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Ethics Observations On The Nicest Darn Home Invader Ever
February 7, 2022 / Jack Marshall / 1 Comment
A week ago, early on a Sunday should have been like any other for a Santa Fe, New Mexico family, 34-year-old Teral Christesson, armed with an AR-15 rifle, broke a window and invaded their home. Once inside, he slept, had some beer and shrimp out of the fridge, and took a bath.
When the surprised and alarmed residents returned to their home later to find a stranger with a duffel bag and an AR-15 scoped rifle there, Christesson expressed great embarrassment and apologized profusely. He then gave them $200 to make it all better, or at least to pay for the window he broke. Then he said goodbye, and left.
What a nice young man!
He was arrested the next day when police found Christesson after responding to a report of a man attempting to hijack a car. He reportedly told investigators he still "felt bad" about breaking that window. Now he's facing charges of aggravated burglary, larceny, and criminal damage to property.
Ethics observations: Continue reading →
From The Ethics Alarms Archives: Remembering The Amazing Elfego Baca
July 6, 2020 July 6, 2020 / Jack Marshall / 7 Comments
The previous post was discussing the topic of great Americans, and commenter valkygrrl asked about the statuary in the Capitol, where each state is allotted two statues to honor its past notables. This, in turn reminded me of my favorite New Mexican historical figure (who is not honored in the Capitol) and one of my favorite figures of the Old West, Elfego Baca (February 10, 1865 – August 27, 1945). There's a post about him (with 11,621 and counting, there's a post here about just about everything), and I decided that this was a good time to re-visit it, and him.
Baca is not only a Mexican-American, it could be argued that he'd be a more worthy member of the President's Garden than a number of the "heroes" currently on the list…more fun, definitely.
Here's the lightly edited post from 2013…Meet Elfego!
As frequent readers of Ethics Alarms know, I fervently believe that history is important, and that we all have a duty to remember and honor the remarkable Americans who have gone before us, their exploits, triumphs, struggles and achievements, both for our sake—for we can learn much from them—and theirs. I am constantly discouraged by the inspirational stories and fascinating historical figures who have nearly been forgotten. The schools don't teach our children about them, and popular culture ignores them. This weakens the flavor and the power of our shared culture: it is wrong, that's all.
I want to do my part to help keep alive the name and the story of a Mexican-American who may have faded from memory because the events of his life seem more fictional than real. Indeed, for most of my life, until a couple of years ago, I thought Elfego Baca was a creation of Walt Disney's creative staff, who wrote a ten episode mini-series called "The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca" for the "Disneyland" show ("Now…from Frontierland!") in 1958. I loved that series, but it never occurred to me that the tales of a gunslinging, lawyer-sheriff in Old New Mexico could possibly have any connection to reality.
But they did. The real Elfego Baca was, if anything, even more improbable than his fictionalized counterpart, portrayed by a very young and athletic Robert Loggia, who is best known as the toy magnate who plays "Chopsticks" on the giant keyboard with Tom Hanks in "Big." Loggia was one of my favorite character actors; he was also the drug lord killed by Tony Montana in "Scarface," and the tough general in "Independence Day," among many other memorable roles in a long career
Elfego Baca was born in Socorro, New Mexico in 1865. Elfego's father was a gunfighter, and he wanted to be one too, though on the side of the law, so he would be less likely to go to jail, like his father did, for winning gunfights. The New Mexico territory was soon in the middle of a silver rush, bringing many outsiders into the region, a lot of them pretty wild. Baca acquired a sheriff's badge through a mail-order house, and also bought two six-guns, which he taught himself to use with deadly precision.
A cowboy named Charley McCarty got drunk in the town where Baca was working as a store clerk, and did all the things you remember from old Westerns: whooping it up, shooting in the air, breaking windows, harassing townspeople, and bullying Mexicans by making them "dance" as he shot at their boots. Elfego Baca, then 19 years old, deputized himself by pinning on his fake badge and by the authority invested in himself, by himself, arrested McCarty at gunpoint. Continue reading →
Comment Of The Day: "Ethics Grab Bag: 6/18/20: Absolutism, DACA, Cancel Culture And Pancakes" [Item #4]
June 19, 2020 June 19, 2020 / Jack Marshall / 4 Comments
The poll on #4 among yesterday's "ethics grab bag" is running strongly in favor of leaving up statues of Juan de Oñate, a particularly nasty Spanish conquistador who established the colony of New Mexico for Spain. [Aside: I was going to link to the article on the Britannica site, but as soon as I whitelisted it, I was bombarded with pop-up ads, drop-in ads, slide-over ads and more that shifted the text and made it nearly impossible to read. They are morons, and screw them, to be blunt. I'll allow a site's ads if the site is smart and considerate enough to format them so that they don't make using the site infuriating. I will not be visiting again.] Only 11% of voters so far think that there needs to be some limit on how horrible a historical figure can be to have a community decide that they don't want to be reminded of him and her every day. Voting is still open:
Here is johnburger2013's Comment of the Day on Item 4 in the post, "Ethics Grab Bag: 6/18/20: Absolutism, DACA, Cancel Culture And Pancakes":
In general, I am not one calling for removing art from the public square. That smacks too much of Soviet Russia, Chairman Mao, and the Taliban. Perhaps a more complete history can be shown on the monument discussing the controversies.
