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Marquette Game Recaps
The Quick & The Dirty: St. John's 86, Marquette 78
The Golden Eagles pick up their eighth league loss of the season as Shamorie Ponds explodes for 44 points.
By Brewtown Andy@brewtownandy Feb 10, 2018, 1:48pm CST
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Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
After a competitive first half at Carnesecca Arena in New York, Shamorie Ponds dropped 27 of his new career high 44 points as St. John's continued their wild hot streak and dropped Marquette Golden Eagles, 86-78.
Marquette is now 14-11 overall and 5-8 in Big East play. The Golden Eagles came into this game with essentially no wiggle room in terms of an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, and that will almost assuredly require running the table at this point. That is not a sentence that I wanted to be typing on February 10th, but here we are.
As great as Ponds was in the second half, connecting on nine of his 12 shots, it was really just a continuation of what was going on in the first half. The St. John's offense on the day essentially solely consisted of Ponds doing whatever he wanted. He ended up with 23 of SJU's 50 shots in the game, and given how he was torturing Marquette, you can't blame his teammates for making sure he got the ball.
The key point in the game came right around the eight minute mark of the second half. Sam Hauser had just connected on a three-pointer to pull Marquette back within four. St. John's had built a nine point advantage a few minutes earlier, and now the margin was manageable for the Golden Eagles again. BANG, Ponds triple, and then eight seconds after Andrew Rowsey missed a three on the other end, BANG, another Ponds triple. St. John's up 10 all of a sudden with 7:40 to go.
The lead would dip back to seven on the next made shot as Rowsey drained a three, one of six on the day for him on his way to a team high 34 points, but that's as close as Marquette would get the rest of the way. The margin never got bigger than 12, but St. John's also never let MU get closer than arm's length.
While St. John's was a one-man show to great effect, Marquette was a three-man show to lesser effect. Players not named Markus Howard, Andrew Rowsey, or Sam Hauser combined for just eight points on 13 shots, which is generally not going to be enough of a support system for the Treys Amigos. To put that into relief: Marquette shot 40% (12-of-30) from behind the three point arc in this game, which is exactly what this team needs to do to win, but they shot just 40.6% overall from the floor. 16-of-39 inside the arc just isn't going to cut it.
Up Next: Marquette will take a week off [insert joke about how they took Saturday off already here] before heading out to Omaha to tangle with Creighton. The Bluejays are 3-2 since Martin Krampelj went down with a season ending knee injury with a home date against Xavier getting started as I type this and a mid-week non-D1 game against Bemidji State for some insane reason coming up on Tuesday.


*All of my programs are based off of coaching calls, because I find that we get the most done this way. With coaching calls rather than emails and meal plans, I am able to help you find out what to work on with your nutrition and fitness. The feedback from my clients is overwhelming and they love getting to talk to me on the phone, even just to make them feel better about the choices they are making.
Below are my 2 coaching options. I work very closely with a nutritional product that I recommend to all of my clients. You aren't required to use it, but you will find when you do use the nutritional system, along with my coaching you will likely get better results. I also give 1 extra coaching call (complimentary) to anyone using the nutritional system. I know that anyone who is willing to commit to a month's system will be more likely to succeed, and I want to offer as much support to them as possible.
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I talked to you at OT last week about needing a new nutrition program. Can we talk soon about what might work well for me. I have had breast cancer so can't have too much soy, not sure if you shakes are soy based. Also, not allowed to take supplements. But I do like meal replacement shake programs. Let me know when is good to talk!


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At Their Service: Wayne Peacock
For one hundred years, USAA has been helping military families build their financial security. For President & CEO Wayne Peacock, it's a proud legacy to draw upon as he looks to build a bright future for its members.
Wayne Peacock
President & CEO, USAA
Words - Chrissie McClatchie
The day Wayne Peacock took over as President and CEO of USAA, he made a personal promise to himself. "I made a commitment to serve with integrity every single day," he says. He followed it up with another pledge, this time for excellence, "because that's what is required of our brand."
"Those are the values I believe are essential to leading big companies today," he tells The CEO Magazine.
He also made a series of pledges to his stakeholders: USAA's members, employees and Board of Directors. "I committed to creating an environment where our employees can do their best as part of the USAA team," he says. "Also to protect the association, something I see as an important role of CEOs.
"Lastly, I pledged to ensure that we are innovating appropriately and building a bright future."
After more than 30 years with the San Antonio-based, Fortune-500 listed financial and insurance provider for the military community, Wayne was given two months' notice in December 2019 of his impending promotion from Property and Casualty Insurance Group President to the top job. "I spent that time thinking about where we needed to take our strategy and how we could continue to innovate for the future of military families," he explains — especially considering that the centenary of its 1922 establishment was fast approaching.
He says he walked into the office on that first day of February brimming with ideas and plans. "And then COVID-19 became the reality," he says. Everything he thought he'd be working on was pushed aside, as the focus turned back to basics and following three principles. "One was to take care of employees, the second was to ask these same employees to take care of our members during this period of uncertainty, and the third was to get back to our roots of making really prudent financial decisions and protecting the assets and the liquidity of the company," he explains.
The company already had a plan in place for pandemics that was built on bird flu and other earlier examples. "It called for us to have something like a 25 per cent absentee rate before we would act," he said. "It quickly became clear that, in this situation, it wasn't a good plan." Within a matter of days, the entire company moved to remote working. "It was an amazing transition that happened very quickly," he continues.
Fortune's Friend
Last year, USAA achieved its highest ever ranking on the Fortune–500 list, coming in at 87th. "The company stands out for its top scores in customer-satisfaction surveys, a rarity in an industry that isn't generally beloved by consumers," wrote Fortune's editors.
A stable mission
One hundred years ago, USAA was born out of an unmet customer need. "The Army Air Corps was here in San Antonio, the beginning of what would eventually become the Air Force," Wayne explains. Seen as a high-risk group for auto insurance, however, the military officers were struggling to find insurance companies willing to cover them. "So, they came to the conclusion that maybe they should start their own," he says.
Rather than the wordy, binding contracts that accompany business creation today, USAA officially came into being in a downtown San Antonio hotel when 25 friends threw their money into a hat. "What's really striking is that it was about serving an unmet need and doing it better than anyone else," he says.
Years became decades and the business kept growing. "We went from just army officers to officers from all branches of service, and then to family members and enlisted troops as well," he says. As it grew, so did its offering — "from one product to a full suite of financial products," as Wayne puts it.
It's about meeting members where they are and offering a great digital experience.
"Today, our mission comes from these roots and is very clear," he continues. "We help military families build their financial security." For over 13 million members, USAA is a constant presence across their lives, for many starting from the day they enlist in the military. "We really focus on doing a great job every day with transactional work," he explains. "But where we are really at our best is when things are really tough, such as in catastrophes or tricky insurance situations or the death of a loved one."
More than a job, Wayne says that USAA's approximately 39,000 employees are united by a collective passion for what they do. "People at USAA come to work every day wanting to make a difference and wanting to be better tomorrow than they were yesterday," he says. "Not only for the outcome, but for the impact the outcome has in making a difference in the lives of military families." The idea that their work involves a greater cause is also a prime motivator. "It drives so much discretionary effort because we know those soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines that we are working for really deserve our very best," he continues.
While this passion may be USAA's "cultural norm", as he describes it, it's certainly not the case for every company and he says this offers USAA an important point of difference in the marketplace.
Building on a proud past
After a challenging first two years in the role, Wayne is now able to focus on the original ideas he brought to the position. "That is, celebrating an incredibly proud past while building on that legacy for a bright future," he explains. While there's the organic growth that comes from the increasing numbers of new recruits to the military and military children coming of age, innovation in products and services is key to exceeding their expectations.
"If we go back to our roots of auto insurance, for example, it's becoming increasingly a product that is on-demand," he says. "So we are looking at ways to help people use that product in a way that reflects how they drive, as opposed to just fixed terms or coverage."
He highlights a product called SafePilot, where members can save up to 30 per cent on their premium for being a safe driver, as an example. The company has also recently acquired pay-as-you-go auto insurer Noblr and is introducing usage-based insurance policies that reflect the actual miles you drive. "It's about meeting members where they are and offering a great digital experience that, at the tap of their phone or connection through our online services, takes care of them," he says.
Machine learning is also being applied to accelerate and the claims process more accurate, he says. "Today we have the ability to take a picture of the damage to your vehicle and translate that into a bankable estimate for the customer in almost real-time through our artificial intelligence engines," he explains. Similar techniques and technologies are being applied to homeowner insurance claims. "In some cases, even before members can get back into their homes after a fire or another catastrophic event, we are able to get into the air and take pictures and adjust claims accordingly and have a payment in the hands of our members very quickly," he says. The service hasn't changed over the years, he continues, but the speed and accuracy have — thanks to technology.
"While we continue to innovate around our existing product set, we are also looking at unmet needs and how we deliver more to our members as well," Wayne continues. For the first time in the company's history, it is now offering small business insurance policies — a reflection of the nearly 10 per cent of US Veterans who either own or are planning to set-up their own business, he says. (Recent studies from firms like MckInsey & Company also say small and medium-size enterprise insurance is "set to thrive in coming years".)
For a company that keeps costs low, so it can keep its prices low for its members – "Our profit is appropriate to feed back into, and build financial strength for, the association," Wayne says – technology that "improves our member experience while at the same time reducing the cost of our operations" is the key to USAA's success. Today, almost every major technology system is under some form of re-platforming or reinvention to enable a better speed to market. "Because when we run our costs very efficiently, it allows us to be even more competitive for military families," Wayne explains.
Trusted partnerships
Of course, long-standing relationships across the spectrum have provided a crucial platform to allow USAA to grow the support it offers its members. These include technology companies such as IBM, who Wayne says has been a partner for 60 years. "We figured out how to do paperless with them back in the 80s. And again today, they are spending time with us as we continue to move to the cloud."
But, as Wayne says, cars, unfortunately, crash a lot, so it's also important to cultivate mutually beneficial relationships in the car repair business. "We have built huge partnerships with some of the largest companies in the market," he says. "You'll walk into their auto body shops, and you'll see the USAA brand there." More than branding on the wall, however, he explains that there will also be employees who "understand USAA's value proposition and service ethic".
"We work in a very strategic manner with them, so that they deliver exactly as we would expect them to deliver, which allows us to extend our promise to deliver USAA quality standards past our four walls," he adds.
The more you can keep people focused on the North Star for your company — whatever that may be — the better served you will be through uncertain times.
Being a trusted partner of USAA may come with high expectations but the rewards are worth it. "I think we can provide a tremendous amount of volume for our partners, as well as continuity, which is good for their business," he says.
For Wayne, the arrival of one crisis or challenge after another in the last few years has shown him that business leaders need to adapt to a new normal; one where managing multiple crises simultaneously is the way of life. "You might think that you've figured out the latest one, and then a new one arrives," he says, pointing to the geopolitical risk brought by the Russian invasion of Ukraine as an example.
A Smart Toolbox
In a recent interview with Forbes, Wayne shared the main innovations USAA put in place during the COVID-19 crisis:
• Introduction of Telematics Enabled Auto Claims (TEAC): "This technology enables USAA to proactively reach out to a member if their use of our telematics app senses a collision," he said.
• Pilot of augmented reality enabled glasses with field adjusters: "Wearing them, the adjusters' manager can see the damage without physically being present. The pilot eliminated 160 hours of travel time for four adjusters over the course of three months, which resulted in more efficient training," he sad.
• Use of machine learning to digitize paper medical records and replace manual life insurance underwriting summaries. "Machine learning has reduced the time to one day and improved accuracy," he said.
Yet it has also reinforced just how much mission and purpose matter. "The more you can keep people focused on the North Star for your company — whatever that may be — the better served you will be through uncertain times," he says.
For USAA, that's "doing the right thing because it's the right thing to do" – a vision it has upheld for one hundred years and will continue to do for one hundred-plus more.
Sponsored by: Strategic Staffing Solutions
With offices across the world, Strategic Staffing Solutions has the talent, leadership and global footprint to solve your next big IT challenge.
Sponsored by: Caliber
The Caliber family of brands provide world-class service to USAA's valuable members in the times they need it the most.
Enterprise Holdings
"Our longstanding partnership with USAA honors our military legacy and commitment to serving those who have served. USAA shares our values of service and integrity, and we're proud to provide transportation to its members." – Chrissy Taylor, President and CEO, Enterprise Holdings
After a decade working in sales and marketing for the luxury industry in the South of France, Chrissie shares her journalism talents with The CEO Magazine.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


