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Tag: Birmingham Bulls
Let's talk about everything's Ducky and the Winnipeg Jets 'hands-on' owner…the Rink Rat takes a tumble…the price of a souvenir baseball…Little Tiger…drawing the line on the draw to the button…a $52.5 million part-time job…Henderson has scored for Canada…and other things on my mind…
Top o' the morning to you, Mark Chipman, or as I prefer to call you, Puck Pontiff.
I don't mean anything nasty by the nickname, Mark. It's just that I harbor a long-held belief that you exercise papal power as it relates to the jewel in your True North Sports + Entertainment crown—the Winnipeg Jets.
You even confessed as much in a Hockey Night in Canada natter with then-host George Stroumboulopoulos a few years back, saying you're in GM Kevin Cheveldayoff's kitchen every day, and the larger the decision the louder your voice. It short, you're a buttinski.
That, of course, is the privilege of rank and, as executive chairman of the True North fiefdom and governor of the National Hockey League franchise, it's your prerogative to stick your nose where others think it doesn't belong.
However, I'm not here this morning to rattle your cage or yank your chain, Mark. Instead I salute you for the salute to Dale Hawerchuk on Saturday. Nice. Very nice. Or should I say it was "just Ducky" of you? (Sorry, Chipper. I agree, that's a Ron MacLean-level bad pun.)
Give or take Teemu Selanne, no player in Jets NHL history was more impactful than our Ducky. The difference between the two legends is this, Mark: Dale spent nine seasons wearing the linen (and the 'C' for six), and he butted heads every winter with Gretzky, Messier, Coffey, Fuhr and the rest of that dreaded Edmonton Oilers lot in the 1980s, a moment in time that defines Jets 1.0. Teemu's time in Good Ol' Hometown was, by comparison, a fly-by.
So, ya, a statue at True North Square to honor a shinny icon who left the building before any of us wanted is a beautiful thing, and I continue to curse the cancer that claimed Ducky at such a young age.
One final thing, Chipper: I'm especially pleased that you gave a shoutout to two people in particular: Former owner Barry Shenkarow, a major player in arranging the Jets entry into the NHL, and the late John Ferguson, the man responsible for bringing Ducky to Good Ol' Hometown.
You did good, Puck Pontiff. Real good.
Chipman is, literally, a hands-on owner. The Puck Pontiff, you see, poured the metal for the right glove on the Ducky likeness unveiled yesterday, and it doesn't get much more hands-on than that. Ben Waldman of the Drab Slab had a natter with sculptor Erik Blome, and he gives us the skinny on the making of Ducky in bronze.
Well, the "experts" at TSN put their little heads together to determine the top 50 players in the NHL, and Rink Rat Scheifele has taken the greatest fall since Humpty Dumpty. A year ago, the geniuses had the Jets centre rated 20th overall, but this time around they couldn't find room for him in the top 50. Hey, I get it. He's a pooch defensively and some of his shifts are longer than a Sunday sermon, but he's been a point-a-game producer for the past six crusades and I can't think of a guy not named Connor McDavid who can say that. So, I'm sorry, but they can't sell me on the notion that Jack Hughes is a better player than the Rink Rat.
I'm not convinced the Jets will be the stumble bums that many of the pundits are suggesting in advance of the 2022-23 crusade. Oh, I realize the Rolling Stones make more lineup changes than Winnipeg HC, but I believe success/failure depends on the amount of ice time Blake Wheeler and Logan Stanley don't get. The less time on the freeze for those two, the better the chances of proving the naysayers wrong.
It's about the Aaron Judge home run chase: Many of my vintage consider Roger Maris' 61 dingers in 1961 the true single-season record, because those who've gone yard more often—Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa—wear the stink of steroids. A younger generation, however, might be more inclined to accept Bonds as Major League Baseball's king of clout for his 73 four-baggers in 2001. Whatever the case, the debate brings to mind a lyric from the Buffalo Springfield protest classic For What It's Worth: "Nobody's right if everybody's wrong."
I don't know about you, but I was delighted to see Judge swat HR No. 61 in the Republic of Tranna last week, and it's just as well that the souvenir ball landed in the Blue Jays bullpen and wasn't caught by a fan at Rogers Centre. I mean, it's estimated that the thing is worth upwards of $250,000 US, but only about $1.50 on the Canadian exchange rate.
Charlie Woods and pop Tiger.
Thirteen-year-old Charlie Woods fired a 4-under 68 last weekend in the Notah Begay III Junior National Golf Championship, and a lot of people are saying the kid's just like dad Tiger. I don't know about that. I mean, he's barely old enough to give a waitress a food order, let alone have an illicit affair with her.
Dumb headline of the week, from Golf Week: "Charlie Woods shoots career-low round with dad Tiger on the bag." A "career" low? Good gawd, when did puberty become a career? I guess it's another example of how life happens at a lickety-split cadence in this 21st century, and I suppose we can expect young Charlie's autobiography to land on bookstore shelves any day now.
Scofflaw O.J. Simpson decided to play Couch Coach and used Twitter to advise Pittsburgh Steelers head man Mike Tomlin it would be in his best interest to plunk starting QB Mitch Trubisky on the pine and anoint Kenny Pickett starting QB. Oh, put a sock in it, Juice. Don't you have some "real killers" to catch?
Simpson has 888.2K followers on his Twitter account. My question is this: "Why?" Are those people expecting him to cop to the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend Ron Goldman?
A couple of our most-decorated Pebble People, Jennifer Jones and Marc Kennedy, tell Teddy Wyman of the Winnipeg Sun that they aren't fond of the experimental draw-to-the-button method of breaking ties in elite curling events. "I don't like it," said Jones, whose freshly minted team cashed in to the tune of $50,000 in the freshly minted PointsBet Invitational last weekend. Kennedy, meanwhile, provided the backup vocals, saying, "Personally I wish they wouldn't touch extra ends." Hear, hear! I mean, I'm all for gimmickry…if it's at the carnival or some kind of parlor trick when friends are over for din-din. But I don't want to see the Scotties or Brier champion determined by silly shenanigans. Let soccer and hockey have the stupid stuff.
One of our very own, Cathy Gauthier, has moved into the chair vacated by Cheryl Bernard—smack dab between Vic Rauter and Russ Howard—on TSN's Season of Champions curling coverage, and that has to be about the best call since John, Paul and George asked Ringo to grab his Ludwig drum kit and tag along with them. Like Cheryl, Cathy's always been able to go jab-for-jab with Vic and ol' Hurry Hard Howard in the verbal thrust-and-parry, and her appointment means another winter of good banter from the booth.
Another of our very own, Sami Jo Small, has been anointed el presidente of the Toronto Six, where she joins Hockey Hall of Famers and world champions Angela James (GM) and Geraldine Heaney (head coach) in leading the Premier Hockey Federation franchise. If sports editors at the Toronto Sun and Toronto Star noticed, they failed to find room for the news on their sports pages. Kind of tough for Ponytail Puck to gain traction in the Republic of Tranna when the local rags put the home side on ignore.
Strange tweet of the week comes from former NHLer and present-day conspiracy theorist Theoren Fleury: "The biggest spreaders of misinformation are the ones who are spreading misinformation." Thanks Theo. And the leading cause of death is life.
I really don't think anyone should be surprised the Calgary Stampeders have moved on from QB Bo Levi Mitchell and handed the football, plus gobs of coin on a two-year contract, to Jake Maier. Bo's been off his feed the past couple of years, and when head coach Dave Dickenson and GM John Hufnael say it's time, it's time. I mean, if there's one thing those two know above all else, it's Rouge Football QBs.
After watching the Toronto Argos score just two points in a loss to the Stampeders last night, it's hard to believe they entered the fray on a four-game winning run. Who'd they beat? A dozen kids from my neighborhood?
When the time arrives, Novak Djokovic wants a warm-and-fuzzy farewell, just like Roger Federer, and he'd especially like rival Rafael Nadal to be present. "We played the most matches against each other of any other rivalry in the history of tennis," he says. Yo! Novak! Women play tennis, too. Martina Navratilova and Chrissie Evert met 80 times in singles play. You and Rafa have been on opposite sides of the net 59 times. Do the math.
Tyreek Hill has already collected more than $25 million to catch passes and run the ball for Miami Dolphins this NFL season, and he's guaranteed $52.5M on his current deal. Yet he says football is "just our part-time job." Earth to Tyreek. Tell that to the kid making $10 an hour to bag groceries at the local market on weekends, or a student scrubbing pots and pans in the back of a greasy spoon three days a week to pay tuition.
Things I discovered in the past week: 1) There is a Professional Disc Golf Association, complete with a tour; 2) there is a Professional Pickleball Association, also with a tour. I'm particularly curious about disc golf: How do they fit a frisbee into that wee, little hole?
Still can't believe how weak some of the acting is on the new Law & Order. Angry cop Cosgrove and ADA Price are truly lame. I keep watching in the hope they'll improve, but no.
Only once during my 30 years in jock journalism did I ask an athlete I covered for an autograph: Paul Henderson. And, you're right, that put me in breach of one of the unwritten commandments in the sports scribe's code of conduct. I'm not sure which commandment it is, but it clearly states: Thou shalt not collect autographs. It's totally taboo. At least it was back in the day (I can't speak for today's news snoops). At any rate, I sought Henderson's signature after he and his Birmingham Bulls associates had concluded a morning, game-day skate. Knowing I was in breach, I made my request on the QT, asking him to sign a Prudential Insurance print depicting the moment that had earned him a prominent and permanent place in Canadian hockey folklore—the winning goal in Game 8 of the 1972 Summit Series between our good guys and the Soviet Union comrades. No one heard my request, and no prying eyes were nearby, but a wave of guilt washed over me. Didn't matter. He happily scrawled his signature on the bottom right-hand corner of the print, and we made small talk. Years later, I had Soviet goaltender Vladislav Tretiak sign that same print. What a keepsake. Alas, a person to whom I'm no longer wed sold it on the QT at a yard sale for 50 cents.
Henderson scored the most iconic goal in Canadian hockey history, and he had the winning tallies in Games 6 and 7 of the Summit Series, as well. Question is, why, 50 years later, does he still have to pay his way into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Republic of Tranna? Okay, sure, most would rate his NHL/World Hockey Association career a notch above garden variety, but, give or take Tretiak, Henderson was the most significant performer in the most significant shinny series ever played—Canada vs. U.S.S.R. 1972. What he did was lightning-in-a-bottle stuff, and it seems to me it's HHOF worthy. I mean, Harper Lee wrote just one book (some say two tomes) and she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contribution to literature.
And, finally, this week's vanity license plate:
Author pattidawnswanssonPosted on October 2, 2022 October 2, 2022 Categories SportsTags 1972 Summit Series, Aaron Judge, Angela James, Barry Bonds, Birmingham Bulls, Blake Wheeler, Bo Levi Mitchell, Buffalo Springfield, Calgary Stampeders, Canadian Football League, Cathy Gauthier, Charlie Woods, Cheryl Bernard, Chrissie Evert, Connor McDavid, Craig Dickenson, Curling, Dale Hawerchuk, Dave Dickenson, Edmonton Oilers, For What It's Worth, Geraldine Heaney, Harper Lee, Jack Hughes, Jake Maier, Jennifer Jones, John Hufnagel, Kenny Pickett, Law & Order, Major League Baseball, Marc Kennedy, Mark Chipman, Mark McGwire, Mark Scheifele, Martina Navratilova, Miami Dolphins, Mike Tomlin, Mitch Trubisky, National Hockey League, Nicole Brown, Novak Djokovic, O.J. Simpson, Patrik Laine, Paul Henderson, Pittsburgh Steelers, PointsBet Invitational, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Professional Disc Golf Association, Professional Pickleball Association, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Rolling Stones, Ron Goldman, Russ Howard, Sami Jo Small, Sammy Sosa, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Ted Wyman, Teemu Selanne, Theoren Fleury, Tiger Woods, Toronto Argonauts, Toronto Six, Toronto Star, Toronto Sun, True North Square, TSN, Twitter, Tyreek Hill, USSR, Vic Rauter, Vladislav Tretiak, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Winnipeg Jets, Winnipeg Sun, World Hockey Association1 Comment on Let's talk about everything's Ducky and the Winnipeg Jets 'hands-on' owner…the Rink Rat takes a tumble…the price of a souvenir baseball…Little Tiger…drawing the line on the draw to the button…a $52.5 million part-time job…Henderson has scored for Canada…and other things on my mind…
The WHA Winnipeg Jets were first to win 15 straight, not the Tranna Raptors
Ignore the propaganda that news snoops in the Republic of Tranna have been spewing this week, kids.
Oh, sure, it's true that the Tranna Jurassics have come out best in their last 15 frolics on the National Basketball Association hardwood, but…contrary to dispatches from The ROT, that does not establish a new standard for the longest run of sustained success in the history of Canadian professional sports franchises.
The Winnipeg Jets, you see, have been there and done that.
The Jets circa 1977-78 were a rollicking, swashbuckling outfit that used a blend of European panache and Canadian growl to lord themselves over the World Hockey Association, at one stretch winning 15 consecutive matches.
It began on Jan. 29, when Winnipeg HC toppled the Stingers in Cincinnati, 8-4, and win No. 15 was delivered on Feb. 26, with the Jets paddywhacking Terry Ruskowski, Morris Lukowich, Scott Campbell and the Houston Aeros, 9-6, in the friendly confines of ye ol' and decaying barn on Maroons Road.
Here are the facts, kids:
Jan. 29: Winnipeg 8 at Cincinnati 4
Jan. 31: Winnipeg 7 at Quebec 2
Feb. 4: Winnipeg 7 at Cincinnati 5
Feb. 5: Winnipeg 4 Edmonton 3
Feb. 8: Winnipeg 9 Birmingham 0
Feb. 10: Winnipeg 10, Cincinnati 2
Feb. 11: Winnipeg 5 at Indianapolis 3
Feb. 12: Winnipeg 6 at Houston 5
Feb. 15: Winnipeg 6 Edmonton 5
Feb. 16: Winnipeg 2 at New England 1 (OT)
Feb. 18: Winnipeg 4 at Cincinnati 0
Feb. 19: Winnipeg 5 Quebec 2
Feb. 22: Winnipeg 4 New England 2
Feb. 26: Winnipeg 9 Houston 6
Totals: Winnipeg 93 Opposition 42
Oddly enough, the Jets' streak was bookended by losses (8-5 Jan. 28, 4-3 March 1) to the Birmingham Bulls, a bottom-feeding side that featured an assortment of barbarians. Go figure.
At any rate, what the Jurassics have accomplished is totally admirable, and they can one-up the Jets with a 16th consecutive W tonight in Brooklyn, where they meet the Nets.
For now, though, they're Johnny-come-latelies.
Footnote: There were a few other noteworthy items about those 1977-78 Jets: They also had an 11-game win streak; Kent Nilsson was the WHA's top freshman ("He's got more potential, more ability than any other 21-year-old hockey player I've ever seen," said Bobby Hull), the Shoe, Lars-Erik Sjoberg, was the top defender; Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson, the Shoe, Hull and Barry Long were all-stars; Bobby Guindon was the playoff MVP; they became the first North American club side to beat the Soviet Union national team (5-3 on Jan. 5); they won the WHA title, losing just one game in their two series.
Author pattidawnswanssonPosted on February 12, 2020 February 12, 2020 Categories SportsTags Anders Hedberg, Barry Long, Birmingham Bulls, Bobby Guindon, Bobby Hull, Brooklyn Nets, Cincinnati Stingers, Edmonton Oilers, Houston Aeros, Indianapolis Racers, Kent Nilsson, Lars-Erik Sjoberg, Morris Lukowich, National Basketball Association, New England Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, Scott Campbell, Soviet Union national hockey team, Terry Ruskowski, Toronto Raptors, Ulf Nilsson, Winnipeg Jets, World Hockey Association2 Comments on The WHA Winnipeg Jets were first to win 15 straight, not the Tranna Raptors
Troubles before Triumph: An Ode to the 1978-79 Winnipeg Jets on the 40th anniversary of their final WHA championship
