93 yards, while Zach Keith added two catches for 103 yards.
Daniel Gelhaus led the Garrigan defense with an interception, while Alex Boisjolie had a team-high 10 tackles.
Indians lose tight contest, 13-10
POCAHONTAS - Despite a valiant effort, the Pocahontas Area/Pomeroy-Palmer football team dropped a nail-biting 13-10 decision to South O'Brien in Class 1A, District 2 action here Friday night.
Cody Rahn, a senior, powered the Indians (0-3 overall, 0-1 in district) offensively with 124 yards on 28 carries.
Luke Sommerlot also churned out 95 yards and a touchdown on 24 attempts for Pocahontas Area/Pomeroy-Palmer, who actually outgained the Wolverines (2-2, 1-0) in total offense, 222-124.
Jeff Mefferd kicked a 23-yard field goal in the second quarter as well for the Indians.
On the defensive side of the ball, Sommerlot (13) and Jay Brinkman (10) were the tackle leaders for the?Indians.
Sommerlot added a sack.
Laurens-Marathon blanks Spalding
LAURENS - The Laurens-Marathon football team had another strong offensive showing Friday night, but the defense made sure to match them, as the Chargers defeated Spalding, 52-0.
Justin DaSilva had 14 carries for 133 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Chargers (1-2, 1-0).
Alex Runneberg balanced out DaSilva's strong rushing game, completing 8 of 15 passes for 100 yards and two scores. He also ran in a 25-yard TD jaunt, finishing with 95 yards rushing.
Laurens-Marathon held Spalding to just 95 yards of total offense.
Algona falls to Boone
ALGONA - The Algona football team suffered a 28-8 setback against Boone Friday night.
Derek Person led the Bulldogs (0-3 overall, 0-1 in district) with 50 yards rushing and the lone score, as he also ran in the two-point conversion.
Person had a strong night passing the ball, as well, going 8-for-15 for 101 yards, including three connections with Dylan Cink for 42 yards.
Algona led 8-7 at the half before Boone reeled off 21 unanswered points. | <urn:uuid:6a4533ee-61b4-4fd1-af6c-28e0b1f2cb02> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.messengernews.net/page/content.detail/id/542222/Area-prep-football.html?nav=5253 | 2016-07-29T05:55:41Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257829972.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071029-00156-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95112 | 2,170 |
Synopses & Reviews
Now the biggest and the best recipe collection for the grill is getting better: Announcing the full-color edition of The Barbecue! Bible, the 900,000-copy bestseller and winner of the IACP/Julia Child Cookbook Award.
Redesigned inside and out for its 10th anniversary, The Barbecue! Bible now includes full-color photographs illustrating food preparation, grilling techniques, ingredients, and of course those irresistible finished dishes. A new section has been added with answers to the most frequently asked grilling questions, plus Steven's proven tips, quick solutions to common mistakes, and more.
And then there's the literal meat of the book: more than 500 of the very best barbecue recipes, inventive, delicious, unexpected, easy-to-make, and guaranteed to capture great grill flavors from around the world. Add in the full-color, and it's a true treasure.
From “America’s master griller” (Esquire), here’s the biggest, baddest, best salute to our passion for barbecue, now in a full-color edition. A 500-recipe celebration of sizzle and smoke, Steven Raichlen’s award-winning The Barbecue! Bible unlocks the secrets of live-fire cooking with top dishes, the tastiest sauces, and insider techniques and tips. It’s got everything: how to grill the perfect T-bone. Succulent chicken from around the world: Jamaica, Senegal, Brazil, India, Thailand, Uruguay. A perfect meeting of fire and ice: Fire-Roasted Banana Splits. Includes FAQs, problem-solving tips, and comprehensive notes on equipment, ingredients, marinades, rubs—even a chapter on thirst-quenchers to serve while you’re busy fanning the coals.
About the Author
Steven Raichlen is America’s “master griller” (Esquire). His books have won James Beard and IACP awards and Planet Barbecue! was a New York Times bestseller. Articles by him appear regularly in The New York Times, Food & Wine, and Bon Appetit, and for the past dozen years he's taught the sold-out Barbecue University, first at the Greenbrier and currently at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. His 13-episode PBS series, Project Smoke, launched in summer 2015 and is expected to air in more than 90% of PBS markets by summer 2016. He and his wife live in Miami and on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Grilling Basics: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know in order to grill and barbecue like a pro—in no time flat. How to master direct and indirect grilling; pit barbecuing; grilling on a rotisserie; and grilling without a grate. What to look for in equipment; how to buy the right fuel, how to light it, and how to keep it lit. Plus the scoop on accessories. Chapter 2: Thirst Quenchers
Cooking over a hot grill can work up a powerful thirst, and pit masters world-wide know that there are more ways to quench it than with beer. Here, then, is a mix of coolers—with and without alcohol—to accompany any barbecue.Chapter 3: Warm-Ups
Set your barbecue off to the happiest start with a selection of appetizing openers: Silver Paper Chicken, Honey-Glazed Hong Kong Wings, Shrimp Mousse on Sugarcane. Or how about a smoky Grilled Corn Chowder? Theyre all so good they taste like the main event themselves. Chapter 4: Blazing Salads
Salads play two roles in the world of barbecue. Some, like Grilled Vegetable Caponata and Grilled Pork with a Sweet-Tart Dressing, are themselves grilled dishes. Others set off a grilled dish perfectly. You need go no farther than this chapter to enjoy both kinds. Chapter 5: Grilled Bread
From irresistible Grilled Garlic Bread Fingers to Catalan Tomato Bread to from-scratch Tandoori-Baked Flat Breads—whether ready-made or homemade, the grill gives bread unmatched flavor and crispiness. Chapter 6: Whats Your Beef?
Texas-Style Barbecued Brisket and Brazilian Stuffed Rib Roast; Florentine-Style Steak and Bengali Shish Kebabs; Saigon Market Beef Sticks and Korean Grilled Short Ribs. Beef on the grill—savory, succulent, sensational—a perfect match of food and fire. Chapter 7: High on Hog
Time to go whole hog! Cook up the tenderest North Carolina Pulled Pork or fieriest Jamaican Jerk Pork Tenderloin. Feast on Pork with Moorish Seasonings, Sweet & Garlicky Pork Chops, or finger-licking Memphis-Style Ribs. Chapter 8: A Little Lamb
So many of the worlds barbecuers love to grill lamb that its no wonder the selection of dishes is outstanding. Try Cape Town Lamb from South Aftrica, “Onion Water” Lamb Chops from Afghanistan, and The Real Turkish Shish Kebab from Turkey (of course!)Chapter 9: Ground Meat, Burgers & Sausages
The U.S. might have the best burgers, but wait till you taste the ground meat concoctions the rest of the world has to offer—Indonesian Flying Fox Satés, Oasis Kebabs from the Middle East, The Original Karims Seekh Kebab from India—proving that the appeal of flavorful ground meat is universal. Chapter 10: Bird Meets Grill
The world loves a great grilled chicken, and here are some recipes to help you achieve greatness: Chicken Satés Served in Lettuce Leaves, Sea Captains Chicken Tikka, and Bahamian Grilled Chicken, to name a few. But dont overlook other birds that cook up deliciously on the grill, as well—check out the recipes for quail, duck and turkey. Chapter 11: Water Meets Fire: Fish on the Grill
Fresh fish, perfectly grilled, is spectacularly succulent. Dont miss Whole Grilled Snapper with South African Spices, Grilled Sea Bass with Fresh Artichoke Salad, Grilled Salmon Kiev, and Grilled Sole with Catalan Fruits & Nuts.Chapter 12: Hot Shells: Lobster, Shrimp, Scallops, and Clams
Grilled Spiny Lobster with Basil Butter, Scallop Kebabs with Pancetta, Lemon, and Basil, Oysters with Horseradish Cream, and enough shrimp recipes to keep the barbie fired up for weeks. Here is shellfish at its best!Chapter 13: Vegetarian Grill
No longer only just for meat-eaters, now you can serve up a complete range of vegetarian dishes at a barbecue, including The Original Grilled Pizza, exotic Tabdoori Peppers, a lush Provençal Dagwood, and steak-like Grilled Portobello Mushroom Sandwiches with Basil Aioli. Chapter 14: Vegetables: Greens Meet Grill
There is probably no better way to heighten the natural flavor of a vegetable than by grilling. Proof is no farther away than Georgian Vegetable Kebabs, Catalan Grilled Artichokes, Argentinean Grilled Eggplant, Chorizo Grilled Mushrooms, and wonderfully warming Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Sesame Dipping Sauce. Chapter 15: Rice, Beans, and Beyond
Most of the worlds great grilled dishes are accompanied by flavorfully prepared grains and beans. Dig into Persian-Style Steamed Rice and Quick and Smoky Baked Beans. And for something less expected, how about a Yorkshire Pudding on the Grill?Chapter 16: Sidekicks: Pickles, Relishes, Salsas, and Slaws
Bring on the condiments—those savory, fiery, sweet, and utterly satisfying go-withs that dress up any barbecue. Central Asian Pickles, Onion Relish with Pomegranate Molasses, Pineapple Chutney, “Dogs Snout” Salsa, and Tomato Peanut Sambal will add pizzazz to even the simplest grilled chicken, steak, or fish.
Chapter 17: Sauces
All great pit masters are judged on their barbecue sauces and youll match the best of them with this far-reaching collection. From a sweet-sour Basic Barbeque Sauce to a contemporary Ginger-Plum Barbecue Sauce to a mouth-scorching Portuguese Piri-Piri
, there are plenty to match any grilled dish. Chapter 18: Rub It In
Memphis Rub and Indian Roasted Spice Powder; Mexican Smoked Chile Marinade and Teriyaki Marinade; Roquefort Butter, Ketjap Butter, and Bourbon Butter Basting Sauce. A full selection of rubs, marinades, butters, and bastes add zip to even the simplest fare. Chapter 19: Fire and Ice: Desserts
No great barbecue is complete without a great dessert. Whether you end with a final flourish on the grill or with a luscious frozen dessert, you wont go wrong. Dont forget to leave room for Fire-Roasted Apples, Balinese Grilled Bananas in Coconut Milk Caramel, Persian Lemon and Rose Water “Sundae” with Sour Cherry Syrup, and Coconut Ice Cream. | <urn:uuid:50143faf-53f0-4185-9480-de424089bb4d> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.powells.com/book/barbecue-bible-10th-anniversary-edition-9780761149439 | 2016-07-29T06:10:50Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257829972.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071029-00156-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.882103 | 1,979 |
Scouts panned the state of Florida’s talent all year, starting with the usual fertile southern part of the state. Not only did the University of Miami have a down season, but the area’s high school talent sank to what many scouts considered an all-time low.
|THIS YEAR’S CROP|
|*****||One for the books|
|***||Solid, not spectacular|
|**||Not up to par|
|*||Nothing to see here|
|Rating compares this year’s group to what a state typically produces, not to other states|
The Florida Gators had significant roster turnover after three straight trips to the College World Series, and Florida State’s top talents are underclassmen. Florida Gulf Coast figures to have the most players drafted among the Sunshine State’s colleges, and the junior-college ranks were just solid, with few standout prospects.
The state’s prep class also failed to wow, as top talents such as Oscar Mercado hit below .300, infielder Tucker Neuhaus battled injuries, and few pitchers with projectable frames made steps forward. The state’s prep talent put on one final uninspiring display in the all-star weekend in Sebring, Fla., in the last week of May. A complicating factor in Florida’s prep ranks is the growing number of private schools that have attracted top-tier talent but are not members of the state’s high school association, which puts on the all-star game.
One wild card in the draft class is Karsten Whitson, the 2010 first-round pick of the Padres who instead went to college and pitched the prior two seasons at Florida. Whitson had shoulder surgery prior to the 2013 season and is draft-eligible but is taking a medical redshirt at Florida. He’s expected to re-enter the 2014 draft class.
|NATIONAL TOP 500 PROSPECTS|
|BA 500 Scouting Reports|
1. Jonathan Crawford, RHP/OF, Florida (National Rank: 24)
2. Oscar Mercado, SS, Gaither HS, Tampa (National Rank: 38)
3. Cord Sandberg, OF, Manatee HS, Bradenton, Fla. (National Rank: 40)
4. Chris Anderson, RHP, Jacksonville (National Rank: 45)
5. Chris Okey, C, Eustis (Fla.) HS (National Rank: 72)
6. Tucker Neuhaus, SS, Wharton HS, Tampa (National Rank: 83)
7. Tyler Danish, RHP, Durant HS, Plant City, Fla. (National Rank: 96)
8. Daniel Gibson, LHP, Florida (National Rank: 100)
9. Christian Arroyo, SS, Hernando HS, Brooksville, Fla. (National Rank: 102)
10. Zack Collins, C/1B, American Heritage HS, Plantation, Fla. (National Rank: 113)
11. Brett Morales, RHP, King HS, Tampa (National Rank: 118)
12. Victor Caratini, 3B/C, Miami Dade JC (National Rank: 124)
13. Ben Lively, RHP, Central Florida (National Rank: 127)
14. J.B. Woodman, OF, Edgewater HS, Orlando (National Rank: 135)
15. Sean Brady, LHP, Baker HS, Cape Coral, Fla. (National Rank: 184)
16. Brian Navaretto, C, Arlington Country Day HS, Jacksonville (National Rank: 185)
17. Ricky Knapp, RHP, Florida Gulf Coast (National Rank: 187)
18. Ben DeLuzio, OF, The First Academy, Orlando (National Rank: 201)
19. Willie Abreu, OF, Mater Academy, Hialeah Gardens, Fla. (National Rank: 205)
20. Carlos Asuaje, INF, Nova Southeastern (Fla.) (National Rank: 208)
21. Stephen Alemais, SS, Elev8 Sports Institute, Delray Beach, Fla. (National Rank: 209)
22. Ian McKinney, LHP, Boone HS, Orlando (National Rank: 213)
23. Luis Guillorme, SS, Coral Springs (Fla.) HS (National Rank: 222)
24. Ronald Healy, C/1B, Elev8 Sports Institute, Delray Beach, Fla. (National Rank: 236)
25. Harrison Cooney, RHP, Florida Gulf Coast (National Rank: 240)
26. Bryan Baker, RHP, Choctawhatchee HS, Fort Walton Beach, Fla. (National Rank: 241)
27. Brandon Bednar, 2B/SS, Florida Gulf Coast (National Rank: 262)
28. Tyler Marincov, OF, North Florida (National Rank: 270)
29. Jon Keller, RHP, Tampa (National Rank: 295)
30. Nick Longhi, OF, Venice (Fla.) HS (National Rank: 296)
31. John Sternagel, 3B, Rockledge (Fla.) HS (National Rank: 297)
32. Luis Aviles, SS, Southwest Miami HS (National Rank: 299)
33. Sean Dwyer, OF, Florida Gulf Coast (National Rank: 326)
34. Mike Adams, LHP, Tampa (National Rank: 351)
35. Stephen McGee, C, Florida State (National Rank: 392)
36. Marcus Davis, OF, Florida State (National Rank: 409)
37. Kyle Westwood, RHP, North Florida (National Rank: 412)
38. Zach Alvord, 3B, Tampa (National Rank: 429)
39. J.D. Underwood, RHP, Palm Beach State (Fla.) JC (National Rank: 438)
40. John Magliozzi, RHP, Florida (National Rank: 439)
41. Ryan Etsell, RHP, Hillsborough (Fla.) JC (National Rank: 445)
42. Mike Reeves, C, Florida Gulf Coast (National Rank: 456)
43. Blake Hennessey, SS, Arlington Country Day HS, Ponte Vedra, Fla. (National Rank: 482)
44. Dane Dunning, RHP, Clay HS, Green Cove Springs, Fla. (National Rank: 490)
|OTHER PROSPECTS OF NOTE|
45. Peter Miller, rhp, Florida State
46. Karsten Whitson, rhp, Florida
47. Nick Eicholz, rhp, Cambridge Christian HS, Odessa, Fla.
48. Garrett Nuss, rhp, Seminole State (Fla.) JC
49. Taylor Blatch, rhp, Jensen Beach (Fla.) HS
50. Daniel Sweet, of, Polk State (Fla.) JC
51. Adrian Chacon, 3b/c, Jesuit HS, Tampa
52. Pete Alonso, 1b/3b, Plant HS, Tampa
53. Josh Greene, of, Forest HS, Ocala, Fla.
54. Corey Bass, c, North Florida
55. Nick Gonzalez, lhp, South Florida
56. Ian Hagenmiller, 3b, Palm Beach Central HS, West Palm Beach, Fla.
57. Michael Danner, of, Tampa
58. Cody Crouse, rhp, Bloomingdale HS, Valrico, Fla.
59. Scott Moss, lhp, Deland (Fla.) HS
60. Tyler Alexander, lhp, Florida International
61. C.J. Chatham, ss, American Heritage HS, Fort Lauderdale
62. Iramis Olivecia, of, Arlington Country Day HS, Jacksonville
63. Trey Norris, rhp, Polk State (Fla.) JC
64. Nestor Cortes, lhp, Hialeah (Fla.) HS
65. Darryl Knight, c, Seminole State (Fla.) JC
66. Matthew Railey, of, North Florida Christian HS, Tallahassee, Fla.
67. James Ramsay, of, South Florida
68. Shane Crouse, rhp, Chipola (Fla.) JC
69. Shaun Anderson, rhp, American Heritage HS, Coral Springs, Fla.
70. Taylor Cockrell, rhp, Lake Wales (Fla.) HS
71. R.J. Brown, lhp, Florida Gulf Coast
72. Brett Clements, c, Nova Southeastern
73. Mike Sylvestri, rhp, Florida Atlantic
74. Jhalin Jackson, of, Hillsborough (Fla.) JC
75. Nathan Pittman, of, Florida Atlantic
76. Alex McGathey, rhp, Seminole HS, Treasure Island, Fla.
77. Dale Carey, of, Miami
78. Clay Simmons, ss, South Sumter HS, Bushnell, Fla.
79. Spencer Davis, rhp, Central Florida
80. Bryan Radziewski, lhp, Miami
81. Brandon Bixler, lhp, Florida Gulf Coast
82. Cody Stiles, rhp, Nova Southeastern
83. Eugene Vasquez, of/1b, Timber Creek HS, Orlando
84. Michael Mann, c, Seminole HS, Treasure Island, Fla.
85. Tyler Sanchez, c, Hillsborough (Fla.) JC
86. John Kilichowski, lhp/1b, Jesuit HS, Tampa
87. James Rasmussen, of, Stetson
88. Ricky Claudio, rhp/of, St. Thomas (Fla.)
89. Tyler Moore, rhp, North Florida
90. Chantz Mack, of, Miami
91. Chris Newcomb, of, St. Leo (Fla.)
92. Mario Amaral, c/1b, Miami-Dade JC
93. Vikash Ramjit, 1b/of, Florida
94. Kyle Zech, 2b/of, Stetson
95. Danny Patrick, rhp, Florida Gulf Coast | <urn:uuid:47c52530-ea76-41cf-af40-f55bfd8058a6> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/2013-state-draft-report-florida/ | 2016-07-31T03:37:06Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469258948913.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723072908-00308-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.720761 | 2,108 |
Get WRITE down to it!
Attend the Shocking Real Life Fall Writers Retreat Weekend to Jump Start Your Book!
September 24–25, 2016
Reserve Your Spot Now!
This is not your average writer’s retreat! This writing seminar is a lively, active, results-oriented symposium of creative and accomplished authors, attendees and answers to the questions that have been dogging you for years regarding how to go about getting a book deal. At the end of this book-writing retreat you will have a surmountable format for mapping out your book, the components you need to pitch a literary agent, including the agent contact information and the sample pages you need to send the agent. So, with that said, what’s stopping you?
Click the button below to enroll in The Shocking Real Life Writers Retreat with Hollis Gillespie on Sept. 24–25, 2016 (Or to register by phone, call 678-661-7080)
Price: $374* 100% Safe and Secure – We are PayPal verified. (SRL Alumni, enter the coupon code WRITEATLANTA to receive your $40 discount!) Click now and you’ll get an immediate email confirming your seat. Instant confirmation only available online. *Includes snacks, beverages and inappropriate conversation. (See the end of this post for Atlanta class location.)
Coming from out of town? Click here to see the lovely hotels and Bed & Breakfasts very near the SRL Learning Center!
Okay, you have a fantastic idea for a book — but do you know how to begin, finish, and sell it? Or let’s say you’ve already finished a manuscript, but now you’re at an impasse trying to get the attention of agents and publishers.Whether you’re at the idea stage or in the home stretch, this weekend will show you how to navigate the competitive world of book publishing and get your project sold.
Fact: People who enroll in this workshop become bestsellers!
Christal Presley, author of 30 Days with my Father, became a best-seller after taking this workshop. She’s been featured on NPR, Atlanta Journal Constitution and others news outlets. Click here to see her on Fox News.
“[Hollis Gillespie’s] writing class is where my life was TOTALLY and COMPLETELY changed forever!”
Lisa Baron, author of Life of the Party; a Political Press Tart Tells All, became an Amazon best-seller after taking this class. Recently she sold her film rights to NBC! Click here to see her feature in Atlantamagazine.
“I had two things working for me that I believe made the difference: determination and Hollis Gillespie’s kick-ass work shop! The workshop gave me the confidence I needed to continue following my dream of becoming a published author. She was key to helping me fine tune my proposal and her personal involvement in my journey has been invaluable.” Lisa Baron
“I wanted to THANK YOU, Hollis, for your workshop. It played a crucial role in being able to complete and submit a successful book proposal.”Rachael Brownell
(Check out the clip below to see what past participants have to say!)
Reserve Your Spot Now!
Click the button below to enroll in The Shocking Real Life Atlanta Writers Writers Conference with Hollis Gillespie on Sept. 24–25, 2016 (Or to register by phone, call 678-661-7080)
Click now and you’ll get an immediate email confirming your seat. Instant confirmation only available online. *Includes snacks, beverages and inappropriate conversation. (See the end of this post for Atlanta class location.)
(SRL Alumni, enter the coupon code WRITEATLANTA to receive your $40 discount!)
GIFT this class to someone you love! Enrollees will receive a gorgeous gift certificate attached to your confirmation email (if I do say so my own damn self). Printable, and ready to put under a bow! WOW, how great will THAT look ?
Whether you’re at the idea stage or in the home stretch, this weekend will show you how to navigate the competitive world of book publishing and get your project sold.
- In this workshop, you’ll learn:
- The marketability of your idea, and how to make it more so
- How to pitch an agent for representation and write the perfect query
- What publishers and agents are really looking for and what they hate
- How to avoid the most common rookie mistakes
- Which pages to send to a literary agent as a sample of your work (hint: It’s rarely the very first pages)
- How publishing houses and literary agencies benefit the author
- How to decipher the miasma of advances, royalties, subsidiary rights, foreign rights, and dramatic rights
Hollis Gillespie and a collective of other successful authors will share their secrets to unclogging your creative arteries so you can tell the world what you’ve been telling your friends all this time; that your book idea is a slam dunk, and now it’s time to cash it in. She and the other co-hosts will offer their candid critiques, suggestions for selling your work, and answer all your questions about breaking into book publishing.
Here’s some more things you will learn:
- How to pick an eye-grabbing title.
- Which genre best suits your idea (Memoir? Novel? Self-help? Humor?)
- When it’s permissible to embroider, improvise, and reorder real-life events.
- Exactly how to format your pitch letter.
- Exactly which agent to pitch (including contact info).
- How and when to contact agents.
- The difference between an illuminating essay and a journal entry.
And that’s not all, classes come with complimentary booze and finger food, as well as inappropriate conversation and other basic essentials for unleashing creativity and unlocking buried memories. Classes fill up quickly, so sign-up now!
Coming from out of town? Check out the Highland Inn, a charming, inexpensive boutique hotel within walking distance of the SRL Learning Center. It’s in the center of the artsy Virginia Highlands neighborhood, near popular restaurants, artisan gift shops, coffee houses and bars.
The Shocking Real Life Writers Conference Itinerary:
11:00 a.m.–5 p.m.
- Morning One-Hour Workshop hosted by Hollis Gillespie or a renowned guest speaker. Learn the slew of rookie mistakes that keep your manuscript from the eyes of a literary agent, and the surprisingly simple insider tricks that put your pitch ahead of all the others.
- Continental Breakfast — coffee, tea, hot cocoa, etc. (doughnuts will definitely make a showing).
- Introductory discussion with Hollis Gillespie, topics to include finding an agent and publisher for your manuscript, determining the genre of your book, breaking down doors and ass-kicking writing techniques.
- Lunch is served with complimentary mimosas and inappropriate conversation (useful for dislodging buried creativity). Menu to include items like 5-cheese flatbread, mushroom-and-spinach flatbread, deli spirals, fresh fruit and POT LUCK!. Coffee, tea and snacks will also be available throughout the day during workshops.
- Initial individual assessment of attendees’ manuscripts and ideas for manuscripts. Here is your chance to work on the preliminary format, working title and points of an elevator pitch for your manuscript or manuscript idea. Anytime you pitch to an agent, you need to sum up your book in one sentence. It’s harder than it sounds, and believe it or not it often falls to this precise sentence to make or break an agent’s decision to take you on as a client.
- Writing exercises. Material assessment. Homework distribution. (Yep. Homework, though we don’t make you sit in a corner if you don’t turn it in the next day.) (It’s fun homework, though, so you will want to do it.)
11:00 a.m.–5 p.m.
- Continental breakfast.
- Format your book, pitch an agent, learn to avoid rookie mistakes AS WELL AS learn the secrets that will put you ahead of 80 percent of the competition — it’s Hollis Gillespie’s sure-fire formula that has helped DOZENS of people get agent representation and/or book deals.
- Material assessment. Choosing the pages to present to the agent. (Hint: It’s almost never the very first pages.) How to treat, clean, edit and prepare your pages for presentation to an editor. Writing exercises.
- Lunch with complimentary mimosas and inappropriate conversation (marvelous for unblocking buried creativity)
- Afternoon workshop: The Con Game: Keeping Confidence That Your Work Will Work, hosted by Pulitzer Prize nominee Charles McNair, whose first novel, Land O’Goshen (St. Martin’s Press) received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for fiction and critical acclaim from the New York Times Book Review, Washington Post, and other venerated publications. This workshop is a personal approach to helping writers who haven’t broken through to keep believing they will. Charles will discuss the little ways you can build and nourish confidence along the way, until the novel is ready to be born, or the big work. “This is a topic that really deeply matters to me, since I struggled 10 years before a first book was ready,” says Charles. His novel, Land O’ Goshen (St. Martin’s Press, 1994) received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for fiction and was critically acclaimed by The New York Times and Washington Post.
- Each attendee will be assigned the contact info of a literary agent who is in the market for their type of material, and by the end of the weekend they will have a pitch letter formulated to attract that agent, a workable format for their manuscript plus 10 sample pages to include with their agent pitch.
- Your goal, by the end of this book-writers boot camp, is to have completed a professionally written query package to pitch your book, which includes a surmountable and creative format for your manuscript or book idea, a researched, completed pitch letter to a literary agent, and 10 professionally edited and treated sample pages to include with your query. Just give us this one weekend! Your life will change. | <urn:uuid:84a424d3-5e43-4b01-8a2b-2fd98a3ab25a> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.shockingreallife.com/writers-retreat-georgia/?type=day&date=2012-06-20 | 2016-07-23T15:00:54Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257823072.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071023-00019-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922575 | 2,201 |
We're less than a week from the launch of WWE Network. and anticipation is building for wrestling fans past and present across the country. As part of the initial launch, WWE is promising access to every pay-per-view event from the history of WWE, WCW, and ECW. A later release confirmed that statement, and WWE produced a list of the mammoth catalog of PPVs that would be available at launch.
With a monstrous selection of content, what should you watch first? WWE released a gallery of photos from the 15 best PPVs ever, There are a lot of good selections there, but there is also a good bit of recency bias and an emphasis on historical significance rather that sheer entertainment value. Several of the shows listed are great, but you've probably seen the best matches several times on various DVD releases. Here's what we think you should immediately stream once WWE Network launches on February 24th in chronological order – and hopefully, you've never seen many of these shows before.
WWF Royal Rumble 1994
So many early WWF cards were one match shows. This Royal Rumble only featured five matches, including the nearly hour-long Royal Rumble match, and they were all entertaining on different levels. The Quebecers took on Bret and Owen Hart in a match that set up a pair of epic matches between the Hart brothers in 1994, and also added drama to the Royal Rumble match that evening. Razor Ramon's Intercontinental Title defense against IRS featured some fantastic old-school heeling by the challenger. The Undertaker-Yokozuna clash resulted in one of the most ridiculous finishes in pro wrestling history. Finally, the Royal Rumble main event had some rare drama, created a star in Diesel, and formed the basis of the dual winner formula that has been dragged out of mothballs numerous times since.
