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Q: How to display only submenu of a menu in jQuery? I have several class menu-item. When I mouse over on menu-item the sub-menu is always showing.
But as we can see, sub-menu is only on id=menu-item-2292.

À propos

      Photos

Portrait

How can I do that show the sub-menu only if menu-item has a sub-menu?

A: $('.menu-item').hover(function(){
  var submenu = $(this).find('.sub-menu');
  if (submenu.length != 0) {
    submenu.show();
  }
}, function(){
  $(this).find('.sub-menu').hide();
});

A: you can use the has() selector to reduce the selected set to li containing ul
$(".menu-item").has('ul.sub-menu').hover(function() {
    $('.sub-menu', this).show();
}, function() {
    $('.sub-menu', this).hide();
});


President Trump didn't act as perhaps one should at all times during the funeral mass for George H.W. Bush yesterday. Chad doesn't have any problem with that, but why isn't the president's evangelical base calling him out? Chad calls out their hypocrisy and we also talk to U of M regent Dean Johnson about the school likely bringing their first ever female president.


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Rouhani Calls For Unity As Iran Marks Revolution Anniversary
Iranian President Hassan Rohani at a press conference to mark the 39th anniversary of Iran's Islamic Rrevolution in Tehran on February 6.
President Hassan Rouhani called for unity across Iran's political spectrum as the country marked the 39th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, weeks after antigovernment protests spread across the country.
Hundreds of thousands of people attended government-orchestrated demonstrations in Tehran and other cities on February 11, chanting slogans against the United States and Israel and burning flags of the two countries.
In the capital, demonstrators converged on the central Azadi (Freedom) Square, where Rouhani delivered a speech.
"I request that the 40th year of the revolution, the coming year, be the year of unity," he told the massive crowd. "I ask conservatives, reformists, moderates, all parties, and all people to come and be together.
"When the revolution took place, we pushed some off the revolutionary train whom we shouldn't have," he also said, adding, "Today, we have to let them board the train again."
The rallies commemorate February 11, 1979, when followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ousted a U.S.-backed monarch, Shah Reza Pahlavi.
This year's celebrations come after antiestablishment unrest spread to more than 70 Iranian cities and towns in late December and early January -- the biggest protests since millions of people took to the streets after a disputed presidential election in 2009.
At least 25 people were killed and more than 3,000 detained during the latest wave of protests, in which some demonstrators called for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to step down.
In his speech, Rohani said the country has "progressed in many fields" since the revolution, but he also pointed to "shortcomings."
"Maybe in decision-making, we have had delays. Maybe we haven't been speaking transparently with our people," he said.
The Iranian president also pledged more job opportunities and better economic conditions, as the country's economy still struggles despite the 2015 nuclear between Tehran and world powers that has curbed Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the easing of crippling international sanctions targeting Tehran.
Iran insists its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, while the United States and other countries claim it has been trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Western countries have also raised concerns about Iran's ballistic-missile program, which Tehran says is defensive in nature and not negotiable.
In a show of defiance, Iran put its self-produced Ghadr ballistic missiles, which have a range of up to 2,000 kilometers, on display in a Tehran central street on February 11.
With reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I have been never a fan of Walmart. In the mid-90's I drove a 1974 VW Beetle with a bumper sticker saying "Boycott Walmart". This being the mid-90's, I needed to come up with a username for various online companies. I decided to relate my dislike for the Walton family's companies.
Fast forward two decades and my username on most Internet sites is still the same anti-Walmart name. One of these many sites is gmail. I registered for my gmail account in 2004.
Much to my surprise, in September of 2013 I received an email from Walmart Layaway Notification <noreply@wal-mart.com> informing me of my layaway at a Walmart in Marietta, GA. I received a handful more that holiday season from the same store.
I originally thought that a single employee was using my email address for Walmart customers who refused to give an email address, or simply did not have one. In the fall of 2014, more layaway notifications came in. I was informed of layaways in Lexington, KY, Wyomissing, PA, and Jacksonville, FL.
Clearly this is more than just one employee. I am not sure if Walmart layaways are handled by store employees or are run though a centralized call center.
This blog recounts the various layaway notifications I have received.
Since I am the owner of the email address, I feel I fall under the category of 'individual or entity to whom they are addressed'. If Walmart has a problem with that they know where they can reach me.


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Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6
In the first year of uni, childhood best friends Holly and Georgia find themselves drawn to an elite clique. When Holly begins to suspect darkness lurks beneath the glamour, she will do anything to save her soulmate.
Director: Jess Brittain
Networks: BBC Three
Sick, twisted, politically incorrect and Freakin' Sweet animated series featuring the adventures of the dysfunctional Griffin family. Bumbling Peter and long-suffering Lois have three kids. Stewie (a brilliant but sadistic…
The players of a virtual reality MMORPG, Sword Art Online, are trapped and fighting for their very lives. After it is announced that the only way to leave the game…
Genre: Action & Adventure, Animation, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
The nicest guy in the Midwest moves his family into a tough neighborhood in Los Angeles where not everyone appreciates his extreme neighborliness. That includes their new next-door neighbor Calvin.
An astronaut named Gary and his planet-destroying sidekick Mooncake embark on serialized journeys through space in order to unlock the mystery of "Final Space," the last point in the universe,…
Genre: Animation, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Lone-wolf detective Angie Tribeca and a squad of committed LAPD detectives investigate the most serious cases, from the murder of a ventriloquist to a rash of baker suicides.
Eps173
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998. It lasted nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was…
Reporter Camille Preaker confronts the psychological demons from her past when she returns to her hometown to investigate the murders of two young girls.
Follows the misadventures of four irreverent grade-schoolers in the quiet, dysfunctional town of South Park, Colorado.
The longtime mayor of Marseille is preparing to hand over the reins to his protégé when a sudden and ruthless battle erupts for control of the city.
Set in a dystopian future, a woman is forced to live as a concubine under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship. A TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood's novel.
Madeline Scott, a fierce and uncompromising lawyer with a hunger for justice, runs an underdog criminal defense firm. There is no one who understands the power of setting an innocent…
Marvel's Luke Cage
Given superstrength and durability by a sabotaged experiment, a wrongly accused man escapes prison to become a superhero for hire.


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September 28, 2020 – Nalcor achieves first power despite COVID-19
Nalcor Energy CEO Stan Marshall today provided an update on the Muskrat Falls Project and COVID-19 pandemic impacts to cost and schedule.
"In March, we shut down the Muskrat Falls Project site to keep people safe amidst COVID-19. Despite these challenges, on September 22nd, we successfully and safely reached a major achievement by generating power for the very first time at Muskrat Falls. Thank you to the teamwork of the thousands of people who have contributed to this accomplishment." – Stan Marshall, Nalcor President and CEO
Our first priority is people's safety. Since May, significant emphasis has been placed on returning workers to site while strictly adhering to public health guidelines. The impact of lost time and a reduced workforce have meant impacts to the project cost and schedule.
In May, it was anticipated the impact would be an additional $150-200 million in capital budget. The total COVID-19 cost impacts are roughly $150 million; however, the project budget has been managed in a way that approximately half of the COVID-19 impact is covered under the existing capital budget. Therefore, the project now requires $75 million in additional capital.
Since 2017, the Muskrat Falls Project total capital budget has moved from $10.1 billion to $10.2 billion in September 2020.
As outlined in May, as a result of COVID-19 and some issues with software delays on the Labrador-Island Link, the project is experiencing a delay in final completion. As a result of the delay in completion of the project, there are payments due on the bonds issued to finance the project of approximately $360 million which would now need to be funded.
"We are very pleased with the progress we have made since May. We still have challenges ahead of us and know people are counting on us. But with the hard work of the thousands of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians working on or supporting the project, we will continue to push hard and achieve our milestones, while keeping one another safe."
To view today's presentation click here.


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No. 13 Tigers too much for Furman
Plaquemine Post South
BATON ROUGE - No. 13 LSU amassed the third-most yards in school history on Saturday night in Tiger Stadium, as the Tigers overcame first-half mistakes to discard Furman, 48-16, on Homecoming.
LSU (7-2), which played for the ninth-straight week, takes a bye week before returning to action on Nov. 9 against top-ranked Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
The Tigers scored 28 unanswered points in the second half and finished with 672 yards of total offense on the night, the most since the Tigers gained 680 against Western Carolina in 2000.
Quarterback Zach Mettenberger, whose second pass of the game was intercepted for a touchdown, steadied throughout the game to lead LSU to victory despite his mistakes. He finished 16-of-24 passing for 328 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. had a career-best 204 receiving yards, the most since Josh Reed's 239 in the 2002 Sugar Bowl. Beckham, who muffed a punt that led to a Furman field goal just before halftime, had six catches and scored touchdowns of 37 and 63 yards. Jarvis Landry added five catches for 87 yards, while fullback Melvin Jones' first career catch was a 7-yard touchdown.
Running backs Jeremy Hill and Terrence Magee each went over 100 yards rushing, as Hill totaled 143 on 14 carries while Magee had 108 on seven attempts. Both scored twice.
Defensively, linebacker Kwon Alexander led the way with a career-best 14 tackles, while defensive back Jalen Mills, and linebackers Lamin Barrow and D.J. Welter each added seven tackles.