Forty years ago this weekend, the Winnipeg Jets put an exclamation mark on an incredible, unlikely run to the final World Hockey Association championship, their third title during the rebel league's seven-year history. I was fortunate enough to go along for the ride in that winning 1978-79 season—as the main Jets beat writer for the Winnipeg Tribune—and I share the following recollections while thinking of Fergy, Sudsy, the Shoe, my two media traveling companions, Friar Nicolson and Reyn Davis, and that wonderful photog with both the Trib and Winnipeg Free Press, Jon Thordarson, all of whom have left us.
It was early March 1979 and the Winnipeg Jets were back in Birmingham, the scene of their most heinous crime.
Only 11 days earlier, the defending World Hockey Association champions had absorbed a shameful and shocking 9-1 paddywhacking at the neophyte hands of Alabama's Baby Bulls, and the pungent residue of that humiliation remained. The bus carrying the workforce turned into a parking lot and lurched haltingly (much like the Jets' on-ice product) toward the team hotel, and one of the players observed two Birmingham cop cars parked in front of the main entrance.
"They must have been at our last game here," muttered a wise-cracking John Gray. "They've come to arrest us for impersonating a hockey team."
I don't recall if everyone laughed, but I did. Ditto Tom McVie, the freshly minted head coach who could not be implicated in the 9-1, scorched-earth debacle. He had an-air tight alibi for that night—he'd been sitting at home in Washington, waiting for the phone to ring and hoping it would be someone (anyone) in hockey calling to offer him a job behind their bench.
So McVie was off the hook, as were Terry Ruskowski, Kim Clackson and Gary Smith. (A nasty rib owie had limited Roscoe to four shifts that night; Clacker, in head coach Larry Hillman's doghouse as usual, had been left behind in Winnipeg; recently arrived goaler Suitcase Smitty had yet to unpack his bags.)
The other boys on the bus, however…they wore the stink of 9-1, all complicit in what had been to that point in the Jets final WHA crusade the most damning evidence that this was Team Dysfunction.
To truly appreciate what went down that season, you must consider the nuances of a nine-month journey full of barking headlines, baffling sideshows, bitching, firings, hirings, disappearances and scoldings. Or, as I like to call it: Troubles Before Triumph.
Morris Lukowich
This, understand, was not an outfit that fed off the warm-and-fuzzy remains of the previous campaign, a successful frolic that produced a second victory parade down the two main drags of River City. Gone to Gotham were Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson, while other prominent performers such as Thommie Bergman and Dan Labraaten also took leave. In their stead skated Terry Ruskowski, Rich Preston, Morris Lukowich, Scott Campbell, Steve West, John Gray and Paul Terbenche, all refugees from an abandoned Houston Aeros franchise.
The remnants of the Jets championship outfit and the orphaned Aeros were confirmed enemies. They buddied-up like Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner.
"At the start, the Houston players hung around together and the Winnipeg players hung around together," Lukowich confirmed at the close of business on May 20, 1979, the night les Jets gained permanent possession of the Avco World Trophy with a 7-3 victory over the Edmonton Gretzkys. "There was a time when it got so bad that I phoned my agent and told him to get me the hell out of here. I hated being a Jet."
"They called us the New York Yankees because there were bad vibes on the team," Ruskowski agreed.
There were other fractures, most notably between fan favorite/resident ruffian Kim Clackson and the head coach, Larry Hillman.
Kim Clackson
Clacker was a work in progress, a young guy whose game was more fury and fists than finesse, and his style seldom found favor with bench jockey Hillman, who did not fancy the blueline bully's perceived lack of puck-moving skills. So, like Lukowich, the frustrated Clacker was anxious to acquire a new postal code.
"I can't play for that guy anymore," he barked in early November. "I'm tired of all the bull. I was brought here to play hockey and take care of some of the guys. But it's never worked out that way. I want to go somewhere else so I can play. I just want to play and be appreciated."
It didn't help that foes like Edmonton Oilers smug puppet master Glen Sather took delight in giving that particular pot a vigorous stirring.
"If (Hillman) ever wants to get rid of him, we'll gladly take him," Sather snickered rather cheekily one night after his Oilers had taken their measure of the Jets. "He'd fit right in with us."
Others around the league also saw merit in Clackson's presence.
"There's no question that we prefer to play Winnipeg when he's not in the lineup," confessed Rick Adduono of the Bulls. "When Clackson's out there and you come down on a three-on-two, you know you're going to get a good two-hander when you skate in front of the net."
"Leaving Clackson at home only helps us," agreed Bulls coach John Brophy. "Every team needs a policeman, especially on the road."
Jets team president and co-bankroll Michael Gobuty was unamused by the discordant notes being struck and, two weeks later, he took the extraordinary measure of entering the players' lair to, among other things, instruct Clackson and any other malcontents to put an end to their pity party and play hockey.
"Michael came in and let us know he was the boss around here," said Lukowich. "He told us where we stand, kind of put our minds at ease. I think we needed somebody to come in and show some authority. Nobody wants to get smart with Mr. Gobuty."
That wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement of Hillman.
Larry Hillman was a nice man. A very nice man. And he owned a WHA championship ring that provided proof he was no pooch as a coach.
The man some of us called Morley had pushed all the right buttons six months earlier when the Jets secured the World Avco Trophy for a second time, yet Hillman fell prey to the whims of fate as unsteady dominoes began to tumble.
It wasn't his fault, for example, that Hedberg and Nilsson defected to the New York Rangers.
Larry Hillman
It wasn't his fault that the Achilles tendon in Lars-Erik Sjoberg's right heel exploded during a late-September exhibition skirmish vs. the St. Louis Blues, and the captain was lost until the butt end of March.
It wasn't his fault that Robert Marvin Hull suited up for four games then disappeared to battle his bride, Joanne, in a divorce court.
It wasn't his fault that Teddy Green followed Hull into retirement.
Nor was he the mastermind behind the stroke of brilliance that brought the Houston cartel to River City.
It was, however, Hillman's duty to make the Jets-Aeros alliance work. Unfortunately, he wasn't up to the task of blending this hybrid outfit of fierce foes into a unified force.
"We didn't please each other at the start and still haven't come to great harmony," Hillman allowed during the rough patch of mid-November. "Maybe it's because I mentioned (the Houston guys) more frequently than others in discussing this team. You know, the owners, the public and even the media expected a lot from the one line (Ruskowski-Lukowich-Preston), and maybe I expected too much, like everybody else. I can't keep relating the Houston guys to the big line (Hedberg-Nilsson-Hull).
"This isn't a give-up situation, it's something that we'll have to overcome. But if something isn't done soon, there are two objectives—either the coach has to be fired or some changes have to be made on the playing roster. Hopefully we're all mature enough to realize we have the same objective."
Sudsy Sutherland
Hillman survived until Feb. 27, four days and another loss (to the Baby Bulls) after the infamous 9-1 blitz in Birmingham.
"I don't know how he controls himself," Hillman's second-in-command, assistant coach Bill (Sudsy) Sutherland, said on the day of the dismissal. "If I was in his position, I would have had some of those guys by the throat. His biggest fault is that he was too good to the guys…he took the blame for everything."
Only 24 hours earlier, general manager John Ferguson had granted Hillman a stay of execution, saying, "I was seriously considering making a change. But there won't be any at this time." A 5-2, home-ice loss to Birmingham, however, sealed the coach's fate.
"I did not give him a vote of confidence," Fergy explained of his abrupt about-face. "I said I would leave it up to the players."
Apparently, the players said it all in that 5-2 defeat, a performance Ferguson described as "horrendous."
There was delicious irony in the hiring of John Bowie Ferguson as GM of the Jets on Nov. 22 of the final season.
Fergy, you see, was the cad who had lured Hedberg and Nilsson away from River City, where they were looked upon by the rabble with deity-like reverence. Turns out the two Swedes were his parting gift to Gotham and the Rangers, because the National Hockey League club relieved him of his GM duties three days before officially introducing the former Jets to Times Square and the masses in the city that never sleeps.
Gobuty tossed Fergy a lifeline six months later, and it was goodbye Broadway and hello boondocks.
"We are, in effect, handing Ferguson the key to the club," said Gobuty. "My partners and I plan to take a much less active role in the running of the club. It'll take time, but we're confident that he'll mold the people he wants into the organization."
Fergy accepted the job sight unseen, and he joined the lads in Quebec City for a first-hand look and a speech from the throne four days later.
"I don't know how I should put this," defenceman Scott Campbell said after a 2-2 stalemate with les Nordiques. "Let's just say it's nice to know who the boss is around here. Now we know who we have to answer to."
It's not like Fergy came in, waved a magic wand and—poof!—the Jets were rid of the toxins that had tainted the water through the first two months of the grind.
More to the point, Winnipeg HC continued to sputter like an old jalopy and, along the way, they were forced to do without Teddy Green, the legendary, tough-as-a-tire iron defenceman who stepped away from the game on Jan. 22 after 19 1/2 seasons and a near-fatal head injury.
I often wondered how Teddy repeatedly returned to the fray. I would watch him hobble onto the team bus or airplane, then observe him sitting in a stony, seemingly catatonic silence, paralyzed from the pain in his knees and, more significantly, his head. He had been on the losing end of a vicious stick-swinging duel with Wayne Maki in 1969, a confrontation that put him in a hospital bed and near death. After the passage of much time, he still had "never fully recovered" from that blow to the head.
"I've got no feeling at all in my left hand," he said at his farewell presser. "Some nights I couldn't even get my glove on before the game. I'd be putting four fingers in the same hole."
I marveled at, and admired, Teddy's courage, but he pooh-poohed any pity hurled his way.
"I remember a guy who used to play on the Million Dollar Line before he came to Boston," he said. "He went out and busted his butt every game and then would sit at the end of the bench spitting out blood. Murray Balfour was dying of cancer. I'd like to think I fashioned some of my courage from Murray Balfour."
There are differing stories on what brought these Jets together as a true team, but I favor the one about Gary Smith, known to some as Suitcase and to others as Axe.
Suitcase Smitty
By any name, he was not a goaltender of gaudy credentials upon his arrival in River City in mid-February. He had begun the season guarding the Indianapolis Racers goal, but that franchise went belly up 10 days before Christmas, leaving Smitty and his 0-10-1 record and his 5.51 goals-against average wanting for work.
He called Fergy asking for employment, and here's how Ruskowski remembers the Axe's introduction to the lads.
"He came walking into the locker room," Roscoe told Hockey Digest in 2001. "He was pretty much overweight. He sat down and he said, 'Half you guys don't know me, but my name is Gary The Axe Smith because I've been around 15 teams in the past two years. My goals against is about 5.33 and I won one game and lost 13. But don't let that fool you: I'm not that good.' Everyone just cracked up. But you could see we were coming together as a team."
Not yet, they weren't. Not until Tom McVie came aboard.
Tommy and Fergy had been childhood chums in Vancouver and, hockey being very much a buddy network, it was reasonable for the latter to reach out to his out-of-work pal to fill the Jets' coaching vacancy.
We knew little about Tommy, except that he'd been deep-sixed by the worst outfit in NHL history, the Washington Capitals. His reputation as a hard-ass taskmaster preceded him, and he said/did everything to confirm he was a bit off his nut, even telling a vomiting Scott Campbell at practice to "get sick on your own time."
Tom McVie
Although fitness-freak Tommy's preachings and rigid, nutbar demands failed to translate into Ws at the get-go, we saw evidence that they soon would deliver favorable results. There was renewed vigor. More purpose in their play. Superior conditioning began to take grip, most noticeably in the third period of games.
Better yet—at least for us news snoops—Tommy was a quote machine. A funny quote machine.
On teams in a slump: "You know what happens when you get into a rut like that? People start talking behind your back. When I was with Washington, I remember standing in the Los Angeles airport and I could see a couple of guys talking. As soon as I walked near them, they stopped. I'd walk up to a couple more and they'd stop talking too. Hell, it got so bad in Washington, that one night I was at a football game and the Redskins went into their huddle…I thought THEY were talking about me too."
Upon arrival in Quebec City, he heard players whinging about their tiny rooms in Le Chateau Frontenac: "I don't know what you guys are bitching about. The last time I was here, my room was so small that when I put my key in the door I broke a window."
After the Jets had swept les Nordiques in their first-round playoff series, Gobuty gave Tommy a huge thank-you hug: "The last guy who did that to me was Abe Pollin (chairman of the board for the Washington Capitals). He hugged me and told me he should give me a 20-year contract…then he fired me 19 years too soon."
Tom McVie in the champions' changing room.
More than anything, though, McVie proved to be the right man at the right time for that team.
The Jets had somehow maneuvered their way into top spot on Feb. 15, but they finished the month in third place, five points in arrears of the Edmonton Gretzkys, and every other outfit in the league had at least three games in hand. They lost six of eight, then eight of 10.
Gradually, however, whatever flavor of Kool-Aid McVie was selling kicked in. It was balls to the wind. The Jets came down the stretch like Secretariat at the Belmont Stakes, winning 11 of 17 and four of their final five matches, and only once after March 6 did they absorb back-to-back losses.
"It took them a while before they started winning," observed Jacques Demers, head coach of the Quebec Nordiques. "Now every one of those guys is proud to wear a Jets sweater…you can see that Winnipeg has togetherness, that pride just by looking at their bench. I think now the Jets may be a better team than they've ever been. They've got so many leaders."
It was convenient and a blessing that one of those leaders, captain Lars-Erik Sjoberg, returned from the repair shop for the finishing strokes of the regular season.
Squat like a fire hydrant, the Shoe was equal parts wizard and hockey Einstein, a smooth, puck-moving rearguard who always saw what others failed to see. Everything he did was accomplished with the calm of a Buddhist monk and the subtle skill of a heart surgeon.
The Jets were unsuccessful in his comeback game, dropping a 2-nada decision to les Nordiques, but the Shoe was magnificent in his understated manner.
"I told Fergy after the game that he should cut Shoe's wages," McVie joked. "He makes the game look so easy. Any guy having that good a time out there shouldn't get paid."
"Now I know why I always had to chop him in Houston," added Lukowich, the feisty 65-goal winger. "The only way to stop him is to put the lumber to him."
"I'm still waiting for somebody, anybody, to beat him one-on-one, and I've been in the league five years," Edmonton Oilers centre Ron Chipperfield said of the Shoe.
Let the record show that the Jets went 13-6 with Sjoberg orchestrating the show from the back end and, although his point total was modest, it's unlikely they would have gone on their successful 8-2 playoff run without him.
This was a WHA title that almost never happened.
The Jets had finished in third place, a whopping 14 points in back of Edmonton and three behind Quebec, and when they departed River City to open a best-of-seven skirmish vs. Quebec there were no assurances that les Nordiques would be waiting for them at the other end.