The Oñate statue is one of those monuments that maybe should not have been dedicated, even if he founded or claimed the region for the Spanish crown over 400 years ago. Apparently, the statue's foot amputation was in response to Juan de Oñate's brutal repression of the Acoma Puebla after the Acoma rebelled in October, 1598, because the Acoma refused to pay a food tax to the Spanish crown, which had been implemented by Oñate. Oñate had claimed the region for Spain in March 1598, and instituted a food tax, which hacked the Acoma off – why wouldn't it? – so they rebelled. The Acoma killing 11 Spaniards/Mexicans, including Oñate's nephew, In response, Oñate ordered the burning of the town and the slaughter of almost the entirety of the 2,000 Acoma, leaving some 200 alive, including children. Oñate had his troops amputate a foot of each of the surviving males of fighting age and sent the children to "missions" in Mexico. The revolt has been referred to as the Acoma Massacre. Not sure that is something Spain is proud of. Continue reading →
Ethics Grab Bag: 6/18/20: Absolutism, DACA, Cancel Culture And Pancakes
June 18, 2020 June 18, 2020 / Jack Marshall / 42 Comments
1. Oh, I'm sure that will help a lot. Quaker announced yesterday that the Aunt Jemima brand would be rebranded and renamed "to make progress toward racial equality." Yeah, I'm sure the pancake box design and hearing that demon name "Jemima" has retarded the progress of racial justice for decades. I couldn't care less what pancake mix is called and I doubt that anyone else does, but if any portion of the market claims to find the logo offensive, that's a good reason to ditch it, which I assume means that Uncle Ben's Rice will be called "U.B.R." soon. Nonetheless, Quaker's move isn't substantive. It's virtue signaling, and at this point, more historical airbrushing. Getting rid of Aunt Jemima will cost Quaker millions of dollars, and probably raise the price of the product. It won't affect racial equality one iota.
Meanwhile, cultural context and history is lost. The R. T. Davis Milling Company hired former slave Nancy Green as a spokesperson for the Aunt Jemima pancake mix in 1890, and she continued in that role until her death in 1923. Green appeared as Jemima beside the "world's largest flour barrel" while operating a pancake-cooking display at Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. After the Expo, Green was given a lifetime contract to promote the pancake mix. Aunt Jemima was Nancy Green's one link to immortality.
2. Today's SCOTUS decision on DACA. Here's how NPR put it: "A narrowly divided U.S. Supreme Court extended a life-support line to some 650,000 so-called DREAMers on Thursday, allowing them to remain safe from deportation for now, while the Trump administration jumps through the administrative hoops that the court said are required before ending the program."
The President called this a political decision in his inimitable, meat-axe way:
This is an especially stupid tweet. Every time SCOTUS doesn't back the administration isn't a political decision, and lumping apples and kumquats together, which is what generalizing about decisions as diverse as the gay discrimination decision and this one is, just shows that the President doesn't read the opinions he's complaining about, and only cares about the results. (Of course, in this he is like most Americans, sad to say.)
After wading through as much of the assorted opinions in the case as I can stand (Great thanks, once again, to valkygrrl for sending me the link), I think that's unfair.
Chief Justice Roberts, again the swing man, joined with the four liberal Justices and authored the majority opinion. This sentence says it all: "The dispute before the Court is not whether DHS may rescind DACA. All parties agree that it may. The dispute is instead primarily about the procedure the agency followed in doing so." That means that the decision isn't about substance or policy, but rather process. Process decisions are not, or shouldn't be, political. This note also undermines the idea that the Justices were just acting in partisan lockstep:
ROBERTS, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court, except as to Part IV. GINSBURG, BREYER, and KAGAN, JJ., joined that opinion in full, and SOTOMAYOR, J., joined as to all but Part IV. SOTOMAYOR, J., filed an opinion concurring in part, concurring in the judgment in part, and dissenting in part. THOMAS, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment in part anddissenting in part, in which ALITO and GORSUCH, JJ., joined. ALITO, J., and KAVANAUGH, J., filed opinions concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part.
If the President paid attention, he would see that a majority of the Court found that his actions regarding DACA were not motivated by "animus," thus denying Big Lie #4.
