text:
WRITING MY WAY HOME.
This is a previous post (2011) that I am re posting for new readers.
MY FAMILY history was brought to life in an unpublished memoir. The stories lived on during a long arduous journey of research and trying to get published. Sometimes I read pages to get close to my parents. I squeeze in between them like a ghost, hear their voices, and see their expressions. If I remove the outside world, the hum of the hotel air-condoning , the delivery trucks, and speeding motorcycles, I can remember swimming in the pool with my mother. I see her bathing cap strap pulled down across her chin, her red lipstick, and her one-piece strapless bathing suit. I can see her freckles, and her long slender arms backstroking as she swam.
Early in 1960 my father decided to build a swimming pool in the backyard of our house on Thurston Circle. I had just completed swimming lessons and asked my father for a pool. Years later he told the story: "My little girl asked for a pool, and I built her one." I think he built the pool for my mother. He was under investigation with the FBI and Department of Justice, and spent most days in court defending himself against a deportation order to Russia. Subpoenas, arrests, and trials were routine events that tied my parents together against a world of misunderstanding. After eleven years of nail biting suspense, my mother just wore out. The pool was built with the intention of removing my mother's anxiety and sadness. My father designed the shape of the pool around the original pool at the Garden of Allah, a highly scandalous Hollywood hotel apartment that attracted starlets and gangsters in the early 30's. I know this tiny detail from photographs I've seen of the Garden pool. More obscure details surrounding the building of our pool were found reading his FBI files.
My father accused the pool contractor of being an informant for the government. One sunny afternoon he marched him out of the house. I was hiding behind a drape when the confrontation broke out. I recall the big shouldered contractor running from my father's threats. Most likely an FBI agent was parked outside and followed the man after he scampered out.
The pool was finally completed in mid 1961. There are photographs of my mother and I in the pool; her smile is radiant and naturally composed. She and I swam everyday. My father loved to swim too, but he was busy with court proceedings and meetings. Before the year ended my mother filed for divorce, the house burnt down, and I was released from childhood. I don't regret those events any longer. They were steps that shaped my character, and what brings me back to the topic of growing up with gangsters.
The best memories of my childhood are in swimming pools and restaurants with gangsters and gamblers. They were part of the family, and when they were around my father was on very good behavior, and my mother defenseless against their irresistible humor, pranks, and generosity. She just sort of glided in and out of activities, and helped me ride the vibrations. She didn't laugh out of herself like I do, and she rarely yelled. The older I get, the less I seem to be like her. Maybe the passage of life experiences determines which parent you will take after. Had I married and had children, maybe I'd be more like her. Since I get into all kinds of tricky situations, and throw the dice, I need my father's strength more.
Over the years, I have forgotten some of the dead reckoning discoveries I made about our family history. Still nothing compares to reading about my Aunt Gertie. She was my father's sister. Until I read about her in the FBI file, I didn't know she existed. I haven't figured out why my father left her out of our life. According to the FBI files she was a remarkably loyal sister. Gertie was the one who confronted the federal agents when they arrived at the family home in Winnipeg, Canada. She pushed my grandmother out of the interview, and spoke for the family. The agents showed her a recent photograph of my father. She told them that her brother left home when he was twelve and they had not seen him since. She could not verify the identity of the photograph because almost twenty years had passed. The agents left without any evidence and continued to search for the birthplace of my father. Every time he was arrested, he entered a different birthplace. He named Chicago, New York, Detroit, and Los Angeles. His origins were discovered through a letter that his mother had written when he was fifteen and confined to a boys reformatory. The letter was turned over to the FBI, and that is how they discovered his parents lived in Winnipeg. The government could not deport my father to Russia without verification from his family. Eventually my father won the battle. He was granted citizenship in 1966, two weeks after my mother died.
Gertie died after my father. I don't know if they corresponded over the years. I have learned enough about my father to know he was protecting her from further harassment. Maybe if my father lived longer they would be coming after me.
ADVENTURES IN LIVINGNESS, GROWING UP WITH GANGSTERS, JEWISH MOBSTERS, LIFESTYLE, LOS ANGELES MOB, LOVE, ORGANIZED CRIME, RELATIONSHIPS, writers
CULTURE, Father, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Life, LIFESTYLE, LIFESTYLE COLUMNIST, Los Angeles, MAFIA, RELATIONSHIPS, writers, Writing, WRITING LIFE
SMILEY & SIEGEL
THE SIEGEL SMILEY LEGACY
BY: Luellen Smiley