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What the Hall: It's never easy
It's never easy to vote. Sure, the actual process is easy—just put a check mark next to your guy, hope they count it and that's about it. Easy as that.
However, if your brain is turned on, choosing the right person to vote for is difficult. Forget about politics where a vote determines employment [1], look at something like the baseball Hall of Fame. Simply by voting a person's life work or legacy is defined and categorized. Folks unfamiliar with the sport will immediately attach some value to a Hall-of-Famer even if they have no clue what the person did to earn the honor.
So yeah, voting is tough. In fact, for those members of the Baseball Writers Association of America who are qualified to vote for the Hall of Fame, this year's ballot might be the most difficult in recent memory. But in a strange little twist, the difficulty will come not from voting players in, but deciding which players to keep out.
Oh yes, the so-called Steroid Era is not over yet. Call this part of it the aftershocks following an earthquake.
What happens now that Jeff Bagwell, Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez and Larry Walker are finally eligible? After all, there are four MVP Awards, two Major League Player of the Year awards and a Rookie of the Year divvied up amongst that group. With credentials like that it would appear that a large Hall of Fame class will make the trip to Cooperstown this August. The thing is, there isn't a slam dunk in the bunch.
Looking at the numbers on the stat sheet paints a different picture. Palmeiro, of course, is one of a handful of players to collect 3,000 hits and 500 homers. The other members of that club—Henry Aaron, Willie Mays and Eddie Murray—are enshrined. The difference, though, is that Aaron, Mays and Murray never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs after getting that 3,000th hit, nor did they test positive shortly after wagging their fingers at Congress to scold anyone from thinking he would ever take a performance-enhancer.
Ironically, Palmeiro was the spokesman for Viagra during the latter years of his career.
Gonzalez was the AL MVP in 1996 and 1998 where he slugged his 300th career homer before his 28th birthday and became the first player in 63 years to reach 100 RBIs before the All-Star Break. Gonzalez had all the makings of a once-in-a-lifetime career until he reached his 30s and his body seemed to fall apart. Back injuries led to an end that saw Gonzalez bounce from organization to organization before finishing with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League.
Certainly being named in the Mitchell Report or in Jose Canseco's tell-all steroid book hasn't helped Gonzalez's case much, either.
Bagwell, on the other hand, is the guy no one knows what to do with. More than the gaudy numbers he produced, Bagwell was one of the biggest stars of the 1990s, and though the stats certainly matter, it was something Billy Wagner told me about Bagwell carries much more weight. According to Wagner, Bagwell was the best teammate he ever had. Moreover if respect from his peers counted for votes, then Bagwell is a landslide winner.
We just don't know about the guy. Sure, he never tested positive nor did he ever show up in the Mitchell Report. But Bagwell seems to be guilty by association for having played with admitted steroid users Ken Caminiti and Jason Grimsley during the era where dabbling in such things was seemingly the norm.
Besides, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds never tested positive during their careers, either, and the consensus is that the record-breaking statistics those guys piled up are tainted. The fact that McGwire hit 583 homers yet never got more than 23 percent of the votes in the BBWAA balloting explains what the electorate thinks of his records.
So is Larry Walker a first ballot Hall of Famer and/or the only guy voted in this year? Is Walker good enough to be considered in such a lofty group and did anyone think he would have a plaque in Cooperstown when he'd come to the Vet to play against the Phillies with the Expos?
If those other guys are guilty of falling prey to the silently accepted norms of the game, does Walker get penalized for playing in Colorado and the performance-enhancing altitude?
Probably not. After all, someone has to get in. Given that only Andre Dawson was voted in last year while Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven fell less than five votes short, Walker could be the lone first-ballot inductee alongside a few others.
Then again, last year the MLB Network set up cameras at Alomar's home because they were sure he was getting the call. Some suggested that Alomar fell short because of the unfortunate incident where he spit on umpire John Hirschbeck during a disputed call late in the 1997 season. The theory was that some writers held the mistake against Alomar despite the fact that he and Hirschbeck have buried the hatchet and become friends. This protest vote was made despite the fact that Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Cap Anson, and Juan Marichal are Hall of Famers. Among those names are men who attacked a crippled fan, punched an umpire, beat an opponent on the head with a bat, and helped foster nearly a half-century of institutional racism.
Some say without Cap Anson, baseball never would have been a sport that denied the inclusion of some because of the color of their skin.
But, you know, Alomar spit at a guy...
Nice Hall of Fame you have there, baseball. Apparently spitters, steroid users and gamblers need not apply. But for the violent types and the racists, sure, come on in.
Nevertheless, here's one man's ballot for the 2011 class of the Hall of Fame:
• Larry Walker
• Roberto Alomar
• Bert Blyleven
• Tim Raines
• Jack Morris
• Fred McGriff
• Barry Larkin
• Edgar Martinez
• Lee Smith
[1] More than ever it seems as if the only folks who get into the politics business do so because they can't keep a job doing anything else. Check it out sometime… would you hire most politicians to do a job at your home? Why is it then we give those dregs the keys to everything?
Posted at 08:24 PM in BBWAA, Bert Blyleven, Hall of Fame, Jeff Bagwell, Mark McGwire, Roberto Alomar | Permalink
Cry, baby, cry
In the wake of Mark McGwire's tearful confession to Bob Costas about his steroid use earlier this week, it's worth mentioning that Big Mac's effort didn't quite measure up with some of the all-time tear jerking.
Mike Schmidt announcing his retirement
Schmidty just falls apart here and blubbers to a degree that it's almost decipher what he's trying to say. It was also one of those public cries that makes a guy feel a little funny, but not because it wrestles up some emotions within--it's almost cringe worthy.
But maybe that's relatable to the Flock of Seagulls 'do than simply the big, juicy tears.
Oh, but we kid because we like to. As such, if a guy is going to cry in public one time Schmidty's is pretty good. Needless to say, it's much better than this one...
Terrell Owens crying about his quarterback
As far as put on/phony crying acts go, Terrell Owens' effort wasn't even good enough for the worst soap opera. Funny? Absolutely. But a quality effort... dreadful.
Dick Vermeil crying... well, just because
Strangely, for a guy who cried so much there aren't many videos out there of Vermeil in action. Perhaps we should give him credit for being an old-school crier and getting it done before the proliferation of digital media.
Nevertheless, Vermeil was such an epic crier that people wrote essays about it. The best is from the great Jeff Johnson and his old NFL writing for Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern:
The first time I saw Dick Vermeil cry, I thought: What a jagoff. What is an adult man doing crying about football?
The second time I saw Dick Vermeil cry, I thought: Okay, Vermeil. Calm down. And also, what a jagoff.
The third time I saw Dick Vermeil cry, I thought: The problem is with you, Johnson. You're the one who has to loosen up. Vermeil is in touch with his feelings. Vermeil has a ring, you don't. Let Vermeil cry.
The eighth time I saw Dick Vermeil cry, I thought: Okay, Vermeil. Get on some meds, amigo. Take a deep breath. Let it go.
The fourteenth time I saw Dick Vermeil cry, I thought: This is getting weird.
The thirty-ninth time I saw Dick Vermeil cry: I had just gotten done polishing off a bottle of Drambuie with him. We were at a golf tournament outside Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He told me he wasn't sure if he'd ever eaten a better salad than the one we'd had at dinner. "Those farmers," he wailed, "who are they? The romaine was exquisite. What are you looking at? If you can't—if a grown man can't enjoy a leaf of lettuce—"
The eighty-first time I saw Dick Vermeil cry: It was back on TV. The folks at UW-River Falls, where the Chiefs spend preseason, hadn't followed through on a team-catering request for Rice Krispies. Vermeil was melting down. "Just how tough is it? I'm sorry. I gotta go public with this," the waterworks were on. "My men love their cereal. And now, I don't know what kinda season we're gonna have."
The three hundred and fifteenth time I saw Dick Vermeil cry: It was because of a traffic light that he thought was on the verge of burning itself out. I was on a three-speed in Locust Valley, MO, and I saw him pointing and howling from the driver's seat of his Lincoln. "Some family's gonna get killed!" Several cars honked behind him, but he wasn't budging.
The nine hundred forty-first time I saw Dick Vermeil cry: I was on a cruise ship. Vermeil was at a press conference. One of his kick-returners kept an adult video late and there was a fine. Vermeil, to that day, was unaware of a phenomenon known as porn. It did not make him happy.
The 33,872nd time I saw Dick Vermeil cry: I didn't. It was just an editorial that he wrote for USA Today about the dangers of using magic markers to write kids' names on athletic tape to identify them on football helmets. I assumed he cried the whole time he wrote it. He thought the markers were a bit toxic, that an addiction could develop.
The 198,440th time I saw Dick Vermeil cry: It was an Arby's. A packet of Horsey sauce dared him to open it. He could not.
The 708,814th time I saw Dick Vermeil cry: He said six words and broke down, "Oh, the majesty of a sauna."
The 1,933,336th time I saw Dick Vermeil cry: I only sensed it. God had begun wiping out whole cities with His own vomit. Vermeil's crying caused it. I was in Murfreesboro, TN. We were covered in slime. God had registered his disgust. Vermeil was somewhere, bawling with joy about microwave technology. He stopped abruptly and ate a corn muffin before it cooled.
The 174,999,044th time I saw Dick Vermeil cry: He was dead. Vermeil was a damn ghost and he still would not quit crying. He'd met up with Tony Franklin, the old Eagles place-kicker. "How could you have possibly gone through life so darn short, Tony? It just is not fair."
The 12,000,000,000th time I saw Vermeil cry: I got a lousy T-shirt.
The 38,555,400,093rd time I saw Dick Vermeil cry: It wasn't so much Vermeil as the whole world. A book had been written about Vermeil's penchant for tears. It was called The Vermeil Approach. A religion was involved. Millions of people wept. Of course, looking down and seeing this, Vermeil wept.
Why is it that I find the crying of sports figures so funny? That's simple – because it's easy to laugh at things that don't matter. No, I don't doubt the sincerity of the sadness in dealing with a retirement, a victory, or a 2-2 circle change up that lands just so perfectly in the strike zone. It's just that people without real problems have lousy perspective. At some point we all had to quit playing sports, but did you cry after the last game of the 10th grade JV basketball season? As far as we can tell Mike Schmidt did not cry when announcing his retirement all those years ago because he was sick or injured and forced out of the game. Nor was anyone in his immediate family facing some sort of hardship that required his immediate attention. In fact, there was no real sadness involved at all. All Mike Schmidt cried about was that he was lucky enough to have a great baseball career.
If that's not funny I don't know what is.
Oh, and for the record, the medication won't allow me to make tears. Therefore I cannot cry. So there.
Posted at 04:46 PM in Dick Vermeil, Jeff Johnson, Mark McGwire, Terrell Owens | Permalink | Comments (0)
What are words for (again with the Missing Persons)?
I didn't learn anything today. Not one scrap of information or insight into a topic. Nada. Generally, I approach the day with the hope that some morsel of knowledge will lodge itself into the locus of my mind, but sometimes that's just hit or miss.
Obviously, today was a miss.
Chalk it up to the company I kept. For instance, I planned my morning around the fact that I wanted to tune into the day-after press conference starring Andy Reid hoping to face a veritable barrage of clichés, doublespeak and non-answer answers. You know, the same reason everyone tunes into those press conferences.
However, this afternoon when Reid faced the music after the ugly, 34-14 defeat in the first round of the playoffs to the Dallas Cowboys, the session was even more flummoxing than usual. In fact, I counted just two instances where Reid claimed that he needed to "do a better job," and three variations of the phrase "myself" when owning up to the responsibility of Saturday night's debacle before I quit counting. Those are rather paltry numbers for a man who loves a cliché as much as he loves oxygen, black clothing and pedestrian offensive schemes.
What happened was there was a departure from his regular tact of cliché use and taking the long way around to answer a direct question. Instead, on Monday after noon Reid simply decided he wasn't going to say anything at all. Nothing revealing, interesting or even the least bit contemplative.
He just said nothing.
Oh there were actual words dropping from Reid's mouth, but if one gathered them all up from the stew they formed there at the podium and rearranged them, there might have been a whole paragraph. It might have been coherent, too.
No one expected Reid to say much when asked about the future of his quarterback and running back and why his team looked so ill-prepared for a playoff game. But even for a man of Reid's ability to say nothing, Monday's performance was particularly exquisite. Every once in a while he taunted the reporters with something that seemed like it was going somewhere, like when he said he had, "three stinking good quarterbacks that could play in this league. … I don't want to give up any of them. I like them all. The more you have, the better you are." But then he wouldn't say which stinking guy he liked best.
That stinks.
If that wasn't enough, Mark McGwire came on the TV with Bob Costas for his first interview since, well… since he was knocking satellites out of the sky with mammoth home runs on an episode of The Simpsons. But where Reid said nothing, McGwire said a lot. He even got a little weepy when telling Costas about all the people he disappointed either by doing steroids during his playing career, or copping to it on Monday. I'm not sure which.
Where McGwire got off track wasn't by speaking in circles, because by all intents McGwire appeared to be speaking earnestly. No, McGwire's problem was that he was just wrong. He was wrong about why he did steroids, why he continued doing them, what they actually did to help him knock satellites to the earth with home runs that went to outer space, and why he was admitting it now.
Either McGwire didn't understand what he was talking about or he thinks people are stupid… and that's just mean. But hey, thanks for crying.
"I did this for health purposes. There's no way I did this for any type of strength purposes," he said, noting that he was ready to retire when injuries limited him to just 74 total games in 1993 and 1994.
Yet when he was healthy, he kept on taking it and even dabbled with HGH, "once or twice."