WCW Great American Bash 1996
Bash at the Beach a month later was an excellent show, but the Great American Bash was a pretty great show in its own right. After a bit of a slow start to the show, a random luchador by the name of Rey Mysterio Jr. made his debut against Dean Malenko and lit the Baltimore Arena on fire, as the duo put on an insane contest that set the bar high for the rest of the show. While no other match was able to top that one, Kevin Sullivan and Chris Benoit tried, putting together a falls count anywhere match that went into the bathroom and set Dusty Rhodes off on one of the greatest commentary rants in wrestling history. The rest of the show featured an appearance from then-NFL star Kevin Greene, a solid match between Sting and Steven Regal, and a world title defense by The Giant, but those two matches in the middle of the card set this one apart from the usual chaos of WCW.
WWF Summerslam 1998
I love this show. Most of the attention in 1998 goes to WrestleMania XIV, Over the Edge, or King of the Ring, but Summerslam topped them all. The show started with four matches that were varying degrees of entertaining while also being good wrestling matches, and the next two were entertaining spectacles, though the quality can be debated. There is no debate about the quality of the final two matches of the show – a ladder match between The Rock and Triple H and a wild WWF Title match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Undertaker blew the doors off of Madison Square Garden.
ECW Living Dangerously 1999
I love this show a little too much, as it was the second ECW PPV I ever watched live. There was something for everyone on this show. If you're into fast cruiserweight action, Tajiri and Super Crazy have you covered. If you like comedy, Steve Corino took on Balls Mahoney in a match that kept pushing the limits on how much Corino could piss off the rabid ECW fans. If you're a fan of great pure wrestling with some hardcore mixed in, Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn had the first match in their legendary series on the show. If you're into sheer violence, New Jack beat the hell out of Mustafa and the Dudley Boyz fought Spike Dudley, Nova, and (later on) Sid Vicious tooth and nail. Then, there's the main event between Taz and Sabu, which is a violent, fantastic wrestling match.
WCW Spring Stampede 1999
This is one of the shows that stands out in the doldrums of WCW's final years. The first match on the show was one of the best of the year 1999, as Blitzkrieg and Juventud Guerrera put on a great show. Hak and Bam Bam Bigelow had a hardcore match that could best be described as fun, leading into a couple of mediocre undercard matches. Then, the cruiserweights took center stage again with another great match between Rey Mysterio Jr. and Billy Kidman. The featured matches then started to roll out, starting with an awesome and violent tag team match between the duos of Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko and Raven & Saturn, continuing on with a hard-hitting contest between Scott Steiner and Booker T, and finishing with an illogical, yet entertaining, four-way match between Hollywood Hogan, Ric Flair, Diamond Dallas Page, and Sting. This PPV was one of the view highlights during the final two-plus years of WCW's existence
ECW Hardcore Heaven 2000
Quite possibly my favorite ECW show ever, despite the prior year's edition getting a lot more hype. Hardcore Heaven kicks off with a match between Masato Tanaka and Balls Mahoney that will make you wince and think about CTE nonstop, and that flows into one of ECW's trademark three-way dances, this time featuring Little Guido, Simon Diamond, and Mikey Whipwreck. After some midcard filler, New Jack destroyed Angel in a typical New Jack match, and Tajiri brutalized Steve Corino in one of the bloodiest matches I've ever seen. If you like numerous broken tables and crude promos, both of those happened during Rhino's match with The Sandman. The Jerry Lynn-Rob Van Dam match was a typical contest between the two. The main even of Justin Credible vs. Lance Storm ended up being one of the most disappointing matches on a card that was jammed with action and violence.
WWF WrestleMania X-Seven
As much as I'd like to buck the trend and not include this show, I really can't. This show is almost unanimously considered the greatest WWF/WWE PPV of all-time, and for good reason. This show has a technical battle between Chris Jericho and William Regal, and another between Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle. One of those silly "Shane McMahon does stupid things for no reason" matches takes place between Shane and his father, Vince. The second, and best, TLC match took place between the Dudley Boyz, Edge and Christian, and the Hardy Boyz. The first of the Undertaker's true WrestleMania epics went down between him and Triple H. Finally, the main event between Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock set the bar ridiculously high for any future WrestleMania main events. Even the most ardent WWE hater would have problems disliking this show.
ECW December to Dismember 2006
I tried to keep this list free of "car crash" shows, but this is one that you need to see – if only because no one saw it when it aired live. This PPV drew just 90,000 buys (55,000 domestically), the lowest ever for a WWE show. It was a six-match show, and only two weren't largely considered disasters – the first and last matches of the evening. The main event was an Elimination Chamber match that has been panned as the worst match of its type in WWE history. This event was such a debacle that it led to Paul Heyman leaving WWE's creative team, so at the very least, there's some historical significance to the show.
WWE Money in the Bank 2011
While the current landscape of WWE is one that many fans are down on, this PPV set-up a real nice two years for the company. In the main event, CM Punk beat John Cena for the WWE title and thrust his star into the stratosphere. In the first match of the night, Daniel Bryan won the Money in the Bank briefcase to start the YES movement. In the midcard, Alberto Del Rio won the second Money in the Bank match of the evening to move himself solidly in the top tier of WWE stars. The clutter was kept to a minimum on this six match card, and it delivered in spades.
WWE Extreme Rules 2012
Extreme Rules may have been the last great WWE PPV for the foreseeable future. This show was universally-lauded based on the strength of its three featured matches. The two out of three falls match between Sheamus and Daniel Bryan added some legitimacy to Sheamus' title reign, and also helped fan the flames of rage towards Bryan's quick loss at WrestleMania just weeks prior. The CM Punk-Chris Jericho Chicago Street Fight for the WWE Title was an entertaining battle that continued Punk's solid reign on top of WWE. Finally, there was the main event between John Cena and Brock Lesnar, an absolute war that showed that Cena can take a beating instead of just having his typical paint by numbers match that fans have been growing tired of for years.
So, what's the first thing you're going to watch on WWE Network? Let us know in the comments! | <urn:uuid:299ea700-b9e9-4e04-9860-b9302725b078> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://awfulannouncing.com/2014/the-ten-ppvs-to-immediately-stream-on-wwe-network.html | 2016-07-25T14:10:45Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257824230.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071024-00171-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961331 | 1,959 |
Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. Rex was a charismatic, brilliant man who, when sober, captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and above all, how to embrace life fearlessly.
Rose Mary, who painted and wrote and couldn't stand the responsibility of providing for her family, called herself an "excitement addict". Cooking a meal that would be consumed in 15 minutes had no appeal when she could make a painting that might last forever.
Later, when the money ran out, or the romance of the wandering life faded, the Walls retreated to the dismal West Virginia mining town - and the family - Rex Walls had done everything he could to escape. He drank. He stole the grocery money and disappeared for days. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home.
What is so astonishing about Jeannette Walls is not just that she had the guts and tenacity and intelligence to get out, but that she describes her parents with such deep affection and generosity. Hers is a story of triumph against all odds, but also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms.
For two decades, Jeannette Walls hid her roots. Now she tells her own story. A regular contributor to MSNBC.com, she lives in New York and Long Island and is married to the writer John Taylor.
A Woman on the Street
I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening,
when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster. It
was just after dark. A blustery March wind whipped the steam coming out
of the manholes, and people hurried along the sidewalks with their
collars turned up. I was stuck in traffic two blocks from the party
where I was heading.
Mom stood fifteen feet away. She had tied rags around her shoulders to
keep out the spring chill and was picking through the trash while her
dog, a black-and-white terrier mix, played at her feet. Mom's gestures
were all familiar - the way she tilted her head and thrust out her lower
lip when studying items of potential value that she'd hoisted out of the
Dumpster, the way her eyes widened with childish glee when she found
something she liked. Her long hair was streaked with gray, tangled and
matted, and her eyes had sunk deep into their sockets, but still she
reminded me of the mom she'd been when I was a kid, swan-diving off
cliffs and painting in the desert and reading Shakespeare aloud. Her
cheekbones were still high and strong, but the skin was parched and
ruddy from all those winters and summers exposed to the elements. To the
people walking by, she probably looked like any of the thousands of
homeless people in New York City.
It had been months since I laid eyes on Mom, and when she looked up, I
was overcome with panic that she'd see me and call out my name, and that
someone on the way to the same party would spot us together and Mom
would introduce herself and my secret would be out.
I slid down in the seat and asked the driver to turn around and take me
home to Park Avenue.
The taxi pulled up in front of my building, the doorman held the door
for me, and the elevator man took me up to my floor. My husband was
working late, as he did most nights, and the apartment was silent except
for the click of my heels on the polished wood floor. I was still
rattled from seeing Mom, the unexpectedness of coming across her, the
sight of her rooting happily through the Dumpster. I put some Vivaldi
on, hoping the music would settle me down.
I looked around the room. There were the turn-of-the-century
bronze-and-silver vases and the old books with worn leather spines that
I'd collected at flea markets. There were the Georgian maps I'd had
framed, the Persian rugs, and the overstuffed leather armchair I liked
to sink into at the end of the day. I'd tried to make a home for myself
here, tried to turn the apartment into the sort of place where the
person I wanted to be would live. But I could never enjoy the room
without worrying about Mom and Dad huddled on a sidewalk grate
somewhere. I fretted about them, but I was embarrassed by them, too, and
ashamed of myself for wearing pearls and living on Park Avenue while my
parents were busy keeping warm and finding something to eat.
What could I do? I'd tried to help them countless times, but Dad would
insist they didn't need anything, and Mom would ask for something silly,
like a perfume atomizer or a membership in a health club. They said that
they were living the way they wanted to.
After ducking down in the taxi so Mom wouldn't see me, I hated myself -
hated my antiques, my clothes, and my apartment. I had to do something,
so I called a friend of Mom's and left a message. It was our system of
staying in touch. It always took Mom a few days to get back to me, but
when I heard from her, she sounded, as always, cheerful and casual, as
though we'd had lunch the day before. I told her I wanted to see her and
suggested she drop by the apartment, but she wanted to go to a
restaurant. She loved eating out, so we agreed to meet for lunch at her
favorite Chinese restaurant.
Mom was sitting at a booth, studying the menu, when I arrived. She'd
made an effort to fix herself up. She wore a bulky gray sweater with
only a few light stains, and black leather men's shoes. She'd washed her
face, but her neck and temples were still dark with grime.
She waved enthusiastically when she saw me. "It's my baby girl!" she
called out. I kissed her cheek. Mom had dumped all the plastic packets
of soy sauce and duck sauce and hot-and-spicy mustard from the table
into her purse. Now she emptied a wooden bowl of dried noodles into it
as well. "A little snack for later on," she explained.
We ordered. Mom chose the Seafood Delight. "You know how I love my
seafood," she said.
She started talking about Picasso. She'd seen a retrospective of his
work and decided he was hugely overrated. All the cubist stuff was
gimmicky, as far as she was concerned. He hadn't really done anything
worthwhile after his Rose Period.
"I'm worried about you," I said. "Tell me what I can do to help."
Her smile faded. "What makes you think I need your help?"
"I'm not rich," I said. "But I have some money. Tell me what it is you
She thought for a moment. "I could use an electrolysis treatment."
"I am serious. If a woman looks good, she feels good."
"Come on, Mom." I felt my shoulders tightening up, the way they
invariably did during these conversations. "I'm talking about something
that could help you change your life, make it better."
"You want to help me change my life?" Mom asked. "I'm fine. You're the
one who needs help. Your values are all confused."
"Mom, I saw you picking through trash in the East Village a few days
"Well, people in this country are too wasteful. It's my way of
recycling." She took a bite of her Seafood Delight. "Why didn't you say
"I was too ashamed, Mom. I hid."
Mom pointed her chopsticks at me. "You see?" she said. "Right there.
That's exactly what I'm saying. You're way too easily embarrassed. Your
father and I are who we are. Accept it."
"And what am I supposed to tell people about my parents?"
"Just tell the truth," Mom said. "That's simple enough."
Excerpted from "The Glass Castle: A Memoir" by Jeannette Walls. Copyright © 2006 by Jeannette Walls. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Excerpts are provided solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site. | <urn:uuid:12972188-ffb7-41f8-ab14-f4d29b35ec76> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.bookdaily.com/book/227744 | 2016-07-25T13:57:34Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257824230.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071024-00171-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984734 | 1,918 |
ESSEX JUNCTION — “Candidates matter.”
That was the message from the Republican governor of New Jersey this week as he regaled nearly 700 members of the Vermont GOP with the story of his own unlikely rise in a state where politics tend to run the same shade of blue as in Vermont.
“Candidates matter more than money. Candidates matter more than data mining. … Candidates matter more than TV commercials, and they matter more than mail pieces, and they matter more than those incredibly annoying automated phone calls. They matter more than any of that,” Christie said Wednesday night.
Media were barred from the fundraising gala at the Champlain Valley Expo in Essex Junction, but an audio recorder belonging to the Vermont Press Bureau made it past the gates. In addition to Christie, the recording captured speeches by Lt. Gov. Phil Scott and Rep. Heidi Scheuermann, who were among the lead organizers of an event they say marked the dawn of a new era in the Vermont Republican Party.
“What I see tonight is the beginning of that change, a revitalization of our party that will ensure success in 2014 and beyond,” said Scheuermann.
Her optimism comes despite dismal showings in the last two election cycles for Vermont Republicans, who have sunk to super-minority status in the Legislature since losing their grip on the governor’s seat in 2010.
“It’s been a difficult few years … for Vermont Republicans. There’s no doubt about that,” Scheuermann said. “Even more troubling, however, is that the result of these difficulties is a very problematic direction in which our state is headed. And while we fought for fiscally responsible policies that would bring opportunity and prosperity to Vermonters, our colleagues in Montpelier too often go out of their way to pass legislation that drives up the cost of living in our state.”
No matter, Christie said: The future of the Vermont GOP will be bright, if only it can find candidates like him to buck the odds. And he said his own rags-to-political-riches story offers a blueprint for GOP efforts in Vermont and elsewhere.
Christie said New Jersey might have been bluer than Vermont before his arrival on the scene — the state hadn’t elected a Republican to statewide office for 12 years before he ran in 2009 and hadn’t put an “R” in the U.S. Senate since 1972. Just a year before his election, Christie said, the voters of New Jersey gave Barack Obama a 16-point win over John McCain.
Christie said when it comes to elections, however, voters look at character first and issues second.
“See, there are some people running around in the press right now saying our party has a problem with its brand, that we’re not relating to folks. … It’s not our party’s problem, it’s our candidates’ problem,” Christie said.
“See, a party’s nothing more than a collection of principles and a collection of candidates and officeholders,” he said. “There is nothing that is wrong with the Vermont Republican Party that cannot be fixed by an outstanding candidate for governor or for United States Senate or anything else. And it’s not like New Jersey, where you have to go back to relative ancient history to find a Republican governor. He’s sitting right in front of you.”
Christie was referring to former Gov. James Douglas, who was in attendance Wednesday.
“The people of Vermont voted for him again and again and again. Why? Because they trusted him, and because they felt like he trusted them. Because they felt like he was a truth teller, because they believe he cared about them and could relate to the problems and challenges that they had in their families,” Christie said.
“See, I don’t believe that folks elect folks based upon a checklist of issues,” he said. “The issues matter, believe me. They matter a lot. I’m not trying to minimize it. But you don’t get to the issues if you don’t first make the decision that the person talking about those issues is believable and reliable and compassionate and understanding and willing to give everyone who cares about the state a seat at the table. Once you get by that, then they’ll look at issues too. But if you don’t get by that, they’re never going to consider voting for you.”
Christie said the answer to the Vermont GOP’s future might well have been sitting in the room that night.
“Now, I’ve heard a lot about the lieutenant governor. I have a number of people tonight who I’ve met that told me the future of Vermont and its Republican Party is with our lieutenant governor,” Christie said.
That lieutenant governor, Phil Scott, is the state’s only Republican statewide officeholder. But Scott has already said he’s not interested in challenging second-term Democrat Peter Shumlin for the job in 2014.
Scott earlier this year led the charge to replace leadership at the Vermont Republican Party, saying the GOP needed to “rebrand” itself with populist messaging on jobs, taxes and the economy.
He told the crowd Wednesday: “Tonight is the start of a new chapter for the Vermont Republican Party, for Vermonters and, perhaps most importantly, for Vermont’s children. … Tonight’s event is the first step on the critical campaign to restore balance and common sense in Montpelier.”
After extolling the buy-local ethos that guided the event’s organizers (“to the greatest extent possible, everything is local — the food, the spirits, even the 52-pound turkey supplied by none other than my good friend, Sen. Dick Mazza”) Scott shared his hopes for the future of the GOP, without mentioning any specific issue or policy.
“In the same way that buying local isn’t just for hippies anymore, I think that tonight shows that hope and change aren’t words for just one party anymore either,” Scott said. “Common sense and reason are qualities that should be expected in all of our leaders, not just of one party or another. There are a lot of Vermonters you see packed into this room, under this big tent.”
Noting the presence of a few Democrats, Scott said that “whether you’re here because you share our energy or because you want to hear Gov. Christie speak, or simply because you’re curious, we’re very glad you joined us.”
“We all care about Vermont, we care about Vermont’s families, and we care about the economic future of our children, and our children’s children,” Scott said. “We can accomplish so much if we continue to listen to each other and learn from each other. We need to be the voice of reason, putting real and relevant solutions on the table, not just talking about how others are failing.”
Christie said that if Vermont Republicans ever hope to reclaim their former political dominance, they will need to “show up in places that are uncomfortable.”
“See, Republicans, we go to every chamber of commerce lunch and dinner that’s run, and it feels good, doesn’t it? Right? I go to a chamber of commerce anywhere in New Jersey or anywhere in America, and I get on the microphone and people are going wild. They love us! And when you’re the guy standing up there, it feels great. They love me!” Christie said.
“Guess what? Most of them are voting for us anyway. Should we go to the chamber of commerce? Of course we should. But if we stop there, we’re never going to be a majority party. Never. I don’t care whether you’re talking about Vermont or New Jersey, or when you’re talking about Ohio or Pennsylvania or Michigan or Wisconsin ...”
Christie, the newly minted head of the Republican Governors Association and a prospective presidential candidate in 2016, said his ability to win a majority of Latino voters in last month’s gubernatorial race in New Jersey proves the ceiling for the GOP is high.
“We better start going into communities where African-Americans and Latinos live and work every day. And we’ve got a great story about our principles to tell those folks,” Christie said.
“But I will tell you this, if we don’t show up to show them not only do we want to share our ideas, but that we want to listen to them, they’re never going to vote for us. We’ve got to show up to places where Democrats reside as well, because there’s lots of Democrats, I know, over the years, who voted for Douglas. Had to have — wouldn’t have been governor” without them.
Organizers said Wednesday’s event, in which donors could pay as much as $10,000 for special access to Christie, might raise as much as $300,000 for the Vermont GOP, money the financially strapped organization needs badly heading into 2014.
Christie said his support of the Vermont GOP didn’t need to end with his speech.
“So it’s time for all of you to use the momentum ... from tonight to get great candidates on the ballot,” he said. “And I will promise you this: You get great Republican candidates on this ballot for 2014, you will see me back here helping that person get elected.”
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Aaron Wilson reports that free agent FB Vonta Leach “hasn’t ruled out” the possibility of re-signing with the Baltimore Ravens.
“Of course, Vonta likes the Ravens,” said Leach’s agent Ralph Vitolo. “Why wouldn’t he? Maybe he ends up back there. Who knows? Until it happens, there’s no sense in pure speculation.”
- Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald reports that the Dolphins are “standing pat” in regards to signing Leach.
- Salguero adds that there’s currently no offer and the team intends to weigh their options currently on roster.
- Miami could always approach Leach if their current group is underwhelming.
- Salguero mentions that the Ravens remain the “strongest option” with the Texans in the background.
ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reports that the Ravens standing offer to Leach is for $2 million with another $1 million in incentives, which would come out to the $3 million salary he was set to make this season.
Baltimore also drafted Harvard FB Kyle Juszczyk back in April, so it’s not as though he could be confident in his role beyond the 2013 season if he were to return.
We have Leach listed as the No. 9 player in our Best Available Free Agents list.
- Jackson adds that Leach’s representative are “hopeful” that a deal can be reached.
- Leach may end up returning to Baltimore if Miami is only willing to offer him a one-year contract worth the veteran’s minimum.
In other Dolphins news, the holdup regarding No. 3 overall pick Dion Jordan’s contract is reportedly due to the “Dolphins’ insistence on offset language.”
However, Salguero also mentions that talks between the two sides are expected to pick up once GM Jeff Ireland returns from vacation.
- Salguero adds that HC Joe Philbin “wants” Leach and the team is looking for an upgrade to Jovorskie Lane.
- Leach is reportedly seeking a two-three year contract and wants to be a part of the Dolphins future.
It appears as though NFL teams are weary of offering Leach a multi-year contract. Previous reports have indicated that the Ravens have an offer on the table for him and the Giants could also be an option. Miami has the most cap space to work with, but they could always wait it out and see if Leach caves on his asking price.
Recent reports indicated that the Dolphins remain the favorites to sign Leach, but the Ravens reportedly have a standing offer on the table for Leach as well.
It appears as though Leach is looking for top dollar, which could be an issue for the Giants seeing as they have only a little over $3 million in cap space to work with while the Dolphins have over $17 million in cap space available to them.
- Salguero adds that Leach is hoping to best that offer on the open market and does have interest in playing for the Dolphins.
- With that being said, the “money has to be right” for Leach to sign, according to Salguero’s source.
- Meanwhile, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that Leach could wait a couple of weeks before deciding on his next team.
- Jason La Canfora reports that the Dolphins “remain in the lead” to sign Leach.
“Though he likes Miami, [Leach] has been waiting for a couple weeks to see if better offers surface,” writes Jackson. “The Dolphins remain the front-runner unless another team surprisingly wows him financially in the next two weeks.“
Aaron Wilson reports that the Dolphins are continuing dialogue with free agent FB Vonta Leach. on Wednesday despite the fact that both GM Jeff Ireland and HC Joe Philbin are currently out of the country.
- Wilson adds that the Giants have yet to schedule a visit with Leach.
Leach’s agent, Ralph Vitolo mentioned that he believes Miami is the “right place to be” for his client.
“I think so. I hope so. It’s the right place to be,” said Vitolo when asked if he believes Leach will sign with the Dolphins, via the Miami Herald. “We’re trying to crunch the numbers.”
Schefter adds that Miami wants him “too much.”
If that’s the case, it’s doubtful that teams like the Giants, Texas, and Ravens would be able to compete from a financial standpoint for Leach.
According to the Baltimore Sun, the Ravens are still “quietly monitoring” the situation surrounding free agent FB Vonta Leach.
The Ravens reportedly offered Leach a $2 million contract that included a number of incentives before ultimately releasing him. Leach was set to make $3 million for the 2013 season, so it seems like Baltimore made him a reasonable offer as he’s been on the open market for a number of days now.
- The New York Daily News reported over the weekend that the Giants are “pondering a last-ditch effort” to sign Leach.
- Leach told Sirius XM Radio on Monday that he’s in no rush to sign with a team.
“Right now we’re keeping all our options open, said Leach,” per Ralph Vacchiano. “There’s really not a rush for anything right now because you can’t do nothing on the football field right now. As long as we’re in somebody’s camp, I’ll be all right.”
The Texans and Titans have also show some amount of interest in Leach as well.
- La Canfora adds that proposal’s are being exchanged with both teams, but believes the Dolphins are “in the lead.”
- Houston doesn’t have the same kind of cap space to work with, which also seems to favor Miami.
- Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald reports that talks between the Dolphins and Leach have “heated up.”
- Beasley adds that HC Joe Philbin would like to have a deal in place by the end of the week.
Leach worked out for the Dolphins last Wednesday and according to the report, could be the team’s only fullback if they were to get a finalized this week.
Leach has all been in contact with the Houston Texans, but all indications point to Miami as being the favorites to the sign the Pro Bowler.
Vonta Leach‘s agent, Ralph Vitolo, said that his client has already received interest from seven teams.
Vitolo specifically mentioned that the Dolphins, Texans, Giants, Chiefs and Browns as the top suitors.
- Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon-Journal reports that the Browns spoke Leach’s agent, but they are not interested in signing him.
He reportedly met with the Dolphins on Wednesday, but haven’t heard how the meeting went.
Leach is still in the process of meeting with the Dolphins’ coaching staff, so they may have to move quickly to prevent him from signing elsewhere.
Other speculative options for Leach include the Bengals, Broncos, Cowboys and Texans.
- Dave Hutchinson of the Newark Star-Ledger reports that the Giants have also reached out to Leach as well.
This is the first reported visit for Leach, who will have only a short period of time to find his next team.
The Dolphins claimed FB/TE Evan Rodriguez off of waivers from the Bears, but the addition of Leach would most likely leave Rodriguez expendable.
The Baltimore Ravens announced the release of FB Vonta Leach on Tuesday.
- Leach’s agent, Ralph Vitolo, told FOX 26 in Houston that the Texans are the “most logical fit” for his client.
- Vitolo also mentioned that the Bengals, Broncos, and Cowboys would also make sense.
Clearly, Vitolo is trying to drum up some interest in his client now that he’ll be looking for a new team, despite the fact that minicamps opened this week.
There’s also been some early speculation that the Giants could have interest in Leach, but they have limited cap space to work with, so Leach would have to be willing to sign a reasonable contract to make this happen.
Leach, 31, had a $3 million base salary for the upcoming season and counted $4.33 million against the team’s salary cap. Clearly, the Ravens were hoping to reduce that figure given that Leach doesn’t play a high-value position and is already in his thirties. Baltimore added Harvard fullback Kyle Juszczyk during the recent draft, so they already had a contingency plan in place.
Baltimore also re-signed veteran TE Billy Bajema today as well.
Vonta Leach has already tweeted a goodbye to the Baltimore Ravens fanbase.
Thank @ravens organization for a great two years. I came here and did what we set out to do and that’s win the Super Bowl. My time here
— VontaLeach44 (@vleach44) June 10, 2013
here is up but what we accomplished, we will be forever linked. Thank the fans for accepting me and my family to Bmore. #newchapter#samegoal
— VontaLeach44 (@vleach44) June 10, 2013
Leach should be able to find a new home in the near future, despite the fact that minicamps start this week.
The Ravens’ front office reportedly worked aggressively to get a deal worked out with Leach, but they’ve been unable to make progress in recent weeks. | <urn:uuid:648631a3-4dd2-44bf-88b9-2301559f7754> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://nfltraderumors.co/report-ravens-expected-to-release-or-trade-fb-vonta-leach/ | 2016-07-27T13:27:23Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257826907.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071026-00323-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960659 | 2,120 |
2005-2011 Lotus Elise
2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011
Jon Paulette is a veteran automotive writer who has spent a fair portion of his life hanging out at racetracks and talking to amazing people who make extremely loud cars reach ridiculous speeds. Despite all that, he still has enough hearing left to enjoy a stupidly large music collection. A native Virginian, Jon lives in the Charlottesville area, roots for the Nationals and would like a good BBQ sandwich right about now.
More from Jon Paulette
Overview of the Lotus Elise
Things no one has ever said:
"Wow, you just bought a Lotus Elise! What's it like?"
"I love it. The stereo is terrific!"
We're not slagging on the factory stereo by any means. As factory systems go, it's actually pretty terrific. But this is a Lotus Elise, so the stereo isn't supposed to be the first thing you notice. If it is, the people who designed the car would like a word….
Despite American-market additions like air conditioning and a nice stereo, the Elise is still a full-blooded, no-kidding sports car. It's small, it's cramped, it offers little or no luggage space, and it's completely (and delightfully) impractical for most aspects of daily life. It's about as close as you can get to piloting a race car on the street, which means it's also the perfect street car to drive on the racetrack.
When you're scything through the esses with a helmet on your head, the stereo system probably isn't at the top of your list of things to work on before the next track day. Every day isn't a track day, though, so you (or your occasional co-driver) might want to improve the audio performance before your next sunny-day drive on a twisty road. The Elise doesn't offer a ton of room, but there's a surprising amount of room for improvement in the sound system.
Factory stereo system
The Elise rolled out of the factory equipped with a very nice Blaupunkt AM/FM in-dash single CD player and four speakers. In 2007, the Blaupunkt equipment was replaced by an Alpine system that could be had with an optional iPod® adapter and satellite radio capability. Throughout the Elise's run, the speakers were located in the dash and the rear panel behind the seats.
The factory Blaupunkt radio (Crutchfield Research Photo)
All things considered (the fact that the engine is behind your head, for example), the factory systems were rather nice, but that doesn't mean you can't make improvements. It's surprisingly simple to upgrade your sound without upsetting your car's sporting character. Our Crutchfield MasterSheet™, free with your purchase, has the illustrated instructions you need to do the job yourself.
As you might expect, the Elise doesn’t have enough space in the dash for a double-DIN DVD/Nav receiver. But there are a number of single-DIN CD receivers that fit nicely and offer great features like Bluetooth® connectivity, iPod/iPhone® compatibility, streaming audio, HD Radio™ tuning and more. On the other hand, a digital media receiver is a great choice if you've decided that the case of compact discs in the passenger's seat might be affecting your handling balance in tight left-handers.