I am unalterably opposed to DACA, for reasons stated frequently here. The short version: it is incompetent and irresponsible law-making to provide an incentive for people to break the law. DACA is fueled by emotion and sentimentality ("Think if the children!") and is an incremental step toward open borders. However, other than some dicta among the concurrences and dissents, there is no reason to see the decision as either favoring or disfavoring the law. Continue reading →
Morning Ethics Warm-Up, 12/7/18: Dumb, Dumber, Dumbest
December 7, 2018 / Jack Marshall / 28 Comments
…And a good morning to remember a very bad morning in Hawaii 77 years ago today.
1. Oscar's latest fiasco. The Academy Awards, which like all awards shows has descended into nasty political advocacy, undermining its mission and alienating its audience, decided to pick famously non-partisan black comedian Kevin Hart, who is also a successful movie actor, to host. His gig lasted just a few day. People looking to discredit him went digging into his social media posts, and some tweets from eight years ago–you know, before Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton had flipped on gay marriage?—were judged as "homophobic." In a post on Instagram at about 11 p.m. last night, Hart said he got a call from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was asked to apologize for his prior tweets, or step down as host. He chose to withdraw, and tweeted this:
"I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year's Oscar's….this is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists. I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past. 'm sorry that I hurt people.. I am evolving and want to continue to do so. My goal is to bring people together not tear us apart. Much love & appreciation to the Academy. I hope we can meet again."
The conservative media is calling Hart another example of political correctness run amuck. That's ignorant and wrong. To be successful, an MC has to be liked and trusted by his audience, which is, for the Oscars, the people inside the theater above all. A huge percentage, even a half or more, of the Oscar audience is gay. No one can host the Oscars while it is known that he once said, even eight years ago, that he was terrified that his son might grow up to be gay. It doesn't matter that he may have "evolved." Hollywood is a substantially gay community, and the host of its biggest party of the year should neither be nor be suspected of being homophobic,
Why the Academy's vetters and Hart himself couldn't figure this out is a different issue: gross incompetence. Continue reading →
Unethical Quote Of The Month: New Mexico Congressional Candidate Pat Davis (Guess What Party!)
May 12, 2018 May 12, 2018 / Jack Marshall / 97 Comments
"Fuck the NRA!
—-Albuquerque City Council member Pat Davis, in a TV ad promoting his candidacy for Congress in the upcoming Democratic Party primary.
That's what we really need more of in the government: more incivility, vulgarity, cretinous rhetoric, and hate-mongering. Go Pat!
I suppose Davis is taking his cues from potty mouth DNC chair Tom Perez and putative Presidential candidate and California Senator Kamala Harris, both of whom have decided to jettison dignity and professionalism in pursuit of the rapidly devolving progressive base. These people are all ethics corrupters. I don't care who they say to fuck, or what. If this their idea of leadership, they are a disgrace to the nation and whatever office they seek.
Of course Davis's message is idiotic, regardless of his terminology. He says that the NRA's " pro-gun policies have resulted in dead children, dead mothers and dead fathers." If politicians like Davis want to repeal the right of citizens to own guns, then let them have the honesty and integrity to say so. Blaming the organization that is an advocate for the Second Amendment for crimes committed by those who abuse the right is intentionally dishonest as well as cowardly, like blaming the ACLU for the proliferation of lowest common denominator demagogues who think "Fuck the NRA" is responsible political discourse and not merely the equivalent of a primal scream.
Ethics Quiz: Does "Black Olives Matter" Matter?
August 16, 2016 August 16, 2016 / Jack Marshall / 45 Comments
I almost made this controversy an ethics quiz in July, but decided it was a fleeting jest. Wrong, Ethics-breath! Now the story has heated up again.
Paisano's, an Italian restaurant in Albuquerque, New Mexico is selling 'black olives matter" T- shirts and caps following the uproar over the phrase last month, when the restaurant placed it on a marquee outside the restaurant in July:
Then, owner Rick Camuglia said he came up with the play on words to sell a new tuna dish with black olive tapenade. When Camuglia posted pictures of the dish and the sign on Facebook, he drew angry complaints that he was being insensitive and "trivializing a movement aimed at trying to stop police shootings of black residents."
Even if they are resisting lawful arrest, threatening the officer or holding a gun. But I digress…
Camuglia protested that he was only trying to sell food. Now, after receiving unexpected support, even internationally, and with business booming, the entrepreneur has reacted to requests for souvenirs from the restaurant with his new product line.
Your Ethics Alarms Ethics Quiz of the Day:
Are the slogan, T-shirts and hats inherently disrespectful and divisive at a racially troubled time, and thus socially irresponsible, or is it a harmless play on words?
So It Has Come To This: Criminalizing Burps In Middle School
August 3, 2016 August 3, 2016 / Jack Marshall / 31 Comments
At Cleveland Middle School in Albuquerque, a persistent class clown, age 13, kept burping in class, followed by the usual titters from his classmates.