No, he could not pinpoint the number of times he injected a needle full of human growth hormone into the folds of his stomach.
Still, the part that makes one arch the eyebrows, scratch the head and/or chuck a shoe at the television set was when McGwire claimed that steroids did not help him when he played. They helped his health, sure, but not his performance.
So why was he crying again?
"I truly believe I was given the gifts from the man upstairs of being a home run hitter, ever since … birth," McGwire said. "My first hit as a Little Leaguer was a home run. I mean, they still talk about the home runs I hit in high school, in Legion ball. I led the nation in home runs in college, and then all the way up to my rookie year, 49 home runs.
The strangest part, of course, was when McGwire kept saying that he wished that he never played in the so-called "steroid era" of baseball.
"I wish I had never touched steroids," he said. "It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era."
Oh, so that's it… it was the era. And here we were thinking a guy just made a bad choice and he was on national cable television confessing to Bob Costas. But now that we know it was just the era we can keep our eyes open. For instance, if it was Dec. 31, 1889 people knew that the "Gay Nineties" were about to begin and they could act accordingly. One hundred years later, Mark McGwire realized that the "Steroid Era" was in bloom and got to work.
You should have seen how greedy he was in the 1980s and how he could strut like John Travolta in the '70s.
So that leads us to the main point—is it better to be terse and unrevealing like Reid or a veritable chatter box and wrong like McGwire. Easy call if you ask me.
Posted at 10:55 PM in Andy Reid, Bob Costas, Mark McGwire, steroids | Permalink | Comments (1)
Shockingly, Big Mac comes clean
When I sat down in front of my computer and saw various updates from general acquaintances on their Facebook pages, I didn't quite know how to react. First of all, the news was so head-spinning and mind-blowing that my first reaction was to drop to one knee in attempt to catch my breath.
When I finally pulled myself off the ground a good three hours after hitting the floor, I grabbed my head and squeezed my temples as if I were shopping for the perfectly ripe melon. Like most people, I like to get my hands on the melon and give it a thorough once over because it's not just the eating of the fruit I'm concerned with—it is the artistry of nature.
Still, my head was not as ripe as a luscious cantaloupe for the news. Why did I have to hear it on Facebook from Trenni Kusnierek instead of a breathless—yet dashingly composed—Brian Williams with a break-in of the regularly scheduled daytime programming?
If that wasn't bad enough, Trenni continued her taunts from Twitter.
Why? Why now? No one was sworn in, or being extorted. There was no good reason to break that oh-so sacrosanct code of the clubhouse, which is nearly exactly like the oath the guys in the major motion picture, The Hangover, only on… ahem… steroids.
An admission? What in the name of Pete Rose was going on here?
"I wish I had never touched steroids," Mark McGwire revealed in a press release sent out on Monday afternoon. "It was foolish and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the steroid era."
McGwire didn't stop there, either. Oh no, a baseball player admitting to something as mundane as using performance-enhancing substances is like a politician admitting he did something that might be construed as unethical. It just happens from time to time when a ballplayer is hanging around the clubhouse with his teammates and they are all flexing and snapping towels at one another. Ballplayers have an innate competiveness that a guy pushing pencils in a cubicle can't fathom.
First it's a flex here, a towel snap there, followed by a round of batting practice where the guys point and giggle at your warning-track power. Then, the next thing you know you're in a bathroom stall with Jose Canseco with some needles and a dose of winstrol.
That's how it always starts.
But McGwire didn't stop with the admission because that wouldn't be shocking at all despite his riveting testimony in 2006 before the Congressional House Government Reform Committee. That's where he shakily claimed that he was not there "to talk about the past." Instead, McGwire outlined the past and gave dates and reasons for his drug use.
"I never knew when, but I always knew this day would come," McGwire wrote. "It's time for me to talk about the past and to confirm what people have suspected. I used steroids during my playing career and I apologize. I remember trying steroids very briefly in the 1989/1990 off season and then after I was injured in 1993, I used steroids again. I used them on occasion throughout the '90s, including during the 1998 season."
The 1998 season, of course, was when McGwire and Sammy Sosa had that homerific lovefest as they assaulted all the standing single-season home run records as well as the good will of the believing American public. They duped everyone, especially the baseball writers who just didn't whiff at the biggest story in their sport for forever, but didn't even take the bat off their shoulders. Even when there was a dosage of andro wantonly strewn about his locker with the spent wrist bands, soiled batting gloves and muddy spikes, the scribes (and baseball people) attacked the one writer who wiggled away from the fairy tale to look behind the curtain.
So think how confused the old ballwriters are after Monday's admission. First they go from organizing the national group hug with the brawny slugger to slapping him with metaphors not even a decade later after the showing before Congress. If your brain hurts, what about those poor, misguided writers?
Or better yet, what about Tony La Russa? Not only was La Russa the manager of McGwire's teams in Oakland and St. Louis and is set to be his boss as the ex-slugger begins a new gig as the Cardinals' hitting coach, but also the manager has been the big guy's staunchest defender. La Russa was so far in McGwire's corner that even when shown evidence to the contrary, the manager refused to believe that his guy would do anything like steroids.
In other words, unless La Russa was in the bathroom stall with Jose and Mark to see that plunger filled with those sweet, muscle-building chemicals injected into the hind parts in question, then it did not happen.
"I have long felt, and still do, there are certain players who need to publicize the legal way to get strong," La Russa told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in March of 2006. "That's my biggest complaint. When those players have been asked, they've been very defensive or they've come out and said 'Whatever.' Somebody should explain that you can get big and strong in a legal way. If you're willing to work hard and be smart about what you ingest, it can be done in a legal way."
Nothing has dissuaded La Russa from believing McGwire was clean.
"That's the basis of why I felt so strongly about Mark. I saw him do that for years and years and years. That's why I believe it. I don't have anything else to add. Nothing has happened since he made that statement to change my mind."
What a plot twist! What must La Russa be thinking now? If you see a dark-haired older gentleman on the deck squeezing his head as if shopping for a cantaloupe, you know why.
Posted at 12:57 PM in Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Pete Rose, Tony La Russa | Permalink | Comments (0)
Day 2: McGwire is going to have to talk about the past
INDIANAPOLIS—Tony LaRussa was in the media room on Tuesday afternoon for his shift in front of the media and for the most part things went rather smoothly. LaRussa has a pretty keen baseball mind whether or not his methodology jibes with you.
Give credit where it's due, the folks like to say.
But there was one topic that the Cardinals' manager had to discuss for longer than he probably cared to during Tuesday's session in the media room. Needless to say, LaRussa likely knew it was going to be a hot topic when he decided to give the hitting coach gig to Mark McGwire.
And clearly LaRussa knows there is many more coming.
For those who merely halfway followed baseball during the past few years, ex-slugger Mark McGwire went from national hero during the Summer of '98 to pariah following his embarrassing testimony in front of the congressional House Government Reform Committee. Since then when McGwire repeatedly stated that he was not there "to talk about the past," he has not given a single interview and has largely stayed out of the public eye.
There's good reason, too. Though he has admitted to using androstenedione during his playing career, a steroid that was once sold over the counter in the U.S., McGwire has also been tied to more explicit steroid use during his playing days. Not only has Jose Canseco chronicled his steroid use with McGwire, but also the ex-Cardinals' star was named in the infamous Mitchell Report.
However, hitting coaches in the Major Leagues talk to the press. In fact, it's nearly unavoidable for them not to have many interactions with the media during a typical day at the ballpark. In a story that came out yesterday, newly-elected Hall-of-Fame manager, Whitey Herzog stated that he believes McGwire may quit his job because dealing with the press and the questions might not be worth it.
"He's going to be asked questions about steroids, he's going to be asked so many things, and he's got to be open and he's got to answer," Herzog said. "And Tony can't get mad about it. He's got to put up with it."
Yes, Tony knows this. Moreover, he says he would not have put McGwire in the position of being a distraction if the old slugger wasn't up for the job.
"I know how seriously I've personally considered it before I presented it to our owner and general manager and our coaching staff, and I know the seriousness of my conversation with Mark, and I know how seriously he thought about it before he accepted," La Russa said. "I think it's going to work, and I think he has demonstrated to some of us that he has a lot to offer as a hitting coach."
McGwire worked privately with several Major League hitters privately from his home base in Southern California, but has no other coaching experience. Meanwhile, LaRussa said that McGwire will address the media regarding his new job and whatever other questions the press may have for him sometime in the near future.
So far that hasn't happened because LaRussa says no one wanted to steal the spotlight from the World Series, awards season or winter meetings.
"I talk to him a lot," La Russa said. "I talk to him about hitting. He's already had conversations with some of our guys. He's worked with guys over the winter in the past. He's studying tape. I mean, I'm the beneficiary of those conversations. I know what he has to offer and how excited he is about it."
He might not be as excited to talk about the past, though.
Posted at 07:42 PM in Mark McGwire, Tony LaRussa, Winter Meetings | Permalink | Comments (0)
Rat Tales
Every one loves a rat. Actually, let's rephrase that - everyone loves a rat that isn't ratting out them. In that case, nobody likes a rat. Ever.
But when it comes to the tawdry dirty laundry of public figures and so-called whistle blowers, yes, count us in. Better yet, the rat is a glorious slice of Americana. Our history is littered with 'em from Benedict Arnold, to Deep Throat, to Jose Canseco, Scooter Libby, to Jack Nicholson and Matt Damon in The Departed. Those shifty little buggers mystify and intrigue us.
Actually, let's clarify that, too.
You see, while the reporting of the filthiness from the so-called rat is a guilty pleasure[1], it's not something that we are willing to admit we give much thought. We're above such lowest-common denominator fodder that it's actually an insult to our intelligence.
At least that's what I was thinking while I read excerpts from Jay McGwire's "book" proposal on Deadspin. And yes I appreciate the irony of reading the notes of a tawdry tell-all on Deadspin.
Nevertheless, Jay McGwire is the estranged younger brother of disgraced slugger Mark McGwire, the guy who was the star of the baseball love-in during the summer of 1998 when he broke Roger Maris' single-season home run record. That was the year when, as little bro Jay wrote, Big Mark decided to go off deca-durabolin (allegedly the drug of choice for Roger Clemens and old-school weightlifters) and switch to androstenedione so he could get that needed testosterone boost without the pesky drawback of back zits and shrinkage.
Jay McGwire, in the leaked proposal, also downplayed Canseco's role in introducing McGwire to steroid, recommended low dosages in order to curb injuries, and mulled his place in baseball history.
"Who knows what might have happened if I didn't get Mark involved with all the training, supplements, the right foods, steroids, and HGH? He would not have broken any records, and the congressional hearings would have gone on without him. Maybe Barry Bonds wouldn't have ever gotten involved with the stuff, either."
Wait, Barry Bonds did illegal steroids, too? Man, this book proposal is just full of bombshells...
Oh yeah, Jay McGwire wrote that he felt bad watching his big brother's infamous testimony before Congress in 2005. That's nice.
Now here's the news flash... Jay McGwire doesn't have too many bites for his "book" proposal. It's a proposal that seemingly was leaked to a sports web site best known for its unrepentant stance of not having access to the teams or players and its willingness to dive into the stories the so-called reputable bastions of journalism would never touch. Plus, it isn't exactly a huge secret that big brother Mark might have had a few syringes plunged into his ass.
With the exception of Tony LaRussa, most of us get that by now. Certainly that 2005 Congressional testimony didn't help to sway people either.
So maybe the reason why Jay McGwire hasn't found too much interest in publishing his "book," is because we've already seen this car crash, did our rubbernecking, and drove past. We got it when McGwire quietly retired from baseball in 2001 and never came back. And we got it when he testified that he wasn't going to "talk about the past."
Maybe Jay McGwire should have studied his brother's moves and copied them, especially the part about not being a rat. Not that we don't enjoy a good rat every once in a while.
Besides, the younger McGwire already gave away the best parts.
What's that I smell...
While we're on the topic of rats, doesn't it seem as if baseball has had more cheese-eaters than the other sports? It must be all that waiting and standing around that gives people a chance to mull over every little thing going on in other people's lives.
Regardless, it seems as if the so-called "Rat Era" started with Jim Bouton's wonderful book, Ball Four. Not only was Bouton's book the first real sports tell-all, it created the template for nearly all the jock lit that followed.
In that regard we owe the cheers and the criticism to Bouton.
Other great all-timers include Sparky Lyle for The Bronx Zoo, which was tell-all about the late '70s New York Yankees filled with tales about Reggie Jackson, Billy Martin and the art of nude cake sitting.
Who can forget the great rat of the Phillies, Billy Wagner? Actually, Wagner never really was a rat, he just got that name from Pat Burrell because he dared to talk to members of the local baseball press after games.
Yeah, Wagner actually talked to those people.
The greatest clubhouse rat ever? Who could ever top Chico Esquela, the famous New York Met?
In his book Chico reported in Bad Things 'Bout The Mets that Tom Seaver took up two spaces in the team parking lot, and Ed Kranepool swiped his soap and never gave it back.
But in the end Chico had a message that everyone could agree with...
"Baseball been berry, berry good to me."
[1] Yes, it's a guilty pleasure because otherwise I would be in the lab solving all of the world's problems.
Posted at 12:00 AM in Chico Esquela, drugs, Jay McGwire, Mark McGwire | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)


