Councillors Ben Kunze and Patrick Hall.
BANNISTER ward councillors Ben Kunze and Patrick Hall hope to rally their fellow councillors to approve a motion to activate Shelley Beach Park and establish infrastructure to boost amenity and visitors.
Located on the banks of the Canning River between Watersby Crescent and Beatrice Avenue in Shelley, the pair call the park a "jewel in the crown" of Canning and hope a motion to conduct a community survey for the establishment of a commercial cafe in the precinct will be approved at the City's next council meeting.
Fourteen years after the City of Canning considered the planning and further development of the parkland, which was dumped in favour of Fern Park in Riverton, Crs Kunze and Hall said now was the time to revisit a master plan.
"In 2002 when they last surveyed the residents, more than 70 per cent of people supported it," Cr Hall said.
The City of Canning received requests from the community to consider the establishment of a cafe at the site and the Shelley Rossmoyne Residents and Ratepayers Association formally requested the City survey the community at the City's Annual General Meeting of Electors in January 2016.
Cr Kunze said the demand for a cafe was a major trend during his 2015 door-knocking campaign.
"When I was door knocking a couple of issues came up time and again and one was a coffee shop on the foreshore," he said.
Cr Kunze assured residents there was no guarantee something would go ahead, rather the pair sought to gauge the extent of the demand.
"We aren't going in gung-ho to build a coffee shop but we hope to go to the community officially and ask if that's what they want," he said.
Cr Hall said potential could be endless, suggesting exercise equipment, artistic residency's and cultural homage.
Cr Kunze said it could give Shelley and Rossmoyne residents a place close to home to enjoy.
If the motion is approved, a telephone survey of 350 people would be arranged, and then a feasibility survey before a master plan would be established with community involvement.
The surveys would be paid for with the 2015-16 budget surplus.
Cr Hall promised an environmentally sensitive, area-appropriate outcome.
"Anything built would be paired back, sensitive, keeping with the community expectations and keep it about communication with the community. We're taking it to the people, and asking them 'what would you like?'" he said.


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The South Bellevue Segment includes construction of the Richards Creek substation and upgrading 3.3 miles (the Bellevue portion) of existing 115 kV transmission lines with 230 kV lines between the Lakeside substation and the southern city limits of Bellevue. The remainder of the south portion of the project continues through Newcastle, unincorporated King County, and Renton. Bellevue only has permitting authority for work proposed in its jurisdiction.
The Conditional Use Permit (File # 17-120556-LB) and Critical Areas Land Use Permit (File # 17-120557-LO) for the South Bellevue Segment have been issued, and the city's land use approvals are now final.
June 25, 2019, Hearing Examiner Decision approving the CUP with conditions
Ordinance No. 6494, adopted by the City Council Dec. 2, 2019
Following a challenge in King County Superior Court, the court affirmed the city's approval of the conditional use permit, and determined that the environmental review conducted by the partner jurisdictions for PSE's proposal complied with the State Environmental Policy Act, chapter 43.21C RCW.
Permit Plans and Reports
City's Request for Additional Information
Follow-up to First Revision Request
First Revision
Additional Project Plans and Reports
(Submitted by PSE in November and December 2018)
Cultural Resources Mitigation
Energize Pole Finish Report
Revised Critical Areas Report
Revised Richards Substation Mitigation Plan
Somerset Substation Mitigation Plan
Technical Memo Routing and Substation Options CAO
(Submitted by PSE in October 2018)
PSE Response 10-26-2018
Tree Removal and Vegetation Management Memo
Example Planting Plan
Tree Removal on Public Property Maps
Critical Areas Impact Analysis Memo
(Submitted by PSE in September 2018)
Response to Technical Review Letter Part 1
Richards Creek Substation Site Plan
Transmission Poles Site Plan
GeoEngineers Memo Addressing Landslide Deposits
GeoEngineers Memo Addressing Geologic Hazard Areas
Somerset Pole Designs
Eastside System Energy Storage Alternatives Assessment
Initial Project Plans and Reports
Conditional Use Narrative
Alternative Siting Analysis
Substation Plans
Transmission Poles Site Plans
Substation Wetland and Stream Delineation Report
Transmission Corridor Wetland and Stream Delineation Report
Geologic Hazards Report
Weekly Permit Bulletin Notice
Over the course there have been many opportunities to participate in the city's review of Puget Sound Energy's proposed Energize Eastside project.
The public meeting, held on November 14, provided an early opportunity for the public to receive information regarding PSE's application, and to get information about the Conditional Use Permit (CUP) and Critical Areas Land Use Permit (CALUP) process. The land use permit process typically takes between six and nine months, but can take longer in the case of complex projects such as this proposal. The public had many meaningful opportunities to provide formal written comment on PSE's application during this time, as described more fully below.
If you provided comments on the Draft EIS, those comments are being addressed separately through the EIS process. The Final EIS contains responses to the comments that the city received on the Draft EIS.
Please note that prior submission of comments concerning the Draft EIS during the EIS comment periods does not automatically make the EIS commenter a party of record regarding the city's subsequent review of PSE's specific CUP and CALUP applications. Individuals or groups who wished to comment on PSE's permit applications needed to submit comments and contact information (i.e., your name and address) to be a party of record for the CUP/CALUP applications.
At the Public Meeting
The city held its first required public meeting on Tuesday, November 14, 2017. Unlike the EIS meetings, the primary purpose of this meeting was not to take public comment. The public meeting provided an opportunity for city staff to explain the permit process and provided an opportunity for the applicant, PSE, to describe the proposed project to interested parties. Because this meeting happens early in the land use process, city staff do not expect attendees to be prepared to provide formal comments on the project application at this point in the process.
However, although the primary purpose of the public meeting was to provide information to interested parties, individuals and groups who attended the meeting were nonetheless provided with an opportunity to provide written comments on PSE's applications as part of the meeting. Comment forms were provided at the meeting, and as city staff explained, any interested party who wished to include comments in the record was encouraged to submit the comment in writing to city staff and include the party's name and address on the comment form. Verbal comments made at the public meeting, that were not also provided in writing, will not be considered formal comments as part of the record for PSE's permit applications.
Comments were welcome throughout the review process and have been accepted up until staff prepared Director's decision and recommendation to the hearing examiner.
At the Public Hearing
Finally, comments were received by the city's hearing examiner during the required public hearing on Thursday, March 28.
A CUP is a Process I land use decision. A Process I land use decision is a quasi-judicial decision issued by the Hearing Examiner following the recommendation of the Director and input received at the required public hearing.
The City of Bellevue's Hearing Examiner held a public hearing beginning on:
Bellevue City Hall Council Chambers 1E-126
Beginning at 6 p.m.
The hearing examiner held a prehearing conference on:
Bellevue City Hall Conference Room 1E-113.
Beginning at 10:30 a.m.
Listen to an audio recording of the conference.
The decision of the Hearing Examiner on a Process I application is final unless appealed to the City Council. The City Council action deciding any appeal and approving, approving with modifications, or denying a project is the final City decision on a Process I application. A final decision by the City Council following a Process I appeal may be appealed to Superior Court (LUC 20.35.150.D).
Second Informational Meeting
Agenda and Presentation
Bellevue City Hall
6 p.m. - 8 p.m.
This meeting* was another opportunity for residents and interested parties to learn about the proposed project and the permitting process. PSE provided a general overview of the project and Bellevue city staff provided more information about how to engage in the next steps of the process, including the public hearing. The meeting was similar in format to the meeting held in November, 2017.
*Code required meeting per LUC 20.20.255.C1b Electrical Utility Facilities
First Public Meeting
6:30-9 p.m.
South Bellevue Community Center
14509 SE Newport Way
The purpose of the meeting was to outline the permit process and have the applicant describe the proposed project to interested parties.
Final Environmental Impact Statement
FEIS available March 1, 2018
The City of Bellevue along with their partner jurisdictions (Kirkland, Redmond, Newcastle and Renton) have completed preparation of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for PSE's Energize Eastside proposal. The environmental impact statement is not a permit; it is one of many sets of information permitting agencies, such as the City of Bellevue, will consider as they decide whether to approve the project and issue necessary permits. No additional comment period is provided on the FEIS. Refer to the EIS project page for more information.
PSE offers detailed information about the Energize Eastside project.
Visit the Energize Eastside Environmental Impact Statement website for information about the project's environmental review.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This course explores women musicians whose works utilize improvisation. The class will listen, watch film and read historical books and scores of women improvisers in music whose work are also based in composition, performance, installation and multi-disciplinary collaborations. The class will learn about artists and observe their music works across genres of Jazz, Classical, Electronic, Popular, Indigenous, and Folk Music.


Clarifying Conundrum #2: Is it Bad or Good?
A wonderful verse of scripture, likely one of the most well known among believers. Yet many times when a severe trial comes along this verse seems a conundrum. It's difficult to see how what we think is bad can ultimately be good. How do we know that this is true?
1. Every one of the bible characters came through perplexing situations.
A. Things in and of themselves don't work together for good.
B. There is a Sovereign God in heaven Who over-rules!
IV. The _______________ of it: "…to those who love God".