I was in class with one of these characters in the 8th grade, and I must admit, his burp was something: loud, long, low, and seemingly inexhaustible. He was yanked out of class, he was sent to detention, his parents were called, he was suspended, and eventually, without too much conflict, he learned to cut it out. (They never caught the guy who shouted "HOG!" in a raucous voice during study hall.) Apparently this method was beyond the abilities of the Cleveland Middle School staff to execute.
The teacher, Ms. Mines-Hornbeck, called the police, who arrested and eventually cuffed the boy. Principal Susan LaBarge and Assistant Principal Ann Holmes not only suspended him for the rest of the school year, but allowed the criminal justice process to proceed, with the boy being processed for the charge of violating a New Mexico statute, N.M. Stat. Ann. § 30-20-13(D), that reads…
No person shall willfully interfere with the educational process of any public or private school by committing, threatening to commit or inciting others to commit any act which would disrupt, impair, interfere with or obstruct the lawful mission, processes, procedures or functions of a public or private school.
That's right: arrest and criminal prosecution for burping in class.
None of the staff at the school, apparently, had an ethics alarm go off that induced them to point out that the year long suspension was an unethically harsh punishment, and the criminal charge was tantamount to child abuse. I remember that in the fourth grade at Parmenter School in Arlington, Mass, my friend Timmy Russell was moved to leap to his feet during a math lesson and do a ten second imitation of Elvis singing "Hound Dog." Everyone laughed, including the teacher. Then, that burst of childish energy over, she went on with the lesson, because she was a confident professional.
In New Mexico, 2016, Timmy would have broken the law. Continue reading →
OK, Which Do We Require Background Checks For: Microwaves, "The Walking Dead," Electric Guitars, Or Netflix?
October 26, 2015 October 26, 2015 / Jack Marshall / 22 Comments
Microwaves don't kill people, people kill semi-zombies with microwaves…
Can't ban stupidity, unfortunately…
The Associated Press reports that in Grants, New Mexico, 23-year-old Damon Perry beat his friend, 23-year-old Christopher Paquin, to death with "his hands, feet, an electric guitar and a microwave."
Perry claimed he and Paquin had been drinking, but that his drinking buddy began "to change into a zombie" and tried to bite him. Naturally, he defended himself with gusto.
Perry also mentioned that he'd been binge-watching The Walking Dead on Netflix prior to the incident.
Ethics Quiz: Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Laws
August 19, 2015 / Jack Marshall / 75 Comments
I know how this one will break down, but it's an interesting issue nonetheless. And it doesn't involve Hillary, Donald Trump of Bill Cosby!
Many states have addressed drug-related deaths by allowing junkies using illegal drugs to call 911 for a fellow shooter or snorter in life-threatening distress and be immune from prosecution. New Mexico passed a "Good Samaritan law" in 2007 that granted limited immunity from prosecution on simple possession charges for people who used 911 to report a drug overdose going on in front of them. The Drug Policy Alliance reports that 28 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws differing in exact provisions but providing limited freedom from prosecution in exchange for saving lives.
There is an explosion of heroin use nationwide, and therefore heroin deaths, right now. (The government abandoning its vital statements via law that drug use is wrong has a lot to do with causing this, but that is for another day.) As always, the first proposals to address a drug crisis involve loosening enforcement. Slate writes,
"In the end, of course, it doesn't much matter how or why states pass these laws, as long as they pass them. A University of Washington study evaluating the initial results of Washington state's Good Samaritan policy found in a survey that drug users who were aware of the law were 88 percent more likely to call 911 in the event of an overdose than before. "Despite lingering concerns about possible negative consequences of the new law, such as prosecutions being impeded, no evidence of negative consequences has been found to date," the study concluded. Good Samaritan laws are humane and sensible. There are no compelling reasons to oppose them."
Are there really "no compelling" ethical reasons to oppose such laws?


text:
Family members tell KLFY Joshua Babineaux, who was last seen Friday, has been found.
Babineaux is safe and in the hospital.
ORIGINAL STORY
Police are investigating the case of a man who was reported missing from Lafayette.
Cpl. Paul Mouton said Joshua Babineaux, 30, was last seen around 11 a.m. Friday morning in the 200 block of Chester Street.
He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt with red, white and blue plaid pajama pants in his 2005 Grey Ford Mustang.
Family members tell KLFY Babineaux had just gotten married a week before he went missing.
Anyone who sees Joshua Babineaux is asked to call the Lafayette Police Department at 337-291-8600.