Q. We need to alphabetize a list of donors but it's difficult to find a consistent format. Who to list first in a couple with the same last name? Jane and John Smith, if the wife is the principal donor, and John and Jane Smith if the husband is? We have the same confusion regarding couples with different last names. John Smith and Jane Doe, when he is the main donor, and Jane Doe and John Smith, when she is? And what's the rule for alphabetizing such couples? Do you alphabetize by the first name listed or the second? Does inconsistency matter?
A. Most of your questions are more matters of etiquette than of style or grammar. Your organization could make a little style sheet with answers to all these questions—including whether consistency should yield to etiquette in your donor lists. Here's an answer to your one style question, to get you started: yes, alphabetize by the last name of the first person in each pair.


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Home Economy The Bot Future Is Inevitable And Here's How Nigerian Banks Can Leverage On It In dealing With The Future
EconomyEnterprise
The Bot Future Is Inevitable And Here's How Nigerian Banks Can Leverage On It In dealing With The Future
Banking has come a long way and if you live in Nigeria or any other African nation for that matter, it would seem like yesterday when we used to fill out tellers and have to join long queues to either make a deposit, withdrawal or even transfer to another account.
But in the early 2000s, Nigeria deregulated its telecom sector which saw more people coming online (voice or data) than ever before and as a result, we saw the birth of a whole new set of startups in the different sectors. One sector where there has been significant progress is in the Banking sector.
You can now do just about anything you would have had to do in the bank online including complex tasks.
To further make the banking experience better for users in Nigeria, we have seen banks launch services like;
Social banking which allows people use their Facebook account for example to carry out transactions and even open an account
Single Code for all which is a service where you use a single code provided by your bank to do just about anything without logging into your account. For example on the Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) platform, the *737* does just about anything for you including recharging your telecom line.
But as these services have made the experience better, the world is changing and many more people are coming to patronise banks and more are expected to use these services in the future. For example, it is estimated that nearly 70 percent of Nigerians still don't have bank accounts which has prompted a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) campaign to get more people to open accounts going into 2020.
So let's assume that campaign succeeds and say that number is cut in half over the next five years. Now that would mean 30 million or more accounts and the big question will then be, how would banks cope with respect to customer services? As is stands today, you can barely get a customer agent to respond t your request as quickly as possible and this means the banks may have to come up with really intelligent (artificial intelligence) ways to overcome this challenge.
In a recent BBC report on virtual banking in the UK, Customers at Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest may soon be sorting out issues with help from a virtual chatbot. Yesterday we did a report on how the US President Barack Obama is effectively using chatbots to interact with not just Americans but from people from around the world. Since announcing the service back in August, they have received about 1.5 million messages from people all around the world.
Using IBM Watson technology, banks in the UK are using a web based bot called Luvo to interact with their customers and this is a huge shift from not to dynamic interactive voice response (IVR) systems which basically output just what they have been told to do. In the case of virtual agent Luvo, it is able to intelligently learn from human interactions and respond to you dynamically over time. It's able store a pattern in a database and use it for future interactions with you and that's what it's all about.
Besides long term costs, one advantage of the virtual assistant is that it Virtual agents never deviate from regulations and provide a full audit trail of every interaction and this according to Chetan Dube, IPsoft's chief executive who also told the BBC that virtual staff represented a "fundamental shift in the way that banks manage their operations. IPsoft is also a company that specialises in artificial intelligence in banking.
While there may be legitimate fear in some quarters about jobs, like Gina Rometty who is the CEO of IBM said in a CNN interview, machines are not meant to eliminate our jobs but to help us make better judgments and in other cases complement our efforts. Frankly speaking, how many human agents can actually satisfactorily solve customer problems efficiently? It's no longer a questions of if but when because banks will eventually have to adopt this just as they did in the early 2000s if they must stay competitive in dealing with growth.
Bots can solve real problems and that's a fact.
With respect to inevitable automation coming to nearly all sectors of our economy, we can only retool and retain citizens to work with machines or help them settle in other growing sectors.
Read my articles on automation and the bot economy which may shed more light on just what to expect in future. .
Tags : banking, banks, big data, chatbots, economy, ibm, ibm watson, nigeria, social media
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Call Me Crazy, But… – Sevyn Streeter
Genre: R&B/Soul
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Currently, buying a private plane is no longer viewed as a luxury purchase anymore. For most business people and business people, it is regarded as a necessary investment. However before you buy an airplane, you will need to have it thoroughly inspected by an expert or a specialist to make sure you are purchasing a feasible product. The person you hire to do the evaluation should be qualified and well experienced in handling aircraft repair and maintenance. This is necessary because they are knowledgeable in identifying the mechanical and operational problems an aircraft may have. You can only understand the exact thing you are buying after an evaluation has been done using artificial intelligence technology. You can arrange a reasonable price after getting the evaluation report. Most people will have an aircraft evaluated by an expert even though they may not know the advantages that come with it. You can learn more about the benefits of aircraft inspection by reading more here now.
By having an aircraft evaluation, you can negotiate the price to suit both you and the seller. By doing an aircraft inspection, you can identify any defects on the plane. They can check the avionics such as fans, satellite phones, and internet connection devices to assess their working status. You can negotiate for a lower price if they are deemed inefficient or faulty. An evaluation expert will help you identify the components that are valuable and practical to invest in. Old equipment like VHF radio systems are useless based on the current aviation regulations and will be removed anyway, so it is not worth spending money on. By finding such systems, you will be able to lower the price conveniently. Having a detailed assessment before buy will help you save money by avoiding upgrades and repairs.
An aircraft evaluation will enable you to determine the safety levels of an aircraft. Safety is a significant player in the aviation industry, and it is crucial that you get a safe aircraft that does not put you and other occupants at risk. The best way to determine the safety is by having an expert inspect it before purchase. They will check the efficiency of the communication gadgets to ensure that there is no loss of communication during a flight through the use of robotics. The mechanical parts like the engine, the propeller system and the landing and take off gears are also checked. Through a mechanical evaluation, you can learn about damages like dents or ruptures in the body which may be small but could be harmful. Repairing the minor defects could have a significant safety boost.
If you want your staff to learn something new, then you should know that there are different courses that they can take. On the job training, induction training, and off the job training are some of the things that are involved in a business training. With that said, you should know that there are also business training programs that specialize in certain fields. In any event, you'll want to make sure that the business training for the employees will ensure their improvement when it comes to making organization operations more efficient. You can also read more here to know more about the importance of organizational efficiency.
Having trained employees in your own company is something that's always crucial. Even if you have a small business, it's important to keep in mind that it won't be successful if you don't have reliable and trained employees at your disposal. Remembering these reasons is crucial when the time comes that you need to find a business training program for them. With that, it's important to ensure that your decision to hire a business training provider will be a fruitful one for the future of your company and the effectiveness of your employees. If the business training provider has their own website, be sure to check it out! If you're looking for more options, view here!
Keep in mind that choosing to have business training for your company means that you'll have to fund it in the first place. You can also read more now about the things that you need to know about business training funding. In any case, you'll want to find out if you'll be able to get the business training funding that you need by contacting a business link advisor. You can also see more here if you're trying to find this link advisor. If you have a history of getting the business training funding that you need in the past, then there's a good chance that you can still get one for your current company.
Yes, it is true that there are now lots of retailers that are using pos systems but the thing is that, if they do not use it properly, they may find themselves in an awkward situation with their software. Nowadays, the use of technology is very important for a business whose goal is to improve their profit and efficiency as this is something that they can do without having to worry about anything. Simply read more here.
You should know by now that there are quite a number of things that you have to consider when looking for a good point of sale system and one of these factors is its easiness of usage. The existence of machines brought tremendous benefits and advantages to all of us and one of these benefits and advantages is allowing us to work easily and quickly. In the event that the point of sale system that you have is easy to use, other than being equipped with sophisticated and basic features as well as options, your staff will be able to make use of it with very little supervision. It has been said that having an intelligent system means that you will be able to get real-time and fast information regarding the available stocks that come from a single branch or warehouse to another. Check out this product.
It is not easy to have a pet grooming shop because somehow, it is important that you have a record of your pet patients and their owners, and the services that you have rendered to them. Writing down everything manually would be a very taxing job especially if you have plenty of customers that come into your grooming shop. And if you will need to look for files later on in the future, it will be more difficult to do unless you are a truly organized person. And this is where a pet grooming software can help you a lot. If you get pet grooming software, then you will be able to receive a number of great benefits. Here, you will be learning about a few of these benefits. So here now are the greatest benefits to using a pet grooming software for your pet grooming business.
There will be great convenience on your part using a pet grooming software. The task will become easier because you will no longer enter data manually. You will definitely experience much convenience since you don't have to enter data manually but into your computer, easily. This is one benefit of using pet grooming software for your business.
Retrieving well stored information is very important and possible with a pet grooming software. It is easier to find old records in a pet grooming software than in records written in paper. Any information stored many years back can still be retrieved easily using a pet grooming software. You can be sure that pet grooming software will keep all the information you store in it forever, thus allowing you to keep all information from your customers. So this is benefit number two.
Pet grooming services are very easy to use. It is not complicated to learn how to use a pet grooming software because there are user-friendly tools. If you use a pet grooming software, you can easily learn it. Because this software is user-friendly, you will have no difficult time learning it and soon you will be master of its functions. So in no time, you can use your pet grooming software within a few minutes of learning it. Getting around the pet grooming software is easy. Easy of use is another benefit of using pet grooming software.