When I was eleven years old our home burnt to the ground in the Bel Air fire, and everything we owned fell to ash. Shortly after my mother moved us to an apartment in Brentwood, a mammoth carton arrived and was placed in the center of the living room. My mother cut it open and urged me to look inside. I sat cross-legged on the avocado green carpeting and discovered bundles of garments; Bermuda shorts, blouses, sweaters, and shirts.
I quickly shed my worn trousers and stepped into a new outfit, dancing about as I zipped myself in. My mother watched, and echoed my childish yelps of elation.
"Mommy, who are these from?"
"They're from your Aunt Millicent."
"Who is she? I don't remember her."
"You were a little girl. She loves you very much."
Years later, my father, Allen Smiley, called and told me to come over to his apartment in Hollywood.
"Why Dad?"
"Millicent is coming by; I told you she moved here, didn't I?"
I'd learned Millicent was Benjamin Siegel's daughter, and Ben was my father's best friend. Dad was sitting on the same chintz covered sofa the night Ben was murdered.
"You mean Ben Siegel's daughter?"
"Don't refer to her that way ever again; do you hear me? She is Aunt Millicent to you."
When my father answered the door, I watched as they embraced. Millicent had tears in her eyes. She walked over to me, and took my hand. I looked into her swimming pool blue eyes and felt as if I was drowning. She sat on the edge of the sofa and lit a long brown Sherman cigarette. I studied her frosted white nails, the way she crossed her legs at the ankles, her platinum blonde hair, and the way her bangs draped over one eye. What impressed me most was her voice; like a child's whisper, her tone was delicate as a rose petal.
I spent the rest of that afternoon memorizing her behavior. She emanated composure and a reserve that distanced her from uninvited intrusion.
Over the next few years, Millicent and I were joined through my father's arrangements, but I was never alone with her. When he died in 1982, she was one of only three friends at his memorial service.
As the years passed, and my tattered address books were replaced with new ones, I lost Millicent's phone number. I had been researching my father's life in organized crime, and had gained an understanding of my father's bond with Ben Siegel. My discoveries were adapted into a memoir and recently into a film script about growing up with gangsters. During this time, I had reconnected with several of Dad's inner-circle, but Millicent was underground, and now I understood why.
Last year I received an email from Cynthia Duncan, Meyer Lansky's step-granddaughter. She told me about Jay Bloom, the man behind the Las Vegas Mob Experience, a state of the art museum that will take visitors into the personal histories of Las Vegas gangsters. Cynthia contributed her significant collection of Meyer Lansky memorabilia, and assured me Jay was paying tribute to the historical narrative of these men by using relatives rather than government and media sources. She wanted me to be involved.
Despite my apprehensions about the debasing and one-sided publicity that characteristically surrounds gangster history, I contacted Jay. In his return note, he invited me to participate, and added, "Millicent would like to contact you."
A month later I was seated in Jay's office waiting for Millicent. When she walked in, I stood to embrace her, and this time the tears were in my eyes.
Millicent's voice was unchanged and so was her regal posture. "Our fathers were best friends, attached at the hip. Your Dad was at the house all the time. I'll never forget when he and my mother met me at the train station to tell us about my father's… death. Smiley was very good to us. My mother adored him too."
Jay took me on a tour of the collection warehouse, and the history I'd read about unfolded before my eyes. The preview room was like a family room to me, because some of the men had been my father's lifelong friends and protectors. I stopped in front of the Ben Siegel display case and saw an object that was very familiar.
"My father has the identical ivory figurine of an Asian woman. I still have it." So much of their veiled history was exposed; between these two men was a brotherly bond that transcended their passing and was even evident in their shared taste in furnishings.
Jay showed me a layout of the Mob Experience in progress. I turned to him and asked, "Is it too late to include my father? All the rooms are assigned."
"Millicent and I already spoke about it. She wants your Dad in Ben's room."
After I returned home, Millicent and I talked on the phone.
"Your father belongs in my Dad's room. They'll just have to make Mickey Cohen's room smaller."
"My father hated Mickey," I said.
"So did mine! When are you coming back? I'll kill you if you don't become part of this."
Reuniting with Millicent at the Mob Experience.
ADVENTURES IN LIVINGNESS, CHILDHOOD, CREATIVE NONFICTION, CULTURE, EMOTIONAL, ENTERTAINMENT, GROWING UP WITH GANGSTERS, JEWISH MOBSTERS, Life, LIFESTYLE, LOS ANGELES MOB, MAFIA, ORGANIZED CRIME, RELATIONSHIPS, writers
BLOGGERS, Bugsy Siegel, BUGSY SIEGEL & ALLEN SMILEY, CREATIVE NONFICTION, Federal Bureau of Investigation, MAFIA, mob museum, WRITING LIFE
WHAT DO YOU GUYS KNOW ABOUT THE MOB
Benjamen Siegel
Dead Don's, shopkeepers, policeman, government employees, drivers, wives, and sons are slaughtered every week. You won't know unless you study it, like I do. They are in Calgary, Montreal, Sicily, Rome, the UK, Russia, India, Asia, Macao, …. You have no idea how different organized crime is compared to the founders. Read about Arnold Rothstein, and ask people who knew Benny, what kind of man he was.