ESTRA Seattle Official Car Accident Blog: What do you really know about GEICO?
What do you really know about GEICO?
How will Auto Insurance Company treat you after traffic collision? Can you trust them?
SEATTLE (ESTRA) --When companies began using credit scores, consumers could not have imagined just how far into their personal lives and the amount of data collected regarding their financial, employment, personal, and insurance history not to mention GPS Tracking, Surveillance, and whatever some can get their hands on. American citizens hold their privacy dear, and could not have realize that in only a generation, most anything in their lives is only a computer click away. It's common for Auto Insurance Companies to determine what they will charge by reviewing credit score, which contains historical information on incomes, jobs, credit limits, payment history, and whatever they can legally place for review by those requesting access into your life.
Currently, Auto Insurance is now required for most drivers. Many people who seek Insurance Coverage do not realize what their rights and responsibilities are when entering into an agreement with corporations. This extends to credit cards, mortgages, loans, or insurance. In my opinion, until being involved in a serious accident, few people realize importance of an insurance company which operates in "good faith" to a claim. Second, many carriers spend millions of dollars in advertising to create an illusion that in my opinion mesmerizes the consumer. This works until these expectation come crashing down when reality meets commercial.
The best defense in a difficult situation when dealing with corporations, including insurance companies, is to know the rules and your rights. This typically takes time, and a traffic collision is not a good time to make this discovery. When injured one is vulnerable and some people may take advantage of you. Many companies hope policyholders will give up, get too discourage, especially when dealing with the deep pockets of these organizations. Therefore, focus on recovery, staying afloat financially, and learning as much as possible about your situation, and those people handling claims. Learn the rules which govern insurance companies in the state where living and federal laws. So if told inaccurate information, being knowledgeable provides ability to advocate for yourself.
Unfortunately, when it comes to money, having to pull it from the hands of insurance companies because some would prefer to keep it rather than pay claims, is an acquired skilled on knowing your rights, informing them that you know them, and standing up for benefits.
Many of the poor and the new poor which use to be the middle class, are ill-informed and rely on people who's trust level and integrity could use improvement, leaving many disenfranchised, still injured, in a worse physical and/or financial position, along with possible additional deception afoot. From my perspective, the average person could not imagine facing many of these difficulties and have not acquired skills to manage these situations. Through it all, remember you are the most important person in this equation, so take care of yourself, and do not give up. As long as you don't lose hope and continue fighting for a fair claim, this is the best thing anyone could do, so be proud. Although Auto Insurance Companies cannot be forced to do the right thing, perhaps the Insurance Commissioner in your state, judge, or public opinion can. Choose options that best fits your needs and desires. Remember to share anything learned with other injured people who will come after you, because greed never changes.
From my perspective and experience, auto insurance companies view paying small claims as a good will gesture. From the insured point of view, it builds credibility and trust that carriers are willing to payout in case of a serious accident. But is this true? From my experience, the more costly a claim, the less chances an auto insurance company is willing pay in timely manner, which could reduce your pain and suffering. In fact, pain and suffering may become a longtime companion, because some carriers may believe this will wear injured out. Knowing what is important to you, and the goals you to accomplish is where to keep focus. Use this opportunity to move forward wherever this journey leads. There will be people around you with self-preservation on their minds. Do not be bother by this, those will be there issues. Yours is to restore life and dreams.
Geico – What do you really know about this carrier? Do they have more earnings than Warren Buffet's Secretary does? You betcha! Will they pay out small claims? Will they pay out large claims? One thing is certain, Geico has enough profits to pay out claims. From reviewing the number complaints online, there will be some policyholders subjected to great disappointment. However, when too many insured do not receive the respect and dignity they deserve from any carrier, a "good faith" insurance company is also willing to accept your premiums. So before you need to file a claim, make sure to investigate the company pass their commercials.


Database specialist Sybase has launched version 15 of its flagship Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) product in Australia, touting several new features such as the ability to support several terabytes of data.Version 15 will be able to support databases with up to 32 terabytes of data, the company's director of worldwide evangelism, systems engineering Irfan Khan told a small group of high-profile customers like Citigroup and Colonial First State at a Sydney seminar this morning.
Database specialist Sybase has launched version 15 of its flagship Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) product in Australia, touting several new features such as the ability to support several terabytes of data.
Version 15 will be able to support databases with up to 32 terabytes of data, the company's director of worldwide evangelism, systems engineering Irfan Khan told a small group of high-profile customers like Citigroup and Colonial First State at a Sydney seminar this morning.
Other additions included support for on-disk encryption and better integration with decision support applications.
Khan also outlined other improvements in the software, including better support for XML-formatted data, and the ability to access unstructured data -- a feature which had previously been sold separately to the main AES product.
The executive said performance had also improved. "Early beta tests show Linux transaction performance improving by almost 10 percent over ASE 12.5.2," he said.
He claimed a new feature dubbed 'Smart Partitions' worked with optimisation techniques to "eliminate bottlenecks" in databases. The company has previously said its query engine was rewritten for the upgrade.
A host of minor upgrades included wizards to aid novice administrators and better information about the software's inner workings.
Local Sybase managing director Rob Zalums told the audience the upgrade was the most exciting in his company's history.
He said Sybase has sold ASE to 700 new customers in the last year, although its specialised IQ relational database, which is optimised for business intelligence and reporting, was showing the strongest growth (at 50 percent) of the company's product line.
ASE is available locally in several different versions, including a free 'Express Edition' for the Linux platform that is limited to supporting 5Gb of data on a server with 2GB of memory and a single processor.
A version targeted at small businesses starts at AU$1,495. The full version runs on all popular server operating systems.


One of the challenges of an international project, such as CASO, is how to practically draw on the expertise of researchers that are scattered across the globe, particularly in terms of teaching students. Despite periodic technical challenges, we decided to explore the option of a Skype tutorial to connect Patient Partner Programme students, at the University of Cape Town (UCT), with experts in service-user engagement, based in Belgium. Dr. Bea van Robaeys, a CASO member, and her colleague, Prof. Dr. Kristel Driessens, are both social workers focussed on transdiciplinary, change-oriented social work research, at the Karel de Grote University College.
On the 21st of August, Kanyisa Tutshana, Nazneen Pilodia and Sipho Nderya, three students that we introduced you to here, met online with Dr. van Robaeys and Prof. Driessens for a Skype tutorial. The purpose of the tutorial was to introduce the students to some theoretical frameworks on service-users' involvement and the experiences of collaborating with service-users in social work education in Belgium.
Bind-Kracht (Bonding/Bridging Strengths), is a Belgian collaborative partnership between lecturers, academic researchers and service users with experience of living in poverty. The explicit goal of the partnership is to improve the quality of social work practice for people in poverty. A central premise is that without integration of different sources of knowledge, empowerment of people in poverty isn't possible. Bind-Kracht integrates scientific knowledge, practice-based knowledge of social workers and educators, and the experience-based knowledge of people in poverty.
In the online-class, Dr. van Robaeys and Prof. Driessens explained the underlying structural view on social problems, a multidimensional understanding of poverty, their view of cooperation and the strength-based view they apply to clients. In particular, they stressed the importance of social care relations that contribute to the autonomy of clients/patients. To achieve this, social professionals must be 'caring' (trustworthy, nearby, human). They must also know how to work in a 'personalized' way (demand driven, tailored to the client) and an emancipatory way (involvement and participation of clients/patients). For all of these, communication is central.
Dr. van Robaeys and Prof. Driessens told the students about an innovative project at the Karel De Grote Hogeschool involving experts by experience (another term for engaged service users or patient partners) in two courses for social work students; a training course on communication techniques in social work, and an integral course on family-centered work in socio-educational care work. Feedback from students at Karel De Grote, indicated that this approach was extremely important. The students' made comments such as, "Reality enters the classroom.", "You obtain a better understanding of what it means to live in poverty and the consequences of exclusion." And, "Their stories helped me to see that there are many pitfalls in counseling clients, often due to inadequate communication.".