© 2021 www.theadvertiser.com. All rights reserved.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Historic Stevensville Arts & Entertainment
Historic Stevensville A&E
History of Stevensville
About Stevensville, Maryland
Stevensville is a small- unincorporated community on KentIsland in Queen Anne's County, Maryland with a population of approximately 5,880, located at the intersection of Main Street, MD 18, and Love Point Road, MD 835. Old Stevensville is on the National Register of Historic Places. Historic Stevensville sits on land once called Stevens Adventure, a 1694 land grant to Francis Stevens. The town developed after the 1850 sale of two farms and was planned around a central triangle with all streets radiating from the triangle. An 1877 tax map shows the town had grown to nearly 30 structures. Stevensville's development benefited from the steamboat based trade system, which linked the eastern and western shores in the mid- 19th century. The railroad came to Stevensville in 1902, and by 1909 the town had two schools, four doctors, a blacksmith, and sawmill. The end of passenger rail service in 1938 and freight service in 1948 halted the growth of the town. Development in Stevensville halted during the Great Depression and was later affected by the bridge construction after World War II. As a result, the town center of Stevensville was bypassed by a new highway, Rt. 50, and saved from demolition. Today, Stevensville is a community that retains much of its charming appearance and reflects its development as a rural crossroads town from its founding in 1850 up to the Great Depression.
For more information about Historic Stevensville as well as the history of Queen Anne's County please visit...
https://www.kentislandheritagesociety.org/ or https://www.historicqac.org/


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The kitties are over at Dennis's. The question is where is Dennis? Is he over there or hiding out around here to take a break from the kitties? Looks around. Hmmm. I don't see any hiding places. I better go over there.


text:
Dobrova je ime občine in več naselji:

 občina Dobrova - Polhov Gradec

Naselja v Sloveniji:
 Dobrova pri Dravogradu, občina Dravograd
 Dobrova pri Prihovi, občina Oplotnica
 Dobrova, Mestna občina Celje
 Dobrova, občina Dobrova - Polhov Gradec
 Dobrova, občina Krško
Glej tudi toponima Dobrava in Dobrovlje

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


This is a Temur Energy article. I'm so sorry.
If you stick with it, I promise the article's more than that, and you should stick around.
There were Attune with Aether decks, and there were people being intentionally obtuse. I locked into Energy variants and got to playtesting. Things… didn't go well.
It felt like I couldn't buy a game win. Over the course of five days I incinerated over 100 tickets on Magic Online without prizing a single tournament. A good bit of it I tended to blame on poor luck, and while there was some variance associated with my losses, there was also a good bit of misunderstanding how to sideboard with Temur. Unfortunately, I didn't catch why I was wrong until the following week, and my team floundered as my 1-6 Standard record bogged us down.
The following weeks led up to the Invitational, and as my playtesting team finalized our lists for the tournament, it finally clicked what I was doing wrong: I was approaching sideboarding from the wrong angle. Generally speaking, sideboarding is about removing the bad cards and putting in good cards.
What about when it's correct to cut good cards?
Last weekend I won a PPTQ at the Star City Game Center with this list, playing almost exclusively Energy mirrors, the lone exception being a concession from good guy Justin Elkins on B/W Tokens in the semifinals.
What changed? I realized that good cards can be bad.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance is the most hyped planeswalker card we've seen in years. After commanding a preorder price of $50, she's had a habit of hovering in Standard, oftentimes in the go-to deck. That being said, Chandra is not good against most Energy decks.
Most Energy decks are playing a combination of these two cards, and they're both fantastic at answering planeswalkers. Walking Ballista in particular makes it nearly impossible to utilize Chandra's -3 for value.
This means that, despite being a good card, Chandra, Torch of Defiance is actually quite bad in the context of these matchups. So she gets the axe.
This is because when sideboarding is going to be correct to evaluate cards in the context of the specific matchup and what information has been given, not just the macro "midrange versus midrange" or "X versus control."
During sideboarding, I tend to evaluate every single card I have against all of the cards that it could be forced to play against from the opponent, and I use that to evaluate the efficacy of the tools at my disposal.
The opponent won't necessarily announce every single card in their deck, but with adequate research, it isn't difficult to figure out most of the cards in their deck. A little over a year ago, I wrote an article about leaving bread crumbs that focused on determining cards that the opponent was playing via extrapolation. Taking those theories a step further is using this knowledge to evaluate a single card in the context of a matchup.
Longtusk Cub is another example of a good card that ends up getting cut often in Energy mirrors despite being a good card. The various Slith were all playable in their day, and this is close to an upgrade, though I'm not here to sell you on the power of one of the most ubiquitous cards in the format.
In order to beat an Abrade, Longtusk Cub must have some Energy sunk into it. This means either playing it off-curve, or Abrade being drawn after Longtusk Cub has already had the ability to grow a bit.
This card will almost always kill a Longtusk Cub, no matter how much energy has been fed to the kitten.
This card is great for Longtusk Cub. It doesn't effectively block it and as a result will almost never trade for it.