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5 Things People With Anxiety Want Their Friends, Family And S/O To Know
Just listen.
Living with anxiety is not an easy task. As someone who has struggled with anxiety myself, I know first hand how hard this mental illness can be when it comes to friendships, relationships with family members, and even romantic relationships.
There are so many different kinds of anxiety that it's hard to speak about it so generally. There's social anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorders, and many more that affect a lot of people that are close to you in your life, probably more than you might think.
People suffering from anxiety disorders all have one thing in common, the inability to put what we're feeling into words. This can be hard for the people closest to us, who love us and want nothing more than to understand how we're feeling, but we just can't explain it to them.
It comes from a fear of being misunderstood and judged that makes our feelings so difficult to vocalize. But in the next few pages you can begin to understand how we're feeling on the inside, how we're feeling on the outside, what happens when we make plans with you, how we feel during panic attacks, and what we're going through in public places.
If you live with anxiety or someone close to you does, I hope this article can give you some reassurance that you're not alone and give you a deeper understanding into the mind of someone living with an anxiety disorder.
For How We Feel On The Inside, Click "NEXT"
Even when things are going well, we're still waiting for something to go horribly wrong.
When we're being really quiet we're not bored, tired or sad, there's just so much going on in our minds that we can't keep up with everything that's going on around us at the same time.
Sometimes when we're feeling really anxious we don't even know why it's happening. Don't take it personally when we can't explain how we're feeling to you, we don't even understand ourselves.
Having generalized anxiety feels like you're drowning all the time. Doing everyday mundane things in life just makes this feeling worse. If we have a hard time making plans or following through just understand that we're just feeling overwhelmed.
Our anxiety doesn't always have a 'look'. We don't have to be crying and trembling to feel anxious.
We are constantly analyzing things. Turning off our brains is literally impossible and this can be really exhausting.
It may seem irrational to you but just know that what we're feeling is real to us.
Anxiety can sometimes come out of nowhere. We can be fine one minute and then all of a sudden it hits us like a ton of bricks.
For How We Feel On The Outside, Click "NEXT"
High levels of anxiety can cause tons of stomach problems. This can include cramps, abdominal pain and even nausea. There's no real way to fix these issues when they hit us.
At night anxiety can get really bad. It can cause serious heart palpitations which can keep us awake all night long.
Anxiety and panic attacks can cause a lot of muscle stiffness. This stiffness can appear in your lower back, neck or shoulders.
Anxiety attacks can cause a lump in your throat where you feel like you can't swallow or breathe properly.
Sometimes anxiety can cause us to grit our teeth subconsciously. We don't even realize we're doing it until our jaw starts to ache.
Anxiety can cause your body temperature to raise significantly. This can cause over heating and feeling sweaty.
Anxiety can cause terrifying and very vivid nightmares that wake you up from sleeping.
Massive migraines and headaches can come on suddenly. They can sometimes last for hours or even days and it makes it hard to focus on anything else.
For Making Plans With You, Click "NEXT"
When we cancel plans with you it's not because we don't want to see you, it's because we're feeling overwhelmed and just can't leave the house.
When we isolate ourselves, we don't need you to fix us. We just need to know that you're there and that you care about us. That's why reaching out to us is so important.
Anxiety might stop us from doing certain things that we desperately want to do like going out for dinner with you, hanging out in crowded bars or even just talking on the phone. But please don't shut us out because of this. It makes our day to be asked to join your plans even if we know we can't.
If we're not comfortable doing something, it doesn't help if you try to convince us. Understand that we have our limits because of anxiety and you pushing us just makes us feel guilty of this.
When we say we can't meet up or have to cancel plans, know that no one is more disappointed than us.
Our comfort place is our home. When we're feeling really anxious we only really feel comfortable at home so don't take it personally when we don't want to go out.
Some people with anxiety have no problem going out and spending time with our friends. But we want our friends to know that it's sometimes hard for us to loosen up fully. Know that we're having a good time and that we want to be there even though we don't show it the same way you do.
When we go out don't take offence if we're being quiet or not as talkative as usual. Our mind is hyper aware of everything we say and we're afraid of saying the wrong thing.
For Having Panic Attacks, Click "NEXT"
It's not usually one thing that causes a panic attack. It's a bunch of things and thoughts that end up snowballing and we can't stop it.
We don't always need you to help us talk through it. Sometimes just someone sitting beside us, holding our hands will do wonders.
Telling us to calm down or that we're overreacting isn't going to help. We know the way we're thinking is irrational right now, we just need you to understand that we're doing our best to get through it.
Panic attacks are extremely tiring and drains all of our energy. It takes everything we have to get through it so after we do we have nothing left.
The best thing to do when your friend/family member/S.O is having a panic attack is to tell them that you're there for them. Telling them to breathe, relax and to just stop thinking about it isn't going to help.
A common and scary symptom of panic attacks is the feeling that nothing around you is familiar, even if you're sitting in your own bedroom. It feels like you don't belong there and it can be really terrifying.
When we're alone having a panic attack our first thought is to text everyone close to us, but we never do it. We think we'll only bother you, you deserve so much better than us and that you have better things to do than to help us all the time.
During a panic attack our bodies react in weird ways. We can feel like we're going to pass out, throw up or that we can't control our own limbs. It can be really scary in these moments.
For Being Out In Public, Click "NEXT"
When out at a restaurant we're probably rehearsing our order a bunch of time to make sure we have it just right for when the waiter comes over.
There's a constant fear that strangers are looking at us and judging us. Whether it's the way we're walking, talking or just how we look in general.
When we're out we're constantly thinking about what we're saying. We're afraid to share our opinions because it's better to stay quiet and be agreeable than to have someone disagree with us.
We're going to replay the entire conversation we had in our heads later that night and analyze every single thing we said. We'll realize that we said all the wrong things and beat ourselves up over it.
A lot of people with anxiety have mastered the art of wearing a mask out in public. They know how to act like they're having a good time when just under the surface is the panic and anxiety of being around others.
Even if someone seems really outgoing and talkative, they're most likely trying to cover up how uncomfortable they feel in a social situation.
When in public we have to hide how anxious we're feeling so it usually comes out in small things like fidgeting with our clothes, picking our fingers, running our hands through our hair and not making eye contact.
We're hyper aware of everything you're saying, the tone of your voice and your body language when you talk to us. We want to make sure we're not putting you off by what we're saying and that you're not hating the conversation.