Replacing your factory radio
To remove the Blaupunkt, you'll need a set of DIN tools, which are included with your Crutchfield purchase. Remove the factory faceplate and insert the DIN tools into the openings on either side of the radio. The tools will release the side tabs and unlock the radio. Pull on the tools to remove the radio. From there, all you need to do is disconnect the wiring harness and remove the receiver.
These tools are designed for a wide variety of Ford/Euro DIN stereos, by the way, so don't toss them out after you use them. They might work nicely on some of the other cars in your collection.
Now, you're ready to install your new stereo. Remove the DIN sleeve from your new receiver, slide the sleeve into the dash opening, and secure it by bending the tabs. Hold the receiver near the dash, connect the Crutchfield wiring adapter (available at a discount with most stereo purchases) to the vehicle's harness and plug the antenna lead into the rear of the receiver. Note that on the Elise, the yellow and red wires in the Crutchfield harness are reversed. The yellow wire supplies ignition power, and the red wire supplies constant power.
Once everything's hooked up, slide the receiver all the way into the DIN sleeve until it clicks securely in place.
Tools needed: DIN tools
Replacing your factory speakers
The Elise has factory speakers in the dash and behind the rear seats.
The Blaupunkt dash speaker (Crutchfield Research Photo)
Up front, the Elise has a pair of 4", 4-ohm Blaupunkt models in the upper dash. They're very easy to reach and replace. A wide variety of 4" aftermarket speakers will fit right into this opening, but we do recommend that you purchase speakers that come with grilles.
Pry off the speaker grille, then remove the four Phillips screws that secure the speaker. Lift and remove the spacer ring, then pull out the speaker and disconnect it. Connect the factory speaker wires to your new speaker, then and secure it with the screws you removed a couple of minutes ago. Test the sound, then secure the grille that came with your aftermarket speakers.
Tools needed: Panel tool, right-angle Phillips screwdriver
You'll need to remove the seats to access the rear speakers (Crutchfield Research Photo)
Replacing the rear speakers is a bit more complicated, but then again, almost anything would be. These 5-1/4", 4-ohm speakers are located in the rather cramped area behind the rear seats, which explains the challenge. We offer plenty of aftermarket 5-1/4" models that will fit the Elise, but, as is the case with the dash speakers, you should focus your shopping on speakers that include grilles.
To access and replace the speakers, you'll need to remove both seats from the Elise. The instructions are slightly different, we recommend removing both seats at the same time.
On the driver’s side, you'll start by removing the two 14mm bolts that secure the front of the seat bracket to the floor. Slide the seat forward, then remove the two 6mm hex bolts that secure the rear of the seat bracket. Disconnect the seat's wiring harnesses and remove the driver’s seat, taking care to store it (however briefly) in a clean, safe place.
Now that the speaker is exposed, things get a lot easier. Pry off the speaker grille and remove the four Phillips screws that secure it to the car's rear wall. Disconnect the speaker wiring and remove the factory speaker, then connect the factory wires to your new speaker. Secure the speaker using the old screws.
On the passenger’s side, you'll remove four 6mm hex bolts that secure the seat bracket to the floor, then remove the passenger’s seat. From there, the procedure is exactly the same as it was on the other side.
Once you've replaced both speakers, test them out to make sure everything's working. If so, reinstall the seats and go for a drive!
Tools needed: Phillips screwdriver, panel tool, 6mm hex and 14mm sockets, ratchet, and extension
Bass in your Elise
You probably weren't expecting to see a section on subwoofers in this article, but it just might be possible to fit a small, compact powered sub in the storage area.
You should be able to install this subwoofer if you have any experience with car audio, but if you have questions, call one of our Sales Advisors at 1-888-955-6000 to verify fit information.
Other options for your Lotus Elise
Here are a few other products and suggestions for your Elise.
Interior surface protection
With a car like the Elise, it's important to keep it looking as good as you can, no matter how hard you use it. When it comes to cleaning the seats, door panels, headliner and other interior surfaces, we recommend WeatherTech TechCare car care products.
There is almost no wiring information available for the Elise, so we don't recommend installing a security system unless you know a very good professional car security installer. It can certainly be done, but this job is purely for the pro who knows something about the Lotus. | <urn:uuid:7ee3a32d-64a8-46f3-8107-c7d9107228c1> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.crutchfield.com/ISEO-rccbcspd/learn/2005-2011-lotus-elise.html?pg=3&showAll=N | 2016-07-27T13:47:11Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257826907.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071026-00323-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944951 | 1,815 |
132 F3d 40 United States America v. Erevia-Suarez
132 F.3d 40
UNITED STATES of AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee,
Alberto EREVIA-SUAREZ, Defendant-Appellant.
United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.
Argued and Submitted Nov. 4, 1997.
Decided Dec. 9, 1997.
NOTICE: Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3 provides that dispositions other than opinions or orders designated for publication are not precedential and should not be cited except when relevant under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, or collateral estoppel.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, D.C. No. CR-95-01927-RMB; Rudi M. Brewster, District Judge, Presiding.
Before BROWNING, BRUNETTI, and FERNANDEZ, Circuit Judges.
Appellant Alberto Erevia-Suarez appeals from his jury conviction and sentence of 97-months imprisonment on one count of conspiracy to possess marijuana with the intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846, and one count of possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2. We affirm both the conviction and sentence.
Appellant first argues that his conviction must be vacated because the district court improperly admitted at a suppression hearing a report written by a border patrol agent who died prior to the hearing. We review a district court's decision to admit or exclude evidence for abuse of discretion. United States v. Hernandez, 109 F.3d 1450, 1452 (9th Cir.1997).
Appellant was stopped by Border Patrol Agent Valencia at a checkpoint along a California highway. At the time, appellant was driving a car which was being followed by three pickup trucks, which were also stopped. Upon searching the vehicles, agents found large quantities of marijuana hidden in the three pickup trucks. All four drivers were arrested.
In the district court, appellant filed a motion to suppress the fruits of the warrantless vehicle searches. After a hearing, the district court denied appellant's motion. Appellant now contends that Agent Valencia's report should have been excluded from the suppression hearing as inadmissible hearsay. We easily reject this argument because both the U.S. Supreme Court and this circuit hold that a trial judge is not bound by the hearsay rule in making preliminary determinations during suppression hearings. United States v. Matlock, 415 U.S. 164, 172-73 (1974); United States v. Whitten, 706 F.2d 1000, 1019 (9th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1100 (1984).
Next, appellant argues that his Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause rights were violated by the admission of Agent Valencia's report. The district court made the finding that the detailed arrest report was sufficiently trustworthy and highly probative, despite the lack of an opportunity to cross-examine Agent Valencia. Because we find that the district court did not abuse its discretion in making this determination, we reject this argument as well. See Idaho v. Wright, 497 U.S. 805, 816-17 (1990); United States v. George, 960 F.2d 97, 99 (9th Cir.1992).
Finally, appellant claims that the admission of Agent Valencia's unsworn report violated Southern District of California Local Rule 73.6(i)(2), which requires the filing of declarations with respect to motions involving factual disputes. However, a district court has the inherent power to excuse a party's failure to comply with local rules. See Allen v. United States Fidelity & Guar. Co., 342 F.2d 951, 954 (9th Cir.1965). Here, the deceased agent obviously could not provide a sworn declaration regarding the events surrounding appellant's arrest. Therefore, we find that the district court did not abuse its discretion by excusing the government's violation of the local rules.
Appellant next argues that we must vacate his conviction because certain of Agent Valencia's hearsay statements were improperly admitted at trial. A district court's evidentiary rulings during trial are reviewed for abuse of discretion. Old Chief v. United States, 117 S.Ct. 644, 647 n. 1 (1997); United States v. Gallagher, 99 F.3d 329, 331 (9th Cir.1996), cert. denied, 117 S.Ct. 1274 (1997). "Evidentiary rulings will be reversed for abuse of discretion only if such nonconstitutional error more likely than not affected the verdict." United States v. Workinger, 90 F.3d 1409, 1412 (9th Cir.1996).
Appellant first raises the issue of Agent LaGasse's testimony that he received a radio call from Agent Valencia regarding the narcotics found in the trucks. The testimony regarding Agent Valencia's statement was properly admitted solely for the purpose of its effect on the listener, Agent LaGasse. The jury was instructed as such.
The other statements at issue now are the hearsay statements of Agent Valencia contained in Agent LaGasse's report. The district court properly permitted Agent LaGasse to read portions of his report to the jury after he was cross-examined by the defense about the contents of that report. See Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(1)(B); see also United States v. Payne, 944 F.2d 1458, 1471 (9th Cir.1991), cert. denied, 503 U.S. 975 (1992); United States v. Miller, 874 F.2d 1255, 1274 (9th Cir.1989). While Agent Valencia's statements contained within Agent LaGasse's report may have been inadmissible hearsay, none of those statements provided evidence regarding a contested issue at trial, as appellant himself admitted to agents that he had been leading the pickup trucks and that he knew they contained marijuana. Therefore, even if the admission of Agent Valencia's statements was erroneous, any such error did not likely affect the verdict. We thus affirm appellant's conviction.
At sentencing, the district court imposed a three-level upward adjustment based on appellant's role as a manager or supervisor of the criminal activity. See U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1(b). Appellant argues that the evidence was insufficient to support such an adjustment. We review the district court's findings regarding role in the offense for clear error. United States v. Ponce, 51 F.3d 820, 826 (9th Cir.1995).
The district court did not clearly err when it adopted the Probation Department's finding that appellant led his codefendants and oversaw their activities. The evidence at trial indicated that appellant was driving the lead vehicle, that he knew that there was marijuana in the pickup trucks, and that he coordinated the activities through the use of pagers. In addition, appellant had the trucks serviced in preparation for the criminal activity. There was sufficient evidence to support the district court's imposition of a three-level upward adjustment based on appellant's aggravated role in the offense. See United States v. Mares-Molina, 913 F.2d 770, 773-74 (9th Cir.1990).
Appellant further argues that the district judge violated former Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(c)(3)(D) (now Rule 32(c)(1)) by failing to make findings regarding contested factual issues in the Presentence Report ("PSR"). The district judge complied with the substantive requirements of Rule 32(c)(3)(D) when he expressly adopted the analysis of the Probation Department at the sentencing hearing. See United States v. McClain, 30 F.3d 1172, 1174 (9th Cir.1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1030. Nonetheless, appellant asserts that the district judge technically violated Rule 32 by failing to append his findings to the PSR. Appellant, however, provides no proof beyond the argument that the district judge did not follow Rule 32. "Absent a more sufficient factual record, we will not remand to the district court simply to investigate whether this ministerial task was performed and, if not, to do so." United States v. Cain, No. 94-50518, slip op. 13863, 13870 (9th Cir. November 19, 1997).
Finally, appellant challenges the district court's denial of a downward adjustment for acceptance of responsibility pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1. Whether a defendant has accepted responsibility is a factual determination reviewed for clear error. United States v. Cooper, 912 F.2d 344, 345 (9th Cir.1990). The district court's determination will not be disturbed unless it is without foundation. United States v. Aichele, 941 F.2d 761, 767 (9th Cir.1991). The acceptance of responsibility adjustment under U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1 generally is not intended to apply to a defendant who "puts the government to its burden of proof at trial by denying the essential factual elements of guilt, is convicted, and only then admits guilt and expresses remorse." U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1, appl. n. 2. While proceeding to trial does not automatically preclude a defendant from consideration for an acceptance of responsibility reduction, only in the unusual case will such an adjustment be warranted absent a guilty plea. Id.; see also United States v. McKinney, 15 F.3d 849 (9th Cir.1994).
Here, appellant went to trial, made no statement at trial, was convicted, and refused to talk to the Probation Department. In addition, throughout these proceedings, appellant has attempted to minimize his role as a manager or supervisor in the marijuana smuggling operation. Nonetheless, appellant argues that he is entitled to a downward adjustment because he confessed prior to trial and attempted to enter a conditional guilty plea, which was rejected by the government.
Based on appellant's overall course of conduct, the district court did not clearly err in finding that an acceptance of responsibility reduction was not warranted in this case. See United States v. Morales, 11 F.3d 915, 918 (9th Cir.1993).
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3 | <urn:uuid:44769de4-3304-47d9-99f9-339139f9ec8e> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://openjurist.org/132/f3d/40/united-states-america-v-erevia-suarez | 2016-07-29T12:08:08Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257830066.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071030-00175-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940554 | 2,236 |
The Hilton Garden Inn Fairfax is a five story hotel with contemporary open lobby and elegantly appointed guest rooms. Our patio is the perfect space for a wedding. We host events of all types including weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs, galas, fundraisers, graduations, reunions, birthday and other specia
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Staybridge Suites is ju | <urn:uuid:488e5123-b56e-478c-aff6-115088ffbe4a> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.eventective.com/USA/Virginia/Middleburg/Hotels.html | 2016-07-29T12:14:31Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257830066.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071030-00175-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917342 | 1,815 |
Tex is not my real name but I really enjoy reading and hearing stories about various sexual encounters. I really enjoy oral and anal sex stories along with open minded pets (as in submissive women), slut wives, threesomes, moresomes and at times where "anything" goes no matter who you're with. Yes, I'm kinky like the pix in my photo album. If are kinky like me, I'd love to hear from you...
Lose herself and not worry about right or wrong. It's only wrong if you don't enjoy it and how can it be wrong if you haven't tried it? Open up her mind and accept the lovin' she deserves.
My vote is for a sexy MILF or a mature woman. My reasoning comes from my experiences. A mature woman knows what pleases her and knows how to please her lover. Younger women are normally learning what their likes and dislikes are, and rarely understand what it takes please a man. Most younger women can be great eye candy although their lack of experience can lead to learning moments for them, which can be a lot of fun. However, overall mature women use more than their bodies in bed, they use their minds to provoke intelligent conversations before, during and after love making which can lead to a more satisfying experience.
Although I would never turn down any type of a shaven puss, B gets my highest vote! It looks very tastyyy!
Until the guy can't get it up again. That's what I'm thinking unless she isn't satisfied. Then my tongue and fingers will get her there! <img src="/forum/images/emoticons/regaeman.gif" alt="Regaeman Man">
It's an easy answer in my opinion. Three reasons: (i) it's taboo and so feels naughty and makes me think I am with a 'bad girl'; (ii) it's incredibly intimate and requires a special trust between the two partners; (iii) the anus tends to be very tight and so the sensation is very intense. Well stated from someone that understands anal sex! If she's into it, I'm more than willing to take her there. I love it because it's an act that goes beyond the norm and can be very erotic for both participants, if done right. <img src="/forum/images/emoticons/my2cents.gif" alt="My 2 cents">
Boobs are nice to play with, but her ass is more erotic to give my utmost attention to.
Yes, in the very same fashion as you DPW by more than a few pets. They couldn't do it any other way and it was usually after I went down on them or after intercourse.
Yes, I love intelligence in a woman. However, the first thing I usually notice in a woman is how does she keeps herself. If she keeps herself clean and presentable, she's my kind of woman. I've seen so many women who go out into public with their hair a total mess and dress as if the clothes hadn't been washed in months, not matter how potentially pretty should could be, it's a major turn off for me. I love a woman in a pair of tight shorts, t-shirt, and open toed shoes when weather permits. This way I can see her tasty assets; ass n' toes...
Giving a massage can be erotic and relaxing for me. It gives me the chance to explore her body long before being sexual. You can find her erogenous and work them to your favor. Baby oil is the best to use for giving a massage because it will guarantee some wet and slippery fun. I enjoy receiving massages as well, but giving is most pleasurable for me.
Here are a few articles I found that give the basics. I think the most important thing is to pay attention to his bodies reactions and combine the prostate massage with a blow job. Adding some toys like cock rings, prostate vibrators, dildos etc. can ramp up the experience as well. I find teasing and rubbing his hole till it just sucks my finger or a toy right in then begin massaging the prostate the way to go. Most information recommends using a come hither motion with your finger as the best massage technique which is how I start but I find just pressing into it and rubbing in a circular motion better and change it up from come hither to circular to pressing and releasing works well. When his hole begins involuntarily contracting around my finger and his prostate is puffed up and throbbing that is a sign of anal orgasms which many can occur before the final explosive ejaculation. If you are really working that prostate good he will often just ooze cum during the process which I've been told feels like a long slow orgasm. I also like to keep the blow job going after the big eruption and sometimes get second and third smaller eruptions. I want to try giving a prostate massage while doing some sounding I think that will really blow his top! http://www.eve.com.mt/2013/07/15/how-to-give-a-mind-blowing-prostate-massage/http://niche-men-health.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-to-give-prostate-massage.html I had pet that loved doing this to me and loved having her please me this way! It's like no other pleasure I've experienced in all of my years of sexual activity. Of course, she was greatly rewarded for pleasing me this way because she always knew I'd return the favor and please her...
It was 6:30 in the morning on a Saturday when Jane stirred under the sheets. Her eyes were closed but her mind was wide awake with sexual thoughts of the man beside her. Sean was her husband of 29 years and her lover for much longer. She’d had other lovers before their marriage but none could match what he brought, and still brings, to their loving relationship. His loving skills please...
Added 06 Oct 2012 | Category Straight Sex
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Gina, my lovely 53 year-old lover, had been over for the afternoon before I left town that night for a business trip and we were naturally in bed fucking our brains out. She rode me to several of her own orgasms that afternoon. Before that she had given me one of her awesome blowjobs that had drained my nuts but left me yearning for more of her loving delights. We had been in bed for a couple...
Added 05 Sep 2011 | Category Straight Sex
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I had been exchanging emails and staying in touch with Jan for sometime via a social networking site and it so happened that I was meeting with a potential client in Orlando, FL, where she lived. Jan is 45 years old and had gone through a bitter divorce with her husband of 25 years who dumped her for 20-something. She’s a mother of one who is married with a child of her own but the pictures...
Added 06 Aug 2011 | Category Straight Sex
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The night before with my 53 year-old looker Gina and her younger friend Becky had been one of the hottest nights of my life. This morning was somewhat normal for Gina and I as she joined me in the shower for a hot Sunday morning banging. After some play in the hot tub Becky gave me the ride of my life and I reciprocated by giving her the anal sex she longed for. I had just finished...
Added 17 Jul 2011 | Category Group Sex
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I had one of the most enjoyable nights of my life with my 52 year-old lover, Gina, and her younger friend, Becky. It was a night that all nights in which my sexual adventures will be compared to but the next day led to more sexual adventures… I woke around 8:00 and both women were gone. I slowly replayed last night in my mind and I soon had a raging hard-on. I couldn’t help but stroke...
Added 04 Jul 2011 | Category Group Sex
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Part 2 I had just watched one of the most erotic acts of my life. I had to pinch myself several times to be sure this was real; two hot women were in my bed and made the sweetest love to each other. Almost heavenly... As the Becky and Gina were coming down from the sexual pleasure they had shared with each other, I poured more wine for us. We made small talk and there was no mention of...
Added 25 Jun 2011 | Category Group Sex
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Gina and I had been friends for 15 years. She’s a 52 years-old cougar. She stands five foot ten inches with a rock hard body from working out five days a week. She has long dark black hair and the face of a model. She has been married twice but has no children and is happily single and has been for 10 of the 15 years I’ve known her. Gina is a business professional that has earned her...
Added 18 Jun 2011 | Category Group Sex
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I was in between marriages and I was pretty much a slut puppy. I partied a lot and I had one goal in mind and that was to get laid. One Friday night I met up with a fiery red head. She was hot looking and had one of the best asses I had ever seen in a pair of jeans. We danced and drank the night away. We kissed each other every chance we could. When we slow danced it was one continuous...
Added 26 Jun 2010 | Category Straight Sex
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Today is Carol Channing's 86th birthday, and by all accounts she is still -- you should pardon the expression -- "going strong."
Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Miss Channing in performance at the Gravity Lounge in Charlottesville. Well, to tell the truth, it wasn't Carol Channing herself, but rather a most remarkable facsimile in the form of a tribute by illusionist Richard Skipper.
I had an opportunity to interview Skipper after the show, and I will no doubt write about both the show and the interview before the week is out.
Seeing his loving tribute to Carol Channing, however, gives me my own opportunity to reminisce.
My romance with musical theatre dates to a night in January 1967, when I was just 7 years old, and my parents took me to see Carol Channing starring in the first national tour of Hello, Dolly! at the old Palace Theatre in Milwaukee. It was my initial experience with live theatre, and I was hooked for life.
Eleven years later, another national tour of Dolly! came through town, with Miss Channing co-starring with Eddie Bracken. Thinking it might be my last opportunity to see her in the show, I bought tickets in the nosebleed section of the Milwaukee Performing Arts Center and took my parents and a friend to the show.
My next chance to see Carol Channing live came in 1986, when she and Mary Martin brought Legends! on tour to Washington's National Theatre. "Legends" was an appropriate term to use to describe the play's stars, but the book was no better then than it is now, in the current production featuring Joan Collins and Linda Evans.
To my surprise and delight, a revival of Hello, Dolly! began in 1994, wending its way to Washington (this time at the Kennedy Center) by September 1995. It was this production that propelled me to become a theatre critic. In fact, the very first review I wrote for the Metro Herald was about that production of Hello, Dolly! (I had been writing political commentary for the newspaper for about three years at that point; I explained to the editor, P.J. Robinson, that I wanted to "spread my wings" as a writer. I also wanted an outlet for my theatre jones.)
My most recent chance to see Carol Channing in person was about two years ago, when she appeared in a panel discussion at the Kennedy Center (as part of its 1940s festival) along with Debbie Reynolds and Kitty Carlisle Hart. Moderated by Dick Cavett, the three ladies shared their memories of that tumultuous decade and also had a few choice words to say about the present. (Commenting on Judy Garland's famous abuse of drugs in her days at MGM, Miss Channing added that this explains Liza Minnelli's latter-day problems because, she said, in her inimitable way, "Liza is a crack baby!") It was a unique and unforgettable occasion: How often does one get to hear dish about Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, after all?
For the record, here is what I wrote immediately after seeing Hello, Dolly! that day more than 11 years ago, the review that launched, if not a career, then simply a wonderful avocation:
Forget ethanol. If the government can figure out how to clone Carol Channing, we'll never have to worry about relying on foreign sources of energy again.Looking Swell![Hello, Dolly! Kennedy Center Opera House, through October 8, 1995; Tuesday through Friday at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday at 2:00 and 8:00 p.m.; Sunday at 2:00 and 7:00 p.m.; running time, 2:45; ticket prices, $40 and up.]
How does Carol Channing react to the sustained applause and cheers that greet her when she makes her entrance in Hello, Dolly!? She beams. She positively beams. And why not? After nearly 32 years of trodding the boards as Dolly Levi, Channing still raises the level of energy in an auditorium to nuclear-reactor levels. The warmth she generates gets reflected back from each and every person in the audience.
The character of Dolly Gallagher Levi has a distinguished history, as does the play itself. Based upon two plays by Pulitzer-prize winner Thornton Wilder, The Merchant of Yonkers (1938) and The Matchmaker (1955), Hello, Dolly! brings to life downtown and suburban New York in the 1880s. To do this, many of the great ladies of the American theatre have trod the boards as Dolly Levi, an independent woman who uses her wiles to marry Horace Vandergelder, "the well-known half-a-millionaire."
Ruth Gordon created the role on Broadway, spelled by Shirley Booth in the 1957 film version (which also included Arlington native Shirley MacLaine, Anthony Perkins, and Robert Morse). Within a year of Hello, Dolly!'s Broadway debut, a second Broadway company opened, headed by Washington's own Pearl Bailey and the great Cab Calloway; the cast also featured a young Morgan Freeman. The musical role of Dolly was designed for Ethel Merman, who was the last in a long line of Broadway Dollies when the show closed in 1972 -- a line that included Dorothy Lamour, Ginger Rogers, Eve Arden, Phyllis Diller, Betty Grable, and Mary Martin. Then, of course, there was the 1969 film version, with the horribly miscast Barbra Streisand.
Despite the claims of all these great actresses, the part of Dolly Levi belongs to only one -- the true original, Carol Channing, who by the end of this run at the Kennedy Center will have performed the role almost 4,500 times in 32 years, without missing a single performance. Who has the worse job -- Carol Channing's understudy or the second-string shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles?
At 74, Miss Channing is still going strong. Her comic skills are undiminished with age. And those skills are not limited to this one character. Ten years ago at the National Theatre, she held her own with Mary Martin in Legends, as a bitchy, aging theatre diva reuniting with an old rival. Yet Dolly Levi is an American legend all her own.
This revival features vibrantly colorful costumes, a reconstruction of the original sets designed by Oliver Smith, and the most tuneful score ever created by composer/lyricist Jerry Herman. Herman writes better music for a male chorus than anyone on Broadway or Tin Pan Alley in this century, and the harmonies he creates for the men and also for the mixed chorus are simple, direct, and pure. (Compare the title songs in Hello, Dolly! and in Mame -- the same qualities shine through in both numbers.)
Director Lee Roy Reams (who had played Cornelius in the 1977 revival) has recreated much of Gower Champion's original, farcical staging. The cast is strong, although Jay Garner's Vandergelder often seems more buffoonish than pompous -- something David Burns, Paul Ford, and Walter Matthau avoided in earlier turns at the role. Florence Lacey, repeating her 1977 role as Irene Molloy, has a sweet voice with just a touch of an Irish brogue. Michael DeVries as Cornelius has a strong tenor voice that stands out in his second-act ballad, "It Only Takes a Moment," and Cory English's Barnaby Tucker is athletically elfin.
For those inclined to say, "I was there when ...," watch for Julian Brightman, a gentleman in the chorus who answers to the name "Stanley" in the big title number. He obviously has been paying attention to Miss Channing, showing amazing comedic abilities, terrific timing, and a wide smile that lasts for days. Brightman is someone to watch. He'll definitely be going places.
Speaking of that big title number, the anticipation of Dolly's entrance down the staircase at the Harmonia Gardens quite literally sends shivers down one's spine. There is no better song in theatre written for male chorus and female star than "Hello, Dolly!" (There are reports that the song was recorded more than 100 times in the year after it was released. The single by Louis Armstrong bumped the Beatles off the charts in 1964, and Lyndon Johnson adapted it as his campaign song that year!) Seldom in musical theatre does one see an audience jump to its feet in the middle of a show -- yet that is what the Opera House audience did on opening night. The wide eyes of the chorus boys showed how much they appreciated the genuine warmth -- and the fact that such warmth is so rare among audiences these days.
Let's admit that Hello, Dolly! is a light-hearted romp, a second-rate French farce. But isn't that a good reason to go to the theatre? It may not be a deeply philosophical, but the play does contain some good epigrams. For instance: "Money, you should pardon the expression, is like manure. It doesn't do any good unless you spread it around and encourage little things to grow." Hello, Dolly! celebrates life. Rush to the Kennedy Center to join the celebration -- before the parade passes by.
(To assure that nobody is confused, the photo above is of Richard Skipper channeling Miss Channing, not the one-and-only herself. I took it last night at Gravity Lounge.) | <urn:uuid:9fdc57fd-f313-4ab2-aa77-450c689de343> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2007/01/happy-birthday-carol-channing.html | 2016-07-25T20:09:13Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257824345.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071024-00190-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963804 | 1,972 |
VA health care: One man’s story
Health care has been in the news and on the minds of Americans lately with the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare,” taking center stage in the political theater. While civilians wonder how the act will affect them and whether the changes might be positive or negative, veterans already struggle with health care issues of their own. Local clinics without emergency services and hospitals with multitudes of patients are some issues veterans face when navigating the potentially perilous pathway to good health through the veterans health care system.
One veteran shared the story of his journey through that system. Frank Miller served with the Marines in the Vietnam War. Miller spent 13 months trekking through jungles, fighting for his life on behalf of the United States of America. Because he is a veteran, Miller receives his medical care through the Veterans Administration (VA).
On Monday, Feb. 27, 2012, Miller awoke in pain and bleeding at 3:22 a.m.
“It was a nosebleed,” Miller said. “I woke up bleeding and tried to stop it. I called my sister, Donna. She came over, and we tried to stop the bleeding but couldn’t. We called an ambulance, and I went to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Beaumont.”
Miller said once the emergency room staff stopped the bleeding using balloons in each nostril, he was considered stable and able to be moved to the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston (MEDVAMC).
Bobbi Gruner, public affairs officer with the VA, confirmed the procedure regarding the emergency health care needs of veterans.
“The standard of care is if you have an emergency as a veteran, you go to the closest ER,” Gruner said. “If the hospital says you are stable but you continue to need inpatient care, once you are stabilized, you will be transferred to the closest VA hospital for continued care.”
Gruner said Beaumont has a clinic for veterans, but the clinic can only provide general care and urgent care, not emergency care. She said the requirement to visit the closest emergency room is important to the welfare of veterans in need of immediate care.