Longtusk Cubs on the play will presumably be better than their later counterparts, as they will be able to attack and accrue energy sooner. This implies that Longtusk Cub is less of a threat on the play but can be a liability on the draw.
This one is a little awkward to evaluate, but let's think about how this can be bad and what it requires to be good.
In order for a Longtusk Cub to get through a Rogue Refiner (and live), four energy will have to be converted to +1/+1 counters. The energy needs to come from somewhere, and so other cards will need to have been cast (and had their energy consumed) or Longtusk Cub will have to have connected a few times. This is somewhat realistic on the play, as there's a turn where Longtusk Cub can attack and the opponent hasn't quite had the chance to deploy a copy of the Refiner. On the draw? Refiner comes down before Cub ever gets to crack in.
So while the context of the game and color the power of the cards in comparison to one another, I'd say that Rogue Refiner generally matches up fairly well against Longtusk Cub, as it requires other things to be going right and makes the Cub's controller use additional resources to beat the Refiner, which just replaces itself with the card drawn.
Needing a single +1/+1 counter on Longtusk Cub is a much shorter order in terms of what needs to "go right" in order to get through a creature. Except Whirler Virtuoso brings friends, and it can take forever for Longtusk Cub to get through. Without Cub providing any other type of resource, I'd say that Whirler Virtuoso tends to embarrass Longtusk Cub, as it can invalidate the card until the Cat is answerable.
"But Emma, that means Longtusk Cub is effectively munching on three energy of the opponent's every turn. Is that such a bad thing?"
The short answer is no. The long answer is that Longtusk Cub's primary job is to apply pressure, and it doesn't function very well as the game progresses. While power and toughness are nice, having a solid body isn't quite good enough as the game moves into its later stages. Whirler Virtuoso effectively means that Longtusk Cub won't deal damage and stockpile energy.
Longtusk Cub matches up reasonably against Chandra, Torch of Defiance. The biggest issue is that it needs to grow up to a 5/5 in order to do so. It feels as if that is a fairly tall order to be good against a larger card, and a lot needs to go right for that to happen.
Longtusk Cub is one of the best ways at dealing with Bristling Hydra, as it grows faster than the 4/3, and trading a two-drop for a four-drop feels great.
Longtusk Cub and Glorybringer tend not to interact with one another very frequently. By the time the dragon comes down, Longtusk Cub has generally already died or outgrown Chandra shots; by the same logic, it's outgrown Flametongue-bringer as well.
Asking for two-drops to match up well with five-mana spells is a pretty tall order, and it isn't absurd to have them match up poorly any further up the mana cost from here.
When evaluating cards like this, it becomes apparent that Longtusk Cub is one of the weaker cards in the matchup, as it needs things to break in its favor for it to be a serviceable Magic card. There are ways to posture on the play that it's good, but in a large number of circumstances, it isn't worth the cardboard on which it's printed. When looking at cards to take out, Longtusk Cub should be on the proverbial chopping block.
Do this for every card in the deck.
It's a slow process at first, but the more reps you get with a deck, the easier it is to compartmentalize several of the thoughts and the easier it becomes to determine if something is good or not. One of the hardest parts of Magic is sideboarding, and practicing different methods can help bump up one's win-rate considerably. Trust me. I've experienced it firsthand.
The key to picking up speed and utilizing this method to its potential is practice. Play games. Play sideboarded games. Sideboard every game, and try sideboarding differently to test your theories. Whenever playing pre-sideboarded games, consider each card that's drawn and if it would be better as a sideboard card…or having not been drawn at all.
The next step after determining how well cards match up against one another is looking at how they play into an overarching gameplan within a matchup. Think the same method shown above, but comparing to cards in one's own deck instead.
The entire purpose of this exercise is to reinforce cognitive decision making. The more we actively think about why we are making decisions, the more automatic the easy decisions become, which in turn increases the amount of time we can spend answering the harder questions in the game, such as "Which flavor of Rogue Refiner will I be registering at a Standard tournament this weekend?"


Citation: Chavez Eguez, J.L., Gowda, P., Colaizzi, P.D., Evett, S.R., Howell, T.A., Copeland, K.S. 2007. Metric estimated ET evaluation on the semiarid Southern High Plains [abstract]. 2007 AGU Joint Assembly, May 22-25, 2007, Acapulco, Mexico. 2007 CDROM.