ENTERTAINMENT, GROWING UP WITH GANGSTERS, LIFESTYLE, MAFIA, ORGANIZED CRIME
MAFIA, mob, Organized crime
COMFORT & GANGSTERS
From writing by hand at my tiny Eurasian desk facing the window to the west; framed by time and familiarity into the branches of JD's pine tree, the black silky toned crows basking like prowesses on the branches, and waiting for La Posada to empty the day's leftovers in the garbage cans. The silky drape of the winter sky sometimes adorned with lacy clouds, like today, softening the southwest blue to a faded jeans shade. From my desk, I write, without thoughts predefined, just a drain of emotional threads from my heart…
This year isn't like last year, the absentee man, fussing with the fireplace, making me afternoon espresso, or drying dishes. It is not at all like last year, with Rudy and John intercepting my division of attention, laughing at the kitchen table, eating my blueberry pancakes.
I had the song of Judy Garland's rainbow in my heart. It was a time I will never forget, or regret, because I was a very lucky lady for several years. Unabridged ecstasy poured out of body, and spread over my attitude, abundant spirit, mood, facial expressions, and my dreams were filled with amusement instead of nightmares.
That's why now, is so different. The camp has closed, and I wander into these new woods unsteady, and steadier, juxtaposed between, acceptance and anger.
In the last few months, I've written my heart out, read Shepard, Colette, Durrell and my Creative nonfiction magazines. I've studied, and prepared for radio programs, and collected a bundle of columns to adapt into short stories. I started buying chocolates and jelly beans, so I treat myself, on breaks, when it's too cold for my frail body to walk around town or up Palace Avenue to see the new for sale listings.
My steps inward resulted in accomplishments, break-troughs' and a comedic sideshow trying to open boxes, make repairs, until Rudy shows up again, and rake the leaves, stuff that is mundane. More distant relations, and mafia threaded strangers knocked on my door, bolstering my faith in breaking the silence that ruled me, I let rule me. Stepping inside the truth I must face isn't nearly as harmful as pretending.
Mob on television, in the news, (gross sales global figure of $850 billion) websites, and bloggers, movies and books. They're all coming out of the closet to inform, turn themselves in, give advice, consult on their own films, sign on for pubic speaking at Library's, documentaries, and advertisements-the world is all mobbed up and it's time for some horrific homogenization of the gangsters who wouldn't break the silence.
ADVENTURES IN LIVINGNESS, CHILDHOOD, GROWING UP WITH GANGSTERS, LIFESTYLE, writers
ART, Colette, Coming out, Durrell, John, Judy Garland, Life, MAFIA, mob entertainment, mob life, mob television, Rudy, writers, Writing
If I had known that I was seated next to the Mafia Boss of Los Angeles, then I would have listened with sharpened ears, and repeated bits of explosive headline blood curdling stories to my girlfriends. That would have placed myself, my father and my friends in jeopardy. An informant from the government may tag me on the way home from school, or tag one of my friends, or an enemy of the Boss, may pick me up from school and not bring me back. Everyone is suspect: an informant, or weak enough to become an informant, a loose lipped wise guy, a bragging connected businessman, a friend of a friend, a cousin of a brother, and a daughter of a gangster. We are all potential targets of this organization known as the Mafia, Mob, syndicate, Costa Nostra, or our thing. Growing up in this circle of gamblers, killers, fixers, enforcers, bookies was like growing up in a novel, it was a fictional tale all the way, until the end of my father's life. There is a drop down board that appears every time I write about our family business that reads, " How dare you open my life to the world, what do you know? You know nothing little sweetheart, and that's the way I planned it. " "There's no such thing as the Mafia! If you ever mention that word again, you're leaving this house!" I melted down to the floor, and he was ominous as God standing over me. I would never mention the word again, I promised, and I would never believe in the Mafia. So, I became a writer of our secret interior life.
ADVENTURES IN LIVINGNESS, GROWING UP WITH GANGSTERS
Bugsy Siegel, Crime, gangster family, gangster film, JEWISH GANGSTER, MAFIA, my gangster story, Organized crime, SCREENPLAY, SCRIPT
I was a child of the fifties; when raising kids was easily defined. Mommy stayed home and made sure the kids didn't burn the house down. Daddy went to an office to make money to pay for the house, and children waited until they were grown up to find out anything really useful. It was before the generation-gap was coined, or children knew how to be witty and sharp. In our air-tight neighborhood of Bel Air, Los Angeles, we were naïve, privileged, kids; bogged down with falling off bicycles, not being chosen for the school play, and bringing home the most candy at Halloween.
I believed in Santa Clause, the Easter bunny, and if I was good, Mommy would let me stay up and watch the Sunday night Variety Show.
America was threatened by the Russian Communists and Organized crime. Public enemy Number One was New York Mafia Boss, Frank Costello. Frank became super famous when he refused to testify on national television for Senator Estes Kefauver. The Kefauver Committee delivered explosive headlines between 1950 and 1951, as the government unveiled the hidden hand of the Mafia in the United States.