The health of your body relies on the digestive system being able to efficiently breakdown and absorb nutrients from the food you eat. Many health issues can arise when your digestive system is not functioning optimally, as even though you may be consuming the nutrients you need, you may not be digesting and absorbing them effectively. I have shared with you my top tips for great digestion.
Digestion starts in the mouth, and it is the only place in which you can mechanically break food down. Your stomach relies on your mouth and teeth to breakdown the food into small pieces so that the digestive juices can then work more effectively. If food enters the gut in large pieces it takes much longer to breakdown and can result in bloating and the production of gas.
Try to chew food 20-25 times before swallowing.
Try to eat slowly and mindfully. Don't eat while checking out the latest Instagram posts, watching TV or even reading a book, as this can cause you to eat more than you need to. Focus on the taste of your food and enjoy every mouthful rather than absent-mindedly gobbling it all down. When we eat distracted we are far more likely to over-eat, and then feel uncomfortably full. Try to put your knife and fork down after each bite, this slows you down and allows you to focus on your meal.
Sometimes your stomach can do with a helping hand to get stomach acid production going. Stomach acid is needed to digest proteins in the food, and break food down into small fragments. Many people do not make enough stomach acid, and this is often the reason behind bloating and gas. Trial the addition of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar before each meal for 4 weeks, and notice the difference to bloating and gas post meals. Two table spoons of ACV, or the juice of half a lemon in 1/4 cup of water is sufficient. It is also a good idea to avoid drinking water before or during your meal, as this can further dilute your stomach acid.
Our bowels are not something we usually talk about amongst our friends, or even our families, and many people don't know that they should in fact be using them at least once a day. For many people it is perfectly common for them to only do 'number twos' every few days, while this is common, it is not normal. Our bow el is our may way to excrete waste from the body, when waste sits in the colon too long unwanted substances are reabsorbed, causing a host of problems including headaches, acne, fatigue and constipation. Eating a diet high in fibre and consuming lots of fluids each day is important to help with efficient elimination.
High fibre foods include; fruits, vege tables, nuts, seeds, and whole grains.
Gut bacteria has a massive influence on the health of the body. Each person has about 1kg of bacteria living inside their gut, ideally we want to have 85% good bacteria to about 15% bad bacteria. Gut bacteria is responsible for the digestion of some types of carbohydrates that the human body is not equipped to digest itself. The bacteria metabolise the carbohydrates into short chain fatty acids which the body can then use for energy. Gut bacteria also produces some B vitamins and most of the vitamin K needed by the body. A lack of helpful gut bacteria can lead to an over growth of bad bacteria, when this happens the gut walls start to become damaged causing a cascade of health issues. Be su re to feed your gut with the addition of foods like; kiefer, sauerkraut, natural yoghurt, and kombucha.
Teas are a great way to support and nourish your gut. Many of the teas designed by Storm and India have medicinal properties to help with digestion, indigestion and bloating. Peppermint Tea is a great option if you are feeling a little bit over full or gassy. It helps by relaxing the walls of the digestive system, allowin g food to pass out of the stomach and into the small intestine. It also promotes the production of bile, responsible for digesting fats. The Evening Detox Tea is the ultimate digestive blend, combining peppermint, liquorice, basil and fennel seeds, to help relieve cramping, bloating and gas. The herbs relax the gut walls, and soothe the gut membranes.


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Jasenovo may refer to several places:

 Jasenovo, Slovakia, a village and municipality in Slovakia
 Jasenovo (Nova Varoš), a village in Nova Varoš municipality, Serbia
 Jasenovo, Bela Crkva, a village in Bela Crkva municipality, Serbia
 Jasenovo (Despotovac), a village in Despotovac municipality, Serbia
 Jasenovo, Foča, a village in Foča municipality, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina

See also
 Jasenov (disambiguation)
 Yasenevo (disambiguation)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Grant Guindon is currently living in North Vancouver, British Columbia and has been on the path of learning the shamanic arts for many years with a focus on Animal and Plant spirit medicines. He moves through this world learning to embody the wisdom of his ancestors and works to bring the awareness of Spirit into the common place.
Animal Spirits: Shapeshifting, familiars, companions.
Its been quite a while since I've shared on the topic of animal spirits and what they are to me personally. Throughout all my travels, apprenticeships, teachings and overall exposure to the spiritual realms I've experienced countless perspectives on the subject of animal spirits.
The first of which I would care to touch on is the idea of a companion 'spirit' of an animal that is present with a person much like a caretaker or a guide throughout parts of their lives. The idea of this sends off a subtle alarm in the back of my mind as a warning that often makes me question the reasoning behind why a person wants to believe that for instance they walk with a companion spirit of a badger. Some would claim that this spirit assists them in their lives and often states that the badger helps them understand human problems. I personally am not fond on this idea that a legitimate animal spirit would bother with something like finding ways to pay your bills, fixing your car and all variations of our human plights. Though I am open minded and I can understand how there would be some overlapping similarities in the life of a human and a badger, it leaves one to think just how deep that rabbit hole goes.
Another way of working with the spirits seems much older to me, where instead of assisting us with our human conditions, they would rather reveal wisdom of living much in the ways an animal would, Seeking of food, building of shelters, reactions to conflict. We have all met someone on our journey who we can definitely associate their behaviours to a certain type of animal. The connection is real, it is tangible, primal and ancestrally bound to our being as those who once lived in harmony with the animal kingdom and depended on that alliance for their daily survival.
On a more physical plane it's interesting to consider how the idea of the Familiar applies to our relations to the animal spirits. In particular I find it helpful to discover what a familiar is by looking at the meaning of the words associated with it. I think number one is my favourite and is hilarious.
1. A demon supposedly attending and obeying a witch, often said to assume the form of an animal.
Looking at these we can get an idea of how an animal "familiar" becomes associated to having a deep spiritual connection to an animal that is living in and around your daily existence for precisely the same reasons as one would be associated with the incorporeal animal spirits that were mentioned earlier. We desire to have a connection to our totemic beasts on a level that is both primal and intellectual. As the modern era of spirituality takes hold of these age old connections that our ancestors cherished I take a great deal of comfort in the fact that my relationships with animal spirits remains relatively void of anything unreasonably modern. For instance I do not want a spirit of a wolf assisting me in building a house, I have ten thousand ancestors that are far more up to the task of advising me on the ideal way to swing a hammer. Although when it comes right down to the deeds of survival I would welcome nothing more then the guidance of that wolf for when tracking a deer or navigating wild terrain.
Having long considered what all of this means, I found myself one day asking my ancestral spirits: "How is this knowledge best applied in my life?" I knew that it was one thing to receive the information but it was quite another to apply it effectively. Sitting in a dark room filled with smoke ponding the path towards a stronger connection to these spirits the answer was unanimous.
The best story that I can recount of a person doing this was of a man deep in the woodlands of England on spiritual retreat. As he sat in meditation upon the vast meadow of wild flowers and grasses, in the distance he noticed a large group of deer grazing that were seemingly unworried of his presence. He watched as they frolicked and danced about in the sunlight, often pausing to feast on the lush foliage surrounding them. The man wondered what it would be like to run with the deer and to play with them as they do, to run with and touch a deer became a thought that obsessed him. He stood and began walking towards the deer and stopped as they became aware of him. Their eyes probed worriedly as the man stood and slowly crouched to the ground where he began a gentle song calling to the spirits of the deer.
One of these spirits approached him curiously and they had a brief moment of truly seeing one another on a deep and fundamental level. The man stood back up and allowed that spirit of the deer to enter his body and he gently bounced towards the herd of deer who immediately ran away. Saddened he crouched down wondering if he was wasting his time only to realize that behind him two young deer had returned and stood not far away. He stood and playfully gave chase to the deer that no longer 'ran' from him but rather they moved with him. Running faster and faster as a group he laid his right hand on the neck of a full grown deer and then stopped in disbelief. He sat down again and let the deer run off into the woods at a gentle and peaceful trot.
Feeling this spirit of the deer leave his body, he became aware of a very real and ancient art of shapeshifting, the path of becoming an animal. To me this is a sacred act of such importance that I don't think we can ever truly step away from it.
We are bound to this tradition by ancient roots that nourish our living bodies.
The next time you step into the wilderness and encounter your animal allies think long and fond thoughts of them. Consider how you would expand on this relationship and further more begin to glean from them how you can assist one another in sharing this world we call home.
Greetings to all! It's a pleasure to be given the opportunity to share thoughts and ideas here on this new grand project.
I had often thought long and hard about what experiences or knowledge could be shared about the self realization of being 'one' with our ancestral lineage. There are many thought forms and understandings of exactly what it means to have "The Ancestors" as part of our spiritual practices. In this article I'd like to brush along an experience that have helped me weave the Ancestors into an integral part of my working the affairs of spirit.
It was hard at first to understand how I could possible work with long dead individuals who once stood on this earth in my bloodline. The first realization I had was in my early 20's when my Father and both of my Grandfathers suddenly died within 6 months of each other. It was shortly after this that I began to have an intense dream of swimming in a churning river which flowed endlessly backwards in time.
This river was filled with weapons, artifacts, and clothing all from various time periods. I would have this dream over and over until one night it became lucid and I swam backwards through this river and there around the bend was my father standing tall and grounded in the swirling water. I continued and there were my grandfathers and it continued further and further back with the river widening to accommodate all manner of peoples whom I had never met before yet still I felt an overwhelming feeling of respect for.
I could see their faces and their lives play out before me. What they worked, how they died, who they loved, I saw their children flow forth from their bodies in endless directions forward until I could not bear to look anymore. The song they all seemed to sing was so loud and cacophonous that ground began to shift.
It was then that the river turned red and the world began to slowly spin to the intense beating of a drum which had a deep and primal bass that rung my ears so loudly they could burst at any moment. The red waters flowed and swirled I was washed down stream through twists and bends I thought would never end. Suddenly the dream began to fade to that mighty sound of the drum and I was lifted up out of the river and down below I could see how it twisted and ran for eons in all directions and it was then I realized that this river was my blood, I was witnessing my own ancestral river inside of myself.
Holding this realization I awoke in a haze like state and when I would move my arm I was aware of all of my ancestors moving with me. My heart raced and I could still feel the burning beat of the drum in my ears when a voice spoke in my mind.
This thought will never leave me now and has become an integral part of the way I work with the spirits of this world and the other.
For me that answer is easy for they are the only reason I am here. Any gifts that I possess in this world are theirs which they have given to me through their bloodlines. It's almost as if by looking backwards and acknowledging our roots we allow ourselves to finally drink from an untapped well of spiritual potential that has the ability to make all facets of our lives more in line with our destiny.
I once asked a Christian man if god spoke to him and he replied, "Sometimes".
He nodded and continued his meditation and I sat for a long time holding this idea of what the ancestors are when you consider the multitude of individuals who have come before us. If all of them felt, spoke and expressed themselves as one, what would the significance of that be.
I have my own thoughts and feelings on this and welcome any of your own.