Miller said he was transported to MEDVAMC in Houston via ambulance. He said he arrived about 1:30 a.m. on Feb. 28. Once there, he was put in the emergency room. While he was in the ER there, he started bleeding again. ER personnel attempted to stop the bleeding.
“They kept me in the ER on morphine,” Miller said. “I was throwing up blood. They just kept inflating the balloons. They used something, I think silver nitrate, on a Q-tip and tried to cauterize it.”
Miller said he was weak to the point of stumbling due to the amount of blood he had lost by that time. When a specialist finally saw him at around 6 or 7 a.m., Miller said he was told he would not be admitted.
“Dr. David Cuthbertson, the (ear, nose and throat) doctor there, said it would cost too much to admit me,” Miller said. “He wrote me a prescription for 500 mg Cephalexin, an antibiotic. By this time, I had probably lost around 6-7 pints of blood.”
Miller was with his family and friends when the doctor told him he would not be admitted into the hospital. He went downstairs to the hospital pharmacy to have his prescription filled. While waiting, his nose began bleeding again. He said he was sitting in a wheelchair in the hallway with hospital personnel walking by without stopping.
“The maintenance worker was the only one who offered to help,” Miller said. “I have no idea why they would not admit me. That’s just what he said.”
Dr. James Scheurich, medical center deputy chief of staff at MEDVAMC, nurse’s notes indicated that an ER physician saw Miller at 2:35 a.m. He said there are doctors on staff in the ER and on the hospital floor around the clock. At 3:30 a.m., Scheurich said hospital records indicate a resident applied silver nitrate to Miller’s nose to cauterize it and stop the bleeding. Miller said from what he recalls, the silver nitrate was not applied until after he saw the specialist in the morning at around 6 a.m. Scheurich said Miller was under observation for several hours at the facility. He said the notes indicated staff did not see focal bleeding when examining Miller, which Scheurich said would be a clear sign of potential arterial bleeding. He said Miller was released at about 1 p.m. after the bleeding had stopped for a period of two hours.
“It doesn’t make sense to me,” Scheurich said regarding Miller’s assertion that the doctor he saw told him he would not be admitted due to cost. “It would not be any more expensive for us. … We never run out of beds.”
“It didn’t make sense to me either,” Miller said. “It didn’t make sense to any of us standing there. I’ve never heard a doctor say something like that.”
Scheurich said if the hospital staff had believed Miller’s bleeding stemmed from arterial bleeding, he would not have been released. Miller was, however, released from MEDVAMC and sent home. On his was from Houston to his home in Vidor, the bleeding started again. He said he was close to the College Street exit ramp on Interstate 10 in Beaumont when it started. His daughter was driving and took him to the nearest ER at Baptist Hospital. Upon arrival, the family stopped near the ER entrance and two EMTs from a nearby ambulance offered assistance in getting him into the ER. Miller said ER staff at Baptist told him he had to be admitted immediately due to blood loss.
“By the time I got to Beaumont, they were not going to release me until they got some blood back into my system,” Miller said. “I was guessing I had lost 6-7 pints earlier because I had lost 8 pints by the time I got to Baptist.”
Miller said the hospital did not have an ENT doctor on staff. A friend referred him to Dr. Carey Jordan of Southeast Texas ENT. Dr .Jordan went to Baptist Hospital to treat Miller. He was diagnosed with epistaxis, a nosebleed that in this case was caused by a ruptured artery. Dr. Jordan performed an interior maxillary artery ligation to stop the bleeding. Miller said he was hospitalized for seven days while receiving blood transfusions at the hospital. He credits Dr. Jordan and Baptist Hospital with saving his life after the VA hospital facility almost killed him, he said.
“The VA Hospital in Houston is just way, way, way overloaded,” Miller said. “All they need are doctors. It was strained already with the guys from World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Now, with the veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s just flooded.”
MEDVAMC has 397 beds, according to the Houston VA website. For fiscal year 2012, running from October 2011 to September 2012, 128,387 veterans were enrolled in the system serving Angelina, Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Hardin, Harris, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Nacogdoches, Newton, Orange, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Trinity, Tyler, Walker, Waller, Washington, and Wharton counties in Texas. During that time, 13,301 veterans were admitted to MEDVAMC. In Houston, 879,222 went for outpatient visits. Gruner said she could not confirm the exact number of patients whose care each doctor provides but that if there is a need for a physician, the facility will bring in a doctor.
“If we don’t have the staff for whatever reason, we fee base it out,” Gruner said. “If we find a problem, we fix it.”
She said MEDVAMC has a close relationship with the Baylor Medical Center next door.
“We are a teaching hospital,” she said, and because of that, there is a lot of opportunity for research and a variety of techniques in use at the facility. “We have some of the best doctors in the world here.”
Gruner said MEDVAMC was recently given the “go ahead” for a breast cancer center, which the facility is currently lacking. She said soon, MEDVAMC will be able to perform liver and kidney transplants at the facility. She said the hospital is one of five VA hospitals in the nation that will have the ability to perform kidney transplants.
Gruner said there is light at the end of the tunnel for veterans seeking faster, better and more convenient care. She said when she started with the VA 11 years ago, there were only two veterans medical clinics in the area, one being the Beaumont clinic.
“Since then, we’ve opened up a number of clinics in the area,” Gruner said. “Next year, we are opening clinics in Katy and Tomball. We will have nine outpatient clinics to service veterans closer to where they live.”
She said the clinics would provide outpatient care for veterans so they do not have to go exclusively to MEDVAMC for care. She said by alleviating the number of veterans seeking care at the hospital, staff would likely be able to see patients hoping to receive rapid care or in need of emergency care in a timely manner. If veterans are able to access local clinics, they would not be forced to travel to MEDVAMC. She said the VA is also looking into staffing the local clinics with more specialists. She indicated the facility receives government funding and more is always welcome.
Miller said he feels more needs to be done to provide better care for veterans’ health care. He hopes his story will bring attention what he says are serious deficiencies in Texas, particularly.
“I’m not the only one who has had problems with the veterans health care system,” Miller said. “I have several friends who are veterans. They feel the VA is so bad in Texas they are willing to go to other states for care. One friend goes to the VA hospital in Louisiana. … I would like to help veterans get better benefits and better medical treatment. If this opens some eyes, then good.” | <urn:uuid:9751a9d5-1d7b-4f9c-8337-a9ef5e80da79> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://theexaminer.com/stories/news/va-health-care-one-man%E2%80%99s-story?page=1&quicktabs_1=1 | 2016-07-25T21:36:43Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257824345.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071024-00190-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980522 | 2,267 |
Forgotten For Decades, WWII Alaskans Finally Get Their Due
Alaskan Clyde Iyatunguk grew up hearing stories about the U.S. Army colonel, Marvin 'Muktuk' Marston, who helped his father trade his spear for a rifle, to protect his homeland during World War II.
Marston is a household name with Native Alaskans. The nickname comes from an Eskimo eating contest — muktuk is whale skin and blubber, eaten raw.
After the Japanese reached the Aleutian Islands in 1942, Marston traveled by dogsled across Alaska looking for volunteers who knew how to fight and survive in the Arctic terrain.
"So Dad stood up and said, 'OK, we're Americans, what do we need to do?' " Iyantunguk recalls.
"Dad" is Laban Iyatunguk, now 82. He was only a kid, but he lied about his age and signed up for the Alaska Territorial Guard, or ATG.
"Being Alaskan, and here our enemies were down in Aleutians," says the elder Iyantunguk. "There was war. That was the war, you know?"
More than 6,300 Alaskan Natives volunteered for the ATG, or Eskimo Scouts. They never had to fight off a full-fledged invasion, but the ATG — who served without pay — did rescue a downed pilot and secured key airfields. The unit dissolved at the end of the war.
"ATG was almost [a] forgotten branch that took part in World War II," says Laban Iyatunguk.
Forgotten By The Government
The U.S. government certainly seemed to forget about them: It took until 2000 to get the ATG recognized as veterans, then several years more for the bureaucracy to start registering them for benefits. That registration packet came to Laban Iyantunguk in the mail
"They sent me a bunch of papers, big brown envelope about an inch thick," he says. "I just shoved the papers down under the TV, and they're still there."
Earlier this month, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Nome, Alaska, Laban and his son Clyde, along with other local veterans, met with a group visiting from the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C. Clyde was keen to get his father signed up, but Laban Iyantunguk still found the red tape daunting and walked out.
"Oh, let 'em talk," he said as he crunched through the snow out to his pickup truck. "What good is paperwork gonna do? I been waiting and waiting and nothing's happened. What they doing? Waiting till we're 6 feet underground?"
Clyde promised to get his father registered; the potential benefits include a pension and a home loan, which he can pass to his wife.
Most ATG vets never got even that: Two of Clyde's uncles died before they could be registered for benefits. Of the more than 6,300, only dozens are still living, several of them in Nome. For a time, the Alaska State Office of Veterans Affairs concluded it had located all of the veterans, but every so often another family gets in touch with the office.
That was the case recently with Frankie Kuzuguk, who lives in a nursing home at the regional hospital in Nome. The 82-year-old sometimes has trouble remembering things, like when he joined the guard.
"I was stationed mostly in Anchorage. I can't remember the date — getting old!" he says.
Kuzuguk was speaking with a VA group from Washington, D.C., and Anchorage — they had come to give Kuzuguk his honorable discharge papers. The discharge is more than 60 years late, but it's necessary to classify Kuzuguk as a veteran. He also got a silver medal — a distinguished service coin — from the state. But it may have been the acknowledgment that matters most to him now.
"Mr. Kuzuguk has some periods of confusion, and what I can say is the one thing he always talks about ... is his time in the Army," says Christine Shultz, who directs social services at the hospital. "Having the military come and recognize him is the most important thing that could have happened."
Tommy Sowers, a senior VA official, handed Kuzuguk his discharge, and thanked him for his service.
"I'm very glad you guys are here today," Kuzuguk responded.
Even for those never recognized for their service in life one last benefit remains: a U.S. military headstone to mark their grave. At this point, it's the most common benefit delivered to the members of the Alaskan Territorial Guard.
MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
And I'm Robert Siegel.
It is a little known episode in American history. During World War II, the Japanese invaded and briefly held North American territory in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska.
In response, the U.S. Army created the Alaska Territorial Guard, or Eskimo Scouts: 6,000 volunteers who knew how to fight and survive in the Arctic terrain. It took half a century for these soldiers to get recognition as veterans. And now, there's a push to get benefits for the surviving members and their families. NPR's Quil Lawrence sent this report from Nome, Alaska.
QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE: Clyde Iyatunguk grew up hearing stories about the U.S. Army colonel who helped his father trade a spear for a rifle.
CLYDE IYATUNGUK: Colonel Muktuk Marston. Yes, he is a white colonel.
LAWRENCE: Colonel Muktuk Marston got his nickname after an Eskimo eating contest. Muktuk is sort of whale-skin bacon, but raw.
IYATUNGUK: During World War II, he came up to Alaska. America was being attacked by the Japanese, and if anybody wanted to volunteer, so Dad, you know, stood up and said OK.
LAWRENCE: Dad is Laban Iyatunguk, now 82. When World War II broke out, he was just a kid, but he lied about his age and signed up for the Alaska Territorial Guard, or ATG.
LABAN IYATUNGUK: Being Alaskan, and here our enemies were down in Aleutian. There was war. That was the war, you know?
LAWRENCE: The ATG never had to repulse an invasion. They did rescue a downed U.S. pilot and secured key airfields. The Alaska Territorial Guard dissolved at the end of the war.
IYATUNGUK: Well, ATG was almost kind of forgotten branch that took part in World War II.
LAWRENCE: Forgotten until the year 2000, when the Alaska Territorial Guard got veteran status. A few years later, Iyatunguk got a thick packet in the mail. He chucked it under the television. He and his son Clyde came to the VFW this month with other local vets to meet a group visiting from the VA in Washington. But Laban Iyatunguk still found the red tape daunting, and he walked out.
IYATUNGUK: What good paperwork going to do? You know, I've been waiting and waiting and nothing's happened. What they doing, waiting till we're six feet underground?
LAWRENCE: His son Clyde promises to get him registered, which could mean a pension and a home loan. Most ATG vets never got even that. Of 6,300 who served, only dozens are still living, several of them here in Nome. One of them, Frankie Kuzuguk, is just five minutes away from the VFW. He lives in a nursing home at the regional hospital.
CHRISTINE SHULTZ: Mr. Kuzuguk has some periods of confusion, and what I can say is that the one thing he consistently talks about is his time in the Army. Having the military come and recognize him would the most important thing that could have happened.
LAWRENCE: That's Christine Shultz. She directs social services at the hospital. Kuzuguk is 82. He also joined the guard young. The visitors from the VA came to present him with his honorable discharge. It's seven decades late. But that makes him eligible for benefits. Tommy Sowers, a VA official, gave him his papers.
TOMMY SOWERS: This is your discharge paperwork.
FRANKIE KUZUGUK: Thank you.
SOWERS: You want to smile for a photo?
KUZUGUK: I was in the United States Army, early days.
LAWRENCE: His youngest daughter, Marilyn, came for the ceremony.
MARILYN KUZUGUK: Dad, all these awards are for you. So that's why everybody is here...
KUZUGUK: Oh, yeah. OK.
KUZUGUK: ...to celebrate you serving.
KUZUGUK: All right.
KUZUGUK: I'm very glad you guys are here today.
SOWERS: Thank you, Frankie. It's an honor to be here. Thank you for your service to your country.
LAWRENCE: Even for those never recognized for their service in life one last benefit remains: a U.S. military headstone to mark their grave. It's the most common benefit delivered to the members of the Alaska Territorial Guard. Quil Lawrence, NPR News.
SIEGEL: Tomorrow on MORNING EDITION, Quil has one more story from Alaska about the challenges of getting medical care to veterans in remote parts of the state. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. | <urn:uuid:61d32618-9737-4903-b344-72eff406c1f7> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://wmra.org/post/forgotten-decades-wwii-alaskans-finally-get-their-due | 2016-07-25T20:56:47Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257824345.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071024-00190-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975016 | 2,120 |
It has also been shown to have a strong synergistic effect against cancer with resveratrol, and also with EGCG in green tea.
Taking a Curcumin supplement
Curcumin supplements provide curcumin in good amounts but curcumin is difficult is difficult to absorb. Absorption can be helped by piperine the active ingredient in black pepper. This also seems to enhance some of its actions.
According to the American Cancer Society, absorption of curcumin can be improved by mixing the supplement with a teaspoonful of olive oil and sprinkling the black pepper on it. Warning: Don´t spill it on your skin or clothes - it stains!
So is curcumin a cure for cancer? No, of course not. What is exciting the experts in cancer centres in America is that it can play a role against several of the steps in what is a multi-step cancer process. As such it would seem stupid to ignore it as a part of an Integrative or holistic cancer treatment programme.
If you are already thinking of buying Curcumin, you might like to look at the Natural Selection shop. Do it by clicking here.
What are curcumin and turmeric?
Curcumin is the active ingredient of the Indian/Asian curry spice Turmeric. To put this technically, curcumin is the principal curcuminoid in turmeric. Curcuminoids are polyphenols. Turmeric powder is ground from the root of a plant called Curcuma Longa, which is a member of the ginger family and is found throughout Southern Asia, even growing wild in the Himalayas.
This vivid yellow to brown spice was used, like many Asian spices and chillies, to hide the taste of stronger tasting meats and fish even those that might have gone a little off in such hot climates. Like many such spices, it also performed a necessary and functional role it was a cleanser, a bacteria-killer in the stomach, protecting against tainted foods!
Curcumin first caught my attention when I read a research report on its ability to prevent the crossed wires of Alzheimer´s, through blocking a certain peptide forming. Therapeutic doses seem able to prevent, and also reverse, early stages of the disease. (My father had the disease, in case you wondered!). As I started to do my homework, I found clinical trials for all manner of illnesses from cystic fibrosis to reduction of risk in stomach and colorectal cancers.
Curcumin is the most researched compound in medicine! And new research is coming thick and fast. You will find the latest in Cancer Watch
Curcumin/turmeric has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years as a cleanser of the body. It appears to work at a number of levels:
1. It can inhibit unwanted bacterial action in the stomach and intestine:
For example (i) , University of Chicago researchers have shown it inhibits Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium known to be responsible for stomach ulcers and some stomach cancers. In Ayurvedic medicine, curcumin was used in poultices for this same reason to kill unwanted bacteria.
2. It is a significant anti-inflammatory:
Arachidonic acid is a precursor/stimulator of the production of bad eicosancids (see our reviews of omega 3 and vitamin D) and thus to inflammation, which is itself a precursor to certain cancers. Curcumin has been found to inhibit several of the pre-inflammatory enzymes (e.g. COX2 and iNOS) in vitro and in vivo with animals. Japanese research suggests it works in much the same way as salicylin. (ii)
3. It boosts crucial cellular glutathione levels:
Glutathione is a crucial intracellular antioxidant, helping the cell maintain its correct oxygen levels and fight off the effects of stress hormones. Research has shown that curcumin can prevent the action of an enzyme that limits glutathione production.
4. It is a powerful antioxidant:
Turmeric extract tested more potent than garlic, omega 3 and cat´s claw (devil´s claw) said German research. (iii)
5. It can help prevent liver damage
2010 research from St Louis has shown that it can turn off a protein called Leptin, which causes liver damage. It has also been shown to be capable of detoxifying the liver. Thus curcumin may be of help in keeping the liver healthy during chemotherapy cancer treatments.(vii)
6. It can prevent and even ´treat´ cancer:
As we have covered above, curcumin can suppress tumour initiation, promotion and metastasis. Extensive research over the last 50 years has indicated it can prevent and treat cancer. The anti-cancer potential stems from its ability to control gene signalling, and affect a wide variety of tumour cells, down-regulate transcription factors, down-regulate enzymes such as COX-2 and other inflammatories, cytokines, chemokines, cell-surface adhesion molecules, down-regulate growth factors, etc., etc. (iv)
But, its not just MD Anderson that are fans:
Tufts have conducted research with breast cancer patients concluding that curcumin and isoflavanoids seem to inhibit the action of environmental oestrogens. (v)
UCLA have researched its potential with colorectal cancer (San Diego, Chauhen). And there are Clinical Trials underway (according to the Mayo Clinic to investigate curcumin as a way to prevent cancer in people with precancerous conditions, as a cancer treatment, and as a remedy for signs and symptoms caused by cancer treatments.
Kentucky University researchers report on its inhibition of B lymphoma cells. (vi)
Emory School of Medicine showed that it attacked Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors cutting the ability of tumours to generate their essential blood supply lines. Many drugs are being developed specifically to stop VEGF´s, but this common spice already does the job
Memorial Sloan-Kettering (New York) even offered that ´green tea spiced with curcumin was a double anti-cancer beater´!
There are a dozen or more studies where curcumin has caused cell death in cancer cells; and even more where it prevents tumours forming a blood supply.However as always, some things seem too good to be true; and despite the euphoria of major hospitals in the USA, a few words of realism have to be added.
Firstly, much of the work original used cell cultures. Increasingly studies use a variety of animals, and there have been human trials, even clinical trials, primarily with cervical cancer lesions and with gastrointestinal cancers. So, although the biochemical knowledge is vast, the use of oral curcumin to prevent and treat cancer is still in its infancy.
Next, there is a problem maintaining effectiveness inside the cells; there are several studies that show oral consumption needs to be maintained in order to maintain blood and cellular levels. But it is not as simple as curry every day!
Actually, a single curry meal delivers very small amounts of active curcumin, so you would have to maintain daily consumption. Or you can supplement. (Research from Taiwan shows that even 8 gms per day for three months is safe. In one UK clinical trial a variety of doses from 0.45 to 3.6 gms per day was used with colorectal cancer patients, all having no adverse effects.) As we said above piperine (from black pepper) seems to aid absorption and action.
Curcumin supplements may be heavily contaminated with everything from pesticides to other spices so you must choose a reliable supplier, ideally of curcuma longa. If you are thinking of buying Curcuma Longa you might like to look at the Natural Selection as they are based in the UK and they tend to have natural compounds that avoid pesticides. Click here. Alternatively in the USA you might like to go to the Natural News or Dr Mercola websites.
Some supplements contain piperine, supposedly to increase bio-availability. This can interfere with certain drugs.
Curcumin can inhibit coagulation in vitro and so may be inadvisable if you are taking anti-coagulants. It might increase the risk of bleeding.
It might also be advisable not to take it if you are pregnant or lactating.
At last, the definitive, research-based book on how to build a diet to help beat cancer. Click here to read about it.
Clearly there is a huge enthusiasm, even expectation, overseas for curcumin, if not in British hospitals and oncology departments. But the real issue is can you take enough of it orally to deliver it in adequate doses to your breast or prostate cells? Certainly curcumin (curcuma longa) was seen to be an important herb in the natural and successful treatment of prostate cancer that we covered in Cancer Watch (icon 2006, issue 3 ). We will just have to wait and see whether this longstanding Ayurvedic medicine will curry favour with the UK medical fraternity.
(i) Magad et al, Anticancer Res 2002. 22(6C) 4179-81
(ii) Vane: Nobel Prize 1982
(iii) J Pharmacology 2003 55; 981-6
(iv) Aggarwal et al Anticancer Res. 2003. 23; 363-98
(v) Environ Health Perspective 1998; 106. 807-12
(vi) Clin. Immun. 1999. 93; 152-61
(vii) St Louis University 2010
Professor Aggarwal has been the subject of a number of ´blogs´ - some anonymous and from Europe - attacking his credibility and even alleging fraud in his research. Aggarwal has withdrawn or revisited several of his very many research papers for methodology reasons. MD Anderson have investigated the issue and Aggarwal continues in his Professorial role. However, as a result we use only one MD Anderson study in the above report and that has been verified by a second research source.
While this all sounds concerning, to put it in context, it should be noted that in 2015 the FDA found flaws in almost 40 per cent of clinical trials for drugs in recruitment, detail and methodology.
People who read this article, also read:
Resveratrol: CLICK HERE to read
Grape Seed extract: CLICK HERE to read
Green Tea: CLICK HERE to read
Please be clear: At CANCERactive we do not consider the above compound to be a cure for cancer, despite what the research says or experts doing the research may claim. The above, is an article on the compound from published research and expert opinion in the public domain. At CANCERactive we do not believe that any single compound (drug, vitamin, whatever) is a cure for cancer. We believe that people can significantly increase their personal odds of survival by building an Integrated Programme of treatments. Equally, cancer prevention is best practiced through a width of measures. | <urn:uuid:2021c24a-69ad-465c-b125-108363fbf6a8> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.canceractive.com/cancer-active-page-link.aspx?n=1571 | 2016-07-25T20:03:12Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257824345.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071024-00190-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946329 | 2,299 |
'My Illustrated Life'
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Art Emporium presents "My Illustrated Life -- Watercolor Reflections," a series of recently completed works by Sharon Harms, Sept. 17 through Oct. 13.Growing up in Chicago, Harms studied at the Art Institute of Chicago from age 8 until college, when she enrolled at the American Academy of Art to focus on communication art, graphic design and illustration.She moved to West Virginia 30 years ago to work as an illustrator for a large paper product manufacturer and fell in love with the state's natural beauty. Harms' work reflects her love of nature and gardening and her personal experiences.
Art Emporium, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, 823 Quarrier St., Charleston; www.artemporium.net or 304-345-2787.Poffenbarger at Art Store
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Art Store will open "New Works" by award-winning West Virginia native Susan Poffenbarger on Sept. 15 with a talk by the artist at 5:30 p.m. A reception will follow until 7:30 p.m."New Works" allows the viewer to experience the landscape through Poffenbarger's eyes, depicting scenes she has experienced on her exploration of the West Virginia outdoors. From Hawks Nest to Bear Town, this body of work showcases her ability to capture natural light and interpret the play of light and texture on scenes of waterways. The exhibition will continue through Oct. 18.The Art Store, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, 1013 Bridge Road, Charleston; www.theartstorewv.com or 304-345-1038.Gallery features Pat Miller
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Gallery Eleven's featured artist for the month of September is Pat Miller.Gallery Eleven, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1035 Quarrier St., Charleston, WV, 25301; www.galleryeleven.com or 304-342-0083.High school contests
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The West Virginia Division of Culture and History, in cooperation with the West Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission, is sponsoring two contests with cash prizes for high school students.Students who submit essays on a topic related to the Civil War and West Virginia statehood have the chance to win a $1,000 cash prize, while the teacher of the winning author will receive a $500 cash award.
Student photographers who capture historic sites related to the sesquicentennial as part of the division's Sesquicentennial Snapshot program also could win $1,000.Winners of both contests will have their work published in Goldenseal magazine, the state's journal of traditional life, and the best photos will be included in the West Virginia State Museum's "WV 150" exhibit set to open in early 2013.Deadline is Nov. 1.For more information about the essay contest, contact Caryn Gresham at [email protected]
or 304-558-0220. For more information about the Sesquicentennial Snapshot contest, contact Tyler Evert at [email protected]
or 304-558-0220. For forms and other information, visit www.wvculture.org/wv150/sesquicentennial.html
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Applications are being accepted for a second round of historic preservation development grants through the State Historic Preservation Office of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. About $250,000 will be available, contingent upon appropriation of funds from the Legislature or Congress.
Eligible projects include the restoration, rehabilitation or archaeological development of most historic sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places. There are properties that aren't eligible.The Preservation Office also is accepting heritage education grant applications for technical workshops related to historic preservation restoration work. Local and county governments, historic landmark commissions and nonprofit organizations interested in co-sponsoring a workshop with the preservation office should contact the office for a workshop application.For more information, contact Pamela Brooks, grants coordinator, at 304-558-0240, ext. 720. Visit the division's website at www.wvculture.org/shpo/forms.html
.Clay Center exhibits
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The following exhibits can be seen at the Clay Center:"The Edge of Vision: Abstraction in Contemporary Photography": Contemporary and abstract photography, from the Aperture Foundation, featuring 20 international, contemporary artists. Open through Sept. 23."Artist to Icon: Early Photographs of Elvis, Dylan and the Beatles": Three music icons, just before the world knew them as legends, are documented in black-and-white photographs. Open through Sept. 23."Gallery Divided: A Head-to-Head Matchup Between Marshall & WVU Art Faculty."Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences of West Virginia, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, One Clay Square, Charleston; www.theclaycenter.org, 304-561-3570. "Smart Pass" (includes galleries, film and planetarium) $14.50 adults and $12 children, teachers and senior citizens; Galleries only $7.50 adults and $6 children, teachers and seniors. Members get free unlimited access to galleries and planetarium shows, as well as discounts on films.Correction
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- In the 2012-13 Arts Calendar published in the Sept. 2 Life & Style section, dancer Noelle Frame was identified as being part of the Charleston Ballet. She dances with the River City Youth Ballet.'West Virginia Cookbooks'
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Susan Scouras, archives and history librarian, will present "West Virginia Cookbooks" at 6 p.m. Sept. 13 in the Archives and History Library at the Culture Center. The program is free and open to the public.Scouras will discuss cookbooks as historical resources and food availability and recipes during periods of rationing, such as World War II. She will explain how newspapers have been used as a source for cooking, recipe and food information from the mid-19th century to the present.Scouras will showcase cookbooks from the Archives collection, including those compiled and distributed by commercial publishers, church and civic groups, appliance and food manufacturers and individuals.Scouras holds a bachelor's degree in history and a master's degree in library science from the University of Kentucky. She is interested in American and family history, libraries and discovering how books, papers and objects from the past can reveal details about a specific era.Contact Robert Taylor at [email protected]
or 304-558-0230, ext. 163.HMOA needs docents
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- The Huntington Museum of Art invites anyone interested in becoming a docent to an open house from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 11. Admission is free and refreshments will be served.A docent is someone who volunteers time to lead schoolchildren and museum visitors on guided tours. No experience or background in art is required. Docents work with the museum's education department and receive training on Huntington Museum of Art exhibits on Monday mornings.Contact Cindy Dearborn at 304-529-2701 or [email protected]
.Huntington Museum of Art, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, 2033 McCoy Road, Huntington; 304-529-2701 or www.hmoa.org. Admission is $5 per person or $18 for a family of four or more. Admission is free on Tuesdays and to museum members.Civil-rights lectures
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Marshall University will host a series of free lectures during the fall semester by distinguished scholars, centering on the U.S. civil-rights movement, according to David Trowbridge, associate professor of history and director of African and African American Studies.The first lecture is at 7 p.m. Sept. 11 in the Marshall Foundation Hall. Dr. Thomas J. Sugrue will speak on the unique aspects of the civil-rights struggle in Northern communities. He is the author of "Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North."Lecture on the role of Congress
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Dr. Thomas E. Mann, the W. Averell Harriman chair and senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, will speak at 7 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Marshall University Foundation Hall.His lecture is part of a series on the U.S. Constitution titled "Amicus Curiae." Mann will speak on Congress' role in governance and its current performance in fulfilling its mandate as outlined in the Constitution. He is the co-author, with Dr. Norman Ornstein, of "The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track" (2006) and "It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism" (2012).The series is sponsored by Marshall's Simon Perry Center for Constitutional Democracy and the College of Liberal Arts, with financial support from the West Virginia Humanities Council. For more information, contact Patricia Proctor, director of the center, at 304-696-2801.To have your announcement included in Arts Notes, email [email protected] or send it to Arts Notes, The Charleston Gazette, 1001 Virginia St. E., Charleston, WV 25301. Artwork can be submitted electronically or by mail. Deadline for inclusion in the Sunday Gazette-Mail is the Tuesday before Sunday publication | <urn:uuid:af15a779-ecdf-4d62-b416-8f6bfe6a213f> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.wvgazettemail.com/News/201209070230 | 2016-07-25T20:09:17Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257824345.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071024-00190-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917585 | 2,150 |
A micro-foundation for the Laffer curve in a real effort experiment
A conjecture of Laffer, which had considerable influence on fiscal doctrine, is that tax revenues of a Leviathan state eventually decrease when the tax rate exceeds a threshold value. We conduct a real effort experiment, in which a "worker" is matched with a non-working partner, to elicit the conditions under which a Laffer curve can be observed. We ran four different treatments by manipulating work opportunities and the power to tax. In the endogenous treatment, the non-working partner chooses a tax rate among the set of possibilities and receives the revenue generated by her choice and the worker's effort response to this tax rate. In the exogenous treatment, the tax rate is randomly selected by the computer and the non-working partner merely receives the revenue from taxes. The Laffer curve phenomenon cannot be observed in the exogenous treatments, but arises in endogenous treatments. Tax revenues are then maximized at a 50% tax rate. We demonstrate that an " efficiency tax " model (with or without inequity aversion) falls short of predicting our experimental Laffer curve but an alternative model of social preferences provides a micro-foundation for the latter. This new model endogenously generates a social norm of fair taxation at a 50% tax rate under asymmetric information about workers' type. Taxpayers manage to enforce this norm by working less whenever it has been violated but do not systematically reward " kind " tax setters. Workers who maximize their expected wealth adjust work to the tax rate equitably so that tax revenues remain at a fair level. Workers who respond affectively to norm violations just refuse to work so that tax revenues are cut down. Workers endowed with higher work opportunities tend to respond more emotionally to unfair taxation in our experiment, which is consistent with the observed Laffer curve and with the history of tax revolts.