ADVENTURES IN LIVINGNESS, GROWING UP WITH GANGSTERS, JEWISH MOBSTERS, Life, LIFESTYLE, LOS ANGELES MOB, MAFIA, ORGANIZED CRIME, SMILEY'S DICE, writers
Estes Kefauver, Frank Costello, Life, MAFIA, New York, Organized crime, Santa Clause, United States, United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce, writers
CONFESSIONS OF A MOB KID
SOME children are silenced. The pretense is protection against people and events more powerful than them. As the daughter of Allen Smiley, associate and friend to Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, I was raised in a family of secrets.
My father is not a household name like Siegel, partly because he wore a disguise, a veneer of respectability that fooled most.
It did not fool the government. My father came into the public eye the night of June 20, 1947, when Benjamin Siegel was murdered in his home in Beverly Hills. My dad was seated inches away from Siegel, on the sofa, and took three bullets through the sleeve of his jacket.
He was brought in as a suspect. His photograph was in all the newspapers. He was the only nonfamily member who had the guts to go to the funeral.
When I was exposed to the truth by way of a book, I kept the secret, too. I was 13. My parents divorced, and five years later, my mother died. In 1966, I went to live with my father in Hollywood.
I was forbidden to talk about our life: "Don't discuss our family business with anyone, and listen very carefully to what I say from now on!"
But one night, he asked me to come into his room and he told me the story of the night Ben was murdered.
"When I was spared death, I made a vow to do everything in my power to reform, so that I could one day marry your mother.
"Ben was the best friend I ever had. You're going to hear a lot of things about him in your life. Just remember what I am telling you; he'd take a bullet for a friend."
After my father died, I remained silent, to avoid shame, embarrassment and questions. But 10 years later, in 1994, when I turned 40, I cracked the silence.
I read every book in print – and out of print – about the Mafia. Allen Smiley was in dozens. He was a Russian Jew, a criminal, Bugsy's right-hand man, a dope peddler, pimp, a racetrack tout. I held close the memory of a benevolent father, wise counselor, and a man who worshipped me.
I made a Freedom of Information Act request and obtained his government files. The Immigration and Naturalization Service claimed he was one of the most dangerous criminals in the country. They said he was Benjamin Siegel's assistant. They said he was poised to take over the rackets in Los Angeles. He didn't; he sold out his interest in the Flamingo, and he went to Houston to strike oil.
I put the file away, and looked into the window of truth. How much more could I bear to hear?
Born in Kiev, Ukraine, my dad's family immigrated to Canada. He stowed away to America at 16, and was eventually doggedly pursued for never having registered as an alien. He had multiple arrests – including one for bookmaking in 1944, and another for slicing off part of the actor John Hall's nose in a fracas at Tommy Dorsey's apartment.
He met my mother, Lucille Casey, at the Copacabana nightclub in 1943. She was onstage dancing (for $75 a week), and my father was in the audience, seated with Copa owner and mob boss Frank Costello.
"I took one look, and I knew it was her," was all he had told me on many occasions.
On a trip to the Museum of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles, I was handed a large perfectly pristine manila envelope, and a pair of latex gloves with which to handle the file.
Inside were black and white glossy MGM studio photographs, press releases, and biographies of my mother's career in film, including roles in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," "Ziegfeld Follies of 1946," "Meet Me in St. Louis" and "Harvey Girls." She was written up in the columns, where later my father was identified as a "sportsman."
The woman who pressed my clothes, washed my hair, and made my tuna sandwiches was an actress dancing in Judy Garland musicals, while her own life was draped with film noir drama.
My father wooed her, and after an MGM producer gave her an audition, he helped arrange for her and her family to move to Beverly Hills, where she had steady film work for five years. He was busy helping Siegel expand the Western Front of the Costello crime family and opening the Flamingo casino in Las Vegas.
They were engaged in 1946.
Still, the blank pages of my mother's life did not begin to fill in until I met R.J. Gray. He found me through my newspaper column, "Smiley's Dice."
One day last year, R.J. sent me a book, "Images of America: The Copacabana," by Kristin Baggelaar. There was my mother, captioned a "Copa-beauty."
Kristin organized a Copa reunion in New York last September. I went in place of my mother, but all day I felt as if she was seated next to me. I fell asleep that night staring out the hotel window, feeling a part of Manhattan history.
Now, the silence is over.
I don't hesitate to answer questions about my family. I have photographs of Ben Siegel in my home in Santa Fe, NM, just as my father did. Every few months I get e-mails from distant friends, or people who knew my dad.
It seems there is no end to the stories surrounding Ben and Al. I am not looking for closure. I've become too attached to the story.
GROWING UP WITH GANGSTERS, LIFESTYLE
BREACH OF SILENCE- FILM SCREENPLAY, CULTURE, Gangsters, LIFESTYLE COLUMNIST, MAFIA, Random Thoughts, WRITING LIFE