A total of 1977 exoplanets (in 1257 planetary systems, including 490 multiple planetary systems) have been identified as of 1 November.
The idea was first proposed in western philosophy and Greek astronomy as early as the 3rd century BC by Aristarchus of Samos, but had received no support from most other ancient astronomers.
Planets orbiting pulsars have been discovered, and pulsars are the remnants of the supernova explosions of high-mass stars. A planetary system that existed before the supernova would likely be mostly destroyed — planets would either evaporate, be pushed off of their orbits by the masses of gas from the exploding star, or the sudden loss of most of the mass of the central star would see them escape the gravitational hold of the star, or in some cases the supernova would kick the pulsar itself out of the system at high velocity so any planets that had survived the explosion would be left behind as free-floating objects. Planets found around pulsars may have formed as a result of pre-existing stellar companions that were almost entirely evaporated by the supernova blast, leaving behind planet-sized bodies. Alternatively, planets may form in an accretion disk of fallback matter surrounding a pulsar. Fallback disks of matter that failed to escape orbit during a supernova may also form planets around black holes.
As stars evolve and turn into red giants, asymptotic giant branch stars and planetary nebulae they engulf the inner planets, evaporating or partially evaporating them depending on how massive they are. As the star loses mass, planets that are not engulfed move further out from the star.
The Solar System consists of an inner region of small rocky planets and outer region of large gas giants however other planetary systems can have quite different architectures. Many systems with a hot Jupiter gas giant very close to the star have been found. Theories, such as planetary migration or scattering, have been proposed for the formation of large planets close to their parent stars. At present, few systems have been found to be analogous to the Solar System with terrestrial planets close to the parent star. More commonly, systems consisting of multiple Super-Earths have been detected.
Most stars have planets but exactly what proportion of stars have planets is uncertain because not all planets can yet be detected. The radial-velocity method and the transit method (which between them are responsible for the vast majority of detections) are most sensitive to large planets in small orbits. Thus many known exoplanets are "hot Jupiters": planets of Jovian mass or larger in very small orbits with periods of only a few days. A 2005 survey of radial-velocity-detected planets found that about 1.2% of Sun-like stars have a hot jupiter, where "Sun-like star" refers to any main-sequence star of spectral classes late-F, G, or early-K without a close stellar companion. This 1.2% is more than double the frequency of hot jupiters detected by the Kepler spacecraft, which may be because the Kepler field of view covers a different region of the Milky Way where the metallicity of stars is different. It is further estimated that 3% to 4.5% of Sun-like stars possess a giant planet with an orbital period of 100 days or less, where "giant planet" means a planet of at least 30 Earth masses.
It is known that small planets (of roughly Earth-like mass or somewhat larger) are more common than giant planets. It also appears that there are more planets in large orbits than in small orbits. Based on this, it is estimated that perhaps 20% of Sun-like stars have at least one giant planet whereas at least 40% may have planets of lower mass. A 2012 study of gravitational microlensing data collected between 2002 and 2007 concludes the proportion of stars with planets is much higher and estimates an average of 1.6 planets orbiting between 0.5–10 AU per star in the Milky Way, the authors of this study conclude that "stars are orbited by planets as a rule, rather than the exception". In November 2013 it was announced that 22±8% of Sun-like stars have an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone.
Stars of spectral category A typically rotate very quickly, which makes it very difficult to measure the small Doppler shifts induced by orbiting planets because the spectral lines are very broad. However, this type of massive star eventually evolves into a cooler red giant that rotates more slowly and thus can be measured using the radial-velocity method. A few tens of planets have been found around red giants.
Rogue planets ejected from their system could retain a system of satellites.
A 2012 study of the Kepler spacecraft data found that smaller planets, with radii smaller than Neptune's were found around stars with metallicities in the range −0.6 < [m/H] < +0.5 (about four times less than that of the Sun to three times more), whereas larger planets were found mostly around stars with metallicities at the higher end of this range (at solar metallicity and above). In this study small planets occurred about three times as frequently as large planets around stars of metallicity greater than that of the Sun, but they occurred around six times as frequently for stars of metallicity less than that of the Sun. The lack of gas giants around low-metallicity stars could be because the metallicity of protoplanetary disks affects how quickly planetary cores can form and whether they accrete a gaseous envelope before the gas dissipates. However, Kepler can only observe planets very close to their star and the detected gas giants probably migrated from further out, so a decreased efficiency of migration in low-metallicity disks could also partly explain these findings.
A 2014 study found that not only giant planets, but planets of all sizes have an increased occurrence rate around metal-rich stars compared to metal-poor stars, although the larger the planet, the greater this increase as the metallicity increases. The study divided planets into three groups based on radius: gas giants, gas dwarfs, and terrestrial planets with the dividing lines at 1.7 and 3.9 Earth radii. For these three groups the planet occurrence rates are 9.30, 2.03, and 1.72 times higher for metal-rich stars than for metal-poor stars, respectively. There is a bias against detecting smaller planets because metal-rich stars tend to be larger, making it more difficult to detect smaller planets, which means that these increases in occurrence rates are lower limits.
Stellar multiplicity increases with stellar mass: the likelihood of stars being in multiple systems is about 25% for red dwarfs, about 45% for Sun-like stars, and rises to about 80% for the most massive stars. Of the multiple stars about 75% are binaries and the rest are higher-order multiplicities.
Some planets have been discovered orbiting one member of a binary star system (e.g. 55 Cancri, possibly Alpha Centauri Bb), and several circumbinary planets have been discovered which orbit around both members of binary star (e.g. PSR B1620-26 b, Kepler-16b). A few planets in triple star systems are known (e.g. 16 Cygni Bb) and one in the quadruple system Kepler 64.
The Kepler results indicate circumbinary planetary systems are relatively common (as of October 2013 the spacecraft had found seven circumbinary planets out of roughly 1000 eclipsing binaries searched). One puzzling finding is that although half of the binaries have an orbital period of 2.7 days or less, none of the binaries with circumbinary planets have a period less than 7.4 days. Another surprising Kepler finding is circumbinary planets tend to orbit their stars close to the critical instability radius (theoretical calculations indicate the minimum stable separation is roughly two to three times the size of the stars' separation).
In 2014, from statisitcal studies of searches for companion stars, it was inferred that around half of exoplanet host stars have a companion star, usually within 100AU. This means that many exoplanet host stars that were thought to be single are binaries, so in many cases it is not known which of the stars a planet actually orbits, and the published parameters of transiting planets could be significantly incorrect because the planet radius and distance from star are derived from the stellar parameters. Follow-up studies with imaging (such as speckle imaging) are needed to find or rule out companions (and radial velocity techniques would be required to detect binaries really close together) and this has not yet been done for most exoplanet host stars. Examples of known binary stars where it is not known which of the stars a planet orbits are Kepler-132 and Kepler-296.
Most stars form in open clusters, but very few planets have been found in open clusters and this led to the hypothesis that the open-cluster environment hinders planet formation. However, a 2011 study concluded that there have been an insufficient number of surveys of clusters to make such a hypothesis. The lack of surveys was because there are relatively few suitable open clusters in the Milky Way. Recent discoveries of both giant planets and low-mass planets in open clusters are consistent with there being similar planet occurrence rates in open clusters as around field stars.
The open cluster NGC 6811 contains two known planetary systems Kepler-66 and Kepler-67.
Habitable zones have usually been defined in terms of surface temperature, however over half of Earth's biomass is from subsurface microbes, and the temperature increases as you go deeper underground, so the subsurface can be conducive for life when the surface is frozen and if this is considered, the habitable zone extends much further from the star, even rogue planets could have liquid water at sufficient depths underground.
The Venus zone is the region around a star where a terrestrial planet would have runaway greenhouse conditions like Venus, but not so near the star that the atmosphere completely evaporates. As with the habitable zone, the location of the Venus zone depends on several factors including the type of star and properties of the planets such as mass, rotation rate and atmospheric clouds. Studies of the Kepler spacecraft data indicate that 32% of red dwarfs have potentially Venus-like planets based on planet size and distance from star, rising to 45% for K-type and G-type stars. Several candidates have been identified but spectroscopic follow-up studies of their atmospheres will be required to see if they really are like Venus.
The Milky Way is 100,000 light-years across, but 90% of planets with known distances lie within about 2000 light years of Earth, as of July 2014. One method that can detect planets much further away is microlensing. The WFIRST spacecraft could use microlensing to measure the relative frequency of planets in the galactic bulge vs. galactic disk. So far, the indications are that planets are more common in the disk than the bulge. Estimates of the distance of microlensing events is difficult: the first planet considered with high probability of being in the bulge is MOA-2011-BLG-293Lb at a distance of 7.7 kiloparsecs (about 25,000 light years). Population I, or metal-rich stars, are those young stars whose metallicity is highest. The high metallicity of population I stars makes them more likely to possess planetary systems than older populations, because planets form by the accretion of metals. The Sun is an example of a metal-rich star. These are common in the spiral arms of the Milky Way. Generally, the youngest stars, the extreme population I, are found farther in and intermediate population I stars are farther out, etc. The Sun is considered an intermediate population I star. Population I stars have regular elliptical orbits around the Galactic Center, with a low relative velocity.
Population II, or metal-poor stars, are those with relatively low metallicity which can have hundreds (e.g. BD +17° 3248) or thousands (e.g. Sneden's Star) times less metallicity than the Sun. These objects formed during an earlier time of the universe. Intermediate population II stars are common in the bulge near the center of the Milky Way, whereas Population II stars found in the galactic halo are older and thus more metal-poor. Globular clusters also contain high numbers of population II stars. In 2014 the first planets around a halo star were announced around Kapteyn's star, the nearest halo star to Earth, around 13 light years away. However later research suggests that Kapteyn b is just an artefact of stellar activity and that Kapteyn c needs more study to be confirmed. The metallicity of Kapteyn's star is estimated to be about 8 times less than the Sun.
^ Schneider, Jean (10 September 2011). "Interactive Extra-solar Planets Catalog".
^ Newton, Isaac; Cohen, I. Bernard; Whitman, Anne (1999) [First published 1713]. The Principia: A New Translation and Guide. University of California Press. p. 940.
^ Podsiadlowski, Philipp (1993). "Planet formation scenarios". In: Planets around pulsars; Proceedings of the Conference 36: 149.
^ Stuart J. Weidenschilling & Francesco Marzari (1996). "Gravitational scattering as a possible origin for giant planets at small stellar distances". Nature 384 (6610): 619–621.
^ Fabrycky, Daniel C. (2010). "Non-Keplerian Dynamics".
^ a b Cassan, A.; Kubas, D.; Beaulieu, J. P.; Dominik, M; et al. (2012). "One or more bound planets per Milky Way star from microlensing observations".
^ a b Marcy, G.; et al. (2005). "Observed Properties of Exoplanets: Masses, Orbits and Metallicities".
^ David P. Bennett; Jay Anderson; Ian A. Bond; Andrzej Udalski; et al. (2006). "Identification of the OGLE-2003-BLG-235/MOA-2003-BLG-53 Planetary Host Star". Astrophysical Journal Letters 647 (2): L171–L174.
^ Petigura, E. A.; Howard, A. W.; Marcy, G. W. (2013). "Prevalence of Earth-size planets orbiting Sun-like stars".
^ Bonfils, X.; et al. (2005). "The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets: VI. A Neptune-mass planet around the nearby M dwarf Gl 581".
^ L. Vu (3 October 2006). "Planets Prefer Safe Neighborhoods".
^ J. A. Johnson (2011). "The Stars that Host Planets".
^ Buchhave, L. A.; et al. (2012). "An abundance of small exoplanets around stars with a wide range of metallicities". Nature.
^ Israelian, G.; et al. (2009). "Enhanced lithium depletion in Sun-like stars with orbiting planets".
^ Welsh, William F.; Doyle, Laurance R. (2013). "Worlds with Two Suns". Scientific American 309 (5): 40.
^ Amend, J. P., & Teske, A. (2005). Expanding frontiers in deep subsurface microbiology. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 219(1–2), 131–155. Elsevier.
^ Charles H. Lineweaver (2000). "An Estimate of the Age Distribution of Terrestrial Planets in the Universe: Quantifying Metallicity as a Selection Effect". Icarus 151 (2): 307–313.
^ T. S. van Albada; Norman Baker (1973). "On the Two Oosterhoff Groups of Globular Clusters". Astrophysical Journal 185: 477–498.
^ Dressler, A. (March 1980). "Galaxy morphology in rich clusters - Implications for the formation and evolution of galaxies.". The Astrophysical Journal 236: 351–365.