Recommended reading by Stevo's Book Reviews on the Internet, December 2014.
The Loco Life of Doctor Taco is a different coming of age story. Sam is a man/child who hates studying and spends most of his time pining for the love of his life. He dreams of one day being that heroic doctor you always see on TV.
Unfortunately, he can't even get a crummy letter of recommendation from his organic chemistry professor. The south of the border med school admissions officers aren't as choosey as they are at Harvard Med. Follow Sam as his story involving smuggling, prostitutes and grave-robbing unfolds. Be sure to watch out for the alligator and the Secret Service. Could Doctor Taco be the story of that doctor with whom you last made an appointment? Es possible!
Irv Danesh was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. Before he started kindergarten he and his family had schlepped to five new homes because of his father's jobs. This was to be a recurrent theme in his life. Like the main character of his novel, Doctor Taco, Irv just didn't concentrate well in college.
Women, and the lack of them, had a lot to do with that. After the rejections for admission to medical schools in the States arrived, Irv joined the diaspora of similar, slacker pre-meds, and journeyed south of the Border.
Two years of cultural and academic re-education enabled Irv to trek back to the promised land of Brooklyn. More specifically, Irv was nurtured at the world's largest community hospital, Brookdale Medical Center. This mega-hospital provided him enough stab wounds, gunshot wounds, blunt trauma, and general patient stupidity to regale his friends with stories for years to come.
After two years of surgical training, he decided he didn't want to spend the rest of his life removing gallbladders or doing bariatric surgery. Being somewhat of an adrenalin junkie, he was in the right place at the right time to snag a residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in the new field of Emergency Medicine. He has practiced in-inner city emergency departments for twenty-six years.
Dr. Irv's job statistically has a high rate of burnout. He fought through two of these periods. The first he managed by moving to Boston and serving as Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Tufts School of Medicine while continuing his career as Associate Director of Emergency Medicine at the Lawrence General Hospital in Lawrence, Massachusetts. It was here that he had his second period of burnout. However, he again was in the right place at the right time as he helped birth the USA Network's hit show "Royal Pains." Irv started as the show's Medical Consultant, advancing over three seasons to Co-Producer.
His MacGyver-like vignettes such as skull drilling, fishhook chest wall stabilizing, and other pseudomedical procedures would never be allowed in conventional AMA approved medicine. Then again, Dr. Irv marches to his own drummer.
He wrote The Loco Life of Doctor Taco as a fictional account of the great American student exodus to Mexico in the 1970s. Many of the scenarios are true, but needed to be altered to maintain privacy, sometimes his own. He hopes that you enjoy reading this story.
Dr. Irv lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts with his lovely and grammatically correct wife, and their dog, Harry. He loves the change of seasons except for the winter, which he curses every year. His four artistic sons all left for other parts of Massachusetts and N.Y.
All in all, he would rather be in South Beach.


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Vijayashanthi to play a college professor in 'Sarileru Neekevvaru'
The movie has Mahesh Babu and Rashmika Mandanna playing the lead roles.
Flix Tollywood Wednesday, September 11, 2019 - 11:56
Digital Native Follow @
Veteran actor Vijayashanthi stayed away from donning the greasepaint for a few years due to her political assignments. Recently, it was announced that she will be staging a comeback with the Mahesh Babu starrer Sarileru Neekevvaru.
In an interview to TOI, the veteran actor shared saying, "Before I began shooting, I did feel quite nervous. I must tell you, it was such an unfamiliar feeling. Well, but everything else about the film industry has changed today. It all seems completely new to me. I felt like a kid on the first day of school,"
Directed by Anil Ravipudi, according to the latest reports, Vijayashanthi will be playing a medical college professor in the film. It is a very interesting role and the character is important to the narrative, we hear.
In the film, Mahesh Babu will be seen playing an army major. While the star has played a cop in a couple of films like Pokiri and Dookudu, this is the first time he will be seen as an army officer.
Last seen as Lilly in the recently released Vijay Deverakonda starrer Dear Comrade, Rashmika Mandanna has been roped in to play the female lead in the film.
Rashmika had recently wrapped up shooting the first schedule of the film.
The film will have two veteran actors, Ramya Krishnan and Vijayashanthi, in pivotal roles with Rajendra Prasad, Rao Ramesh and producer Bandla Ganesh in the star cast as well
Sarileru Neekevvaru is being bankrolled jointly by Anil Sunkara, Dil Raju and Mahesh Babu under the banner of AK Entertainments, Sri Venkateswara Creations and GMB Entertainment. Devi Sri Prasad will be composing music for this venture. It is scheduled to hit the marquee for Sankaranthi next year.
(Content provided by Digital Native)


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Home»Sport»Rugby
Munster wary of final day danger
By Simon Lewis
Rugby and Golf Correspondent
Follow @silew
CJ Stander and Anthony Foley have promised Munster will be taking nothing for granted when lowly Newport Gwent Dragons visit Cork for the final Guinness Pro12 round of the regular season on Saturday.
Already guaranteed a place in the play-off semi-finals a week later, Munster can book a home berth in the last four with a victory over the ninth-placed Dragons that would secure a top-two finish to the league campaign.
It may need a bonus-point win but Munster player of the year Stander, who picked up his sixth Guinness Pro12 man of the match award of the season in the 23-23 draw with Ulster, believes the Welsh region are better than their league position suggests and his side will have to work hard if they are to achieve their goal of a home semi-final.
"We have them at home but they are a tough team to play so we are just going to take the game and go for the win," Stander said of the Dragons.
"We'll work hard this week on the small things we did this week and push through. You know a full Thomond Park, semi-final, that is what you want. The last few games is cup rugby and it's going to be difficult. You are going to have to play the best game you can and hopefully we can build on that next week and the week after as well."
Munster head coach Foley was equally dismissive of the notion that the Dragons represented a soft end to the campaign.
"Everyone assumes that but we know how good Dragons are. They won at the weekend against Edinburgh, they've beaten Ulster over in Rodney Parade, beaten Leinster home and away, they were in the semi-final of the Challenge Cup. They're a very good side. They're a very young side. I came across an article a couple of weeks ago, an academy XV in Wales and there were six of the XV. They've a very young side with a lot of capability, you know Faletau's a good player and Tovey at 10, they're all good players and will be up for the occasion. So we'll take nothing for granted in Cork next weekend and we'll make sure we're fully set for that game. Other results are out of our hands and we've just got to do the best we can for ourselves and see where that leaves us."
Munster need that rare thing in professional sport - time
Farrell fires wining penalty as Saracens get breather from salary cap scandal
Munster give nod to the future in dead-rubber win: the game in 60 seconds
Familiar foes Ospreys visit Munster at their lowest ebb
CJ StanderMunsterNewport Gwent DragonsAnthony FoleyTOPIC: Munster Rugby


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Q: iMessage shows ICE instead of contact I am trying to have an iMessage conversation with my family, but instead of showing their name it shows "ICE" because that same number is listed in my In Case of Emergency (ICE) contact. Is there anyway to change it so it shows their name not "ICE"

A: iPhones have a neat feature that allows you to put your emergency contact information on the lock screen so no one has to unlock your phone to access it. You can set it up through the Health App on your iPhone.
Since your Contacts won't be accessible on your iPhone without your passcode, this is a reasonable alternative.
If you set this up, you could theoretically delete the entry in your Contacts that is listed as ICE, thereby fixing your problem with the contact name showing up as ICE.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
homeprojectsphotosarchiveabout RSS
Rhea's Galaxy Map
Nov 06, 2019 Will Ricketts Nov 06, 2019 Will Ricketts
In the last post, I covered the various game titles and mechanics they utilize that I've drawn inspiration from for the design of Rhea. In covering Rhea's galactic map, I'd like to focus upon two of them heavily– Eve Online and Stellaris.
Eve Online and Stellaris have very similar map systems. Both have solar systems represented in a DAG-like structure. The DAG's nodes represent solar systems. In the case of Eve Online, this structure's edges are representative of Stargates, and in Stellaris, warp lanes between solar systems.
In any case, both systems function in a similar way, in that players and their fleets traverse a large DAG to move around the galaxy.
Based on a system of ephemeral matches, Stellaris's game maps are generated uniquely for each. Thus, each time the player creates a new empire or species and starts a game, a new map is generated and configured via the player's selected settings when creating the game.
One of the major strategies when starting a game of Stellaris is to rapidly expand to claim and build defenses around choke-point systems, or systems that have many connections as to control the flow of traffic through that portion of the map. This is a side-effect of this galactic map model that I'm intent upon creating.
Eve's map is persistent, in that the game has no concept of "rounds" or "matches." The game map, save for additions by their publisher, has and will remain the same since the release of the game in 2003. Being that the intent of Rhea is to be a single persistent game world, this is the path I've elected to follow.
Some very desirable but non-obvious effects arise from this kind of model for a galactic map. With a static map, various regions or sections of it become known within the playerbase for being better or worse to own from a strategic perspective. Eve has regions of the game that are notoriously difficult to invade, and has a few that are notoriously favorable for an invading military to stage their assets.
Generating the Map
Creating a map of this size and detail was a challenging problem to solve, and at the time of this writing, still presents obstacles to overcome to achieve an optimal map structure.
First Attempts
When I first sat down to work on figuring out the most immediate challenges in building Rhea, my intent was to get something simple working and then expand upon the idea later. Upon researching how I would go about generating a map of this nature with DAG-like properties, I found Astrosynthesis, a piece of software used for generating celestial structures primarily for role-playing games and hobbyist world-building. This program had a bunch of great features that'd be useful for my needs, but two features stood out in particular. Astrosynthesis has a user-created plugin ecosystem and an XML exporter.
Before long, I had a galaxy containing ~20 solar systems and connections between them, which I exported to a large XML document, which I was able to load into the Elixir-based backend of Rhea with elixir-XML-to-map.
Using the Data
From this very large map, I perform a series of mutations on the data to order it into a list of Solar Systems and one of Gates. With these lists, I first created a DB record for each of the solar systems within PostgreSQL. With a SolarSystems table populated with data, I would need to represent the data somewhere that graph-oriented data feels right at home. This is where Neo4j comes into play.
If you're unfamiliar, Neo4j is a graph database. This turned out to be the perfect tool for Rhea. It was immediately apparent that its Cypher query language had the features needed to power several in-game systems for Rhea. Namely its ability to find the shortest path between nodes, or in the domain of Rhea, solar systems.
Claiming victory over my first set of development goals, I took a 2-month break from working on Rhea to focus on a large project I was leading at work, a large web service responsible for creating and marshaling Twilio conference calls in parallel– also built using an Elixir umbrella, also structured with the intent of utilizing BEAM's distribution features in the future.
When I finally had time to devote to Rhea again, I revisited the map I'd generated and simply wasn't happy with the result. After generating entirely new map data, this time for 2000 solar systems, I was dismayed to learn that the XML schema for my new map data was fundamentally different than that of my previous map. This would require me to write an entirely new parser and process for loading the map data into PostgreSQL and Neo4j. This was unacceptable to me.
Not being comfortable with the idea of such a pivotal piece of the system relying upon a proprietary dependency, I started exploring ways of generating my own map from scratch, but how?
Enter Diffusion Limited Aggregation
A while back, I was reading about Brownian Motion and the aggregation of particles to form a structure. After diving back down that rabbit hole, I discovered Diffusion Limited Aggregation. This seemed to be the ideal method for generating a structure akin to the galactic maps of both Stellaris and Eve Online.
I found a simple C++ implementation of DLA and quickly generated a set of 2000 particles. This algorithm has a CSV output of the following schema:
id, parent_id, x, y, z
0,-1,0,0,0
1,0,0.934937,0.354814,0
2,0,0.0525095,-0.99862,0
3,1,0.989836,1.35331,0
4,3,1.92472,1.70826,0
That was precisely what I needed to generate a fully original map! I built out each point as a Solar System in Postgres and Neo4j with its coordinates. After reducing the list down to a collection of IDs and Parent IDs, I was then able to build the stargates that connect the various solar systems together.
Originally, I built a name generator to automatically name each Solar System, but this was quickly outgrown and I was once again searching for a solution to unblock my map work.
After finding a super slick name generator built in Javascript, I was able to give each solar system a unique name that doesn't sound like a Heroku deployment.
Below: the final structure of my fractally generated galaxy map:
Below: a closer view of a group of solar system:
Having a totally original galaxy map with a predictable and repeatable process for generation opens up all sorts of possibilities for new features and clever tricks. Having tied all of the generation and persistence process to a single function in the backend, rebuilding the map and trying generation with different inputs takes a matter of seconds::
def build_universe do
construct_map_db()
construct_graph()
IO.puts "Universe created"
# I couldn't resist writing a function called "destroy universe"
def destroy_universe do
[{:ok, _}, _] = [
Task.async(&Main.destroy_map_db/0),
Task.async(&Main.destroy_graph/0)
|> Enum.map(&Task.await/1)
IO.puts "Universe destroyed"
If you're familiar with graphs, then you were probably left wondering why I refer to Rhea's map as a directed acyclic graph as opposed to an undirected acyclic graph. Rhea's stargates are represented in its persistence layer as pairs of gates, each unidirectional. This enables me to, at some point, build a wormhole system in which a player's fleets can travel from one part of the galaxy to another instantly, but perhaps not return home through the same wormhole.
Tactical Structures
Perhaps I'll introduce a player owned structure that prevents enemy fleets from leaving a Solar System once they've traveled through a stargate. This would lead to a much more robust system of player combat tactics and provide an overall more engaging experience, possibly allowing the few to overcome the many in a fleet engagement.
The map is far too linear, and this needs to be fixed before proceeding. This is my primary development item on the project, and I'm currently working on an algorithm that utilizes Solar System coordinates to create connections between solar systems that share a geographic region with one another. I assure you that will get its own blog post :)
For now, I'm happy enough with my work to begin sharing the obstacles I've overcome in building the game I've always wanted.
Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next post.
Introducing Rhea
Abandoning the Social Media Giants
contact resume rss © 2022