text:
Михал Серсен ( — Гелњица, 28. децембар 1985) професионални је словачки хокејаш на леду који игра на позицијама одбрамбеног играча.

Члан је сениорске репрезентације Словачке за коју је на међународној сцени дебитовао на светском првенству 2011. године. У дресу репрезентације Словачке освојио је сребрну медаљу на СП 2012. године.

Иако је учествовао на улазном драфту НХЛ лиге 2004, где га је као 130. пика у петој рунди одабрала екипа Питсбург пенгвинса, никада није заиграо у најјачој хокејашкој лиги на свету.

Играчку каријеру започиње још као јуниор у дресу Слована из Братиславе, а члан сениорског тима постаје током 2003. године. Током каријере наступао је још и за руски Автомобилист и чешке тимове Лев и Спарту.

Референце

Спољашње везе

Рођени 1985.
Словачки хокејаши на леду

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Staying ahead of the learning curve.
Welcome to our Learning Cloud Webinars – At Chrysalis, we believe that there is a lot to learn beyond the opportunities that work provides. In a world that is constantly changing, we need to stay ahead of the learning curve. The Learning Cloud at Chrysalis hosts webinars that focus on issues that you may face at work and in your life away from work.
Our webinars are based on our decades of work and experience and are available to you here. Explore our library of pre-recorded and upcoming live webinars here.


The T cell receptor complex with TCR-α and TCR-β chains (top), ζ-chain accessory molecules (bottom) and CD3 (represented by CD3γ, CD3δ and two CD3ε).
In immunology, the CD3 (cluster of differentiation 3) T cell co-receptor helps to activate both the cytotoxic T cell (CD8+ naive T cells) and also T helper cells (CD4+ naive T cells). It consists of a protein complex and is composed of four distinct chains. In mammals, the complex contains a CD3γ chain, a CD3δ chain, and two CD3ε chains. These chains associate with the T-cell receptor (TCR) and the ζ-chain (zeta-chain) to generate an activation signal in T lymphocytes. The TCR, ζ-chain, and CD3 molecules together constitute the TCR complex.
The CD3γ, CD3δ, and CD3ε chains are highly related cell-surface proteins of the immunoglobulin superfamily containing a single extracellular immunoglobulin domain.
Containing aspartate residues, the transmembrane region of the CD3 chains is negatively charged, a characteristic that allows these chains to associate with the positively charged TCR chains.
The intracellular tails of the CD3 molecules contain a single conserved motif known as an immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif or ITAM for short, which is essential for the signaling capacity of the TCR.
The intracellular tails of the ζ chain contain 3 ITAM motifs.
Phosphorylation of the ITAM on CD3 renders the CD3 chain capable of binding an enzyme called ZAP70 (zeta associated protein), a kinase that is important in the signaling cascade of the T cell.
Because CD3 is required for T cell activation, drugs (often monoclonal antibodies) that target it are being investigated as immunosuppressant therapies (e.g., otelixizumab) for type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases.
CD3 is initially expressed in the cytoplasm of pro-thymocytes, the stem cells from which T-cells arise in the thymus. The pro-thymocytes differentiate into common thymocytes, and then into medullary thymocytes, and it is at this latter stage that CD3 antigen begins to migrate to the cell membrane. The antigen is found bound to the membranes of all mature T-cells, and in virtually no other cell type, although it does appear to be present in small amounts in Purkinje cells.
This high specificity, combined with the presence of CD3 at all stages of T-cell development, makes it a useful immunohistochemical marker for T-cells in tissue sections. The antigen remains present in almost all T-cell lymphomas and leukaemias, and can therefore be used to distinguish them from superficially similar B-cell and myeloid neoplasms.
^ Kuby J, Kindt TJ, Goldsby RA, Osborne BA (2007). Kuby Immunology. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman. ISBN 1-4292-0211-4.
^ Leong AS, Cooper K, Leong FJ (2003). Manual of Diagnostic Cytology (2nd ed.). Greenwich Medical Media, Ltd. pp. 63–64. ISBN 1-84110-100-1.
Shiv P, Abul KA, Andrew W (2011). Cellular and Molecular Immunology: with STUDENT CONSULT Online Access. Philadelphia: Saunders. ISBN 1-4377-1528-1.
This page was last edited on 27 October 2018, at 01:43 (UTC).


After my guest appearance on Jonny Trunk's OST show on Saturday I should point out that Resonance 104.4 FM's annual on-air fundraiser is running now, right up until midnight on Sunday 19th February. They'll have auctions of unique and wondrous items, special live events, celebrity guests, spontaneous competitions and much more. I will be donating the last remaining postcard record from the recent exhibition to Jonny's co-host, Robin the Fog, for his fundraising show on Saturday 18th Feb at the regular OST time of 4.30-6.30pm GMT. I'll also be donating a one of a kind DJ Food 12″ splatter vinyl controller record from the same show and Jonny will have an unreleased Basil Kirchin soundtrack to 'The Shuttered Room', which is one of only 29 copies made, up for auction too.
If you love Resonance 104.4 FM and shows such as OST, please support them via a donation, pledge, bequest, gift or purchase from their shop. The alternative – for the station to take regular on-air advertising – is something they'd all prefer not to contemplate. But Resonance urgently need funds to continue its work. Visit resonancefm.com to make a donation of any size or to view their list of auction items. Also, if you're an artist and want to donate an object for them to auction then please get in touch with Robin.