This is the website of CdK, Psychology & Mindfulness. The abbreviation CdK stands for my name Charlotte de Kroon.
I offer short-term psychological support in the form of one-to-one sessions in Sheffield (S10) and online. I can help you with issues like anxiety, panic or depressive feelings. I am also able to help you cope with all kind of life events, like a divorce, a disease you struggle with or difficulties you face at home or at work. In my work I often see people hindered by fixed, but not helpful patterns of thinking or acting. Breaking through these can relieve a lot of complaints.
In my sessions I use cognitive behavioural techniques, ACT and mindfulness.


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Q: If $A=\begin{bmatrix}2&1&1\\0&1&0\\1&1&2\end{bmatrix}$, find $A^8-5A^7+7A^6-3A^5+A^4-5A^3+8A^2-2A+I$
If $A=\begin{bmatrix}2&1&1\\0&1&0\\1&1&2\end{bmatrix}$, find $A^8-5A^7+7A^6-3A^5+A^4-5A^3+8A^2-2A+I$

Attempt $1:$ $A=I+B$, where $B=\begin{bmatrix}1&1&1\\0&0&0\\1&1&1\end{bmatrix}$
$B^n$ comes out to be $2^{n-1}B$
After that I tried doing $A^8=(I+B)^8$ and then opening RHS with binomial. But it didn't help.
Attempt $2:$ Finding characteristic equation and putting $A$ in it. It didn't help either.
The equation I got here is $A^3-5A^2+7A-3I=0$
Note: Concept of minimal polynomial is not in syllabus. Also, if we can do this without characteristic polynomial, that would be great.

A: We have, $$A=\begin{bmatrix}2&1&1\\0&1&0\\1&1&2\end{bmatrix}$$
According to Caley-Hamilton Theorem,
$$|A - \lambda I| = 0$$
So we have,
$$A - \lambda I = \begin{bmatrix}2&1&1\\0&1&0\\1&1&2\end{bmatrix} - \lambda \begin{bmatrix}1&0&0\\0&1&0\\0&0&1\end{bmatrix} = \begin{bmatrix}2 - \lambda&1&1\\0&1 - \lambda &0\\1&1&2 - \lambda\end{bmatrix}$$
Now,
$$|A - \lambda I|  = 0 $$$$\implies \begin{vmatrix}2 - \lambda&1&1\\0&1 - \lambda &0\\1&1&2 - \lambda\end{vmatrix}  = 0$$$$\implies \lambda^3 - 5\lambda^2 + 7 \lambda - 3 = 0\tag{1}$$
Now, since every matrix is the root of its Eigen matrix, we have:
$$A^3 - 5A^2 + 7A  - 3 = 0 \tag{2}$$
Now consider,
$$A^8-5A^7+7A^6-3A^5+A^4-5A^3+8A^2-2A+I$$
$$ = (A^3- 5A^2  + 7A - 3) (A^5 + A) + (A^2 + A + I) $$
Using equation $(2)$ this equation will be changed into,
$$ (0) (A^5 + A) + (A^2 + A + I) $$
$$ =  (A^2 + A + I)$$
Now put values of $A^2, A$ and $I$, it will be done!

Factorization step:
$$A^8-5A^7+7A^6-3A^5+A^4-5A^3+8A^2-2A+I$$
$$A^5(A^3-5A^2+7A-3) +A^4-5A^3+8A^2-2A+I$$
$$A^5(A^3-5A^2+7A-3) +A^4-5A^3+7A^2 + A^2 - 3A + A+I$$
$$A^5(A^3-5A^2+7A-3) +A^4-5A^3+7A^2- 3A  + A^2 + A+I$$
$$A^5\underbrace{(A^3-5A^2+7A-3)} +A\underbrace{(A^3-5A^2+7A - 3)} + A^2 + A+I$$
$$(A^5 + A)(A^3-5A^2+7A-3) + (A^2 + A+I)$$

A: Hint:
$$A^5(A^3-5A^2+7A-3I)+A(A^3-5A^2+7A-3I)+A^2+A+I=\cdots$$

A: Following your attempt 1 and using
$$\begin{cases}
A-I &= B\\
B^2 &= 2B
\end{cases}$$ you get that
$A^2-4A + 3I=0$, i.e. that $q(A)=0$ where $q(x) = x^2-4x +3$. You want to get $p(A)$ where $p(x)=x^8-5x^7+7x^6-3x^5+x^4-5x^3+8x^2-2x+1$.
Performing the long division of $p$ by $q$ you get
$$p(x) = (x^6-x^5+x^2-x+1)q(x) + 5x-2.$$
Hence $$p(A)= 5A-2I=5B + 3I=\begin{bmatrix}8&5&5\\0&3&0\\5&5&8\end{bmatrix}$$
Note: when you'll learn the minimum polynomial, you'll be able to see that $q$ is the minimal polynomial of $A$. However, the notion is not required for the question.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Tag: Wrestling
Wrestlers look to overcome injuries, achieve goals
Each Brophy wrestler exemplifies intense physical training every day in the wrestling room of Loyola Hall.
After practice, the wrestlers can be seen weak and drenched in sweat due to their work outs because of their goal to succeed.
"If we peak as a team by the time February comes when the state tournament is held we should be right up there with the best teams in the state," said Connor Devereux '11.
The Broncos have not only practiced hard, but have found some success on the mat.
Wrestling team hopes to grapple its way to team, individual wins
By Julian De Ocampo '13
In ancient mythology, wrestling was the sport of champions, an ancient competition of just how far one could push the body.
The Brophy wrestling team continues the proud tradition into the 2010-2011 season with returning players and fresh new members.
"We just started but we've got a lot of excitement about this group. They worked really hard over the summer and accomplished a lot," said wrestling coach Mr. Brad Frank. "There are a lot of solid varsity returners so we have high expectations."
Another year of competition for Brophy sports comes to a close
Brophy sports enjoyed another year of high performance this past school year, coming away with a couple of state championships and even more great success stories.
Wrestling captain Ruelas pins opponents down 4 years straight
Varsity wrestler Tadeo Ruelas '10 has been wrestling since the eighth grade when he fell in love with WWE style wrestling, and he wanted to try it out for himself.
One could say he was confused when he didn't see this type of "show" wrestling when he stepped onto the mat.
At one point in his eighth grade season he asked his coach, "When are we gonna start hitting with chairs?"
Wrestlers bring back state champion
Senior wrestler Tadeo Ruelas '10 became Brophy wrestling's first state champion in his 130-pound weight class at the state wrestling championships at Arizona State University Feb. 17.
"It couldn't happen to a better kid," said Coach Mr. Matt Gaimari. "He's really worked hard and deserves everything he has accomplished."
In the championship match, Ruelas beat an opponent he had lost to twice already this year, adding another state title after placing fifth as both a sophomore and junior.
Bronco wrestlers place high at state tournament
Senior wrestler Tadeo Ruelas '10 earned an individual state champion title at 130 pounds Feb. 18, becoming the first Brophy wrestler to ever place at state three times in his career.
Ruelas placed fifth as a sophomore, fifth as a junior and most recently placed first. He is also just the second state champion in the history of Brophy wrestling.
Nine Broncos qualified for state, according to Head coach Mr. Brad Frank, and five of them won individual medals.
Wrestling offers unique history, sports experience
"Allow me to reintroduce myself."
Jay-Z's demand reverberated through the gym as Brophy's varsity wrestlers jogged out onto the mat Jan. 7 to face off against the Chandler Wolves.
In attendance were a handful of freshmen and J.V. wrestlers, several alumni, the wrestlers' families, Fr. Eddie Reese, S.J., and his dog Archie.
Wrestling team 'guarantees' state champions with performance at Peoria and Deer Valley
Kevin Malloy '12, down by one in the final seconds of the match, pinned his opponent for two points to win fifth place in the 145 pound weight class at the Peoria High School Tournament of Champions Saturday night, Jan. 9.
Malloy, newly transferred from Pinnacle High School, was one of four who placed at "the toughest tournament in the state" and helped the team to rank 10th overall.
Wrestling starts season with top placers
As the weather begins to cool, the wrestling room is heating up.
The Broncos' wrestling team started this season placing first, second and fifth at the Deer Valley tournament in December.
They also took first place in the Jerry Benson Invitational during the Dec. 12-13 weekend.