There was a money dispute, you see.
The WHA's agreement with the WHA Players Association called for a payout of no less than $10,000 to each member of the championship side. The league was offering between $6,000 and $7,000 and the players insisted they receive no less than $8,000. Les Nordiques and Cincinnati Stingers voted to cancel the playoffs, while the Oilers and New England Whalers were in favor of proceeding as scheduled.
So was there a possibility of the WHA collapsing before its final act?
"Sure there is," said Peter Sullivan, the silky-smooth centre who served as the Jets player rep. "Even if we vote in favor, Quebec and Cincinnati still might not come over and agree with the other three clubs. I just hope for the league's sake it doesn't happen."
The Jets never took a formal vote, but at least one player, Clackson, was against a work stoppage.
"Don't write me down as one of the malcontents," he said. "I'll take $7,000 anytime. We shouldn't be concerned about anything right now except winning this series of ours."
The Jets touched down in Quebec City on a Friday (first game was scheduled for Monday), and the club withheld the players' per diem ($24), with a further caution: If there was a cancellation of the post-season, the players would be returning home on their own dime.
As it happened, the WHA and WHAPA agreed to put the dispute on hold until after the playoffs, so it was game on.
Much was made of the impact the threatened boycott had on les Nordiques, who became a house divided over the issue.
Reports of fights involving Curt Brackenbury, Serge Bernier and Marc Tardiff came out of the Quebec camp, although defenceman Paul Baxter insisted it was nothing more than mountains-out-of-molehills nattering from news snoops.
Jacques Demers
"We haven't played for a week now," Baxter said with a dismissive shrug, "that sort of thing happens."
Brackenbury chirped in, saying, "I can't remember anything about them."
Whatever the case, the Jets took out les Nordiques in a romp, sweeping the series with 6-3, 9-2, 9-5 and 6-2 wins and outshooting Quebec 50-14 in Game 4.
"There are players on this team who will never wear a Quebec Nordiques uniform again," vowed the vanquished Quebec coach Demers. "They were unprofessional. They didn't try at all…all of this because of money. The Jets went through the same thing as my players, but they still wanted to play hockey. What hurts most is when you stand behind the bench and see your players laughing."
That's what the semifinal series was…a laugher.
Like many others, I often wondered how the Jets would function without Terry Ruskowski.
If Clackson provided the team with its spine (in the figurative realm), Roscoe was its heartbeat, and that's not to discredit the Shoe and Barry Long, who wore the 'C' while Sjoberg was in the repair shop. It's just that Ruskowski had that special ingredient you couldn't reach out and touch. Call it the 'it' factor.
"He's a very talented hockey player, but it's more than that," winger Lyle Moffat suggested during the final vs. the Oilers. "I don't know what it is that the man has, but he has to have something magic about him. He's just a great leader."
Roscoe and Clacker
After 3-1 and 3-2 victories on Edmonton ice to open the championship series, the Jets lost Roscoe to a serious shoulder owie in Game 3, and they were promptly outscored 4-zip in the third period of an 8-3 loss. They gutted out a 3-2 victory in Game 4, then received a royal rag-dolling by the Oilers, 10-2. So, let's do the math: In seven periods sans Roscoe, the Jets were outscored 16-5. Ouch.
Chances are there wouldn't have been a happily-ever-after ending to this story except for trainer Billy Bozak. The nicest of men, Boz used his magic fingers and perhaps some voodoo on Roscoe's shoulder, and he was good to go for Game 6, even though the hard-boiled centre couldn't raise his left arm and truthfully had no business being on the ice. All he did was set up four goals in a 7-3 victory that brought the curtain down on the WHA, on May 20, 1979.
"I just love the man," gushed McVie. "I've never met a man in my life like Terry Rukowski (Tommy often dropped the first 's' when he spoke Ruskowski's name)."
I was happiest for the Houston players, who hadn't been warmly embraced initially and were handed a very tough act to follow.
Bill (Magic Fingers) Bozak and four of the boys—Scotty Campbell, the Shoe, Luke and Roland Eriksson.
Thus I wandered down to the Jets changing room in the bowels of a decaying Winnipeg Arena and sought to engage in chin-wags with four of them—Roscoe, Luke, Rich Preston (the playoff MVP) and Scotty Campbell. I don't recall ever seeing four happier, more contented men. They wore that victory well.
They all did, of course, from Suitcase Smitty to shutdown forwards Lyle Moffat-Bill (Tractor) Lesuk-Roland Eriksson-Bobby Guindon, to fancy-schmancy offensive wizards Silky Sullivan and Magic Man Kent Nilsson, to gut-check guys like Clackson and Long, to greenhorns Glenn Hicks and Paul MacKinnon, to the guy who scored the final goal in Jets WHA history 40 years ago tomorrow—Willy Lindstrom.
"I had a bad season, so I had to have a good playoff," said Willy, who contributed 10 goals and five assists in the 10 games that mattered most. "I wanted to show that I was a better player than Larry Hillman thought I was. When he was coach, I used to get only five or six shifts a game. I was thinking this would be my last season in North America, and I was thinking of playing over in Germany or Switzerland next year. But now things are different. Tom McVie gave me chance to play and I wanted to make good on that chance."
No one in that changing room was happier than McVie.
"Three months ago I didn't have a job in hockey and now they're measuring me for a championship ring," Tommy gushed. "This is better than sex…well, maybe."
Michael Gobuty
Often I have taken pause for ponder on that 1978-79 season and how the events unfolded. Was there one decision that served as the catalyst? Actually, yes. Here's how I rate the five most-significant developments in that championship crusade:
Michael Gobuty and his 8 Hockey Ventures Inc. partners purchased the contracts of a dozen Houston Aeros, bringing Ruskowski, Preston, Lukowich, Campbell, West, Gray and Terbenche to Winnipeg.
The Gobuty Group hired John Ferguson and handed him the keys to the shop.
Fergy hired Tom McVie.
The return of Lars-Erik Sjoberg.
Suitcase Smitty put in a phone call to Fergy and asked for a job.
The 1978-79 Jets, playoff team: Terry Ruskowski, Rich Preston, Morris Lukowich, Scott Campbell, Steve West, John Gray, Paul Terbenche, Peter Sullivan, Willy Lindstrom, Kent Nilsson, Bill Lesuk, Lyle Moffat, Bobby Guindon, Roland Eriksson, Paul MacKinnon, Lars-Erik Sjoberg, Glenn Hicks, Kim Clackson, Gary Smith, Joe Daley, Barry Long. Coaches Tom McVie, Bill Sutherland. General manager John Ferguson.
Also playing during the regular season: Markus Mattsson, Rich Gosselin, John Gibson, Ted Green, Bobby Hull, Bill Davis, Mike Amodeo, Dale Yakiwchuk. Coach Larry Hillman. Executive Director of Hockey Operations/assistant GM Rudy Pilous.
Author pattidawnswanssonPosted on May 19, 2019 May 19, 2019 Categories Winnipeg JetsTags 8 Hockey Ventures Inc., Abe Pollin, Anders Hedberg, Avco World Trophy, Barry Long, Belmont Stakes, Bill Bozak, Bill Davis, Bill Lesuk, Bill Sutherland, Birmingham Bulls, Bobby Guindohn, Bobby Hull, Chateau Frontenac, Cincinnati Stingers, Curt Brackenbury, Dale Yakiwchuk, Edmonton Oilers, Friar Nicolson, Gary Smith, Glen Sather, Glenn Hicks, Hockey Digest, Houston Aeros, Jacques Demers, Joe Daley, John Ferguson, John Gibson, John Gray, Jon Thordarson, Kent Nilsson, Kim Clackson, Larry Hillman, Lars-Erik Sjoberg, Lyle Moffat, Marc Tardiff, Markus Mattsson, Michael Gobuty, Mike Amodeo, Morris Lukowich, Murray Balfour, National Hockey League, New England Whalers, Paul Baxter, Paul MacKinnon, Paul Terbenche, Peter Sullivan, Quebec City, Quebec Nordiques, Reyn Davis, Rich Gosselin, Rich Preston, Roland Eriksson, Ron Chipperfield, Rudy Pilous, Scott Campbell, Secretariat, Serge Bernier, Steve West, Ted Green, Terry Ruskowski, the Roadrunner, Tom McVie, Ulf Nilsson, Washington Capitals, Wile E. Coyote, Willy Lindstrom, Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg Jets, Winnipeg Tribune, World Hockey Association8 Comments on Troubles before Triumph: An Ode to the 1978-79 Winnipeg Jets on the 40th anniversary of their final WHA championship
About the mother of all bad schedules…look who's climbing the NHL's all-time loser list…adios to Cam Cole…a Penny for your thoughts…dumb debates…the golden age of nothing…and fun sports writing
You want to talk about a tough schedule, kids (we all know Paul Maurice does)?
Well, let me tell you about the mother of all tough schedules. Then I don't want to hear another word about what the Winnipeg Jets have endured in the first two-plus months of their current National Hockey League crusade.
A horrible schedule didn't prevent captain Lars-Erik Sjoberg and the Winnipeg Jets from parading around the Winnipeg Arena with the World Avco Trophy.
Beginning on Jan. 1 and ending on Feb. 27 in the final World Hockey Association season (1978-79), the Jets played 30 games (17 road, 13 home). Do the math. That's 30 assignments in 58 nights. At one point, they played five games in six nights (3-2) and eight games in 10 nights (4-4). Overall, they went 14-14-2. I don't recall anyone bitching about the grind and unfairness of the schedule. We just spoke to its quirkiness.
During a wacky stretch in February, for example, we were in Cincinnati long enough to qualify as registered voters in the Ohio primaries. Here's what the itinerary looked like:
Feb. 8: arrive Cincinnati
Feb. 9: play Cincinnati Stingers
Feb. 10: leave Cincinnati, play at New England Whalers
Feb. 11-13: return to Cincinnati; practice in Cincinnati
Feb. 14: play at Cincinnati
Feb. 15: leave Cincinnati
Feb. 16: play at Birmingham Bulls; return to Cincinnati
Feb. 18: leave Cincinnati, play at home vs. New England
Feb. 19: return to Cincinnati
Feb. 22: fly to Birmingham
Feb. 23: play Birmingham Bulls
Feb. 24: fly to New England
Feb. 25: play New England
Feb. 26: fly home.
We spent more time in Cincinnati than Venus Flytrap and Dr. Johnny Fever (Google WKRP in Cincinnati, kids; it was a terrific sitcom). Our home base had become the Cincinnati Marriott. A couple of times, we weren't required to pack our bags and check out of the hotel because we would be back in less than 24 hours.
"Maybe we should all just have our mail delivered to us at the hotel," silky-smooth centre Peter Sullivan quipped one day.
Some of us could recite the Marriott restaurant menu from memory.
By way of comparison, here's how often, or seldom, the six WHA outfits played during that Jan. 1-Feb. 27 time frame:
The Jets were so tuckered out from their 30-games-in-58-nights grind that they only managed to go 19-10 the rest of the way, finishing 11-8 down the regular-season stretch then 8-2 in the playoffs to win the final WHA title. That's why I refuse to listen to any more whining about the current Jets' tough schedule. I don't want to hear it from Maurice, his players, his parrots in mainstream media, or fans. I've witnessed worse and saw it conclude with the best result possible.
Paul Maurice: Soon he'll be No. 3 on the NHL's all-time loser list.
I'm not into fancy stats. I like my stats like my life: simple. Thus, I look at the numbers in the W and L columns and they tell me all I need to know about a head coach. And here's what they tell me about Paul Maurice: He has the second-worst won-lost percentage of all active NHL head coaches who have been on the job more than a month and, by the close of business next spring, the Jets bench boss will be the third-losingest head coach in the history of the NHL. At present, he has 550 career losses. Another 12 and he'll pass Ron Wilson to slide into the No. 3 slot. That, mind you, puts him in mighty fine company, because the only two men ahead of him on the loser list will be Scotty Bowman and Al Arbour, both Hockey Hall of Famers. The difference, of course, is that Bowman and Arbour are also Nos. 1 and 3 on the all-time win list and they've coached nine and four Stanley Cup champions, respectively.
I was sold on Maurice when he worked wonders with the Jets in his first full whirl behind the bench. He got them into the Stanley Cup tournament. Two seasons later, he no longer is working wonders. Some, in fact, wonder how he's still working. Worth considering is this: A number of the Jets young players will improve as they mature, but Maurice won't ever be a better coach than he is today. If the head coach can't grow with his players, when is the right time to dismiss him?
The best of jock journalism in Canada is no more. Cam Cole of Postmedia has arrived at trail's end, after 41 years as a jock sniffer. Cam was never a ranter and raver like, say, his Postmedia colleague Steve Simmons, who believes he who squawks the loudest rules the day. Cam, a very nice man, most always wrote in reasoned, measured tones with a subtle wit, and he had a heck of a ride, showing up in time to write about both the Edmonton Eskimos and Edmonton Oilers dynasties. Cam's retirement means the torch as our nation's top jock columnist is passed to Bruce Arthur, who's very socially conscious and actually injects humor into his scribblings for the Toronto Star.
The boys and girls in the toy departments of the land got it right in their salute to kid swimmer Penny Oleksiak as Canada's athlete-of-the-year. She struck gold in the pool at the Rio Summer Olympic Games and twice at the recent world short course championships. It was a no-brainer. I did, however, find it odd that Andre De Grasse was part of the Lou Marsh Trophy discussion. Yes, I realize his bromance with Usain Bolt in Rio was a warm-and-fuzzy Olympic storyline, but De Grasse never won a race. He finished second or third. Shouldn't you actually have to win something before you warrant consideration as the True North's top jock? There should have been just three athletes in that conversation: Oleksiak, hockey player Sidney Crosby and golfer Brooke Henderson.
I don't know about you, but I find the Auston Matthews-Patrik Laine debate kind of silly. Go ahead and discuss which of the two is enjoying the better freshman season if you like, but to engage in a verbal to-and-fro over who will have the better NHL career is foolish in the extreme. Discuss that amongst yourselves when Matthews and Puck Finn have some mileage behind them. Like, in about 15 years.
Once again, Cathal Kelly of the Globe and Mail has referred to this as the "golden age" of Canadian tennis and, once again, he has failed to explain himself. Yes, Milos Raonic is the world No. 3 on the men's side, but he went another year without winning a tournament of significance. Genie Bouchard, meanwhile, has fallen off the grid. So, our premier men's player can't win the big match and our top female player can't find her game. That's what passes for a "golden age?"
Really enjoyed old friend Paul Friesen's piece on the fictional Bud's Diner in the Winnipeg Sun last week. It's a nice, lighthearted piece that, although some might find hokey, shows imagination, creativity and a sense of humor, something that's lacking in jock journalism. I was also pleased to see the return of my favorite Grumpets—Paul Wiecek and Steve Lyons—to the Winnipeg Free Press sports pages. Their Say What?! print chin-wag is light, breezy and often self-deprecating, with an appropriate amount of bite.
Patti Dawn Swansson has been writing about Winnipeg sports for 46 years, longer than any living being. Do not, however, assume that to mean she harbors a wealth of sports knowledge or that she's a jock journalist of award-winning loft. It simply means she is old and comfortable at a keyboard (although arthritic fingers sometimes make typing a bit of a chore) and she apparently doesn't know when to quit. Or she can't quit. She is most proud of her Q Award, presented in 2012 for her scribblings about the LGBT community in Victoria, B.C., and her induction into the Manitoba Sportswriters & Sportscasters Association Media Roll of Honour in 2015.
Author pattidawnswanssonPosted on December 18, 2016 March 15, 2019 Categories SportsTags Andre De Grasse, Auston Matthews, Birmingham Bulls, Brooke Henderson, Bruce Arthur, Cam Cole, Cathal Kelly, Cincinnati Stingers, Dr. Johnny Fever, Edmonton Eskimos, Edmonton Oilers, Genie Bouchard, Globe and Mail, Milos Raonic, National Hockey League, New England Whalers, Patrik Laine, Paul Friesen, Paul Maurice, Paul Wiecek, Penny Oleksiak, Quebec Nordiques, Rio, Sidney Crosby, Stanley Cup, Summer Olympic Games, Usain Bolt, Venus Flytrap, Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg Jets, Winnipeg Sun, WKRP in Cincinnati, World Hockey AssociationLeave a comment on About the mother of all bad schedules…look who's climbing the NHL's all-time loser list…adios to Cam Cole…a Penny for your thoughts…dumb debates…the golden age of nothing…and fun sports writing