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- Ernst Fehr & Klaus M. Schmidt, .
"A Theory of Fairness, Competition and Cooperation,"
IEW - Working Papers
004, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
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"Incorporating Fairness into Game Theory and Economics,"
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- Sillamaa, M. A., 1999. "Taxpayer behavior in response to taxation: comment and new experimental evidence," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 165-177.
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- Austan Goolsbee, 1999. "Evidence on the High-Income Laffer Curve from Six Decades of Tax Reform," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 30(2), pages 1-64.
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Elle Decor’s 8 Better Ways to Display Art
July 29, 2016
We just got some Audubon bird reproductions framed with a dusty blue mat. I’ve been wanting a set of photos or paintings to go on our long bedroom wall, and I think we picked a winner! When my place is finished decorating, I’ll make sure to post photos!
Ways to Display Art
I just loved this Elle Decor feature on 8 different ways to display art in your home. We all need more art in our lives, and it doesn’t have to be expensive! I’ll either frame photos that I took, frame a special token that was given to me, or buy art from local artists. Check out the article here.
My trip to Purl Soho! Embroidery and fabrics yay! (Trouvés Top Five)
July 27, 2016
Boy is it ever hot here in Southern California! I made a new cooling mist that I love, but I wish I had some spearmint oil to add to it. It’s distilled water + lavender essential oil + peppermint oil in a mister bottle, kept in the fridge. It’s pretty yummy.
Fashion & Beauty
I was working at an event recently that had guests dressed to the nines. Several girls were dressed very Kardashian, with crop top skin-tight outfits, fake lashes, heavy eyeliner, the works. I couldn’t help but think that the makeup aged them by twenty years, and I realize now that I automatically avoided looking at them for the rest of the night because I felt like it was such a shame! The most beautiful gal I saw though, was a plus-size girl who had on a very elegant ’20s art deco long gown that fit her figure. She paired it with simple hot-roller loose locks and natural makeup. Belíssima! As far as the heavy makeup, more is sometimes just. . . more.
My tip for evening makeup? Strong brow, bronzer on the cheeks, highlighter. But if you struggle with how to pull off a certain look, check out Pixiwoo’s Youtube channel. She’s a makeup genius!
So I was looking for some embroidery ribbon so that I could start asap on my Alabama Chanin tank top I was making. I called a few places and looked at JoAnn and Hobby Lobby, but to no avail. Then I saw on Google Maps a location near me that said PurlSoho.com. . . It’s their warehouse! It made for a great reason to shower. Yes, it’s not a storefront, it’s a warehouse, but the public can shop in it during certain hours. Everyone was friendly, and we rocked out to modern tunes. Well, I ended up getting the wrong ribbon for my top, but I’ll use it for some craft eventually. I can’t wait to go back there and buy some fabric! I have my eyes on, well, everything, but realistically, the next thing I’ll probably buy is this Nani Iro just because it’s so beautiful.
One thing I regret is not finishing decorating my last bedroom the way I really wanted. It’s so important to create your living space into one that you’ll enjoy resting in, as well as a space that is hospitable to your guests. In my last place, when I didn’t have people over (and unfortunately even when I did) my place was a sewing mess. Fabric and projects everywhere. It took away from the little decorating I did do in the main area. Never again!
I’ve been trying to finish up decorating our little place, which is hard when you’re on a budget, but not even close to impossible. The latest thing I did was sew a box-pleat bed skirt. It grounds the room and hides the ugly box spring I’ve been looking at for far too long. I’ll post a photo when I’m done decorating the whole bedroom! Matthew says that the bed with the skirt looks better than he thought it was going to look. When will he learn to trust me, really? Here is a “during” photo. I found a few tutorials online, then created my own pattern.
I was realizing, as we were touring the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, that I am so bad at living in the moment when it’s not a face-to-face conversation. That’s one thing I can be present for! I’ve never been great at remembering history, but there is a definite need for us to be informed of our past to help us navigate our future! Amazing what Pope John Paul II and President Ronald Reagan did to help end the Cold War.
Always Ice Cream
If you’ve never tried this kind, you’re missing out. I started eating it in the car. It made a mess but it was worth it.
Trader Joe’s Complete Body Cleanse Review – detox your body
July 11, 2016
I just watched Age of Adaline on Hulu, and I loved it! Not like, 10-Things-I-Hate-About-You-love. More like, that-was-beautiful-I’ll-probably-only-watch-it-once-or-twice-again-love. This morning I waxed on to my husband on the genius of Blake Lively while he got ready for work. He said, “Who’s that?” Um, she was only in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! And, of course, made a perfect Serena van der Woodsen. Well, anyway, I cried a few times during the movie, once when Harrison Ford broke down. I think I’m going to start dressing more charming ’50s now.
Trader Joe’s Complete Body Cleanse Review
I went to TJ’s for some probiotics and thought, Well the Complete Body Cleanse is only $12, may as well. I started the gentle two-week cleanse the night before I went on vacation, don’t ask me why, I had my reasons. Let me just tell you, it works. The cleanse totally cleans you out since you’re taking a ton of fiber. I am no expert but I am assuming you need to continue to take your multivitamins and probiotics since the cleanse probably rids you of both the bad and good bacteria in your gut, so you need probiotics via supplements or yogurt or kombucha to restore healthy gut flora.
The downside to the cleanse is you have to swallow a ton of pills for two weeks. Also, waking up early to head to the bathroom. The upside is, you are cleaning your body! If you don’t do a cleanse for no other reason, do it as a science experiment, it’s quite entertaining actually. I’ll probably do this cleanse once or twice a year, especially at the beginning of the year so that I can get a fresh start after holiday sugar intake. An upside is, you’re not running to the bathroom 24/7, just in the morning, and mainly during the first 3 days. Be sure to drink plenty of water so that is helps flush out the toxins.
That same week I also used my birthday facial and massage. I loved it! My skin was never smoother. I had to write down what parts of my body were achey. An issue I have been having for months is my knees click when I go up the stairs. No bueno. Only a couple days after my massage did I realize that my knees no longer clicked! I think my muscles were probably so tight and things were out of alignment. A downside to my massage is that because massages do such a good job of detoxing and relaxing your body, and on top of that I started taking my Trader Joe’s cleanse, my nose started to run like a faucet, and then I got stuffed up for a week. This tends to happen to me whenever I eat something greasy after getting a massage and then I feel really sick. I’ll never learn.
Beautiful Oregon and Washington Mountain Photos (Independence Day)
July 6, 2016
If you’re looking for our wedding photos post, here is the post.
Today I woke up and felt inspired to finish decorating our bedroom, so I went on craigslist to look for estate sales and found Ruby’s estate sale, from the orginal Ruby’s Diner. I’m sad I wasn’t in town for this!
As promised, here are some photos from our family reunion in Bend, Oregon! People came from as far away as Arizona and Maine. We laughed, we cried, we played mini golf.
I opened up this family’s tent, and you’ll never believe what I saw… (Independence Day, Alabama Chanin, Mount Hood)
July 5, 2016
Well, Independence Day weekend came and went. We are back home from our family reunion trip to Bend, Oregon, and we are tired and full of chicken and cole slaw. I smiled for a gajillion photos and blew bubbles until I almost passed out while a 3 year old growled and danced before all the bubbles. Grandpa G. showed us the wood shop he built and told us some jokes. One of my favorites:
Jack and Jill went up a hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack came down and broke $10 and I got a buck twenty-five.
And we heard variations of this knock knock joke for ten minutes straight from 3-year-old Lucy:
Knock Knock. Who’s there? Banana. Banana who?
Don’t worry, we’re going in a banana!
Knock Knock. Who’s there? Purple banana. Purple banana who?
Don’t worry, we’re going in a purple banana!
So the title of this post is poking fun at click bait. But I guess it literally is click bait, sorry. Well, I’ll tell you what I saw that left me shocked for the next hour or so.
So there I was, walking with little Lucy to their tent to get her toy. She opened up the tent, and this is what I saw. I just stared at it, not fully hearing Lucy’s questions to me. Could this be? I wanted to believe it but didn’t want to get my hopes up. We walked back to where everyone was lounging and I asked my new sister-in-law Lorraine, “So, is Alabama Chanin in your tent?” She laughed and said, yes, she’s making a dress, and has almost all of their books.
*photos taken with permission from hand-sewing goddess
I previously wrote about my obsession for Alabama Chanin here. And… my freakout starts again- THEY HAVE A NEW COLLECTION!! Instagram, you let me down. How did I not know this?
The Antheia skirt… words cannot express how much I love and need this skirt. But at $3,240, you can see why Natalie Chanin publishes books teaching people how to make their own!
Back to Lorraine’s creation: The hanging pieces are panels on her dress that are two pieces (one red, one black) of jersey fabric put together and then embroidered and appliquéd, like a lovely handmade quilt, but for clothing! A few tricks Lorraine has to making the stencils is to get a special craft swivel stencil X-acto knife. She also uses fabric spray paint for the stencils instead of paint-and-sponge since it both dries quickly and can be applied quickly. I loved that while a bunch of us played mini-golf in the backyard, she followed us, appliquéing away.
The thing I love about us youngins hand-making, hand-appliquéing our own clothing is we are carrying forth the traditions that our grandmas/aunts/mothers had. If I were a journalist I would love to chronicle all of the quilts Grandma G. handmade for all of her grandchildren. And I do mean entirely sewn by hand, in her lap, and hand-quilted. Later this week I’ll share the amazing quilt that was hanging in our guest bedroom in Bend, Oregon.
Tomorrow’s post I’ll show some photos from our family reunion during Independence weekend. | <urn:uuid:552121ed-dd79-492e-ab30-2621c9d71fff> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://trouveshome.com/ | 2016-07-29T17:47:18Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257831770.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071031-00194-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957834 | 2,690 |
Daily Telegraph, April 3rd 2006, p.1
A drop in qualified staff appears inevitable as leaked documents suggest reduction by a third, with qualified nurses replaced by unqualified staff. While NHS Direct attracts millions of calls, website visitors and digital television viewers, seventy per cent of enquiries are passed back to the commissioning care trusts according to critics.
Daily Telegraph, March 28th 2006, p.16
Reflecting on similarities between problems in healthcare for the young and old now and twenty years ago, the author asks about moral, ethical and personal perspectives in deciding how to prioritise health funding.
Guardian, April 19th 2006, p.1
The parliamentary Health Select Committee is preparing to inquire into how NHS trusts acquired deficits despite extra funding. The article provides comments on costs and the progress of the reform programme.
Financial Times, April 13th 2006, p.4
Tony Blair was warned at a Downing Street summit with local health heads that clearing the NHS deficit may take more than a year. Further job losses are anticipated as are cutting agency workers and shifting care outside hospitals as heavily indebted trusts seek cost saving measures. The article also touches on a think tank report’s assertion that moving care away from hospitals will result in ten per cent job losses.
[See also Daily Telegraph, April 13th 2006, p.6; Times, April 13th 2006, p.4; Guardian, April 13th 2006; p.7; Independent, April 13th 2006, p.5]
Financial Times, April 21st 2006, p.4
Poor and delayed NHS procurement procedures are adding £2.4m to the cost of PFI hospitals according to the Confederation of British Industry. The article looks at the process and provides comments.
N. Hawkes & G. Hurst
Times, April 18th 2006, p.2
“Vital specialist paediatric capacity” is threatened by an insensitive tariff which leaves four children’s hospitals with a £22m shortfall in income. The situation was revealed by a letter from the hospitals’ heads, and supports criticisms of the national tariff’s lack of sophistication.
[See also Daily Telegraph, April 18th 2006, p.4; Guardian, April 18th 2006, p. 13]
Public Finance. March 24th-30th 2006, p.20-23
Part of the blame for the current financial crisis in the NHS has been laid at the door of the new payment by results system. The author argues that payment by results should in the long run lead to efficiency gains and greater transparency in NHS management. Problems are to be expected in the implementation phase until the new system settles down. These include difficulties with calculating the national tariff, problems for trusts adjusting to a single national price for treatments, and perverse financial incentives for hospitals to do unnecessary work.
Guardian, April 3rd 2006, p.1
Challenging the free at point of service stance, and calling for an urgent multiparty review of health policy, the “Doctors for Reform” pressure group claims that a service funded only by taxes will result in rationing and fail to meet patient expectations. The group which finds disillusionment with the current NHS system among voters, proposes an insurance-based alternative.
[See also Independent, April 3rd 2006, p.6; Times, Monday April 3rd 2006 p.2]
Financial Times, April 19th 2006, p. 15
The lack of an adequate commercial costing system half way through the implementation of “payment by results”, and conflicting policy directions underlie the current NHS deficits according to Darwall who asks whether internal markets can work, and whether Whitehall has the policy design capacity, and implementation skills needed for change on the scale required for NHS reform. The article looks at inaccurate data, management skills and alignment of incentives with efficiency.
Health Service Journal, vol.116, Apr. 13th 2006, p.5-7
Reports on plans to achieve financial balance in the NHS in London. These include draconian measures to save money by reducing the number of referrals of patients for hospital treatment. GP decisions could be overruled by PCT referral panels.
N. Hawkes & D. Charter
Times, April 12th 2006, p.8
Cuts to the annual spend on drugs and temporary staff are proposed by the new NHS chief as a think tank report predicts 100, 000 job losses following reforms. The article looks at training and recruitment levels.
[See also Guardian, April 12th 2006 p. 8]
Financial Times, April 19th 2006, p.4
Given the discounts that pharmacists obtain from wholesalers and manufacturers of generic drugs, analysis finds the NHS paying up to 78% over the source price. Generic drugs account for 80% of NHS prescriptions while prescriptions overall make up 11% of the NHS budget according to the article.
N. Timmins & J. Burns
Financial Times, March 31st 2006, p.4
Although pay awards will be phased in for the NHS and other public services, the cost of the rises will consume almost a third of the extra money allocated to the NHS. The article provides comments from representative bodies including the British Medical Association which has described the awards, which will raise health workers’ pay by between 2 and 2.5 per cent, as “vindictive” and likely to alienate the profession.
[See also Times, March 31st 2006 p.26; Guardian, March 31st 2006 p. 7]
Health Service Journal, vol.116, Apr. 6th 2006, p.14-15
Article reports on a study of the early rollout of the payment by results system in South Yorkshire, where all acute trusts had achieved foundation status by June 2005. The study found that primary care trusts had too little control over hospital activity. Although a wide range of local initiatives had been put in place to try and control activity levels, no overall strategy has been developed to address demand pressures. At the same time, the hospitals had financial incentives to increase activity, and were also beginning to stop running unprofitable services.
London: TSO, 2006 (Cm 6752)
Key recommendations and conclusions of the Review Body are: 1) an increase in the Agenda for Change pay rates of 2.5 per cent from 1 April 2006; and 2) and increase of 2.5% in the existing minimum and maximum High Cost Area Supplements for Inner London, Outer London and the Fringe. The Review Body also recommends that the health departments ensure that a comprehensive survey is conducted annually to identify the earnings of the remit groups and their location within pay bands.
London: TSO, 2006 (Cm 6733)
The Review Body took into account the following economic and general considerations: 1) that the health departments were critically concerned about the affordability of the uplift; 2) the continued growth in the number of medical and dental staff in the Hospital and Community Health Service; and 3) that the latest NHS Staff Survey for 2004 showed some improvements in terms of staff satisfaction. The Review Body stated that doctors such as consultants and GPs have benefited financially from new contracts and the pay of doctors compares well with comparator groups. Analysis of figures from the Office of National Statistics indicates that doctors' pay has increased at a much faster rate than the average for high earners in the economy. The Review Body stated that there was no indication that there was a problem in recruiting in London, so there was no reason to increase London weighting
Times, April 4th 2006, p.18
The question of which services should remain in a tax-funded core and which are appropriate for co-payment should be the focus of a multi party review of NHS aspirations according to Sikora of Doctors for Reform. Dropping failing areas like provision of hearing aids from the NHS would allow for a modern, innovative system based on insurance and co-payments, while increased rationing would decrease equity as the wealthy could queue jump by going private.
J. Carvel and W. Woodward
Guardian, March 24th 2006, p.1
Guardian figures show 4000 NHS job losses in the previous fortnight including 700 announced in Prime Minister Blair’s constituency. The Shadow Health Secretary has accused the government of allowing the NHS to sink under financial pressures and Chancellor Gordon Brown of ignoring the NHS in his budget. Plans for dealing with deficits have been submitted to the Healthy Department.
[See also Times, March 24th2006 p.28; Independent, March 24th 2006 p.11; Daily Telegraph, March 24th 2006, p.8]
Health Service Journal, vol.116, Apr.6th 2006, p.5Money intended public health improvement has instead been spent on NHS staff salary hikes which far exceeded the recommendations of the 2002 Wanless report. The report set out a vision of a “fully engaged” scenario in which people took control of their own health care. Achieving this scenario would require increased productivity, better health improvement services and action to tackle the wider determinants of ill health. In order to support this staff pay rises of 2% per year over 20 years were recommended. Instead, the Department of Health agreed immediate large salary increases under the new GP and consultant contracts and the Agenda for Change programme. | <urn:uuid:15f63b8c-6311-4c3f-b64c-4feed9421556> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.bl.uk/welfarereform/issue82/nhsfundg.html | 2016-07-29T17:57:43Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257831770.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071031-00194-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954074 | 1,908 |
Britons feared among 38 dead after packed ferry heading for Hong Kong firework show collides with another boat and sinks
- Seven crew members from the two boats that crashed have been arrested
- Sunken pleasure boat was carrying more than 120 passengers
- Vessels collided off Lamma Island, two miles from Hong Kong island
- Survivors said people broke windows to swim to the surface
- They waited 20 minutes to be rescued after the crash at 8.30pm last night
- More than 100 people were admitted to hospital last night
- Hong Kong chief promises full investigation into collision
- Tragedy is the worst to hit Hong Kong since 1996, when more than 40 people died in a fire in a commercial building
British officials fear that UK citizens might be among the 38 people dead after two passenger ferries collided off Hong Kong.
Seven crew members from the two boats that crashed were arrested today after more than 100 people were hospitalised following the dramatic accident last night.
Bodies were pulled from the pitch black water after one of the boats – carrying 120 workmates and their families to a holiday firework display in Hong Kong harbour – sank off Lamma island, two miles from Hong Kong island.
Scroll down for video
Tragedy: Rescuers check on the half submerged HongKong Electric boat Lamma IV after the shocking crash last night
Upturned: Thirty eight people were killed after the ferry carrying HK Electric staff and their families collided with another near Lamma Island
Overnight drama: The bow of the Lamma IV is dragged out of the water following its doomed trip to watch a national day fireworks display in Victoria harbour
Final respects: Relatives of the victims throw paper 'spirit money' into the water today as they pay tribute to the dead
Ripped open: The Sea Smooth ferry with its bow badly damaged sits docked at the Lamma Island pier after the violent collision
Grieving: A woman who lost her mother in a ferry collision sobs as she leaves a public mortuary with relatives of other victims
A major rescue operation took place overnight, with terrified survivors from the sunken vessel struggling to the surface of the water.
This morning, distraught and sobbing relatives of the dead visited the scene, where they tossed paper 'spirit money' into the sea.
The ritual is based on a Chinese tradition of furnishing the dead with ready currency for their arrival on the other side. The deceased are often provided with passports for their journey.
Three crew members of the sunken HongKong Electric pleasure craft, where all the fatalities
occurred, have now been detained, along with three from the regular ferry vessel
that collided with it. Another person was arrested later today.
'Police arrested six individuals this afternoon... They are being investigated for endangering people's lives at sea,' Security Minister Lai Tung-kwok told a press conference a day after the collision.
Pitch black: The rescue operation was hampered by low visibility and clutter in and around the vessel
Rescue: Dozens of survivors from the sunken vessel were pulled from the dark waters in a major operation
Police chief Tsang Wai-hung said the suspects were responsible for the boats' operation.
He said both crews are suspected of having not 'exercised the care required of them by law', but he did not elaborate.
Searchlights swept across the water after the crash at 8.30pm last night as dive teams, helicopters and boats desperately tried to locate the survivors.
Survivors said they had little time to put on life jackets before the ferry flooded, trapping passengers.
'Within 10 minutes, the ship had sunk. We had to wait at least 20 minutes before we were rescued,' said one male survivor, wrapped in a blanket on the shore.
Some survivors said people had to break windows to swim to the surface. 'We thought we were going to die. Everyone was trapped inside,' said a middle-aged woman.
Survivor: A woman is carried ashore by rescuers following the collision between two ferries off Lamma island
Support: Rescuers carried the injured from the scene (left) and comforted a young girl (right) after the crash
One woman told local television that she swallowed a lot of water as she swam back to shore.
Another man said he didn't know where his children were. Neither gave their names.
Social media sites lit up today with discussion of the tragedy and condolences for the victims and their families.
A man who gave only his surname, Lee,
said he and several relatives had spent the night searching for his
52-year-old sister, who had boarded the utility company boat with three
'My niece called me last evening and
said she believed my sister was on the boat so we should do something
right away, we should go find them,' he said.
Trauma: A visibly distressed survivor is helped to safety by two rescuers following the disaster
Operation: A man and two children are taken from the scene of the collision by emergency services
They went from hospital to hospital, to the pier and a nearby yacht club. Today he was at the morgue, which he said would be the best place to get information.
Many Hong Kong residents hold British national overseas passports, but the former colony is also popular among UK tourists. The British consulate in Hong Kong has been closed for the holiday and did not immediately comment.
The Fire Services Department said today that 123 people had been rescued from the sunken vessel.
Twenty-eight people were declared dead at the scene. Eight others died by the time they reached hospitals.
Safe: A young boy is carried from the scene as a cameraman films the rescue operation
Ordeal: Wrapped in a red blanket to keep warm, a girl is brought to safety by a rescuer wearing a facemask
100 people were sent to five hospitals during the incident,’ said a
Fire Services spokesman. ‘Nine of them have sustained serious injuries or
are in critical condition.’
The rescue operation was hampered by the darkness, clutter in the vessel and by many obstacles that had broken free from the sunken ship.
The government said 28 bodies were recovered overnight, and eight more people were declared dead at hospitals. Two bodies found aboard the vessel today raised the death toll to 38, according to government statements. At least four of those killed were children.
This morning, the boat, which was half-submerged with its bow pointing almost straight up, was lifted out of the sea by crane.
Interest: Members of the media surround rescue workers as they carry a victim into an ambulance
Tragedy: More survivors are brought ashore following the disaster as rescue efforts continue
Teams of men in white coats, green rubber gloves and yellow helmets carried corpses off a police launch in body bags.
At one of the city's public mortuaries around 50 grieving relatives gathered, some crying, while others were called into identify the dead.
Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying visited survivors of the collision in one of the hospitals and pledged a thorough investigation into the crash.
of Hong Kong's emergency forces are focused here,' he said.
'Wide-ranging rescue work is being carried out on in the sea, land and
in the air.'
Concern: Local residents watch from behind a wall as rescuers tend to a victim of the disaster
Help at hand: A survivor is carried to an ambulance on a stretcher after being pulled from the water
flew at half mast at Li's Cheung Kong Group headquarters in the heart
of the city's financial district on Tuesday, as well as at government
A male passenger who was on the Lamma ferry said: 'After the accident, it was all chaos and people were crying. Then water began seeping in and the vessel began to tilt to one side and people were all told to stand on the other side and everyone started putting on life jackets.'
The other boat, owned by Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry Holdings, suffered a badly damaged bow in the collision but made it safely to the pier on Lamma, an island popular with tourists and expatriates about a half-hour boat ride from Hong Kong.
Mission: Rescuers bring equipment to the scene where a ferry carrying more than 120 people sank after colliding with another vessel
Questions: Hong Kong chief Leung Chun-ying has promised a full investigation into the collision
Several of its roughly 100 passengers and crew were taken to hospital with injuries.
waters around Hong Kong were busy on Monday with ferries, leisure boats and fishing vessels out to watch the
city's fireworks, but it is unclear why the two ferries collided on such a clear night.
Ng Kuen-chi, acting deputy director of fire services told local television this morning: 'We will continue our search. We also don't rule out that some may have swam to shore themselves and haven't contacted their families and so may not be accounted for.'
Despite the tragedy, the firework display, to celebrate the 63rd anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, went ahead on Hong Kong harbour.
Emergency: Searchlights swept across the water as rescuers desperately searched for survivors from the sunken vessel
Crash: The sunken vessel had been carrying passengers to a firework display in Hong Kong harbour
Dramatic: A rescue boat approaches the sunken vessel as the hunt for survivors continues
Hong Kong is one of the world's busiest shipping channels, but serious marine accidents are rare in its safe and most regulated waterways.
The tragedy is the worst to hit Hong Kong since 1996, when more than 40 people died in a fire in a commercial building.
Electric’s director of operations, Yuen Sui-see said: ‘This is a very
happy holiday and it turned out to be such a tragic incident.
'There was a boat that came in close and crashed. After the crash, the other boat continued away, it didn't stop.'
Distraught family: Relatives of the victims cry as they pay tribute to the ill-fated people who were aboard the boat
Farewell: A relative of a victim throws paper money into the water, in a custom based on the idea of the dead needing ready currency for their advent to the other side
Distressed relatives of the victims toss paper money into the water. The Chinese have a tradition of furnishing the dead with paper money and passports
Mr Yuen denied the vessel was overloaded, saying it was carrying 121 passengers and three crew but had capacity for more than 200 passengers.
Chairman of HK Electric, Canning Fok Kin-ning, said the company has been contacting staff and their families since the tragedy happened last night, and has been accompanying victims and their family members in hospitals overnight to offer immediate assistance.
Mr Fok said: 'Cheung Kong Centre has already lowered Group flags to half mast to express the Group’s sorrow and condolences. A high level co-ordination team has been set up to co-ordinate the aftermath.'
Mr Fok added that the company has also arranged professional counsellors to help victims, staff and their families, and employees disturbed by this tragedy.
Investigation: Police officers on a small boat secure the area around the half-submerged vessel
Casualties: Frogmen from firefighting team retrieve a body, right, this morning as the search continues
What happened on board: The boat is lifted by cranes as police arrest six crew members following the collision
Seeking answers: The stricken ferry is pulled out of the water near Yung Shue Wan on Lamma island this morning following last night's dramatic collision
Sorrowful sight: Police and rescue officers carry the body of a deceased passenger at the Marine Police Base in Aberdeen, Hong Kong, this morning
Dawn operation: A crane on a floating barge lifts the Lamma IV out of the sea
He thanked all organisations engaged in rescue operations and stressed that the company will fully co-operate with the government in the investigation and will pursue parties responsible for the crash.
Victor Li, deputy head of the company that owns Power Assets, said the company would provide emergency payments of 200,000 Hong Kong dollars ($25,800) to the family of each person killed.