J. Leonard Goldner Award 2006 of the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society AOFAS; "Total Ankle Replacement in Ankle Osteoarthritis: An Analysis of Muscle Rehabilitation" 14.07.2006, La Jolla/San Diego, USA.
Histomorphometric, CT Arthrographic, and Biomechanical Mapping of the Human Ankle. Buettner O, Leumann A, Lehner R, Dell-Kuster S, Rosenthal R, Mueller-Gerbl M, Valderrabano V. Foot Ankle Int. 2013.
The midfoot load shows impaired function after ankle arthrodesis. Frigg A, Schäfer J, Dougall H, Rosenthal R, Valderrabano V. Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon). 2012.
Valderrabano V, Perren Th, Ryf C, Rillmann P, Hintermann B. Snowboarder's Talus Fracture – Treatment Outcome of 20 Cases after 3.5 Years. Am J Sports Med. Jun;33(6):871-80, 2005.


Community members come together to examine Detroit's financial challenges. Photo by Ellen Jacob.
– Kirk Cheyfitz I am a believer in niche publishing and its power to create communities and inspire change. Niche communities built around ideology, ethnicity and gender can feed polarization, but they also command the capacity to empower. In 2008 when I helped start TheRoot.com—targeting a news-savvy African-American community—niche was central to our mission. Within our demographic target was also a subject niche—one then tightly tied to politics—that gave the site edge, identity and a unique utility.
It was a gift of timing that Detroit143 reached out to me just as I had concluded a year studying start-ups as a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan. I had become intrigued with how niche news sites built around subject matter had invigorated journalism. Nonprofit ventures like ProPublica—focused on investigative journalism—and The Texas Tribune—devoted to reporting on that state's government—have elevated the craft and bolstered the coverage of established media with which they have partnered. Commercial juggernauts like Politico and The Huffington Post have enlivened a crowded field of traditional competitors. Conversely, some websites, such as TBD.com, that have tried to take on too much, too fast, have faltered.
As niche start-ups go, Detroit143—with its laserlike focus on covering the resizing and reimagining of the Motor City—is rich with journalistic and social potential. This community-based story is a journalist's dream, as the tinderbox of issues that undergird Detroit's history—race, class, social engineering, and industrial aspiration—are interwoven in the political effort to redefine its boundaries. The urban planning effort cannot be covered without diving into those issues.
Local newspapers, radio and television have done quality reporting on the city's political issues. But they do not have the resources or mandate to cover all aspects of this story with intensity. The editorial mission of Detroit143 is both broad and well-defined. Do we cover street violence, domestic disturbances, and general police beat stories? No. Do we cover Mayor Dave Bing's program of incentives to entice police officers to move from the suburbs into city neighborhoods targeted for saving? Absolutely.
Plenty of room to roam, not enough to get lost. And Detroit143's mission of enhancing its journalism with tools that encourage and enable community response to our stories—not merely with comments, but with organized, purposeful civic participation—takes the editorial mandate the final mile into a mission devoted to action-oriented democracy.
So much that is applauded in Web-based journalism these days is about technical innovation—cool tools that allow users to sort and visualize complex data and zippy programs and apps that allow instant information and social validation. Detroit143 will employ the best of those tools, but its real innovation is the intentional pairing of journalism and community action.
The challenge of defining the lines between journalism and action and figuring out when and when not to cross them is a bold editorial experiment worth undertaking. And the unanswered question of whether Detroit can transform itself into a livable, sustainable city is the story most in need of being told. It is arguably one of the most critical stories for the entire region since what happens in Detroit will affect the road ahead for other struggling cities. Decisions made in the next few years will play out for at least the next quarter century.
The rethinking of Detroit's 143 square miles is a remarkable story. It is a serious journalistic endeavor and as such creates the perfect niche where journalism and community can mingle. What journalist wouldn't want in?
Lynette Clemetson is a former New York Times correspondent who has been helping to shape the vision for Detroit143 since completing a Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan last year.


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Home · SAG Awards
Geoffrey Owens Re-Emerges At SAG Awards With An Inspiring Message
Owens went viral just a few short months ago after being photographed working the register at a Trader Joe's.
By Jasmine Grant	· January 27, 2019
For all of the dreamers out there on the verge of giving up, former Cosby Show actor Geoffrey Owens has got a testimony for you.
The 2019 SAG Awards kicked off with its mainstay "I'm An Actor" introductions on Sunday night. The room lit up when the camera unexpectedly panned to Owens, who just a few short months ago went viral after being photographed working the register at a Trader Joe's.
I'll never forget being out of work & working for Uber. I enjoyed hearing people's stories. It was interesting & convenient. Geoffrey Owens shouldn't have to defend his working at Trader Joes. It's an honest freaking living! https://t.co/wO3qYwD2Jd #GeoffreyOwens #TraderJoes pic.twitter.com/EqOAQC9jvf
— Brody (@brodyradio) September 5, 2018
"So somewhere in the middle of the road of my life, I found myself in the dark wood of unemployment and debt," he recalled. "But instead of switching careers like a sane person, I took a job at a local Trader Joe's to see if I could hang in there with my career."
Dispute this brief hiccup in this life, Owens concluded that "it's actually worked out pretty well," sending the entire audience into a roar of laughter.
Since his photo went viral in September, Owens has been the subject of cruel job shaming. Simultaneously, he's also received a swell of support on social media from those who admired his tenacity and humility to make such a sacrifice to support his family.
I've given up on #rentlive at the moment to watch the #SAGAwards and am glad I did mainly for this Geoffrey Owens cameo!! Elvin is perfect. pic.twitter.com/0OY2P1dgSG
— Michelle Collins (@michcoll) January 28, 2019
Thankfully, Owens' career didn't stay down for long. He soon got a second wind thanks to secured roles in NCIS and Tyler's Perry's The Haves and the Have Nots.
In an appearance on Good Morning America, Owens spoke candidly about being thrust into fame after going viral.
"When it first happened, I thought it was going to be devastating, I thought it was going to be catastrophic, and it has been the opposite," he said. "So fortunately, that difficult time didn't last very long. A couple of hours of humiliation versus the last five months of support and love and employment. So it was worth it."
Chin up, dreamers! The race isn't over yet.
TOPICS: SAG Awards Geoffrey Owens