Parker Flats at Gage School is 3-building development - the renovation Washington DC's historic Gage School, built in 1904 and renovated under historic preservation guidelines, and construction of 2 new condo buildings. The new condos are four-story, wood-framed buildings with red brick facades, in keeping with the character of neighborhood. Located just east of Howard University, and set against architecturally appealing, if largely unrenovated, single family homes of the area. The Gage school offers 92 units - 33 in the original structure - priced originally from the upper $200k's for studios and from $339k for two beds (marked down from $445k). Delivery began in the summer of 2007 when the building was completed, with features including maple cabinets, high ceilings (up to 14 ft in some units), balconies, and both underground and above-grade parking available. Developed by Urban Realty Advisors, which was chosen by Howard University to convert the decaying building into housing. URA was later bought out by Monument Realty. Designed by Bonstra Haresign Architects, which oversaw the renovation of the historic school and designed the new buildings. Construction by James G Davis Construction began in March 2006. Real estate sales by McWilliams Ballard began in February 2006, but in 2008 switched to Urban Land, sales are ongoing.
Its a nice project, but the neighborhood is not as nice as I thought it would be when I bought here. Still feels a little scary at night while other parts of DC seem to have gotten better; this hasn't.
L'Enfant Plaza: Feds to Try Again?


Given how permanent they are, it's no surprise that tattoos are pretty darn personal things. Whether it's the date of your child's birthday or some other marking which commemorates a significant moment or aspect of your life, tattoos provide a means to carry around a visual reminder about something important to us. They could be about to get a whole lot more personal, however, thanks to a new startup called Everence.
The Everence (a combination of the words "forever" and "reverence") mixture is created from medical-grade materials at the company's dedicated facility in Quonset, Rhode Island. The process involves upwards of 20 individual steps and uses a variety of specialized mini-mills.
Duffy said that the concept was inspired by Special Operations Gold Stars, dedicated to surviving spouses and children of fallen Special Operations personnel killed in combat. However, customers so far have also included people celebrating the birth of a child, getting engaged or married, or those losing a loved one in some other manner.
The idea isn't wholly new, of course. There are already companies which will turn ashes into jewelry, for example. Back in 1977, the rock group KISS had their blood mixed in with the ink for the printing of a KISS special edition comic book, with the idea that this marketing stunt would give fans a genuine piece of their musical heroes to own. Everence may well be the first time a similar process has been applied to tattoo ink, though.
Will this latest example of a high-tech tattoo catch on? We'll have to wait and see. Either way, it's certainly likely to prove a talking point at parties!


This hard working police dog, named Yasso, knows that a hard working dog deserves a finger-licking-good reward! Starbucks has a secret menu item (that isn't so secret anymore! LOL!) called a Puppuccino. It's a cup filled with delicious whipped cream and it's guaranteed to satisfy your doggy tooth. YUMMY!
As you can see, Yasso knows exactly what he's in for as they pull up to the Starbucks drive-thru window. He's got the cutest "I can't wait" face! He's all smiles and who can blame him. IT'S WHIPPED CREAM IN A CUP! I think this is part of their daily routine and that makes me even happier! Gotta love a partner who appreciates his canine counterpart!
Thanks to dogs like Yasso, we are all a lot safer. Yasso's next puppuccino is on me!
If you like this story about Yasso, you'll LOVE the story we did on shelter dogs and puppuccinos. Click here to read it! There was so much buzz about posing adoptable dogs with messy puppuccino faces for good reason. It's PAWDORABLE! And genius!