Technical Abstract: Declining groundwater levels in the Southern High Plains of the United States, and the fact that agriculture in this region uses more than 90% of groundwater withdrawals, requires efficient agricultural water use. Accurate regional evapotranspiration (ET) maps would provide valuable information on crop water demand and water usage. In this study, we applied METRIC (Mapping Evapotranspiration at High Resolution using Internalized Calibration), a remote sensing based ET algorithm, and micrometeorological data measured at a grass reference ET weather station maintained by the Texas High Plains Evapotranspiration Network (TXHPET). For this purpose, a Landsat Thematic Mapper image covering a major portion of the Southern High Plains (parts of Texas Panhandle and northeastern New Mexico) was acquired on 23 July 2006 for the overpass at 17:19 GMT. Comprehensive ground-truth data were collected to develop a detailed land use map showing major crops grown in the region. Performance of the METRIC model was evaluated using measured ET data on five lysimeters in Bushland, TX [35 deg 11 min N, 102 deg 06 min W; 1,170 m elevation MSL] managed by the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Research Laboratory. Lysimeter-measured ET rates varied from 2.4 to 7.0 mm d**-1. A good agreement was found between the remote sensing based ET and measured ET on lysimeters. Comparison of estimated daily mapped ET values with lysimetric measurements had an accuracy within 9% of the measured ET (r**2 = 0.89) with a mean square error of 0.9 mm d**-1. The use of METRIC for estimating ET under advective conditions of the Southern High Plains is promising; however, more evaluation is needed for different agroclimatological conditions.


VINYL ONLY release from this project around Rexx Arkana (Bruderschaft, FGFC820) and Eric Eldredge (Interface)! Officially founded in 2015, Coldkill was effectively born in the 80s, during an era of electronic music innovation much mimicked but rarely replicated by contemporary culture. Rexx & Eric grew up amidst the melancholy tones of DMode and the militaristic chants of F242 and NitzerEbb. Two suburban teens, wrapped in all the angst of a world awry, drawn to the distant sounds of Europe's New Wave.
Together, Arkana and Eldredge provide Coldkill with an aura of melodic melancholia reminiscent of the music that shaped their formative years. Unlike many of their myriad minimal or synth wave contemporaries, Coldkill has imposed strict self-restraints on their audio arsenal, limiting themselves to the sole employment of sounds that existed during the epoch they seek to emulate. The result is a very minimal approach - bereft of modern-day multi-tracking or slick production tricks - that evokes in many listeners a sense of nostalgia unique unto itself.
Released early May 2017 on COP International.


text:
John P. Pryor, 42, surgeon and soldier
by Michael Matza, Inquirer Staff Writer, Posted: December 27, 2008
John P. Pryor, 42, of Moorestown, the dedicated leader of the University of Pennsylvania's trauma team and a decorated major in the Army Reserve who wrote eloquently about the painful parallels between battlefield deaths and urban homicides, was killed on Christmas by enemy fire in Iraq while serving as a combat surgeon.
Dr. Pryor deployed Dec. 6 and was with a risky frontline surgical unit when he was killed by shrapnel from a mortar round. It was his second tour of duty in Iraq.
Photo Gallery: John P. Pryor, 42, surgeon and soldier
Dr. Pryor, who was experienced and cool under pressure, was born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., and raised near Albany. He completed surgical training at the State University of New York in Buffalo, and came to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in 1999. After a fellowship in trauma surgery and critical care, he joined Penn's surgical faculty and served as director of the hospital's nationally recognized trauma program.
"JP was a magical man, with boundless energy and goodness," said Dr. Pryor's mentor at Penn, Dr. C. William Schwab. "He was a devoted son, husband, father, colleague and friend. . . . At his core were many great values, but his passion for service to others" stood out.
In an undated document that Dr. Pryor wrote and left with family before he deployed, he recounted his early affinity for injured people, his passion to serve - specifically in wartime - and the difficulty of balancing his love of country and family, because he felt his decision to go to Iraq was not always supported by those closest to him.
"Since an early age, Dr. Pryor was involved in the care of the sick and injured," he wrote of himself in the third person. "He was certified in CPR when he was 14 years old, joined the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Ambulance Corps at 17, and became a N.Y. State Emergency Medical Technician at 18," adding that it was "emotionally very challenging" to balance his dedication to family and country. "He hopes and prays," he wrote, "for forgiveness from his family and colleagues."
Friends said a favorite quote from Albert Schweitzer that hung on Dr. Pryor's Penn office wall captured his spirit.
"Seek always to do some good, somewhere," it reads. "Even if it's a little thing, do something for those who need help, something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it. For remember, you don't live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here, too."
A technically skilled surgeon with a fierce adventurous streak, Dr. Pryor dashed to the heart of Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2001, to volunteer his services. He wound up deciphering and filling medical requests that crackled over rescue-team radios.
"I don't think about it every day, but I've had flashbacks," he said in 2002.
As chief medical adviser to the Red Cross of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Dr. Pryor conducted disaster-relief training for volunteers. In those lectures, he drew parallels between the injuries soldiers experience on the battlefield and the injuries to shooting victims brought to Philadelphia emergency rooms.