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The last workshop within the learning program of the European Music Incubator brought our musicians to Genova, Italy on the 29th and 30th of January 2018. During two days the thematics of music for soundtracks and video games as well as the issue of licensing and copyright was discussed.
With the growth of demand in the market for original music to accompany film and video game soundtracks, it is inevitable for our musicians to learn about that within their journey in the EMI as well. Together with the mentors Luigi Giachino & Aram Shahbazians from Italy two days were spent learning about that topics.
Within the first day of the workshop the goal was to provide musicians with an in-depth overview of the production process of soundtracks for movies and video games. Musicians must be aware that, when writing for audiovisuals, the music they produce must be functional to the vision.
Next to learning about the production process it is crucial to study about the different international laws for licensing and copyright as well. The musicians got introduced about how their musical work is protected by law as well as various types of rights within the European level.
At the end of the day the EMI participants took part in a round table at «La Claque» one of the most vibrant places for crosscutting artistic experimental events, where the award winning soundtrack composers, Pivio and Aldo De Scalzi, shared their experiences with the audience and discussed practical examples.
After the theoretical impact of the first day the musicians worked in the Creuza recording studio with the support Luca Cresta and Claudio Pacini on improving their skills in the studio. Throughout the day the participants were actively involved in the construction of a mini soundtrack project practicing the knowledge gained during the day and in the previous workshops.


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How we made
Oxide & Neutrino: how we made Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty)
'There was a rise in gun crime and garage was blamed. We went from being on Top of the Pops to not being able to play anywhere. Then I was shot'
Interviews by Dave Simpson
Tue 29 Jan 2019 01.00 EST Last modified on Tue 29 Jan 2019 04.06 EST
'We sold 20,000 singles from the back of a Peugeot 305' … Mark Oseitutu (AKA Neutrino, left) and Alex Rivers (Oxide). Photograph: Warner Music
Alex Rivers, AKA Oxide, DJ
I met Neutrino at the pirate radio station Supreme FM, where we were doing DJ sets. We clicked and joined So Solid Crew, who at that time were 30 strong. When we all piled into a tiny room, it was crazy – but when Neutrino and I signed our own record deal, we became a separate entity.
Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty) was the first track we made. DJ magazine were advertising a day at a recording studio for £99. My brother brought the Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels soundtrack to the studio, and one of the skits between the songs seemed to fit with a sample of the theme from the BBC series Casualty, which sounded edgy. So I used both in the track.
When you're 17, you don't worry if using something like a TV theme in a track is cool. We didn't know anything about clearing samples, but later we started worrying that someone would come after us. I phoned the reception desk at the BBC – "Excuse me, my band have sampled your Casualty tune" – but they didn't take me seriously. When we got signed, the record label cleared the sample.
We initially made Reload as a dub plate for the pirate radio show, but my brother's £2,000 redundancy money paid for the first 1,000 white-label singles. We sold 20,000 from the back of a Peugeot 305. My brother ran up thousands of pounds in parking tickets: we'd park outside a shop, run in and do a sale-or-return deal, but it got quite expensive. The car's exhaust fell off and the heater was stuck on – it was so hot inside that the glue on my new trainers melted.
Initially, we had no commercial radio play. Some stations refused to play the single because they thought "reload" was about guns. But the pirates played it, then Kiss FM did, and it took off, which seemed to shock the mainstream stations. When they did the chart rundown on Capital, there was a three-second pause after they played the record. Then they just went: "Er, that was this week's No 1."
Mark Oseitutu, AKA Neutrino, MC
When Oxide first played me the beginnings of Bound 4 Da Reload, it was mainly the beat and the Casualty theme. He wanted me to add some lyrics. "Bound for da reload" was something I said on pirate radio, meaning: "DJ, reload the track."
It was my first time in the studio, and I asked the engineer for the same mic I had used at the pirate station. He said: "You can't use one of those in a recording studio!" I did the whole song in one take – I didn't realise you could do it over and over again – but it captured a certain nervous energy.
Oxide & Neutrino in Austin, Texas, in 2002. Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian
They called us "UK garage" but today, Reload sounds like the start of what was becoming grime. Pirate radio was massive then. People recorded our sets on cassette tapes, which made their way to cities around the country. We went from the underground to Top of the Pops very quickly. I remember going to buy trainers, and so many people were screaming at me they had to close the shop. I thought: "Why are people screaming at me?" and remembered: "Oh, yeah, we're No 1."
When there was a rise in gun crime, garage music became the scapegoat, like what is happening now with drill. We went from being on Top of the Pops to not being able to play anywhere, and no one would work with us. Then I was shot in Mayfair. Someone tried to mug me, I wrestled with them and heard a bang. I felt a warm sensation in my leg. Luckily it was a flesh wound, but to add insult to injury, I was arrested because the gun magazine had dropped in the car when the guy put the firearm through the window. I said: "It's not mine, I've just been shot!" It was a weird time – especially because Reload had the Casualty sample and police sirens on it.
We're both parents now, and they know Bound 4 Da Reload on the school run. There's usually one person who'll ask: "Can you DJ at our daughter's birthday party?" I go, "I'm not the DJ. I'm the MC!"
• Oxide & Neutrino's new single, Dilemma 2.0, is out now.


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Programmatic Platform Manager
Posted: 4/17/2019 | Expires: 5/17/2019
Location: New York City, New York (US)
Function: Operations & Strategy
Specialty: Ad Operations, Data & Analysis, Sales
Level: Experienced (Non-Manager)
Duration: Full Time
Salary Description: Competitive
Smarter, Faster, and as always - First. That's our philosophy. Bloomberg Media empowers global business leaders with breaking news, expert opinion and proprietary data distributed on every platform, across every time zone. Like our products and solutions- our teams are agile, dynamic, and innovative. We work hard, and we work fast - while keeping up the quality and accuracy for which we're known. It's what keeps us inventing and reinventing, all the time. Our culture is wide open, just like our spaces. We challenge each other. And through our countless volunteer projects, we help bring out the best in our communities as around us, too. You can do amazing work here. Work you couldn't do anywhere else. It's up to you to make it happen.
The Bloomberg Programmatic Platform Manager contributes to end to end execution of global programmatic operations. As part of the overall Global Advertising Operations team, you will have the opportunity to own key aspects of programmatic; including deal management, yield management, reporting, revenue growth, and strategic planning and input. This is an amazing opportunity for someone with programmatic experience to own operations and use the power of data to drive revenue generating recommendations, tactics and strategies.
The Programmatic Platform Manager will work cross functionally with teams including Sales, Planning & Campaign Management, Ad Technology, Ad Product, Trafficking, Pricing & Inventory, and Finance. You will have input on pricing strategy as the programmatic subject matter expert in support of Bloomberg Media, providing insights on product offerings, deal structure and general programmatic education. You will have a deep understanding and expertise on programmatic products, platform capabilities and limitations. You will use that knowledge base in combination with industry trends and data analysis to increase programmatic revenue and support Bloomberg's programmatic strategy and vision.
We will trust you to:
Analyze programmatic data to provide insights and optimizations across all platforms, products, ad types and buyers
Conduct tests of pricing strategies designed to improve yield and grow overall revenue
Independently negotiate PMP deals directly with buyers, based on guidelines and pricing structure
Design metrics and build, monitor and maintain dashboards, along with all reporting to track key monetization metrics for executives, sales and finance teams
Support the global sales team by creating programmatic deals, monitoring deal health, and building ad hoc reports
Attend client meetings with the sales team as a key resource for programmatic capabilities
Assist with onboarding new SSPs - set up front-end configurations, flooring strategies and incorporate data into existing reporting
Design strategies to measure impact of new technology partners
Act as the primary liaison for buyers and our sales team when deal requests are submitted via SSPs, DSPs, ATDs, for all programmatic deal types
Interface with partners and buyers to resolve issues related to PMP deals, with the ability to determine the root cause of the issue and recommend actionable next steps
Mine actionable data from open exchange data to provide programmatic leads for sales to convert into higher spend deals
Create and maintain revenue forecasting models
Monitor and maintain ad quality across our portfolio of partners
Respond to programmatic RFPs and determine inventory avails
You'll need to have:
Minimum 2+ years of experience in programmatic operations and technology, preferably with a publisher or working with publishers
Solid experience with publisher side ad technology platforms (DFP, AdX, header bidding, mobile app and video SSPs)
Expertise in open exchange RTB environments, programmatic guaranteed, preferred deals, private auctions, networks and other demand partners
Experience in data management, analytics tools, and business intelligence tools including Excel PowerPivot and PowerQuery
Attention to detail and ownership of tasks, ability to work independently and collaboratively as part of a global organization
Ability to effectively multi-task with strong time management and organization skills
Experience working in a fast-paced environment
Ability to maintain strong professional relationships internally and externally
Strong problem-solving and negotiation skills
Apply via our careers website! If we believe you're a good match, we'll get in touch with you to let you know the next steps.
We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
Bloomberg is an information leader in providing high-quality, real-time and historical data to business and financial professionals worldwide. We have been at the leading edge of the information revolution that has changed the way problems get solved.
See More Bloomberg Jobs


30CrNiMo8 steel bar equivalent materials: 30CrNiMo8 steel bar equivalent materials also can be called as alloy structural steel. Alloy steel means this kind of grade contains some special alloy composition. Alloy steel plate application is very wide, as : Machine, pressure vessel, construction and so on .
EN 1.6580 steel is an alloy steel formulated for primary forming into wrought products. 1.6580 is the EN numeric designation for this material. 30CrNiMo8 is the EN chemical designation. It has a moderately high density among EN wrought alloy steels.