In 1968, a young Philicianno ``Foxy`` Callwood saw the future on sailing yachts that came to call on the idyllic 4 square mile of Jost Van Dyke. In the shade of a Tamarind Tree, Foxy set up a bar for the specific purpose of welcoming sailors to his island home. Foxy's Tamarind Bar is often recognised as the birthplace of the BVI's Yachting tourism industry. Quick with a song, joke or story, Foxy has been welcoming visitors to 'his island' for 5 decades. He has received numerous awards for his contributions to heritage and tourism in the British Virgin Islands, including a MBE (Member of the British Empire) from H.M. The Queen of England, Elizabeth II.


Neff are basically pure manufacturers of caps and hats, but they have become so large that they now also produces shirts, sunglasses and more. Their rampage in the market has been noticeable and they have reaped great success around the world. If you are looking to buy a Neff cap, there are plenty of options here at Hatstore. We have caps and snapback from their latest collections.
Neff provides a very high quality of caps in terms of both materials and design. Through hard work to constantly develop their fun designs, they continue to be the brand that delivers a large dose of joy in their products. If you are looking for happy products, you have come to the right place. We are proud to present one of the largest ranges of Neff caps.
Neff was founded in 2002 by Shaun Neff during the time he was in college. They manufacture clothing, caps, bags and accessories. The beanies and caps have been the foundation of the company since its inception and are still today. In 2009, Neff started a collaboration with the artist Snoop Dogg, and this is an important reason for the fact that Neff is such a big brand today. They have also collaborated with the artist deadmau5 to produce caps and snapbacks. A Neff cap symbolizes high quality and a relaxed design. Among the classic Neff caps are Daily Snapback and Corpo Snapback. Buy your new Neff Cap online at Hatstore today.
Neff beanies are rooted in the skater, surfer and snowboarding worlds. Their beanies are manufactured at the highest quality and with a deep understanding of what is cool. A Neff beanie stands out and these Neff hats have a really nice style that works in all environments.
At Hatstore we offer Neff beanies in various models and colors. We hope you will find your new Neff beanie online with us at Hatstore. Do you have any questions about Neff caps? Or if the specific Neff beanie you want is missing, you are welcome to contact us and we will help you with your questions.


Sunday February 10 there will be NO BRUNCH!
Orbis won't be offering brunch on Sunday, February 10. But we'll be open normal hours and have plenty of quiche and wraps!
We've heard us called the best brunch on the street, so we apologize for the inconvenience.


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Aasha Mehreen Amin is a Bangladeshi journalist and writer, former editor of the weekly magazine Star and the former head of the Editorial team at The Daily Star. She is currently joint editor at The Daily Star.

Biography
Aasha Mehreen Amin was born in Dhaka to a Bengali Muslim family. Her father, Anwarul Amin Makhon, was the second-eldest son of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nurul Amin, and the former general manager of BCCI Bangladesh, known for opening Bangladesh Bank's first branch abroad (in London). Her mother, Razia Khan Amin, was an Ekushey Padak-winning writer, poet, and professor at the University of Dhaka, and her maternal grandfather, Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan, was a speaker of the parliament of Pakistan. She studied in Boston College, Massachusetts, United States of America, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1991.

Career
She started as a feature writer at The Daily Star, the largest circulated English language newspaper in Bangladesh, in June 1991. She received a journalism fellowship from the University of California at Berkeley where she studied environmental and investigative journalism in 1993. She is the editor of the weekly Star published by The Daily Star, a position she has held since 1996. She publishes her own satirical column in the magazine called Postscript and a current events column No Strings Attached in the newspaper. She is the deputy editor of the Editorial and Op-ed section of The Daily Star.

Personal life
Aasha Mehreen Amin is married and has one child.

References

Living people
Bangladeshi women journalists
Bangladeshi women writers
UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism alumni
Boston College alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Researchers have been working on insect-sized aircraft for a long time. They are not there yet, but we see benefits from these developments with the current drones on the market. Mini Quadrocopters are not a standardized class such as 450 helicopters. The manufacturers use the mini, micro or nano name accessories to determine when their quadrocopter is small. People are always fascinated by the extremes. This is exactly what makes the Mini Quadrocopter attractive. The possibility to fly such a small thing at all, to bend around where there is actually no place to do it is big fun.
You can fall in love with mini quadrocopters quickly but it is important to keep your head cool. The smaller the model, the more nervous and wind-sensitive is its flight behavior. Thanks to state-of-the-art stabilization technology, the Mini Quadrocopters are relatively quiet in the air. A little helicopter-flying experience does not hurt, especially since the position detection is more difficult than with larger quadrocopters. The Quadrocopter Blade Nano QX, with a rotor distance of about 100 mm, would be a worthy introduction for the giant under the dwarfs. Like all Mini Quadrocopters, it also has a safe mode. Therefore, it is suitable for beginners in the set with hand-held transmitter. As a full-fledged member of the Blade family, the Nano QX also rides into an existing heli fleet. In conjunction with a programmable transmitter it is then capable of all kinds of acrobatics.
The Hubsan X4 H107 is noticeably smaller, 60 x 60 mm. This does not stop the manufacturer, however, to make another model in addition to the normal, a camera-mounted version (the Hubsan X4 FPV H107D). Unofficial world record holder is currently the award-winning Revell Nano Quad. 45 mm rotor clearance and 12 g weight are a real challenge. Revell is truly the difficulty level "challenging" and not for no reason. The 6 LEDs are not a pure show effect. They are used for better orientation during day (and night) and indicate the battery status. The trend is thus imagined, perhaps mini-quadrocopter soon get the nickname Piko, as per trillionth millimeter.


India American Cultural Association (IACA) celebrated the 67th Republic Day of India with the hoisting of the national flag and a cultural program in the presence of community members, consulate staff and media. Consul General Nagesh Singh was the guest of honor. Mr Ravi Singh Chairman IACA introduced the chief Guest of the evening.The National Anthem was sung by children from Bal Vihar led by Ms Neetu Sharma In his brief address, Consul General Singh said,IACA as the oldest organisation for Indian diaspora had the responsibility of bringing together members of all 300 local and small associations and groups- to absorb provincial identities in a greater Indian identity- United the community will have a greater voice, and be politically and socially recognized and empowered.
New life members introduced by Anoop Kapoor (Board Director) they included Mr Dhananjay Gupta, Mr Amritpal Singh (Lada) Bedi, Dr. Indran Indrakrishnan, Mr Pratap Singh Chauhan, Mr Kapil Bhandari and Mr Ravi Chander. Life Member plaques were handed over by Consul General Mr Nagesh Singh.