Summer is here and baseball is in full swing. The greatest game has the written rules of the umpires and the unwritten code of the players. Turbow's book sheds light on the Code using hilarious anecdotes of players past and present; tracking the evolution of the Baseball's Code to the modern era. This book had me laughing at, and learning about, some of my favorite players and managers.
An insider's look at baseball's unwritten rules, explained with examples from the game's most fascinating characters and wildest historical moments.
Everyone knows that baseball is a game of intricate regulations, but it turns out to be even more complicated than we realize. All aspects of baseball—hitting, pitching, and baserunning—are affected by the Code, a set of unwritten rules that governs the Major League game. Some of these rules are openly discussed (don't steal a base with a big lead late in the game), while others are known only to a minority of players (don't cross between the catcher and the pitcher on the way to the batter's box). In The Baseball Codes, old-timers and all-time greats share their insights into the game's most hallowed—and least known—traditions. For the learned and the casual baseball fan alike, the result is illuminating and thoroughly entertaining.
At the heart of this book are incredible and often hilarious stories involving national heroes (like Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays) and notorious headhunters (like Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale) in a century-long series of confrontations over respect, honor, and the soul of the game. With The Baseball Codes, we see for the first time the game as it's actually played, through the eyes of the players on the field.
With rollicking stories from the past and new perspectives on baseball's informal rulebook, The Baseball Codes is a must for every fan.
Jason Turbow has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, SportsIllustrated.com, and Slam magazine. He is a regular contributor to Giants Magazine and Athletics, and for three years served as content director for "Giants Today," a full-page supplement in the San Francisco Chronicle that was published in conjunction with every Giants home game. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two children.
Michael Duca was the first chairman of the board of Bill James's Project Scoresheet, was a contributor to and editor of The Great American Baseball Stats Book, and has written for SportsTicker, "Giants Today" in the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Associated Press. He covers the San Jose Sharks for Examiner.com and works for the Office of the Commissioner as an official scorer and for MLB.com. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
"Delicious . . . Entertaining . . . The Baseball Codes reads like a lab report by a psychologist who has been observing hostile toddlers whack one another with plastic shovels in a sandbox."