text:
Vulnerabilities/Threats
SonicWALL Brings Web Application Firewall Service To SMB Market
SonicWALL SSL VPN 4.0 protects Web applications, including the SSL VPN appliance itself, from the latest Web-based attacks
SAN JOSE, Calif., May 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SonicWALL, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNWL), a leading secure network infrastructure company, today announced its SonicWALL SSL VPN 4.0 firmware release, bringing key new features to small- to mid-sized businesses (SMBs), including Web Application Firewall, Virtual Assist and simplified unified policy. SonicWALL remains committed to bringing sophisticated security capabilities to SMBs, and doing so within their budgets. The release of SonicWALL's 4.0 firmware update enhances the SonicWALL SSL VPN product line, providing users with easy-to-use, flexible and innovative technology that provides secure corporate network access for distributed workforces.
Companies of all sizes need to provide secure network access to employees, customers and partners, no matter where the parties are located. This need is exacerbated by the proliferation of Web-based applications, as the Internet's role as a critical platform for businesses and consumers has also made it a new threat vector of choice - and Web-based attacks are rising at an alarming rate. Designed to enable controlled network access for a distributed workforce, SonicWALL SSL VPN 4.0 is a cost-effective solution providing ease-of-management, and its Web Application Firewall detects and protects Web applications - including the SSL VPN appliance itself - from the latest Web-based attacks. In addition to helping to secure the corporate network, SonicWALL's SSL VPN 4.0 firmware upgrade also helps organizations benefit from the elimination of deployment and ongoing maintenance costs.
"Over the past four years SonicWALL has provided industry-leading SSL VPN remote access solutions to organizations of all sizes, allowing SMBs to enjoy the same features and capabilities as larger enterprises," said Matthew Dieckman, Product Line Manager at SonicWALL. "SonicWALL's new SSL VPN 4.0 is a milestone release that captures the benefits of our latest SSL VPN platforms and sets the stage for innovation in secure remote access for years to come. Our SSL VPN technology now provides SMBs with optimal control, flexibility and functionality at a price point that doesn't compromise their budgets."
The SonicWALL SSL VPN 4.0 firmware upgrade, available for the SSL VPN 2000, SSL VPN 4000 and Secure Remote Access (SRA) 4200 appliances, includes the following new features:
-- Web Application Firewall: a new subscription-based service that employs a dynamically updated signature database to protect against modern, Web-based threats. With the 4.0 release, the Web Application Firewall moves from a technology preview feature to a fully supported and licensable feature, that detects and protects Web applications from Web-based attacks - thereby reducing potential losses while complying with data protection compliance mandates. -- Virtual Assist: allows users to access their personal computers located outside the LAN of the SRA appliance. By installing the application on a Windows PC with Internet access, that computer becomes available for users access to view the desktop and have mouse/keyboard control (Windows only). -- NetExtender Re-architecture: the Windows NetExtender client has been redesigned with a new look and feel. The underlying technology now implements a custom-dialer that allows it to be launched from the Windows "Network Connections" menu. This user interface standardization across all SSL VPN clients creates a unified look and feel and the new technology supports domain login scripts. -- SNMP Support: SonicWALL SSL VPN devices will support Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) which will report remote access statistics. This feature facilitates network management for administrators as they can leverage standardized reporting tools. -- Unified Policy: all granular bookmarks and policies are now displayed on a single page, providing for a single place to manage all SSL VPN policies. This capability reduces the administrative overhead in configuring and troubleshooting policies in multiple locations.
For more information please visit: http://www.sonicwall.com.
About SonicWALL, Inc.
SonicWALL, Inc., the leader in network security, focuses on developing solutions that remove the cost and complexity out of managing a secure network environment. With over one million award-winning appliances shipped through its global network of ten thousand channel partners, SonicWALL provides end-to-end solutions including firewalls, SSL VPN's, e-mail security and continuous data protection that collectively ensure robust, secure network protection. For more information, visit the company web site at http://www.sonicwall.com/.
The Definitive Guide to SASE Security