George Koo: What's Next for House Committee on Intelligence?
Fresh from their head-line grabbing investigation of Chinese Telecommunications companies Huawei and ZTE, Chairman Mike Rogers and Ranking Member C.A. Ruppersberger of House Select Committee on Intelligence (the spy kind and not related to IQ kind) announced that the Committee will next investigate how the Chinese acquisition of AMC Theaters will adversely affect national security.
AMC is the second largest chain of cinema theaters in North America with over 5300 screens. Each screen is a potential conduit for messages to corrupt our American youth, Chairman Rogers said.
Studies have shown that flashing subliminal messages at the moviegoers in between frames can induce involuntary purchase of soda pop and junk food. The Committee intends to ask Dalian Wanda, the acquirer, if the company intends to insidiously suggest to the American audience to gorge on chop suey.
The Committee also intends to ask Dalian Wanda as to its connection to the Chinese government and the PLA. Given that the company is based in the city where Bo Xilai was once mayor, we can presume the company has unsavory intentions and the Committee intends to find out what that is.
Chairman Rogers regrets that he did not initiate similar investigations when Wanxiang began to acquire auto parts companies in the US, including many in his home state of Michigan. Now Wanxiang USA is probably too big to tackle.
While the acquisitions saved many of those companies from going out of business and thus kept many employed, there is no telling what dastardly deeds that can be done to undermine the security of the US. For instance, spare auto parts could be manipulated to fail when put into American made cars and thus give Chinese cars an unfair economic advantage.
Sensors on the auto parts can be designed to send sensitive intelligence (the spy kind, not the smarts kind) back to Beijing and we wouldn't even know it. For instance, the sensor could be telling Beijing that certain Senator is not at the office but his car is parked in his mistress's garage.
As investigations by the Cox Committee have proven a decade or so earlier, every entity from China registered in the US is spying on us. If we begin on the presumption that the Chinese are up to no good, we will be able to sleep better at nights.
The House Select Committee on Intelligence (the spy kind not related to intelligence) intends to safeguard our national security. We stand on the premise that we don't want the Chinese here and we don't want Chinese investments here. They can take their American dollars and invest elsewhere.
This pseudo press release with tongue firmly planted in the cheek may seem ludicrous but is inspired by the actions of the House Committee on Huawei and ZTE and the pervasive paranoia currently afflicting American politics.


Excellent Parenting Courses – Michael Grose – Register Now!
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Free Local Parenting Workshops – great opportunities!
For parents & carers of children aged 0 – 4 years.
Children need to feel safe and secure to grow into well-adjusted adults.
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From a basis of observing and understanding a child's needs, this course emphasises how a parent's relationship with their child is key to success in everyday parenting matters. Course includes viewing of DVD sections, presentation of some content, group discussions, reflections and some group work. Please note this course consists of 7 sessions.
Gain a greater understanding of what is going on in your toddler's world and what behaviour is developmentally normal. You will also learn strategies for managing challenging behaviour and increase your skills in encouraging and promoting positive behaviour in your toddler.
Year of Mercy – what is it all about?


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Greatest Television Finales
By Charles Stockdale	March 14, 2019 2:49 pm EDT
A dedicated television viewer may invest hundreds of hours into watching their favorite program. The person grows to know every trait of the characters and waits with bated breath to discover their ultimate fate. For this reason, a series finale can often make or break a show's reputation.
A successful final episode provides a sense of closure for viewers, and assures them that their time was well spent. Especially with many of today's serials, in which each episode ties together to tell one long story: audience members hope for a conclusion that is worthy of the ride.
24/7 Wall St. has identified the 13 greatest television finales based on user ratings from the Internet Movie Database. These are the finales that left viewers the most happy and fulfilled.
The highest rated finales are often those of well-loved shows. After spending 10 seasons with the cast of "Friends," for instance, fans were eager for the closure that the final episode of the 62-time Emmy nominated show would bring for the six characters they'd grown to care about over the years. A staggering 52.5 million viewers tuned in to watch the episode in May 2004, and today it remains one of the top-rated television finales.
It's not necessary for a series to be especially popular to have a great finale. The Syfy channel series "12 Monkeys" never had the reach of "Friends," yet its smart and well-written final episode rivaled that of the NBC sitcom's in the eyes of those who watched it.
Click here to see the greatest television finales.
To determine the greatest television finales of all time, 24/7 Wall St. identified the television episodes tagged as "series finale" with the highest ratings on the Internet Movie Database. Each episode was also required to have at least 400 user ratings in order to ensure a wide consensus on the show's level of quality.
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I'm trying Windows Live to see how it updates the blog. Some magazine I just read said that Windows Live Writer is one of the best applications to have. Um …..
I installed W7 on a HP Pavilion tx2000 notebook with fingerprint reader, swivel touch screen, and built-in wifi/bluetooth. Neither the fingerprint reader nor the bluetooth works. Shortly after the install, bluetooth recognized the cell phone and, briefly, the Microsoft Bluetooth mouse. Now, nothing. The web isn't much help, either. But it is nice to know that others are having similar problems. Touch screen is more precise than it was in Vista.
Now the good - hibernation currently works much faster than it did in Vista. Boot times seem much quicker, too. I do like the combination quick launch and running programs bar better. It first I thought I wanted the separate quick launch toolbar, but now, not so much.
We've created a summer schedule that seems to be agreeable.
We leave here for home on June 6; work on Junior and go to all the missed doctor's appointments; return to Desloge on June 28; hope that Harold and Lucille can move into the assisted living apartment at that time.
THEN, we take an extended trip to Nova Scotia. Sounds like a plan?
Just brought Donna's dad home. We are now entering Phase III of this experience. We hope her folks can take care of themselves for a while - give us a chance to return home for a few weeks. We should be able to determine that in a few days. Her brother is scheduled to return in late June for a week - don't think we can last until then!?!?
We spent a few wonderful days in Pella, IA this last weekend visiting Keith and Connie. Lot's of food and drink; met some of their friends; got a rainy tour of Pella; and saw lots of tulips. K & C have a very nice homestead in the country - hilltop views!
Last week the release candidate for Windows 7 was made available to the general public. Being the leading edge sort of a person I am, I spent the day trying to get it downloaded and installed. If you upgrade from Vista, expect the installation to be very long. AND, I found that strange things happened with the upgrade.
I then did something drastic - I did a new install of 7 and erased Vista! Windows 7 seems to run a little better and the install was much quicker. BTW, unless you hack the download file a little bit, what you will install is the Ultimate Edition. Not sure what that really gives you yet (I need to read more), but it will last until June of 2010. At which time you must buy 7 or go back to a previous version.
The UI is slightly different than Vista - maybe better?!?! It may load a little faster and I think hibernation is faster, too.
I've tried Twitter, Facebook, and even Pounce. I don't see the point??!!! People who tweet leave short messages that don't mean a whole lot and if you're on Facebook, there's always someone asking "are you the Steve Shaff that ..... ".
I've seen some discussion about the security of said services; some people expect big problems with them, and soon.
So, I've removed myself from these services. I will communicate via this blog and email. If someone has any better experiences, please email me. I'd like to know more about them.
My days have changed slightly - I've returned to reading books. Just finished a good one by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child - The Wheel of Darkness. The first book I read by them was Relic; I greatly enjoyed it and have read a couple by them since then. My problem is: which ones did I read? Do I have to read them again? Anyway, they have a few I DON'T THINK I've read, so will try them, too.
I'm now about two-thirds of the way through The Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver. It is one of those "can't put it down" stories, but it is a murder mystery - something I don't really enjoy that much. However, this one is about identity theft - a topic I find interesting.
Oh, yeah, back to Mini Trips. I leave this next Monday to visit Mother in Ft. Smith. Plan to stay a few days and will return to Desloge on Thursday. On May the 14th Donna gets another relief spell from her Aunt, at which time we take a trip to Pella to see Connie and Keith (and the rest of the gang), drink a little wine, and celebrate Connie's 60th birthday. Should be fun!!!
We changed the surgeon's visit to May 18. We expect Donna's dad to be released from therapy shortly thereafter; he is doing very well (I think he really wants out of there!).


In this episode of Sound Design Live, I speak with the president of the Wireless Speaker Association (WiSA), Jim Venable. We discuss the nuts and bolts of the WiSA wireless audio standard that is currently used in home audio, but has obvious future application in pro audio. We also talk about 802.11a, dynamic frequency selection, and marketing for sound engineers.
The primary purpose of the WiSA is to insure the integrity of the wireless link between the transmitting device and the receiving device.
All music in this episode by Daniel Sierra.
802.11a (5.1-5.8GHz) – worldwide unlicensed band.
You'll have to figure out how to market [your] reputation in a global space.
This is what we call the spousal approval factor.
Interesting podcast about WiSA. The idea of a reliable wireless connection for the home theater is intriguing. But doesn't this just shift things around? If the 6/8 audio-level signals are now being delivered wirelessly, then all the speakers need to be powered speakers. And this means they all need access to VAC power for those internal amplifiers. I'm not sure that this shift actually makes things fundamentally easier in a home setting.
I can see the potential benefit on the pro side where you can probably safely assume the venue has power for the speaker stacks. But Jim's primary initial push seems to be for the home.
Your concerns are all valid and are probably why this tech hasn't moved forward faster. The way I see it, most homes are wired for AC already. So I put a speaker almost anywhere in the room or pick it up and plug it in outside, as long as the signal is wireless. If you are building a room from the ground up, probably better to just run the lines. Now, add batteries to that and all of a sudden I can setup all the speakers for a day-long event without cables. That's what's exciting for me.
In additional reply to Bruce: The point of active speakers is not only in losing the wires to all speaker locations (which is, as Nathan points out, some degrees more complicating than finding an AC outlet near a speaker position). At the same time, more importantly for some, you have the numerous advantages in SQ accompanying the principle of active amplification. All else being equal, an active speaker is superior to a passive speaker every time in terms of dynamics, cone control, crosstalk, constant response of the XO-filter (for lack of interdependence of respective passive circuit component response characteristics). The list of advantages goes on too long to elaborate on, but the bottom line to me is: wireless connectivity is a great bonus IN ADDITION to a wide array of sound quality issues.


D-Step™ Mats can remove as much as 98% of contaminants from the bottom of shoes and wheels of carts. This permanent high tack polymer mat removes contaminants through surface adhesion.
The soft towels lift, bind and hold lead and other heavy metal dusts and take them away without smearing.


Our 0.2 mile sensory trail will be open to the public on the second Saturday of each month from May through November from 1-3 pm.
The trail includes twelve interactive touch, smell and listening stations, as well as eight tree bark sensory stations. To make reservations for groups and other times, please call 301-600-1646.