RESIDENTS will get the chance to view and ask questions about plans for the current Regent Road Car Park.
Proposals to the site include a new 300 space car park for Trafford Council, luxury apartments and a ground floor commercial space.
In March 2017 Trafford Council published a decision to include Regent Road Car Park in its Land Sales programme as a mixed-use development site.
The drawings will be unveiled to the public on November 24 and 25 and will address the lack of quality parking in Altrincham, create a much-needed green space in the town centre, as well as invigorate George Street, Regent Road and Lloyd Square.
Over the two-day exhibition, the developers for the new scheme, Altrincham-based Citybranch Ltd, will share visuals, floor plans and layouts of how the new scheme could look internally and externally.
Representatives from the design team will also be in attendance to answer any questions from the public regarding the scheme scheduled to open in Spring 2019.
In August this year, Messenger reported on resident's concerns over the plans for the site. Many said they did not want to live with the eyesore of a a tall multi-story building and with the pollution of cars parking above the level of their homes. There was also fear over parking charges for visitors.
The exhibition will be held between 12 noon - 7pm on November 24 and 10am-5pm on November 25 at Altrincham Town Hall.


The 2011-2012 Bradford Rattlers season has come to a close. The club finished with a 31-6-5 record for a third place regular season finish. After earning a first round bye, the Rattlers defeated the Lefroy Wave in the quarter finals, but ultimately bowed out to the Sturgeon Falls Lumberjacks in the semi-finals. The Rattlers organization considers this season to be another successful season, making tremendous strides both on and off the ice.
The team nearly had to start from scratch after having much of their previous year's team graduate onto higher levels of hockey. On the ice, the team went through several restructurings to find a good team composition; one that had scoring contributions from all four lines. The Rattlers achieved this after many mid-season shakeups.
Most importantly, Bradford served as a development tool for the young men who wore the black, green and gold. The young team improved substantially over the course of the year, giving the opportunity for these hockey players to showcase their skills to major junior, college and professional clubs.
Off the ice, Bradford made tremendous improvements to their program. The Bradford WG Leisure Centre served as the home of the Rattlers for the second half of the season. The new arena is one of the nicest Tier II facilities in Ontario, giving the Rattler players all the tools they needed to succeed. Bradford also renewed their affiliation with the World Hockey Centre, and will once again be hosting their training camp out of the training facility. The World Hockey Centre is world renown as one of the best hockey schools available. The numerous contacts with college and professional teams not only give our players contacts to higher level of play, but help to bring talented hockey players to our roster.
Furthermore, the Rattlers affiliated themselves with RHE Management. RHE Management is a player agency, specializing in moving Tier II Junior 'A' players to the professional level. The experience brought by these agents brings significant respect to the Rattler's organization in the hockey world.
In conclusion, the 2011-2012 season was a overwhelming success for the Rattlers organization. Although a Russell Cup championship would have been nice to add to the trophy cupboard, the on and off ice victories more than compensated for the season.
On behalf of the entire Bradford Rattlers organization, we would like to thank the players, fans and sponsors for the great season!


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Tennis ATP prediction. Who will go to London
Roland Garros is slowly coming to its logical end. And it's not that interesting to write about the French Open now, as the results are to be known quite soon. So we decided to discourse upon something different. Namely, who will get the ticket to the men's singles final in London?
Let's have a glance to the May rankings that will help to decide who have more chances to go to the ATP World Tour Finals in London 2014. We take only top 20 into account, as the rest players have poor chances to break into top 8. So, welcome top 20 strongest players.
1 Rafael Nadal
2 Novac Djokovic
3 Stanislas Wawrinka
4 Roger Federer
5 David Ferrer
6 Tomas Berdych
7 Juan Martin Del Potro
8 Andy Murray
9 Milos Raonic
10 Kei Nishikori
11 John Isner
12 Grigor Dimitrov
13 Richard Gasquet
14 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
15 Fabio Fognini
16 Mihail Youzhny
17 Ernest Gulbis
18 Tommy Haas
19 Tommy Robredo
20 Kevin Anderson
As a matter of fact, the first four players have already booked the tickets to the Foggy Albion. They are Nadal, Djokovic, Wawrinka. With this three everything is clear – the number of ranking point they have now is more than enough for the Finals. They are immediately followed by Roger Federer. Here also no questions. He has nothing to defend. The second round at Wimbledon, the fourth one at the US Open and completely failed American Masters. We believe that Roger will boost these figures. What comes next is rather intriguing. David Ferrer – quarter-final in the USA and quarter-final at Wimbledon, Paris Masters final. Not much, but the question is whether David will be capable of equaling these records as there are many players in good form and David would have to peak up his top form again. How he will do this remains secret…
Tomas Berdych and Andy Murray
Tomas Berdych. It's most likely that Czech will be the 7-8th to qualify. Again , there is nothing supernatural for him to defend: Wimbledon quarter-final, fourth round in the USA and poor performance at all Masters (except for Cincinnati Masters where he reached the semi-final). Last year these points allowed him to get to the Finals. Probably this year they will also guarantee him a lucky ticket. Juan Martin Del Porto has vacated one place. Andy Murray would have to try hard in the second half of the season especially shall he lose Wimbledon. Half of his points are attributed to the Wimbledon victory. And the British has tuned to his play taking this time to gain momentum. We expect that Andy will reveal his potential and show what he is capable of. As far back as I can remember, the second half of the season has also been better for the British.
Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori
The player from Canada, Milos Raonic, has good chances to be the 7-8th to qualify. His main contenders will be Murray and Berdych. He has to defend the finals in Toronto and Tokyo. It's a lot, so we'll see. Despite his excellent service game, clay is the most convenient surface for the Canadian. Unfortunately for Milos, the clay part of the season is over and it hasn't brought Milos too many ranking points. So he faces a sever task now: to gain points on the American hard courts and at the indoor tournaments. Now some words about Kei Nishikori. Only the worst scenario may prevent the Japanese start from getting to the year-end finals in London: 3rd round of Wimbledon, the first round at the USA Open and failed masters. He must outshoot at least at one of the mentioned events to get to London. And his main contender for the 5th ranking line will be Ferrer. Nishikori knows how to play on hard, so he should, or we would say even obliged, to outshoot again in the second half of the season.
Buy sport tips
Gregor Dimitrov and Ernest Gulbis
John Isner would hardly break into top 8. By the end of the year he must be somewhere near top 10. It's also unlikely that he would get to the Cincinnati Masters 2014 so he would have to find other ways to pick some ranking points which is very uneasy considering the present competition. Gregor Dimitrov has nothing to prove so he'll take what he'll get. And he is capable of getting a lot. So the Bulgarian player should fight for the ticket to London and move it up along the ranking positions. Gasquet and Tsonga. Two Frenchmen, the first of the both would probably leave top 20 by the year-end. Richard has completely failed the start of the year and we see no opportunity for him to make it up within its second half. And speaking about the second French male, we notice that even shall he show his best he would stay where he is now – near top 10. Fabio Fognini has failed all clay majors. Although he had to come in full force there. So if he manages to repeat his successful performance at clay minors that follow Wimbledon he will also stay where he is now. In my opinion, it's his maximum for this season. Mihail Youzhny will probably say goodbye to the top 20 and the most he can reckon for is the place among the seeded at the end of the year. Ernest Gulbis. The Latvian player may make some fuss in the harmonious lines of tennis elite. He has nothing to defend, only his anger and the desire to reach great results. So by the very end Gulbis will be a contender for the top 8. The only issue is that hard courts are more difficult for him than clay ones. So the objective to get to London is very hard but still visible. Tommy Haase, Tommy Robredo – either of them can reckon only for the place in top 20. Kevin Anderson. The player from South Africa can go up in rankings a bit, but the 15th position is his sky for the current season. So here comes our prediction of the year-end forces distribution:
1 - 2 Novac Djokovic – Rafael Nadal
3 – 4 Roger Federer – Stanislas Wawrinka
5 - 6 Kei Nishikori – David Ferrer
7 – 8 Tomas Berdych – Andy Murray
Gregor Dimitrov, Milos Raonic and Ernest Gulbis will step on their toes. So be it. I don't think that any other may make claims for the tickets to London. The only thing is probable injuries. All in all, let's wait and see…
Who to back at Wimbledon after Murray's withdrawal
ATP Stuttgart QF preview and prediction: Tomas Berdych v Feliciano Lopez
23 May 2015 06:35:15
Hi, Alex! Congratulations on your first round wins, both in doubles and signles It's nice that both you and your dubs partner went on to win your signles You're obviously getting a good resonating vibe going! It's amazing how much you accomplish in one day. Have you always been so organized? Or did tennis help you get that way?Last question: What sparked your interest in rally car driving? And how long have you been doing it?Have a wonderfully restorative day off! Angel
Keylon
When I was in my twenties I had a pair of Esprit shoes cut just like those that I thought were SO EXPENSIVE (I know! Esprit! but I was in my twenties) and I wore them just about every Saturday and Sunday. I may have to check out Cydwoqs, though that makes me feel like I'm unfuhtifal to John. You know, Fluevog.