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
The role of surgery in the management of immature teratomas of the ovary
R. E. Bristow, J. S. Berek
CME Journal of Gynecologic Oncology
Teratoma
Bristow, R. E., & Berek, J. S. (1998). The role of surgery in the management of immature teratomas of the ovary. CME Journal of Gynecologic Oncology, 3(2), 181-186.
The role of surgery in the management of immature teratomas of the ovary. / Bristow, R. E.; Berek, J. S.
In: CME Journal of Gynecologic Oncology, Vol. 3, No. 2, 1998, p. 181-186.
Bristow, RE & Berek, JS 1998, 'The role of surgery in the management of immature teratomas of the ovary', CME Journal of Gynecologic Oncology, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 181-186.
Bristow RE, Berek JS. The role of surgery in the management of immature teratomas of the ovary. CME Journal of Gynecologic Oncology. 1998;3(2):181-186.
Bristow, R. E. ; Berek, J. S. / The role of surgery in the management of immature teratomas of the ovary. In: CME Journal of Gynecologic Oncology. 1998 ; Vol. 3, No. 2. pp. 181-186.
@article{5cd2cbc894f348e1842cc448e6231383,
title = "The role of surgery in the management of immature teratomas of the ovary",
author = "Bristow, {R. E.} and Berek, {J. S.}",
journal = "CME Journal of Gynecologic Oncology",
publisher = "Primed-X Press",
T1 - The role of surgery in the management of immature teratomas of the ovary
AU - Bristow, R. E.
AU - Berek, J. S.
JO - CME Journal of Gynecologic Oncology
JF - CME Journal of Gynecologic Oncology