We are proud to collaborate with Smag & Behag operating the café at the Maritime Museum in Aust-Agder.
The café is always open when the museum is open (link to opening hours), and can tempt with an exciting maritime menu with delicious lunch dishes for both adults and children. We can seat up to 50 guests inside, and it is also possible to enjoy a bite to eat and a drink outdoors. Our open-air quayside seating in Hasseldalen enjoys the best location in Grimstad, and offers views towards Vikkilen and beautiful Rønnes. Tailored group packages with museum experiences and food can be arranged.
Welcome to a friendly café in beautiful surroundings.


Below you fill find all funeral homes and cemeteries in or near Merkel.
Suburbs of Merkel: Blair, Noodle, Stith.
Zip codes in the city: 79536.
It was revealed by Hutchinson News on May 31st, 2016 that Edward Hernandez Biera died in Hutchinson, Kansas. Biera was 74 years old and was born in Merkel, TX. Send flowers to express your sorrow and honor Edward Hernandez's life.
It was disclosed by Orange County Register on February 10th, 2016 that Sandra Kay "Sam" Riddle (Mobley) passed away in San Juan Capistrano, California. Ms. Riddle was 68 years old and was born in Merkel, TX. Send flowers to express your sorrow and honor Sandra Kay "Sam"'s life.
It was disclosed on April 3rd, 2015 that David Michael Williams passed on in Merkel, Texas. Williams was 57 years old and was born in Niagara Falls, NY. Send flowers to share your condolences and honor David Michael's life.
It was written by Union Democrat on October 1st, 2014 that Wilma Louise Pickle (Lewis) passed on in Sonora, California. Ms. Pickle was 86 years old and was born in Merkel, TX. Send flowers to share your condolences and honor Wilma Louise's life.
It was revealed by Greeley Tribune on July 22nd, 2014 that Harold Lloyd Williams died in Greeley, Colorado. Williams was 79 years old and was born in Merkel, TX. Send flowers to express your sympathy and honor Harold Lloyd's life.
It was reported by The Sun Herald on July 8th, 2013 that Jack Sr Pogue passed on in Pass Christian, Mississippi. Pogue was 92 years old and was born in Merkel, TX. Send flowers to share your condolences and honor Jack Sr's life.
It was disclosed by Abilene Reporter-News on June 13th, 2013 that Edwardo "Eddie" Ruelas passed away in Merkel, Texas. Ruelas was 57 years old and was born in Ciudad Acuna, . Send flowers to express your sympathy and honor Edwardo "Eddie"'s life.
It was reported by Abilene Reporter-News on May 5th, 2013 that Peggy White (Green) died in Merkel, Texas. Ms. White was 88 years old. Send flowers to share your condolences and honor Peggy's life.
It was noted by Abilene Reporter-News on April 15th, 2013 that Marie Laird (Standard) died in Merkel, Texas. Ms. Laird was 86 years old. Send flowers to share your condolences and honor Marie's life.
It was reported by Abilene Reporter-News on April 10th, 2013 that Hazel May Pack (Huxford) passed on in Merkel, Texas. Ms. Pack was 94 years old. Send flowers to share your condolences and honor Hazel May's life.
Merkel is a town in Taylor County, Texas County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,637 at the 2000 United States Census census. . . .
Listing all funeral homes in Merkel, Texas so you can easily send flowers to any location (same day delivery) or find any funeral service.
Find a Funeral Home inMerkel, Texas TX to provide the caring burial and ceremonial services your family deserves.
Merkel Funeral planning made easy! Learn how to pre-plan your funeral in Merkel, Texas, including step-by-step directions.
The finest roses, gifts and Mother's Day flowers delivered fresh. Serving Merkel, Texas, surrounding suburbs and the entire country.
We work with local florists and flower shops to offer same day delivery. You will find budget sympathy flowers in Merkel here. Our funeral flowers are cheap in price but not in value.