Li's father, Li Ka-shing, is Asia's richest man. Power Assets and Hong Kong Electric, one of the city's two electrical utilities, are two of several companies in the elder Li's sprawling business empire.
Li Ka-shing visited a hospital Tuesday and told reporters he felt 'very sorry'.
'I don't want to say too much. I just know that many people have passed away,' he told Cable TV Hong Kong.
A spokeswoman for Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry said they were assessing what had happened.
'Our captain is not well and we have not been able to talk to him so far,' the spokeswoman told local television.
Busy harbour: The government, police and companies who own the the vessels were today investigating the reason behind the crash
Who was harmed? The identity of the 38 people killed and dozens injured is still not certain
A maritime department spokesman told reporters: 'Normally vessels ought to stay and help other vessels in distress. But what we heard was that the other ship had passengers who were injured and needed help.'
A spokesperson for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said they were speaking to the authorities involved and offering consular assistance. It is not yet known whether any British people were on board.
Lamma is the third-biggest island in Hong Kong and near one of the coastal Chinese city's busiest shipping lanes.
The island is home to about 6,000 people, including many of the former British colony's expatriate workers. Thousands of Hong Kong residents live on such outlying islands. | <urn:uuid:f5a25c41-1fb2-4895-944a-1e3b4f0c32c4> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2211549/Hong-Kong-ferry-crash-38-dead-boat-sinks-Lamma-Island.html?ITO=1490 | 2016-07-29T18:01:27Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257831770.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071031-00194-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977811 | 2,870 |
NEW YORK CITY (October 9, 2013) Ola Afolabi will challenge Poland’s Lukasz Janik for the vacant International Boxing Organization’s Cruiserweight World Title on Saturday, NOVEMBER 2 in The Theater at Madison Square Garden, announced Tom Loeffler, Managing Director of K2 Promotions.
The Afolabi/Janik 12-round clash will be part of MONSTERS COLLIDE, the Middleweight World Title Clash between boxing’s fastest rising star, WBA/IBO Champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and world ranked contender Curtis Stevens.
Presented by K2 Promotions in association with Main Events, GGG Promotions and Madison Square Garden, tickets for MONSTERS COLLIDE, priced at $300, $200, $100 and $50 are on sale at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008) and online at www.ticketmaster.com and www.thegarden.com
“We’re very excited to add this compelling cruiserweight clash to an already sensational event,” said Loeffler. “Ola has proven to be one of the top cruiserweights in the world and is thrilled to be fighting in New York City for the first time.”
Over the last four years the London born, Los Angeles based Afolabi, 19-3-4 (9KO’s) has battled in three classic wars with current cruiserweight world champion Marco Huck, most recently on JUNE 8 of this year. In spite of having no amateur bouts, Afolabi has demonstrated the ability to compete at the highest levels of the sport.
“Ola has the draw and a majority decision loss to Huck in his last two fights, but always expressed interest in facing any of the top cruiserweights. This is a great matchup as Janik hasn’t lost in four years and has defeated many of the top fighters in Europe,” continued Loeffler.
“It seems like my whole career has been defined by my fights with Marco Huck” said Afolabi. “I’m happy to move on and very excited to be fighting in the United States and at Madison Square Garden in particular. I watched a lot of fights when I was growing up on TV from there and always thought ‘one day I will fight there.’”
About his future plans, Afolabi stated, “First I have to take care of business on November 2 against Janik and win the IBO title. After that I’m ready for any of the top names at cruiserweight. It’s a hot division right now with a number of great fighters.”
The 27-year-old Janik has compiled a record of 26-1-0 (14KO’s), over his six-year career.
Fighting out of Jelenia Gora, Poland, Janik has won eleven fights in a row and this will be his third start of 2013.
Also featured at MONSTERS COLLIDE is an outstanding heavyweight battle between Cuban born Mike “The Rebel” Perez, 19-0-0 (12KO’s), now living in Ireland and Russia’s Magomed “Mago” Abdusalamov, 18-0-0 (18KO’s), for the WBC USNBC Heavyweight Title
The Golovkin/Stevens and Perez/Abdusalamov bouts will be televised Live on HBO®, beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.
The Perez/Abdusalamov bout is presented in association with Sampson Boxing, LLC.
October 9, 2013 – Philadelphia's undefeated heavyweight contender, Bryant Jennings (17-0, 9 KOs) has signed a co-promotional contract with Gary Shaw Productions and Antonio Leonard Promotions. Advised by manager James Prince, Jennings on the verge of fighting for a world title, is ranked IBF No. 3, WBO No. 14 and WBC No. 21.
Having fought stiff competition thus far in his career, Jennings is the type of battle tested warrior America is seeking to represent the heavyweight division on a global stage. With a powerful team behind him, Jennings feels he's ready to take his career to the next level.
“I'm glad I'm finally moving forward in my career with a great team,” said Bryant Jennings. “Gary Shaw and Antonio Leonard are two great promoters who have been in this sport for many years and have promoted some of the biggest fights in boxing history. I'm ecstatic to be managed by James Prince because he's guided the careers of many world champions and his knowledge as a boxing manager is impeccable. It's truly a blessing to have these experienced gentlemen working on my behalf. I'm ready to take my career to the next level.”
Having promoted some of boxing's greatest fighters, which include Mike Tyson, Diego Corrales, Shane Mosley, Winky Wright, Vernon Forrest and Lennox Lewis to name a few , Gary Shaw sees Bryant Jennings as the next heavyweight contender to conquer boxing most glorified division.
“First off I want to say I'm very thrilled to be working side by side with my good friends Antonio Leonard and James Prince,” Shaw said. “We've worked harmoniously together in the past when we had Corrales and it was an astonishing journey. Now we've come together again with an outstanding heavyweight in Bryant Jennings. From what I've seen, Jennings has the personality and talent to become a star in this sport. He's a very kind young man who brings an exciting style to the heavyweight division. I'm very pleased to add Jennings to our rich history of great fighters here at GSP and I'm working hard with Antonio and James to get him in a big fight. He'll be in the ring very soon.”
James Prince, Gary Shaw and Antonio Leonard made history when they worked together with Diego Corrales. Prince, who currently manages some of boxings best fighters, is eager to unite with Shaw and Leonard with the hopes of taking Jennings to the peak of the heavyweight division.
“I'm just excited to be working with Gary Shaw Productions and Antonio Leonard Promotions once again,” said James Prince. “It was beautiful ride we all had with the late Diego Corrales and once again I feel like I'm bringing them an outstanding fighter in American Bryant Jennings, who I believe is the best heavyweight in the world.”
Antonio Leonard has the same feelings as Prince when it comes to working with Gary Shaw.
“When Gary Shaw and I team up its like dynamite,” stated Antonio Leonard. “Whoever we work with is going to be the next superstar in boxing. With Diego Corrales we did amazing things together. I have great respect for Gary Shaw who I started out with, not just as a boxing promoter, but as a loyal friend. I know Bryant Jennings is in the hands of a great promoter with Shaw who cares about his fighters just like I do.
Antonio Leonard continued saying, “Jennings' work ethic is unbelievable and he reminds me lot of Andre Ward. Bryant carries himself with great respect inside and outside of the ring. James Prince along with Gary and me will take this man to the top. I can promise you Jennings will leap to the top of the heavyweight division and will whip the Klitschko brothers. Bryant who hails from Philadelphia will make America proud!”
NEW YORK (October 8, 2013) – Much has changed in the life of undefeated World Boxing Organization (WBO) middleweight champion Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin (29-0, 21 KOs) since his last fight on April 27, when Quillin dropped challenger Fernando Guerrero four times en route to an impressive victory by seventh-round technical knockout.
Quillin will make his second world title defense Oct. 26 against challenger Gabriel “King” Rosado (21-6, 13 KOs), airing on Showtime Championship Boxing, live from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. WBO No. 11-rated Rosado, fighting out of nearby Philadelphia, was stopped in the seventh round of his only world title fight to World Boxing Association (WBA) middleweight title-holder Gennady Golvkin last January.
In the past five-plus months, Quillin has turned 30, married Allison Berger, and started a few businesses (T-shirts and headphones).
“I'm in the best shape of my life and preparing to elevate myself to another level for this fight,” Quillin said. “Since my last fight I've set myself up in a lot of good ways, financially-speaking, so I'll be able to pay bills for years. I have a family now with a wife who is my inspiration. My wife has a good career. She's the producer of NBC's Today Show. She supports me 100-percent and has helped me a lot with some creative ideas.
“I learn more about myself every fight. I know what my purpose in life is and who I really am. I've got past any insecurities I may have had – not insecure feelings about fighting my opponent – about letting people down. I've learned in life that you can't make everybody happy. I've elevated myself as a fighter and person.”
Rosado is coming off a fight with J'Leon Love last May, in which Rosado lost a disputed split decision that was overturned and ruled a no-contest, when Love failed a post-fight test. The 27-year-old Rosado had won seven fights in a row prior to his loss to Golovkin.
“We're both looking for definitive performances,” Quillin remarked. “I'm putting in the work at training camp to continue improving, physically and mentally. Rosado is coming ready to fight. He may have six losses, including one to a guy I bet (Guerrero), but I'm expecting to fight the best Gabriel Rosado.
“If all the talking he's been doing is good for him, well, that's fine with me. I don't come up short. He knows how to lose, I don't. I know some of the guys I fought aren't the same. If the punches he's taken in the past have hurt him, it'll just make my job easier. I don't have a problem with him. This fight isn't personal; it's business. We've both signed a contract to fight. We'll shake hands before and after our fight, when I walk out of the ring the winner once again.” | <urn:uuid:7074dba0-8281-4057-a531-635d63677cd8> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.thesweetscience.com/press-releases/17372-news-on-bryant-jennings-ola-afolabi | 2016-07-29T17:54:47Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257831770.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071031-00194-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966347 | 2,254 |
Webtag: a new web tool providing tags/anchors for RT-PCR experiments with prokaryotes
© Pinto et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2007
Received: 01 June 2007
Accepted: 25 October 2007
Published: 25 October 2007
Webtag is a tool providing oligonucleotide sequences (usually called tags or anchors) that are absent from a specified genome. These tags/anchors can be appended to gene specific primers for reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction experiments, circumventing genomic DNA contamination.
The use of a relational database, in conjunction with a series of scripts written in PHP and Perl, allows the user to rapidly obtain tags that are: 1) suitable for a specific organism, and 2) compatible with other oligonucleotides to be used in the experimental procedures.
This new web tool allows scientists to easily and rapidly obtain suitable tags for RT-PCR experiments, and is available at http://www.egs.uu.se/software/webtag/.
In order to better understand different aspects of metabolism it is important to study the underlying transcriptional profile. A key factor to assemble such profiles is the ability to obtain good gene expression data. For that purpose, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) became the method of choice more than a decade ago [2, 3].
RT-PCR allows exponential amplification of even a very low copy number mRNA. Because of its high sensitivity, the process is very vulnerable to DNA contamination.
Unfortunately, no RNA extraction method can guarantee the absolute absence of DNA in any given sample, ultimately leading to amplification, during PCR, of both cDNA and contaminating genomic DNA [4–11].
The effects of DNA contamination can be overcome using techniques like oligo d(A) selection, intron spanning primer design, DNase I treatment or restriction endonuclease digestion [7, 8, 11]. However, these procedures can be time consuming, expensive and contribute to RNA degradation. Moreover, in the particular case of prokaryotes, oligo d(A) selection and intron spanning primer design are not applicable solutions.
Due to the constant growth in available genomic data, tags that were before considered adequate, or are even part of commercially available kits, produce significant alignments for many microorganisms when BLASTed (data not shown). Tagenerator was our first effort to give the molecular biologist the possibility to associate to the potential of the above described methods with the use of genome-absent tags. The tool proved useful, but the software requirements (Perl, BioPerl and BLAST ) and the long runtime for bigger genomes made it somewhat unpractical for some users. In order to improve the ease of use we decided to create Webtag – a web based tool that, while having the same goal as Tagenerator, would be based on improved algorithms for tag/anchor generation, much faster runtime and the possibility to handle batch runs.
Basic components of the Webtag tool
The web tool consists of two components: 1) a MySQL relational database and 2) a web interface implemented in PHP, running on an Apache web server and using Perl scripts for batch processing. Prior to building the database, Perl scripts were also used in the generation of tag sequences, genome adequacy evaluation (BLAST) , melting temperature calculation and likelihood of secondary structure formation [15, 16].
Generation of genome adequate tags
Since specific, high yield, PCR can only be achieved using carefully designed primers, the following tag construction parameters were considered and implemented: tag length, melting temperature, GC content, absence of repeats and absence of secondary structures.
After full assembly, all sequences were analyzed for GC content (40% to 60%), correct melting temperature (above 52°C) [15, 16] and secondary structure formation (maximum free energy must be above -4 kcal/mol for dimer formation, and above -3 kcal/mol for hairpin formation) . This process resulted in the generation of more than half a million unique tags.
All tags are then tested for genome adequacy, against each prokaryotic genomic sequence found at the NCBI FTP server . For this purpose BLAST settings are defined as length 7 and E value 10. With such settings, even statistically poor hits resulted in tag rejection.
Finally, suitable tags were then integrated in the relational database.
If needed, it is possible to submit batch jobs to Webtag. When using this feature a group of sense primers must be supplied by the user (in some cases, reverse transcription gene specific primers can be specified along with the sense primers). Three types of batch jobs can be run, depending on the user's needs:
Type 1 – returns one tag for each submitted sense primer or a pair consisting of sense primer and reverse transcription gene specific primer.
Type 2 – after returning one tag for a sense primer (or a pair consisting of sense primer and reverse transcription gene specific primer), Webtag checks whether the tag may be compatible with other submitted queries. In this way, the number of needed tags is reduced.
Type 3 – only one tag will be returned, compatible with a list of sense primers submitted by the user (RT gene specific primers are not considered). The average melting temperature is calculated and used to select a set of compatible tags. These tags are then checked for secondary structure formation against all sense primers, and the first tag to have all dimerization free energies above -6 kcal/mol is output as a suitable tag.
Results and Discussion
Molecular biology methods
RNA extractions from Nostoc PCC73102 were carried-out using TRI Reagent (Molecular Research Center, Inc – USA), based on protocol given by the supplier. All RT-PCR reactions were performed in a two-step fashion using the RevertAid First Strand cDNA Synthesis Kit (Fermentas, Lithuania) and 2× PCR Master Mix (Fermentas, Lithuania), according to manufacturer's instructions. Between these two steps cDNA was cleaned using MSB Spin PCRapace kit (Invitek, Germany), following manufacturers' protocol.
Validation of new tag generation algorithm
The new method to generate tags resulted in higher sequence variation, since it does not limit the 3' and 5' ends to a pre-defined list . As a consequence, more than half a million unique sequences were found possessing good priming.
Primers used in RT-PCR and generated PCR product sizes (in base pairs). During PCR the tag used as antisense primer was CAACAGACGCACGACGCAGCAGAC (bold in the tagged RT primer sequences).
Tagged RT primer
Webtag database content and output
At the moment, the database holds tags suitable for 410 prokaryotic strains, downloaded from the NCBI FTP server . The database will be frequently revised to include additions to NCBI.
As shown in Figure 3, the final results are returned in a simple format that facilitates primer ordering and experimental procedure planning.
Webtag is a unique web service allowing the user to rapidly obtain tags that are: 1) suitable for a specific organism, and 2) compatible with other oligonucleotides to be used in the experimental procedures.
Availability and requirements
Project name: Webtag
Project web page: http://www.egs.uu.se/software/webtag/
Operating system(s): platform independent
Other requirements: web browser and internet connection
License: free for academic use
Restrictions to use by non-academics: license needed
List of abbreviations used
basic local alignment search tool.
complementary deoxyribonucleic acid.
genomic deoxyribonucleic acid.
messenger ribonucleic acid.
National Center for Biotechnology Information.
polymerase chain reaction.
reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction.
This work was financially supported by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Swedish Energy Agency, the Nordic Energy Research Program (project BioHydrogen), and the EU/NEST Projects SOLAR-H (contract #516510) and BioModularH2 (contract #043340). Håkan Svensson received financial support from the Helge Ax:son Johnsons Stiftelse. Ola Lundström (Department of Evolution, Genomics and Systematics, Uppsala University) is acknowledged for his contribution to the layout and artwork of the webpage. We would like to acknowledge Åsa Söderberg (Department of Photochemistry and Molecular Science, The Ångström Laboratories, Uppsala University) for her input during the development and testing of this tool.
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This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. | <urn:uuid:2b03bb86-ef8c-4045-885a-52c48fb22842> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://bmcbiotechnol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6750-7-73 | 2016-07-24T03:50:41Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257823935.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071023-00057-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.793506 | 2,855 |
Pokémon Emergency! (Japanese: たいけつ！ポケモンセンター！ Showdown! Pokémon Center!) is the 2nd episode of Pokémon: Indigo League.
After the encounter with Spearow, Ash goes to Viridian City and find a hospital. A police officer named Jenny takes him to the Pokémon Center, while the girl Ash borrowed the bike comes to get him. Though Pikachu rests at the Center, a group named Team Rocket attack the Pokémon center and demand all Pokémon. How will Ash and the girl deal with them and will Pikachu be fine?
The episode begins showing Ash stating that he will be the greatest Pokémon master of all time and recaps the events of Pokémon, I Choose You!. The camera then shows an overview of Viridian City and the voice of Officer Jenny is heard warning the citizens of Pokémon thieves. She then spots Ash rushing to the Pokémon Center with Pikachu. She accuses Ash of stealing Pikachu, but quickly apologizes when she realizes he is going to the Pokémon Center. She asks for his identification and spots Ash's Pokédex, which confirms that Ash is a Pokémon trainer and not a thief. Ash then asks to take Pikachu to the Pokémon Center, but Officer Jenny decides to take him in her motorcycle. As they pull away, Misty appears with her destroyed bike.
Team Rocket then take their picture off the wanted board and, from their hot air balloon, talk about their plan to steal the rare Pokémon of Viridian City. Ash and Officer Jenny are then seen driving towards the Pokémon Center, with Officer Jenny driving the motorcycle into the Pokémon Center. Nurse Joy, after quickly reprimanding Officer Jenny, calls for a stretcher for an electric type Pokémon. Two Chansey come out with the stretcher and put Pikachu on it. Nurse Joy then goes to start the treatment and then criticizes Ash for allowing Pikachu to battle until it was in such a bad condition. Ash attempts to tell her the story, but is cut off. Nurse Joy then goes into the theatre room and Officer Jenny goes to get her motorcycle out of the Pokémon Center.
Ash is forced to wait in the waiting room and after a while decides to phone home. His mom answers the phone and talks to him, and he is depressed due to Pikachu's condition. He talks down about himself, telling his mother he feels like a falling Pidgey, but his mother tells him that he can do anything he puts his mind to. Ash then spots a board showing four Pokémon and he notices the mysterious bird Pokémon he saw flying over the rainbow. The telephone then begins to ring and Ash answers, discovering that Professor Oak is phoning to check up on him. Professor Oak tells Ash that the other three Pallet Town trainers had already made it to Viridian City and that he bet his grandson, Gary, a million dollars that Ash would have caught a Pokémon by the time he reached Viridian City. He then tells Professor Oak about seeing the mysterious flying Pokémon and then hangs up to collect his pizza.
An angry Misty then appears and shows Ash her bike, which was destroyed by Pikachu using Thundershock. She angrily tells Ash that he will have to pay for a new bike. Ash tells her about Pikachu, stating that 'he's not too good'. Misty quickly becomes sad and, after a brief moment, Nurse Joy and the two Chansey bring Pikachu out on a stretcher. Nurse Joy, happy from the successful treatment, tells Ash that Pikachu will still need to stay in the Pokémon Center. Misty also calms down, stating that she will give Ash time before he has to replace her bike.
The voice of Officer Jenny is then heard as she informs the citizens of Viridian City about an aircraft being detected. Jessie and James of Team Rocket are then seen, with James being unhappy about the fact that they being treated like criminals. The two then drop one Poké Ball each through the roof of the Pokémon Center. Koffing and Ekans come out of their Poké Balls and Koffing uses SmokeScreen, with Team Rocket and Meowth dropping into the building, and reciting their soon to be infamous motto. Afterwards, they tell Ash, Misty and Nurse Joy of their plot to steal the rare and injured Pokémon at the Pokémon Center.
They then command Koffing and Ekans to attack, with Koffing using smoke screen and Ekans using tackle attack and ripping the power cables. Ash, Misty and Nurse Joy run into a room filled with the injured Poké Balls and begin to transport the Poké Balls to the Pokémon Center at Pewter City. Koffing and Ekans then burst into the room along with Team Rocket and Meowth, causing many of the Poké Balls to fall on the floor. Ash picks one up and throws it, with a Pidgey appearing, although the Pidgey is scared away by Ekans. Ash then throws another Poké Ball, which is empty and then another with a Rattata inside, which is also scared off by Ekans.
Misty then steps in and begins a battle against them, throwing her own Poké Ball, with Goldeen appearing, although it is only able to fall on the floor. She calls Goldeen back and tells Ash to run away with Pikachu. Ash runs away and the stretcher crashes. Pikachu is woken up and tells the other Pokémon Center Pikachu to come out and attack. They use Thunder Shock to attack Team Rocket, Koffing and Ekans, although Meowth escapes the attack. Pikachu then tells Ash he needs more energy and he gets on Misty's destroyed bike, pedaling to make the light come on. Pikachu then uses the energy from the light to use Thunder Shock. Koffing then uses Smokescreen, which causes an explosion that destroys the Pokémon Center, just as Officer Jenny arrives. Team Rocket are then sent blasting off and manage to hold on to a rope from their hot air balloon, deciding to follow Ash and to kidnap his Pikachu.
Nurse Joy is then seen talking to her older sister from Pewter City. Her sister states that the Pokémon were successfully transferred. Nurse Joy of Viridian City then states that Ash, Misty and Pikachu have headed out to Viridian Forest and questions whether they will be okay, although Officer Jenny is confident they will be 'from what I've seen'. Ash, Misty and Pikachu are then seen walking through the Viridian Forest and Misty screams after seeing a Caterpie, causing a bird Pokémon to fly away. Ash decides to try and capture the Caterpie and throws his Poké Ball, which remains in mid-flight as the episode comes to an end.
- Nurse Joy's Chansey
- Team Rocket's Meowth
- Koffing (James's)
- Ekans (Jessie's)
- Goldeen (Misty's)
- "I am Dexter. A Pokédex programmed by Professor Oak for Pokémon trainer Ash Ketchum of the town of Pallet. My function is to provide Ash with information and advice regarding Pokémon and their training. If lost or stolen, I cannot be replaced." — Dexter
- "A wanted poster. How flattering." — Jessie
- "Flattering? This picture makes me look terrible." — James
- "Then you should be happy that the photographer captured the real you." — Jessie
- "Exactly." — James
- "We'll show these bumpkins."— Jessie
- "The people of Viridian City will be sorry they ever saw this face." — James
- "We're all sorry to see your face. Stay focused. We're here to capture rare and unusual Pokémon. Don't forget, Meowth." — Meowth
- "Absolutely." — Jessie
- "But of course." — James
- "And just remember, I'm the top cat." — Meowth
- "You got it." — James
- "Meowth." — Meowth
- "What happened to my bike? You happened to my bike you little loser! This is what's left after you stole it to save your Pokémon! Now I can see why your Pokémon is in - whoaoaoaoah!" — Misty after Ash asked what happened to her bike
- "I don't want any of your lame excuses, kid! I just want a new bike right now!" — Misty being more angry
- "Don't be frightened, little boy." — Jessie
- "Allow us to introduce ourselves." — James
- "To protect the world from devastation." — Jessie
- "To unite all peoples within our nation." — James
- "To denounce the evils of truth and love." — Jessie
- "To extend our reach to the stars above." — James
- "Jessie." — Jessie
- "James." — James
- "Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light." — Jessie
- "Surrender now or prepare to fight." — James
- "Meowth, that's right." — Meowth
- "Too late, but not for the fireworks." — Officer Jenny
- The Who's That Pokémon of this episode is Koffing.
- The episode marks the arrival of Jessie, James and Meowth of Team Rocket, who have subsequently appeared in almost every episode of the series attempting to capture Ash's Pikachu, although they didn't show any interest in stealing it at first (ironically enough).
- Delia Ketchum, Ash's mother, mentions Ash's father for the first time.
- A cuckoo clock is seen during the episode with a green Pidgey in the place of the cuckoo, despite Pidgey not being green.
- This is the first time Team Rocket blasted off.
- In the original Misty introduces herself to Team Rocket as the most beautiful girl, only to get mocked at, however in the dub, she thanks them for complementing on her "Pretty Talk", only to have Jessie saying that she's Pretty pathethic, near the end of the episode only Nurse Joy mentions her name.
- In the original Misty uses what's left of her bike (that she's been carrying over her shoulder to the Pokémon Center) as an analogy to fish.
- Meowth has a more leadership role in the dub (though it loses out the first hint of Team Rocket's Mysterious Boss), while in the original, Meowth mentions that if they succeed, the boss would run happily in the garden, and that the cat would enjoy the coins in the heating table.
- Moreover, his analogy pertaining to Coins and Pokémon was also only in the original.
- Officer Jenny reminding to the citizens of Viridian City that it was almost dinner time was only in the original.
- Officer Jenny's tones of voice as she said "Speak of the Devil" were different between the Original and the Dub. | <urn:uuid:ac9a1d19-9df2-441b-81c9-ce7a02b0f69d> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://pokemon.wikia.com/wiki/EP002 | 2016-07-24T02:54:56Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257823935.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071023-00057-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96046 | 2,212 |
- User Name: LCY84
- Member Since: Saturday, September 13, 2003, 8:55 AM
- Donation Level: Total Leech (Partaker)
- Name: Laurent Clermidy
- Studio: S.M.A.H.U.T. inc.
- Location: Montpellier, FRANCE
- Homepage: http://www.smahut.com
- Last Login: 2016-07-17 15:42:00
- Forum Info: Profile Posts (426)
- Journal: Last entry made on 2005-10-02 04:25:49
- Usefulness: 535.9 with
[average 119.7 of 231281 opinions; standard deviation 432.6 ]
- Profile: Okay it has been long time ago since i haven't make an update to my profile so here i go!
Firstly, let me present myself : I'm Laurent Clermidy, a french 21 years old amvmaker. I started to make amv on July 2003 just after seeing Kyoto Kombat by Hsien "Kusoyaro" Lee which was my fav amv since i watch believe by Kevin Calwell (the best amv ever IMO) and since this day I'm absolutely fan of amvs (my goal would be to dl all the amv in org ^^;).
I you don't know my amvs, i suggest you to download those (in order of preference) :
1.Into the fire
3.X00 : Kamui no yume
6.Bakumatsu no futatsu enbun
7.Love hina vs full metal panic ? fumoffu
10.Variations : Neko Mix
I don't include Hikaru no ikusa in this list 'cause I'm just lister as helper member (or maybe something like).
Moreover i really like meet some foreign creators on the internet like Zotto, JCD, SnhKnives, Decoy or Zest for example (you guys rocks) or most of french creators at conventions.
My studio (SMAHUT Inc.) is composed by some french creators like Dark-Krystal, Olw, yonestie or nicohellcat : I suggest you to visit their profiles if you like my AMVs because i think we have some similar styles. We have launched last year the Project5555, a multi-editor project based on the daft punk discovery's album; 2 of the 4 parts are online yet (Part1 and Part2) : we hope you will enjoy this project if you don't know it already.
Favourite creators : Kevin Caldwell of course, Vicbond007, Silver Moon, JCD and Tyler _yj.
I'm member of amvdefans (and one of the admins of amvdefans's), a french amv's website where you can find most of the french creators (Willow:--), Atvaark, Nostromo_vx, p0d, Roccket, Shiryu.23 or Wunjo for example) and I'm also member of fantasy-movies, a french association which aim is to promote amv in France; also some famous amvmakers in this association like Tyler_yj, Istiv [Hito], SmashLink or Enail for example.
I'm glad french amvs are more and more famous all around the org because i really think they deserve this ;)
How I rate AMVs
Originality : depending if the anime/song is used a lot on videos, and your ability to mix them together (ie, making a full fight amv with a heavy song is unoriginal but using a pretty nice anime with this same song is excellent) : the best example IMO there is loolipop sunshine and RRrrr. However, I'm not used to give bad ranks for this point.
Video quality :hehe, one point I'm exigent on. This rank will depend on the video compression, is the video deinterlaced or not and the aspect ratio correct or not. I'm not giving straight 10 here a lot. An example of perfect video quality IMO would be koop's euphoria HQ; if you're video quality is like this one, you will receive a 10 there from me.
Audio quality : hard point to judge (maybe really impossible without using an audio soft to distinguish good audio quality to excellent audio quality) : if your audio is well encoded (ie no weird songs in the audio or something else like that), you will easily receive 10 from me.