text:
Our Time Press
City Politics
Thinker's Notebook
View From Here
New Consensus Policy Group Will Help Deliver A New Day
Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has plans for a Green New Deal to lift all boats and it appears to be working already. Her resolution has inspired a team of Black scholars poised to take the lead on facilitating her initiative. The New Consensus is a 501C3 policy group created to mobilize Progressives into taking ownership of this resolution spearheaded by one of their own. They intend to be in place with the ideas and the capacity to put the hydra-headed marvel to work.
Twenty-nine-year-old Yale graduate and Rhodes scholar Rhiana Gunn-Wright will head the policy group and work alongside tech magician and organizer Demond Drummer. They are both from Chicago. She was the policy director for Abdul El-Sayed, a candidate in Michigan's Democratic gubernatorial primary whose campaign featured an aggressive clean-energy platform.
"I learned on that campaign that the best way to equip a progressive idea is to do the work of figuring out 'how,' so that's what I think we're bringing to the Green New Deal," she said. "We'll be the 'how' shop."
Drummer is the co-founder and executive director of the Chicago youth mentoring and education program CoderSpace. He and Gunn-Wright are positioning New Consensus to help point out the actual meat on the bones of Ocasio-Cortez's plan.
"Right now, we're focused on what needs to be done and how all the pieces fit together," Drummer said. "Then we will focus on how to pay for it. To be clear: It's a question of how we will pay for it — not if we can afford to pay for it. America can afford what we decide to do."
At a time when Democrats are belatedly realizing that middle-of-the-road messaging is taking a backseat to bold and impassioned politics, Gunn-Wright and Drummer are inspired by Ocasio-Cortez, who recently joined a group of protestors outside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office to demand that climate change be given serious and immediate attention –an unprecedented action for an incoming Congress Member and a shock to the body politic.
The Green New Deal asks that poor people, the unemployed, and those who've faced racial, gender and other factors in the quest for a living wage, be first in line to be trained for and fill the new jobs. And along with climate change, lawmakers must address environmental justice, often denied to many Black and brown people due to systemic racism.
New Consensus is figuring out the ways in which the new policies can lead to green jobs across all sectors of the community, rather than leaving those with less behind. The policy group posits that one of the paths to full funding is a public "green bank." The bank would offer financial support to communities in need of clean energy and environment and better and more viable transportation. Investments in zero-carbon technologies could be made through the bank.
Gunner-Wright and Drummer will spend a good amount of time and energy seeing to it that opportunities are available to all in the new green society. Job training, a living wage, labor union protections, and universal healthcare are crucial to ensuring that those most affected by the negative impacts of climate change – with its threats to the health and employment – are prepared and protected.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
WITHOUT CAUSE DISMISSALS UNDER THE CANADA LABOUR CODE: WILSON V. ATOMIC CANADA
For several years, federal employers have lived with the uncertainty of whether they can dismiss non-unionized employees on a without cause basis.
Unlike provincial employers who have the ability to dismiss employees without cause provided they provide adequate notice or pay in lieu of notice, federal employers lack the same flexibility as a result of the interpretation of section 240, Part III of the Canada Labour Code (the "Code"), which allows a non-unionized, federally-regulated employee with more than 12 months of service to file a complaint that his or her dismissal is unjust.
The Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) in Wilson v. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, 2015 FCA 17 recently departed from the usual approach when it stated that section 240 does allow federally-regulated employers to dismiss employees on a without cause basis. In that case, the employer terminated Mr. Wilson's employment on a without cause basis by providing him with six months' severance pay in exchange for a full and final release upon the end of his employment. The termination package offered was more than Mr. Wilson's minimum entitlements under the Code, which would have been 18 days of notice and severance. Mr. Wilson rejected the termination package and filed a complaint under section 240, alleging the dismissal was unjust.
The adjudicator's decision in Mr. Wilson's favour was appealed and eventually heard before the FCA. The FCA concluded that the dismissal of non-unionized employees on a without cause basis was not automatically unjust under section 240 of the Code. The unjust dismissal provisions coexist with the employer's right to dismiss without cause so long as reasonable notice or pay in lieu is provided. Further, the FCA stated employers are not required to prove there was just cause for dismissal, which had been previously required by adjudicators, but it was up to the adjudicator to evaluate the circumstance of the termination and come to a conclusion on whether the dismissal was unjust.
For employers, that interpretation of section 240 marks a significant change in the way the majority of adjudicators have interpreted and applied the unjust dismissal provisions.
While the current law states that it is possible to dismiss non-unionized, federal employees without cause, the Supreme Court of Canada will have the last word on this fundamental issue as Mr. Wilson has been granted leave to appeal the FCA's decision. In the interim, non-unionized, federally-regulated employers will still need to exercise caution when terminating non-unionized employees.
With that in mind, federal employers should:
Develop employment agreements with termination clauses that contemplate without cause dismissals, allow for predictable termination costs and can minimize the possibility of litigation
Ensure the terms of the employment agreements are compliant with the Code. In particular, the termination provisions should not provide for any entitlements less than those under the Code, because this could risk the termination provision being found unenforceable and void. Further, termination clauses should be clear and unambiguous as to the entitlements at the end of the employment relationship
Ensure the protections of an employment agreement can be relied upon, while executing them at the start of the employment relationship. This means that new employees need to sign and return their employment agreements prior to starting any work with the employer. That said, there is still the opportunity to introduce an employment agreement mid-stream to existing employees as long as adequate consideration—something of value—is provided to the employee in exchange for signing the employment agreement. Common forms of consideration include a promotion, signing bonus or a salary increase
EMPLOYERS, TAKE CARE WHEN SUSPENDING DURING WORKPLACE INVESTIGATIONS
HIGH TIMES: MEDICAL MARIJUANA IN THE WORKPLACE


Peninsula Guns carries some the finest firearms available in California. We love the Beretta 690, and so do our customers. The Beretta 690 is a competition over and under to make your quantum leap in shooting performance. Thanks to the Steelium barrels and to the outstanding balance, the new 690 competition shotguns provide accuracy, ease of handling and perfect control.Exactly what you need when you start aiming at your first 25 clays. Microcore pad - Superior softness, lightness and smoothness for the best recoil pad ever made by Beretta. Orange stock spacer - A distinctive element matching with the product' s logo, making the 690 unique and recognizable. Selected wood - The perfect weight for these walnut wood, specifically selected for competition over and unders. Black receiver - Hyper - technical look and matt / polished finishings for this attractive receiver, immediately recognizable by the orange details. Slim forend - Slim and rounded forend, for a better grip and a more streamlined profile. Steelium barrels - The world' s best barrel, providing unrivaled safety and superior ballistics. Optimachoke HP - Interchangeable - chokes barrels, designed for the best performance with both lead and HP steel shots. For more information on this Shotgun and other Beretta Shotguns, call us at the shop or send us a note.


Seattle, WA U. S. A.: Fantagraphics Books. Very Good. 1999. First Printing. Paperback. 156097348X . Unread with moderate shelfwear including fingernail scratches and several creases to wraps. Clean, unmarked text. OOP, scarce.; 48 pages .
Place: Seattle, WA U. S. A.