text:
Huang Chih-hsiung (; born 16 October 1976 in Taipei County (now New Taipei City), Taiwan) is a Taiwanese athlete. Representing the Republic of China (as Chinese Taipei) in the 2004 Summer Olympics, he won the silver medal at the Men's 68 kg Taekwondo event. At the 2000 Summer Olympics he won a bronze medal at the Men's 58 kg Taekwondo event.

Political careers

2004 legislative election
Huang was placed third on the Kuomintang's legislators-at-large candidate list for the December 2004 legislative election, just behind Legislative Speaker Wang Jing-pyng and Deputy Legislative Speaker Chiang Pin-kung, and he subsequently won a seat in the sixth Legislative Yuan.

2008 legislative election
He was subsequently re-elected in the January 2008 legislative election, earning a place in the seventh Legislative Yuan.

2016 legislative election

External links

 Huang Chih-hsiung's profile from Legislative Yuan

1976 births
Living people
Olympic bronze medalists for Taiwan
Olympic silver medalists for Taiwan
Olympic taekwondo practitioners of Taiwan
New Taipei Members of the Legislative Yuan
Taekwondo practitioners at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Taekwondo practitioners at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Party List Members of the Legislative Yuan
Kuomintang Members of the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan
Members of the 6th Legislative Yuan
Members of the 7th Legislative Yuan
Members of the 8th Legislative Yuan
Asian Games medalists in taekwondo
Olympic medalists in taekwondo
Taekwondo practitioners at the 1998 Asian Games
Taekwondo practitioners at the 2002 Asian Games
Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Asian Games gold medalists for Chinese Taipei
Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games
Taiwanese sportsperson-politicians
World Taekwondo Championships medalists
Taiwanese male taekwondo practitioners

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


When Toronto-based artist Emma Nishimura was 14 years old she visited Nova Scotia where she met a woman named Elfie and had a chance to tour her studio. Emma recalls, "From that moment on I dreamt about what my studio would look like and became fascinated with the idea of being an artist." Although Emma did not decide to pursue an artistic career until she was well into her university years she says, "There came a time when I couldn't imagine doing anything else." Making and appreciating art has always been part of Emma's life and she credits her family with fostering an appreciation for the arts throughout her childhood.
After graduating from the University of Guelph with a B.A. in studio art and psychology, she completed an M.F.A. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the U.S. Now back in Toronto, she is a sessional instructor at the Ontario College of Art and Design University while creating and exhibiting her own work.
See more of Emma Nishimura's work on her website.
Group exhibition in Cleveland: Revive & Renew: Contemporary Artists & Eastern Papers, Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory and Educational Foundation, Cleveland, OH. August 1 – September 20, 2014.


It's a well-known fact that it's been a while since Lindsay Lohan has truly had her sh*t together. Personally, I'm loving her new reality show, but it's clear that Lindsay would be an absolute nightmare of a boss. I'm glad she's getting a check from MTV, but I still have some concerns about our girl LiLo. First and foremost: what the f*ck is going on with Lindsay Lohan's Instagram?
Lindsay has always had an interesting social media presence, probably stemming from the fact that she got famous before Instagram, and then was already a mess when it got popular. Never forget last year, when she literally tried to kidnap some Russian children on Instagram live. But Lindsay recently deleted almost all the posts from her Instagram feed, so now it only goes back to October 2018. We definitely lost some evidence gems, but her new Instagram habits are still puzzling. After poring over her posts, I have come to an important conclusion. I truly don't think Lindsay Lohan understands how Instagram works or how to use it, so please enjoy this TED talk.
Excuse me? First of all, this photo is super blurry, and second of all, I have no earthly clue what is going on in it. I believe it's a household cat, wearing a fake lion mane, perched on a tree stump or pole at the beach? Like…is it Lindsay's cat? Is this in Mykonos? I'm going to go ahead and assume the answer to both these questions is no, because this looks like a poster you would get at the Scholastic book fair in elementary school. And then I don't even know where to start with the insane caption. It just serves to double down on the book fair vibes. Seriously, truly, what in the world is happening here? That caption?? The fact that she still thinks we are saying "yasss"? Will I ever know peace again??
Lindsay is also great at Instagram stories (even ones not involving cats). Here's one of her most recent posts.
First of all, she tagged a fake Lindsay Lohan account that hasn't posted since 2013. I have to think this was a mistake; does she not know her own Instagram handle? It's literally just her name! Then again, that would be so Lindsay. There are then a series of nine emojis that don't tell any story I can figure out, other than that Lindsay doesn't have an iPhone. That is, without a doubt, the most disturbing piece of evidence I have uncovered in my search. How does Lindsay Lohan not have an iPhone? She must be able to afford it. Right? I hope to God she's not one of those people who won't shut up about how the Android has a superior camera.
Moving down from the emojis and the phone, there's a block of text where she tags her TV show and her mom, and then makes a Mean Girls reference out of nowhere (with a typo). Is she angry at her mom and MTV? Is this supposed to be a joke? Who knows?! Then, to top it all off, Lindsay used the music feature to play "Happier" by Marshmello and Bastille, because that fits the whole vibe I guess. Even just one of these things would be strange, but the combination has presented a DaVinci Code-like enigma that I am dedicating my life to solve.
We've already covered that Lindsay doesn't understand what to post on her stories and feed, but she also doesn't understand the actual way in which most people use the app. Case in point: her most recent photo, which shows her doing her best Mother Teresa cosplay, or something.
The photo is whatever, but Lindsay still messes it up by commenting on her own post! Does this mean she's praying for herself? Does she comment this on everyone's photos? What does "Life is Life" even mean?
Lindsay, Lindsay, Lindsay. I know you don't know how social media works, but we have this thing called screen shotting. That means that even when you delete the incriminating captions, the evidence lives forever! Number one, I'm not a beach club owner (whatever that is), but I would think you would want to post pictures of your club on social media, even during the off-season, especially when that off-season occurs smack dab in the middle of the airing of a reality show that is about said beach club. Also, does Lindsay mean that she wants Panos to erase the photo of this random person? Or "erase this random person" as in kick them out? I'm envisioning Lindsay Lohan going up to everybody she doesn't like, brandishing an eraser in their face, and yelling, "be gone, random person! I hereby erase you!" A girl can dream.
I'm truly interested to see where Lindsay's Instagram persona goes from here, because I can't imagine things getting much weirder. I just want the best for her, and if that includes commenting on her own photos, I guess that's her journey. But please Lindsay, for the love of God, cut it out with the random emojis.