Action sync : I usually judge this point on how the important beats are synched or not with the video. That's easier to judge that point on an action video but not a problem with drama or others vids. A perfect synched song IMO would be majinkenshinamv's toushi or bleed the sky by Tsukin.
Lip sync : The rank I will give you for this category will depend on how the characters move the lips in rythm with the audio and if it seems to say the lyrics. An example of perfect lip sync IMO is istv's shounen bushidou or AD's I wish I was a lesbian.
Digital effects : hehe, one of my favourite points. This rank will depend on how the effects are realised and if they seems to be natural or absolutely not. Two reasons why i can give 10 there : your effects drive me crazy because that s the first time i saw this kind of effect, or your effects are not that exceptionnal but very well realised according to the song and the anime. A perfect example of perfect effects for the 2 points i noticed up would be G2's recollection.
Effort :Not that easy to rate this point. The rank here will depend on your global editing, if the scenes are well placed with the lyrics, the global sync, if there is a story on the amv or others points that show you worked it a lot on your amv. Perfect example of that would be e-ko's amv i think, but I'm not that perfectionnist, if I think you spend a lot of time on your amv I will easily give you 10.
Re-view : Easy : depending on how i like your amv and so how many times I watch it a week. I will usually don't give straight 10 there except if the vid is on my top10, but i usually give 9 or 8 maybe if your amv on my top100.
Overall : Depending on all the points noticed before (action sync, effects, lip, originality, etc). If I think your amv couldn't be better, then i will easily give 10; if not, the rank will depend on all the previous points.
I'm always reading the replies of the amv i give an opinion (if reply there is...) and i can edit this opinion. If you have any comment on my opinion for some points, don't hesitate and feel free to say me.
DVDs the SMAHUT Inc owns :
Videos participations in contests and awards won :
X00 : Kamui no yume : Conneko 2004
Japan Expo 6th Impact (ranked 6th on 54 participants)
Bakumatsu no futatsu enbun : AnimeEvolution 2004 AMV Contest
Supermoves : winner on an online tournament i don't remember the name...
Burning Flesh : Best drama award at Tekkoshocon 2005 contest
Into the fire : Best Drama (Judges Choice) at FanimeCon 2005
2nd at otafest 2005
Drama & Romance Award at Anime Mid Atlantic 2005
Runner-up at Animethon 2005 (sentimental/romance category)
Das Omen : Best Free Form (Judges Choice) at FanimeCon 2005
Action & Horror award at Anime-Mid Atlantic AMV Contest 2005
Judge's award at Anime-Mid Atlantic AMV Contest 2005
Best technical award at Kunicon Atlanta 2005
Runner-up at Animethon 2005 (Action category)
Some technical points :
I would like to thank Absolutedestiny and ermac for their amazing guide which introduced me to the avisynth's world ^^; but also blame them because by now I'm totally absorded by encoding and video quality in anime music videos :/
New computer (finally !)
AMD Athlon 64 3400+ (2,4Ghz)
1024Mo DDRam 3200 (400)
Geforce 6200 graphic card
1*250Go hard-drive Western Digital (serial ATA)
1*200Go hard-drive Western Digital (usb2)
audio : 2.1 altec lansing
DVD rom 16X/48X
DVD R/RW DL
17 inches TFT screen
Intel celron 1ghz
SDram 384Mo (133)
1*20Go Western digital (IDE)
1*80Go Seagate (IDE)
2 simple speakers
15 inches CRT screen
Soft. i usually use :
Adobe premiere 7.0 pro
Adobe after effects 6.5
Virtualdub of course
I am generally on irc on 2 chans (in the case you want to meet some french creators, me including) :
I hope you like my videos and you'll leave an opinion. Any comments on my videos are really appreciated (especially when they're well developed), good or bad feedbacks and I reply to all the opinions I receive ;).
*Working on the english version of the website*
Thanks for reading
Updated on June 28th, 2005. | <urn:uuid:a80f16fd-d2b7-4c5c-b3e2-3c81ac7b56bd> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members/members_myprofile.php?user_id=117122 | 2016-07-24T03:02:43Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257823935.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071023-00057-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901608 | 2,029 |
Bill Bryson's hilarious memoir of growing up in middle America in the Fifties, complete, unabridged, and read by the author.
Born in 1951 in the middle of the United States, Des Moines, Iowa, Bill Bryson is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24 carat memoir gold. Like millions of his generation, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero. In his case, he ran around the house wearing a jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a towel round his neck that served as his cape, leaping tall buildings in a single bound and vanquishing evildoers (in his head) as The Thunderbolt Kid.
Using his old fantasy life as a springboard, Bill Bryson recreates the life of his family in the 1950s in all its transcendent normality. In a period that saw the inexorable rise of television, the opening of Disneyland, the testing of the atomic bomb, and the explosion of choice in everything from food to cars, Bill Bryson's days followed in reassuringly cosy succession, enlivened by modest triumphs and disasters.
Warm and laugh-out-loud funny, The Thunderbolt Kid is full of Bill Bryson's inimitable, pitch-perfect observations and this unabridged recording contains every single amusing anecdote and amazing fact. Nothing is left out, so you can enjoy the whole book in its entirety, read by Bill Bryson himself.
Click here to see all the titles in our Bill Bryson collection.
© and (P)2014 Audible, Inc.
"The way he tells it, to be a child in 1950s Middle America was very heaven... His own happy scrapes and triumphs (mostly scrapes) contain a good few laugh-out-loud moments, but with trademark modesty he conjures an entire era, ' the ancient lost world of the mid-20th-century.'" (The Sunday Times, Audio book of the week)
"[Bryson's] rendering of what has been widely billed as an indulgent nostalgic revisiting of his childhood in Des Moines, Iowa, brings out the extent to which it is much more subtle. Bryson's voice veers from childish enthusiasm for stripping off to inspect the orifices of five-year-old chums in the "kiddy corral" or nicking liquorice "nigger babies" from sweet shops to deadpan summaries of such news stories as picnics to watch the atomic bomb tests or rampant McCarthyism exerting its vendettas against Jewish intellectuals.
A child splitting account of teenage beer heists turns sombre in the final chapter, when we hear that the boy who took the rap for the group because his parents were too highminded and poor to get him off took 25 years to recover from drink and drugs problems induced by two years in the state penitentiary.
Laugh-aloud funny as little Bill is, this is a tart reminder that the never-had-it-so-good decade of the 1950s laid the ground for the ills of modern America." (Christina Hardyment, The Times)
"Considerable added value as it is read unabridged by its author, Bill Byson." (The Times)
I've just spent several happy hours with a stupid grin on my face, not to mention laughing out loud (and I'm not the sort of person to laugh out loud), listening to this genuinely funny narration. Bill Bryson has a wonderful way with words - both the way he's written this and the way he's narrated it - and you don't have to be a child of the fifties to enjoy this story about childhood and 'why grown-ups are not to be trusted'. This is quite the best thing I've listened to so far in my 16 months of membership and I just didn't want it to end, so now I'm off to download some more Bryson titles...
Bryson narrates his own novel like a much loved uncle retelling stories of his youth. The book covers his childhood during the 50's and 60's in rural America. It gives an insight into the hope that filled a nation and how this changed as pivotal moments in American history unravel. These are captured from a child's eye with great wonder. Part of the beauty of the book is it captures the human condition at childhood. There's also some great moments of humour that made me chuckle. I wouldn't normally read a biography, but found this an entertaining read.
Yes, even us Senior Citizens join fan clubs, or the modern equivalent thereof, which is now registering on an author's website in order to receive newsletters, etc. Bill Bryson's website is the only one I have joined as to date I have enjoyed his books so much, but now I shall be cancelling my enrolment.
I hope, however, to enjoy reading and maybe even listening to, future books by this author but not those which he chooses to read himself. Before purchasing this particular title, I had listened to many Bill Bryson audio books, all read by William Roberts. I just wish this one had been read by him as well.
In choosing to read his own work (or being encouraged to do so by his publishers) Bill Bryson has, I believe, made a cardinal error. His intonation and delivery rushes along in a manner which I think is difficult for those with an 'English' ear, i.e. one used to more word stress, to listen to comfortably. Some may describe Bryson's reading style as 'racy'. I wouldn't: it's poor. His reading left me wondering why this title is invariably in Audible's best seller list. I'll just have to buy a hard copy of the book and read it for myself as I'm sure it's cleverly and expertly written as Bill Bryson's books usually are. But I can't judge it on the basis of this disappointing presentation.
A wonderful, funny and in parts moving book. I loved Bill Bryson narration....just perfect.
I have listened to it twice now which I haven't ever done with an audible book before but this is well worth it.....loved every minute.
Like allsorts, sci fi, history, non fiction...
Top 10 as I,m a bit of a Bryson fan!
non in my collection
His father...especially when he caught his parents having sex...very funny!
Ive yet to find an Author with a more engaging style Than Bryson. Just love his style of narration!
I agree with Elizabeth. I was surprised that such an unassuming man like Bill Bryson should have chosen to narrate this audio book. If he was persuaded by others then they were wrong. A narrator can make or break an audio book and bryson's nervous manner didn't add anything. I remember Stephen King saying it is unwise for authors to narrate their own books when trained actors can do a far better job. This was the case here. Having said all that I still liked it and look forward to more of Bryson's work. PS Note to the publishers. If you decide to ask William Roberts to narrate this book I will buy it despite already owning this one.
I have every book published by Bill Bryston, and was eagerly waiting for his latest masterpiece. While it is interesting to learn about my favourite author's boyhood pranks, it's not nearly as witty and funny as his previous books. Put it this way, I didn't get the usual funny looks or people swapping places away from me on the train due to uncontrollable snorts of laughter.
"I just loved it!"
This is such a funny autobiography and brings to life the minds of small and not so small boys! Having Bill Bryson read his own biography is an added bonus as he brings it to life. I laughed out loud so often. A wonderful listen.
"Another Bryson Hit"
This is a great book. It contains more profanity than his past works, but usually in a context where some explicatives are required. There are also some political jabs that I think will spoil this work a generation or two down the road. I love Bill Bryson and all his other works... and as usual, it's a real treat to have the author reading their own book!
"A superhero's life in the superhero's words"
I am listening to it again and again already!!! It is the funniest memoir I've read, period.
There were quite a few, my favourite was when Bill Bryson was caught reading comics on his desk when the rest of his class was sitting under their desks for a mock air raid preparation.
The funniest was the todie jar incident, which involved peeing, jars, food and an absent minded mother. But the best bits were the turn of phrase that Bill employed and his own voice which add a texture and nuance which the other reader of this book can never match.
Other memorable moments were when Bill talked about the reality of life in the 50s, such as racism, sex and America's obession with communism. Bill only mentioned these issues in short but extremely well researched
Bill's voice and nuance. It really does add stars to the book. If I could, I would give the book 6 stars, instead of 5, as Bill's own narration really takes the book up another level.
Funny, real, scary, great, and unmissable - The Wonder Years of Bill Bryson in the 50s.
For those people craving a longer book, this book despite its 7-8 hour length feels longer. Also, the rehearings will really add up as you are gaurenteed to listen to it again.
"a must for bryson fans"
another great storytelling by bill bryson. well worth a credit for any fan. if youve not listened to bryson before, maybe start with a walk in the wood, one of my favourites
"The 50's were dangerous"
Obviously this type of book benefits greatly by having the author read it and this was very enjoyable. Wow the 50's were dangerous, its a wonder anyone survived. A great romp through Bill Bryson's early life, growing up in the 50's. If you like his other books you will like this one. It has some wonderful over and understatements throughout. He captures a kid's perspective with great skill.
"A fun read."
The irony of Bryson's memory as always. Despite a US upbringing it found resonances in my own UK boyhood.
I had no complaints. Some actors might have made it even funnier.
Funny, observant, ironic.
No but nothing to do with the book only my time.
Classic Bryson. Adults probably like this more than kids. Mine thought it was 'rude' which makes them seem a lot more naive than I was at their age (14/15).
A great insight into America's heydays in the 1950s and 60s - laced with great humour, historical events and social insights. There was something very special about post second world war America - an unmatched optimism sometimes founded on blissful ignorance but always supported by a burning ambition - and Bill Bryson unfolds these contradictions with affection and humour. Having the author read the book only added to the authenticity of the story and helped me feel closer to one of my favourite authors.
A whimsical look at childhood memories in the US. Sometimes interesting, sometimes sentimental with enough humour to carry the story.
"Funny, entertaining and well written"
I found this audiobook a very entertaining and amusing listen. Bill Bryson has a way of telling the story that makes it very enjoyable. It also had the effect of reminding me of my own childhood that, although had little to do with his (different ages and places) I could still relate to many of the stories.
"No disappointment from Billy Bryson's novel!"
Learning about America's unofficial history, enriched with some private stories from Bill's family gave the book really authentic feeling. All this with really great narration make the book great fun.
American taboos revealed: when American men could be found naked
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If an Okanagan Valley road trip is on your to-do list this summer, make sure you have a plan of attack when it comes to visiting the ever-expanding list of British Columbia wineries. The valley boasts more than 70 producers and they stretch some 180 kilometres from the U.S. border to the southern end of Shuswap Lake.
The scenery is incredible and includes the pristine, 111-kilometre-long, bluegreen Okanagan Lake that occupies the lowlands, leaving some spectacular raised benches on both its east and west flanks that are now home to most of British Columbia’s vineyards.
There has never been a better time to visit Okanagan wine country, at least since Major Hugh Fraser arrived to Okanagan Falls and Hawthorne Mountain in the early 1900s. Legend has it his mail order English bride had a quick look around and didn’t stay long, pinning a note to the door that said "see you later." A century later, See Ya Later Ranch would become a thriving winery surrounded by a plethora of accommodations and dining establishments designed to entice visitors to stay for a few days.
The only question now is how to plan your visit.
Wine legislation doesn’t officially recognize any sub-appellations of the Okanagan but we recommend you carve
up any visit and settle into one of four major subzones or regions. Key centres could include the Similkameen Valley, Oliver-Osoyoos, Okanagan FallsSkahaPenticton-Naramata-Summerland and Kelowna-Lake Country and north.
Today we look at a trio of Okanagan sub-zones and tie it all together with a selection of labels you can pick up as you explore the sub-region, winery to winery. It is a good exercise in geography and spending more time in a smaller region can help you get to know its people, terroir and wine in a manner that is difficult to duplicate in an urban wine shop.
At the southern entrance to the valley, the picturesque Hope-Princeton-Keremeos highway (Hwy. 3) passes through the spectacular Similkameen Valley before it empties out into the east end of the valley, over the mountains into the south Okanagan.
Just a glance at the accompanying list will tell you that regional touring is the only way to go. And we have barely scratched the surface -add to this list The Villa at Hester Creek, Carmelis Goat Cheese Farm, Manteo Resort Waterfront Hotel & Villas, The Hooded Merganser on the lake in Penticton and the new Summerland Waterfront Resort in Summerland. It’s all happening in a valley Major Fraser could only have dreamt about a century ago.
Where: 1060 Poplar Grove Road, Penticton
There is a new landmark on Naramata Bench and it’s going to be very popular, or dare I say "poplar," as in Poplar Grove Winery.
The winery and general manager Ian Sutherland have been around since 1993, when they were among the first five wineries on Naramata Bench and Poplar Grove was a small facility, with 2.5 acres. Later, a utilitarian box of a winery went up to better accommodate the winery’s growing Monster label production.
Over the years, Sutherland managed his wines tightly, some may even say cannily, crafting a brand that was making a name for itself among the trade and aficionados - yet one that never had a lot of bottles to sell.
All of that changed in 2007 thanks to a huge injection of enthusiasm and cash from new majority owner Dr. Tony Holler. Holler and his wife Barbara bought three quarters of the business along with friend Barrie Sali. Sutherland has the remaining share and remains general manager and executive winemaker working with Stephan Arnason, who joined the winemaking team in 2008 along with renowned Bordeauxbased wine consultant Alain Sutre.
The Holler family brought 110 acres of vineyards to the deal that is the cornerstone of the Poplar Grove strategy moving forward. As their plans unfold, production will jump from 2,000 cases to 25,000 cases a year by 2013. The majority of that fruit will be sold under the winery’s second label, Monster Vineyards, referencing Lake Okanagan’s famed, if imaginary, Ogopogo water serpent.
The good news is the huge jump in vineyard land (60 per cent on the Naramata Bench and 40 per cent on the east bank of Osoyoos Lake in Oliver) means the original Poplar Grove labels have a world of grapes to choose from, including much warmer sites down south in the Oliver region where Syrah and Cabernet have the best chance of ripening most years. The production of the Poplar Grove home estate brand will increase modestly, but most of the desired change should be in an increased jump in quality from the larger vineyard base.
For consumers, the most immediate benefit is a beautiful new showpiece visitor centre and production facility tucked into the southern end of Munson Mountain above Penticton. The gorgeous concrete and wood facility (checkout the beautiful doors made from reclaimed wood from the Osoyoos fruit packing plant) officially opened July 18, although it’s pretty much complete as you read this.
If you stop by, and you should, you may be surprised to find only six wines, but as it is with most things in life, it’s not the quantity that counts. Two whites -a Chardonnay and a Pinot Gris -set the stage for the winery’s four red labels: Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Syrah and a stand-alone Bordeaux blend labelled The Legacy.
Over the years, the wines and the winemaking have grown to produce cleaner wines and mostly, softer tannins. The reds are held back a considerable amount time compared to the valley average, and like most Okanagan reds, they benefit from extra time in bottle.
The winery boasts a long list awards but from my point of view, the future is now. Judging by the new 2009 Reserve Chardonnay and its fresh, mineral, demeanour and the 2008 Syrah that was the only Canadian wine to capture a gold medal at the 2011 Decanter World Wine Awards, Poplar Grove is well on its way to establishing itself as a midvalley must stop winery and a leading producer on the Naramata Bench.
IN THE ZONE: EACH SUB-REGION HAS ITS OWN CHARMS
The southern Okanagan has really pulled up its socks in the past five years with major restaurants now open at Burrowing Owl (The Sonora Room), Tinhorn Creek (Miradoro,), Nk ‘Mip cellars (The Patio), Hester Creek (Terrafina). Add to that the Spirit Ridge Vineyard Resort & Spa and its wine-country inspired restaurant Passo Tempo, and you have a lot of choice. It’s the dry, warm south that is responsible for some of the biggest reds in the province.
Blue Mountain: Chardonnay Reserve, Pinot Noir Reserve
Burrowing Owl: Cabernet Franc
Cassini Cellars: Syrah Collector’s Series
Clos du Soleil: Signature
Desert Hills: Syrah
Fairview Cellars: Two Hoots
Gehringer Brothers: Ehrenfelser, Riesling, Riesling Icewine
Hester Creek: Trebbiano
Moon Curser: Afraid of the Dark
Nk’Mip Cellars: Qwam Qwmt Chardonnay, Meritage
Quinta Ferreira: Syrah
Tinhorn Creek: Oldfield Series Syrah, 2Bench Oldfield Collection White
Young & Wyse: Collection Merlot
Moving north of Oliver and McIntyre Bluff, considered by growers to be the true dividing line between the north and south Okanagan, you begin to enter the central Okanagan and its many subzones.
At Okanagan Falls, See Ya Later Ranch has a patio view to die for. To the northeast Blue Mountain, Wild Goose, Stag’s Hollow and Meyer Family Vineyards beckon. North of Okanagan Falls on Penticton’s Skaha Bench, Blasted Church, Painted Rock, Pentage and more await your visits.
There are now plenty of dining options on Naramata Bench at Hillside Vineyards Bistro, Lake Breeze The Patio and The Restaurant at Red Rooster Winery and you can take your pick of several hotels including the Penticton Lakeside Resort, Convention Centre & Casino, the Naramata Heritage Inn & Spa and the Ramada Inn.
Blasted Church: Hatfield’s Fuse, Syrah
Hillside: Mosaic, Pinot Gris
Kettle Valley: Old Main Red
Lake Breeze: Pinot Blanc
Laughing Stock: Portfolio, Blind TrustWhite
Meyer Family: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
Noble Ridge: Chardonnay
Painted Rock: Syrah, Chardonnay
Poplar Grove: Chardonnay Reserve, Syrah, The Legacy blend
See Ya Later: Brut
Stag’s Hollow: Sauvignon Blanc, Renaissance
Township Seven: Syrah, Merlot
KELOWNA, LAKE COUNTRY
Across the lake and moving farther north, the heat moderates and the vineyards play home to British Columbia’s cool climate varieties. The three Pinots: Blanc, Noir and Gris compete with Riesling, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Ehrenfelser offering classic aromatic wines. Summerland is quickly becoming a wine town with its Bottleneck Drive wine route and covey of wineries including 8th Generation, Dirty Laundry, Silkscarf, Thornhaven and the original Sumac Ridge. The Vanilla Pod and Local Lounge and Grille are must stops for food and wine fans.
No Okanagan visit is complete without a stop in West Kelowna, where Mission Hill Family Estate and Quails’ Gate wineries are fixtures. The former boasts a terrific al fresco lunch or dinner at The Terrace while the latter is offers lunch and dinner year round at the Old Vines Patio & Restaurant. Both set valley standards for tasting room experiences. Kelowna proper boast the likes of Tantalus, CedarCreek, Summerhill, Camelot and Gray Monk. While you are in the hood, be sure to visit two of the best restaurants in the valley: RauDZ Regional Table and the Vineyard Terrace Restaurant at CedarCreek.
Arrowleaf: Solstice Gewurztraminer
Calona Vineyards: Sovereign Opal Artist Series
Camelot Vineyards: Pinot Gris
CedarCreek: Ehrenfelser, Platinum Malbec
Ex-Nihilo: Pinot Gris
Gray Monk: Pinot Gris
Mission Hill: S.L.C. Sauvignon Blanc Semillon, Perpetua, Quatrain
Quails’ Gate: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir Reserve
Summerhill: Pyramid Ehrenfelser Tantalus: Riesling | <urn:uuid:e7b2e4bd-b0c5-46ec-95cc-be84cb0fe09d> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.canada.com/travel/destinations/north-america/canada/quebec/quebec-city/wine+country+best+enjoyed+smaller+regional+sips/5124845/story.html | 2016-07-24T04:17:23Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257823935.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071023-00057-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90781 | 2,410 |
Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is an intriguing guy...[he] asks great questions and answers others with style, flair, reason and wit. On the blogroll he goes. Make him a part of your regular blogospheric reading. I certainly will.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Common Sense Junction: Misha @ Anti-Idiotarian never ceases to amaze me. He keeps finding other good blogs. I went over to A.I. this morning for my daily Misha fix and he had found this guy named Morgan Freeberg in Fair Oaks, California, that has a blog, House of Eratosthenes. Freeberg says its "The Blog That Nobody Reads" but it may now become the blog that everybody reads.
Jaded Haven: Good God, Morgan, you cover a topic from front to back with a screwy thoroughness I find mind boggling. I'm in awe of your thought proccesses, my friend, you're an exceptional talent. You start by throwing in the kitchen sink, tie in someone's syphilitic uncle, bend around a rip tide of brilliance and bring it all home in a neat, diamond dripping package of an exceptionally readable moment of damn fine wordsmithing. I love reading you.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
Philmon: When Morgan meanders, stick with him - he's got a point and it'll be worth it in the end. He's not a hit-and-run snarky quip kind of guy. The pieces all fall into place like tumblers in a lock and bang! He's opened a cognative door for you.
Rightlinx: Morgan at House of Eratosthenes is one of the best writers out there. I read him nearly every day because he manages to provide an interesting perspective, even though I don't always agree.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
Historians look back on the thousand-or-so years between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance, and call them the Dark Ages. This is because science took a back seat to sectarian issues, and y’know, the big “we” didn’t do a whole lot. History during that time, for the most part, is a bunch of people bonking each other over the head and taking land back after it was taken away from them by some other guy bonking someone over the head. No cool theories about gravity, not much going on with communications or the written word, no real value placed on the acquisition of new information.
Well, there’s bound to be some similarly derogatory name invented for the twenty years or so in which we’re living right now. Our handicap, however, is not so much cognitive as it is cogitative. A thousand years ago, people weren’t too good at, or too keen on, acquiring information; nowadays they get ahold of it, and for the most part just jerk off into a wet paper bag when it comes time to figure out what the information means. The whole thing has some hope, just a faint one, of making sense to you only if you live in these times. To a future generation looking back, it is sure to be unexplainable, just as the things people did a millenium ago, to us, are incomprehensible.
A perfect case in point: The letters page of the Sacramento Bee from yesterday (third one down) (link requires registration). The burning of the six Sunni Muslims as they were leaving prayers over the long Thanksgiving weekend. Supposedly, in retaliation for attacks on a Shiite slum earlier, someone doused a family of Sunni worshippers with kerosene and set them alight. Iraqi police stood by and did nothing. Some other folks who tried to put the flames out, were stopped by the attackers. The Sunni Muslims burned to death.
Well, Flopping Aces has been looking into this and finding more and more and more problems with the story. You can get started on the whole sorry saga here. As of this writing, it’s probably most accurate to say the Associated Press has been working with the Iraqi police to try to verify the story — and, collectively, they’ve hit a rough patch. It would not be a departure from the realm of the undisputed, to go a bit further and say some parts of the story have been proven false. Like for example the employment status of a certain “spokesman” who got the whole story going.
So as a supporter of the war, I’m getting this finger waggled in my face about how I voted for it therefore I own it. But the basis for this argument is based on pure bullshit. Easily-detected bullshit. And furthermore…assuming the Sunnis and Shiites are fighting in something that could be called a “civil war,” since obviously there is some sectarian violence going on, nevermind the facts getting in the way…doesn’t this all just go back to the old debate about people & guns? I get mugged, I get shot, I get killed, who’s to blame. Society, or the asshole who pulled the trigger.
What is the argument being made with all the talk about civil war? People are killing each other and it’s America’s fault? That’s laughable. People were killing each other before we invaded. Is this all supposed to support some thesis about how Iraq was a lot better off when Saddam was in charge? If so, why has it become so rare that anyone has the balls to just come out and say that. Someone like Jonathan Chaitt, who thinks we should put Hussein right back in.
Or is it just that our hands are dirty. That it’s better to have people killing each other without our involvement, than with our involvement. Hey, it’s an argument worth making, all I ask is that when people make it they have the honesty to admit that is the argument they’re making. Is that too much to ask? Maybe we should come up with a name for this. They think everybody should behave like the cowardly citizens of Hadleyville in High Noon. That’s it. The Hadleyville Paradigm. The dictum that civilized people, when bad guys come around, crouch in their living rooms and peek out from closed shutters.
Yeah, yeah, you know what the Hadleyville shutter-peekers are going to say. They’re going to say if I believe so strongly in this war, I should be over there fighting it, and since I’m not it proves I’m some kind of hypocrite.
Problem with that argument: One guy goes over to fight the war — just one — and the argument is defeated. Forever. You need only one Marshal Will Kane to walk the lonely streets, and the Hadleyville shutter-peeker is reduced to the position of saying, “he shouldn’t be out there, he should be in a living room, pretending not to be home, peeking out from between shutter slats just like me.” And everyone’s going to understand this is a ludicrous argument, fitting only the Darkest of Times. It’s going to look like exactly what it is: Someone taking the easy way out, getting nasty because other people are taking a more courageous stand, thereby making him look bad.
And so instead, they’d rather talk about people like me. That, too, looks like exactly what it is: A distraction. It is an argument that must be inconsistent, and must everlastingly stay that way. I think we need to do a lot of things. I think we need to cut some taxes, and yet, I’m not running for Congress. Does that make me a hypocrite? I think the United Nations should be doing a lot of things differently, and yet if they have elections whereby I’m given the opportunity to energize this opinion into action, I’ve missed every single one. Does that make me a hypocrite? I like beer. I am not in the business of brewing beer. I have not put any of my investment dollars into beer companies. Hypocrite?
No, it really comes down to law and order. How long do we think bad guys should have, to just run around being bad guys? Saddam Hussein had twenty years before the invasion even got started. The shutter-peekers, picking up all this enemy propaganda and old-wives’-tales and urban-legend-gossip, and translating it into some argument of “we never shoulda done it” are trying to support a position that twenty years was not enough. Saddam Hussein should have had unlimited freedom to be a bad guy — forever. Which means all of the bad guys should have that long.
And note, it’s an absolute position. Much was done before the invasion of Iraq, to get other countries “on board” with it, to justify it with broad factions of people with disparate interests in human rights, weapons threats, etc. Seventeen resolutions ignored! Surely, it’s an absolute position to take, that this is somehow not enough; it’s a moderate position to take that y’know, maybe seventeen is enough, and it’s time to do something.
Future generations are sure to look back and raise the question: If the war is going so badly that the shutter-peeking can be made, somehow, to look good…wouldn’t this have been possible while relying on true things? Why all the urban legends? Why the propaganda?