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Apple Iphone 13 Release Date with 1TB and more features
The iPhone 13 is expected to be launched by the end of September 2021. This was confirmed by an analyst referring to the Asian supply chain to Apple. This date corresponds to the date on which the company's previous phones were launched, although it states that it can be postponed until the beginning of October. However, we are facing the first sign of a return to normality in terms of the official launch date for Apple products.
Apple launched new iPhones in the second week of September years ago. In 2020, due to production problems caused by the Coronavirus, iPhone 12 was postponed to October. The event was also held online, without the presence of journalists and correspondents at the company's headquarters.
According to analyst Dan Ives, the iPhone will return to its usual launch date in September, and it is also possible to hold a face-to-face event, and the question is who will be able to go, who will be able to travel and who will not.
Finally: There is a good chance that the iPhone 13 does not have that name and that Apple chooses a name that does not show this number, or goes directly to iPhone 14. It could also be a good opportunity to completely change the naming scheme for smartphones from the company. However, there is no official information on this topic and we will find out on launch day.
Read also: IPhone 13 is expected to arrive with a capacity of 1 TB
Iphone 13iphone 13 launch dateiphone 13 leaksiphone 13 release date
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Happy Halloween to all. The photograph of actress Nancy Carroll comes from http://www.lucywho.com/, Nancy Carroll started acting in silent movies, became a big star in early musicals, and developed into a strong dramatic actress. Personality conflicts with Hollywood producers shortened her career on film, but she spent the rest of her life working on the stage and in television.
An ad from the 20-May-1911 San Francisco Call touts the Southern Pacific's investments which sped the time of the Overland Limited by 4 1/2 hours. These included the Lucin Cutoff across an arm of the Great Salt Lake.
Hillsdale Mall developer David Bohannon commissioned sculptor Benny Bufano to provide sculptures to decorate the new mall in San Mateo. Bufano opened a studio on the mall site in 1955 and created ten of his famous animal sculptures. This sculpture, "Penguin Mother" shows a penguin with two babies. This was a popular theme with Bufano (http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/benny-bufano-5-february-23-2011.html).
Today we left the house and found that the left front tire on my car was flat. We went to Pacifica Tire and got two Michelins installed in an hour. We walked around Rockaway Beach while we waited and had pumpkin ice cream sundaes at Rockin' Rob's.
The San Francisco Arts Commission (http://www.sfartscommission.org/) has set up a series of posters by artist Elisheva Biernoff representing important moments in San Francisco history. I took this photo on 19-May-2011, showing a poster that depicts the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, with the anti war movement and the Alcatraz occupation.
From the 28-October-1898 San Francisco Call. William A Coulter did many maritime drawings for the newspaper. Be sure to click on the image to see the larger version.
A Fleet of Deep Water Vessels Reached Port Yesterday. Some of Them Brought Coal From Newcastle, England, and Newcastle Australia; Some Brought General Merchandise From Antwerp; Others Brought Coke and Merchandise From Leith. While Five Carried Sugar From the Hawaiian Isles, The Bark Roderick Dhu From Hilo, Under Her New Commander, Captain Johnson, Made the Fastest Passage of the Year From the Islands.
The April, 1948 issue of Shadow Comics features a wonderfully rendered black cat.
I took the photo on 09-October-2011.
When I was walking to work today, I saw a bunch of police barriers staged along Third and Howard. There were several police standing around. The mobile command post was parked in front of the W Hotel. Around 11, Third and Howard got closed off. A large group of protesters gathered around the intersection. I recognized some of them and their signs from Occupy SF. President Obama spoke at a fundraiser in the W.
The cover of the Summer, 1949 Shadow features an image with a white cat (nice contrast to the black-clad Shadow) and what appears to be the eyes of a black cat in a crystal ball.
Today I took my mom to the special 10:30 mass to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Saint Monica's parish. Bishop Robert McElroy was the celebrant. Archbishop Niederauer is still recovering from his heart trouble. Concelebrants included pastor Father Greene, Father Sakowski, pastor of Saint Thomas Apostle, two other priests, and a deacon. Father Greene started his homily by mentioning that there were three things in the church to remind us of the first mass in January, 1911. He held up the chalice used in that mass. He mentioned a 101 year old lady who was there, and he mentioned a 90 year old lady whose mother and grandparents were there.
There was a buffet in the large hall after mass. I met one classmate and several parents of classmates.
The weather was nice and warm. I took the photo this morning.
We went to Half Moon Bay today to get a pumpkin. Traffic on One was backed up to at least Princeton. We went to the 4-Cs patch again. I took the photo today. I like the color of pumpkins. A little bit of the traffic is visible in the background. We found two great pumpkins for $12.00. The weather was nice and warm.
We went up 92. Traffic was backed up all the way to 280.
We drove down to the Stanford Shopping Center and had lunch at Gourmet Franks so we could sit outside.
An ad for Harold Lloyd's second talkie, Feet First, from the Perth, Western Australia Sunday Times, 08-March-1931. Feet First concluded with Harold climbing a tall building, as he had in Safety Last. I think the climb worked better in Safety Last because Harold's cries and the other noises made the scene in the talkie too realistic.
We had another earthquake last night.
The Libyan people finally caught Colonel Gaddafi. I hope they find peace.
I was sad to learn that actress Barbara Kent, a native of Canada, has died at the age of 104. She was virtually the last surviving person who acted in an American silent movie as an adult. She was Harold Lloyd's leading lady in Welcome Danger and Feet First.
Today we were supposed to have an earthquake drill at 10:30am, but it didn't happen. In the afternoon, we had a real earthquake, about a 4.0. I felt one short, sharp jolt.
I was sad to learn that Norman Corwin, writer, director and producer of some of the best radio dramas, comedies and documentaries, had died at the age of 101. I remember when Gene Nelson, who played old radio shows at night on KSFO, played "On a Note of Triumph," Corwin's tribute to victory in Europe. I remember when Corwin and Walter Cronkite did a show in 2000 for NPR, I was surprised to learn that Corwin was still alive.
They're finally done in, and the rat is dead in an alley back of the Wilhelmstrasse.
Take a bow, little guy.
Of you common men of the afternoon.
The image comes from the wonderful site LucyWho (http://www.lucywho.com/).
William Matson founded the Matson Navigation Company, which carried passengers and freight from San Francisco to many points in the Pacific, particularly Hawaii, in 1882. The Matson Building, once headquarters of the steamship line, is now part of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's headquarters. Matson (http://www.matson.com/) is still the biggest freight hauler between San Francisco and Hawaii.
Pleasant Street runs from Taylor to Jones between Sacramento and Clay Streets. I took this photo looking up from Taylor Street on 14-September-2011. The street is named after Mary Ellen Pleasant, who was born into slavery, but freed herself and became involved in the Underground Railroad. She moved to San Francisco and passed for white. She became wealthy by helping a clerk, Thom Bell, at the Bank of California with investment advice. She used her connections and money to help the black community, which knew her true identity. At some point, she went east and became involved with the network that helped John Brown. After his capture, she came back to San Francisco.
After the Civil War, she declared her true racial identity and pushed for Civil Rights. After she was thrown off a horse car, she filed a suit, Pleasant v. North Beach & Mission Railroad Company, which established that public conveyances in San Francisco could not be segregated.
In later years, various elements, including Thom Bell's wife, began to smear Mary Ellen. They began calling her "Mammy," which she did not like. She lost her fortune and died in poverty in 1904.
There is a small park named after her in Pacific Heights.
Today we played tourist. We parked at Fifth and Mission and caught a Milan car on the F line. It got to be very full. We got off at Pier 39. It was a warm day, but there was a cold breeze on the pier. We had fried calamari at a seafood place. There was one float covered with sea lions. A few were on the next float. One sea lion slept soundly on the farthest float. A little boy worried that he might be dead. We assured him that the sea lion was alive.
We walked along the Wharf to Pier 45, where we visted the Musee Mechanique. The machines had been rearranged since our last visit. There were two baseball-related games that I had not seen before. We played the French Execution. My daughter operated the machine with the baker. We could not find Peppy the dancing clown.
We went up Fish Alley. A boat had a radio on and the news said that the Occupy SF people were going to be marching up Market at 3pm. We headed to the F line terminal and caught the Louisville car.
We got off at Fourth and walked up to Macy's. There were police barriers set up along the curb on Stockton. Workers were setting up Holiday Lane.
We went to Five o'clock mass at Good Shepherd, then had dinner at Subway in Linda Mar. On the way home, we drove on Cape Breton but didn't see many holiday decorations.
I took the photo of Alcatraz today.
Bob Ferguson had a long and distinguished career in the National Association of Base Ball Players and the National League. He played the infield, managed, umpired, and served as Association president. His defensive skill earned him the unique nickname "Death to Flying Things." The only baseball nickname of comparable length that I can think of is Pepper Martin's "The Wild Horse of the Osage."
It was warm again today. Occupy SF protesters gathered outside the Palace Hotel.
Yesterday I took a photo of the Occupy SF encampment in front of the Federal Reserve. Mayor Bloomberg of New York is going to roust the Occupy Wall Street encampment tomorrow morning.
"In American history, the fight to make a holiday on Columbus Day actually had almost nothing to do with the actual arrival of Christopher Columbus in the western hemisphere. It wasn't about celebrating the European conquest of the Americas or the extirpation of the native tribes.
"The day was made a holiday after years of lobbying as a way of recognizing the contribution of Roman Catholics and immigrants generally to American life. It is a holiday to celebrate diversity, not to commemorate the imperial outreach of Ferdinand and Isabella, a deeply regrettable couple who were notorious oath breakers, inquisitors and anti-Semites.
"Back in the 1930s there was a widespread feeling among both Protestant and Catholic Americans that Roman Catholics, and especially Catholics from non-English speaking countries, were not and could not be "real Americans". Al Smith, the popular governor of New York, was the first Roman Catholic ever nominated for the presidency by a major party; suspicion of his religion made his defeat even greater than usual, as many solidly Democratic and pro-Prohibition voters in the South deserted the Catholic 'wet' to vote for the reliably dry Protestant, Herbert Hoover.
"For the KKK in those days, Catholics were one of the foreign influences that 'real' Americans had to fight, and many Protestant whites still considered Italians, Greeks and other southern European ethnic groups to be too 'swarthy' to be fully white."
One of Zaroff's henchmen was played by Tom London, who may have appeared in more movies than anyone else, from the mid-Teens to the early 1960s. Another was Charles "Blackie" King, who was always worth watching.
I enjoyed the credits and introduction for each episode. There was a stirring classical theme, whose name I can never remember. There was a tracking shot of Tom and Tony Jr riding hell for leather, followed by a tracking shot along a rocky hillside that underlay most of the credits. Underneath the cast of characters, there was a Native American crouching, then standing and scanning the horizon, then invoking the gods, then squatting, then standing.
The general treatment of Native Americans? So-so. Bob Kortman, whom I loved in Laurel and Hardy movies, played Long Boat, who wanted to be chief. He worked secretly for Zaroff. Tom Morgan was his great rival. I liked the way Long Boat kept calling Tom "My brother" with a great sneer.
I lost count of how many times Zaroff said he was going to be "the most powerful man in the world." I liked the wireless telephones he used to communicate with Long Boat and his cowboy henchmen. He used what looked like a text terminal to communicate wirelessly with a buyer in Europe.
I first saw this serial on Channel 20's Old Sourdough or Worst of Hollywood. I managed to stay awake late enough each Friday night to see all 15 chapters. I had read William K Everson's disparaging comments on the movie. I didn't agree with him.
Tom Mix was the biggest cowboy star in silent movies. He made a series of talkies for Universal, but the Depression prevented other studios from paying his vast salary. In 1935, Nat Levine of Mascot Studio paid Mix $40,000 to work for four weeks. This was half the budget of The Miracle Rider, a15 chapter serial. Mix needed the money to subsidize his circus. This turned out to be his last movie. I was surprised to learn that it was Mascot's only 15 chapter serial. I had thought that 15 was the standard length after producers settled on a standard and before they went to 12 as a cheaper standard.
The first episode of The Miracle Rider, "The Vanishing Indian," was almost feature length. It used an animated map to show "Indian Territory" shrinking and the United States growing over the years. Some of the dates on the map were questionable. Scenes showed Daniel Boone, then Davy Crockett, then Buffalo Bill Cody, then Sam Morgan trying to get European Americans to stop intruding on the territory of Native Americans. Who was Sam Morgan? He was the father of Tom Morgan, Tom Mix's character.
Sam Morgan was trying to defend the reservation of the Ravenhead tribe when he was murdered by a group of men who wanted to squat on their land. Young Tom promises to join the Texas Rangers and carry on his work. Twenty years later, Tom has aged considerably. His hair is dyed black and his teeth are false, but he is still a heroic figure. I only noticed one scene where he performed with is old mugging humor, when he stopped two kids from stealing a pie and then tried to steal it himself. The Ravenhead regard Tom as a brother and give him the name "Miracle Rider."
A mysterious flying object, called the Thunderbird by the Ravenhead begins attacking their village. It turns out to be a "rocket powered glider" controlled by Zaroff, who is secretly mining X-92, a super explosive, from the Ravenhead reservation. I was sad to see the open cockpit monoplane Thunderbird crash in chapter 2. Zaroff is played by Charles Middleton, about whom I still have bad dreams from Flash Gordon and Laurel and Hardy movies. Later in the movie, Zaroff's scientist discovers a way to turn X-92 into a powerful fuel that can replace gasoline. Image if a Native American tribe controlled all of this country's energy supplies.
Some of the cliffhangers were different compared to what later became standard in Universals. In one, the chapter ends with a bunch of cowboys holding their guns on Tom. There are no shots fired. In the next chapter, Tom's horse, Tony Jr, blows a car horn and allows Tom to escape. There are some very clear cheaters, chapters ending with Tom falling to his doom or getting shot. The next chapters begin differently.
Tom Mix was still a convincing hero. I didn't care that he had trouble with his lines. He sounded like a real person.
Doctor Peter Henri Van Der Weyde wrote the series of articles which gave this blog its name. Among his many accomplishments was composing popular music, like the "Erie Rail Road Polka for the Piano Forte" from 1851. The New York and Erie Rail Road was chartered in 1832 to connect the Hudson River with Lake Erie. The builders chose to use a 6-foot gauge. In the 1860s the Erie was the victim of many financial blackguards.
The image is from the Lester S Levy Collection of Sheet Music at Johns Hopkins University.
Gold Hill Depot on the Virginia and Truckee Railroad opened in 1869. It was in terrible shape when I first saw in the 1970s. Note the sign for the "Gold Hill Depot Rehabilitation Project."
I took the photo during our visit in July. McCloud River engine #18, which was pulling our train from Eastgate to Virginia City, is just visible beyond the depot.
It is not over. Today is the 10th anniversary of the start of the Afghan War. American troops have been on the ground longer than they were in the Revolutionary War or Vietnam. I hope they can come home soon.
I don't remember where I found the photo of Yoko Ono and John Lennon.
Station 23 is on 45th Avenue between Irving and Judah. I took the photo on 10-January-2011.
It rained heavily during the night.
I got started with personal computers in the generation after the Apple I, but I have always liked the look of it. Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs changed America. I tried the Apple II, but I had already gotten used to the IBM PC. I liked MS-DOS and especially MS-BASIC better than Apple's. We later purchased an early Mac, which I felt was limiting. I like developing things. My wife and daughter love their iPods.
I took this photo of the National Shrine of Saint Francis, formerly Saint Francis Church, on 20-August-2011. Saint Francisco Church was San Francisco's first parish.
"ZERA Semon, the great ventriloquist, is billed to give four entertainments in our town next week, commencing Monday, Dec. 14th. One hundred presents given away each night."
"ZERA SEMON AND THE MARIONETTES.-The above combination appears here at Exchange Hall next week for four nights, commencing Monday. As regards Prof. Zera nothing need be said, as he is too well known to need commendation. Besides himself he introduces to Alexandria audiences something entirely new in the way of novelty, Bell's Royal Marionettes. They give a minstrel show and the pantymine (sic) Humpty-Dumpty. They carry all their own scenery, whichl is said to be something grand. Prof. Zera sill gives away night one hundred presents, and no doubt the hall will be tested to its utmost capacity. The admission has been placed at 35 and 50 cents, without extra charge for reserved seats, on sale at Dr. Henry St. John's Drug Store."
Frederick Marriott was born in Britain and was a publisher. He had been a partner in the Aerial Transit Company with Stringfellow and Henson. After coming to California for the Gold Rush, he founded the long-lived San Francisco News-Letter and built the Avitor Hermes, Jr. The flight of the Avitor is regarded as the first controlled flight in the United States. A reproduction of the Avitor is on display at the Hiller Aviation Museum (http://www.hiller.org/). Sadly, nothing came of the Aerial Steam Navigation Company after the Avitor burned. This article is from the 31-July-1869 Scientific American. The illustration is from Aerial Navigation by Arthur de Bausset, 1887.
In a large hall, near San Francisco, a small steam balloon has lately been tried, with so much success as to excite enthusiasm among the stockholders, and make them think that the great problem of aerial navigation has been solved. We are assured that the first packet of a regular line of aerial steamships will start from California for New York within a very few weeks.
We should be glad if there were any reasonable basis for this expectation, but we find none whatever. Substantially the same forms of balloon and machinery have before been tried, always with apparent success on the small scale in still air; always with failure when subjected to atmospheric currents. Experience shows that the attachment of wings, tails, and wheels to balloons, tends more to impede than to assist their progress.
Aerial navigation will never be reduced to a regular commercial system until some one shows us how to dispense with the unwieldy gas balloon, and replace it with an effective method of generating the requisite buoyant power. The subject is one of great importance, and worthy of diligent study on the part of all inventors. Glorious fame and princely fortune await the successful discoverer.
"The carriage, which is merely a large working model, is a balloon, shaped like a cigar, both ends coming to a point. It is 37 feet long, 11 feet from top to bottom, and 8 feet in width. These are the measurements at the center of the balloon, from which point it gradually tapers off toward either end. Around the balloon, lengthwise, and a little below the center, is a light framework of wood and cane, strongly wired together and braced. Attached to this frame, and standing up as they approach the front of the carriage, are two wings, one on each side. They are each five feet wide at a little back of the center of the carriage, and do not commence to narrow down until they approach the front, where they come to a point. These wings are made of white cloth fastened to a light framework which is braced securely by wires. The main frame is secured in place by means of strong ribbons, which go over the balloon, and are attached to corresponding portions of the frame on the other side. To the frame at the hind part of the carriage is attached a rudder, or steering gear, which is exactly the shape of the paper used in pin darts, four planes at right angles. This, when raised or lowered, elevates or depresses the head of the carriage when in motion; and when turned from side to side, guides the carriage as a rudder does a boat. At the center and bottom of the balloon is an indentation, or space left in the material of which it is built, in which the engine and machinery are placed on framework.
"The engine and boilers are very diminutive specimens, but they do their work handsomely. The boiler and furnaces together only a little over a foot long, four inches wide, and five or six inches in height. Steam is generated by spirit lamps. The cylinder is two inches in diameter, and has a 3-in. stroke. The crank connects by means of cog wheels, with tumbling rods which lead out to the propellers, one on either side of the carriage. The propellers are each two-bladed, four feet in diameter, and are placed in the framework of the wings. The boiler is made to carry eighty pounds of steam. When not inflated, the carriage weighs eighty-four pounds. The balloon has a capacity of 1,360 feet of gas. When inflated and ready for a flight it is calculated to have the carriage weigh from four to ten pounds.
"As she completed describing the second circle, a pull given to the head line, unintentionally, caused the rudder to shift to a fore-and-aft position when the model pursued a straight flight about a quarter of a mile; she was then turned round, and retraced her flight to the point of departure; whence, being guided, she entered the building. The fires were drawn, and the first extensive flight of a vessel for aerial navigation was accomplished. The total distance traversed was a little over a mile. The appearance of the vessel in the air was really beautiful. As seen in the building she looks cumbrous and awkward. The change of appearance as she is circling gracefully through the air, is equal to that of a ship when first seen in the water. The moment of opening the steam valve was one of suspense; as the vessel rose and forged slowly ahead, the suspense was scarcely dissipated; but in a very few seconds her speed increased—in obedience to the rudder she commenced to swing round the curve—the men at the guys broke into a trot, and cheer upon cheer rose from the little group of anxious spectators.
"The public exhibition was attended by some slight accidents, but elicited much enthusiasm from the audience which had assembled in a hall where the trial was made. The wind was so violent and irregular without, that it was considered unsafe to risk the model beyond the shelter. The carriage mounted near to the roof with a firmness and steadiness equal to the movements of an ocean steamer on smooth water. The guests cheered long and loud, and many fairly danced with delight at the success. The trip back and forth across the hall was performed several times with success.
"Within a few weeks the first large vessel will be completed by the Aerial Steam Navigation Company—one calculated to carry four persons—and the principles involved in its construction will then be fully tested. The projectors consider that the model carriage has developed two facts of the greatest importance. First, the effective power developed by the propellers is greater than the estimated power according to the formula; of aero-dynamics; and, second, the atmospheric resistance encountered by the vessel was less than had been calculated. Consequently the speed attained was higher than was estimated, and at the next trial, when the effective heating surface of the boiler will be increased, a further considerable increase of speed will be attained. Some doubt had been entertained as to the facility of steering the vessel. That is shown to be the easiest part of the business. She obeys the deflections of the rudder with extreme sensitiveness, and is under the most complete control."
We have been seeing some interesting clouds this week. The weather has been muggy. I took this photo today in Pacifica.
This morning we went to Kaiser to get our flu shots. Then we went to the Stanford Shopping Center. A lot of stores have closed and several are moving. We had lunch at Gourmet Franks.
We went to five o'clock mass at Good Shepherd. Father Jack said if he wasn't there, he would have been watching Notre Dame play Purdue. He led the congregation in a chant of "We Are -- Irish." Before mass, we started learning one of the new prayers. After mass, we picked up a list of the revised prayers and responses.