"He was a brilliant guy, but he didn't intimidate people when he spoke to them about these issues," said Red Cross chief executive officer Tom Foley. "It's a cliche to say, 'Every man's death diminishes me,' but his death diminishes us more than a little, because he was doing things on so many fronts while also raising a family."
A talented writer, Dr. Pryor contributed opinion articles to The Inquirer and the Washington Post, and often was interviewed by NPR and ABC News.
"In Iraq, ironically, I found myself drawing on my experience as a civilian trauma surgeon each time 'mascals,' or 'mass casualty situations,' would overrun the combat hospital," he told NPR last year. "As nine or 10 patients from a firefight rolled in, I sometimes caught myself saying, 'Just like another Friday night in West Philadelphia.'"
A hard worker who drove himself relentlessly, Dr. Pryor took it personally when he was unable to save someone on his operating table.
In a 2006 Inquirer opinion piece describing his service with the 344th Combat Support Hospital in Abu Ghraib, Dr. Pryor wrote of the "palpable grief" that comes over the staff when a U.S. soldier doesn't survive.
"Everyone is affected and everyone deals with it in a different way. For me," he wrote, "it is very, very personal. I was the surgeon who couldn't save him. . . . The staff people come and give me a hug. They ask me if I am OK; they pray for me. I appreciate it, and I hate it at the same time."
Dr. Pryor is survived by his wife, Carmela V. Calvo, a pediatrician at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children; a daughter, Danielle; sons Francis and John Jr.; a brother; and his parents, Richard C. and Victoria.
Arrangements were incomplete, although the family expects that a Funeral Mass will be said at Our Lady of Good Counsel Roman Catholic Church in Moorestown.
Contact staff writer Michael Matza at 215-854-2541 or mmatza@phillynews.com.
Posted: December 27, 2008 - 3:01 AM
Michael Matza, Inquirer Staff Writer
George P. Moy, 94, activist who saved Holy Redeemer church in Chinatown from the bulldozer
Bonnie L. Cook
Peter Fletcher Binnion, 87, Newtown Square internist
Pierce T. Ramsey Sr., 93, Tuskegee Airman and founder of Ramsey Real Estate
Joe Mullan, 60, longtime manager of Oscar's Tavern
Violinist Aaron Rosand, 92, longtime Curtis Institute of Music professor
Peter Dobrin
'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory' actress Denise Nickerson dies at 62
Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News (TNS)


CHICAGO (AP) — The annual Fourth of July fireworks show that drew more than a million people to Chicago's Lake Michigan shores has been canceled.
The Chicago Park District is now in charge of the event. District spokeswoman Jessica Maxey-Faukner says the fireworks show was "a reasonable expense to cut." The city is encouraging people instead to attend the Navy Pier fireworks shows on July 2 and 4.
Maxey-Faukner says 2010 fireworks cost the city $110,000 not including more than $750,000 in police expenses. Last year instead of one large show the city had three smaller fireworks shows along the lakefront.
The city has cut other events to save money. Chicago's annual illuminated boat parade, Venetian Night, was cut in 2009 after 52 years. At least four festivals also have been canceled.


Schniftenbergerhof, near Alzey in Rhenish Hesse, Germany, is listed in the Dutch Naamlijst of 1794 (p. 44) as a Mennonite congregation with Christian Eicher as preacher (from 1786) and Jacob Gally as elder (1767). Gally (Galle) was also the elder of the Weierhof and Spiesheim-Wallertheim congregations. Of the Schniftenbergerhof congregation little is known. Probably meetings were held for some time at this farm, which was the center of a group of Mennonites and a more or less independent congregation, soon after 1794 merging with a neighboring church, either Weierhof or Oberflörsheim.
Zijpp, Nanne van der. "Schniftenbergerhof (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 24 Apr 2019. http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Schniftenbergerhof_(Rheinland-Pfalz,_Germany)&oldid=77578.
Zijpp, Nanne van der. (1959). Schniftenbergerhof (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 24 April 2019, from http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Schniftenbergerhof_(Rheinland-Pfalz,_Germany)&oldid=77578.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 471. All rights reserved.


Monsters from Space are a real menace. You see, you might know that in space no one can hear you scream. What they don't tell you at Space Academy is that, unfortunately, that means in space no one can hear a monster roar. Which is a big disadvantage in the old running-away-from-the-beastie stakes.
This Reading book contains all this information and more, just right to help improve kids' reading skills and cover the literacy targets. Hurrah!


$1 per square inch, 100 square inch minimum. You can have as many different designs as you want, as long as each design is ordered in a multiple of 10 boards.
For example, if you had two different 5 square inch designs, you could order 10 of each for a total cost of $100.
Fabrication time can vary for medium run orders, but boards will ship in 15 calendar days or fewer.
Medium Run orders cannot be expedited. For faster fabrications options, you may be interested in our 2 Layer Service or even faster 2 Layer Super Swift Service.