And if anyone asks me, I’m going to have to give an answer to the effect of…well, even though a few years after the invasion we’d been snookered by an awful lot of stuff…somehow, at the end of 2006, verity was an attribute that still didn’t have a lot of value for many people. I don’t see any way around giving that answer. I hope nobody asks me to explain it. The best I can come up with, is that truth has a connection with justice; you need the former to get the latter. If what you want is anarchy, just bad guys marching down the streets of Hadleyville, while shutter-peekers peek out their shutters and hope the bad guys get bored and walk away — maybe this has an effect on you. Maybe this causes truth to not have much importance for you.
Maybe it comes down to that: justice through boredom. What is the attention span of a bad guy? Do bad guys get bored and stop being bad guys? Is boredom an adequate substitute for Gary Cooper? Can we have an orderly society in which, whenever there’s trouble in the town, we just come up with some arguments as to why it doesn’t concern us and then shutter ourselves up in our living rooms, until the bad guy gets bored?
Yeah, it does make sense. Facts wouldn’t matter too much to someone who thinks that way. Come to think of it, there’s only one question on which such an ostrich-type shutter-peeker would have any interest whatsoever, all others being trivial: Is he gone yet?
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The Toronto Raptors made an aggressive, and risky, move to acquire an athletic wingman, giving up a point guard with an expiring contract and a promising young big man in the process.
Numbers Game looks at the deals made between Toronto, Memphis and Detroit.
The Raptors Get: SF Rudy Gay and C Hamed Haddadi.
Gay, 26, is a wing player that has teased with his athletic ability, enough to get paid like a star, but is currently in the midst of his worst season since his rookie year in terms of efficiency. His Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 14.39 is his lowest since 2006-2007, thanks to shooting a career-low 40.8% from the field.
Averaging 17.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, with 0.7 blocks and 1.3 steals per game, Gay is a fine NBA small forward, but those numbers don't suggest a star, especially when considering that he takes 16.4 field goal attempts per game.
How that fits into the Raptors' rotation will be interesting to watch. Injured PF Andrea Bargnani (who GM Byran Colangelo is apparently shopping) takes a team-high 15.2 shots per game, followed by swingmen DeMar DeRozan (14.9) and Alan Anderson (11.1). Someone is going to lose looks because the Raptors are sending 16.3 attempts per game out with the trade, except that that total covers two spots in the rotation. The most likely scenario is that DeRozan moves to shooting guard and Anderson comes off the bench.
If Gay and DeRozan are going to be the starting wings and Anderson is coming off the bench, that doesn't necessarily leave a lot of minutes for rookie Terrence Ross or Landry Fields, unless there are more moves coming. Perhaps one of those others moves will net the Raptors a backup point guard because there isn't a lot of depth behind Lowry, with John Lucas III really the only one capable of handling the point, but he's a better number three option at the point.
Gay and Raptors PG Kyle Lowry were rookies together with the Grizzlies in 2006-2007, until Lowry was traded to Houston in 2008-2009, so there is familiarity there that the Raptors will have to rely on so that nebulous chemistry could make the acquisition better than the mere sum of the parts involved.
Earning $16.46-million this season, Gay has two years and more than $37-million remaining on his contract after this year; a monstrous financial commitment (potentially putting the Raptors over the luxury tax threshold) for a player who qualifies as an above-average small forward but, particularly with this year's declining production, isn't knocking on the door of stardom.
Haddadi is a 27-year-old, 7-foot-2 centre who hasn't played more than 36 games or seven minutes per game in an NBA season. He's expected to be waived.
The Grizzlies Get: SF Tayshaun Prince, PF Ed Davis, SF Austin Daye and a second-round pick (from Toronto).
Prince, a 32-year-old small forward has made his bones as a defender and remains effective at that end of the floor. He's averaging 11.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, with 0.5 steals and 0.3 blocks per game. Prince doesn't shoot a lot of threes, but is hitting a career-best 43.4% from beyond the arc this season and could thrive somewhat in that role with Memphis, since the Grizzlies have such a strong presence inside with C Marc Gasol and PF Zach Randolph.
With Gay departing from Memphis, there should be more touches available for Gasol and Randolph, both of whom are significantly more efficient offensively. Randolph, in particular, would figure to get more shots, since he's taking 13.6 per game this year, but averaged more than 16 per game in his first two years with the Grizzlies.
Prince is making a relatively modest $6.75-million this season and has two years at just under $15-million remaining on his deal. As a complementary player, particularly one with championship pedigree, Prince appears to be a nice fit for the Grizzlies.
A player that the Raptors could regret dealing, Ed Davis is a 23-year-old power forward/centre who had made significant progress in his third NBA season, averaging 9.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game on 54.9% shooting overall but, as a starter with Bargnani out, Davis has put up 12.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game, shooting 55.7% from the field.
Davis' minutes will be cut back with Gasol and Randolph starting in Memphis, but he's poised to be the first big off the bench.
On his entry-level deal, Davis is making just over $2.2-million this season and will make $3.15-million next season, after which Davis would be a restricted free agent if he receives a $4.36-million qualifying offer. All in all, if Davis gives the Grizzlies 24 minutes a night off the bench, between the four and the five, he's a veritable bargain.
If it turns out that Davis is worthy of a starting role by then, all the better for Memphis.
Daye, 24, is a long (6-foot-11) and lean (200 pounds) wing who can be a useful shooter off the bench. Daye is averaging 5.1 points, 2.2 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game, with 0.3 blocks and 0.2 steals, but what really stands out is his 52.5% on three-point attempts this season.
Considering the Grizzlies decimated their bench in last week's trade with Cleveland, adding Daye and Davis is a major upgrade to the second string.
Daye makes just under $2.96-million this season and will be a restricted free agent if he receives a qualifying offer of nearly $4.14-million.
The Pistons Get: PG Jose Calderon.
Calderon is a 31-year-old distributor who struggles at the defensive end, but has been a net positive throughout his career for the Raptors and this season has been no different. In fact, Calderon's PER of 19.37 is the second-highest of his career (his best was 20.77 in 2007-2008) as he's done so many things well. In 28 minutes a night, Calderon has averaged 11.1 points, 7.4 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 0.6 steals, but his shooting has been top notch -- 47.0% from the field, 90.4% from the line and 42.9% on threes.
In Detroit, Calderon will be a significant upgrade at the point, which can allow second-year guard Brandon Knight to play shooting guard and leave Rodney Stuckey to come off the bench. Kyle Singler figures to get the majority of small forward minutes created by Prince's departure.
While Calderon helps the Pistons in the short term, his value lies in the fact that the $10.56-million he's making this season is on an expiring contract, which will allow the Pistons to create maximum room under the cap in 2013-2014, when they have committed about $35-millon to salaries under a cap that could be in the neighbourhood of $69-million, leaving a lot of room for future roster improvement.
The upshot of the deal for the Pistons is that it was a low-risk move, giving up replaceable parts like Prince and Daye to get an expiring contract of a player that can help in the short term.
For the Grizzlies, they not only improved their bench and, likely, re-distributed their shots offensively, but they managed to improve their depth and got out from under a weighty contract.
That leaves Toronto, hoping that the light goes on for Rudy Gay in his new locale, because the only way to justify the money they're paying him -- to say nothing of the assets surrendered -- is for Gay to be the driving force that leads the Raptors to a playoff berth, soon. Otherwise, the loss of financial flexibility can't be justified for a player whose value is declining because it's becoming increasingly evident that he's not going to be anything more than a pretty good starting small forward.
Scott Cullen can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. | <urn:uuid:96f033b4-0947-4cea-8729-b5e5dfe2f69a> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www2.tsn.ca/blogs/scott_cullen/?id=414878 | 2016-07-24T02:55:28Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257823935.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071023-00057-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971361 | 1,805 |
For the third consecutive year the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns are the New Orleans Bowl champions.
Congratulations to @ULRaginCajuns for winning the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl— New Orleans Bowl (@NewOrleansBowl) December 22, 2013
It wasn't easy though, the Ragin' Cajuns had to catch a few breaks and battle some adversity as they narrowly defeated the Tulane Green Wave, 24-21.
After 60 hard-fought minutes of football it all came down to a final field goal for Mark Hudspeth's squad. Tulane's Cairo Santos had the opportunity to tie the game with a 48-yard field goal with 13 seconds left but missed just right.
Tulane's Orleans Darkwa was named the New Orleans Bowl MVP despite being on the losing team.
Tulane RB Orleans Darkwa (three TDs runs, 86 yards on 16 carries) named New Orleans Bowl MVP after UL's 24-21 win.— Tim Buckley (@TDARaginCajuns) December 22, 2013
It's hard to deny that the running back deserved it, though. He ran for 83 yards on 16 carries and accounted for all three of Tulane's touchdowns on the ground.
Both Louisiana teams packed the Superdome, setting a new New Orleans Bowl attendance record and creating an exciting atmosphere for the final game of the season.
The first half resembled a basketball game with both teams going on separate runs. ULL took command early on by taking a 21-0 lead on the strength of touchdown runs of 27 and 15 yards from Elijah McGuire and Alonzo Harris, respectively, in the first quarter.
The Ragin' Cajuns depth would be a prevalent theme early in the game. As the team's Twitter account noted, the fast start was truly a team effort:
The Cajuns have played two quarterbacks, had two different running backs score touchdowns and two different kickers kick an extra point.— UL Ragin' Cajuns (@ULRaginCajuns) December 22, 2013
The Green Wave, on the other hand, could attribute their rocky start to turnovers:
Coming in to the game, all media said No. 1 issue for #Tulane was to avoid turnovers. Two thus far, 14 points from them. Simple stuff.— Scott Kushner (@ScottDKushner) December 22, 2013
Specifically, it was Nick Montana's second quarter interception that really put Tulane in an early hole. The son of NFL legend Joe Montana had an unfortunate hand in making some New Orleans Bowl history when Corey Trim returned his errant throw 82 yards to go up 21-0.
Tulane wasn't about to let Lafayette run away with the game early, though. Led by standout running back Darkwa and quarterback Devin Powell, who replaced Montana, the Green Wave scored back-to-back touchdowns in the second quarter to go into halftime within seven points of the Ragin' Cajuns, 21-14.
An incredible 50-yard connection between Powell and Ryan Grant set up the second touchdown run.
Despite the wild 35-point first half, scoring slowed down tremendously after halftime as both teams were able to make adjustments and each defense stepped up. The Tulane defense finally found a way to slow down the Lafayette offense while Powell struggled to get anything going for the Green Wave.
Both teams exchanged punts throughout most of the third frame until an ill-advised Terrance Broadway pass was picked off by Tulane's Derrick Strozier. The Green Wave took over at the 17, and after a five-yard penalty, scored on the very next play on a 22-yard run by none other than Darkwa to tie the game at 21 heading into the fourth quarter.
Tulane's momentum came to a sudden halt in the fourth quarter when Powell threw an interception that gave the Ragin' Cajuns the ball at the Tulane 13-yard line. The Green Wave defense was able to hold ULL to a rare field goal to stay within striking distance at 24-21, though.
That's @ULRaginCajuns 1st field goal since October 22— New Orleans Bowl (@NewOrleansBowl) December 22, 2013
Tulane answered by driving the ball to the Lafayette 39-yard line but elected to punt the ball with over seven minutes remaining rather than kick a 56-yard field goal. It almost cost them.
Lafayette took over at its own 9-yard line and ate up over six minutes of clock before giving the Green Wave the ball back at their own 5-yard line with just 1:10 remaining.
Despite his struggles for much of the game, Powell came through in the clutch on the final drive. He connected with Justyn Shackleford and Grant for gains of 34 and 27 yards to set up a 48-yard field goal attempt for Cairo Santos with 13 seconds left, but it wasn't meant to be as he hooked it right of the uprights and the Ragin' Cajuns once again claimed the New Orleans Bowl victory.
Orleans Darkwa, RB, Tulane: A
It doesn't get much better than a guy named Orleans taking over the New Orleans Bowl.
With his team down 21-0 early in the second quarter, it appeared that Tulane was completely out of the game. That's when Darkwa's touchdown barrage got started and put the Green Wave back into the game.
His third touchdown run put his career in some elite company at Tulane, too:
#tulane's Orleans Darkwa goes 22 yards for the score and ties Matt Forte's all-time career rushing TD record of 39.— Tammy Nunez (@tammynunez) December 22, 2013
Terrance Broadway, QB, UL-Lafayette: B-
Coming in as the MVP of the 2012 New Orleans Bowl, the Ragin' Cajuns were hoping that Terrance Broadway could come back from a broken arm suffered less than a month ago and lead his team to victory.
He did it, but it wasn't always pretty.
Instead, Broadway looked a little shaky throughout the night. His two interceptions were costly for the Cajuns as the second one set up the equalizing touchdown for Tulane and kept the Green Wave in the game.
Fortunately for him and the Cajuns, his play in the fourth quarter was just enough to pick up the narrow victory.
Ryan Grant, WR, Tulane: B+
Grant wasn't put in an easy situation in this game. Neither Nick Montana nor Devin Powell impressed at the quarterback position. Yet, he still found a way to have an impact on the game and put up respectable numbers.
His ability to haul in the 50-yard pass in the second quarter was a huge reason the Green Wave were able to get back into the game and showed his potential as an NFL prospect:
What a grab by Ryan Grant. Reminded me of Emmanuel Sanders when I watched him this year.— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) December 22, 2013
Elijah McGuire, RB, UL-Lafayette: A
As good as Orleans Darkwa was in this game, he really wasn't the most impressive running back on the field. That distinction would belong to freshman back Elijah McGuire.
While the Ragin' Cajuns featured a backfield by committee approach with the carries being split evenly between McGuire, Alonzo Harris and Broadway, he made a difference in both the run and passing game. Along with his 45 rushing yards he had 94 receiving yards.
Nick Montana/Devin Powell, QB, Tulane: D-
Nick Montana's season as the Tulane starter was marked by inconsistency and it certainly showed in the bowl game. He was just 5-of-8 for 63 yards and an interception before Devin Powell was brought in to take over.
The more athletic Powell had some moments, but his play was nothing to write home about either. He also threw an interception and failed to give the offense the sustained spark it needed.
This was an important bowl game matchup for both Louisiana teams. As College GameDay tweeted out before the game, Lafayette was looking to add to its impressive streak of bowl victories while Tulane was making its first bowl appearance in over a decade:
Louisiana-Lafayette is seeking their 3rd straight #NewOrleansBowl victory, while in-state foe Tulane is bowling for the 1st time since 2002.— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) December 22, 2013
Hudspeth has now led the Ragin' Cajuns to three consecutive 9-4 seasons and continues to keep his team playing at a high level year in and year out. This win continues that tradition as he cements ULL as one of the most consistent college football programs in the Sun Belt Conference.
For Tulane, this was a banner year that Curtis Johnson and Co. should be proud of. They took an experienced bowl team to the limit and have something to build on as they look forward to the 2014 season. | <urn:uuid:09299854-1376-4d97-aee1-6307aa4a2c50> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1897805-tulane-vs-ul-lafayette-score-grades-and-analysis-for-2013-new-orleans-bowl | 2016-07-28T04:40:40Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257827782.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071027-00034-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977201 | 1,877 |
Nerve wants to be a cautionary tale about the perils of desiring fame through social media, but it isn’t willing to go to the darker…
There is a story that James Cagney stood on his toes while acting, believing he would project more energy that way. That sounds like a press release, but whatever he did, Cagney came across as one of the most dynamic performers in movie history--a short man with ordinary looks whose coiled tension made him the focus of every scene.
He's best known for the gangster roles he played in the 1930s, a decade when he averaged almost four films a year for Warner Bros. From “Public Enemy” (1931, with its famous grapefruit-in-the-face scene) to “The Roaring Twenties” (1939), he was Hollywood's leading crime star--even at the studio that also had Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart under contract. But he didn't win his Oscar until 1942, when he played Broadway showman George M. Cohan in “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”
Maybe that was because Hollywood doesn't like to honor actors playing bad guys (Cagney was nominated but didn't win in 1938, as a gangster in “Angels With Dirty Faces”). Maybe it was because the nation was newly at war in 1942, and happy to honor a patriotic biopic about the composer of “It's a Grand Old Flag.” Or maybe it was because Cagney threw himself into the role with such complete joy.
Audiences didn't expect to see Cagney singing and dancing. He'd been a hoofer in his stage days, but danced only once in a major film (“Footlight Parade,” 1933). Now he had the lead in the life story of one of the most famous song and dance men of his day--a role everybody knew Fred Astaire had turned down.
Cagney wasn't a dancer by Astaire's standards, or a singer by anybody's, but he was such a good actor he could fake it: “Cagney can't really dance or sing,” observes the critic Edwin Jahiel, “but he acts so vigorously that it creates an illusion, and for dance-steps he substitutes a patented brand of robust, jerky walks, runs and other motions.”
You can sense that in an impromptu scene near the end of the movie. Cagney's Cohan is walking down a marble staircase at the White House when he suddenly starts tapping and improvises all the way to the bottom. Cagney later said he dreamed that up five minutes before the scene was shot: “I didn't consult with the director or anything, I just did it.”
What's he doing at the White House? The movie is told in one of the most implausible flashbacks in the history of musical biographies--a genre famous for the tortured ways it doubles back to tell showbiz stories. As the movie opens, Cohan has been called out of retirement to star as Franklin D. Roosevelt in “I'd Rather Be Right,” a Broadway musical hailing the president as war clouds gathered. He gets a telegram summoning him to the White House, and arrives on foot, drenched, late at night. He's shown into the Oval Office, where an over-the-shoulder shot of FDR identifies him by his cigarette holder. The president says he remembers seeing “The Four Cohans” in Boston 40 years earlier.
“I was a pretty cocky kid in those days,” Cohan muses. “Pretty cocky kid ... “
That sets off an entire film of flashbacks, narrated by Cohan, as he tells the president his life story. How he was born on the Fourth of July (“I was 6 before I realized they weren't celebrating my birthday”). How he began as a child star, touring with his parents, Jerry (Walter Huston) and Nellie (Rosemary De Camp), and his sister, Josie (Jeanne Cagney, Cagney's own sister). How he got a swelled head after starring in “Peck's Bad Boy,” and how while still a teenager he played his own mother's father on the stage.
That memory sets up a famous sequence, as a young fan named Mary (Joan Leslie) comes backstage to get advice from the apparently bearded and ancient Cohan, who continues the deception until suddenly breaking into a frenzied dance. She shrieks as he takes off his makeup (in showbiz, he tells her, “you'll have to get used to false eyebrows”) and soon he's writing a hit song for her (“Mary”) and they're getting married.
These are all of course staples of showbiz biography--reality turned into myth, if not into press releases. Today's biopics focus on scandal and Freudian gloom, but in “Yankee Doodle Dandy” everything is upbeat, and even George's marriage proposal is couched in showbiz dialogue. No wonder that when the aging George M. Cohan himself was shown the movie, he liked it. (According to historian Jay Robert Nash, his response was right in character: “Cohan grinned, shook his head, and paid the inimitable Cagney his highest compliment: `My God, what an act to follow!' “)
It was. As Pauline Kael said of Cagney, “Though he was born in 1899 and is somewhat portly here, he is so cocky and sure a dancer that you feel yourself grinning with pleasure at his movements. It's quite possible that he has more electricity than Cohan himself had.” Unlike Astaire, whose entire body was involved in every movement, Cagney was a dancer who seemed to call on body parts in rotation. When he struts across the stage in the “Yankee Doodle Dandy” number, his legs are rubber but his spine is steel, and his torso is slanted forward so steeply we're reminded of Groucho Marx.
There are two currents to the story: patriotism and success. Cohan sees himself as a flag-waver, and the critics attack him for writing only lightweight musical comedies. Stung, he writes a serious play, but when it flops he apologizes and returns to what his fans demand: sentiment, silliness and rousing nationalism. (Ironically, two of his lyrics supplied the titles for anti-war films: “Born on the Fourth of July” and “Johnny Got His Gun.”)
Every scene follows the themes. He tries to enlist for World War I, is rejected for being too old, and protests, “This war is a coffee klatsch compared to what I go through in the course of a musical show.” He does a tap dance in the recruiting office to demonstrate what he means, walks outside and catches two notes from a marching band. And then, in one of those fantasies of creation so beloved in films about musicians, he sits on an empty stage with a piano and doodles with the notes until he discovers the opening for “Over There.”
The movie hurries from one obligatory scene to the next: retirement of parents, offscreen deaths of mother and sister, onscreen death of father (Walter Huston goes out on a good exit line) and a montage of marquees from his hit shows. Finally comes the White House visit and, after Cohan has told the patient FDR his entire life story, a private presentation of the Medal of Honor.
There's little that's really original in “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” which was directed by Michael Curtiz, the gifted Warners workhorse whose credits included “Casablanca,” also released in 1942. The cinematography, by the legendary James Wong Howe, uses the elegant compositions of figures that were common at the time, and the staging includes two numbers where big studio treadmills are used to move groups of extras, or keep them marching in place.
But the greatness of the film resides entirely in the Cagney performance. Even Walter Huston, one of the finest character actors of the era, is confined by routine material. There is a sudden chemistry in a sequence involving Fay Templeton, as a Broadway star Cohan wants to work with (the relatively unknown Irene Manning is stunning in the role). But mostly it's bio by the numbers--except for Cagney's electricity.
He doesn't dance so much as strut; he doesn't act so much as sell you his desire to entertain. In dialogue scenes, when other actors are talking, his eyes dart across their faces, silently urging them to pick up the energy; he's like Michael Jordan impatiently willing his co-stars to keep up with him. And when he's in full sail, as in “Give My Regards to Broadway” or “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” it's like regarding a force of nature.
This movie is trying to kill these women, but they endure.
"It's a madhouse!"
A Blu-ray review of "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ultimate Edition)," arriving July 19.
A compilation of reviews defending the new "Ghostbusters" film. | <urn:uuid:8e1c13d1-017a-4e6b-bcbf-a7ad897c2c0a> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-yankee-doodle-dandy-1942 | 2016-07-28T02:54:47Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257827782.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071027-00034-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98102 | 1,973 |
With a disdain for science that alarms wildlife experts, Sarah Palin continues to promote Alaska's policy to gun down wolves from planes.
By Mark Benjamin
Wildlife activists thought they had seen the worst in 2003 when Frank Murkowski, then the Republican governor of Alaska, signed a bill ramping up state programs to gun down wild wolves from airplanes, inviting average citizens to participate. Wolves, Murkowski believed, were clearly better than humans at killing elk and moose, and humans needed to even the playing field.
But that was before Sarah Palin took Murkowski's job at the end of 2006. She went one step, or paw, further. Palin didn't think Alaskans should be allowed to chase wolves from aircraft and shoot them -- they should be encouraged to do so. Palin's administration put a bounty on wolves' heads, or to be more precise, on their mitts.
In early 2007, Palin's administration approved an initiative to pay a $150 bounty to hunters who killed a wolf from an airplane in certain areas, hacked off the left foreleg, and brought in the appendage. Ruling that the Palin administration didn't have the authority to offer payments, a state judge quickly put a halt to them but not to the shooting of wolves from aircraft.
Detractors consider the airborne shootings a savage business, conducted under the euphemism "predator control." The airplanes appear in the winter, so the wolves show up like targets in a video game, sprinting across the white canvas below. Critics believe the practice violates the ethics of hunting, while supporters say the process is not hunting at all, but a deliberate cull.
Palin has argued that she is worried about Alaska's hunters, locked in perennial competition with the canine carnivores for the state's prodigious ungulate population. A hunter herself, Palin has battled critics of aerial wolf hunting with the support of the Alaska Outdoor Council, a powerhouse advocacy and lobbying organization for hunting, fishing and recreation groups. In addition to so-called urban hunters, who shoot moose mostly for fun, Alaska is home to a significant number of subsistence hunters, including some of the Native population. Subsistence hunters rely on an occasional moose to make ends meet. The wolves, Palin has said, are stealing food from their tables.
"Palin acts like she has never met an animal she didn't want shot," says Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals, based in Connecticut.
The controversy over Palin's promotion of predator control goes beyond animal rights activists recoiling at the thought of picking off wolves from airplanes. A raft of scientists has argued that Palin has provided little evidence that the current program of systematically killing wolves, estimated at a population of 7,000 to 11,000, will result in more moose for hunters. State estimates of moose populations have come under scrutiny. Some wildlife biologists say predator control advocates don't even understand what wolves eat.
State officials stand by their scientific findings on predator control. "Several times over the past several years, our science has been challenged in court," says Bruce Bartley, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. "In every instance it has prevailed."
Yet it is not hard to find Alaskans who say Palin's enthusiasm for predator control fits a broader narrative of how she edits science to suit her personal views. She endorses the teaching of creationism in public schools and has questioned whether humans are responsible for global warming.
In 2007, she approved $400,000 to educate the public about the ecological success of shooting wolves and bears from the air. Some of the money went to create a pamphlet distributed in local newspapers, three weeks before the public was to vote on an initiative that would have curtailed aerial killing of wolves by private citizens. "The timing of the state's propaganda on wolf control was terrible," wrote the Anchorage Daily News on its editorial page.
"Across the board, Sarah Palin puts on a masquerade, claiming she is using sound management and science," says Nick Jans, an Alaskan writer who co-sponsored the initiative. "In reality she uses ideology and ignores science when it is in her way." The initiative was defeated last month.
Gordon Haber is a wildlife scientist who has studied wolves in Alaska for 43 years. "On wildlife-related issues, whether it is polar bears or predator controls, she has shown no inclination to be objective," he says of Palin. "I cannot find credible scientific data to support their arguments," he adds about the state's rational for gunning down wolves. "In most cases, there is evidence to the contrary."
Last year, 172 scientists signed a letter to Palin, expressing concern about the lack of science behind the state's wolf-killing operation. According to the scientists, state officials set population objectives for moose and caribou based on "unattainable, unsustainable historically high populations." As a result, the "inadequately designed predator control programs" threatened the long-term health of both the ungulate and wolf populations. The scientists concluded with a plea to Palin to consider the conservation of wolves and bears "on an equal basis with the goal of producing more ungulates for hunters."
Apparently Palin wasn't fazed. Earlier this year she introduced state legislation that would further divorce the predator-control program from science. The legislation would transfer authority over the program from the state Department of Fish and Game to Alaska's Board of Game, whose members are appointed by, well, Palin. Even some hunters were astounded by her power play.
The legislation would give Palin's board "more leeway without any scientific input to do whatever the hell they basically wanted," Mark Richards, co-chair of Alaska Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, wrote in an e-mail. The legislation is currently stalled in the Alaska state Senate.
Predator control in Alaska dates back to the 1920s and 1930s. Even then, wildlife biologists insisted that wolves were important to the area's natural ecology and not responsible for inordinate deaths of sheep, caribou or moose. Yet the scientists fought a losing battle against ranchers, hunters and government officials, who backed the extermination of tens of thousands of wolves. Aerial hunting began in earnest in the 1940s and continued through the 1960s after Alaska had earned statehood.
But starting in 2003, Murkowski opened the airborne shooting to citizens with special permits and expanded predator-control programs to cover 60,000 square miles of state and federal land, the largest wolf-killing operation since Alaska became a state. The stated goal is to reduce wolf populations in some areas by 60 to 80 percent. Teams of pilots and gunners have killed at least 795 wolves since 2003. Conservationists counter that the total number of wolves trapped, shot from airplanes, chased down by snow machines, and killed legally and illegally in Alaska every year is more along the lines of 2,000.
Scientists insist that the Palin administration is systematically killing wolves with an inadequate understanding of the relationship between the carnivore and hoofed animals. The state responds that predators kill over 80 percent of the moose and caribou that die each year, while hunters and trappers kill less than 10 percent.
Haber says the state's numbers are wildly inflated. His decades of wolf research have shown that wolves are, in fact, mostly scavengers. "Sixty to 70 percent of the moose they eat are scavenged, not killed," he says. He adds that the state's wolf population estimates, based on secondhand observations and extrapolations, are also high.
Palin offered the $150 bounty for wolf paws in 2007 after efforts to kill wolves from airplanes that season were, in her view, coming up short. State officials had hoped that 382 to 664 wolves would be killed during that predator-control season. State officials were disappointed when only 115 wolves were killed from the air.
Palin thought the $150 cash bounties would do the trick. Haber has another explanation for the dry spell. "I can tell you from my own research that the reason they didn't get many wolves in certain years, particularly last winter, is because they have scraped those areas clean," he says.
Last year, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., introduced legislation designed to curtail predator-control programs, except as a last resort. "It's time to ground Alaska's illegal and inhumane air assault on wolves," Miller said. Palin quickly fired off a curt letter in response, applauding the state's programs as "widely recognized for their excellence and effectiveness." She pointed out that her state has "managed its wildlife so that we still maintain abundant populations of all of our indigenous predators almost fifty years after statehood."
Says Jans, co-sponsor of the losing initiative to outlaw aerial wolf hunting: "This is a reflection of a somebody who doesn't have any use for science." | <urn:uuid:3c84781c-f9a3-4fb9-8230-d884b2bb9587> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://www.friendsofanimals.org/comment/11825 | 2016-07-29T23:43:47Z | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257832399.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071032-00213-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966391 | 1,827 |
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