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TV For The Rest Of Us
A Deeper Look at Season Six Dean Winchester
Written by Alice Jester
Category: Dean Winchester
Supernatural Season 6
Each year when I sit down and look at how the just finished season has treated the Winchesters, I'm constantly surprised over how rich the story lines continue to get. In Sam and Dean's case though, rich often means intense emotional angst and excrutiating physical and psychological torture. Just when you think that they can't go through anything worse, it gets topped.
In season six, that's especially true for Dean. He had it really rough. We all remember the end of last season when he was a broken wreck. The absolute most horrifying thing that could happen to him did, he lost his brother and helplessly watched him be condemned to an eternity of the worst possible Hell. One would think it's all up from there for him, right?
Nope. Season six has turned out to be his most heartbreaking yet. Yes, worse than season two when he lost John and had Sam die in his arms. Worse than season three when died and went to Hell. Worse than season four when he saw his brother betray him and then beat him to a pulp before starting the Apocalypse. And then of course, there was Lucifer's cage in season five.
How can it be worse? Because Dean had to face harsh truths about himself and his life. He can't have that family life he's always dreamed of. He can't leave the job and retire. He's always going to be doomed to a life of brutal killer. He once again got to feel the sting of deep betrayal from someone he considers family. Worst off, no matter how hard he tries, he can't protect those that he loves. He couldn't keep harm from Ben and Lisa, and he couldn't protect Sam from the horrors that constantly plague him. He didn't have many "wins" this season.
The biggest complaint I hear about Dean is that the sharp tongued, "give "˜em Hell" badass Dean Winchester has left the building. Yes, that's true, but has his character been given a disservice? I don't know. He's grown quite a lot. However, you do have to wonder how long Dean's unhappiness remains tied to Sam's every growing and never ending misfortune. It just doesn't seem like it'll ever get any better for Sam. Now he might be damaged beyond repair. So how's that going to mess with Dean's psyche? Plenty I say.
However, that's season seven. Season six raised some interesting dilemmas for Dean. He's always wanted that family life so bad, but once he got it, he wasn't comfortable in his own skin. He learned almost tragically he couldn't have both. There's also the concern that Dean hasn't dealt with his prior issues, like his trauma from Hell. His alcoholism has gotten worse, even during his time with Lisa. Twice this season it was hinted that Dean is taking drugs now too. I came out of season six with one burning (and troubling) question.
How much more can Dean Winchester take?
Let's go through the episodes of the season six and follow Dean's troubling journey from being from broken over his brother's death to getting him back, sort of, to experiencing even harsher losses than he did before.
Exile on Main Street
Dean has spent a year in domestic life, but it's anything but bliss. He's uneasy and going through the motions. That shows in everything he does. The troubled expression each morning as the alarm goes off (we know he's asking himself why is he there), the late evenings spent on patrol to assure that nothing is after him, Ben, or Lisa, the constant glass of whiskey that's in his hand, and just the blank overall feeling in his daily life. The passion, the fire, good or bad, is gone. This is more than just a man that lost the most important thing to him, his brother. This is a man that is learning the phrase, "Be careful what you wish for."
We expected Dean to be ecstatic when he found out his brother was alive. We figured he'd be eager to get back out on the road with him, right? No, Dean has new obligations and a new set of guilt to overcome. By just being with Ben and Lisa, he's made them vulnerable. Now that monsters have found him, he must keep them protected now more than ever. Sam is doing fine on his own, especially since he's been hunting for the last year with the Campbells. Dean has more important matters than being his brother's keeper.
Yeah, I know, it's obvious it wouldn't last. Dean's doing domestic life out of obligation, not desire. After the incident with the Djinn, Dean moves Ben and Lisa again. They're miserable. When Sam comes to Dean with his baby problem because he had no one else to go to (I think, I'm still shaky on the motive) it's Lisa that demands Dean go with Sam or she'll kill him herself. She knows how much he's itching for a fight.
Dean has his heart to heart with Lisa. He doesn't know what to do. He wants Ben and Lisa, but he can't ignore what's in his blood. Lisa knows one thing for sure. He's not a construction worker. He's a hunter. She's hoping he can hunt and remain with them. She wants him to be happy.
The uncovering of the Impala to "Smoke on the Water" is the single most satisfying Dean Winchester moment in the past several seasons, perhaps the series. They're back! Him, his baby, the open road. They've both been out of commission way too long. Cue the iconic Dean Winchester smirk. There's the man we all know and love! I've never been more thrilled. He could finally go back to being who he was meant to be and you know it felt good.
Yeah, Dean Winchester's luck has never been that good, has it? Now he's got another big problem. He doesn't have to spend much time with Sam to figure out he's not right. He already had suspicions that Sam was using the baby as bait in "Two and a Half Men." Then there's Sam not flinching as Castiel tortures the young boy. He tries to talk with Sam in the end and gets the brush off. He wants Sam to open up about going to Hell but Sam, aside from saying out in the open he thinks Hell is still torturing Dean, claims he's okay. Let the unnerving begin. Dean's troubled look at the end tells us the bumpy road is still many miles ahead.
Live Free and Twihard
Oh my, my, my my. Poor Dean. Never have we seen Dean go through more intense ordeal that this. I'm thinking Hell was a picnic! Being turned into a vampire is bad enough. But when it happens because his brother didn't have his back and willingly watched it happen?
Dean loses it all in this episode. He loses Ben and Lisa by scaring them in his vampire state and shoving Ben when he got too close. He lost his faith in Sam. He's practically violated from a mental and physical perspective and then he almost loses his life. At the end he's shaken very badly by all this. On top of that, we get a chilling display of how dangerous Dean can be when that monster inside of him is unleashed. He takes out an entire vampire nest singlehandedly! It's fascinating, but it's scary too. No wonder he fears that hunting side of him (or as he tells Ben later in the season, what he doesn't want at his dinner table). I'm sure that unleashing that killer instinct in full force was not unlike being a torturer in Hell. It probably scared the crap out of him.
Of all that worries him the most though, it's Sam. All he's ever wanted, his words from "Exile on Main Street" was to have his brother back. He knows now he still doesn't and faces the real possibility that whatever monster is in the form of Sam he might have to kill.
You Can't Handle The Truth
The title is clever, and oh so painful. It's all about Dean. He gets plenty of truth in this episode and it pushes him over the edge.
He's clearly bothered about Sam. He doesn't want to be anywhere near him. Heck, he's practically ready to kill him (his line about wanting to kill Sam in his sleep confirms that). The idea of killing this monster is somewhat easy to him though. He's convinced it's not Sam. When Bobby tells him there could be a worst case scenario, that this may really be Sam, Dean can't accept that.
Dean has another big problem though. Thanks to triggering the spell of Veritas, Dean has to hear the brutal truth from Lisa. They can't be a part of his life. Sure he sensed that to be true but to hear it, especially so candidly, it really crushes him. He's still reeling over what he'd become in the vampire's nest. He tries to swallow Lisa's words, but we see how much it stings. He doesn't want to lose them.
Despite the hard truth from Lisa, Dean takes the fact that he's triggered the truth curse as a blessing. He can finally get the truth from Sam and know it can't be a lie. Sam confesses he froze (chilling how easily he can lie isn't it?) Dean accepts that and it changes things. He and Sam are able to work the case in harmony. It's what Dean desperately needs (and always has), his brother by his side.
Sadly, Dean isn't done with ugly truths. First he has to face the truth about himself when he and Sam are captured by Veritas. To hear these words come out of Dean's mouth absolutely killed me:
Dean: It's the gig. Your covered in blood until your covered in your own blood. Half the time you're about to die, like right now. I told myself I wanted out, that I wanted a family.
Veritas: But you were lying.
Dean: No. But what I'm good at is slicing throats. I ain't a father. I'm a killer. And there's no changing that, I know that now.
Oh man, to hear that and the see that it gets worse. Dean is at a real low when Veritas goes for the truth from Sam. She's spooked to find he's lying. She knows that's impossible and concludes he's not human. She wants to know what he is. This stuns Dean to the core. Sam did let him turn into a vamp on purpose. Even though Sam helps Dean break free by flinging him the knife and they kill Veritas together, Dean turns a knife on Sam next.
All that anger, all that frustration, all that self loathing and hatred, it all manifested into one spectacular act of violence. Dean historically suppresses his bad feelings and pain with drink, but he constantly releases through violence. Only then does Sam come clean with Dean, when he's threatened. He admits something's wrong. Sam tries to act sincere, but Dean can see through it. He can't take it anymore, all the lies. He loses it and beats Sam unconscious. Ferociously. He has to stop himself from killing him. I call this Dean's "powder keg" moment. We never thought he would do this to Sam, ever, especially since his entire life's mission has been to protect him. But then again, Dean didn't believe this was Sam.
# Garrett 2011-09-01 00:06
this is awesome! i need to watch more of six before seven starts! i havent watched the whole season but i do know how he was depressed Sam was gone and how at first he didnt want his soul back. the vampire epi was sad but cool at the sametime. gosh! i need to watch more episodes. since you mentioned the hell part. i cried at the ending when he was calling for Sam and he looked so scared :-( still Dean is a fighter! ^_^ nice page! i like it
i like the points you make i agree! he has had to go through so much! seeing him sad or hurt is heartbreaking and when sam lied to him eventhough he was souless was wrong! i just want to give Dean a hug. i admit there were times i wanted to slap Sam for what he did to Dean but it wasnt his fault.maybe. but the whole beating him up and going in the hole now that made me sad/mad. Dean is one of the best hunters/charact ers on the planet! still reading your page but sofar i agree with the points you made :)
# sweetondean 2011-09-01 01:59
Awwwwwwwwwwwwww wwww Alice! This is so ouchy, but so good! I always say, and I'm only ever half joking, that I know Dean Winchester better than the 'real' people in my life. He has lost so much, he has suffered so much, but he just keeps moving forward. I love that about him, that he can do that, just keep moving, just keep ploughing ahead. Most of us would have curled up into a rocking ball by now but not Dean. Yes some of that is because he masks it all but some of it is because he's that strong. He breaks my heart but he also floods my heart with love! I love this character with a (some would say unhealthy, but I know you wouldn't) passion. I believe in Dean. I believe he will always pick up his bootstraps. I believe that kick ass, give 'em hell attitude is alwasy just lurking under the surface and I really hope to see a lot more of it in season 7. I hope the brothers can lean on each other, that their relationship is so that they can help heal some of the rifts and tears in their heart from the past seasons. Dean is awesome. That is all. Thanks Alice! I'm going home to watch me some Dean!
-AmyinSydney
# kmarie 2011-09-01 02:25
Wow, Dean sure did have it rough this last season, didn't he? *sniffle* Poor Dean!
I thought you brought up an interesting point with the whole Sam/Ruby and Castiel/Crowley parallel. You pointed out that Dean perhaps should have known better than to ask Castiel to choose between him and Crowley, especially since he asked Sam to choose between him and Ruby at the end of season 4 with disastrous results. I think that it was precisely because of those results that Dean refused to stand behind Cas - he had already seen what happened with Sam in a similar situation and was desperate to prevent it from happening again. Whether or not that was a smart thing for Dean to do, and however the ramifications of Castiel's choice play out, I think we will have to wait until at least the first few episodes of season 7 to judge both Dean's actions and Castiel's. Hindsight is, after all, 20/20.
What a wonderful examination of Dean in season 6! I agree that this was perhaps Dean's most difficult season yet, with Ben and Lisa, Sam, and finally Cas. Dean had so few wins this season, and so very many painful losses. I think that Dean is going to continue to be challenged mentally, physically, and emotionally in season 7, and I hope he can get a handle on his drinking (and drug use??) before he destroys himself from the inside. But honestly? If there is one character who can keep taking the punches and come back swinging, it's Dean Winchester. I have faith. Can't wait for S7!!