Do you know the historic origins of your neighborhood and environs? It could be as fascinating as mine.
I took this tour 2 years ago and, happily, took it again when my friend Carole was visiting from Tampa. We were part of a group of about 20 who were informed, fed and entertained for 4 hours on this Taste Historic Culinary Tour.
Lori (the guide and director of the Lifestyle and Fashion History Museum) narrated the history of Boynton Beach and Delray Beach as we rode in an air-conditioned van to our first 'culinary' stop. The streets came alive with history from the primitive days before Ponce de Leon's arrival in the 1500s … to the African slave settlers … to the 1800s when investors and developers (mostly from the midwest) arrived and began large scale development projects. Several have been honored with streets and/or cities named after them, e.g. Linton, Boynton, Flagler and Swinton, etc.
History sets this culinary tour apart from other 'foodie' tours.
That, and the opportunity to visit and try the food of some local, ethnic and smaller eateries that might not be on everyone's radar.
A perfect case in point is DeeDee's Conch and Rib Shack, a Bahamian family-run spot that serves up delicious conch fritters and ribs, among other things.
At each stop we were greeted by the owners (or managers) who provided their establishment's history and a sampling of their food.
And some places, like Sweet's Jamaican, offered a generous array of tastes.
We were treated to Jamaican patties, jerk chicken, goat curry, rice+beans and sweet potato pie.
Our next stop was Schaffers Tea Room, a hidden gem in a quaint former parsonage that is now a charming and fabulously decorated tea cafe.
This tiny tea cafe is environmentally and socially active in that it serves over 85 fair-trade teas/coffees and the only pure water on earth GOODWATER® in every drink — and they donate a portion of all proceeds. Besides beverages, they serve a full menu of food + desserts baked by locals.
Our next stop was Cabana El Rey, one of my favorite restaurants in downtown Delray.
Here we were met with mojitos (smile), a basket of mariquitas (plantain chips) and guacamole, as well as a triple serving of their most popular appetizers (jumbo coconut shrimp on sweet plantain puree, Cuban sandwich empanadas and ropa vieja (shredded beef) in a plantain cup.
Are you getting full? Hang in there … there's still more to come. While the tour advertises about 4 stops. We actually made 10 stops — and ate in 9 of them!!
and were wowed by his 9 second pizzas in the beautiful 1000 degree oven.
oh yeah, they put more than one variety of pizza on the table.
Fortunately, now we're walking and we didn't have far to walk to the next stop … next door is Le Macaron, French pastries.
Our next stop was DIG (Doing it Green) for a trio of hummus.
where we had a bite of green fried tomato (tomatillo) and mango sangria.
Our 9th and next-to-the-last stop was a brief introduction to the Boynton Beach library and to the artwork of Conrad Pickel currently on display.
where a table of pastries, cookies, breads and cannolis was waiting for us.
We were satiated — to be sure — but when the owner suggested everyone take one of their freshly baked artisanal breads home, we didn't hesitate to pick up one of their semolinas and an eggplant parm stuffed bread.
Highly Recommended: The tour is a great way to spend half a day and is enjoyable for both locals and visitors. It fills your mind and belly — and is great value for the money. Pick up and drop off is at a public meeting point by a comfortable air-conditioned van which takes you to the first stop. There is some walking involved but the van meets up with you at some designated points. Places visited and # of stops vary. For further and more specific information, contact Lori at ldurante@mlfhmuseum.org.
We know that this is the way I love to spend an afternoon the most. Thanks for taking us along with you Joan.
I remember you writing about DeDe. I would love to do this with you one day…or take me to the ones you like the most.
Oh, yes, we complain all the time about 'snowbirds' and 'season' (the equivalent of tourists in your neck of the woods) … so it's especially nice to find these tucked away hidden gems.
I love this type of tours! Did you know that I worked as a culinary tour guide for a little while in Mexico City? That was such a blast! I love the pics you took of this tour.
Thanks Ben — good to hear from you!
Oh, what fun, Joan. What utterly fabulous fun. As a native "cracker" of Florida, I am always interested in its history, although I haven't lived there in so long. Thanks for sharing. Sorry for my long silence. I haven't received any of your posts for months and will sign up again (I think I did this before I left for Paris/Morocco) as I hate to miss a single post of yours. Each one is unique and stimulating to my creativity.


Kim Kardashian West isn't afraid to detail what goes into her amazing body, whether it's intense workouts or a little help from cosmetic surgery.
The 36-year-old reality star took to Snapchat on Sunday to reveal that she had just visited cosmetic dermatologist Dr. Simon Ourian to get rid of some of her stretch marks.
"I feel so excited that I finally did it," she said.
This isn't the first time the mother of two has taken her cosmetic surgeries to social media.
Just last week, she revealed that she had visited Dr. Ourian to get work done on her belly button.
"If anyone that's had babies understand what it's done to your belly button, then you really understand how much you need Dr. Ourian to tighten around your belly button so it could look back normal," she added.
In August, Kardashian West documented a procedure with Dr. Ourian called "skin-tightening," a way to get your stomach in shape without surgery, on Snapchat.
U.K. cosmetic surgery group Transform reports that they have seen a 73 percent increase in inquiries from patients citing Kardashian family members as inspiration.
The trend article calls the plastic surgery craze the "Dash Effect," and states that afterKylie Jenner admitted to having lip fillers earlier this year, they received a 700 percent rise in inquiries about the procedure overnight.