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American National Notes Q3 Numbers
Texas-based American National Insurance Company announced third quarter 2004 net income of $46,989,000 ($1.77 per share) compared to $43,960,000 ($1.66 per share) for the same period in 2003.
After tax net gain from operations for the third quarter was $42,700,000 ($1.61 per share) compared with $42,831,000 ($1.62 per share) for the same period in 2003. After tax net gain from operations excludes after tax net realized investment gains and losses.
After tax net realized investment gains were $4,289,000 ($0.16 per share) for the third quarter of 2004 compared with net realized gains of $1,129,000 ($0.04 per share) for the same period in 2003.
Net income for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2004 increased 60.1% totaling $175,847,000 ($6.64 per share) compared to $109,861,000 ($4.15 per share) for the first three quarters of 2003. The after tax net gain from operations for the first nine months totaled $155,076,000 ($5.86 per share) compared to $111,194,000 ($4.20 per share) for the same period in 2003. After tax net gain from operations excludes after tax net realized investment gains and losses which totaled a gain of $20,771,000 for the first three quarters of 2004 compared to a net realized loss of $1,333,000 in the same period of 2003.
Premium for the first nine months of 2004 was $1,559,463,000, an increase of 15.1% over the amount for the same period of 2003. Policy account deposits received were $1,137,057,000 versus $2,035,307,000 for the first nine months of 2003. The decrease in policy account deposits was primarily the result of reduced annuity sales consistent with the company's 2004 business plan. Total revenues for the first nine months increased by 17.9% to $2,270,815,000 versus $1,925,387,000 for the same period in 2003.
The property and casualty business of the company's Multiple Line operations was the largest contributor to the increase in operating earnings. After tax gain from the property and casualty business for the first nine months of 2004 was $59,369,000, which was a 60% increase over the results of the first nine months of 2003. This strong increase in earnings was achieved in spite of record catastrophe losses in 2004.
Total catastrophe losses net of reinsurance and net of tax increased 83.8% from 2003 to a total of $35,588,000. The primary contributors to the catastrophe losses were hurricanes Charlie, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne, which produced losses net of reinsurance and net of tax totaling $19,809,000. The Multiple Line results were industry leading in many components tracked and considered to be key performance indicators by the company with the property and casualty combined ratio improving from 98.6% to 95.8%.
Improved profit margins on the growing block of annuity business helped the company's Independent Marketing operation contribute $11,864,000 to the after tax gain from operations for the first nine months of 2004 which was an improvement of 241.6% from the same period in 2003.