# alysha 2011-09-01 02:45
I had so many issues with plot and conflict continuity in season six that I overlooked how great Dean's characterizatio n was. This man isn't the innocent devil may care guy we met in season one. I wouldn't expect him to be. This a complex show with characters who are multidimentiona l. This article highlights that, but i think more importantly helps me to appreciate the season more. Thanks!
# Haleh 2011-09-01 03:23
Loved the review!
Though I'd love Dean to get his fighting spirit back, I wanna see some more of Dean dealing with his issues. sure he's not a caring & sharing kind of guy but seriously aside from his hell actual experience, he'd been in hell & back so many times & we never got the chance to see how he feels, properly. last time he had some talking about his feeling was in season 4 and still not much!
# Far Away Eyes 2011-09-01 07:44
Excellent look at season 6 Dean. He's had a rough ride, hasn't he?
I agree that I hope he gets that fighting spirit back for this coming season. Despite the troubles Sam faces with his wall being collapsed and not being fixable, Dean might take that as a challenge to overcome. He hasn't given up on Sam yet, why start now?
I really hope we get to see Dean examine what has happened to him and Sam in the past few years and where they should go next. Obviously there is no "out" from the life, but he has to find a way to make the best of it, to pull as much good as possible from it. Dean's tenacity has gotten him into and out of a lot of trouble, and it's that he'll have to rely on again.
Again, great look at Dean here, Alice. He's had a rocky ride, yes, but I'm very hopeful for season 7 regardless.
# MariaVictoria 2011-09-01 10:02
Thanks so much for this insightful piece. Really gets me ready for the next season! So excited! Thanks Alice, always love to read your work!
# Sylvie 2011-09-01 11:30
Wow, Alice, that was one of the best essays I've read on this site so far. So much depth. I absolutely love Dean, and yes my friends and family always have to remind me he's fictional, but you know what? I don't care! He's the best fictional character there is. He's flawed, he's vulnerable, he can be funny, maybe not so much this past season, but he makes me laugh and he makes me cry. So many times I've watched this show and I can't help but think, "Oh, no, poor Dean". He's been tested so many times, lost so many people, it's actually quite sad when you think about it. This is why I watch a lighter episode after a heavy handed one. And what keeps all of us fans coming back for more is the beautiful relationship between Sam & Dean. I will be looking forward to your essay on Sam next. That poor boy has been put through the ringer so many times.
# Bookdal 2011-09-01 20:40
Alice,
You've captured beautifully the success of Dean's characterizatio n in season six. I especially love how you underlined the subtly at play with Dean's conflicting emotions and obligations. I liked season six, and one of the reasons I did was because of Dean's development and his isolation and confusion as well as his understanding of where he belongs, what he does, and how he tries to negotiate those issues.
Brilliant essay, Alice. Thank you for sharing.
# Pragmatic Dreamer 2011-09-01 23:21
I'm finally back home to my computer (oh, the stories I could tell!) and this is one of the first SPN articles I've had time to read, since the beginning of July. It was great, and very thought-provoking.
What I particularly liked was the way you honed in on the fact that what Dean has always wanted was just to keep Sam human. And RoboSam is not human. Like you said, all the pain and suffering Sam will go through now because the wall is broken -- at least he's a person and can feel that.
It very much echoes what Dean said to Bobby in "When The Levee Breaks" and Sam is detoxing from the demon blood.
No. I'm not giving him demon blood. I won't do it.
And if he dies?
Then at least he dies human!
I think for Dean, keeping Sam safe and keeping him human are now all one in the same.
What I continue to struggle with is why everyone was so opposed to reuniting Sam and his soul? Surely that's what Real!Sam would have always wanted. He would have been and is now appalled at what he did while he was soul-free. So, again Dean was just acting in Sam's best interest. I think of it as Dean having Power of Attorney over Sam, and vice versa. They make decisions for each other, when the other is not in his right mind.
I also appreciated you highlighting the violent killer that is exists in both brothers. (Remember Sam killing Gordon with just his hands and a length of barbed wire?!) What I think is really sad for Dean is that he is choosing to define himself by that one character trait. Dean's low self-esteem means he's always looking for the worst in himself, and it's always there to find. (That's true for anybody. Does the phrase "I look fat in this dress" ring any bells for anyone?)
I'm also not sure that Dean refused to go along with Castiel's plan slowly because he felt betrayed. I didn't see it as a near-replica of Season 4 with Sam & Ruby.
I think Dean wouldn't go along with Castiels' plan because he had learned from Season 4's problems. He knew opening Purgatory was a bad idea, no matter what Castiel believed. Dean's mistake -- the one he keeps making in my opinion -- is that he never communicates why he believes something is wrong or a bad idea. He just says the equivalent of "No.. It's my way or the highway" and nothing will piss off people, and angels!, faster than someone who is unwillingly to at least listen to their side of the argument. (Perhaps you were saying the same thing)
The story of Sam's life seems to be misfortune piled onto curse piled onto pride piled onto body blow after body blow.
I think Dean's life story is a little simpler, but equally as tragic. It's love and loss piled onto heartbreak and grief.
I fear the writers might take him down the drug path. That's what would happen to a real person. It seems too banal for Dean, and too much against his "go down fighting attitude". There are suggestions that Season 7 will force Dean to do some soul searching about why he hunts and why he's good at it. Hopefully, he'll make peace with it and we'll see more of the BadAss Dean (and maybe a little more Sniper!Dean.. guh!!)
And I did just find a quote that intrigues me. Again from Season 4 and WTLB. Cue the ominous music:
Fine, I'm in.
You give yourself over wholly to the service of God and his angels?DEAN
Say it.
I give myself over wholly to serve God and you guys.
You swear to follow his will and his word as swiftly and obediently as you did your own father's?
Yes, I swear. Now what?
Now you wait, and we call on you when it's time.
So now Cas is the new God. Do you think he'll remember making Dean promise to serve God, maybe even call him on it?
Sorry to be long-winded. It's what happens when I have two months of pent-up Supernatural thoughts!
# Jayne Lamb 2011-09-02 01:29
I think Pragmatic Dreamer has touched on something that doesn't always get much face-time; Dean's lack of self-esteem. He was coded for the first three seasons as being a devil(!)-may-ca re, blue-collar tough guy, but after his resurrection it was made quite clear than Dean has suffered - and continues to suffer - a lot. I thought the Ep 'Sex & Violence' was a dead give-away; he doesn't indulge in anything because his 'desire','id' whichever is so beaten down as to be non-existent. I've always wondered whether the writers would touch on Dean's PTSD post-hell, and I think the very few mentions of him being alcoholic/drug- addicted (though not fully supported by the canon)reflect this. Can he really have dealt with those forty years just by confessing to Sam what happened? I'm not sure. But he's my favourite TV character by a long shot, and I just hope he gets some inner peace, eventually.
# karen bg 2011-09-02 01:43
oh dean!! and can i just add what an amazing job jensen ackles did with dean this year. seriously blew me away many times.
i completely missed the 'maybe drugs too' references in the episodes. maybe i was too busy angsting for dean and admiring jensen. i'd love to hear them though - can you share?
Hi karen bg,
yeah, I haven't seen all of season 6, but the one reference to drug use I can remember is at the beginning of "Mannequin 3" when Sam is recovering from his brush with his hell memories and Dean offers him food and a bottle of pills. Sam asks what the pills are and Dean just replies, "Effective." This exchange has made some fans speculate that Dean has started taking drugs, possibly antidepressants or even something else, in order to cope with everything he has had to cope with. Hopefully we will not have to see Dean struggling with drug abuse as well as everything else this upcoming season, but I do think this issue must be addressed. Maybe someone who has seen the entire season can tell us if there were any other references?
# Alice 2011-09-04 17:38
The drug "implications" only came up twice. The first was Mannequin 3, just like kmarie said. The second was way more obvious actually. It's in "Let It Bleed" when Dean is interrogating the demons in Bobby's garage. Sam comes in and offers to help. He mentions Dean is running on coffee, whiskey and "whatever else he's taking." Chances are it's just amphetamines, but who knows?
# WeirdVision 2011-09-02 02:28
This was spot on! It's the main reason why season 6 was so painful to watch, beside the bad writing.
# Bevie 2011-09-02 16:22
Never noticed any "bad writing" myself this season. (or any other season for this show). Season 4 was the most painful for me to watch, as it split up the brothers and that is the worst thing to happen as far as my enjoyment of the series holds. Even so, I wouldn't trade season 4 for any other TV show ever!
Alice, that analysis was completely awesome and I couldn't disagree with a word of it! Completely enjoyed reading it over and nodding to myself in agreement. Dean is such a fascinating and complicated character, endearing and maddening at the same time, brave and fearful (of what goes on with his Sammy) and completely and sadly loaded down with low self-esteem. He never sees himself as worthy unless it is helping others, but never himself. He just has to be useful or he is so very depressed. I hope in season 7 he regains his badassery cockiness and wins a few more battles than he has losses. Hasn't he lost enough? Mercy! I would like to see him laugh and have a little fun again like he had in season 1.
In other words, I just love Dean Winchester and really want a little relief from suffering now and again.
Looking forward to the Sam essay. That poor boy his had all his fears come true and he needs some relief also. As long as he loves his brother and watches his back I can take a lot of their misery, but split them up and it is almost unbearable!
Great essay Alice! Thank you.
# Marilyn 2011-09-03 11:45
Awesome essay, Alice. Season 6 just piled more and more angstiness on Dean. I kept asking myself how much more can the poor guy take without breaking?
Dean also has a huge stubborn streak and a firm belief that he is right. I know when I watched Sam begging Dean to just this once "trust him", I was yelling at Dean to trust Sam. (Ruby had me totally fooled). But Dean was right, Ruby's road was the wrong way to go. I don't believe standing behind Cass and opening Purgatory would have been a good idea either. (Just a small quibble).
Your essay brought up so many excellent ideas and gave me lots to ponder on for the next 20some days. Being fairly new to the site, I haven't read your previous "Dean: season articles. Looking forward to reading those.
With all the terrific reviews, games, articles, etc, on this site, the hellatus has breezed by.
# trinaaron 2011-09-04 10:46
Regarding Dean's attitude about about Cas working with Crowley, I
Regarding Dean's attitude about Cas working with Crowley, I don't think it was Cas working with a demon that was the biggest issue (and I would have liked it if the writes were more clear about this). It was that Cas was actively working against the Winchesters while pretending to be on their side. Plus, they were talking about opening purgatory. If Dean thinks that is a BAD IDEA, why should he ignore his own instincts and opinions just because Cas says so?
# Cindy 2011-09-04 16:17
I was beginning to think that I was the only one who felt this way. I too thought it was more about Cas working with Crowley, while Dean and Sam were completely clueless pawns. It would be nice if this is clearly explained in this upcoming season.
# Liat 2011-09-08 11:49
I think there is one important history of Dean's that we seem to forget. Dean learned from Death that one shouldn't mess with the "Natural Order". What people forget is that it was Dean's un-death in "Faith" the first to screw up with the natural order. The Reverend said that god (or the Angels) told him to to that. And then John added to that by exchanging his life for Dean's when it was pretty obvious Dean was about to say yes to Tessa.
I think the most tragic thing about Dean's story is that most of the devastating events in his life were made by other people or beings and he was the direct sufferer of those actions.
With regards to Castiel and Deans relationship, I think "The man who would be King" is a showcase of how blind Castiel has become. God is in everything and every being. For the entire episode Castiel asks for directions from God, not realizing that maybe Dean's request to not open Purgatory and to trust him, is God answer.
# debhanley 2011-09-21 14:01
to be honest i was fed up this last season with sera gambles dean assanation to his character she makes out like he s a drunk and then the ref to the pills taking everything away from him it s about time dean was back on top and not unhappy all the time why should he have to take everything on his shoulders all the time he deserve a bit of happiness for once i would have been happier if he had nt wiped ben and lisa s memories he did nt have the right to do that which there again makes him look bad i hope the writers have a lot better season lined up for dean in season 7.z
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text:
The travel industry will survive COVID-19, but with big changes
Publish Time:2020-07-20 10:01:49Source:China Travel News
【Introduction】:Execs at Hyatt, Airbnb, Kayak, and more predict what the travel industry must do to survive the coronavirus pandemic.