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the only luck i've had is with stuff with a strong visual component, like showing her bowie doing "boys keep swinging" on SNL with the weird puppet body or the sleater-kinney video with the bob's burgers characters, and even then it feels more like she just enjoys getting extra screen time
― na (NA), Wednesday, 12 April 2017 14:34 (two years ago) link
I know parents who are all like "my kid's favorite band is kraftwerk" and that seems so corny to me, no kid finds that "organically"
ha otm.
my kids love music and will listen to anything but they definitely like kids music the best. we do some kids music classes and they love all the sing-a-longs with classic kids songs. they also love raffi, elizabeth mitchell, and those super annoying "music together" albums. they also really love "get lucky" and "d'yer mak'er" right now.
my younger son is obsessed with his ukulele and therefore seems to enjoy any solo acoustic guitar stuff, we watched john fahey videos on youtube and he was pretty mesmerized by them, watching fahey hold the guitar and mimicking his postures.
― marcos, Wednesday, 12 April 2017 14:43 (two years ago) link
I'm disappointed that there wasn't been another What Does the Fox Say recently. More pop songs with cute animals would go over well.
― how's life, Wednesday, 12 April 2017 16:01 (two years ago) link
I know parents who are all like "my kid's favorite band is kraftwerk" and that seems so corny to me, no kid finds that "organically" (lol in a kraftwerk context) in 2017
idk what you mean by "organically" unless you mean "not in their parents collection" because we went through a period when Judah was 3 and literally ALL he ever wanted to hear was Kraftwerk's "The Man Machine" album, over and over. He would demand to hear it on a daily basis and throw mini-tantrums if we played something else.
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 12 April 2017 16:06 (two years ago) link
Did the album grow in your garden?
― duped and used by my worst Miss U (President Keyes), Wednesday, 12 April 2017 16:07 (two years ago) link
it is bespoke, hand-crafted vinyl artifact
super annoying "music together" albums
this shit is the fucking worst
my 9 y.o. daughter doesn't have her own phone/stereo yet so she's p much stuck hearing whatever my wife and I have on and since I p much have music on 24/7 her tastes have developed in that context. She doesn't really hear much chart pop although I expect that to change w in the next couple years and shortly I will be forced to take her to concerts for whatever boy-band is around the corner. She prefers "80s" stuff (in her words) and gets fixated on certain songs periodically, like Ca Plane Pour Moi or E=MC2 or I Eat Cannibals.
The girls have their own all-in-one record player in their bedroom at their mum's which means our friends have been constantly buying them charity shop LPs. Now, I had some misgivings about getting them into vinyl, like it was some sort of retro experiment (why not just let them RUIN THEIR PRECIOUS HEARING with crappy earbuds and YouTube on their phones (not that they *had* phones when we got them the turntable) like every other kid?). But it's been really nice - they sit up there and work/play/read/draw while The Pretenders or some '70s Top of the Pops comp spins quietly in the background. At mine, it's mostly Spotify. They have their own playlists on my account but mostly it's ad hoc add-to-queue listening. I made a Sleepytime playlist (Harold Budd, Aphex, Satie, Eno, Richter) for them when they first stayed over but, after several months they rebelled and decided it was "too scary and sad". So they fall asleep to stuff they could be dancing to...
― Michael Jones, Wednesday, 12 April 2017 16:31 (two years ago) link
my two oldest (boy 8, girl 6) sleep in the same room and when it's my turn to put them down, after all the other stuff, I play one song for them. Always try to mix it up, usually do a little history lesson or explanation of some sort, even if it's just explaining the instruments, or the song structure. It's been fun, they love it, I love it.
― Lebro v. Wade (Spottie), Wednesday, 12 April 2017 16:56 (two years ago) link
I am 100% trying to warp and shape my kids' musical tastes, which is why they spent so much of last year shouting the "luna luna luna luna" part of Underworld's "If Rah". The two things they got obsessed with that I didn't actively foist upon them were Katy Perry singles (particularly "Roar", "Firework" and "Dark Horse") and the Big Bang Theory theme (which exists on Youtube in practically any permutation you can imagine). It is very funny when people ask them to sing a song; the reactions they get when they start in on "The whoooooole universe was in a hot, dense state" are priceless. (They are currently 3.)
― Rachel Luther Queen (DJP), Wednesday, 12 April 2017 17:01 (two years ago) link
I'm with DJP. My 4yo is too young to be able to find her own music, so her favourite stuff is from what we've played: she's mad for Bowie (The Laughing Gnome, Scary Monsters, Wild is the wind, and the Labyrinth ST), iggy pop's Lust for Life, Grimes, and jazz.
Plus the Frozen OST, and i also made the mistake of taking her to see Trolls.
― I hear from this arsehole again, he's going in the river (James Morrison), Wednesday, 19 April 2017 10:56 (two years ago) link
I'm pretty sure I posted this at the time on the photos thread - but this is what Lulu did (then aged 8) to my fridge one Saturday morning around 6am. It's still all there, just a little curled at the edges now.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7664/17263179311_71909601f9_b.jpg
my 2 year old loves Pentatonix. help.
― frogbs, Wednesday, 19 April 2017 12:01 (two years ago) link
xp that is amazing
― On Some Faraday Beach (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 19 April 2017 12:07 (two years ago) link
my kid loves the Steven Tyler song on the Polar Express soundtrack so much that I'm afraid to let him hear Aerosmith
http://www.theonion.com/article/cool-dad-raising-daughter-on-media-that-will-put-h-26132
^ This is a v real fear. My 8 & 6 year old have a pretty consistent playlist of Carly Rae, Katy Perry, 1D, Little Mix, Taylor Swift etc etc which they pick from school dance classes, youtube etc. Actually got much more into Taylor as a result. But they do pick up on things from spotify, R6 etc - currently like Sacred Paws, xx, and bizarrely QT, as well as Bowie, Prince and, as they insist on calling him, Iggy Pop-Pop (pop-pop being their slang for fart aiui)
― Stevie T, Wednesday, 19 April 2017 12:51 (two years ago) link
i don't currently have kids but i'm not gonna front, the idea of raising a child who might one day boldly proclaim her love for mary timony on the family fridge is tipping the scales towards a 'yes' on people-making
― years of immersion in the seduction community (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 19 April 2017 12:57 (two years ago) link
I will repeat
My kid and his friends all listen to Sublime.
― how's life, Wednesday, April 12, 2017 8:46 AM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
through no fault of my own.
ow a wiley
indie ball
perfect rendition of Wuthering Heights from my 2-year-old
Requested cyndi lauper this morning (?) and 'be quiet orange one' (bjork)
― kinder, Wednesday, 19 April 2017 13:01 (two years ago) link
watching Han loving Cabaret yday was a treat
― Brexterminate all the brutes (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 19 April 2017 13:39 (two years ago) link
okay the sublime factor is tipping me back towards a 'no' on people-making, thx how's life
I'm just saying it's a gamble.
i dunno if i have the stones to roll those bones dude
Mine figured out how to use AudioShare to record & import sounds into Sector today without any help from dad
― The Jams Manager (1992, Brickster) (El Tomboto), Thursday, 20 April 2017 00:12 (two years ago) link
or mom
lulu otm
― mookieproof, Thursday, 20 April 2017 01:02 (two years ago) link
For the past few weeks my 2yo has required that I rock him to sleep to a cover of the Thompson Twin's "Hold Me Now" by someone named Eden XO. Asked for it twice last night.
Maybe I've just gotten used to them, but I don't mind the Music Together CDs too much. I'd definitely take those over Music for Aardvarks.
― early rejecter, Friday, 21 April 2017 19:23 (two years ago) link
my 2 year old loves Pentatonix. help
My 2.5 year old was totally obsessed with their Sesame Street numbers song cover, he called it POW and demanded to watch it repeatedly a couple months ago. Then it just stopped. Same thing with the Truck Tunes videos on Youtube, though sometimes he does sing some of those songs randomly while playing with trucks. He's also at the stage where he's starting to sing all the time, mostly classic kid hits that he hears at daycare which is funny as shit because he sort of plays with the melody and the lyrics aren't all there yet.
He really isn't interested in any music that I play around the house, though sometimes he'll dance to dancehall reggae stuff, and will sort of shake his head back and forth when I listen to Slayer or Metallica (he also does this same motion when I grind coffee at the store).
But he loves watching it - we'd take him to university events with the marching band and he would just go nuts yelling DRUMS TUBAS TROMBONES! and talking about them for the next couple days. He also is really into watching some episodes of Austin City Limits (Iggy Pop, Lauryn Hill, Kendrick Lamar, Paul Simon) and will sometimes play his kid drum set along while watching.
― joygoat, Friday, 21 April 2017 21:00 (two years ago) link
we briefly had Pitch Perfect 2 on and she was not enthralled at all so that bullet has been dodged, for now
― El Tomboto, Saturday, 22 April 2017 00:42 (two years ago) link
bullet dodge didn't last long. ruh roh
― El Tomboto, Sunday, 23 April 2017 20:31 (two years ago) link
one month passes...
Should we have a thread for our progeny and their app creations? ref the IMM thread on making music with an ipad
― El Tomboto, Thursday, 1 June 2017 20:03 (two years ago) link
Happy to just put that stuff here. Here is what Ben made recently:
https://soundcloud.com/djisbister/bip-05-reflection-by-benjamin-isbister
KRFT is amazing.
― DJI, Thursday, 1 June 2017 20:05 (two years ago) link
ac/D.C.'s "TNT" was an early favorite of my boys. They also ask me to play it on guitar at home and the younger one seems eager to learn it himself. It's damn simple so a good starting point.
― calstars, Thursday, 1 June 2017 20:32 (two years ago) link
Ha! Owen just started learning Thunderstruck last night.
Whoa DJI that really is a p cool track!
― Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, 1 June 2017 21:03 (two years ago) link
that track is pretty darn good! also i initially misread your name as DJP and i thought it was one of his little guys making it.
My daughter plays a game with me where she holds my hand by the wrist and uses it to make me slap myself with it. Today it occurred to me to show her the Losing My Edge video and she got a real kick out of trying to make me slap my face at the same time James Murphy got slapped.
― how's life, Saturday, 3 June 2017 00:47 (two years ago) link
One more: https://soundcloud.com/djisbister/weather
― DJI, Saturday, 3 June 2017 04:22 (two years ago) link
one year passes...
My 13 yo is obsessed w k-pop. Actually obsessed is an understatement. HALP
― nathom, Monday, 11 February 2019 21:15 (eleven months ago) link
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Derbyshire Life Women in Business Afternoon Tea at Shottle Hall
Photographs Andrew Eyley
Published: 8:45 AM May 23, 2014
Great company, superb food and magnificent surroundings made for a most enjoyable afternoon at Shottle - Credit: Archant
Guests from across the county travelled to Shottle Hall, set in the peaceful and picturesque countryside near Wirksworth, for Derbyshire Life's exclusive Women in Business Afternoon Tea
Pauline Gill, Kay Ward and Victoria Brown - Credit: Archant
The quintessentially English property, which was built in 1861 and underwent a multi-million pound refurbishment in 2005, proved a fittingly elegant location for the event. Part of the Chatsworth Estate, the Hall is a sought-after wedding venue and in the first glimpse of spring sunshine the neat Victorian frontage of the house looked simply stunning.
Guests were greeted with a drinks reception in the light and bright lounge area, which provided a welcoming space for local businesswomen to network and chat, as staff served bite-sized canapés of goat's cheese tarts, haggis in pastry baskets and smoked salmon blinis.
We were then led through to the adjoining Orangery Restaurant – a classic and contemporary space with a twinkling celestial ceiling – where immaculately presented tables displayed a selection of sandwiches, mini meringues topped with summer berries, chocolate and hazelnut brownies, lemon drizzle cake, fruit flapjacks and scones served with jam and clotted cream.
Following a warm welcome from Shottle Hall's wedding and events director Sarah Davis, who has worked at the family business since 2010, it was time to 'tuck-in'. Food was beautifully arranged on tiered glass stands and as we enjoyed the delights on offer – accompanied by cups of tea or glasses of Prosecco supplied by Telford Wines – we could admire the lovely view.
Derby-born entrepreneur Deborah Fern delivered a warm and inspiring speech recalling her own fascinating business history; growing up in a working-class family in Alvaston, she started her own training company, Fernley Business Services, to help the long-term unemployed into work. Just 15 years after it was founded, the business was helping up to 25,000 unemployed people per year. In 2006, Deborah sold the company for £15.5 million and in 2008 she was awarded an OBE for her services to business and charity.
The afternoon was a superb way to celebrate the businesswomen of Derbyshire and provided a perfect opportunity to unwind in a relaxing corner of the county.


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text:
November 27, 2016 Updated 22:44 GMT
Homepage : Blog
Homepage : Blog : Al Jazeera documentary on Egyptian army conscripts provokes outrage
The New Arab
Al Jazeera documentary on Egyptian army conscripts provokes outrage
The film shows conscripts claiming ill-treatment and abuse by army officers [al-Jazeera/YouTube]
Date of publication: 27 November, 2016
Follow @The_NewArab
The Qatar-based Al Jazeera channel is on Sunday airing a controversial documentary film about Egyptian military conscripts that has already provoked outrage in Egypt.
Egypt, Qatar, al-Jazeera, military, army, Conscripts
A new documentary by the Qatar-owned Al Jazeera channel about Egyptian conscripts claiming to be mistreated while serving their compulsory military service has sparked outrage among Egyptians.
The controversy began after the release of the promotional trailer for the film, where several people give their testimonies of their time as conscripts in the army, claiming ill-treatment and abuse by army officers.
The trailer also showed a man in military uniform being assaulted by other officers and forced to do house work.
The film "Conscripts" will be aired on Al Jazeera's Arabic channel and released on its YouTube channel on Sunday night.
Military service is compulsory in Egypt based on certain criteria specified in the country's 1948 National Conscription Law.
Egyptian men with a male sibling are subject to conscription. If they have no male siblings, or if they have dual citizenship, they are exempt from military service.
The defence ministry's website says the period of conscription is essentially three years but this can be reduced depending on academic qualifications.
University graduates typically serve for one year, while lower educated men may spend two to three years in service.
Army conscripts in Egypt, particularly those with little or no education who serve in the lowest ranks, often complain of mistreatment and exploitation for free labour and services by the higher-ranked officers.
In an interview last year, one conscript told The New Arab that an army colonel asked him to wash his car. He hesitated at first, almost refusing to obey the order.
"I thought for while, if I disobeyed him, he could oppress me, so I had to agree and wash it against my will," he said, adding that the army's system depends on obeying orders, whether the orders were right or wrong.
Angry reactions
MP Mostafa Bakri, known for his close ties to the Egyptian regime, called on the public prosecutor to issue an arrest warrant for the Emir of Qatar.
In response, Abdallah al-Athbah, editor-in-chief of Qatar's al-Arab daily, slammed Bakri in a Twitter post.
Translation: Bakri is offending us and declaring war between Egypt and Qatar. All of this because of the film "Conscripts" that will be aired tomorrow? What is this frailty?
Tamer Amin, a prominent TV presenter in Egypt, slammed Al Jazeera on his TV show al-Haya al-Youm, accusing the Doha-based channel of seeking to destroy the Egyptian army.
In another response, private TV channel al-Nahar accused Al Jazeera of inciting Egyptian youth to rebel and object to mandatory military service in order to damage Egypt's national security.
Social media users noted the extreme reaction of the Egyptian media and the regime, suggesting that by doing so, they contributed to free publicity for the film.
Translation: Sisi's supporters and the Egyptian media have promoted Al Jazeera's film more than the channel did. A very stupid move.
Translation: I did not know there was a film called "Conscripts" to be aired on Al Jazeera today, but I found out about it due to the panic of Sisi's regime and security authorities.
Translation: The regime is worried ahead of airing the film "Conscripts" that reveals the military's enslavement of Egyptians. This shows that we are dealing with a fragile regime that will remain terrified until it leaves.
Robert Springborg
Militarising the Middle East
Comment: Middle East countries are leading the world in military spending, and this is sending many on a collision course for economic disaster, conflict and power struggles, argues Robert Springborg.
Hanin Hafez
Does conscription serve the Egyptian nation or its officers?
Conscripts are humiliated and mistreated then put to work as an officer's personal servant or, perhaps, in a factory.
The New ArabComments
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text:
Castelnou () é uma comuna francesa na região administrativa da Occitânia, no departamento dos Pirenéus Orientais. Estende-se por uma área de 19.28 km², e possui 304 habitantes, segundo o censo de 2018, com uma densidade de 16 hab/km².

Comunas dos Pirenéus Orientais


It would appear that I'm not the only adult in the world reliving one of their childhood pastimes of colouring. I can remember spending many a happy hour colouring in different patterns and making a piece of paper come to life.
Adult colouring books have hit the bookshops by storm, offering adults a therapeutic way to relieve the everyday stresses of adult life.
So feel nostalgic as you dust off your colouring pencils and get creative with one of these beautiful and inspiring books.
Colouring books are not just for kids! Adults, get your felt tips and crayons at the ready and help your mind to switch off and relax by enjoying this nostalgic activity. This collection is based on the patterns and designs of wallpaper specialists Eijffinger and showcases some the their best patterns, with themes such as romance, nostalgia, nature, exoticism, vintage and retro. It's up to you if you want to stay inside the lines.
Welcome to the inky world of a secret garden. Each page has exquisite pen illustrations waiting to come to life through your artist's palette. With puzzles throughout, this book has something for budding artists young and old.
Filled with gowns, frocks and stylish accessories to colour, this colouring book provides a concise introduction to the history of vintage fashion.
Are you an adult colouring book fan?
To celebrate my love of colouring I am offering one lucky reader the opportunity to win a Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt Book.
Disclosure: I have not been compensated for this post, and will be supplying the prize myself to share the adult colouring love.
We used to have these massive plastic mats which you could spend ages colouring in – they were great fun!
Any crafts but especially colouring in, i always had colouring books and pencils for birthdays and christmasses.
Colouring, doing plays and origami – we had some Japanese students stay and they taught us.
Reading,I was always being told to go outside and get some fresh air!
I loved anything crafting and particularly loved my stitching cards. I've now passed this onto my 5 year old daughter!
As a child I loved being creative in few areas really from drawing/designing dresses to colouring on a vast majority of time.
I loved to read. I always had my head buried in a book!
I used to play outside a lot – my dad made a sandpit in the back garden for me so I spent ages building sand castles!
I loved colouring in too. I'm so pleased that it's now acceptable for adults!
Playing Sylvanian Families, making dens, playing outside, playing on my bike, can't really remember having a favourite one as such.
I would sit on the swing in the garden for hours when the weather was nice, otherwise I would be indoors sewing with my mum.
I used to play a lot in the street with my friends.
I loved playing schools with my sister – I would give her lessons but it was her that ended up being a teacher when she grew up!
Paint by numbers, would keep me quiet for ages!
Definitely Lego, kept my brother and I entertained for hours.
I loved playing outside, I grew up in the countryside and we went miles!
I loved colouring and reading.
Exploring the woods and fields at the back of our house.
watching football with my dad – I was a massive tomboy!
Going to the library to choose books.
Taking things apart and rebuilding them.
Mine was lego, I would spend hours making things with it. great fun. Thanks for the lovely giveaway.
I used to climb trees, find a comfy spot and sit and read away from it all!
I enjoyed films on television, the cinema, theatre and collecting "scraps". As well as playing with my dolls. Family board games were fun also. They do say that " Variety is the Spice of Life".
we enjoyed playing cards snap , Rummy Patience and old maid!!
My favourite pastime was reading if I had to stay in and riding my bike if I could play out.
I used to love reading, still do. I lived around the corner from a library and I just loved to go there all the time.
I loved writing short stories, I even had a few published.
Playing out on my bike!
I used to love colouring in, as a matter of fact I still do today !!
I used to love climbing trees!
My favourite pastime was reading, I was a real bookworm!
Loved building dens in the garden with my friends and pretending to be a secret agents.
Being a brownie and going on camps. Playing adventure games in the outdoors and toasting marshmellows on the camp fire as we sang.
I used to love drawing and colouring in jet planes!
Just being outside, normally on my bike, with my friends.
Climbing tress and looking at the stars at night.
Has to be climbing trees!
Visiting the library and reading books.
Climbing trees, really loved it. Scared of heights now!!
Reading – I've always been a big reader & had a library card before I could even read lol (courtesy of my Nan)!
reading could easily get lost in a book.
Spent hours doing colouring books!


text:
Sister Aplos restaurant location set to open in Spring of 2023. See where
JOURNEY TO JUSTICE
History: Apollo opens, and NC sit-in inspires others
Clarion Ledger
January 26, 1870: Virginia was readmitted to the Union, and before the year ended, the Legislature created separate schools for black and white. Many other "Jim Crow" laws followed to regulate almost every aspect of life, including separate restrooms and drinking fountains for black and white. In Georgia, a white baseball team couldn't play within two blocks of a playground used by African Americans. States continued to adopt Jim Crow laws until 1965 after both the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act passed.
January 26, 1892: Bessie Coleman was born in Atlanta, Texas, the 10th of 13 children to a sharecropping family. She became the first female pilot of African-American descent and the first to hold an international pilot license. She wowed audiences in Europe and the U.S. with her flying stunts before dying in 1926 in an accident as she prepared for another aerial show. She was only 34.
January 26, 1916: New York City's famed Apollo Theater opened its doors and helped to launch the career of countless entertainers, including Michael Jackson.
January 26, 1956: Shortly after beginning a citywide bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala., Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested by police for the first time, charged with driving 30 mph in a 25 mph zone.
January 27, 1847: More than a 100 citizens of Marshall, Mich., helped Adam Crosswhite and his family, who had escaped slavery, to flee to Canada rather than be captured by bounty hunters. Crosswhite and his family had fled a Kentucky plantation after he learned his four children were going to be sold. When a deputy sheriff arrived, he wound up arresting the bounty hunters, rather than the Crosswhite family, which made it safely to Canada. Later, the family returned to Marshall.
January 28, 1952: After a U.S. District Court ordered separate but equal school facilities in South Carolina, the U.S. Supreme Court sent Briggs v. Elliott back to U.S. District Court for a rehearing on the school board's equalization report. That hearing ended with the same results, and the appealed lawsuit became a part of the Brown v. Board of Education case.
January 28, 2015: Circuit Court Judge John C. Hayes III threw out the 1961 convictions of the "Friendship Nine" — eight college students and a civil rights organizer who had been convicted of trespassing and protesting at the McCrory store in Rock Hill, S.C. "We cannot rewrite history," the judge said, "but we can right history," said Hayes, the nephew of the original judge who sentenced them to jail. The nine were represented by Ernest A. Finney Jr., who defended their case 54 years earlier and went on to become the first black chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court since Reconstruction.
January 29, 1954: Oprah Winfrey was born in Kosciusko, Miss. In 1986, she became the first African-American female television host with The Oprah Winfrey Show, the most successful talk show in U.S. history. And in 2003, she was the first African-American woman to reach billionaire status, according to Forbes magazine. A year later, she became the first African American to reach BusinessWeek's Annual Ranking of "America's Top Philanthropists."
January 30, 1956: As Martin Luther King, Jr. stood at the pulpit, leading a mass meeting during the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott, his home was bombed. King's wife and 10-week-old baby escaped unharmed. Many angry African Americans gathered on King's lawn. "If you have weapons, take them home. He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword," King told them. "We want to love our enemies. I want you to love our enemies. Be good to them. This is what we must live by. We must meet hate with love."
January 31, 1865: U.S. Army commissioned the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, a combat unit made up of those that escaped slavery. They helped to capture Jacksonville, Fla., in 1863 and were the first unit of African-American soldiers in the Civil War.
January 31, 1964: As he made final arrangements to move north, Louis Allen was ambushed and killed outside his home near Liberty, Miss. Allen had endured years of threats, jailings and harassment, including having his jaw broken by the sheriff. He was killed months after telling the FBI he had witnessed a state lawmaker kill civil rights activist Herbert Lee in 1961. Allen is one of 40 martyrs listed on the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Ala.
February 1, 1902: Poet, novelist, playwright and social activist Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri. In his work, Hughes tried to depict the real lives of African Americans in the lower social-economic class. He criticized the divisions within the African-American community. Hughes is best known as the leader of the Harlem Renaissance.
February 1, 1960: Four African-American students from North Carolina A&T sat at the whites-only Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., and were refused service, sparking six months of sit-ins. By the end of the month, 31 sit-ins had been held in nine other Southern states, resulting in hundreds of arrests.


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Reporting an Absence from School
Attendance is very important to us and as a school we aim for 97% attendance for every pupil.
There are very few circumstances under which any term time absence may be authorised by law. Any absence for holidays in term time will be unauthorised and may be subject to a fine.
The government have changed their threshold for 'persistent absenteeism' to 90%.
The Department for Education has issued the following:
Persistent absence is a serious problem for pupils. Much of the work children miss when they are off school is never made up, leaving these pupils at a considerable disadvantage for the remainder of their school career. There is also clear evidence of a link between poor attendance at school and low levels of achievement:
Of pupils who miss more than 50 per cent of school, only three per cent manage to achieve five 9-4 grades including English and maths.
Of pupils who miss between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of school, only 35 per cent manage to achieve five 9-4 grades in GCSEs including English and maths.
Of pupils who miss less than five per cent of school, 73 per cent achieve five 9-4 grades including English and maths.