For Fast Company's Shape of Tomorrow series, we're asking business leaders to share their inside perspective on how the COVID-19 era is transforming their industries. Here's what's been lost—and what could be gained—in the new world order.
Mark Hoplamazian is the CEO of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, which operates more than 900 hotels and resorts across the world.
We're now at a point where virtually all of our hotels in China are reopened. And we've seen steady increases in demand. Before this recent outbreak in Beijing, more than 50% of our hotels in China were running at 50% or better occupancies. That confidence comes from the extensive contact tracing environment that they've got there.
It's clear that the lower-priced chains—the economy, budget, and midscale hotels—are doing better. Some of that is locational: A lot of those hotels are at airports, around airports, and on the interstates, so that means that they're accommodating people who are moving around. But over the next six- to 12-month period, you're going to see a bit of a barbell recovery, where lower-tier, lower-price hotels will be doing well, and then you will have luxury hotels doing well once air travel starts to free up a little bit. The hotels that will [take] the longest to recover are our large group meetings hotels, our convention hotels. . . .
Steve Hafner is the co-founder and CEO of the travel search engine Kayak and the CEO of restaurant reservations platform OpenTable.
We got an early read on what COVID-19 was going to do to our business because we have operations in China and Asia. As we started seeing travel demand soften [there], we said, if this virus escapes, it's going to have a similar impact across our businesses. We started focusing on informing our users, not only travelers, but especially customers on the restaurant side. Airlines and hoteliers are big companies and well-resourced. Restaurateurs are a completely different beast. We did a lot of messaging to restaurants saying, these are all the things you need to be aware of; here's a hub for information about government restrictions; here's a way to turn off your books, so that you're not taking reservations for hours you're not going to operate. If you want to sell excess inventory, here's how to do it. Get on the phone with your landlords and start negotiating on your rent. Take advantage of government programs, all that kind of stuff.
Rob Katz is the CEO Vail Resorts, which owns 37 ski resorts in three countries, and operates a number of North American hotels.
Our focus is on reopening summer operations in North America and winter operations in Australia, and then reopening winter operations next November in North America. [Having ski resorts in Australia] is definitely helpful.
We will learn a lot from them [because] there's an intensity [to ski season] that's different from summer operations. At the same time, it creates pressure because time really is of the essence, but it's going to have to be safety first.
Joe Gebbia is the cofounder and chief product officer of Airbnb.
There are three things that we think people will want. The first is to travel more locally. Second is affordable options. Third is that they want to prioritize cleanliness and private spaces.
I don't think business travel will be the same as it used to be. We've all experienced the fact that business can go on without being together in person. It's no longer cumbersome or technically challenging to conduct business digitally. That's where the puck was headed anyway. The pandemic kind of accelerated it.
But new things are popping up, like our online experiences. That's something that we never would have imagined. Our Experiences head said, hey let's bring these online. So we gave it a shot. And sure enough online experiences have exploded on Airbnb.
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text:
← CBB: The Top 31 College Basketball Programs of the Last 31 Years (Part IV)
Fantasy Basketball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony: Tim Hardaway, Class of 2010 →
CBB: The Top 31 College Basketball Programs of the Last 31 Years (The Top Ten)
See also: #11-15, #16-20, #21-25, #26-31
With the 2010-11 season warming up, let's finish up our ranking of the 31 best NCAA teams from 1980-2010:
10. Louisville Cardinals (+14.76 SRS)
Record: 709-329 (.683)
Prominent Coaches: Denny Crum, Rick Pitino
Best NCAA Finish: Won NCAA Championship (1980, 1986)
Louisville has somewhat quietly amassed a dominant resume over the past 3 decades. With 2 national titles and 4 Final Fours, the Cardinals were probably the best program of the 1980s, while their "down" years of the 1990s consisted of 8 NCAA berths & 208 wins. And in the 2000s, Rick Pitino took them to a Final Four in 2005, seamlessly transitioning from the Crum era with 220 victories of his own. Pick any year since 1980, and chances are The Ville was one of the better college basketball teams in the country.
9. Syracuse Orange (+15.41 SRS)
Prominent Coaches: Jim Boeheim
Best NCAA Finish: Won NCAA Championship (2003)
Under Jim Boeheim, the Orangemen won more games than all but four schools since 1980. He took a solid program and turned it into a perennial contender, produced a number of NBA prospects, won 14 Big East regular-season or tournament titles, and finally filled the gap in his resume when Carmelo Anthony carried 'Cuse to their elusive NCAA crown in 2003. Simply put, no Big East team has been better over the past 30 years.
8. Oklahoma Sooners (+15.53 SRS)
Prominent Coaches: Billy Tubbs, Kelvin Sampson
Best NCAA Finish: Lost NCAA Final (1988)
Think Oklahoma is just a football school? Think again. Ever since Billy Tubbs took over in 1981, the Sooners have boomed their way to 22 NCAA tournament appearances, 695 wins (23 per season), and 2 Final Fours, including a run to the 1988 NCAA final against Kansas. Tubbs' successors, Kelvin Sampson and Jeff Capel have carried the torch as well; despite the way he departed, Sampson racked up ten 20-win seasons, while Capel promptly rode Blake Griffin to 30 wins in his 3rd year at the helm.
7. Indiana Hoosiers (+16.22 SRS)
Prominent Coaches: Bob Knight
Think of Indiana basketball, and you think of Bobby Knight. The General paved the way for the Hoosiers' appearance on this list, piling up 478 wins from 1980 until his controversial departure in 2000. Along the way, he piloted Indiana to 2 national titles, 3 Final Fours, and seven conference crowns, dominating the Big Ten through superior strategy and sheer force of personality. After Knight left, Indiana has only won 17.7 games per season, but the wealth of accomplishments they collected during his tenure is enough to secure the #7 spot on this list.
6. Arizona Wildcats (+16.38 SRS)
Prominent Coaches: Lute Olson
30 years ago, no one could have predicted that Arizona would blossom into a national powerhouse, but Lute Olsen changed everything for the Wildcats. Within five years of taking over the program, Olsen had transformed the Cats from a 4-24 laughingstock into a 35-3 wrecking crew, eventually taking 'Zona to their first Final Four ever. And that was just the beginning — Olsen won a staggering 258 games in the 1990s, culminating with a magical NCAA title run in 1997 with Miles Simon & Mike Bibby. Olsen's career wound to a close the following decade, but Arizona has maintained a consistent NCAA tourney presence throughout the 2000s, and hope to keep amassing wins under Sean Miller.
5. Illinois Fighting Illini (+16.48 SRS)
Prominent Coaches: Lou Henson, Bill Self, Bruce Weber
Despite a tradition that reached back into the earliest days of national college hoops, Illinois wasn't on anyone's radar until Lou Henson took them to the 3rd round of the NCAA tournament in 1981. From then on, the Illini were back — they would go on to 22 more tourney appearances, 2 Final Fours, and 632 wins from 1983-2010. Still, they haven't secured the prize they're really after — a national title — despite coming painfully close in 1989 and 2005. With Bruce Weber at the controls, there's certainly time to change that over the next decade.
4. Kentucky Wildcats (+18.94 SRS)
Prominent Coaches: Joe B. Hall, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith
Winning basketball is a way of life in Lexington, from Adolph Rupp to Joe B. Hall, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith, and now John Calipari. The Wildcats have gone through their share of coaches over the last 3 decades, but one thing always seems to stay the same: they win ballgames. Take the John Wall-led 2010 crew, which finished 2nd the pre-tournament AP rankings. For most schools, that would be a once-in-a-decade team — yet they weren't even one of the 10 best Kentucky teams since 1980 by SRS! And the 2003 squad, which finished the regular season #1 in the polls? Not even in the top 5. That's what happens when the measuring stick is a season like the one UK delivered in 1996, the 3rd-most dominant SRS performance of the past 30 years. Sky-high expectations, sky-high winning percentages… all of that makes Kentucky our #4 school of the last 3 decades.
3. Kansas Jayhawks (+19.34 SRS)
Prominent Coaches: Larry Brown, Roy Williams, Bill Self
When your first coach invented the game, it's safe to say you've got tradition — and pressure to perform. Yet the Jayhawks have managed to live up to those expectations over the last 30 years, winning more games (820) than all but 2 schools, capturing 19 conference titles, and most importantly, taking home 2 NCAA titles in thrilling fashion. Outside the state of North Carolina, you won't find a better basketball program in recent seasons than the one they've built in Lawrence, Kansas.
2. North Carolina Tar Heels (+20.49 SRS)
Prominent Coaches: Dean Smith, Roy Williams
Best NCAA Finish: Won NCAA Championship (1982, 1993, 2005, 2009)
Chapel Hill has been home to GOAT-worthy hoops legends like Dean Smith and Michael Jordan, yet what does it say about North Carolina basketball that neither are bigger than The Program? That's what you get when you win an amazing 822 games, 4 NCAA titles, and 20 ACC crowns in a 30-year span. Unfortunately, though, it's not exactly lonely at the top for UNC, because they don't even rank as the #1 team in their own state — which brings us to…
1. Duke Blue Devils (+21.29 SRS)
Prominent Coaches: Mike Krzyzewski
They're the school just about everyone loves to hate, college basketball's answer to the Yankees or the Patriots, and just like those teams they're constantly in your face with their relentless winning. It doesn't even seem to matter who's wearing the uniforms — when Coach K plugs different names into his lineup, it just provides a new set of stars for Dick Vitale to scream about. Over the past 30 years, no other D1 team has won more frequently, and in a more dominant fashion, than the Devils from Durham. And, frankly, it all comes down to Krzyzewski… I mean, sure, Vic Bubas had some good years in the 1960s, but the overwhelming majority of Duke's success as a program has come under Coach K's guidance. Year in and year out, he puts together a team that strongly contends for the national championship. If all the hate is a natural byproduct of that, then I hope my team is this reviled too someday.
Posted on November 19, 2010, in Analysis, History, NCAA, SRS. Bookmark the permalink.	7 Comments.
marparker | November 20, 2010 at 11:40 am
Must have had some really down years in Westwood if they are not in the top 10 with multiple final four appearances over that span.
Neil Paine | November 20, 2010 at 3:12 pm
I think this methodology rewards consistency as much as anything else. Some of those years UCLA had under Lavin, Walt Hazzard, and Howlund (his first few years with Lavin's players, before he started going to Final Fours with his own guys) were not good relative to a program like Oklahoma, who went to fewer Final Fours but whose down years were not as, well, down.
Cort Fornero | November 22, 2010 at 10:39 pm
No UNLV? They haven't had a better 31 years than Alabama? Even in the "down" years between Tark and Kruger they still put together some pretty decent teams.
Kat | November 29, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Interesting to see how teams have continued or discontinued their success over these years. As always, and as long as Coach K is leading the program, I don't see Duke going anywhere on this list. Love to hate em, got that right. Wish Indiana could pull it together…they lost a lot with the departure of Knight, and Crean has much to prove. Hope to see the Big Ten add more to this list in the future!
Sara | March 30, 2011 at 11:50 am
Knight did not leave, he was fired by the insidious Miles Brand. We have lost the in-state recruiting battle over the past 10 years due to Mike Davis's inability to recruit Indiana's top talent, and the disastrous hire of Kelvin Sampson which created more instability. Hopefully Crean can turn our in-state wealth of basketball talent into contenders again.
oops you screwed up | September 22, 2011 at 8:17 pm
Okay, how about we look at PROGRAMS and not just championships…
1. UNC… as much as I hate to admit it
2. UK… strong argument for #1 as a PROGRAM
3. Duke… quite an accomplishment for a smallish school
4. Kansas… good consistency, history, and winning %… if forgettable overall
5. Louisville… under-performed a bit? maybe, but, c'mon, it's Louisville
6. UConn… sure they have a grotesque fan-base, but they are definitely a top-ten program
7. IU… the Hoosiers have had a rough go of it lately, but we're going back 31 years right?
List stops here if we are talking PROGRAMS. Honorable mention: Syracuse, Memphis, Arizona and if I'm being generous maybe Maryland. BTW who compiles a garbage list like this?
Mike | November 3, 2011 at 12:00 am
Great post! Thanks for this. I love thinking about the old teams. There's no way these current teams could hang with some of those older teams. I found a pretty extensive 64-team bracket on a site. Good stuff. I found your article searching for more opinions on the best team. Nice!
If you want to check out the 64-team bracket. It's enjoyable if nothing else: http://www.tchuddle.com/2011/04/the-greatest-ncaa-division-i-men%e2%80%99s-basketball-tournament-teams-ever-champion/